Technology 5 - Zeppelins

Have you heard of zeppelins?
They are airships lifted by hydrogen or helium and moved by conventional propeller engines.
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Zeppelins were invented back in the 1930s and saw its maiden flights in 1936. [See comment by a reader on the first flights of Zeppelins below.] However, in the year after, it met with a disasater. Soon after, its use was abandoned. See the following video.
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However, there is some renewed interest to revive the zeppelin. Technology is now there to make it safer and helium gas can be used in place of the potentially explosive hydrogen.
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Given the high price of oil, zeppelin may get the necessary attention and interest to revolutionise air travel. They are quieter and can land on football fields, marshlands and even water. We may not even need airports anymore, especially in rural and remote villages, deserts and artic frozen sites. Isn't it cool?
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Taking it further, I found this technology and animation which claim to be able to make an aircraft fly just with helium and a dynamo. Listen to its explanations in the video...
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Someday, all these aircrafts will become reality, as all the Universal Laws that support the necessary technologies have always been there. We don't need to make any new Laws of Nature (not that we can). So, the Tao master said, "... that we seek the wealth within us... and when we have attained Tao, the heavens will bestow the physical wealth to us."

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Let's have a sneak preview of the future (?) :)

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Vacuum State 2 - Everyday and Everywhere

The content of Vacuum State posts are getting more varied and wide in scope. This is so because we encounter the wonders of creation everyday everywhere and spiritual life is not confined to places of worship, or the time one allocates to sit down for meditation. Just like our spirituality, meditation does not stop the moment we open our eyes and leave our half lotus seating positions. Over time, the way of non-personal thought ought to be built into our daily lives.

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It is hoped that by posting my journey, that others can likewise share theirs and are encouraged to observe and reflect on what we think of and do everyday. As, it is often amidst the daily mundane chores that we see many of our discoveries and lessons.

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Vacuum State Tourists come from...

39% SINGAPORE

26% UNITED STATES

9% AUSTRALIA

7% UNITED KINGDOM

3% CYPRUS

2% CANADA

2% INDONESIA

2% JAPAN

1% ISRAEL

1% AUSTRIA

1% DENMARK

1% FRANCE

1% SWITZERLAND

1% BRAZIL

1% ECUADOR

1% NEW ZEALAND

1% INDIA

1% GERMANY

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Thank you for visiting. Come back again! :)

The Complaints Choir

This is a Complaints Choir in Singapore yesterday. Serious!
Rather than throw stones or burning cars, it's better to sing.

The chorus of the Singapore Complaint Song goes like this...

What's wrong with Singapore?

Losing always makes me feel so sore

Cause if you're not the best

Then you're just one of the rest.

My oh my Singapore

What exactly are we voting for?

What's not expressly permitted

is prohibited.

The Complaints Choir is started by Finnish duo Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen, the movement has met resounding success in its travels to Helsinki, Birmingham, Hamburg and St Petersburg.
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Last but not least, do read my other post about the Tao view of complaints. Click here

The Hot Iron

As I got back home and into my room, I felt some heat on my arm coming from the direction of the ironing board. Then to my horror, I realised that I have left the iron ON the whole day! This was the second time this had happened! What a waste of energy and a safety hazard! Recently, I have been absent minded amid the haste of doing many things.

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Now, whenever I get near the iron, I feel the same heat radiated on my arms. My heart will then skip a beat on the horrific thought that I have again forgotten to switch off the iron. However on closer examination and touching the iron, I am relieved to find that it is not hot. The emotional spike I had previously was painful enough to condition myself to feel the heat of the iron whenever I get near it - even though the iron is switched off.

Open Society

I used to think of George Soros as the ruthless trader that was responsible for Britain's Pound Sterling's exit from the European Exchange Mechanism in 1992. At that time, the value of the Pound against several major currencies, fell to its knees. I was stuck with some Pounds and painfully lost some money. Later, Soros was accused by the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr Mahathir for having designs to bring down the currencies of East Asia, following the financial meltdown in 1998. The Malaysian Ringgit suffered the greatest drop in exchange rates in all times. Both Mahathir and Soros have however called a truce and clarified their misunderstandings.

