My alternate reality

FYP: cycle of hell

2011-12-03T11:55:00.002+08:00

Everybody said it will be like this...but you never know it until you've gone through it...yes...its Final Year Project...

I'm into my CA2 of my FYP...my project title is "frequency calibration for an oscillator for OOK transmission". As of now, I am all alone (insert forever alone guy picture here) in a cold, dark lab in the depths of the dungeons of engineering(true story)...not fun...

It not really a nightmare(in fact, its quite fun and interesting) until you reach a point where you realised that you have been isolated from society and human contact for a few days and the few incidents of social activity involves going lunch with friends.

From year 1-3, after exams are over, its official over...the sem is over...seriously over...you can play computer games everyday, go find a job, eat unhealthy food, gym and whatever make you happy. But Year 4, even if you finish your exam early, you find yourself spending time doing reports and preparing an hour long presentation(not sure if it is an hour)...I NEED TO GET OUT!!!!

EE4410: 1 sem in hell and 1 sem in heaven

2011-10-24T14:15:00.009+08:00

Last sem I spent a lot of time on EE4410.
It is a module about VLSI, where student are supposed to design something(specified by the lecturer) on cadence.
For my semester, my group was made to design an Analog to Digital Converter(ADC). The premise of the project is that this device would be used in an ECG. So what the system would do is to take in the small signal, amplify it and then convert the analog signal into a digital signal.

Since the frequency of heart rate isn't exactly fast, we are looking at about 100++ Hz (engineers are not very specific unless required) and a resolution of about 10 bits. Below is the reconstructed sinewave after input a sine signal into its input.

So workload for our group was separated into 2 sub-groups. One person to design the Operational Transconductance Amplifer(OTA) and 2 other people to design the ADC. The ADC works based on Successive Approximation logic (SA).

How it works?

Well, when the signal goes into the ADC, a sample and hold block in the circuit will hold the signal. The input of the signal would be pass through a comparator which would compare this signal against a Digital to Analog Converter(DAC). The output of the comparator is passed into a Successive Approximation Register(SAR) which would determine the control logic of the DAC. The DAC is just a capacitor array which tries to convert the digitalised values of the SAR to an analog value so as to be used for comparison.

I was assigned to design the comparator and the DAC. I doubt there is any need to discuss about the DAC since it is just a capacitor array and a switch array. The only thing to note is to do the layout in common centroid to reduce capacitor mismatch. Layout is something that is not sufficiently taught in this module. Plug and play is sufficient to get your device working, but in the industry, drawing layout is a skill.

Design of a comparator

I'll just talk about it for a while.
Well, from the shallowest of levels looking at it, an analog comparator should be able to compare 2 inputs and determine if A is larger than B and appropriately produce a high or low output accordingly.

So we need to note the resolution of the comparator as well as the bandwidth. A 10 bit comparator should at least be able to to detect a difference of Full-scale/2^10, so as to appropriate digital output. That is resolution. Bandwidth is that it should be able to work at the required frequency that you need.

A simple comparator usually have 3 stages. Pre-amplifier, latch and buffer. The pre-amplifier is important due to issues such as metastability as well as kickback. Maybe I should just discuss that first.

Metastability is an issue pertaining to the latch of the comparator. It occurs when the latch is unable to latch onto a high or a low. So how the pre-amp solves this is by providing a gain into the input to increase the initial voltage so as to help the latch to reach its high or low state faster. Other ways to reduce this is to reduce the length of the MOSFETs, else we can use a double latch. But Metastability is not really an issue in EE4410 since the minimum clock time is 5kHz, which is quite low.
Upon evaluation(evalutation being like testing the real fabricated chip), our comparator can work even at 50KHz(I sure remember it can work at 80kHz, but overcommiting is bothersome).

Kickback, on the other hand is one royal pain in the ass. But learning how to solve the kickback would improve your INL and DNL and you would really learn how to design a pre-amp(impt clue). Since power consumption is an issue in EE4410, using a synchronous comparator, sure cuts down the power consumed, but it comes at a price of complication in the form of kickback.

Anyway, getting back to pre-amp, its usually just a differential with maybe a common source amplifier connected afterwards. The next stage being the latch is use to pull the output up or down based on the differential output. Its a rather simple design so really nothing much to talk about it. The final stage is the buffer. Nothing much, since its just a digital buffer, think of it as 2 inverters used to pull the output from the latch.

Looking back, it was a hectic but fun module. The GA was helpful, but they cannot tell you very much(otherwise they might as well do it for you). The first sem is usually very time consuming and stressful. The next sem is usually better because it only left to testing the circuit.

I better get back to my work. I am trying to figure out how to design a charge pump...seriously no idea...haha...

God's grace

2011-10-21T22:27:00.003+08:00

It's been a really long while since I visited this site.
Work has been heavy and time has been scarce.
As I embark into my final year and dealing deeping within my specialisation,
I find that taking time out for external activities gradually become harder.

Fortunately, by God's grace, it seems that everything seems to be pulling through.
Never would I have thought this, especially looking back on those crappy stuff happened to me almost a year and a half ago. It seems that it would have all ended that...but by God's grace, seems that everything pulled through.

Last Semester was one big rush. EE4410 design project, staying in the lab drawing designs and layouts until midnight, only to have to take taxi home.

"He gives strength to the weary and increase the power of the weak"
Isaiah 40:29

Sometimes we are all so small to see how big our father God truly is.
Anyway, I did pretty well last semester, which I cannot understand why.
The fabricated chip worked very well and I managed to take the data successfully and it fulfils the specifications nicely. Looking forward to writing the report.

Rocky says it best about life.

2011-04-05T13:24:00.005+08:00

I was watching Rocky Balboa the other day. Nice movie, epic quotes. So Rocky was saying this to his son, when his son was asking him, why he wanted to get back into boxing. His son felt he was living under his father's shadow. Rocky Balboa: I'd hold you up to say to your mother, "this kid's gonna be the best kid in the world. This kid's gonna be somebody better than anybody I ever knew." And you grew up good and wonderful. It was great just watching you, every day was like a privilige. Then the time come for you to be your own man and take on the world, and you did. But somewhere along the line, you changed. You stopped being you. You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you're no good. And when things got hard, you started looking for something to blame, like a big shadow. Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that! I'm always gonna love you no matter what. No matter what happens. You're my son and you're my blood. You're the best thing in my life. But until you start believing in yourself, ya ain't gonna have a life. Don't forget to visit your mother.

WWBD: what would Bond do?

2011-03-13T22:48:00.005+08:00

Target: I heart UTown sweets
Location: MPSH X, where I have no idea what is X
ETA: Afternoon 3

My bro went to the NUS open house yesterday and brought back some freebies.
I thought most of it was pretty okay...but there was one goodie that caught my attention.

This one.

I know the bottle looks like brands essence of chicken, but it rather nice, isn't it?
The "I heart Utown" was quite well designed.
But that is not the main allure. Its the candy inside that is very interesting. Every candy has its own unique design. I am actually very impressed with the effort placed into just making one gift.

Well, so when my brother brought it back, I thought "hey, this is pretty cool...so I decided to take one...then another... and another... before I knew it, it was almost finish.

And that was yesterday. So today, as I was going to school to study, I saw some people carrying the Openhouse bag. Then it hit me that the Openhouse was still opened. Then I thought to myself "hey, lets go get some candy...hehe...hehe...BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA".

So I went to MPSH to get some UTOWN CANDY!!!!
I managed to pass through crowds of people disguised as a prospective student, getting goodie bags and acting like a new student. Its not like they would know or care, but who cares...I'm just saying this to build up the tension. Heck would I know where to find it...Then I trusted my senses, It should be where the faculties are...level 2.

As I entered the MPSH on the second floor, what caught my attention was the U Town booth. I knew it had to be there, otherwise where else could it be? So I walked over the booth, lo and behold sat bottles of UTown candy, right smack on the center of the table. I could just walk over and get it, but it would seem like I was just too damn cheapskate.

So I walked over and took a brochure. As a spy, you must always create a decoy. Decoys are crucial for the success and failure of missions, you can always over-plan but you can never under-plan. In a life as a spy, every decision is a life and death matter. If you want the candy, make it look like the candy wants you.

I took and brochure and briefly looked at it. Then i stretch my hand out to take a bottle. As I took a bottle, the lady at the booth suddenly approached me. The mission could have been compromised. Then she ask me, "Can I help you?"

At this moment, I knew I had to react. I had to. Experience in this line has prepared me for any surprises. I had to allay the suspicion. I looked at the brochure on my hand, looked through it and ask, "I was looking through this brochure and was wondering, what is this U town about?"

Well, I know it was a chessy question to ask. Almost as cheesy as "Am I dead, Angel? Cause this must be heaven!" But with my charm, I sure pulled it off. Of course, with that done, now I have to put up with her explanation which "frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn", now, go make me a sandwich. Actually I do give a damn, because a friend was asking me to apply for U town, I just wanted to use this quote from the 1939 film "gone with the wind".

But after hearing her explanation, well, I kind of didn't want to stay in U Town. Sounds like too much trouble, esp for a year 3 student who is going to graduate in 1 year. I had to make my leave, but she looked too enthusiatic in answering my questions to want me to leave. Damn my handsome looks, it just bring the girls to the yard and now they don't want me to go.

The fortunately, some smart alec girl beside me started to ask a smart alec question, "So if I do modules here, it will induce higher level thinking, right?". Why the hell do you want to take a difficult modules to stress yourself? its not like normal NUS modules wouldn't kill you. Look at the gullibility of freshies, I was once like then before, thinking that we can reach the sky, only to realise that the sky expands as fast as galaxies accelerate away from one another. But it created an opening and I took this chance to make my escape. Out of MPSH and back into the car.

Too much typing, too little sleeping, I be sleeping now. BYE BYE.

This is just this wisdom to this

2011-02-24T23:48:00.002+08:00

Its from the end of the second sequel of Lord of the Rings.
Sam's speech.
The one that really mattered.

Frodo: I can't do this, Sam.
Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.

Its either this or that.

2011-02-09T22:13:00.002+08:00

Do you know what so good about urgent problems that cries out for your attention, which if you really think about it, is a small problem which would not matter when you look back at it 10 years later?

It keeps your mind away from big problems which there is no apparent solution to.

Sally Yeah!!!!

2011-01-23T00:30:00.003+08:00

I know I spelt her surname wrongly, but I know you guys are just waiting for my awesome puns, aren't you?

I know she has many better songs, but I like this so live with it!!!
haha...I don't know why they need to use cartoon for the MTV, its not as if she is any less hot as she was in the 1990s!!! OMG...she is so hot for someone turning 50 this year!!!!

I happened to find this song while finding the song from my previous entry.

It seems they have hid you well...

2011-01-22T23:59:00.003+08:00

Have you every heard a song, its nice but somehow not nice enough for people to remember it, then somehow, somehow its not on the internet because people couldn't be bothered to upload it?

Then somehow, by some miracle due to the alignment of the stars and 2012, you happened to find it?

I finally found it after so long...

Better go sleep now...tomorrow still got church.

Most popular module ever.

2011-01-11T23:44:00.003+08:00

Awesome.
A project module with 1 project group.
Instant A.

On the second day of NUS

2011-01-11T17:37:00.001+08:00

Today is one hell of a hardcore day.
From 9 to 9.
Looks good for now.

Kuantan Trip

2010-12-30T17:00:00.012+08:00

I know I should have posted this earlier.
2 weeks ago, I went on a trip with my army friend to Kuantan for holiday.

We took a bus from Kranji to Johore Bahru.
From there we travel to Kuantan by coach.
It was a 7 hour ride from Johor Bahru to Kuantan.
Reached the station at about say 5 or 6 and then we took a taxi to the hotel.
We stayed at a decently good hotel, Grand Hyatt Regency.

Sea view!!!

Evening Sea view!!

Cherating beach!!!

Nice but its no damn activities man!!!
Its like a dead town, and its so inaccessible, the beach at the Grand Hyatt is far better. Honestly, you are just better off just chilling out at the hotel. The beach might not be as big as Cherating, but at least it is accessible.

Hotel surroundings

It was seafood everyday and stingray was the staple.
The seafood is cheap, I would say less than half the price I would pay in Singapore.
The quantity is ridiculously a lot.

3 nights in Kuantan, then we moved to KL the next day.
Food there was also cheap. We had tons of seafood. I remembered the salted egg crab.
I bought some bread from Mahathir's bakery.
Pretty awesome.

5 Days. All these under S$550. FTW.

I think something is missing here...

2010-12-10T20:28:00.004+08:00

The trailer for transformers 3, Dark of the moon has been released.

