[The day the Internet died...]
Have a lot of bits and pieces of things to say, thought I'd try out this new way.
Due to the earthquake in Taiwan, my Internet has been uncooperative since yesterday. Something like this really can't be helped, and just shows how dependent we are on a few underwater cables. As of this moment, I am still unable to access some of my email accounts.
What I'm really miffed about is the way Singnet (my ISP) has been handling the fallout. A Starhub user said yesterday evening that most of his connections had been restored, and that surfing was just like any other normal day. Another guy with both Singnet and Starhub connections tried them both out, and the clear winner was Starhub. I thought that was weird. Didn't Singnet own all the...ahem..."infrastructure"?
But the problems brought on by the earthquake aside, I have been unhappy with Singnet for a while. I have the strangest problem when I surf the web. It all boils down to the proxy server. Nowadays, we no longer have to specify the proxy server to use in our browsers. It's all "transparent", so much that some of the people I talked to told me that they thought proxy servers were only for dial-up connections. I guess they came to that conclusion because in the past (the age of dial-up) we had to specify the proxy servers manually.
But I digress. If I surf without the proxy server, I get problems when I access certain sites. A CSS or JS file on Soccernet won't load, so the MouseOver menus were all opened up. I had to scroll down all the way to access the news. Images on BlogSpot and eBay won't load, and refreshing doesn't help. I can't access some sites completely, like MediaFire, without using the proxy server. All I got when I tried to was an empty HTML page, with empty HTML and BODY tags. Overall, the speed was slower too.
When I use the proxy server, all the problems above go away. Yay? No....Because I could only have a maximum of four connections to the proxy server. Say I'm downloading four files simultaneously...That would be it. No more connections for me. No pages would load, no more files would download. And sometimes, the proxy server seems to "take a nap". To be totally unresponsive for a while. I usually switch to no-proxy during this time and switch back after the proxy server "woke up".
I posted the above to the local forums. A few people suffered from the same problems, but most of they didn't (my guess, since I got very few replies). Guess I would have to live with it....For now.
I went and got the results of my blood and urine test today. I go for an annual medical, and compared to last year, my health has improved. Yay me! But there were still some areas to work on. Food that taste good are never good for you.
There are some lift-upgrading works going on around my estate. One of the bags of cement they used had the funniest name. It's called Cock's Head, with a picture of a rooster's head on the bag. I couldn't take a picture because my phone's battery was low. But seriously, Cock's Head? I can't remember what is was...Concrete or cement. Cock's Head Concrete....Cock's Head Cement. Doesn't matter, they both sound wrong.
CORS is down again. For the first time, I'm actually not anxious about the bidding. I haven't completely decided how many modules to take as well, which is a first for me. I usually have everything planned out bright and early.
Finally bought a UPS for my computer. I've been meaning to get one for the longest time, and I finally did it on the 26th. It's an APC UPS, BE500R-AS. It's probably the lowest-grade UPS among APC's offerings. Whatever, it's just for one home computer. No fancy features like auto-shutdown or overload bypass (which would be a good feature to have, to be honest). Basically, it's a 5kg, S$77 giant battery. If the power goes out, only my tower, LCD and speakers (there were 3 outlets, so what the hell) would continue to run. Printer/scanner/modem/router would be dead.
I tried it out last night, after charging it for 24 hours. I turned the power off while watching Lost and running AutoGK (which uses a lot of CPU cycles and forces my CPU to go up to max power) in the background. It lasted 8 and a half minutes before the low battery warning kicked in. Not too shabby.
The funny thing is, the max output of the BE500R-AS was 300 watts. My HEC PSU is rated at 480 watts. Anyhow, I think we've all be duped, because while searching for information on UPS(es), I found a forum post by this guy who said his UPS reported that his rig was drawing only 91 watts. If that's the case, why do we need such a powerful PSU for? I don't know...But heck, if the UPS' overload warning hasn't sounded by now, it probably won't.
[Merry Christmas!]
Things has been slow of late. Haven't really done anything, and I don't celebrate Christmas.
I finally installed Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. I got this game more than 2-years ago, but was unable to play it on my system back then. My new system is finally fast enough to handle the game. Started playing last night, which went fine. This morning, I got one of the worst giddy spells ever after playing it. Guess I'm not used to the speed of the FPS-styled game yet.
Round 0 begins tomorrow, and I have yet to decide how many modules to take this coming semester. I have 2 more semesters to go, so 2007 would be my final year. As much as I bitched about being the "different" batch in the past (matriculating in semester 2, unlike everyone else), I realised there are some benefits to it. It's easier to find people to interview during the May-July period for my HYP. And I graduate in Oct/Nov. Many people quit their jobs around this time, after getting their bonuses. So more openings for me! (in theory, anyway)
[Adoption for idiots...]
