The Prince of Darkness Prevails

Friday - After SOT, I tried to make my way to the Marina Bay Cicruit. Ended up entering through Gate 4. It seems that the screeching of F1 cars is not music to my ears, so I had to go and buy the earplugs. Darren, who received a free ticket from me, and has yet to treat me to lunch/dinner, apparently met up with Shunjie and his friend and managed to sneak into the grandstand. (That lucky *****) I settled for a spot opposite the Esplanade, which is near a giant screen and loudspeaker (to listen to the commentary). Unfortunately, that place was also an entrance to another grandstand, and the ushers kept shoving me out of my spot. ZZZ. Alonso tops the timesheets for Practice 2.

Saturday - Went with my dad. We thought that we could catch the free bus from Kallang to the desired gate. Unfortunately, it stopped at Nicoll Highway, near Gate 1, which my dad and I have no access to. We ended up racing for 2km on the bloody Nicoll Highway, got lost near Marina Sqaure, before finally arriving near the Esplanade. Practice 3 ended by the time we got there. Qualifying was a god damn disaster with Alonso qualifying 15th. Massa is 1st (yawn), Hamilton 2nd (get him off already!), the Iceman 3rd (nice...)

Sunday - There was this procession before the race where the racers sat in some vintage cars and circled round the track. My dad refused to take out the camera coz his hands were dirty. (zzzz) As Hamilton turned by my corner, I jeered at him (as did the guy in front of me.) HAHAHAHAHA. That really made my day. While he's a racing expert no doubt, and definitely "morally' deserves to win at least 2 championships in his career, I'm just hoping that it's not this year.

The entire race was awesome. When I saw that Alonso made only a 3 spot gain in the opening seconds, I thought he was doomed. Good thing that his team decided to get him to pit early. Like Jun Jie, I was also thinking whether Piquet's crash was actually a conspiracy. Well, you can only say that in hindsight, and if you do the actuary tables, it's a terribly risky thing to do. Massa, perhaps he's not fated to win the championship. (But I really hope he does, since I don't want Hamilton to win.) Rosberg could have actually placed first, while Kubica much higher up, if they had planned to do pit stops in the same lap as Alonso. And once the dust is settled, you-know-who took the lead. 37 laps of pure teeth-grinding action, where I was left wondering if the Renault engine would screw up Alonso’s best chance of a win in over a year. Poor Kimi, he had to crash yet again, resulting in his 4th straight race without scoring a single point. In the end, the most deserving driver of all drove home to his 1st win of the season. Ah, money well spent.
Next up, the Fuji Speedway. Last year’s super rainy conditions led to a dramatic turn of events, with Alonso retiring, and giving Hamilton a 12-point edge at the end of the race. How will this year’s Japanese race shake up the race? Only 1.5 weeks left to go.

Actuarial Jokes

http://users.aol.com/fcas/jokes.html

Not read all of them though, but they sure are funny.

Crazy parents

http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Story/STIStory_280424.html

THE arrival of my newborn daughter was a source of joy for my wife and myself - until I went to obtain her birth certificate from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).
To my horror, she was given the number T08-XX444X. As Chinese Singaporeans are aware, the number four suggests death, and implies misfortune.

I appealed to the ICA officer, also a Chinese Singaporean who understood my discomfiture. But she firmly rejected my plea because rules were rules, I was told. Subsequently, I appealed to a superior officer and waited an agonising week, making several calls in between, only to be given the same answer.

I grant that sticking to a system of rules is important. But so too is crafting exceptions which humanise the system.

My wife and I took great pains to craft our daughter's name, consulting time-honoured cultural principles, because we wanted an auspicious life for her. Imagine having a birth certificate number like 444 which counters all that.

A birth certificate is a personal and important life-long document.

A system which forces officers to stick rigidly to the rulebook without due regard for cultural sensitivities is not a good one. Rules are made to serve citizens and not the other way round.

I'm not giving up. I hope that my daughter can be given a more appropriate birth certificate number and I'm not asking for very auspicious figures.


Joseph Tan

Other ways at looking at the Olympic medal tally

http://c4news.com/livepages/olympics2008/c4/olympicsResults.html

They even rank countries with medals in comparison to their GDP and human rights situation.

A for Apple... D for...

A look at the street circuit

An ideal race in Singapore. Personally I think there will be a good chance of rain, plus many cars retiring from the race. Now that's exciting. :D

And I can see Russia from my house!

Decided to put this up for memory's sake. Extracted from Judy's blog.





Among the jokes...


Mrs. Clinton: “I believe that diplomacy should be the cornerstone of any foreign policy.”

Ms. Palin: “And I can see Russia from my house.”

Ms. Clinton: “I believe global warming is caused by man.”

Ms. Palin: “And I believe it’s just God hugging us closer.”


ROFL

Uncyclopedia

I forgot this jewel existed until a revisit today.

http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Singapore


Generalizations of Singapore
The following contains some social perceptions in the modern day of Singapore:

1. Caucasian Dude with Singaporean chick = Singaporean chick likes tall and handsome outspoken guy.

Singaporean dude with Caucasian chick = Is that white bitch of sound mind?

2. Caucasian Dude open door for lady = gentlemanly and impresses everyone around.

Singaporean dude open door for lady = copy Caucasians, people around get suspicious and wonder "is he trying to score points here?"

3. Caucasian Dude chats up SG chick = interesting and involved conversation in no time.

Singaporean dude chats up any chick = creepy encounter, hesitant conversation.

4. Caucasian Dude speaking broken Chinese = cute and amuses everyone around

Singaporean dude speak fluent English = banana, soon outcasted by Singlish-speaking friends.

5. Caucasian Dude drive sports car = James Bond aura, chick magnet.

Singaporean dude drive sports car = Chao Ah Beng.

6. Caucasian Dude in suit and tie = CEO.

Singaporean dude in suit and tie = MLM.

7. Intelligent Caucasian Dude = Professional, outspoken, sporty, loaded, enjoys life, extroverted.

Intelligent Singaporean dude = independent worker, nerdy, softspoken, introverted, un-streetsmart, wins olympiads.




Sounds true to me.

Hybrid Regime

I used to think that Singapore deserves to be called a hybrid regime. But the fact that it is the electorate that consistently votes the PAP back into power in most constituencies means that it wouldn't be apt to label the government as so. It's not like the PAP didn't give the electorate the chance for them (the electorate) to vote them (the PAP) out.

Anyway I really do hope to vote come 2011.

Even more interesting polls to look at

Gallup has tons of interesting and fun stuff.


1. Taller People Are Happier

http://www.gallup.com/poll/110167/Taller-People-Happier.aspx

Interesting analysis there.




2. JFK and Ronald Reagan Win Gallup Presidents Day Poll

http://www.gallup.com/poll/104380/JFK-Ronald-Reagan-Win-Gallup-Presidents-Day-Poll.aspx

Seriously, after doing 18 months of history, I am convinced that most of the presidents mentioned are really unworthy.



3. Bush is most admired man in the US, Hillary Clinton is most admired woman

http://www.gallup.com/poll/103462/Hillary-Edges-Oprah-Most-Admired-Woman-07.aspx


Who would have thought? But of course, if the poll was designed such that the unpopularity percentages were included, Clinton would be pretty much a 0%, while Bush would be a -50%.

Interesting poll

Not sure whether it's rigged or biased, but apparently, more Americans are supporting 3rd party candidates than either McCain and Obama.

http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/356231/results

Mr Cave!

Ok, the hair color is different.



(Steven Soderbergh, indie-turned-mainstream movie director)

Excuses!