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Few years ago, I remembered receiving a book¬Ý 'Äì The World Is Flat written by Thomas L Friedman 'Äì from my Chief Executive ¬Ýwhen I joined a government agency. The agency was tasked to help the jobless community.
I later found that the book was mass purchased and given to all 300 of the government agency. I read the book in a flash and was ready to contribute to this awesome agency.
I was elated as I have always associated government agencies with top-down bureaucracy and a culture of non risk-taking. The book dealt with anything but conformity and a systematic way of doing things and I was excited that I am about to join a innovative out-of-the-box-agency.
However, I found that at the ground level, his staff still operated the normal traditional civil service mode 'Äì do your job¬Ý well, don'Äôt ask too many questions and don'Äôt get out of line too much.
There is little room for creativity and ideas were constantly shut out or if they were implemented at all¬Ý 'Äì most likely your immediate superiors would get the credit for your ideas. ¬ÝThere is thus little incentive for¬Ý us to exercise our creativity in such ¬Ýstifling work culture and sadly things are done the same way for many years without the need to improve unless the top says so.
Many of us simply tried our best to do what we are told well enough to get a B grading for our half-yearly work appraisal review so that we would receive a better performance bonus. If you do not ¬Ýtoe the line or act differently from the rest, you may end up at the bottom of the pile and may even receive an adverse grading. You may also be branded a 'Äúsmart alec'Äù if you try to do things differently and risk a dissent warning if you always want to do things¬Ý your own way.
Of course, one can always argue that things need to be done in a proper organized way in the civil service or else things will go haywired. However, an organization will not improve if the workers do not think creatively and contribute ideas in¬Ý a world economy that proves to be challenging and ever-changing.
It is a provened fact that creativity is something that we Singaporeans don'Äôt have a lot ¬Ýand don'Äôt use often.¬Ý Maybe, our educational system of ¬Ýstudying simply to ace exams 'Äì which incidentally does not ¬Ýreally tax the creativity juices a lot 'Äì has impeded us from exploring our creative right side of the brain.
Our Asian distaste for questioning¬Ý authority¬Ý also deters many workers from speaking out strongly to their bosses when they see something wrong. Most will even continue to work on¬Ýthough ¬Ýthey know that what they are doing¬Ý is something wrong and inefficient.
Are NTU/NUS Graduates Creative Enough?
I have recently posted an article written by Valentine Cawley 'ÄúAre NUS/NTU graduates creative enough?'Äù on my website and¬Ý it has generated¬Ý quite a number of ¬Ýcomments.
The article also stipulated that Indonesian workers are the most creative working alongside other Asian graduates in this prestigious American company mentioned.
So what actually is creativity? Scientists have always noted that there are two sides of the brain and the right side is supposes to have more innovative vibes (source about.com):-
|Right Brain Inventory
|Left Brain Inventory
|• Visual, focusing on images, patterns
|• Verbal, focusing on words, symbols, numbers
|• Intuitive, led by feelings
|• Analytical, led by logic
|• Process ideas simultaneously
|• Process ideas sequentially, step by step
|'Ä¢ 'Mind photos' used to remember things, writing things down or illustrating them helps you remember
|• Words used to remember things, remember names rather than faces
|• Make lateral connections from information
|• Make logical deductions from information
|• See the whole first, then the details
|• Work up to the whole step by step, focusing on details, information organized
|• Organization ends to be lacking
|• Highly organized
|• Free association
|• Like making lists and planning
|'Ä¢ Like to know why you're doing something or why rules exist (reasons)
|• Likely to follow rules without questioning them
|• No sense of time
|• Good at keeping track of time
|• May have trouble with spelling and finding words to express yourself
|• Spelling and mathematical formula easily memorized
|• Enjoy touching and feeling actual objects (sensory input)
|• Enjoy observing
|• Trouble prioritizing, so often late, impulsive
|• Plan ahead
|• Unlikely to read instruction manual before trying
|• Likely read an instruction manual before trying
|• Listen to how something is being said
|• Listen to what is being said
|• Talk with your hands
|• Rarely use gestures when talking
|'Ä¢ Likely to think you're naturally creative, but need to apply yourself to develop your potential
|'Ä¢ Likely to believe you're not creative, need to be willing to try and take risks to develop your potential
Its clear that most Singaporeans operate on his left side more – we are very efficient, like to follow protocol, listen to instructions, highly organized, analytical and plan ahead.
Our many years spent studying in¬Ý a non-interactive kind of educational system has also rendered many of us tight-lipped when it comes to speaking up on what we feel is right and just 'Äì the main ingredient for creativity is the freedom to express our thoughts unobstructively and¬Ý this is missing within our society. Tell me when was the last time¬Ý you stood up¬Ýagainst ¬Ýyour superior and you didn'Äôt got marked for it?
This opinion-free¬Ý personality is often reinforced when we guys are enlisted into national service whereby in order to survive you have to follow instructions from your section leader to the 'ÄúT'Äù. Who can then blame us for being so obedient and compliant in the workforce?
In one of the comments posted on the¬Ý"Are NUS/NTU graduates creative enough?" ¬Ýarticle, againsomeone remarked what many of us have already known about our local graduates:
" I actually agree with that American's opinion. I too found graduates for local NTU/NUS to be unable to think outside of the box. It is actually interesting that the other Singaporeans who did venture abroad to get education either in AU/UK/US have shown much better creative potential, so to me it looks like after school there are still creative sparks left in local school students, however local universities continue with their test & grade obsession and finish off all creative sparks that yet remain."
The article ¬Ýdrew specific conclusions that ¬Ýour local workforce trained¬Ýby our exam-based educational system is generally uncreative even though they ¬Ýhave a distinctive scholarly report card, tend to follow a system unchallenged and prefer to work in familiar structured environment.
¬ÝIn other words, they fit the norm of 'Äúa good proficient worker'Äù but¬Ý are strictly non-creative, will never really be of any use if you want them to trouble shoot alot in their jobs and do not really perform well if put in a unfamiliar work environment. They need a SOP to follow so that they do not need to exercise too much of their unused right¬Ý brain.
However, the author noted that such adverse judgement of our local graduates was only reserved for those who work in the ¬Ýcreative industry.¬Ý Many local graduates will still excel in other sectors such as the finances, human¬Ý resources and education 'Äì fields that do not really require a lot of innovation skills.
Proponents of the local work force ¬Ýwill attest to the number of years that we have won the most productive¬Ý worker award. We are very efficient workers that will carry out work professionally and things get done the proper way.
We are also known internationally¬Ý for being productive, technically sound and generally have a solid attitude when it comes to our work. In fact, many companies in China, Dubai, Vietnam and Malaysia have no qualms about employing Singaporeans to be their general manager or operations manager.
They know that the average Singaporean professional with their¬Ý¬Ý educational knowledge,¬Ý all-round work experience and¬Ý driven personality will be a valuable asset to their companies.
However, is merely carrying out one'Äôs work efficiently¬Ý the best that we can do for ourselves?¬Ý Will it help us to survive in this competitive world when China and India could do the same work at one-fifth of our labour cost?
Paul D Houston, a well-known educationist from the US,¬Ý in his article¬Ý Out-of-the Box Leadership remarked that the world will belong to the creators:-
"Richard Florida, in his Rise of the Creative Class,3 makes essentially the same argument. The future belongs to the creative. They will be the leaders, the learners, and the earners of the new age. It is not the programmers in India who will dominate; it is the people who conceive of the work the programmers should do who will 'Äúrule.'Äù Already we know that most of the places where the United States has an economic edge are those where our creative workers have gone before."
We all know how creative and innovative the Americans have been all these years. From developing airplanes to the modern automobiles, they are at the forefront of the creative field and some of them do not even have a college education.
Valentine in his "Are NTU/NUS Graduates Creative Enough?" article also brought out a valid point about the declining value of a good college degree if you are not creative enough:-
"If you are Singaporean, and conditioned to believe in grades as the be all and end all of education, you might be shocked at this. I shall explain for you. The problem was that these NTU and NUS graduates with the great grades were UNABLE TO BE CREATIVE. Their resumes looked wonderful. They had jumped successfully through every academic hoop along the way 'Äì but something was missing. They had learnt to pass exams and shine in that situation 'Äì but they had never learnt how to think creatively. They were, according to my American acquaintance, unable to do the job, in every single case. They were just not good employees of this creative company."
It made sense here as passing exams or simply attending lectures do not really need you to use the creative right side of your brain. Studying it seems merely use the logical left side part of your brain and over time, we are trained and conditioned to think mechanically and in-the-box.
Top Entrepreneurs Are Non-graduates
It is no pure concidence that our top two entrepreneurs in the world 'Äì Mr Bill Microsoft and Mr Mark Facebook,¬Ý are¬Ý ex-Harvard undergraduates who thought nothing of quitting from university half way to realize their dreams. Mr Steve Apple is also a non-graduate having quitted midway from his prestigious Stanford university 'Äì a degree so coveted by most Singaporeans and went on to focus on building up¬Ý his entrepreneurial vision.