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I have heard about Soros' books and his Open Society Institute and Foundation, but didn't bother finding out any further. It was while waiting for a friend at Borders that I picked up "The Age of Fallibility" that I was really impressed with his sharpness and clarity of thought whilst analysing the various modes of thinking in societies, why open societies are important and how the Bush Administration has brought US global influence waning rapidly.

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George Soros regards open society as a reasonably stable society that holds itself open to innovation and improvement. Note that with this definition, a democratic society need not necessarily be an open one, though to become an open society democracy is necessary.

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I think Singapore is an open society. Open as long as you don't try to bring down the government. Otherwise, it is very open to new technologies, new industries, foreign investors, foreign entrepreneurs setting up locally, foreign talent/labour, new languages (Mandarin and Singlish), urban renewal, casinos,...etc.

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However, he is against revolutions, as that will bring about changes too sudden that the majority of people will suffer. He espouse the strategy of supporting the intellectual elite in closed society, such that open society will thus have opportunities to germinate in the future when conditions become congenial.

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The following video clips will give you further insights into what open society constitutes and his Open Society Institute and Foundation's work in the newly democractic Central Asian republics.

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This is a map of Central Asia. They were formerly part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

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Summary of clip 1

Soros commented that that his aim is to empower people living in the country to do whatever they can to promote open society.

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In January 2005, he called a meeting with Foundation directors from the Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Krgystan and Mongolia.

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Soros started the Foundation 20 years ago, as he felt that he has enough money for himself and his family and that wanted to start something he really want, which is an open society.

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In an open society embraces critical thinking, democracy and the market economy. It is for people to get closer to the truth and improve upon conditions in life. Open Society initiatives started in Hungary, but soon spread to 60 other locations around the world.

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In Kazakhstan's north, there is this remote village called Daut, which has its school closed down after the furnace heating broke and it was -40C outside. School stopped, but the teachers brought the students to the railway station - as it was will heated. It was a hard time, so the Soros Foundation stepped in to help.

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Soon there was announcements of competition amongst the community school (for transparency reasons) to apply for grants for sewing and bakery. No computers or anything fancy was purchased.

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The school in Daut is the centre of community, if school is closed ,they will have no where to go.

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Workshops were built to teach sewing and woodwork, to impart useful skills.

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Summary of clip 2

Project in Kazakhstan was a temporary one to establish foundations within that will get on by themselves later.

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Daut received their last $16,000 from the Foundation.
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Oil discoveries and development in Kazakhstan will bring in money for the country. The Foundation helps the government to spend the money in the right way in the right fields like education, health care and small business development; thus changing policies and making them universally popularly in neighbouring countries.

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Kyrgyzstan

In March 2005, a weak parliamentary elections sparked riots by angry crowds of people who stormed their White House where the seat of government is and turned it into a revolution.

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Soros is against revolutions as they are destructive and happens when conditions deteroriate to such an extent that people cannot put up with it any more. It is better to improve government gradually.

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Soros Foundation worked with the government for over a year to help to become more open to prevent violent upheaval. Governments must not regard the opposition as devils and vice versa.

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Soros Foundation started "Open Kyrgyzstan", a talk show among ministers, experts, businesses, NGOs and parlimentarians, two months before elections to debate and draft new laws. One of which is the deregulation of businesses.

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Summary for clip 3

Government proposing law for one-stop shop to register business, otherwise plagued by corrupt bureucracy which costs time and money.

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Result is that many didn't bother and existed in the black economy.

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Interviews on the street conformed the findings.

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They invited an expert - a head of congress of business associations and director of a company to debate with the minister. Such talk shows ended up with recommendations for the government.

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This experiment to cooperate with the government is not without critics. Some didn't trust the Foundation. The Opposition felt that the Foundation should not work with the government - but this runs contrary to open society.

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Tajikistan

Most remote and poorest of former Soviet Republic. Many go to Moscow to work to bring back money. Money brought back by migrant workers is three times the annual budget of Tajikistan.

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Main problem is residency permit in Russia, without which they are vulnerable to corrupt police officers.

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Russian law gives them three days to register, if not and if they are caught, they will be arrested and sent into 6 months detention together with common criminals.

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Migrant workers end up as street traders or in construction sites. One was worked for 11 months and the boss won't pay him and he has no recourse to the law.

