Category Archives: Blog

Delta Dawn’s Minimum Wage was Zero

One of the lines from the song “Delta Dawn” went like this: “Then a man of low degree stood by her side And he promised her he’d take her for his bride” This song came into my head again, and it made me think about minimum wages, which rob the unskilled and the young, trying […]

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Speaking slots full for the year?

Over the mid-April 2023 weekend, I was privileged to have been involved supporting a few talks on Creation at a few churches. In the weeks leading up to these few talks, I had also been involved in the planning and coordination for the talks. One of the things which I kept hearing was that “speaking […]

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The Orders Joab issued to the Army

In 2 Samuel Chapter 11, we read the whole sorry episode concerning King David’s adultery and the murder of Uriah the Hittite. Most people seem to be very focused on the adultery and murder and almost nothing else. We seem to take this whole episode as telling us that, had we been in King David’s […]

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Of Maids and Military Preparedness

There has been so much talk about military preparedness recently. No wonder, with what’s been going on. So much discussion and vituperation over which strategy to choose, ad nauseum. There’s really no point discussing who is more prepared than the other. Instead, we should be talking about maids. Domestic help. My countrymen live in a […]

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Come Teach Me!

This post is really an ad. Ok, now that you’re totally put off, let me announce the availability of someone who needs you. Someone who is SAD, which means Severe Attentiveness Deficit. Ok, it can also be Severe Appreciation Deficit or any number of other things you might like to conjure up. This Someone, or […]

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Read and watch these. Come back and discuss.

I’ve never studied Economics, and some topics bore me to tears because they are just talking about how to keep consuming more and more while producing less and less. Watch this first, then read the two articles: Central Banks, Gold, and the Decline of the dollar. China as a lender of last resort. Come back […]

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Covering up for each other?

In II Samuel Chapter 11, we read the whole grim episode of how King David committed both adultery and murder. Most people I know seem to think those were grievous sins, but in King David’s case, was pardonable because King David had lived a life with a perfect heart towards the Lord God. Well, those […]

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Can we bear being Berean?

The Bereans were a group of early Christians from Berea who had a reputation for checking the Scriptures daily to see if any particular preacher, even such a one as the Apostle Paul, was actually speaking truth or confusion as measured against the Word of God. That seems to be a rare enough quality, not […]

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We the people. Blame the people. Citizens too.

One of the common leadership cop-outs is the propensity for us leaders, at any level, to blame our own lack of effective leadership on “The will of the people…” In the Bible, we are given the example of King Saul, who disobeyed the instructions that God gave him through Samuel the prophet. Instead of owning […]

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Lower voting age? Why?

Listening to a video conversation this morning, I heard that the proposal to lower the voting age from 20 to 18 in Taiwan didn’t get through. That didn’t get my attention as much as the expressed disappointment of the person presenting that fact. I am not surprised at his expression of disappointment, I am just […]

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DNA and Singapore Police. Using text as data?

As time goes on, we will acquire more and more data, information and hopefully, increased understanding of “How Things Work”. The CNA article on empowering Singapore’s Police to collect DNA samples in more situations is part of that growing body of information, knowledge, etc. This is natural, and we can expect more to come. Understanding […]

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Who’s your guru? Is your guru your god?

That might sound like a strange title for a post, but as I see more and more people talking about things like having your house full of books, which is supposed to ensure literacy for your children, having personal coaches, mentors, and so on, and of course, whether you are “fans” of sports teams, stars […]

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Same, same, but different?

The title might remind you of a catchphrase some time ago, advertizing for the “Life!” section of The Straits Times. It sort of summarizes what was going through my mind as I read the article from Geopolitical Futures again. The article link is below. 1991: False Dawn History repeats itself. History rhymes. What these people […]

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To serve our generation

I read with sadness this morning that Queen Elizabeth II died on 8 Sep 2022 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. She had been Queen for 70 years and will be missed by many. The only question on my mind was “Did she truly know the Lord Jesus Christ”? That, after all, is all that really […]

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Dependence on Institutions Breeds Corruption

A post by Geopolitical Futures’ Dr George Friedman on the state of universities nudged me to share this. The link to his article is attached. So are links to videos of separate conversations between the Honourable John Anderson and Professors James Tooley and Salvatore Babones. Do take the time to read and watch. I assure […]

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Why are we so dependent on fertilizers?

When I was younger, I was all for the idea of only using organic fertilizers, meaning animal manure, fish waste, encouraging helpful nematode proliferation (meaning earthworms, but not too much) and rotating land under cultivation to let portions lie fallow every seventh year. Recently, after hearing so much talk about how food production has actually […]

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Official overseas visits by the legislature

Why do legislatures make official overseas visits? Simple. To get more money by establishing relationships and thus increase the flow of trade, which is good for everybody. I also said before that “Navies are for networking”, with tongue in cheek, of course, but they are, if you think about it. Are you “concerned” over such […]

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Intentions. Counterfactuals.