I went to the library today. They've changed their OPAC system. It used to be different, now it's the same interface that you use when you access the OPAC from home. I'm not too sure how this is different, back-end wise, but a lot of them in the library were down today, most of them because they couldn't get an IP from the DHCP server. Go figure.
I saw this book which I thought was funny:
Really, should idiots be allowed to adopt? (Yes, it's part of the series. It's not funny anymore if you overthink it.)
Came across an aquarium magazine:
The February 2007 edition. Wow...Talk about being prepared for the future.
[Keep on keepin' on...]
Like most other people during the school term, I couldn't wait for the holidays to begin. And during the holidays, I wished for the school term to begin.
On the whole, I'm satisfied with how things went in school this year. I pulled my CAP up in the first semester of this year, and maintained it at the same level this past semester. Yeah, the results were not officially released yet, but it was leaked (just like the previous time) and I already know my results.
The next calendar year would be my last year in NUS. I'd be working on my HYP throughout. In fact, I tried to arrange a meeting with my supervisor to discuss getting started and I think he was kinda surprised at that. He didn't expect me to want to start this early I think. Oh well....I'm writing a thesis for 12 MCs, I think it's better to work consistently on it rather than to rush through it during the final 3 months. Yes, there are people who do that.
All the things we said we would do during the holidays...We haven't done any of it. Ironically, I've spent more time with old friends than with those in NUS thus far. The weather is partly to blame. I don't think any of us would entertain the thought of going cycling on Ubin or going to the (sorry excuse for a) beach with the weather the way it's been for the last few days.
The bidding for next semester's modules begin on the 26th. I haven't really planned my modules yet. I roughly know what I'm going to take, but I haven't seen the module listing for the next semester. Guess I'll do so over the weekend.
This may be too early for one of those end-of-year-taking-stock entries, but the way this entry went, it sure sounds like one. This year kinda sucked. Hopefully the next year would be better. Hope...Even when you've got nothing left, you can still hope. You can only hope.
[Cherries!]
I tore down my planted tank recently. It was getting to be too much of a bother, and try as I might, I couldn't get everything right. Looking at fishes was supposed to be relaxing, but it was becoming a source of stress for me.
After I tore down my planted tank, I started a shrimp-only tank. I have kept cherry shrimps before in the past, with great success. They reproduce like crazy when the conditions were right.
Here's a group of them munching on a piece of algae wafer.
And the group behind them.
These two shrimplets' colour has yet to show. To be perfectly honest, the colours of the cherries in my tank are not as red as I'd have hoped. Their colours were even worse before, when I kept them in the living room. They were mostly pink due to the high water temperature. The temperature of the water in the tank in my room (where they are now) is a lot lower because I turn on the air-conditioning at night. Hence on the whole, their colour has improved.
And as I looked through the shrimps, I saw only one pregnant female. That's a cause for concern...More of them should be carrying eggs. It would really suck if, for some reason, they would not reproduce in my tank. They did like crazy the last time I kept them, I hope they do so again. There's nothing nicer than a carpet of red cherry shrimps on white pebbles.
["Pole dancing"]
Went to Botak Jones for dinner with two primary school friends earlier. Eddie from Botak Jones actually talked to us when he collected our plates and asked our opinions about the food and chatted a bit about other things.
On our way back, we took the train, and encountered an inconsiderate person.
We got on the train at the same station. She was right in front of us. She walked in and leaned onto the pole just as we were about to grab it. I don't know why people still persist in such inconsiderate behaviour on public transport when such behaviour has already been highlighted in mainstream media. I believe they coined the term "pole dancer" for this particular behaviour.
[In TODAY's news...]
A reporter from TODAY asked me about my comments regarding the stabbing video yesterday. If anyone from Pharos is reading this, that was the reason why I was late.
Anyway, his article is on page four if anyone is interested. You can read the PDF version from the link above.
[De Cock...]
You never know what you'll find in the papers.
Recently a study showed that circumcised men were less likely to get HIV. I'm pretty sure another study next year or so will say that circumcision have nothing to do with the chances of getting HIV, but we'll just have to wait and see.
The funny part is in the article. Here are two snippets:
Com'on...You must have laughed or at the very least found it funny/ironic. A guy named "De Cock" in charge of the HIV/Aids department?
[Western lawns!]