I don't know man...its just that something is missing.

Well, for starters, Sam Witwicky is missing from it. His hot girl staring Meagan Fox is also missing from it. Anyway, just to sidetrack, Meagan Fox wouldn't be in transformers 3, it would be replaced by some other hot chick which sets the standard for hotness.
Yeah yeah, I know. No transformer movie would be complete without Meagan Fox striking a hot pose while being sticky and sweaty under the intense heat to bring out the perfect contours of her body. But she ain't in it and you just got to live with it.

But this is not important.
Who cares about the humans in transformers?
Who cares about the emotion relationship between human and robots?
The only humans I want to see are those running away from the carnage and eventually facing their inevitable demise.

Well, Optimus is missing. But its fine... at least they showed some other random badass villian.

Then i realise what was missing...
WHERE THE HELL IS MY FEAKING LINKIN PARK THEME SONG?

Transformers ain't Transformers without a Linkin Park song.
Without a Linkin Park song...its like burgers without buns.
Your honour, I rest my case.

Get out!

2010-12-09T16:32:00.004+08:00

Yes. Finally, I managed to drag myself out.
Out of the house. Away from Starcraft 2.
Anyway, I just came back from the library.
Borrowed a dilbert comic to gain engineering and management insight.

So lately, I've been working on perfecting my build order.
Perfecting my 4-gate strategy. Anyway, I usually play protoss on SC2.
Not that its really that easy, I get better results playing a cannon rush.
Well, life isn't fair and somehow rushes always work better for noobs.
As much as it completely screws up the gaming experiences for your opponents, it is pretty effective in destroying your opponent.
The player getting rushed(if he is a noob) is pretty much GG. Then his team members are forced to either get seige tank, mass zerglings or build their own wall of proton cannons as counter cannons. This is to prevent the cannon rush from spreading to their base.
This means resources are wasted on unnecessary building, and it unlikely they would have any anti-air. So this would be a good time for your allies(if you play co-op) to tech up and get banshees, battlecruisers...whatever that counters what they have and its pretty much GG for them.

Besides that I also ran the Standard Charted 10km on sunday. The 10km run was pretty easy, then again my friend and I took our own sweet time.
I've got to thank Kenneth for the run. Its pretty hard to find people who really like to run. This run pretty much gave me confidence maybe to go ahead and maybe run 21km next time. Then again, I would really need to find a friend to run with. Maybe can ask Kenneth.

Erm...the picture doesn't seem to sharp.
No intention to brag(since 10km is so short). Just checking out how to transmit stuff on my new phone. My mom recently build a tech lab in my barrack and gave me a phone upgrade. Then, i build a galaxy 3 out of the barracks. So I am pretty much getting used to the user interface...sweet...

May I interest you in a Mcfurry?

2010-12-05T14:18:00.004+08:00

I don't know if any of you guys noticed, lately a lot of people have been changing their facebook profile pictures to a cartoon in their childhood. This is a motion to support the protection of children's rights against those like pedobear.

Then I happened to realise that most cartoon heros tend to be animals with human personalities or more appropriately, personified animals. Its all cool and stuff, until I realise...damn ain't all those cartoons furries.

Well, then you may ask, whats a furry?
The all-knowning yet not-knowing-whether-its-true-or-false wiki defines furries as fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics.

Well, its all cool and stuff if no harm is done. However, if you do note, animals in cartoons are subjected to as much abuse as robots are. Its alright for Jerry to hammer Tom and Coyote to get exploded by this own trap(FAYUL!!!(alternative spelling)) as it is for Autobots and Deceptacons to go about blow the crap out of each other. But you ever notice how rare do actual humans die on cartoons. Every death is accompanied with dramatic sadness or a flashback(damn those flashbacks, it calls for another stupid filler or some story that sidetracks from the plot). It not like the death of Inchigo's mother actually had anything to do with the storyline, its just the introduction of kingfisher, which didn't mean very much since he was subsequently killed by Inchigo's father. Any arranchar could have done the job.

Anyway, that aside, furries are cool since it allows us to put slapstick humour into cartoons. The issue arises when rule 34 comes into play. Rule 34 states that if it exists, there is porn of it. Then suddenly an innocent cartoon becomes M18 or R21. Then furries start having a negative connotation to it. The issue is agrravated because if you think about, furry porn is bestiality and somehow thats more taboo than normal porn.

Then again the cartoons of the past are just simply awesome...Tailspin, Darkwing duck, G.I. Joe, He-Man and transformers...classic. They don't make cartoons like they used to.

Then again, who the hell cares whether your cartoon is starred by personified animals or not, just freaking enjoy the damn show.

But then again, did you guys catch like G.I. Joe the movie? the cartoon one...
I thought it was quite good...like the transformers one...
Trailer below...its more scaley than furry.

Damn you 80s music...Damn you 80s cartoons...
Why can't you come back, they don't make robots as well as they did in the 80s...

YOU GOT THE TOUCH!

YOU GOT THE POWER!!!!

YEAH!

Don't mistake confidence for stubborness

2010-12-04T14:15:00.002+08:00

I just finished reading this book about stocks.
Its kinda like a story book about making decision and I find that a lot of advices they give about stock picking can be applied to real life situation we face in life.

1)Behind every brilliant investment decision is a rigourous post-analystic intuitive decision that are a result of decades of knowledge accumulation

2)There is no one perfect stock for every investor, but for every investor there exist several great stocks.

3)Always stay in your circle of competence

4)Good business don't usually make good investment.

If you put some thought to it, you will realise that it makes that little changes that make the decision making process so much easier. Its like getting a forge after your second gate way. Remember to get that photon cannon and ground units level 1 attack upgrade.

Thank god its finally over

2010-11-30T18:53:00.002+08:00

Its been a while since i last blogged.
Its been a busy semester. Too much work, too many problem, too little help and too many son of King Terenas Menethil II. 2 of my modules had group projects and the rest had some sort of mini projects and labs which were consumed really time consuming. It really makes me start to think twice about taking project modules. Now that it's finally over, I can finally get down and start playing Starcraft2.

I'm trying to fill up this holiday with stuff to do. Even without going out to find stuff, there seems to be so much which I have left behand and not touched. This seems to be a good opportunity to attempt to get somethings done.

Then there is this run that I'm going this sunday. Its been a long time since I run, lets hope I haven't lost it.

CCB

2010-10-15T12:03:00.003+08:00

Its just as what you want to think it is.

So yesterday, I was reading some investment news.
So one of it was that the china banking sector was doing well and recommend buy and stuff.

Then like all lazy financial newspapers, they decide to write it in terms of acronyms. So among them is CMB and CCB. So I decided to check out what they were. For most financially savvy people you probably know which banks it is, but well guys, I'm a noob so too bad I don't.

CMB is China Merchants Bank
CCB is China Construction Bank

Then I found a link explaining the various meaning of CCB and I found something so ULTRA idiotic.

All is missing is an explanation to the word.
"A south chinese dialect used to describe the state and condition of the female homosapien genital".

One man food is the computer's junk.

2010-10-14T11:01:00.002+08:00

Have you ever waited for an important e-mail, only to realise that the Microsoft outlook categorised it as junk mail and by the time you found it, the date is due?

Its fine if junk or spam mail is thrown under this category and I must say that outlook really does a good job doing that. NUS mail spams like tons of useless ads that sell useless products and stuff and good riddens that these trash is sent to the junk. But what if it was an internship offer. That would really suck.

So guys, once in a while take note of your junk mail.

Can help me do survey?

2010-09-20T15:22:00.003+08:00

Hello, this is a short survey for one of my modules.
Whoever see this, can help do?

Here is the link.
Survey

If possible, can help me spread?

Thank you.

Aunties: training the bimbos of the future since 1965

2010-09-14T19:56:00.001+08:00

line of the day(10/9/2010)

2010-09-10T13:48:00.001+08:00

Have you got friends that like to talk about stuff on their facebook?

I've got this friend that likes to do so...not that I read everything, but I found this and I thought it was rather meaningful so here goes...

"ULTIMATE SECURITY is when you don’t have to prove anything to anyone, not even to yourself!"

Don't DIE!!!!

2010-09-07T14:43:00.002+08:00

My calculator's got a stroke.
The '0', '1', '4' and '7' suddenly stopped working.
And I'm half way through my lab calculations.
Its a new calculator, you know...waste money sia...
Need to get a new one soon.

Anyway, talking about stroke, apparently accupunture works very well for stroke patients.
Talk about alternative treatment.

Its a trap!!!

2010-09-06T11:03:00.003+08:00

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _________
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Yes, Thank you Admiral Ackbar.

NUS parking is a trap!!!
Its like going out with a hot chick, only to find out that she was formally a "HE"!!!!
So getting on with the story.
My mom went off on the business trip, hence giving me the car for this week and the following week...
So I was thinking...
Since mom going overseas for 1 week = car for 1 week
and 1 week of parking fees > 1 month of season parking,
So conventional wisdom dictates...I should buy season pass...
All sounds reasonable until I realised that The entire SRC is flooded by 10 O'clock.
Who the hell comes to school so early man...
There just ain't enough parking lots for the number of cars.
It probably time we get multistory carparks...bwahahaha...

If you don't care where you are, then you ain't lost.

2010-09-05T21:23:00.005+08:00

There are many ways of categorising friends.
Normally, I don't do that because its too much of a hassle, but going to university made me realised that it impossible not to do so as yesterday's friends can strangely turn into today's strangers.

Well, so lately, a particular group of friends have been ignoring me.
I never really knew why, yet my other friends seem to know but just merely advise me to move on or just ignore them.
Its not so easy just to move on especially when you invested time into the friendship.
The sudden hostility kinds of puts the awkward tension into it.
Then I realised that to some the usefulness of others is the reason they make friends, which sent thrills down my spine, to realise that a friendship is based on the incentives one can bring.

Life is so realistic, isn't it?

But it doesn't really affect me because I don't really care who like me or not.
Rather its probably a blessing in disguise. At least, I still have other friends who I can rely on. I guess its also good that I have a laidback attitude because if you don't care who are you with, then you ain't alone.

Its over 9000!!!

2010-09-02T21:27:00.001+08:00

Yes, for those who knows what it means...
For those who don't, enjoy this video.

YOG a flop?

2010-08-07T23:49:00.012+08:00

2010 is a great year for many countries in the world

World Cup 2010 - South Africa (where the world united with one common love - soccer, and one common hatred - Vuvuzela)

World Expo 2010 - Shanghai, China (awesomest place ever been...sorry, I'm biased)

G-8 and G-20 summit - Canada(not a big issue since I doubt we'll get out of this recession anytime soon...okay that was just plain nasty and awfully sceptical of me...but well...we all know that US and Europe can't agree since Europe want to cut spending and US wants to increase spending)

Youth Olympic Games - Singapore...WOOH!!! **Nationalist fervour moment**

But well...you don't see that sort of enthusiasm online.
You see links like...
Netizens not wanting to giving way to buses
http://getai.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/what_bugs_me/405698/give_way_to_yog_buses_netizens_say_no_way.html
How the government blew the budget.
interesting how govt = PAP...but then again its quite true.
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/08/04/would-singapore-win-the-right-to-host-the-yog-with-a-budget-of-389-million-dollars/
How YOG created an inconvience to the students of NTU.
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/08/07/ntu-student-complains-about-inconveniences-caused-by-yog/

Then you hear of facebook groups which hate YOG to the extent of boycotting it
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/07/28/two-new-facebook-groups-set-up-to-boycott-paps-yog/

Next, comes how somehow the event is going to fail.
farce ticket sale
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/07/yog-%E2%80%93-another-farce/
bad facilities
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/07/28/slovak-yog-ambassador-criticize-singapores-yog-venues-of-school-standard-only/

Finally, everybody complains about that JJ Lin song.
Well, I'm no song writer so I can't do a better job than him and hence I don't think I'm in a position to comment.

I know my sources ain't exactly good...STOMP is like the ultimate voyeur website whereby people can intrude into other's lives and feel free to film others in the name of citizen journalism.
Temasek Review on the other hand...well...lets just they just say things just to oppose PAP.
I do read other forums, but seriously...singapore forums? Well, unforunately for me...those that I read are super low intellect(not that I'm very smart or anything, but stop whining about everything...come on...I know how epic fail most of the elites in Singapore are...but I don't need these facts hammered into my head all the time), so I'd rather post STOMP and Temasek Review websites to spare myself more embarrassment.

