The UnSub

An excerpt from CNA’s “Empathy, diverse viewpoints needed in policy-making”

On hindsight, the LTA could have consulted “a little bit more, whether it’s the commuters or the taxi companies”, said Ms Tan, 32, a Public Service Commission overseas scholar. “That cannot pre-empt all the problems. Hopefully, that would help them get a better sense of what people actually want.”

Mr Lim, also a scholar, said empathy was a “critical” quality for a civil servant, particularly when it comes to policies impacting the needy. In fact, his wife, a lawyer who “is probably one of the biggest critics”, is his perfect sounding board for any policy ideas he has. “If I can’t defend it to her, there would be problems,” Mr Lim, 33, said in jest.

I guess the ability to empathize is not properly measured while selecting these scholars who may have high IQ and necessary “inter-personal” skills for interviews. Perhaps, these people (who are drivers) responsible for endorsing their under-researched policy are those who can never imagine what it is like to take a cab, and possibly been pissed by a taxi driver on the road at some point in time.

Honestly speaking, the outcomes and possibilities of enforcing such policy are not exactly rocket science and anyone with a decent amount of common sense can imagine what can happen. The lack of empathy shows that the system here works more with IQ than EQ. In any case, to make a taxi behave like a bus in the CBD is nothing ingenious or intelligent.

It always amuses me when a particular commercial plays on TV and it goes like…
“Daddy daddy, why are the leaves so green?” daughter asks,
“Because of the sun…blah blah blah” Edmund Chen replies…

It’s no wonder Singapore school teachers have problem with kids brought up by such parents. It is the chlorophyll moron, not the sun. Kids, please refrain from rebutting your science teacher on why plants are green. Doing so will just add to the turn-over statistics of our educational system.

Which reminds me, take it with a pinch of salt when politicians talk about science, especially one who didn’t made it to the White House.

If any of you still believes that carbon dioxide is horrible greenhouse gas. I suggest you either stop breathing or go find out the truth: http://video.google.com.au/videosearch?q=The+Great+Global+Warming+Swindle

I must say, Mr Al Gore is such a showman that I was “smoked” by his award winning “An Inconvenient Truth” propaganda. But as any good science student, I did some research to double check.

Apparently, a man who preaches green but owns a house that could power your HDB flat for months or year (depending on your consumption of course). So much for walking the talk.

Please do not be mistaken, I am not into US politics or am I anti ex-vice-presidents. The point is, just as the silly advert anecdote is a trivial display of bad science just for the sake of promoting a fridge (that can grow plants according to the little girl),

the same mis-presented science that claims a resultant gas as the cause of global warming, could well be some hidden political agenda that attempts to hinder development of certain less developed countries that has cheap fuel buried in their lands.

(yes I am a fan of conspiracy theories)

This carbon dioxide emission crap is just as stupid as saying the plants are green because of the sun (although we do need light to see green pigment). In the case of global warming, yes indeed it is the sun.

Note:
I will not go into details how minute (or insignificant) our contribution is as compared to decomposition of plants (yes the green ones) or for that matter, the mood of our dear sun when it comes to dishing out heat. You can watch the documentary yourself.

But in an event that you are still not convinced, you can help with the green movement by ceasing respiratory altogether and stop farting as it is some form of methane which, to certain extent is a greenhouse gas that has direct impact to your fellow humans within certain radius depending on your diet and volume.