The author of this piece, Ted Gover, PhD, Associate Clinical Professor at Claremont Graduate University, seems to know what Xi Jinping’s intentions are vis-a-vis third term prospects and armed conflict over Taiwan. I would tread carefully, since it is manifestly difficult to know what any world leader is thinking at any particular time. It might […]

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Reminders for journalists

I call this “Reminders for Journalists” because nothing I will write here is anything new, either for them or for the reading public, which includes me. Straits Times’ Opinion Editor Grace Ho writes about the often ad hominem attacks journalists, especially female journalists, face when engaging with audiences online via email and social media. Many […]

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Five Million. Let’s make it Five-Oh.

I attach the video link and also embed the video in this short post. It is a discussion between three eminent historians of today about the “Big Three” of the Second World War, namely Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin and how they fared vis-a-vis their national strategic goals as they went about defeating Hitler. This is […]

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Octopus. Octopers?

Surveys, polls and the like are nice, quick and easy tools to use, especially when they can be crafted to elicit responses one is looking for. Companies, governments, research folk and the like, seem to love using surveys, polls, modelling and so forth because they can be made to produce faster results, “conclusions” and they […]

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The god of war modelling studio

War games, business simulations, fantasy feeder games and the like are all models. Models are fantasies we create about people and places as we’d like them to be. Advertisements are models. Marketing is one big model. Political hackphrases are models. They primarily attempt to put flesh on the dry bones of the greatness we aspire […]

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The Tragic Trajectory

I have just watched George Friedman on Mauldin Economics discussing, of course, the situation in Ukraine, what it means for the rest of the world, etc. The video can be found below, and I would encourage you to watch it in its entirety, and maybe yet again if you need to in future. One of […]

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Absence of Evidence. Absence of Malice?

“Absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence”, or so we have been told. Just because the water seems fresh and clear doesn’t mean the liver flukes aren’t there. We shouldn’t get paranoid over that, but we ought to still boil the water before drinking or make sure the water gets filtered or otherwise […]

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Tax, tax, tax. Thank you to my upline.

Once again, I see arguments over more tax, how to tax, whom to tax, ad nauseum. By the way, it’s “whom” to tax, not which corporations to tax. You can’t tax companies, you can only tax people. Once again, when will we take to heart that raising tax rates lowers tax revenues, and vice versa? […]

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Human Resources. Human Relations. Human Renaissance?

I discovered that there was such a thing as “human resources”, especially a scourge called the “Human Resource Department” several years ago and came to loathe the phrase. Not long after that, I discovered the term “Human Capital” used by economists and that sat a lot better with me. Humans have a tendency to squander […]

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Apologize for tactical variations? Why?

Over the last few days, I have seen at least two persons, one Matt Taibbi writing on Substack, and the other George Friedman of Geopolitical Futures, apologizing for being wrong about the assumption that Russia would NOT invade Ukraine based on analyses of the situation. Why? Overall assessments were essentially there in the ballpark. Russia […]

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Does the rising tide still lift all boats?

Channel News Asia (CNA) sent an email titled “Making sense in a world of flux”. The phrase “redistribution of wealth” caught my eye. I followed the link to this article titled “Greater social spending and redistribution rest on economic growth and government prudence”. Reading the article, this paragraph caught my eye: I wonder what “A […]

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What does your Presence Promote?

I’ve done four episodes of “Literature” with my friend Benjamin Thomas on YouTube, and I was introduced to the idea of poetry as “bending the rules of grammar to add layers of meaning”. Well, today I was musing (well, brooding, actually) on what our Presence promotes, whether it is in-person or otherwise. So I indulged […]

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Pain is a given. Suffering is optional. Really.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in “Letters and Papers from Prison”, wrote “We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.” While most of us would regard this as honourable and true, especially when compared to Mein Kampf’s seemingly interminable […]

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To clean a plastic broom

Yes, “To kill a mockingbird” was dancing around inside my head. Let’s get that out of the way. I found myself sitting on the floor this morning picking hairs and sticky dust monsters out of a plastic broom we have. The broom was made of plastic, and the business end of it was comprised of […]

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Powerful Passport. Is that good?

I just read on LinkedIn that the two most powerful passports in the world are that of Japan and Singapore. Holding either of these passports grants you access to 192 nations without the need for visas beforehand. Of course, right now, you would want there to be arrangements for Vaccination Travel Lanes (VTLs) as well, […]

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Stage One Thinking. Go Beyond!

Edited Transcript It is 13 january 2022, Elijah’s Expressions. Yesterday I was talking and referring to something called ANOVA single factor. I’m not going to go into detail about ANOVA single factor today, that’s for videos down the road. Remember I said I need to do a course on statistics. I think I will do […]

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Good Governance. Civilized Citizens.

“Good governance key to helping Singapore reinvent and stay relevant in post-COVID-19 world: Ong Ye Kung” was the headline which caught my eye when I received the Straits Times (ST) evening update in my email inbox. I ask what good governance is and how good governance is achieved. The answer, to my mind, is that […]

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Hybrids are better. Or are they?

This is an edited transcript. 12 january 2022 Elijah’s Expressions. Today’s topic – Hybrids are better. Or are they? I’m talking of course about working from home, running remote teams and so on and so forth. Right off the bat let me state this, that many others have already observed. Work from home cannot be […]

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