You know...I think the internet is rather merciless when it comes to making comments.
Normally you get one internet troll making a cynical or prejudice comment to piss people off or fire people up...But now you got an army of them and they've got their troll headhunters and their troll witch doctor with their berserker upgrade and their troll regeneration...double with the tauren chieftain with level 3 endurance aura...CAN YOU STOP THAT!?!?!?! Such levels are not seen since Lee Bee Hua and the STTA incident.

Personally, I think its really unfortunate that most Singaporeans do not feel the connection and pride towards YOG. I actually don't blame them because I don't as well. YOG seems so distant, its happening here, yet its none of my business.

Think about it...I bet most Singaporeans didn't even know about the YOG until it began a few days ago. Then you might say, "what about the publicity posters?"...then I'll reply...what publicity posters?

I know the advertising sign board is huge, like those placed on GRCs to show that "they" care. If you don't notice the words, the huge boards probably looked like some new savings plan by the Singapore banks to replace the POSB squirrel or the OCBC mighty saver children. In addition, most Singaporeans do not notice these stuff as their eyes are either on the road or waiting for the bus. I know...excuses.

Honestly, I thought the mascot was quite good and decently represented Singapore. Compare it with Hai Bao of the World expo...how does that represent Shanghai? So on that note, good job team, but it needs more publicity.

In addition, all the boards are in english, how can those chinese educated elderly know? probably the organisers were thinking that why should these elderly know...they're too uncool to understand the ways of the youth?
So you think...come on in...happening granny...

ah...touche...

I saw their performance on CCTV in Shanghai. After the dance, the host of the program said to them, "you people behave very young for your age". Then one of them replied with some cool tone, "we're here to give the young ones a run for their money".

TV publicity - all we see is the JJ Lin video...erm, seriously, I thought it was the new national day song...like a substitude to "count on me singapore", though it did seem a little childish. So how would Singaporeans become aware of this event?

I know I shouldn't just whine about these stuff and provide a solution.

Some things I noticed China did during the world expo.

Have television programs to introduce the event.
They have segments on the shopping channel to introduce the souvenirs sold in the expo. They sell all sorts of stuff on the shopping channel. From T-shirts to handphones to television. But for the world expo, they have segment to sell world expo collectables. In fact, I'm quite impressed by the standard. They sell all sorts of stuff from gold coins to jade seals and a mini version of the清明上河圖.

TV: "Next we have the 清明上河圖, which you can find the the china pavillion............buy one back so that you can enjoy it with your family"...**rolls open the painting**...**dramatic family look**..."get yours now today at RMB1****"...

In addition to the shopping channel, they also got programs which show a walkthrough within the expo like an introduction to the pavilions. They even got large scale programs and competition revolving around the expo. Contestants(non-chinese) give a introduction to their country's pavillion or a segment of the expo...in chinese... and let me tell you...their pu tong hua aka mandarin is very good. So good I thought they were native chinese.

Besides using the television, the city of Shanghai gave 2 free tickets to all the families in Shanghai as an incentive to visit the expo. In addition, they put some money into some "card"(its like our EZ-link card) and this money can only be used to buy expo tickets. This provided the incentive for families to participate in the expo. The Singapore government can actually consider giving some tickets out to families to bring their children to watch the matches.

The chinese government also pulled in and recruited organisation outside of the expo to set up shop and tour destinations within Shanghai. They set up a tea cultral centers and liased with Tong Ren Tang(over priced chinese medicine, somehow they are very pushy and rude if you don't buy and if you do, they sell you very expensive herbs like cordyceps...but its fine since its a once a while kind of thing). All these tourist destinations bring in the vibrance to Shanghai(because if you really think about it, Shanghai is really a financial center, nothing much else).

In my humble opinion, China made everything in Shanghai revolve around the World Expo 2010, can Singapore make itself revolve around the YOG 2010? Only when Singaporeans can feel that they have a stake in this event that it can be a success.

感谢你和我来作伴

2010-08-04T21:10:00.003+08:00

If you guys didn't know, my grandmother slipped and fell a month ago and was admitted to the hospital. So prior to going on my tour, I spent an entire month in the hospital taking care of her.

Well, she wasn't awake all the while, especially after here physiotherapy, as she would be exhausted and sleeping. So while she was sleeping, it would be very boring for me. So I bought a game to play on my PSP to kill time.

Its quite an old game and its rather cheap.
Introducing...Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

The game is dated to the time before the Final Fantasy VII.
You play as the character Zack, a soldier second class, mentored by a soldier first class called Angeal. Everything was fine until Angeal disappeared and clones of a missing soldiers start appearing and wreck havoc.
The plot is rather short and I finished the game in a week. I enjoyed the gameplay though, puts you on your guard. Unlike the FFVII gameplay, the player runs around slahing monsters and switching materia and items at the same time. It requires some level of control.
For Cloud fans, you will be very disappointed. Cloud is completely pathetic in the game as he spends a large portion of the time being air sick, PWNED by mobs and suffering from mako overdoes. To add oil to the fire, Zack has a romantic moment with Aerith.
Well, but for people who cannot get over Aerith's death, this game provides comforting evidence that Aerith was not meant for Cloud but for Zack. Rather, its Tifa that was meant for Cloud, because at one point, young cowgirl dressed Tifa asked Zack are there any blonde hair soldiers...erm...demostrating that they were meant for each other? Rather Aerith was waiting for Zack and she sent him 89 letters whereby Zack only reads the last one.(spoiler)
The game ends with a sad ending, but its only necessary to push the plot forward to FFVII. But thanks crisis core for spending time with me...even though there is a sad ending, but its only necessary to push my life forward back to the start of a new semester.

Size does matter and so does queues

2010-08-02T21:22:00.010+08:00

Well, I did a count yesterday.
Altogether within the 2 days, I covered 23 pavillions which comprised about 106 countries (about 86 are small countries which are in combined pavillions). Well, there is no glory in bragging about going to combined pavillions since there is usually no queue to go in(the only queues exist within the passport stamping counter).

Well, to side track a little to explain about the passport stamping, its like the most happening craze within the expo. The local chinese tourist are crazy about it, its like the Shanghai's world expo's version of pokemon. Everyone is there to catch them all. So for each pavillions, there is one stamping booth. For combined pavillions there are multiple ones, one for each country. Its like evidence to prove that you've been to that "country".

yeah so above is an example of a stamp booth.
Its normally more crowded for other pavillions. Portugal is one of those that they control the number of people entering in batches. Just another side track, but the queue for Portugual is quite long but they let people in big batches to make up for it. It just happened that this is the interval where my batch just left and the next batch was coming. My friend who took this photo for me was like telling me how lucky I am that when she took this picture, there wasn't anybody around.

Why I wanted to take this picture is because they didn't want to stamp the seal on my book because I wasn't using the official World Expo passport. It kind of pissed me off but rules are rules so lets stick to it. Damn you capitalist that only want to make money!!!! LOL. Anyway, the ladies at the booth was good enough eye candy to make up for it.
Anyway, moral of the story, buy your expo passports.

Anyway, with regards to the the stamping of passports, the chinese are really into it. They push, they shove, they shout, they run to the queue...but the most of them all will cut queues. Well, its actually their culture. Its not like a good thing or a bad thing. Once you realise its their culture and that they mean no harm doing that, its actually fine. I think its their way to get into the mood.

That is why for pavillions such as Nepal(above), where there isn't a queue to the booth, you see hordes of people crowding around the lady.They push and shove in order to get their passports chopped and a stamp pasted(which is unique to only some pavillion, most only chop a seal). Just an advice for people visiting the Nepal pavillion, if you use the service where the lady paste the stamp and chop the seal for you, you have to pay 10 RMB for it(which is absurd). However, very little people know that you can chop the seal and paste the stamp yourself and its free. Just walk out from the area where the lady is and you would see a booth where they have the chop and the stamp DIY. Since nobody knows about it, its actually empty...which is weird because everybody is rushing for something which they can get for free.

Of course, if you don't want to queue for booths which actually have a queue and you happen to be a cute little girl, you could always use your adorable looks to plead to people who are in front of the queue. Well, at least I would fall for that...Damn you loli china chinese girls for being so cute...I want to kidnap you and keep you in my dungeon....BWAHAAHA....OMG...chinese girls are so cute...

They would give you the cute look with their huge eyes and their gua zi lian and their kawaii hairdo... and say...
Chinese girl: "对不起, 你能帮助我盖章吗?
Me: "Vegeta, what does the scouter say about the cuteness level of chinese girls?"
Vegeta: "its over 9000!!!!"
Me(to vegeta): "wth...@$@#%$#^#@$%#$@%@#$%"
Me(to chinese girl): "Anything for a lovely maiden like you"
Me PWNED

Looks like I have something else to add to my list of weaknesses...china girls...
I fell for it not once but twice...haha...well, from another point of view you could say I'm generous, kind, friendly, sweet and AWESOME!!!!

Seems like I sidetracked too much.
Some advice to people who want to visit a lot of pavillions in the shortest amount of time.
1) I really do not advice people to visit small pavillions, because there isn't much to look inside. This can be a great waste of time since you might spend some time queue or at least walking the queue.

You might wonder like how can the pavillions be small?
Although judging from the outside of the pavillion it looks massive, some pavillions only have 1 floor. This is because out of all the pavillions in the Expo, only 5 will be preserved, the rest are actually made with very simple architecture. By including a second level would increase the amount of engineering required. So some have a tall structure but very little area within.

Then how does one judge the size of the pavillion?
The smallest pavillion I visited was the Lebanon pavillion. It was small and very little things. In addition to that, I felt what was inside doesn't really represent Lebanon.

On hindsight I realise I could have judged the size from the map. In addition, I probably should have gone to the iranian pavillion which was next to it.

So looking at the 2 images above you should be above to get a grasp of what is big and what is not.

2) try to visit pavillions which do not have a compulsory show. Pavillions which have compulsory shows or performances tend to take people in batches and every batch depends on the number of people that can fit in and the length of the show.
Indonesia has a big pavillion and despite having a show, the queue is very fast, this is because, the show is an optional show.

3) Although I suggest not to visit small pavillions, big pavillions(with the exception of joint pavillions) tend to have very long queues.
Queue times are periodically announced on the speaker.
Take note and make appropriate decisions.
Saudi Arabia and Japan - 4-5 hours
England, Germany, France - 3-4 hours
It flucutates, so its important to know which ones are popular and its up to you whether you want to waste precious time queuing.

4) Time of the day matters, from the opening till around 4, there are usually long queues but towards the night, the queues get shorter. So maybe you can plan your program to visit popular pavillions at a later time. but bear in mind there is also a closing time.

5)Long queues are not the problem, stagnating ones are. There is no point in queuing for a pavillion where you wait very long for small batches of intakes. Its okay if the queue is long as long as there are people constantly walking in. I aim for pavillions which have moving queues and I think the longest I waited for was Belgium EU which was about 30-45 minutes despite the line being 6 times the length of the building(the queue coils around the building). Turkey has the longest queue I've walked the building is huge and line is long, but everybody is continuously walking in.

6) The main tourist within the expo are the domestic tourist from the different provinces in China. There are usually more interested in countries close to China as well as European and American countries which are more familiar to them. So you have to compete with them in the queue in the raging summer heat. Fortunately, its not humid in Shanghai and hence although you might perspire much, you wouldn't get sticky.

It seems these tips are enough for a part of my survival guide to 2010 world expo.
Its sufficient for anyone who wants to clear as many pavillions as possible.
Hope someone is able to beat my record of 23 pavillions in 2 days(its quite possible because I spend a lot of time reading the exhibits).
As all good gamers would say good luck have fun(glhf).

Expo 2010

2010-08-01T20:50:00.004+08:00

You know the saying all good things come to an end, or in other words 天下无不散之宴席.
I was quite scared of going alone initially...I was like thinking on the plane..."what the hell am I getting myself into?". But it turned out fine...the aunties and uncles and the tour guide were pretty helpful.

The tour guide, Sam, on the right and the driver AKA Liu Shi Fu(刘师傅) on the left.

The tour group.
Its a small group though. It was suppose to be an 8 person group but someone got pregnant and then cannot make it for the tour and then 3 people dropped out. Its a well balance group with people coming from Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The is Uncle David, Auntie Yulia, Sheryl and her aunt.

The sourveirs I bought back from the expo...Should have opened the boxes so you can see the silver coins and the shell stamps.

In soviet russia, cats PWN bears

2010-07-11T21:48:00.000+08:00

Thank you guys for remembering

2010-07-03T23:44:00.004+08:00

Yup...today is my birthday.
Its so awesome I declare it a holiday...its called awesome day.
Today was a busy and fulfiling day, started off with lunch with my classmates then we played LAN till 6 before I went home for dinner.
My family went to a restaurant at orchard for dinner. It was called Imperial Treasure Teochew Restaurant or something like that.
We started with the Foie gras in jelly.

