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Monday, Dec 26, 2011 - 22:55 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

Merry Merry

Mr. Ham is recovering slowly, and has very thoughtfully given me a leaked copy of Supreme Commander 3 for Christmas, courtesy of his Cult Leader contacts:


Register Using License Key: DWN-WTH-EVL-CPT-LST-USA


I was initially doubtful, given that the second instalment had only just been released last year, but Mr. Ham said that it was the special North Korean edition. Apparently it has been a big hit, with SC1: Our Great Kim and SC2: Kim Again topping the charts in their time, helped by the fact that Starcraft had been banned north of the DMZ, due to its bourgeois capitalist mechanic of using minerals to purchase troops.

In any case, I had to sit through ten minutes of unskippable patriotic cinematics before getting to the main screen, at which I could select between the factions of Great Glorious Self-Sufficient North Korean Motherland Paradise and the Wicked Weak Hopeless Western Degenerate Conspiracy. Curious, I selected the latter option first, but it flashed a message requesting me to report myself to the nearest political commissary, before crashing the system. Ah well.

I rebooted, and after waiting ten minutes again, was thrust into the GGSSNKMP scenario, and won handily with my lone starter Loyal People's Soldier, which single-handedly destroyed the enemy forces while praising Kim loudly on every other step. Despite being quite unnecessary, I wondered how I might recruit additional units, and it turns out that all that needs to be done is to have an existing unit chant revolutionary slogans in front of any village.

In return for the gift, I tried getting Mr. Ham to cheer up by doing some pet aerobics as demonstrated by the frog below, but he jumped straight to the final chomp:



Well... hitting the unpause button...


Chapter 6: Regarding Race, Language And Religion [Continued]

Choice of English as lingua franca taken because even 40 years ago, it was clear that it would be the most useful in connecting to the wider world; advent of Internet and concurrent domination by English, with competitors like French and Russia mostly vanishing, was a stroke of luck [N.B. We were one nineteenth-century treaty away from adopting some combination of Dutch and Portuguese], and although English and Chinese should be dominant for a while yet, there are no guarantees for the far future (consider the fate of Latin)

The emotional connection with China is likely not all that strong, with locals gone to live in Xiamen still not assimilated, with Huaqiao (Chinese citizens living outside China) supposedly considered one grade lower, and Huayi (ethnic Chinese outside China) two grades. [N.B. Of course, it has to be said that this happens to some degree in reverse here, not helped by the odd misjudgment]


Chapter 7: From Strangers To Singaporeans

It is obvious that Singaporeans are not adequately replacing themselves, even with all the [N.B. as stated so often here, paltry] incentives, thus the only way to counter this is to top up the population with high-quality [N.B. key word here] immigrants.

Singaporeans are actually the main beneficiaries of the government's open-door policy (emphasized by asking the reporters whether they have maids), and despite that exhibit NIMBY tendencies with them (e.g. the dormitory case)

[N.B. This is at least partly true; just for example, salaries for maids here have been relatively low (S$450/mth for Indonesian maids - though with an additional levy of about S$170 to S$300/mth depending on circumstances), when squared up against comparable localities (S$650/mth in Hong Kong and S$800/mth in Taiwan).

If further restrictions are placed, wages for locals would go up - but so would costs, and frankly how many young uns are willing to be domestic helpers at a wage that most families with a need for them can afford? Still, the availability of low-cost labour does reduce the incentive to boost productivity.

It may be true that the Bhutanese, for example, are very happy, but everything has a cost; what is the percentage of locals who would be truly satisfied with idyllic-seeming farm work, though with lots of time spent with family, but for dirt-poor pay?]

Locals are wary of the threat from immigrants at all levels, from employment [N.B. though at least sometimes the competition is on price here] to studies [N.B. I can well believe that a good proportion of immigrant kids do study very hard, and if so it is only fair to say they deserve the results (though hopefully they become citizens eventually)]

[N.B. Personally, I sense that the main gripe against some new immigrants is the feeling that they view their time here as a pure cost-benefit calculation, in particular taking up permanent residentship to enjoy perks comparable to that of citizens, and then dropping it once the time to "pay up" swings around (usually in the form of National Service)]


Chapter 8: Standing Among Giants

According to sociobiologist Edward Wilson, when two tribes fight, a third party will ally with the tribe that shares most of their DNA; examples given are Han China absorbing invaders, and Westerners putting aside differences when threatened by Africans [N.B. and the Chinese]

Smaller countries can be constrained by international bodies, but not the big guns [N.B. as noted], and Singapore's ideal is to get maximum space by not aligning too heavily with any power. For now, this means trying to diversify into India and other parts of Asia to avoid being sucked too tightly into the Chinese orbit, and of course maintaining the special relationship with America. Other SEA nations are doing the same, balancing powers against each other.

On India against China, India was not one nation but many in the first place, and are fragmented by language, whereas China is far more monolithic and efficient, aided by their current authoritarian government [N.B. transplanted here?] However, there will probably not be direct conflict between them despite their long border. Europe remains an important trading partner, but less a strategic one [N.B. they have their own troubles now]

Singapore's direct concern would be Malaysia and Indonesia, who while unlikely to invade openly, will happily bully us if we appear weak [N.B. though who is the arrogant bully changes rapidly depending on which side of the border one is on]

Nobody knows what is going to happen in the Middle East [N.B. One of the few topics on which the MM admits he has no idea about, surely cause for worry!]

[One last continue...]


Ham Catching Up

Mr. Ham (880/1500 seeds): Tottenham to beat Norwich (at 1.67)

FAKEBERT (1514/1500 seeds): Newcastle to beat Bolton (at 2.62)



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Next: Clearing House


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Continued
Mr. Ham Founds A Cult
Economics Thus Far
The Book of Changes (Part II)
The Book of Changes (Part I)
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