I’m referring to a snap poll located here, which is probably dynamic and may no longer be there soon. In particular, I’m referring to this poll.

Reproduced from the straitstimes.com:

MM Lee Kuan Yew recently said that “homosexuals are mostly born that way.” The Government has in effect adopted a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. With Singapore becoming more cosmopolitan, should society also be more open towards homosexuality?

I am a little surprised by the results which stands at:

• 45% of 1793 voters who think that Singapore should be more accepting
• 51% of 1793 voters who think that Singapore should be less accepting
• 2%  of 1793 voters who think that Singapore should maintain current level of acceptance

Assuming that most voters are Singaporeans, I am a little perplexed by this result because I thought that there was an earlier poll which showed almost equal percentage of voters on the acceptance of homosexuality. As much as I would like to be objective about the results, the disparity is a little too glaring to ignore (I think it was 49%-51% previously). Speaking of which, 45 + 51 + 2 = 98%. Where did the other 2% go?

So, here’s my speculation (yes, without proof and possibly with sweeping statements everywhere, but please pardon me; it’s just a speculation):

1. The last poll was rigged. Activists and GLs kept voting for their side of their vote
2. The current poll is rigged. Homophobics are clicking overtime for their side of their vote
3. People are more aware now, meaning we have a more honest, up-to-date status quo of the general feel
4. A mixture of all 3

But to take the views of 1793 voters to represent the view of Singapore is not really statistically sound, not to mention that non-Singaporeans are able to vote too. I am also surprised that only 2% of the voters think that Singapore should maintain current level of acceptance, which I thought is probably just fine. Don’t ask, don’t tell. The whole world (or rather, Singapore) benefits because the GLs will get their privacy and the anti-GLs will simply not know. Ignorance is bliss, isn’t it?

And oh, this post is NSFW, so I didn’t dig out archives from the Internet. Would be nice if someone can do it. *hint hint*

Update #1: It’s quite interesting. The votes in the morning (10am) is about 30-70, polled from approximately 7400 votes.

Update #2: At 1:25pm, the votes stand at 45-52-1. I think the 1% has became insignificant. This is an interesting trend indeed. I wonder if ST keeps a log of IPs.

Update #3: At 2:53pm, the votes have equalized at 49-49 with 16357 votes. It’s the closest thing to SGX that I can lay my hands on.

Update #4: At about 3:15pm to 3:17pm, the votes broke from equalization at 50-48 and 49-48 respectively with approximately 16900 votes. However, it was equalized at 49-49 at 3:19pm with 17254 votes, only to go in the other direction at 48-49 at 3:20pm with 17476 votes.

Venue: Zouk

There will be special performances, a lucky draw, door gifts and finger food. I think it’s better to go with a 1/2-filled stomach.

More later too.

Yipee! It’s Convocation Day! Worked, waited and slogged hard for this day, and it’s finally here!

More later.

There’s a birthday celebration for Prof J at the BioInformatics Research Center Yunnan Gardens on this day at 6:00pm. Prof J was one of the lecturers for my computational biology course in Year 1. He’s a very nice guy and never fails to greet you by asking how your day is when you look for him.

Apparently, he had a slight accident last year, but I’m just glad he’s doing well again. I wish him all the best.

Meeting up with some friends because everyone is going everywhere else. UK, US, Aussie… you name it, you got it. Place is at TP, details to be confirmed. It’s been quite some time since we last met up and it’d be good to do some catching up before any of us start disappearing again. Time really flies. Sometimes I wonder if I’d ever get to meet my friends who have gone overseas. Hmm…

I read an article from straitstimes.com titled as above. The article isn’t reproduced here because what I am about to comment on has very little to do with the context in the article. On the contrary, it set me thinking about something that I had written a few days back - of fake monks and dummies.

I used to embrace charity a lot - not just by means of donations, but volunteering for a good cause. However, after the NKF and St. Johns scandal, and revelations of how much public donations really reaches the ones who need it, I started to think twice before pulling my purse strings.

Of donation-collection companies

By now, everyone would be aware of companies that specialise in collecting donations for various charitable organizations. I do not know if they still exist now, or if they are still legal, but it was reveal somewhere that sometimes, less than 50% of what we give really goes to the charity.

