It’s my LIFE!

Firstly, I’d like to say that Dragon Age: Origins is a game with an incredibly great storyline, detailed and great characters (each with unique story/sidequest behind them), and also, many exciting battles as you play through the game.

On top of that, there are amazing dialogue & voice acting on the main story/quest, which makes the game more exciting and bring the characters to life. The “world” that you’re going to play in rather huge (with many sub maps), which makes it a rich fantasy world filled with interesting & unique cities designed in detail.

With Dragon Age’s plot in the land of Ferelden, its residents are under threat from the impending invasion of a horde of demonic creatures from the south, called the “Darkspawn“. Your short-term mission is to join the ranks of “The Grey Wardens“; whom are basically the ‘Interpol’ of Ferelden, tasked with defending the regions of the land from this ancient threat.

Ferelden is a colorful and fascinating kingdom that takes enough cues from well-known fantasy tropes to be familiar, but bends enough conventions to feel original. Dragon Age features dwarves, but their caste-based society and the social paragons that rise above it twist the norms enough to keep you intrigued. Mages remain under the constant watch of templars, a restriction that doesn’t sit well with those who view such policing as virtual slavery. The role of religion among human is of particular note. Chantries provide refuge to those worshiping the all-powerful Maker, and chanters recite the holy word near their houses of prayer.

Your adventure has one of six different openings and can play out in a surprising number of ways. Your background determines the initial setting, your social status and the reaction certain characters will give you by default. Interesting huh? One of which opening is a Human Noble (normally people start with this as their first character, due to the easily understood opening as you start to learn the combat system & background of the story; unless you’re a RPG Veteran, then you might want to start with any of the 6 openings).

An RPG of this nature lives or dies by its subtlety in this respect, but however, while the dialogue options definitely divide Lawful Good & Chaotic Evil, there’s no cut-and-dry alignment tracking. Instead, what might appear to be the ‘good‘ lines of dialogue will sometimes lead you to certain things which you had no intention of moving to (well, I’m serious!).

The structure of this game hinges around these dialogue decisions. You really need to pay attention to subtext, due to the fact that even though this game lurk within books of lore and stories of martyrs; they burst forth during spine-tingling moments when you must choose from a selection of difficult choices that affect the storyline, and the way your associates interact with you.

Your every actions in the game also have as much impact on how your party members view you to make you double-think which quests you undertake and how that might affect the ending of the game. In short, your every actions have tangible consequences.

Dragon Age: Origins is a game that once looked set to be the best RPG of the year. It has a great story, high production values, and one of the most immersive worlds ever created in a video game. It is a very good game which provides to the user, an experience that will stick in the mind for a very long time. However, it is fitting that one of its main themes is how seemingly good choices can have bad consequences. That message is something the game’s design reinforces throughout.

To conclude my game review on Dragon Age: Origins, I’d say that you should definitely play this game if you are someone who love to play RPGs (Role-Playing Games), as highly recommended by me!

Feel free to post any comments or suggestions (just don’t spam advertisements or nonsenses), cheerios!

Tags: Game Reviews, General // Add Comment »

As mentioned in the previous blog entries; I’m now a Specialist Cadet Trainee in the School of Artillery (Khatib Camp), and my specialisation is FH2000 A.K.A 155MM!

Don’t know what the heck is that?? Never mind, you’re not the only one! I don’t know what is it when I’m being told that I’m going to be trained on that too! :p

Here are some information I have managed to find out from my good friend, Wikipedia.

The Field Howitzer 2000 (FH2000) was developed by Singapore Technologies for Singapore Army. It is a 155 mm/52-calibre towed howitzer gun. It fires projectiles to a maximum range of 42 kilometers using special extended range ammunition. It has a crew of eight and uses a 75 hp diesel Auxiliary power unit to give it a self propelled speed of 10 kilometers an hour movement without towing.

The firing platform, when fully deployed, support the howitzer using a tripod mechanical structure. Firing loads are transmitted to the ground through this tripod, isolating the hydraulic cylinders of the platform, which provides for greater reliability.

The FH2000 can be fitted with a series of sighting systems from optical to electro-optical. These sighting systems can be linked to the fire control computers. The breech mechanism is semi-automatic & it opens automatically during counter recoil. An electronically controlled and hydraulically powered flick rammer rams the projectile into the barrel chamber with high consistency.

Cheerios~~

Tags: General // 2 Comments »

I heard from my Sergeants yesterday when we booked in for a few hours just to put our stuffs, they said that there will be no more road march because soldiers in the Artillery believes in technology to drive us to the battlefield, however, due to the fact that my specialisation is FH2000 155mm, the people in my entire course would need to be very fit and efficient in terms of physical fitness (IPPT) as well as combat fitness (Standard Obstacles Course).

Have I even mentioned that my entire course only has (2 detachment) 16 people? I don’t know we are lucky or unlucky, because all other specialisation (e.g. Mortar, Gunnery, etc) has far more intake than this. None of my SISPEC BRAVO mates went to the same specialisation as me though…

Well, is there any kind souls out there who are willing to enlighten me by giving me a rough idea of the general differences of being a Artillery FH2000 Specialist, compared to being an Infantry Specialist in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF)?

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Throughout your education you will have to write many essays, and while the subjects and the occasions may vary, the basic formulae shown here will help you write a strong essay under a time limit.

Know the material. The first step in preparing to write an essay is to read all the material you need to know about the topic. Take notes and read over these notes regularly until you have knowledge of the topic, or print off prewritten notes. Make sure you have enough information available to you to know what you are writing about.

Relax. Especially if you are writing an important essay, or an essay in an exam, it’s vital that you relax before you start to write. Breathe in and out a few times and take a few minutes to read and think about the exam. You are more likely to write a good essay if you are composed and focused on the task in hand.

Read the question. Know from the start how long your essay is supposed to take you, the expected word count and any other instructions. Make sure that if a specific font or word size is specified that you use it, and keep the word count in mind as you write.

Analyse the question. Look for tell-tale words. E.g. ‘state’, which means to present the main points in a logical order. Other words to watch out for include: list, enumerate, trace, summarise, review, discuss, criticise, evaluate, justify, show and explain.

Work out how long you have to write the essay in, and set up a schedule. If it’s due in a week, prepare to write the plan tomorrow, write the essay over the next two days, leave a day free and then proofread and edit.

Jot down some ideas. Spend a few minutes figuring out exactly what you want to say and formulate these into a plan. This helps to make sure you don’t repeat yourself, and that anything you do say is relevant and precise.

Start with a strong first sentence. Don’t waste time composing a long introduction, simply state your main points clearly within your first sentence and use the rest of your essay to back yourself up.

As you’re writing the essay, periodically check the question to make sure you aren’t rambling. Don’t pad your essay with unrelated information, and make sure you aren’t repeating yourself.

Don’t panic. If you are running out of time or things to say, remember that you can list the points you want to say and this will show that you did have the knowledge to answer the question. Don’t rush, or try to ramble or cram, as this could undermine the rest of your essay. A simple one sentence conclusion emphasizing your main point should be a sufficient to sum up if you become too stuck.

Edit and proofread. Re-read over the essay, the next day if possible, and revise and edit. Check for spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and inconsistencies. Make sure you re-read after you’ve done your editing, to check the essay still makes sense and still answers the question.

—

source: Nick Sanders

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I have this song for quite some time, but all along didn’t pay enough attention to listen to it. Today when I randomly play songs, I realised that this song is very nice & the lyrics is very meaningful.

I have attached the player & also, the lyrics, hope you guys like it!

作詞：东来东往 & 康梓峰
作曲：东来东往
編曲：梁柳

眼淚模糊回憶看不清楚
想念在離開閱讀
幸福卻開始凝固
太冷的溫度

我凍結在了你的最深處
你卻無心再眷顧
這處境我好辛苦
繼續或認輸

如果離開真的你會好過
不會再閃躲
就算是會痛 至少不再難過

我知道狂風后就是雷雨天
我知道我們不能像從前
牽著你的手 遨游在蔚藍色天空
我知道丟了你再也找不到
我知道我的愛已經死掉
回頭的時候 曾經牽手走過的路
已經看不到

我凍結在了你的最深處
你卻無心再眷顧
這處境我好辛苦
繼續或認輸

如果離開真的你會好過
不會再閃躲
就算是會痛 至少不再難過

我知道狂風后就是雷雨天
我知道我們不能像從前
牽著你的手 遨游在蔚藍色天空
我知道丟了你再也找不到
我知道我的愛已經死掉
回頭的時候 曾經牽手走過的路
已經看不到

我知道狂風后就是雷雨天
我知道我們不能像從前
牽著你的手 遨游在蔚藍色天空
我知道丟了你再也找不到
我知道我的愛已經死掉
回頭的時候 曾經牽手走過的路
已經看不到

Cheers~

Tags: General, Random // Add Comment »

The 18 years old teen not only bragged about how Singaporeans can only afford to buy branded goods from flea markets, she also mocked those who have retake their ‘O’ levels.

STOMPer Ewong wrote in an email to STOMP on the following,

I came across this blog owned by a 18-year-old girl.

She boasted about how much she knew about branded goods and how some Singaporeans are only able to purchase these items from flea markets.

Not only that, she boasts about how easy ‘O’ levels are and mocks ‘O’ levels retakers.

—-

source: stomp

What’s wrong with this generation of people nowadays uh? I just can’t believe it… we really have all kinds of people in our society uh? Seriously, I don’t understand what is in their head (brain).

Tags: General, Random // 4 Comments »

An activist group, known as Anonymous, who was protesting against the Australian government’s proposals to apply filters to internet in their country, has now temporarily blocked access to key Australian government websites plans to continue its cyber attacks, as confirmed by BBC News.

A representative of the group said that around 500 people were involved in the attack. They were using an attacking method known as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS).

DDoS is illegal in many countries including the United Kingdom. There is no indication that the attack was carried out from within Britain. DDoS attacks typically call on machines in many different nations, making them hard to trace, thus hard to defend against.

The sites were intermittently blocked on 10 and 11 February. The action has been condemned by various bodies including the Systems Administrators Guild of Australia (SAGE-AU) and Electronic Frontiers Australia.

A man, calling himself Coldblood, told BBC News the following,

All it takes is a few people to basically send junk traffic to their websites which is causing them to be offline. The people who are currently attacking (the government websites) are planning to keep doing it. It will probably keep happening until either they get bored or it gets sorted out.

The sites are currently back online but the domains of individual politicians, including that of Stephen Conroy (minister for broadband, communications and the digital economy), were among those targeted.

What is actually happening is that the group - Anonymous is protesting against Australia’s plan to apply a country-wide filter to block certain content in 2011.

The Australian government has said that trials have shown the filtering technology to be 100% effective in preventing access to designated sites. The banned sites would be selected by an independent classifications body guided by public complaints, Senator Conroy has said.

He said the aim of the filter is to make the internet a safer place for Australian children. Speaking to the BBC, Coldblood said that the activists did not support the creation of illegal content but that banning it would not tackle the issue. Coldblood said the following,

If something is illegal which is done on the internet the government should try and prosecute them, if they ban it it will just appear somewhere again. What they really need to do is go after the people who are making this content.

They staged cyber attacks on Iran following the election protests and have publicly protested against the Scientology movement. This was sparked after the Church of Scientology requested the removal of a clip from YouTube featuring Hollywood actor Tom Cruise.

Coldblood says that,

One of our main missions is against censorship on the internet, the group had not had any direct contact with the Australian government.

However, SAGE-AU replied that the attack was “the wrong way to express disagreement with the proposed law,” and they continues to say the following,

The impact of DOS attacks is frequently felt less by government agencies than by system administrators, many of them SAGE-AU members, who are responsible for managing websites and servers.

Regarding the YouTube in Australia, Senator Conroy has also contacted Google requesting that the company begins to filter YouTube content in the country.

Google says that while it complies with the laws of the individual countries in which it has a presence, it would only investigate and consider removing content after receiving a “valid legal request” about something already posted on the site.

“We first check that the request meets both the letter and spirit of the law, and we will seek to narrow it if the request is overly broad,” said a spokesperson.

“YouTube is a platform for free expression. We have clear policies about what is allowed and not allowed on the site.”

—

Source: BBC News

Tags: General // Add Comment »

Many people may not agree, but care for soldiers means tough training. However, the training have to be reasonable and has a purpose. During my stay in SISPEC Bravo for my BSLC course, I really learned a lot.

When talk about military aspects such as fire movement, harboring drills, patrolling mission and stuffs like that, I’d say that I really learned a lot for the fact that my Platoon Commander (PC) in SISPEC Bravo is 2WO ROSS. He is really skilled, knowledgeable, respectable, and most importantly, inspiring.

He taught us many useful things which other people or platoon didn’t get to learn, such as the fire movement that he taught us - it’s very different from what we learned during field camp; reason being (I personally interpreted) that the one we learned is the “model answer” which is written on the book, which is theoretically correct, whereas the one which he taught us is the “real answer” which is applicable in a real fight/war, which is the most logically correct version of fire movement. Whatever movement he takes, he explain to us why, and all of them are so logical, we can easily remember them by heart without memorising (unlike the “model answer”).

He called himself the “Pain”. Which is rather true, he can be the most scary “Pain” which you would never have expected - all other platoon would be sleeping on groundsheets at 6pm while all of you are high kneeling with field pack over head, then later eat dinner already go to a vegetable & dig shell scrape in pure darkness, & eventually sleep at 1am

However, all his punishment and scoldings are very reasonable, he don’t punish us for nothing. He is actually a very nice guy and treat us very well, with a lot of welfare if you’d realize.. he has a  reasonably high standard in mind and want us to meet it, once we meet it, we’re good soldiers in some sense; all these bit and pieces actually help us a lot.

He’s only “Pain” when we did the wrong thing (come on, if you hide at one corner and rest for hours during Wanderer, of course you deserve to get punish), and during trainings (come on, think about why his trainings are all so efficient, unlike all other conductors which somewhat repeats the “wait to rush” & “rush to wait” cycle).

I respect him a lot & am actually quite tempted to request to stay back for ASLC and stay in 2WO Ross’s platoon, as that’s the way I could learn as much as I can. However, since I’m posted to the School of Artillery and it’s located at Khatib Camp (very near my house!!), and I discussed with my father, he don’t want me to be in infantry or guards at all (I got scolded for even wanting to discuss >.<), thus I dropped the idea.

Nonetheless, I will always remember what he told me during my PC Interview - he told me something which inspired me a lot; I can’t remember it word by word but the meaning is saying something like this,

No matter what vocation you are, or be it an officer or a warspecs, just do your best in everything you do, touch your heart, put in the effort, and don’t be a cow which only move when being smacked, move awhile then stop, waiting to get smacked again. Always try your best, you’re not at your limit if you are still able to consciously ask yourself if you’re at your limit.

For that, in my future vocation in Artillery or whatever/where ever I will be posted to, I will always remember his words deep by my heart, to always put in my best in everything I do, take initiative, perform leadership, be efficient, do my best in all that I do, put in the effort and BE A MAN, DO THE RIGHT THING~!!!

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I have successfully passed out from SISPEC BRAVO and is posted to the School of Artillery as my next destination!

Frankly speaking, I’m really very surprised when I’m told that I’m posted to the School of Artillery; I have been expecting ASLC (Advance Section Leaders Course) all along! But the surprising thing is that there are really a lot of people being posted out to unit and courses such as CBRE, Fitness Specialist, and Military Police, which I thought are super hard to get in.

