Steven Sim

Political Narratives

In my MA thesis, I proposed that the question about meaning of life is actually one about the coherence of the story we tell about life. Recall I wrote once, that,
“Naturally however, human beings are drawn to experience coherence and unity. For e.g. we see shapes rather than mere dots and lines, our brain with [...]

Pitting Spirituality Against Religion?

I had a short discussion over lunch with a friend of JR about spiritualism vs. religion.
It all began with him saying he is a vegan due to spiritual and health concerns when I asked him whether he is a vegan because of health or religion?
My accidental lunch mate went on to say that there is [...]

The End of Men

I just finished reading a very lengthy article from the Atlantic Magazine titled The End of Men.
The apocalyptic title does not do justice to the chill one felt at the end of the article.
I for one felt dreadful, not because women are being empowered but because the quest for gender equality should not end up at [...]

Book: Propaganda by Jacques Ellul

I know I have been missing from this blogging business. My blog was down, again, for a while and the discontinuity took a toll on my writing here. I am actually looking for a new server to host this site. Any good service to recommend, one with a reasonable price?
The reason I am writing this is [...]

Making Cupcakes

My friend ET, who is a real top notch pastry chef, offered to teach me how to make cupcakes today afternoon. I was trying to decide between two conference papers I had to write of which the abstract is due this weekends and spending the afternoon learning from a master (trust me on this one!).
It [...]

Oscar Wilde’s Malaysian Connection

JR has been quite fascinated with Oscar Wilde ever since she watched Dorian Gray. Not only did she write two blog posts about the movie (here and here), but she is now able to give a Wilde-quote for any situation we are in.
The movie was based on Wilde’s only published novel The Picture of Dorian [...]

No.12: Phase 1 Completed

After about 3 weeks, the first phase of no.12 is finally completed. To recap, JR and I have a  to-do list which I published some time back:
1. enlarging the living room2. re-tiling certain portion of the house3. building a new fence and gate4. fixing a new automated gate and a new glass door5. putting up [...]

Dr. Tan Kee Kwong: How Did We End Up In This Mess?

Source: The Micah Mandate
HOW DID WE END UP IN THIS MESS?- a personal view of the country’s financial state

by Dr. Tan Kee Kwong (former 3-term MP Segambut)
As a private citizen now, I am just going through the main headlines in the papers this morning (June 11). I see all sorts of figures and fantastic projections. [...]

Another One…

Looks like the Perak saga continues, with another legislator from Pakatan Rakyat (DAP), Keshvinder Singh (Malim Nawar) quited the party to become “BN friendly Independent”. He claimed that he was attracted by PM Najib’s style of administration and believed that only BN can offer development to his constituency. It is interesting for someone to profile [...]

3Gs: What’s Keeping Me Busy

What’s keeping me busy lately? I think it’s safe to say that I meant to say, “on top of my regular work”. I always have difficulty answering when asked by folks about my current occupation. Maybe I will dedicate the next post to talk about my job/s.
But for now, allow me to introduce one of [...]