Finally?

Admidst all the projects quizzes, mid-terms etc, the last blog entry!!! This one's been really tough personally, because i seem to have ran out of steam.. =( Luck however says otherwise =D, I've finally found an interesting article regarding CMCs, and avatars! Here you go check this out! http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/09/10/avatar-bias-mimic-real-world/2910.html








Initially I was poking around looking for the maximum reported avatars owned by a person, didn't manage to find an article regarding that, thinking back now, that is rather idiotic, as creating avatars online is not exactly a difficult task, anybody can own avatars up to hundreds, even thousands. It's more of actually assuming these identities online. I think it's quite safe to assume that if say Kelvin has 300 hundred different avatars online, it's possible, but if Kelvin's to assume 300 different identities one after another, he will either go crazy, self-induce Schizophrenia, or fail at the attempt to assume different personas.

The DITF experiment sounds appealing. MMORPGs fans if you have done it right, the marketplace's yours for the picking! Brillant way to make $$ huh? By making a big, impossible request, before coming up with a moderate one after being rejected.. However, it never seems to work out for me =(. Lack of Ethos, Pathos, Logos there?
Disappointing looks like i better pay more attention doing communications classes.

As mentioned in the article, appearance, race, gender too affects such decisions too... 'Numerous studies done in the real world show that people are more uncomfortable with minorities and are less likely to help them' Morale of the story practice gender-bending if you are a male, and go with the flow with regards to appearance, unless you've managed to create a character that's hot/appealing in cyberworld terms, not to mention carful with the skin color there, lest one is subjected to some form of racial discrimination, etc.

Thank you all for the comments and help metted out.. Hope you've enjoyed the entries I've put up for you there =)

Kelvin

Serious?

Imagine this scenario 15 years down the road, in Caracas, Venezuela: 2 venezuelan kids after a tiring game of soccer, 'Hey damn hungry la, lets go get a couple of Ramly Burgers' or 2 icelanders after clubbing in Reykjavik, Iceland, 'it's freezing how about a cup of tea tarik, and some laksa?' Plausible? Macdonalds have proven that it is no longer a dream to have eateries across more than half the world. Ask yourself, my dear readers, have you been to a country whereby Macdonald's cannot be found? How many of us still retain fond memories of ourselves opening up a happy meal box, taking out the toy, along with the fries and the ham/cheeseburger when we were young? It is not entirely impossible for Ramly to set up a chain of stores, expanding to neighbouring regions before conquering Asia, and then the world! It has already started by invading the shores of Singapore (albeit illegally), from it's humble beginnnings in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Soon Ramly will become a global phenomenon! What say you?

No says the Cultural Imperialism Theory! It states that Western nations dominate the media around the world which in return has a powerful effect on Third World Cultures by imposing on them Western views and therefore destroying their native cultures. this is a theory that is first made known by Herb Schiller. Note that the key words to this theory is Western nations, and their powerful effects on Third World Cultures. If we look at it from another angle, it is sort of suggesting that powerful first world countries, upon imposing their culture onto the weaker third world countries, slowly erodes away their native cultures. As more and more people from the smaller country itself embraces the bigger country's culture, the remnants of the original culture in the country will disappear. Interesting is it not, that such a 'murder' of sorts is allowed to get away scott-free, to think that such poisons (of sorts) are actually sugar coated by the media, and passed on to third world countries in the form of financial, economical stimulus?

Double Ramly VS Big Mac?

Probably not as epic as it would seem on paper >.<

Ways to erode into the native culture: first through the food they eat, next to the clothes they wear, then the language they speak, before finally, the way they think. Back to our Ramly debacle, Malaysia is at best a developing country, not to mention a muslim country, in order for her to successfully impose cultural imperialism, it will need to first convert the country's faith, before she can successfully impose her culture upon them. Double the work, hence double the chances of failure. The recently slew of terrorism flying the islamic flag too does the religion itself no justice, as they have successfully put the religion itself under the microscope, in a bad light. With the majority of the world subscribing to American views, Americanism has in a way established a stranglehold on the cultural imperialism front, making it extremely difficult bordering upon virtually impossible for any other form of culture to impose themselves on the smaller, poorer countries.

Here you go one last question for you my dear readers, what do you think the answer will be if say during the world cup in South Africa, one asks the natives if they know what/where Malaysia is as opposed to America?