Through this 8 weeks of BSLC course, I really learn a lot of things about army, and many other things. Many people learn how to march, how to shout, how to sing army songs & etc during BMT; but for me, I learn all of them during my stay in SISPEC Bravo.

During BMT, I relied too much on my buddy and we always try to avoid all the stuffs and hide at one corner, keeping a low profile together. Whereas in SISPEC Bravo, I step up and try my best to do all I can, no matter how hard or how troublesome the task is, just like how I handle my projects during my Poly life and how I am going to work in future when I’m in the working society.

Even my friends whom were in the same BMT platoon as me last time and same SISPEC Bravo company as me now, told me that I’m very different =x this shows that I have been really successful in keeping my profile low last time :p

Anyway, we’ll all be reporting to our respective new unit/institute next week. I’m so going to miss all my platoon mates and section mates, especially Wei Jun, Samuel Leong, Joel Zhou, Han Keat, & Guan. They have always been really helpful and we’ve done alot together.

Nonetheless, to the whole platoon:

ALL OF YOU RAWKS, BECAUSE WITHOUT ANYONE OF YOU, 54TH SISPEC BRAVO PLATOON 4 WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AND WILL NOT BE THE BEST PLATOON THERE EVER WERE! THANKS ALL OF YOU FOR ALL THE MEMORIES AND FUN THAT WE ALL SHARED TOGETHER~!!!!

8 weeks is not very long, but it’s not short either. I really enjoyed the days we spent together as a platoon. I really hate farewell session, yesterday while I was saying goodbye and getting contacts from most of them, I actually retreated to one corner to wipe my tears =x

To some others, maybe they won’t feel as much if they always stay with their session mates in their bunk. For me, I felt that I don’t only belong to section 1, I felt that I belongs to PLATOON 4. There are nights where I spent hours with other section, playing games with them & etc; such as MONOPOLY~ right section 3?? haha~

I sincerely hope that everyone had a good time in this 8 weeks, and I hope that they would be doing well and excel in everything that they are going to do in future, be it their next vocation or even future days; wish them well and hope that there would be a moment where all of us could meet up again as the best platoon there ever was!

Cheerios!

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Final Fantasy IV was first released in 1991 on the Super Famicom in Japan, and had been ported to the SonyPlayStation , WonderSwan Color, and Game Boy Advance and eventually, a full remake on the Nintendo DS; which is exactly what I want to review about.

The epic story of love, betrayal, and redemption is reborn better than ever in glorious 3D.

Something unique about Final Fantasy IV is that players were not given a few generic heroes and tasked to stop the evil wizard and save the world; instead, they were introduced to a wide assortment of realistic characters who struggled with complex adult issues such as love, hate, honor, duty, betrayal, and redemption.

Now, this epic saga has been entirely remade in 3D on the Nintendo DS (as compared to all other remake, which are 2D), and whether Cecil, Kain, and Rosa are new faces or old friends, this is one adventure that you shouldn’t miss.

Cecil is a man with a dilemma. Though bound by his duty as the lord captain of the Red Wings of Baron to serve his king and country, his conscience is heavy with the sins that he is committing in their name. The formerly loving and caring king who took Cecil in as a child and taught him the ways of the dark sword has become a sinister and greedy tyrant who covets the sacred crystals of the world for reasons unknown.

Upon returning from a mission to Baron’s friendly neighbor Mysidia, in which Cecil and his men were forced to steal one of the crystals like common thugs, he finally dares to question his king’s motives. For his insubordination, Cecil is stripped of his rank and sent on an errand north to the village of Mist, where his destiny is revealed to him and his journey of atonement begins.

Throughout his quest, Cecil is joined by a number of intriguing characters: Kain, his best friend and a dragoon of considerable skill; Rydia, a summoner capable of calling the legendary Eidolons to her aid, and many more. Together, they represent some of the most diverse and thoroughly fleshed-out characters in the long history of the Final Fantasy series.

Though class-specific abilities aren’t anything new, in this DS remake you now have the power to customize your characters by giving them additional abilities called augments. Augments can be found throughout the world, given to you by leaving party members, or even stolen from certain enemies, and they can do everything from passively increasing stats such as HP and MP to granting class-specific abilities like darkness or recall to normally nonqualifying characters.

A majority of the bosses require very specific strategies to defeat, and the uninformed will likely perish several times in these encounters before they grasp how to claim victory. Even if you’re a seasoned veteran who knows all of the tricks, don’t expect things to be simple; some bosses have changed just enough to throw you off of your game, and all of them are a lot tougher than you remember.

Besides the radical addition of the ability to customize your party, several other minor gameplay tweaks have been made. The characters in your party now share their thoughts with you on the menu screen, offering personal anecdotes and potentially helpful advice about the current situation.

Final Fantasy IV is easily among the best-looking 3D games on the Nintendo DS. The heavily stylized characters are impressively expressive, from the manner in which Cecil broods as he reflects on his guilt to the way that Rydia hops up and down and waves her hands to get your attention at a shop when you find something that she can equip.

Now that dungeons are rendered in three dimensions, there is a vast sense of size and depth (particularly in the final dungeon) that wasn’t previously there, and it makes your journey seem that much more awe-inspiring and epic.

Although it has been rereleased several times throughout the years, this full remake of one of the most celebrated stories in video game history is in many ways more poignant and impressive than it was all those years ago, despite minor irks with the voice acting.

With a cast of memorable characters and villains, a more accurate and authentic translation, a new skill - customization system, and a few important new story elements that help to better explain key plot points, this is the definitive version of Final Fantasy IV that everyone should experience.

—-

Info/images source: GameSpot, Google, Wikipedia

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YES! Finally… I can’t believe I did it! I seriously feel damn touched when I get to know about my results. The process is hell, but in order to get the outcome I desire to achieve, I must go through the hell – there is no escape.

In Chinese, we have a saying, 一份耕耘，一份收穫, meaning the more effort you put in, the better the outcome will be. This sentence has always been a pushing momentum for me in anything I do.

I step into Gryphon (BMT) as a zero fighter in pull up (basically does 0 pull up) and 13 minutes runner for 2.4km, due to the fact that I got my GOLD in NAPFA in the early 2009, and have never exercised much ever since, as I’m busy working and having competitions etc, all the way until enlistment into army

I have been training hard, been 4 months plus already, I have finally achieved my first GOLD! hahaha! Damn happy when I heard that my timing for 2.4 km has achieved gold standard xD

As for SOC, I have not been able to pass Swing trainer (Monkey Bar) ever since BMT days – imagine all the weight being added onto my body (I don’t know the exact weight, but anyhow also can count around 8kg being added on? Helmet, SBO, full 1litre water bottle, rifle…), I just can’t complete swing trainer.

But when I’m in SISPEC, I managed to train until I pass it already, but I just can’t meet the timing. We need 10 minutes 30 seconds to pass. However, my so called personal best is 11 minutes 16 seconds. I thought that I could never pass my SOC.

However, yesterday we had a final retake on SOC before we end our BSLC – I’m very thankful to all my friends whom have been supporting and encouraging me throughout the entire rundown, without them, I would not have the mentality to finish the entire SOC rundown!

Later that day, I heard that the SOC timing is out and being put up on the board already, I went over to see it… my timing was 9 minutes 36 seconds – I passed SOC! OMG! I can’t believe it~!!!! I have never thought that I could pass it! At that moment, I can feel the tears of joy filling up my eyes, the feeling is indescribable.

In life, we need a target, an aim that is worthy enough for us to work towards it; something which could make us takes every step towards it and move on.

However, this target must never be one which can be easily achieved, one has to really put in effort and time just to barely have a sight of it, yet still can’t reach it… but don’t ever give up! Continue to work hard, and you will get nearer in achieving it as long as you believe and have faith in yourself, that’s what I always do.

Tags: General // 5 Comments »

Time flies, I felt like it was as though yesterday that I was enlisted to Bravo company for Basic Section Leader Course (BSLC) training, but the fact is that 4 weeks had already past and there’s only 4 more weeks to go!

I really like my section mates, they are really nice and helpful - in fact, the whole platoon is full of helpful guys! No wonder they are all in SISPEC They really take initiative and do things for everyone, not just for themselves. It’s always nice when people help each other and get things done together, it’s much more effective and time saving - well, that’s team work!

Speaking about team work, I went through the 4 days 3 nights field camp this week, it was quite a challenging week if you’d ask me; when I was sitting down on the wet and muddy ground in the rain, I asked myself,

“How did I even managed to survive through the 6 days 5 nights field camp in my BMT days at Tekong??“

I was then recalling back on what my buddy (TJR) told me back then… I remembered that I was too shack out after the 12km fast march, the digging of shell scrape right on top of concrete, huge & thick roots and ground full of stones, and got tekan like hell on a muddy ground which my whole palm actually sink into the mud when I am in push-up position; TJR and I were walking to the latrin area, and I was so shack and has no morale at all, every steps I took I feel like falling out.

My buddy, TJR gave me a punch all of a sudden and scold the hell out of me… this punch and the things he said motivated me to move on. I managed to survive through my field camp! That’s why whenever people ask me about my army life, the first thing I’ll always tell them, is that I’m super lucky to have the most amazing buddy there ever was~!!

Okay back to THIS field camp which I went through by myself, without TJR. Whenever I feel like giving up, I thought of what he said to me and the punch he gave me. Whenever I see anyone looking shack or anyone having low morale, I would encourage them, cheer them up, because I know how they feel, I know the feeling of one person sitting there, stoned and having a shack face - their morale is low and it’s still dropping! They’d want to fall out when their morale reaches zero.

Anyway, in this field camp, I learn a lot of new stuffs from 1SG Max, and many others. I felt that I have grown up once again, becoming even more confident than before that I have once again conquered another field camp and learn so much new stuffs. Thanks people!

Well, there are still so much more things for me to learn in future. Next week would be yet another hell week full of high key events, if anyone could have make it in the past (since all specialist went through them), so could I!

Last but not least, just in case some people still doesn’t know - my batch is the last batch of cadets in the School of Infantry Specialist (SISPEC), in future, the school’s name will be changed to Specialist Cadets School (SCS).

Cheerios!

Tags: General // 3 Comments »

First of all, I’d like to wish everyone a very happy new year 2010! Hope that all of you would have a great year ahead!

Well, have you guys thought of any new year resolution? Something new and different that you want to achieve in this coming year?

I have my own resolutions in mind already. This is the first time ever that I made myself think of a new year resolution, because I find that goals may be goals, but if you don’t set it high yet practical and make yourself work towards it, you will never get there.

And to make it a resolution for 2010, means that I would have to reach my goal within that year! Another thing that I learnt in army - giving timing makes people work more efficiently.

One thing for sure about me that I definitely know it myself, is that I’m a changed person starting from year 2010; maybe army changed me. I don’t know for those who don’t know me well, but for those whom have known me enough, in time, they would see that I’m a changed person.

If you’d ask me, I’d say that I find myself more mature, more able to face unexpected difficulties, more capable in handling stress, and is definitely more able to look at things with an open heart.

I find that I’m looking at things at a higher level now - well at least when I compare the “level” that I am now at and where I was few months ago, I’m indeed standing higher now, and my eyes is still looking up…

One last thing - hope my injuries would recover soon! (Left ankle sprained, right foot swollen)

Till I blog again, cheerios!

Tags: General // 3 Comments »

With a blink of eyes, one week have past already, I can’t say I have totally adapted to life in SISPEC, but I’d say that things’ gonna be really very different this time.

It’s just the first week and I have found myself having responsibility - not like in BMT, just simply be a follower throughout and not given chances (corridoor cleaner for 9 weeks LOL); here in SISPEC, I’m officially assigned as the Store IC, which makes me like a storeman, a lot of miscellaneous things for me to settle, such as not enough books, field items etc. I still remember I slept at around 12.30 midnight last wednesday due to all the calculation and stuffs regarding the stores..

And also, I’m helping my buddy take up unofficial section IC role (such as to march my section to cook house & etc), and I got to learn the commands now. It’s quite tough to pick them up and use them immediately, I still remember I “Halt” my section when they land on their right leg (suppose to be on left leg), one of our company’s warrant officer saw, then ordered us to march one round around the parade square (which is damnnnnnn big).

Basically we do what our sergeants’ used to do for us last time when we are in BMT. It’s more responsibility and more work. And I heard that Bravo is the toughest company in SISPEC, and what’s more is that I’m in Platoon 4, the toughest platoon among all & also, we have the strictest PC whom have very high expectation on us.

Hope I could do well!

Cheers~

P.S. - I’m booking in later tonight because I got 24 hour guard duty starting tomorrow early morning! Bad luck eh, first week already assigned guard duty already… LOL…

Tags: General // 2 Comments »

Tomorrow is my first day in SISPEC, I really wonder how it would be like? Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE that I know, and have served re-service before, are telling me how fucked up it is to become a sergeant. Seriously, I’m kind of depressed already… in the first place, I’m upset already. Now it’s even worst.

Less than 10 hours of “freedom” left! Oh man… I really wish that time will stop RIGHT NOW & I can do more stuffs before booking in again. Damn sad, there are so much things that I wanted to do! Oh come on, Friday is Christmas Day! & I believe that it’s gonna be a lonely & meaningless Christmas once again.

There are many people who are so enthusiastic about Christmas and are so excited about it; they even go to the extend of celebrating it, like organising friends gathering, watch movie or even eat steamboat dinner together. To me, it’s just another normal day, just that it’s a public holiday, and I might get to book out from camp because of it? ;/

Okay, back to SISPEC. I was packing my bag a while ago, and I was like.. oh my god. SO MANY THINGS TO BRING. As stated in the instruction, bring EVERYTHING that were issued to you during BMT. Seriously a lot. I manage to put almost everything in the duffle bag, which includes many clothes, parade boots, LBV, helmet, running shoes etc.. it’s super scary.

I really pray that I am not being put in platoon 3 or platoon 4, because their bunks are in level 4 and 5 - seriously, I’ll go mad carrying those stuffs up the stairs ._.”

Tomorrow meeting my friends take MRT to boon lay & then share cab go there.. hope everything goes fine and we’re there in time, if not earlier.. I’d rather reach early than late. hahaha. Gonna see a hell lot of my other friends there as well, looking forward to see them after such a long break

Let’s pray that I get to book out on thursday ba, since friday is a public holiday. lols.

Have it been two months already? Or more? Yet it still hurts so much; why is it that some people are just so awesomely incredible that they can get over absolutely anything, as though there’s no blood flowing within them? Do they even felt anything? Do they felt sad about anything at all?? Or is it just that they can overcome anything that they are not bothered about..?? Well, if you’re not bothered about something, of course that something won’t make you felt upset or making you frown over it… it’s a fact. A very sad fact…

冷咖啡離開了杯墊
我忍住的情緒在很后面
拼命想挽回的從前
在我臉上依舊清晰可見
最美的不是下雨天
是曾與你躲過雨的屋檐 oh~~
回憶的畫面
在蕩著秋千 夢開始不甜
你說把愛漸漸 放下會走更遠
又何必去改變 已走過的時間
你用你的指尖 阻止我說再見
想象你在身邊 在完全失去之前
你說把愛漸漸 放下會走更遠
或許命運的簽 只讓我們遇見
只讓我們相戀 這一季的秋天
飄落后才發現 這幸福的碎片
要我怎么撿

A very nice & meaningful song by Jay Chou..

