Politics is a dirty business. Always has been; always will be. Everyone accept that, but even the term “dirty politics” is an understatement for what’s going on in FIFA right now. This is because the people running have gone MAD. Not MAD as in crazy but MAD as in “Mutually Assured Destruction”.
FIFA runs the world of football, the world’s most popular sport, and as such the president of FIFA is world famous and very powerful. Sepp Blatter has been the president of FIFA for decades and the problem started when Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar threw his hat into the ring for the FIFA presidential elections. Unlike previous attempts by other candidates, bin Hammam had a very good chance of beating Blatter for the presidency.
That is until a wave of corruption allegations engulfed bin Hammam and his supporter Jack Warner, the head of the Caribbean, North and Central American federation (CONCACAF). Both were provisionally suspended by an ethics committee that took only hours to come to the decision despite not having come to a decision on whether they were guilty of corruption. Basically the duo were suspended pending the “investigation” to the allegations. This was just days before the presidential election for FIFA.
Furious, Jack Warner then decided that he’s not going down alone. He revealed emails showing that Blatter and FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke are also guilty of bribery and corruption. One of his emails showed Valcke saying that bin Hammam might have been thinking that “you can buy FIFA as they bought the WC (World Cup).” Qatar, who surprised the world by getting the right to host the 2022 World Cup, swiftly denied Valcke’s claim and have threaten legal action against Valcke. Valcke himself is now trying to backpedal on the issue but the damage has already been done. Even in a best case scenario, Blatter and his followers are incompetent or had turned a blind eye to the corruption within FIFA.
In the face of FIFA’s worst scandal in its 107-year history, only one thing is clear; no one is going to come out of this smelling like roses. It is “Mutually Assured Destruction” at its finest and the big casualty of all these politics is unfortunately the beautiful game itself.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Earth's Mass Extinctions
I once watched a show on the History channel that theorized on the various mass extinctions Earth had suffered in its past. Scientists had theorized that the Earth had suffered 5 mass extinctions in its past. In the show, mass extinctions are a period of time where 90% of the living plants and animals on Earth were killed.
The scientists theorized what would cause the death of so many animals and one of the crazier ideas was that of Planet X. Planet X is supposed to be a planet that goes past Earth so close that it would affect the gravitation pull of the Earth. The scientists on the show theorized that Planet X once past by Earth and the gravitation pull on the Earth caused earthquakes so severe it caused a mass extinction. However since all planets orbit a sun, that’s a crazy idea right?
The joke is on me because now astronomers have discovered a whole new class of planets that float through space without any discernible sun. Called “rogue planets”, these are basically planets that travel through space without any orbit whatsoever. What’s more, astronomers say these rogue planets likely outnumbered orbiting planets 2 to 1!
Rogue planets that travel through space without any orbit? A Planet X that went passed by Earth? Suddenly the idea doesn’t sound so crazy.
The scientists theorized what would cause the death of so many animals and one of the crazier ideas was that of Planet X. Planet X is supposed to be a planet that goes past Earth so close that it would affect the gravitation pull of the Earth. The scientists on the show theorized that Planet X once past by Earth and the gravitation pull on the Earth caused earthquakes so severe it caused a mass extinction. However since all planets orbit a sun, that’s a crazy idea right?
The joke is on me because now astronomers have discovered a whole new class of planets that float through space without any discernible sun. Called “rogue planets”, these are basically planets that travel through space without any orbit whatsoever. What’s more, astronomers say these rogue planets likely outnumbered orbiting planets 2 to 1!
Rogue planets that travel through space without any orbit? A Planet X that went passed by Earth? Suddenly the idea doesn’t sound so crazy.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Comics this week
Green Lantern #66- After a delay, writer Geoff Johns and artist Doug Mahnke finally got Green Lantern #66 out. Whereas the writing of Johns did not suffer as a result of the delay, Mahnke’s art did. There were panels in this issue that looked rushed and nothing that approached the great work he did in the previous few issues of GL. Disappointing as the story took a twist here with Krona finally revealed his master plan for a new set of Guardians. There was a brief interlude in the middle with Sinestro and the Book of the Black and I hope it means something because it took up pages in the issue. More importantly, it broke the flow of the story for me. “War of the Green Lanterns” is still a very good mini-series but DC need to sort out of these delays.