Its my first time eating foie gras. It really melts in the mouth...it tasted so good.
I didn't take too many pictures because I was too busy eating.
I ended the meal with yam paste dessert.

It was a nice meal.

Firstly, I need to thanks those that remember my birthday. I appreciate your birthday wishes and I hope you have best health and have a good time.
Secondly, I would like to thank my NUS EE classmates for organising the LAN outing today. I really enjoyed myself.
Thirdly, I would like to thank my family for having such a wonderful dinner.

A good way to start the month of July

2010-07-02T10:06:00.005+08:00

Yesterday, the first of July was an awesome day.
My first A+ in NUS.
EE2001!!!
I would like to thank my group members for their immense contribution to this module.
It was nice working with you.

Well, then I celebrated with a pizza lunch. Two Pizzas, one day...nice...

This is evil

2010-07-01T12:13:00.004+08:00

What the hell were you thinking...youtube...I thought you were cool.
This is just one evil evil evil nasty prank.
The Vuvuzela?
It deals like 5 second stun...

buddies needed

2010-06-30T23:13:00.005+08:00

Yeah today was an awesome day...got a new pair of glasses (waited 30 minutes and paid $90)...tried out subway's beef pastrami(it has awesomeness writtern all over it).

Anyway, my mother was suggesting going to see the Shanghai World Expo 2012. I think its a good idea and I can't wait to go. Well, now all that is left is to find a buddy to go with on this trip. So that I can save cost on hotel fees and plane tickets.

I was thinking that there would be a lot of business opportunities and like experiences I can gather. Maybe a product I can bring over to Singapore or something I can sell overseas. Maybe that was how bubble tea was brought into Singapore.

Anyway...not going could lead to some severe consequences...I might become another fukubei...then I'll the real life TOMODACHI!!!! Now, gentlemen...does that send the chills down your spine?

Anyway...I'm making a 20th century boys reference...look it up...its a good manga, very exciting...
If you are too lazy to read the manga, the movie is also out. Although I would say some parts are cut out, they try to preserve the idea of the show. Overall, I find the movie quite good.
You can always watch the movie on dramacrazy.net
here is the link

Anyway, I'm watching the 3rd sequeal now.
I'm actually quite interested in going to see the world expo because of this movie.

RTS

2010-06-26T14:17:00.005+08:00

I really can't wait for starcraft 2 to come out.
Its been really boring lately since EE2001 ended...
So I decided to play my MMORPG...SUN online...after playing for 2 days and reaching level 50...I realised...Damn this is so boring...so I picked out another RPG that I have not played in a long time...after installing it and playing it for 5 minutes...I felt that it was sapping my youth and energy and future away, I chucked it aside and thought...damn...all these RPG games are so damn boring...

So anyway, I'm playing C&C The First Decade now...actually more of just playing C&C generals: zero hour.

Anyway, my grandmother is in the hospital and I've got to visit her every afternoon.
So its time well killed.

Yeah regarding the post a few days back about me whine...I was in a bad mood that day. Okay, got to make my trip now...bye.

Bus Stop of the Future!!!!

2010-06-23T20:33:00.008+08:00

Good day gentlemen,

You folks know jolly well as of today, the 23rd of June 2010 at 1700 hours, my semester module EE2001 is OVER!!!!

WOOOH...Once again I'm a free man...free from the chains NUS tie me down to.

To mark the end of this EE2001 module, I would like to thank my group members, Mak Ruo Ping, Jason Tan and Lo Yat Piu for being such a wonderful team. Very excellent demostration of team work shown over this 6 and a half weeks of grueling practical work.

This is my group mates...also known as group AWESOME!!!!

Well, for those who don't know my groups project is the bus stop of the future.
I decided to put some photos of how our project looked like on my blog.

This how the bus stop looked like...neat right?
I take pride in saying that I was the one who spray painted the bus stop...sweet.

This is the bus stop model with the bus...
But that not all cos our project interfaces the bus stop with a computer. Picture at the bottom.

Some pictures of us caught working...

and others caught sleeping. Ok...chill man...I'm sorry...don't beat me...no no...it hurts...MUMMY!!!!!!

It was a nice experience...it was fun and stuff...thanks guys.

The forgotten

2010-06-22T14:42:00.005+08:00

I've always knew I played the role of a support character.
Making up the numbers is usually the reason for my presence.
Once in a while people remember me.

Its okay that people just hang around me for benefits, its life.
They can all deny it, but actions speak louder than words.
Its life, lets face it, when your useless, they all forget about you.

So if you are going to forget me, don't demand me to be present when you want it.
I don't need this bull shit.
Don't resort to sound like I am petty, and not seeing the bigger picture.
Don't go cover up for others and make it sound like it always my fault.
You know...it sucks to be forgotten...
If you are going to forget me...don't expect anything from me.
If you are going to forget me...don't remind me how you remembered others because you forgot about me.

Disclaimer: This does not apply to everyone. Thanks to guys who were there for me. Peace.

What a day

2010-06-04T19:59:00.007+08:00

As you people might know, I'm doing my special sem this holiday, fortunately for me, its not going to be for the entire holiday, so I'll be free in two weeks time.

So as I progress into the important phases of the major project, I had to dismantle my minor project B to build my main project. I haven't got time to upload the photos due to the lack of time.

Last night, My group of friends and I stayed till 11.40 to finish up integration of the project.

Back to work...Work work...give me something to do...

SUN online

2010-05-31T22:09:00.014+08:00

Hi guys, remember a while back I said I was playing an MMORPG?

Yeah, I was playing SUN online.
Here is the link
http://sunonline.webzen.com/

You'd probably will be asking me, how about the cabal account.
Well, after completing the level 100 something quest where you eventually have to kill patren, which is rather unfortunate, judging from the fact that you spent the entire game trying to protect him, then save him and it ends off with you killing him. Now, its down to senseless grinding and nation war(which is very boring when you don't have much friends around).

Anyway, I logged in recently to discover that there was a change in the interface.

BEFORE

AFTER

SMEXY GRAPPLER MODE

I would say the newer interface is nicer.
But seriously I kind of bored of it.
Its just mindless grinding. Click monster press '1' for combo and then '2' - '4' to alternate the moves. In addition, since I opened the inventory menu, you can see I don't have much money. A millionaire in an MMORPG is a pauper. Its kind of like hell money. 1 million MMORPG currency can't get you anything. I can't even get my next tier items and there isn't much for me to do except for dungeons which get boring after a while.

Anyway, getting back to SUN online. You can't level up with grinding in this game. Even if you wanted to grind, there is nothing to grind on either. Its rather easy to level up doing quest because they are very generous on the quest exps.

Some of the dungeon quest are very difficult, so you might want to find some friends to do it with you. Try to find people with different class since different class can complement each other. The non-tanker are really weak against a head on conflicts and the tankers are hard to use at low levels, so a certain level of team work is needed.

I've got a level 19 elementalist called noraa.
I kind of stopped playing her because at one point I screwed up her character build.
FYI, you can reset the character 5 times as long as its before level 40.
So, eventually, when I realised her potential, its too late. My other character was level 20 something by then so I focus on the other one instead.
Here is noraa's pic.

Well, I know its not a very good picture, its like her back. Its not like you can see her arse from there.

Anyway, I'm playing a level 42 valkyrie now.
Yes, Kian Wee and Daniel, I'm level 42, so hurry up and train!!!! YOU MAGGOTS!!!!
She's a level 42 valk called hallol. Opposite of LOL LAH...
I know...I should stop giving names that are inverse of other words...but its just so fun. In fact, people think I'm like european, mexican or filipinno. Cool right?

Look she's waving...so sweet, right?
I'm not really into the tom boy type, I kind of prefer the Noraa type, but she rather badass if you notice carefully...since valkyries use big ass bazokaa like arrow shooting, crossbow looking weapons. Its called an ether weapon.

I mean who wouldn't like a girl with a big gun. Well, that sounds a little wrong.
Let me rephrase it...Who wouldn't like a girl with a big gun and was not previously a 'he'. Well, still too insensitive to the transversite community.
Let me rephrase it again...Who wouldn't like a girl with a big gun and doesn't have an adam's apple.

Yeah, girls with big guns are just badass.
Like...Seras Victoria...yeah...you go baby...**fantasize...fantasize**

Alucard: Not bad, Police Girl.
Seras Victoria: I have a name. It's Seras Victoria. Not Police Girl.
Alucard: [smirks] You know that you are now and forever a child of the darkness Police Girl.

I blame my fetish for hot chick with big guns on her...Damn you ultra hot, blood sucking, mini skirt wearing, policelady cosplaying, blondie!!! haha...joking...
If you guys didn't know she is a vampire...There was the time when being a vampire was cool and not emo...goes to show how far has the zombie world fallen since hellsing.
Alucard: They don't make vampires like they used to.

Anyway, kind of thinking about it, Hollal looks like Seras Victoria. Yeah...Seras is a nice name.
Then there is Yoko littner from Gurren Lagann.
Yeah some fan service here.

OH NO...I'm digressing too much...Back to the game.
Yeah...I don't play very much...Last week I only playered 2 or 3 days and each time is about 2-3 hours only and I leveled almost 10 levels.
The dungeons can be very hard, especially when suddenly monster just out of no where.
It hard to take blows these mobs especially when I'm not using a tank. I would say every char has its pros and cons and at some levels, the player will find his/her char very hard to level. This is the point where they try to find people to go dungeons and stuff with them.
For my valkyrie, she is kind of facing some problems levelling as she has to balance between her offensive, summoning and ensuring she can still get better armour. Summoning is good because it allows the valk to have a tank even if they are questing alone. However, the valk cannot completely rely on the tank as sometimes the mobs will attack from behind placing the valk as the target.

The game play is completely keyboard, which for WOW users is quite easy to adapt.
I had some problems initially as cabal controlled movement using mouse. After I got used to it, I think its more fun.

Well, there is a story plot to it, but the role you play is just that of like a normal soldier doing quest and level up...so like how daniel will put it...little involvement.
Its kind of like this...

SGT number 1: "Recruit...since you are a recruit, I give you sai kang...do A B C..."
You:"yes sir..."
After doing sai kang...you return and...
SGT number 1:"Good job...I give you exp...go find SGT number 2..."
And if you completely ignore the plot its something like this...with an occasional random stuff...
Random love sick guy:"hi...can you pass flowers to this girl?"
You:"ok"
you return for some exp.

Seriously...can't you give her the flowers yourself...you pussy.

Now you compare this to cabal, where you are an important char.

Sage number 1: "Ah...it seems you are the legendary warrior from the prophecy... cool...do this quest...go now...time is of the essence"
You:"I see...the stars blah blah blah and I slayered XYZ... they are my friends...I must protect them...its okay I'm there..."

So when you are the legendary warrior, it makes you feel better doing the same work.
Overall, its a nice game...its still rather new...but I can see further development on it...assuming it becomes something like MU online or Archlord.

I guess its enough for today. Another time. I need to sleep.

The answer to illiteracy

2010-05-28T23:41:00.003+08:00

It seems like I've found the solution to solving illiteracy in the world.
Here is an example of a young man who taught himself how to read and write.

Maybe we should give all those children who are not able to get an education a deck of duel monsters. This might solve the poverty problems in Africa.
I knew a children's card game could solve the world's problems.

Marvel Vs DC

2010-05-25T22:11:00.003+08:00

Have you ever wonder how it would sound like if tony stark sang a musical?
Now, mix it with marvel and DC version of "hi I am a mac".
This is what you get.

Remember folk, CONTINUITY

FMA marathorn

2010-05-23T21:19:00.003+08:00

The last few days was spent reading Full Metal ALchemist.
I finally managed to finish reading 100 over episodes of manga.
I started reading on friday and finished this morning.

Erm...quite interesting and fight scenes are not draggy like bleach.
The story follows a few rules and they stick to it.
The concept of equivalent trade is intriging and if you notice, the laws of equivalent trade has been faithful conformed to, not like bleach where suddenly there are vizards and Ichigo and suddenly become a hollow and kill ulquiorra. Of course if you read closely, the laws of equivalent trade is not really that closely followed, explaining, why the transmuated being by the elric brothers and their masters are not what they wanted and why mustang can be force into the gate against his will.

The story line and fights do not only focus on the main character and every character gets a decent fight scene, which is better than mangas like naruto where naruto fights like 90% of the major fights and use only 3 moves and permutations of it over and over again.

Overall, I think its pretty good and its going to end soon. Edward already more or less defeated father.
Yeah so that was what I was doing the last 3 days.