If you have watched the movie The Social Network, you would be impressed with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's passion for innovation and entrepreneurship. He was only¬Ý20 years old then. Now, Facebook has a market value of US$50 billion and Mark¬Ýhas just ¬Ýcrossd his 26th birthday – and he is a non-graduate.
Moreover, it is not always about making money – I believe none of the three entrepreneurs knew that they would be making billions from their ideas¬Ý when they initially set out on their dreams. They merely want to realise their ideals and perhaps have the¬Ý lofty change-the-world attitude that most great creators have. The money part came much later when their ideas began to take shape and attracted lots of investors.
Three of the world's top entrepreneurs ¬Ýmust have also see the invalidity of finishing up their varsity studies in pursuit of their goals. They saw that they have a brilliant idea and a varsity education is not something that will help them realize¬Ý their dream. With enough zeal, ambition and lots of creativity, they went on to build their own empires 'Äì without a graduate education.
One wonders what will happen if they have to face our Singaporean parents who may threaten severing relationship with their wards if they ever mention quitting half way from their university education to focus on building up a silly idea.
¬ÝPaul D Houston, in his Out-Of-The-Box Leadership article, further ¬Ýcommented on this aspect:-
"¬ÝZakaria, the editor of Newsweek International, talked with the minister of education in Singapore, a city-state whose education system is often compared to that of the United States. Singapore is the top-ranked performer on science and math global rankings for schoolchildren. Zakaria asked the minister to explain why it is that even though the Singaporean students do so well on these tests, when you look at the same students 10 to 20 years later, few are world-beaters. U.S. students, by contrast, test much worse but seem to do better in life and in the real world'Äîparticularly as inventors and entrepreneurs.
The minister explained that both countries have meritocracies— America's, based on talent; Singapore's, on test scores. Since there is much to the intellect that we cannot test effectively—such as creativity, curiosity, ambition, or a sense of adventure—the tests don't account for America's edge.
¬ÝThe minister went on to explain that America'Äôs culture of learning challenges conventional wisdom, even to the point of challenging authority. He also suggested that these are the areas in which Singapore must learn from America. He finished by explaining that the problem in America is that poor children are not brought along and the very bright are allowed to coast."
Is¬Ý Lack of Creativity To Be Blamed For Our Poor Entrepreneurial Spirit?
So is our educational system to be blamed for the dearth of creativity in our workforce – a key element for entrepreneurs?
As Singapore¬Ý has nothing to offer but its people, retraining the workforce to be more productive seems the only way to move forward in this tough economic condition or should we try to change the mindset of our workforce by inculculating a spirit of innovation and risk taking among us?
Already, many of our aged well-educated PMETs face immense difficulty rejoining the workforce after been retrenched during the recent global financial crisis. They have¬Ý solid professional degrees, tons of relevant work experience and willing to take a drastic pay cut¬Ý but yet no employer is willing to hire them. Why is this so?
Are these high-powered PMETs providing too much a ¬Ýthreat to the hiring departmental managers 'Äì as alluded by many unemployed ¬ÝPMETS when they went for many failed interviews or do employers feel that they could not contribute¬Ý effectively even though they are willing to work at jobs a few rungs lower than their previous position?
Many employers and human resource specialists have commented that there is a huge over supply of professional manpower nowadays given the fact that globalization has opened up¬Ý Singapore a lot¬Ý these few years. Many ¬Ýforeigners have ¬Ýarrive at our shore peddling their services at half the cost of our local PMETs.
That is also the reason why wages will continue to fall over the next few years as supply has outstrip demand drastically here and there is no minimum wage legislation to arrest that decline. There is now also no guarantee that good degrees and masters will be able to fetch you a well-paying job that lasts you till retirement – a luxury that was enjoyed by many babyboomers. There is just not enough good jobs to go round and many will fall by the way side.
Many of our well-educated PMETs have¬Ý face prolonged unemployment when they ¬Ýreach their forties and their earning capacity will decline rapidly after that if they do not shift their mindset on simply looking for paid work. Many PMETs have in fact taken to driving cabs in order to survive. Under employment will be a huge problem in Singapore if this is allowed to carry on.
This adverse hiring trend has forced many of our PMETs to flee their own country in search of work elsewhere resulting in the current¬Ý minor brain drain. Employers hiring Singaporeans to work overseas are able to pay handsomely on top of housing and other allowances. This has resulted in many local PMETs lamenting at how their own¬Ý country is treating its'Äô ¬Ýpeople.
So is a lack of creativity to be blamed also ¬Ýfor the way our jobless PMETs approach their unemployment state?
Many simply apply jobs depending primarily¬Ý on¬Ý newspaper advertisement and online resources. Some have resorted to networking but its still depending on asking people to hire us. We have very¬Ýfew avenues or resources to create an income for ourselves.
Few has taken up the challenge to embark on¬Ý any business opportunities 'Äì however tempting it may be. The fear of failure is so massive among us ¬Ýthat it overrides whatever imaginable rewards that a business venture may bring.
Transitioning.og has received emails from a few hundred jobless PMETs¬Ý to date but so far, only two have¬Ý ventured into trying to create an income for themselves. They rest is always on the look out for jobs. They just could not shake off the dependency mentality. Though the government¬Ýmay be ¬Ýright to deny any unemployment welfare to the populace so that the work force does not develop a dependency mentality, it has however not address the risk-adverse uncreative¬Ýoverall¬Ýenvironment that we have created for the past few decades.
I was however ¬Ýhappy to receive a mail recently from an engineer, who was retrenched two years ago 'Äì he ¬Ý¬Ýhas decided to ¬Ýembark on his own engineering business and I will be updating readers on his progress soon. Nevertheless, the extremely small number of retrenched executives taking up the business route is both worrying and shocking.
Jobs will continue to shrink as many companies will continue to¬Ý flock to cheaper neighbouring countries. For the same salary that companies pay for one Singaporean worker, the employer now can hire five more in China or India. I am afraid that Singaporeans will continue to see more companies relocating to these cheaper countries resulting in unreported on-going retrenchment.
Even if jobs are created in Singapore, human resource specialists will continue to seriously consider hiring only foreigners due to the cost and skills factor. Whatever jobs that Singaporeans could lay their hands on will definitely not be¬Ý those from the high end type that pays 5-figures. These jobs will largely go to¬Ý expatriates whom the host companies will want to bring in for control and command purposes.
In fact, more than half of all jobs created in Singapore last year are service-related jobs due to the opening of the two casinos. These jobs do not really pay well and mostly go to foreigners as they¬Ý cost lesser, are more service-orientated in nature and generally easier to train.
More Foreigners Than Locals Doing Business In Singapore
Unfortunately,¬Ý I see more foreigners after working for a few years venturing into setting up their own small businesses in Singapore. They have a good appetite for risk-taking and always on the look out to create their own opportunity rather¬Ý than relying on others to provide them a job and income. They realize that they could not make it big if they have to always depend on others to provide them a job and how long can you work on without being retrenched eventually?
Singapore is consistently voted the number one city for doing business and ironically, few Singaporeans have taken up this huge fringe benefit. If you try to do business in Indonesia, China or Malaysia, you would have given up due to the systemic inefficiency of the systems there. Perhaps, having thrive and succeed in a harsh business environment in their own countries, many foreigners have flock to business-friendly Singapore to continue their making-money venture. If you can find water in the desert, surely you can find more in the river!
Thus, many locals have now begin to work for foreigners and the trend may not reverse if we continue to stick with a risk-adverse mentality inherent in many Singaporeans.
Many locals have complained that there is hardly any¬Ý savings left over¬Ý to start a business due to our miserable pay packages. The escalating business cost has also deterred many from trying their hand and there is always the fear of losing everything that they have earnestly save up over the years if the business fails.
Some of the reasons given are valid as a family guy will not want to risk everything especially if they have a few dependents to provide for. Their high debt exposure to mortgages and other credit facilities also deter them from striking it out adventurously.
That is why it is good to support our young ones who are willing to be business-minded and adventurous. They have nothing to lose and have no dependents to worry for. Though there are already a few entrepreneurial funds available for these young hot shots to utilize, more can be done to incalculate a sense of risk-taking and adventure among our undergraduates.
Many recent graduates should also ¬Ýtestify by now that good grades and solid testimonies are no longer¬Ý guarantee of a well-paying job – we need more than that to survive in the future.
Singaporean Vs Asian Businessmen
I remembered two years ago while working in China, we used to have a club whereby Asian expatriates would gather every Friday evening for a drink or two. I was merely a teacher to learners of English as a second ¬Ýlanguage for a small province'Äôs university but I thoroughly enjoyed such gathering as it gave me a snapshot of the different cultural mindset of our Asian businessmen. We used a mixture¬Ý of Mandarin, English and Cantonese to communicate and the conversation was mainly cordial maybe because most of us are ¬ÝChinese.
More importantly, I enjoyed their optimism and adventurous spirit 'Äì elements that most Singaporeans do not possess. Their minds wander freely and sometimes wild¬Ý ideas were threw about for discussion 'Äì surprisingly not many of them would try to restrict you however ridiculous the ideas might be. Try talking to a typical Singaporean your business idea and you will receive a mirage of negative feedback and cautious counseling 'Äì enough for you to step back from your gung-ho enthusiasm and retreat to your safe 9-to-5 day job mentality.
