Three conceptions of time

Which came from various parts of E. H. Carr's What is History?, which, by the way, was really quite an enlightening read. Translations below are only approximate.

1. 'Imperium sine fine dedi' - Virgil, Aeneid: "I give them empire without limit" -- time as linear, unending, passive, something that humankind can control and master.
   
2. 'Damnosa quid non imminuit dies?' - Horace: "What does all-corroding time not destroy?" -- time as an active, slowly destructive force; as a cycle of creation and destruction.
   
3. 'Veritas temporis filia' - Francis Bacon: "Truth is the daughter of time" -- time still as linear, perhaps, but not entirely passive, though somewhat more benign. Or, maybe, Bacon addresses the issue of truth more than that of time here.
   

Aperçu du jour

'A nation is a group of people united by a mistaken view about the past and a hatred of their neighbours.' -
Ernest Renan, French philosopher
Yes, I agree entirely that the notion of a nation has been over-romanticised and exploited, blatantly or otherwise, for political purposes. To a very large extent nations are artifical constructs built by the powerful for political purposes, whether to consolidate newly-formed and fragile states such as this Most Serene Republic in its early days (and even up to now), or to further unify and rally mature states, such as the established European powers were doing in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Distracted from distraction by distraction

Filled with fancies and empty of meaning / Tumid apathy with no concentration.
That seems to be a pretty accurate description of people who use their computers with an IM client and desktop dashboard loaded, and an online dashboard in the form of Facebook open most of the time.

Of sleep, dreams, consciousness and happiness.

'Orichi thinkers continue to argue about them. Are you happy if you aren't conscious of being happy? What is consciousness? Is consciousness the great boon we consider it? Which is better off, a lizard basking in the sun or a philosopher? Better off in what way and for what? There have been lizards far longer than there have been philosophers. Lizards do not bathe, do not bury their dead, and do not perform scientific experiments. There have been many more lizards than philosophers. Are lizards, then, a more successful species than philosophers? Does God love lizards better than he loves philosophers?

However one may decide such questions, observation of the asomnics, or of lizards, seems to indicate that consciousness is not necessary to living a contented sentient life. Indeed, when carried to such an extreme as human beings have carried it, consciousness may prevent true contentment: the worm in the apple of Happiness. Does consciousness of being interfere with being—pervert, stunt, cripple it? It seems that every mystical practice on every plane seeks precisely to escape from consciousness. If Nirvana is the mind freed of itself, allowed to rejoin the body in the body's pure oneness with its world or god, have not the asomnics achieved Nirvana?

Certainly consciousness comes at a high cost. The price of it, evidently, is the third of our lives we spend blind, deaf, dumb, helpless, and mindless—asleep. We do, however, dream.

...

As on our plane, only certain animals, including birds, dogs, cats, horses, apes, and humans, regularly enter the peculiar and highly specific brain-body condition known as sleep. Once there, and only there, some of them enter the even more peculiar state or activity, characterised by highly specific brainwave types and frequencies, called dreaming.

The asomnics lack these states of being. Their brains do not do this. They are like reptiles, who chill down into inertia but do not sleep.

A Hy Brisalian philosopher, To Had, elaborates these paradoxes: To be a self, one must also be nothing. To know oneself, one must be able to know nothing. The asomnics know the world continuously and immediately, with no empty time, no room for selfhood. Having no dreams, they tell no stories and so have no use for language. Without language, they have no lies. Thus they have no future. They live here, now, perfectly in touch. They live in pure fact. But they can't live in truth, because the way to truth, says the philosopher, is through lies and dreams.'
- from 'Wake Island', in Changing Planes, Ursula le Guin

World-class public transport?

Today's return trip to school cost $3.42 in total. That's more than lunch. And I had to wait 12 minutes for the next train to Boon Lay after missing during evening peak hour on Monday.

You skelf!

A splinter of wood lodged in the skin. Or, a small person who is a nuisance.
Another interesting one is incunabula (plural; singular incunabulum): anything in the early stages of development, or more specifically a book produced in the early years after the invention of the printing press.

Spot the similarity.

PAP MPs try to do hip-hop on video.
PSC scholarship awardees do skits at the Istana.
It would all be quite pleasantly amusing if the System didn't put on a severe face all the time and tell people to stop playing around.

And now for something completely random ...