Cheerios~

Tags: General, Random // Add Comment »

SAF has posted me to SISPEC, trainee to be Infantry Leader. I just managed to get into somewhere I don’t wish to go~ don’t congratulates me, I’ll murder you! =.=|||

My aim has always been to either get into OCS or be a MAN, I don’t wish to get into SISPEC course and stuck in the middle… okay, not really stuck in the middle. It’s like, I know what does sergeants do, and I don’t like to get myself into THAT position; I believe that most NSF sergeants know what I meant… :/

For those who don’t know what is SISPEC, the following is for your information:

The School of Infantry Specialists is a military training centre for specialists in the Singapore Army. The school is situated in Pasir Laba Camp.

Trainees who enroll at SISPEC first have to go through the Basic Section Leader Course (BSLC) where they are taught basic infantry skills to command an infantry section. Upon graduation from BSLC, the soldiers will be sent to the various formations in the Army for specialized training in their respective fields.

Those who are selected to serve in the Infantry and Guards formations will remain in SISPEC, where they will undergo the Advance Section Leader Course(ASLC). Besides these two courses, SISPEC also conducts the Platoon Sergeant Course and the Company Sergeant Major Course.

The SISPEC’s BSLC is a challenging course that grooms fresh graduates from the Basic Military Training Centre into future leaders. The course trains and equips soldiers with infantry skills and knowledge to command an Infantry section. The trainees are required to go through the Confidence Obstacle Course and the Advance Obstacle Course, which demand both physical and mental toughness. The BSLC ends with a 28-km graduating road march in full battle order.

Okay, back to topic. As far as I know, most of my platoon mates got into SISPEC as well, the number of people who got into OCS (Officer Cadet School) is super limited… are they really so strict in the selection of trainees? Damn it~

Monday early morning need to report to Pasir Laba Camp with EVERYTHING we are issued during BMT somemore.. oh my god.

I don’t know what to say/do. haha. Anyway, looking forward to see my platoon mates & fellow friends there!

Cheerios~

Tags: General // 2 Comments »

The railway company in Japan is to install special cameras on its Tokyo commuter trains to help deal with the problem of groping on public transport, which has become more and more serious these days.

All these cameras are to be fixed on the ceiling of carriages on the Saikyo line, which is known for attracting sexual predators, which has a record of more than 2000 complaints for groping every year.

In a survey, four out of five women report being molested on public transport, and it has been serious until an extent that there are women-only carriages in some trains! Amazingly uh?

I don’t think Singapore has such problem - reason being our MRT trains are not THAT congested, I don’t know if it’s true or not lah, but then again, I think Singapore women would definitely yell or scream if they were being touch And also, not much people are so daring I guess.. unless they are really desperate of course… LOL.

Cheers~

Tags: General, Random // 2 Comments »

Gryphon Platoon 2 had our first ever BBQ gathering on the 10th December 2009, I’m really glad that the attendance is pretty good!

It was really super fun lah! First of all, the venue - Si Lie provided us with the location, which is the Pottery Jungle, chinese writes it as 世外陶源, which means somewhere very peaceful and nice, as though it does not belongs to the outside world.

I think it’s pretty true, like what he told us previously, “It’s a kampong” - at first we still thought that he was just kidding about the “kampong” thing :p The place is really amazingly peaceful and is full of nature! Si Lie brought us for a short “excursion” to the back of the pottery jungle there, we walked on hill routes as though we were having field camp in civilian clothes, it’s quite cool!

The whole place is totally thumbs up except for one flaw - the mosquitoes there are frigging desperate~!! Worst than tekong’s mosquito. But actually can understand them lah, in tekong, every batch got over thousands fresh new human blood let them suck, over here damn limited

In fact, most of us were amazed that there are still such a nature preserved place around & exist in Singapore. For those who want to know the name of the place, it is Lorong Tawas, very near Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

Together with this post, I’ve uploaded some of the group photos, do feel free to view the full photo album (with over 250 photos) if you guys are interested in how much fun we had!

P.S. - Added a video! Here you go~

Enjoy the photos!

Gryphon Platoon 2 BBQ Photo Album (Part 1) uploaded on Facebook

Gryphon Platoon 2 BBQ Photo Album (Part 2) uploaded on Facebook

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These are some winning tips from “The Tug Of War Association”; Enough said, here you go:

#1. Put the big guys in the back, usually as you start to lose, the guys in the front are the first to give up, so keeping them in back i think would be best. Also, a good coordination of your grunts works well, it can make or break your team especially if you’re at a disadvantage. (Formation of the team matters)

#2. You need to all pull hard at once so that you can get them off their feet. Maybe count down from 10 and then on 2 or 3 (as to trick them) pull as hard as you can. (Something to play with the mind)

#3. Don’t wrap the ropes around your hand. (It will affect your blood circulation and make you not able to last)

#4. The largest person on each team should be the anchor. This is the person who is at the end of the team. (Putting the correct person as the anchor is essential)

#5. Lean back the maximize amount that you can; If you were in a tug-o-war standing straight up against someone leaning back, you would most likely lose if all else was equal. Therefore, leaning back is an advantage. Maximize it. (Skills & techniques is the key to win)

#6. Constant pressure on the rope is better. If your opponents do the old “1-2-3 pull” routine, you will have an advantage during their down time. (Make use of their routine to your advantage, apply extra pressure when you know they are going to execute the “pull”, and pull when they are counting)

I slightly modified some of them though, to remove some repeated stuffs and added my own comments in italic fonts.

Cheers!

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Finally, POP lo~!!

All of us have been waiting for this day ever since the day we enlist; which is to graduate from the Basic Military Training Centre and move on our career as a soldier.

Seriously, the feelings is quite mixed up. I’m damn happy, because my next vocation is most likely not an on-course trainee anymore, which means I won’t get tekan for nothing & etc, and can learn more useful stuffs as a soldier? Get higher rank than recruit (which is basically no rank)?

But again, I’m damn sad because I’m going to go separate ways with most of my friends, section mates, platoon mates, & my buddy. Not forgetting my commanders as well. I’ll surely miss them a lot. Although it’s just a short 9 weeks, it’s damn short compared to other people’s BMT period, but the bond is there.

Frankly speaking, looking at how other platoon is like, make me feel that my platoon is super bonded. Most of them don’t know each other, and they were separated into many small cliques and the most they know is their section mates (quite weird uh)?

Unlike my platoon, we know each other, we chat & have fun together, in fact, I’m going for a BBQ session awhile later also, where most of the platoon mates are going as well. It’s a BBQ host at Si Lie’s house.I’m quite looking forward to it. Although we just POP yesterday, but it’s a totally different feeling for this gathering

I got a lot of photos but lazy to upload. Wait till I upload then put up ba

Cheers.

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POP lo~!! Whooots~!!

Finally… POP soon! We have been rehearsing everything like mad; it’s damn shag! I never expect the rehearsal to be so shag, especially when we didn’t march the 24km beforehand! I can’t believe it man… well I guess it’s because of the sun, which is freaking strong and killing; everyone looks “red” after we move on to a shelter.

Last friday there was this rain which is so heavy that most of the roads in Tekong were flooded with water, a wonderful looking parade square seems to become a mini fish pond, hahaha. Especially when we were having our so called “last book out”, so all of us were carrying many things (which includes our field pack PLUS a very big black bag) as we need to bring out EVERYTHING that we brought in in the first place, and also excessive items that were issued to us previously.

Due to the fact that it’s raining heavily, we have to walk the sheltered way which has limited space and it’s a bigger curve compared to we march there ourselves, as a result, we require more time and is seriously rushing… so everyone were trying their best to walk faster.

Just imagine the situation:

• Super heavy rain
• Roads flooded
• Soldiers carrying many bags which looks like they got one month supply of stuffs inside
• Soldiers’ face all look so shag & is rushing to the ferry terminal

Powerful right? haha. It looks like we are evacuating out of the island after we won the war, and tekong island is sinking!

Till I blog again, cheers.

What meant to be yours will be yours, there is no way you can avoid it. What meant not to be yours will never ever be yours, no matter how hard you try to get it.. that’s life.

Tags: General // 1 Comment »

First thing first, for those who doesn’t know the meaning of 2012, it is actually referring to the fact that Solar Storm is coming on the year 2012. And no, I did not make this up; NASA announced this and it was even published on the newspaper few months back!

I have an entry on this as well, feel free to read up: Solar Storm is coming in 2012

Back to this. Why is the “2012″ word so magical? Because whenever I think or talk about it, nothing good happen. And yes, I’m risking again by blogging about it; perhaps I’ll get scolded or something later when I book in back to Tekong

Since “2012″ is the “End of the world”, and it gives a feeling of “doom” or perhaps also “impossible”. Thus it’s not a very good thing at all.

Many good things I used to have would comes to an end when this word is mentioned.. I have too much real example already. Like recently, I told my gf that I want to watch the movie “2012″ (damn, I should not mention the magical word), then in like a week’s time, she broke up with me.

Maybe it’s just coincidence. But then again, last time everything okay, I mention the “2012″ thing, then H1N1 suddenly from nothing becomes something? As in, from not that critical, suddenly becomes more and more critical until so many cases were found, even Singapore also got people get infected by it?

And now that I think about it, my last break before POP has come to an end too, I’m going to book in tonight! Oh, damn it. I’m suddenly so used to civilian life that I don’t wish to go back to army life already!

I did not exercise at all, been keeping myself occupied by playing the Stardom 2000 (明星志願2000) game that my good brother, Man Chun, has lent me. Thanks bro~ the game is damn good!

Till I blog again.

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Yesterday finally get to meet up with Rong Yao, Man Chun, & Wei Kian! The 4 of us are the survivors of our secondary school clique, whom still remain to keep in contact with each other and meet up time to time!

As recommended by Rong Yao, we went to watch the movie, Ninja Assassins, at Yishun Golden Village today. Seriously right, I totally never heard of the existence of this show before eh. Though it only came out today, but still, it’s hard to never even heard of the show’s name before right? :p

Nonetheless, we still went ahead and watch it. It’s quite a good movie! The fighting scenes are impressive despite the fact that they ARE quite bloody. The main character, Rain, is damn cool, and very fit! His appearance is rather different in this show, it gives a very different feeling. Well, go watch it and you will know what I meant.

After the movie we went to have dinner at the usual coffee shop. We chat about a lot of stuffs, especially army! Rong Yao’s company is super close to mine, we even did our route march together yesterday, but we only discovered that recently! :p Then Man Chun’s company is damn far away, but he does very different stuffs compared to us since he’s in PES C, whereas Wei Kian is going to enlist next year, hope by then we can give him good advices on army stuffs!

After dinner went to Man Chun house to borrow game from him. Seriously, I don’t know what to do tomorrow, so if I really got nothing to do tomorrow, at least I got game to play uhs? haha.

I only know that I’m too used to a different lifestyle for too long already… I’m so not used to the sudden change. But nonetheless, I’m trying very hard to adapt to it. I’m really trying

I have to accept life, accept the fact, and really learn to let go and to accept things uh. haha. This is life man…

Till I update again. Cheerios!

Wishing all Muslims Happy Hari Raya Haji

Tags: General, movie // 2 Comments »

我很愛她，真得很愛她。
也就是因爲這樣，所以打算放開她。

雖然我們曾經深深地相愛過，
但現在一切都已經不一樣了。
她不再愛我了，要離開我了。

我起初真的很不捨得放開，
因爲我很不希望她離開我。

可是我發現其實我很自私，
既然她都已經選擇了放棄我們的愛情，
爲什麽我還要這樣死殘爛打的不放呢？

與其緊緊地抓著她不放，
不如放開雙手讓她飛翔，
讓她尋找她想要的幸福。

這因該是現在的我唯一，
能用來愛你的方式了吧。

衷心希望你得到幸福哦！

Tags: General // Add Comment »

Many things has happened in my life these days; so much that I don’t know how to talk about.. don’t know how to start on.

Ever since my enlistment to the army, my life has been twisting around. There are both good moments and bad moments… good moments that make me happy until I can’t stop myself from laughing and smiling, bad moments that made me cried and felt emo over it as though there is no tomorrow…

There are like 3 more weeks to POP (Passing-Out-Parade) on the 9 December 2009. Seriously don’t know how my life is going to change again. Life is indeed a sinusoidal curve with its crests and troughs; to put it simple - life is full of ups and downs.

I hope I could endure through all the tough moments of my life… it’s hard. Really hard. But I guess there are no other choice other than to endure all of them! I must work hard!

Everything would get much better if there’s a friend, or someone who care, standing by my side, supporting me, giving me the power to endure through everything. Just a simple tap on my shoulder will do! Even a simple “Go for it!” or “You can do it!” would helps alot.

But sadly, it’s so difficult…

Where is everyone?

Tags: General // 2 Comments »

I’m halfway through my Basic Military Training (BMT) life! 6 weeks down, 4 more weeks to Passing Out Parade (POP)!

No more field camp, yay! I can’t believe I make it through the 6 days 5 nights field camp - it rained everyday!

Finished my Individual Marksmanship thingy, the live range.. I’m a marksman! 31/32; my biggest regret is due to aiming at the wrong board and thus one shot off away from full marks!

Finished my Hand Grenade thingy as well; my once-in-a-life-time throw of real grenade! I didn’t managed to hit the target but at least I didn’t get blank or threw it out of the range! xD

Finished my SIT TEST yesterday as well, it’s rather fun! I don’t know how well I fared, but I guess it’s not that great either. Let’s hope for the best!

Now I’m left with Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT) and Standard Obstacles Course (SOC) and that’s all!

Tomorrow onwards will be a hell full of physical trainings; let’s hope that I can handle them well!

It’s a miserably and awfully bad weekend for me, as I only get to book out yesterday night, immediate took a cab home and only reach at almost 10pm.. =.= so late already.. then today nothing much as well.. basically stay home and rot! Waste life

But can’t be blamed, no one is free on Sunday… sad! Anyway, I’ll be booking in soon again.

Cheerios people! Take care, till I update again!

Tags: General // Add Comment »

Tomorrow is the day! The 6 days 5 nights field camp.. which is said to be the “halfway-through” checkpoint of BMT (Basic Military Training) life.

Many friends whom have went through it told me that it is pure suffering especially when it rains; quite true I guess, since I won’t really get to bath or change clothes during those days, and I don’t like the feeling of being totally drenched until my uniforms are heavy, and my boots is full of water stored inside… =.=

Anyway, tomorrow is my 5th week in army, which is officially my WEEK 4 (the enlistment week is WEEK 0) of my BMT life (my POP/”graduation” is on the 9 December 2009).

Many people are asking me - how’s army life? Used to it? Well, I must say that don’t really like army life. There are good and bad. Good that we are being trained to be a real man, to be independent and to do things we don’t used to do. Bad thing is that it is super hard to learn things. Especially the lectures.. I’d really be delighted if they could just print the lecture notes and pass them to me to study instead of the frigging 2 hours lecture, which is a total waste of time.

But cannot be blamed.. our sergeants tried their best to explain, but seriously, they are either my age or younger than me, and has no experience in teaching, so most of the time I totally don’t understand what are they driving at. and the practise is to say “Yes” and “Outstanding” in army. Never ask question unless you want to sarbotage yourself?

Thus so far most of the lectures are total waste of time. Try to understand when there are practical lessons then.. there are alot of things which they ASSUME that everyone know. Such as the commands they shout when marching, how to tie the knots etc. They thought everyone are from NCC or NPCC (Uniform groups). But no, I’m from Basketball team last time. So there are so much more things that I have to find out by myself, either that or I seek help from friends.