Do you remember those students who would come up to you with a donation coupon that probably costs around $2? Apparently, part of the money goes to the company behind that, and part of it goes to the pay/commission of the part-timer. Finally, only a small part goes to the charity who hired the services of the company.

After reading on their modus operandi, I decided that that was all that I would donate. Coincidentally, the number of such donation seekers decreased significantly. On the contrary, I see lots of tin-carrying students asking for donations now. I hope all of the donation goes to the charity.

At least the charity engaging their services are getting some money.

Well, that might be true, but shouldn’t charity be for a good cause? I understand that the owners of the donation-collection company needs to survive as well, but how do they feel profiteering from generous givers? Are the latter taken for granted again (or treated like idiots)?

Other comments

I have heard of comments supporting companies that organizes “donation drives” and those suggesting that dollars going to a “centralized collection body” would benefit more organizations (stretching the dollar). I’m not sure of such comments and would not be able to share my opinions; but what I am sure of is that, I’d be careful with my next dollar.

Good morning Blogosphere! It’s freezing this morning at 14 deg Celsius, which probably is very good weather for the people here, but it’s freezing for a tropical tourist like myself. Sweater, check! Scarf, check! Water, check!

Breakfast was an alfresco dining by the patio today, consisting of a sunny side up, some sausages and bacon, served together with English breakfast tea and some chips. It’s really a different feeling to have your meals while overlooking the (not-so-big) crowd at the roads. From the patio, it is also possible to observe that the roads are not entirely straight and consists of many slopes.

After the morning mail check, I decided to walk round the neighbourhood by foot yesterday. There are lots of interesting shops, from those selling art stuffs to zodiac books that also helps to interpret your dreams. There are also quite a few rainbow shops that sells interesting pins and tags.

Speaking of which, I noticed that some places or shops hang this rainbow flag. A conversation with the locals revealed that this is really called The Rainbow Flag, which is a symbol of GLTB, which usually means the residents or business supports the GLTB cause. I forgot to ask if it necessarily means that the residents or owners are themselves GLTB. Oh well… I guess it doesn’t really matter here.

Another thing that I realised is that while the map depicts downtown to be pretty near where I am staying, it really isn’t so. I spent 3 hours walking towards downtown but didn’t seem to reach it. The only sight of anything commercial is the occasional supermarket or Walmart (or was it K-mart? or both?) The place seems unusually slow, quite unlike the crowd in Singapore, where everyone seems to be rushing every other minute.

Speaking of Walmart, I encountered this subway (the train, not the sandwich bar) track that runs onto the main road (near one of the Walmarts) and into some tunnel again. It’s nothing new but the only place in Singapore that I saw anything close is the Malaysian railway that cuts through Choa Chu Kang Road near Teck Whye, and it’s not somewhere that I frequent.

After 3 hours, I decided that enough is enough and started searching for directions to make sure that I wasn’t walking the wrong way. I chanced upon a US Postal Service mail man and asked him if I was heading the correct way. The good news was that I was heading in the right direction. The bad news was… it’d take me another 2 hours by foot! Argh!

So, it was off to the bus stop. Finding a bus that goes downtown is easy. But deciding where to stop in downtown is the next headache because… I wasn’t sure of where I was heading. Eventually, I alighted somewhere near Montgomery Station and got a little lost. Everywhere was buildings and more buildings. To add to that, the GPS wasn’t receiving any signals and I had to figure my way around.

By then, I was a little hungry and wondered around, looking for food… like a poor kitten. Thankfully, I found this small Japanese sushi shop that offered quite decent food. The food was nice, pretty much like those that you find in Sushi Tei or Sakae Sushi. Just outside the shop were trucks carrying props for some play that was coming to (or going from) town, but by then, I was too exhausted from the 3 hour walk to figure out more. In the end, I grabbed the train back to Church and 24th Street… home sweet home.

Today will consist of more recce and exploration. The weather’s quite nice and it’s probably a good time to talk a trip to the Bay Area. More updates tonight or tomorrow!