Since a friend of mine who came down here once to study asked about the road to university from my place, I decided to put some pictures up about that road. It’s a short 20 minute walk, and a good walk to do if you want to see and hear the hustle and bustle of a typical Christchurch suburb. Here in New Zealand, the suburbs are nice, pleasantly quiet places where lots of people enjoy talking walks and exercising on. Most of the places around are lush fine greenery that’s maintained by the city council, and the houses here are all built differently from one another. Its no reason why the university stands out from among the mass of houses surrounding it. I didn’t go into the university in this walk. I just walked round the Engineering side of it and went back. If you guys are interested I can do another one inside the university itself.

Pictures here in the newfound gallery.

Little did they know, China with all its might and resources, was still vulnerable for some reason. Suddenly, the recession came, and news spread of millions of people losing their jobs. Hundreds of thousands of companies collapsed and their executives charged with fraud. It shows how much little has been done to solve the fundamental problems that plagued the foundations of capitalism on which the Chinese state economy so heavily relies on. After a brief few decades of flirting with capitalism, China will now realize that with great power comes great responsibility. If you want capitalism to make you rich, you must also trust it will make you poor. In an effort to stem popular unrest caused by the economic collapse, the Government continued to arrest and detain high level execs to please the public, angered by the loss of jobs caused by their mistakes, and to prevent the media from broadcasting any news that may cause the public or foreign investors to act against the favour of the Government. However, the Chinese society, and the world too is starting to realise this a little more at a time. The recession has started to reveal some very disturbing realities about this world.

When Deng Xiaoping visited the US in 1979, it was generally a sign to all the China is finally throwing its doors open to the world. Deng promised and implemented economic reforms and relaxation, and from then on China started to tend towards a free market. What in essence was view by the world as a shift to capitalism was actually just a lack of enforcement by the Chinese Government. The Chinese Government, in good times and in bad, was always a Communist government, and history has never told of a successfull communist government. Few have managed a certain degree of success, but at the cost of serious repercussions during periods of economic collapse. Capitalism won’t work without a democracy, because the fundamental idea of capitalism and free trade is that the people, and not the government who decides how valuable your goods are.

But people went along with it and said China was different, in that it was made of a society accustomed to doing business. But if a person cannot easily set up a company in a country and honestly report their income to the government and be taxed in a fair manner, businesses would not survive in the form that they thrived in in other more successful countries like South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong: all of which have adopted representative governments.

Will a recession finally force the government to transform into one that is more conducive to capitalism?

Historically, companies have varied their pricing geographically. A Big Mac in China would cost more in their currency than a Big Mac in the U.S. because western food is a niche, luxury product there. In the U.S., its close to being a staple, and its really really cheap (again, for the kinds of income earned). Books, likewise are sold at different price levels depending on their country of sale. In Malaysia, a Star Trek novel would cost RM14.29, which is about 3.77 USD. Likewise, the same novel would be sold for $12 in the USA. For every rule there are exceptions. Apple doesn’t sell their computers at different price ranges based on location because they consider their products niche. If their MacBook costs $999 in the US, it will cost $1599 in New Zealand.

So I mentioned that books sell at different prices in different places, because they might be printed in the country of sale. But what if they were imported? A person in the US would surely want to buy a Star Trek novel for 1/3rd the price they would get it in the US. The only thing that prevents this is import restrictions. You might be able to buy a few, but you might get taxed for it to an amount on par with local prices. There are a number of these around and some companies lobby for laws like these to be passed. They are also passed because it protects local industries. Many countries champion free trade verbally but they still do have rules that are protectionist in nature. What’s important is that things that are not meant for sale locally are not sold locally. The recording industry however, is a little smarter about this. They get hardware makers to make their devices only able to use media sold in certain regions. This effectively segments the world, preventing people from buying goods that are cheaper from another country at the expense of the more expensive local products. Improvised protectionism.

