Think of you
[Scope remembers that when the shots were full body, people wanted up close shots. Since, there have been a couple of such close shots, and shots without make-up since Scope doesn’t like make up. The best effect here is to crop the image 40% from up, and just focus on the eyes of Scope… Some girls exclaimed they like the stare. The CGP with Shakira is coming… Whew~ She really can shake.]

Maslow was a politician who told people that he’d serve the nation with an empty stomach first above all others… so God becomes jobless.

Scope has to be honest, that he was on fever for the last few days and has been since coughing till now probably due to the frequent overseas trips lately and he is not feeling well even as he is typing now… and yet, there is unfinished business out there. So…

So health comes first, money can be made anytime. The demise of Jurong GRC’s Dr Ong shows clearly that no matter how powerful and rich a man is, as what we all said in China, he only has one puny life. And it only worths a 1000RMB if you know the right people… Ok, this part yields a little to the justice* system, which I believe is the way getting fashionable. But the point is still, get the point?

[Olympics Joke] Many global contestants for Olympics are hesitating to arrive earlier in Beijing due to the infamous pollution there. I believe Beijing would have done all it could to suppress pollution level because not doing so would mean huge loss of face, and that’s very important in China.

Scope had visited Beijing a couple of years before the last trip, and Beijing was filling the roads with bicycles long time ago. Then, Beijing becomes congested with tons of Volvos and many makes with pollution level hitting all times high. That should probably teach every government in the world the price of leaving things to market forces since Beijing’s consumption power for the right things is ridiculously explosive. Now, who says China’s purchasing power is low, which has been one excuse for some movie players over the issue of profitability?

However, the joke is this… Many contestants who shall show up only on the day starting with the opening ceremony and wait for their events would probably curse and swear at their ill-decisions. Many of us took about 3~7 days before the bodies openly protested to the pollution when the rashes and dehydration kicked in. Which is about to say that if the contestants were to arrive for the opening ceremony, and take a day or two or a week or more to finish the entire competition, which is mostly the latter case, the unsuspecting constestants would have been enjoying the first body strain just in the midst of his very gan-cheong race to victory.

The body needs time to adjust.

Beijing’s pollution problem is not merely due to vehicles and constructions. Natural waves includ sand storms and pollutants at times from nearby mining provinces, and everyday, the pressure change in Beijing will force fouls from untended pools which are linked to sewages which are linked to drains all across the city into the atmosphere. Drinkable water has to be directed from nearby provinces such as Shanxi to Beijing.

The only way to overcome this for the contestant is to stay indoor when he arrives, or before the big day that he has already months of conditioning his body for the Beijing environment.

So, the old saying that early birds get the worms may still be valid. Those who are thinking of outsmarting the environment could be just their very own undoing.

[Divorce Of The Century] It could be much regretable but celebrated at the same time as Ryoko Hirosue got her first divorce! Regretable since I doubt women normally love divorces, but celebrated because the super beauty of Asia is once again available for many dripping sausages!

Hopefully, Ryoko will find herself the right sausage soon.

[Olympic Joke II] Just as China prepares itself for the world as foreigners are expected to flood Olympics, Scope recently encountered an obvious nutcase of a Chinese blogger from Sohu at Sohu. Check it out at the private messages at http://scopettg.blog.sohu.com around the last week of July 2008. An obvious menace, and the blogger only got more and more absurd. She started out by calling names at Scope, slashing at points erractically, and it was obvious she was out of her mind by flooding the private message column with all her more or less duplicated copies. And what started it? Absolutely nothing!

We’d going to have an ‘Olympic’ as I’d need to delete her malicious spamming and nosenses which she seems to be pretty on with…

Alright, there are such loose screws as well in China, but the proportion of such nutcases to normal cases is still pretty wonderful as compared to outside the China sphere, such as what one can see in Singaporean forums or blogs or… well~

This blogger (张金玲在线广播) doesn’t seem to bother that while China is trying to project a good image for Olympics, she is trying to sound like an idiot, helping China to throw faces… spamming and nosensically shooting and…

Yeah, Scope’d just let her yell on, but as I have been straight to point with her eventually, I’d going to delete all those nosenses of hers. She definitely has no self-respect for her puny self.

[Tough Luck In Singapore] I hate it… Because I really love it when I got 9 strikes out of 10 in China, picked up monies frequently and… now you’d spend plenty of money and nothing hits! The fortune teller is right… So I’d wait. 

