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2008 Year In Pictures

Posted by singaporedaily on December 31st, 2008

A sombre message to a sombre year indeed. The sobering thing for me this year was the influx of foreigners. The hue and cry over their numbers misses the crux of the issue. Foreigners are merely the symptom. We need to focus on the causes. Not having foreign “talent” will only make matters worse we are told. I agree. What I disagree is that having them is the only solution. What has happened that has made us so dependent on outside help? Have we created a system that is slowly squeezing the life out of this land? Falling birth rates, leaking talent pool, a system that is unable or unwilling to support the old and the sick, meritocracy that has warped into favouring only certain quarters of society. We allowed mom and pop shops to wither away because we prefer the convenience of one-stop shops. We teach our children only one thing - the pursuit of money. Every other endevour is secondary. Our system punishes anyone who strays from mainstream ideals. Where are our artists? The intelligentia? Our poets, our writers, our musicians, our sportsmen? People that define a society, define who we are, what we stand for..

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer.
Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold.
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned.
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

We need to change.
g

[That's what happens when you write at 2am after a few drinks too many. It reads a tab morbid now that the sun is up.]

Another year has passed. As we count down the end of a rather bad year (for some), here’s a look back at what happened in 2008.














































Flash Clock courtesy of Adam Dorman

14 Responses to “2008 Year In Pictures”

  1. Adam Says:

    The problem is the majority of Singaporeans are lulled daily by the media into believing that everything is in order. How can a dying population, an increase on foreign dependency, marginalisation of everyone who goes against the grain of the PAP, point to anything but a nation in danger of going to the dogs? Wake up Singapore, before its too late!

  2. George says: Says:

    Singaporeans are like frogs immersed in a slowly heating up cauldron of water?

    No prize for guessing who created the said cauldron and water.

  3. anime fan Says:

    Hey G!

    Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer.
    Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold.
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned.
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.

    Yikes! No joke! You are starting to give us all the creeps (in a nice sort of way). For one second, I thought you were Darkness. (wink)

    That guy speaks in riddles.

    But what does it really mean? He uses it again and again. But what does it really mean?

    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

  4. Meek Says:

    The cauldron and water were created by us! Like they say, you deserve the government you elected!

    Nice clock btw. Happy new year!

  5. A-Nony-Moss Says:

    Remember the pianist who dared defy the authorities and became a concert pianist? He stayed true to his dreams and achieved his goal. He came back to his homeland to seek forgiveness and guess what, WE, that’s right, we bayed for his blood. Will we ever change? Not in this life time. That is the sad truth.

    And yea, happy new year…………..

  6. chiobu fan Says:

    cheer up everyone. its new year’s eve! lets put aside our grievances for a day and pray for happiness and good health.

  7. NEW YEAR SPECIAL ESSAY/ BP Says:

    NEW YEAR 2009 ARTICLE FROM THE BROTHERHOOD PRESS

    TITLE: THE TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS.

    http://dotseng.wordpress.com/2008/12/31/the-tragedy-of-the-commons/

    [This message has been brought to you from Primus Aldentes Prime by the Interspacing Mercantile Guild]

  8. abao Says:

    Happy new year to the folks at Singapore Daily :)

    Hope SGDaily will grow in quality and quantity with each passing day.

  9. James Teng H L Says:

    Hi everyone

    Wishing Singdaily a happy 2009.

    I really hope this means the brotherhood press is finally back in business.

    And they have decided to put an end to their boycott of the National Library Board.

    Welcome back

  10. NEW ESSAY/ BP 1-01-09 Says:

    Title of Article: My reflections on the first decade of blogging – Darkness 2009

    Publication date: 1st Jan 2009

    Author: Darkness 2009

    Brief Extract:

    “But despite my initial reservations about the quality of change that blogging brought to the Malaysia political landscape – I remained hopeful, that if used wisely and responsibly, blogging for lack of a better word remains our best hope to make a better world.
    I say this with confidence. As when we look back at history and peruse through the unresolved dialogues of Plato right up to Karl Krauss, its not too difficult to trace out the lines where a skeptic once questioned the spirit of his age to make it a better place; or an enquiring mind found a way out of the finality to the established truth to shatter the yoke of the great lie; in the scheme of things it matters little whether its disproving the theory the earth is flat; or rubbishing something as polished as the whole idea the earth is the center of the known universe. The one undeniable ever lasting legacy of the human spirit is where there is a mind who is prepared to write and defend his treatise before the world; there is hope for good to triumph over evil…”

    Click here to read more:

    http://dotseng.wordpress.com

    Send by KKP for the Brotherhood Press

  11. aggravated Says:

    a bit late but happy new year singapore daily and everyone!

  12. singaporedaily Says:

    To 2009 and beyond!

  13. Supporter Says:

    Happy new year guys

  14. soothsayer Says:

    I really dont think so James. If you read PBK, the boycott of everything NLB is still in force. Only this time, they have up the ante. They want Raju to go this time. Its like Philip Yeo’s case. Go and we will gladly come to the table and talk shop. Go and we will give you access to who we are and we may even cooperate etc. As long as those characters stay. No deal. No talk.

    No point. You will not even get one millimeter with this ppl. They are all a bunch of stone heads. They may write the best stuff online. They may even come across as a very polished and educated lot, but at the end of the day make no bones - they are ruthless thugs.

    Their undoing is they may have inadvertently taken the same warring tribal culture of gaming into blogosphere. So they are totally incapable of thinking of any other alternative, except this one and only way of conducting real world politics.

    just my pov.

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