YC

WSJ: Blogger Faces Lawsuit Over Comments Posted by Readers

2005-09-01T00:59:00.000+08:00

Blogger Faces Lawsuit Over Comments Posted by Readers

In a legal case being watched closely by bloggers, an Internet company has sued the owner of a Web log for comments posted to his site by readers.

Traffic-Power.com1 sued Aaron Wall, who maintains a blog on search engine optimization – tactics companies use to get themselves to appear higher in searches at Google, Yahoo and elsewhere – alleging defamation and publication of trade secrets. The suit, filed in a Nevada state court earlier this month, also listed as defendants several unnamed users of the blog.

At issue are statements posted in the comments section of Mr. Wall's blog, SEOBook.com2. Many blogs allow readers to post comments, often anonymously, and Mr. Wall's blog included several reader submissions that blasted tools sold by Traffic-Power.com...

Deja vu? Oh wait, this is America...

Technorati tag: YC lawsuit
blogger comments anonymous

Medishield and Me

2005-08-07T01:18:00.000+08:00

Remember my stay in Alexandra Hospital? Check out my Medishield statement.

Technorati tag: YC Singapore Medishield

Lance Armstrong and the Tour de France

2005-07-25T15:23:00.000+08:00

Lance Armstrong has won his 7th Tour de France title. His achievement is nothing short of inspirational given his battle with testicular cancer in 1996, his recovery and his going on to win the Tour a record 7 consecutive times from 1999-2005, besting the greats of Miguel Indurain, Eddy Merckz and Greg LeMond. Of course, his LiveStrong wristbands has also given many cancer patients hope in overcoming the disease.

The sheer grit, determination, discipline and single-mindedness in winning the toughest cycling race boggles my mind to no end. Of course, our dearest sports cable channel just had to ruin this. I was hoping to catch the penultimate stage, the individual time trial, live on Saturday; the stage Armstrong which was determined to win, the stage which Jan Ullrich was bent on upstaging Armstrong and hoping to salvage a 3rd place overall from Rasmussen.

So what did SCV do? They decided to show the delayed telecast on Sunday at 4pm! And what were they showing? Some Evian golf tournament that wasn't even live, some soccer match in Thailand between some EPL team (no, not the top teams for sure), and a non-live Davis cup tennis match! What was the programming director thinking of? Come on! I was keeping myself updated through the Yahoo sports live webpage coverage. That was really pathetic!

Anyway, back to Armstrong. Sara was telling me that Lance's resting heart rate is an amazing 32 beats per minute and only gets up to an outrageously low 100 beats per minute when he goes on a 160rpm rampage! My resting heart rate is probably in the mid-60s. Time for me to shape up!

Congratulations again Lance Armstrong!

Technorati tag: YC Armstrong Lance Armstrong Tour de France Inspiration

Rambutans

2005-07-20T20:43:00.000+08:00

It's rambutan season! How can I tell? Well, the scent of ripe rambutans in my favorite jogging haunt is very telling this time of the year, and the acrid smell of rotting rambutans worse! What do rotting rambutans smell like? Just imagine the distinct scent of rambutan minus the sweetness and throw in a really sour stench!

Rambutans from the flickr archives:

And no, rambutans really don't have eyeballs!
Technorati tag: YC Singapore rambutans smell

Parenting in the 21st century cancelled

2005-07-15T08:48:00.000+08:00

Found this on SISTIC.

Parenting in the 21st century cancelled because ...
Technorati tag: YC Singapore Humor Parenting

Sports Bloopers

2005-07-07T00:17:00.000+08:00

Congratulations to London for winning the right to host the 2012 Olympics! All the hard work, cajoling and schmoozing with the IOC delegates has paid off! Paris must be kicking themselves silly for missing the bid again. I wonder how much of that had to do with Blair's extended presence compared with Chirac's short stay in Singapore?

Anyway, I watched the live telecast of Dr Jacques Rogge announcement towards the end when they were screening the videos by the various candidate cities. The masters of ceremony (MC) for the event, in my opinion, were nothing more than pretty faces. I wonder how well-versed they were with the Olympics and sports in general?

Oh speaking of pretty faces, Diana Ser was trying to interview a delegate, ok any IOC delegate, streaming out from the event. She obviously didn't know who's who and walked up to one of them and asked, "Sir, are you a delegate?" to which the guy wagged his finger at her and walked on. The look on her face was priceless! See what happens when you hire a pretty face who hasn't done her homework?

Speaking of priceless looks, the Singapore French commerce president (ok the title slips me right now) was also interviewed on Channel News Asia minutes after the declaration of the host city. I really pity her; she kept a straight and smiling face while being interviewed live! A penny for her thoughts!

Oh, and I'll close with the flip-flop of the day, week, month, season. Two words -- Steven Gerrard.

Technorati tag: YC Singapore Olympics 2012 Paris London Diana Ser IOC Steven Gerrard

My New MP3 Player - Better than the iPod and Zen!

2005-07-05T11:25:00.000+08:00

Bought the Vibes MP3 Player last week, gave it a test run while jogging yesterday, pleased as peach with its performance!

This is any ~~sports nuts~~ health-conscious individual's dream come true. The Vibes MP3 player has no dangling wires, no players to carry in your pouch or hand, does nothing to impede your exercise routine! I just love simple yet effective gadgets don't you?

[ Click Me ]

Its specifications:

Music Format - MP3
Port - USB 2.0
Play Time - 480 minutes
Battery - 3.7V Rechargeable Li-Ion (3 hours through USB connection)
Frequency Response - 20Hz to 20KHz
Capacity - Mine's 256MB but it comes in 128MB and 512MB (Pre-formatted in FAT32)
Headphone Impedance - 16 Ohms x 2

The bands are sweat resistant though the ear pieces do absorb a little sweat. So how do you transfer songs into the player? Just plug it in to your PC as you would any USB device, the player will show up as a portable hard disk, then drag and drop your MP3 songs into the drive. The manual is also loaded into the drive. And ... and you can use that as your back-up thumb drive! ;)

I pity the two sods who were struggling with their flipping wires while they were running yesterday.

Technorati tag: YC MP3 Player Vibes iPod

A month after my operation

2005-07-05T10:59:00.000+08:00

Yesterday marks the first month after my operation. My recovery has been going really well and I finally decided that I was ready to give my body a semi-decent workout. The rest of my body has been screaming for some exercise but the right side of my abdomen has been telling them to give it a break.

So finally, I went for my first jog after a lay-off of more than a month. It was more of a lumber actually since I was doing it at such a slow pace. What I usually cover in 20 minutes, I took 35 to 40. My legs are aching some this morning so it was a good workout! The only unusual thing was this weird feeling of having a really small water balloon bouncing up and down on my right when I jogged; the scar tissue probably.

Technorati tag: YC Jogging Recovery Post-Op

Blogshares: My strategy

2005-07-02T19:06:00.000+08:00

What I am going to write about is based purely on how I've approached the game. I've also added some additional advice on how I might have done things differently.

The Crawling Stage

Learning about the game. I can't emphasize enough that you should read the help files to familiarize yourself with the terms and lingos used in blogshares. Terms like karma, chips, shares, ideas, bonds, artefacts, P/E, and especially artefact terminologies like raid, public pressure, hype, public relations disaster (PRD), restructure and hostile takeover (HTO) will be used liberally in this entry.

The blogshares forums also contains a treasure trove of questions and answers. Just register for an account and post away. I ignored the forums when I first started blogshares thinking it was just another boring forum; I would have used it more liberally had I known how active it was and still is. Another quick way of getting help is to log in to the #blogshares IRC channel. For those with your own IRC client, the address is intrepid.wyldryde.org:6667. You'll find the who's who of blogshares in there, and don't let your newbie or n00b status intimidate you. The blogshares community is very generous with advice and with B$ / blogshare dollars!

One final thing for the crawling stage, there are RULES in blogshares. Read them and clarify on the forums if you're unsure. Don't get caught breaking them as the penalties can be pretty harsh e.g. suspension of account or considerable penalties on your blogshares assets. My rule of thumb is if you think it's wrong, it usually is; if you're not sure, clarify.

The Walking Stage

Trading in shares. Everyone starts off with B$500 and 1,000 shares in your own blog, if your blog is listed. If it's not listed, just add your blog then stake your claim. Your blog is valued based on the number and value of incoming links (the more and the higher the values of incoming links, the higher your valuation), versus the number and value of outgoing links (the more and the higher the value of outgoing links, the lower your valuation).

How did I find other blogs to invest in? Well, since I was familiar with some popular local blogs like Mr Brown, what I did was to look it up on blogshares and follow the incoming and outgoing links. I sold some shares from my own blog and I bought up shares in the blogs that still had publicly available shares. Another way of finding blogs is to search the industries.

A good place to search for cheap and potentially good stocks to invest in is the tips page.

When buying or selling shares, bear in mind the time restrictions for buys and sells as well as the number of transactions allowed for non-premium accounts. The basic strategy given in this help section while good, I found an alternative strategy that may be more effective:

1. Follow the buy advice as stated under "Basic Strategy".

2. After buying up the 4,000 shares and waiting for 6 hours, sell off the shares in blocks of 20 instead of 250. Selling will raise the P/E of the stock and hence the value of your remaining stock.

3. Instead of selling everything off when P/E hits 250, I suggest that you observe the share price history graph of the blog in question as you sell it off. When you see it tapering off, it is a good time to sell off all the shares. This will send the stock price and P/E crashing and you can buy it up again after a 6 hour refractory period. Why? Because different blog share prices perform differently. Some share prices taper and drop even before it reaches P/E 250 whereas others can go up to P/E of 300 before tapering and dropping.

Voting for karmas and chips. Another important strategy at this stage is to start voting new blogs into the appropriate categories, or industries as they are called in blogshares. This will earn you karmas and chips which will come in handy as you transit into the next stage. Chips are commodities that can be swapped in the blogshares market for B$. The current market rate for a single chip ranges from B$25M to B$35M. Hunt around the forums and you'll see the horse trading for chips. Note however, that just because voting gets you chips, doesn't mean you vote blogs blindly. Bad voting is frowned upon and a consistent trend of bad voting amounts to flouting the rules. Where do you find blogs to vote for? Try the stock tips page or the newly added blogs page.

The Running Stage

Artefacts. Ah, the magic of artefacts. Why are they so special? Well, they give you easy money if you're in it for the long term through raiding and also through enhancing your ability to trade in stocks. The importance of karma comes in here because with a karma of 750, you get to use your artefact twice in the span of 24 hours as opposed to once.

Raiding with artefacts. As Laila, the numero uno player of blogshares, aptly describes in her blogshares profile, "Raiding blogs using artefacts will give you mostly 500 ideas FREE (per day)". I'd like to add that with a karma of 750, you get to raid blogs twice a day which gives you mostly 1,000 ideas FREE! So with a good raidable industry and 750 karma, you get to earn your B$ back in 10 days and it's pure profits from the eleventh day onwards. Think about it approximately 200% profits in 30 days.

You find ideas from the ideas market. You can filter for ideas with artefacts here. Notice that there are certain industries with no ideas in the market. You may find ideas in the bond market but they would usually cost a little or a lot more than the market value.

So now you know where the karma comes in. How about the chips? Well, once you hit the magic 750 mark for karma, sell off your chips for lots of B$ and buy 10,000 ideas from an expensive (costs B$1M or more) and good raidable industry. How do you gauge if an industry has good raids? Well, check out the top blogs in the industry. They usually have a high valuation and large number of incoming links. I use 1,500 incoming links for the top blog as a rule of thumb to gauge if I will consistently get a 500 idea raid (or 1,000 for 750 karma) 9 times out of 10.

Raiding, however, may not last forever.

Stocks and artefacts. Aside from raiding with artefacts which is really sweet in my opinion, artefacts are also good for enhancing your stock trading. If you own stocks categorized under an industry, say Singapore, and that industry has an artefact (the Merlion in the case of Singapore), you can use your artefact to enhance the stock trade in many ways. Public pressure allows you to buy up publicly available shares lock, stock and barrel in one go without having to succumb to the "buy 1,250" syndrome that you may experience if you try to buy them off the market. This also prevents others from intercepting those stocks in the buying process. Hype allows you to increase the P/E ratio of your stock and hence the share price. A word of caution for hype, don't get it beyond the 300 mark unless you're prepared to sell very soon (in like minutes), and definitely don't get it beyond the 700 mark or you won't be able to sell it. So if you own multiple industry artefacts in a certain blog stock, imagine what a mean combination hyping and public pressure will do which I will call the hype-PP combination.

The other artefact usages that exist include industry buzz, restructure, HTO and PRD. Industry buzz is like hype as it raises the P/E of stocks; it does it for all stocks within the industry but with a less devastating effect than hype. Restructure allows you to buy up a certain percentage of shares that are currently owned by others (other than the owner of the blog) that are not in the public market at 3 times the current market price. If you own more than 20% of stocks in a certain blog, you can buy up the rest of the stocks by performing a HTO which will also cost you 3 times the market price. As a rule of thumb, I don't usually restructure or HTO stocks with a P/E of more than 130. Lastly, the PRD is a counter to they hype. It brings down the P/E of a blog. Some players use it in an attempt to bring down the price to a low level for restructuring and HTO but it is generally considered poor etiquette.

The Flying Stage

Seeding. There is a catch when building artefacts and raiding from the market. Sometimes, rich players buy up all available ideas from the market leaving you with nothing to raid. So how do you work around this without losing that hard earned money? After you raid, remember to keep either 500 or 1,000 ideas in your holdings at all times and sell off the remainder for B$. Should someone soak up all the ideas, all you need to do to earn money and keep your ideas is to sell off the 500 or 1,000 ideas and raid it, and you get your money's worth by selling the ideas, and your ideas back for free. Remember to buy back your ideas if your raid didn't yield back your original 500 or 1,000 ideas. Also, a word a caution. When you sell your ideas back to the market, it's fair game for all so your sell/raid action requires speed and coordination.

Jumping into the ideas and bonds market. So why do people buy up all the ideas? Basically, when there are existing ideas in the market, the value of the ideas depreciate. If there are no ideas in the market, the value of the ideas appreciate. So the strategy for most of the very rich players is to soak up ideas in certain industries and sit it out for the long term. This is especially useful for players who do not wish to day trade on blogshares. Another lucrative source of income is in the bonds market. Players (ok very rich ones anyway) tend to pay very high prices for very rare ideas (those with no artefacts), and also for industries with good raiding potential. The pre-condition is definitely one where there are no ideas in the open market. How bonds are priced, varies with the market conditions and especially with competing idea bonders. My deduction is that some of these ideas grow to be really rare and therefore even more expensive than the bond prices e.g. I may bond a very rare industry for B$100M an idea even though its current worth is say B$50K an idea. However, if you sit on it for a long enough time, it may mature to over B$100M an idea. Of course, there are those who aim to collect ideas in every single industry so they would also pay a premium if you have ideas in an industry that they don't currently have.

Other Useful Blogshares Strategies Links (more will be added along the way):
1. Laila's profile.
2. Post details: Quick-draw: Tips for Playing the BlogShares Idea's Market (found this link through FWS after I was nearly done with this entry)

PS to the Bloggers in Singapore:
If you see me at Bloggers.SG, feel free to approach me for help on Blogshares. James knows who I am. Alternatively, leave a comment with your contact or send me a message on blogshares if you need help.

