Food Fair n Crocs Sale

The Satay is Solid

This was supposed to be posted last Saturday but I'm busy with a lot of things. Last Saturday, Angie and I accompany my father to the Asia Pacific Food Expo today. The place was crowded with a lot of cheapo from the way they grab the free samples being given out.

As for father, He look so excited, kept looking around and checking out the various food on exhibition. He even ran into a couple of friends, one who is a stall owner who treat us free shark fin's soup!

After sending Father back, we went to the Crocs Sale. Whew.... I tell you, it was horrible. It is so damn scary. You need to queue to enter the sale and that almost occupied one exhibition hall by itself. Look at the photos to see it by yourself

An Exhibition Hall for Queuing Only!

Entering the sale hall is not the problem as we got in pretty fast. It's the mad dash for the sale items that is scary. People are grabbing and snatching for whatever that is on sale. But with a discount of 80%, who won't?

The Mad Singapore Sale

Since the sale started last Friday and we only got there on Saturday afternoon, most of the sizes for the clogs and slippers are sold out. Only the big sizes like 10 and above are left. Angie is disappointed that she is not able to get a pair of Crocs slippers.

But still we managed to get some Crocs clog for myself and father as well as some long sleeve tees for myself. The clothes usual price is $30 a piece and they are selling now at 2 for $15. With things selling at such low prices, not buying is letting you down.

Anyway, we thought the nightmare is over when we go to make our payment. It is then when we realize it has just started. The queue to make payment is damn long. It took us well over 2 hours to reach the cashier.

"Are We There Yet?

All along the queue, we saw a lot of abandon sales items being dump by the side. Shows that people just grab whatever they can get their hands on without thinking if it fits or do they really need it. The most hilarious of all is people in the queue still trying out these abandon goods as if it's some sort of final shopping.

Action For Singapore Dogs

I visit the Actions For Singapore Dogs (ASD) website during lunch the other day. They have a section for dog adoption.

While most of the dogs available for adoption are the so called "local breed" aka stray dogs/菜狗. I am shocked to see there are breeds like Husky, Silky Terrier and Maltese. I carry a heavy heart as I read on these dogs' history and plight.

There's Elfie and Audi who are found abandoned because of their bad character.



Toto and Samuel, both 13 years, who are abandoned probably because they are too old to be taken off. Samuel is blind and deaf some more :'( They are being throw away like toys because they are too old. TOO OLD!

Poor young Maximus is being given up and no one else in the family want to take care of him. Talk about treating your dog as part of your family...






But the saddest of all got to be Wiskey. 1.5 years of age when his owner decided to give him up and wanted to put him down! Thank god, the vet save the poor fellow and brought him to ASD. He should be three now. I wonder how is he...


A dog is a very loyal animal and no matter what you do to them, they will faithfully follow you. Now imagine you as a kid watching your parents left you at some remote street corner and you standing there, watching them drove off in their car...

Referring to the date when the entries are put up, some dogs are up for adoption for a year or more, yet they are still there for adoption. Some stray actually are very adorable. ASD took the time, money and effort to even paper train, sterilize and vaccinate them, yet no one even bother to take a look at them. Instead, Singaporeans continue to spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars to buy puppies from pet shop and dog farms.

I went to those dog farms once. There, people watch the cute and cuddly puppies in the cages and wonder should they buy one. I admit the puppies can really pull your heart strings. However, they should really consider before committing themselves. It's a life long commitment.

These are living, breathing animals, not some stuff toy you can buy from Mini Toons, which you can throw away when you get bored of them or when it's too troublesome to manage. What about those puppies that are left behind? They may not have the looks like their brothers or sisters. As they grow older, the chances of them being bought also gets slimmer. To the pet shop, they are just goods and what do you do with unsold goods? I dun even dare to think about it...

Dun they have any feelings or compassion? What type of moral education are they teaching to their children? I hope their children will learn well and do the same thing to them when they grow up. On second thought, isn't this happening in our society now?

Finally, for all those dogs, be it a stray or abandoned, I hope they will find themselves a good home and no longer suffer such discrimination.

The Humans Are Dead

These guys are damn funny. They are the Flights of the Conchords from Kiwi land. Jokes aside, their music are also quite nice and catchy. Check out more of there funny acts on Youtube.

My favorite part in the video here is when Bret perform the binary solo. Total geek talk... ROFL

The Joker Exist

"Let's Put a Smile on that face"

So... the Joker really exist in real life.