It was nice knowing you

2010-05-19T11:19:00.004+08:00

As you guys know, I'm doing a special semester now.
Its a project module called EE2001.
Like all project modules, it requires a breadboard and since we only get issued one set of bread boards, I had to dismantle mine from EE2006.

Of course you may ask, shouldn't you have dismantled yours during EE2007?
Well, my buddy sacrificed his for mine to survive.
So this monday as I slowly dismantled my breadboard, I had a flashback.
I suddenly remembered all the moments we had together...
ah...It was like my first love...

Nah, I lied...if build a breadboard was like falling in love, then I must be a masochist. Well, it was hard times, modularising my circuit...fixing it one by one...luckily I got an A for it.

Here's a photo of how she looked like.

Well, the module is rather rush...I was quite fortunate to have completed it yesterday. May I should take a photo of it before it gets dismantled again.
Anyway, my mini project (the reason I had to dismantle my breadboard) was to control a servo using a GUI interface created by visual basic.

The hardware part was quite okay for me...I think I'm a hardware person.

reply of the day(11/5/2010)

2010-05-11T19:54:00.002+08:00

I was watching Batman just know...
So there was a female villian and her dialogue with Batman was rather funny to me.

Villian: you wouldn't hit a woman, would you?
Batman: the hammer of justice is unisex.

Batman's reply Win...lol

Holiday time...

2010-05-09T16:24:00.004+08:00

Finally, my exam for semester 2 is over.

Well, so marks the start of my holiday.
And well...
There are 104 days of summer vacation and school just comes along just to end them.
And the Annual problem of our generation is finding a good way to spend it...
Like maybe...
Playing an MMORPG or doing special sem or building a computer,
Packing my room or training in the gym.
Reading up on stocks, planning for year 3 or driving my brother insane.

Anyway, if you are wondering why the front part sounds so familiar its the start from the Phineas and Ferb song.

Anyway, I'll be starting Special Semester on Monday.
Hope everything turns out well.
And I picked up an MMORPG game.
Maybe I'll talk more about it on my next post.

Huh...I don't understand

2010-04-23T12:30:00.003+08:00

I was talking to my friend the other day.
Then he was talking about his mid term test, which was an MCQ test.
So he said "Wah lao, I don't know why I backside itchy then change my answer from B to C, turns out the answer is actually B".
Then I was wondering, if my backside itchy, then I will scratch it. Why would I change my MCQ answers because my backside itchy.
Its a rather weird expression isn't it?

Its as if the backside has a nerve that is linked to the bracket and the only way to scratch it is to shade it.

Sometimes the truth seems so hard to take

2010-04-14T22:50:00.005+08:00

Some people just can't lead a normal life...there there...

Tutorial Qn2

2010-03-29T19:01:00.002+08:00

What happens when you connect the Wonder Girls to a MOSFET?

You get nobody effect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOSFET#Body_effect

mummy, why do trolls stay?

2010-03-28T14:39:00.001+08:00

I was thinking, if trolls stayed under bridges, where do reverse trolls stay?
I think they stay in ivory towers.

CPF updates

2010-03-21T19:42:00.000+08:00

Here's a quick summary of the CPF changes announced during Budget Debate 2010:

Members will be automatically included in CPF LIFE if they have $60,000 in their Retirement Account at age 65 from 2023

The first $40,000 of a member's Special Account savings cannot be invested from 1 July 2010

From July 2010, members can apply to increase their CPF monthly income under the Minimum Sum Scheme, if their adjusted payouts can last at least 20 years from the Draw Down Age, or at least another 5 years from the time of application, whichever ends later

Members can transfer their CPF monies upon demise to their nominees' CPF Accounts when the CPF Nomination Scheme is refined in January 2011

Parents would be able to nominate their disabled children to receive monthly disbursements from the parents’ CPF savings after the parents have passed on, under the new Special Needs Savings Scheme (details will be announced later)

The Workfare Income Supplement Scheme (WIS) is being enhanced for work done from 1 January 2010. The key enhancements are that the WIS qualifying average monthly income will be increased to $1,700, up from $1,500 previously; and the maximum WIS payment will be increased from $2,400 to $2,800 a year

Alexandra

2010-03-21T15:33:00.002+08:00

If you live in Queenstown, your bound to know Alexandra Road.
Its got nice Yu Sheng porriage and oyster omelete, but do you know why Alexandra is called Alexandra?

Its named after Princess Alexandra, the Princess of Wales, a Danish princess who married Queen Victoria’s eldest son, Prince Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales, in 1863.

Line of the day (18/3/10)

2010-03-18T21:12:00.001+08:00

"University education, you can't beat it"

The jap way of being repulsively kawaii

2010-03-18T20:55:00.002+08:00

みなさん, こにちわ, Awesomeさんです.
*Stares blankly...blink blink...smile*
Bye bye

Don't run this program

2010-03-12T21:55:00.004+08:00

Hi guys,
I just testing out the bell sound.
trying to figure out how to do major project 1.
So I took this program out of the lecture notes.
Modify it a little...
Apparently the loop is a little screwed up.
Don't try this program...really...the loop isn't really working.
If you can fix it then its cool.

DATA segment
Msg db “to stop this annoying sound press any key $”
DATA ends

;stack segment
stk segment stack
db 128 DUP(?)
tos label word
stk ends
;

code segment
assume cs:code, ss:stk
start:
Mov ah, 09
Mov dx, offset Msg ; this is to display the message using int 21h (09)
Int 21h
AGAIN: mov ah,02
mov dl,07 ; bell character is 07 loaded to register dl for using int 21h
int 21h
mov ah,01 ; checking a key press
int 16h
JZ AGAIN ; if no key is pressed keep looping and create that annoying sound!
mov ah,4ch ; exit to DOS prompt;
int 21h
code ends
end start

Then I thought...screw the loop I only wanted to hear the bell.
So I removed the loop and the program only produces the bell sound.

It beep thrice...rather annoying.
Anyway, still trying to figure out the musical notes.
I think need to attach a WAV or MP3 folder...just thinking man...

Flexi-work? unemployment?

2010-03-12T17:54:00.003+08:00

I've been noticing this lately.
Have any of you been to any regional libraries lately?
There seems to be a lot of middle aged (say 30 -40 years old) people hanging out in the library using their laptops and stuff, surfing the net, doing work, whatever. This seems very evident in the mornings. Especially at say 10-12?

In the past, there wasn't that many middle aged people hanging around the library.
It used to be rather empty.

I'm not complaining or anything. Its not like these people are hogging seats or are a large proportion of library visitors. Its just this thrend I've been noticing lately, its obvious in the morning since school going kids will be studying in school.

You'd know, I was brought up in a time when office people worked with their computers inside cubicals, not in the libraries. Where drinks were served free in the pantry, not in Cafe Galilee(business hasn't seem to good lately, but the drinks are pretty good).

The whole paradigm shift in work environment is something I cannot get used to. It only goes to show how much our society has changed. The idea of flexible working hours and stuff. It usually imply comission-based jobs such as property, insurance agents or MLM salesman.

Well, I'm just saying...

Then again I thought, could these people be unemployed? Erm...increase in middle aged people hanging out in the library equate to unemployment? Well, they could be waiting for a job reply and hiding the truth from their family. Unemployment can be painful thing especially when the family members are not understand, or unable to appropriately react to the situation.

1 year anniversary of stock buying

2010-03-11T10:05:00.003+08:00

Hi people.
This is an important day.
It marks the one year anniversary of me buying my first stock.
Overall, its been doing pretty well, but on hindsight I felt I could have made many more improvements.

In addition to that, I've got a temp job opening from my previous recruitment company. Its called P-serv. Overall I find their service very good.
Temp Housekeepers/Supervisor needed in Aug (1-month).
Sports Event in NTU. Pay $7.50 to $11.00.
Call 62279035 to enquire.
So if any of you got friends or relatives finding a temp job in the month of August, feel free to refer them.

Being Kiasu

2010-03-09T22:57:00.002+08:00

Worried you are not doing enough?
Anxious about not going the extra mile like everyone else?
Are you doing more than you can when you see everyone else doing it as well?
Does doing too much stress and frustrate you a lot hindering what you really need to be doing?

Then you got the case of the Kiasu.

Being Kiasu is not an illness, its a natural human reflex.
Studies have shown that 95% of the homosapien population suffer from this anxiety induced syndrome. 45% only realise the symptoms after entering various mediums of education. 95% of people who suffer from Kiasu are due to environment related factors and the remaining 5% is due to genetic disorder after the first homosapien was bitten by a rare species of spiders called the Kan Chiong spider.

The first step to cure Kiasu is to step out and admit it. If you know that you've got Kiasu, report yourself to the nearest general practioner or head down to any nearby hospital. Remember, love yourself, love your family, stop the spread of Kiasu.

Do survey again

2010-03-07T00:10:00.001+08:00

Hi people,

Help my friend do this survey, or I'll place a bounty on your head.
http://www.esurveyspro.com/Survey.aspx?id=5ccb300a-fbcf-4eb2-961d-81705fff411d&cid=ed9b50f1-6759-47f9-901d-ece46081b29d

Thanks.

Line of the day (6/3/10)

2010-03-06T10:01:00.001+08:00

"Every man is as no life as the next"

Finally, they are back...

2010-03-04T20:42:00.008+08:00

Yeah, WOOOHOOO!~!~!~!~!~!
Naruto the Abridge series is back, just when everyone thought that they were dead...
Finally, after so long.
This time with episode 25...stay tune for the abridge movie.

In my opinion, nobody does abriged series better than Yugioh the abridged series(by little Kuriboh) and Naruto the abridged series(by Vegeta8639 and MasakoX.

While you guys have time, please help with the polls. The polls is at the column to your right.

Foreign talent, necessary or not?

2010-03-04T20:11:00.004+08:00

This entry is about a letter a friend sent to me. I think its pretty good so I decide to share it. This does not imply that I share the view. I choose to keep my opinion regarding this issue secret as it can be a sensitive issue.

He argues that Singapore needs foreigners from a academic perspective using economics. Mind you my friend is a straight As economics major student. The letter was writtern to me and the format was rather informal, but I hope you guys will enjoy it.

"I believe that (i) foreign labor does not result in fewer jobs for local employees in the long run, (ii) free trade in commodities, of which labor is considered part of by the economists, results in net gains in welfare for both countries. Although there will naturally be individual winners and losers in trade, on balance, using an economics accounting trick to define welfare, free trade increases the total welfare of all individuals that make up society.

There is neither empirical evidence nor theoretical logic to support the notion that the influx of foreign labor results lost jobs for Singaporeans. When a foreign worker displaces a local one, he does so only by offering to work harder for lower wages. Two things happen. First, the local worker suffers by reducing his wage demand in the long run. This ensures that employment returns to its original rate, at the expense of the local worker’s wages. Second, the lower wages and productivity results in cost savings and greater profit for the employer.

Flexible wages ensure that both the local and the foreign workers are employed. Wage adjustments may be impeded in the short run. However, given an extended amount of time, there really isn’t any reason why wages shouldn’t fall to equilibrate supply of labor to demand.

Lower wages are painful for the local workers in the short run, especially if the prices for the product they make remain high. However in a perfectly competitive market, it can be mathematically demonstrated that to maximize profit, the employer must pay the local laborer just enough to allow the employee to buy back his produce. This follows by sheer logic from the assumptions we make about perfect competition.

But aren’t these assumptions questionable? Yes and No. It is possible to relax the stringent assumptions of perfect competition and construct alternative models of labor markets. Economists spend half their lifetimes twisting and turning these assumptions over and deriving the conclusions that must follow from them. However, economists spend the other half of their lives testing these alternative models with real world data. This is equally important. If we want to discuss real world issues on the basis of logic, it is essential that compare our theories with evidence from the worlds that exist outside our minds.

And were we to test these alternative models with the data, we would generally find that none of these models come as close to describing the real world as well as the aforementioned perfectly competitive model. The assumptions of perfect competition are not perfect, but given these assumptions, the conclusions we can draw from these postulates are unmatched by any other combination of assumptions we may like to make.
Paul Krugman is the Nobel prize winning economist of 08’. He has spent a lifetime examining these issues we were discussing. Many regard him as a closet socialist and he certainly is no stooge of our government. Yet when it comes to matters of trade, he is unambiguous clear on this: trade has little effect on real wages.
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2008/02/paul-krugman-tr.html

But even if we drop the assumptions of perfect competition, it is by no means necessary that a job for a foreign laborer necessarily results in one job less for the local populace. Say a shoe manufacturer makes an additional dollar of profit per month by hiring a foreign worker over a local one. Even if the local worker were unable get back his job in his old shoe industry for whatever reason, the additional dollar of profit made by the employer must be saved or spent. Currency is always conserved, never created or destroyed. Should the employer choose to spend the additional dollar on something else, say clothing, this merely results in an additional job for the cloth maker. Should the employer save the dollar in his bank account instead, that merely adds a dollar to the supply of loanable funds available for new investment or consumption. Modern finance ensures that deposits in banks are constantly reinvested into the economy. This reduces interest rates on loanable funds, increasing borrowing and spending on another item. The job lost by the shoe employee can be compensated by a job created elsewhere.