The businessmen all ¬Ýhailed from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Malaysia, Thailand, India and Indonesia 'Äì ¬ÝI was the only lone Singaporean there in this land of gold and I was just an employee! I always wondered why there are so few Singaporeans out in this wonderful place where business opportunities abound like the rain.
Mind you, this group of business people is highly educated and some ¬Ýare lawyers, engineers and IT specialists. However, they know that they can only make it big if they strike it out on their own and not ¬Ýto enrich others through their paid work. Many become instant millionaires when they venture into China whereby there are a lot of opportunities and the business cost is still very low.
When you talk business with a Hong Konger, he will often comment: 'ÄúLooks good to me!'Äù He would focus on the positives of any venture first before delving into the details later (remember right brain). His appetite for risk taking is very high and knows that in any business venture there is the chance to make or lose money. They are also not afraid to speak their mind and some have even¬Ý been branded as loud-mouthed but they are never negative.
When you talk business with a Taiwanese, you will often hear them say: 'ÄúHow much do you think I can make within the next few years?'Äù ¬ÝThe Taiwanese wants to hear the positive side of any venture and it takes a typical Singaporean to challenge him into considering that the venture may lose money! They are also not very detailed and that is why they prefer to hire Singaporean operations manager to do all ¬Ýthe donkey work for them 'Äì after they have sink money into the business (think right brain).
When you do business with a Singaporean, it could be a torture and a lesson in not taking risk (think left brain). First, he will tell you that he will have to do a thorough business risk profile which may take weeks to complete. With all his chart and statistics, he will persuade you not to venture into that business as it carries too much risk.¬Ý He may later reveal that the business could make money but it is often diluted by the mirage of negative feedback he already has in store. After all the analysis, he will only start to do business when he is assured that his venture has at least 70% of making profit 'Äì within the same year! That is probably why I have never met¬Ý¬Ýany Singaporean businessman in the Chinese club during our weekly get-together drink.
One main difference I detected¬Ý between Singaporeans and other Asians ¬Ýis that there is always this burning ambition to succeed and do something different 'Äì¬Ýour other Asian friends¬Ýseldom let others hinder them from realizing their dream and they don'Äôt like to depend on others to succeed. Too many Singaporeans ¬Ýgive up easily and once we fail at a small venture, we switch back to working for people as we take failure too harshly. Maybe, we are being too critically¬Ý judged¬Ý by our family members and friends when we have failed in our enterprise.
Another huge difference I found is the self belief that these other Asian businessmen possessed. Not only do they fiercely believe in their ventures but more significantly, they believed in themselves and their self confidence is unwaveringly strong.¬Ý They spoke loudly, unhesitatingly and sometimes almost arrogantly. Maybe in Singapore, we are always told that we are not up to the mark by our school teachers, our bosses, our government and mostly by our own loved ones – that our self belief is always kept in check. If we speak of our little successes too much, we are accused of being proud and branded a show-off by many. It is no wonder ¬ÝSingaporeans are branded as too humble and often lacking in self confidence by many foreign observers.
Singaporeans Take Business Failures Too Harshly
Many successful business owners will tell you that the first or even second venture will always fail but we will always learn valuable lessons during that failures ¬Ýand we do ourselves no favour if we do not apply that lessons learned on our other ventures. Many ventures also do not make money in the few first years and it takes a lot of dogged perseverance to press on undeterred. Most entrepreneurs are idealistic and they let their dreams fueled the enthusiasm they needed to push on despite the initial odds (alot of right brain thinking here).
Microsoft'Äôs Bill Gates continued his programming efforts for a few years to¬Ý realize his PC dream of allowing every person to own a computer before he made it big. The same thing happened to Facebook and Apple whereby the founders were driven by their passions and determination to pursue after their dreams. Their youthful never-say-die adventurous spirit also help alot here.
Perhaps our need for consensus and even approval from our family members¬Ý and friends is so strong that we could not take off ¬Ýif there is a small element of perceived failure in that venture (think left brain).
Moreover, they will always remind us that we have fail once before and do we need another failure to learn our lessons all over again? It will take a very strong and determined person to go against the cultural grain and ignore all the negativism of his peers and press on towards his goal despite the odds.
Worker Mentality Among Singaporeans
Our worker mentality 'Äì groomed from young by our parents and society that only a university education will provide you with a good job means that the¬Ý majority of our populace will be accustomed to earning an income via our learned skills. It is also scaringly safe and sadly may lead us down the route to poverty as the new economy may not reward those freshly-minted degrees and masters anymore.
Starting salaries of our new graduates have continue to drop and can be as low as $1500 for a general degree. Experienced well-educated PMETs in their forties have known to work for as low as $2000 nowadays – if you don'Äôt take up the job offer, you will remain indefinitely unemployed. Moreover, any work that you take on now is contractual and that means you will be jobless again in less than two years and the job search starts all over again.
We have seen too many examples of how our highly-educated PMETs joining the prolonged unemployment group these days to remind us that we need more than education and skills to see us through the turbulent future. Cost-cutting will continue worldwide, jobs will be scarce and¬Ý the ones that survive will be those who can think out of the box and create their own income.
The graduate is sadly never trained ¬Ýto be creative, ¬Ýtake risks and create jobs both for himself and others. He is¬Ý always dependent on others¬Ý to hire him and he will feel very handicapped if no one employs him 'Äì which is the case now for many of our well-educated jobless PMETs. ¬ÝHe also feels scared, confused and mostly hopeless. He faces the future with gloom and doom as the job market is the only source that he will rely on for his survival.
He will have to compete with other fishermen¬Ý to ekk out a living in a increasingly congested fish pond. He will not consider creating his own fish pond as that will mean the risk of failure and loss of whatever savings¬Ý he has left. He is only taught to learn how to fish with others and not to create a new fishing pond by himself so that he can fish all he wants without much competition.
His continual use of his analytical¬Ý left brain will¬Ý prevent him from being adventurous and take some calculated risk in order to survive. If he is unemployed, he will probably sit at home, look for jobs on a daily basis and in his desperation take on any low-paying job just to pay the bills.
In future, the ones who can survive and make it in Singapore will be those who can think out of the box, seize whatever opportunity he has, take some calculated risks and doggedly pursue after his ambition.
Those who ¬Ýprefer to work for others to pay his bills and mortgages will likely struggle and fall out on the way side 'Äì even though he is well educated. He may not even have enough to retire on and will remain a huge liability to the government.
How many of us can safely¬Ý say that we have save enough for retirement when we could not even earn enough to pay for all our bills?
Even if he does enter into any business ventures, it will be for those cut and tested industries 'Äì never one that is innovative and untried.¬Ý
That is probably why, many years ago,¬Ý we saw many Singaporeans venturing into setting up the popular milk tea chain business as there were many reports of $10,000-a-month earned profit.
Many who plunged in towards the tail end of the milk tea business all lost money as the initial craze among the school kids soon lost momentum and with so many milk tea stalls selling the same stuff, they have no choice but to slash their price to attract more customers.
Small-time business owners later have no choice but to close down their stalls and only those with huge financial holding power managed to stay on.
The milk tea business story only reiterated the belief that Singaporeans will only venture into known profit-making ventures. ¬ÝThey will back away from any ventures that carry certain amount of risk even though there is an opportunity to make good money.
Our exam-focused educational system, top-down efficient working style and cultural fear of failure have resulted in a population that ¬Ýrelies heavily on working for others to make a living. It is safe, stable and reliable 'Äì so far.
Though these elements have being ¬Ýsuccessful in transforming us from a third world sea port to the current modern first world city state, it may not be enough to bring us through the turbulent future. Already, there are signs that re-employment among our aged PMETs is strained and our salaries have being dropping for the past few years.
Many of our neighbouring countries have caught up with us now¬Ý and they have emulated our success far more efficiently than we can imagine. More importantly, they cost less for business owners and many companies¬Ý will not hesitate to pull out of Singapore and set up shop elsewhere.
We need to encourage a culture of risk taking and entrepreneurship within our populace and this has to start from the top. Our government has to be seen as adventurous in trying out new things and not always stick to the old cut-and-tried formula. Mavericks and even dissidents have to be encouraged to come forward and our individual voice must be heard and not always press down.
We also need to bring in educators who dare to be different and not be penalized if they have failed in their endeavours at challenging the status quo of our archaic system. These educators have to breed a new-found sense of creativity and right brain thinking among our youth. They are not there to teach our students how to ace exams and study brainlessly.
In future, our¬Ý straight As scholars will not be able to help bring the country out of poverty as they are merely followers of¬Ý top-down directives and not creators of new ideas and wealth.
We need people who dare to be different, not afraid to speak out zealously and more importantly have fresh ideas for the country to ponder on.
The drastic lack of creativity among us will be a huge setback for the country as there will be few that¬Ýhave the¬Ý¬Ýcapacity to dream new ideas and dare to¬Ý strike it out on their own. More significantly, these¬Ýentrepreneurs ¬Ýwill be able to create new industries and employment¬Ý for the population. We should not always depend on foreign MNCs to set up shop here as they will come and go without any consideration for the welfare of our country.