A guy tried to rob a bank dress as a woman yesterday, threatening to set off a bomb. But too bad, the security guard is no fool and easily pin him down to ruin his plans.

This joker must be living in the 80s. Nobody rob banks these days especially in Singapore. Even if you do, at least bring a real gun along. And what is his purpose of disguising himself as a woman? So no one can recognize him? On the contrary, he only manage to catch the security guard's attention.

This guy must be thinking he is very smart and can rob a bank easily. Well, the only thing he achieve is become the joke of the town. He is really the Joker, literally

I Got to Get That Shirt....

GOW2 is Out!

Gears of War 2 is offically out for the upcoming holiday seasons. Too bad I dun own a Xbox360 plus I am too damn busy at work to go toilet let alone play games. So, I guess I'll have to wait for the PC version. In the meanwhile, I have time to drool....

System Overload!

My new project is really a nightmare. Well, it is not really a new project. More like a currently running project with a deadline in January.

They are currently in a situation of having too few software engineers and too many software bugs and issues to do. So my colleague and I are hot drop in to act as reinforcement to save the day.

Now here's the interesting part. The code is damn huge and very messy. There are not alignments and hardly any comments in it. Very unreadable. So.... I have to spend a lot of time going through the codes, trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

This is really testing for the eyes and brain. This is one reason why my codes are always probably structured and full of comments. Comments that dun say what it is doing (anyone can see that) but explain why it is doing this.

It's ok if you are the only one doing the programming, but it is a total nightmare if someone is to take over your codes or comes in to help you work on it, which in this case that someone is ME...

Sunset @ Punggol

Sometimes we are so busy going through our lives that we failed to admire the beautiful world around us.

Happy Birthday, Mickey!

It's Mickey's Birthday today. Bought a small cake from his favorite bakery, Pine Garden, for him.

Happy Birthday, Meow Meow!

New Project New Cubicle

Today I have been assigned to help out in another project. Because my current office have no access to the server, which stores this project's work files, I have to shift to another cubicle/office.

Hence, I have to pack up my stuff, lunging my desktop to the new place. The whole experience make me feel like a first day on the job.

I have to clean up the cubicle as it is not occupied previously, setup my desktop and get help to login into the network. Now I am waiting for IT admin to connect me to the network. Meanwhile, I can't do any surfing, email reading. Even this post is written on a notepad.

I wonder how long will I be seating here. Other than Doan, most of the people here I hardly knew. Sigh... no choice lah. At least got work for me to do. Better than idling around; Sigh of the company not doing well and retrenchment is approaching.

Showing Up at One Half

Woke up early this morning and read the papers to check the football scores last night. When I saw the scores, I almost have to pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming.

Man Utd 4 Hull City 3??!!! At Old Trafford! Man Utd leading 4-1 at half time! Something is wrong with Man Utd lately. We keep playing brilliantly for one half and struggle for the other.

Against Everton we were 1-0 up at half time after some blistering display, yet we let them draw 1-1 in the end. Against Bolton we wasted countless chances in the first half before scoring two in the second, one of which a penalty wrongly given by the ref. Against Chelsea, we shown them whose the European Champion and should be the one breaking their unbeaten home record when we were 1-0 up at half time. But in the second half we play like shit and conceded ten minutes from time to finish 1-1. Against Liverpool we tore them apart in the first few minutes, going a goal up early in to the match before ending up 1-1 at halftime. In the second half, we suddenly become timid little kittens and let the Reds come at us, ending up losing the match 2-1.

What is going on? Gas tank only enough to last for 45 mins? Maybe it's because by playing so well in the first half, we over exert themselves making it very tiring to maintain the same tempo in the second. Whatever the reasons, this is not acceptable. We really need to buck up.

Now, not to discredit Hull City, they really did very well this season for a team just promoted from the First Division. In fact, all three promoted teams did very well this season. They did their home work and proved that they are no pushover. Guess other teams have to work harder if they do not want to be relegated.

As for the title race, Liverpool defeat to Spurs is a bad trip after recently. They also sway facing a rejuvented Spurs under new management. This is going to be an exciting title race this season.

Only The Dead Survive

Dead Space. It's Finally Here

Mee Goreng

Angie cook Mee Goreng for dinner tonight. It's her first try and the result very good.

"Sayang, ini mee goreng sadap..." :P

You Want to Go to Underworld?