On Friday night, someone made a post on a local forum about a mistake on Crumpler's website. They copied their online storefront from their US branch, and all they changed was the US$, to S$. This resulted in a huge discount across the board. Western lawns, which are sold for S$95 in the Crumpler retail outlets were sold for only S$54 online.
I bought a western lawn for myself, plus a shoulder pad. My sister bought the same for herself and another set for her boyfriend. It was good deal, with a total discount of 42.4%.
As far as I know, this was the third case of wrong pricing on a website. The first time it happened, a precedent was set (legally, that is). The courts ruled that if the customers knew of the mistake, the purchases they made were not in good faith and the e-retailer did not have to honour the purchases.
However, far-sighted business are usually not concerned about their bottom line in the short run (making less money now due to the mistake). They know it's more important that they handle such situations carefully and that their reputations be protected (you'll never get rid of a bad rep). Singtel and now Crumpler both honoured the purchases their customers made when the pricing was wrong, even though the customers knew about it and if the matter was brought before a judge, he or she was likely to rule in the e-retailer's favour due to the precedent.
Hats off to the people at Crumpler for making this happen, for calling up their customers one by one to inform them that the colour they selected were out of stock, for allowing them to select a different colour. Thumbs down to the idiots who sent not-so-nice emails to Crumpler on Saturday, before they announced that they would be honouring all the purchases, with threats of legal action (they were really morons, since Crumpler was in a MUCH stronger legal position than they were). Thumbs down to the same idiots who claimed to have placed orders when they did not. Thumbs down to those who were unwilling to accept a different colour when the one they selected was out of stock (and therefore causing more problems for Crumpler).
How would the day be complete without inconsiderate people on public transport? Look at this guy seated in front of me on the bus. I was on my way down to collect the bags with my sister. Seems fine, doesn't he?
Nope...Look at his foot. He's extended his foot into an area not meant for him. How's anyone to sit on the outer seat with his foot dangling in the air?
All the same, the guy above wasn't that bad. This old man in the pictures below is the champion for the day.
Hey...Wait a minute, isn't that a pair of feet on that seat?
Yup. My sister called this picture the money shot. She was seated elsewhere and could not capture this guy in his full glory. I was seated at the correct angle to take this "money shot". This is just gross. Why is it that so many older men like to sit this way? It's one thing to sit like this at the coffee-shop at your void deck. It's another to sit this way on the bus. Suffer the poor soul to sit on that seat next.
[Stabbing in broad daylight...]
Keith pointed me to this video on YouTube. It's quite graphic, so be forewarned.
This sort of thing doesn't happen often in Singapore. According to the person who uploaded the video, both the stabber and the victim were from PRC. Basically, it's your classic boy-meets-girl, girl-ignores-boy, boy-stabs-girl scenario.
When you import foreign "talent" (using the word very loosely here), you import the problems that come with them as well.
Added on Saturday, December 16th, 1:22AM: This entry of mine received a lot more attention than usual because it was linked from Tomorrow.sg. I think the whole thing has been blown out of proportion and what I meant has been misunderstood. I shall try to clarify what I meant and what my original intentions were. The points I wish to address can be classified into two main parts. The content of the blog post, specifically the last paragraph/sentence, as well as the contents of the video itself.
The blog post It seems that many people misunderstood and took offense to what I said about the importing of foreign talent as well as the problems that came with it. I meant it in the context of what happened - the man stabbing the lady in public. There was certainly a problem with the man in question for him to do what he did. At no time did I mean to imply that all foreigners (PRC or otherwise) bring crime or social unrest with them as they enter Singapore. Crimes are committed by all sorts of people, regardless of nationality. I'm still not entirely sure why anyone made a link from what I wrote to xenophobia, but I re-state my original intention was only to reference what happened in the video. This entry has everything to do about what happened, and nothing to do about race or nationality.
The video It has been brought to my attention that under the Film Act, it is an offense to distribute any video deemed to be offensive.
First of all, I would like to state for the record that the video itself was not originally uploaded by myself. It was uploaded by someone I don't know onto Youtube, and a friend of mine pointed it out to me. The purpose of me linking to it was certainly not to offend anyone. My intention was to let people know that something like this has, and can, happen in Singapore. Low crime doesn't mean no crime, remember? The video was shot from a distance away and not close up. Most of it was not very clear. Admittedly, the bloodstains were clearly captured on the video.
