A Life Apart

Participation in the virtual world has taken increasing pace in the last few years. Originally, these worlds belong to the geeky, such as those that live on Ultima Online, etc. But now, with virtual worlds offered by a slew of them - Electronic Arts (The Sims Online - TSO), Linden Labs (Second Life), Blizzard Entertainment (World of Warcraft), Nintendo (the cartoonish but no less absorbing Maple Story) and probably the latest by Google (Lively.com), one is spoilt for choice. And not all are geeky any more.

For example, TSO is about as geeky as a tomato. It hosts communities of people who would replicate their lifes on planet earth, from the owning of homes to going out to parties to having sex - any kind of sex. Why am I not surprised? Because morals are almost non-existent in these virtual worlds. God didn't create them, man did. And who wants to talk religion when you are having fun? So it wouldn't take long before a curious Avatar - a virtual person in the virtual world with a real life in the real world - would start reporting about virtual worlds instead of just living in it. One Peter Ludlow, erstwhile a University Professor, started the Herald in the world of TSO, taking on the Avatar identity of Urizenus. He would eventually migrate to Second Life, a virtual environment that offered more capabilities and features.

The Second Life Herald chronicles his experience in these virtual worlds through the Herald. The account starts with life on TSO. As the Avatar, Uri, he roams TSO and reports on the various activities going on - such as virtual governments and the griefers and gangs that these governments have to deal with. As he encounters iconic characters that populate TSO, he discusses his encounters with them. The book also has a chapter or two on the sex scene in TSO, which makes for fascinating reading. The Herald is a 'tell-them-as-it-is' online virtual journal in TSO. So there were sometimes un-complimentary things that came out of it, things that can offend. Perhaps the biggest mistake that Urizenus made was to question the fairness of the masters of TSO - EA (Electronic Arts) - over issues of justice. What if someone in the virtual world has a valid grievance - for example - some other virtual character inflicting an injustice on another? Should the creators of the virtual world not intervene to restore justice? Urizenus' argument is that avatars, voluntary and willing participants in the virtual world though they may be, may have invested so much emotion and money into the virtual world that stopping play in virtual worlds was not a viable option at all. Therefore there must exist a set of rules that are consistently enforced to protect players. Often times, the powers that be - the creators and controllers of the games - can be biased and unfair. And he makes the same observation about life on Second Life, which he joined after he got kicked out (erased) from TSO.

Truth be told, I am not a fan of virtual worlds. The first time I entered the virtual world of Google's Lively.com, I was flipped and thrown to the floor when all I wanted to do was just say 'Hello' to the Avatar who flipped me. No, I am not a whimp, just that I cannot find the time that these virtual worlds demand of my (other) time in the real world. Not so the young. They are taking to virtual worlds like fish to water, unable and unwilling to tear themselves away from the computer which they spend hours on end. This book explains why this is so. Coming from a person that inhabits these worlds and reports on it since the early 2000s, you would be convinced that there is much truth in what he says.

But don't let me report everything. Read the book.

I am Muslim

I can identify with many of the contexts that Ms Dina Zaman wrote about - the Malays, their practices, their culture and their taboos. I could also identify with the practising Malay Muslim for I made many Malay Muslim friends while studying through the Singapore school system. These, and more, are recorded in this somewhat autobiographical account of the author's life in Malaysia and her encounters as a journalist.

Although a Muslim herself, she never stops to question the many contradictions that runs through the lives and loves of the Malay/Muslims that she encounters in the course of her work, which includes investigative journalism. It makes for amusing reading. But the book is quite uneven and slightly disjointed - a 'theme' does not run through it, and perhaps it is to be expected. The book, I am Muslim, is after all, a collection of Ms Zaman's writing for the news media over a period of time. You can think of it as a collection of blog entries - bite-size chunks of reminisces, opinions and sometimes very irreverent remarks. A search of the Internet showed that the author did start a blog, but abandoned it all too soon. So this is perhaps the only published collections of her writings available to the reading public as of today. You need a paid subscription to Malaysiakini to access her other work.