Went to Sentosa last Sunday. Angie asked "How do we go to the underworld?".

My reply, "I dunwan to go to the underworld, the blue line bus can take us to the underwater world though." :P

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Talking about Underwater World. This was overheard inside the underwater tunnel.

"Wah! This one so big, sure very nice to eat!" -_-"

Mr Brown's The Gahmen Song

In times of hardship and frustrations, always expect Mr Brown to come out with something to lighten up our day. Smile or frown, life goes on.

The Gahmen Song
Heard some of you bought Minibond
Think it was easy money
The banker told you won't lose one
Got big bank so don't worry

Now the Lehman Brother die
And your life saving is all gone
You want the gahmen to help you cos
The gahmen big and strong

And the gahmen want to say to you...

You die your business
That's life, shit happens
Don't expect us to take care of you

You die your business
Don't try to blame us
Cos we've got more important things to do

Heard some of you the aircon bill
Is now 20% higher
What to do can't help you
Use fan, or your hairdryer

And inflation hit 6.7
And you can't afford to drive
Can't stay local must go global
Buy yourself a China wife

And the gahmen want to say to you...

You die your business
That's life, shit happens
Don't expect us to take care of you.

You die your business
Don't try to blame us
Cos we've got more important things to do

You die your business
No time for losers
We're only doing what is best for you

You die your business
Kenasai your business
We don't need you to tell us what to do

Singapore Wayang Force

Took the bus to Changi airport with Angie on Saturday evening for a walk. Before entering every airport terminal, a policeman will come up the bus to check for any suspicious article. At this point of time, I am thinking

1. Terrorists must be very poor. To deliver a bomb, they can only take public bus, no money to take taxis, MRT or drive their own car or any private transport. If they want to tighten security, how comes these other transports are not check?

2. What makes them think that the bomb will be left in an unclaimed bag? The way the policemen goes through his check is like looking for any suspicious item. A bag with an owner is not a bomb.

3. Talking about bombs in bags, this is regarding the stupid Be Vigilante video playing at MRT stations. Why must bombs be in big black bag. Err... for their info, terrorists uses suicide bombers. They WEAR their bombs, which is barely noticeable underneath their clothings.

What I want to say is, all these actions are only for show. In another words, a big wayang. Not only it is an insult to our intelligence but to the terrorists too.

Return of Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA)

Ha... Microsoft decided to go for another round of its Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) feature, which when installed will check if your Windows is a pirated version. If your Windows XP is your neighborhood friendly version, you will experience a lot of nagging message to ask you to help restore Bill Gates as the richest man on Earth (aka Buy Original Windows)

After installing this version of WGA Notifications on a copy of Windows XP that fails the validation, most users will discover on their next logon that their desktop has changed to a plain black background from whatever was there previously.


The desktop background can be reset to anything else in the usual ways, but every 60 minutes it will change back to the plain black background. This will continue to happen until that copy of Windows is genuine.


Also, the user will see the addition of what we call the “persistent desktop notification.” This notification is similar to a watermark but works a bit differently. The image (see below) appears over the system tray and is non-interactive in the sense that you can’t click on it or do anything to it.

As with the plain black background, the notification will continue to appear until that copy of Windows is genuine.

Luckily, you can op not to install this by turning off your automatic update. Set it to manual and uncheck installation of WGA when Windows is performing any updates.

But if you are one of those unlucky ones who accidentally install WGA and is using a *ahem* version of WinXP, all is not lost. A WGA crack is already available in the net. I shall not provide any link here as I dun wan to get sue :P.

The Blues Are Feeling Blue.

YES! Finally someone end the Chelsea home record. Kudos to Liverpool. They did everyone a favor by wiping the smile off Chelsea face by ending their 4 years, 86-game unbeaten home league record. SONG AH!

Man United almost did it earlier in the season but give in with 10 mins reminding. This time Liverpool go all the way, winning 0-1. And they did it without Torres! Maybe this could be really their year. This will really keep the title race exciting!

Another Exhibitionist Spotted

Photos countresy of EDMW

Young Singaporeans really like to show off their bodies nowadays. After Sun Tan, we have Ronald.

Report on The English 新民 :P

Now that, Ronald got his "free publicity" and everyone knows the size of his dick, he must be a happy man. :P

Man, we have really one sick young generation.

The Great One Talk Cock Again

I did not know this till I saw it on Feed Me to The Fish. Frankly, I am offended and find in insulting with what the old man has said. Judging from the responses seem on The Online Citizen (TOC), I know I am not the only one.