Say the local shoe employee is rehired at a lower wage, but there are only two shoe manufacturers in the market. Wouldn’t the price of shoes remain high? Wouldn’t the shoe employee be unable to buy back his produce? Not necessarily so. Because even without an infinite number of competitors, there is an incentive for each firm to make additional profit by stealing his rival’s share. The existence of an extra dollar’s worth of profit allows each shoe manufacturer to undercut its rival share by selling a pair of shoes for a lower price. This in turn forces the other manufacturer to respond by cutting his price to. Both manufacturers cut the price of shoes until the initial extra dollar of profit is reduced to zero. The shoe employee is able to buy his shoes again! This is actually a famous game theoretical result, known as the prisoner’s dilemma.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_equilibrium

The purpose of these simple examples is not to assure you that our jobs are not threatened by foreign labor. I merely wish to illustrate a point - just because the assumptions of perfect competition may not be realistic, it by no means follows, as a matter of pure logic, that foreign immigration must result in a net loss of jobs for Singaporeans. These issues are subtle and complex-they can’t really be settled by personal stories told by our relatives and friends. Statistical evidence is vital to separate myth from fact in this case.

Nevertheless, I don’t support free trade because it is economically efficient. I don’t support free trade because I think it benefits me or my friends. I support it because it has lifted millions out of poverty in China, India and many parts of South-East Asia. I take it as a matter of principal not to differentiate against foreigners in all forms, even in spite of my personal tastes. Unfairness to me takes many forms, including the belief that somebody in government should ensure that Singaporeans will preferential treatment in the job market ahead of a foreigner simply because he had the misfortune to be born in Timbuktu or somewhere else. This is a personal and philosophical/emotional stance for me rather than a logical one."

I know it seems like a wall of text, but from an economic perspective its rather interesting.

Internship

2010-03-03T19:12:00.004+08:00

I'm planning to do my internship this holiday.
I really hope I get it, so that I can get first hand experience working.
The company hasn't gotten back to me yet, but if I do not get it, its a likelihood that I might do a module with my friend during the special semester.

I was comtemplating on working on the holidays, but I've been thinking lately...
I haven't been doing enough in my university education. My university life has been pretty much just studying and struggling to get the grades.

I really do admire the people who get to go overseas for exchange or go for some academic program. I've got friends who are in the NUS engineering race team, you know the one where they design a forumla one (or something equivalent).

But I've been considering my options and considering the direction I should take. I kind of liken it to planning the character build of an MMORPG character. If your character is a mage, you'd be insane to pump his strength, rather you would likely add his wisdom so that he's got higher mana and larger magic attack.

Just to side track, any of you guys playing MMORPG?
I might want to begin one during the holiday, while doing my internship(I hope I get it...) Hehe...please let me get it...

Similarly, I've been thinking of what kind of engineer I want to be. I think I know myself well enough to know that I'm not the academic sort of person. I dread thinking too much into an equation or a theory. I lack the memory(ROM not enough space) to remember stuff like Schrödinger and his pet cat. I lack the thinking power (RAM too low) to think about a lot of stuff in a short period of time.

But one thing I know, I like the hands on practical portion of engineering. I like the part where I get to build circuits. I like that part when my program works. I like to make something practical and see it in action. For that reason, I'm actually quite interested in being the GAR sort of engineer. I see myself working outside in the industry and doing a lot of practical work when I graduate. Hence, I might plan my modules and direction towards my working life. The problem is...how will I do it?

Well, thats a question I really need to think.
I don't really want to waste this holiday. Internship is part of my plan and I hope it doesn't screw up.

DIY kit

2010-02-26T19:19:00.003+08:00

Feeling frustrated of your sexuality?
Think you are a man in a woman's body?
No money for sex change?

Fret not...We in the DIY kit company have come up with our very own Do-It-Yourself Sex Change (DIY SC) kit. Patented in 1972 and perfected by 2009, the DIY SC kit solves your problems in 5 simple and easily comprehended steps.

We in the DIY company are leaders in the industry and are always in the forefront of research and development. Our large research team, mainly comprising of cheap foreign talents who perform their task as guinea pigs, ensures that the production cost of our prducts are kept cheap. Experiments are safely carried out on our foreign volunteers who we pay minimal wage so that we can randomly inject them with harmful toxic chemicals. We also hire a lot of locals so that people do not boycott our products as well as to maintain the suitable foreigner to local ratio. We also pride ourselves at the large number of locals elderly which we hire as cleaners to ensure that they are given a job to survive rather than to work as a rag and bone man.

The DIY sex change kit comes in many series and many designs in order to suit the needs of our clientele. Its safe and uses mainly natural chemicals with the very little industrial chemicals(1% crude bitumen and 0.23% diorgano polysiloxane). Like all innocent and beneficial injections which stings like an ant's bite, the procedure doesn't hurt a bit, it just hurts like shark's bite.

Lets hear what our satisfied customers have to say.
"3 months ago, I bought the DIY F-M SC black anaconda series. I am extremely surprised and elated over the results. I used to have to sit in order to pee, now I can pee standing. In addition, my enomous shlong is twice the size of my husband's weenie which immensely boost my self esteem. Now I am a proud she-male who can life my head high"
Sally "Shaft" Golphbomph

Thats one for the DIY, zero for the alternative.
Now lets hear how the DIY kit changed a person's life.

"Ever since I was young, I was confused over my gender...my father used to make me play rugby...my favourite toy was a barbie...An aglet is a small plastic sheath found on each tip of a shoelace...I like fashion week...(another 20 pages of his childhood story)."
Because of the time limit, we will skip to the most important part of his/she/its comment.
"Thank you DIY kit for changing my life"
confused_it_1985

Well, convince now, aren't you?
If you are looking at this ad, you are likely cash strapped, the DIY SC comes at a merely 5 easy payments of $995.95. Call in the next 45 seconds and we will throw in a pair of DIY prosthetic limb just for you.

Running too slow in class?
Cannot catch the bus?
Legs too skinny?
Lost your hand when your dad cut it off with a light saber?

Look no further. You are looking at our state of the art DIY prostheic limbs. Powered by a 24W/48W power source, our DIY prosthetic limbs pack 150 horse power, runs at 1500 rounds per minute and has 18 degrees of movement. With such a strength, you can even win the current reigning arm wrestling champion.

You can even upgrade and modify your prostheic limbs with blue LED lights or even change it to be powered by our DIY mini V8 engine, which packs a mean 350 horse power. Since its DIY, designing and modifying is free and easy and the sky's the limit and up to your imagination.

Busy the whole day and have no time to recharge?
Diesel prices too high?
Or just wanting to protect the environment and conserve energy?

No problem. Just carry along our DIY prosthetic limb solar panel. You can wear it like a cap or carry it like an umbrella. Its light and easy to use.

Let listen to what users have to say about this product.

"When my dad cut my hand off in Star Wars episode 5, I was so sad. Finally I found my father and the first thing he does is to cut off my hand. Then I realise Leia was my sister and I almost commited incest. She loved my friend Hans, who got carbonised, serve that bastard right. I was at the bottom of my life, how can I be a jedi if I only had one hand? Well, at least I was better off than Dooku, who lost both hands and had minimal screen time. I was approached by the DIY company and they gave me a new hope in life, a new hand. What will I do without my robotic hand? Good Work DIY company."
Luke Skywalker

So what are you waiting for?
Call now and get your DIY kit.
Our customer service officers are ever-ready to listen to your call

Call 1800-this-is-a-joke. Don't lose out in life. get DIY today.

Disclaimer
All the instructions and modifications are all provided in the instruction manual. Please ensure that you have a mentally saint partner helping you with the construction of the DIY kits. Children under the age of 18 are to seek parental approval before attempting body modification. The DIY company will not be responsible for any deaths, mutation, trauma or anything to do with the user after the product has changed hands. There will be no money back guarentee for damaged goods, failed operations and not following the proper instructions. An addition charge of $20 will be included for delivery and $2500 for medical supervision by an intern doctor. Results will vary.

PutChar

2010-02-22T21:26:00.003+08:00

I've got a miniproject due next monday...It involves sending 3 letters via a serial port to another PC(server). The server will take in the 3 letters, jumble it up and send it back to me.
I would have to then make a program that will display the letters as a bit-map using each letter itself as pixels.

Sounds bad, right?
Well, there is this program called PutChar,which is used to print the characters in AL at (BH,BL) on the screen. For non-engineering students, AL, BH, BL are registers. I've been trying to figure out last night what it does, but to no avail.

So I went to sleep clueless about the usage of PutChar...then...

I woke up in the morning with the Pucca song ringing in the head.
Why did Pucca had to sound like PutChar...
Pointer point to the wrong folder...crap...
Exit: MOV AH, 4Ch ; Interrupt function number for exit
INT 21h
If you don't know what is the Pucca song, then view the video below. It like a really short video...37 seconds.

Well, the song stop ringing in my head already...until I started to write this entry!!!
ARGH...get the song out of my head...its still stuck in there.
Anyway, if note the lyrics they say "ninja eat noodles", well thats quite true.
in fact, they actually eat ramen, like in Naruto.

So recently I climbed a mountain and ventured in the lands less travelled to find a guru and asked him a question..."what is the secret to finding inner peace?"

Curious for the answer?
Watch the video below

Can help my friend with a survey?

2010-02-21T21:54:00.005+08:00

For those who help me the other time to do the survey, thanks a lot.
This time got another friend, my secondary school friend called Daryl See Zhi Xiang (I think that was his chinese name).
Its a guy...so well, I'm not trying to hard to promote it.

To those people who were my secondary school friends and know daryl as friend, feel free to not help him...IF YOUR CONSCIENCE ALLOWS IT.
If you got time then just try to help him out.
He's a cool friend so help him out...ARGH!!!
The link is just below.
http://www.esurveyspro.com/Survey.aspx?id=886b9ede-6d55-44e2-9d20-e2b0617e7701
Here is the facebook group.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=314955126823&ref=mf

Yeah thanks for polling, after 1 month, the conclusion is a unanimous vote that everybody would like the special ability of manipulating time.
Too bad guys no anime character in the universe is likely to possess such a power because it will likely screw up the entire story line. I mean he could like go back in time and reverse everything. If psycho kinetic was bad ass, suddenly comes an person who can reverse all these things. Its so badass it will break the fourth wall as predicted in the prophecy told in Yugioh Abridged. Dang you ForKids!!!

Anyway, I was counting my Ang Pow money and realise...
DANG!!! Income this year isn't a lot.
So just a poll...How much did you guys get?
At least I would get a feel of the market rate this year.
Thanks a lot...please poll.

Making lead balls

2010-02-19T23:39:00.002+08:00

You know you suck at soldering when all you do is make tons of little lead balls.
Yeah, I'm pretty bad at it. I just completed a wire just now.
But nevertheless, soldering is one of the most GAR!!!! things a man can do.
I believe you must be wondering now...what the hell is GAR!!!!?
Well, I believe the definition is best explained by urban dictionary.

GAR
A term used towards male characters and individuals who are so overwhelmingly manly that your own masculinity is absolutely *buried*, leaving you naught but a whimpering, swooning girl-child before them.

I've got this friend who is damn PRO in soldering. His craftmanship is level 100 AKA GAR!!!

Anyway, for noobs in soldering, here is a cool video.

Yeah, get a good soldering iron, which is sharp. My buddy's iron was pretty blunt which made it harder to solder properly.

Please comment on your opinions on soldering. Aiyoh...so busy...maybe cannot blog in the next few days...ARGH...

Happy New Year and Line of the day 15/02/10

2010-02-15T23:36:00.004+08:00

Happy New Year guys, Wish you all the best in your studies and good health.

Line of the day to start out the new lunar year!!!

"Positive will is the first step to triumph over adversity"
Fairy Tail chapter 172

Index of the underdog 2 : t = 1.5 months

2010-02-13T13:05:00.006+08:00

Good morning ladies and gentlemen,
This is a follow-up from the last time I posted the index of the underdog.
refer to link below for the original post.
http://allengineerswearjeans.blogspot.com/2010/01/index-of-underdog.html
I wanted to post this entry at the start of the month, but due to work commitments, I didn't have the time.