Different?

I've always loved travelling, be it to cosmopolitan Britain, rustic Cambodia, Scenic Norway, I'd say I've been very lucky to have extremely understanding parents, and friends who are always willing to go on ambitious trips, such as the most recent 2 months backpacking trip across Western Europe. It might not sound daunting to many, as these are extremely developed countries we are talking about, but to be able to adapt to different cultures in an instant's no mean feat, we covered close to 13 countries across the short span of 2 months, and the differences really struck us. Culture is the 'collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or a category of people from another includes system of values, and values are amongst the building blocks of cultures.' We really looked out of place in all of the countries we were in, and seriously it's not like as if people view us as aliens or something, but the things we do, the manner in which we behave, the way we speak, totally does not fit in to the manner in which people carry themselves.


<- Aliens!





When we were in Florence, Italy we were rushing for time, as we wanted to visit one of those out-of-town factory outlets and do some shopping in the afternoon, and we had some spare time as the bus only leaves at 1430. So we headed off to Stadio Artemio Franchi, home stadium to Italian Serie A club Fiorentina. (The both of us are soccer fanatics, and we have a common dream to visit all the stadiums in the world =P) Anyway, after taking photos and the likes we headed off to the official merchandise store, looking forward to buying some merchandise, but guess what? On the door a big closed sign and a note underneath it read, "Siesta time, be back at 1430" Imagine the look of disappointment on our faces... It was very disappointing, as the next day was sunday! Shops aren't open on Sunday! Brillant Siesta scuppered our plans! (If you are wondering what in the world is a Siesta, it means afternoon nap time >.<)

<- Even the cats aren't spared when it comes to Siestas....

Another incident was in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Brillant place really, filled with fast cars, high-stakes casinos and expensive hotels! (no hostels there, wonder why =P) So after the usual walk around Monaco, Kelvin remembered that he was to buy a keychain for his mum, not just any keychain, it must contain the flag of Monaco, but guess what it was 1655, and shops close at 1700! Thinking that there's still a chance, he rushed up this departmental store (mind you it's a departmental store!) only to be unceremoniously stopped by the salesperson, who managed a grand total of 3 words in english, "we are closed" it was impossible to argue with them mind you as i'm totally incapable of voicing out my thoughts in French. (Soon I'll though) So poor Kelvin had to leave Monaco without the keychain... My dear friend's attempts to comfort me we rather humourous though so I'll attempt to share it with you, my dear reader.. He was like chill it's not that bad, buy a Singapore flag keychain, and paint the cresent moon and the stars red, or buy an Indonesian flag! Such >.<>

<- Monaco VS Indonesia->

Not easy to tell the difference huh?

Stick?

2 years ago, in June, I found myself in Bandung under some of the most surprising circumstances. Representing Singapore in an U-21 PABF (Pacific Asia Bridge Federation) sanctioned event, whereby the top 3 teams of each age group, U-21 U-26 open teams ( 5-64 years of age) and seniors (65+) and the ladies team qualifies for the World Cup(in Bridge terms to put it simply.) Everyday for the entire duration of 14 days, we were busy playing cards from 9am-7pm with 2 breaks in between 1 for lunch, and 1's just an interval for the tabulation of scores. On the night of the first thursday, my teammates and I, were on our way back to our rooms, when my roommate decided to go check out the scores. Unwillingly i accompanied him to the playing hall and on the noticeboard next to the scores, I saw friday -0800hrs to 1100hrs 1st session, 1400hrs-1700hrs 2nd session. So i asked my roommate out of curiousity, "Hey how come there's only 2 sessions tomorrow? Is there a mistake?", and he replied," No I checked it on the schedule they printed it as 2 sessions only, if you think there's a mistake we can always check with the organisers tomorrow." We did just that the next day morning, (I must add waking up earlier took a toll on my performance in the morning =S) They told us the reason for the super long break in between the 2 sessions, was to cater to the muslims, as they needed to pray. Right, I totally forgot about that....