Then came the internet, which is classified as a communications device, much like a telephone. So data that passes across a country’s borders are not subject to the same rules books, drugs and other tangible things are subject to at the border. All of a sudden, as global bandwidth increases, data is imported and exported freely around the world with no form of restriction whatsoever, effectively nullifying the software and media companies’ efforts to rip off those who are paid more and can afford more expensive things. As expected, they would retaliate in a manner we are all too familiar with now, by attempting to apply laws for tangible products on products that are intangible, and can easily be shouted from one side of no man’s land to another. And because so much money is made from data these days, the stakes are higher, and businessmen are even more desperate to prevent people from selecting the lower cost.

Crunchyroll was, and still is a website that distributes media that is broadcasted for free in some parts of the world, for free to everyone with access to the internet. They came under fire for a while but managed to strike deals with companies to allow them to continue distributing media in a delayed fashion, and charging for immediate service. However, distributing media in a delayed fashion for free is something that probably would never sit will with people who want to make money. Hence, the region blocking, forcing people to resort to other less ‘legal’ means to obtain the desired media when it is not provided in their own country of residence.

Some companies have started to trade their software online instead of selling them physically to people now. Examples are Steam and Microsoft. EA has also started this by pushing their RA3 expansion pack out via the Internet. Personally, I’ve bought some software online, because its hard to get them in a country which does not sell some software you want in a physical shop. If one were to be prevented from obtaining something legally, its difficult to justify preventing them from obtaining it illegally. This model of sales however, means that everyone around the world pays the same price for the same product, and I don’t see how it is a disadvantage to companies that produce the software. Also, being an anime and Japanese subculture fan, obtaining anime and manga from Japan has never been easier. Since I can read Japanese, importing the comics allow me to circumvent having to buy the extremely overpriced books from Borders. But I am but one of many, and Borders may still stick with their pricing because there are some who would just buy from them anyway. They still are competing with imports however, and as public awareness grows, they may not be able to hold up such a business much longer.

Perhaps now, the Internet has started to tear down the borders that separate the world, and begin to create a world where Perfect Information and Market with Perfect Competition can finally exist?

Today’s a short post inspired by a newspaper article about methane gas trapped in ice in Alaska and Siberia. It is interesting to note that methane gas has 20 times the heat-trapping effect of carbon dioxide. Meaning, 1 ton of methane in the air will trap as much heat as 20 tons of carbon dioxide in the air. If the atmosphere requires 20 million tons of carbon dioxide to raise the world’s temperature by 1 degree, it will only take a million tons. How’s that for a doomsday prediction?

But it seems this is the way we humans are heading towards now. Most of us seem to be bent on overridding our consciousness in order to be capable of greater personal achievement. Take drug lords for example, and how they continually sell drugs that leave victims addicted and threaten them for exorbitant payment. It does the drug dealer a lot of good, but none whatsoever on the part of the consumer. People actually admire them, to be really frank, for being able to carry out unthinkable things for the sake of wealth. Similar things occur in China, but on a larger scale. Take milk for example. Time and time again we hear of banks relying on taxpayer money to survive, paying out massive bonuses to their higher ranking staff without batting an eye, and then coming back to threaten for more money. The opposing parties in USA’s congress are usually bent on block each others’ policies not for the sake of preventing the government from doing anything stupid, but to make sure that they get their cut.

These things don’t just occur when there’s a lot of money to be had, and it doesn’t mean that you could suddenly get rich beyond your imaginations by doing something inconsiderate. It happens at all levels of society! Students get poached by people from better schools using scholarship money just to bring the school’s name up, coughing without covering your mouth in front of other people, not turning off the tap while you are brushing your teeth, burning an open fire in the middle of a summer drought. Are just those things that people do because they did not use the very ability that distinguishes them from the animals they subordinate. Being aware of consequences is a habit that we humans MUST foster if we really want to call ourselves human. My favorite quote of all time sums this all up:

“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use” - Galileo Galilei

Its really a wonder why so many people around us, and influential people at that, don’t even make use of this very ability we have to think about other people to help people! Are we human not because we are considerate, but we can forgive ourselves for being selfish?

