Stuff you must read today (Sun, 29 May 2011)

POSKOD.SG: Ten Steps to Communicating Effectively.

POSKOD.SG Graphic

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My latest article on POSKOD.SG, the latest big thing to hit our shores.

Ten Steps to Communicating Effectively.
A guide to winning over friends and contacts in Singapore. (Mostly contacts.)

Besides playing good football and making babies, there is nothing else that we on the Little Red Dot are better at than communicating effectively.

And for good reason too: what in the world could be more Merlion-esque than saying something that one means?

In any case, here are ten steps to effective communication, the Singaporean way.

  1. When conversing, the first thing you want to do is to include people in the conversation. Hence, name-drop or insert as many obscure allusions as you can into your speech:

      “Yes, Delia said the same thing about the Blue Paper. In fact, she said it was similar to the Green Grass Policy implemented back in ’08.”
  2. If people don’t get it, show amusement. The is best displayed through subtle upward spasms of the muscles between the upper lip and the cheek:

      “You… don’t know Delia?” *twitch* “Oh, right – you weren’t on the Remaking WLB committee with us.”
  3. Use acronyms. They are the PIE to life in the fast lane during AM rush-hour traffic, just before SUVs go past the ERP gantry:

      “WLB, WLB! What part of WLB do you not understand?”

(continued…)

Stuff you must read today (Sat, 21 May 2011)

  • 21 May 1987 | The Online Citizen
  • Happy Operation Spectrum Day, everyone!

  • Lee Kuan Yew steps down but not out | The Globe and Mail
  • “It would be closer to the truth to say that…Mr. Lee wasn’t in full control of events. It was Singapore, the city-state he helped turn into one of the most affluent societies in the world, that had left Mr. Lee behind, not the other way around.”

    On the other hand, it’s quite sad that we have to (yet again) leave the voicing of a known truth to someone who has no vested interest in Singapore.

  • Hey J.K. Rowling! | Hello Moye
  • “…I love Harry Potter and all but adding a time travel element to your universe about halfway through the book is kind of dumb. I’ve been questioning the logic behind this since…well…you first introduced Hermione’s time-turner necklace.”

    Click on the link: the graphic explains it all.

  • So That’s What International Driving Permits Are For | wordsbytony
  • “Now I know of at least one use. A policeman wants your driving licence for some dubious offence? He’s welcome to it. At £5.50 each, international permits are about half the price of an average Mexican bribe.”

  • 16 Things I Remember About Napster | Thought Catalogue
  • “3. Remembering songs that I ‘HAD TO DOWNLOAD LATER’ while I wasn’t at the computer; leading to a series of ‘scratch papers’ that said things like, ‘Gurl in bumblebee suit, find out what that song is called’.”

    That’s “No Rain” by Blind Melon! Love that song.