Life has not been very nice in there. The trainings are tough. At least for me, they ARE tough. I remember that I really cannot keep up with it during the 1st 2 weeks. then slowly now can manage already… but still not doing well yet. Or at least, I expect more out of myself. Must work hard already, I don’t want to be a loser, I don’t like the feeling of being at the bottom, looking up at everyone who are standing up there.

I strongly believe that determination is the key to success, as long as I don’t give up, and keep trying, I can make it through.

One thing I hate the most is that time flies when I’m in human world, and time crawls so frigging slowly when I’m in the Tekong…

Okay that’s all, last but not least, hope that it don’t rain and I don’t shit in the following 6 days!

Cheerios.

Tags: General // 3 Comments »

As mentioned in post topic, I’ll be away in Tekong until around 24 October 2009, serving National Service (NS) in the enhanced batch, Basic Military Training Camp (BMTC) School 1. Thus won’t be updating frequently or until 2 weeks later!

p.s - National Service is ARMY

Take care people~!!

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Technology really do advance faster than anything else, recently there were 3D movies being launched and is showing in cinema theaters, and even new 3D TV technology are available now!

Sony has did it again by releasing this new single-lens camera able to capture 3D images.

The majority of existing 3D set-ups use two-camera systems to record images tailored specifically for the left and right eye of the viewer, whereas the new camera takes a single image that is split by mirrors and recorded on two sensors, resulting in a “smoother” picture, according to Sony.

Viewers will be able to watch the 3D images using special polarised glasses. Without them, they will just see normal 2D television, according to the firm. This camera is especially good in capturing sporting events.

The new camera is one of a number of developments being put forward by the firm, which hopes that 3D TV is about to take off.

This week, the firm also opened the doors to its European research labs to show off a different 3D camera technology for recording football games.

The technology uses three fixed cameras to record the entire football pitch. The images can them be mapped and, using software, create a 3D view.

There have been a number of forays into the 3D market, pioneered by the film industry.

In 1953 The House of Wax became the first commercial 3D movie. However, the early technology caused unsteady images that induced nausea.

A second attempt was made in the 1970s, using stereoscopic images that required users to wear red and green glasses; while the image was steady there was considerable loss of colour quality and it also failed to take off.

The latest revival, dubbed “The 3D Wave” kicked off in 2003 with the release of the film Ghosts of the Abyss.

Users now wear polarized glasses - rather than the standard red and green spectacle - with the resulting image “fooling” the brain into thinking it is 3D.

Meanwhile, the technology to capture in 3D - or create a virtual 3D image using conventional cameras - has also been getting cheaper and is now affordable by some traditional TV and satellite broadcasters.

In 2008, the BBC broadcast the world’s first live sporting event in 3D, beaming back an England vs. Scotland game from the Six Nations to a cinema in London.

In addition, the corporation’s director of London 2012, Roger Mosey, said there were plans to capture some of the Olympics in 3D. He said the following,

We could, and I believe should, capture some of the Games in 3D. Nobody would expect the Games of 2012 to be comprehensively in 3D because the technology will be nothing like widespread enough; but it would be a shame not to have any images of London that were part of an experiment with what will be one of the next big waves of change.

However, Fergal Ringrose - editor of Europe’s broadcast technology magazine, TVB Europe, told BBC News that Sky was in a rather unique position and that the majority of broadcasters were still reluctant to embrace 3D TV. He said the following,

Very few broadcasters are in the position to control the entire process. We did a reader survey on 427 broadcasters across Europe and asked them if 3D TV was on the horizon. Only 15% said yes, and another 20% said they were looking at it as an option. That’s somewhat underwhelmin.

What do you guys think? Would 3D TV take off smoothly in these couple of years? Or would it still be a great challenge? :p

Cheerios~

P.S. - Counting down, 4 more days to army enlistment!

Source: BBC News (edited from original)

Tags: General // 5 Comments »

Michael Jackson’s This is it” captures Jackson like you’ve never seen him before. “Michael Jackson’s This is it” will only be screening for 2 weeks from 29th Oct and pre-sales for the movie tickets will begin early Oct in Singapore.

Here’s the official trailer video:

Visit the official website @ http://thisisit-movie.com.sg/

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There is this problem which lies in me - (1.) I concern too much, and (2.) I always elaborate on situations even before people ask me to do so. Let’s go into each items:

1. I concern too much - To put it simple, I think too much. This can be both good and bad.

Good in the sense that I always plan ahead, and is able to react to it when things happen. Bad in the sense that I think too much, and at times, a simple matter also can become complicated.

It’s like for example, when a group of people are going to zoo or to picnic, I’ll be the one who brings umbrella. Good is that if it rains, I’ll have an umbrella! Bad is that, go zoo or go picnic, why bring an umbrella? It only makes the bag heavier and it’s not like it surely will rain!

2. I always elaborate on situations even before people ask me to do so.

If it is phrased nicely, it means that I always think about the whole situation before I tell someone about it. As in, when someone ask me something, I don’t just give them a one liner answer - “Yes” or “No”. I will explain to them before they even ask for the reason.

If it is phrased badly, it means that I always beat around the bush and don’t go to the main point - “Yes” or “No”, which is also true.

However, on such situation, I’d say that different people has different preference. Some people prefer me to go straight to the point and tell them a “Yes” or “No” answer, where most of the time, they are not interested in the reasons for my answer. Yet some people would actually expect me to “automatically” explain on situation and the reason of me having that answer, without them asking further.

Conclusion: humans are hard to please! HAHA.

Well, that’s why I say - actions speak louder than words! If words is not the way for me, then I’ll just go for actions then!

Not forgetting the promise that I made to you… actions speak louder than words. Just wait and see

Tags: General, Random // Add Comment »

Look at this photo. I find it really inspiring. It seems to me that my goal in life is high up there, I can see it, definitely, but vividly. So near yet so far…

I have always been worried about my future. Some friends always tell me not to worry, and tell me that my future is bright, given what I have achieved so far. However, I felt that those are just small achievements which of course, I could be proud of, but they are definitely not something which I should felt contented on.

I’m not there yet; my goal is still far, far away…

I’ll continue to try my best in everything I’m going to do next though, hope I can make it! The immediate next thing that’s right around the corner is National Service (NS)

Hope I can do well in there bah! Three cheers for wenbin! :p

11 more days to enlistment~!!

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In this internship working at Microsoft, I don’t earn a lot, which is true (Developer Intern, what you expect), but in the first place, I don’t intend to work there for the money. It’s the working experience that matters to me. It’s not like everyone could get to work as an intern at Microsoft - I got it because I was lucky.

Many people are asking me - since I’m an intern, what school do I come from? As in, which school sends me here. The fact is that I am a graduate from Nanyang Polytechnic, but I’m here in Microsoft NOT because of them; I mean, they don’t send me here.

I’m here because of Imagine Cup 2009. I was one of the competitor in MashUp category and eventually won the 2nd place worldwide as a Singapore representative, then Ms Pratibha Kumar, Academic Developer Evangelist of Microsoft Singapore, offered me an interview to work as a Microsoft Developer Intern for 2 months while waiting for my NS (National Service) enlistment (For those who don’t know, it means to serve the army).

Well, I’m really thankful that I got the job. I learned a lot of things here - really a lot; so much that I am so so so so glad that I was offered this job! If not for this job, I would not get to touch on Silverlight, write so many guides about it, create the Imagine Cup 2010 Poland website (stay tune to ImagineCupSg website, it’s going to be uploaded soon!), attended the “Introductory to Silverlight” training course, develop the Sliding Block game Silverlight application, and many other things!

And the most important of all, get to meet so many new friends - Eugene Fabian, Dennis Chung, Clarrise Ng, Suhui, Kah Meng, Dobson, Ji Ren, Si Le, Yang Lin, Chun Siong, Zi Han, Chewy Chong, and others! They are all very nice & friendly people, and very successful people (means that they are on a totally different level from me, they are so high above…), but they are all very humble and are happy to share they success stories and experiences with me, which are definitely inspiring!

I hope that one day, I could be able to reach their level, be successful like them. I learned a lot of things in life from them. Oh ya, some very interesting things that I learned - to be PROACTIVE! And another thing which is definitely something I lack now, and have to keep in mind & pick it up, which is PQPA, stands for Precision Questions and Precision Answers.

Okay, back to the topic - tomorrow, 25 September 2009, is my last day of internship at Microsoft Singapore. I’m sad!

I’m so going to miss my colleagues like hell! Been lunching, chatting, playing (occasionally, RAINBOWSIX. LOL) and working in MIC (Microsoft Innovation Centre) together with them everyday, it’s almost like a habit to me already. It’s really fun. Well, sometimes do felt stress about work, but still, all the fun with them has already covered up all the stress I had.

It’s really fun working with them! My internship ends tomorrow, but I strongly believe that my friendship with them will not dies off!

Many people will walk in and out of your life, but true friends leave their footprints in your heart.

I’ll end off here, till I blog again.

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As mentioned in post title, I’m going to be officially enlisted for National Service (NS) in 15 days’ time, on the 07 October 2009!

I’m feeling quite mixed up, both looking forward to it & also wish it don’t come so fast! I hope that I’m not the only one whose having such mixed feelings huh? haha!

Come to think of it, most of my friends (Ng Wei Xiong, James Yeo, & many others) has finished their Basic Military Training (BMT) already! Congratulations man!

Soon, it’s going to be my turn! Oh man. I’m so excited! I can’t wait to divert my attention to army life - no need to care about work, no need to care about technologies (which advances much faster than I can learn), no need to care about many things - just purely focus on the trainings and excel in what I’m going to learn in there!

Okay, I guess I’ll enjoy my freedom for this two weeks first, since my enlistment is still 15 days - no, almost become 14 days already (30 minutes more). hahaha!

This week is my last week of internship in Microsoft! I’ll start to post tutorials and guides on Silverlight soon I guess! And most probably I’ll share with you guys the Sliding Blocks game which I have created, currently still researching on how to add some other features into it.

Do look forward to it man!

Cheers!

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For the past three days (14 Sept to 16 Sept), I have been attending this “Introductory to Silverlight” course at Microsoft Singapore, where we did hands-on labs & learn about the basics and slightly more advances stuffs on Silverlight. The training materials are provided by Microsoft & the training is conducted by Avantus.

There were like around 13 or 14 people who attended the course; they comes from all areas - project manager, .NET developer, programmer, etc. I really enjoyed interacting with them, they are all friendly people. Knowing that I’m going to enter NS (army) soon, some of them shared with me on their experiences in their army life, how is it like, and some interesting stuffs.

And also, some of them know that I’ll be stepping into the IT Industry (most likely) in 6 years’ time (2 years army, 4 years university), they asked me why would I want to go into this area and what plans do I have in mind. They also shared with me on how are things like in the real IT industry, since they are standing inside now.

Big thanks to Li Shan, a very experienced developer, whom helped me a lot during the course, as the labs were not very straight forward (not spoon feeding like what we did in polys :x), whenever I’m stuck, he would help me & he taught me how to use several useful functions available in Visual Studio 2008.

Lastly, I’d like to thanks Maya for conducting the course, and Li Shan, Liu Li, Rav, Zhi Wei, Ei Khiang, and fellow others who have attended the course together!

AND super big thanks to Mr Eugene Fabian (boss!!) for getting me into the course

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Today is a very special 090909 - 9th September 2009! I personally like the date very much too, it’s very special. We don’t get to see such a date every year

What’s going to come next year is 101010 - 10th October 2010, then will be 111111 - 11 November 2011, which is even more cool; then lastly, 121212 - 12 December 2012; after that I don’t think there will be such dates anymore. We should be glad to see these days in action, as our future generations won’t have such chance

Back to the 090909, I find that it is really very meaningful, especially when put on top of the fact that I’m a chinese - 9 is pronounced as “jiu”, 3rd vowel sound - which means something like “long” in terms of time, which can also be interpreted as “eternity”; thus many couples choose to get married on this day.

I seriously really envy these couples whom got married on such a wonderful date, I sincerely bless them to have a marriage of eternity

Let alone 090909, I don’t think I’ll be able to get married on the 101010, 111111, nor 121212, which is really a pity to come by those days yet missed them.

Anyway people, let’s live life to the fullest!

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Oh man… my National Service (NS) enlistment is on the 7 October 2009, which is just one month away from now, and I’m encountered with such a horrible disaster… I’m doomed larh! Arghs. This is really giving me serious headache…

I can’t believe I actually did it. This is something I expect the least - I never expect it to happen at all~!!

So what actually happened? I GAINED WEIGHT! Don’t laugh, this is a very serious matter!

After being in Polytechnic, my fitness dropped a lot & when I was about to graduate, I really trained hard until I reach the stage where I got GOLD for my NAPFA fitness test, and at that time, I was 69kg.

However, after graduation, I kind of slacked on my physical trainings as I was busy over the Imagine Cup 2009 competitions and stuffs; then after I’m back from Cairo (Egypt) after the competition, I started working as a Developer Intern at Microsoft, office hours… thus not being able to exercise much!

Not forgetting that almost all the “sundays” are having bad weather (raining) in the morning & evening recently, which I don’t know why. It’s so “just-nice”, just right when I want to work hard for my physical fitness.

Anyway, I’m, 74 kg now! Can you see the big gap?! I find myself so FAT now! All right man, it’s time to work hard for my physical fitness and get myself fit before enlisting into the army! My plan is to go jogging early in the morning daily!

Well, it is sooooooo much easier to say than done!

I’ll try my best nonetheless, all the best to me!

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Last week, I watched the 3D version of the movie, “The Final Destination“. Although the movie is not really up to my expectation, the 3D effect and experience is rather new for me, as it is the first ever 3D movie I watch

Frankly speaking, I don’t really like the storyline - it’s not very organized and there is no surprises at all. Every single scenes of the show can be easily guessed and all is expected, which is rather disappointing.

I read review of the show, and the genre of the show is “Horror” - I was expecting something scary and thrilling, but somehow I personally don’t really group it as a horror movie, it’s more like a mystery or gross (Opps) movie.

Well anyway, people who like to watch horror/mystery movie would probably enjoy the 3D version of this show

Cheerios!

Tags: General, movie // 2 Comments »

Many years ago in a small village, a farmer had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to a village moneylender. The Moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the farmer’s beautiful Daughter. So he proposed a bargain.

He said he would forgo the farmer’s debt if he could marry his Daughter. Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the Proposal.

The cunning money-lender suggested that they let Providence decide the matter; he told them that he would put a black Pebble and a white pebble into an empty money bag. The girl would Have to pick one pebble from the bag.

• If she picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her father’s debt would be forgiven.
• If she picked the white pebble, she need not marry him and her father’s debt would be forgiven.
• But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into Jail.

They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the farmer’s field. As They talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he Picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two Black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag.

Now, imagine that you were standing in the field. What would you have done if you were the girl? If you had to advise her, what would you have told her?

Careful analysis would produce the following three possibilities:

1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble.
2. The girl should show that there were two black pebbles in the bag And expose the money-lender as a cheat.
3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order To save her father from his debt and imprisonment.

Take a moment to ponder over the story. The above story is used with The hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral & logical thinking.

The girl’s dilemma cannot be solved with Traditional logical thinking. Think of the consequences if she chooses the above logical answers. What would you recommend to the girl to do?

Well, here is what she did ….

The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without Looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path Where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles. She said,

Oh, how clumsy of me… but never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.

Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the money-lender dared not admit his Dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into An extremely advantageous one.