Technorati tag: YC Blogshares Strategy

Blogshares: How I got started

2005-07-02T18:45:00.000+08:00

I registered for an account about the same time I started this blog in February 2005. Why did I do that? It was a monkey see, monkey do thing. Mr Brown had one, so did Mr Miyagi, and many others and I thought I had to get one.

I have to admit the blogshares interface was a tad confusing when I first registered so I forgot all about it until early May. For some unknown reason, I absent-mindedly clicked on Hui Chieh's blogshares link and noticed that he had a Premium account. And he was also doing pretty well growing my double digit percentage points from what I could decipher from the statistics.

But I was thinking to myself, why would a perfectly sane chap like HC pay USD15 for a premium account? I mean great, you get unlimited transactions and what not. Big deal! That piqued my interest and so I started reading the blogshares help page and started trading on blogshares.

Non-premium players are only allowed 20 transactions i.e. buying or selling of shares of blogs a day. I lasted for about a week before I took the plunge for premium and the rest, as they say, is history.

Yes, HC, it's all your fault that I got addicted to blogshares! :-D

PS: To check if your blog is listed on blogshares, follow the instruction here.

Technorati tag: YC Blogshares

They have Wi-Fi in the Afterlife

2005-07-02T18:01:00.000+08:00

Yes, you heard me right. They have Wi-Fi in the afterlife! Where do you think I have been all this while? The signal is very weak though. I'm actually running through an SSH tunnel through that fiery firewall that they have put up here... It's breaking up again ... Confounds! They've discovered my hack! Help!

L O N G P A U S E

Ok, I'm just kidding here! I'm not really in the nether-lands (not Holland - Netherlands). It's just a silly joke, I repeat, just a silly joke! Tim* was telling me that that would be what readers would expect if I left my last blog as was (i.e. the appendicetomy entries).

Anyway, just a quick update to my loyal readers, I've been busying myself with a few things recently and have neglected blogging and also neglected keeping up with the blogging scene.

What have I been up to? I've been busy getting ready for grad school making lists of what to buy, what to bring, hunting for apartments, getting paperwork done. Also the post-operation administrative stuff from my workplace that needed sorting out. Claims and such. Last but not least, I've also been caught up with my latest online obsession -- Blogshares!

I've been actively playing Blogshares since early May 2005. My current net worth is approximately $15.5 Trillion. That has me ranked 76th out of approximately 24,000 users.

So how did I get started, what's my strategy and why do I find blogshares to be so very addictive? Read my next entry!

* fellow Blogshares addict and #blogshares IRC-er.

Technorati tag: YC Humor Personal Addiction Blogshares

My Adventures with Appendicitis: Day 4 (Tues)

2005-06-13T14:28:00.000+08:00

0200hrs

Dan Brown time. My temperature just won't come down. It has been hovering in the mid-37s. I'm cursing my luck. Hopefully when they take my reading in the morning it will be back to normal.

0730hrs

37.4! :-(

0840hrs

Doctor says he wants to observe me as my temperature is still high. I have prepared myself mentally that I would probably be in there till Wednesday or Thursday, the last thing I want to do is to be discharged and have complications from home. But it still puts a slight damper in my spirits especially when the nurses told me that there was a possibility of my discharging this afternoon.

What can I do? Try to do some reading and keep myself occupied and distracted I guess. Bless the invention of the handphones and SMSes!

1000hrs

Chatting with the nurse while she takes my temperature and blood pressure. She says maybe, just maybe if my temperature comes down by the time the doctor makes his next rounds at 4 pm, I might get discharged!

SMS parents to let them know.

1300hrs

Whoever told me that hospital food sucks needs to get his/her taste buds examined!

1400hrs

37.6. It's going up! :-(

1500hrs

The pharmacist delivers a big bag of medication -- panadols, fybogel, laxatives.

Me: What are these for?
Pharmacist: Aren't you discharging today?
Me: No, the doctor says he wants to observe me further. Says I still have a low grade fever. (gee, thanks for rubbing it in!)
Pharmacist: Oh, is that so? Let me check. (walks out)
Pharmacist: (Enter stage right) You're right. Anyway, just hang on to these medication. You'll need them when you go home.

I guess it's good to have something to look forward to.

1505hrs

Parents are here.

37.6. Bummer ...

1600hrs

Still 37.6. No sight of the doctor. Tap tap tap.

1700hrs

One of the nurses on the night shift offers me some ice cold water to help bring down my body temperature. That's real nice of her (I think she likes me :-P) and I thank her for the offer. Well, it does feel good to be able to drink cold water!

1730hrs

I ask my parents to head home for dinner. I'm still running a temperature and if the doc keeps his word, I'll still be warded for observations.

1740hrs

The nurses are taking orders for dinner. I ask for rice! With pork and vegetables. Mmmmm...

1800hrs

My doc (read one, no entourage) sticks his head into the ward, gives me a thumbs up and says that I can go.

Yes, that is all he did! He didn't even walk INTO the ward, just gives me the thumbs up from the corridor and says I'm good to go. What the?

I'm not complaining. I give my parents a quick call and have my dinner.

One of the grandfathers was saying that the doc was suay kuan and could have come earlier when my parents were around. I give him a "what to do?" shrug and chuckle.

1900hrs

I've finished dinner and have changed out of my hospital garbs. The nurse has also helped me with complete my paper work and relieved me of my "rolex watch", that's her lingo for the plastic tag containing my personal information that they put around my wrist. My next-bed-neighbor (the guy who's to be warded for another 12 days) jokingly asks her to remove his as well. Nice try!

The others are going to be discharged within the next one or two days so almost all is well.

1910hrs

Parents are here. I make the final payments for my hospital bill and go round wishing my ward mates well and speedy recovery.

Epilogue

I count myself lucky to have survived that scare with my leaky appendix. It could have been much worse had it ruptured but thankfully it didn't.

What made my stay in the hospital so pleasant was the very good attitude and responsiveness of the nurses and hospital staff. I can't say how thankful I am! So to the nurses and staff of AH, Ward 12, here's a BIG THANK YOU to you again!

Oh, and one last thing that I learned, when a doctor gives you a specific appointment time, give him or her a 2 hour buffer just to be safe! :-D

Technorati tag: YC appendicitis

My Adventures with Appendicitis: Day 3 (Mon)

2005-06-12T09:44:00.000+08:00

0700hrs

Oh boy, what do we have for breakfast today? M-I-L-O! Hurrah! I'm soooo easy to please!

0730hrs

One of the student nurses asks if I would like to go for my shower. Are you kidding? Of course I would! I've not had a shower in 2 days! But I don't think I'm ready to walk yet. No problemo, wheelchair to the rescue!

No, I am not showering in the wheel chair. I managed to get on my feet in the shower. Cold water and soap -- refreshing!

0800hrs

The doctor is supposed to be making his rounds. Tapping my fingers against the hospital bed railings.

0840hrs

The doctor says I'm making good progress. So when can I be discharged? After I move to solid foods? Great! When? I'm still on liquids right now doc. Continues tapping my fingers against the hospital bed.

Oh and Monday morning's doctor brought his entourage with him. I don't see the surgeon, my supposed attending doctor (you know, the guy with his name over my hospital bed) and the junior physician. But I do see Sunday morning's doctor. The Sunday doctor is apparently of a much lower seniority than this morning's doctor; Sunday doc seems to be taking notes as the Monday doc speaks. Talk about pecking order!

0900hrs

Since I'm in much less pain, since I've had my energy drink, and since I've had my shower, I feel so much better today. I'm also more observant. I'm currently sharing the ward with 5 other men -- 3 grandfathers in their 60s and 70s, a guy in his 40s and a guy who is in a very bad state i.e. his limbs are contorted. I think there's a medical name for his condition but I don't know what it is.

Well, 2 of the grandfathers are in here for diabetes treatment. They're pretty much able-bodied and mobile. Going through their paces of eating, strolling around (I'm envious!), resting, taking their medication, having the doctor visit.

The last grandfather apparently had gone through some surgery like me. He gets moody and puts up protests against eating or taking his medication.

It's a good thing he has a filial son who comes by often to help feed him. Lucky chap. Also, when his missus and female relatives visit, you'll always here them coaxing him in Teochew to eat and the implications of not eating! Everyone in the ward knows when they visit!

The guy in his 40s looked pretty ok to me. He is often active and up and about. In a later conversation with him, I found out that he had been in the hospital for close to 30 days! And they wanted to observe him for another 12 days! Horrors! How did he end up there in the first place? Apparently, he had gotten a greedy over the Chinese New Year period and downed 12 mandarin oranges and 2 slices of pineapples in one sitting rather than see it go to waste!

He felt very bloated and had difficulty breathing after his feast and had to be hospitalized. He was throwing up all kinds of funny stuff and they had to drain parts of his lungs and body cavity. The doctors never did figure out what caused it and explained that it was some kind of rare virus!

The last guy, well, he couldn't speak and no one visited. I never knew what he was in the hospital for.

1230hrs

Colleagues are here to visit me! Hurrah! Thanks for the gifts! It's a pity I can't eat the fruits or biscuits ... yet! Doctor's orders you know!

I'm actually standing up and walking around slowly. A female colleague asks me to sit down for fear that I may fall. I think after 2+ days of lying down and sitting, I ought to be standing and walking around to get my muscles pumping again.

1300hrs

Lunch and some more laxatives to help me with my process. Nasty!

1330hrs

Uh-oh, The laxative is kicking in! Gotta go!

1540hrs

And again!

1600hrs

Waiting for the doc. I've learnt to cope with the elasticity of time here.

1715hrs

The doc is here. Oh same chap! What luck! I can move on to solid food now! But they still want to monitor me as my low grade fever hasn't gone away yet.

Yes, I find out later from the great nurses at AH that because I had finally sat on the royal throne, I am allowed to eat solid food. Also, had I not gone through that, the doctor would not even consider letting me go home. Now all I have to do is to beat this low grade fever.

1800hrs

What? Soup only? The doc said I could have solid food?

Oh great, the nurses are getting me some ...... P O R R I D G E ! Yippee!

1810hrs

Porridge is good for health!

Technorati tag: YC appendicitis

My Adventures with Appendicitis: Day 2 (Sun)

2005-06-09T20:32:00.000+08:00

0200hrs

More readings! Dan Brown! Dan Brown! Well, the night shift nurses seem to have a meaner demeanour (the day nurses are pretty nice). She asked if I felt like ridding my body of its watery by-products.

Weird question. I've not eaten or drank anything for the past 18 hours, I have a big goodness knows how long an opening on my right, I'm bed-ridden, sedated, immobile; sorry, but I have the least inkling of doing that right now thank you very much!

0600hrs

Dan Brown time again and same funny question about my bodily urges. There's a new twist this time round. She tells me that they may be forced to use an aid to help me extract my watery bodily waste matter if I'm unable to do it on my own by the doctor's rounds at 8.

Fine, I'll give it a try. I don't know how that aid worked since I had no access to wikipedia then. I mean technology can't possibly be that bad right?

I huffed and puffed to get up from my bed. Tried ... no luck. Sorry nurse (sorry me as I was to find out later!).

0700hrs

Ah, here comes the good-looking junior physician from yesterday. Great! Oh no, are you giving me the same sermon as the night shift nurse? No doc! You don't look so good now!

Wait a minute. The aid is intrusive, causes a lot of discomfort and may cause infections if not done properly? Now why didn't the nurse say so? Thank you doc! I have the incentive to do something about this by 8!

0730hrs

The nurse helps me up again. No luck! Cursing myself.

0745hrs

Time is running out! I ask for help getting up again. I'm handed the portable human aqueous by-product container to try my luck again. I must be doing it wrong somehow.

Maybe it's because my feet are planted on the floor but my body's leaning against the bed. I need gravity to give me every single bit of help! Ok, let me try doing this standing up ... slowly (and yes, the curtains are drawn in case you're wondering).

Buy 4D!

0800hrs

Doc isn't here yet. Grrrrrrr

0830hrs

Oh, new doc. This isn't my attending physician. Same junior physician though.

Sunday Doc: Good morning.
Me: Good morning doc.
Sunday Doc: So any pain this morning?
Me: Only if I move.
Sunday Doc: Have you passed gas (human gaseous by-products from the nether ends for the politically correct)
Me: Er... no... (dammit what's up with these medical professionals and their morbid interest in my private matters?)
Me: Oh wait, I do have pain. I've been having some gastric pains from the lack of food and water. Any chance of eating a little or drinking something?
Sunday Doc: I'm afraid not. You're still running a temperature and will need to be on an IV drip. No food or water. But we'll give you an injection for the gastric pain.

That's plain evil doctor!

1030hrs

One of the staff assistants says I have to go for an X-ray.

I learn that nearly every single body movement requires the use of one's stomach muscles e.g. tossing in bed, wriggling in bed, sitting up in bed, attempting to stand up from the bed, attempting to sit in a wheelchair from a standing position.

I also learn that there are actually maneuvers to isolate the muscle contractions to one's LEFT stomach muscles, mostly anyway.

1035hrs

I learn that wheelchairs need suspension systems like cars, and they need proper tyres!

I felt every single bump on my way to the X-ray centre!

The radiologist also needs to lighten up.

Radiologist: Are you able to stand up?
Me: Not really.
Radiologist: No problem. We'll take an X-ray with you sitting in your wheel chair.

He makes me sit up a little and pushes the film down between my back and the wheelchair.

Radiologist: Smile ... (no, he didn't say that, just my silly humor).
Radiologist: Great! Now I need you to get onto that (very cold and very hard) bed (plank!). I need another shot.
Me: (protests meekly) (#$#@$&^%$#)

1200-1700hrs

I've been drifting in and out of sleep trying to ignore my hunger pains. The gastric jab is giving me some relief so that's good.

It's also a good thing I picked the B2 ward. With ceiling fan spinning at its max and causing my leg muscles to cramp up, who needs air-conditioning? And I definitely do not have the energy for TV or phone conversations!

Oh yes, and the great nurses at AH explained to me why the medical fraternity had this unusual interest in my bodily functions. General anaesthesia causes these tracts to shut down. If I'm unable to clear my body's by-products, it means my body isn't functioning normally yet and hence, I'm not allowed food or water. See, that was simple. Now why didn't the doc explain that to me?

So you can guess what I was hard at work at the rest of the day!

Relatives came over around lunch time so that was good for the spirit.

1800hrs

Yet another doctor. No sign of doc who has his name tagged over my hospital bed.

Evening Doc: So did you ...
Me: (trying to sound chirpy) Yes, I did doc.
Evening Doc: Great, we'll start you on clear fluids and move you up gradually

I did the silent fist pumps from my hospital bed. Finally!

1900hrs

Dinner time! Clear soup! Sweet! Must remember not to gulp it down too quickly. I don't want to start coughing!

Nurse gives me some panadol to control my fever. I find out later that it's pretty normal to run a slight temperature after an operation. She also hands me a clear liquid -- laxative.

I'm thinking to myself, I haven't had a bite to eat for 2 days. All I had for dinner was clear soup (and I only finished a third of the bowl) and I'm expected to clear my body's solid waste matter? Am I missing something here?

