Come celebrate our half birthday with three great talks, plus all the good vibes you pack into a weekday evening. The theme this month is “getting stuff done”, which we think is just right for the end of whatever they call summer in Singapore. So please come down to Blu Jazz and be inspired!
EVENT DETAILS
Date: Wednesday, August 18
Time: Doors at 7:00 PM, first speaker at 7:30 PM
Place: Third floor of Blu Jazz, 11 Bali Lane (entrance on Ophir Road)
TALK SUMMARIES
Talk 1: Memoirs of a Geisha: What They Don’t Teach You at Business School
by EK Yap
Description: Ever wanted or dreamed of starting your own business? Ever thought you might give it a shot if you just had the proper training? In this talk, EK describes the ins, outs, pains, griefs, and sacrifices of building a business, brick by brick, dollar by dollar, customer by customer, without the benefit of an MBA. This talk is especially geared towards people who believe that only projects related to technology or the internet count as entrepreneruship.
Speaker: Having multiple dysfunctional personalities, EK (1) used to be from the civil service at MTI before he joined the family business whereby he found the politics and inertia even worse and hence EK (2) decided to set up his own business. He currently brand builds and distributes luxury skin care or “hope in a jar”. EK (3) keeps a cat handy along with a bottle of single malt scotch and his music to keep himself sane and in control.
Talk 2: Changing the World By Just Showing Up
by Preetam Rai
Description: Slowly and subtly, a learning revolution is taking place across Asia. One force behind this revolution is the event known as BarCamp. A BarCamp is open, free and has no fixed schedule or speakers. Barcamps borrow or steal venues, use social networks for publicity, and depend on participants to make the event successful. The first BarCamp in Myanmar attracted more than 2,000 people from all over the country. In the most recent Cambodian BarCamp, Khmer and Thai attendees ignored a then-simmering border temple dispute in order to focus on developing tech ideas for non-profits. In this talk, Preetam will discuss what motivates people in Asia to create BarCamps, and how the events prove that you can change the world just by showing up.
Speaker: Preetam is always on the move helping groups across Asia to put together technology and culture events. He was the former South East Asian editor at Global Voices Online, one of the biggest social media content aggregation service. Preetam is online at preetam.net
Talk 3: What Do Singaporeans Dream of Doing?
by Calvin Cheng and Chris Boesch
Description: Have you every wondered what passionate Singaporeans dream of building, creating, or performing? Have you ever pondered what stands between these dreamers and fulfilling their dreams? 8squirrels was founded with these simple questions in mind. We seek to uncover the common obstacles that Singaporeans encounter as they pursue their dreams, and we strive to ensure that any Singaporean with a dream is aware of the substantial resources available to them. Along the way, we hope to introduce many dreamers with common interests and enable passionate individuals to share their dreams with a larger audience.
Speaker(s): Calvin practices agile software development with Odeon Consulting Group in Singapore and is actively experimenting with various start-up ideas. He has also spent time as a kayaking instructor and is an avid hiker and backpacker. As an individual with diverse interests, he enjoys meeting like-minded people from all walks of life who are passionate about their ideas. Chris is a father of two, a Practice Associate Professor of Information Systems at Singapore Management University, a game designer, a musician, and a composer.
EVENT DETAILS
Date: Wednesday, July 21
Time: Doors at 7:00 PM, first speaker at 7:30 PM
Place: Third floor of Blu Jazz, 11 Bali Lane (entrance on Ophir Road)
TALK SUMMARIES
Talk 1: The Future of Singapore Hawker Centres
by Elizabeth Bennett
Description: Elizabeth’s talk has been 8 months in the making–she has interviewed over 100 hawkers and government officials and spent many hours in the National and NUS libraries. Her presentation will share the findings of this extensive research, which will include the challenges faced by hawkers today and the evolving nature of Singaporean hawker centres.
Speaker: Prior to moving to Singapore, Elizabeth studied history at Cornell University and worked for the National Governors Association in Washington, DC. She moved to Singapore to study hawker centres, which she thinks is probably the best job in the world. Her favorite hawker centres include Maxwell, Chinatown Complex, and East Coast Park. Her favorite Singaporean foods are popiah, roti prata, laksa, and chilli crab.