Green Lantern Corps #60- Part 8 of the War of the Green Lanterns, this issue showcased John Stewart’s and Kyle Rayner’s attempt to break Mogo free from Krona's influence. As the oldest and most important GL in the Corps, breaking Mogo free would change the conflict totally in favor of the GLs. That’s why I was so shocked by what John Stewart did at the end of the issue. I won’t spoil it here but it was a big decision, a game-changer and one that Kyle think he got wrong. Read this issue and decide for yourself. Green Lantern Corps #60 might not be the best issue in the “War of the Green Lanterns” so far but it could be the most important. That was how big of a decision John Stewart made.
Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #10- Thus far, every time the “War of the Green Lanterns” reached a Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors issue, the results had been less than spectacular. Luckily, Part 9 of the miniseries broke that trend. Yes, DC released Part 7 (Green Lantern #66), Part 8 (Green Lantern Corps #60), and Part 9 all in the same week! Part 9 finally let Guy Gardener do something rather than being a jerk and it also setup the new Red Lanterns ongoing series that is going to come out of “War of the Green Lanterns”. Writer Peter Tomasi didn't do that much with the story but he did get the job done. His job basically was to setup the big fight and at the end of the issue, that’s what happened. We were setup for the final big fight between the now freed GLs (don’t act like that’s a spoiler) and Krona. The only problem I had with this issue was the art. Fernando Pasarin's art in this issue was good but the coloring of this issue was a little too much. Wild, crazy bright colors filled this issue and while there might be some people who like it; to me it was too much of a good thing.
Green Lantern Corps #60- Part 8 of the War of the Green Lanterns, this issue showcased John Stewart’s and Kyle Rayner’s attempt to break Mogo free from Krona's influence. As the oldest and most important GL in the Corps, breaking Mogo free would change the conflict totally in favor of the GLs. That’s why I was so shocked by what John Stewart did at the end of the issue. I won’t spoil it here but it was a big decision, a game-changer and one that Kyle think he got wrong. Read this issue and decide for yourself. Green Lantern Corps #60 might not be the best issue in the “War of the Green Lanterns” so far but it could be the most important. That was how big of a decision John Stewart made.
Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #10- Thus far, every time the “War of the Green Lanterns” reached a Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors issue, the results had been less than spectacular. Luckily, Part 9 of the miniseries broke that trend. Yes, DC released Part 7 (Green Lantern #66), Part 8 (Green Lantern Corps #60), and Part 9 all in the same week! Part 9 finally let Guy Gardener do something rather than being a jerk and it also setup the new Red Lanterns ongoing series that is going to come out of “War of the Green Lanterns”. Writer Peter Tomasi didn't do that much with the story but he did get the job done. His job basically was to setup the big fight and at the end of the issue, that’s what happened. We were setup for the final big fight between the now freed GLs (don’t act like that’s a spoiler) and Krona. The only problem I had with this issue was the art. Fernando Pasarin's art in this issue was good but the coloring of this issue was a little too much. Wild, crazy bright colors filled this issue and while there might be some people who like it; to me it was too much of a good thing.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Speaking From Experience
The Singapore General Hospital (SGH) is in the news today as it was reported by the Strait Times newspaper that a complaint had been made by the son of an 80 year-old man staying at the hospital. The son complained that a Christian volunteer was trying to convert his (Taoist) father to Christianity while he was staying in SGH.
This despite a sign SGH had put up that warned people not to do this. The sign read; 'At SGH, we respect the religious and ethnic beliefs of Singaporeans. No staff, patient, visitor or volunteer is allowed to impose their religious beliefs on another.'
Rather diplomatically, SGH is refusing to say how widespread is the problem that they had to put up a sign to warn against the practice. I do not have this problem. Christian volunteers proselytizing their religion to non-Christians in hospitals are a widespread problem in Singapore. I am speaking from experience.
An aunt of mine was dying of cancer and a few weeks before her death, she surprised the family by announcing that she was a Christian. Now my aunt don’t follow any religion before and the family found that a preacher had been visiting her at the hospital. This was after her condition had worsened and she had to stay there. Basically, she was dying. As my family isn’t that religious, no one kicked a ruckus on the matter but it left a bad taste in the mouth of more than a few family members (including me).