Technorati tag: YC appendicitis

My Adventures with Appendicitis: Day 1 (Sat) Part 2

2005-06-09T20:11:00.000+08:00

1830hrs

All I remember was feeling really groggy and hearing voices around me. Now who on earth is telling me to move a little this-a-way and a little that-a-way. Oh right! The nurses in my ward!

Apparently, I had been in the operating theatre for close to 3 hours.

Someone is explaining (probably the surgeon, but I was too groggy to know for sure) that the procedure took longer than expected as there were complications. My appendix had apparently decided to spill some of its content prematurely and the docs were having a vacuuming practice or something inside of me.

What I did feel was the big bandaid they had around me. It covered my entire right abdomen! Beat that!

1900hrs

Everyone in the ward is having their dinner now. Oh the aroma (yes, even for hospital food)! I can feel the hunger pangs but I'm not supposed to eat! Or drink! Because I just came out of surgery! But I can have that tasty l'il 0.7% saline solution intravenous drip for dinner thank you very much!

2000hrs

Zzzzzz ... I am stirred from my slumber by the nurses. They want to take my readings. I wish I could muster some strength to tell them Dan Brown a while ago but all I could do was croak. Need food ... water... precious...

Technorati tag: YC appendicitis

My Adventures with Appendicitis: Day 1 (Sat) Part 1

2005-06-09T14:44:00.000+08:00

0830hrs

I've been having this odd abodominal pain and mild bouts with fever recently. My family doctor tells me I overstrained my muscles but I said my overstrained stomach muscles never felt strained inside. Anyway, it is back again this morning and the pain has gone a little lower on my right side. It doesn't feel right; I'll head back to the doc after breakfast.

0930hrs

Family Doc: (Spot A) How does this feel?
Me: A little painful
Family Doc: (Spot P) And here?
Me: Owwww! Yes, definitely painful!
Family Doc: (Spot C) Here?
Me: Not there
Family Doc: (Back to Spot P) Here?
Me: Owww! Yes! (hey, didn't you feel that already?!?)
Family Doc: (scribbles something on a memo) You better head on over to the A&E ...

I peeked at the memo - "Possible acute appendicitis". Uh oh!

1000hrs

So here I am at the Alexandra Hospital (AH) A&E. The registration to see the A&E doc is pretty smooth. They actually have an administrative assistant walking around helping the nurses with people traffic direction and registration.

A&E Doc: (Spot A) How does this feel?
Me: A little painful
A&E Doc: (Spot P) And here?
Me: Owwww! Yes, definitely painful!
A&E Doc: (Spot C) Here?
Me: Nope
A&E Doc: (Back to Spot P) Here?
Me: Owww! Yes! (@!()@%(@& are you guys in cahoots or what?)
A&E Doc: Ok, I need to take some blood and run a few tests
Me: (First you prod me where it hurts BAD, now you want to "poke" me?) Ok doc.

1040hrs

The results are back. My white blood cell count is high and I'm to be warded immediately and have my appendicetomy done the very same day. The A&E doc pages for the surgeon and asks that I complete the administrative work to check myself into the hospital as soon as possible.

Oh, and I'm not to eat or drink anything before the surgery. Nothing, zip. Ok!

1045hrs

Decisions, decision, decisions. The staff at the payment counter explains to me the various wards that are available in AH i.e. A1, B1, B2, C (the policy maker must have been inspired by his/her GCE 'O' level results ... obviously someone wasn't very happy about getting A2s).

A1 - I'd hate to be in an isolated ward and the charges are crazy.
B1 - 4 to a ward, air-conditioned, personal TV, personal phone ... sounds good.
Wait, B2 - 6 to a ward and some euphemistic word for non-air-conditioned ward.
So if I had to stay a week, I'd fork out about S$1,000 for a B2 bed; I pay an additional S$2,000 more I get to enjoy air-conditioning, TV and phone! Joy!

B2.

1130hrs

The attending doctor (the doctor's name that they put over my hospitable bed), the junior physician (good looking too I must say) and the surgeon are by my bed. They put me through the same pain as their brethren before finally concluding that they have to operate on me later at between 2 to 2:30 pm. Again, I am told not to eat or drink anything. Roger that!

Joy, more paperwork. Some consent form that I've understood the implications yada-yada-yada.

1430hrs

Waiting. I've already changed into my operating gown.

1445hrs

Still waiting.

Note to self - I think doctors have a problem with punctuality.

1500hrs

Finally! I get wheeled off to the operating theatre.

1505hrs

So here I am, lying in the operating theatre, jokingly asking the (also good looking) anaesthetist what they will do with my appendix and if I could take a picture of it when they're done with it. She laughed and said that they'll grind it up and feed it to the dogs ... That was a joke! She said they'll send it to the lab for tests to find out the cause of the infection.

1510hrs

They start giving me injections and wiring me up to the thousands of probes. I feel like Cypher being re-inserted into the Matrix ...

Anaesthesist: Ok, we're going to administer GA (General Anaesthesia). When I put this mask over you, I want you to breathe in deep.
Me: Will do doc.
Anaesthesist: (fixes the breathing apparatus over me) Now breathe
Me: (takes in about 3 breaths) Huff puff huff puff huff puff
Anaesthesist: Are you breathing? Please breathe...
Me: (takes in another 4 breaths ... of course I am breathing! That's what you told me to do!)

I think she got a little "pissed" with my resistance to the "gas" and upped the ante! I could literally smell the "gas" after the initial 7 gulps and was out cold after the next 3! Yes, I counted!

(to be continued)

Technorati tag: YC appendicitis

Recovering from my Appendicectomy Operation

2005-06-09T12:03:00.000+08:00

Appendicitis -- nasty stuff. I had an attack last Saturday, had the operation the same afternoon, and was hospitalised through Tuesday evening. Slowly recovering at home now. So many blogs to read, so many things to write about. Step by step! I feel like a 100 year old right now with my constrained post-op mobility!

Interesting stories about my experience to follow when I have the energy!

Technorati tag: YC appendicitis

Blogshares-let

2005-06-02T17:57:00.000+08:00

If you play blogshares like I do, you will know how positively addictive it can get! I actually signed up for a Premium membership for goodness sake! Anyway, it got on my nerves a little when I had to manually cut and paste URLs into blogshares to find out if a certain blog was listed so I came up with a small javascript to automate the process.

Presenting, the Blogshares-let or B$-let.

Instruction:

1) Drag and drop the Blogshares-let or B$-let links onto your web browser bookmarks
2) Browse to the main page of the blog (in my case, yckoh.blogspot.com)
3) Click on the Blogshares-let or B$-let link that is in your bookmarks.
4) The B$-let automatically brings you to the blogshares page of the blog (if it is listed)!

Enjoy!

Technorati tag: YC blogshares blogshares-let blogshareslet

Spot the "Gahmen" Contest @ Bloggers.SG

2005-06-02T11:55:00.000+08:00

I was thinking a T-shirt with "I attended Bloggers.SG 2005" printed on the front and "All I got was this lousy T-shirt" on the back would make a great souvenir for the upcoming convention. But this little PR stunt by Steve in an effort to generate some attention on his blog gave me a new idea. Let's have a "Spot the Gahmen" contest!

This is a parody of the "Spot the Fed" contest at DEFCON (annual geek convention in Las Vegas for hacking) where you try to spot attendees from the federal government like the FBI or wherever.

The rules for the Spot the "Gahmen" contest will be as follows (adapted from "Spot the Fed"):

1. If you see some shady MIW (Men in White) earphone sunglass wearing type lurking about, point him/her out. Just get the attention of the organizers and claim out loud you think you have spotted a gahmen. The people around at the time will then (I bet) start to discuss the possibility of whether or not a real gahmen has been spotted. Once enough people have decided that a gahmen has been spotted, and the Identified Gahmen (I.G.) has had a say, and informal vote takes place, and if enough people think it's a true gahmen, or gahmen wanna-be, or other nefarious style character, you win a "I spotted the gahmen!" shirt, and the I.G. gets an "I am the gahmen!" shirt.

NOTE TO THE GAHMENS: This is all in good fun, and if you survive unmolested and undetected, but would still secretly like an "I am the gahmen!" shirt to wear around the office or when booting in doors, please contact me when no one is looking and the organizers will take your order(s). Just think of all the looks of awe you'll generate at work wearing this shirt while you file away all the paperwork you'll have to produce over this convention. I'm sure the organizers won't turn in any gahmens who contact them, they have to be spotted by others.

Of course, obvious gahmen folks like James, Daryl and people manning the Shine booth (if there's one) do not count. How about it organizers?

Technorati tag: YC Singapore sgblogconspiracy blog convention DEFCON Spot the Fed fun

Computers Can Make You Stupid

2005-05-31T23:42:00.000+08:00

Buried among the comments in tomorrow.sg's blog on "Bloggers.SG 2005 - Date and Venue"

Wow, sponsorship for refreshments! Fantastic! But do we have to give our full name and IC number? :)

Posted by YC on 31 May, 2005 - 2:53pm
YC > only women need to give handphone number. Hahha. Joking hor.

Posted by cowboycaleb on 31 May, 2005 - 3:04pm
caleb > Be careful what you ask for, you may get some angry ex-boyfriend's number!

Posted by YC on 31 May, 2005 - 3:10pm

This little IC/handphone number repartee with Caleb reminds me of a recent experience I had while doing what all law-abiding Singapore IC (Identity Card) holders have to do when they hit the big three-O. No, it's not telling everyone that you're only 21, which reminds me of a George Carlin joke on aging, but I digress. When you turn 30 here, you need to re-register your IC with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority(ICA).

So what happened was, they sent me the notice 10 days before my birthday asking me to either complete the re-registration and payment online, or to post the completed form back. I chose the online method for reasons of convenience. Having filled in my log in information, I then proceeded to click on the option to re-register. It rejected me repeatedly, and I didn't know why.

I called ICA to ask if I had the log in information wrong somehow. While speaking with the customer service officer, it dawned upon me that maybe, just maybe, the clever system was designed to only accept my re-registration when I mathematically turn t-h-i-r-t-y and not a few miserable days before that! So I asked if that was the case. I swear I could hear his sheepish grin when he told me that yes, that was the case!

So, had I mailed in my forms, I could have collected my new IC before I turn three-oh. But because I chose the more convenient and efficient online method, I had to wait till I hit AVG(29,31) before I could!

Oh well, it sure beats the Duck and the Hippo!

Technorati tag: YC Singapore computers stupid Humor NRIC IC identity card

Israeli Computer Industrial Espionage

2005-05-31T23:15:00.000+08:00

Bruce Schneier summarised the Haaretz article

Dozens of leading companies and top private investigators were named yesterday as suspects in a massive industrial espionage investigation that local police have been conducting for the past six months.

The companies suspected of commissioning the espionage, which was carried out by planting Trojan horse software in their competitors' computers, include the satellite television company Yes, which is suspected of spying on cable television company HOT; cell-phone companies Pelephone and Cellcom, suspected of spying on their mutual rival Partner; and Mayer, which imports Volvos and Hondas to Israel and is suspected of spying on Champion Motors, importer of Audis and Volkswagens. Spy programs were also located in the computers of major companies such as Strauss-Elite, Shekem Electric and the business daily Globes.

Link (via Bruce Schneier), also reported on Wired.

A case of an "insider" attack, an insider tricked into introducing the trojan into the infected computers, something that would even escape anti-virus programs because each trojan was programmed uniquely at a cost of NIS16,000 each or approximately USD3,600. Now that's peanuts judging by the company secrets it was stealing and the damage it was doing to its rivals. It'll make an interesting case study, and it's only the beginning.

Technorati tag:YC Israel espionage industrial espionage computer espionage trojan

Too cold for you dear?

2005-05-30T18:27:00.000+08:00

Simon World wrote

A study by a Hong Kong university has revealed what any person living here could tell you: Hong Kong's office buildings are the coldest in the world (Yahoo):

Most Hong Kong offices keep their temperature at between 21 (70 Fahrenheit) to 22 degrees Celsius (72 Fahrenheit) _ with the coldest office measuring 17.6 degrees (64 Fahrenheit) _ well below the recommended 25 degrees (77 Fahrenheit)...

... But if not for these Arctic conditions, how would the city's tai tais be able to parade their winter fashions?

Link

Heartless Hong Kong administrators! We have it good here in Singapore -- 24°C* (75F)! Beat that, 1°C (~2F)! But seriously, I did a search on recommended temperature settings and found an energy conservation checklist on Energy Market Authority (EMA) website.

Temperature and humidity settings

For human comfort the recommended temperature setting is between 22.5°C (72.5F) and 25.5°C (77.9F) while the relative humidity should not exceed 70%.

And the fashion phenomenon in Singapore is to parade one's windbreaker.

*From what I can recall, can't find it on any official gov.sg sites. Point me to a link!

Technorati tag: YC aircon Singapore Hong Kong temperature recommended temperature

Surrender after 60 years: two soldiers ask to go home

2005-05-28T22:03:00.000+08:00

Deborah Cameron of SMH wrote

As young conscripts they pledged never to to surrender. Yesterday as old men they emerged from their hiding place in the Philippines - two Japanese Imperial Army soldiers, asking to go home.

Discovered after a chance encounter with a Philippines businesswoman who had friends in Japan, the men reportedly have documents that show they were attached to the army's 30th Division. Until yesterday they had been listed among Japan's war dead.

Word of the exiles became public yesterday, but the efforts to trace their history date from December when a businesswoman from the Philippines rang a friend in Japan to ask for help in getting the men home.

The men are Yoshio Yamakawa 87, and Tsuzuki Nakauchi, 85.

Link

Just simply amazing. I recall reading something about this in the 1980s on Ripley's Believe It or Not books about a Japanese soldier surrendering decades after WWII but this takes the cake!

Technorati tag: YC WWII World War Japanese Surrender Philippines Yamakawa Yoshio Yamakawa Nakauchi Tsuzuki Nakauchi

Gerrard questioned ...

2005-05-28T21:43:00.000+08:00

HA! Milan fans you think? ;)
(via Voxeros)

Technorati tag: YC Liverpool Gerrard Steven Gerrard Humor Funny

The Day of the Underdogs

2005-05-26T12:49:00.000+08:00

What a night and morning! The Contender final, the UEFA Champions League final, the American Idol final. What more can one ask for in the span of 24 hours of television, especially for one who doesn't watch much TV these days?

And, to make things even more dramatic, all the underdogs won!

CONTENDER. Sergio Mora, aka the Latin Snake, while having an impressive 16W (3KO) 0L professional record, was the underdog. Peter Manfredo has a 24W (10KO) 2L and is 3rd in the world rankings. The finals was a let down -- too many commercial breaks and no oomph (meaning the lack of slow motion dramatization and music to go with it). Tells you how much of a boxing fan I am, ha! But, the underdog won. Sergio beat Peter easily with his superior speed and fitness.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE. The champions league was another story altogether. Liverpool, the underdog, came back from the brink of defeat, a 3-0 deficit at half time to be exact, and won the trophy in the penalty shoot-out. How about that for a football Houdini trick! Reminds me of a soccer saying from a college friend, "The ball is round, anything can happen!". Indeed!

AMERICAN IDOL. Last, but not least, the American Idol, the series that I followed least closely. Rocker, Bo Bice, lost to the underdog country singer (Hey, Katong King said it, I didn't!), Carrie Underwood. I'm a little disappointed that the favorite didn't win. It would have been nice to have a rocker win that competition for a change! Well, I'm sure he'll still make it big, especially when he so impressed Clive Davis!

