Salute to Arsene Wenger

Four years with no silverware, and no apparent successors for Thierry Henry and Patrick Viera. The media and some fans blame it all on Arsene Wenger and his reticence at buying some mature experienced players.

It is obvious that Arsenal has taken a step back from being the top two clubs in the English Premier League to being stuck in the fourth spot. But Arsenal fans still love Monsieur Wenger for what he has brought to the club.

Wenger came to Arsenal to build a squad with English Pound, that he could not in French Francs. He took over the club when their reputation was “1-0 to Arsenal”, which boasted the England back four and keeper. Nigel Winterburn, Lee Dixon, Martin Keown, Tony Adams and David Seaman. Arsenal was never one of the big clubs in England. Even in North London where Tottenham Hotspur is the big club, and it still is today. Newcastle and Everton  probably rank as bigger clubs than Arsenal. Arsenal got big through the vision of Wenger and pure footballing talent, as opposed to a large injection of cash that another London club got.

Wenger signalled his intentions for the club with the first player he bought, Dennis Bergkamp. And what a career Bergkamp had in Arsenal, ending with that 7-0 defeat of Everton in 2005 which demonstrated every reason why people loved Wenger’s Arsenal. But those days are over, and Arsenal went into “transition”.

Youth is the new catchphrase. No one knows if it was born out of Wenger’s own beliefs or the pressures of paying for the Emirates stadium, but it took on a life of its own. So much so that England brought young unproven Walcott to the World Cup, based on Wenger’s belief. Now it has taken over Wenger, who feels that if he had bought older players, he would be letting down the likes of Denilson and Abou Diaby. True enough, so many players matured to become special under his watchful gaze. Matthieu Flamini, was in Cesc Fabregas’ shadow for a year, no one knew what he was doing in top flight football, and then out of nowhere, he grew and matured, to be a holding midfielder to oust Gilberto Silva. Kolo Toure was the most improved player when he went from a stand-in to be a captain quality central defender he is now.

But is that all in the past? Is Wenger past his use by date? He brought Arsenal dreams and glory for a decade, but perhaps it is time someone else had a go? I think more than any other manager in English football, Arsene Wenger is loved for much more than the silverware and the results he delivers. How many of us wish, that in our own lives, that in our youth, we had an Arsene Wenger that gave us a chance? Now I am afraid of Arsenal winning the Champion’s League, because it would mean that Arsene Wenger might deem his job done. His CV filled. He inspires not the love of winning, but the love of football, and the love of dreams and hopes.

Up the Arse!

Women prefer to bully women

An interesting article in My Paper yesterday seems quite pertinent to some recent happenings in Singapore. Of course, this study was done in the US, so cultural, women’s rights, worker’s rights and so forth all come into play.

This survey brings out some interesting statistics, and perspectives. Some advocates of women’s rights might decide that the fact that only 40% of bullies are women mean that women have not achieved equality in the workplace, hence had less opportunity to be in the position to bully. While bullying of subordinates is the most obvious, bullying of peers is probably the most prolific but less glaring. Bully of superiors happens to, but like husband-beating, often goes unreported.

The result of men being equal opportunity bullies and women quite a lot more likely to bully other women. So many factors play into this, but I do wonder if there is a root to this behaviour. I do believe that women, in the workplace play two competitive games. One only with other women, and one with the rest of the organisation. They may not win the latter, blaming glass ceilings, but they sure as hell would do everything to win the former. Is that a psychology ingrained by 10,000 years of largely patriachal society?

I think the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) saga brought to light something that we, as a society have known for quite a while. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Obviously it applies to more things than love. Throw in a dozen Type A personalities into the mix, and you will get fireworks.

Many people have an opinion about women bosses. I do believe that most males and anecdotally, many females, find it quite hard to work with women bosses, for a variety of reasons. A veritable minefield that this XY is not going to go tap dancing through. I was raised by five women of strong personality and they have earned my respect for strong women, I am still glad that I have yet to have a woman boss or superior in a competitive work environment.

What about Lee Bee Wah and Liu Guodong? Apparently Lee Bee Wah cannot see past her own nose and realise that there are dividends to be made if only she appeared to be gracious. Once again she walked into a trap laid out specifically to test her, and so bringing to the forefront her detachment, and by association, the government’s detachment from the general public mood. MM Lee might think highly of Lee Bee Wah, but he has yet to impart in her some of his shrewder tactics. That is complacency for you. Yet one more weak link to protect at the ballots.

Closer to home, one of my acquaintance recently revealed that he has not spoken to a female superior of his for over a year. They are no longer on speaking terms. She brought him into the company about a year and a half ago, them having worked together previously some years back. He went on to successfully head a branch office in a neighbouring city. She accused him of undermining her, simply by being doing his job well. Her local head office flounders while the foreign branch office thrives. Perhaps I am only seeing one side of the story, but such behaviour does the reputation of women bosses no good at all. Again, I am glad I am no longer of that industry, where people go to work with knives in front of them, not needing to hide it behind their backs.