How many Singaporean global conglomerates can you remember right now? Yes, you have the world class Creative Technology and that was set up like 15 years ago.
The whole Silicon Valley is a huge risk taking melting pot whereby you can find all kinds of inventors and entrepreuneurs trying out their ideas there¬Ý People set up all kinds of businesses with many capitalists keen to finance any worthy business ideas you have. If the ventures¬Ý fail, they simply pack their bags and retry again with another venture. There is no shame in trying and if you make it 'Äì the rewards can be very satisfying.
We face stiff competition from cheaper neighbouring countries and as they progress further, Singapore will be in for a tough time if the populace does not wake up from its slumberland and change its dependence on always working for¬Ý others to make a living.
Looking at the ways things are now, it may take a whole generation before we can unlearn ourselves and be more creative, entrepreneurial and risk-taking but its worth it as our future may depend on such drastic changes.
Written by: Gilbert GohNumber of View: 9027


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After such a great response to our last ranking of rankings, The Final Word on America's Top 10 Nursing Schools, we're back in search of the final word again – this time, to take a look at what qualities patients want in a doctor. With more and more hospitals under pressure to improve their doctors' bedside manners, we look at what matters to both the patients they treat and the nurses they work alongside.
To do so, we aggregated together rankings and comments from lists across the board: from forum and social media postings to systematic studies, such as the most widely credited one of its kind released by the Mayo Clinic. We also asked for your input over on social media, which we've shared below. There's still the chance to share your thoughts too – either in our poll or in the comments below!
Continue reading "Top 10 Qualities Highly Effective Doctors"


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- Manufacturer: Pirelli
Pirelli Night Dragon Front Tire
Brand new from Pirelli comes the Night Dragon, the first pavement peeling muscle tire dedicated to V-Twin cruisers, customs and choppers. Driven by racing technology, the Night Dragon is aggressively designed for PERFORMANCE and styled for stance; the Night Dragon intimidates when prowling or parked.
The Night Dragon is a unique, premium product oriented to Harley- Davidson® and metric-cruiser riders demanding gripperformance with forceful style. Today's custom cruisers and hot-rodded V-twins with increased engine sizes, more torque, more horsepower, and upgraded suspensions, create a combination demanding tires dedicated to driving that performance to the pavement of America's highways.
The Night Dragon's street-wise tread pattern blends biker style with riding performance by maximizing the contact patch for fast warm up, quickly giving the rider confidence of stability and traction. The hydrodynamics of its groove placement ensures efficient draining in wet riding conditions; the Night Dragon's front tread design cuts a path through water for the rear, and the calibrated grooves of rear tire disperse the residual water, for controlled grip in all conditions.


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$9 99
In Detective Quest: The Crystal Slipper, a man shows up on your doorstep asking you to track down the woman he loves. It would be just another "missing persons" case, except the only thing you have to go on is a crystal slipper... and the man is a prince from a mysterious, faraway land. Can you find the woman who captured his heart but then vanished? Or will this fantastical land push your detective skills to the limit? And do you really get to ride a unicorn? Find out in Detective Quest: The Crystal Slipper!
What's New in Detective Quest: The Crystal Slipper
Version 126.96.36.199: Release notes were unavailable when this listing was updated.
Requirements for Detective Quest: The Crystal SlipperOS X 10.5.8 or later
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9A Grade Wholesale Human Hair Extension
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We Are Leading Manufacturer Of 9A Grade Wholesale Human Hair Extension. We Supply To Sell Wholesale Indian Hair In India without Any Mixing. This Hair Is Authentic, Remy Virgin Human Hair. We Offer To sell Low Prices In The Market. We Sell High Quality Indian Natural Hair With natural Color. This Natural Color Hair Can Be Dye And Bleach To Change The color Of The Hair. It's Available In 10 To 30 Inch Hair Lengths. It Is 100 % Temple raw Hair. These Hairs Can Be Easily Restyled. It Is Natural Human Hair With natural Shine And Smoothness. There Is No Shedding In The Extension And Also We make Double Weft And Use Glue To Make Sure Zero % Shedding.
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2013 Chambertin, Grand Cru, Domaine Armand Rousseau
Red | For laying down | Domaine Armand Rousseau | Code: 34102 | 2013 | France > Burgundy > Cote de Nuits > Gevrey Chambertin | Pinot Noir | Medium-Full Bodied, Dry | 13.0 % alcohol
The Wine Advocate - Tasted blind at the Burgfest tasting in Beaune, the 2013 Chambertin Grand Cru from Armand Rousseau had a slight reduction on the nose but underneath lies some gorgeous and ripe redcurrant, strawberry and bay leaf aromas. Very complex, but you need to wait for the aromas to fully get into their stride. The palate is extremely well balanced with fine tannins. It is blessed with wonderful focus and precision, armed with outstanding tension and intensity on the sophisticated finish. This is what we call in the trade: proper Chambertin. Tasted September 2016.
Neal Martin - 30/11/2016
Eligible for storage in our Bonded Warehouses, terms and conditions apply. See Further Details
Scores and Reviews
The Wine Advocate
The Wine Advocate - Tasted blind at the Burgfest tasting in Beaune, the 2013 Chambertin Grand Cru from Armand Rousseau had a slight reduction on the nose but underneath lies some gorgeous and ripe redcurrant, strawberry and bay leaf aromas. Very complex, but you need to wait for the aromas to fully get into their stride. The palate is extremely well balanced with fine tannins. It is blessed with wonderful focus and precision, armed with outstanding tension and intensity on the sophisticated finish. This is what we call in the trade: proper Chambertin. Tasted September 2016.
Neal Martin - 30/11/2016
You may also like
The Producer
Domaine Armand Rousseau is revered as one of the grand old domaines of Burgundy, resplendent with 14 hectares (half Grand Crus) and noble old vines.
This is one of Burgundy's greatest domaines any way you want to look at it – in history, in holdings and in quality of wine. The original Armand Rousseau was at the forefront of the first wave of domaine bottling in the 1930s. He was succeeded by his son Charles (born 1923) in 1959, shortly after they had bought a significant slice of the Clos St Jacques vineyard. Today Eric (born 1957), grandson of Armand, is in charge of the vines and cellar.
While Charles Rousseau may still be in evidence, his son Eric has taken over wine making responsibilities, producing pale, finely structured wines of great elegance and stamina. The simple principle of old (but not ancient) vines and sensible yields dictates the Rousseau style. Sometimes the wines can appear light in their youth but they nearly always take on weight as they age.
Eric has changed little in the cellar but a lot in the vineyards. Compared to twenty years ago the viticulture is significantly more precise and yields are now mastered through green harvesting where necessary. The vineyards have always been ploughed here, avoiding the use of herbicides, and the practice of over fertilising with potassium is now ancient history. Today only the occasional anti-disease spray is not organic.
Rousseau retains around 15 per cent of the stems, giving tannin and structure to his wines and aerating the juice and skins. After de-stemming, the grapes are cooled to 15°C then macerated for 18-20 days, without heating or other temperature control. Punching down and pumping over are both used. The wines are then sent to barrel, with the same percentage of new oak being followed each year, except for the Clos St Jacques which may vary. Otherwise it will be 100% new wood for Chambertin and Clos de Bèze, and 100% one year old wood for the other grands crus, though Eric is now experimenting with a little new oak on his Clos des Ruchottes. The prime barrel supplier is François Frères, supported by the tonnelier Rousseau – possibly a distant cousin.
It used to be said that the three 'special' wines, Chambertin, Chambertin Clos de Bèze and Gevrey Chambertin Clos St Jacques were among the greatest in Burgundy, but that the rest of the stable was relatively unexciting. In recent years there seems to be a much greater consistency of quality across the range. Though Eric's influence is evident in this respect, the actual style of the wines has changed not a jot from the previous generation.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director and author of the award-winning Inside Burgundy comprehensive handbook.
Other wines by this producer:
The Grape
Pinot Noir is probably the most frustrating, and at times infuriating, wine grape in the world. However when it is successful, it can produce some of the most sublime wines known to man. This thin-skinned grape which grows in small, tight bunches performs well on well-drained, deepish limestone based subsoils as are found on Burgundy's Côte d'Or.
Pinot Noir is more susceptible than other varieties to over cropping - concentration and varietal character disappear rapidly if yields are excessive and yields as little as 25hl/ha are the norm for some climats of the Côte d`Or.
Because of the thinness of the skins, Pinot Noir wines are lighter in colour, body and tannins. However the best wines have grip, complexity and an intensity of fruit seldom found in wine from other grapes. Young Pinot Noir can smell almost sweet, redolent with freshly crushed raspberries, cherries and redcurrants. When mature, the best wines develop a sensuous, silky mouth feel with the fruit flavours deepening and gamey "sous-bois" nuances emerging.
The best examples are still found in Burgundy, although Pinot Noir`s key role in Champagne should not be forgotten. It is grown throughout the world with notable success in the Carneros and Russian River Valley districts of California, and the Martinborough and Central Otago regions of New Zealand.