Technorati tag:YC Bo Bo Bice Carrie Carrie Underwood idol American Idol Contender Manfredo Peter Manfredo Sergio Sergio Mora Latin Snake Liverpool Champions League Underdog

Pumpabikes!

2005-05-24T13:17:00.000+08:00

New Scientist's's article - Human-powered hydrofoil seeks jumpy riders

The first human-powered commercial hydrofoil, resembling a bizarre cross between a pogo stick and a jet ski, has gone on sale.

Riders operate the "Pumpabike" by bouncing up and down on a small platform at the rear of the contraption, whilst holding onto a steering column at the front... (video clip)

Link (via Huffington Post)

Oh boy, I want one of these for Christmas! This is the way to travel on water, and eco-friendly too! Information is a little lacking on Pumpabike's website.

(Huffington Post)

Technorati tag: YC pumpabike eco-friendly

Naming Singapore's Inaugural Blog Convention

2005-05-24T11:43:00.000+08:00

James's comment on why one of the candidates for naming Singapore's inaugural Bloggers' Convention could be Singapore Tea Party

Has anyone heard of Boston Tea Party?

Posted by jseng on 23 May, 2005 - 10:47pm

What? Copy from Boston? Lack of originality and character, I say. I mean, we need a name that gives it that Uniquely Singapore flavor yes? And in keeping up with the Tea spirit, how about ... *tongue in cheek* Singapore Bloggers' Tea Session?

There, I have all the buzzwords in. Guaranteed to fail Bullfighter (Singapore Edition).

Technorati tag: YC Singapore blogcon convention bloggers convention

Outrageous censorship in Spain

2005-05-21T23:14:00.000+08:00

Jorge Cortell is forced to resign and censured after defending the legal use of P2P networks in Spain.

Lecturer censored in Spanish University (UPV) for defending P2P networks

I have been teaching "Intellectual Property" (although I dislike the term) among other subjects at a Masters Degree in the Polytechnic University of Valencia UPV (Spain) for over 5 years. Two weeks ago I was scheduled (invited by the ETSIA Student Union and Linux Users' Group for the celebration of "Culture Week") to give a conference in one of the university's buildings. During that conference I was to analyze the legal use and benefits of the P2P networks, even when dealing with copyrighted works (according to the Spanish Intellectual Property Law, Private Copy provision, and many research papers, books and court rulings). I was even going to use the network to "prove" that it was legal, since members of the Collecting Society "SGAE" had appeared on TV and newspapers saying that "P2P networks are ilegal" (sic) just like that, and to that extent I even contacted SGAE, National Police, and the Attorney General in advance to inform them about it....

Link (via Boing Boing)

Pressured by the Spanish Recording Industry Association, "Promusicae", his Dean denied his booking of the conference venue thrice, forcing Jorge to use the cafeteria instead. Thereafter, he was forced to resign by the Director of the Masters Degree Program, removed from their official sites, and his former Vice-Dean for Communications denied he was a teacher even though he had taught a good number of subjects for the past 5 years!

And I thought this only happened in politics, not the academia!

If you're outraged by this like I am, spread the word!

Technorati tag: YC Spain Jorge Cortell Cortell P2P Censorship Free Speech

Kensington Lock - Hacked by Toilet Roll

2005-05-21T14:58:00.000+08:00

If anyone's using a Kensington Lock to secure your notebook, it's time to reconsider (via Micropersuasion)! A toilet roll can pick that lock (video here) ! Horrors! I think you can use a McDonald's straw as a replacement judging by the diameter of that modified roll?

(wwu.edu) (rampurple)

Technorati tag: YC Security notebook kensington

Law and Justice in Malaysia

2005-05-17T21:03:00.000+08:00

New Straits Times's Kalimullah Hassan wrote Law was upheld, but whither justice?

AHMAD Harizal Ahmad Fauzie and Mangal Bahadur Gurung will probably never meet each other or even know of each other's existence. One is from an impoverished broken family in Perlis, and the other a Nepalese who came to Malaysia to earn enough money for a better future for his family.

Harizal broke the law; Mangal did not.

Both their stories touched the hearts of Malaysians because they were both jailed, one because the law says so and the other because the system showed its flaws.

Harizal was a National Service defaulter because of economic hardship. He had stopped schooling after Form 2 to help his mother, who was making barely RM150, to support his family. When the courts sentenced him to to pay a RM600 fine or face two weeks jail, the public outpour to help him pay off the fine was nothing short of overwhelming. But he had to spend the night in the slammer anyway because he wasn't able to raise that money by the end of the day of the sentencing.

Mangal, the Nepalese, had to bear the brunt of a stroke of the ratan and 40 days jail time because he couldn't speak enough Bahasa Malaysia to tell the immigration authorities that his employer had not only kept 10 months of his wages, but also his original work permit and travel documents. The Malaysian Immigration Chief actually said it was Mangal's fault that he didn't tell his immigration folks the truth and that his people were only doing their job.

IANAL (I Am Not A Lawyer) - since the judge had kindly given Harizal until the end of the day to settle the fine, would it be too much to ask for a 24 hour time limit from sentencing to settle the fine or face jail time? The generous people in Malaysia would have raised the money for him easily.

In Mangal's case, I still can't believe the Immigration Chief said what he said. Good way of passing the blame bucket around I guess. But I just wonder, in such cases of injustice, is there no compensation for the aggrieved aside from a simple apology? How do you compensate 40 days jail time and a stroke of the ratan?
Technorati tag: YC Malaysia New Straits Times Justice National Service Harizal Mangal

Down with the flu

2005-05-16T22:32:00.000+08:00

I hate catching the flu bug. Fever, runny nose, sore throat, lethargy, temperature gymnastics. Sounds like a Nescafe brew: 5-in-1. Of course, the medication that the doctor prescribes is actually just that! Ok, no reading of newsfeeds. Just catching up with e-mail, comments and blogshares. :P
Technorati tag: YC

Amazon MP3 Round-up (May 14, 2005)

2005-05-14T23:18:00.000+08:00

Good songs from Amazon's free MP3 download (full song of at least 128kbps):

Mark Easley: See You Soon, We Love You
Siu Wai Stroshane : You've Made Me Free (instrumental)
Lethal Lisa McCall: My Friends
Cats and Jammers: What Do You Want?

Technorati tag: YC MP3 Free Amazon

Seoul Motor Show 2005

2005-05-14T08:35:00.000+08:00

Lost Nomad's rather disappointing pictures from the Seoul Motor Show 2005 (via Simon's World). The camera man forgot to tell the lovely ladies to stand aside when taking the pictures of the eye-candy! :)

Obligatory engineer joke

Two engineering students met on campus one day. The first engineer calls out to the other, "Nice Ferrari! Where did you get it?"

"Well," replies the other, "I was walking to class the other day when this pretty, young lady drives up to me in her F430 Spider. She jumps out of the car, strips off her body-hugging leather clothes, and screams 'Take ANYTHING you want!'"

"Good choice," says the first, "her clothes wouldn't have fit you anyway."

Technorati tag: YC Humor Funny car show bikinis motor show

iDA's iN2005 Masterplan

2005-05-12T16:27:00.000+08:00

James announces the iN2005:

A few days ago, IDA announced the next phase after Connection Singapore plan called iN 2015 (Intelligent Nation 2015)¹, a IT masterplan for the next 10 years for Singapore for work, life and leisure. Unlike previous masterplan where it is done internally, this time IDA is engaging the community to provide input to this masterplan.

So where do you want Singapore to be in 2015?

Decisions are made by those who show up so do participate!

¹ Also see IDA Press Release

Link (jseng); Also spotted on Tomorrow (via Calm One).

Way to go iDA! I'm all for this!

Before I start with my positives, the realist in me asks (some questions answered later):

What happened to the previous masterplans (ICT21? IT2000?)? Are they dated?
Would 2015 be a little too far-fetched for an infocomms plan considering how fast and unpredictably infocomms technology (ICT) moves?
Hey, don't you hire people to do this planning for you? How come we're doing the work? Read "Terms and Conditions" rule j

j) ... their assigns may in their absolute discretion, use the entries or parts thereof for the said purposes without reference to or acknowledgement of the participants

Done. Why ANOTHER masterplan? Plans are, well, plans! They chart a certain direction for an organization or a group to follow, and you learn to use it as a beacon of sorts, adjusting your course to adapt to the variable wind directions, sometimes the light on the beacon dies out and you have to find another beacon. 2015 is a little over the horizon. I, for one, could not have imagined the current state of development ICT back in 1995!

So how about iDA planners? Can't they do the job? Sure, they can. But the publicity it's getting from engaging the rest of us also means more buy-in and greater ownership! Chances are, it will also provide some new ideas they haven't thought of or might have ruled out as being too trivial. Whoever thought of this is a genius. But seriously, if we, the blogosphere, want to have more say, this is a great opportunity.

Getting Organised

Well, it wasn't stated that the competition was open to individuals only so I'm assuming we can form groups. I'm doing this because I'm not the most eloquent writer, nor the most creative dreamer, nor the geekiest of geeks. :) But I'm interested! Oh wait, what is this? I need to fill in my IC number? :(

Note to James: Can we bend some of these rules e.g. eliminate rule (j) and allow group participation? Why? More ownership and engagement! Just two small suggestions.

Technorati tag: YC Singapore iDA in2005 masterplan infocomms ICT

The Choice of Response for the Acidflask Saga

2005-05-12T11:29:00.000+08:00

Mr Brown wrote Next time I dowan to speak to the press liao:

The deepest irony is that in their bid to defend the reputation of their organisation, their esteemed leader, and ahem, Singapore, A*Star's legal letter approach (which they were totally within their legal right to pursue) ended up making Singapore look a little silly and draconian to the rest of the world. Especially since the Gahmen has been telling the world and their own people, how open and tolerant Singapore is becoming here.

You can send out press releases all over the world to declare that you consider "the matter closed", but once the blogosphere gets hold of it, the matter will not close until the blogosphere says it is.

Link(mrbrown); Definitive guide (via Singapore Angle)

Thanks a lot. Now, besides the beaten-to-death topic of Singapore's ban on chewing gum*, I have to think of an appropriate response for the blogger lawsuit case when spreading the good name of Singapore to my international friends.

My thoughts on why this route was taken? Because (1) it's the fastest and most efficient way, (2) it's in the SOP (standard operating procedure), (3) the SOP has always worked so why bother exploring new methods? I can only imagine the board room protests made by the PR team when that response was proposed!

As Mr Brown has aptly put, the unintended consequences of using the tried and tested method is giving us a big PR headache. So much for risk-taking and being creative as far as responses are concerned. I wonder what alternatives were considered? Preetamrai's suggestion of fighting fire with fire sounded feasible. Someone blogs something inappropriate about you, you counter-blog (sounds like a new Streetfighter game blog-counter-blog, blog-counter-blog).

Why bother counter-blogging since it's going to take up more time? I mean time is of the essence (and all other time-memorable quotes) right? Because sometimes, the most efficient ways of doing things aren't the most effective ways. You don't win the hearts and minds of people by going the "I know better" way followed by "See, I'm right" declaration especially with a thinking society. It's a sure-fire way of disengaging the people you intend to work with, not to mention the perception it creates of one's image! So who gained here? My guess is ... er ... the lawyers?

But I am glad of one thing. I'm glad that this saga didn't drag out into a full-blown court case i.e. there was damage control. Time to move on in the Singapore blogosphere (translation: time for the MSM to play catch up).

*I know, it's banning of non-prescription chewing gum but try telling that to my friends!

Update:
May 14 - A good example of a counter-blog by SG Contrarian (via Singapore Angle).

Technorati tag: YC Singapore lawsuit acidflask blogger chewing gum

The Intermec CK60 Mobile Computer

2005-05-11T23:51:00.000+08:00

Meet the Intermec CK60 Mobile Computer (via Daily Wireless)
(Intermec)

Meet the CK60's mum and dad:
Mum Dad (Linksys)

Technorati tag: YC Humor Intermec CK60

Attention Firefox Users: Public Service Announcement

2005-05-11T23:21:00.000+08:00

Mozilla Foundation wrote the following Security Advisory:

Two vulnerabilities were found in Mozilla Firefox that combined allow an attacker to run arbitrary code. The Mozilla Suite is only partially vulnerable.

[Ed: Translation, it's bad... very bad!]

Workaround

The Mozilla Foundation has made changes to our update servers that will protect users from this arbitrary code execution exploit. Users who have added other extension or theme sites to the software installation whitelist should remove them until a fixed version of Firefox is available.

1. Select the "Options" dialog from the "Tools" menu
2. Select the "Web Features" icon
3. Click the "Allowed Sites" button on the same line as the "Allow web sites to install software" checkbox
4. Click the "Remove All Sites" button
5. Click "OK"

To prevent the script injection exploit from stealing cookies or other sensitive data disable Javascript before visiting untrustworthy sites. In Firefox:

1. Select the "Options" dialog from the "Tools" menu
2. Select the "Web Features" icon
3. Uncheck the "Enable Javascript" checkbox
4. Click "OK"

Re-enable Javascript for trustworthy sites that require it.

[Ed: Translation, do as they say i.e. disable Javascript or use Opera or Internet Explorer until they resolve this problem]

Link

This is very unbecoming of Firefox. I bet the people at Redmond are laughing their heads off.

Technorati tag: YC Security Exploit Firefox

Making money from blogging

2005-05-11T22:43:00.000+08:00

I Want Media interviews Lockhart Steele:

Steele oversees the content of each of Gawker Media's 10 blogs. They include the popular gossip sites Gawker, Wonkette and Defamer...

Q: Which Gawker Media blog gets the most traffic?
Steele: Would you believe our porn site, Fleshbot? Actually, Gizmodo, our gadget site, is a close No. 2.

Q: Is porn is still the top draw on the Net?
Steele: The guy who does Fleshbot is a genius writer. The whole point of the site is to link to porn in a kind of erudite way. So it's not as unseemly as it sounds.

Q: Are you saying that people visit Fleshbot for the articles?
Steele: Yeah, exactly. [laughter]

Link (via SmartMobs)

Yes, sex sells. It always has and always will. Even when the internet bubble burst, the sex sites were and still are thriving. Is it any wonder that erogs (via Simon's World) are so immensely popular? So I say to LcF, if you're into bigger money and more eyeballs from blogging, ditch gadgets and focus on the physical beauty of the human kind ... like these two gentleme n! :)

PS to Agagooga: Apologies, my adblock blocks out ads ... googleads included!

Technorati tag: YC Blogging sex sex sells Lockhart Steele making money making money from blogging

American Bovine Blog

2005-05-11T15:15:00.000+08:00

The Bovine Blog is such a blast! I'm adding it to my caricature index. The silly cow forgot to allow comments. Now as soon as we find a chicken blog, we can start a battle royal!

(jokefile)

Thanks Steve!

Technorati tag: YC Humor cow

Security Policy of a Security Company

2005-05-11T14:22:00.000+08:00

Schneier on Security wrote Company Continues Bad Information Security Practices:

An employee hoping to get extra work done over the weekend printed out 2004 payroll information for hundreds of SafeNet's [NasdaqNM: SFNT] U.S. employees, snapped it into a briefcase and placed the briefcase in a car. The car was broken into over the weekend and the briefcase stolen -- along with the employees' names, bank account numbers and Social Security numbers that were on the printouts, a company spokeswoman confirmed yesterday...