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One Tajik mother came to Moscow to search for his son, who went missing after being a migrant worker. There was no news from him after 11 months.
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Summary of Clip 4

Even with the proper papers, migrant workers are harassed by the Russian police for money. They would accused them of carrying drugs or some offence they didn't do. One of them was confronted, the police took his papers, beat them up and took what they have.

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The woman who went to search for his son, was sent around different government ministries but to no avail. After the League of Women Lawyers helped her to draft a letter, she got a reply from the government that her son is not in prison, not wanted and not in the mortuary.

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Everyday bodies are returned home to Tajikistan. Last year there were about 1000 bodies returned hiome.

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The Foundation informs migrants of their rights and of where to contact them should they encounter problems.

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AIDS is very high occurence among migrant workers who return to Tajikistan, and by the time the villagers realise that, damages have been done.

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A 16 year old migrant waitress was forced into prostitution. The police came and arrested her, she was abused, humiliated and constantly raped, because the police knew nobody was going to raise complaints. Finally she was deported in a cattle train car that took five days to get back to Tajikistan. She was found to be HIV positive.

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The Soros Foundation cannot sort all these problems other than defending the migrants' rights. What is needed is a political solution between the two countries.

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On the last day of filming the documentary, word came back that the lost son of the lady died in a street brawl a year ago.

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Open Society is not a dogma that gives you the final answers.

Open Society is an idea that nobody have the final answers and therefore must develop ways where different people with different views can live in peace and prosperity.

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Exercises:

1. What touches you most in this documentary?

2. Do you think open society can exist in your country?

Bucky Group 16 - Abstract Thinking vs Reality

Morning Exercise

One of our Vacuum State readers turned up at Bucky Group session today. This is the first time I am meeting him and I am delighted he is joining us for this Sunday's session. Whilst we walked, I related to him how I had started the blog with just a 'good feeling' not knowing exactly where it would lead to; but as it went on, it got clearer that I want to share my spiritual journey with everyone and that how seemingly mundane events are full of inspiration for us everyday. However, care has to be taken that everyone's journey is different and we all take on different paths. So, do not take my posts for its empirical values, but rather as illustrations of how one can be mindful in our daily life.

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As I was still recovering from my knee injury due to the intensive packing and moving in November, I decided not to risk it by jogging, but instead walked along the banks of MacRitchie reservoir while discussing about the blog with my reader-friend.

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Book Reading

We read about the parallelogram of forces in "Utopia or Oblivion" and how Gallileo's theory of the resultant forces of two colliding vectors does not apply in marine navigation, which he learned in class. Here is the illustration of two ships about to collide and what their resultant vector (in grey) will be in theory.

However in practice, it looks more like the illustration below...

At collision, both ships did not move to the resultant vector (direction and speed). One of them gone towards the centre of the earth (sink), while the other went wobbly, as illustrated in the curly arrow. Why?

Footnote: Bucky didn't use the word 'sink', because, to 'sink' is ambiguous. Sink from where? Sink from what? However, 'gone towards the centre of the earth' is specific.

Similarly, Bucky suggests that we do not use the word 'sunrise' and 'sunset', as the sun does not rise or set from earth. Neither is there 'up' or 'down', but rather 'in' and 'out' (of the earth) respectively.

Joo Hock commented that Bucky would rather have us not understand what he says than to misunderstand what he says. That is why he is so specific and each of his sentence is so rich and dense in content. For more details, click here.

One way of understanding Bucky's books better is to join the Bucky Group. I found it easier to understand "Critical Path" (another of Bucky's classic) after joining Bucky Group discussions.

The collided ships did not take the pre-calculated resultant direction and speed because the calculations assumed that the sea is two-dimensional, that the sea is calm and that the ships are weightless. In other words, it is an abstract thinking removed from reality. That is why one of the ships sunk (oops! I mean gone towards the centre of the earth) and the other went wobbly!

In "The Age of Fallibility", the author George Soros said that we think in concrete terms where there is always a 'thing' to which a name corresponds and we can use the name and the thing interchangeably: thinking and reality are co-existence. Only if we think in abstract terms do we begin giving names to things which do not exist independently of our naming them. So these 'things' (that was created in the mind) exists through our labeling them. This is where thinking and reality becomes separated.

Joo Hock then brought the Bucky's example of "stretching a string with both hands" - this statement itself is an abstraction. We have an idea of what he is doing, but do not know what kind of string in reality. It involves generalisation.