Credit for discovery goes to Nar.
Deuteronomy 7:2 reads:- And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, [and] utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:' (from the King James' Bible). The names at each of the sides are all names of significant figures in the Protestant Reformation. 'Orate pro nobis' is Latin for 'pray for us' and appears in the Roman Catholic Litany of the Saints. I was too lazy to try and find out more about the Greek inscription at the top, but a description of Heraclitus and his philosophy might help a little in deciphering its place in the randomity.
The whole thing probably has something to do with science, religion and morality. (See, for instance, how all those relativity equations are leading to the image of a mushroom cloud at the centre?)

High energy prices? Try ...

FreePlay's idea of turning human energy into electricity is pretty nifty. Also, this is a rather cool product to reduce the number of batteries the world dumps.

Random observations of the day

Don't you think some segments from some of the songs played at Cadenza sounded rather familiar? Like the recurring cadence / chord sequence in Russian Sailors' Dance, or the windingly descending tune in the English variation from Global Variations.
[Follow-up 24 July: I think the former appeared in either Brahms' or Liszt's Czardas. Can't tell if the latter is supposed to be Scottish or English but it sounds somewhat similar to Brahm's St. Anthony Variations. Or am I hearing things here?]
Also, if you squint hard enough, or take off your glasses, the newest Lancer looks a bit like a Peugeot 607 from the rear.

The conductor as tyrant.

Yes, the description does make sense, somewhat. Because the conductor imposes his/her interpretation of the music on the orchestra, and by his conducting and directions forces the individual players to become mere instruments, as it were, in the grand design of the symphony.
It is somehow rather apparent in a student ensemble, perhaps because the players look rather stunned during performance and Mr. Oura becomes by far the most spirited and animated musician on stage.

Cadenza

A pleasantly relaxing experience.
Technology was unforunately a little mussed-up ><, the toms notwithstanding, but the other pieces were generally quite okay. Some of them made quite an impact. Especially Russian Sailors' Dance and Brazil. Really not bad. So was the mallets solo from Carmen Fantasy, actually. Even if it's a little irritating to listen to that piece after you've heard the original opera, but never mind; that's not entirely relevant here.
And this, incidentally, is post number 50. Have a pleasant day.

Homeland

How on Earth can a modern nation-state be conceived of as a home? It is a vast, impersonal and bureaucratic entity, far removed from its individual citizens. What you do, as an individual member, does not matter to it in the grand scheme of things, unless many of its individual members move in the same way at the same time. Whether you choose to leave or join as a citizen, what impact will it have on its waning and waxing over the years?
The original term probably used to make more sense. The land was where food and life sprung from---and people, living all or most of their lives on the same patch of land, naturally felt attachment to it. But now the world has become increasingly urbanised, and sacred attachment to land is becoming less of a deeply-held gut feeling and more of an abstraction.
The term, honestly, holds little meaning for me. What is there to hold me to the Serenissima, or to my place of birth? Only the thinnest of wisps: family ties and friendships, and specific memories, of specific things at specific places and times. Shanghai is changing all the time; old buildings are knocked down, new ones go up, and people move in and out; every year when I go back the scenery has changed again. Singapore is at least a little saner in this respect, but only a little. My primary school campus has moved already; RI has undergone a lot of renovation recently; so has RJC. There is just the slightest suspicion in my mind that before too long the places that conceivably could hold our memories would be renovated out of recognition. Then the memories would have to go back where they came from. Deep in the recesses of the nostalgic mind.
Home is other people. The people who will exchange smiles and easy banter with you and create the warm, convival atmosphere than is what home really is, rather than some place, or building, or institution.

The Pledge

... is actually quite a well-written thing, don't you think? It broadly covers both the political ('a free and democratic society, based on justice and equality') and the socio-economic ('progress, prosperity') aspects of the UNDHR and recognises that 'happiness' is an important aim.
It would be even better if Singaporeans, especially those holding up blue and red thunderbolts and drawing six peanuts in annual pay, held all of it close to their hearts and lived by it.

Agnostic?