Does the competitive workplace environment, and power gained from it magnify already existing tendencies, or does it bring out an ugly side in us? Some have decided that being positive means stepping forward, some may decide that stepping out is the only way to get a positive result. I have opted out of that world, and continue to try my best to stay out of it, as I hope to leave a benigh, and if possible a benevolent effect on the world. Take no bullshit, but try not to dish out any yourself.

Microsoft Sidewinder X5 Ergonomics

After owning the Razer Diamondback 1600DPI model for about 3 years, I finally broke it. The right click is now iffy, but I shall not use it as an excuse for sucking at games. I decided to make a change because the right click was quite important for certain software, such as Autodesk Maya. (Yeah, right.)

After I switched to a “gaming mouse” like the Razer, there was no turning back. It was miles ahead of my old S$15 Logitech job. Not to knock the el cheapo Logitechs, I think they beat anything in their price range. But the “gaming mouse” are vastly superior, and useful for design work. I was a bit of a decision for that price band I was looking at: S$69.99.

It was not to be another Razer, as I was no longer happy with the shape and materials. For a start, my computer desk is not in air-conditioning (yes, a rarity in air-conditioning obsessed Singapore), and occasionally gets direct sunlight. I like to be surrounded by windows. This kinda melts the anti-slip rubber coating on the Razer products for me. They start to rub off or attract lint. I am sure Razer products satisfy their customers and fulfill their role, but I was not going to get another.

Another thing about the Razer was that it was symmetrical, great if I was going to use it with both hands, but my hand is not symmetrical, I found my pinky aching when I am running around holding down the right mouse button too long. I think some people toggle Aim with their right mouse button, but I like to hold it down. All models of Razer mouse are of the same general shape, I doubt I can go back to a smaller mouse like the Razer Salmosa.

I finally decided on the Microsoft Sidewinder X5 because it has a fat arse. The good thing about the elaborate packing is that I got to fit my hand around the mouse while it was still in its blister pack. The arse was significantly wider than most mouse on offer. It has a nice groove to rest my ring finger, and the lump on the right allowed my pinky to grip on the mouse, something that most symmetrical or smaller mouse do not offer. Notice where my pinky has to go on the Razer.

Microsoft Sidewinder X5 and hand posture

Razer Diamondback and hand posture

The two buttons on the thumb side is also different, I found it a much better ergonomic decision to place the mouse top and bottom. I noticed that I had to make both of my thumb side buttons on my Razer map to the same key, because I had a tendency to mistakenly press either. Perhaps that is a sign of my noobness, but I never got quite used to that. I never used the two buttons on the pinky side anyway.

So far, the Microsoft Sidewinder X5 is an ergonomic win for me. It did not turn me into an expert FPS player overnight, but I am quite comfortable using it. It has 3 DPI settings that can be changed at a press of a button (the 3 buttons in the middle), I set mine to 2000DPI, 1600DPI (because I was used to it), and 400DPI. It is not as granular as the Razer On-The-Fly DPI settings, but it works fine.There seems to be a Quick Turn feature for turning 180 degrees and surprising backstabbers in games, if any of you figure out how to set it up in Windows Vista, please let me know. I like it as much as I liked the XBox “S” controllers they shipped for Asian models, compared to the more symmetrical PS2 controllers. I do not have a large hand, I wonder how people with bigger hands cope. It would be like playing with grandma’s exquisite china teacup.

The Microsoft Sidewinder X5 is the little brother of the older true gaming mouse, the Sidewinder. It lost the anti-slip rubber finish, an LCD screen of some sorts, and the tray to load weights. Mouse tend to have plenty of space inside, if you want to cheap out, a screwdriver and some fishing weights would do just fine. Microsoft might not immediately come to people’s minds as a gaming accessory company, but this mouse takes a leap without gimmicks.

If you have been uncomfortable with your mouse, try to notice your hand posture and your finger positions.

We are finally AWARE

Hands up, those of you who have not heard of the women’s rights organisation AWARE before this saga came into the press some weeks back.

Hands up, those of you who know that AWARE exists, but have not spent a single second thinking about them for the last 5 years. 10 years.

A friend commented on his Facebook that the “New Guard Ousted” headline from yesterday’s Straits Times front page would have refered to the government in any other country. Perhaps the main reason why the AWARE saga has caught our collective imagination was because it is the closest thing to democracy that we have experienced.

A political commentator mentioned once that Taiwan’s Democracy has finally matured, after they voted out the KMT, the nationalist government that ruled them for 50 years, voted in the opposition DPP, and after a decade voted them out again. The Taiwanese have seen both sides and have forced both sides to change with the ballot box.