The Region
Gevrey-Chambertin is the largest wine-producing village in Burgundy's Côte d'Or, with its vineyards spilling over into the next door commune of Brochon.
Located in the far north of the Côtes de Nuits above Morey-St Denis, classic Gevrey-Chambertin is typically deeper in colour, firmer in body and more tannic in structure than most red Burgundy. The best can develop into the richest, most complete and long-lived Pinot Noir in the world. This is largely thanks to the iron-rich clay soils, though much depends on whether the vineyard is located on either the steeper slopes (Evocelles, Clos St Jacques) or the flatter, richer soils (Clos Prieur, Combottes).
Whereas in the past there have been numerous underperformers in Gevrey-Chambertin exploiting the reputation of this famous village and its iconic Grands Crus, today there are many fine sources to choose from, and overall quality is higher than ever.
Gevrey-Chambertin's greatest Grand Cru is named after the field of the monk Bertin (Champ de Bertin). In 1847, Gevrey appended the name of this illustrious vineyard, Chambertin, setting a trend for the other principle villages to follow. Le Chambertin may not be quite as sumptuous as Musigny or Richebourg, or as divinely elegant as La Tâche or Romanée-St Vivant, but it is matched only by the legendary Romanée-Conti for completeness and luscious intensity.
In all, Gevrey boasts an impressive nine Grands Crus, with the name of Chambertin retaining a regal omnipresence throughout its finest vineyard names. The other truly great Grand Cru is Chambertin-Clos de Bèze which has the right to sell its wines simply as 'Chambertin', and is the only wine allowed to put the Chambertin name before, rather than after, its own. Situated slightly further up the hill, the wines are fractionally less powerful yet full of sensual charm and finesse.
Quality-wise the next best are generally acknowledged to be Mazis-Chambertin and Latricières-Chambertin. The former is incredibly concentrated and very fine, but its structure is a little less firm than Le Chambertin. Latricières is less about power (although it can be explosively fruity) and more about an entrancing silkiness.
Situated slightly higher up the slope, Ruchottes-Chambertin is impressively rich, stylish and slightly angular. The tiny Griottes-Chambertin, which owes its name to the grill-pan shape of the vineyard rather than the wine's griotte cherry aroma, is lower down the slope and boasts a velvety texture and rich fruit reminiscent of Chambertin itself. It is generally better than the lighter, although wonderfully fragrant Chapelle-Chambertin and Gevrey's largest Grand Cru, the pure and seductive (if variable) Charmes-Chambertin.
Gevrey also has some outstanding Premier Crus on the south-east-facing slopes above the town. Les Cazetiers and especially Clos St Jacques produce some exceptional wines. Indeed Armand Rousseau, who pioneered domaine bottling here in the 1930s and is still one of the region's very best producers, often sells his Clos St Jacques for more than several of his Grand Crus.
Drinking dates for these wines vary, but Grand Crus are generally best from at least 10 to 25 years, Premier Crus from eight to 20 years, and village wines from five to 12 years.
- 315 hectares of village Gevrey Chambertin
- 84 hectares of Premier Cru vineyards (20 in all). The foremost vineyards include Clos St Jacques, Lavaux St Jacques, Combottes, Corbeaux, Cherbaudes, Cazetiers.
- 55 hectares of Grand Cru vineyards: Chambertin, Chambertin Clos de Bèze, Latricières-Chambertin, Ruchottes-Chambertin, Mazis-Chambertin, Charmes-Chambertin, Mazoyères-Chambertin, Chapelle-Chambertin, Griottes-Chambertin..
- Recommended producers: Bachelet, Dugat, Esmonin, Mortet, Rossignol Trapet, Rousseau, Serafin, Bernstein
- Recommended restaurants : Chez Guy (good wine list), Rôtisserie du Chambertin (and Bistro)
|Wines bought from Berry Bros. & Rudd can be stored
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To cover my bases, let me state that I am not calling for the death of the manual transmission, even though I also wrote this. There are manual cars on sale I absolutely love, such as the Fiesta ST, 500 Abarth, 135is, and Mustang Boss 302, to name three (out of a relative few). But there are times when presented with a manual option over the automatic, it's probably best not to tick that box.
As fun as manual cars are to drive, there are still reasons not to buy one. It's not the best choice for stop-and-go traffic. It may sometimes affect resale value (if it's not a BMW). The cost of clutch replacements may negate the manual. (Though in all fairness, our Odyssey has gone through a transmission and then a rebuild of the replacement in under 180,000 miles.) A car may not have been specifically engineered for the manual that got placed in it. In the interest of balance to the pro-manual rhetoric on Jalopnik, I've chosen five cars that are probably better served without a manual.
Author's Note: In the interest of self-preservation, if you take offense to the first image, I apologize. I also wanted to cross out the electronic parking brake, the iDrive controller, and the Sport/Comfort selector as well. I'm totally against the first two, but the last one has its benefits from time to time.
Toyota Matrix
Here's how I imagine a manual Matrix gets sold: teenage car enthusiast wants to buy a manual car with his/her sub-$5K budget. Parents think "no car is safe at that price" and decide to buy a new car for junior. Head to Toyota dealership. Mom sees the Matrix and thinks it's perfect. Kid puts his/her foot down and states he/she has to have a manual, or else. Parents are moved by argument because price is lower (ignorant that future clutch replacements will make up the price difference).
Meanwhile, the salespeople are ecstatic because moving a new manual car happens once in a blue moon at a Toyota store. This means the legendary Toyota resale value won't apply and it'll take a while to sell.
Volkswagen Jetta TDI
Let's face it. The Jetta TDI is bought mostly as a commuter car. So that means stop-and-go traffic, checking e-mail on the smartphone, and grooming/applying makeup. Why bother with a manual that'll get in the way of all that? The fuel economy is also the same between the manual and DSG, getting over 40 mpg consistently. You're even saving money by avoiding the future clutch replacements on the manual.
And it's not as if the driving experience will be significantly worse without the manual, since the DSG can provide the shifts even more quickly while helping maintain sanity in traffic. And even resale matters with this one. Manual VW TDI cars tend to stick around on lots longer than the non-manual cars.
Buick Verano
This one makes me want to facepalm. I have no doubt that this car with a manual and 2-liter turbo engine is fun, but at the end of the day, it's a Buick. A car whose driver is more likely to have grandchildren than know who Gucci Mane is. Whose driver is more likely to know Hedy Lamarr than operate Windows 8. (I'll stop now.) A manual won't bring the younger customers of Buick's desire. A manual makes more sense if a Verano GS existed.
So when Buick offers a manual on the $29,065 top-of-the-line Verano Premium Group (the only way to get the turbo engine), I have to wonder how the product planners made that call. There are better manual cars that can be had for that kind of money, like the Jetta GLI and Acura ILX. A BMW 320i isn't even that far off in price.
BMW 5-Series
As a rule of thumb, any BMW with a manual should be fun to drive. Such has been the case since the 2002. The current 535i is the exception, since it was never specifically engineered for the manual, and it shows. However, it's the only midsize luxury car that offers a manual. But the current one doesn't handle like past 5-Series cars, being noticeably heavier and having terrible steering feel for a BMW. (The steering in the GS F-Sport is better.)
Meanwhile, a ZF 8-speed automatic can get the job of good fuel economy and smooth shifting accomplished much better than the driver can. Also, a manual is probably not the best call with iDrive being standard. And getting a manual deletes the cupholders in the center console ahead of the gear stick.
Ram 2500
Yes, folks. Apparently Sergio Marchionne thought this warranted a manual instead of any car in the Ferrari lineup. It seems that's a benefit of a division run by a man named Reid Bigland. For years, Ford and GM haven't offered manuals on heavy-duty pickups for the ten people who might buy one. But not Ram. You can still get a manual with the Cummins diesel.
Now, I'm going to get many comments telling me the virtues of a manual tranny in a heavy-duty pickup, and I actually want to know them. (In addition, enlighten me as to the differences between the 2500 and 3500 versions of the Ram, Sierra, and Silverado as well as the F-250, F-350, and F-450.) Coming back to the point, I'll bring up the Jalopnik dream of the rear-drive manual station wagon. It does exist, in the form of Ram 2500 4x2 Crew Cab with the Cummins diesel, manual transmission, and canopy. But would you buy one?
This list originally appeared on my Kinja blog BecauseCAR.
First photo courtesy Car and Driver. Rest of the photos per the respective manufacturers.


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A lot of people don't seem to realize what the Wii U is. Is this cryptic Nintendo commercial just another Wii? I don't get it, some people said. Even Michelle Obama didn't make the distinction.
But maybe this commercial would help clear up that this is a new console. Or, hell, maybe it'd make things even more confusing when people started to shine light on their Wiis in the hopes that it'd evolve into a Wii U, like the Pokémon franchise Nintendo is so synonymous with.
Man, I wish my Wii would just up and evolve into a Wii U. Congratulations! Your Wii evolved into a Wii U. You don't have to spend any more money now.


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Janet Vance did not feel right around her sister's new boyfriend. And when her sister said he'd been threatening to hurt her, Vance said it was time to call the police. Instead, Lois Jean Vance Smyth promised to stop seeing him.
