A certain frisson that sparks you alive

I like reading Lee Wei Ling's column in the Sunday papers...it makes the Lee family seem so much more down-to-earth haha. Anyway, here's one article that I liked: June 21, 2009

A certain frisson that sparks you alive

Breathtaking views and a hint of danger prove an exhilarating tonic for the writer

By Lee Wei Ling

In June 2004, I was in Britain on business and decided to make a side trip to Fort Williams in Scotland to climb Ben Nevis. I did my homework and read up on the climb. The guide book gave the following details: the distance of the return hike was 14.5km, the time needed to complete it was about six to eight hours; the difficulty level was 'medium-hard'; 'it is a steep, stony path and a long day to the summit of Britain - an immensely rewarding walk with unsurpassed panoramic views'. The guide book also warned: 'Despite its popularity, a walk up 'The Ben' should not be undertaken lightly. The mountain measures in at 1,344m, the start is virtually at sea level and the ascent is continuous, all the way to the top. You should be well prepared with mountain equipment and adequate food and drink, and be warned that this mountain can be a dangerous place.' I made two unsuccessful attempts to climb Ben Nevis on the first day I arrived at Fort Williams - once in the morning and again in the afternoon. The scenery was great during the first half of each climb but sudden rain and fog forced me to turn back both times. It was summer, so the daylight hours were long. Even at 11pm, I was able to see Ben Nevis clearly from my hotel room at the foot of the mountain. I had a heavy dinner and decided that I would reach the summit the next day, come what may. I set out at 7am after a drink of water. As was my habit, I had no breakfast. I decided to ignore the warning in the guidebook and climb light and fast - carrying just a bottle of water, thin woollen gloves and a light jacket in my backpack. The weather was fine and the sun well up in the sky when I began and I climbed beyond the two points where I had been forced to turn back the previous day. Eventually, I was at an elevation where there was no vegetation other than some hardy forms of lichen on some parts of the rocky surface. Then, just as on the previous day, the weather changed suddenly and I found myself climbing against strong winds with sleet. My meagre clothing was rapidly drenched and my hands became so cold that I could not move my fingers or tie the shoelaces that had come undone. I debated whether to turn back and try again another time. But I was not at all sure I would succeed on my next try. In any event, I was leaving Fort Williams the next day. What would I lose from not proceeding when I was in danger of hypothermia or getting lost or both? Nothing but my pride. Did my self confidence depend on success in foolhardy ventures? No, but I would certainly take pride if I did succeed in this. My thought process was no more logical or illogical then those who decide to climb Mt Everest or ski across the North or South poles. So I stumbled on, barely able to see one metre ahead, fully aware that every treacherous step up will later necessitate an even more treacherous step down. I tried to keep clear of patches of snow while still remaining on the path. This was not always possible and my running shoes - yes, I was so foolhardy, I was wearing lighter and swifter running shoes instead of hiking boots - were soon soaked and my toes turned cold and numb. The summit was a wasteland with the remains of the walls of the observatory that had once stood there, and several cairns scattered in a boulder-strewn moonscape. The only view I had was of more mist and fog. I decided there was nothing to gain by lingering. So I started down, my fingers and toes painful and numb from cold. The rain and sleet gradually lightened and eventually stopped. By the time I was at an elevation where there were shrubs again, the sun was beginning to emerge from the clouds. It was only 10am. I was cautiously jubilant, thinking I was likely to finish the hike in well under six hours. But I knew the danger was not over yet. If I were overcome with hypothermia, no one would know as I had informed nobody where I was going. I walked faster as I proceeded downwards, for I was bordering on hypothermia and I wanted to get to the tavern at the bottom of the mountain as soon as possible. Now the going was much easier and the scenery was great. True, I had seen the same landscape on my two previous attempts. But each time it was somewhat different. Admiring scenery is like appreciating good wine. One must have a passion for it and an eye for details - like the angle of the sun, the tint of the sky, and unexpected bonus features such as the rainbow I had seen during my failed attempt the previous evening. Scenery, in addition to the hint of danger, is why I find hiking so addictive. From this point on, the trail was easy to follow and I walked as quickly as I could. By noon, I was in the tavern, taking off as much of my wet clothing as was decent and drying them using the hand dryer in the wash room. When I was as near dry and warm as I could be, I chatted with the lady in charge of the tavern. I told her I had just completed the climb in four hours. 'That's not bad,' she said. 'The local lads have a race up and down Ben Nevis once a year. The fastest time is always below two hours.' I reminded myself that I was much older than those 'lads', not to mention a female. That I completed the hike in a respectable time was good enough for me. I was not out to prove myself to others. I just wanted to know how I would fare after undergoing major surgery in July 2003 and whether I had lost my nerve. No one but me would understand why I did it. To all who asked me, my answer was: 'For some people, it takes a streak of insanity to make life worth living.' The writer is director of the National Neuroscience Institute. Send your comments tosuntimes@sph.com.sg