This book really comes alive from the section "Sex within Islam". No, don't get me wrong. I am not a sex pervert nor a closet reader of Playboy magazine. I do not have suppressed sexual fantasies nor am I a serial stalker. I just enjoyed the way that Ms Zaman wrote this section on taboo subjects in Islam - like sex (yes, in some puritanical sections of the Muslim/Muslim community, sex is a dirty word). The Malay tudung is probably the least sensual of clothes on planet earth today. I remember reading somewhere that a woman's hair is her crowning glory - something that really literally can make heads turn. Yet some Muslims believe in covering it up. Well, to each their own. She also writes about homosexuality and romance (not that these necessarily go together) within the Muslim community and how, as in most societies, it is still very much 'under the hood'. But she had the opportunity of encountering people of these various orientation and interests and I am glad she was brave enough to write about them. In the process, she has enlightened me.

Not that I agree with her at all, I often find her expression of bewilderment, well, bewildering. It appears that Islam does not have the answers to the tough questions she dares to ask, even after consulting her religious mentors. But she is adamant in keeping the faith - a very large leap of the faith indeed. After this section on sex, the book pretty much reverts to the form before. It gets disjointed again, peppered with anecdotes of one sort or another, and it would take all of my will to finish the book. You can tell that I am not too keen on gossip. Its just that a meandering book just cannot hold me for long. It is a wonder that it has sat on my reading shelf for so long. Time to return it to the library.

eBay Redux

eBay has been around since before the heady dot.com days. With Yahoo, it is probably one of the more well-known survivors of the dot-com boom days. eBay has grown leaps and bounds over the years, facilitating ordinary people like you and me in selling off some of our not-so-prized collections and also in buying hard-to-come-by stuff that is either out of production/print or has found its end-of-life with someone else. Indeed, eBay has grown from just a place to auction stuff to a place to set up an online store selling brand new first-hand products. Much has been written about the portal, about how to use it, about how to make more money through it, about it, and all. So I was intrigue to find the brand new book, "Tricks of the eBay Business Masters" on a library shelf. What has Michael Miller, the author, to tell us that we do not already know from the many books already written on the subject?

Well, the title does give an indication. This book collates the wisdom of people (the masters) who have made use of the eBay portal to run successful businesses. Michael doesn't so much preach as he shows how actual businesses have thrived on certain best-eBay-practices. In several 'eBay Business Profiles' (Case Studies), he describes how actual businesses evolved to an online eBay store that complemented their brick-and-mortar operations to businesses that exist solely on the eBay. Words of wisdom from these successes are concisely documented, which will be of much interest to people who already have an eBay business going, but would like to do better, or for aspiring e-Bayers looking to start selling instead of merely trading.

The part I find most interesting is the discussion of various free tools, such as eBay Marketplace Research, eBay Pulse, etc, provided by eBay and others that will help analyse search trends and understand past auction patterns and behaviour. These tools probably can make a difference between dead stores and profitable stores.

While this book has a 'recipe look' about it, it is recipe worth reading. As this book is quite new (published in 2008), the formula in the recipe has been updated to give the reader something new to learn out of the 101 tips and tricks listed.

I recommend this book highly.

By the way, if you haven't heard the eBay song, you simply must. Its so infectious. It should be nominated for an Emmy. And there are several incarnations of it. Enjoy!

Teacher Man

Frank McCourt is not easy to read. I 'suffered' through his Angela's Ashes more than a decade ago and never returned to him until this year when, on the advice of a wise man, took up his third book, Teacher Man.

I remember trudging through Angela's Ashes because the story, his story, was so depressing. The book recounts McCourt's growing up in Limerick, Ireland and the psychological scars he acquired through the many downs he encountered. He was to mention these again in Teacher Man to similar feelings of depression. In Teacher Man, he added depressing accounts of his start in the teaching profession, of how the schools he started with had students who had no great interest in studying. And McCourt was depressingly frank - he wrote that he didn't know what to do with these students, or how to teach them. It would have been uplifting if he had written of how he faced the odds in the classroom and overcame them. But he didn't overcome the odds, it just got too tiresome. He eventually left for another school - a community college, where the students were older and more mature and probably more willing to learn. It didn't last either because he only had a Master's degree. The school could only offer him a position if he had planned on getting a PhD. So he returned to a teaching position in a Vocational School, but this lasted only 5 months before he was 'forced out'.

