The Phenomenon

Chanced upon through Googling, Friendster and Publicly Articulated Social Networking, an ethnographic study of Friendster and social theory and other related aspects of human-computer interaction. It was presented by a UC Berkeley student in 2004 at a conference in Vienna.

To highlight some interesting points:
"Relationship indicators in Friendster are binary: Friend or not... Because of this weakness in the system, the weight of a Friend connection is often devalued because trust cannot be guaranteed... By asking users to articulate and collapse their [own social] network in a public way, Friendster is also asking them to give up their status as a social connector, or bridge... Notably, most users fear the presence of two people on Friendster: boss and mother."

On Friendster's value in connecting people other than dating, "in one somber situation, a man with a Friendster account passed away in his sleep. His unconnected friends were able to pass on information to one another via the site. Friends of other deceased Friendster users have constructed memorials via the site... Women advertise their porn sites by attracting potential clientele... Two users capitalized on their social network... they decided to auction connections on eBay. In their ads, they promised both Friendster and real-life connections to hipsters, artists, musicians, record labels, etc. One was serious, while the other was simply making a point:

The 'self' you're packaging on Friendster is a strictly delimited individual - but when I'm selling my network on ebay, the value is determined by my extended self, defined by its relationships and surfaces rather than content - in other words, the true me, in its full, fragmented, postmodern glory, all the more true the instant a dollar value is placed on it!

My 2 cents' worth: A man is measured by the company he keeps... a man is also measured by the profile he puts up publicly. Though it isn't very fair to judge people through small, 2D gif graphics, you do get an inkling of who they are from the pictures they put up.

Some may dismiss Friendster as a young thing or another medium for the sociable to celebrate their connectedness. But quite significantly, Friendster clearly epitomizes the phenomenon of social networking through various websites and web applications. How many times have you received an email asking you "update my address book" or "enter your birthday so that I can better keep track of important events"? Just as globalization is sweeping the world's population closer together, the global cyber-village is growing with countless users added daily and shrinking because of increasing ultra-connectivity and medium convergence - all at the same time.

*deep breath* That's enough blogging for a lovely saturday on a long weekend.

Oh yes, I'm a silent trawler of the Friendster tubes :)

Back to Work

Reached the office at 8am this morning. Was told that I would be doing the emcee-ing for an event at 9am. Thankfully it was a limited role; you know, welcome-teabreak-welcomeback-questions?-thankyoubyebye. Thinking on your feet shouldn't be that hard anyway.

Lunchtime conversations at ABC market consisted of homosexuality, scholars in Singapore, Atkins diet, and the usual office griping. Oh, the roast duck is quite good, the kind with crispy skin and fat that melts in your mouth :)

One meeting after another and it was back to clearing my barrage of emails accumulated since Monday...

Learning IT Service Management the Fun Way

Finally completed the IT Infrastructure Library Foundational course today. If nothing goes wrong, I should pass and get my cert.

T'was an interesting 3 days. The actual content is actually quite dry - come on, who gets excited about terms like IT Service Level Management or Capacity Management??

Fortunately, HP incorporated a Formula1 game to teach us participants about the perils, oops, intricacies of providing IT services. Essentially the deceptively simple game simulated the complex operations of problem reporting and on-the-fly resolution, all of which are happening while 4 cars are "burning rubber". In order to meet the challenge of keeping our drivers in the leading positions, an effective system which demanded different roles and cooperative work.

Needless to say, there was much adrenaline pumping as each race "flagged off" and we scuttled and scurried to resolve each system fault. Most amusing was the 4th race which allowed for infrastructure component mirroring and us being true-blue kiasu Singaporeans invested heavily in alternative servers and concurrent instances of applications.

Experiential learning, as always, is the best way to learn. Or as I articulated in my honours thesis (a little chest-thumping here) - "knowing by doing".

Met some friendly folks from HDB - or could be that IT folks are simply quite casual.

Now, just for laffs...

Dogville: A Bleak Study of the Wretched Nature of Human Beings

Misanthropy
Pronunciation: mi-'san(t)-thr&-pE
Function: noun
: a hatred or distrust of mankind



Dogville (2003) on Arts Central kept this film buff up till late last night. Though it ended at 1am, unresolved thoughts persisted in my head till sleep eventually claimed me.

Moral of the story: don't try to sleep right after a "provocative & beautifully luminous" film.

Lars von Trier's much raved-about film is a bleak study of our inherently wretched nature. It begs the answer to the question, if you can do no wrong, and people around you do you wrong, what do you do?

It begins with a helicopter view of the curiously stage-like set; doors, walls & everyday objects have to be imagined where drawn lines and minimal props are used instead.



