Being a Panda

A baby panda was born in Singapore!

But it belongs to China! China "rents" out pandas (usually in pairs) to various countries/zoos at about $1m a year, for usually a period of 10 years. And if those pandas have cubs, those cubs also belong to China and have to be returned to China when they are 4 years old. 

Also every baby panda born is subject to a baby panda tax of $200,000 once they reach 6 months of age. And any panda (baby or adult) that dies due to human error, the zoo will be subject to a $500,000 fine. 

If you're starting to suspect China is running a Panda business, you're right.

Home

"Home" (1998) written by Dick Lee, and sung by Kit Chan is a perennial favourite for Singaporeans.

Why?

Singaporeans like "Home" because we are NOT "rah-rah sis-boom-bah" jingoists. 

Singapore to import electricity?

[From Feb 2020. In draft for over a year.] 

So Singapore is planning to import electricity from Malaysia. 

On Facebook, this news was met with derision and incredulity.

And what I could call "patriotic anxiety".

Why is Singapore doing this? Netizens (Singaporeans) were bemused. We had just severed our dependence on Malaysia for Water. Why start to depend on Malaysia for another critical resource?

Let me explain... well, this is my interpretation.

Vaccines and Conspiracy Theories.

This may come across as an argument against the anti-vaxxers (in general) as well as the vaccine-hesitant (specific to Covid-19) in Singapore. 

That is not my intent. 

For the hardcore, "Andrew Wakefield is a saint", "Medicine is poison!" "Big Pharma is Evil!" "Vaccines causes autism!" anti-vaxxer, science cannot reach them. Logic is beyond them. Reason does not interest them. Facts bore them. They are unteachable/unreachable. They have gone down the rabbit hole, and there's no way to pull them out.

Mental Health. Resilience. Are we losing it?

First, Naomi Osaka declined to do press interviews for the French Open. For that she was sanctioned. Which caused her to withdraw from the tournament. That was in June.

Then at the Olympics this month (July 2021), Simone Biles withdrew from an Olympic gymnastic event. 

In both cases, the reason was for their mental health.

Osaka did not like the format of the press conference which could be intimidating or confrontational - at least, from her perspective.

Biles simply said that she was not confident of herself. That she did not trust herself. 

This is the woman who is so good, four moves in gymnastics are named after her.

[This is Katelyn Ohashi (video). She outscored Simone Biles a few years ago. But she left the sports after injury and some incident of body-shaming. ]

So when she says she's not confident, that she doesn't trust herself, it probably means something.

More "unlinked" cases as more get vaccinated.

 Expect more "unlinked" cases.

The fact is the Delta variant is more transmissible and is able to make "breakthrough" infections - infecting those already vaccinated.

This is because the Delta variant has a viral load 1000 times more than the previous variants. 

Mandating Vaccination

Will the Singapore Government do that?

Well, it has in the past.

In 1962, the Singapore government passed a law making Diphtheria immunisation mandatory for children under 1. 

Prior to that, diphtheria imunisation had been available for 12 years and parents could voluntarily choose to immunise their child. 

However, the take-up rate was low and not enough to protect our children. 

And diphtheria was killing our children. I believe the fatality rate was about 5% of those infected. 

And it was preventable!

And the immunisation was free!

So, driven to desperation, when moral suasion and soft sell didn't work, the Singapore government resorted to legislating the problem away.

Then.

60 years later... today?

I've seen some comments on social media where anti-vaxxers or the vaccine-hesitant had said, if the govt is so sure about the safety of the vaccine and the benefits, then why don't they make it mandatory? 

They seem to be taunting the govt to act by decree.