Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Matching donations for Tsunami Relief

In case your employer doesn't match you donations, I've found (via Tiffinbox) that Sulekha will match your donations made to the Association for India's Development. Both are great orginizations. Here's more information:
http://www.sulekha.com/aidtsunami/


Year in Review - Another time

While I was on the plane betwen here and Singapore I typed up some of my thoughts about the past year. Most of those thoughts were quite upbeat. It doesn't seem quite right to post such things now that the images from South and Southeast Asia are flooding my mind.

I have to say that the past year has been very good to myself and my family. I've rarely had anything to frown about. There have been so many things which have made our year memorable and so many things which we'll cherish. But you know, I'm going to leave it for right now. I may post those thoughts in the new year, but for right now, let's leave it at that.

By the way, when you're looking to donate for disaster relief efforts, check to see if your employer will match your contributions. Most big companies will find some way to match. If they don't, ask your HR department if they can do that in this special case. My company not only matches our donations 100%, they exempt donations to Tsunami relief from our annual limit of $1000 matching (per employee)...they did the same after the Gujarat earthquake.

Monday, December 27, 2004

Fair Elections

Before the election, I wrote about some fundamental problems with the American Elections system. The NY Times has a short op-ed today about setting standard for fair elections. I'm happy to see that some people are still concerned about the process of voting. It's also encouraing to know that there is such a thing as the Election Assitance Commission, but I hope this commission doesn't just come up with half-baked suggestions which don't address the fundamental problems.

It's amazing to think that news about fair elections in Ukraine and Iraq hasn't gotten people more riled up about fair elections here. Let's hope the pressure remains and real solutions are brought forward to ensure fair voting during the upcoming mid-term congressional elections.

Tsunamis

There's not much to say about this other than to express shock and horror. I've been working from home today and have constantly watched the news for updates. Some of the footage is really just unbelieveable. It's like watching a summer movie blockbuster, but once you realize that it's all real, you're just left speechless.

Here's a great map of the affected areas.

If you'd like, you can donate to the Red Cross here.

Sunday, December 26, 2004

Malls & the Eight Hour Layover

We got back from Singapore a couple of days ago. Happy Christmas!

So I'll refrain from an extended description of every last thing we did in Singapore (All 5 regular readers of this blog will remember, with pain, the posts about Europe and wince). I reserve the right to post about Singapore in the future, but I'll try to keep it associated with interesting photos I took while there.

So I'll just post a couple of thoughts about Singapore right now before moving on to the annual review of the past year. Maybe I'll even have some resolutions!

Two of the things Singapore is known for (at least in my mind) are the shopping and the airport layover. If you've ever travelled to India you may be quite familiar with the 8-hour layover. I never really gave this much thought until this trip.

By coincidence, a couple of our friends stopped in Singapore for 8 hours while we were there. So we picked them up from the airport and took them to a few spots where they could eat some great food and get an idea of the shopping. While taking them around, I realized that this is exactly what the Singapore government wants and this is exactly why the 8-hour layover even exists.

Think about it. Travellers going to other countries don't think anything of this layover. They don't think they're visiting Singapore. In fact, they're really just visiting India or some other country in Asia. But the reality is that in their short stop in the country, most people will spend at least a few bucks that they weren't planning to spend. Whether it's on food or shopping, Singapore still wins. Our friends spent over a hundred Sing dollars in just a few hours. If every transit passenger spends just S$10 while there, it's a huge plus for the country. And the government doesn't even need to convince people to visit the country, they've just had the national carrier schedule their flights to encourage people to spend a few hours looking around.

And as far as the shopping malls go? I'm convinced there are so many malls in Singapore because of the heat and humidity. Seriously, why would anyone wants to spend time in the oppresively thick air when they could stroll around the comfortable confines of one of the thousands to shopping malls? Hong Kong seems to be the same way.

So next time you find yourself stuck in the Changi Airport in Singapore waiting for your next flight, think about what the government wants you to do. Shop and eat.

Sunday, December 19, 2004

Redemption, Singaporean Style

When writing about Singapore, I realize I'm not encouraging people to come here. Afterall, I've pretty much said they've got wierd laws, no freedom, and not much diversity. But, I had to say there is definitely a few great things about coming here. Well, for me, there's one more - in-laws - but I doubt many people are married to ex-Singaporeans. So I'll try to redeem myself in the eyes of Singaporeans everywhere.

