This is a breathtaking tilt shift of the Carnaval party (the most famous holiday in Brazil; an event of huge proportions) in Rio de Janeiro. Before the party begins, you’re taken on a tour of the beautiful, City of Samba, in HD.
Archive for February, 2012
Difference between how a person treats the powerless versus the powerful is as good a measure of human character as I know.
— Bob Sutton [author, The No Asshole Rule]
Gutter Run: Remy Ong vs Dog
National Bowler Remy Ong made news when he was involved in a traffic accident, fatally wounding a pregnant dog. Witnesses said he made the hit-and-run with an impact that left his number plate at the scene of the crime. People at the scene attended to the dog but the pooch faded away 20 minutes into her suffering. One of the witness posted the photo on Facebook where it went viral. I believe escalated failures (on Remy’s part) led to the furore online.
- Failure to keep a proper lookout while handling his Porsche when he claimed to be going at 40 km/h.
- Failure to stop, check and remedy upon hitting the canine, instead, carrying on irresponsibly.
- Failure to establish good faith when he returned an unbelievable, garbled account, challenged by witnesses and the evidence of his fallen plate.
Some people have an opinion that it is just a dog, and that just like other roadkill, it is common, and the anger is disproportionate. They’ve missed the point. People aren’t just furious because it’s a dog, especially a pregnant one. What stoked the flames is the unkind way we treat lesser beings, or subjects that offer us no value. Especially coming from our ‘heroes’. Because how we treat others exhibit our inner character, and moral substance. In this revelation, there was disappointment and disgust, in what was possibly perceived as “the callous attitude of an elite”; a fall from grace. To contrast, it is the weight of his character that makes Linsanity so attractive, beyond his brilliant sportsmanship, he represents an ideal, one of humility and graciousness. The opposite naturally invites antipathy, and unfortunately it took the lives of something very helpless to illuminate this.
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. – Gandhi
Leave the torches and pitchforks, bring compassion.
Abuden!?
The phrase goes back a long way but the video is fresh. For all those times when you’re in a perfectly discernible moment, and someone comes around only to exclaim the obvious, here’s our Singaporean answer to that. When rolling your eyes is not enough, you may practice the following,
- <dry sarcasm if available>
- <pause for the dumbfounded effect>
- <look at subject and utter> Abuden!?
- <resume moment>”
PS: Overburnin’ on any of the points above may invite a humtum, aka ass-whuppin’. Enjoy.
Our Standing In The Universe
— http://abcn.ws/yZGZuSHop over to the link (click on the title) to get a glimpse of how small, insignificant we truly are, yet at the same time, how precious. Kudos to Michael and Cary Huang in Moraga, California for putting this interactive chart together. Excellent work.
Tao Kae Noi
Top: “I feel like I haven’t been giving much thought to my actions.”
Uncle: “If you had thought about things, you wouldn’t have gotten so far.”
Tao Kae Noi means little entrepreneur/boss in thai. It is also the famous brand of crispy seaweed, an immensely popular snack in Thailand and the region. So flammable is its demand that the 7 year old company exports to 27 countries, runs a farm in South Korea, employs 2500 staff, distributes to over 6,000 convenience stores in the country and makes about 1,500 million baht or approximately $61 million SGD in annual revenue!
Yet more remarkable is the story of the founder, Top, who overcame wretched odds to raise a seaweed empire at the young age of 19. At that age, you’ll find most Singaporean young men planked to the floor, giving their next 20 pushups for national security. But Top defied the well beaten path of education-work-success. His school is that of hard-knocks, good ol surivival instinct. I am inspired by his,
- Teachability – He may not think ahead or even exact much planning, but he responds to criticism and inadequacy, sportingly and enthusiastically, tipping any chance of failure into a slim win. He does so step, by step, steadily.
- Perseverance – Circumstances and luck may rain on him but quitting never seemed to cross his mind till the exhausting final moments. Yet this is a distinguishing trait, the never-say-die, the raging heart. This is the power of Fail Up, that blesses you with endurance greater than life’s lemons.
- Guts – Talk about leaping into whatever moves you. Pouring yourself into beginnings, doing things no one around you has done. Walking the uncharted journey.
Now to turn inspiration into action.
Worker’s Party Boots Hougang MP
Refer to press release, “Expulsion of Yaw Shin Leong from Party Leadership“.
I count this as a moral precedence the other parties must emulate. No leader may be perfect but when they are chosen by the electorate, they must embody the people’s ideals and be accountable to the people. Yaw Shin Leong’s infidelity on another front may be his own business, but his silent dodging marred his fidelity to the office. Props to WP leadership in setting a virtuous high bar for political service. Hougang by-election has been announced for the later part of February, and may Worker’s Party keep their favor. If anything, the residents ought to be confident WP will stand up to admit, address and fix what is broken.
A government of the people, by the people, for the people.
We just took another step on our way to the full truth of that quote by Abraham Lincoln.
Latest Pins
