mrbrown.com

NLB Talk: Rise of the Blogfather

I has been a while since I have given a talk. I think at least four years. So I was very chuffed to present at the National Library over the weekend, as part of their Our Published Heritage series. I thought the title "Rise of the Blogfather" was very cute.

Thank you all for coming to my talk at the National Library on a rainy Saturday afternoon! It was great to share my stories with you!
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Sorry if I didn’t get a chance to speak with all of you guys more after the event. It was so wonderful to touch base with you!

I was particularly happy to have my wife and two younger kids present too, as well as old friends and family members, coming down to support my little talk. And the 200-300 of you too.

21 years of doing mrbrown stuff online. How time flies.

‪[Top photo of me by the other Blogfather, Winston Tay. Thanks, dude!]

Zero Point

These are the cut-off points for Junior Colleges for next year, to do A Levels or IB.

You get 1 point for an A1. Means lower is better.

Some of these schools need 3 points out of 6 best subjects leh. So you score A1 for your 6 best O Levels also not enough.

How to get three points from six subjects, you ask?

First, your L1R5 is the aggregate of your English marks and 5 best subjects. If you get 6 A1s, your L1R5 score is 6.

Then you can bring down your score further by another 2 points by passing Mother Tongue at Higher Level.

Having a Co-curricular Activity (CCA) distinction will give you another 2 points less.

Or if you have a school affiliation, another 2 points off.

So in theory, you can get an aggregate of 0 with 6 A1s.*

So if you are a 100% A1 O Level student who represented your school in an international Maths Olympiad for your Maths Club CCA, plus a school swimmer who won an ASEAN games medal, while being extremely gifted in Higher Chinese, and hail from an elite secondary school, you will have no problem.

No pressure, kids and parents. No pressure at all.


*(Ok, I exaggerated a little. The maximum you can minus is 4 points, so the lowest possible L1R5 is 2 points.)


Update: This was shared by my friend who explained the system further to me. Let me see if I can explain it correctly. He said if you get 20 pointers or fewer, you are guaranteed a place in JC, What's on the table above is the first-choice lowest point score that you needed to get into a course based on the previous year's batch.

There is no such thing as a predetermined cutoff point. If only 18-20 points students applied for RI as their first choice, then all those 18-20 pointers would get in. It is based on market forces. The COP is therefore based on the market in the previous year, where many super-low pointers aimed for that school as their first choice.

Vote for your DTL Stage 3 MRT stations

MRT station names for the East Coast stretch of the Thomson–East Coast Line (TEL) and the Downtown Line 3 Extension (DTL3e) are up for public voting. My two cents:

Update: Sandy Point apparently has historical significance. http://mrbrwn.co/1M3aFih

No school today on account of haze

Last night, the kids kept asking me if there was any news on the haze and school situation. You could tell they were very concerned about the environment. And also about whether school would be closed today on account on the haze reaching hazardous levels.

I even made a Facebook status update that said, "Thou shalt not raise children's hopes that school may close tomorrow. School isn't closed till the Fat Lady sings."

Moments later, the Fat Lady sang.

The MOE announced that 25th of Sept, Primary and Secondary schools will be closed on account of the worsening haze. Even Faith's special school would be closed.

And then we saw the. Fastest. News. Transmission. Ever.

I've never seen news travel this fast on social media and Whatsapp groups. Think of all the parent-support Whatsapp groups, kids talk-cock Whatsapp groups, and Facebook feed updates, all exploding at once.

The hardworking teachers of our children also emailed and called us.

So I broke the news to the kids at 10pm.

"OK, kids. Tomorrow confirmed no school."

"Yay!" the kids cheered.

"However, we are still setting you homework to do at home."

"Eeyur," said the kids.

You can run but you can't hide. What I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long parental career. I will look for you, I will find you, and I will give you assessment books to do.

In case you are wondering, that hazy effect over Liam Neeson is actually from a photo I took of the haze outside my home at 6.55am this morning. My weather app stated the PSI reading at 334, which is pretty nasty.

Bloomberg: Singapore Election Spotlights Faces From General to Blogfather

I am in this article from Bloomberg:

Singapore Election Spotlights Faces From General to Blogfather

Nicknamed the “blogfather” of Singapore, Lee Kin Mun’s posts under the moniker “mrbrown” have highlighted issues from housing to transport, and brought him to national attention. Prime Minister Lee pointed to his influence in his 2011 state of the nation address and has invited him to the presidential palace for tea.

