Archive for the ‘Rants’ Category
How to get free champagne (if you’re a guy)
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
Singapore Police Force has an official Facebook page!
Monday, April 13th, 2009My goodness, was I surprised when I got an SMS from the Singapore Police Force (SPF) saying:
You can now keep up with the latest crime trends and crime prevention tips by becoming a fan of Police's official Facebook page. Visit our Facebook page by clicking on the link at www.spf.gov.sg.
I had to read it several times to ensure I wasn't dreaming. And man, it's pretty professionally done! I wonder how big the team is that maintains the page.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Singapore-Singapore/Singapore-Police-Force/56706929407
But then again, coming from Singapore, I guess it was a "sooner-or-later". When is PSA going to follow suit? At least, for our charity related activities? I wonder.
Original post at garry blogs
Another quiz result on my facebook feed and I swear I will smash my screen
Monday, April 6th, 2009I understand the fun and amusement one can get from some of these quiz results, but why in the world are half of the entries in my facebook feed QUIZ RESULTS?
I use facebook to see what my friends are up to - new photos, new microblogs (status updates), new events, etc. These quiz results are totally irrelevant! One or two are funny, but not when you have to click and set "Hide all Which Marvel Superhero are you? results", and just when you're happy, more stupid quizzes pop out like little piglets - much, much more than you can click a mouse at:
- Which Secondary School do you come from?
- Which Little Nonya character are you?
- Which colour panties do you wear?
- Which species of cockroach are you?
- Which day are you going to bang your head on the wall and die from reading too many quiz results?
Someone save me - I need a "Hide all quiz results" option!
Original post at garry blogs
First official meeting of the Ouagadoudou Supper Club
Saturday, April 4th, 2009Posted on my blog for prosperity, courtesy of http://twcnomad.blogspot.com
The Ouagadougou Supper Club held its inaugural meet under this name yesterday, over cheesecake, chips, red wine, sparkling rose and a dubious white known simply as "Classic Australian White". Thought it was an amazingly fun and cool session and it would be interesting to keep a record of it. We can have a good laugh in a few years' time.
We began the session with an explanation as to the origins of the name, which is that of the capital of the West African country of Burkina Faso. Like Kathmandu and Timbuktu, an exotic name that is the expression of a faraway, exotic place. Nevertheless, the delegates were amused, a little scandalized when reminded that the inhabitants of Burkina Faso are known as Burkinabe, which sounds like an expletive in the Hokkien tongue. Attendees were also individually tested as to whether they could pronounced the word "Ouagadougou".
Over the next 4 hours, the group, over food and wine, indulged in discussions about a wide range of topics, including the following:
- the availability of free erotic movies in Russian hotels and nude news reporting on Russian TV
- the cold and seemingly rude Russian external image vs the warm, hospitable friendships one can establish with Russians which is an amazing contrast
- a member's coming journey to interestingly named Fak Fak regency of exotic and remote West Papua, Indonesia
- nude photography of Stone Age tribes of South Omo Valley, Ethiopia
- a critique of the Japanese movie "Departure" which recently won the Oscar Foreign Language movie award
- West African (distinctive, intimidating to beginners) vs Ugandan (soft-spoken, almost whispering) accents & a discussion over Ghanaian accents resemble Singaporean
- sea-sicknesses and gigantic waves: members shared experiences of waves in Southern Chile and the Galapagos
- the Gran Sabana region of Venezuela: a member enlightened us about this amazing region and its "energy-filled" crystals and "Lost World" tepuis (table-top mountains)
- island-hopping in the Caribbean
- the cerviches of Latin America and whether they resemble Japanese sashimis and Singaporean-Malaysian yusheng
- Han/Northern Chinese imperial expansion into Southern China and Vietnam and its impact on local languages and dialects
- difference between the Spanish spoken in Rio de la Plata (Argentina & Uruguay) region, Peru and Ecuador; and the experiences of speaking Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French in Latin America
- we deliberated over the unusual romantic phenomena between Philipino domestic workers and Balngladeshi workers in Singapore despite major cultural/physical differences; and why such a union is not found between PRC and Philipinos despite closer physical appearances. Lingistic differences is hypothesized as the key critical reason.
- brief discourse into Philipino and Singaporean accent
- we debated ferociously over issues relating to domestic workers in Singapore and the appalling condescending attitudes many Singaporeans have adopted towards their domestic helpers.
- attitudes of Singaporean employers towards pregnant staff and male citizens who have to serve National Service
- sharing of vicious border crossing experiences & Latin American robberies
- the origins of the Malagasy people and how similar they are to the Indonesians. A member also shared his experiences of rice and beef in Madagascar.
- the little-known issue of Malaysian illegal immigrants in Japan and the USA, and of members' experiences coming across these in the Caribbean island of Aruba
- nasty ethnic minority immigration officers at US and UK airports
Original post at garry blogs
The top 10, heck make that 20, highest paid politicians in the world!
Friday, April 3rd, 2009
There's this article over at Money Central about the Top 10 highest paid politicians in the world. I say it's bullshit. Read it for yourself and then may I remind you that Singapore easily swipes the top 20 spots!
