Crime at the Stopover

Today I was at a highway stopover somewhere near Seremban. As I emerged from KFC after taking my lunch, this VERY shady looking fellow sidled up to me, and made some vague sounds to attract my attention. He then produced an expensive-looking phone and offered it to me, presumably for sale.

I shook my head and quickly moved on. A few minutes later as I came out of the washroom, another younger guy came and made the same proposal. As I am pretty sure Samsung has not opened a new line of distribution, these guys had to be trying to sell stolen phones.

The first thought that struck me was that they were stealing them on the spot, so I quickly went back to the KFC to warn my sisters of the impending danger. But it struck me that had they obtained the phones here, they would not risk flogging them at the exact same place for fear of being discovered. They must have stolen it somewhere else, such as Seremban, then brought it out here for resale.

So yea if you want a cheap phone, go to highway stopovers.

Wasted food

Many of us have heard the reprimand from our parents: "Don't waste your food, kids are starving in Africa!"

As I grew older, the question came to my mind of whether if we stopped wasting food, famine in other countries be relieved. The first and most obvious thought is if we wasted less, we would have to buy less food, thus the surplus could be given to these countries to feed the poor.

However that ideal may not come to pass in real life. If we were to buy less food, would farmers continue to produce the same amount and give the extra bit to poor countries? Somehow I doubt it vastly, as they would have to bear the loss in profit. The logical thing would be that the price of food would drop as the demand decreases, causing less food to be produced.

One may then ask: perhaps the governments of advanced nations and rich corporations or people could buy up this excess and donate it to poorer regions? Unfortunately, it has been done before, but the donated food did not quite find its way to the starving people; instead much of it was siphoned off by corrupt officials in these starving nations, and sold to the black market instead.

Owing to this, large amounts of dairy products in Europe are destroyed each year, for fear that if they were donated to charity they would instead float over to the black market and contribute to drop dairy prices worldwide due to excess supply.

So, the logical circumstances of us wasting less food would not be that Ethopians starve no longer, but instead that farmers worldwide earn less money due to less demand for foodstuffs. This would not significantly impact those in rich countries I suppose, but poorer farmers would feel the pain. Maybe not finishing our rice might not be that bad after all.

Why food is said to be such an important facet of Malaysian culture

I have often heard radio DJ's wax lyrical about our Malaysian love for good food, and how it symbolizes our culture. Though I do agree that we have a lovely and varied cuisine, and our people do appreciate it, I hardly think this is unique to our country - China and Japan take great pride and enjoyment in their cooking too, and they are well justified. France does as well, and even the Americans brag about their burgers. As do many other nations.

(the only nationality that keeps quiet when food is mentioned is the British)

Therefore, what is it that makes us feel that food occupies such a significant role in our culture? Truth be told, I think it is because we lack any other distinguishing point to claim. We are not united by a single culture as we are a multicultural country. Japanese think of their Yamato spirit before their food when it comes to national identity, although sushi is not inferior to nasi lemak or roti canai at all in my opinion. Lacking a single culture to point to, the other choices to boast about should be the ideals on which the country was built upon and its achievements, as the United States does. We have unfortunately nothing notable in that regard.

So I feel that this constant reference to food is a product of some sort of floundering about to catch some sort of national identity, where none really exists strongly. Really not something to be proud about...

Why people dislike wannabes

The word "wannabe" is generally used as a pejorative term, referring to those who strive to be something they are not. This term is generally used on people who are trying to pretend to be cooler than they actually are, and is thrown with great distaste.

However, let us analyze the matter more carefully. Why is it intrinsically a bad thing to wish to be something one is currently not? If an average student aspires to be an outstanding one, or an ordinary athlete strives to become an Olympian, nobody looks down on them for that. There must be something more to our distaste than this.

Consider the fact - when people wish to improve themselves in manners which benefit society as a whole, such as studies, athletics or scientific and artistic research, the general attitude towards it is encouraging, even if they fall short of their mark we honor them for trying. The "wannabe" word is thrown when the manner of improvement does not benefit society as a whole. For instance, a guy trying to be a player in terms of getting girls (but not succeeding) is laughed at and regarded as a wannabe, as is a girl who tries to dress and act like the top cheerleaders (although she is not in that circle). In other words, they are fighting for social status, in a rather obvious way, and not quite making it.

Due to social status being a zero-sum affair, other people ascending naturally makes us descend, relatively speaking. This is especially true in more enclosed environments such as schools. Therefore, when people attempt to increase their status quickly in a short period of time, such as the wannabes as mentioned above, the instinctive reaction of everyone else is to fight against it. This causes a strong feeling of antipathy.

In the olden days where bloodline and aristocracy determined one's rank in society, the older families used to look down on those who had just risen to prominence, calling them derogatory terms such as "nouveau riche" (new money). The exact same psychology applies to the dislike towards the so-called "wannabes" of today.

An offer

I got an job offer recently. The pay was somewhat better, but not a whole lot better - so I rejected it. I will not budge unless I get a 50% increment!

To some extent, I feel I owe loyalty to my company as they gave me a start in a fairly good line when I was just a lowly fresh grad and knew nothing. Is this loyalty as ironclad as that of Japanese employees in the past? No, I have my price too and for the right price I will move, however this time I did not get the right price. Sorry.

Somehow I feel very comfortable with my workplace. Familiar faces, seniors to run to when I have no idea what to do, etc. I worry that this is the comfort zone people speak of, and that I have fallen into it, as every time I think of leaving the company for other opportunities I feel slightly reluctant.

I guess if one day I have to leave then I must think of the lousy coffee vending machines to give me impetus.

Waking up early

Many people associate waking up early with productivity, as we can see from "the early bird gets the worm" and other such assorted statements. Personally I have always felt that this was garbage, as I am more productive later in the day, why not wake later and work till later? If the total number of hours spent working is the same, and equal concentration is given during those hours, is not the aggregate productivity on par?

Having defended my tribe of late-wakers, I shall now attempt to analyze why people who wake up early are seen as more hardworking.

For most of human history, we have labored without the assistance of electrical lighting, hence people would rise at dawn to work and stop work at dusk. After-dusk hours were mainly for recreation. This strong historical inertia makes us feel that if one wakes up late, several hours of could-be productivity have been sacrificed in the morning, while sleeping later only means that one spends more time on enjoyment, e.g. clubbing or surfing the net or whatever.

This is why when I work late at night I make sure to send out emails to people so that they KNOW I am working.

Game of Thrones comments (1)

Remember how Ned found out that Joffrey wasn't Robert's son? Hair color - Robert's own bastard kids are all black-haired but the three produced by Cersei are all blonde. There, the cat is out of the bag.

But our dear Ned forgot one thing: among his own kids only Arya and Jon have hair like him (and the Stark features). All the others take after his wife Catelyn. So who could have produced them? If you think of it, Edmure is not married yet despite not being that young anymore... just like Jaime.

Holy shit Catelyn and Edmure...