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew:

“That is the way the world is. I have explained this. I think I lost votes after I explained the awful truth. Nobody believed it, but slowly it dawned on them – especially the graduates – that yes, you marry a non-graduate, then you worry about whether or not your son or daughter is going to make it to the university!”

Angie is non-graduate but I strongly believe she is much smarter in terms of EQ than some of the "supposedly" graduates. Having graduates parents does not always guarantee the children will be graduates too, just as having a degree or PhD does not prove that you are a smart person.

Trying to instill some Elites mentality to the general public, aye? Losing votes? You bet and you just lost something more important than votes - Respect.

One comment I like @ TOC:
“even if what you say is true, I’ll still marry someone i love, and love my stupid children too. I hope you didn’t force your children to marry clever people they don’t love, just so you can have clever grandchildren.”

Spotted on the Road

Spotted by someone @ Stomp. One way to cut down travel expense. The mini bike have no license plate, hence no road tax. No IU, hence no need to pay ERP. Faster than bicycle, some say SBS bus ;) and more fuel efficient that your regular motorbike. Oh... you can save on parking fees too, just park it under your office desk :P

Minister Explains Raise of Electricity Tariffs

After much kaopei kaobu by citizens & netizens, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry come out to clarify why electricity tariffs raises while oil prices has drop. I just have this to say

1. I thought our power station uses natural gas, so why the hell did we peg the power rates to oil prices?

2. If his explanation holds true, then I bloody expect my electricity bill to go down more than 21% next quarter since the price of oil then will be the current low low value!

Almost Killed by a Bug

Sometimes I really hate my work. Being a software developer, a software bug sometimes can really drive you nuts.

I am working on a project where part of it is to simulate the functions of a PS/2 keyboard. Sounds simple right. Keyboard nia, should be quite QED. Well that is until you have to write one yourself. There are so many timing and rules to observe and consider just for a stupid PS/2 keyboard.

The past 1 week, I have been losing my hair (as if my receding hairline is not receding fast enough) over a software bug in it. The god damn thing should work but just can't. Worse thing is you duno what the hell is causing the failure. To make things worse, more bugs spring out as you dig deeper into that hole. It's basically Murphy's Law on steroids. You really want to scream at the damn bugger!

And you know what? In the end, you find out that it is just some silly coding or placement of code that screw you. Sigh... sometimes I just hate being a software engineer.

Updated: Oh as the title suggested, I was ALMOST killed by the bug. Managed to solve the issue. Now the fix is running through a series of acid tests at the customer's side. *Keeping fingers cross*

Sweet Potato For Breakfast

These two days I have been having steam sweet potato for breakfast. Oh no, dun be mistaken. We are not THAT badly affected by the recent financial crisis. Giant Tampines are selling them cheap and we thought we might like a change in our breakfast from the normal bee hoon or bread. I hope I won't become a fart canon for the rest of the day. *POOT* Oops... :P

Choosing The Right Career Path

Daphnemaia wrote a very nice article about the lack of career guidance for students in our education system today. Often than not, students took the wrong path either by parent/peer pressure or government promotion, ending up hating the course they took.

I have seen a lot of such cases. Many of my course mates during my university days have no passion in what they study. Most of the times, they are just trying to get by. It got me thinking if they find the course does not suit them, why did they still persist on? Dun wan to waste the money spent or unsure what they want next if they are to quit?

For them, the goal is to graduate with that all important piece of paper. Once you got that degree, it's all that matters as it will at least guarantee you a better head start in your working life. So these people bring their mistakes to their working life, working in jobs they dislike. At the end of the day, most of them end up working in other line of work rather than the one stated in their cert.

Such is the state of our society is in. We are often reminded by our parents that we will "end up as road sweeper" if we dun do well in our academics since young. Together with the lack of career guidance, students, rather than given a chance to pursue their passion, took up courses they dun like/hardly know since it promises a better prospect.

Signs of Me Getting Old

My memory has been deteriorating quite badly lately. I remind myself to do something on my way to work. But as soon as I step off the bus, it has been totally dropped, like a bag left behind on the bus.

So sad, seems like my RAM are failing me. Too bad I can't upgrade them like I did to my PC. DDR3 4GB anyone?

Anyway, what I did to counter this problem of mine is buy a small notepad bring along with me wherever I go. Any time I thought of something, I wrote it down immediately. Like this, I tend to recall the tasks better as the process of writing in down will leave a mark in my memory.