Now I have no problem with Christian volunteers who hand out flyers along the street or visit door-to-door to promote Christianity, but doing this to a sick and dying patient is just plain wrong. A sick and dying patient is at his weakest and that is most definitely NOT the time to be evangelizing your religion to them.
I don’t see any Hindus, Muslims, Taoists, Buddhists etc, proselytizing their religion in hospital, why only Christians? There is a place and time for proselytizing your religion and hospitals are NOT the place to do it, especially when it is to sick and dying patients!
The sign is good but I think the SGH (and other hospitals) need to be stricter in the policy. In fact, the stricter, the better.
This despite a sign SGH had put up that warned people not to do this. The sign read; 'At SGH, we respect the religious and ethnic beliefs of Singaporeans. No staff, patient, visitor or volunteer is allowed to impose their religious beliefs on another.'
Rather diplomatically, SGH is refusing to say how widespread is the problem that they had to put up a sign to warn against the practice. I do not have this problem. Christian volunteers proselytizing their religion to non-Christians in hospitals are a widespread problem in Singapore. I am speaking from experience.
An aunt of mine was dying of cancer and a few weeks before her death, she surprised the family by announcing that she was a Christian. Now my aunt don’t follow any religion before and the family found that a preacher had been visiting her at the hospital. This was after her condition had worsened and she had to stay there. Basically, she was dying. As my family isn’t that religious, no one kicked a ruckus on the matter but it left a bad taste in the mouth of more than a few family members (including me).
Now I have no problem with Christian volunteers who hand out flyers along the street or visit door-to-door to promote Christianity, but doing this to a sick and dying patient is just plain wrong. A sick and dying patient is at his weakest and that is most definitely NOT the time to be evangelizing your religion to them.
I don’t see any Hindus, Muslims, Taoists, Buddhists etc, proselytizing their religion in hospital, why only Christians? There is a place and time for proselytizing your religion and hospitals are NOT the place to do it, especially when it is to sick and dying patients!
The sign is good but I think the SGH (and other hospitals) need to be stricter in the policy. In fact, the stricter, the better.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Age of Conan going F2P
You just knew it was coming. After the relative success Turbine had with Lord of The Rings Online (LoTRO), you just knew other developers/publishers are going to jump on the free-to-play (F2P) bandwagon. A few games has already done so (Champions Online, Everquest II), now the latest game is Age of Conan!
Seeing Turbine’s success, Funcom has now announced that ‘Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’ will also go down the F2P route. Of course LoTRO is not really F2P as a large portion of the game can’t be accessed unless you buy the areas from the Turbine store, so I’m not surprised that the model Funcom will implement is not totally F2P.
Renamed ‘Age of Conan: Unrated’, the game will be under a F2P/hyrid payment scheme. Players can play game for free but some parts of the game will only be available if you are a “premium” player (with subscription). Most of the classes, most of the dungeons, almost all the raids are premium content.
I have no problems with most of the stuff I’ve read on the move to F2P (http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=166952). I even like some of them, the fact all the original zones will be free and players can level to 80 without paying for anything is great. However I do feel Funcom need to have a middle tier of payment for old players of AoC like me. I’m not a new player and have 6 characters, 2 of which are at level 80. I fail to see why I have to select only 2 characters to play for free while the rest of my characters (which I created and played while I had a past subscription with Funcom) are locked. I can understand that Funcom want to make money but giving some rewards to past players, who played the game despite wide criticism of it, will be great news for everyone.
Still, this F2P/hyrid plan is a step in the right direction. Along with the new Conan movie, who knows; maybe this will be a second dawn for AoC.
Seeing Turbine’s success, Funcom has now announced that ‘Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’ will also go down the F2P route. Of course LoTRO is not really F2P as a large portion of the game can’t be accessed unless you buy the areas from the Turbine store, so I’m not surprised that the model Funcom will implement is not totally F2P.
Renamed ‘Age of Conan: Unrated’, the game will be under a F2P/hyrid payment scheme. Players can play game for free but some parts of the game will only be available if you are a “premium” player (with subscription). Most of the classes, most of the dungeons, almost all the raids are premium content.