The next generalisation is that in unity, there is duality. As the pair of hands pulls the string outwards (tension), the material of the string pulls inwards (compression) to keep itself in one piece. So tensive forces co-exists with compressive forces. It is duality in unity. In a concave surface, there is the convex surface behind.

How about the spiritual Light? It is said that there is no duality in Light, as Darkness does not exist. Darkness is not the opposite of Light, but the absence of Light.

Joo Hock replied that yes, there is no duality in Light, but then we can understand the Light through Darkness. There is a function of Darkness. Referring to the skies above us, there are stars, but we can't see them because there is daylight. When darkness falls, then we can see the light. Also, in photography, shadows complement light to give the beauty of the picture. For instance, sand dunes would not be attractive at all without shadows.

Religions scorn at Darkness, but Darkness has its purpose. If we can only see the Light, we wouldn't understand our divine self.

Breakfast

During breakfast, I learned about crystal healing and dousing from my Vacuum State reader-friend. I use crystals in Reiki healing and with crystal pendulum. I was told that to use the pendulum to answer questions, our minds have to be still (neutral) without attachments. Otherwise it wouldn't work. We also have to program the crystal and allow time for us to attune with the crystal. But then, I was thinking, if I am really still, I usually know the answers to my questions anyway, and would not need to ask the crystal. Actually, we are not asking the crystal per se, but we somehow read our subconscious through the crystal. Perhaps a point of focus.

Going home:

While in Din's van on the way home, he told me that the Bucky Group has grown. He likes to improve himself through reading self-help books, listening to similar tapes and participate in discussion groups like this. He is also particularly happy that we have now embarked on videos (after I borrowed the projector from my brother).Din is called 'Best Student' in Bucky Group. He is most diligent and take notes and diagrams in every session. Yet the strange thing is that school didn't interest him when he was young. Which is what Alvin Toffler spoke about with the Asian kid who wrote to him to say that he wanted to quit school but didn't want to stop learning.'

Next, we should explore and exploit what is available in Cyberspace. Youtube has lots of useful videos. Some blogs have very useful content too. This is what Alvin Toffler said about the new wealth that is created by volunteer contributors that are not paid any money.

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Selling Fear 5 - "BE CAREFUL!!!!"

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"Be careful!" This is usually uttered as a well-meaning advice, but most of the time only creates fear. Mostly, the person who utters this does it from his own fear.

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'Be careful', but be careful with what? The listener will not know what he needs to be careful with. So, it results in no more than seeding fear and if it goes uncorrected, the fear will germinate and grow.

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Recently, I told my sister that my friend cycles to work every morning. "Be careful!" she said.

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We have all heard these such goody-goody advice before. "I am going to do business in China", one says, and the other replies, "Be careful!" :)

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Be careful with what?

If the advice comes with "Be careful, if they are not consistent with what they say..." or "Be careful, if they start dropping big names to impress you...", etc, then at least you know what to be careful with.

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Mothers often screamed in consternation when they see their babies crawling towards the staircase. "URGHHH!!!! BE CAREFUL!!!!" Instantly, the fear is burned into the babies psyche. The next time, he crawls near the staircase, more likely than not, he will hear the same scream. Over time, he will fear staircases when he gets near, then more screams... Soon he will fear the staircase when he is about 3 meters away.

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Instead of screaming, the mother could have approached her baby gently and explain to him. Babies are often more intelligent and reasonable than we make them out to be. When you reason with them, you will notice that they listen to you lovingly. That way, you develop confidence in the child from day one. It is not easy and definitely is labour intensive. Screaming is easier, but it creates fear.

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So the next time if you want to give a well-meaning advice, "BE CAREFUL!!!" :)

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Don't give unqualified unquantified advice for it will seed fear and it will fester and become larger than life!

Social Enterprise 2a

In the 1960s and 70s, Singapore was a poor country and there were many who hawked their food by the streets. It was untidy and posed a threat to public hygiene and environmental pollution. The government recognised that and built "hawker centres" with clean tiled cubicles, water supplies and sanitation to house these food stalls. Rents was nominal, food was cheap and delicious. Gangster extortions from the hawkers were also wiped out by the late 70s.