Another problem I am facing is I dun seems to recall minor things like have I off the switch to the iron or did I lock the door? My friend told me such actions are too in built, so much so that we dun even tend to remember them. So now I need to focus my attention when doing so minor stuff cause I dun wan dash all the way back to my car just to find out it has been locked all along -_-"

Anybody got a solution for this?

Age of Greed

Another powerful post by Insane Polygon on frustrations we are all facing right now. Speaks the mind of every Singaporean. A definite must read.

I agree with him. These days, I dun even want to read the local news. Why bother when it will only piss you off? Kaopay too much also won't change anything. Make you tired and thirsty some more. I rather bury myself in games or download a movie to watch. At least in those worlds, we dun face all these shit that our first world society have.

NTUC Chief Scored Own Goal

Sigh.... the Dow Jones return all the gains it made 2 days after it posted a record of 900+ points. As if things are not bad enough, you see people making this type of comments...

"Every month, when I receive my CPF statement, I feel so rich and the best part is, I know the CPF money won't run away. CPF will still be around for a long, long time to come... Not only is it earning good interest, my capital is protected." - NTUC's secretary-general Lim Swee Say (link)

Many people ask, "Since when does CPF give out monthly statement of account?" The minister must have mistaken his bank statement of account with the CPF HALF-YEARLY one. Typical PAP minister self-pwnage!

Unlike us who very much depends on our CPF money for our retirement, for someone who earns a million dollar salary, the amount in his CPF is considered negligible.

I think what he meant is your CPF will be there for a long long time, just like you have to wait long long to get it, 85 years to be exact n provided you are not dead by then.

So Mr Minister, rather than trying to sound understanding n sympathetic about our plight, please STFU! You only expose how much you are out-of-touch and get to be the butt of the joke.

Hotel 626

Someone posted the above website on VRZ Forum daring people to go visit it. It is some sort of online game, which is filled with eerie sound/music and scary sensory to make you crap in your pants. Not for the faint hearted. To top it off, it will take a photo of your scared shitless face using your webcam (if you have one).

If you are really interested, clicking on post title will take you there. As a added suspense, the website will only allow you to enter from 6pm - 6am (hence Hotel626, get it?) But if you can't wait till that time, you can always trick the website by changing your windows time and refresh on the website.

As for me, after registering, I still have not muster the courage to enter. :p

You know those videos where a terrible friend forces another friend to watch a video, only for that video to suddenly flash a hideous image and sound effect, sending the sorry sonofabitch flying backwards out of their seat? Yeah- so imagine that, except now the instant doesn't flash, it stays there. And it doesn't go away.

I am serious, this site will make you poop your pants.

Hotel 626 can only be accessed between the witching hours of 6pm and 6am- prime-time for fear-induced heart attacks. The site also utilizes your webcam and microphone, increasing the amount of piss it scares out of you.

Honestly, if you are not a fan of fright, DO NOT GO TO THIS SITE. And if you think you can handle any amount of haunt, I highly suggest you visit Hotel 626 and see just how brave you really are. - From The New Anti-Social

Things I Learn Today Part II

Kopi Luwak
The world's most expensive coffee. I heard about it when it was mentioned in 法證先鋒 and thought it was some crap made up by the drama serial. Never thought it is real... Here's some interesting facts.

Kopi Luwak an Indonesian coffee made from the faeces of a Luwak, a small cat-like creature native to the island nation's coffee-growing regions. The Luwaks select the freshest coffee cherries to eat and once the bean passes through their digestive system it remains intact but is no longer bitter. Experts say this creates a sweeter-tasting coffee. Bean pickers collect the animals' faeces along with the coffee beans. The excrement is then separated from the actual coffee before being washed and brewed up. The heat of the initial brewing process eliminates any disease, fungus or parasite. Kopi Luwak sells for around $1400 a kilogram, making it the most expensive coffee in the world according to Forbes magazine's Cup of Excellence awards.

A Luwak

Faeces with the Undigested Coffee Beans

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

How to Remove Decals/Stickers
Dun you hate removing those price tags or decals from your newly bought plastic container or glass? Well I am sick getting a dirty mark after trying to remove the blasted sticker. Went to check up with my good friend, Google, and found this interesting video. Cooking oil FTW!

How to Remove Stickers

I Am SO NOT Drinking Starbucks...