Talk 2: Building a Life: Lean Manufacturing and Agile Development Applied to Everyday Living
by Carl Coryell-Martin
Description: Lean Manufacturing has completely remade how our civilization manufactures stuff in the last 40 years and Agile Methodologies are similarly revolutionizing how we produce software. Carl will explore how lessons from those two disciplines may be applied to improving daily life.
Speaker: Carl currently does agile software development with the new Pivotal Labs office here in Singapore. Previously he’s written iPhone software for finding birds, run a company converting audio stored on physical artifacts into digital formats with all the difficulties of a software and a manufacturing company and traveled on camel across
sub-Saharan West Africa.
Talk 3: The Price of Perfect Memory
by Dr. Kevin Lim (aka The Social Cyborg)
Description: As an experiment in memory, privacy and cybernetics, Kevin wore networked cameras and computing devices as a means to immerse himself with the Internet. The project was nicknamed “the social cyborg”, where the ebb and flow of physical and virtual information gave him a sense of omnipresence, which was heightened by the networked consciousness of online participants. The result was featured in the press: http://theory.isthereason.com/?page_id=297
Speaker: As a cyberculturalist, Kevin studies the co-evolution of network and culture. With an academic background in communication theory, his research has ranged from Control & Anti-Control in Internet-Regulated China, to Social Capital among Online Non-Profit Organizations. He currently works at the National Art Gallery (Singapore) as AD in Strategy & Experience. He can be located at @brainopera + http://theory.isthereason.com
We are also excited to have Takeda T as a guest DJ–he is the host of <delay no more>, a monthly night dedicated to vocal choons of the house and trance genre. the former founder of dance music portals bedroom*jocks and indulge! Join him as he spins some eclectic samples, keeping the music vocal and melodic.
We’ll see you at the party soon!
EVENT DETAILS
Date: Wednesday, June 16
Time: Doors at 7:00 PM, first speaker at 7:30 PM
Place: Third floor of Blu Jazz, 11 Bali Lane (entrance on Ophir Road)
TALK SUMMARIES
Talk 1: Barefoot Running: Faster Times, Stronger Joints
by Stephan M. February
Description: In the more than 30 years since the advent of the modern running shoe, the rate of running injuries has remained more or less constant. Moreover, according to the 1984 Bern Grand-Prix study on the epidemiology of running injuries: “. . . runners who ran in shoes costing more than $95 actually were twice as likely to get injured than runners who ran in shoes costing only $40.” So, is the running shoe industry a scam? And is there a better way to run? In this talk, Stephan will explore his personal experiences with barefoot running, and highlight recent developments in the running world that signal a shift in attitudes toward the modern running shoe.
Speaker: Stephan is a veteran of two marathons (42.2km), and more 21.1km and 10km races then you can shake a stick at. A catastrophic ankle injury 10 years ago kept Stephan out of recreational running until four months ago. Stephan credits barefoot running with his successful return to the open road.
Talk 2: How to Flirt for Fun and Profit
by Joyce Odom
Description: What is a UN Agency do to in a post-conflict situation when their HQ in far-off NYC hasn’t approved any budget? Get resourceful, get some chutzpah, get on a military plane and get out the lip gloss! In her efforts to assess the reproductive health situation in East Timor, the speaker faced a bureaucratic quagmire stretching all the way back to New York City. In order to mount a successful programme without a sous to her (agency’s) name, she found funds the fun way – with flirting and bit of flattery.
Speaker: In a previous life, Joyce Odom worked with UNFPA (the UN Population Fund) in Indonesia and the newly-independent East Timor. She switched from saving the world one condom at a tim! e to saving it one glass of Champagne at a time when she relocated to Singapore and set up The Hidden Host & a little wine bar called Speakeasy.