When I started out with the book, I wasn't expecting so much 'failure' in the book. I had expected this to be an inspirational book, but for 2/3 of the book, it was not to be found - even in his recounting of his attempt at a PhD in Trinity College, Dublin. But he does keep the narrative interesting by describing some of his students and their antics, and related some of this to his early days in New York, after he came over from Ireland. To me, the narrative starts to sparkle when he join his last school, Stuyvescent High School. before he retired. It is here that he came into his own as an innovative and effective teacher of creative writing. It is not surprising that he eventually put pen to paper himself and produced his autobiographical trilogy - the award-winning Angela's Ashes, Tis! and Teacher Man.

In this book, and his earlier one (I have not read Tis! though), he brings a depressing honesty to his narrative, calling a dog a dog, and not fudging at his failings. At least, that is my impression. And he does have some gems in the book on what teaching is about, and how he developed as a teacher. This is a very interesting book (although somewhat dated), but if you consider teaching an evergreen profession, then you can do nothing better than read his account of teaching and learning. Just for forewarned - you need to be patient to be inspired here.

Postscript:

Frank McCourt Dies at 78

Frank McCourt Dies - other news sources

Outlaws of the Marsh

Every great civilization has them. The English have the Shakespearean plays - tragedies, histories and comedies. Today, these are studied in schools and form the basis for attaining competency in English Literature. This is true not only in the Bard's native land, but also in many of Great Britain's former colonies, especially those that have made English an important part of the national language competency. Singapore is one of these.

The Chinese have their own literary classics. The most popular and widely read are the four great classical novels: Three Kingdoms, A Dream of Red Mansions, Journey to the West and Outlaws of the Marsh. Every child in a Chinese household would likely have heard of or read, by age 10, about the naughty monkey that is Sun Wu Kong in Journey to the West and Wu Song the tiger killer in Outlaws of the Marsh. These classics have in turn been made into movies, such is the popularity of the material contained in them.

However, how many Chinese outside of China can claim to have read any or all of these 4 classics in their entirety in the original language? I haven't, and probably never will. So I am doing the next best thing - read these in their entirety in the English translations. I have completed Three Kingdoms, and have just completed the 3-volume Outlaws of the Marsh. That's 2 down, 2 to go. But more about the Outlaws of the Marsh.

This novel was written in the 13th century AD during the Ming Dynasty by Shi Nai'an and Luo Guan Zhong (who also wrote Three Kingdoms). A complete translation in the English language by Sidney Shapiro is available as a 3 or 4-volume set (depending on the specific edition). It is this translation that I spent the last month or so reading. The story revolves around a growing group of bandits who took residence in Liangshan Marsh, an inaccessible, water-bound mountain that became the scourge of the Song Emperor and his corrupt officials for more than 3 years.

The story tells of how various people - weapons instructors, military officials including Generals, and even a clerk, came to take refuge in Liangshan Marsh. Throughout the first part of the epic, the recurrent theme revolves around how people were forced to commit crimes against corrupt officials, which eventually drove them to take refuge in the Marsh. Some were tricked into joining the bandits in Liangshan Marsh. Yet others, mainly Generals defeated in battle by the bandits, joined the bandits because they couldn't face their corrupt civilian masters. The characters and circumstances in this classic are varied enough to provide hours of suspense as the stories unfold. Some plots were predictable. An example is how Song Jiang, the eventual leader of the Liangshan bandits, made it a habit to recruit people who his bandit brothers defeated in battle. It didn't always sit well with his brother bandits who had expended much energy defeating them, but, as the novel suggests, it was destined that the full complement of bandits reach 108. Song Jiang must claim credit for attracting good, skillful and intelligent men AND women into banditry.