watching tv

One of my favourite variety shows on TV now is 'It's a small world' on Channel 8 every Tues. It's pretty hilarious to watch foreigners speaking Mandarin and they are pretty good too! Fantastic for finding out more about different cultures from exotic countries such as Romania. Go watch!

Goodbye GM

Michael Moore wrote this when GM declared its bankruptcy...now, we all know Michael Moore to be rather extreme and kooky at times but he does have some interesting suggestions...what do you think?

Goodbye, GM
by Michael Moore

June 1, 2009

I write this on the morning of the end of the once-mighty General Motors. By high noon, the President of the United States will have made it official: General Motors, as we know it, has been totaled.

As I sit here in GM's birthplace, Flint, Michigan, I am surrounded by friends and family who are filled with anxiety about what will happen to them and to the town. Forty percent of the homes and businesses in the city have been abandoned. Imagine what it would be like if you lived in a city where almost every other house is empty. What would be your state of mind?

It is with sad irony that the company which invented "planned obsolescence" -- the decision to build cars that would fall apart after a few years so that the customer would then have to buy a new one -- has now made itself obsolete. It refused to build automobiles that the public wanted, cars that got great gas mileage, were as safe as they could be, and were exceedingly comfortable to drive. Oh -- and that wouldn't start falling apart after two years. GM stubbornly fought environmental and safety regulations. Its executives arrogantly ignored the "inferior" Japanese and German cars, cars which would become the gold standard for automobile buyers. And it was hell-bent on punishing its unionized workforce, lopping off thousands of workers for no good reason other than to "improve" the short-term bottom line of the corporation. Beginning in the 1980s, when GM was posting record profits, it moved countless jobs to Mexico and elsewhere, thus destroying the lives of tens of thousands of hard-working Americans. The glaring stupidity of this policy was that, when they eliminated the income of so many middle class families, who did they think was going to be able to afford to buy their cars? History will record this blunder in the same way it now writes about the French building the Maginot Line or how the Romans cluelessly poisoned their own water system with lethal lead in its pipes.

So here we are at the deathbed of General Motors. The company's body not yet cold, and I find myself filled with -- dare I say it -- joy. It is not the joy of revenge against a corporation that ruined my hometown and brought misery, divorce, alcoholism, homelessness, physical and mental debilitation, and drug addiction to the people I grew up with. Nor do I, obviously, claim any joy in knowing that 21,000 more GM workers will be told that they, too, are without a job.

But you and I and the rest of America now own a car company! I know, I know -- who on earth wants to run a car company? Who among us wants $50 billion of our tax dollars thrown down the rat hole of still trying to save GM? Let's be clear about this: The only way to save GM is to kill GM. Saving our precious industrial infrastructure, though, is another matter and must be a top priority. If we allow the shutting down and tearing down of our auto plants, we will sorely wish we still had them when we realize that those factories could have built the alternative energy systems we now desperately need. And when we realize that the best way to transport ourselves is on light rail and bullet trains and cleaner buses, how will we do this if we've allowed our industrial capacity and its skilled workforce to disappear?

Thus, as GM is "reorganized" by the federal government and the bankruptcy court, here is the plan I am asking President Obama to implement for the good of the workers, the GM communities, and the nation as a whole. Twenty years ago when I made "Roger & Me," I tried to warn people about what was ahead for General Motors. Had the power structure and the punditocracy listened, maybe much of this could have been avoided. Based on my track record, I request an honest and sincere consideration of the following suggestions:

1. Just as President Roosevelt did after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the President must tell the nation that we are at war and we must immediately convert our auto factories to factories that build mass transit vehicles and alternative energy devices. Within months in Flint in 1942, GM halted all car production and immediately used the assembly lines to build planes, tanks and machine guns. The conversion took no time at all. Everyone pitched in. The fascists were defeated.