'The glory of God in Heaven the human tongue cannot begin to describe.' But you profess to be atheist. So why is it that you still cannot think of a better line to accompany the sonorous and victorious chords of The Bogatyr Gate?
Probably because some part of your mind doesn't quite wish to be atheist, and would rather be agnostic. That's where all the bits about God being a symbol for other ideals and powers such as Science or Reason or Justice, and Heaven being an Ideal State come from. But no, that still isn't quite an adequate description of what your conception of God is. God, to you, is also someone (something?) you could talk to and make requests of and beseech, but who will not respond. It is neither impersonal nor personal, and may or may not be humanised.
Never mind. I am just confused in this respect. And in the meantime, I shall still declare myself Atheist. No. Secular Humanist. (Of course under the usual broad brush strokes in which most people paint religion they both map to "Nil".)

Point and counterpoint

'Old man ought to be explorers / Here or there does not matter / We must be still and still moving / Into a deeper intensity / For a further union, a deeper communion. / Though the cold dark and the empty desolation / The wave cry, wind cry, the vast waters / Of the petrel and the porpoise.' -- T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets, East Coker (V)

[Arms open wide and chest thrust forward] 'I'm still young!' - K. L. Tay.

Whither democracy.

Speakers Cornered is an interesting documentary, and rather better (in my humble opinion anyway) than One Nation Under Lee. The latter tells, sometimes positively shouts and screams, about how bad the situation is. The former shows exactly how ham-fisted the Government can get when dealing with dissent.
It feels a little absurd, really. Surreal, too. Watching a policewoman argue with one of the protesters about ... wait, what are they arguing over? First it was the latter trying to march and the former stopping her ... then the policewoman insisting to the protestor that the huge cordon of 10 policewomen around her was 'only for your safety, to make sure no one gets hurt' ... then "can I see your warrant card?' 'Wait' 'I demand to see your warrant card' 'If I let you see my warrant card can you promise that ... ' 'No. I just want you to show me your warrant card.' 'Okay I will. Later.' ... then the whole thing repeats itself ad infinitum. After a while it's not too hard to conclude who is making more sense, the dissenting protester who's making perfectly rational arguments or the policewoman acting in the name of order who is really just stubbornly following instructions. But of course, she's acting in the name of Order. Order always Wins in this Most Serene Republic.
Never mind. The whole episode is, as mentioned above, rather absurd and surreal. Come to think of it, perhaps ONUL exposed more of what really makes up Singapore's democracy deficit---the rampant use of the ISD in earlier decades to decimate the effective opposition. Now that no longer happens---but who's to tell what the Government will do if similarly effective opposition arises again? But, then again, what are the odds of that happening. Oh well. The deficit has solidified and caked up and become a sticky, obstinate mass that sticks to the innards of the system. It's going to take a long time to get out ... and meanwhile the Government can plenty afford to relax a bit and "open up".
So, really, no, Singapore isn't really a democracy. The PAP exercises way too much control over the whole system for that sort of statement to be credible; and some of the things that PM Lee has said---first Sr. and then Jr., both of them---quite flagrantly violate the spirit of democracy. The place is run more like Plato's Republic with its oligarchy---yes it's partially heriditary too, haven't you noticed?---and a moderately impressive veneer of enfranchisement. 'Democracy' as the Government reads it is not the rule of the people, but the rule of the Government who may listen to the people. And nothwithstanding all the talk about opening up and political reform, it's going to stay that way. Unto eternity, or when the Serenissima falls.

One tiny bit of serenity

Labrador Park is a nice place. Especially around sunset. The calming sound of the sea surrounds the observer ... but then again it's serenity on a tiny scene. Looking not much further out, the petrochemical furnaces of Jurong Island crowd in from the west, while numerous anchorages clutter up the east.

Why conscript service can be no fun.

The context of the below quote is somewhat different., but some parts of it are still salient. Here goes :--
'My service had been a period of utter loneliness, mixed with apathy and pensiveness, and at the time I was too young to understand it all.' -- from this site.

Excellent news!

IMSLP has reopened (I lag; this happened a fortnight ago). No, corporate greed and stifling copyright laws will not kill the freedom of information on the Internet.

Isn't listening to music without lyrics rather sian?

No, because music is its own language, a language which should express things purer, more subtle and more sublime than what mere words alone can express. The most serene calm, the sweeping grandeur of another planet's endless plains, the warmth of solidarity, an urgent sense of anxiety. Cheesy lyrics would only spoil the music.

Wha?