But of course, these bandits made it a point of robbing only the rich. They left the poor and needy alone. In fact, they often provided for them. They were the Robin Hoods of China. Incredibly both stories -of the bandits of Liangshan Marsh and the robbers of Sherwood Forest, were written between the 11th and 13th Century AD, barely two hundred years apart. However, there is probably more blood and gore in the Chinese novel - something that I wasn't too comfortable with. One of its most violent protagonists, the Black Whirlwind Li Kui, killed without blinking an eye (as the Chinese would say). Of the 108 bandits, he was probably its most effective when it came to killing people - both the good and the bad. This quality, however, was put to great effect in some of the more difficult battles that Song Jiang's outlaw army had to fight.

In the end, many of these 108 outlaws were to die under various, and might I say, honourable, circumstances. Don't jump to last the volume to find out about this. It is best to start from the beginning and let the story unfold gradually. This novel will give you hours of suspense.

Three Kingdoms

It took me about 2 months, interrupted by living and working, to finish the 3-volume unabridged translation of this Chinese classic by Moss Roberts. This is an excellent translation. In particular the Chinese poems and verses that litter the entire book have been rendered very well in English. Being a Chinese, I could sense the Chinese 'flavour' and spirit in these translations. Besides the main text, Moss Roberts, who is a Professor of Chinese at New York University, has included substantial footnotes and a scholarly essay on the "Three Kingdoms" book, discussing its origins, its history and development as well as the many versions of "Three Kingdoms".

But on to the "Three Kingdoms". This is a part history, part novel of the period of Chinese history between AD 190 to 280. The novel begins with the corruptive influence of the Eunuchs at the Han Court, which would bring the Han Dynasty to an end. It begins with the 'blood-bonding' of the 3 main characters of the book at the Peach Garden - Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu (referred to in the book as Lord Guan).

The country was eventually divided into 3 Kingdoms. The first was formed by Cao Cao, who founded the Kingdom of Wei in the North through the usurpation of the Han Empire. Cao Cao never became Emperor, though. His son, Cao Pi was its first emperor.

The second was formed by Sun Jian's descendents - Sun Ce and then Sun Quan. They occupied the Southlands, which eventually became the Kingdom of Wu. The third Kingdom was founded by Liu Bei (aka Liu Xuande) who occupied the Western Riverlands and formed the Kingdom of Shu. The story's progress from the weakening of the Han court to the formation of the Kingdoms took a long time in the novel's narrative as the author, Luo Guan Zhong, fleshed out the characters and events of the times. The stories are gripping, especially when Zhuge Liang appeared in the story. Surprisingly for such as major character in the story and in Chinese folklore and history, he didn't appear till the second third of the novel.

Only when Zhuge Liang, or more often referred to as Kongming in the novel, appear did the fortunes of the virtuous Liu Bei improve. It is exciting to read of the many strategies employed by Kongming in winning almost every battle that he fought with Cao Cao, Sun Quan and Sima Yi. The only one that he lost - at Jieting - was due to insubordination rather than poor strategy. While characters like Liu Bei, Cao Cao, Kongming were real historical figures, the novel does give them, especially Kongming, supernatural powers to predict future events and control nature's elements of wind and water. It even has the dead Lord Guan, a fictional character in the novel, appear as a Ghost to help his second son, Guan Xing, win a battle.

The novel contains enough betrayal and deception, war, masterful strategies, human weaknesses and heroism, and characters who are larger-than-life to keep one enthralled throughout the entire narrative. It used to be that such characters as Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei, Cao Cao, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu appeared in stories on radio quite often. I remember my father listening to stories on the radio about these characters during his lunch break from work back in the late 1960s. But I could never really understand nor place them within a specific context or a historical time period, until now.

After reading this book, I understand better when people refer to these heroes and villains. Perhaps the only thing I didn't quite like about the stories was the constant narratives of wars and battles. It seems that Politicians and Generals in those days did nothing but fight each other either in self-defence, expand the empire or regain it. The only creative things that came out of the stories were the inventions of the Martial Lord Kongming. Even then, these brilliant inventions were for war.

