Recent content by yellowarse

Yes, genetics do play a part. During the brutal Korean War winter of '50-'51 when temperatures in the North Korean mountains dipped to -40ºC, many more blacks sustained frostbite and cold injuries than whites, despite growing up in similar climatic conditions back in the US. Sentries were...

Well, over the past week, temperatures plunged to -50ºC in northeast China. And nobody died. ------------ No country for cold men: Inner Mongolia village hits 50 degrees below zero Temperatures in parts of Inner Mongolia have reached -50.2 degrees Celsius, according to the Inner Mongolia...

The sad thing about Malays today is that they have no inkling about their own heritage. They think that the Malay race started with Islam, and before Islam came, the entire archipelago was a terra nullius. But long before Islam came to this part of the world there was a Malay people and Malay...

Should this fixer have his citizenship stripped?

Now, now, we wouldn't want to upset the Christian fundies, would we? And surely we don't want to see our obstetricians being gunned down in our car parks, do we?

And how do you account for the 'china' in 'Indochina'? And the imperial exams in Vietnam? And the phonological similarities between Vietnamese and Cantonese? And how Zen and Mahayana Buddhism took root in Vietnam (heard of Thich Nyat Hanh?)? And why does the Burmese language belong to the...

As usual, you got your dates wrong. The Champa Kingdom reigned central Vietnam from 4th – 13th century A.D. And they were Hindus, not Muslims. If you go to the My Son sanctuary in Vietnam today, the historic capital of Champa and a UNESCO World heritage site, you can see the temple ruins...

Yes, for them Singapore is just a stepping stone to the US. Their conversations are always peppered with references to 'Am-ree-ka'!

The Ah Neh expats with the American MNCs here don't even start with the Corolla. Cars are so expensive here, and they have already latched on to the American SUV aspiration even though some came straight to Singapore from Delhi. The Lexus RX is their favourite, to a man. The more...

Actually a very well-kept secret, but Zhejiang Uni is shaping up to be the MIT of Asia. Very strong in technology, engineering and design and a front-runner in forging the marriage of arts and technology. That's why SUTD chose to partner only MIT and ZJU for their exchange programs.

A Beemer will never match Lexus's level of reliability. But if you want to rent a Lexus because you think that it drives like a BMW, forget it. It doesn't; the drive sucks, whether it's the IS, ES, GS or the flagship LS. You'd better off driving a Mazda 6 if you want a Jap car with a...

Dollar for dollar, the Japs make the best cars in the world. Period. And Toyota stands head and shoulders above everyone else. When I drive in a place for the first time, I rent Japanese, for the reliability. (I remember exploring the entire Western Australia in a Toyota Camry yonks ago – the...

You lost me at 'happily married'. One can be as faithful to a reliable as to an unreliable car, if you want to bring up the analogy of fidelity. Finding pleasure in driving a car = unfaithful? No pleasure and ecstasy and orgasm = faithful? Then your marriage must be a miserable one if neither...

Vincent Wijeysingha's contract with UniSim was not renewed because he was doing research and oral history on Operation Spectrum (PJ Thum & Glenn Goei were involved too). Is that a crime? Should Vincent be charged too? So, show me the legislation or any part of the Constitution says that...

Boss is different. He knows he's suffering from a terminal illness, so can give us advanced warning and make the necessary preparations. In Ramseth's case, he just came down with liver failure and landed in hospital before he passed on. If no one had known who he was, we'd all still be...