Tags: General, Story // 2 Comments »

If there’s one thing a hippo doesn’t like it’s being interrupted while having lunch. This unlucky guy in Uganda runs for his life after disturbing a hungry beast having its favourite meal of grass.

Above picture: The man saunters casually past the hippo as it chomps through the long grass

He fled as the angry three-ton beast - which can outrun a man - charged at him.

Above picture: Look out! The hippo turns on the man after being disturbed while eating grass

The man, armed only with a walkie-talkie at the Murchison Falls National Park, somehow managed to escape on this occasion.

The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as the most ferocious animal in Africa. Hippo jaws are capable of biting a 10-foot crocodile in two.

Above picture: Running for his life: The man flees as the hungry hippo charges at him. Hippos are some of the most aggressive creatures on Earth

They regularly attack humans and boats. Despite their stocky shape and short legs, they can reach speeds of 30 miles per hour and can easily outrun a human.

They are the third-heaviest land mammal. Males can weigh up to 4,000 lbs and measure 17-feet long. Adults think nothing of taking on crocodiles, which often live in the same pools and rivers.

Above picture: Faster than Usain Bolt: At 30 mph, hippos have a more impressive top speed than the fastest man in the world. Bolt can only reach 29mph

——

Facts about Hippos

• Hippos have killed more people in Africa than any other wild animal
• Their gaping yawn is actually a threat, displaying long, thick canine teeth that can bite a boat in half
• They are the second heaviest land mammal after elephants, at up to 4,000lb and as much as 17ft long
• The creatures, whose name is Greek for ‘river horse’, can stay under water for five minutes

Source: Daily Mail

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Today I watched the movie - The Proposal. It’s a really nice show, which explains why its tickets are selling so fast, compared to other movies.

It’s a really nice movie which could make you laugh like crazy for a moment, and then at times make you keep quiet and listen, put yourself in their shoes.. and then laugh again! Cool huh?!

The plot is rather interesting, most of them can be guessed but some are quite a surprise; But definitely, there are several hilarious scenes in the movie that makes everyone in the entire cinema theater to sudden burst into laughter!!

Here’s the review by IMDB (Please skip this part if you’re afraid of spoiler):

Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) is the executive editor-in-chief of a book publishing company, Colden Books, who forces her assistant Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) to marry her in order to avoid being deported to Canada. He grudgingly accepts, under the condition that he is promoted to the position of editor. When the government investigates, the two are forced to spend the weekend with his parents in Alaska in order to sell the lie. The family suggest they could marry the same weekend, and they reluctantly accept. They start to fall genuinely in love as they spend more and more time together. Because of this, during the wedding ceremony, Margaret decides she cannot do this to Andrew and confesses the business arrangement in front of everyone–including the immigration officer handling their case. She is then told that she has 24 hours to get back to Canada, and thus goes back to New York to pack her things. Upon doing so, however, Andrew shows up at the office and confesses his love for her in front of the entire office staff, proposing marriage all over again.

When high-powered book editor Margaret faces deportation to her native Canada, the quick-thinking exec declares that she’s actually engaged to her unsuspecting put-upon assistant Andrew, who she’s tormented for years. He agrees to participate in the charade, but with a few conditions of his own. The unlikely couple heads to Alaska to meet his quirky family and the always-in-control city girl finds herself in one comedic fish-out-of-water situation after another. With an impromptu wedding in the works and an immigration official on their tails, Margaret and Andrew reluctantly vow to stick to the plan despite the precarious consequences.

AND the ending is a happy one! What more do you wish to see in a movie? :p

Let’s go check it out!

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Three technology heavyweights are joining a coalition to fight Google’s attempt to create what could be the world’s largest virtual library.

Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo will sign up to the Open Book Alliance being spearheaded by the Internet Archive. They oppose a legal settlement that could make Google the main source for many online works.

The Internet Archive’s founder Brewster Kahle says the following,

Google is trying to monopolise the library system, if this deal goes ahead, they’re making a real shot at being ‘the’ library and the only library.

Back in 2008, the search giant reached an agreement with publishers and authors to settle two lawsuits that charged the company with copyright infringement for the unauthorised scanning of books.

In that settlement, Google agreed to pay $125m (£76m) to create a Book Rights Registry, where authors and publishers could register works and receive compensation. Authors and publishers would get 70% from the sale of these books with Google keeping the remaining 30%.

Google would also be given the right to digitise orphan works. These are works whose rights-holders are unknown, and are believed to make up an estimated 50-70% of books published after 1923.

Comments on the deal have to be lodged by 4 September. In early October, a judge in the Southern district of New York will consider whether or not to approve the class-action suit.

In a separate development, the US Department of Justice is conducting an anti-trust investigation into the impact of the agreement.

Source: BBC News

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Summer, usually a slow time for search, has given Microsoft something to smile about: The company’s Bing search engine gained market share.

Microsoft’s share of the U.S. search market grew slightly in July, while Google and Yahoo experienced slight declines. Of the 13.6 billion U.S. searches conducted in July, 64.7% were conducted through Google sites, a 0.3 percent point decline from June, according to ComScore. Yahoo sites in July served 19.3% of those searches, also a 0.3 percentage point decline from the previous month.

Microsoft Bing’s search share increased by half of a percentage point in July. Its gain accounted for most of what Google and Yahoo lost. Microsoft sites served 8.9% of U.S. searches last month.

As a percentage change, Google’s search query total fell by 4%, Yahoo’s fell by 5%, and Microsoft’s increased by 2%. Ask and AOL accounted for 3.9% and 3.1% of the search market in July, respectively.

ComScore’s search share figures do not include searches related to mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites. While any gain is good news, Microsoft still has a long way to go. In February, prior to Bing’s launch, ComScore put Microsoft’s share of the U.S. search market at 8.5%.

In terms of worldwide search market share, Google processed 78.45% of all searches in July, according to NetApplications. Bing had 3.17%, behind China’s Baidu (8.87%) and Yahoo (7.15%). Not only does Microsoft have a lot of ground to cover before it draws even with Google, but it also faces a competitor that isn’t standing still.

Google last week unveiled a developer preview of its new Web search architecture called “Caffeine.” The search leader clearly has no intention of letting Bing’s gain go unchallenged.

Microsoft, congrats!

Tags: General // 2 Comments »

I remember that time when I was with my friends at Tampines, we saw some interesting games at the game shop; we wanted to buy it, but don’t know if it worth the money. Thus we wanted to go online to check for the game’s details. However, my phone don’t have WIFI, only has GPRS. So we checked the details and bought the game etc…

At the end of the month, I almost cried when I look at my phone bill! O_o” it was so expensive! I complained to me friends and one of them laughed at me, and told me that I should have used WIFI to search instead; using GPRS from phone to surf the internet is purely silly!

He then recommended me to sign up for the SingTel BroadBand on Mobile Youth Plan, which is the first broadband on mobile for youths! I was shocked when I hear that, guess what?

I didn’t know that such offers even existed in the first place! >.< I didn’t believe him at first, until he gave me the official website to see at www.singtel.com/youth.

(Click on image to view enlarged version)

It is an exclusive offer to students and NSFs only! Since I am going to be enlisted to army in this coming October, this is exactly what I’m looking for!

With this youth plan, I can relax and surf the internet whenever and wherever I am, be it watching videos on Youtube, check for movie time and slots, using search engine to find information on projects, chit chatting with friends on MSN and many more!

And the best thing is that I don’t even need to hunt for WIFI spots! I can stay connected through seamless internet wherever I am! Wahahaha! Cool right?! xD

Not only that, after you signed up for this Broadband for Mobile Youth plan, your SIM card will become so godly – you’ll gonna love it if you have a laptop! Because all you need to do it just to slot it in to the portable modem provided to you, and then plug it into your laptop to enjoy the seamless wireless network access!

This wireless network access is not only fast and stable, it is not bounded by any school firewall, just imagine yourself being able to play Maple Story or AuditionSEA or even Dragonica in school! Because you are not using the school’s network which has very restrictive firewall!

Also, you would be able to surf the full fledge website when you plug it into your laptop instead of surfing from your phone – this is especially useful when you often surf social sites like Facebook, just like me!

To be able to get yourself connected to seamless wireless access is just so great isn’t it? To be able to do online streaming and watch Naruto with friends at chalet or at the beach, don’t need to connect to the very limited and slow network access while at school, can meet your friends to do project at places with no internet access such as parks, gardens, & etc. Wow… the thought of it just makes me felt so excited!

Simply log on to www.singtel.com/youth to find out more details about this exclusive offer! Oh yeah, you get a chance to win F1 tickets worth $596 each, and there are 4 pairs available to be won! xD

What are you waiting for?! Let’s go sign up at any SingTel Shop and pay only $14.50 instead of the usual price of $29.00 per month! Whoohooo~!!

Live Life Online. Yet another way you can express yourself freely!

Tags: General // 7 Comments »

President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan has apologised for the slow official response to Typhoon Morakot. Hundreds of people are still trapped by mudslides and floods. More than 120 have been confirmed dead. Families of nearly 400 people feared dead in the village of Hsiaolin returned there on Saturday to the site to grieve for their loved ones.

Taiwan President, Ma Ying-jeou says the following,

We could have done better and we could have been faster.

Relatives were seen calling out to the buried victims and burning incense, while TV pictures showed one man being restrained as he tried to bang his head against a wall. Some families have demanded to have the bodies of victims dug up, but many believe digging them out would harm them.

The official said the wishes of relatives would be respected and the site would be turned into a memorial park. Survivors would be housed elsewhere.

President Ma also said the following,

We could have done better and we could have been faster. But we weren’t better and we weren’t faster.

And the following,

Of course we are very sorry.

Thousands of troops have been sent to help rescue them and provide shelter. They have been struggling across shattered roads and collapsed bridges to reach stranded communities.

Critics say the authorities were too slow to realise the magnitude of the emergency, while some of those stranded have said they have received no help for days and have been short of food and water.

Many have been waiting for days at the rescue operation centre in Qishan for news of relatives missing since the typhoon struck.

Officials says rescue teams have been hampered by sustained rains in the centre and south of the island and a badly damaged road network which means many villages can only be accessed by air.

Many of the worst-affected villages are inhabited by aborigines, who farm the mountainous terrain. Thousands more people are believed to be stranded in remote settlements elsewhere in southern and central Taiwan.

The government has requested from foreign countries prefabricated buildings to help house those left homeless by the flooding and supplies of disinfectant, to try to prevent the spread of disease.

In China, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan, companies and charities have raised more than 100m yuan ($14.6m) in donations.

TAIWAN’S WORST-AFFECTED AREAS Qishan - rescue operation centre established here, thousands of troops drafted in to help. Liukuei - 200 people awaiting rescue from hot spring resort as of Thursday, with another 700 survivors in the area. Hsinfa - 32 people reported dead, survivors pulled to safety using ropes thrown across river. Hsiaolin - hundreds feared dead following mudslides the morning after Taiwan’s Father’s Day. Taoyuan - residents told to run to higher ground as embankment holding back lake gave way.

Source: BBC NEWS

Tags: General, Random // 1 Comment »

The common complaint when it comes to videogame cut scenes is that they’re not really part of the game at all, but rather protracted breaks where control is wrested from the player. It certainly doesn’t help when the stuff that happens in these sequences is way cooler than the action that goes down when the player is calling the shots.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy, a new brawler for the PSP due Aug. 25, is an admirable attempt to reconcile the gap between the far-out fights that unspool during Final Fantasy cut scenes and the deeds that players prompt with button and joystick. Unfortunately, the fisticuffs come off more clumsy than they ought to — especially when the role-playing structure beneath is executed with the utmost precision.

The game’s premise is promising, as it pits a who’s who of Final Fantasy heroes against a similarly diverse supergroup of villains, including beloved Final Fantasy VII antagonist Sephiroth.

Dissidia’s best moments happen when fights between the members of this all-star cast go slightly nuts. A well-placed punch can send an opponent flying heavenward. With a single button-press, the aggressor can leap after the victims and whack them again.

But let’s face it: Action has never been Square Enix’s stong suit. The gamemakers have spent decades refining the nuts and bolts of stat-based role-playing games. In Dissidia: Final Fantasy, they apply this prowess with great imagination and achieve some good results.

A general disregard for the laws of physics seems to be the rule in Dissidia. Subtle yellow arrows all around the landscape mark areas where players can press another button and do the impossible. Some send heroes spiraling skyward. Others allow them to cling to walls and run up the length of pillars.

Difficulty settings don’t just determine how hard fights will be, they dramatically change the way the game plays by simplifying or complicating the tactical maps that players navigate to get from battle to battle. Experience points are doled out generously, even when your PSP is tucked away in a drawer. And once a bit of the story has been conquered by hacking and slashing, players can opt to tackle the game in the traditional turn-based fashion, selecting their moves in advance rather than mashing them out in real time.

With this empowerment, however, comes a few hassles. Because the PSP has only one analog stick, there’s no way to manually control where the game’s camera points. Players can track enemies and other items by squeezing one of the shoulder buttons, but the camera remains unruly — especially when fighters transition between terra firma and perpendicular walls.

Still, with experience points flowing like wine, there are plenty of opportunities to strengthen characters, customize their look and their combat styles, and tweak their performance. All the hooks are in place to make Dissidia: Final Fantasy a compelling role-playing experience. If only the fights and the reason for fighting them were as inspiring.

Plot here is paper-thin. An eternal war between good and evil has taken a turn for the worse. Heroes from multiple Final Fantasy dimensions have been called to a sparse purgatory to carry on the fight, but first the warriors must each seek and find — you guessed it — a crystal to aid them in their quest.

There’s some interesting character work at play. Watching former foes and allies reconnect tickles certain nostalgic nerves, and when heroes from different worlds team up, things get truly interesting. But in this abstract setting, one of the major motivators of the RPG is totally lost. There’s no sense of exploration or discovery. The hybrid gameplay, in an attempt to offer the best of both worlds, ultimately fails to satisfy either as an RPG or an action game.

Unlike The World Ends With You, the under-appreciated Square Enix RPG for the Nintendo DS, Dissidia: Final Fantasy is unsuccessful in its attempt to fuse action and role-playing experimentation in a meaningful way. The pieces are all there, but the glue is too thin.

There’s got to be a potion that’ll fix that.

Source: Wired Game Review

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Typhoons are wreaking destruction across Asia, with rescuers using helicopters to try to reach a mountain village in Taiwan where as many as 400 people are feared missing after a huge landslide slammed down on their homes.

Television footage shot from helicopters over the village of Hsiaolin showed a few rooftops peeking through rivers of dark grey mud. Only one house was visible and the main bridge to reach the village had been swept away by the rains dumped on the island at the weekend by Typhoon Morakot.

One 46-year-old man, identified only by his surname, Weng, told a local cable news network that he had narrowly escaped as he checked a makeshift wooden house near his home, but his10 other family members had disappeared in the mud. He wept: “All of them were gone.”

Eight specifically trained rescuers and 13 soldiers from an elite unit were flown in by helicopter to check reports that hundreds of villagers were still unaccounted for. Reports ranged from 200 to 400 missing, possibly buried in the mud. Rescuers earlier flew 45 people to safety and survivors spoke of family members being engulfed.

Lin Chien-chung, a rescued villager, told the United Evening News Paper that his home and neighbourhood were buried and up to 600 people could have suffered the same fate. However, rescuers said that the figure was an overestimate. “The mudslide covered a large part of the village, including a primary school and many homes. A part of the mountain above us just fell on the village.”