Going back to the topic, the index has seen a 10% rise from its base point at 100 to 110.67. STI, on the other hand, has pulled back from 2,855.68 to 2,758.90 due to sovereign wealth funds and debt problems in Europe. Prices and values for this entry are taken at the closing of 12th Feb 2010.

The Index of the Underdog(IOU) is a weighted index and the main driver of the index is not based on whose price increased the most, rather its based on whose market capitalisation increase the most relative to the total market cap.

From now on lets just call it IOU for short.

Observations
The top performer comes from New Wave Hldings increasing a whopping 33.3%. BoomZ man.
However, its interesting to note that its really just a penny stock and the 33.3% come from the fact that it increased a meer half cent(not even a cent).

The main driver for this round comes from MacarthurCook Industrial REIT. Despite some bad news coming following it in the November last year, surprising its price rose 16%. If you guys want to know about what happened in Nov, go to the link below.
http://thefinance.sg/2009/11/22/i-bought-macarthurcook-industrial-reit-on-18-nov-a-bet-gone-wrong/
Maybe investors want to find a safe place to park their money?

Just to note some changes in the IOU
1) 2 out of the 10 companies did not change in price
2) 7 out of the 10 companies increased in price
3) 1 suffered a drop in its price
4) lowerest % drop - 4.76%
5) highest % increase -33.3%
6) lowerest % increase - 2.77%

Opinions
It is intersting to note that IOU is based on 10 extremely undervalued companies, hence price doesn't fall too low. People might now want to get it, but at least they do not want to sell it. It seems rather in line with chapter 20 of intelligent investor(margin of safety).

I know many people will flame me for this. Just a thought, maybe because its so undervalued, it can only see an upside? We see the index rosed 10% while STI fell. Did we really beat the market? The numbers seem to prove so.

On top of being undervalued, these companies are also small cap. With the current consolidation tagged along with the immense amount of uncertainty, I guess investors wouldn't want to risk their capital on small companies which may face the risk of poor business or bankruptcy(worst case senario). This explains why despite one and half months, we still see that the prices of 2 companies remain stagnant and some of the rest increasing by small quantities.

With regards to the second opinion, I would say that prices did not increase from an absolute amount, but only percentage wise. I guess this is the good part of buying penny stocks, a small increase in absolute amount will translate to large percentage increases.

Conclusion
I don't its fair to draw any conclusion at this point. Its only been 1.5 months and I guess it should be considered short run. In the short run, anything can happen. This time we beat the market.
Maybe buying severely undervalued stocks in a good strategy after all.

I will follow up with the index again, stay tuned.

Line of the day(11/2/2010)

2010-02-11T22:10:00.003+08:00

Over lunch a few days ago, my friends and I were talking about modules where the lecturers were so lazy and teach very slow that they eventually exclude the content from the syllabus(not common though...).
One of my friend then said that the alternative is that they would request us to do self study for the remaining chapters that they are unable to teach which would be terrible.
Then another friend said that when the prof says that most foreigner will suddenly feel very happy because the local kid most probably haven't learnt it yet, but foreign sudents would most likely covered the material.

Then I was thinking about how to make a one-liner for the phenomenon. Then I recalled yugioh the abridged series episode 19.
So here is the line of the day.

"Whenever an ah tiong smiles, a local gets PWNED"

Disclaimer: The post is just a joke. I am not a xenophobe. I am chinese so I'm not a racist. I don't dislike ah tiongs, I just call use that term because it makes the one liner funny. I think chinese girls are cute, especially the way they speak english.
I was seating beside a mainland chinese girl today in class...OMG, she is so beautiful...then she was wearing short...like short shorts(AKA Shorts^2) and she had nice long legs. She chose to seat beside me, you know...she could have sat beside other people, but she chose me...so happy!!! Then she smile at me...so pretty, so happy. She is my goddess...then she talk to me...OMG...happiness^100...PRC girl 10/10...score!!!

I know what are you thinking now..."aren't you a little over reacting?"
Well, yes I am...its because a friend of mine placed this thought in my head and its now growing and growing and growing and growing and I can't get it out so I am vomiting it here on my blog.
Well, then you wonder what is this EVIL thought my friend put in my head...
Well, he just kept on saying, "hey how come she choose to seat beside you. I think she like you. Ask her out. Ask her out". he just kept repeating that.
So to my friend who placed the thought in my head...please don't do it again. I cannot focus on my EE2005 assignment due tomorrow.

Another reason is because compared to PRC girls who I think are more friendly, sg girls though pretty and capable as they are don't smile a lot and emo a lot. They tend to be less friendly towards me. ARGH!!! Like after talking for a while, they go like wateva...so mean!!! But not all of them are like that...some quite nice to me...thats why I give them my autograph...

Caucasian girls also not bad, but they like caucasian guys...thats because they haven't met me yet.

Rest in peace my friend, we will always remember you

2010-02-09T22:27:00.003+08:00

Today a friend of mine died.
This entry is dedicated to him.

He wasn't an ordinary friend,
He was like a brother.

Don't ask me how he died,
For I will tell you how he lived.

A brave adventurous soul in the seas of danger,
seeking the question of his existence.
To me my friend, it was redundant,
if not for you, I wouldn't be me.
If you weren't born,
the world would be the way it is.
You claimed you were a good for nothing your whole life,
but without you my life would be nothing.

Your persistence to fight this world,
To not give up in the face of crisis.
It inspired us, didn't you know?

The memories you left behind.
Goodbye to you, my trusted friend.
We've known each other since we're nine or ten.
Together we climbed hills or trees.
You tried to teach me right from wrong.
Too much wine and too much song,
wonder how I get along.

Goodbye my friend.
Goodbye my brother.
It was nice knowing you.
May you rest in piece...
Portgas D. Ace

Don't give up!!!

2010-02-08T01:32:00.007+08:00

You are probably asking me...
"Aaron, I know you are awesome, but why are you doing up so late?"
My reply is likely,
"Well, its because I have to rush an essay due on tuesday."

Then you might most probably ask,
"Your awesomeness, why do awesome engineers need to write essays?"
My reply is likely,
"Well, its because the university wants us to have a balance all rounded education and not to produce robots which are only capable of speaking assembly language."

Damn you university level requirements AKA ULR(red baron references)

Well, this is the point where I spew a bunch of assembly language from my lab last week, but I'm too lazy to do so...

I know it hard for you guys in school, so much workload so little time, and so difficult exams.
But push on...there is always light at the end of the tunnel. It's okay as long as its not the light of an incoming train.
Did you know there is a hokkien saying "ai pia cia e ya!!!!" which translates to 爱拼才会赢. Yeah...must fight so can win!!!

here is a video I found youtube.

I know I should find the actual video from the actual singer, but how often you see a group of crazy people wearing bath robes and singing as if they were drunk.
You know you are screwed when someone feeds you too much alcohol and puts you cubical wearing a bath robe, forces you to sing a hokkien song and videos you.
Crap i think someone doped my plain water...feeling grogggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

No date on valentines? find fred.

2010-02-06T22:39:00.002+08:00

Oh my god...fred's latest video!!!
This one is damn funny.

I always like fred's videos because its so crazy.
I'm actually quite busy so I'll stop commenting.
There are some post that I wish to do, but I'm currently short of time. I'll try to get it up by next week.
Peace out.

Don't misunderstand us...

2010-02-04T15:53:00.002+08:00

If any of you hear a bunch of engineers or engineering students talking about semen and big ass, its likely a big misunderstand.

They are likely talking about siemen, which is the SI derived unit for electric conductance and the symbol is denoted by an S. Because of their lack of vocabulary, instead of saying capital 's', we often refer it as big 's'.

Anyway, to know more about siemen, go wikipedia.

Busy...and some tips on lecturers

2010-02-03T21:36:00.002+08:00

I doubt I'll be posting any entries this week, I've got 1 lab reports, 1 assignment due this week and an essay due next week.

Anyway, have you guys encountered lecturers that like to ask question and then wait for a reply?
Then when no one replies, he picks a random guy to answer a question?
Well, its because most of the time its a rheotorical question and he just wants to hear his answer from another voice.

Some common answers are
1) yes
2) no
3) 1
4) 0
5) pi
6) infinity
7) some random directions
8) This work is often motivated by the hierarchy problem and is constrained by existing experimental data. It may involve work on supersymmetry, alternatives to the Higgs mechanism, extra spatial dimensions (such as the Randall-Sundrum models), Preon theory, combinations of these, or other ideas.

Okay, if you don't know, point 8 is a joke.

But if your prof ask you a question, its usually a common sense one, so take some time to think, its probably one of the first 7.

Please help here...not that you really need to...

2010-01-30T22:05:00.002+08:00

Normally, I do not enjoy posting 2 entries a day.
It makes it look as if I have nothing else better to do, which is the truth though.
But anyway, my friend told me to help her out with a survey.
And...normally, I do not go the extra mile to help people.

But since she said that "it was nice bumping into you the other day in NUS" and "we should catch up sometime"(FTW) with a smilie face and she is a girl(mainly because she is a girl), I will help her ask people to do surveys.

This link is for males: http://www.surveymethods.com/EndUser.aspx?93A5DBC895D6C7C098D9
This link is for the ladies: http://www.surveymethods.com/EndUser.aspx?F6C0BEADF0B3A2A5FDB7

I don't really know if anybody really reads this blog, but if you do and decide to do the survey, please comment this entry with an "aye!". I'm just curious to know how many people really can be bothered to do it. If you don't have a account, you can always comment as an anonymous identity. Please do so because its all that matter to me. (I like that line...I took it from one of my favourite youtube channels)

Tutorial Qn 1

2010-01-30T15:07:00.005+08:00

What do you get if you pass a women through an low pass filter followed by an inverter?
Let women be a spectrum and the letter 'm' be the DC component.
Refer to the answer below

Yes, the answer is emo.

Why so excited?

2010-01-28T21:10:00.002+08:00

Erm...with regards to my last entry...
A friend asked me..."hahahah y u so excited!"

This was my reply...every new line represents a new line...duh...names have been censored and replaced by generic names to protect the identities of these individuals.

"no reason...just excited cos normally my life does not involve much girls
erm...lets evaluate my weekly interaction with girls
in EE, I only know 2 female friends...1 of them sometime i see her in the bus then i go home with her...the other only say hello and bye bye
then one week...at most interact with that one
sometimes i meet random girls from the past and talk generic stuff with them...like "what are you studying now" and "how is life in school"
erm...so on the average, during the weekdays...I talk to about 3-4 girls(inflated value)
weekends...erm...i go school with brain and da niu...so no girl...unless sunday you eat lunch with me, MorMakMorMakMor and JEAN YIP ***** REN, otherwise i also never talk to girls
once in a while my friend who we also know as X goes online and i talk to her...but she very busy
so effectively i only talk to about 5 girls a week...so when i met her i very excited..."

Sorry for the censoring, I don't want to disclose too much information...not yet...
MorMakMorMakMor, JEAN YIP ***** REN, Da niu and brain are all guys...so don't misunderstand.

Well, having said all that its not really true because today during my Singapore Studies tutorial, I made 3 friends(female friends). Their names have been also removed to protect their identity. The issue is not their names, its that by making 3friends, the population of girls I know in NUS has just jumped a large percentage... erm...I think its at least 3-5 percent(maybe less than that I like to exaggerate).

Well, its not only that which I'm excited about. I also satisfied because I just satisfied my craving for lasagne. So nice...I stopped at Pizza Pazza just now for some Lasagne...so tasty...hehe...

Well, thats not all that exciting compared to this week's Shounen Jump.
On One Piece, Luffy freed Ace and they are battling their way through the marines.
These two awesome people form the perfect duo. Trashing through marines...must see!!!
Then Whitebeard does the manliest thing again...GO READ IT YOURSELF...NO SPOILERS!!!

Then on NARUTO...Sasuke defeats Danzo...I thought they might drag it a little longer. Good thing they ended the fight. It was getting too long. Anyway, Danzo took Karin as a hostage and it looks like Sasuke sacrificed Karin to kill Danzo by shooting a Chidori through Danzo's heart. Well, there is a lot to speculate.
Did Sasuke kill Danzo? Or was that just a genjutsu?
Will Karin die? Sasuke told Karin not to move, it is because he calculated that he could shoot through her without killing her?
Why is Sasuke such an asshole,breaking a lovely maiden's heart...BY KILLING HER!!! Damn you Sasuke!!!