Talk 3: Elevating the Debate on Queer Issues in Singapore: What Can Be Done?
by Koh Wei Jie
Description: ThinkStraight aims to debunk popular misconceptions about human sexual orientation and gender identity in Singapore. Launched in May 2010, the organization seeks to elevate local conversations about queer issues by focusing on facts instead of myths. Speaking on behalf of ThinkStraight, Wei Jie will discuss the sociological context of queer rights and homophobia in Singapore, the current status of political will regarding homosexual rights, and the nature of the “conservative majority”. By touching on recent events that have exposed common attitudes towards homosexuality in Singapore, he will attempt to join the dots as he makes a case for the ThinkStraight project.
Speaker: Born in Singapore, Wei Jie is a recent g! raduate from a local polytechnic and intends to pursue a degree in political science. After completing his studies, he aspires to work in civil society and study the intersection between politics and religion. When not posting offbeat content on his Facebook wall, he reads about current affairs, attends events like blinkBL-NK, and has recently started to learn Wing Tsun, a martial art.
Image source: well.blogs.nytimes.com
EVENT DETAILS
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Date: Wednesday, May 19
Time: Doors at 7:00 PM, first speaker at 7:30 PM
Place: Third floor of Blu Jazz, 11 Bali Lane (entrance on Ophir Road)
Time: Doors at 7:00 PM, first speaker at 7:30 PM
Place: Third floor of Blu Jazz, 11 Bali Lane (entrance on Ophir Road)
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TALK SUMMARIES
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Talk 1 Art Therapy: When Art Meets Science
by Emylia Safian
Description: The idea of art as therapy has long been recognized in areas of mental and physical health management such as stress relief or the development of coping skills in the chronically ill. Beyond painting a nice picture, art is also a science rich in emotive contents. Art therapy is a field which combines psychology and the creative process. In this talk, Emilya will discuss the ways in which art therapy mixes these disciplines, showing us in the process how images express what words sometimes cannot.
Speaker: Emylia Safian (MA Art Therapy, BA Psychology & Humanities) is an art therapist and educator. As an art therapist, she gravitates towards working with children and adolescents in situational and/ or developmental crises through an independent practice known as The Art Therapy Project. She is also an adjunct lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic’s Humanities and Social Sciences School.
Talk 2: Become Your Own Guru: How to Develop your Financial Philosophy
by Christopher Ng Wai Chung
Description: In this presentation, Christopher channels the approach in which an influential philosopher/writer explains her complex ideas to the public. The result is a framework for understanding how people view their personal finances. Using this framework, he reduces the different approaches of popular financial gurus to a compact format. The ultimate aim of the talk is to help the audience develop a clear approach towards their personal finances that remains independent from the commissioned salespeople in the world of finance.
Speaker: Christopher Ng Wai Chung studied electrical engineering, works in IT and writes finance books as a hobby. He is the author of 3 finance books, Sowing the Seeds of Prosperity, Growing Your Tree of Prosperity, and Harvesting the Fruits of Prosperity.
Talk 3: Painting the World: Reflections on Forty Years of Painting
by Peter Friedlander
by Peter Friedlander
Description: Peter is both a university lecturer and a lifelong amateur painter. In this talk, he will show some of the paintings he has made from all round the world during the last forty years. Through talking about where and when he painted things, he will examine his ideas about how painting and life relate to each other and how the act of painting both depicts and creates the world. To whet your appetite for the talk, you can check out some of Peter’s work here: http://www.bodhgayanews.net/art.html
Speaker: Born in England, Peter left the UK after high school to follow the overland trail to India, where he lived for five years. He then went back to London to get his PhD before getting married and moving to Australia in 1996. For the last two years he has been a lecturer in Hindi and Buddhist Studies at the National University of Singapore.
[Thumbnail Source: http://www.bodhgayanews.net/images/thumbs/stupaoflight.jpg]
Thank you to everyone who came out on Wednesday for our first event at Blu Jazz! Feeling the positive vibe in the room and watching all of the little connections being made is the reason we do this. So thanks for feeling and showing the love.