[Dawn Yang And Xiaxue] Ha! This is the last thing Scope’d want to talk about. Absolutely sianx… Next~

[Walter Woon Gone Radical With Hodgson Criteria] I suppose there is a need to waste some finger-energy on this one in a more majestic, dedicated, sophisticated, and… long winded thesis production on this story. That’s of course, if you suppose that Scope is fucking crazy…

Very interesting issue in real, but too chim for Scope.

[WordPress Stats Goyak] Umm~ This is a real shocker. Perhaps it could be because Scope is an IT blur, and when a couple of us found out there were problems with the stats, I was shocked when Hanni told us it was because of the database. Know what that could mean?

So if you want to have the hits like what the two cats fighting are getting, all you need to do is just to mess around with the database, and since it is not reflecting real-time, there could be plenty of time to decide how much hits up and down to edit. Now, Scope is not all concerning about hits, but there has been a long suspicion that something has not been ok since one fucking day, I knew 10 computers was loading my blog but the reading then was like not so matching.

Recently, I have checked around technorati, Ping.sg, Pingoat and Pingomatic, and those were down or something weird was going on. How weird it was? It just wasn’t like when Scope started out in blogging with WordPress.

But then, that’s what always happen in virtual reality. Nothing is really reliable. Who knows, maybe 1,000,000,000 people are reading your cock-up morning trying to chew off the tap from your boyfriend and you always think no one is watching.

[Scope has been thinking of doing a dramatic appearance in the parliament, and here goes. The topic is about rapist since he read about another sex scandal of SIA lately. This part 1 CGP shows a politically apathetic hopeless romantic in an overdriven zeal in the tropical outfit… and below is part 2. There is no political implication intented behind this CGP.]

Singapore: The Tales Of Two Cats.

By Ang Peng Hwa

The lawsuit between two of Singapore’s top bloggers is alarming. It may spill over into the larger blogging community and could even backfire on the two involved.

Given that no writer or editor can be free of errors all the time, defamation suits can and do crop up. But, often, those between a media organisation and an individual can be settled quietly.

It is, however, quite another matter altogether when one content producer sues another. This may set a precedent with far-reaching consequences.

First, some background. On June 30 and July 3, in blog entries that have since been removed, Ms Wendy Cheng made in her Xiaxue blog some unfavourable remarks about Ms Dawn Yang. On July 15, Ms Yang’s lawyers sent a letter to Ms Cheng demanding an apology.

The rule of thumb in defamation suits is that one sends a lawyer’s letter when one is reasonably confident of winning. Accordingly, the letter and the requisite letter of apology were sent. That is, Ms Yang expected Ms Cheng to apologise using the letter her lawyer had written.

If, however, the recipient refuses to comply, it must be followed very quickly by a suit. Otherwise, the recipient can go to town waving the lawyer’s letter and say: ‘Look, it was an empty threat.’ Well, in this case, the lawsuit has been filed.

In a blog entry dated July 22, Ms Cheng posted Ms Yang’s lawyer’s letters online. If the statements in question were defamatory, this blog entry would have repeated the defamation.

The law is a two-edged sword: It can cut the wielder too. To avoid being sued, would Singapore blogs have to be sanitised by lawyers? If so, how edgy can they be? And what appeal would they have if they aren’t edgy?

This particular libel suit may lead to self-censorship. In which case, the biggest losers would be the biggest bloggers.

To be sure, American newspapers have sued other American newspapers in US courts. But they take care to frame the issue so as to contain any spillover effects. But the same care does not seem to have been exercised in this case.

What should Ms Yang and Ms Cheng do?

Firstly, they should try to settle the matter offline and outside the court. Who knows what legal ruling might issue from this case, potentially hurting the blogosphere? No one can go to court 100 per cent sure of victory.

Secondly, if they insist on their day in court, they should confine the issues to minimise any ‘spillover’ effects. For example, they should not demand that the loser must run an advertisement in all the newspapers in Singapore to apologise.

This would set a precedent for future defamation cases involving blogging. And that in turn would set a precedent for all other media.

To avoid a ‘spillover’ of unintended legal consequences, the two bloggers should narrow the issue down to the essential, keeping in mind that they themselves would be subject to whatever rules emerge from this suit.

Thirdly, the Xiaxue blog claims that some donors have contributed money to Ms Cheng’s legal defence. This is unwise. Such donations would fuel a war where there is no knowing who might be hit by the stray bullets.