The blogger has more than 187,000 followers on Twitter and 25,000 on Facebook -- more than each of Singapore’s two deputy prime ministers. He’s poked fun at politicians from both the PAP and the opposition, including a recent video which satirized the pageantry of unveiling new candidates.

Election season “is very busy for me,” said Lee, 46. “When I kicked off the first few shows, there were replies saying, OK, it has begun. The elections have formally begun because mrbrown has begun.”

Wah, on the same page as Sylvia Lim and DPM Tharman. You can tell this is an old photo because that iMac is retro sia.

[Photo of me: Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images]

Twins or Not?

Hey, Microsoft! Your Twins or Not? website is obviously not working.

On the other hand, the site got it right with my wife and me. People do say we have 夫妻相…

Why Cheryl? Why you do dis?

First it was your birthday, now it's about your kids? Someone unfriend Cheryl already!

(If you need the answer, it's on the SASMO FB page.)

A little lesson on Lah and Leh

When I shared this little Singlish lesson by my friend Dr Gwee Li Sui on Twitter and Facebook, it went totally-bananas viral. The screen cap is from Mr Mak Siew's Facebook.

It even made it to the papers. But hor, they spelled mrbrown wrongly leh.

Then again, they spelled Dr Gwee's name wrongly foo. Sad sia.

Of Awards and Reshuffles

That's nothing, I won Best mrbrown in my house for 18 years running.

In other news, there has been a cabinet reshuffle. My IKEA cabinet in the kid's room is now in my study.

I'm glad I got that off my chest. I'm quite proud of my shelf.

Are you not entertained?

Ok kids. Pop quiz. There is a parang slashing happening in your school. Do you:

A) Run the hell away
B) Run the hell away and call the cops
C) Stay and watch
D) Stay and watch and video it
E) Relak one corner and provide a running commentary

This is the video of the ITE College West slashing incident.

In Singapore, consumer protection is a joke

18 complaints against this Sim Lim Square shop and nothing is done.

This Sim Lim Square case shows you that the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) is still a useless and toothless organization that can't even deal with the random chow Ah Beng.

A nurse speaks: it's not just about the pay

This was written by a nurse friend of mine, let's call her "Nurse A". I thought it was very enlightening to read, a look at the societal perspective on the value of health:

As more articles surface regarding nursing, lack of nurses and demand for pay raise, I only have one recurring thought — society has all our priorities wrong.

A nursing diploma is one of the least desirable — an aggregate of 28 points will get you a place in poly. Most say that is so that those who want to be a nurse, can be a nurse, regardless of grades. But that means that those who do not do well, or cannot study well in secondary school and cannot make it to say, Business, or Arts, may choose to study nursing.

Then this whole cycle starts:

1. It is not their interest, thus, many will drop out or not work as nurses even after graduating. And we wonder why polytechnics cannot churn out enough nurses to meet the need. They don't end up in the workforce.

1a. Don't get me wrong here, but healthcare is dealing with lives, with medicine. We let a bunch of people who can't study well and have poor results become nurses. Nurses who are dealing with your lives. A calculation error or an error in judgement can occur in anyone, but I just don't see why you want the smartest to become doctors and the not-so-academically-inclined to become nurses. (Note: I've seen people who are horrible in their studies go on to be awesome nurses, but you get my point about the different requirements for people who are technically in the same line and deal with life and death)

2. If they don't have a backup job to go to, they start working as nurses. Then you have a group of nurses who have zero interest in working as a nurse - You have a bunch of average nurses. A bunch of average nurses, who do the bare minimum, who ARE TAKING CARE OF YOUR ELDERLY FATHER. That's right.

3. And the pay. The pay is not enough. We work long hours, with high patient acuity, low manpower, short or no breaks, highly stressful environments, low recognition/ appreciation, and you get to deal with the unreasonable patient or family. How is it justifiable? Someone that deals with your money earns way more than someone that deals with your health. Obviously, money is more important than health to this society.

4. Then, people migrate or switch to the private sector. The pay in higher, the patient load lesser, and the satisfaction is higher. Then the workforce loses manpower.

There's more to this never ending cycle. But the main point is, society needs to review its priorities. Just raising the pay of nurses to "pacify" the nurses in the workforce now will not solve the problem. To breed a different class of nurses, it needs to start all the way from people's mindsets. From the start of education.

Just remember, you may be the world's richest billionaire, but if one day you are stuck in a hospital under the care of a underpaid, undereducated nurse who is working three jobs to support her family, who has 12 patients under her care, three hours of sleep, no food, a full bladder, five bloods to take, 7 medications to serve, money cannot save you then.

