On Why Singaporeans Hate Singapore (But Shouldn't)

Found this commentary via Reddit, and I have to say I agree, completely. The writer managed to crystallise many of the thoughts I've had regarding life in Singapore, including the faint annoyance that many locals don't seem to recognise or appreciate what they have.

In the accompanying comment section in r/Singapore (which, full disclosure, I usually avoid precisely because it is full of the appreciation-lacking sort), one redditor commented that the only thing they hate about Singapore is a weather. I... can get behind that, mostly. In a country with a largely consistent climate and a dearth of major natural disasters, 100% relative humidity is the price we all have to pay. On the other hand, that redditor clearly has never been to Melbourne.

In Before 2013

Haa, I quite like this time of the year. Time is continuous, so the idea of it "ending" at predetermined points is silly and very human, but humans do make things up for a reason. For instance, we do a great deal of reflecting - what we've done before, what we'll do in the future, whether life exists only here or beyond what can be attributed to Earth - so it makes sense to have a stopping point, to sit down and think.

I think I've had a good year. I've been very calm all year, only the occasionally frothing rage at someone mucking up the database FOR THE THIRD TIME! But you know, it's been mostly mellow so far. I realise how good things have been when I look at others who haven't achieved the same stability. I'd like to step in and fix things for them, but there's only so much an outsider can do. Personal peace can only be achieved on your own, I think.

The world didn't end. I'm a bit disappointed, it might have been interesting.

David Wong, a columnist for Cracked, recently published an article which is well worth reading. (I'll also note that he's rather given to using profanity in his writing.) It would have been nice if this article had been around while I was an idiot teenager/adolescent, but I suppose I should be glad that I learnt those lessons without the help of an Internet writer. You kids and your newfangled technologies.

It's now half-past three. Time for some cake!

Obvious Thing I Missed

The TvTropes logo has a lampshade hanging on it.

When did that get there?!

(It's always had it.)

Science and Creepiness

I have mentioned the SCP Foundation before, and perhaps hinted as to how much I adore the series. It is only recently, however, that I have begun to understand why made-up reports about fictitious entities, contained by an equally-fictitious organisation, have such a draw for me. It's because of when I sit down to write a report about my lab-work, or plan an experiment, I could just as easily be writing about a SCP object.

I wouldn't say all researchers in all scientific disciplines could say this, but in my case, working with infectious disease, it certainly applies. We have physical containment levels for what we work on. There are often special requirements for different organisms, pertaining to handling, containment and maintenance. While there is usually enough information to culture the organism, and prevent it or modified strains from escaping into the environment, there is frequently a lot which is not known. That, of course, is the reason for experimentation.

We often have to do things we would rather not in order to find answers. I have infected and then killed several mice in the course of my experimentation. Did I enjoy it? Of course not. But it had to be done - there's that ugly phrase again - for the greater good. It's not on the level of utilising Class D personnel, or any sort of human experimentation for that matter, but it is still unpleasant, and often difficult to morally justify.

There are always the nasty surprises - the person who breaks a flask of infectious bacteria and acquires the corresponding disease shortly afterward, the person who ends up in a room with a leaking nitrogen dewar and suffocates before they know it - all the times when a mistake was made during the most unfavourable circumstances. There are incident reports, and they are every bit as impersonal as the artificial ones in the Foundation's collection.

Perhaps most pertinently, these organisms can be utterly terrifying. Look up bacillary dysentery, or meningococcal disease, or gas gangrene. These are real-life horrors.

In handling a pathogenic organism almost every day, when the precautionary measures are known by heart, it all becomes routine. When it becomes routine, one stops imagining the worst that could happen. Why imagine, when the worst has never happened, and when paranoia leads to a waste of resources?

Horror fiction on the other hand, makes it a point to explore the worst that could happen, in the process exposing the fallacy of considering a dangerous object, which hadn't done anything harmful yet, to warrant no more caution than a harmless object. When I mentally wrote out a SCP entry for the bacterium I work on, and realised it would qualify for Euclid class, it was a shock. Had I truly become so familiar with a dangerous, dangerous pathogen, that I no longer considered it threatening? Did I really think that it could not have any nasty surprises hiding up its prokaryotic sleeves, even there are many things about it which are poorly understood? Was I so really so arrogant, that I no longer feared a bacterium which causes an often fatal disease?

The entries in the SCP series are written to be entertaining, which is why their properties are so exaggerated. It's understandable, that the more dangerous objects have to have such bizarre, obviously undesirable effects in order to be accessible to a lay audience. But if you think about it, a bacterium like, for example, Clostridium tetani doesn't need to liquefy a patient's insides or cause projectile haemorrhaging. It's already frightening for what it does naturally. 