Another man could not hold back tears. “The mountain buried everyone in the middle of the night. There was no escape.”

Authorities plan to send up to 160 rescuers to the village, an official from the disaster contingency centre said. “As long as weather permits, we’ll send more people there. To tell the truth, we don’t know how many people were trapped there.” Taiwan’s official death toll from Morakot stands at 14. Another 51, not including the people in Hsiaolin, are listed as missing.

China relocated around one million people as Typhoon Morakot, which means emerald in Thai, pounded the coast after moving west from Taiwan.

Another powerful typhoon killed 13 people in western Japan as rivers burst their banks, washing away houses and drowning people in their cars. Tokyo was bracing itself this evening for its arrival.

More than 47,000 people were ordered to leave their homes, as winds as high as 78 mph (117km/h) dropped up to 638mm (25in) of rain on Hyogo and Okayama prefectures and the island of Shikoku. Troops of Japan’s Self Defence Forces, as the country’s post-war army is called, were deployed to the town of Sayo, where almost 500 houses were washed away and people drowned as they struggled to escape the rising waters.

One local government official in Sayo was found drowned in his car and the body of a woman was recovered from a gutter. In Okayama, a 68-year-old woman was killed by a landslide as earth loosened by the intense rain bore down upon her house. Cars were upended and wooden houses were half toppled by the waters. The lower floors of even stronger buildings were inundated with mud and debris.

Half a dozen domestic flights were cancelled after an All Nippon Airways flight into Osaka was struck by lightning, although there were no injuries or serious damage to the aeroplane. This evening Typhoon Etau, or Typhoon Number Nine as it is classified by Japanese meteorologists, was heading towards the Kanto plain, Japan’s most intensely populated urban area, containing the cities of Tokyo, Yokohama and Kawasaki.

Japan’s Prime Minister, Taro Aso, was forced to cancel a trip to Hyogo and Shikoku to campaign for this month’s general election, when his Liberal Democratic Party is expected to suffer a crushing defeat.

Every summer and autumn Japan endures dozens of typhoons, although Etau has been unusually destructive. The worst typhoon season in recent memory was 2004, when dozens of Japanese died.

——-

Source: Timesonline

Tags: General // 2 Comments »

What is your favorite search engine? Google? Bing? Yahoo? Well these are probably the more popular ones, or at least that’s what I think it is.

You can try out this “Blind Search” tool to find out: http://blindsearch.fejus.com

It provides results from Google, Yahoo and Bing in three columns but doesn’t tell you which column is which search engine. You then tell it which one you think shows the best results, and you then see which answers are from which engines.

Most users tend to think Google results are better just because they’re from Google. If you take any search engine and put the logo on top, it tests better. So Yahoo results with a Google logo will always test better than, say, Google results with the Yahoo or Bing logo. People are just used to thinking about Google as the best search.

Frankly speaking, I did a few search on this blind search website and the ratio of me choosing Yahoo search results is 3:1 when compare to Google and Bing search. And I always thought I only use Google search!

Perhaps I’m one of those people whom always think that Google search results is always the best~ LOL! xD

Tags: General // 2 Comments »

Police received calls that two bodies were found near the railway track in Upper Bukit Timah Road on Saturday morning. The young couple, believed to be a 19-year-old Chinese boy and a 20-year-old Chinese girl, were pronounced dead at 6.08am.

A Singapore Civil Defence Force spokesman said that the boy’s left leg was amputated and he suffered an open head wound and multiple body fractures, whereas the girl had multiple body fractures, and her right leg was nearly severed at the knee.

Ms Shahriza Embi, a Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) spokesman, said that an empty KTM train heading to Johor Bahru knocked down the couple. She also said the following,

We had no idea how they got there.

The morning shuttle between Johor Bahru and Singapore was cancelled. Four other train services were delayed for between one and two hours. The young couple is believed to be students from Republic Polytechnic, and they were apparently sitting on the track when the train came.

Police investigation into the unnatural death is currently still ongoing.

I don’t understand why must they sit on the railway track, didn’t they see the track there? If they thought that no trains would pass by that railway, then it is even worst - they should have find out more about their surrounding area if they were to go there for an adventure or something (?)

It’s really upsetting to hear that such unpleasant event happened right before Singapore’s birthday.

Anyone who want to share your views could leave a comment here.

Cheers~

Tags: General, Random // Add Comment »

Finally, one week has past since I start working at Microsoft Singapore as an intern! The experience was great already. It’s really cool to work in such a well establish company and to work with a group of amazing people!

All of the fellow interns are university level students, and all of them are top rated ones! Just amazing lah! Enough said!

Yesterday is so far, the day where I stayed at office for the longest time: I reached office at 7.55am to meet Mr John for breakfast together with my other colleagues, he’s an amazing guy! So cool. And at the end of the day, I left the office at around 9.30pm if I’m not wrong. And guess what?

I did not have my dinner! =.=” Actually when my colleagues went for dinner at around 6pm+, I did not go because I thought I just left a bit more to complete that part before I go home for dinner. Then when I finish that part, it’s not yet 7pm, I thought I could finish another part before leaving, end up I got stucked and settle it at only 9pm+ =.=” ARGHS!

First weekend ever since start working at Microsoft. Felt really tired but love the challenge. I know my main assignment already, it’s super challenging! Got to think of idea already.. >.<” haha. Anyway I slept until around 11am today, been so long since I last slept till so late :p wahaha!

Alright, that’s all for today, till I blog again!

Cheerios~

Tags: General, Random // 2 Comments »

NYP has once again, made its mark at the prestigious Microsoft Imagine Cup. Team PlanetKY took second prize in the MashUp category at the worldwide finals in Cairo, Egypt.

A total of 444 students from 149 teams representing 70 countries and regions competed in nine categories: Software Design, Embedded Development, Game Development, IT Challenge, Robotics and Algorithm, MashUp, Photography, Short Film and Design.

“PlanetKY” comprises of two third year Diploma in Multimedia & Infocomm Technology students Kong Wen Bin and James Yeo.

The team created “VENews - Virtual Earth News” that uses MashUp technology to gather the latest environmental news from RSS feeds around the world and present them intelligently on Microsoft Virtual Earth. VENews uses a Mashup application to retrieve information from various sources and re-mixes them, enabling the user to view a holistic environmental picture of the Earth.

Unfortunately, James could not go to Egypt as he was due for enlistment in National Service. It was up to Wen Bin to represent his team.

For Wen Bin, the experience has taught him how to cope with unexpected changes. It was only close to midnight on the first day of the competition, all six finalists of the MashUp category were informed that they had to make a presentation the following day. “Everyone was a little shocked as it was late at night. We were told that we were required to convince the judges as to why our projects deserved to win,” recalled Wen Bin. To prepare for this presentation, Wen Bin and his mentors thought of possible questions and how best to answer them.

Wen Bin added, “It was a very stressful experience especially when I felt the judges seemed impressed with the other teams’ projects. So I was ecstatic when PlanetKY was announced the second prize winner together with the Monastry of Innovations Team from Poland.”

PlanetKY won a trophy and USD$4000 cash.

This is not the first time which NYP has done well in the Microsoft Imagine Cup. Last year, another NYP team “Trail Blazers” won the Embedded Development category.

Our heartiest congratulations to PlanetKY!

It’s finally up! It took so long for NYP to post this :/ even 938live and Singapore Polytechnic has post this longggggg ago~ lols

Source: NYP News

Tags: Random // 2 Comments »

Hello everyone! It have been quite some time since I last blogged, due to the fact that I’m working now and is still trying to adapt to the LIFE+WORK+FUN+SPORTS+ETC life! >.<

Previously, my life has been busy due to Imagine Cup 2009 competition, but I still got free time - since I’m working at my own free time, I still can relax at times, go out with friends, play sports, play online games and etc. And I’m so used to that kind of life after adapting it for like 3 or 4 months already.

Now I’m working 9am to 6pm daily, and I always stay until around 7pm+ to continue my work, when I’m back home it’s around around 8pm+ or 9pm; thus I’m still not very used to the life yet, and as a result, I didn’t get to blog often recently. :p

Not to worry, it’s still my first week working at Microsoft Singapore! In fact, not yet to even end my first week :p I believe that I will get to adapt to it soon! I have confident, hahaha!

Something for me to felt excited about is that I’m currently blogging using company’s laptop, which is installed with Windows 7 Ultimate edition. Cool huh!? It’s really good. Something which shocked me is that there’s only 2gb ram and the processor is not even quad core, but the whole system runs so fast like as though it possesses 4gb ram and quad core processor!

I have been doing a lot of installation work on it recently, Visual Studio 2008 professional edition, Expression Studio 3, Silverlight 2 & 3 SDK and many more - I know that it runs really smooth. I guess I’ll upgrade my own computer’s system to Windows 7 too when it’s available!

Speaking of Expression Studio - do you guys know what is it? I guess most of you doesn’t know, but not to worry because I’m going to tell you now!

Microsoft Expression Studio consists of Expression Web, Expression Blend, Expression Encoder, and Expression Design. They are similar to the Adobe Creative Suite, where Expression Web is similar to Dreamweaver, Expression Blend is similar to Flash, Expression Design is similar to Illustrator! It’s quite cool uh.

During my study in diploma course, I did not come across the term “Expression Studio” or any applications within at all, only heard of Flash, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Fireworks, and etc. However, I’m making use of those skills I learnt previously to pick up Expression Studio tools quickly!

So far so good, all my colleagues and superiors are nice and friendly people, and they will share their knowledge with me and teach me new stuffs. There are so much things for me to learn from them, I hope I can prove myself useful!

I will work hard! And yeah, I will try to adapt to my life soon and blog more often! Stay tune yeah!

My apologies if this post is messy, I’m typing it fast as I’m going to continue my work after this post. Cheers!

Tags: General // 4 Comments »

I am so excited about the 2 months internship program that is going to start tomorrow, on the 3 August 2009!

Many people find that working is somewhat suffering, no freedom, and there is always a burden on the shoulders - work can never be do finish; no matter how you do, there will still be work for you. Well that’s true, work will always be there, especially when you’re a perfectionist like me. :p

My beliefs is that, working is something for us to enjoy. I’m serious, because I find that one should work on something they like and they enjoy doing. Like for example, policeman:

A policeman who like his job, would be a happy person - when he see anyone committing crimes, he will be more than happy to chase them down and get rid of these people whom do harm to our society. Whereas for a policeman who doesn’t like his job, he will find it so troublesome and sickening to chase a criminal, and thus give up easily and find his job tough.

Thus I believe that when one finds the job which interests him, he will find it an enjoyment. As for freedom, it will always be the standard one - Weekdays 9am to 6pm, weekends free for you, or Saturday halfday and Sunday off. That’s office hours though, if you’re working as hawker or businessman then it might be different already..

Anyway, I have a feeling that I am so gonna love my job and enjoy working in the 2 months internship program, reason being I’m going to spend my time meaningfully, and learnt new stuffs, and also make my resume even better, and more importantly, get to experience the company culture & make new friends, get to interact with many different people! Which is so cool! wahahaas. and a big bonus - I heard from my boss that the working hours are flexible! whooohooo~!!

Okay, I’m looking forward to start my work tomorrow!

Tags: General // 4 Comments »

To summarise the whole story, Microsoft’s Bing search engine will power the Yahoo website, AND Yahoo will in turn become the advertising sales team for Microsoft’s online offering. Cool uh? :p

Microsoft’s Ashley Highfield’s said the following,

It brings scale and innovation to the search market.

Watch the following video to find out more.

Yahoo has been struggling to make profits in recent years, but last year it rebuffed several takeover bids from Microsoft in an attempt to go it alone.

Yahoo shares closed down 12.1% on the day, while Microsoft shares moved up by 1.4%.

Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer said the 10-year deal would provide Microsoft’s Bing search engine with the necessary scale to compete.

Mr Ballmet said the following,

Through this agreement with Yahoo, we will create more innovation in search, better value for advertisers, and real consumer choice in a market currently dominated by a single company, Microsoft and Yahoo know there’s so much more that search could be. This agreement gives us the scale and resources to create the future of search.

In return for ceding control of its search engine, Yahoo will get to keep 88% of the revenue from all search ad sales on its site for the first five years of the deal, and have the right to sell adverts on some Microsoft sites.

Yahoo’s search team, meanwhile, will have to brace itself for job losses over the next two years. Some staff will transfer to Microsoft, others can stay on with Yahoo, but redundancies would be unavoidable, Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz told the BBC.

As for Yahoo, they said the deal would benefit their users and advertisers.

Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz said the following,

This agreement comes with boatloads of value for Yahoo, our users, and the industry. And I believe it establishes the foundation for a new era of internet innovation and development

The deal became possible after Yahoo’s co-founder Jerry Yang stepped down as chief executive of the company late last year.

Tim Weber, business editor of the BBC News website commented the following,

Only a Yahoo outsider like Ms Bartz could do such a deal. She has no sentimental attachment to what was once the core of Yahoo, its search business. Microsoft was helped by the fact that at long last it managed to develop a search engine - Bing - that is a credible alternative to search giant Google.

Yahoo said the deal would boost annual operating income by $500m and secure $200m in savings.

The tie-up will give Microsoft and Yahoo a combined market share in the US search ad market of about 30%, while Google would still be the dominant force with a share of about 65%.

The negotiation ends years of back-and-forth negotiations between the two companies.

Microsoft originally offered to buy Yahoo in January 2008 - with an offer worth about $47.5bn, but Mr Ballmer later withdrew that bid after Yahoo’s then boss, Mr Yang, demanded a higher price.

Yahoo instead opted for an online advertising partnership with rival Google, but that tie-up was later abandoned because of the risk of a protracted battle with regulators over competition issues.

So that’s all! Isn’t it surprising to hear this two competing companies to seal a web deal together? Quite interesting - anything can happen in the business world.

I guess I shall try out the BING search engine too, and see how great it actually is.

Tags: General // Add Comment »

Tackling the world’s woes as outlined in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

That’s what over 300,000 students from around the globe tried to do when they took part in the world’s premier student technology competition, the Microsoft Imagine Cup.

And two Singapore teams impressed the judges with their projects.

Team Woolgathering from Singapore Polytechnic came in second place in the Photography category.

In their photo essay, they had highlighted the use of green technology in helping to overcome the excessive reliance on fossil fuel.

Also coming in in second place, though in what’s called the MashUp category, was Team Planet KY from Nanyang Polytechnic.

They had come up with a website that gathers the latest environmental news from RSS feeds around the world.

One of the team members for Team Planet KY and his mentor speaks with Jeremy Koh.

Reducing extreme poverty, fighting disease epidemics like AIDS, and ensuring environmental sustainability.

These are among the eight international development goals that 192 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organisations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015.

And the need for a sustainable environment was what prompted Team Planet KY to develop an interactive Virtual Earth News system.

Team member, Kong Wen Bin, explains why.

“We feel that those are things that are all around us, our surroundings. And also my teammate James and I know that the environmental-related news from all over the world are generated by news agencies everyday, and all these information are available over the internet. And what we think is that all these information can be very valuable resources if we know how to make use of it.”

Hence the team decided to make use of MashUp technology, which is an interactive web application, to gather the latest environmental news from RSS feeds around the world.

All the news is then presented on one platform - Microsoft Virtual Earth - thus allowing for easy access of environmental news.