I have no problems with most of the stuff I’ve read on the move to F2P (http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=166952). I even like some of them, the fact all the original zones will be free and players can level to 80 without paying for anything is great. However I do feel Funcom need to have a middle tier of payment for old players of AoC like me. I’m not a new player and have 6 characters, 2 of which are at level 80. I fail to see why I have to select only 2 characters to play for free while the rest of my characters (which I created and played while I had a past subscription with Funcom) are locked. I can understand that Funcom want to make money but giving some rewards to past players, who played the game despite wide criticism of it, will be great news for everyone.
Still, this F2P/hyrid plan is a step in the right direction. Along with the new Conan movie, who knows; maybe this will be a second dawn for AoC.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
EAT WITH YOUR FAMILY DAY 2011
Eat with Your Family Day? Families that Eat Together, Stick Together? There’s a day set aside to “encourage” people to eat with their families? Is this for real?
I received an email for this ‘Eat with Your Family Day’ and my first reaction is that this is a joke. A few online searches later…I discovered that its not! There really is a ‘Eat with Your Family Day’ in Singapore!
That is just sad. Are Singaporeans so busy nowadays that we actually need to set aside a day for something like eating with your family? That is just so sad.
I received an email for this ‘Eat with Your Family Day’ and my first reaction is that this is a joke. A few online searches later…I discovered that its not! There really is a ‘Eat with Your Family Day’ in Singapore!
That is just sad. Are Singaporeans so busy nowadays that we actually need to set aside a day for something like eating with your family? That is just so sad.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
An Easy Recommendation
After Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the formation of a committee to review Singapore's ministerial pay, I thought most Singaporeans would be happy with the news. Personally, I never cared much over how much Singapore ministers are paid, but I know a lot of Singaporeans do. So a review of ministerial pay would be good news right?
Not so for a lot of Singaporeans! Many Singaporeans are…skeptical that the committee would drastically cut our top government officials' salaries. The complaints ranged from the timeframe of the review (no word yet on when the committee would finish their work) to the makeup of the committee (no opposition member; Gerard Ee, head of Public Transport Council, being chairman of the committee etc). Basically, most Singaporeans believe the committee is a waste of time.
I disagree. I understand that Singaporeans believe that our ministers are overpaid but realistically, a committee to review the pay is the right way to go about the matter. I do not think any Singaporeans truly think that the government will just cut their pay immediately. Time will tell if the committee is a waste of time but I think Singaporeans should give the committee the benefit of the doubt till then.
However I also believe there is one simple way for the committee to appease Singaporeans about the minister’s pay issue. There is one straightforward thing the committee can immediately recommend to prove to Singaporeans they are serious about their work; Get rid of the pension system for ministers.
Getting rid of the pension system for ministers should be an easy decision. Almost all Singaporeans are on the Central Provident Fund (CPF) scheme yet Singapore ministers are all still on the old (and superior) pension system. This will get rid of the double standard between ministers and Singaporeans; show that the government is serious about the review of minister’s pay; and prove that the committee is not a toothless tiger like most Singaporeans fear.
Get rid of the pension system for ministers and the government can silence the naysayer and doubters in Singapore. Like I said; easy decision!
Not so for a lot of Singaporeans! Many Singaporeans are…skeptical that the committee would drastically cut our top government officials' salaries. The complaints ranged from the timeframe of the review (no word yet on when the committee would finish their work) to the makeup of the committee (no opposition member; Gerard Ee, head of Public Transport Council, being chairman of the committee etc). Basically, most Singaporeans believe the committee is a waste of time.
I disagree. I understand that Singaporeans believe that our ministers are overpaid but realistically, a committee to review the pay is the right way to go about the matter. I do not think any Singaporeans truly think that the government will just cut their pay immediately. Time will tell if the committee is a waste of time but I think Singaporeans should give the committee the benefit of the doubt till then.
However I also believe there is one simple way for the committee to appease Singaporeans about the minister’s pay issue. There is one straightforward thing the committee can immediately recommend to prove to Singaporeans they are serious about their work; Get rid of the pension system for ministers.
Getting rid of the pension system for ministers should be an easy decision. Almost all Singaporeans are on the Central Provident Fund (CPF) scheme yet Singapore ministers are all still on the old (and superior) pension system. This will get rid of the double standard between ministers and Singaporeans; show that the government is serious about the review of minister’s pay; and prove that the committee is not a toothless tiger like most Singaporeans fear.
Get rid of the pension system for ministers and the government can silence the naysayer and doubters in Singapore. Like I said; easy decision!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)