As a commenter said, and I quote:
Your report on the 10 highest paid politicians in the world is grossly incorrect.
All other ministers: US$1.1 million - there are 15 ministers in the Singapore cabinet:
1. George Yeo
2.Mah Bow Tan
3. Lim Boon Heng
4. Lim Hng Kiang
5. Lim Swee Say
6. Yaccob Ibrahim
7. Khaw Boon Wan
8. Tharman Shanmugaratnam
9. Ng Eng Hen
10. Vivian Balakrisnan
11. Raymond Lim
12. K. Shanmugam
13. Gan Kim Yong
14. Lim Hwee Hua
15. Lui Tuck YewThere are already 7 Singapore politicians listed by Harry, plus another 15 Singapore politicians (ministers), leading to a total of 22 politicians with salaries over the US$1 million mark, and therefore the 10 highest paid politicians in the world belong to none other than Singapore.
The rest of the politicians in the world are nowhere even close to the salaries of the ministers in Singapore.
'nuff said.
Original post at garry blogs
Earth Hour 2009 - The Big Picture
Friday, April 3rd, 2009
via boston.com
This is quite an inspiring visual of how so many countries all over the world switched off their lights for one full hour during Earth Hour 2009.
Practical energy savings are perhaps not much, but look at what this one hour has done for awareness!
Good going!
Original post at garry blogs
Gmail knows when to admit its shortcomings
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
Recently was trying to upload an attachment in an email over a flaky attachment, and I got the error below. I had uploaded like 10/12Mb over an extremely slow connection, and naturally I was quite frustrated. But when I read this error, I ended up laughing…
Yes, the error was tooootallly lame, but yes, it was also true that Gmail started without much features and slowly became a close-to-enterprise grade web software that I can't live without today. So Google, you're forgiven, and I'll still be a strong supporter! 
Companies should take a pointer from Google to be forthcoming to its employees and customers. I tooootallly hate the whole PR PR thing!
Original post at garry blogs
What has my Mac solved for me?
Monday, March 30th, 2009I got asked by WeeKee @ http://weekee.posterous.com/not-cool-enough-for-a-mac a very simple question - What has my mac solved for me?
The quick answer is - I no longer smash my keyboard against the monitor in frustration… =) and i figure it saves me a few years of my life in the long run! haha..
But seriously, it's just the way it all just works. My life is so synchronized and organized, from the way iPhoto takes care of my photos, auto-tagging faces it recognizes, to iTunes syncing my music and movies into my iPod and iPhone, to my contacts being synced 5-ways at all times - laptop, desktop, web, iPhone, iPod. Ditto for my calendar.
And you need to see Quicksilver in action to see how much more productive it can make you… every 5 minutes here and there cuts away a few hours a week (or month). Someone asks me to send them an attachment. It takes me a total of about 5 seconds from the moment my fingers touch the keyboard to having a composed email with the file attached sent off to the receipent. It's efficiency redefined.
Not to mention that it doesn't hanggggggggggggg the way Windows does (and takes away an hour of my lifespan and a small piece chipped off my monitor and keyboard everytime it happens).
Also, not something everyone uses, but I love the fact that it's based on Unix. I can do whois, nslookup, etc etc all in 2 seconds, unlike going to the web and doing all the regular clicking around and taking 20-30 seconds just to do some stuff. And you get all the regular cronjobs, etc etc too - my mac polls all my regular anime sites for bittorrent downloads so it's all ready to watch when I'm back from work.
The possibilities are quite endless.
For the regular user, a mac can really help through the ease-of-use, but it really SHINES when a power-user makes full use of (1) it's superior user interface and scriptable features, (2) it's unix-based core, and (3) superior applications!
Ok, I think I have to justify (3). I think it's common knowledge enough that the Mac community in general as a demographic are more willing to spend on software and are more insistent on quality that is not just about a piece of software not hanging, but also user-interface, usability and innovation. This has led to much, much better quality software in the Mac arena as compared to Windows. Just look at all the crappy shareware and freeware around in Windows! On the contrary, Mac software tend to be more well-rounded, and not just focused on features, features, features (ending up in bloatware), but also on the holistic user experience. I just love that.
Well, I've ranted enough. But that said, I am, for the first time, looking forward to the release of Windows 7. There's enough hype that Microsoft has finally copied enough of Apple's stuff (hehe) to make a decent-performing OS. It might just be my first Windows box in a long time 
Original post at garry blogs
4 officers shot dead in Oakland
Monday, March 30th, 2009
via nytimes.com
Used to go kiteboarding in Oakland back in the days when I was in Silicon Valley. Recall it always seemed like a slightly messy place (compared to the much tamer Sunnyvale or Mountain View where most of the startups were based).
Then, I always wonder why the police officers were so darn tense and rude and all-high-and-mighty whenever they pulled someone (actually, me, haha) over. I guess like this officer says:
“When you stop someone, you just never know who is in the car,” he said. “It could be that you stop someone with a license that needs to be renewed and they have an assault rifle. You just can’t know.”
Scary job indeed. I can’t say I like the police officers in the US a lot, but they sure do a much needed job. I just wish they were a lot nicer than they are.
To these poor men who perished in the line of duty, rest in peace.
Original post at garry blogs
