Earth Hour

     Later during 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm, the city where I live in will conduct the Earth Hour. This activity is supposed to remind and raise awareness about saving the environment and Earth, through reducing carbon emission. It is important to reduce carbon emission, but I will say this: Earth Hour is stupid, pointless and useless.

     Many people believe that the Earth Hour is here to reduce carbon emission, whereas it is supposed to only raise awareness and send a message. These people spread the wrong message, and it is bad for the event. One hour of blackout is equivalent to nothing. There would be no impact on carbon usage. Power stations would still be burning fuels to create energy regardless even if everyone off the light. If they decided to shut down the power stations, hospitals will have a bad night. Hospitals require energy to keep patients alive. If they were to shut down power stations, we would need very powerful stations that can cope with the upsurge of energy after an hour. Guess what type of fuel is good and efficient for this? Yep, fossil fuels. And the emitted carbon will just cancel out whatever was reduced in the hour, as alternative energy would take a longer time to start up. The huge upsurge of energy could also be created if a lot of people were to turn on their lights at once after the Hour, and there would be a chance that a substation would have a fuse blown. A small chance, but nevertheless a higher percentage than that of Earth Hour's impact on the environment. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation boasted that the energy saved is equivalent of taking away 48,000 cars off the road. There is about 8766 hours per year, and with elementary Maths, we would get about 5.47 cars off the road a year. Wow. That's a lot of energy saved. And then there are people who use candles to light up their homes. I believe they have forgotten that candles is made of hydrocarbon, and they release carbon dioxide. We can clearly see that Earth Hour does not reduce carbon emission, rather it might even increase it.

     Another thing to note is that this event might be sending out a wrong message. Through this event, we turn off all electrical appliances, or at least try to. However, this is actually putting technology in a bad light. It makes electricity look bad. Electricity has been a sign of human progress through the past few decades, and the progress of technology is equivalent to human progress. And this event might cause people to believe that technology and electricity is the Devil that has caused global warming. It is true that they have caused global warming, but they are merely tools of the Devil, which is actually us misusing them. Furthermore, I strongly believe that technology can solve this problem. Solar energy, wind energy and other alternatives that do not release carbon. And to make them cheaper and more affordable, technology is needed. I do not blame the organisers for this, as they did not meant this, but it is somewhat dangerous that people would get the wrong idea and the wrong message caused by this event.

    Perhaps the best way to solve the environmental problem is to observe what we do not only during the Earth Hour. We should try and reduce carbon emission everyday. Turn off appliances that we do not need, observe the 3 R's, make sure the (right) message gets to people. Governments should also encourage research on alternative sources of energy, educate people. One hour is not enough, we need our whole lifetime.

Cyprus Bailout

Today's worldwide shares dropped, partly because of the bailout for Cyprus, an European nation that is about to go bankrupt. The Cypriot government has reached an agreement with the Euro-zone, to have a bailout for Cyprus's troubled banking system. And the agreement was not a free bailout -- there will be a bank levy, a tax on the people's savings in banks. Above 100.000 euros in your savings account, you pay 9.9%, below it you pay 6.75%. This money will add up to about 5.8 billion Euros, a part of the 13 billion Euro bailout. And now everybody in Cyprus is trying to retrieve the money to soften the blow. There are different views on it. Some people feel that it is unfair for the people. They feel that Cyprus is being the scapegoat for the European countries. Many Russians also have their savings in Cypriot banks, and Vladimir Putin believed that "it would be unfair, unprofessional and dangerous". Angela Merkel said that “anyone having their money in Cypriot banks must contribute in the Cypriot bailout. That way those responsible will contribute in it, not only the taxpayers of other countries, and that is what’s right.” The president Nicos Anastasiades also said that he does not like the bailout, it is a tragic moment for Cyprus, but it has to be done. The parliament only had a slim majority for the vote, and the voting that is scheduled to take place on Sunday would be delayed to allow more time to build a consensus. I personally do not have much opinions on this, although I do not really believe in bailouts. Comments would be greatly welcomed on this issue.

American Funding of IME

In June 2012, an American research engineer, Shane Todd, was found hanged in his apartment. Dead. Of course. The Singapore Police Force has looked into this case, and they believe that his death was suicidal. That Dr Todd had died because of stress at work. However, why is it that this case has still not been closed? Dr Todd "had told his parents that he felt he was under threat because of his work with the 'Chinese'"  months before the incident. And this rose suspicion. Singapore Police Force has said that he "drilled holes into his bathroom wall, bolted in a pulley, then slipped a black strap through the pulley and wrapped it around the toilet several times. He then tethered the strap to his neck and jumped from a chair." However, no holes were found in the walls when the family visited his apartment, and of course no bolts and screws. Dr Todd also looked like he was about to move, stated by Financial Times, as he had clean clothes folded on the couch, about to sell his furniture, air ticket on the table and had packed boxes, ready to leave. Why would he do all these if he wanted to kill himself? In fact, there were many inconsistencies between the police report and the crime scene. Dr Todd's colleague also told his parents that no one believed that it was a suicide. A pathologist from USA also believed that there was a struggle, though the Singaporean pathologist dismissed that, as the American pathologist have only seen pictures.  Then, a hard-drive was found, and inside was schedules and plans with Hua Wei. Yep, that Chinese company. It seemed that it was possible that the Chinese company could have plans to take the semi-conductor technology for military purposes, and this scared the shit out of the American authorities. The IME also requested the Todds not to contact them, after the Todds fired questions at them. Then there are the Senators, who have tried to push legislation to stop funds to IME. I can totally understand that, and I have no objection to that until the situation is improved. USA is afraid that their technology might end up in China's hands, a good reason, and that Singapore Police Force was too inefficient, the Senators are also afraid that if any more things happen, the SPF would not give right answers. Thus, I believe that this legislation is completely justified.

About myself

I just started this blog. It is for me to comment. About events that took place. Try to keep it updated. Try to keep it clean. I am a vulgar person. I am a student. That was a strange thing to do, trying to keep all my previous sentences to be lesser than 10 words. Cut to the chase, I am an atheist, a little radical, a pessimist, I try to be a realist, and right now I am a libertarian, not those anarchist type, and I may change my views as I mature. Comments are useful to me, as it will make me rethink my views. Thank you.