Nicole Kidman plays Grace beautifully - as always, she looks stunning - a naive and optimistic fugitive who is at first reluctantly accepted by the reticent citizens of Dogville, a drab and depressing community set in America. They grow to even love her kind and friendly ways, but as the film's "Big Man" puts it, their selfish instincts inexorably take over and Grace is sucked into a cycle of silent guilt and reciprocating what is perceived as hospitality. Eventually it degrades to such a deplorable situation of abuse and rape yet somehow these citizens justify their acts to placate their conscience. Even her lover abandons her to save his own skin but returns to dismiss his cowardice as a result of fear and even to claim her sexually.



Me, the viewer, is made to experience the entire gamut of emotions from sharing the joy of Grace's acceptance and later, a hope that escape will bring a new life. Then genuine betrayal when the escape is thwarted and dismal horror follows where the community utterly pours its malice on her. Grace is vindicated though she gives the command to her gangster father to torch and gun Dogville, and even repaying one woman in the exact manner she had shattered Grace's pride and joy. But finally it dissolves into a wretched feeling of guilt where I find myself gunning for Grace to "kill them, kill them all" even before she'd made the decision to.

All in all, Dogville is bleak and yet accurate - in some ways - in its depiction of human nature.

Go Google Go!

Wired.com: Hey Google, Map This!

Google Mapping service

But God

My flesh and my heart fail;
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalms 73:26 (NKJV)

Vespa Dream Scoots Away

Been toying with the idea of getting a motorbike license, followed by a motorbike or scooter, preferably a Vespa. A colleague commented the latter would be a chick magnet. What kinda chicks, I retorted.

Did my research, the license would cost me about $600plus, think the bike's available under $1.5K.

Oh yes, public transport's driving me nuts - esp. all the waiting at bus-stops.

After much deliberation, I finally summoned up the courage and asked my folks' opinion.

A curt "NO" came from my mom, followed by a brief lesson in statistics about the proportion of parents who actually consent to their child scooting about dangerously on 2 slim wheels.

Oh well.

Mother's Day

It's a lazy saturday morning.

While I sipped my coffee & flipped through the papers, I could hear mom industriously cooking lunch for the 3 other men in her life - that's dad, bro & me.

First, she washes rice to make porridge - yes, we're teochew. Then it's dried tou-fu strips ("tao kee") in dark soya broth. Followed by stir-fried stingray with pungent black dace sauce - this dish proved rather hazardous as wet stingray set off a fierce eruption of boiling hot oil.

Occasionally, she interrupts her cooking with nagging quips at my dad, e.g. "don't anyhow wipe your oily hands, use tissue!"

As the fried smells filled the kitchen even with the windows wide open, I considered fleeing the scene. But oddly, these smells evoke a comfortable feeling of homely belonging.

I love my mother.

SG Bloggers Convention!

Tomorrow.sg: Singapore Bloggers Convention 2005 -- A Call For Suggestions

Engorged

I confess, I've been eating 6 meals a day.

Pre-breakfast today when I wake up consisted of a fruit & a glass of milk. Breakfast was mee siam - got really hungry at 12! Lunch @ 12plus was fish soup with rice, 2 servings of fruit & soya bean (mmmmm... making me hungry again, just thinking about it). Tea break @ 4pm was milo & a red bean steamed bun. Dinner @ 8pm was rice with dishes & 1 serving of fruit.

Golly, does this count as stuffing my face???

Thankfully, Runner's World tells me that studies have shown that people who eat early AND frequently are better at maintaining their weight.

Doesn't explain why I've put on weight tho...

Alright, that was 1 rambly mundane blog...

Growing Old

Read "Alzheimer's: A Mother-Daughter Act"
By ELINOR FUCHS, NYTimes (you'll need login)

My greatest fear? Growing old and ageing. So what's a good age to die?

45? Kids too young. Imagine to be at peak of career.

50? Kids not grown up yet.

55? Kids grown up. Parents still alive?

Surprising Brands

Bought a 2in1 shampoo recently... it's by LG.

4IQ Test... Just for fun

Your brain: 60% interpersonal, 220% visual, 80% verbal, and 40% mathematical!

Congratulations on being 400% smart! Actually, on my test, everyone is. The above score breaks down what kind of thinking you most enjoy doing. A score above 100% means you use that kind of thinking more than average, and a score below 100% means you use it less. It says nothing about how good you are at any one, just how interested you are in each, relatively. A substantial difference in scores between two people means, conclusively, that they are different kinds of thinkers. Matching Summary: Each of us has different tastes. Still, I offer the following advice, which I think is obvious: Don't date someone if your interpersonal percentages differ by more than 80%. Don't be friends with someone if your verbal percentages differ by more than 100%. Don't have sex with someone if their math percentage is over 200%.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 70% on interpersonal You scored higher than 99% on visual You scored higher than 73% on verbal You scored higher than 35% on mathematical

Link: The 4-Variable IQ Test written by chriscoyne on Ok Cupid

Remembering Loves

Arts Central's latest campaign "Life begins at 9" and indeed this wannabe was hooked for 1.5 hours.