A similar change is currently unfolding in Malaysia, where the people have given the Anwar led PKR coalition a chance in many states. This has forced the incumbent of four decades, UMNO, to change. To be more inclusive to the minority races. How this will all unfold is yet to be seen.

Indonesia and Thailand are lands of posturing, where multiple strong factions muscle for influence and power, a musical chairs of power and counter balance. The Phillipines is a popularity contest, where the march of this emotional people keeps the presidential seat hot.

We seldom get to see politcs at work in Singapore, but over the course of a few weeks, we saw a Coup d’etat at the ballot, the airing of dirty laundry on both sides, death threats, the meddling of the Church, the meddling of DBS, the mobilization of the people and a crushing of a rebellion, again at the ballot. And now, we are finally AWARE.

We actually learned more about what AWARE does in these short weeks than in the decades it has existed. We have all had to decide for ourselves where we stand on women’s rights, gay rights and the power of the Church over our multicultural life. We have had to think about where we would like to see change, and where we think continuity will serve us the best. We have seen a fight for our hearts and minds, and a little of the power of the people. We have seen the power the media plays in a democracy. Was it democracy at its best? Probably not, but it was democracy of a sort at work.

And it is not just us, the humble citizens that are learning these lessons. The politicians got their lesson in Politics 101 while under the shadow of a discussion about a post-Lee Kuan Yew PAP and Singapore. The heads of Churches have got a clearer idea about their “OB Markers”. And shareholders got a clearer idea of what their directors and executives get up to in their free time.

Is the saga over at AWARE? Who knows, it is likely that the coup plotters would fade into the background with their tails behind their legs, unsure of how public opinion turned on them so suddenly. But the spotlight is now on AWARE, and on other non-governmental agencies like them. Their actions would be scrutinized from here on, just as the NKF saga brought our attention onto charities. Even then, I doubt the rot has totally been cleaned from charities.

I had hoped that the sacking of former table tennis team manager Anthony Lee and head coach Liu Guodong would have sparked enough of a public outcry to shake sports associations to their bones. But perhaps the parties are too linked to the government and enough crisis management was done to prevent the pitch forks coming out. Too bad that episode passed and sports associations are now back to their old ways. Hopefully another crisis would erupt soon enough.

Congratulations Singapore. I would like to believe that this is a watershed for Singaporean’s collective awareness of democracy.

China avoids bad news in 2009, so far

A year ago, right about now, every one was wondering whether to dump all of their funds invested in China companies, in anticipation for a post Olympics economic readjustments. At that point, I am sure that more than a few financial analyist was looking at China and wondering when the bubble will burst and whether China will be the epicentre of the next financial crisis.

Similarly, with the experience of SARS and the various health and food scares coming out of China, more than a few scientist were expecting the next pandemic to come out of South China.

It is a double whammy for the US that they were the cause of the current financial crisis, and that the epicentre of the current Influenza A (H1N1) was in neighbouring Mexico, and spread into the US and Canada.

2008 was the year China was in the news most, more often than not for reasons they would rather avoid. I am sure more than a few officials in China are breathing a sigh of relief that China has so far avoided getting into the news limelight in 2009.

But the year is still young. Perhaps the lesson here is that the more you want to hog the limelight, the more the glare of scrutiny is on you.

May Day May Day

In our current economic situation, it might be a good time to look again at the symbolism and origins of the May 1st Labour Day. Also the International Worker’s Day. It is celebrated on May 1st in the majority of the world, although Americans associate it with Socialism and Communism.

Ironically, the May 1st association is to commemorate the 1886 Haymarket Massacre in Chicago. Where police fired upon and killed many protesters asking for an 8 hour work day.

Let us not forget that in the end of the 19th century and the beginnings of the 20th century, capitalism was of the pretty much a free for all. There was no workers’ rights to speak off. In was in this environment that socialism and communism was born. People were not choosing between socialism and capitalism as we know it today.

One of the companies  earliest to realize that giving workers’ some rights would prevent them from rising up under the banner of socialism was Krupp. Ironically, they were the one of the main companies that armed the German army in the war in 1877, the Great War, and World War 2. They still exist making escalators and elevators. It was under the shadow of a possible people’s revolution that workers’ rights was born.

The evils of capitalism today is not the same as those of the late 19th century. Workers now have rights, they also have shares of their own employer’s and other companies. And they expect those share prices to rise. They live on borrowed money and inflated dreams. And unlike the late 19th century, they have no one but themselves to blame for their current situation.

Now that employees are also shareholders, and our retirement pensions are tied to the profitability of companies, how relevant is Labour Day? Now employees are also employers, of domestic maids who have next to zero rights under the Ministry of Manpower. The world is still letting 6000 people die  in preventable work related deaths every day. Have we moved on from that fateful day in 1886?