...after reading this piece of news >:(. Not that I like drinking their coffee anyway plus I am cutting on such expenses. I wonder which idiot thought of the reasoning. As someone put it, we should fine them for such wastage.

Toilet Reading Material

I just dun understand why some people like to read magazine or the newspaper while taking a dump in the toilet. I just want to focus all my concentration and energy in finishing whatever business I have and get out of there.

It makes me wonder, why you need a reading material? Some tell me it is to help to cultivate the emotion to "negotiate" the bugger out. I find it very hard to comprehend such reasoning.

I did tried doing it once but it doesn't work out for me. Rather than focusing on the "task on hand", I end up reading the entire newspaper without any achievement. :P

By the way, have they ever considered that someone else might want to read those papers later? Imagine the papers absorbed with the smell and who knows where those hands have been touching before they take the papers out. Ewww.....

What If...

We, humans, are a funny bunch of creature. We always think of these two words and imagine what will have been if we walk down the other path.

"What if I enter my trade here, then I will be rich now"

"What if I made the other decisions then, we will not end up this way"

"What if I buy all combinations for my 4D, then I will strike first prize"

The grass is greener on the other side. We always like to think of the good things that may happen if you made the other decision. The other decision is always right and always leads to better things in life.

I always thought how nice it will be if there is a time machine and I can make all the wrong things right. But have we ever thought what if the other way is no better of than what we are experiencing now? We know things are better at the other side cause it has happen already. But at that point of time when the decision is made, we never know what will happen next.

By circling on the same spot thinking of what might have been, we are getting nowhere. We only make ourselves more confused and frustrated. Move on. Ya, I admit it's easier to say than do. Truth is I am a very pessimistic person, that's why I am writing this to change my mentality.

I want to live with the motto of No Regrets. No regrets in which ever path I choose. It's my own choice, I have to face it. As they say, "You made your bed, now lie in it". Why always have to think of the negative side, maybe it is a right decision, just that you may not realize it yet. Make the best with what we got. It won't rain all the time, the sky won't fall forever...

"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows...
...it ain't about how hard you hit.
It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.
How much you can take and keep moving forward.
That's how winning is done!" - Rocky in Rocky Balboa (2006)

Where's The Variety In Our Variety Shows?

With the raise in everything from bus fare, electrical tariff and the latest Singtel bill, Angie ask me should we disconnect our Starhub cable to help reduce the household expenses.

My first reaction is ask her is she willing to let go of all those cable programs like HK drama serial and especially the Taiwanese variety show.

Mediacorp really sucks at making variety shows. They really need to review their creativity department for this area. Most of their variety shows can more or less be categories into 3 categories; Food, Slimming/Beauty and Idol Competitions.

Food: From student chefs cooking competition to finding the most value buffet in town to finding the origins of Fried Hokkien Mee, every night there is at least one shows with this theme. Seems like every other hawker stall is recommended. No wonder Singaporeans eat non-stop.

Slimming/Beauty: Are we really that fat and ugly? From Jean Yip to Marie France, every Tom, Dick or Harry beauty saloon have a show to showcase the type of slimming programs they have and what amazing result you can achieve by signing up with them. IMO, only thing I can achieve is burning a hole in my wallet.

Idol Competitions: Project Superstar lah, Campus Superstar lah, Superband lah. One money making-machine after another. So much so that now even got Supermum -_-" So lame

Ok, maybe I am a bit too critical. Mediacorp did try to follow some of more successful Taiwanese variety show like Fann Wong Beauty Queen, which is a feeble attempt to imitate 女人我最大 or talk shows whose topic (aka gossips) pale in comparison to the 八卦ness in the Taiwanese talk shows. Finally, the Taiwanese gaming shows are so damn funny. Ours can put me to sleep.

Disconnect my cable? No way. Given a choice, would you?

P.S. Ok not all Mediacorp are bad, notable mention are 稀游记 (Find Me a Singaporean) and the various travel shows (another common catergory I forgot to mention above)

Camera Eyes

Thanks to the invention of cameras, we can capture the many special and wonderful moments in life for our memory. However, there are times when things happen so fast that does not give you time to react. By the time, you whip your camera out and turn it on, that moment has passed.

How nice if our eyes can act like some sort of camera cum video cam? Like the characters in Ghost In The Shell, we can instantly capture every second of what is happening. Nothing is missed.

However, if that day comes, it will open a whole new can of worms. Even now, we have seen news of people secretly taking photos/videos using their camera phones. Privacy will go out the window if our eyes can do this.