First on the menu was The Food Lover's Guide to Australia, an absolutely wonderful 30min collage of sights & sounds in an avid appreciation of all things to do with gourmet cuisine, done in a way that's both pleasing and modern that can only be Australian.

Pretty nice sounding bullshit there huh?

I was simply captivated, especially to the short Food Art segment which was virtually a pornographic mtv portrayal of how canapes is prepared.



Listening to Marsalis' essential yet oft neglected fundamentals of learning to play an instrument reminded me of all the instructional books I used to read.

While hearing that Hadyn trumpet concerto being played brought to mind an SSO concert I'd attended years ago with my pubescent ACS horn section mates.

And suddenly an intense remembrance of my love for music flooded my soul...

Jaggi's

A Daily Exam

Church friend cum student commented, "No more exams more you, yeah?"

"Well, yes. But it's a daily exam for me instead."

Go figure.

Trivial aspirations aside, I've been feeling lost as to my desired career path. And I derive little comfort from the fact that I'm not alone in my lack of professional passion.

What's your dream job?



Mine would be a Lonely Planet guide, i.e. Ian Wright.



*cue imagination to visualize Ed in Abu Dhabi raving about exotic middle eastern food*

A common phrase from Garfield: "Abu Dhabi is where all the cute kittens go."

Alright, I'm rambling now.

How about baking?



Some might interpret that as another qualification towards domestic-dom. A colleague declared me a SNAG in front of others.



*Ed ponders life choices & more...*

The End is Nigh

Read Crossring.com: The end of the world where Chris Theobald looks at the claims of "The Bible Code 2" that the world will end in 2006.

Hubble: Starry Night

Wired.com: Happy 15th Birthday, Hubble

Run Run Run

Yup, still doing 'em runs, though not as regular as I'd prefer. Plateau-ing at about 25min, prob 5.5km? At least I tried a different route.

Phoenix: Run Run Run
Business calls me, trouble down the waterfront
You know, I tried to,now I'm running outta lies
It's a clear view, when all you are is gettin' paid
No more favors, I know what we can do about it

I think I'd better run, run, run
I think I'd better run, run, run
You didn't catch me fallin', fallin', fallin'
Fallin',fallin', fallin'

Contradictions get me everything I want
I'll let you know but I think it's gonna take a while
It's a clear view, noone's waiting at the door
A million letters, they couldn't make me change my mind

I think I'd better run, run, run
I think I'd better run, run, run
You didn't catch me fallin', fallin', fallin'
Fallin',fallin', fallin'

How you want it to be, sittin' by the waterfront
I know I should be drifting far enough to reach the shore
It's a clear view, don't you underestimate me
No more flavor I know that I can live without it

I think I'd better run, run, run
& leave those things for someone else
But I liked it
I don't even care
If you got to play the game you got to do it well

Fri Nite

Last night, watched Night Scene at S'pore History Museum. Interesting docufilm about male prostitution in Beijing, esp. the straight gigolos who voice their desires to settle down with a wife and kid eventually. Was there with G, probably 1 out of 5 females in the entire cinema. Had to open her plastic bag with durian puffs inside to reach our chocolate stash *PHOOF!*



Went over to Liquid Room to see Dan da Man (on tpt/flugelhorn) compete in Heineken Thirst 2005. Groovy! Wonder if he won...

Bro came back with a big GNC tub of body-building protein whey. You go, bro!

I,Geek

Attended a CISCO Systems-organized 2 day conference on network security. T'was a mildly harrowing experience, struggling to breathe in the geeky world of engineer tech-talk.



I've never confessed to being a tech-inclined person, but at least some of my networking knowledge did resurface to help me make sense of concepts like intrusion detection and OOB or acronyms like 802.11g, WEP, WPA, EAP etc.



Amusing quip by one American speaker: when matters arise out of layers 8 & 9, it becomes a whole lot more complex... that is to say, political or leadership.

At 1 point, I was so lost, I wondered if the speaker was speaking at 1000wpm - he being CISCO's marketing director - and whether bespectacled S'poreans clad in polo tees/jeans around me actually understood him.

Well, all in a day's work, as Ed plods along in his pseudo-IT career.

The Freshmaker

What Defines Me

Had a sobering conversation today with an army pal - about the meaningfulness of life on earth. He asked, if we have Jesus in us (us both being Christians) and yet we question the purpose of our lives, what about others?

