Deadpoet's Defunct Cave

I no longer inhabit this cave in cyberspace.

Please visit me here: deadpoetscave.com

Please change your bookmarks and links from your website to http://deadpoetscave.com/

If you subscribe to my FeedBurner feed, you'll continue to get updates from my new location.

In a recent post, I mentioned I was squatting on a WordPress blog - with my preferred username - just in case I decide to give up on Blogger.

Tinkering around with WordPress, I decided to reinstate a backup blog. I used to backup on LiveJournal but stopped for some reason or other. Perhaps I trust Google too much. Blogger will never die, right?

I began copying entries manually in reverse chronological order. After copying a month's worth of entries, I stopped, thinking that I would backup in batches, eventually reaching the most recent post.

Then I clicked on Import.

Using it is simple.

Backup your Blogger template first. Ctrl-A anywhere in your template. Copy and paste into Notepad; save the file. Take note of your blog settings too.

Log out of Blogger.

Log in to Blogger via the Import login page in WordPress.

Let WordPress work its magic. All your posts and comments will be copied automatically.

Peace of mind, eh?

Update Silly me. I forgot to mention you have to register for a blog at WordPress first.

Memories at Old Ford Factory

Last Saturday, I went to the newly opened Memories at Old Ford Factory. Run by National Archives of Singapore, the factory - a gazetted national monument - houses an exhibition about life during the Japanese Occupation. It is rich with accounts and photos of life in Syonan-to.

Why house an exhibition gallery in Bukit Timah? Well, the Old Ford Factory was the place where the British surrendered to the Japanese on 15 February, the first day of Chinese New Year in 1942.

I'm not sure what it was but the exhibition moved me deeply. Over the years, I've read accounts of the war years; I always read them with an air of detachment. Somehow, the exhibits at Old Ford Factory brought the Occupation to life.


The driveway leading to Memories at the Old Ford Factory. There are information boards along the driveway which describes the Fall of Singapore. It sets the scene for what's to come in the gallery.


This comic is among the first things visitors see. It's interesting because we usually speak of the Occupation from the Singapore perspective. The drawings speak volumes about what the Japanese thought of the British. Nevertheless, I wish I knew what was written.


Percival and Yamashita. If they could speak, what would they say?


A young Singaporean finds out about life as a Prisoner of War in Singapore.


Lim Bo Seng's diary: "We then took leave of each other. The children were too stupefied to realise what was happening. Each of them kissed me goodbye. I shall never forget their tear-stained faces as long as I live."


Life went on during the war. People got married and had children. This wedding dress bears testament to that.


The wartime garden (behind the building) shows the types of plants that were important to the people during the war. Not many people seem to be aware of the existence of the garden.

Visitor information
More photos
Video of the surrender from Singapore Paranormal Investigators. I don't subscribe to their views, but their page has interesting historical photos and information.

Every weekday morning, I listen to a particular priest.

No, I don't attend daily mass. But I do listen to a Podcasting Priest on The Daily Breakfast.

This podcast is the work of Fr. Roderick Vonhögen from the Archdiocese of Utrecht in Holland. Visit the StarQuest Podcast Network (SQPN) and you'll see that he has great flair for graphics and design. Listen to his podcasts and you'll hear audio shows with very high production values. He is a very talented, creative and engaging guy.

And somehow, he finds the time and energy to do this every weekday.

The Daily Breakfast is about 20 minutes to half an hour long. He usually starts by playing a song from the PodSafe Music Network or GarageBand.com. The rest of his show consists of interesting news, a fair bit of geekiness, occasional health advice, listener feedback and a segment about Catholicism called "The Peculiar Bunch".

Some listeners think he's too light on Catholic content and too heavy on 24, Lost, Star Trek, Star Wars, Macs and other geekazoid, popular culture topics. Me? I think his shows are quite well-balanced. But then, I am a geek. =P

A year ago, he started SoundSeeing tours of Rome, where he was studying. He happened to be there when Pope John Paul II passed away. He was there when Benedict XVI was announced as the new Pope. He has podcasted while running. He has podcasted from a boat. (Links in this paragraph are to mp3 files.)

Congratulations PodFather Roderick, on your first anniversary of podcasting. Keep up the terrific work, and God Bless!

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You can download The Daily Breakfast directly from SQPN. The easier way, of course (you can see this one coming), is to subscribe to the podcast feed. If you're really keen, I can walk you through the process. If you're not Catholic, don't shy away from listening to his podcasts. This Breakfast is for everyone!

My blog is three! Actually, I've blogged for three years. My blog has previously existed as an EasyJournal and a LiveJournal.

Naturally, I wanted to continue the User ID on blogspot, but someone took it. That someone hasn't blogged since... August 2003!! Well, that's why:

a) This site is 'acroamatical'; and
b) I am squatting on WordPress. Just in case.

I know, I know, I can hear people like Sam saying, "Get your own domain!" Well, it's hard to beat free.

Anyway, I meant to say that it's been quite a journey. I never kept a journal prior to blogging. I never thought I would. So it's always interesting to read my past entries. Sometimes, it's almost like reading someone else's blog: Did I really say/write/do that?

Besides documenting the good times and the bad, as well as being a repository of interesting resources, some of my posts remind me of what I failed to mention, either on purpose or otherwise. There's context around each post that only I am privy to.

That's ironic, yet comforting. Blogs are supposedly where some people bare their soul. Yet it's a refuge all the same. I think my previous sub-title says it best: A place to hide | A place to reveal.

Photo by Aaron Logan, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.