That Wheelchair—Friendly Sticker is Pasted For Fun

Did you notice that more and more buses on the road today are wheelchair accessible? And you thought SBS Transit is getting friendlier towards wheelchair users.

That's until this news article comes out. For all the disabled friendly stickers on their buses and boasting of spending how much in converting their fleet to wheelchair accessible bus (WAB), not all WABs are allowed to ferry wheelchair-users.

Their reasoning? The bus stops along the route these buses ply are not wheelchair—friendly. At this point, I ask, "Does this means the poor wheelchair user have to go to a wheelchair-friendly bus stop in order to take a bus? Shouldn't all these implementations suppose to make it more convenient than troublesome for them?" If that's the case, might as well ask them to take a cab.

What's the point of having WAB and displaying the sign so prominently when it is not utilized? My view is, all these is just to pack more people on the same bus, while retaining bus frequency (expenditure unchanged). WAB has lesser seats = more standing area for more passengers. Oh... and also as an excuse to justify the raise in bus fare in the near future.

Wheelchair friendly, but you can’t board

SINGAPORE: The message of the little blue sticker seems obvious: We’re a wheelchair—friendly bus. But, as disabled commuters have found out the hard way, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re welcome aboard.
ADVERTISEMENT

Mr Lee Jun Hui, flagged down SBS Service No 57 outside One Raffles Quay three weeks ago. Though the decal declaring it a wheelchair accessible bus (WAB) was displayed on the windscreen, the driver refused to let him on.

“He said he was not authorised to do so. I’d understand if the bus was crowded, but it wasn’t,” said the puzzled 27—year—old, who works as an auditor at KPMG.

To ensure this was no fluke, Mr Lee, in the company of this TODAY reporter, recently tried to board services 128 and 130 at Robinson Road after 6.20pm. The drivers of all four buses were apologetic.

Despite displaying the blue decal, they told him they did not have approval from the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and SBS Transit to ferry wheelchair—users.

Nonetheless, 20 minutes later at Cecil Street, he flagged down service 57. The bus driver got down, laid the ramp on the kerb and wheeled Mr Lee aboard. At Novena, Mr Lee alighted and went the rest of the way home by train — as confused as ever about WAB services.

While there are just 16 official WAB routes, buses on other service routes, such as the three above, do also carry the wheelchair—friendly decal.

“I wished the authorities would be more consistent,” said Mr Lee. “What’s the point of displaying the decal when the bus drivers are not authorised to take users like myself? It gives the wrong impression that there are many more WABs on the roads, when effectively, there aren’t.”

He is not the only one confounded. In June, student Thomas Teo, 19, faced similar rejection by service 14 — in this case, one of the 16 approved WAB routes — at a Lower Delta Road bus stop.

“I was very upset. That experience put me off totally; I prefer to use the MRT,” said Mr Teo.

SBS Transit’s explanation

Their frustrations follow expectations that were heightened when it was announced, earlier this year, that 40 per cent of public buses here would be wheelchair—accessible by 2010, and all of them by 2020.

Recently, SBS Transit revealed it is spending S$147 million on 400 new WABs next year, which would come with low floors, wheelchair lots and retractable ramps at the doors. A quarter of SBS’ 2,800—strong fleet now has such features.

Said Ms Tammy Tan, SBS Transit’s vice president of corporate communications: “Although we only have 16 WAB services, we have many more wheelchair—accessible buses that ply the roads on other routes.”

She added: “Not all routes can be designated WAB routes because of the infrastructure along the way.”

For one to be so designated, 80 per cent of the bus stops along the route must be wheelchair—friendly, or such passengers would have difficulties getting on, off or around the bus—stop.

For these passengers’ safety, said Ms Tan, “bus captains will not allow them to board if they are not plying wheelchair—accessible routes. This was what happened in the incidents cited by Mr Lee.”

As for the bus captain of Service 57 who allowed him on board, SBS Transit said this was “actually not allowed due to safety reasons and will remind all Bus Captains to comply with guidelines”.

Still, Mr Lee’s point is: If the buses are not on designated WAB routes, why display the wheelchair—friendly sticker in the first place?

SBS Transit said this was “for deployment issues”. It is “reviewing what can be done to distinguish” WABs on designated routes from those that are not.

Introduced in 2006, WAB services are gradually: replacing existing fleets. The LTA said: “These services are rolled out by bus operators based on the available pool of WABs and are subject to scheduling and operational considerations.”