A military coup in Singapore? Was the Old Man thinking when he said that? A conscript army led by depoliticised commanders carrying out a coup? Unless he meant that the Party would infiltrate the SAF and use it as a tool ... you know, maybe. The WOSPEC corps is quite thoroughly depoliticised but also thoroughly accustomed to obeying and carrying out orders, since that is its job after all. The top of the Officers' Corp, on the other hand is quite the other way. Hmm.

Escape

It's everywhere. It's why people play videogames. Or read. Or indulge in daydream. It's what entertainment is all about. And maybe literature and art too. They don't only exist to describe the human condition, but also to imagine and envision and envelope the creator and the listener / reader in a better alternative.

Evolution in process

Now that humanity has made plastic as much a part of the Earth's environment as wood and leaves, it shouldn't really come as a surprise that one day bacteria will evolve (or humanity will help bacteria to evolve) to degrade plastic. Then we can start wondering whether that will be a helpful thing or result in a nightmare scenario. Probably somewhere in between, as always. Decomposition could work fast, but not that fast. Plastic might eventually become a more naturally-destructible material instead of something considered almost absolutely resistant to the elements; but then again, how many instances of mass chaos caused by wood-decomposing bacteria have there been in the past?

Imperfection

... is what makes us human, don't you think? Our flaws, and how we deal with them. Struggle and pain and weakness.
Some things and some people just seem too perfect. Perfect record, perfect character, nary half a flaw to be found even after you've scrutinised them and their histories all day. Unflappable, confident even in the most stressful situations, always ready with the perfectly correct response. Never wrong. Those people are scary. Intimidating. A little, perhaps, inhuman.

Self-knowledge should not be considered a person's greatest achievement.

Because self-knowledge should never be an end in itself, but only be a means to the end of self-improvement. It is perhaps enlightening to know that you have these weaknesses, and that they stem from these causes, but that knowledge is far from edifying, and perhaps perfectly useless, if it is not used to devise strategies and methods of overcoming the weaknesses and remedying the causes.
So stop merely introspecting and analysing thy own flaws all day. Take action to fix them.

The nitty-gritty ...

... seems to be eating up all the time around. Extremely. Irritating.

What Walsh said ...

(the below refers to article linked to by previous post)
... was probably very true. It's telling enough that Armour and Signals camps don't have halal cookhouses. There are probably some antiquated mindsets lying around regarding promotion and the role of women in the military, which would take rather a bit of time to change. And inexperience will always be a problem until the day, heaven forbid, war actually breaks out in this Most Serene Republic.
But taking a broader, possibly rougher, view, the problems mentioned read like a list of problems that Singapore faces as a putative nation-state, writ small in the military arena.
We are a small Chinese-majority dot in a Muslim sea. Hence the peculiar issues of ethnic politics involved. The Scholar has been the highest caste, so to speak, (and the soldier one of the lowliest) in Confucianist society since time immemorial. And probably will be for some time, even after the liberation of Gen X has messed up 'traditional mindsets'. Hence a somewhat unreasonable prominence of Scholars in the promotion scheme, a large and inordinately prestigious officers' corps and a mildly hackneyed attitude towards women in the military. Hierachy and deference to authority, also, figure prominently here and take on an even harder dimension in the military -- hence the extreme focus on doctrine. And Singaporeans proudly proclaim themselves kiasi -- hence the scripted live-firing exercises and what Walsh describes as an inordinate focus on safety.
And so really, barring half-measures and perhaps broad organisational changes that I am absolutely not qualified to comment on (someone further down in that thread linked to suggested shrinking the officers' corps and expanding the WOSPEC corps, for example), these weaknesses will only be remedied slowly, incrementally, at perhaps no more than a snail's pace, as Singaporean society changes, perhaps as the world around changes and forces Singapore to change.
Meanwhile, we're stuck with low security clearances for Malays, the absolute rule of doctrine, parachuted lesson plans, scripted live-firing exercises and continued scholar-farmer conflict.
Wonderful.
Meanwhile, this quote from the thread was probably more meaningful than all that crap I just wrote:
'Stupid people start wars, stupid people run wars, and stupid people won't listen to those who fight the wars' - Gen. (Retired) Robin Olds, USAF.
Sort of reminds me of how our sergeants are attacking the Officers' Corps all day for planning on paper and holding higher authority for it. 纸上谈兵, in a way.

Systems testing

This pilot says that you can blog from a SonyEricsson K530.