Shrouded in darkness

A two-hour blackout strikes Singapore, and Channel Newsasia does a half-hour coverage on it. You can read all about the blackout here. It is a subtle compliment to Singapore's near-perfection that such innocuous incidents command such high levels of attention from her citizens.

We, the long-suffering Malaysians have come to terms with such disruptions in our lives. Back in Ipoh, blackouts are regular, monthly events, sometimes even lasting the whole night. The people at Tenaga Berhad (the electricity provider in Malaysia) ought to be sacked for being so inept! During such occasions, we are forced to go to sleep without the fan, much less the air con. It is quite an uncomfortable experience, with mosquitoes buzzing around your ears and beads of pespiration forming all over your body. You would toss and turn in bed, hoping against all hope that the power would return later in the night. Over time, you would learn how to scratch your arms in your sleep. At the highest levels, you would be able to kill mosquitoes in your sleep. If you are lucky, power returns by about 3am or 4am in the morning, and provide some relief to the scorching heat (and the mosquitoes). The worst blackouts are those that last for almost 24-hours. After years of enduring such conditions, I now believe I can sleep anywhere.

Thus, I wasn't overly concerned about a blackout. I only grimaced at the thought that I would have to put up with a night without electrical cooling devices (and it was a warm night yesterday). Crossing the road became a somewhat more dangerous affair, as cars pretended that pedestrians did not exist now that the traffic lights have stopped functioning. I am quite aware that Singaporeans are unaccustomed to blackouts, thus I suppose I cannot blame them for the high level of interest. However, calling 999 over such an event, as reported in this article, seems to border a little on hysteria, methinks.

Still, I suppose it is better to talk about the blackout than to be totally silent about it (like in Malaysia). At least, Singapore Power is kept on its toes. Tenaga ought to do the same (hopefully in my lifetime).

Oh, how stuffy it is!

For the last one month, my work has taken me to a new location in the city (Tanjong Pagar actually). The project site is located in a state-of-the-art building that has escalators which are intelligent enough to turn itself on when a person approaches, and turn itself off when the person leaves. Heck, even the window blinds are state-of-the-art. In fact, the window blinds are so intelligent that the option to manually adjust the blinds was not even built.

Sometimes, I wonder if the people who maintain this building are sadistic. The manner in which the window blinds operate is truly an enigma. The intelligent blinds would raise itself in the morning when the sun is the strongest, and lower itself in the evening when everyone has left the office. It would remain open as the glare of the sunlight warms the area around my desk.

Furthermore, the architects of the state-of-the-art building with the state-of-the-art escalators and window blinds have apparently forgotten to build a state-of-the-art ventilation system. As a result, staying awake becomes a constant struggle. The struggle becomes much worse after lunch, when the room temperature rises and the air becomes stuffy. One has to get creative in seeking ways to alleviate the constant fatigue that plagues the body. Usually, I would go to the rest room and rinse my face with water. Sometimes it just gets so bad that I find myself compelled to succumb to the sinful pleasures of napping. Taking a nap at your desk would be an option, except that it wouldn't be good for a long and healthy career if your customer were looking for you and had to wake you up. A better alternative would be the toilet. Despite being a far less pleasant option due to the exotic aroma that wafts from the toilet seats, it provides a certain protection against your customers finding you.

If anyone has any better ideas on how to relief fatigue in a state-of-the-art building, I would be ever so grateful.

The Case for Faith

Two days ago, I picked up a book titled the The Case for Faith. I picked it up on a whim, hardly knowing what to expect, after hearing many praises about this book from my friends in church. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the book is an attempt to address various questions that challenge the Christian faith. These were questions that I have been contemplating with for quite a while, but never really delved deeply into.

The book begins with an interview with Charles Templeton, who was also a compatriot of the famous evangelist, Billy Graham. This connection is quite interesting, because Charles Templeton was himself a former preacher, and would have almost been as renowned as Billy Graham himself, if he had not given up on his belief in God. Why did he stop believing? He was unable to reconcile the goodness of God with all the evil and suffering that was happening in this world.

Can reason be reconciled with faith? This is the challenge that the author Lee Strobel, a former journalist with the Chicago Tribune, attempts to overcome in his book. It takes him on a journey throughout the US where he interviews famous Christian philosophers and theologians like Peter Kreeft, William Lane Craig, Norman Geisler and Ravi Zacharias on various questions that challenge the Christian faith, such as the ones posed by Charles Templeton.

The book is divided into eight objectives, with each objective attempting to address a specific issue on faith. For a book that attempts to address such weighty topics, it is very easy to read. It would serve as a good introductory book to most Christians on the questions that challenge the Christian faith, before one progresses onto other books that delve into the subject more deeply. I have only just completed the first objective about evil and suffering. As I read the book, I will pen my thoughts about it in this blog.