Bloggers need to be educated about the law. Ms Cheng says in her blog FAQ: ‘I took media law in school (and fared quite well for [sic] it too) and I know what I can say.’

That is a bold assertion indeed when defamation law can befuddle even the most seasoned of lawyers.

Two years ago, my colleagues and I at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information conducted a workshop on the laws affecting blogging. A small group of bloggers attended the workshop. The blogosphere was apparently upset that we had even dared to suggest bloggers needed any education that might inhibit their freedom of expression.

What can we say now? Clearly, ignorance is not bliss.

The writer is chair of the Nanyang Technological University’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information.

Scope’d have to rant about the above, chanced upon from http://alvinology.wordpress.com/2008/07/31/dawn-yang-and-her-copyrights. As much as my reluctance to cover this, Scope does have something to say and nobody is obliged to listen.

This chap Ang is probably right about this case, though Scope believes that he didn’t go deeper when he should and probably could. As another chap Kishore shared, Asians don’t think, so who knows about Ang? So this chap Scope must first state that this blog case is not usual. Actually, the legal aspect of this has been discussed before in WordPress forum. As Scope has long indicated via comment in Xiaxue’s blog, that she should approach lawyers with international laws background since such precedent would be confusing to the already confused global legal experts, not to say it’s Singapore.

[Talking Cock Vs Talking Gold] The background of this is Xiaxue and Dawn Yang are two commercialized bloggers, or more technically put: Commercial contents providers. They may have started out as bloggers, but this case is in real one which is between an entertainment company and a modeling agency with the two cats as vehicles. So technically speaking, this is merely a case between two commercial entities… not two bloggers. And yes, Singapore court can admit such cases as with any Donkey Coy Vs Bitch Broadcast Station. The problem of this case, however, is not really solved.

While more and more bloggers nowadays blog with the intention of monetary gains via google ads and such, the real impact comes when they themselves declare to be commercial entities, political circulations, or simply some credible news reporting units or platforms. These people who are making uses of blog hosts to host official entities under the guise of bloggers should not be regarded as blogging in the first place.

So you see why Scope agrees earlier with Ang but Scope obviously sees Ang’s concerns are more or less not to the point. Yes, this could be a precedent and there could be a spill over effect if the Singaporean judges are cracked-up; No, this is not the usual blogosphere case where the judges by right should jam in any rules for blogging with this issue. It is not really whether Xiaxue or Dawn should limit the case’s influence, but the whole direction is that the court should be inclined to see these two bloggers as Strait Times Online Vs Zaobao Online than to see that as Tan Ah Kow Blogging Vs Lin Lao Bei Feedback. The legal standings are different here, hence the outcome of justice would be.

So the issue is not so much as ‘This would set a precedent for future defamation cases involving blogging. And that in turn would set a precedent for all other media.‘, the real issue is the court of Singapore could display ignorance and unprofessionalism in having ‘This would set a precedent for future defamation cases involving blogging. And that in turn would set a precedent for all other media.‘.

Get the point?

Where is there really a precedent when this case is just another defamation case? It’s not really a true blogging case!

As Ang has pointed out about USA online newpapers’ legal war on fellow online newspapers, this assertion of such examples is a clue of confusion that Scope is looking at for the local judicial scene. Can you expect New York Times’ legal status, legal nature, legal rewards hence responsibility to be the same as Chow Ah Gua blogging? Nosensical basically to assume so. Or do you you expect Ang Peng Hwa’s talk on laws and a Mama Shop’s Ang Gu Kuey’s talk on laws to be of the same nature? Now if Ang’s talk is unprofessional, you can expect a backlash; if that Ang Ku Kuey’s talk law is talking cock, who will bother? What, you expect Ang Ku Kuey’s legal perception should be standard, then Scope expects you to be crazy… rationally speaking.

So here’s the basic confusion which is the whole point for this stupid case, if the court admits it… and the court runs into the danger of a complete mockery to itself due to the confusion, and subsequently exposes further the weakness of local laws to deliver justice proper. It is ok if the lady of justice is blind…

…it’s not ok if the lady of justice is blind and confused.

