S'pore 'Folding Up' = Sinking Ship

I've written that S'pore is on track for long term decline a few times on this blog.

Now 'Old man' has spoken that the country would 'fold up' if sinkies don't procreate. Toxic environment which his ruling party created has already been summarised by the flowchart which i came across in a forum.

Grow gdp at all costs like cancer also shiok (feels fantastic), nevermind that healthy cells are wiped out in the process. Can grow can already.

A sinking ship. More imports who are mostly in 30s & older to grow old will sink the ship faster when in 2030 elderly sinkies make up 30% of population.

Short Rides to Reece 'No-Hanging' Flags in Rich & Heartland Areas

As national day draws closer, i went for 2 short rides to look at number of flags around the neighborhood & also to survey changes. Situation is still same as i've written few days ago - this year is new record of 'no-hanging flags'.

25km Ride around rich neighboorhood- Holland Road area

I first rode to end of Rifle Range Range Road before detouring back & headed for Turfcity. Renovation is ongoing for the shops fronting the road. Their shopspace is doubled at expense of pedestrian walkway. No guessing about the new rents... Isolated supermarket there is still a favourite haunt for the wealthy judging from the no. of cars at the carpark.

After surveying Turfcity i rode through the rich neighboorhood of Holland Road area. No. of no-flag hanging among the rich is as 'good' as heartland areas.

22km Ride around heartlands - Bukit Batok & Jurong East areas
First went to the viewing gallery of Hindhede quarry at bukit timah nature reserve for some fresh air. Then headed north till Bukit Batok road which i rode to recee 'no-hang' flags phenomena through Chua Chu Kang & Bukit Batok heartlands. Then turned southeast to reece jurong east heartlands before riding through the light-industrial area of Toh Guan on the way home.

At present rate of decline of S'pore, i won't be surprised if next year we witness another new record of 'no-hang' hangs among citizens(more like economic digits).

Deadwood in Govt Agencies Encouraged to Alert Suppliers to Opportunties in Tenders

Following Nparks $2200 foldable bicycles corruption scandal, the Ministry of Finance now said that govt agencies are encouraged to alert potential suppliers to opportunities that are published on the govt's procurement website.

Most workers in govt service are a bunch of deadwood. Publish their tenders on procurement website & expect others to know. Sure there's email notifications for suppliers who signed up in the website. However with spam filters how many email notifications get through?

Ernie Zelinksi sums up the work culture in govt, govt-related companies & large corpserations:

Most employees, including managers in the highly echelons of organizations, tend to resent stars. Middle-of-the-road behaviour & mediocre performance are preferred to displays of initiative. When a highly creative individual does step forward to advocate new & innovative ideas, he or she is viewed as a threat & is quite often ostracized by co-workers. Co-workers view him or her as a dangerous competitor who may soon by promoted ahead of them. Many managers will go out of their way to make it difficult for someone who doesn't fit the norm, despite the fact he or she adds immensely to the success & profitability of the organization, much more so than the people who fit the norm.


Many managers are looking for a yes-man or yes-women to work for them because they are threatened by the traits of the highly creative. Consequently, insecure managers tend to promote people who aren't highly creative.

Here is what Thomas Watson of IBM said:

I never hesitated to promote someone i didn't like. The comfortable assistant-the nice guy you like to go on fishing trips with-is a great pitfall. Instead i looked for those sharp, scratchy, harsh, almost unpleasant guys who see & tell you about things as they really are. If you get enough of them around you, & have patience enough to hear them out, there is no limit to where you can go.

Instead of hiring a bunch of yes-men/women lackeys, the Nparks $2200 bikes corruption saga might have been prevented if there are a few of such men hired as described by Thomas Watson.

New entrants to the workforce need to be aware of the dangers of staying too long in those large corpserations thereby immersing in the unhealthy corpse culture as described by Ernie Zelinski. Rare is the large corporation that still behaves small & thus lively.

Related:
What 'Team player' means in most cases

Online Price $19.24 vs Bikeshop Price $35 Is A No Brainer

Went to bikeshop to buy new tube after suffering a puncture. With that puncture i had 2 punctured tubes. Tried patching the holes but didn't work. 1 of the tube was patched with sticker type patch(given by a cyclist). Other was with rubber cement + patch. Both leaked. All the while i carried a patched tube as spare & thought it ought to work...

Repairing is a way of saving $ & making the earth's resources last longer. It didn't work this time round. Mechanic told me that road bike tubes are hard to patch since there are slimmer compared to MTB tubes.

What shocked me at the bikeshop is seeing the price of the 8 speed chain of what it might cost me in future if i do need a replacement. I checked its price on chainreactioncycles.com:

It sells for S$35 at the bikeshop. Even with $11.99 shipping fee it is cheaper by $3.77. $3.77 might not seem much but it is around 10% cheaper. How often do you get a 10% pay raise?

Irresistible deal & what's killing local bikeshop businesses laden with killer rentals(manipulated by govt) is the free shipping on orders $250+. $19.24 vs $35 is a no brainer. Again this brings us to:

"From biz owner's point of view, there's a limit how low costs can go, a limit how much people will pay for stuff, but there's no limit to rising rentals."

When more & more businesses close shop which is why i wrote in the past about why i consider REITS risky. Wide gap for the prices is why the retail scene here is on very shaky ground. Not to mention that sinkies are being sucked dry of their retirement $ & high costs of living.

Online shopping is the preferred way when possible. No need waste time in infested malls & the myriad of foreigners in overcrowded tiny island.