For the sake of posterity, here are a few links. Most of the work that Song-Ming showed last night can be found here . For more info about “Do You Wanna Dance”, his group dancing project at LaSalle, click here.
To view Meng’s presentation on the investment potential of new religions, click here. The nifty software he used to make it is called prezi. It’s what all the cool kids are using nowadays.
As befitting a mysterious magician, no links for Chinmaya, but if you can track him down he might just show you a trick or two. We heard quite a few raves from those who got to see him in action after the talk.
Thanks again to those who came out and looking forward to seeing all of you again on Wednesday, May 19 for our next event.
Sorry to miss all of you in March, but after launching this project, the team needed to catch our breath. Now it’s April and we’re back with three great new talks! We also have a new home on the third floor of Blu Jaz, on Ophir Road in the Arab Quarter. We’ll miss the cozy confines of hackerspace.sg, but we’re super excited for the comfy couches, full-fledged A/V setup and regulation bartenders at Singapore’s best little club. So, please read on for the full event details, including summaries of the three talks. And please join us next week for another installment of blinkBL_NK.
EVENT DETAILS
Date: Wednesday, April 28
Time: Doors at 7:00 PM, first speaker at 7:30 PM
Place: Third floor of Blu Jaz. 11 Bali Lane, Singapore 189848. Ph: 6292 3800. Map
Talk 1 – With a Little Help from My Friends: Making Art that Involves the Public
by Song-Ming Ang
Description: In this talk, Song-Ming speaks about his art practice and a few of his projects, including Guilty Pleasures, a listening party where the audience each brings a musical guilty pleasure and takes turns to make their ‘confessions’, before playing the song for everyone to hear. He will also speak about his currently ongoing project You and I, where the public is invited to write a letter to the artist telling him something personal about themselves, to which Song-Ming responds in the form of a personalised audio mix CDR.
Speaker: Song-Ming (b. 1980, Singapore) makes art revolving around the social aspects of music and sound, exploring what can be produced by temporary communities, amateur efforts, and interactions with systems. His works are usually executions of an idea or premise, and adopt various formats. For more on his work, check out www.circadiansongs.com.
Talk 2 – Religion 2.0: Musings on the Ultimate Social Operating System
by Wong Meng Weng
Description: In the past twenty years we have learned a great deal about the propagation and evolution of operating systems. If today’s dominant metaphor for human cognition is the computer, then what are social operating systems? Religion and culture. In his talk, Meng will compare the phenomenon of religious conversion to reinstalling your OS, drawing examples from the Linux movement, the low-carb movement, the barefooting movement, and Mormonism; he will touch on issues of class, society, etiquette, self-help, and leadership, with a focus on historical developments in Singapore over the last 50 years, in the United States over the last 150 years, and in China over the next 50 years. Joseph Campbell defined four functions of myth: cosmological, sociological, psychological, and mystical. Meng interprets those functions as market demand drivers, and discusses how, in a secularizing world, new meme-complexes from environmentalism to life-coaching to psychotherapy to Facebook are variously supplying those demands. In closing, Meng argues that Religion 2.0 is a fertile area for angel and VC investment.
Speaker: After leaving Singapore at the age of 13, Wong Meng Weng spent time in Vancouver, Philadelphia, and Silicon Valley earning an education and working for Internet startups. His interests include historical typography, psychometric photography, and molecular gastronomy. He considers himself a competent but unexceptional programmer, specializing in data visualization and Internet messaging infrastructure. In 2008 he returned Singapore, where he is adjusting to life as a confirmed bachelor. In January 2010, he stopped using soap and shampoo.
Talk 3 – Pick a Card, Any Card and Other Magical Stories
by Chinmaya
Description: What started out as an epidemic timepass becomes an obsession and later blossoms in unexpected ways. Follow Chinmaya’s journey as a magician, his transformation from an awkward teenager to a grown man and his foray into skepticism. This talk comes with FREE MAGIC TRICKS!
Speaker: Chinmaya is currently a university student. He dabbles in religion, science and when people ask them to show him a trick, he’s got a few up his sleeves. He gets philosophical at times so he surrounds himself with friends to distract him from the deeper issues.