Anyways, the tops on the list for coming here: FOOD.

I cannot get enough of the food here. There are so many cultures here tat you can find amazing mish-mashes of food that end up tasting great. While you may not find people mixing with each other, nobody has a problem eating food from other cultures. Moreover, various elements from different cuisines have been combined in ways to create great flavors that please the palate. Spicy, Sour, Sweet, Salty, Crunchy, Hot, Cold..you name it, you got it.

Now that Singaporean food is getting more popular in the US, it's easier to find it there, but it's a bit odd eating such food in a nice restaurant. Afterall, in Singapore that same food is served in food courts and hawker centers. Just imagine if Sbarro's and McDonald's were fine dining restaurants and you paid $3.50 for fries, $8.50 for a Big Mac, and you were given cloth napkins upon being seated. If only we could get cheap Singaporean food in the US....I'd swear off all other cuisine including Indian!

BTW, a hawker center is a uniquely Singaporean thing. It's basically a big covered space with many, many stalls with different types of food. Sort of like a food court, but not in the mall and generally a bit grimy. Anyways, they have the best food since it's quite authentic and really cheap.

Another great thing here is the shopping. The prices aren't nearly as good as they used to be. Electronics are no longer cheap here. But there is still some good shopping left here. Mainly for women (as usual), but even guys can do a little shopping for clothes and shoes and come away with good deals. Too bad the dollar is so weak, otherwise the deals would be even better!

And finally, Singapore is the perfect hopping point for travel in the South East Asia. It's kind of like going to London and getting cheap flights to mainland Europe. In Singapore, you can go to any travel agent in any mall and they'll have a catalog of different vacation packages. You can hop over to Bangkok for 6 days with flight, hotel, and breakfast included for less then SG$500 (about US$350). Not bad. Last time we were here we went to a resort town in South Malaysia for a couple of days for something like $90 a person.

Anyways, this should give you an idea of some of the good things about Singapore. I will now ask the government agent to stop pointing a gun at my head :)

Saturday, December 18, 2004

Forced diversity

I've only been here in Singapore a few days, but there is one new thing I've noticed since arriving. While there is great ethnic diversity here (Chinese, Malay, Hokkien, Indian, etc), there is very, very little cultural diversity. Not to say that every city in the US is culturally diverse, but I've always figured that when there is high ethnic diversity, cultural diversity follows, especially after a few generations.

But in Singapore? Far from.

The only mixing of races I've seen so far has been American (more correctly Caucasian) ex-pats dating locals. There really isn't much else. Chinese folk stick with Chinese folk. Malays stick with Malays, etc.

And I don't think this phenomenon is linked to new immigrants. Singapore seems to have relatively little permanent immigration. Those that move here tend to fill labor intense jobs, but they are here only on temporary visas. This lack of cultural mixing is amongst people who have been raised here. And that's what puzzles me.

So connected to my previous posts about the Singaporean government's parental attitude, the only place where I see any attempt to learn about other cultures is in the newspaper or connected to governmental programs. I suspect the debates in newspapers are something which the government "encourages", otherwise I doubt we'd even see that in the papers. Regardless of the reason for including it in the op/ed pages, this seems very contrived.

The types of things I've seen in papers are op/ed pieces about Non-Muslims and Muslims getting along better (preventing "extremism" is one of the government's new published goals). I suppose wanting to get along better with people of different backgrounds seems only natural for Americans, but it's really wierd here. Like I said, it seems like only the government wants this. They support ethnic diversity amongst neighborhoods by forcing a mininum diversity in apartment buildings (e.g., if there are too many Chinese living in a specific building, more Chinese can't buy places there). They support various programs to get people together in public ways.

But in everyday life? The most common places for Singaporeans to congregate are the mall and food court. In these places, both young and old only mingle with people of the same ethnicity. One would expect school children to have friends from all backgrounds, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

My point here? Well, there's not much of one. Just that even though the government goes to great lengths to support cultural diversity, the people of Singapore seem to have turned their backs on the slightest notion. Considering the amount of ethnic diversity crammed into a place as small as Singapore, this is very wierd, especially for an American who has lived in relatively diverse places all his life.