A few months earlier Smyth, then 40, and Kenneth Brunetti had reconnected on Facebook. On May 29, 2011, he lured her to Leakin Park, shot her, left her for dead and stole her car and bank card.
"He sat on my couch with my kids, watched my TV," Vance, 42, said, "and he killed my sister."
On Friday a Baltimore circuit judge sentenced Brunetti, 41, to life plus 25 years in prison, to start after he completes a nine-year sentence for violating his probation in an armed carjacking case. Vance, Smyth's daughter Erin Morman, 23, and other members of the family testified as to how badly Brunetti had hurt the family.
"Lois was a good person, everybody loved her," Teressa Vance Graves, 47, another sister, said in an interview. "She had the biggest heart in the world."
Brunetti maintained his innocence throughout the case. His attorney, Margaret Mead, has said he cared for Smyth and that she plans to appeal the conviction. She could not immediately be reached Saturday.
Smyth's death marked a dividing line in their lives, Vance said. Even a picture of Smyth holding her grandson — who was running around and playing at his aunt's Glen Burnie home Saturday — took on new meaning.
It was his first Christmas and Smyth's last, Vance said.
Less than two months later after that snapshot was taken, Brunetti contacted Smyth on Facebook. They had been in the same gym class for a semester at Old Mill High School in Millersville and Smyth was planning a reunion. Brunetti did not come to the party, Vance said, but he and Smyth developed a relationship.
Vance and her sisters did not remember Brunetti, whom they knew as Todd, and they did not know that he started getting into trouble in his high school years. When he rediscovered Smyth, he was still on probation for the carjacking conviction.
Even though Vance did not know Brunetti's record, she realized quickly that his relationship with her sister had taken a dark turn. A few times Brunetti visited Vance's house and he always wore a white baseball cap pulled low over his face, she said.
"He just didn't seem right," Morman added.
Once, Vance said, she heard him down the line screaming and demanding to know whom Smyth was on the phone with.
"She had been trying to end it," Vance said, "but he threatened her when she did."
"She figured everything would be fine. She always thought everything would be OK."
In May, just days after Smyth promised to stop seeing him, Brunetti invited her to go to a cookout in Leakin Park. When they got there he walked her down to a wooded area and shot her in the head. A jogger discovered Smyth's body a few hours later.
In the meantime, Brunetti had taken her bank card and car, withdrawn $700 from her account and gone off to enjoy a crab dinner with friends just a few miles from the murder scene, according to filings in the case.
On June 1, police arrested Brunetti on a violation-of-probation warrant that had been issued that March. Vance now thinks he knew the warrant was out and wore the cap to avoid being spotted. Officers found Brunetti getting into Smyth's car at the Red Roof Inn on Reisterstown Road.
Vance thought something was wrong as soon as Smyth went missing and her mind immediately turned to Brunetti.
"I just … Todd did it. He said he would," she said. "Everybody instantly knew."
Graves said she's glad Brunetti's sentence means he will not be able to harm another woman, but added that the conviction has only brought the family some small measure of comfort. The family will still have to deal with the loss, and now without the distraction of the criminal case, she said.
"If you didn't want her around, " Graves asked of Brunetti, "why didn't you just send her back to us?"


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Thursday, August 1, 2013
Gen Zen
There is no other way to describe it. It's the Zen of genealogy.
But I should back up and explain. During my one year plus of self-imposed exile from active genealogy research, I have become pathetic. My research has become pathetic, not to mention almost nonexistent.
My research muscles are flabby. And I have come to passively accept the existence of my many brick walls. Not brick walls many generations back, but early brick walls, many at the great-great-grandparent level and even one at the great-grandparent level.
But still, I flit around aimlessly some evenings. I check out blogs on Feedly. A couple of nights ago I checked my genealogy mail, found a Family Search newsletter that links to new databases on family Search. I saw some databases for Vermont, and thought about checking out the Floyds in these records. Hey, look at all the hits I got.
But I needed to have a better idea of specific locations in Vermont to search. I decided to get that list of the names of the siblings of my great-great grandfather George Floyd, one of those brick walls that I just accept as a permanent part of my family history landscape. I thought I'd try to find a sibling who stayed in Vermont, and start with those locations.
So I looked around in Ancestry, starting with George Floyd's two sisters. No luck with Harriet - she ended up in Wisconsin. But for Rachel, who married a Wilkins, I had better luck. Searching under both Rachel Floyd and Rachel Wilkins, I turned up a bunch of documents in the Vermont Vital Records database: a record of Rachel's marriage to Nehemiah Wilkins, death records for a couple of young children, and ... a death record for Rachel.
I was not looking for this. But I found it, or more accurately, I found them: Rachel's parents. My great-great grandfather George's parents: William Floyd and Betsey Wilson. And even a place of birth for Rachel: Monkton (there's the location!).
A brick wall came tumbling down, and I wasn't even trying.
[One of my favorite Geneabloggers, Cynthia Shenette, has a blog named Heritage Zen. Wise lady.]
[I must also give a huge amount of credit in this endeavor to two very generous Floyd researchers, Rich and Randy, who a couple of years ago got in touch with me and provided some wonderful old Floyd family letters, including that list of George Floyd's siblings. Those materials and specifically that list made this discovery possible.]
19 comments:
Nicely Zenned!ReplyDeleteReplies
Thanks, Bart - if I could just maintain that frame of mind....Delete
Moments like this propel us through the genealogical doldrums. I am so pleased for you!ReplyDeleteReplies
Thank you Susan; except for not enough spare time, it seems my genealogical stars are aligning!Delete
I also had a brick wall come tumbling down based on finally finding a gg-aunt's death record, which listed her father's place of birth (Townsend, Massachusetts). It solved everything almost immediately. Those are great moments! !! Congrats to you!ReplyDeleteReplies
Diane, thank you - what would we do without the siblings? My direct-line relatives have such a talent for either not having death records or having death records without any of the important information.Delete
I also had a brick wall come tumbling down based on finally finding a gg-aunt's death record, which listed her father's place of birth (Townsend, Massachusetts). It solved everything almost immediately. Those are great moments! !! Congrats to you!ReplyDelete
Remember all your excitement about doing research in Greenville? Maybe those feelings will come back, and you could head to VT. Anyway, I' m very glad for you.ReplyDeleteReplies
Barbara - Thank you for your good wishes - we actually have another family vacation planned in Greenville (the whole family loves the place) - and I will be doing some research there and nearby Anderson.Delete
LOL. Come with me, Greta. Let that feeling of peace and relaxation wash over you. (Hey, if I wasn't all Zen-ny those Polish name misspellings would drive me up the proverbial brick wall.)ReplyDelete
Seriously, I truly believe there are no brick walls in genealogy, only a lack of time and/or looking in the wrong place. Everything is there. We just need to be in the right place to find it. Sometimes a break is good. Release, and let the genealogy happen, Greta. (There's that Zen thing again.)
Congratulations on the find!Replies
Thank you, Cynthia - I have always loved the title of your blog. Further evidence that it is important to keep the right frame of mind to keep our research on track!Delete
This is almost exactly what happened to me last december with one of my brick walls! When it's meant to be, it happens!!! Congratulations!ReplyDeleteReplies
Good to know that others have experienced this - and congratulations on your find!Delete
TOTALLY LOVE! Agree, they will be found when it is time for them to be known. Funny how that works out. Very Zen like!ReplyDeleteReplies
Carol - I always thought my early successes were beginner's luck; perhaps they actually happened because I wasn't expecting anything, just snooping around!Delete
Hurray! I'm happy for you, Greta!ReplyDeleteReplies
Thank you, Miriam - Now if I can just duplicate that frame of mind....Delete
Happy Blogiversary!!ReplyDelete
Gen zen! I love it.ReplyDelete
And I love this tip on the Vermont database. I don't have a lot of Vermonters in the family tree, but back there a ways, there are a couple of Chapins...
Happy belated blogoversary...


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Headlines archive
Chief Justice Roberts' key message lost on many critics
Madison, Wisconsin - July 16, 2012
By Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson
Of the millions of words written and spoken about the Supreme Court's decision in the Affordable Care Act case (commonly called the health care case), too many have focused on labels and politics, too few on the principles of judging. Chief Justice John Roberts' decision, regardless of anyone's opinion of whether he was "right" or "wrong," reflected a basic approach to judicial service that many of us who wear black robes at work try to use.
That's one reason it's ironic that liberals and conservatives alike – those who self-identify and those upon whom meaningless stereotypical labels are imposed – have joined together in the wake of this decision. They have coalesced around the object of their wrath, Chief Justice Roberts. Conservatives have called the Chief Justice cowardly and arrogant, and questioned whether he is having a midlife crisis. Some have even suggested he ought to be impeached. Liberals, on the other hand, have labeled the decision a "Trojan horse" and are busily predicting all sorts of disastrous unforeseen consequences.
Unfortunately the critics have largely ignored the first four pages of the Chief Justice's decision. There the Chief Justice sets forth what he calls basic principles of judging –principles to guide a conscientious judge. The Chief Justice adheres to the text of the Constitution and the statute and precedent and sets forth these incontrovertible basic principles:
- Public policy is for the legislature.
