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- The State's Times commentary on the National Day Rally. What can be said? (More later) That's the weekend done - Saturday afternoon saw shopping for Mom's birthday present, which was a sight easier than finding jeans that fit (i.e. non-skinny/slim-fit, non-low-rise). Despite being willing to pay, the only pairs that were easy on the thighs (and further up) were inches too wide at the waist. There has got to be a market for custom orders. That meant no live Malaysia Cup action at Jalan Besar, but the Lions won 1-0 in any case. Next on the schedule was RunNUS in the morning - I had quite adventurously signed up for it as part of a IPPT training schedule. Unfortunately, I didn't quite manage to fulfil the "steady progression" bit, but well, it's just 10km, and I've taken out the sole inserts that so hobbled me. How hard can it be with char siew bao fuel? Slightly harder than expected. The "steady pace, no walking" plan fell to pieces at about 4km, which was about when I did some mental arithmetic and realised that my planned timing of 55-60 minutes was a bit too ambitious - if I could do it, I wouldn't be preparing for the IPPT at all! Eventually made it back in 1:18:49, collected the finisher's tee and began mulling over the eight-hour marathon time limit before my ego smacked my id. Knees certainly need more seasoning. Bowled four games after that. Need more practice. Jest On The Go Having a smartphone had made the daily bus journeys less dreary, with access to forums, news sites and Wikipedia at my fingertips. Technology has been catching up everywhere, with NUSNET password resets now possible by SMS-ing one's student number and NRIC/FIN to the SMS@NUS service, though this has somehow not been documented online. The news does, regrettably, include the above plea to perpetual one-party rule (which should resonate with some incumbent supporters who are quite incredibly mulling over an end to democracy and elections [!] - all roads do end in Rome...), which then goes on to praise the PM for bravely admitting to the inevitable raising of taxes (let's guess - mostly on the GST, to help the poor again) The cloying lauding of the PM then moves on his chiding locals for their (sometimes perhaps justified, sometimes less so) verbal assault on foreigners, which might have been easier to stomach had the reverse been emphasized as well, which I gather makes for a large part of the resentment. No home ground advantage, fair enough, but why the handicap? The farce would then be surpassed by the birth-rate problem being dismissed out of hand as (quote) "...it's ultimately not about money, it's about values, about deep motivations." Fair enough, it's not all about money, but it's still a bit rich coming from a leadership that has all but conceded that values and deep motivations are, you know, not quite sufficient when it comes to the honour of national administration. Furthermore, they are already throwing plenty of money for babies - just only to those who are making a lot of it. As previously pointed out here, look, if it's not about money, why not put your money where your mouth is and prove it? It could be noted here that the "not about money" assertion only comes into its own when the money goes outwards - there have been remarkably few qualms about using money to shape values and motivations when the money flows in the opposite direction (think the COE, ERP and additional fees for third babies in the Stop At Two era) After all this, the reference to the "national conversation project" was laughable. As Herr Ahm would say, it would be a monologue in all but name, with the proceedings as follows:
Herr Ahm: *chomping on cigar* Heh, you know it too - they're all in it too deep, by their own doing, to make significant changes. You do have to give it to them, though, for managing to sell short-termism as long-termism, and vice versa. Me: I don't think the event horizon has been reached yet, but it's closing. But they're not helping themselves with not-very-subtle banners like "Once-xenophobic Japan is being forced to woo foreign talent, in the face of some citizens' resentment" (Today, 31 Aug, emphasis as printed), which when read deeper in reveals that the foreigner percentage in Japan is like 2%, and their "influx" is 2000 skilled foreigners a year. Herr Ahm: Just face it, it's all been decided way up there - which by itself is fair enough, but an interesting point is that when the above writer decries populism, he ignores that the incumbents are the incumbents precisely as they are popular, by definition and some gerrymandering. Hopefully they do not forget to stay popular enough. Me: Sometimes