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Then in the 1980s, it became difficult to get a stall in the hawker centres and aspiring hawkers had to rent their stalls from coffee shops, which charges a higher rent based on market forces. Demand for these stall space was good and that created a bid for coffeeshop space. The bids went higher and higher. Sometimes to absurd levels and it was obvious that they were economically not viable. But still the high daring bids went up and up, which lead many to suspect that money from the black economy was involved. Food was afterall a cash business. Sorry we don't accept credit cards or cheques! :)

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Around that time, a Singaporean company called Food Junction, started the concept of foodcourt, which is an air-conditioned clean environment which employs cooks and attendants rather than renting them out stall cubicles to independent hawkers. So for the first time, for a higher but moderate price for your plate of food, you can enjoy it in air-con clean comfort. Quite a good deal, but the food is usually lousy compared to those sold in original hawker centres. With economies in scale, food items like chilly paste, fish balls, and sauces are no longer 'home made', but factory produced.

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Fast forward to the 2000s, rents for foodcourts have become so high that they have to cut down on the operating costs by hiring cheap labour from China as stall attendants and cooks. Prices have also risen to meet the higher rents, but quality of food has dropped further. Some traditional and lower priced categories of food like goreng pisang, pudu mayam and peanut pan cakes have gradually disappeared, as they are not profitable enough. Stall attendants being from China do not speak English and Malays and Indians have to use sign language to order their food. In other words, the eating out culture and experience in Singapore has changed, with some food dishes gradually going extinct and the necessity to speak Chinese.

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Market economy has its limits and perfect market does not exists, because perfect knowledge does not exist, fair access to information is impossible and not everyone has the same amount of capital to start a business. It is quite hard to bid against the big boys when you don't have much money.

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Market forces does not take care of public infrastructures and the needy. Also some institutions cannot be based on market forces. For instances, would we want to allow foreigners to stand as candidates in our Parliamentary General Elections? If they are from China, probably they can be cheaper too! We can save some million dollar salaries! :) Or do we want a private army or private police force? Some things just couldn't be privatised.

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What we need is a going back to building more government hawker centres, where rents are cheap, food prices are low with delicious food cooked by independent local hawkers. It will also bring back employment to the less educated and lower rungs of the society. This I think, is one of the social enterprises Singapore needs now.

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Social Enterprise 2

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I have a friend who is starting a cattle farm in Asia. He is going to rear the cows till they are mature and sell them at a low price to the villagers, who will keep them. These cows are bigger and fed with specially planned diet, a departure from local traditional methods that results in skinny and small cows. He will also dispense medical log books to them such that his vets will be able to monitor the health of the cows regularly. With one or two healthy cows in each family, they will breed future calves, giving a good income to these otherwise improverished rural folks.

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I am impressed because this will be done without government or any NGO funding, and yet it will be profitable. Also fascinating is that my friend thought of the welfare of his people first. Clearly, it will be more efficient to acquire the villagers' land and centralise them for industrialised cattle farming and he can do this forcefully in his country, as it is not a democracy. Yet he didn't even think of such efficiency gains. To him, the people come first.

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Further, he has plans to use the profits of his farm to build schools, hospitals, low-cost housing, roads and bridges to bring up the quality of life of his people.

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This is a leapfrog from a third world developing society to a futuristic social enterprise rural society. The irony is that he is doing it within a framework of a dictatorship. His country is not a democracy. In fact, that is also why he could implement his plan quickly.

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Normally, cattle farming wouldn't be seen as a business that is socially responsible. Yet, my friend has turned such critics on their head. While environmentalists scorned at the damages to the environment, he has all the dung manually scooped up and all the waste water treated before discharge. He will soon build a power station that uses the dung as fuel and supply the electricity to those outer reaches of the hills - and this is good for the environment, as there will be no burning of fossil fuel and CO2 discharge.

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Some of my vegetarian friends would scream at me if they know that I am supporting a cattle farm. Yes, they would. I have some very staunch ones! :) Being a former vegetarian myself, I must admit I am also a little uncomfortable with the slaughtering of animals. But this is what brings employment, income and basic necessities to the rural folks. Given the present prices of agriculture, growing vegetables will not derive the same social and economic results. In cattle farming, no part of a cow is wasted, not even its bones, hide or dung!