The SCP Foundation showcases the creative fiction of some excellent writers. Are we really so arrogant as to think that Nature can't possibly be more creative?

Tricked

I admit it. The multitask mode gag (one of Google's many, many pranks yesterday) got me. Hey, Google's always coming up with crazy stuff. Why wouldn't I think that some people (gamers, mostly) might legitimately want to use two mice at once?

So, how about that new dashboard on Blogger. Personally, all the white hurts my eyes. I hope there will be some new skins to make it less eye-searing.

Aye Arr Ell

That title came out quite piratical.

Anyways, a few hours ago I was in foodcourt at a local mall and I saw a chap wearing a Hero of Heart hoodie walk by. I didn't stop to think too long about it, I just strode after him, caught up and asked, "Hey, are you a Homestuck fan?"

Turns out he was, and he seemed quite delighted to meet a fellow fan too. It's a funny thing, being a fan of an Internet series. If I saw someone wearing a Transformers T-shirt, or carrying a Fullmetal Alchemist comic, I'd think to myself, "Cool, this person likes one of the things I do," and leave it at that. But if it's something Internet-based, there's an added excitement, an immediate and reflexive thought of "Let's be friends!"

Furthermore, it seems that this particular person is Facebook friends with the husband of one of my real-life friends. How's that for six degrees?

Blue Ball Machine

It's sorta like a Rube Goldberg machine, only insane.

But check out all those details! Those hypnotising, hypnotising details.

Canon Rock

I love this song more than should be legal.

Facebook II

I think I know the attraction behind Facebook. It's sorta like having a blog, except with an actual, guaranteed audience (unless you have no friends). I think I'm starting to understand the Facebook culture, although it's still quite confusing to me.

Meh. I prefer talking to myself (and the small audience here) anyhow. Call me old-fashioned, and perhaps a little overwhelmed about losing control over the things people find out about me. I like having my secrets.

I Have Decided

When I grow up, I want to be an internaut!

P.S.: Sick sick sick sick

Facebook

I have been persuaded to obtain an account. People who know me, you may proceed to look for me, because I'm having trouble finding you.

I feel awkwardly like one of these chickens.

EDIT: Thanks, everyone!
...

Horror

So I've received some new insight into horror stories, especially those which purport to be true. Perhaps part of the terror behind urban legends and ghost stories is that maybe, maybe, they're real, it's not just people making up things and double-exposing photographs.

But what if you know the story is entirely made up?

This page gives a nice introduction to the Slender Man, a mythical being invented entirely on the Something Awful forums in June 2009. We know he was entirely made up for a thread on fake paranormal images . All the stories about him are made up, all the photographic evidence edited in Photoshop with various degrees of skill. He does not exist at all.

And he terrifies the heck out of me.

Why, really? Like I said, this mythical creature does not exist. Everyone involved with making up the "evidence" freely admits it. We actually can pinpoint the exact person who created the myth. We can read the inaugural post ourselves. There is no ambiguity with respect to the source at all.

So why the fear? Why do I expect something to creep up upon me at any moment? Why do I keep glancing behind me?

The only explanation  I have is that there is a part of the brain reacting to this sort of horror, while simultaneously ignoring the consciously-controlled, shall we say, logical portion of the mind. We do know, after all, that we aren't in full control of our bodies. We can't order white blood cells to move to a certain spot, or kill the nerve input from a particular location, or will our stomach to stop grumbling. While the brain (well, the central nervous system, more accurately) is the seat of thinking, most of it is not involved in conscious thought.

I would posit that there is a portion of the brain, developed for survival, which automatically gathers information and initiates the instinct to flee or become more alert, sometimes strongly enough to manifest as horror. I would also propose that this portion of the brain is incapable of descerning between actual images detected by the eye directly, and images on a television or in a picture. In other words, when you watch a horror movie, this portion of the brain thinks it is all true and happening in front of you, no matter how much your logical mind protests that you're sitting in a movie theater with popcorn in your lap, dammit.

This does a good job of explaining why my conscious mind is calmly analysing this while the rest of me wants me to run away, you're in danger!

Seriously, I'm hyperaware right now. I can feel the pressure when my blood passes through my veins through the part of my arm where my sleeve constricts it slightly. I can see everything in high detail, my typing, these words, sounds, everything. All for a fake, fake tentacled person who allegedly kidnaps children and kills people and stuff.

Read the thread. Read the posts if you dare. And permit your imagination to take over your mind. Prepare to be looking over shoulder for the rest of the week. Tell yourself he's fake. It won't help.