Fast forward 2 years, as I'm piecing my entry on groups, I couldn't help but think about this incident. Religion, is it really counted as a group? Definition for group -> A collection of individuals who, as a result of interacting with one another over time, become interdependent, developing shared patterns of behavior and a collective identity.
Sure, the homogenization of people who suscribe to their groups really fit in with the last portion of the description of a group, they do develop shared patterns of behavior(to a certain extent), and a collective identity.(at least the majority do) However does it fit the interdependent portion? What about interacting with one another over time? (It's a little hard to dispute the collection of individuals portion i guess) If religion is not counted as a group, why do people still acknowledge them as religious groups? Is this a layman's term for classification? Do people generally classify people who do things together, as a group? Hopefully I've managed to stir up some questions in your mind while you were reading this, to help you out further, let me give you my perspective of the, 'Is religion really a group issue.'

Let's take for example, Scientology. If you are unfamilar with this religion then Tom Cruise probably hasn't made much of an impact on your life, save perhaps the, 'Mission Impossible' re-runs you might have encountered on TV. Anyway, this religion borders around 500,000 strong, and is growing in popularity.
First created by American science fiction author L.Ron Hubbard, who believes that people are actually immortal spiritual beings who have forgotten their true nature. They promote spiritual rehabilitation through a type of counselling often referred as auditing.(So says wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology) I don't really know if they've really managed to interact with one another 500,000 might seem like a really big number but seriously, compared to figures such as 1.8 billion muslims, 2.1 billion christians, it's beginning to seem like peanuts now huh? Ok point aside what about big names like Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, John Travolta just to name a few? DO THEY actually mingle with the others? Assuming they do, do they become interdependent with your everyday Janes and Sams of Scientology? Even better, Shared patterns of behavior and a collective identity? Perhaps as believers of Scientology but I guess that's where the line is drawn? Because if that's not the case, I shudder to imagine how many fans would have converted over further beefing up the numbers? (not that they haven't already done so I guess =P)


Can it actually be possible for the religion to meet each and every member's interpersonal needs? Can the decisions they make acutally garner full support from all of it's members? Can it really assume all members to act as per will of the religion? Are roles of a group (other than follower =P) really assigned to each and every member of the group? You might insist that they might not be qualified, but surely amongst say 450,000 everyday run-of-the-mill believers, surely there must be people capable of doing things that can acutally benefit the development of this so-called 'group'?


What say you now that you've seen my take on the issue?

How?

Salutations, de la terre de l'amour, (this roughly translates to greetings from the land of love.) While Cupid is busy purchasing more arrows and re-stringing his bow, his evil twin Dipuc hovering around crossbow in hand, apathy bolts in the quiver ready for some un-doing of Cupid's works. It is appalling how a couple can be sharing intimate words and moments together, understanding each other, and showering each other with care and concern for long periods of time before, 'poof' and the 2 people in question become 'strangers who once knew each other the best'.


Many of the most brillant minds in the world struggle to explain love, but i feel this long quote best sums it up. "Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two. - Captain Corelli's Mandolin. "Love is the beauty of the soul." Interestingly what do you think happens when a breakup occurs? Lightning struck the tree, splitting it into 2 halves, leaving the regions struck burnt and charred never to heal again?


Breakups are commonplace, but reasons behind them are fast becoming varied. According to the equity theory, individuals seek to maintain a balance of costs and rewards, and this balance is supposedly there to maintain the long-term stability of the relationship. Of course the rewards and costs we are talking about could be both tangible, and non-tangible but it really does make people wonder if getting into a relationship's feasible. For one's liken to be investing in a bond with a lifelong maturity period. If it works out some intrinsic benefits such as offsprings, company, etc could be derived, however in the event that the relationship does not work out, is the opportunity cost viable? Can the time, effort, and money spent be written off as well spent? Is the pain, disillusion, loss of self esteem etc worth what the experience? That might come across to many as being mercenary, but think about it is protecting one's rights ever wrong? Is that not what many have set out to achieve in life? To remain single in hopes of protecting one from the pain and the failures associated with an unsuccessful relationship, is that a blessing or a regret?


Personally, I have not actually experienced a breakup yet but from experiences of friends, it does sound like a bitter pill to swallow especially more so if it involves a third party. Will complete this entry if it ever occurs but i'm hoping i'll be able to keep this entry sort of incomplete for now. =)

See?