[The truth about the words here is that the orignal words are probably: “And where, and where is the batman~” and “Fuck you, rapist!”. But in consideration of the Singapore mindset, the F word is replaced by ‘…alongside with ERP…’ which is more hip with Singaporeans nowadays. If one is careful enough, you’d discover that the front row was ‘rebuilt’ in the two ‘scenes’. The original picture has PM Lee in front presenting. So the walls and chair have to be rebuilt; Even Mr Arthur Fong was ‘rebuilt’. Again, there is no political implication intented here.]
[Out Of The Box Idea With Inbox Controls] Basically, aside from the unreadiness for the local courts to handle blog cases due to the confusion, it is basically by right illegal to do so from the lone legal power of a lone state of Singapore. Or we should describe it in this manner: …to do so with the lone legal power derived from a lone state of a tiny Chartered member of UN, where (eg) its decision over Pedra Branca is based on international court basis.

Now, why would Scope hope Xiaxue would bring in lawyers with international laws as background instead of lawyers who have merely chewed local laws in their specialized context? You cannot have justice by omitting the broader legal framework, as in Singapore’s case.

Especially in Singapore’s case.

Of the many issues in this case, first of all, the point of contention is about the blog contents (of Xiaxue). We have discussed already the legal binding issues of blog contents in this blog, to Malaysia’s embarassment when it actually used blog contents to much amusement for the fight of Pedra Branca. Email contents were not upheld as legally binding before it was so upheld, but the problem of blog contents is that it is different in nature from that of emails. Emails don’t have comments channel, emails can’t be subjected to will and fancy revisions anytime, and blog postings ain’t spams… and the natural differences don’t end here.

Since, the blog contents are provided not by licensed contents providers that are restricted to local authorities nor local readership, hence local justice. Nor are the providers (writers) necessarily trained professional licensed journalists to justified any credibility to start with. While we do not need to assess Xiaxue’s mental state of health for this civil case, basically, the nature of blogging is even a mental case probably as Scope could be blogging… that even a luatic can have his or her online diary with inputs directly from Institute Of Mental Health (IMH). In China, even prostitutes blog.

So we know that this licensed (assuming extreme absurdity that the government did license a luatic…) journalist permanently residing at IMH blogs, but how can we assert that any blog post is by the hands of that nutcase? Many celebrities in China, for instance, have ‘helpers’ to blog for them. So even if we have Luatic.wordpress.kong privatised or commercialized in court, it’d just be an international joke to attempt justice in such cases.

Well, are we going to use this “I don’t believe you“** to be professional? Nosense.

Bloggers nor luatics need credibility in official sense, anyway.

But the most important issue in this case is still political. An aspect that Scope doesn’t want to deal with, since he is politically stupid, uninformed and apathetic… he can’t think straight in this, so that part is too chim for him to elaborate. But the subtle issue behind blog cases as the above discussions having laid the foundation for can be noted based on the international nature of blogging.

Before that, some USA readers might protest… Yes yes, it is quite true that as a major UN veto chap, USA has recently murdered a Mexico rapist via its own laws with disregards to Vienna’s convention… much to the apparent irk of the UN, but that is nothing if one sees USA sending troops to bang Afganistan then Iraq all without UN… But USA readers must understand that it would be so wonderful if Singapore can secure Pedra Branca just by sending in the SAF and bo chap UN as well… …

Again, the nature of this must be observed, because that’s the basis of Singapore’s global existence.

So… saying that actually explains the issue… quite adequately.

And the problem is, local law scenes can’t get the Rights issues proper, are focused very much on native textbook-based, and when we look all over the internet, very few understand the implications over such blog cases. And it is hard not to feel abit sad that Ang doesn’t seem to perceive in this direction so discussed here. It is a case which is very much similar subtly to Singapore’s attitude towards Pedra Branca. First of all, Xiaxue’s blog contents are not restricted nor necessarily licensed by the state of Singapore, and are subjected to international coverage by the readers from all over the world. How can Singapore unilaterally enforced itself on Xiaxue, and the blog host?

Now in USA, hosts are pretty much protected, natively speaking. But that is not the necessary case all over the world. The point is, for the same blog supposedly called PedraBranca.blogX.kong with HiWorld blog host, Singaporeans are assuming that this international entity is legal to be legally subjected to a court decision in one part of the world. If that is so, why didn’t Singapore court just rule against the Malaysians and claim Pedra Branca for itself, but subject the issue to possible French’s, British’s, Indian’s, etc’s attention?

How can HiWorld blog host and a blog be legally acceptable and unacceptable at the same time in the same world?