The funny thing is, why do people actually bother with private schools anyway? Is it because public schools don’t provide good education? I’m not sure about Singapore but back in Malaysia I think the public schools I have attended taught me more that I could ever have learned if I was sent to a private school.

The reason I think so is that back in a public school, all the students around us are unselected and from all walks of society. Since exposure is one of the most important things a person needs in life. It develops social skills and helps one learn to deal with all sorts of people and all sorts of situations. If it wasn’t because of the fights I had in school, or the awkward misunderstandings and occasionally racist comments, I would probably never have known how to get along with other non-chinese around me.

Also, in a public school, you have to make do with what you have. Interestingly enough, most say that people go to a public school to teach because they don’t really have many other career choices in life. It is probably true to a certain extent, and true as far as personal experience counts. But that doesn’t have to mean that they aren’t the most dedicated people you would ever meet, or aren’t the most educated. I’ve had science teachers who were so passionate about chemistry, you could ask them about hydrocarbon nomenclature and they will spend hours on end telling you about how oil is refined and cracked to produce more useful stuff, and just generally shower you with all the knowledge that they gathered while in university. And a LOT of my teachers held big bachelor’s degrees.

The likely reasons people favour private schools are:

1) Kiasu. This is the Singaporean word for fear of loss (as in, defeat). It is the best word I’ve seen that describes the need to save face in Chinese culture. Being able to send my children to a private school means that money is no object for me. For Chinese people, this is certainly something to be proud of. No one wants to be a poor loser.

2) If I’m paying more, I probably get better stuff. This is a tactic employed by lots of niche product companies. Like Apple Inc. In truth, the return on investment ratio drops very sharply as a price increases to accomodate quality. Apple’s computers ARE actually technically superior to generic PCs but you pay out of your nose for it. But I’m not sure if it ever increased my productivity just by being better.

3) They give more attention to students. I wonder how true this is and how effective it is if compared to a public school. Like I said before, my teachers were pretty awesome when you asked them questions. My physics teacher would tell me why a transformer can change voltages from high to low by showing me some diagrams of magnetic flux, copper windings and deriving some equations when I asked, even though I didn’t quite understand them at the time, I kinda got the basic idea of how it worked. When I studied in a private school just before university, it was pretty much the same. You HAD to approach the teachers if you had questions. They aren’t going to nurse you and baby feed you with knowledge.

On the contrary, private schools are akin to gated communities, something which I think is poison to society. Gated communities hide away a lot of reality from those living inside their gates, and usually for all the wrong reasons, like protect them from strangers. Children should be encouraged to mix with as many kinds of people as possible, and parents should not be afraid to let their kids fail early and often in relationships and social contact, since that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Of course, there’s always the chance of kids dying from accidents in the city, the chances are pretty much the same at home.

Then again, there’s always the case where public schools, especially universities which don’t have the space to take in all of the students and just select the best and brightest. Likewise, the solution isn’t for a government to pull in private schools controlled by businessmen and only interested in making money. Its just a sign that more investment in public education is long overdue.

But, having an anime blog didn’t really cut it at times. There were things that I wished to write but weren’t exactly appropriate for an anime blog, and some things that people who looked for my blog would just rather not read. As you get older, there tends to be more real life stuff to worry about, and more interesting things happen around you too. I’ve finally decided to pick up the pieces and buy this domain (something which I always wanted to do since secondary school). This blog is a personal blog, and very much about myself. Its going to become a dumping ground for all those thoughts that don’t belong in the anime blog or the labs blog for that matter, and will possibly contain some intensely personal writings in it.

But, if you can bear with me, then hang around, and I’ll tell you a bit more about my life, and a bit more about what I’m thinking of. My comments box is always open, so feel free to throw your thoughts at me since I get an e-mail for every comment. Remember, don’t spam! Because you may just lose the trust of my spamtracker and you may be ignored for the rest of your life. Until then, welcome to my blog!