Friday, December 17, 2004

Goodbye Democracy, hello....Dictatorship?

It's the holiday season, and what better way to celebrate than to go to a hot and humid country where you can get jailtime and caning for spitting our your gum in an inappropriate place...yes, it's the country we all love...Singapore. My wife is from here so this is really a family visit.

I've written before about the Singapore government here and here. so I won't go on about that, but I will post a few more thoughts about what has caught my eye. I'm only here for a week this time so you won't have to get too bored with my constant writing about the place.

So before anything else, let me just say we had a great start to our trip. We got bumped up to business class for the whole journey here. Yay! After settling into our economy class seats, a flight attendent came by and gave us new boarding passes and asked us to move up to the front of the plane. Now, I've sat in business class twice before. Once was on a very short hop from San Jose to LAX. Pretty useless since the flight's only 40 minutes. The other time was on a New York to London flight. That was more enjoyable, but it's still a relatively short flight. But business class on a 19 hour flight?! Word.

And on our Hong Kong to Singapore leg our seats were upstairs in the hump of the 747 jumbo jet. I've always wondered what's upstairs in the jumbo jet. Now I know. In this case, it was nothing different then downstairs business class, but it was still cool being up there. I've heard rumors about other planes having lounges for the extra rich, but who knows. I'm just happy to have sat up there once.

Man, it's gonna a pain sitting in economy on the way back. And it's gonna be even worse losing my United Premier status after this year is up...I've gotten used to not waiting in line and getting better seats when possible.

You may now leave comments about how spoiled I am.

Sunday, December 12, 2004

Anthropomorphizing our Animal friends

I've written previously about being a dog owner. In short, once you own a dog, you start talking about wierd things and start talking about your puppy like it's your child. And in all honestly, taking care of and training a puppy seems very much like having a child, albiet it with less responsibility and complications. These comparisons can go all the way to trying to read into your dog's personality and assigning human traits to what they naturally do. This is obviously a pretty common thing to do. Afterall, we tend to find the human-ness in everything.

And so, reading something like this article about gorillas in a zoo performing a "wake" is all the more interesting. To be honest, I got the chills while reading this. (Note: The chills weren't from the fact that animals were doing this, but the fact that it was about a community death...that always gives me the chills for some reason). In any case, this is just another example of animals doing things that humans do. Many members of the primate family do things like we do. Whether it's performing death rites or everyday cleaning, we're much closer to animals than we think.

This story just adds to the list of reasons to read into what our pets do. They may not have self awareness about what they're doing, but they rituals, activities, reactions, and personalities are tied into some basic traits of being animals. If you've ever owned a pet, this is probably very comforting. If you can't relate, then I ask you to imagine watching a gorilla wake in person and tell me if it would move you or not.

Welcome to the Family

Just a quick note about the start of two more blogs (which I will now follow incessantly)...a couple of my friends have decided to dip their toes in the blogosphere. Let's hope they continue to write:

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Again Actually

There are very few topics which I write about in mutliple posts. Most of those topics are ones which I'm passionate (or dispassionate) about - politics, certain multi-level marketing schemes, etc. But movies? Nah, there's usually no point in writing about a movie more than once. Especially when it's been a year since writing about the film. Especially when it's a sappy romantic comedy.

But here I am writing about Love Actually....again. HBO has been showing this movie beginning this week and I can't help but watch it. About a year ago, I wrote about how the music in this film really did it for me. The eclectic mix of artists really fills in the gaps between story lines and adds to the feeling one is supposed to get when watching a romantic comedy (and that's still true about this movie). You know what I'm talking about...it's that sappy feeling you get when you can't help but smile at the situation on screen even though you're sort of ashamed to be enjoying it.

So anyways, as I'm watching this film again, I realize that there are a couple of things about it that draw me to it more than the regular sappy romantic comedy. Primarily, it's the fact that the general Christmas cheer is the backdrop to situations which are very realistic and varied. Most Christmas movies begin with the premise that the season is a time to smile and love and be merry. This movie certainly starts off with a similar premise. In fact, Hugh Grant begins with narration which says as much. But it proceeds to forget about that and present situations where people just like us find the Christmas love and can't help but smile and enjoy. And most of all, it doesn't seem contrived, it feels genuine. Even with all the sub-plots going on, it still comes off as genuine. Tell me the last time you thought any movie was genuine.