I wonder, why should I care? What will be, will be, just make hay while the sun shines like them. Bat Hung Up Wang Yuegu, one of our Olympic medal-winning representatives, has retired, which brings me back to my recent outburst. I deeply regret that I was not able to wholeheartedly support the team, but it was a situation that could have been avoided in the first place. The foreign-talent-in-sports scheme started off decently enough - invite top coaches and athletes to train and spar with locals, and if a couple of them wanted to convert, well, why not? I remember enjoying Jing Junhong's exploits (she's deservedly coaching here, by the way), under the impression that it was a stop-gap measure, and that it would lead to higher standards from local players. I was also younger and more trusting. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, it turned into you win stuff for us, and we hand you citizenship, don't bother about the locals. Which may have some parallels elsewhere. Making a U-turn may be hard now, with promises that probably shouldn't have been made, made - which also may have parallels to the wider picture... Expended (Spoilers!) Was up for The Expendables II on Tuesday night:
GOD's The Word The Champions League group stage draw threw up one of the deadliest groups in memory, with Group D containing Real Madrid, Manchester City, Ajax Amsterdam and Borussia Dortmund, all league champions of their respective countries. One could almost feel sorry for the clubs. Almost. United meanwhile got Braga, Galatasaray and Cluj, and if they don't get through again, there's nobody to blame. Three's The Trick The slightly-anticipated release of Paragon levels for post-level 60 Diablo 3 characters has motivated me to develop my Demon Hunter to that point, alongside the Monk and Wizard, and I was surprised, if pleasantly, that the game got markedly easier as I hit max level and ventured into the final two Acts of Hell difficulty. Almost all mobs fell within like three arrow shots at most, while even Diablo himself took only a few concerted volleys in between dodging. I can't speak for Barbarians and Witch Doctors yet, but it has been my experience that being a Demon Hunter is far easier than being a Monk or Wizard, at this stage. Yes, Monks can heal, Wizards can teleport and area slow, but who needs any of that when an averagely-geared Demon Hunter can just fling several Chakrams, follow up by blindly shooting, and clear just about everything in seconds? Which brings me back to the pain of being melee - as far as I can see, the Demon Hunter is more or less a Monk that can punch enemies before they even appear on the screen, and who, to add insult to injury, also punches harder due to not needing to care as much about defence. Even more crazily, base damage affects near every skill; so let's say that the unfairly-punched-from-across-the-screen monsters aren't dead yet, and are now running at that insolent Demon Hunter. Well, the Demon Hunter doesn't have Teleport, but she can Vault a similar distance, and leave a trail of cinders that does 1500% base weapon damage over three seconds. If that sounds mad, it is. All this is probably why it took only 30 hours to reach level 60 this time, as opposed to 40 for the Wizard, and 60 for the Monk. Familiarity may have had a bit to do with it, less so resources, since gear upgrades were all well within self-generated funds. I suppose about 15 to 20 hours is very possible, especially without picking up items/managing inventory, and purposefully grinding at monster-rich areas (the Stygian Crawlers, or treasure chests on legs as I call them, at Arreat Crater come to mind) Mysdeth has been having a good time of it in Inferno Act I so far, with 2325 Dexterity, 786 Vitality and 400+ Strength/Intelligence, 74k+ DPS (with Sharpshooter maxed, 41k+ without), 28k HP, 70% Magic Find and 14% Gold Find. The gear required cost less than half a million gold in total, probably less if I had been patient and not depended on buyouts from the Auction House (searching for high Dex, and then considering the other goodies):
[N.B. One asterix denotes one socket filled by a Flawless Square Emerald (+34 Dexterity); all items are Rare] The take-home messages:
One other thing to keep in mind is that item values should depreciate steadily over time (unless Blizzard tweaks the generation rate of top-end gear, as some suspect), since the supply of very good items tends to grow much faster than the player-base demand - or: if one can't pass a certain barrier, don't fret - simply wait a couple of months for the requisite gear to become affordable. Next: A Smattering Of Studies
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