Hard times are coming. Covid. Response to Covid. Supply chain shock. The Great Resignation meets the Great Termination. Whispers of war. Chaos and disorder in the West. Major inflation. Alliance of corporations and governments to maximise wealth and power at the expense of the people. And things can still get worse. This is a time […]
When Waves Combine
What happens when the next wave of Covid meets the Great Resignation? Singapore is going to find out—and it will be ugly. The Straits Times presents an optimistic picture of the labour market. Among other things, unemployment fell from 3 percent to 2.6 percent, retrenchments dropped from 26110 to 7820, and the Ministry of Manpower expects […]
Become Unemployable
Every unvaccinated and non-exempted worker in Singapore is barred from returning to the workplace. Two weeks from now, every partially-unvaccinated worker who refuses to take the second shot will be barred from returning to the workplace. Employers are supposed to redeploy these workers to remote positions wherever possible, or allow them to work from home. […]
Riding Out the Great Termination
The world is in the throes of the Great Resignation. Workers are quitting en masse, seeking better prospects elsewhere, triggering a labour shortage across the board. Hidden in this trend is the Great Termination: vaccine mandates, official or otherwise. In Singapore there is no formal mandate. However, unvaccinated workers are barred from returning to the […]
How I Survived 17 Days in Japan on Onigiri, Yakitori and Nut Bars
In late October, my wife and I embarked on our greatest adventure yet: a 17-day trip in Japan, spanning Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka and Hiroshima, without guides or local contacts, armed with nothing but our maps and our wits. We were no strangers to overseas travel, but we’d always traveled in group tours. The tour […]
Putting Strength in the Bank
A favourite saying among old-school bodybuilders and weight lifters is to put strength in the bank. It means stopping just short of doing your absolute maximum in a training session, to do just one or two reps short of complete failure. It’s hard-won wisdom with sound basis in biology. Strength training requires gradual adaptation over weeks […]
Be Still Every Day
As important as it is to move every day, making time to be still is of equal importance. It is the quiet yin to the yang of activity, the vessel that holds the fire of creation. Without stillness you can only hope to achieve half your potential. The modern world is antithetical to cultivating mindfulness. […]
6 Vital Skills for High-Functioning Autistics
If you’re high-functioning autistic, there’s a high chance you’re starting life on the back foot. You may have significant social difficulties, poor motor skills, sensory issues and other deficits. It’s not your fault, it’s just how your brain is wired. But the real kicker is that to most people, you appear mostly normal — if […]
The Art of Preventing Procrastination
I’ve been told procrastination is a major hurdle people have to overcome. I wouldn’t know about that: I never had a problem with procrastination. I’m not going to discuss how to overcome procrastination. There are plenty of articles out there that teach you how to do that. What I am going to articulate here is […]