“All these scattered pieces of information, they do not convey the aggregate health of our earth when read in isolation. So we have this idea of mashing up environmental news with Microsoft Virtual Earth so we can reinterpret all the information and present them in a visual manner, so that users of our application, at one glance they can see what’s happening to our earth.”

And Wen Bin says their own experiences formed the inspiration behind the idea.

“We want to know more about the environmental issues but we find that it’s quite difficult, because environmental issues have a very big range, like air pollution, water pollution, earthquake, etc. And all these information are available on many different websites. So to keep ourselves updated on our own earth, our surroundings is quite difficult.”

But while coming up with the concept is easy, putting it into practice isn’t a piece of cake.

“The most difficult thing throughout the whole project is to create our web service and make it very accurate. Because sometimes the news can mention a lot of countries or something and the information might not be very accurate, so we have to do checking at the back end site. And also we want to make it run as fast as possible because everything is live, so we get live data from RSS feed, etc. We don’t want our audience to wait too long, so we spent a lot of time enhancing our VeNews application, so this is a big challenge.”

After four months of working on the project, Wen Bin and his team mate finally came up with something they’re happy with.

“We don’t have to update it time to time, because all the RSS feeds are updated by the website which provides the news itself. So we just have to leave it there, but the news are all very updated.”

And this concept brought Wen Bin and his teammate all the way to Cairo in Egypt, where they presented their ideas to an international panel of judges.

“When we hear the announcement i was very very happy and excited. I just jumped out of my seat, hold the Singapore flag and ran all the way to the stage.”

No official reasons were given for why they came in second place, but it’s believed they did well due to the site’s usability and practicality.

For instance, schools can use it to teach subjects such as Geography, while corporations can use it as a guide in making decisions.

Individuals, on the other hand, can use it to keep themselves updated on environmental issues.

Mdm Kang Siew Hwa is Team Planet KY’s mentor and lecturer from Nanyang Polytechnic.

“From this four month period, i realised that these two students really apply the things they learn from the Diploma in Multimedia and Infocomm and in this case, they can actually apply what they learnt to pick up the new technology.”

And Mdm Kang thinks more of such competitions should be held so students can widen their exposure.

“Actually it’s good for this particular competition to be held so that all the students can explore new technology and apply what they learn outside the classroom. So it challenges the students to better prepare for the future. Whethe they win or not is not so important but it’s the experience they have.”

But beyond just putting into practice what they’ve learnt, there are also other reasons for participating, as Wen Bin elaborates.

“The experience is very valuable to us. While we’re young, we want to take part in more competitions and make our resume even better.”

——

Source: 938Live News - Current Affairs - Local

The above is the full story of the interview conversation which was on air this morning at 7.10am and 9.10am. I’d like to say a big thank you to all who supported & went to listen

Tags: General // Add Comment »

Last week, I was interviewed on regarding my experiences going through Imagine Cup 2009 and my feelings about going to cairo, egypt, and winning the 2nd place worldwide, doing Singapore proud. The conversation was recorded and will be air on 938Live tomorrow.

As regarding the exact timing, it will be at 7.10am and 9.10am. By then, you guys would be able to read up on the full story of the interview together with pictures at www.938live.sg, just look under Online News > Current Affairs-Local will do.

Thanks in advance to everyone for the support!

Tags: General // Add Comment »

One of the most interesting and unique word in the English language today, is the word “fuck”. This is not a joke; relax and read on before you think that this post is offensive.

Out of all the English words that begin with the letter ‘F’, only the word “fuck” is referred to as the “F” word, and it is recognized globally. Thus it is the one magical word. Just by its sound can describe pain, pleasure, hate, love, and many more. “Fuck”, as most words in the English language is derived from German, the word “Fuieken”, which means to “strike”.

Before I continue, let’s load this short few minutes video which summarizes the post’s contents:

In English, fuck falls into many grammatical categories:

• As a transitive verb -> Jack fucked Sally.
• As an intransitive verb -> John fucks.

Its meaning is not always sexual, it can be used as:

• An adjective -> Jason is doing all the fucking work.
• As part of an adverb -> Shirley talks too fucking much.
• As an adverb enhancing an adjective -> Jane is fucking beautiful.
• As a noun -> I don’t give a fuck.
• As part of a word -> absofuckinglutely or infuckingcredible. (these 2 words exist in dictionary, click on the word to view them on the online dictionary)
• And as almost every word in a sentence -> Fuck the fucking fuckers.

As you must realize, there aren’t too many words with the versatility of fuck, for example, when in situations such as:

• Fraud -> I got fucked at the used car lot.
• Dismay -> ahhh fuck it.
• Trouble -> I guess I’m really fucked now.
• Aggression -> Don’t fuck with me buddy.
• Difficulty -> I don’t understand this fucking question.
• Inquiry -> Who the fuck was that?
• Dissatisfaction -> I don’t like what the fuck is going on here.
• Incompetence -> He’s a fuck-off.
• Dismissal -> Why don’t you go outside and go fuck yourself…

I’m sure you can think of many more examples.

With all these multi-purpose applications, how can anyone be offended when you use the word, “fuck”. We say, use this unique and flexible word more often in your daily speech.

It will identify the quality of your character immediately.

Say it loudly and proudly: FUCK YOU!

——

Edited from original post

Tags: General, Joke // 6 Comments »

How could someone be so inconsiderate and selfish, NSmen are going through trainings to protect our homeland, Singapore; and there are people calling them “SMELLY GREEN THINGS” - that is so ridiculous.

Seriously, when my friend told me about this issues a few days ago, I was so worked up! In fact, both of us were very worked up - not because we are going to enlist to NS in the coming October 2009, it is because we felt so ashamed that there are actually such people in Singapore.

For those whom don’t know what is NS - it stands for National Service, here in Singapore, every male citizens whom have reach the age of 18 have to serve the army (be a soldier) for two years.

But not to worry, I believe that such people only takes up a mini-little-minor part of Singapore; Singaporeans may be labelled as love-to-complains & etc, but I strongly believe that not all Singaporeans are so inconsiderate like this “mum of two childrens”.

Enough said, let’s see what the woman said:

Isn’t it very inconsiderate and unthoughful for someone to comment such things? It made so many people angry, not just me! It have even made newspaper reporter to write bout this, even Asiaone also write it. Here’s what Asiaone has reported:

A Netizen who claimed to be a mother of two girls made a post in an online forum recently, demanding that NS men be banned from taking public buses because they are dirty and smelly.

The post drew furore from other forum members, who have called the poster insensitive and disrespectful towards NS men.

The Netizen, who goes by the username JusticeLegal, described an unpleasant bus ride on 10 July which prompted her to propose the ban.

JusticeLegal said that she was bringing her children home from Downtown East when a group of “army boys” boarded the bus with them. The NS men were sweaty and smelled, and soon the Netizen’s daughters were “making sick faces” at her.

The Netizen proposed that SAF ban soldiers from taking the bus, reasoning that the pay NS men get should be enough to pay for taxi rides.

She also said that the soldiers, having just returned to Singapore from Tekkong, might have contacted “germs and viruses” and might spread the diseases to others.

Calling the NS men “smelly green things”, JusciceLegal said in her post that her two daughters should be spared the eyesore.

If she had a grandson in the future, the Netizen said that she would teach him to be a responsible citizen and take a cab, or wait for her to fetch him.

The forum thread, which has since attracted some 900 replies, was started on 17 July. A large majority of replies expressed anger at JusticeLegal’s comments with many saying that the Netizen should at least recognize the contributions of NS men.

And seriously, the comments made by users are harsh, but I find that they CAN be even more harsh, it is really hard to not feel worked up after reading such stuffs.

Some comments made by readers, duntellumyname says the following,

I still can’t believe I served 2 yrs of NS to protect people like this… …(shaking head in disappointment)

Can I suggest something to u, JusticeLegal: If you and your pampered daughters insist on taking PUBLIC transport for some reason or another and you are afraid of the stench or being ‘touched by those smelly green things’, you can either: 1) WAIT for the next bus that no NSFs r taking or 2) Wear a full-body Bio/Chemical suit with mask each time you take a bus.

I am inclined to think that Option 2 will be more appropriate for you due to your paranoia of being infected by germs/viruses. In that case, I would like to suggest that you can complete your protective bubble/personal space by intensively sterilizing and sealing up your home and wearing full-body protective equipment as long as you are …..

And reader xiaoekin here commented in chinese (sorry to non-chinese),

真的是人咋败类，社会的垃圾，寄生虫。。不知道她的头脑里装了什么东西。。 是垃圾吗？？肯定是！！！要不然会说那种话。只有没教养，没智慧，没头脑，自以为是的人才会有 那么的想法。

没有想过她的老公当初当兵时也是流了很多臭汗，为国家贡献。。。

国家真的是白养这种人。。。丢国家人的脸。。。。失败！！！！

我也是为了要骂醒这个女人才注册的。。

Actually he/she is saying some harsh words saying that the “mum of two children” is very inconsiderate & etc, her husband has been through NS too. And that she make the whole country felt ashamed and lastly, the most funny part - he/she specially registered an account just to post this comment to scold this “mum of two children”!

- Read more comments -

I shall end my post here, I hope that people would think before they say such inconsiderate things.

Tags: General // 5 Comments »

Seriously, by sending your computers to repair shops is exactly the same as sending your personal information to unknown strangers, and not only that - you’re taking a risk of being overcharged as the techician/repair man misdescribe the fault of the computer.

Come on, if you are a computer experts, would you send your computer to repair shops? You are trusting them, and I can guarantee you that >90% of them are abusing the trust!

Sky News test on several computer repair shops and seriously, the investigation reflected badly on some of the industry’s major names.

In one case, passwords, log-in details and intimate holiday photographs were all copied onto a portable memory stick by a technician. In other shops, customers were charged for non-existent work and simple faults were misdiagnosed.

An investigator from the Trading Standards Institute said he was “shocked” by the findings. The investigation was carried out using surveillance software loaded onto a brand-new laptop. It operated without the user being aware that every event that took place on the computer was being logged.

Richard Webb, an e-commerce investigator for Trading Standards, said the following:

It’s a big abuse of trust. They know you won’t be able to tell what they’ve done afterwards, they know you’re putting your trust in them and unfortunately, as we’re seeing, there are too many people willing to abuse that trust.

Seriously, it is very disappointing. In fact, I know about that initially too, I don’t trust any repair shops - I trusted too many and I find myself mistrusting them. Here in Singapore, there is a rather big computer shop named PsycoPassive (FAKE NAME), when I know nothing about computer, I repaired my computer there many times.

After I know computer, I realised that I have been cheated many times - my compaq brand motherboard using DDR2 ram have been changed to a very old motherboard (not branded) which uses DDR1 ram, and during that time, the technician guy tell me that my motherboard very old, thus the ram I using also old, cannot be used on the new motherboard that they got for me (which costs 300~400 sgd??). Thus I buy the DDR1 ram. And during that time, I don’t know what is DDR in the first place, let alone ram. Note that in market, DDR1 ram is more expensive than DDR2 ram..

There are still many cheating case which took place in PsycoPassive where they told me my power supply spoil, fan also spoil, etc. So after I changed new ones, I brought back the old spoiled parts. And later on when my friend look at it at my house, he told me that they ARE WORKING fine. And he even test it to let me believe his words - it did work. Not spoiled.

And everytime I go to a repair shop, they would say motherboard spoil (come on, if just simply let them earn the service charge, too little, and other parts spoil also not much let them earn. So normally they want you to change motherboard which affects the other parts) and seriously, most people believe it; because we don’t know computers! We are not trained in that aspect and we don’t have any knowledge or technical skills to start with.

Come on, get my computer working already! I just need it to be fine and running, so that I could do my work/play games/etc! Just fix it man! AND.. I don’t care what is the problem, you tell me I also catch no balls, just fix it for me and I pay you the money!

Believe it or not, the above quoted is the thinking of most people whom has no knowledge about computers. I die also won’t go back to PsycoPassive (FAKE NAME) already.

Enough about my experience, I have quoted some of the stuffs being mentioned in the main news, let’s see:

The most serious offender was Revival Computers in Hammersmith, West London.

Shortly after identifying the real fault, an engineer called our undercover reporter to say the computer needed a new motherboard, which would cost £130.

Tests carried out by our internal Sky engineer after the diagnosis revealed there was nothing wrong with it.

The surveillance software then recorded one technician browsing through the files on the hard-drive, including private documents and intimate holiday photos, including some of our researcher in her bikini.

As he snooped through the files, he is seen smiling and showing the pictures to another colleague.

Later on in the same shop, a second technician loads up the machine and also looks through the photos, which are inside a folder clearly marked ‘private’.

He then plugs his own portable memory stick into the laptop and copies files, including passwords and photos, into a folder labelled “mamma jammas”.

Inside one of the documents copied to the memory stick was a text file containing passwords for Facebook, Hotmail, eBay and a NatWest bank account.

Once the technician had discovered this information, he opened a web browser on the laptop and attempted to log into the back account for around five minutes.

The only reason he was unsuccessful was because the details were fake.

This is so scary. Don’t be so naive to think that this only happens in London (this investigation took place in London); this happens in all over the world!

Interested in the original news article.

Cheerios!

Tags: General // 4 Comments »

For the last few months, Facebook has been regularly posting promotional videos to its Career site, introducing prospective applicants to all the neat things that go on behind the scenes.

Today they’ve uploaded a particularly interesting, detailing the launch of the company’s Video feature. It’s been known for some time that Facebook Video was the result of one of the company’s famed Hackathons, but getting the chance to watch some of the first clips to appear on the platform is pretty darn cool. There’s also one nice piece of data tucked away in the video: Facebook saw over 1 billion video views last month. That’s still far less than that 1.2 billion YouTube sees every day, but it undoubtedly makes Facebook one of the top video sharing sites on the web (it’s also the largest photo sharing site).

Amazing huh? Let’s watch this video:

It’s quite inspiring!

Tags: General // 1 Comment »

The solar eclipse that will take place on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 will be a total eclipse of the Sun. It will be the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting at most 6 minutes, 39 seconds. Below is the picture showing some information regarding the solar eclipse which I found on NASA website:

Isn’t it exciting? We are going to experience and see something so rare that I guess, if we miss this opportunity, we will not have another chance this life!

As what NASA has predicted, tomorrow’s (22 July 2009) solar eclipse is the longest total solar eclipse that will occur in the 21st century, and will not be surpassed in duration until June 13, 2132.

For people who don’t know what is Solar eclipse, here is some information I got for you:

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Sun and the Earth so that the Sun is fully or partially covered. This can only happen during a new moon, when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction as seen from the Earth. At least two and up to five solar eclipses can occur each year on Earth, with between zero and two of them being total eclipses. Total solar eclipses are nevertheless rare at any location because during each eclipse totality exists only along a narrow corridor in the relatively tiny area of the Moon’s umbra.

A total solar eclipse is a spectacular natural phenomenon and many people travel to remote locations to observe one. The 1999 total eclipse in Europe helped to increase public awareness of the phenomenon, as illustrated by the number of journeys made specifically to witness the 2005 annular eclipse and the 2006 total eclipse. The most recent solar eclipse occurred on January 26, 2009, and was an annular eclipse. On July 22 2009, the next total solar eclipse will occur.

In ancient times, and in some cultures today, solar eclipses have been attributed to supernatural causes. Total solar eclipses can be frightening for people who are unaware of their astronomical explanation, as the Sun seems to disappear in the middle of the day and the sky darkens in a matter of minutes.

So what are you waiting for? Go and set your alarm to wake up at 8 am and watch the sky!