The law won’t be a two-edged sword here as Ang put it, it’d be an international joke. Although Dawn and Xiaxue may be indeed Singaporeans, but their blogging are very much as gambling in the open seas***.

Ignorance is not a bliss, indeed. But as the saying always go: In a room of insanes, being sane is not a bliss…  In a room of ignorance, being awared may not be a bliss either. After all, how many asians do think? And in such a room, being talented is probably meaning a certain disaster. Which could be why many are thinking of migrating.

In this future we are in, many people are confused. In this room of confusion, it could be a bliss to be another confused. But confusion itself always lead to disaster. Then it becomes a chicken and egg issue. To be a clear-minded in a room of confusion is a disaster, but to be a room of confusion… that room is a disaster in the making. So what is your choice?

Try to get out of that room, baby.

Actually, Ang is right in a way, that bloggers need to be educated about laws… but then what kind of laws? And how many lawyers will it make sense for the blogosphere? And why would we want a meritocratic nosense in global blogosphere? To illustrate Singapore’s uniqueness? Or to just tell the world, Singapore just can’t… and won’t click with the world, ironically as a cosmopolitan.

So now you know why Scope is reluctant to touch on this issue, but has to. It’s just so stupid… the whole case is just showing how ugly is Singapore, it makes ministerial efforts in promoting blogging a total joke, and no one is really responsible in trying to make some sense out of this other than making Sue a slut.

Is this a blog case? Is Xiaxue still a blogger? Is that her personal diary writing or her job? So the case is the same for Dawn. And please, to be a celebrity is not just sue those who are not happy with you and pretend that the world loves you. This is just self-deceiving, and totally unprofessional being an aspiring celebrity.

Anyway, in my personal view, does Singapore know love?

Yeah yeah… …

To Scope, this case is indeed alarming… because this is a 100% educated population, and this is what he sees. All one needs is a 0% educated population to be ridiculous, ugly, short sighted, and go around threatening to sue… why waste so much budget in education over such a joke?

We have seen the Malaysian experts, educated, highly ranked, and they went to the International Court of Justice justifying their claim on Pedra Branca based on the credence of a blog’s content, and they entertained even fellow Malaysians with the joke.

If Singapore can claim cyberspace as theirs for legal justifications, then Singapore can claim the open seas, the moon, the galaxy… and everyone in the known and unknown universe won’t have chewing gums since the Singapore law prohibits chewing gums.

OMG~ See? That’s why Scope is an idiot****…

* There is an understanding in that justice system is never reliable… but justice can still be delivered because some believe strongly so. The system which protects the evil where such evil encounters what is equally or more evil that is outside the system. In a way, my perception of the assassin industry does change as many outside Singapore see this as a viable venue to justice. Which is why there is a saying, however powerful or rich, a person is only worth a bullet. Many professional hired guns are not bothered with the authority since they have prepared themselves for this line, and many are organised and protected in a way. The demand for their service depends on basically two things: the network and the societal situation whereby such penetration of such network is conducive; the more corrupt of a society, the more welcoming to such networks.

** If you are a regular in this piece of crap, you can spot this crap somewhere in a recent posting. If you can’t, I really don’t believe you. LOL~

*** By right, this case of Xiaxue vs Dawn is not even a blogosphere related case. Xiaxue and Dawn are so commercialized openly in such a manner you can claim that their blogs are online magazines. There is a basic difference when you say X is bad because you may be paid or motivated by certain commercial interest to do so, and when you say X is bad during REACH or in your diary. But Ang’s concern is pretty valid because courts all over the world are pretty confused… and the blogosphere happens to be in the open seas of signals and packets of energies all over the world, and into outer space. Obviously, a confused court which equally confused everyone is pretty useless… or even harmful. Which is why I am pretty unpleased with Dawn’s side, for such selfish legal push is totally moronic to the global blogging community and ironical as Dawn is an aspiring celebrity.

**** Unless one becomes an idiot, it is hardly possible to close both eyes on the coming joke… before people left the room, the only option is to pretend to be idiots in the room. Sad but true, international laws are as the UN is… states such as USA can just bo chap, and one can say it is highly unreliable. But what about Singapore? On one hand, you want international laws to protect you, on the other hand, you ditch international laws and claim you are the laws internationally. Of cos, states can enforce with their powers, but enforcing with powers alone means abuse. You don’t need the court if you don’t expect the people to believe in justice. Another chicken and egg issue… all in a nutshell… no. All in a nutcase.