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The success of such projects will keep the rural folks in the countryside and reduce the exodus of people into city. Transmigration from rural country to cities usually results in overcrowding and crime. Families in rural areas thus won't be separated, as their young ones will not move to cities to find jobs. It thus maintains political stability in the country.

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This is a project worth watching. I will update you further in this blog.

Bucky Group 15 - Thankful

Probably the most intellectual hair dresser shop in Singapore.
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This week we have three new faces joining us. Welcome Mano, Leela and Ema.
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In this session, we sang the song "Thankful". As we were singing, I was wondering if Joo Hock is trying to start a church! :)
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See the Youtube video and lyrics below.
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Lyrics for "Thankful"
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Somedays we forget
To look around us
Somedays we can't see
The joy that surrounds us
So caught up inside ourselves
We take when we should give.
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So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be.
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see.
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.
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Look beyond ourselves
There's so much sorrow
It's way too late to say
I'll cry tomorrow
Each of us must find our truth
It's so long overdue
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So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And every day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.
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Even with our differences
There is a place we're all connected
Each of us can find each other's light
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So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though this world needs so much more
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There's so much to be thankful for

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Discussions
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It was a beautiful song, but as it has some high pitches, some of us felt that they can't sing the song. But why should we think we can't sing? Why do we have to define singing to such a narrow definition? Just open our mouths and sing.

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In the song, we are reminded to be thankful for what we have, but Ema also mentioned that we should be thankful for what we don't have.

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Joo Hock was particularly impressed with the part,
"...Even with our differences There is a place we're all connected ..."

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I personally find that very difficult, especially with people who are lazy to think. By that, I mean they are not attentive when you are speaking to them, they don't pause to allow themselves to reason, and then blasting something totally tangent to what was spoken. I know I have to be more tolerant, but I am still learning to be how with such people.
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Hin Lan shared with us her experience when she got her class to thank the 'auntie' who was cleaning the premises, and because she was so happy that the class was so appreciative, she even went on to take care of the tea and coffee, which was not actually her job. So if we are thankful, others are more happy and they return it by serving us more.

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I have experiences in coffeeshops in Singapore where the 'aunties' collecting my plates are so down and shut off that they do not even hear what I say. And even if they do, they will give a miserable nod and move on. In other words, they are not grateful of my gratitude. Or are they? Many of them are sixty years old and still have to work for a living as a cleaner in a coffeeshop, and for a miserable salary of about $300 to $400 a month. *sigh* I seriously think there is something amiss in Singapore. The system is not functioning well somewhere.

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I usually connect with those 'aunties' by talking a lot of nonsense with them. It is not so much the content that matters. It is that they feel good acknowledged by us. I find this to work quite well.

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Clinton got a reverse experience with one cleaner apologising to him with a wide smile for having to clean the place where he was to walk over.

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One of the participants mentioned that his mother connects with him by picking up a quarrel. To her, quarreling seems to be a way to connect to her son. Perhaps he should tell his mum he loves her. Perhaps this is just what she needed to hear. Love has to be expressed. Well, the girls in the group sugggested this, but I got the feeling that it will be quite a task to reverse 30 odd years of habit and conditioning! :)

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Yes, we ought to learn to be a more gracious society. One of us say that we will never be a gracious society. Lee Kuan Yew say it will take Singapore another 50 years. "But, never say 'never'", says Annabelle. In the song, it says that we should still hope for, what we still can't see.

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Post mortem

Usually, we gather for coffee after the session, for more informal and more unstructured discussions.

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The Bucky Group is evolving more and more to be a University of Life. We come from different walks of life, racial groups, religions and educational level. One of them whom I spoke to didn't even have 'O' Level qualifications (Year 10), but I would not know if he hadn't told me. He left school when he was 16 and since then has embarked on lots of self-learning. I would like to watch him engaged in intellectual discussions with some university graduates and give the latter a run for their money. I find graduates these days are no longer really educated worldly wise. They seem to have let school get in the way of their education, as Mark Twain said.

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Now the Bucky University that we have in mind should focus on the non-mainstream people, as the mainstream is already well catered for. Soon, there will be four universities in Singapore, plus many other universities with representative private schools. Perhaps we should cater for late bloomers that didn't like school when they were 16 or 'aunties' who eventually retire as cleaners because their kids want them to retire and enjoy their old age.

