Days without telecommunication / internet / network services

Recently there were 2 earthquake incidents in southern part of Taiwan. Though there is still death toll, the number is fortunately not big. 2 people were killed and 40+ were injured (according to what I read from the paper). This earthquake problem affected not only Taiwan but its surrounding countries because it damaged some major submarine network cables. For users who have internet services routed through these damaged cables, encountered difficulties in accessing the internet. ISPs are working on fixing the problems and most of the users are able to access the internet already. Not only is internet service being disrupted, in some countries, telecommunication network were also down.

So well I guess some of us are fortunate enough to be able to regain access to the internet within a day or two. Though even a day or 2 is considered pretty fast already, there are still people lamenting about it. From a newspaper article, it was reported that there was a period of time this year, Pakistan's internet service was being disrupted for a good 12 days. Imagine yourself, your country's internet service was being disrupted for say just 3 days? 5 days? A week?? I feel that some people's life will turn upside down...

"Har, oh, like that, you send me lor, I take a look...",
"... I will send it to you asap when I am done...",
"you need that ah? Ok I send you later",
"eh I want AAA's contact number ah? no pen now, you send to me lah, thanks!"

We are constantly SENDING things to one another. Handphone, computer, snail mails etc. We have been sending things to one another since thousands of years ago. If for a week, you are unable to get access to internet, or perhaps your telecommunication lines are not functioning, I think there will be alot of inconvenience caused to your daily life. Many businesses especially globalised ones will have problems in their daily operations and lose really big big bucks because they will lose means of communicating with their overseas counterpart, delay in shipment etc. Disasterous I would say.

But lets wind the clock back to say, 15 or 16 years ago, when there still isnt internet and mobile / cellphone services. Back then, I was probably 5 or 6 years old. I rememeber there still isnt mobile phone and I dont even have a computer at home (I dont need them). When we meeting up with friends, we will have to confirm everything way before and there should preferably be no changes on the day itself. If you are late for a meeting, your friends will be ultra annoyed by you because they know they cant wander far to do a little shopping at a nearby mall without knowing when you will be reaching. If computers or internet is never discovered in our lives, could our lives have been much more simpler?? Will there not be problems of internet pornography, viruses and worms etc? I dont know... being so used to the technology around me now, I dont think I can live in that era without cellphone and computers (probably computers I can still live without owning one... but come to think of it, even my mom needs computer to check BIG SWEEP, TOTO and 4D - faster than radio... 0.O")

So if you have time, do reflect back to the time when technology is alien and think about if one day all means of communication were being cut off by... perhaps another earthquake?

Expectation too high??

Why do some people have the thinking that people who are educated (meaning literate), knows about everything? Just because a person can read, write and speak doesnt really mean that the person can understand or grasp something that is new or something that he/she does not have prior knowledge or contact with...

Take for example, you were given a new gadget, say a new type of microwave over which doesnt look like the conventional type of oven that you have always seen and used all your life. The gadget comes with a 25 pages manual. Half the book (13 pages) contains not instructions but recipes. The other half of the book gives you some safety instructions, a big diagram of the components of the gadget, maintainance of the gadget and 2 pages on what wonderful achievements can be done using that gadget. One page contains the "operations" of the gadget. If I were the manufacturer I wouldnt keep the operations to just one page. It is a new gadget and it doesnt even looks like a microwave oven. Shouldnt think that everyone is a mind reader who can read what your thinking...

Anyway, say this manual is being passed to a normal person who can read, speak and write english. Should we expect this person to understand how to use the gadget? I dont think we should. We need to consider other factors. Maybe at the time when you pass this manual to this person, he/she is in the "hibernate" mode? He/She has comprehension problems and need a little more time to digest the thing? That person probably need to read it a few times, go to bed, ponder on it for a few nights and then will begin to see the light?? Well, it might sound ridiculous, but I dont think why it cant be possible... A person's mood can greatly affects them in many ways...

Take for another example, say someone who doesnt know english very well receives a letter (probably from bank, a govt entity or a promotional gimmick from some firms etc). That person pass this letter to you and wants you to tell him/her what is the content about. Say it is a credit card issue from bank. You probably can approximately tell him/her what roughly the letter is talking about if you are a credit card owner yourself. Even if you have credit cards, I dont think you will fully understand what is going on unless you ask further questions about the credit card scheme that the person signed up or that you own that exact same credit card with the same kind of promotions etc... AND if you are totally credit card idiot or bank ignorant, you probably wont be able to understand certain in the letter...

Anyway... I guess the above doesnt apply to all people... perhaps only to a selected few... No matter what, I still think that people nowadays have too high an expectation on one another, or people think too highly of people who receive slightly more education. Just like some tution kids might bombard their tutors with all sort of questions thinking that because my tutor is a graduate, a diploma holder, Alevel cert holder etc (receives more education than him/her) means that the tutor can answer all the questions... This analogy is not that good but well, think along that line I guess...

=(

Baby Inuka leaving Singapore

Baby Inuka is leaving Singapore. After reading the news article, though I havent really seen this polar bear, I feel pretty upset about it. Looking at the pictures of him and his mama (Sheba), makes me feel even more sad...

The mama is already very old and will passed away anytime. Imagine how Inuka will feel. Then, imagine your own family member in SG has passed away, you are alone and now you have to go somewhere at the other side of the world alone and survive there. Can you also imagine, you being send off to a foreign country without knowing exactly why (cos no one talks polar bear language to explain it to him), you are alone there, you have to adapt to a new environment (which can be so difficult at times). It's such a painful thing...

Why cant we have different kind of Zoo here? We are trying to attract more tourist right, promote tourism industry here, so well, we can have one "tropical rainforest Zoo" as well as a "temperate climate Zoo" or a whatever Zoo... This way, can promote tourism as well as bring in more animal diversity into the country? Well, hope we can have more resources to be able to build such facilities...

But just yesterday I was chatting with a friend. He mentioned some points which I did not realise. Firstly, there is actually organization which reprimanded Singapore for bringing in these animals which do not suit our environment and causing distress to these animals. He also mentioned that the temperature at singapore zoo for the polar bears is at the lowest air-con temperature only (16 degree celsius). This has caused the polar bears in Singapore zoo to have lesser fur than normal because its not cold enough for them and according to my friend, the polar bears are said to have "shed furs". Dont know how true is that...

So letting him move to a place where he is supposed to be is probably a good thing after all? Still, say for a human who is suited to live in a tropical country (maybe a mother gave birth to a child in north pole) is borned in the north pole or south pole or artic region area. That person been living there for 16 years. Then he is told to move back Singapore, "where he belongs". For these 16 years, due to the climate, this person grown very furry, hairy (ok sounds strange). Moving this person back to Singapore might cause him some problems in adapting with the environment even if this is the place he is supposed to be...

Anyway, I guess we can only give our best wishes to Inuka good luck. Hope he lives happily in a place where he belongs...