Perception is defined as the process of selecting, organising and interpreting information in order to give personal meaning to the communication we receive. People perceive different things differently, due to the differences in upbringing, culture, knowledge and religion. All of these cumulates into the way in which we view things, and hence our perception. For example, If Hillary overheard Norman saying, "Bruce has green fingers" will she take it at face value and think that Bruce really have green-coloured fingers? Think that Bruce's really good at growing plants and vegetables? Or even draw closure from the fact that Norman's a big Incredible Hulk fan, and then suspect that the 'Bruce' in question refers to Bruce Banner aka the Incredible Hulk in human form?



It is interesting to note that sometimes it could be the case of double entendre, The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as 'A double meaning; a word or phrase having a double sense, especially as used to convey an indelicate meaning [emphasis added]. In these cases, the first meaning is presumed to be the more innocent one, while the second meaning is risqué, or at least ironic, requiring the hearer to have some additional knowledge. A frequently used example of this would be in the thriller, The Silence of the Lambs, Dr Hannibal Lector states he is, 'having an old friend for dinner' - the normal interpretation for this will be him inviting a friend to share an evening meal, but awareness of the character's cannibalism suggests that he intends to eat the friend as the meal. (Quoted from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_entendre)
Some other examples of humorous/ironic double entendres will include, Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant, and Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half. These were extracted from actual newspaper headlines and when read out they really do sound misleading!

Lastly, check this out, http://www.i18nguy.com/signs.html found it while surfing around. Hope you've enjoyed the read and it helped to brighten your day.

Why?

In times whereby the spectre of depression stalks and the visage of bankruptcy decides to rear it's grotesque face, most people struggle to make ends meet. Many attribute the main cause for the unhappiness people are experiencing to the fall of the Lehman Brothers group, and the subsequent hysteria it's demise brought about. However while many people are faced with pay-cuts, retrenchment and the likes, there are some privileged few that strut about with extremely healthy bank accounts, take for example the man of the moment in the soccer world, Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, better known as Kaká.


Read this link and be amazed if you haven't been already following soccer transfer news. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=609872&sec=transfers&cc=4716

A cool £500,000-a-week contract, meaning he'd be a millionare every fortnight in England, (worse a millionare every week in Singapore) the sort of money that man's earning definitely enough to turn many green with envy. (Especially so if you consider the fact that he's being paid to train 5 times a week and to play a game of soccer at most three times a week. Usually once)

After reading about all of these, does one come up with the conclusion that our main character Kaká, moved to Manchester City? He didn't in fact he received a hero's welcome on his decision to stay. This in fact is consistent with Francis Bacon's Idol of the Tribe theory, that abstractions in error arise from common tendencies to exaggerate, distort, and disproportion. It disarms our suspicions and it tends to rush us to conclusions that are based on our perception. Moral of the story's to read and disseminate information properly to ensure that no misunderstandings occur.


With all the soccer jargon such as names of clubs, which countries they belong to, where the player himself is from(both club and country), specialised terms such as transfer fees, domestic leagues, it is a little difficult for people who have no prior knowledge to understand the article fully this converges with the Idols of the Marketplace theory whereby faulty and misleading names such as those above, and the presence of specialised vocabulary and jargon, further heightens the chances of misunderstandings.


2 down 2 more to go, now for something a little more controversial. It is stated in Bacon's Idol of Theatre whereby these Idols are built up in a field of Theology, Philosophy, and Science. Sports is not really considered under these categories, but personally I feel that Bacon himself probably did not envisage sports to become so popular, so entwined with our lives today. They do have their own learned groups(in the form of sports journalists, and analysts) whose views regarding sporting issues are broadcasted in the newspapers, and accepted without questions by the masses. In a way they have accquired a sphere of dominance whereby their on-goings although barren of merit are parading their grandeur on the stage of the world. (ie. world cup, continental cups such as Asian Cup, CONCAF[Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football], Euro Cup etc) People are accepting them without questions in becoming a norm of life, so much so that there are people making a living out of playing professional football, basketball, American football baseball etc, and making mega-bucks out of it. (We are talking about millions here)


Lastly with regards to the Idols of the Cave, there's a new breed of man out there, people who eat sports, breathe sports and worship sports. These people are so to say possessed by their own interests, and interpret all other learnings to colors of his own devotion. A chemist sees chemisty in all things, a poet sees poetry in all things, and similarly, an athlete see sports in all things. This obsession is one of the main reasons for the meteoric rise in sports' fame. As more and more people are being converted due to the availability of sports, (In the newspapers, on television, on the internet, the radio etc.) Are you, the reader one of them?