[Photo of my brother tending to my mother who was recovering after her knee operation. She fractured her knee earlier this year.]

Transport Minister: "Fare hikes needed to keep bus contracting model sustainable"

"There is surely no free lunch… The Government is committed to ensure the affordability of public transport fares. However, regular fare adjustments are still necessary to ensure the overall financial sustainability of the public transport system." says Lui Tuck Yew.

Fares NEED to increase leh. Thanks ah, Transport Minister! Thanks!

Here I thought the the whole point of the bus contracting model was to keep prices competitive and services efficient. Silly me.

Finally! The Pioneer Generation Package video in CANTONESE

It pleases me that there is finally a Cantonese version of the video that explains the Pioneer Generation Package (PGP). After I saw the Teochew one, I was wondering if they would release a Cantonese one, since that is my dialect group.

I showed the YouTube video to my mom on the family tv via my iPad/Apple TV. She quite enjoyed it, since she is also Cantonese (she is a hardcore TVBJ channel fan) and also a Mahjong playah. She totally got all the references and laughed at the presentation. She even asked to see the other dialect videos, and enjoyed those too.

It is cool to see dialects being used to communicate policy. But why stop at just online media? Show on tv lah! Show in the cinema lah! Sure, I can show my mother this Cantonese YouTube video on my computer or Apple TV, but it would be so much easier if the dialect videos can be seen in mainstream media too.

Good thing my mother understands and speaks English, so she can learn about her benefits as a pioneer generation citizen from other sources. For other older folk, these dialect online videos may be the only way they get to understand the package. So do show these to your loved ones if they need to understand the PGP in dialect.

Anyway, here are the three videos if you want to watch them all. Which one do you like the most?

Cantonese version: http://youtu.be/q-AtDI5EUqs

Hokkien version: http://youtu.be/cNPXz-xwziQ

Teochew version: http://youtu.be/edk70tCq13A

Marina Coastal Expressway: Many Cars Entrapped

I hope all of you who drove through the super-expensive Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE) enjoyed your view of the tunnel walls.

The Marina Congested Expressway has now given everyone a chance to be stuck in a jam 25m under the sea, as hapless drivers get confused coming in from the ECP and Benjamin Sheares bridge only to find no through roads to the AYE.

Hey, it's the most expensive expressway we've ever built so it must be good, right?

Maybe a little more money spent in public education and awareness would've helped prevent this mornings traffic chaos, methinks.

Day 2 of the MCE: The above image is the cab fare of one commuter from Bishan to Marina Bay Financial Centre after the taxi driver got lost three times.

I think for that money, you could fly to KL already. And in less time.

Personally, I think MCE is so named because after you drove on it today, tomorrow you will take MC.

Anyway, what makes you think the MCE was meant to ease your traffic woes, dear driver?

It was built to reclaim prime CBD land for further development. Your driving experience is secondary. Now it is even HARDER to drive from the ECP to AYE. Fun times.

[image via @todayonline]

Funny comments at Amazon page for an 85-inch LED TV

This Amazon listing for a 85-inch LED TV costing US$39,997.99 (down from US$44,999.99!), had hilarious comments:

"At first I hesitated to make the purchase, but then I saw the two AA batteries were free with the remote, and I was all in! Having this really fills in that empty space we called a bathroom!"

"I am coming back from the future to write this review, and to let everyone know you can buy this TV for $699 in 2015. It still looks great though."

"I was going to send my two kids to college but I knew I had to do what was best for my family so I got this beast instead. I'm fairly positive my wife will end up coming back, I'm sure she'll realize how unreasonable she was being. Marriage for 20 years or a tv thats 85 inches? Last time I checked, 85 is bigger than 20."

"When I found out that Samsung accepted human kidneys as a form of payment I was overjoyed. The price was one and a half kidneys so I told em to keep the change and just take both of them. I'm just out of surgery and the set looks great in the ICU...well from the bed I can see half of it in the nurse's station. Funny...I didn't think you could survive without any kidn"

"When comparing TVs here, I saw Amazon also sells an 84" Toshiba model for just $13K. But I got this one instead, and haven't regretted the purchase, because as a rather insecure male, it's well worth the extra $27K to have that extra inch."

"I was planning to go to college but then I thought to myself, "What would be a better investment?" Let's just say the Samsung UN85S9 85-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz 3D Smart LED TV looks a lot better on the wall than any college diploma could."