This cycle of war never really ended even when the Kingdoms were eventually reunited. Dynastic China continued to cycle through a string of emperors, strong in the beginning, weakening at the end to be swallowed up by another, which would then form the next dynasty. Brilliant as Kongming was, he used his fertile and creative mind to restore and sustain a failed dynasty - the Han. Liu Bei's son, Liu Shan, who was put into Kongming's protective care, and for which he staged so many battles, was eventually to degenerate into a women-and-wine-loving emperor, hardly worthy of the loyalty and dedication of one of China's most brilliant military strategist.

This is a really good book, especially if you need a translated version.

Old Chinese Classics

I am an ethnic Chinese but has been schooled in English all my life. My mother-tongue is Chinese and I learnt Chinese as a second language. Though I take tremendous pleasure in reading, I have never thought of reading Chinese language books as pleasurable. The reason is that I would be plodding along and skipping words and thus, meaning, because I may not recognise the Chinese characters and phrases. This handicap has restricted my access to the many Chinese language books that are published and its Chinese social, cultural and historical thought. As a Chinese, that was and remains a great loss. So imagine my delight, as I was passing through Beijing Capital Airport to find full English translations of the Chinese classics "Three Kingdoms", "Outlaws of the Marsh", "A Dream of Red Mansions" and others being sold. Actually, I shouldn't be surprised as, after all, the bookstore is in Beijing Airport, which catered to the travelers' interests in China and the Chinese.

You might be surprised at my 'discovery' for surely, such books are available in metropolitan Singapore, especially where roughly 70% of its inhabitants are ethnic Chinese? But truth be told, I have never been able to find a full translation of these books in the more popular bookstores, not even Popular Bookstore - a bookstore that began its business selling Chinese language books. The best there was were books written in the graphic style (think comics), and thus were abridged versions. I suppose if one looked hard enough, one would find them sold in some obscure bookshop. Strangely, I never looked up the public libraries. In any case, I bought the "Three Kingdoms" for RMB130, which is roughly S$26. This particular translation came in three volume hardbacks. I also put my money down on the 3-volume hardback "Outlaws of the Marsh" at a similar price. It was really a bargain. Considering that the same "Three Kingdom" books cost US$40, before shipping, on Amazon.com, it was a steal. So when you next in Beijing Capital Airport, be sure to drop by the bookshop (sorry, I did no notice its name) for these invaluable translations of the Chinese classics at bargain prices.

But why buy anyway? Because the stories in these books are gripping...

A Mitsubishi Lifer

Once in a while, you'd come across a book which you couldn't place your finger on, which genre it belonged to, why such a book was ever written in the first place, and what the publisher was thinking of in terms of making money out of publishing it. Well, "The Blue-eyed Salaryman" is just such as book. It is a story about a westerner (an Irish, actually) who spent his earlier years travelling the world over and yet ended up as a paid employee - a salaryman - in one of Japan's largest conglomerates. Yet, the author is not recounting any significant achievement worthy of an inspiring lesson, or about an unusually unique life that would make people sit up.

Yes, he is unusual in that he was the first westerner to reach the manager-class in a Japanese MNC - Mitsubishi to be precise - in Japan, not in a branch of the conglomerate located in Europe or America. He gained his PhD in Japan, joined Mitsubishi under local terms, married a Japanese and, last recounted, is raising his family in Osaka, Japan. Not something inspiringly distinct that you would want to spend time reading about it at first thought. Yet, I was almost glued to the book because of the stories of the ordinariness that life in a Japanese MNC could be, the different characters in the form of his colleagues (all Japanese, of course), an attempt to get him match-made and the ultimate uncertainty that permanent employment in a Japanese firm would bring. Such things sometimes make for engrossing reading. In that sense this book is unusual. The book is written with much wit by Niall Murtagh, erstwhile Mitsubishi lifer and PhD in Artificial Intelligence. The former is what this book is about, not the AI part.

Interesting and enjoyable.

Googling for gold

While most of us know Google as THE Internet Search company, it is no less THE advertisement services driven company. Most users who have an internet presence, whether as a company or a personal web page such as a weblog (blog), already place Google's context sensitive ads into their web pages. This is a free affiliate program that anybody with a decent web page can apply for and obtain relatively easily. Money is generated for the web page owner through metrics such as CPM (cost per thousand) and CPC (Cost per Click). Many are just happy that the dollars and cents are trickling into their affiliate accounts with Google to bother too much about these metrics.