Secondly, should this video be deemed by the relevant authorities to be offensive, or should this video be police evidence of some kind (I was told that the man in the video was jailed for 8 months), I can be reached at i.am.locksley@gmail.com, and I will remove the video at once without hesitation. As I said earlier, my intention in linking the video from Youtube was to inform people about the seriousness (who would expect something like this to happen in Singapore?) of the incident (I later learnt that it was reported in the newspapers, but the original report skipped my eye), and not to challenge the law in any way. I understand that there isn't really a clear definition for what is deemed to be offensive under the Films Act. My personal opinion is that the video, while graphic, is not as offensive as a lot of other materials available on the Internet today.
Lastly, I would not be responding to the comments made before this addition, because I think I have clarified my stand. In any case, I did not think it would be worth my time to respond to remarks made by individuals who chose to use vulgarities to get their point across. This entry was meant to highlight what happened, and not to target anyone based on race or nationality. If the visitors to this blog continue to make out the entry to be one based on race/nationality, I may have to think about deleting comments.
[Catching up...]
Met some friends from poly/work/Army for dinner today. Singapore is a small country, hence the same people (some of them, anyway) were able to share all the three stages of my life with me.
Had the beef pepper rice at Pepper Lunch. It was good, but not as good as the time I went with Subby and had a bite of his. Some of the beef has already started cooking as I was taking the picture, turning from red to brown/grey. It was kinda weird...The people at Pepper Lunch kept shouting "terima kasih", which meant "thank you" in Malay. Isn't Pepper Lunch supposed to be Japanese?
Cute girl cashier working at the video shop opposite Pepper Lunch. When there weren't any customers, she went outside to watch the drama she probably played herself on the DVD player. I thought she was kinda cute.
After we were done at Pepper Lunch, we headed down to TCC and I ordered an Oreo milkshake which I forgot to take a photo of. I did remember to take one of the wedges we shared.
One of the wedges ended up on the floor when the waitress delivered it. I forgot why, but we arrived at the conclusion that Cindy was supposed to eat it. She didn't though. Spoil-sport.
Found the above sticker pasted on some weird looking equipment in Park Mall. It has got to be the most elaborate warning sticker involving stick-men that I've ever seen. I guess a picture tells a thousand words...And gave me a few sniggers.
How could the day be complete without meeting some inconsiderate people on public transport? The bus was packed, and Cindy was standing next to me when the two people in the seats in front of me alighted. Personally, I would never take a seat in such a situation (a packed bus) if there were ladies or elderly people standing near me, even if I were the closest one to the newly-emptied seat. I would give them first shot at the seat, and take it only if it was apparent after a while that they were not interested. How can anyone (a healthy male) feel good about snatching a seat from a lady in heels, much less an elderly person?
Unfortunately, the two guys in the photo above did not share my sentiments. They took the seats immediately, and mind you, since I was standing directly in front of the seats, the two of them had to pull off some skillful moves (you know what I mean) to get the seats. The one on the inside actually squeezed past Cindy and in the process stepped on her foot. This, despite me asking Cindy to take the seat, loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. The best thing was when Cindy complained to me about Mr My-Ass-Is-So-Big-I'm-Tired-From-Carrying-It-Around-And-I-Wanna-Sit stepping on her foot: He heard it and gave her and me a cold stare. Dude, what the fuck? You want an award for being a turd or something?
Some of you may know about Crumpler's boo-boo recently. As far as I knew, this was the third case of an online retailer posting the wrong prices in Singapore. For the first time, I was on hand to "take advantage" of the situation. I ordered three western lawns (only one is for me, I'm not profiting!) and will be picking them up tomorrow (actually today, since it's past midnight). I could have picked them up today if not for me having to change my order slightly because the colours I wanted were out of stock. Anyway, I saw a lady with two big Crumpler plastic bags waiting for a bus today. She's probably one of those who placed an order too. I'll probably blog about the bags in greater detail after I pick them up. It's times like this when you see the good and the bad about people.
[To be free...]
This already appeared on Poblem Engrish, but I'm writing about it anyway.
Bought something from Old Chang Kee today. They put it in this little paper bag, and the words behind were funny to say the least. A stick that's full of taste and laughter. Hahaha!
Saw this book in the library. Written by Dr. Chee Soon Juan. Kinda ironic that it's called "To Be Free", considering where he is right now.
[Worst headache ever...]
Last night was the first time in my life where I was kept awake the whole night due to a headache. Okay, I wasn't really "keep awake", but I didn't manage to fall into deep sleep due to the dull ache behind my left ear. Even the knowledge that Man United thumped Benfica while I was "sleeping" didn't help.
I took two Panadols when I woke up. Haven't felt the ache anymore ever since they kicked in, let's hope it stays that way.