Dear BlinkBL-NKers,
Thanks again to everyone who attended our first event in February. We were very inspired by the great turnout and audience excitement.
We’re writing today with a couple of updates about the future of blinkBL-NK.
First, there will NOT be an event on March 31 event. Sorry for any confusion on this, but our team needed a bit of a break to recharge before pushing forward.
Second, there WILL be an event on April 28 on the third floor of Blu Jazz on Ophir Road. The speakers are still being finalized, but you can expect a full lineup of three great speakers, some good tunes, and food and drink provided by one of the city’s best night spots.
We’ll be back in touch as the April event gets close. In the meantime, please keep us posted about any potential speakers or cool things happening in Singapore.
See you all soon!
-The blinkBL-NK Team
Isn’t it a joy to start something?
A few short months ago, blinkBL-NK was merely coffeetable talk between 3 guys, with as diverse backgrounds as one can possibly imagine, on how we could really make the World Peace a reality.
Pause.
No, not really. None of us were pagaent material. Nonetheless, we did have a common interest in sharing ideas in a more personal, fun, relaxed and candid manner.
So here we are, -Day.
Yes, Blank Day. Today, we start blinkBL-NKING.
And we hope you will join us tonight at hackerspace.sg, 7pm onwards (first speaker is at 7.30pm).
We’re launching our very first event on 24th Feb, 2010 at hackerspace.sg, 70A Bussorah Street. We have a great evening lined up with three amazing speakers. Drinking and pre-talk mingling begins at 7:00 PM. The first speaker goes on at 7:30 PM.
Talk 1: Of Mice and Men (and Ants and Fish): Learning About Human Brains by Studying Animals
by Ajay Mathuru
Description: Attempts to understand the human brain have had a long and rich history. In recent times, neuroscientists have begun to explore simpler brains as a way to build up to complexity, akin to reverse engineering. Remarkably, simple wiring doesn’t appear limiting to generate complex behavior and emotions normally associated with higher order processing, such as empathy, altruism and building complex social strata. So, fish may not be just food and ants may be much more than bugs!
Speaker: Ajay dabbled in genetics and micro-biology before pursuing a doctorate in neuroscience at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bangalore, India. His current work at the Neuroscience Research Partnership, A-STAR focuses on understanding the connection between neural circuits and behavior.
Talk 2: Like Ball Golf but Better: A Short History of Disc Golf
by Luke Johnson
Description: It’s been forty years since someone replaced balls with frisbees (technically, flying discs) and holes with metal baskets to make a sport that’s just as fun as ball golf but without the expense, land requirements and bad pants. After years of impressive growth, disc golf now boasts 6,000 courses world wide, a professional tour, and a rabid base of players. There’s even a course right here in Singapore, hand crafted by tonight’s speaker on the grounds of a former cemetery!
Speaker: Luke is an American journalist who has lived in Canada, China and now Singapore, where he crafts stories for the Foreign Desk at the Straits Times. In his spare time he writes about politics, sports and other international obsessions for various publications and on his blog.
Talk 3: How to Live Forever: Ancestor Worship in the Modern Age
by Chew Lin Kay
Description: Rituals and traditions adapt as our surroundings and circumstances change. And yet, lucky numbers notwithstanding, Singaporean Chinese customs surrounding the internment and interaction with ancestors remain resolutely one-way. What will tomorrow’s columbaria look like in an age of web-cams, webs sites, miniaturised technology and whatever comes next? And how will these technologies affect our understanding of death, ancestor propitiation and the nature of personal legacy?
Speaker: Chew Lin is an intellectual magpie and lover of stimulating conversation. Her specific interests include chocolate, heritage and inter-faith dialoging.
Its always great to start something fresh.
Let me define “blinkBLANKING” or “blinkBL-NKing”:-
It is when you attend a fabulous party with some of the most insightful people around town, with a free flowing array of discussion topics, music and drinks.
So come down to our upcoming party, late Feb. Dates and speakers TBC.