I think this Something Awful member put it best:

So many people struggle to understand the Slender Man. They wish to categorize it, compartmentalize it. If it exists, it can be understood. If it can be understood, it can be controlled. If it can be controlled, then it is not scary. You are but fools to do this. The Slender Man is not what you want him to be, not how you want him to be. Do you truly think that it is man? You think because you give it a name that all of a sudden you are somehow anywhere near what it really is?

This can not be named, can not be controlled. Just because you want it to be something does not mean it is. He is uncontrollable. He is unstoppable. He is what scares you. He is hate. He is pain beyond death. He is in your nightmares. He is in the corners of your vision.

He is right behind you.

Small World

You know how if you wander around the internet enough, you keep bumping into the same people, again and again? Every time it happens to me, I have to resist the urge to say, "Small world, huh."

Because it really, really isn't.

Google Pac-Man!

This is the greatest Google Doodle I have ever seen. Or the greatest anything, really.

Go to the Google homepage (now permenantly archived here) and play it, now! Click on "Insert Coin" to play, arrow keys or mouse clicks control Pac-Man, and click on "Insert Coin" again to load a two-player game with Mrs. Pac-Man, who can be controlled with the WSAD keys. (I had a ton of fun controlling both Pac-Man and Mrs. Pac-Man at the same time with both hands. It's also great for playing co-op with  a friend, especially since the Google maze is a little larger than the regular one.) It has sound effects and everything - so completely cool!

Thanks for making this, Google! And happy 30th birthday to Pac-Man!

Teddy Bears

The heck is this thing? I'll give a dollar* to anyone who can explain it.
*Offer may not be sincere.

Happy Birthday to...

Google!



Amazingly, I actually remember that old logo. Man, that was ages ago...

See, that's a funny thing. Computers, the internet... they've come so far, and yet most of the important milestones occured in the span of my twenty years of life.

Anyway, thank you for the ten years of service, Google. Have a happy birthday!

Cool Things II

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS!

Well, just a week. And then one more week of lectures n' labs, and then exams. Which begs the question of why this is called a "mid-sem break." But who are we to question the eccentricities of university policy? Ours not to reason why, ours but to do and die. And, er, get distinctions.

So anyways, while I was under the hammer in the past few weeks, I still took the time to wander the internet, and kept bookmarks of the more worthy things. Worthy things which I now display here.

Crime scene investigators solve crimes (or at least investigate them). But what happens when a CSI falls victim to sandwich theft? The CSI: CSI team is on the case!
"I have a sandwich at home in my fridge. You don't know what it's like!"

Fortunately for those of us who aren't CSIs, there is now a way to protect your sandwiches...

The Wikipedia FAQK. Written a couple of years ago, still relevant.

Knitted Ferrari. It's a Ferrari. Made of yarn. Er...yeah.

In the computer game Half Life, one of the key characteristics of its protagonist, Gordon Freeman, was that he was completely mute. Then again, maybe it's better that way... (Note: Some strong language.)
There are currently four episodes. I can't wait to see how he reacts to the G-man...

More later.

Update XVI: Reflection Journal

So I''m looking back at what's happened so far since I came here. As it turns out, I have adapted fairly well to living on my own. I've kept a tight set of accounts so far, I'm not spending a horrifying amount even though things are so much more expensive here, I haven't contracted food poisoning yet and... Well, I seem to be holding it together.

On the other hand, I've been unable to get to a doctor to look at the chronic infection on my leg - the staff at the campus medical centre have been extremely unhelpful, and I haven't been able to find a GP in town. Man, do I miss the convenience of polyclinics back at home...Looks like this is one infection I'll have to handle on my own. Mind you, the doctors at home never could do anything for it either. All they ever did give me were tubes of 0.025% w/v betamethasone valerate. Yes, even the one who said he'd give me a "stronger" medicine.

There have nevertheless been good days. April the First was a very good day, even leaving out the pranks.

Speaking of which, the pranks were more than enough. BBC and Google were of course busy, but I never expected Science to publish political satire. Also, Lego Halo, courtesy of Electronic Gaming Monthly. Meanwhile Firefox News had some creepy information to share and Uncyclopedia featured itself on the main page. Wikipedia has kept a record of all this nonsense and more for posterity.

So what now? A lot of work, it would appear. The first mid-semester test comes in on Tuesday.

Time to start looking forward again.

Update XV: Hello, I'm from the Internet

Perhaps someday the future xkcd envisions will come to be, and the internet will be considered an actual, legitimate location. We've already got communities, universities, shops, restaurants, arcades, cinemas, search engines to transport us between them, laws to regulate behaviour... All we're missing are the toilets.