(Ed: Punchline coming)

... The company said no policies were violated, and that no new policies are being written as a result of this incident.

Link, Newspaper article

Just a hunch here. Perhaps no policies were violated because they had no policies on print-outs or handling of physical information so technically, they weren't wrong! Perhaps SafeNet should consider changing their overview from

SafeNet (Nasdaq: SFNT) is a global leader in information security.

to

SafeNet (Nasdaq: SFNT) is a global leader in electronic information security only.
Technorati tag: YC Security SafeNet Schneier

Star Wars Spoof on Joe Augustin's Blog

2005-05-11T10:00:00.000+08:00

The last time I blogged about Joe coming back on air, his website was still... a website. Now it's a blog -- comments, RSS feeds. Sneaky!

Oh and BTW, check out the Hokkien spoof of Star Wars. Darth Vader sounds like Miyagi from the Mr Brown podcasts! Ok, I have some time to kill today. The translation of the Hokkien spoof as follows (actual quotes from Star Wars):

Light sabres clashing in the background.
Darth slashes Luke's arm.

Luke: (Hokkien) Ahhhhhh........ wah ay chew ah!
Luke: (Singlish) Ahhhhh....... my arm ah!
Luke: (English) Ahhhhh....... my arm!

Darth: (Hokkien) Look, teh wah ke orh orh hee peng.
Darth: (Singlish) Luke, follow me to the brack brack side.
Darth: (English) Luke, follow me to the dark side.

Luke: (Hokkien) Ai, dan gu gu ah!
Luke: (Singlish) Ai, you wait long long ah!
Luke: (English) Dream on!

Darth: (Hokkien) Look! Wah si nin lau peh.
Darth: (Singlish) Luke, I'm your fudder.
Darth: (English) Luke, I am your father.

Luke: (Hokkien) Bo ko leng! Bo ko leng! Wah lau peh si liao!!!
Luke: (Singlish) No way man! No way man! My fudder dead oreadi!
Luke: (English) No. That's not true. That's impossible!

Darth: (Hokkien) Leh kaki sio kwa bai, leh joo aye jai ya si jin aye.
Darth: (Singlish) You think properly, and you sure know it's real one.
Darth: (English) Search your feelings you know it to be true.

Luke: (Hokkien) Ahhhhhh........
Luke: (Singlish) Ahhhhh.......
Luke: (English) Ahhhhh.......

Technorati tag: YC Singapore Joe Augustin Star Wars Spoof Funny Humor Miyagi Mr Brown Hokkien

Privacy and Infosec Round-up (May 10, 2005)

2005-05-10T16:38:00.000+08:00

Privacy and security linklets:

Defense Tech reports, LADY LIBERTY GETS WIRELESS FENCE : Ah, the beauty of wireless technology.
Washington Technology reports, Congressman calls for more privacy authority at DHS : I think the security czar needs to get the house in order first.
Washington Technology reports, Acrobat user gaffe exposes classified Defense information : Don't they share lessons? Also reported here and here.
Smart Mobs reports, Secure Video Conferencing via Quantum Cryptography : Hey, hey! Toshiba's working on this. Can you spell n-e-w m-a-r-k-e-t-s? :)
Smart Mobs reports, The Problem of Identity, Authentication and Control : As in Single-Sign-On (SSO). Microsoft passport? But then we don't trust them. A UN initiative perhaps? Stephen Downe's take on this issue continued here. My thoughts, would it not be susceptible to man in the middle attacks?
The New York Times reports, Time Warner Says Data on Employees Is Lost : Names and social security numbers of 600,000. One upmanship at its best.
Wired News reports, Ad Execs Want to Track Every Move : I bet George Orwell is turning in his grave right now. Big brother isn't the government, it's the ad execs!
The Register reports, Brits fall prey to phishing : 1 in 20 Brits (5%)
Not to be outdone, The Register reports, Americans are pants at password security : 2 out of 3 (66%).
Om Malik’s Broadband Blog reports, Google (NOT) Hacked? Just A DNS Glitch says Google : DNS glitch, and of all places, it gets redirected to MSN Search. The Redmond crew must've popped some champagne.
The Register reports, PGP goes the whole hog of encryption : Entire hard disk software encryption for US$199, I think I'm priced out!
The Register reports, Firefox exploit targets zero day vulns : Brace yourselves for version 1.0.4! Wait, no, it's TWO exploits!
Weatherall's Law reports, A ban on email snooping? : New South Wales, Australia has outlawed unauthorized spying of employees be it CCTV, e-mail, tracking devices and what not. But of course, they'd make you sign away all of that when you're offered your contract. Just to catch those sleepy HR folks I guess.

Technorati tag: YC Privacy Security Security Czar Acrobat Quantum Cryptography Gadgets PGP Firefox snooping

Blogosphere Round-up (May 10, 2005)

2005-05-10T16:30:00.000+08:00

Blogosphere Linklets:

The Times of India reports, Ministry caught in Net plagiarism : Ok copying and downloading images from the internet for presentations, reports seems to be common practice. But ... "this cut-and-paste job has been performed on a report which has one chapter devoted to copyright"!
Blogherald reports, CNET vs blogs: Calacanis fights back : The C-Net editorial by Molly Wood here and Weblogsinc's Jason Calacanis's reply here, and his witchhunt here. Looks like Jason made a boo-boo here.
Blogherald reports, Scoble champions free speech : "I don't delete comments. Even very distasteful ones. Even ones who call me an idiot. Even ones that say discriminatory things... I think it's important to hear from everyone, not just those I like..."
Dan Gillmor reports, HP Gets a Clue : In related news, HP's David Gee restores Thomas Hawk's negative comment on his corporate blog. Good for David Gee and positive PR for HP. Can you imagine the kind of image it projects had David decided to keep the deleted comment deleted? That there's absolutely no tolerance for criticism or diversity of views in the corproate board room? HP executive blog links here. Taking criticisms in a positive light is also good for you, it keeps you from becoming too complacent and full of yourself.
Dan Gillmor reports, Newspapers Aren't in Free Fall, But Readership is Dropping Fast : Can't be due to us bloggers. No sir.
Howard Kutz [WashPost] reports, Dazzle, Yes. But Can They Blog? : All eyes are on Arianna Huffington! Walter Cronkite, Arthur Schlesinger, Vernon Jordan ... my my my my my!
Brian Faler [WashPost] reports, On Bloggers and Money : "If, for example, you are a U.S. Senate candidate and you have a blogger who you're paying to write good things about you and bad things about your opponent, it will eventually come out. But that may not come out until after the election." Paid bloggers? It'll happen sooner or later.

Technorati tag: YC plagiarism Calacanis Molly Wood David Gee Huffington Arianna Arianna Huffington

Technology and Gadget Round-up (May 10, 2005)

2005-05-10T16:15:00.000+08:00

Technology and gadgets linklets:

Wired News reports, Software for Tea-Making Duties : Nik Roope's Teabuddy. I say make a coffeester and you're in business! And don't stop at that, take-out-the-garbage-buddy and in the Singapore context, dabao-ster!
Boing Boing reports, Space Needle to be converted to WiFi antenna : "Antennas and radio equipment are being installed 605 feet up at the top of the Space Needle and in four other spots around the city" and all they're getting is 5 square miles of coverage? That's like a 1.3 miles radius?
Boing Boing reports, Boy Scout badge in Intellectual Property : To earn this, the boy scouts were required to recite the following pledge (Ed: this is my creation)
I promise to do my best,
To do my duty the MPA and the Media Industry,
To snitch on all file-sharers,
And to love the IP law.
IHT reports, U.S. agency loses case in piracy battle : Somehow, I don't think the Eagle scouts will be following suit any time soon.
Russell Beattie Notebook reports, Posting at 35,000 Feet : I'm envious! Yes, Russell has all the bragging rights!
textually.org reports, Morse Code Still Beats SMS : With phones that come with push to talk, the morse code could jolly well be restored to its former glory!
MAKE reports, -- --- .-. ... . -... . .- - ... ... -- ... : The more accurate version of the previous story.
MedGadget reports, MaxSight: Performance-Enhancing Contact Lenses : So is this ok for sports? Imagine how it might improve the accuracy of Tiger Woods, David Beckham, Lebron James, Phil Taylor (darts) etc.

Technorati tag: YC Gadgets Teabuddy performance enhancing morse code SMS Beattie boy scouts IP space needle

Military News Round-up (May 10, 2005)

2005-05-10T16:00:00.000+08:00

Interesting military linklets:

Defense Tech reports, HILL RESEARCHERS VS. "FUTURE COMBAT" : The highly touted Future Combat Systems (FCS) is going to cost close to 500% more than its original bill of US$92B! Daily Wireless's write-up -- $450B Here, $450B There...
Washington Technology reports, DHS secure network was rushed IG says : "The $337 million network for sharing top-secret data was developed in a rush, and as a result is inadequate and does not meet the needs of its users". In other words, more money needed! The contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman Corp in April 2004.
GCN reports, NMCI management gets restructured : Well, at least the USN's house is in order.
Defense Tech reports, CURSE YOU, BLOGGERS! : "... She admitted, however, that they ‘still don’t know how to handle the bloggers ..." Oh, well, if you did things this way, it would be much easier no? :)
Defense Tech reports, EMP SCAREMONGERS FIZZLE : What do you mean Iran can't do it with an EMP? They did it in Ocean's Eleven!
asiansecurity.blog-city.com reports, Upgrading Hawaii : I wonder how Hawaii's economy will cope with this. Defense and tourism are the two biggest money generators there.
smh.com.au reports, Brigadier shocks and awes: there is no war on terrorism : "... populations were being cut off from their traditional roots, giving them "aspirations that cannot be immediately met", and fuelling a search for identity. Terrorists were exploiting local issues - such as ethnic wars - to pursue global ends. From a military point of view, the job was now one of counter-insurgency ..."
Defense Tech reports, LASER RELAYS FLASHING BACK? : It works, unless there's heavy cloud cover, strong winds, etc etc etc. Talk about fair weather technology. It needs more work!
textually.org reports, Student suspended after getting call from mom in Iraq and later, School Reduces Suspension Over Iraq Call : I can understand if they're schooling kids whose parents are based in Iraq. Isn't there a better way to do handle this? As their assistant principal said, the school serves Fort Benning. Come up with a better policy.
Network-Centric Advocacy writes, The U.S. Army Professional Writing Collection: Food for Thought : They did the post-war thing right after WWII. After that, well...

Technorati tag: YC Military Technology FCS NMCI EMP laser relays

Will STi geddit?

2005-05-10T11:27:00.000+08:00

The LA Times gets it [Boing Boing][Paid Content].

FULL MEMO:
TO: Times Employees
FROM: Rob Barrett, General Manager, latimes.com
SUBJECT: Latimes.com Debuts New Look

On Tuesday, latimes.com will debut a new look, new services and added utility as the first step of a yearlong initiative to improve and expand the website and make it a more powerful complement to the paper. Along with these changes, The Times will reintroduce free access to calendarlive.com.

Visitors to latimes.com will now find a wider, cleaner home page that includes "Pacific Time," a prominent home for Times stories that take the pulse of Southern California. The home page, which is lighter and loads faster on PCs, is also a one-stop online guide to all Los Angeles Times news, features and classifieds sections and content.

These initial changes will be effective at 5 a.m. PDT tomorrow.

I have faith that STi will geddit sooner or later. I mean (naughty dig) America is doing it, so Singapore will do it sooner or later! Bets are on. I'm laying down Blogshares $100 Million that it'll happen within 2 years!

Technorati tag: YC Singapore LATimes LA Times STi ST Straits Times paid content MSM

Adam Cohen on Bloggers and the MSM

2005-05-10T10:50:00.000+08:00

I read Cohen's column [IHT] with amusement. His "many [bloggers] have given little thought to what ethical rules should apply in their online world" followed by his preaching of "journalistic ethics" makes me wonder what he makes of the history and recent spate of journalistic boo-boos. Read my previous blog linklet on Howard Kutz's article, Ethics Pressure Squeezes a Few Out the Door. And see, another instance of shady MSM reporting -- Wired News reports, Wired News Releases Source Review -- the slap on MIT Tech Review Online's Michelle Delio/Michelle Finley.

To quote MIT TR when I tried to browse Delio's articles

Technology Review, Inc. has removed this story by Michelle Delio following an independent investigation that found seven of her stories had sources which could not be verified. While this particular story was found to be accurate, the company has decided to remove all of Delio's stories from the online archive because of the questions that have been raised in her other pieces.

Jason Pontin
Editor-in-Chief
Technology Review

Brad King
Web Editor
TechnologyReview.com

Until the journal-o-sphere cleans house, Adam's calls ring empty. Also, the blogosphere is highly self-regulatory. If someone is on the take, they would be outed real quick by the blogosphere.

Anyway, to be fair to the MSMs, all this hand wringing and defensiveness from the MSM on the blogosphere is their way of buying time in responding to change. The symptoms are so classic of the human behavior to change:

First there is DENIAL,
Then there is RESISTANCE,
Which is followed by EXPLORATION, and
Finally INTEGRATION.

Get some change management coaching MSMs!
Technorati tag: YC Blogosphere Blogging Blogger blogs Adam Cohen IHT change management Tech Review MIT Delio Finley MSM LSM

Singapore CEO blog

2005-05-09T17:53:00.000+08:00

I found Tan Kin Lian's (CEO of NTUC Income) blog through James's. It's good hear from the CEO's mouth even though it sounds press-statement-ish. Give him a little time James, I'm sure he'll lighten up like Cuban.

I noticed also that some comments were deleted. I wonder what his position is on comments deletion; it would do him good to learn from the David Gee episode if he doesn't have one yet.
Technorati tag: YC Singapore CEO NTUC Tan Kin Lian Blog

Coping with e-mail overload

2005-05-09T12:21:00.000+08:00

Stever Robbins has a good write-up on this. I can confidently say that I practice most of what is preached here. I still can't fathom how someone could possibly do this

Negative Forwarding Demonstration #1
To: Bill
Sue’s idea, described below, is great.

---
From: Sue
Hey, Abner:
Let’s take the new design and add sparkles around the border. Bill probably won’t mind; his design sense is so garish he’ll approve anything. [Ed: emphasis mine]

Postive Forwarding Demonstration #1
To: Bill
Sue’s idea, described below, is great.

---
From: Sue
Hey, Abner:
Let’s take the new design and add sparkles around the border…

And I love his novel idea of charging people by number of e-mails. Hey, do you expect anything less from a Harvard MBA? ;)

Found the link from David Brake's articles on Tips for managing e-mail in organizations. David also has a write-up on Dealing with e-mail.