- Judges do not consider whether a legislative act embodies sound policy.
- Judges ask only whether the legislative or executive branch has the power under the constitution to enact the challenged provision.
- The judiciary has an important but limited role.
- The judiciary should have a general reticence to invalidate the acts of the elected members of the legislative and executive branches.
- The Bill of Rights imposes restrictions on state and national governments.
- State governments are not granted power by the U.S. Constitution but may be restricted by it.
- The U.S. Constitution has granted enumerated powers to the national government. The independent power of the states serves as a check on the power of the national government.
- By denying any one government complete jurisdiction over all concerns of public life, federalism protects the liberty of the individual from arbitrary power.
The Chief Justice's basic principles will long be remembered and should guide fair, neutral, impartial and non-partisan judges.
The Chief Justice has been criticized for perhaps changing his mind about the outcome after hearing the arguments of counsel, studying the briefs and record, listening to his colleagues, and writing drafts. Having sat on thousands of cases, I can say that a deliberative process is the best way to develop sound, well-reasoned, understandable, fair and thorough decisions. It is not a flaw but a strength that our process allows us to create, discuss, rethink, argue about, edit, discard, add and subtract until an opinion is just right.
In one of his most notable sentences, the Chief Justice said the courts are not meant to save the people from their own political choices. The people of Wisconsin have a long and proud history of grappling with complex political choices – including the choice, since 1848, to elect judges. That is an issue that has drawn its share of disagreement and dissent, especially in recent years. But Wisconsinites also have a long and proud history of seeking and finding common ground, and I believe we can join together in supporting the principles at work in the introductory pages of the Chief Justice's health care decision.
Judges cannot generally respond to criticism of their decisions, so the Chief Justice has done the next best thing: he took off for Malta, in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, telling an assembly of judges and lawyers that "an impregnable island fortress seemed like a good idea."
May the Chief have a good trip.


text:
Welcome to the Route 66 University Home Page. This online institution of higher learning is destined to become the premier source of online information for America's most famous highway, variously called the Mother Road, Main Street of America, Route 66, and U.S. 66.
Generations of travelers have experienced Route 66 first-hand, and many more today are seeking her out. Whether you are making plans to motor along the Mother Road personally, or you're an armchair adventurer who wants to do some research from your home or office, Route 66 University is the source for you.
At Route 66 University, you'll find:
- Articles & Essays - Choose from a growing list of articles by a variety of writers covering a broad spectrum of Route 66-related topics
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Just click on any of the category links you'll find on the left side of each page or in the list above. See you on the Road!
Recent Updates to This Website:
|Our In The News page is updated almost daily. Other updates include:
|16 July
|The Iron Hog Saloon, Oro Grande, Calif., is now included in our directory of businesses and other attractions.
|25 Dec
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|30 Sep
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|16 Aug
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|29 Jun
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|18 May
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|16 Mar
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|2 Mar
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|24 Feb
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|31 Dec
|The online postcard collection has been expanded with the addition of album number 68, which includes OKC-area scans provided by David Walker.
|25 Oct
|The Business Directory welcomes the Route 66 Interpretive Center in Chandler, Oklahoma.
|18 Oct
|McNatt Photography of Amarillo has been added to the Business Directory.
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Thanks for the review – mines on order.
Cannondale was one of the pioneers of aluminium bikes, having launched its original ST-500 in 1983. While it now also makes carbon fibre frames, it's still using the same 6061-T6 aluminium that it did back then, making the CAADX frame the result of 27 years of evolution. All that experience is used to good effect to produce a fine riding 'cross all-rounder, that'll handle on-road commuting duties too.
In these hydroformed times, the CAADX is understated in appearance. There's plenty of tube shaping, but it's all subtle stuff – ovalised and flared down tube, a bit of a flare at the front of the top tube and so on. The stays are slender with a gentle curve when viewed from above. At the bottom of the frame is a bottom bracket shell sized for a BB30 setup. BB30 is gaining ground, although it's not a common sight on relatively inexpensive bikes. The oversized spindle certainly has stifness advantages, although the big shell has the practical benefit of allowing you to use any of the currently-available BB standards with the use of appropriate adaptors.
The head tube takes a semi-integrated headset and is reinforced top and bottom. It also carries the tidy spherical cable stops. With Shimano's 105 levers having gone to fully-concealed cables, the bend of housing between the centre of the bars and the forward-positioned stops looks uncomfortably tight, but didn't present any issues in use. A pair of in-line cable adjusters on those bits of cable make on-the-fly gear tuning a theoretical possibility, but good luck reliably getting hold of the right one while riding. The old exposed gear cables coming off the hoods may have looked untidy, but you could tell which cable was which.
There's a trend in cyclocross bikes to shape the top tube for comfortable shouldering. Cannondale has eschewed this, though. The CAADX top tube is gently ovalised but not flattened or pocketed underneath. We certainly don't have a problem with that – CX bikes don't usually get shouldered for long enough for it to make a difference. Plus which, it's cyclocross racing, it's not meant to be comfortable...
Elegant forged dropouts include a replaceable derailleur hanger and rack mounts, with associated bosses living at the top of the seat stays. There aren't any separate mudguard eyes, so you'll have to double up at the dropouts to run 'guards. Occasionally you'll encounter bikes with rack- and 'guard-ready frames but boss-free forks, but Cannondale's carbon-bladed Ultra X fork has stealthy eyes hidden away at the dropouts and a suitable hole in the crown. There are also two pairs of bottle bosses.
Cannondale always used to be known for ultra-smooth, filed welds that gave its frames the flowing look usually associated with fillet brazing, rather than the "toothpaste" welds commonly associated with aluminium. Those days are gone, but Cannondale now uses a double-pass welded technique that leaves a smoother look that usual. The frame has a rather lovely brushed finish under the lacquer, offset by the largely black parts.
When it comes to components, the clue's in the name of the CAADX 105 – the general theme is Shimano's 10spd 105 groupset, with some tweaks around the edges. The most obvious departure is the chainset. Shimano doesn't offer a chainset that'll fit the Cannondale's BB30 bottom bracket shell directly, so an FSA Gossamer 36/46 setup goes in instead. No complaints there – the actual arms don't have the monster stiffness to match up to the 30mm spindle, but BB30 is a highly future-proof setup so come upgrade time you've got the choice of, well, everything.
Also not present in the 105 group are the 'cross staple of cantilever brakes. Brake maker Tektro must be loving the current mainstream CX surge – it seems to be getting the lion's share of spec on entry- and mid-level bikes. Cannondale has opted for traditionally-shaped wide-profile cantilevers for the CAADX. The sticky-out arms seem a little out of place on the otherwise sleek bike, but they've got leverage on their side. The design does mean using very long straddle wires, which leads to more stretch, but the brakes work well enough. Brake cable stops are integrated into the headset at the front and the seat collar at the back.
Getting most of a Shimano 105 groupset at this price is impressive stuff – much of the sub-£1k competition is mostly Tiagra, and you'd expect to have to go up a price point for 105. 105 is, of course, a 10 speed setup. Conventional wisdom would have it that more closely-spaced sprockets and narrower chains aren't ideal for mud, but pro 'crossers have been racing on 10 speeds for years. Yes, they've got people cleaning their bikes every lap, but if it didn't work in mud they wouldn't be using it. It's undeniably a little more sensitive to adjustment and cable contamination, but anything that would actually clog up a 10spd cassette would make a nine or eight pretty unhappy too.
The combination of 12-25 10spd cassette and 36/46 chainrings gives a spread of gears that's respectably healthy but won't suit all of the potential buyers. CX racers often favour more closely-spaced chainrings to avoid cadence-interrupting big jumps (and because they run up steep hills anyway). Recreational riders or tourists may find a 36/25 bottom end a bit chewy, especially off-road, while fast commuters are likely make use of something a bit taller than 46/12 at the top. There are always going to be areas of compromise on a bike like this that's trying to hit several different targets, though, and your preferred gearing is almost certainly only the odd chainring or cassette swap away.
Also clearly aiming to be most things to most people are the tyres. Continental's Cyclocross Speed tyres have a file tread down the centre and somewhat minimalist knobs on the sides. They're designed for racing on hardpacked or frozen surfaces, upon which they're fast-rolling. Not surprisingly, they're also OK on the road, although you'll be better served by a road tyre if all your riding is on Tarmac. If you're looking at a mixed-surface commute you'll be happy. Any off-road ride involving mud or loose surfaces will be more challenging, though. The Speeds are actually surprisingly capable in such conditions if you're paying attention, but still not a patch on a knobbly tyre. On the upside, the tyres have a tall section and plenty of volume, so you can expect a comfy ride.
Cannondale has had to let something give way to accommodate the frame and transmission at this price point, and the most obvious victim is the wheelset. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with it, but the Formula hubs, Maddux rims and plain-gauge spokes are all slightly portly and the cumulative effect is a somewhat unresponsive pair of wheels. They're robust, though, and we'd happily use them until they wore out. Regular racers would probably want to shed some weight sooner rather than later in the interests of acceleration. At around 10kg (depending on size and pedal choice) the overall weight is certainly acceptable, though.