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And learning need not be classroom style. Futurist and author Alvin Toffler says that we cannot assume that only teachers teach, as we learn most of our stuff outside school. Bucky says that the future university will be documentary movie production studios, where therafter, students from different geographic locations can assess these documentaries to learn. Actually, YouTube is fast becoming one.

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In Singapore, Republic Polytechnic is a tertiary institution that does not conduct lectures. Instead, assignments are issued every morning by email and students are to do their own research and hand them in before the deadline, which is usually by the end of the day. There are also no exams, so it is continuous assessment with occassional presentations in a class.

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Most of all, the Bucky University must keep the spontaneous spirit of the Bucky Group. Future funding which bring in full-time premises and administrative staff, must not dampen or change such spirits. Costs should also be kept to the minimum, so that we don't have to focus on fund raising.

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We can exploit the Internet fuller. Using email mailing list, is really passe. While we have a Facebook account, not many people are actively using it. Future dissemination of information should happen via Facebook (click here) and not conventional emails. In facebook, discussions can happen not only with Bucky Group Singapore, but anyone around the world. What more we can exploit the power of pictures, text and sound. In future Bucky Group sessions, we can even assess YouTube Clips or relevant blogs directly via the Internet. For that, we have to be thankful for the millions of volunteer bloggers and YouTube posters out there, preparing the learning materials for us. Such is the rise of the 'prosumer', as what Toffler said. Thank you!

Rewards 4 - Protection

People who are absolutely loving tend to be protected from harm's way somehow.

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Sister Teresa Hsu (now 109 years old) who does lots of charity in Singapore says that somehow she gets to know of people who were trying to cheat her. Somehow, the cheater's plot will be revealed to her unwittingly.

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A friend of mine is a very kind person and does a lot of community work. One day, she realised she was not paid for the consulting work had done for her client. She was mad! But after sometime, she learned that the client was arrested and was part of an organised crime. Should she have received payment from them, she would have been dragged into their web of crime unknowingly and will have to go through the mess of police investigations.

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Another friend of mine had recently gone into a bad patch. He was cheated by some people of money and eventually ended with his business assets being repossesed by the creditors. But despite being in such dire straits financially, he couldn't stop telling me about his plans to build schools, hospitals, orphanages, cheap housing, bridges, roads and so on, for his people. Touched by his love for his people and his benevolent plans, I set out to seek financing for him. It was tough, but despite all the initial setbacks, miracles started happening. I got the financing for him amid all the difficulties. In the end, it was amazing to see the number of people coming forward to help him. One of them even came out with a loan without asking for a written contract. I am really happy that it all ends well for him.

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I believe that in whatever we do, as long as our heart is in the right place, things will pan out well in the end. If it doesn't, that means it is not the end. :)

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The Universe also works in mysterious ways that will result in the highest good. So, as we learn to trust, we learn to listen and follow our heart.

Kids Play 8

This is a conversation I have recently with an 11 year old boy called Vince. It gave me an interesting insight into how a child would view religion in their own instinctive way and also the sad reality with the current state of religions in the world.
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Vince: I hate religion class.
Me: Why?
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Vince: It's boring. During religion class, I would sit behind, put up my book on the table, put my head down and sleep. Once, the teacher came and asked me what I was doing and I told him I was praying.
Me: What did you say you were praying about?
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Vince: I didn't say. He didn't ask too. He believed me. He thought I was an angel.
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Me: But why do you say religion is boring?
Vince: They kept saying out loud that they love Jesus and so on.
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Me: What's wrong with that?
Vince: Loving Jesus is fine, but why must they close their eyes, stretch out their arms and hands wide, and go on a trance-like state when they sing in the church?
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Me: Do you know that when you were three years old, you would stop the car and ask to go into the cathedral? And you will get all of us to go with you.

Vince: Yes, I know, but that's because the cathedral is such a beautiful architecture.

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Me: Ok. So do you believe in Jesus?
Vince: No. I don't believe in any religion.
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Me: Why do you not believe in any religion? Do you know that not believing in any religion is also a religion in itself?
Vince: Yes, but at least you don't get killed.
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Me: What do you mean?
Vince: Many people get killed because of religion. When you don't have a religion you don't get killed.