Technorati tag: YC E-mail

Funnies Round-up (May 9, 2005)

2005-05-09T09:00:00.000+08:00

Funnies linklets:

BBC NEWS reports, Harry begins Sandhurst training : "Cadets are initially only allowed one photograph of their family although there are numerous pictures around the college of his grandmother - the Queen." Don't you just love British humor?
Dan Gillmor reports, Casting the Blog Movie (Or Getting Bloggers to Point to Your Page) : And in the Singapore blogosphere, Tay Ping Hui or Sheikh Haikel as Mr Brown, Pat Morita as Mr Miyagi, Kym Ng as Xiaxue, whats-her-name as Adri, Chew Chor Meng as James Seng. Who's next? :)
Tay Ping Hui as Mr Brown (mrbrown)
Sheikh Haikel as Mr Brown. This is a no-brainer, even the shirt is of the same color! (talentfactory.com.my, mrbrown)
Pat Morita (who has to dye his hair first) as Mr Miyagi (IMDB, miyagi)
Whatshername and Kym Ng as Adri (R) and Xiaxue (L) respectively (Mediacorp, mrbrown)
Chew Chor Meng as James Seng (Unofficial Fanclub, mrbrown)
ComingAnarchy.com reports, The Many Faces of Koizumi 2.0 : Koizumi-mania! I especially like the following (pictures from Nekofumi)
(Koizumi "Mr Toughguy" Eastwood)
(Koizumi the SNAG a-la GW style according to Coming Anarchy)
(Koizumi Jackson)

Technorati tag: YC Singapore Blogosphere koizumi Prince Harry Sandhurst MrBrown Xiaxue Adri Kym Ng Pat Morita Sheikh Haikel

Activist [fill in the blanks]

2005-05-09T00:28:00.000+08:00

Washington Post/AP wrote N.C. Church Kicks Out Members Who Do Not Support Bush:

Some in Pastor Chan Chandler's flock wish he had a little less zeal for the GOP.
Members of the small East Waynesville Baptist Church say Chandler led an effort to kick out congregants who did not support President Bush. Nine members were voted out at a Monday church meeting in this mountain town about 120 miles west of Charlotte. Forty others in the 400-member congregation resigned in protest.

Ok, first there were activist judges, now activist pastors. What next? Activist animals?

Technorati tag: YC activist

Amazon MP3 Round-up (May 8, 2005)

2005-05-08T22:05:00.000+08:00

Yes, it's legal and it's of decent quality too (128kbps, 160kbps). All you need to do is sign up to Amazon (no spam so far). Funkwit has kindly provided a feed of the latest free MP3 downloads here. And the latest songs that I've enjoyed:

Brother Henry: Two Old Friends
Sweetest Day: On My Way
Bona Roba: In the Cut (possible explicit lyrics, I couldn't tell with all the mumbling :-)
Michael Tolcher: Mission Responsible
Gary Pozner: Death to the Royals (soundtrack from The French Revolution)
The Perceptionists: Black Dialogue
Jason Moss: Love, After All

Technorati tag: YC MP3 Free Amazon

Bridge articles

2005-05-08T21:49:00.000+08:00

Frank Stewart of the Washington Post wrote:

"My partner's such a pessimist," a club player told me, "he'd expect bad news in a fortune cookie. But it was a good thing in this deal."

My friend showed me today's layout...

North dealer
Both sides vulnerable

NORTH
S A
H J 7 6 5 2
D A K 7 4 3
C 6 2

WEST
S Q 9 7 6 2
H A 4
D Q 10 6 5
C 8 5

EAST
S J 10 8 3
H K Q 9 8
D J
C J 10 9 7

SOUTH
S K 5 4
H 10 3
D 9 8 2
C A K Q 4 3

The bidding:
North East South West
1 H Pass 2 C Pass
2 D Pass 3 NT All Pass

The hand layout is so unreadable. Surely the Post could spare a few bucks to make it more readable like this or if budget is tight, like this at very least?

Technorati tag: YC Washington Post Bridge

Higher Ethical Standards in the Main Stream Media (MSM)

2005-05-08T11:26:00.000+08:00

Howard Kutz from the Washington Post wrote Ethics Pressure Squeezes a Few Out the Door:

Has journalism become an ethical cesspool, or just been forced to adopt greater standards of cleanliness?

In the past month alone, four reporters for major newspapers have been ousted, and a columnist was suspended, for ethical missteps. The drip-drip-drip of disclosures about sloppiness, fabrication and plagiarism have further eroded the media's reputation, leading to a one-strike-and-you're-out policy at many outlets...

...Media bosses are getting tougher on wayward staffers not just because of a greater sense of professionalism, but because outsiders -- led by bloggers and other critics -- have stepped up the pressure. In the Internet age, there's no rug under which to sweep these problems...

... When he was at the Milwaukee Journal in the 1970s, "there was one guy who just fabricated stuff," but "nobody knew outside the newsroom." As for the overall state of media ethics, "it may have been worse in those days, considering half the people in the newsroom were drunk." ... [Ed: Gaaaa!]

...Gannon doesn't deny advertising online as a $200-an-hour gay escort, but describes himself as the victim of "a full-scale jihad" by liberals. Vanity Fair says he falsely told friends he had been a Marine -- Gannon says he displayed military paraphernalia and "didn't disabuse anyone of that notion" -- and owes nearly $21,000 in back taxes. Gannon believes God bestowed a White House assignment on him so that he could atone for past transgressions, Vanity Fair says...

[Ed: Isn't faking military service an offense of sorts?]

In defending his name change, the man born as James Guckert says Jeff Gannon has a "nice ring to it -- like Wolf Blitzer, which isn't his real name either." Actually, Mr. Guckert, it is his real name.

I expect the pressure from bloggers and critics to affect not just the main stream media, but to other organizations like governments, companies, and even non-profits. More diligence and due process or be prepared to be exposed... badly. Sometimes, I wonder to myself if corrections were made to reports on the papers the next day, would the errata page amount to half the number of pages or more? :)

In the long run, I think this bodes well for society. More honest governments; companies which are more focused on long term sustainability rather than short term gains.

Note to self: This CopyURL extension is really neat. I created the links, blockquotes and what not in double quick time!

Technorati tag:YC Ethics MSM Media Blogosphere blogs gannon guckert Kutz Howard Kutz Washington Post

Commercial spam blogs

2005-05-08T00:46:00.000+08:00

While moderating Blogshares (latest online obsession), I came across a good number of supposed blogs which were nothing more than spams. Yes, they had entries and all but these entries were clearly bot generated. An example of a typical entry would go something like this.

om - Wedding Gifts, Wedding Dresses, Wedding Gowns,Find Everything You Need Wedding Planning.View over 35,000 photos: My Wedding Organizer - Wedding software to help organize and plan......click here for complete feature list ... Bookmark this page Since 1996 â The very best wedding planning, planner, invitation, software. Wedding Magic Wedding planning software, organizer, wedding plannerWedding planning software. Wedding Planning - wedding preparation, tips, plans, weddings Bridal...You've

What's more, I found a certain offending individual who, get this, had close to 250 blogs registered under blogger! This person is either getting serious referral money, a screwer of search engine rankings for $$$, or a CHEATYPANTS!

Technorati tag: YC blogspam spam cheatypants blogshares

Firefox tantrums

2005-05-07T23:59:00.000+08:00

Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done.

-- Andy Rooney

Firefox has been throwing tantrums. Due to some extension conflict or incompatibility with the upgraded version 1.0.3, Firefox opened up with no bookmark toolbar! The menu bar, while visible, was also not accessible. Oh the pain of struggling with it for over a day just to troubleshoot.

Anyway, I've trimmed my list of extensions down to the essentials.

Adblock
Add Bookmark Here
All-in-One Gestures (allows me to configure mouse gestures just like Opera [jlO])
CookieCuller
Copy URL + (great potential for blogging! I'm going to toy around with this)
miniT (again, allows me to drag the tabs around in any order I choose, jlO)
Paste and Go (jlO)
QuickNote (mini-notepad)
ReloadEvery (jlO)
Single Window (jlO)
Slim Extension List
Super DragAndGo (even better than Opera!)
Tabbrowser Preferences

So far so good.

Some superb commands I learnt for troubleshooting and testing new extensions

"C:\Program Files\[Fire Fox Directory]\firefox.exe" -profilemanager : Allows you to create a different profile to test extensions before using it in a deployment environment
"C:\Program Files\[Fire Fox Directory]\firefox.exe" -profilemanager -safe-mode : In case the extension causes Firefox to work funny like what happened to me, this command will disable all extensions and allow you to uninstall them

Technorati tag: YC Firefox Extensions

Changing the World

2005-05-07T23:43:00.000+08:00

When I was young, I set out to change the world.

When I grew a little older, I perceived that this was too ambitious so I set out to change my state.

This, too, I realized as I grew older was too ambitious, so I set out to change my town.

When I realized I could not even do this, I tried to change my family.

Now as an old man, I know that I should have started by changing myself.

If I had started with myself, maybe then I would have succeeded in changing my family, the town, or even the state— and who knows, maybe even the world!

Words of a Chassidic rabbi on his deathbed
(various sources)

Technorati tag: YC Change

Former President Wee Kim Wee passed away this morning

2005-05-02T12:32:00.000+08:00

ChannelNewsAsia, Obituary: Former Singapore President Wee Kim Wee, 1915 - 2005

Singapore's former President, Wee Kim Wee, has died at the age of 89.

Dr Wee, the country's president from 1985 to 1993, is best remembered for being a People's President and for his common touch...

...He became President in 1985, determined to make the Presidency as accessible as possible to ordinary Singaporeans.

His genuine concern for others and natural warmth touched many lives...

First heard it on the radio this morning.

Technorati tag: YC Singapore President Wee Kim Wee

Supporting tomorrow.sg

2005-05-02T00:49:00.000+08:00

Ok, this is my small effort in supporting Tomorrow.sg. My 80x15 banner of the tomorrow banners if you don't want the larger ones from tomorrow.sg. Just copy and paste the code into your blog.

To tomorrow.sg editors:
Feel free to load this up if you don't find it too ugly. :)

Technorati tag: YC Singapore 8015 Tomorrow.sg

Doppelganger

2005-05-01T16:04:00.000+08:00

I was reading Butt shot at CJ, from Wildfilms (link from Singapore Angle), when I noticed that there's someone who's signing off as YC [1][2][3] too! So I'd like to clarify that that YC and this YC are not related in case confusion arises.

Talk about seeing double. :)

Technorati tag: YC Singapore

Privacy and Security Round-up (May 1, 2005)

2005-05-01T10:52:00.000+08:00

Privacy and Security Linklets:

FCW reports, Cybersecurity office bill gains steam : Wasn't this what Richard Clarke was driving for the creation of a cybersecurity czar, the "assistant secretary for cybersecurity ... [who will] ... head the new office and coordinate protection of critical IT infrastructure in both the public and private sectors"? Lesson learnt -- it takes a long time for issues to surface through the bureacratic red tapes, slower still if you play hard ball.
FCW reports, Security group wants ideas : Good luck to them. If you don't control their budget or are prepared to slap heavy fines for non-compliance, it's not going to work.
The Register reports, Hushmail hit by DNS attack : Horrors for users who typed in their passphrase into the bait site! I never quite got my java to run properly with Hushmail.
The Register reports, Florida Uni on brown alert after hack attack : More college problems! Are the college CIOs or CSOs stinging on security? Wait, do they have a CIO or CSO to begin with?
The Register reports, Quantum crypto moves out of lab : The holy grail of crypto ... until something better comes along :)
The Register reports, Failing UK cyberdefences need overhaul : The Brits want to create a government cyber security czar too! Just like the Americans! This is long overdue...
Cnet reports, Group wants encryption ban overturned : Bans on encryption are a big pain for businesses trying to conduct commercial transactions online. I'm sure the governments will allow encrytion standards that they can decrypt easily. Secure yes? :)
Cnet reports, Scheme preys on people who mistype 'Google.com' : I just click on the bookmark.
SecurityFocus reports, Privacy watchdog warns job seekers to beware : Yes, job fraud (potential employer sells yoru information) and identity theft! Those with highly impressive resumes are supposedly more vulnerable. You have been warned.
SecurityFocus reports, Who will watch the watchers? : The blogosphere ...
BBC reports, Quantum leap in secure web video : They're using quantum cryptography. Great! But if it's so secure, that means you can't break it. If the governments can't break it, will they allow it? Catch 22.
IHT reports, Secure communications: Available, but not cheap : Secure mobile conversations, who'd have thought of that? :) But seriously, unless some big incident blows up in the face of the public (and no, I'm not talking about exploding Nokia batteries), the demand for secure mobile communications will probably be low, even if eavesdropping can done relatively easily [Cryptome].

Technorati tag:YC Privacy Security Cybersecurity Quantum Cryptography Cryptography Secure GSM Hushmail Cybersecurity Czar Encryption Job Seekers

End of innocence and Bob Marley

2005-05-01T10:33:00.000+08:00

Tomorrow.sg reports: Singapore Blogs: End of Innocence

Agagooga said:

Actually, I think that with the formation of a Boing-Boing-like community, Singaporean blogs have lost their innocence and maybe even some of their charm.

A growing segment of the Singaporean blogosphere - in absolute, even if not relative terms - now seems incestuously small, just like Singapore itself, and the Singaporean diaspora - at least the Singaporean student diaspora. Everyone links to everyone else, everyone trackbacks everyone else, everyone talks about everyone else and everyone reads everyone else, especially the same few heavyweights. Perhaps it's a fetishism by Singaporeans of all things Singaporean.

I don't know why, this coming of age reminds me of Bob Marley's Destiny.

Technorati tag: YC Singapore Agagooga Marley Bob Marley Destiny

Quotes of the Day

2005-05-01T01:13:00.000+08:00

Guy Kawasaki

From day one, Singaporeans have to think "international" because a population of three to four million people does not provide a large enough market. Israel proved that this can work. It has clearly created great technology that has been exported around the world. Israel has five million people, six million entrepreneurs, and fifteen million opinions. Singapore has five million people, six entrepreneurs, and one opinion.

If Israel can do it, why can't Singapore? It will take changes in social conventions. If Singaporeans are raised to think that the best people work in government, education and large companies, change will be slow. Singapore needs a few technology entrepreneur heroes - for instance Creative Technology's Sim Wong Hoo.

Lyndon B Johnson

If two men agree on everything, you may be sure that one of them is doing the thinking.

Abbie Hoffman

The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it.

Technorati tag: YC Singapore Quotes Lyndon Johnson LBJ Kawasaki Hoffman Innovation Israel

Now this is what I call a car mod!

2005-05-01T00:38:00.000+08:00

Engadget: The Acurabot

What, who doesn’t roll in an Acura with 28 video monitors, three DVD players, a TravelPilot navigation system, Sirius receiver, under-dash PS2, and two rearview cameras? Basically the only thing the Acurabot is missing is the ability to shoot surface-to-surface missiles and actually transform into a humanoid shape.

The Acurabot from Blaupunkt (pictures from Blaupunkt). The cockpit looks more sophisticated than that of modern fighter jets! I bet its sound payload is more potent too! Ha!

Technorati tag: YC cars blaupunkt acurabot

More fun with Google Maps

2005-04-30T12:17:00.000+08:00

Someone actually found an airstrip in Area 51!

Defense Tech: More Googlesat Fun

Defense Tech reader DS got himself a shout-out in Slate last week, after finding an airstrip out by Nevada's infamous Area 51 in Google's database of satellite pictures. So reader McZ decided to raise the stakes, and sent in to Defense Tech HQ a whole heap of "airfields and strange structures" he discovered in the Googlesat archives.

All these locations are generally in the same reservation as Groom Lake/Area 51," says JA, who, along with DS, was nice enough to take a gander at the pics for me. "Given that this was the location for a lot of the testing for the F117s and various other black craft, it makes sense to have local targets -- keeps you from having to fly over unsecure ground. But the lack of an identifiable golf course is highly suspicious for a supposed USAF facility."

