That nostalgic wave...

A wave of nostalgia hit me, after my friend KA sent me this:

Indeed, anyone who grew up in the era of cassette tapes will know that the pencil was indispensible to get the spools moving again whenever the ferric-oxide coated tape material became "sticky", for various reasons.

I also became an adept "tape doctor" -- reattaching split tape ends with special splicing/joining tape. Oh, how many times had I to gingerly perform open heart surgery on a very sick cassette tape at death's door:

Wikipedia

I recently discovered a thematic boutique cafe in Telok Blangah Rise that displays a collection of yesteryear's stuff!...

https://www.facebook.com/habitssg

I remember buses like this one, operated by the defunct Singapore Traction Company (which -- ahead of its time! -- also operated non-polluting electric trolley buses):

ST

How I wished I had kept the bus tickets from those days. These ones below were found online:

https://timesofmylife.wordpress.com/2007/04/09/ticket-to-the-past-part-1/

I am not a smoker but some family member might have been...

I remember those "chocolate coins" of my childhood. They were quite big, unlike the tiny ones I recently found in a souvenir pack:

Thankfully, haw flakes are still the same (well, almost)...

Wartime Japanese "banana notes"?...

ST

I was sure there were some -- somewhere in some drawer. Pay dirt!...

Finally, this Singapore Memory Project pic got it right; I did use the ubiquitous Jacobs cream cracker tins for keeping mementoes, black and white photos and pen pal letters...

Let's drink to the weekend!

So much stuff gets "shared" on Facebook and on WhatsApp. These are some choice ones that I like:

At least one misspelling in this list... Bated Breath, not Baited Breath!  

He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool. Shun him.

And, finally, let's drink to the weekend!...

From panda huggers to panda sluggers.

I had alerted Facebook friends about an article by prominent American China-watcher David Shambaugh. It appeared in ST (June 12) but the original piece was in the South China Morning Post:

In a fundamental shift, China and the US are now engaged in all-out competition

David Shambaugh says worryingly, an across-the-board contest now dominates US-China relations

http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1819980/fundamental-shift-china-and-us-are-now-engaged-all-out

  

The headline in ST's version was less stark and it gave little away, in comparison...

Sino-US relations: Divorce is not an option

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/opinion/more-opinion-stories/story/sino-us-relations-divorce-not-option-20150612

This extract below highlights the US academic's concerns about the Sino-US strategic dynamic:

Professor Shambaugh, incidentally, recently suggested that China was at risk of "cracking up" -- which led a number of observers, like the one below, to challenge that view:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stephenharner/2015/03/10/why-david-shambaughs-coming-chinese-crackup-case-is-wrong/

But the article that I found most revealing was this one in The Japan Times:

The conversion of America’s China doves into hawks

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2015/05/20/commentary/world-commentary/conversion-americas-china-doves-hawks/#.VXsAnPmqqkp

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Finally, I really like this tell-it-as-it-is cartoon, also from The Japan Times...

A sub-editor's nightmare...

You've put the newspaper to "bed". Then, the next day,  you see what you had done or had not spotted/rectified:

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Finally, Vincent Musetto, the man who famously penned "Headless body in topless bar" has died:

http://nypost.com/2015/06/09/new-york-post-editor-and-film-critic-vincent-musetto-dies-at-74/

A sad state of affairs -- when S'poreans are clueless about their country's foreign policy realities.

This is a superb yet succinct commentary article by Singapore's former Foreign Ministry permanent secretary:

Foreign policy is no laughing matter

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/opinion/more-opinion-stories/story/foreign-policy-no-laughing-matter-20150608

I felt compelled to put a comment in Facebook, using this extract below from the article:

What was the silly question that was posed to former Foreign Ministry perm sec Bilahari (ST, pg A19)? Go read his no holds barred tour de force of SG's foreign policy realities. Like Bilahari, I was mentored by Realists like Chan Heng Chee, Lau Teik Soon and Lee Lai-to at NUS' (the then University of S'pore) Political Science Dept. They taught us well about our country's immutable vulnerabilities.
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In a lighter vein, I posted this on Facebook last weekend:

This wire story is from Saturday's ST...anyone else noticed this gem amid the South China Sea tensions?... great copy writing from Vietnam's tourism agency!

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Finally, this story also piqued me:

So I asked:

Hillary with balls?

Macula holes.

Today, I learnt a lot more about macula holes -- I have one in my right eye, and I am at risk of retinal detachment and blindness.

Images were taken of my right eye. What the doc then showed to me looked something like these ones:

http://www.nature.com/eye/journal/v27/n1s/fig_tab/eye2013212f10.html

What are macula holes. SNEC's website gives this brief description:

http://www.snec.com.sg/eye-conditions-and-treatments/common-eye-conditions-and-procedures/Pages/macular-hole.aspx?gclid=CjwKEAjwkcWrBRDg5u6SuPS11C0SJAChLLAHHmvy08zzHxDwfUzk_tUrfZHY36WPpAdfZyLqAiJLoxoC-q7w_wcB

The day-surgery procedure I will need to have is called a vitrectomy. Post-op, I must keep my face tilted downwards for two weeks! There is even a pillow for it:

http://www.rehabmart.com.sg/orthopaedic-supports/head-neck-support/face-down-pillow-mj1430

The surgery has been scheduled for mid-July.

From Beijing with love?

So, the Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) held in Singapore over the weekend has ended. ST predictably ran this "post-mortem" commentary:

Well, the Chinese have invited the ASEAN defence ministers to troop over to Beijing later this year:

China to Hold First Meeting With ASEAN Defense Ministers in Beijing

http://thediplomat.com/2015/06/china-to-hold-first-meeting-with-asean-defense-ministers-in-beijing/

Interesting. Was Admiral Sun, the delegation head to the SLD, sent to Singapore as a plenipotentiary? For sure, any ASEAN defence minister who decides not to turn up in the Forbidden City for this special meeting will be notable by his absence. Hmm, is this invitation "to come to Beijing" (bearing gifts?) for a special meeting a bid to resurrect the imperial tributary system?

But then, it could just be an opportunity to leverage on China's own "SLD" -- the Xiangshan Forum. It appears that this special meeting is being billed as a sideline event to the main talkfest. Anyway, the tongues are already wagging... Is China looking to have the Xiangshan Forum outshine the SLD?

Singaporean academic Wang Gungwu is already looking at Chinese tea leaves and worrying about the dilemma that the Little Red Dot might have to face as China becomes more assertive:

Some people are already regretting past folly:

Finally, truth be told, this Chinese academic said it so succinctly at the SLD!...