Fresh Prince of Gotham

A funny video of the Dark Knight movie. This guy is good man....

New Feature: CBox

Added a new feature on my blog. Notice there's a CBox on the right. Now you can drop a message there for a chat. Ya, many blogs already have this feature. I am just a bit sway ku, only to implement in in mine now. Looking forward to your messages :P

The Hurriance Has Arrived.

It's a black day today. The Dow Jones recorded the biggest drop of 777 points after the proposed $700 billion bail out plan failed to pass in the United States House of Representatives. As I mentioned before, the hurricane is coming and it has arrived. If the the biggest consumer economy goes down, the rest of the world will soon follow. This is a vicious cycle of correction.

1997: Asia Financial Crisis.
1987: US Stock Market Crash aka Black Monday
1973: Oil Crisis.

I did an analyst early this year with my friends. When it is the year of the tiger or immediately after, the world economy will head into a tailspin. And guess whose coming to town next year?

Financial crises: Lessons From History

Can someone help me out here? Prices of oil have been failing from its one time high of $147 to the current price of $96. So how the hell is there a need to raise the electricity bill by 21%! Is there something wrong with their calculators? >:(

It's always this case in Singapore. When there is a need to raise the cost, it will be implemented immediately. When situation dictates that a cut is due, they will say that they need to monitor the situation further. HEY FUCKTARD! By the time, you come to a conclusion; the need is over!

Angie just told me that we managed to cut down our electricity bill by $20 and then this is reported in the news. Fucking back to square one or worse, we have to pay more than before. We have been reducing our usage to our bare necessity and they still dare to say we are using too much.

Fucking hell, like my colleague says, we might as well use candles at night

Dinner at Airport

While the entire island is staying at home to watch the inaugural Formula 1 night race, me and my wife went to Changi Airport to makan.

We initially wanted to eat at Sakae Teppanyaki at Terminal 3. Outside the restaurant, Angie says she does not like the way customers are seated at the Teppanyaki table. Her reason? No privacy.... -_-"

So we went to our second choice, Fresh Bulggogi at Terminal 2. The place offers Korean food where you can place your order with the waiter or through a computer screen. No chance of screw-ups in the order using the PC...

The food are mostly ala-carte with a selection of steamboat (yes Angie's fav again) and BBQ with variety of side dishes. We order a Kimchi Salmon Stew, which turns out very nice. Remind us of the stew pot we had during our Korea Honeymoon.

Price wise, it is a little bit pricey IMO. Nevertheless, the dinner is very filling and we need to walk around the airport to walk off the big tummy :P

Got A Cut For No Reason

When you are down on your luck, even rushing to press the lift button can get you a nasty cut. Ouch...

Oh... this blog entry is sent from my mobile. Cool...

Angie on Vogue?

WTF! I saw a lady was reading this month issue of Vogue and Angie's face is on the cover!!! So I went back to office to open my browser and she is reported everywhere.

On the bus stop advertisment board!

Appearing on buildings billboards!

Even the cats also are watching her!

LOL. Gotcha! Just playing around with Photofunia, which I came across in A L V I N O L O G Y II, who got it from 阿谁的世界. Go to their blogs and look at some of their funny creations.

Here are some other funny effects I did.

Angie tatoo on David Beckham... ROFL

My darling is a art masterpiece.... :P

Got (China) Milk?

The biggest news nowadays after US financial meltdown is the tainted milk issue is China. I was thinking last night. How come this news did not come out during the Olympics?

From the look of it, seems like the Chinese government knew of it beforehand but only reported it after the Beijing Olympics has ended. World Health Organization (WHO) today criticize China for initially failing to alert the international community on this problem.

Could this be a government cover up to avoid ruining their image during the Games? The Chinese government has been known to go though drastic actions to ensure the best image are presented during the Olympics. E.g. Ban driving of cars to ensure the city air is clear, digitally added fireworks effects during Opening Ceremony. Even to the point of changing the child singer to lip sync because the original singer is not pretty/cute enough!

Another thought is that it looks like melamine is added in the milk only recently. If it has been used all along, there should be reports of poisoning way beforehand. Why it only happen now? It seems like someone have time the incident to happen now. On the other hand, it could be that the adulteration of milk with melamine to simulate high protein in milk is a recent development.

Oh... for those who dun know, the title of this post is a take on the US Got Milk? champaign.