I helped my sister format her laptop today. After which, came the insane, mind-numbing, wanna-kill-myself process of installing everything back. At least I won't need to install EVERYTHING for her. She can install her own software, but I had to install the drivers, anti-virus and some of the other more "sophisticated" programs for her.
The other time I did that was when the laptop first arrived. It's a Dell machine, and despite all their good press (as well as all the case studies we did about them in school), I was disappointed. They loaded up the laptop with so much crap that it was in a "lockdown" mode and I could not even get Internet access going on the machine. I formatted the machine, but for some reason, I couldn't get some of the components to work after that. I installed all the drivers, but they just didn't work.
It was better this time round. I installed all the right drivers the first time round (Dell showed a LOT of drivers for the laptop, most of which had nothing to do with it). And I finally got file sharing to work between my machine and the laptop. It didn't work before, because in my just-to-be-safe mode of mind before we acquired the laptop, I disabled all the file sharing protocols and stuff. And when we bought the laptop, I could not re-enable all the stuff I disabled. But since I acquired my new rig in September, I was careful to stick with most of the default options.
That's it for now. Dinner time, after which, it's back to the laptop...
[Botak Jones!]
Subby and I have been talking about going to Botak Jones for a while, and we finally did it today with Alfred. I ordered the Cajun Chicken. The serving was HUGE! Well, actually the serving of fries was huge. Everything else was manageable.
I didn't think I could finish it all.
I was wrong. *burp*
Incidentally, I had lunch at McDonald's with my sister yesterday. I couldn't finish my McSpicy Meal! First time ever. And I had breakfast at 6:30am. I don't know what happened. I was already hungry halfway through my paper. My sister was...Surprised. I left behind a whole bunch of fries. Today it's my turn to be surprised as I didn't know I could finish that huge heap of fries.
[World-class...]
Took this picture today on the bus.
It's a baby cockroach. That's our "world-class transport system" for you. The fares keep raising, and more "passengers" are catered for. The thing about baby cockroaches is...That there is a Mama cockroach, and probably a Daddy cockroach. If that's not bad enough, there's still junior's siblings.
Finished my last paper for this semester today. Whoo hoo! Time to unwind and get some R&R in before the next semester starts in about a month's time.
[Learning is impossible...]
In 12 hours and 20 minutes from now, I would have finished all my exams for this semester. I was looking through my notes for my PH paper tomorrow, and came across this slide on Meno:
Meno's Silly Little Sophistical Argument: Premise1: With regard to everything, either you know it already or you don’t. Premise2: If you know it already, then you can’t learn it (since you can’t learn what you already know.) Premise3: If you don’t know it already, in which case you won’t be able to find it (i.e. learn it) because you won’t be able to recognize it when you see it. Conclusion: Learning is impossible.
[4 down, 1 more to go...]
FNA exam today sucked. I found it pretty difficult. It took me about 40 minutes to complete the 10 MCQ questions. And I did the last short-answer question wrongly. I knew I was wrong, but I didn't know where I was wrong. Shit. Memories of EC1301 came rushing back in that instant. The thing is, we were taught the "low-level" stuff, but we were asked the "high-level" stuff which requires a holistic view of everything. That's what messed me up.
Tore down my aquarium today. That's right. No more planted tank for me. It was just too much of a bother, and I'm constantly battling algae problems. Some plants also refuse to grow well. It's not fun anymore. Going back to my old setup, with a very thin layer of gravel. I once had a lot of gravel, dirt got stuck, and water turned green. Unpleasant. I'm keeping the layer of gravel thin, so I could stir it up and siphon out the dirt regularly.
My back now aches like crazy from carrying all that water to and fro. Turning in bed tonight is going to be a bitch....
Broken for now. :( If anyone knows of a good way to display tweets without using Twitter's awful looking widgets, please let me know. Preferably something that allows me to retrieve my tweets in plain-text format.
What's this about?
Anything and everything under the sun. I write about my day, my thoughts, things I see in public, things to get off my chest, or sometimes just some senseless rants that make sense only to me.
About Me
30 year old male. Always with too many ideas in his head and too little time. For my 15 minutes of fame, I want to be a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman.
Interests
Movies, TV, cycling, computers, planted tanks, cherry shrimps, P2P legal issues, Manchester United, WWE, TNA, UFC, etc...
Disclaimer
Best viewed @ 1280*1024 or above. Views are expressed are mine and mine only, and are not meant to offend or influence anyone. Designed for readers with a sense of humour. If you can't laugh at yourself, you probably won't like my style of humour.
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But since I acquired my new rig in September, I was careful to stick with most of the default options.