(defensetech.org)

Defense Tech: Googlesat Mania Continues

It's been a week since Defense Tech reader DS dug through Google's archives of satellite pictures, and found a lonely airstrip out by Nevada's legendary Area 51. Apparently, you guys can't get enough of the pics. The tide of, um, interesting Googlesat images keeps pouring into Defense Tech HQ.

In honor of Passover, perhaps, reader DC uncovers this Hebraically-themed shape, carved out of the desert near Groom Lake. "It's a bombing target, set up to simulate a SAM [surface-to-air missile] or antiaircraft berm," says DS, examing U.S. Geological Survey diagrams. Strangely, the targets are often labelled with people's names. This one's called "David."

(defensetech.org)

Next thing you know, they'll catch someone goofing off at the golf course when they should be at work. :)

Technorati tag: YC Google Googlemap area51 Defensetech Defense Tech

Firefox: 50 million downloads and counting

2005-04-30T12:03:00.000+08:00

With real commemorative gold coins to go with that!

(spreadfirefox.com)

Other commemorative photos from spreadfirefox.com:

[Ed: Hey, I know certain places in Singapore that'll give you the same browned effect!]

[Ed: This needs work. Try flying a flag for better effect.]

Technorati tag: YC Firefox

Beer makes you clever

2005-04-30T00:31:00.000+08:00

The Register writes, Beer makes you clever: official

We already know that beer doesn't actually make you fat but rather fights cancer while promoting world peace and understanding and a brighter future for all our children.

It's no surprise then that we can now confirm what the super-intelligent if somehat wobbly hacks at Vulture Central have known for years: alcohol makes you cleverer.

That's to say, a Swedish team has shown that mice fed with moderate amounts of alcohol grew new nerve cells in the brain. The full implications of the Karolinska Institute research - which appears in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology - are unclear, but lead boffin Stefan Brene told the BBC: "We believe that the increased production of new nerve cells during moderate alcohol consumption can be important for the development of alcohol addiction and other long-term effects of alcohol on the brain."

Now we know how to counteract the effects of too many e-mails and too much blogging! Tiger beer please!

Technorati tag: YC Tiger Beer Alcohol Humor

Caricatures index blog!

2005-04-29T20:20:00.000+08:00

I found these gems and I've decided to start a caricature index. I'm not sure if caricature is the best word. If you have a better one, suggest it!

Fiction

Lord of the Rings: The original pervy hobbit fancier
Darth Vader: The Darth Side: Memoirs of a Monster

Religion

Pope Benedict XVI: Ask the Pope

Animals

Cow: Bovine Blog

I recall seeing one of Kim Jong Il a while back. The entries contain infantile dialogues between him and a world leader (e.g. GW Bush, Bush Sr, Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton etc). Anyone who has seen this, please send me the link!

Technorati tag: YC Humor Satire Caricature

Pu Zhiqiang

2005-04-29T19:25:00.000+08:00

Intrigued by EagleSpeak's post, It Starts with One Person Brave Enough to Tell the Truth, and the NYT article, China's Selective Memory, authored by Pu Zhiqiang.

I googled Zhiqiang and found this article from the Washington Post, In China, Turning the Law Into the People's Protector (Dec 28, 2004), which describes Zhiqiang's defense of 2 authors who were being sued by a Chinese party official for defamation.

Double wow!

Technorati tag: YC China defamation Pu Zhiqiang Pu

I always knew pigeons were over-rated

2005-04-28T20:28:00.000+08:00

Through Dan Gillmor, Ami's hilarious post, A New Israeli test confirms: PEI (Pigeon Enabled Internet) is FASTER then ADSL

"Never underestimate a pigeon carrying a memory card, hovering above your head, ready to download"-yossi vardi

Will B2B (Back to Pigeons) save an endangered technology? On Friday, March 12, 2004, a group of several dozen Internet addicts from Israel and abroad, gathered in the large grass field of the OHALO Center near the Sea of Galilee. The purpose of the gathering was to try and improve Wi-Fly - pigeon-empowered wireless internet and to confront this technology against ADSL. The participants sent 3 homing pigeons to 100 km distance, each carrying 20-22 tiny memory cards containing 1.3 GB, amounting in total of 4 GB of data...

[Ed: Take it from someone who hails from a country who acronymizes everything, B2B should be Back 2 Birds! This is so for the birds...]

(www.notes.co.il/benbasat/)

However, a year on from the pigeon trials, they find that Snails are faster than ADSL and pigeons!

"Never underestimate the data transfer rate of a snail on wheels"! - Y. Vardi (more laws at the end...)

Novel new data transfer system was launched recently in a unique experiment being held in KinnerNet 2005 camp (an Israeli internet camp , modeled after Tim Oreilly's Foo camp). The experiment conceived and run by a group of Israeli Internet addicts, including Yossi Vardi (former ICQ chairman), Shimon Schocken (computer scientist) and Ami Ben Bassat (science writer).

The system called SNAP (SNAil-based data transfer Protocol(, uses biological carriers, and, for the first time, taking advantages of the unique merits of the wheel for data transfer.

(Herbert Bishko)

I've always suspected Google's pigeonrank was inferior technology!

Snails rule!

Technorati tag: YC pigeon snail Humor

Tsunami Compensation

2005-04-28T19:44:00.000+08:00

BBC News: Anger over two rupee tsunami aid

Villagers in India's Andamans and Nicobar Islands have denounced 'paltry' tsunami compensation relief they have received from the local government.

One woman received a cheque of just two rupees (less than five US cents) for damage to her cashew nut crops.

But the islands' agriculture department says the compensation has been paid according to "objective reality".

And here's the cheque!

(BBC)

Talk about incompetence and bureaucracy! And almost unbelievable too. Why almost? My grandfather's family was paid a pittance for their farmland back in the 60s/70s when they were asked to make way for progress (we need to build more road, more flats, more housing!). It's no wonder he didn't trust lawyers... especially those who work for the government...

Technorati tag: YC tsunami relief compensation

When Blogs Bite Back [at MSM]

2005-04-27T21:27:00.000+08:00

Some choice quotes from Howard Kutz's Column, When Blogs Bite Back, on the Washington Post:

The rise of the blogosphere remains one of the most exciting communications developments in decades, giving ordinary folks the chance to bite back at a media establishment widely viewed as arrogant. It's little surprise that mainstream media types don't like being questioned, challenged and chided by critics typing from their basements and bedrooms...

"You want to pay attention to what legitimate critics are saying out there," Nagourney says. "In journalism, you screw up from time to time. But it's become so toxic -- attacks for the sake of attacks."...

Some journalists are unperturbed. CNN analyst Jeff Greenfield likes many blogs and doesn't much worry about "the baked-potato brains who say you're a media whore. . . . On the whole, I'm real happy to know there are a lot of people watching with the capacity to check me. I don't think that's chilling. It's just another incentive to get your facts right."...

As for "smear artists" on the Internet, Greenfield says, "the freedom that it gives anonymous twerps to spew out invective -- that they don't like the way you look or think you're an idiot or a child abuser -- that's just part of the process."...

Technorati tag: YC blogosphere blogging media MSM Washington Post Kutz

On IQs, e-mails, blogs and weed (revised)

2005-04-26T23:44:00.000+08:00

I've been told that my previous blog on the same topic is causing mental constipation by La Idler and Expat@Large. So here's the simplified version!

Statement 1
Scientists say that e-mails and other forms of office communictions causes you to lose 10 IQ points. Smoking weed, however, only causes your IQ to drop by 4 points.

Statement 2
I said, the average IQ for a human is 100. In UK, the national average IQ is 100; in Singapore, it's 104. In addition, I postulated that normal blogging causes a 10 point drop as well because it's just as distracting as e-mail. However, Singapore bloggers have to deduct 12 instead of 10 points because of the added infantilism.

Statement 3
Therefore, Singapore bloggers have an IQ of 82 (caused by e-mails and infantile blogging) and UK bloggers have an IQ of 80 (caused by e-mails and normal blogging). Why UK bloggers? Beats me. I guess I love their sense of humor. :)

But it really doesn't matter if you're a Singapore blogger, a UK blogger, or any other blogger. Chances are, us bloggers are only as smart as chimps!

(CSICOP)

Technorati tag: YC Singapore UK E-mail Humor blogger Blogosphere Infantile IQ Blogging

Cellphone, SMS, People Power

2005-04-25T18:01:00.000+08:00

NYT: A Hundred Cellphones Bloom, and Chinese Take to the Streets

BEIJING, April 24 - The thousands of people who poured onto the streets of China this month for the anti-Japanese protests that shook Asia were bound by nationalist anger but also by a more mundane fact: they are China's cellphone and computer generation.

For several weeks as the protests grew larger and more unruly, China banned almost all coverage in the state media. It hardly mattered. An underground conversation was raging via e-mail, text message and instant online messaging that inflamed public opinion and served as an organizing tool for protesters.

China protest march 2005; reminescent of People Power II in the Philippines in 2001 with how mobile communications helped to organize the masses.
Technorati tag: YC China Philippines SMS Mobile

Penguin Terrorists!

2005-04-24T19:40:00.000+08:00

Schneier: Airline Security Threat: Penguins

Airline Security Threat: Penguins
Two penguins going through airport security.

The suspects clearing security (from Denverchannel.com) before being frisked away in an unmarked van.

Photo A: The stowaway suspects...

Photo B: Walk, I mean waddle this way gentlemen.

Photo C: Easy, easy.

Photo D: Not so fast Mister.

Photo E: Your accomplice is carrying the same IED (Improvised Entertainment Device)

Photo F: Officer Kiddo apprehending the terrorist suspects
Technorati tag: YC Security Schneier Humor Penguins Seaworld San Diego

Steve Kerr's NBA playoff blog

2005-04-24T17:56:00.000+08:00

Yahoo! Sports: Playoff blog: First round

Yahoo! Sports' NBA analyst Steve Kerr makes his points on the postseason in his personal playoff blog.

SATURDAY, APRIL 23...

Steve,

Please get Yahoo to put in a proper newsfeed, permalinks and, if you don't mind being inundated with feedback from fans, a comments link as well. Also, a trackback link would be useful~~, in case you need to retract a statement or ammend some typo (Blasphemer!*)~~ in finding out who's writing about your blog.

*Click on the screenshot of your blog.

Technorati tag: YC NBA Kerr Steve Kerr

On IQs, e-mails, blogs and weed.

2005-04-24T16:34:00.000+08:00

Tickled by the blogs [1][2] on how IQ is affected by e-mails, blogs and weed, I decided to graph the IQ of the following people on a typical work day (and try out OpenOffice):

A normal blogger*, F'
A Singapore blogger, F''
A UK blogger, F'''

* F' is not visible on the graph as it's obscured by F'''. It may have something to do with the physical size of F''', but I can't be sure.

IQ against Time of the Day (Click on graph to see a larger picture):

Data set used (Again, click on the table to see details):

Note the red box highlighting the averaged IQ of Singapore bloggers (86.3) versus UK bloggers (84.2). Even with a net disadvantage of -22 IQ points for Singapore bloggers (with an extra 2 IQ points deducted due to infantilism when blogging, and hence conscious self-degradation of one's intelligence quotient) versus -20 IQ points for UK bloggers, Singapore bloggers still have a distinct 2.1 IQ point advantage. I leave the reader to draw your own conclusions.

To sum, it doesn't matter if you're an African swallow or a European swallow ... wait, wrong story. It doesn't matter if you're a Singapore blogger, UK blogger or any other blogger. Chances are, you probably have the IQ of a chimpanzee!

(CSICOP)

Note to self: OpenOffice 2.0's learning curve is steep! I need more practice!
Technorati tag: YC Singapore UK E-mail Humor blogger Blogosphere Infantile IQ OpenOffice Visualization Blogging

Thoughts on the CZ issue

2005-04-24T15:07:00.000+08:00

Singapore Ink: More CZ Reporting in the ST

Apologies for those thoroughly sick of the issue, but the ST reports on CZ again, in more detail this time...

No, I have nothing more to add on this. But I do have a little story to share. I'm getting a little old so if some of the details or names are wrong, someone please point them out to me.

Story has it that there was a business executive working in IBM who had blown a $10 million dollar deal and caused his business unit to miss its sales target. He laid the blame squarely on himself and promptly tendered his resignation. Andy Grove, who was then his boss, took one look at the letter and rejected it immediately. His explanation -- he had spent $10 million in training the executive and he could not afford to let him go.

Ok, fine. I have something to add. Why lose a talented individual who's repentent? Channel his abilities into the right areas to prove his worth - get him to work for MCYS or something?
Technorati tag: YC Singapore CZ Racism PSC IBM anecdote

Monsieur Brown: L'infantile terrible de Singapur

2005-04-23T18:47:00.000+08:00

L'infantile terrible,
originally uploaded by yckoh.

First spotted this on bloglines this morning. I'm surprised no one has blogged on it yet. Click on the picture to see the notes.

"The breaking of the ... breaking news." - Jon Stewart

Technorati tag: YC MrBrown Singapore Infantile

Free MP3s from Amazon

2005-04-22T23:54:00.000+08:00

The chain of referrals
(1) Joi Ito
(2) Boing Boing
(3) Ben
(4) Amazon

Download is really slow! I wonder if this is somehow related to the blogshares server going down. :(

Technorati tag: YC Joi amazon MP3 Free

extisp.icio.us

2005-04-22T23:32:00.000+08:00

Check out the cool visualizations of your del.icio.us bookmarks from extisp.icio.us. Here are 2 pictures of the visualizations for http://del.icio.us/yckoh. Pretty cool way of telling what catches one's attention. Just tag as many relevant tags to the articles or blogs that you read on del.icio.us, then run it through extisp.icio.us, and voila!

Technorati tag: YC extisp.icio.us del.icio.us Yahoo

Witty word plays

2005-04-22T22:38:00.000+08:00

Some witty play of words
(1) Papa Ratzi
(2) Kevlon
(3) Che Ney

Scroll down for spoilers

(1) Papa Ratzi: A word play on the words Papa, as in papabile or a cardinal who's favored to become the next Pope, and Ratzi--Pope Benedict XVI's former name--Joseph Ratzinger. Papa Ratzi, paparazzi. The nickname was coined by a German newspaper I think.

(2) Kevlon (from Almost Infamous): Makeup so thick it stops bullets. Kevlar Revlon.

(3) Che Ney: Dick Cheney, Vice-president of the USA. A word play on his last name and that of Che Guevera. Funny T-shirts created by www.t-shirthumor.com. See image below.

Technorati tag: YC Humor wordplay

Integrated Resort in Macau

2005-04-22T22:02:00.000+08:00

Integrated Resort in Macau,
originally uploaded by yckoh.

This was taken on my visit to Macau late last year. Now why would Stanley Ho call the Lisboa a casino? We all know it's called an integrated resort*.

Hindsight is so 100%!

*Well, he better if he wants to win the bids here!

Technorati tag: YC Singapore Macau IntegratedResort Integrated Resort IR Stanley Ho Casino Lisboa

Eenie, meenie, privacy, security, anonymity

2005-04-22T00:59:00.000+08:00

A little fear mongering if I may, from (1) the CZ Episode [Singapore Angle], a PSC scholar's private, password-protected blog is public fodder, for his racist comments which are out of character, to (2) US hospitals losing 185,000 votes of blokes [Register].