Yes, the monotony of work-life has finally gotten to me. I did read an HBS interesting article which posed a simple question "What was the best day at work you've had in the past three months?". But as a colleague pointed out, it's hardly encouraging.

So, I ask, what defines me? Definitely not material possessions nor social status, though I can't deny that I am very much aware of the lack of these things in my life. Neither should be defined by my job scope, yet I am very much affected by it.

I don't think I can articulate who I am, though I do know myself.

Anyway... just rambling on a sleeping Friday night.

Better Together

Jack Johnson

There is no combination of words I could put on the back of a postcard
And no song that I could sing but I can try for your heart
And our dreams and they are made out of real things
Like a shoebox of photographs with sepia-toned loving
Love is the answer at least for most of the questions in my heart
Like why are we here? And where do we go? And how come it’s so hard?
It’s not always easy and sometimes life can be deceiving
I’ll tell you one thing, it’s always better when we’re together

It’s always better when we’re together
We’ll look at the stars when we’re together
It’s always better when we’re together
It’s always better when we’re together

And all of these moments just might find their way into my dreams tonight
But I know that they’ll be gone when the morning light sings
Or brings new things for tomorrow night you see
That they’ll be gone too, too many things I have to do
But if all of these dreams might find their way into my day to day scene
I’d be under the impression I was somewhere in between
With only two, just me and you, not so many things we got to do
Or places we got to be we’ll sit beneath the mango tree now

It’s always better when we’re together
We’re somewhere in between together
Well it’s always better when we’re together
It’s always better when we’re together

I believe in memories they look so pretty when I sleep
And when I wake up you look so pretty sleeping next to me
But there is not enough time
And there is no song I could sing
And there is no combination of words I could say
But I will still tell you one thing
We’re better together

Live Life

Fast Company: How to Work Extremely Well

Ed's Mom Thot Scones Are Lousy Cookies

Yes I know, this blog has been found wanting. Haven't had any inspiration to blog, so no blog.

Final Salsa class next week - life will be meaningless then.

Bro's birthday was last sunday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KIDDO!



Singapore Intl Film Fest opens tomorrow. Went for a couple of fringe films at Goethe Institut, pretty interesting and surprisingly not that crowded. Great food @ OA Bakery along Kiliney road, possible new hangout :)

Checking out the discussion board, I realized how whiny S'poreans can be (and choosing awful nicks like 'sexyboy'). More significantly, the underlying thread of the arts in S'pore appears in various discussions, from poor ticket sales to poor administration to GV pulling out. But that said, there are people like me who are into film and would support the festival - should be going for at least 3 films with friends. There is an allure in the underground/non-mainstream and screening movies in rickety theaters (just an expectation).

Another Saturday Out

Watched some fringe films at Goethe Institut - Obras was interesting with its ITMFL-like feel, Fabulous Creatures was too abstract for most of us. Technical glitches were mildly annoying.

Popped over to a flea market at a warehouse opposite Miramar Hotel with cellgroup friends. Surprisingly darn crowded with a curiously bohemian mish-mash of subcultures. And free coke - the drink of coz! Had a kebab burger, realized the vendor's from far east plaza. Here's a tip if you wanna sell your junk, be more decisive when quoting prices, if not, you and your pals appear like you're conspiring against your customers.

Cellgroup was refreshing - have to renew my love for the word of God.



Met MINDEF orientation friends for dinner. Went to Le Petit Breton @ thomson - today's special was rabbit but wasn't our crepe of preference. Lovely place though and quite affordable. Had tea at Brown Box @ serangoon gardens. Talking about men and the lack thereof gave my friend a headache - haha!

Leave Me Alone

Watched The Station Agent.

"Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage) is a man trying to live life on his own terms. Looking only to be left alone, he takes up residence in an rural town's old train depot. But much like the station agents that occupied small town depots before him, he finds himself reluctantly becoming enmeshed in the lives of his neighbors, especially Olivia (Patricia Clarkson), a forty-year-old artist struggling with the break up of her marriage, and Joe (Bobby Cannavale) a thirty-year-old with a talent for cooking and an insatiable hunger for conversation - whether anyone wants to talk to him or not.

The STATION AGENT is about three people with nothing in common, except their shared solitude, until chance circumstances bring their lives together. Before long, from this forgotten depot, this mismatched threesome forges an unlikely bond, which ultimately reveals that even isolation is better shared."

The World We Live In

Clicking through the NY Times online and reading about Terri Schiavo's life story, graphics of Iraq war casaulties of 18 to 25yo's, the Pope's finally going, DaimlerChrysler's troubles with the Smart, Sin City the latest Hollywood offering in the ultimate bloody gore, American consumers being faced with too much choice...

It's overwhelming - the unceasing barrage of global events and a dizzying swathe of worldly concerns.

I should stick to the Straits Times.