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Saturday, Oct 14, 2006 - 19:49 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

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Diving Into Power Trends

Diving

Week Five saw United fulfill nearly all my wishes - beat Newcastle by at least two? Check. Beat Newcastle by exactly two? Check. Lead both in the first half and the second? Check. Only a ballerina dive by Zokora robbed me of an elusive 100% strike rate. One particular comment had me in splits: "It must be the name Didier!"

Bumper gain of $159.50 even without that, and so much closer to breaking even - $468.90/$500. Why get off a winning horse, I say, so this week is more of the same:

$30 on Man U to beat Wigan (at 1.40) - Their turn
$30 on Man U (-1.5) vs Wigan (2.35)
$10 on two goals in the above game (3.30)
$20 on A-A in the above game (2.10)
$10 on Reading to hold Chelski (3.50) - Come on, you can do it!

Well, to be fair Cristano Ronaldo has done his fair share of tumbling too easily, but he appears to have cleaned up his act. Since I'm not a manager or anything *hint hint Wenger*, there's no reason to be blind to everything your team does :)


The Bad Old Days

Okay, okay. Sometimes he still does it. But until soccer introduces instant replay challenges like American Football, it's just going to happen again and again. Beats me why some technology is so hard to implement, like chip-enabled balls. Then again, soccer is one heck of a serious business, and I don't wish to rehash that tired Bill Shankley quote again. How many other sports are there where mobbing the referee was a quasi-legitimate habit? Boxing maybe. Even war didn't stop for the Olympics, but once it did, for Ronaldo. Oh, and Pelé, way back in 1969.

Power

The world would be a kinder place perhaps, if issues could be settled in the competitive arena. However, a world where Brazil would be a hyperpower is just hyperbole, for in reality there is only one true measure of strength, to which money and law both appeal to in the end - for what is the law without the policeman's gun? Less than the dirt beneath one's feet.

As Hesiod says in Works and Days (and is repeated in my Philosophy module):

"...And now I will tell a fable for princes, who themselves understand. Thus said the hawk to the nightingale with speckled neck, while he carried her high up among the clouds, gripped fast in his talons, and she, pierced by his crooked talons, cried pitifully. To her he spoke disdainfully: "Miserable thing, why do you cry out? One far stronger than you now holds you fast, and you must go wherever I take you, songstress as you are. And if I please I will make my meal of you, or let you go. He is a fool who tries to withstand the stronger, for be does not get the mastery and suffers pain besides his shame." So said the swiftly flying hawk, the long-winged bird."

Men live in contradiction, appealing to temperance while always hungering for more, cloaked in some weak satisfaction while on the lookout for some advantage to grasp. Like a jittery pugilist, he bobs and weaves, at one instance crying out at the unfairness of it all, but soon after beating on a downed foe. His complaints are not about the nature of injustice, but to its degree, most importantly as it applies to himself. This attitude would be bearable, if they take not this sophistry to another level by bestowing upon themselves a facade of right and justice, like when young "self-made entrepreneurs" chirpily declare that they got funding and connections from their parents and a few shopfronts to start off with but "it was all my own hard work in the end".

For power is the truth, as a people more ancient and probably wiser than us observed. In the Melian Dialogues, the Melians came right to the point. Don't bullshit us, and we won't waste our time by bullshitting you either. You want us to be your ally, and will attack us if we refuse, and that's that. The Athenians candidly acknowledge the truth of the situation:

"...For ourselves, we shall not trouble you with specious pretences - either of how we have a right to our empire because we overthrew the Mede, or are now attacking you because of wrong that you have done us - and make a long speech which would not be believed (i.e. no bullshit offer is on); and in return we hope that you, instead of thinking to influence us by saying that you did not join the Lacedaemonians, although their colonists, or that you have done us no wrong, will aim at what is feasible, holding in view the real sentiments of us both; since you know as well as we do that right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."

I enjoy the courtesy of chatter as much as any other, but of all things I dislike, among the greatest is that of the person who cannot bear to say something to the point. Oh, going on a twist or two is alright, and if wittily done even much appreciated; But I squirm when I sense a person poking all around a subject unwilling to spoil his Aura of Universal Acceptability by actually saying it out, and not as some punny literary device.

It is a game I could play, but I refuse to most times. There will be those who are offended, and to them I apologize, whatever that may mean to them. To others it is a glaring flaw, lack of E.Q., they remark. Only knows his books. So? I was not made to be a courtier, and I play the part when I please, like the hawk in Hesiod's tale; There is some logic in the assertion that such social "graces" may help in defusing otherwise aggravating situations which could lead to unnecessary losses in strength, but to me it is not worth it to make it a principle. It may be difficult to believe, but peace and happiness may not be what all men crave. In matters which I care about, I will do as I must.

Trends

And what do Singaporeans care about? Wealth, it appears. Second by search ratio only behind Phoenix, Arizona in the US, according to Google Trends. Yes, nothing new. But what about power? It turns out that power is, at a brief glance, searched at least ten times more frequently than wealth. You could try the term money, but in almost all cities the frequency for wealth and money together do not come close to power.


Power >> Wealth (linear scale)

Which is odd. What is there to find by searching for power? Your friendly local utilities company? Better deals for electricity or petrol? And yet this wide disparity exists.

But, is there anything more powerful than power itself?


It Gets Worse...

Afraid so. And yes, cute little island-state loses out badly again. No time to be amorous, I'm afraid, as Durex found out. Right at the bottom of the pile. Then again, the world leaders in searching for that three-letter word are Cairo, Egypt. Wait, isn't that a stuffy conservative religious state where godless atheism and agnostism is frowned upon? All I can say is, well done!

Errata

Not really wrong as such, but in my last post I passed up an opportunity to link to the Red Queen hypothesis in my diagram, instead colouring it orange. The pawn would be harder, but even if I kept it green I should have linked it to some Eco-benefit auction site, or just made it gold and linked to a more plausible gold trading site. Oh well, this grasshopper has much to learn.

And I left out an original quote just made for that post:

人生来下的,只是个残局

And a mention of one of my fav Chinese songs, 棋子.



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