So rather than being left with a "Ya right!" feeling, we're left with a "Ya, totally!" feeling. Ok, so I'm even more sappy about this damned movie the second time around than the first. But what can I say? It's the Christmas season and I've realized that it's not just the music, but it's the story that catches me on this one.

So anyways, the second thing that drag me into this nonsense is the Brits. Sure, I grew up trying to catch late night Benny Hill for all its bawdiness, but now that I'm grown up, I've found British sensibilities to be quite enagaging (even if there aren't half naked chicks running around to sillyu music). Not only are the people warm and friendly, the comedy they put together goes beyond what most American comedies can hope for. Bawdy, aloof, ridiculous, silly, charming, genuine...it's all part of what I find interesting and engaging about this movie.

So there it is. I've written twice about something that I actually enjoy and exposes me...yet again...for the hopeless sap that I am. It could be the Gordon Biersch I drank earlier this evening, or it could just be Kiera Knightly and her smile throughout this movie, but let's just say it's the stuff I just mentioned above :)

Now, make sure you watch this movie...or at least go out and rent the new Benny Hill DVD.

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

A Holistic Approach to the AIDS Epidemic

If you don't know, December 1st is World AIDS Days. I have to admit, I don't think so much about this epidemic throughout the year, but I have been keeping track of some major occurances relative to fighting the disease. With almost 38 million people living with HIV and AIDS, it's difficult sometimes, to imagine how to tackle such a big problem, but there are certainly some significant things which have been accomplished and which will hopefully slow down the progression of this disease.

Here's just one development in Brazil involving drug production. It was big news last year when Indian firms began producing generic AIDS drugs for use in countries like South Africa. The Brazillian news is important because Brazil is actually part of the WTO and is legally breaking patents on these AIDS drugs because it is a national emergency. Right now, Indian firms don't have to deal with that, but Brazil's steps are good news in a world when multi-nationals often have more control over the lives of people than their governments do.

But the fight against AIDS isn't just about producing drugs. Afterall, those drugs need to get into the hands of the right people, at the right time, on a frequent enough basis to really make a difference. Moreover, fighting AIDS isn't just about treating people currently afflicted with HIV/AIDS, the true fight requires a much more holistic approach. In fact, Brazil and Thailand are at the leading edge of fighting the disease. Thailand has used somewhat draconian laws and strict enforcement to fight the disease. Perhaps not the most "free" way of going about things, but lessons can certainly be learned.

You can read about some of the challenges faced in India as the country is just coming to grips with the enormity of the task and the size of the potential problem. India is second only to South Africa in terms of reported cases of infection (5.3 million in India vs. 5.6 million in South Africa), but those numbers are really just the tip of the iceberg. More likely, there are many, many more infected but not reported. Also, with a population as large as India's, this is a disease which can spread very fast and quickly infect more people than malaria.

We always hear about the slow response to fighting AIDS, but some folks interviewed in this article make some great points about fighting AIDS:
  • Government may fund and support AIDS treatment, but they usually crimalize the activities which are associated with the spread of AIDS such as prostitution and gay sex. The interviewees don't advocate legalizing prostituion, but they argue that simply tearing down brothels won't make the problem go away. In fact, it may encourage the spread of the disease. So before legislating such things, they state that the entire picture of prevention and treatment needs to be taken into account.
  • Various Ministries need to be involved in a concerted effort since AIDS is not just a health problems. As quoted in the article, the World Bank's Shanta Devarajan states

“India was going through a similar phenomenon to southern Africa — of thinking of HIV/AIDS as mainly a health problem, for the Health Ministry to handle,” he says. But, he adds, Africa has shown that an effective fight against the disease requires the will of the whole government. At minimum, the finance minister has to be involved, because of allocation of resources (involved in) mitigating disease and caring for the ill," says Devarajan. "If trucking is how (the disease) is transmitted, you want the Transportation Ministry involved. The Education Ministry (should also be involved) since the schools can be a major opportunity for teaching children.”


So what can we do? Well, obviously there are so many non-profits out there which are doing great work. Just like so many other great causes, you can donate your time or money. At the least, read up. Knowing about this fight can only help.