On the subject of xkcd, it's been changing the internet again. Try Googling "died in a blogging accident" now, and you'll get something in the region of 294,000 results. That's a sharp rise from the original 2 results when the comic was published.
See? Anyone can leave a mark on the internet. Without resorting to vandalism of Wikipedia pages.

iPod vs. The Cassette pits what is arguably the most popular mp3 player worldwide against what was once the most popular music storage device worldwide... and finds the iPod lacking. It's actually quite surprising how many advantages the cassette has, in spite of its age. Probably explains why the cassette's larger cousin, the video tape, outlasted the laser disc and is still in use today.

The scientists over at Bio-Rad decided to show their appreciation for the Polymerase Chain Reaction, the technique which revolutionised molecular biology when it was first developed in 1983, with The PCR Song. It's strangely catchy, and entirely tongue-in-cheek. My class loves the scene at the end when they bring in the thermal cycler.

It seems that this blog is the top Google return for "toothpick vampire", and scores pretty high for "Bionicle going downhill." I'm rather suprised by the first, considering I didn't actually say much on the topic. As for the second...
...I thought I made it pretty clear I don't think Bionicle is going downhill. Oh well.

Finally, I haven't done a meme in a while, and Websnark had an interesting one. The idea is to complete the sentence "In my world, superheroes..." any way you like. And so:

In my world, superheroes aren't afraid of who they are.
In my world, superheroes do normal things too.
In my world, superheroes know that the local laws of physics make absolutely no sense, and they don't care.
In my world, superheroes don't need to be young to be relevant.
In my world, superheroes choose modest outfits. (Seriously...)
In my world, superheroes don't think self-sacrifice is the best solution, but they'll do it if they have to.
In my world, superheroes don't keep getting new backstories all the time.
In my world, superheroes are nevertheless capable of undergoing character development.
In my world, superheroes never do wrong to benefit themselves.
In my world, superheroes never do right to benefit themselves either. They do right because that's what they believe in.
In my world, superheroes are never evil or cruel on purpose.
In my world, superheroes are, first and foremost, heroes.

...I hate it when newer comic-book writers make old favourites turn angsty or do terrible things. They're heroes, and while it is perfectly acceptable for them to be conflicted sometimes, they still should remain heroes at the end of the day. They're supposed to give us hope - how can we have hope in heroes who are worse than ourselves?

Anyway, that's all from me for now. Til next time.

And Coming in at Number 75...

Or, Update XIII. Because 13 is unlucky and stuff.

So... Feeling a lot better now. Part of blogging is for catharsis, and writing about things tends to put them in order.

I was thinking about evil twins, and I've come to the conclusion that they would do better if the whole Spot the Imposter thing was skipped. I mean, come on. It is always painfully obvious who the evil one is, even if it doesn't sport a goatee. Because, you know, evil twins are supposed to be, I don't know, evil? And then the audience has to watch everyone else bungle around trying to figure out who the imposter is, when anyone with the slightest bit of sense would have spotted them from the outset.

No, better to skip all that and go straight to the real reason evil twins are a threat: they usually have similar skills to the good guy, so all the old favourite tricks don't work. The good guy has to really think about how the evil twin should be defeated. And that makes for a great story. This is probably the reason why KARR is such a great evil twin. (Well, that, and the fact that KARR is so deliciously devious and yet endearingly naïve.)

So... If you ever set up an evil twin story, please, please skip that hey-who's-the-real-hero routine. It's lame. Really.

Okay, so... You know the game, Minesweeper? Pretty much every modern Windows machine has a copy of the game. It stands up there with Solitaire as one of the most stereotypically common games ever.
Fanfiction.net has a section for Minesweeper.
They were right. The Internet really does have everything.
...There's a Minesweeper movie trailer too.

While browsing deviantART the other day, I came across this.
SO COMPLETELY TRUE. Even when I watched the film at the tender age of five, I thought the Beast was way handsomer than that man-person he turns into at the end. I guess even then I was tired of the prettyboy-prince-who-always-gets-the-girl stereotype, and was gratified to see a more imperfect character find happiness. And was subsequently annoyed when this original twist was ruined by reverting to the same old boring stereotype at the end.

Besides, the Beast had a nice deep voice, while the Prince... ugh.

In real-life news, Halloween was fairly fun. No one in my class dressed up, but we had a candy party. One classmate ate half a box of Gobstoppers without realising it. Though that may have been partially due to the very frustrating piece of software we had to deal with that day. (Seriously, if you are going to work freeware into a lesson, make sure it is easily downloadable and compatible with common operating systems first.)
...Squeee!

One more thing. It's Guy Fawkes Day.

Remember, remember, the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

Try not to set fire to anything.