Are there any other means of earning money besides ads with Google? Do you know the inner workings of your Adsense membership programme and how to maximise your earnings? How about profitting from Adult sites? These, and many other less well known facts of Google advertising is explored in the the book, "Google Advertising Tools" by Harold Davis. The book is divided into 4 parts. The first 2 parts delves into how the Google uses the internet surfing habits of people to generate advertising eye-balls, which leads to part 2 on the details of Google's Adsense programme and how to maximise the amount of money you make.

Parts 3 and 4 focuses on how advertisers can maximise eye-balls through Google's AdWord programme and its related API (Application Programming Interface).

I suspect that Adsense users would not be that interested in AdWords and vice versa. But therein lies the attraction, or the bain, of this book - it is good for people who are more interested in making more money advertising or for people who want to drive business to their web sites through effective and customized ad placements. One doesn't have to read this book cover to cover before coming away with a few useful tips either way although I suspect that both parties would have preferred if their interest (making money advertising or advertising to make money) enjoyed greater coverage. As it is, both areas receive fairly even coverage.

One thing I learnt is that your website's Google Pagerank will increase the more other websites' webpages (and that include blogs) link to your website. So the next time you find other pages linking to your website or blogs (even deep-linking ones), be happy. That only means that someone values your content. This comes at the expense of bandwidth, of course, but then, that's why you publish, isn't it? On the other hand, if you have got Google adsense code, it can only be a good thing, right?

As always, O'Reilly titles are worth the time and money spent.

Living and leaving Singapore

Neil Humphreys is very well-known among the Singapore newspaper reading public. For the last few years, he has been entertaining and informing Today readers through his regular columns. I must say that I am a fan of his, having been tickled often by his observation and experiences of life in Singapore. However, he has just left for Australia's Geelong to start the next phase of his life with his wife though, thankfully, he still writes the weekly column for Today. And why not. The internet has made communications so much more convenient. The only thing that the internet cannot do is to give a person a feel of life in a certain place while being in another. Neil certainly will not be able to write about Singapore as often and as intimately as he used to. But he has left behind for Singaporeans, and the wider expatriate community in Singapore, and perhaps the world, a book about his travels and observations in the oft neglected parts of this tiny island of Singapore.

In his inimitable way, "Final Notes from a Great Island - A Farewell to Singapore" relates his journeys and discoveries into places such as Lim Chu Kang where all sorts of farms, such as organic farms, goat farms, frog farms, etc., still exists in this otherwise highly urbanised island. Locals as well as expatriates should give Orchard Road a miss on weekends and public holidays for these farms, if nothing else, as a therapy against the hustle and bustle of city living. In the same vein, Neil writes about his Singapore Challenge of 'circum-navigating' Singapore's lush rainforests of reservoirs and nature reserve smack in the middle of the island. Indeed, as he notes, this is the green lung of the island. If quaintness is what you are looking for, then follow him through Queenstown, the Chua Chu Kang cemeteries and Haw Par Villa Park. If for titillation, then Geylang is a, ahem, must-go.

Personally, I was delighted that Neil visited Sembawang and wrote about the many places that I am familiar with, including Sembawang Park and the Jetty at the end of it. It brought back a lot of memories of my childhood. But I do have a gripe with his history. Neil mentioned the Terror Club as originating from the Americans. While the Terror Club near Admiralty Road East is now the domain of the American military personnel, the name originated from his countrymen during the time Singapore was its impregnable fortress and the Naval Base its home. 'Terror' was a wholly British invention. My dad used to work in the Naval Base in the 1950s and 1960s for the British, and he would often mention 'tear-lah', which is the Cantonese transliteration of 'Terror', in his conversations with mother. I didn't understand who or what he was referring to until much later. I have some links in my singaporelifetimes blog which document all these.

Notwithstanding this slight historical inaccuracy, Neil has done Singapore a favour with his book. I only discovered that he had written two other books, "Notes from an even smaller island" and "Scribbles from the same Island" on the same subject earlier, and they are probably well worth reading too.