Revolutionary Wealth

Got this book "Revolutionary Wealth" by Alvin and Heidi Toffler as a present yesterday. I read his first book, "Future Shock" in 1977 and then went on to read his other book then, "The Third Wave". So impressed, I decided to take on the same route of working in other countries to learn about other cultures, technologies and the global economy for twenty years! And I did! It has been a wonderful and enlightening experience and it still feels like a dream.
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Revolutionary wealth is about the ways in which tomorrow's wealth will be created and who will get it, and how. "Wealth" will no longer be measured with money and there will be many who would be volunteer workers, such as in the Open Source community in the IT world or for that matter - Blogging. Bloggers are volunteer writers, providing in many cases, useful information. YouTube is another example of a business that gets its content from voluntary contribution, which resulted it in being sold to Google for US$1.86b.

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In other words, we have entered the era of the "prosumer" ("Producer" + "Consumer" in one), a term Toffler coined in 1980 and mentioned in "The Third Wave". That means, wittingly or unwittingly, these volunteer workers are contributing to wealth in our current economy. This phenomena of prosuming gets further mention in "Revolutionary Wealth".
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The Bucky Group is in a way a Prosumer group, we organise Bucky book readings and discussions, as lifelong education. We also adopt learning materials from the Internet, like Youtube.

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I have found two useful interviews on YouTube. See below.

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Summary

• Wealth used to be only a matter of agriculture, then we came to the industrial revolution where people come to work in factories and assembly lines.
• Now, we have developed the knowledge economy. It is radically different and a new form of civilisation. More and more economical wealth created by the application of knowledge - medicine, technology, how to manage...etc
• Traditional economics is the science of allocation of scarce resources, but knowledge is not scarce - which is the central resource
• Obsoledge - absolute knowledge - pertinent in current society, unlike the agriculture and industrial age. How much we know are already obsolete?
• There are societies where the young learn from the old and there are societies where the old learn from the young
• Agriculture - some one planted the first seed - probably around Turkey. Then we did away from hunting and nomadic communities.
• Industry - invention of steam engine, then smoke stacks and assembly lines. More people leave the fields to work in factories.
• In agriculture era, workers or family members can be late, but not in factories, they discovered they must follow the clock.
• Toffler thinks both politcial parties in the US are parties of old ideas. When Newt Gingrich became the leader of Congress he gave everyone a reading list
• Economist magazine's projection of China being the economic superpower by 2020 is based on straight line extrapolation. Also, GDP not the only way to measure. Harmonious Society or harmonious development is the latest measure, as there are 80,000 violent protest every year

Current education system are out of synch with the times for the following reasons:

1. That it was designed to educate farm hands to work in factories. It was a time when industrial discipline needs to be educated.
2. That students need to learn how to make sense of our the media, to handle the avalanche of information they meet everyday, and sorting out what is reasonable and what is not.
3. That not only teachers teach and we do not only learn from teachers. We learn more from people from outside the school. Why not bring some of such people, like pilots, dentists,...etc outside into schools as teachers?
4. A system where everyone gets the same education and start at the same age assumes uniformity in education. Toffler got a letter from a kid in Asia who tells him he wants to quit school, but not stop learning. Kids are different and need to be treated as different.

How are our institutions coping up with the changes? Our education, pension, social structures...etc.

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Why has it worked so well in (East) Asia and not so well in the Islamic world?

Seems that in Islam there is such an emphasis of the past and not enough on the future. When we (The US) gets to the Middle East, we think in terms of nation states, whilst they (the Muslims) are not.

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Indian economic explosion - They have 2 advantages, which are democracy and also English speaking.

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Chinese leadership is based on Marxism. If you hate everything you read about Marxism, like collectivism, etc, you will learn that there is something in Marxism that they understand very well, which is that technology is important to the development of societies. Many Communist leaders were engineers trained from Moscow. Contrastingly, in some other parts of the world, like Europe or France, you have people who have anti-technology point of view.

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If all the finance ministers of the world are going to call US' debts, it will be in trouble, but so would the Chinese, because the US is a major market for Chinese goods. But economics doesn't run everything, there are the social and political aspects.

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More transcripts later. Meanwhile enjoy listening to the interviews.

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Happy New Year 2008

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May this day be a blissful one and the innate bliss in you surface more in 2008 and beyond

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