We are now in a different kind of war -- a war that we have conducted against the ecosystem and has been conducted by our very own corporate leaders. This current war has two fronts. One is headquartered in Detroit. The products built in the factories of GM, Ford and Chrysler are some of the greatest weapons of mass destruction responsible for global warming and the melting of our polar icecaps. The things we call "cars" may have been fun to drive, but they are like a million daggers into the heart of Mother Nature. To continue to build them would only lead to the ruin of our species and much of the planet.

The other front in this war is being waged by the oil companies against you and me. They are committed to fleecing us whenever they can, and they have been reckless stewards of the finite amount of oil that is located under the surface of the earth. They know they are sucking it bone dry. And like the lumber tycoons of the early 20th century who didn't give a damn about future generations as they tore down every forest they could get their hands on, these oil barons are not telling the public what they know to be true -- that there are only a few more decades of useable oil on this planet. And as the end days of oil approach us, get ready for some very desperate people willing to kill and be killed just to get their hands on a gallon can of gasoline.

President Obama, now that he has taken control of GM, needs to convert the factories to new and needed uses immediately.

2. Don't put another $30 billion into the coffers of GM to build cars. Instead, use that money to keep the current workforce -- and most of those who have been laid off -- employed so that they can build the new modes of 21st century transportation. Let them start the conversion work now.

3. Announce that we will have bullet trains criss-crossing this country in the next five years. Japan is celebrating the 45th anniversary of its first bullet train this year. Now they have dozens of them. Average speed: 165 mph. Average time a train is late: under 30 seconds. They have had these high speed trains for nearly five decades -- and we don't even have one! The fact that the technology already exists for us to go from New York to L.A. in 17 hours by train, and that we haven't used it, is criminal. Let's hire the unemployed to build the new high speed lines all over the country. Chicago to Detroit in less than two hours. Miami to DC in under 7 hours. Denver to Dallas in five and a half. This can be done and done now.

4. Initiate a program to put light rail mass transit lines in all our large and medium-sized cities. Build those trains in the GM factories. And hire local people everywhere to install and run this system.

5. For people in rural areas not served by the train lines, have the GM plants produce energy efficient clean buses.

6. For the time being, have some factories build hybrid or all-electric cars (and batteries). It will take a few years for people to get used to the new ways to transport ourselves, so if we're going to have automobiles, let's have kinder, gentler ones. We can be building these next month (do not believe anyone who tells you it will take years to retool the factories -- that simply isn't true).

7. Transform some of the empty GM factories to facilities that build windmills, solar panels and other means of alternate forms of energy. We need tens of millions of solar panels right now. And there is an eager and skilled workforce who can build them.

8. Provide tax incentives for those who travel by hybrid car or bus or train. Also, credits for those who convert their home to alternative energy.

9. To help pay for this, impose a two-dollar tax on every gallon of gasoline. This will get people to switch to more energy saving cars or to use the new rail lines and rail cars the former autoworkers have built for them.

Well, that's a start. Please, please, please don't save GM so that a smaller version of it will simply do nothing more than build Chevys or Cadillacs. This is not a long-term solution. Don't throw bad money into a company whose tailpipe is malfunctioning, causing a strange odor to fill the car.

100 years ago this year, the founders of General Motors convinced the world to give up their horses and saddles and buggy whips to try a new form of transportation. Now it is time for us to say goodbye to the internal combustion engine. It seemed to serve us well for so long. We enjoyed the car hops at the A&W. We made out in the front -- and the back -- seat. We watched movies on large outdoor screens, went to the races at NASCAR tracks across the country, and saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time through the window down Hwy. 1. And now it's over. It's a new day and a new century. The President -- and the UAW -- must seize this moment and create a big batch of lemonade from this very sour and sad lemon.

Yesterday, the last surviving person from the Titanic disaster passed away. She escaped certain death that night and went on to live another 97 years.

So can we survive our own Titanic in all the Flint Michigans of this country. 60% of GM is ours. I think we can do a better job.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com 

holidays!

sigh...the sad life of a teacher...i'm marking Paper 2 scripts at 7am...in Phuket! Ha, well, should be thankful that at least I have the chance to be on holiday and come to Phuket. Nice place and nice beaches...but getting very very commercialised!