My favorite one was this by "James Thach":

"My wife and I bought this after selling our daughter Amanda into white slavery. We actually got a refurbished. It's missing the remote, but oh well-- for $10K off, I can afford a universal, right? The picture is amazing. I've never seen the world with such clarity.

Amanda, if you're reading this, hang in there, honey! We'll see you in a year.

*****

I just wanted to add an addendum to my review. Since posting it, we have received a flood of responses. People have said some pretty hurtful things--even questioning our values. Let me assure you, this was not an easy decision to make, and we made it as a family. Obviously, it's very personal. But in light of all the second-guessing, I wanted to explain our thinking.

First and foremost, screen size. I really think you can't go too big. 85" may seem huge, but you get used to it fast. Second, resolution. Is 4K overkill? Please, that's what they said about 1080P! More dots = better. Period. And as far as this being a $40,000 "dumb" TV, people need to re-read my initial post: WE BOUGHT IT REFURBISHED. It was only $30,000.

Some of you may think I'm avoiding the "elephant in the room"-the real reason why this was such a heart-wrenching choice. So let's just get it out there. Yes, the 120 Hz refresh rate is a disappointment, especially on a 4K. But life is full of compromises. And frankly, we hardly notice. All in all, no regrets.

P.S., as for our daughter, NO ONE has the right to question our parenting. Totally out of bounds. Amanda was going into 7th grade, so it was going to be a transitional year anyway. Now she gets to see the world. How many kids her age get to go to Bahrain? I sure as heck didn't, but you don't hear me screaming "child abuse." Bottom line: MYOB! Seriously.

*****

Has it been a year already? Wow! I guess that's what 8 hours a day of immersive TV will do for you! Many of you have expressed your eagerness for an update. Well, here goes.

Generally, the Samsung has held up beautifully. We have noticed a little bit of lag, mostly in multi-player gaming--but not enough to cost us any firefights. There have been some issues up-imaging low rez content, but that's to be expected when you early-adopt--we're still "waiting on the world to change," as John Mayer would say (gosh he's talented.) On the plus side, we feel like we are now officially part of the cast of GOT. The other night Peg almost had to open a window to let Daenerys' dragons fly out!

And you'll all be happy to know our darling Amanda is back with us, safe and sound. She has changed a little. She's less talkative than before (though she had some choice words for me when I asked her to clean her room). And she's started wearing eye make-up, which has Peg a bit concerned. But welcome to thirteen, I guess. We're just glad to have her home. And she loves the TV. That's the main thing. In fact, she spends so much time in front of it lately, you'd swear she owns it.

iPhones for the departed

From reader "mystery story":

"Yesterday I went to buy joss sticks and joss paper to pray for my ancestors. The towkay asked me if I want to buy paper iPhone to burn for my ancestors. I said they know how to use or not? He said Steve Jobs already there, can teach them to use. I said ok loh.

He asked want to buy casing? I also said ok.

Next he asked me if I wanted Bluetooth? I said might as well loh.

What about charger? I said need charger meh? He said of course lah, after battery no power how? So I bought the charger also.

Then I asked for his name card.

He said why you need my name card? I said I burn for my ancestors. For warranty claim, they will contact you direct."

Voyager 1 has left the building

We finally did it… we finally succeeded at littering beyond our solar system.

The Voyager 1 spacecraft has become the first human-made object to leave the Solar System and enter deep space.

I hope it remembered to close the windows and turn off the gas.

Miyagi pointed out that the Voyager 1 has a greeting in Hokkien. Click on this link to listen to this Hokkien message to the stars: http://mrbrwn.co/1bcVe9O.

Anytime now, the Vulcans will come for us. Or Klingons. Or Borg. And they will come with a Hokkien greeting too, "LIMPEH KA LU GONG! LIMPEH AI ATTACK LIAO!!!"

Voyager has boldly gone where no probe has gone before. Let's hope it doesn't get stuck on some intergalactic starship's exhaust pipe and cause a space accident.

I wonder if NASA blessed the Voyager 1 back in 1997 1977 when it launched. Must learn from Singapore mah, like the way we blessed the F1 track.

In true Singapore kiasu pattern: Ask one god maybe not enough so must Loong Zhong Ask Ka Liao.

[photos via BBC News and TODAY]

What the British say and what they really mean

This has been making the rounds on the Internet and I thought it was not bad.

Quick, let's demonize a slower pace of life

That's some serious right-wing propaganda bullshit from our local papers.