(3) LexisNexis axes 310,000 [WashPost], (4) Police sell hard drives on E-Bay [Register], ones that still had alarm plans. For hostage/kidnapping situations, as well as other security buggerations.

We also discover that (5) Feds hack Wireless Nets in 3 Minutes Flat [Slashdot], with 128 bit WEP encryption at that. Wired News spooks us with (6) what search sites know about you and me [Wired], and even the Vatican got caught up in the act, with (7) fears of spying during conclave [WashPost/AP] ; we all know that's passe now with the white smoke, the blue skies and the new Pope elect! My favorite browser, (8) Firefox, is not spared [SecurityFocus], and even good 'ol (9) blogs are sources of dread [Blog Herald]!

All in the last 21 days no less!

It's no wonder that Dan Gillmor wants to (10) instant message securely [Gillmor], and the EFF gives us the 101 of (11) Blogging Anonymously [EFF]. But I have serious doubts if that will hold true, as (12) encryption is not for the meek or for the non-geeks [Wired]!

But hark, what is that I hear? It's not a bird, it's not a plane, it's not the church bells from the Vatican city ringing again and again. It's the gnashing of the (13) policy teeth for U.S. cybercrime [Cnet] and the rattling of the (14) chains of Tougher Data Leak Laws [Cnet]. Hear ye, regulation is on the way!

(15) AIM is heeding Gillmor's call [Cnet], and (16) Visa, Mastercard and American Express are coming to the fore [Silicon.com]. (17) Two factor or not to factor [Schneier], that is not the question. (18) To Trade-off [Schneier/Economist] or not to trade-off; I fear, total privacy, security and anonymity is but an illusion, if thou art plugged into the nether of the internet cadaver.

Technorati tag: YC Singapore Privacy Security Communications Policy Lexisnexis Schneier Spying

Personal Finance

2005-04-21T17:57:00.000+08:00

A good write-up on what to ask your financial manager from Personal Finance Tips, Questions To Ask Your Financial Manager:

[Ed: some of the questions I'd ask mine]
2. How many years of experience do you have in offering financial planning advice? Presently, how many clients do you have?

4. What are your educational qualifications and what subject have you specialized in? How can I be sure that your lack of experience in the fluctuating market can be compensated with your educational degree?

6. Can you explain financial jargons in simple terms that I can understand? Can you also explain your investment approach and philosophy in simple terms?

9. What do you charge for your services? Do you work on a fee-only basis or a brokerage commission basis? Why?

12. How often do you re-evaluate your client’s financial portfolio? Will it be possible for you to provide me a quarterly assessment and advice regarding my financial portfolio?

13. Based on my needs and limitations, how do you plan to invest my money? Why do choose those investment options?

14. Have you ever filed for bankruptcy? Do you have any disciplinary action or complaints registered against you?

Another good read, Personal Finance for Dummies by Eric Tyson.

Technorati tag: YC Finance Personal Finance Mutual Funds

The sun'll come out ... Tomorrow ...

2005-04-21T07:30:00.001+08:00

It's all starting to take shape (No, I don't know what shape. The editors don't know either), the Singapore blogosphere is taking on Boing Boing, or so that's what Simon says (yes, stop groaning, the pun was intentional).

I've written about getting organised on Mar 1, 2005:

Perhaps Singapore bloggers would like to attempt to be online editors focusing on niche areas similar to ST's - trawl for news from various Singapore online news sources like *.gov.sg, CNA, Yahoo, Today and see what kind of "consolidation" we can achieve.

And Hui Chieh has also written about it:

The Blogs and Straits Times II (Draft) Mar 3, 2005
The Blogs and Straits Times Mar 2, 2005
Straits Times and the Blogs II Mar 1, 2005

So, it's a start! The Tomorrow.sg editors are also hard at work:

BTW, just thinking aloud here. Did Mr Brown come up with the name as friendly dig at his paper or was it an Annie-inspired moment? :)
Lyrics to Tomorrow:

The sun'll come out
Tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar
That tomorrow
There'll be sun!

Just thinkin' about
Tomorrow
Clears away the cobwebs,
And the sorrow
'Til there's none!

When I'm stuck a day
That's gray,
And lonely,
I just stick out my chin
And Grin,
And Say,
Oh!

The sun'll come out
Tomorrow
So ya gotta hang on
'Til tomorrow
Come what may
Tomorrow! Tomorrow!
I love ya Tomorrow!
You're always
A day
A way!

Technorati tag: YC Singapore Tomorrow Tomorrow.sg Blogosphere

Groklaw: New Section on Patents

2005-04-21T00:50:00.000+08:00

Groklaw has started a very exhaustive Patent Resource page. They've also posted a link to a 4 minute How Software Patents Actaually Work animated film by Gavin Hill. I love Gavin's representation of software pirates! Ha!

Technorati tag: YC patents Groklaw

Firms Paid TV's Tech Gurus To Promote Their Products

2005-04-21T00:11:00.000+08:00

WashPost: Firms Paid TV's Tech Gurus To Promote Their Products

Corey Greenberg, tech editor for NBC's "Today" show, appeared last July to praise Apple's iPod as "a great portable musical player . . . the coolest-looking one" and suggested a compatible device to "share your music with other people." "This is the way to go," he declared.

"Let's cut the Apple commercial here right now, okay?" co-host Matt Lauer interjected.

Lauer was onto something. Greenberg, an NBC contributor, confirmed yesterday that he has received payments from Apple as well as Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Seiko Epson, Creative Technology and Energizer Holdings, charging $15,000 apiece to talk up their products on news shows. The contracts were first disclosed by the Wall Street Journal.

Paid financial analysts, paid political media analysts, paid technology analysts, what next for favorable reviews? Anyone needs a blog analyst? ;)

Technorati tag:YC Analysts Paid iPod

del.icio.us hiccups

2005-04-20T22:49:00.000+08:00

What's going on these days? Blogger exhibited signs of instability a few weeks back, then bloglines had a minor fit, now del.icio.us! Just when I was about to bookmark the Bullfighter software I found through Daryl's blog!

Error message from del.icio.us, Apr 20 2005, 10:50 PM SST:

System error
error: no value sent for required parameter 'dbh'
context:
...
code stack: /www/del.icio.us/site/autohandler:43
/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm:134
/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:1069
/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:1068
/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:338
/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:338
/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:297
/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm:134
/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm:134
/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm:793
(eval 39):8
/dev/null:0
/dev/null:0
raw error

Technorati tag: YC Bullfighter Dsng Del.icio.us

On blogging

2005-04-20T21:18:00.000+08:00

Blog Herald: University of New Hampshire loses job over blog post

A University of New Hampshire journalism student has been fired from a his work-study job at the University’s public relations office and the student newspaper following comments he made on his blog about wishing to rape a local member of the feminist action league.

Deja vu? This guy has it worse. He has to face the wrath of 50% of the world's populace, including mother dearest! I'm being pedantic here but that Blog Herald title conjures rather odd images in my head -- how does a university lose its job?

Technorati tag:YC Singapore Blogging

American Standard Flushes 24 Golf Balls to Test New Kind of Toilet

2005-04-20T07:01:00.000+08:00

NYT: American Standard Flushes 24 Golf Balls to Test New Kind of Toilet

If you think that bathrooms are standardized, low-tech places, walk through American Standard's cavernous two-year-old design center.

In one room, 12 toilets are flushing as if under ghostly control; an electronic machine is pulling the virtual levers - and manipulating water temperature and pressure as well. In smaller rooms nearby, one man is alternately flushing cylinders of miso paste, wadded-up paper, and as many as 24 golf balls at a time, while another is inspecting different glazes on ceramic tiles.

I was laughing away wondering what they had for breakfast but I stopped when I realised that American Standards' bathroom and kitchen fixtures sales accounted for a quarter of their US$9.5 billion worth of revenue! Clearly Jack Sim, a lead advocate at the WTO (World Toilet Organisation), knows what he's doing!

Check out the interesting links and the Did You Know section.

Technorati tag: YC toilet Humor WTO

Bloglines down

2005-04-17T10:09:00.000+08:00

Just when I was in the middle of running through my feeds, this message and this plumber pops up! Yikes! Time of outage - Apr 17, 2005 10 am SST.

Hi,

I'm the Bloglines Plumber. Bloglines is down for a little fixer upper. We will be back by 10:00Pm Pacific Time tonight, Saturday April 16, 2005. Bloglines will be all better when I'm done with it.

Thanks,
The Bloglines Plumber

Technorati tag: YC Bloglines

BBC editor blog

2005-04-16T10:28:00.000+08:00

BBC Editor Blog,
originally uploaded by yckoh.

I thought I'd do a little investigating after reading about Mr Brown's interview with BBC. Unfortunately, BBC has not put anything up yet, but I found this little gem - their editor, Pete Clifton, blogs.

It's more "company-related" if you know what I mean. Wish they would put an RSS feed in the page instead of making readers jump through hoops to locate the right feed. But even as I speak, his blog isn't in their official list of newsfeeds yet. What? You mean Pete hasn't sought approval from his webmasters yet? For shame!
Technorati tag: YC Singapore BBC Clifton MrBrown Editor

Chinese Protest March

2005-04-15T23:53:00.000+08:00

China Herald: protest - A long march in Shanghai
China Herald
They've even got a map! Reminds me of the long route marches during National Service; hydrate yourself but not too much!

Blog tweaks in progress

2005-04-15T23:08:00.000+08:00

Keeping myself occupied over the weekend with some blog-related improvements. I haven't quite decided on using blogrolling or blogroll from bloglines. Del.icio.us is also on my agenda. I also have quite a few clippings to catch up on and go for a jog if the weather holds.
Technorati tag: YC blogroll
blogrolling bloglines Del.icio.us

Mystery Pink and Yellow Cows

2005-04-15T00:25:00.000+08:00

Anyone knows where the life-sized, two-dimensional (read flat) pink and yellow cardboard(?) cows along the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) came from and what they're for? I've seen them over the past 2 days. The first batch is lined up along PIE (heading towards Jurong) between Adam Road and Eng Neo. The other bunch appears along the exit to Stevens Road (PIE heading towards Changi).

I don't have a picture of them for obvious reasons -- I was driving!

jokefile
Technorati tag: YC Singapore Cows PIE

Opera for dummies

2005-04-14T23:16:00.000+08:00

Madeleine Begun Kane, Humor Columnist, Guide For The Opera Impaired -- Humorous How-To

There will inevitably come a day when some misanthrope, posing as a pal, drags you to The Opera. Don't panic ... unless Richard Wagner composed the opera, in which case playing dead will help you match the mood of the music.

But even if you have the relative good fortune to see an opera by one of the "i" composers -- Verdi, Rossini, or Puccini - - you will have to prepare for your ordeal...

I've taken the liberty of giving Madeleine's post a less euphemistic title! For those who intend to catch (or are coerced into catching) Madama Butterfly at the Esplanade (May 5-9) but have never been to an opera before, this article is a godsend!

WHAT'S GOING ON:

Chances are, the opera won't be in English. I know -- it's shocking. But even those relatively nice "i" composers had the audacity to favor Italian. (You know how rude and inconsiderate foreigners can be.)

Although this can make it tougher to know what's going on, there's no need to panic. Most opera companies thoughtfully provide translations in pamphlets called libretti. Not only do libretti provide helpful plot clues, but they can be tossed at the stage in the absence of fruit.

Additionally, many opera companies project English translations onto screens throughout the performance, providing a handy excuse not to look at the singers...

HOW TO SCORE BROWNIE POINTS:

[Ed: Very important! Think of these as "exam tips"!]

Your evening won't be complete unless you impress your date. To create the illusion that you are an educated opera buff, simply memorize these insightful observations: (Note: You needn't understand these comments. Nobody does.)
I've heard better high C's.
His vibrato sounded wide, don't you think?
Beethoven should have stuck to symphonies.
She's no Callas.
He's no Pavarotti.
Pavarotti's no Pavarotti.

HOW TO BEHAVE:

You're nearly ready for your opening act. Just master these etiquette rules and let the overture begin:
1. Singing along should be limited to the loud parts.
2. Yelling "Your voice stinks, you lousy bum!" is discouraged ... unless you're in Italy.
3. Using the conductor for target practice is frowned upon ... except by the musicians.
4. If you must chew gum, masticate in rhythm. [Ed: The only people who will be chewing gum here are those with dental problems!]

Technorati tag: YC Opera Singapore Esplanade butterfly Madama Butterfly Madeleine Kane

Sony Says Open to Avoiding DVD Format War

2005-04-13T23:32:00.000+08:00

Reuters: Sony Says Open to Avoiding DVD Format War

BORDEAUX, France (Reuters) - Sony Corp said on Wednesday it was open to discussions to create a single standard for the next generation of DVD discs, a move which could head off the looming threat of a major format war among the world's biggest technology companies.

"From the point of view to provide the best service to the consumer one format is better than two. We're open to discussions," Yukinori Kawauchi, general manager in charge of the next DVD format at Sony's Video Group, said in an interview.

But he added that specific proposals had yet to be tabled.

Sounds like a possible win-win situation IF they can arrive at a mutually agreeable solution. At stake, a "$10 billion-a-year DVD player and recorder market, and a similar-sized PC drive market". Learn to share or risk losing $5 billion a year.

This reminds me of another story -- why Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cells are 53 bytes. How did this happen? Well, the Europeans and Japanese wanted a 32 byte payload as it was more optimal for their networks but the Americans wanted a 64 byte payload because that was more optimal for theirs. The Comité Consultatif International Téléphonique et Télégraphique (CCITT), now known as the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication (ITU-T) Standardization Section, compromised and agreed on the 48 byte payload. A 5 byte header was considered of an appropriate size hence 53 bytes!

Technorati tag: YC Communications Sony DVD blu-ray ATM CCITT ITU-T

Walking Human-Shaped Robot Going on Sale

2005-04-12T22:57:00.000+08:00

AP: Walking Human-Shaped Robot Going on Sale

TOKYO (AP) -- A small walking man-shaped robot for home security and entertainment is going on sale in Japan for $5,450.

The 15-inch tall, 5.5 pound robot called nuvo from ZMP Inc. also comes in a fancier $8,200 version with the same functions and a design inspired by lacquer-ware painted on its body...

The link from AP to the Japanese site isn't working. Try this ZMP link instead. Meet Nuvo, e-Nuvo and Pino ver 2. Go to the actual links. They even have MPG files of these bots in action!

ZMP Inc.

My mini contribution to Engadget. :)

Technorati tag: YC Robots ZMP Nuvo e-nuvo Pino Engadget

Fun with Google Maps

2005-04-12T22:36:00.000+08:00

GoogleMaps Satellite View Real-World-Mix,
originally uploaded by kokogiak.

I found kokogiak's funny parody of Google Maps from the Map Room. MAKE has a good round-up of other neat Google Maps projects. I especially like this project. Google Sightseeing is also good fun if you want to know what the Seattle Space Needle, Mt St Helen, and the offices of Microsoft, Apple and Google look like from space.

I also tried searching for Area 51 and GMaps gave me a

Your search - "Area 51" - did not match any locations.

It's a conspiracy I tell you! :)

Technorati tag: YC Google googlemap Map