Alternatively, you could turn on the TV, turn to channel U (Singapore channel) to watch the “LIVE” telecasting, the timing is 8am to 11am.

Cheerios!

Tags: General // 7 Comments »

Yes! I have finally received my first cheque from Nuffnang! I have took picture of the cheque itself, here you go:

Although the value of the money may not be very much, but to me, it meant a lot - it is the first time I ever earned money through blogging and putting up advertisements on my blog, thus it is a whole new experience for me

I love to blog, you know - I enjoy blogging! I want to update my blog with interesting and attractive stuffs everyday, and I do see myself growing and my blogging skills did improve; I got friends whom have feedback to me saying that he or she enjoyed reading my blog - this gave me a lot of encouragement!

I don’t expect myself to be famous blogger like XiaXue or Dawn Yang or many others, I just enjoy the feeling of sharing the stuffs which I find them interesting, and recent happenings which I want to bring attention to my readers! And hilarious jokes, meaningful stories, etc! Like my blog’s motto - my blog talks about:

talks about everything under the sun

Once again, thanks Nuffnang for giving me the opportunity and allowing me to earn small bucks while doing things I enjoy doing! I will continue to work hard. I mean, blog hard.

Cheerios!

Tags: General // 10 Comments »

The Twitter document leak fiasco started with a simple story that personal accounts of Twitter employees were hacked. Twitter CEO Evan Williams commented on that story, saying that Twitter itself was mostly unaffected. No personal accounts were compromised, and “most of the sensitive information was personal rather than company-related,” he said. The individual behind the attacks, known as Hacker Croll, wasn’t happy with that response. Lots of Twitter corporate information was compromised, and he wanted the world to know about it. So he sent us all of the documents that he obtained, some 310 of them, and the story developed from there.

It’s clear that Twitter was completely unaware of how deeply they were affected as a company - when Williams said that most of the information wasn’t company related he believed it. It wasn’t until later that he realized just how much and what kind of information was taken. It included things like financial projections and executive meeting notes that contained highly confidential information.

We’ve already said a lot about all of this and the related “server password = password” story that was discovered by another individual last week. But we’ve got two more stories to tell. The first, this post, is exactly how the hacks took place, based on information gathered from hours of conversations with Hacker Croll. The second is what was happening behind he scenes with Twitter as the story unfolded. We’ll post that later this week.

When the story first broke the true scope of what had taken place and how it occurred was not understood. Various bloggers speculated about the cause of the attack - with some placing the blame on Google while others blaming the rising trend of hosting documents in the cloud.

We immediately informed Twitter of the information we had in our possession (and forwarded it to them), and at the same time reached out to the attacker. With some convincing, the attacker responsible for the intrusion at Twitter began a dialog with us. I spent days communicating with the attacker in an effort to gain insight into how the attack took place, what the true scope of it was and how we could learn from it.

We’ve waited to post exactly what happened until Twitter had time to close all of these security holes.

Background

In the security industry there is a generally accepted philosophy that no system or network is completely secure - a competent attacker with enough time, patience and resources will eventually find a way into a target. Some of the more famous information security breaches have relied on nothing more than elementary issues exploited by an attacker with enough time and patience at hand to see their goal through. A classic example is the case of Gary McKinnon, a self-confessed “bumbling computer nerd” who while usually drunk and high on cannabis would spend days randomly dialing or attempting to login to government servers using default passwords. His efforts led to the compromise of almost 100 servers within a number of government departments. After McKinnon spent a number of years trawling through servers looking for evidence of alien life (long story), somebody within the government finally wised up to his activities which lead to not only the arrest and attempted extradition of McKinnon from the United Kingdom, but a massive re-evaluation of the security methods employed to protect government information.

A more recent example is the case of Kendall Myers, who after being recruited to work for the Cuban government by an anonymous stranger they met while on holiday in that country, set out to obtain a high ranking position within the State Department specifically to obtain access to US government secrets. Kendall dedicated his entire life to obtaining state secrets, and up until he was recently caught by the FBI had successfully passed on secret information and internal documents to the Cuban government for 30 years. He relied only on his memory, his education credentials and sheer dedication.

Source: techcrunch

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A picture speaks a thousand words.

Tags: Joke, Random // 2 Comments »

Many people know how to eat fruits, but not many people know how to eat fruits in the correct way.

Eating fruits doesn’t mean just buying fruits, cutting it and popping it into our mouths. It’s not as easy as most people think. It is important to know how and when to eat.

So, what is the correct way to eat fruits?

The most important thing to know is to eat fruits with an empty stomach - that is, don’t eat fruits right after meal!

If you eat fruit with an empty stomach, it will play a major role to detoxify your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.

FRUIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD. Let’s say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it is prevented from doing so, due to the breads.

In the meantime the whole meal rots and ferments and turns to acid. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil.

So please eat your fruits on an empty stomach or before your meals! You have heard people complaining - every time I eat watermelon I burp, when I eat durian my stomach bloats up, when I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet and etc - actually all these issues will not arise if you eat them with an empty stomach. The fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas and hence you will bloat!

There is no such thing to say that, as some fruits, like orange and lemon are acidic, because all fruits become alkaline in our body, according to Dr. Herbert Shelton who did research on this matter. If you have mastered the correct way of eating fruits, you have the Secret of beauty, longevity, health, energy, happiness and normal weight.

When you need to drink fruit juice - drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT from the cans. Don’t even drink juice that has been heated up. Don’t eat cooked fruits because you don’t get the nutrients at all. You only get to taste. Cooking destroys all the vitamins.

But eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice. If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it. You can go on a 3-day fruit fast to cleanse your body. Just eat fruits and drink fruit juice throughout the 3 days and you will be surprised when your friends tell you how radiant you look!

KIWI: Tiny but mighty. This is a good source of potassium, magnesium, vitamin E & fiber. Its vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.

APPLE: An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Although an apple has a low vitamin C content, it has antioxidants & flavonoids which enhances the activity of vitamin C thereby helping to lower the risks of colon cancer, heart attack & stroke.

STRAWBERRY: Protective Fruit. Strawberries have the highest total antioxidant power among major fruits & protect the body from cancer-causing, blood vessel-clogging free radicals.

ORANGE: Sweetest medicine. Taking 2-4 oranges a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent & dissolve kidney stones as well as lessens the risk of colon cancer.

WATERMELON: Coolest thirst quencher. Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant dose of glutathione, which helps boost our immune system. They are also a key source of lycopene - the cancer fighting oxidant. Other nutrients found in watermelon are vitamin C & Potassium.

GUAVA & PAPAYA: Top awards for vitamin C. They are the clear winners for their high vitamin C content. Guava is also rich in fiber, which helps prevent constipation.. Papaya is rich in carotene; this is good for your eyes.

I hope that this article is informative!

Cheerios~

Tags: General // 3 Comments »

Microsoft has won back its crown as the top consumer brand in the UK! Whooo~!!

The 12th annual top 500 Superbrands survey has revealed the winners and losers during this economic downturn.

A list of about 1,400 brands was considered by a panel of experts, with more than 2,000 UK consumers taking part in a vote.

At number two was Rolex, while Google slipped two places to third. Lego and Coca-Cola were new to the top 10.

The results, as always, return some surprises, with this year’s notable high achiever being Encyclopaedia Britannica Stephen Cheliotis, Centre for Brand Analysis

Other brands which have kept their top 10 places include the BBC, British Airways and Mercedes-Benz.

Last year, Microsoft lost the first place to internet giant Google. This year, Apple has made it into the top 10.

Stephen Cheliotis, chief executive of the Centre for Brand Analysis, which carried out the research on behalf of Superbrands UK, said the following:

“This year’s survey reaffirms some of the downturn’s winners and losers, with fast-food chains and supermarkets doing particularly well.”

The results, as always, return some surprises, with this year’s notable high achiever being Encyclopaedia Britannica.”

TOP 10 SUPERBRANDS 2009/10

1. Microsoft
2. Rolex
3. Google
4. British Airways
5. BBC
6. Mercedes-Benz
7. Coca-Cola
8. Lego
9. Apple
10. Encyclopaedia Britannica

Some of the brands which showed the strongest year-on-year improvement in the survey include McDonald’s, which rises 227 places, Burger King, up 189 places, KFC rising by 164 and Domino’s Pizza, which moves up by 144 places.

The highest new entry into this year’s list was Krispy Kreme doughnuts, indicating demand for relatively low cost treats in the downturn.

Stephen Cheliotis also said,

“Actually making the top 500 itself is an achievement - the competition amongst brands for consumer attention and share of wallet is intense and growing fiercer.”

Recovering from last year’s plummet in the survey were the supermarkets, although only Sainsbury’s broke into the top 100.

TOP 10 SUPERBRANDS 2008/09

1. Google
2. Microsoft
3. Mercedes-Benz
4. BBC
5. British Airways
6. Royal Doulton
7. BMW
8. Bosch
9. Nike
10. Sony

Recovering from last year’s plummet in the survey were the supermarkets, although only Sainsbury’s broke into the top 100.

Morrisons and the Co-op have both entered the top 500 for the first time.

Royal Doulton has lost its top 10 position, but still remains ahead of giants like Vodafone, Audi, Nokia and Cadbury.

Source: BBC News

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Dragonica is quite a nice game. Well, how should I put it? It is known as a merge of the features in World of Warcraft (WOW) and Maple Story.

Note that this “merging” description is something I read on newspaper, not something I said myself.

Dragonica is a 3D action side-scrolling MMORPG by Barunson Interactive. It is a free to play game with cash shop.

Well, to put it more simple, it is a side scrolling game just like Maple Story, but not really just “left & right”, it also have “up & down”, allowed your characters to move to different lanes. This makes the combat style somewhat similar to Grandchase, you guys know what I mean if you guys have played it before.

The skill tree is similar to what WOW has, and the comprehensive market and feature is also similar to WOW. It even have feature which allow people to “Find Date” and also “Blind Date”. haahaha. Of course, not something I will use! :p

As for job classes, well, still the same old 4 basic kinds of classes every MMORPG games would have - Warrior, Magician, Archer, Thief. However, for next job advancement, they provided 2 options for each classes, like for example, a Thief can choose to be an Assasin or Jester. Note that 1st job change is lvl 20, which is consider quite fast compare to other MMORPG games, which normally require players to play until lvl 30 for the job change.

It has a cool PVP system which can support up to 5v5(thanks ArticFir3 for the correction) and it works in a way similar to Grandchase, again. Users join room, press on the “READY” button, then wait until the host click on “start game” to start PVP.

One thing to point out is that they uses cute graphics just like maple story, just that in Dragonica, everything is more cute in the sense that they are 3D graphics and of course, the graphics is so so so much better (well, we could see that the developing company put in effort) than any other side scrolling game!

The quests system is like, there is this main storyline to follow (trust me, the story is quite cute :p) and also other sub storyline which is known as optional quests I must say. Dragonica also has a Medal features which acts like an achievement page which allow users to know of their progress and such, for example, if you killed a boss (for example, Vega) for 10 times, it award you with a medal called “Vega Veteran”; if you kill it for 20 times, you are awarded with a medal called “Vega Expert” and so on.

(Above screenshot: random shot in town (this is not my character))

If YOU are looking for a free MMORPG game to play and like the features which I mentioned above, come on, Dragonica is the game you are looking for!

Oh man, why am I doing free advertisement for Dragonica? Well, because I started playing it 2 days ago, and I like it very much. I’m a level 23 Assasin now. I don’t play frequently though, so if you guys are playing it and want to add me, feel free to leave a comment & I will add you in game

Feel free to add the note stating “Please delete this comment after reading” and I will delete it off after I add you in game, this is to ensure that your IGN will only be seen by me, and not any annoymous people.

Cheerios!

Tags: General // 6 Comments »

Well, who says 2D animations cannot be as interesting as 3D animations? I have prepared some videos to prove YOU wrong!

I strongly believe that no matter what kind of animation it is, as long as it conveys the message to its audience saying that, “Yes, I got a story to tell!”, then this animation work is a successful one - regardless of it is 2D or 3D, it doesn’t really matter much.

Enough said, here’s the 2D animation I would like to share with you guys:

And this one is more of a 3D animation I guess:

I hope you guys enjoyed the videos!

Cheerios~

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Microsoft made the impossible to become possible during the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2009 held in Cairo, Egypt. All of us whom are there to experience everything made us felt so touched and the feeling is totally indescribable! The whole event was awesome.

One of the speaker (I’m so sorry I forget his name, he said it during Opening Ceremony) shared with us that everyone should have a dream to success, without this dream to success, one could never success. However, to dream and not work towards success, the dream will always remain to be a dream - thus, we have to work hard to realize our dreams! I find it so true…

It is very inspiring when I see them making the impossible become possible, for example:

- To prepare the stages, lights, speakers, chairs, and many more - everything in the middle of a historical museum for the Opening Ceremony! This made me felt so happy - I have attended many ceremonies, and see many things; This is the first time I ever see such a grand and modern ceremony in the middle of such a historical museum venue. The experience was great!

(Above picture: “S” for Singapore~~!!)

(Above picture: Having our dinner~!!)

- Another thing I must definitely highlight to you guys is that Microsoft actually built a huge studio-liked world stage for the “World Festival” on the 7 July 2009, where they announces all the award and category winners! Guess what? They built it in the middle of a dessert, with the great pyramid of Giza as the in the background of the stage~!! In addition to that, it’s a FULL MOON NIGHT! Whooohoo~~!!

(Above Picture: Taken with Karol, the 2nd place winner whom tie with us~ cool)

(Above picture: They arranged 2 such big screens on both side of the world stage!!)

Guess what? The moment I got off the bus and look at everything that Microsoft had prepared for us - I felt so inspired; my belief towards the saying of “Everything is possible” become even more firm.

If MICROSOFT could arrange everything & even built such a grand venue for the world festival in the middle of a dessert, why can’t WE, STUDENTS,  make good use of technology to change the world?

Everything is possible! As long as we have a strong belief, we could achieve everything we want. However, it is not easy. Everything come with a price, and everything needs time and effort in order to success.

Perseverance, endurance, determination, all these keywords are the key to success - that’s what I strongly believe in.

Here’s my return for the hardwork that I have put in since March:

I am so glad that I participated in the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2009 Egypt - I learned so much things which I never thought of learning, I experienced so much things which I never thought of experiencing in life, I see so much things that I never thought I could see - pyramids, sphinx, etc, everything! I even met and interacted with so many people from all over the world (more than 70 countries) and exchanged email and Facebook from some of them!

(Above picture: taken with my Roommate, Nicolas Donner from France)

(Above picture, taken with Team I’M A PC, Our Microsoft Singapore’s IDE, Ms Pratibha, and Team Woolgathering)

(Above Picture: Taken with Azhar, SP team lecturer, and the guys from NYP’s Team Infusion)

The whole experience that I gained from this trip is so inreplaceable. The people I know and things I experienced through this awesome trip.. everything is so going to be kept clearly in the bottom of my heart!

Be it things which cannot be measured by price (all the experiences in life, all the eyes opener & etc) or things which can be measured by price (air tickets ALONE cost $1440 SGD, let alone the 5 stars hotel & etc)

I appreciate everything very much~!!!

I’d like to dedicate my biggest thanks to Microsoft & everyone whom make everything possible! YOU GUYS RAWKS BIG TIME!!

————-

Fellow students, what are you guys’ still waiting for? Sign up for the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2010 Poland now!

Tags: General // 2 Comments »