According to Cannondale the CAADX frame has a slightly taller head tube and more relaxed head angle than its race-oriented carbon fibre SuperX brother, although the angles appear to be the same on paper. It's notably high at the front though, which is a mixed blessing. You can see where you're going, which is always useful. And combined with the shallow-drop bars all possible hand positions are readily accessible. The slight downside is that the resulting rearward weight distribution can make the front wheel a bit washy in slippery conditions and you find yourself having to work a bit to keep the front down on steep climbs. With a 36/25 bottom gear there are ratios low enough to tackle fairly prodigious inclines but if you don't concentrate on hunkering down over the bars you occasionally pop the front wheel up. Obviously these idiosyncracies are easy to ride around, and there's scope to drop the bars with spacer rejigglement and/or stem flipping, but it's something to be aware of.
The carbon fork majors on stiffness and steering accuracy rather than comfort, and there's not much give in the oversized bars either, leaving the tyres doing most of the work. No complaints there – it's hard to make a compliant fork that's not also a bit fluttery. It's fine on the road, and off-road we'll take accuracy and lack of flutter every time.
The Cannondale CAADX 105 delivers a fine ride. The frame and fork fundamentals are excellent and – in contrast to Cannondales of years gone by – the component spec is very competitive for the money. The wheels are something of a weakness compared to the rest of the bike, but there's only so much money to go around. The Cycle to Work-friendly cyclocross/all-rounder market is a crowded one, packed with bikes trying to be all things to all riders. The CAADX feels less compromised than most, rides well and looks great. Definitely one for the shortlist.
If you're thinking of buying this product using a cashback deal why not use the road.cc Top Cashback page and get some top cashback while helping to support your favourite independent cycling website
road.cc test report
Make and model: Cannondale CAADX 105
Size tested: 56
About the bike
State the frame and fork material and method of construction. List the components used to build up the bike.
* Frame CAADX Cyclocross, Optimized 6061 Alloy, BB30
* Fork Cannondale Ultra X, Carbon Blades, 1-1/8"
* Rear Shock n/a
* Rims Maddux DRX 6000
* Hubs Formula RB-51, RB-52
* Spokes Stainless Steel
* Tires Continental Cyclocross Speed, 700x35C
* BottomBracket FSA BB30
* Chain Shimano 105
* Rear Cogs Shimano 105, 12-25
* Front Derailleur Shimano 105, Clamp 34.9 mm
* Rear Derailleur Shimano 105
* Shifters Shimano 105
* Handlebars Cannondale C3 Compact
* Stem Cannondale C4, 31.8mm
* Headset CAADX, SI, 1⅛"
* Brakes Tektro CR720, black
* Brakelevers Shimano 105
* Saddle Cannondale Stage crmo Rails
* Seat Post Cannondale C3, Alloy, 31.6mm, 300mm
* Extras n/a
* Crank FSA Gossamer BB30, 36/46
Tell us what the bike is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about the bike?
Cannondale pitches the CAADX as an all-rounder - race, commute, adventure. It says it's "supremely versatile". This is what manufacturers usually say about bikes like this, and as per usual it's mostly true but with the ever-present danger of falling between various stools.
Frame and fork
Tell us about the build quality and finish of the frame and fork?
Cannondale was a pioneer of aluminium frames - a lot of experience has ended up in the CAADX. It's smooth, double-pass welds rather than super-smooth fillet-style sanded welds like the old days, though. Fork looks quite slender but doesn't judder. And there are mudguard eyes at both ends.
Tell us about the materials used in the frame and fork?
The frame is good old 6061 aluminium as used by Cannondale for ever. There's a bit of hydroforming and shaping but nothing too gratuitous - it's a clean-looking frame. Fork has carbon legs but an alloy steerer.
Tell us about the geometry of the frame and fork?
Cannondale says the CAADX is slacker than the race-oriented SuperX, but on paper it isn't. It's shorter, though, with a taller front end, so somewhat less aggressive.
How was the bike in terms of height and reach? How did it compare to other bikes of the same stated size?
With a 57.5cm effective top tube on a 58cm frame, it's not overlong. Out of the box the bars are pretty high, which is comfy and lets you see where you're going but makes the front a bit light and sketchy. I'd probably take a couple of spacers out or flip the stem for fast off-roading, but for commuting it's fine as it is.
Riding the bike
Was the bike comfortable to ride? Tell us how you felt about the ride quality.
Notably comfy at the back, probably on account of the big tyres. The stays are fairly slender, but the seatpost is a 30.9mm one.
Did the bike feel stiff in the right places? Did any part of the bike feel too stiff or too flexible?
Oversize bars and a stiff fork are an interesting contrast to the conventional bars and twangy fork I'm used to - better for hauling, but more clattery.
How did the bike transfer power? Did it feel efficient?
On the upside, the tyres roll fast and the frame's suitably unyielding under power. The weight holds it back a bit - it's a good weight for the money, but a couple of pounds more than a race-oriented bike. Rolls along spendidly, though.
Was there any toe-clip overlap with the front wheel? If so, was it a problem?
How would you describe the steering? Was it lively, neutral or unresponsive? On the lively side of neutral.
Tell us some more about the handling. How did the bike feel overall? Did it do particular things well or badly?
On steep ups the front end was a bit light, and you have to work a bit to keep the front gripping in turns, but that'd be sorted by dropping the bars a bit and/or changing the front tyre.
Which components had the most effect (good or bad) on the bike's comfort? would you recommend any changes?
There's plenty of volume in the tyres, which helps a lot. The 10spd Ultegra STI hoods are pretty fat, which might be an issue for the smaller of hand.
Which components had the most effect (good or bad) on the bike's stiffness? would you recommend any changes?
Hard to say. The FSA BB30 crank is an obvious candidate, but the big axle is offset by the slender arms.
Which components had the most effect (good or bad) on the bike's efficiency? would you recommend any changes?
If you wanted to race seriously, lighter wheels. And knobblier tyres, unless the ground's hard.
Not race-sprightly, but perfectly acceptable
Consider flipping the stem for better weight distribution
The drivetrain
Tell us some more about the drivetrain. Anything you particularly did or didn't like? Any components which didn't work well together?
The 10spd setup proved surprisingly tolerant of mud, but it needs fine adjustment and doesn't like cable contamination.
Wheels and tyres
Fast-rolling tyres
A little on the portly side
Big tyres
Tell us some more about the wheels and tyres.Did they work well in the conditions you encountered? Would you change the wheels or tyres? If so, what for?
The Conti CX Speed tyres are fast-rolling, comfortable and surprisingly effective on loose ground. Fine on the road, too. If you're doing a bit of everything stick with them. For muddy racing you'd want something a bit spikier, and if you're commmuting on the road a pure road tyre would be easier going.
Tell us some more about the controls. Any particularly good or bad components? How would the controls work for larger or smaller riders?
If you've got small hands the bar tops and lever hoods might be uncomfortably girthsome.
Anything else you want to say about the componentry? Comment on any other components (good or bad)
Very traditionally-styled brakes, if you like that sort of thing.
Your summary
Did you enjoy riding the bike? Yes
Would you consider buying the bike? Definitely a strong contender in the £1k market
Would you recommend the bike to a friend? It should be on the shortlist, yes
Anything further to say about the bike in conclusion?
As with most bikes in this category, you'll probably want to change some bits to get it just right for what you want (guards for commuting, lighter wheels for racing etc). As it is it's a fine recreational bike and occasional racer with stacks of upgrade potential.
About the tester
Age: 37 Height: 6ft Weight:
I usually ride: My best bike is:
I've been riding for: Over 20 years I ride: Most days I would class myself as: Novice
I regularly do the following types of riding: cyclo cross, sportives, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed, mtb, Track; to the shops; with the kids
5 comments
Thorough review but one thing that occurs to me looking at the pictures is the gear cable routing being a little problematic for racers. Down tube routing is not a huge issue with modern sealed cable sets but on the CAADX105 there appears to be a huge gap between cable and downtube which will likely catch fingers when picking up to shoulder the bike. Looks like they've just kept the same cable stop arrangement from their road frames which is strange given that their higher end CX bikes use more conventional top tube routing.
Great review, this bike really hits the race/utility balance for me.
You say you did not experience the dreaded 'judder' which plagues most cantilever-braked CX forks under heavy braking. Can you tell us how much you weigh? I would need a 58cm frame and weigh about 85kg. I may be able to flex the fork more than you under heavy braking!
Also, any chance of uploading photos of the chainstay-tyre clearance, seatstay-bridge eyelet and chainstay-bridge eyelet? No worries if you don't have those pics. I am interested in these features for fitting 700x35mm tyres (singletrack trails) or mudguards (road touring) at some time in future.
I've been looking at one of these! Looks tempting, I know somebody who works in a sportsshop so Ill get 40%
How would you compare it to Giant TCX2?
Any immidiate small upgrades I should consider if I go for this one? I'd probably ride it abour 80% on road, and 20% light offroad.
Oh.. And wait for the 2012 version, or will the difference be minimal?