Then on Bleach...Aizen is Unstoppable...Monster Kill...God-like...
Kind of like this video below

And then Gin is back...finally back. They ain't giving him enough screen time...erm...maybe I should call it manga time...Tousen made his appearance and died. Nothing really happened to Gin. Gin ain't really doing anything, just giving commentary like how he always do.

Chatting up girls...FAIL!!!!

2010-01-26T10:28:00.002+08:00

I know I'm really bad in this.
I'm always saying the wrong stuff.

So I met a JC friend today. She look a little different. She looks so pwettie...
Then again 90% of the girls in this world look pretty to me...with the 10% being witches and aunties. Yes, you discovered my greatest fear...Aunties...EEEEEEE...tell you guys another time...

So when I saw her, I was rather excited, didn't see her for so long. The last time I saw her was like I think 2-3 years back. So I was thinking about ask her what she was studying. But I was so excited that I said, "what are you doing here?" Then there was like a 3 second moment of awkwardness... lol...

Anyway, It went on fine...she is studying in NUS, in the faculty besides mine, doing her honours year. Hehe...damn...forgot to ask for her number...FAIL!!! nevermind...next time...bwahahahaha

Possessed?

2010-01-25T20:43:00.002+08:00

I heard playing WOW was bad...but this bad?

I know its disturbing but for the fun of it pls watch the entire video.
Its either the kid is possessed or he is suffering the withdrawal symptoms of WOW.

Erm...but isn't it obvious enough that he is possessed?
The screamings...the awkward body motions...
He maybe a Worgan...maybe he was trying to transform...tranformation fail.

Did you see how fast he strip to his boxers...its super human speed.
Its so fast its evil.
Then the part where he tries to shove the remote up his ass. I am officially disturbed. I need brain soap.
Its as if its from a clip from the exorist.

Being too judgemental?

2010-01-24T22:27:00.003+08:00

Today's sermon was John chapter 8.
The story is about how the scribes and Pharisees tried to trap Jesus when they brought in a woman who was caught in adultery. Long Story short, they question Jesus what they should follow the mosiac law and stone the woman. Jesus ignore them and wrote on the floor. Then he asked them "Let him without sin cast the first stone". Then the scribes and Pharisees left one by one until only Jesus and the woman was left.
Jesus then asked the woman, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?". The woman replied "no one, my lord" and then Jesus said "Neither do I condemn you; go and do not sin again".

I know I didn't really cut it short, I'm bad at summarising.

So anyway, the sermon was how the scribes and Pharisees was so caught up trapping Jesus and coming out of plans that they dehumanise the woman. A lot has been said about the many attempts that the Pharisees tried to challenge Jesus. Following that came a lot of condemnation of the Pharisees and the Jews. Some people even blame the Jews for Jesus's death. If you think about it Jesus is also a Jew. Oh My God I Didn't know that!!!

I guess we have been too quick to judge the Pharisees. I guess its fair to consider the Jewish society at that point of time to understand the reasons for their action. We all know that Jesus started his work at 30(its on Luke). That is about 26 - 36 C.E.

During that time, Jews were under the Roman rule. There were a lot of tensions between the Jews and the Romans. Initially, the Romans were tolerant towards the Jews, but after a while, they got annoyed. They got annoyed by the Jews not worshipping their gods because it violates the first of the ten commandments and Jewish practices such as circumcision which the romans feel that is to act as a mark of difference from other men(which they find distasteful), which is actually quite true, since the circumcision marks a Jew's convenant with God.

The Pharisees might want to avoid trouble from Roman government. To a large extent, Jesus's declaration as the messiah was challenging the existing Roman government. In my opinion, the Pharisees's insistence towards the mosiac law is to retain or protect the jewish identity. In a time where the jews were colonised by the romans and when a lot of jews were spread all around the middle east at that time. The religious leaders were probably worried that some of Jesus's teaching would dilute or diminish the mosiac law of that time, hence such persistence.

Another reason is likely that the sadducees at that time rejected the belief of the Messiah and the resurrection as they were not in the Pentateuch. The Pentateuch is the first 5 books in the Torah, also the first 5 books in the Bible also known as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. This probably explains why they were so motivated to challenge Jesus.

Happy day

2010-01-19T23:05:00.006+08:00

I was talking to an army friend a few weeks back.
Then he made a comment. He said that he don't like Singapore girls because they like to act high class.

Oh my Gosh...How can anyone not like a Singapore girl?
They are smart, but not as smart as mainland chinese and India indian girls.
They are pretty, with the exception of 50%, which fall into the other end of the normal distribution curve.
They are friendly, without considering that a certain portion are rather snobbish.
But well, with all that is remaining, they are still extremely good stuff.

So anyway, he suddenly asked me...do you like Singapore girls?

Then I thought for a while. Actually, I didn't need to think for "a while",

The answer is Hell YES!!!

Then I thought for a while...no leh...all the singaporean girls I know all look so sian...all don't smile...
I don't think they know but a smile will brighten up anyone's day.
Looking emo just make everyone around you sad...you'd wouldn't want to do that.

Even the ugliest girl in the world will look beautiful if they smile...
Then when I think about it, its not only a girl thing, even guys don't smile. Guys who don't smile somehow fall into the category of cool and emo...Thats a +10 to their score...damn you emo guys...

In fact, most of us don't even smile on a normal basis, no wonder people say that our service standards suck...
Actually, I don't really think that its a problem. Stress level in city areas are often higher compared to other areas. So its inevitable that people look annoyed, bored, irritated and pissed off 24/7. But being too emo is bad for your health.

Emo is the path to the dark side.
Fear leads to anger.
Anger leads to hate.
Hate leads to suffering.

so says the wise Yoda.
So I'll declare today, the 19 of January, Happy day.
We celebrate happy day by smiling and having happy thoughts.

Happy Happy day. Aye!!!

Reflections of a temp boy: witches

2010-01-16T17:05:00.008+08:00

I've been thinking about this for a while.
I've been thinking about a lot of things for a while.

I've been thinking about blogging my working experiences and thoughts about my holiday jobs.
I wouldn't go about saying that I have a lot of working experience.
Rather I've only have limited working experience as a temporary staff during my holidays.
To date, I've only worked 4 jobs with a minimum of at least 2 months each(No that I've got a choice to work longer, holidays are not too long).
But I'll try to share my experiences with as little bitching and as much humor as possible.

I believe we've encountered nasty people in the work place.
There are many kinds of them.
I'll start by talking about the scheming people, which I will name the witch.

Witches are highly intellectual creatures who are capable of manipulating other beings. Witches are rare creatures as most beings in the realms which we known as the office are cubical zombies. They come in many forms. Generally, they are able to use their witchcraft to look appealing. But for those that look bad, they just suck in looking good.

Witches with makeup

Witch without makeup

It is important to understand the dietery habits and hunting habits of witches to prevent one from fall prey to them. Witches tend to feed on unsuspecting victims. They generate energy by inflating their ego at the expenses of their prey's ego. This is usually done through well thought out schemes, to trap its prey in a corner. When the prey is trapped in a corner, they will resort to tactics to sabotage them. Most prey when trapped in a corner, tend to fight back in aggression. This is when they fall into the witches trap. The witch will use her prowess in manipulation and cunning to sap the energy and strength out the prey. If the prey is one which will stubbornly fight back, this will generally enter a vicious cycle which will suck the life out of it.

Beside understanding its eating habits, any wise adventurer will understand that the best way not to get caught by a witch is to not walk into a witches den. With the evolution of technology methods and strategy, anywhere is a possible witches den. It is important that high level witches have the ability to cloak their aura. This ability is called "soul protect", its prevent trained witch hunters for detecting them. They will only unleash their aura when they are ready to hunt. Depending of the element of the witch, she might emit a different aura. Some are capable of dealing stun and paralysing effects.

It is also known that some witches are masters of Tai chi. This grants them the ability to shift responsibility to others. Most dangerous part of their taichi techniques are those where they shift the blame to someone else and activate the "NULL and VOID"(AKA talk to the hand).

The top one is "shift" and the bottom one is "Null and void", just informing you if you do not happen to play a children's card game called yugioh.

We are able to identify the victims of witches by the curse marks orbiting around them. It is not to be mistaken by Orochimaru's curse mark, which gives the victim a surge in chakra, but killing it if there is an overusage. The curse mark of the witch bestows bad luck to the victim. In the common office environment, the curse mark implies that the victim is becomes to the target of angry mobs and autocratic dictators. It also confer upon the victim the "official scapegoat" title.

Now that we have identified this entity called the witch, it is important that we analyse how to eliminate them. You could always call up the neighbours and form the "neighbourhood angry mob" squad. Witch hunting can be fun! you can do it too.

Yours truly has some personal encounters with such beings. I'd realise that on some level, they are actually very emotional. The whole issue of shaming others to boost their ego is to boost their self worth. Interestingly, their self worth depreciates very fast in time and they need to do something in order to revert back to their normal level. What better way than to show off. Most witches tend to be extremely lazy and only want to do the minimum, yet doing the minimum does not give them the self worth they desire. So they have shame others to make them feel that themselves feel good.

These creatures tend to be very emotional, so you might not really want to mess with them, they might cry. To date, I've only encountered two witches, and one cried when the boss told it off. Try not to comfort them when they cry. Otherwise, they will start sticking to you, that is if you want that.

Apparently, they best way to handle such people is to just ignore them. Somehow, they will keep finding you to talk to you. They will want to find your weakness so as to hurt you. You might think that other people like them as well, but you will soon realise that everyone hates them too. Its just they do not know how to get back at them.

Of course, no one is perfect and the witch will tend to laugh and shame you when you make mistakes. However, the witch is also not perfect. One day, the witch will also make mistakes, it a matter whether you want to shame it or not. In fact, you can gather your friends to shame the witch together. But as an individual with dignity, I'd suggest you leave it alone and move on with your life. It is not worth your time.

Now that I've explained about the witch and method to counter it, I hope you have a nice day.I'm Mr Awesome and I approve this message.

STI dropping and rising

2010-01-13T21:44:00.002+08:00

Aiyo...today Straits Time Index (STI) drop, not that it bothers me.
But there is this stock that I own which isn't really making money.
In fact, if I sell it, the only loss I'll suffer is from the commission.
maybe about like 40 dollars...but 40 dollars also money...I rather lost 40 dollars at the ATM than let the market make money from me...hehe...
So never sell...so outwait the market.
These are times where waiting is a virtue

In other news, Sexually transmitted infected(STI) is on the rise...damn you infected!!!
http://health.asiaone.com/Health/News/Story/A1Story20100113-191562.html
So STIs rose by 10.6% from 10k to 12.3k, with people from ages 10 to 39 accounting for the largest increase in notification rates.
10 years old? What are 10 year old kids experimenting these days?
Do kids even have puberty at 10?
Erm...I think the question should be how in the world can a 10 year old kid get infected?
I don't think we got child sex workers here.
Maybe sex education should be taught at primary 3 (9 years old) and every kid should be issued condoms...

Talking about condoms, Ris Low(yes, the boomz girl) is a spokesperson of a condom company.
I know she is trying to get rid of the bad image, but a condom company?
I mean...think about it...lets imagine her in a condom commercial...
"I like sex, but I also like playing it safe, so I use Brand X condom"
Didn't she just did a photoshoot for a men's magazine?
She is just digging a deeper hole.
Personally, I guess you've got to admire her for her resilience and her "never say die" attitude.
The media can be rather harsh on people. The whole hype and flaming of Ris Low is overdone and really cruel. So I think her ability to handle the media is commendable.

Stock recommendation from the stars

2010-01-11T14:39:00.003+08:00

As you guess know, I bought this book called shares a few days ago.
I've been reading this book like those Ah Peh reading the horse racing book.

One of the articles was regarding a financial forecast for the month of January.
Er...if you were wondering how the forecast is made, it is done using tradition Taoism methods, by analysing the elements and all those stuff.
Interesting to note that the author is a post-graduate and it is even more interesting that a magazine like shares, use such an unorthodox method to analyse the market. Really goes to show that it is an Ah Peh magazine.

Its not that I'm into any of these supersitious mambo jambo, but I guess you guys are really interested to know what stocks are expected to do well in this month.

"The Yin Fire Ox will bring potential strength to the Earth element".

note that the Ox has a lot of yin, meaning that it is a female,so its a cow.
The cow is a fire cow, means it produces hot milk.

okok, I should stop joking.
Their recommendation on industries that will do well are industries are are related to Fire and Earth.

Fire industries: Equity, Hospitality, Service oritented, media, entertainment, beauty, energy, etc
(why are some of these industries fire industries? I understand energy sector has much to do with fire. But beauty? maybe Civil defense should be fire industries since they only have jobs when there is a fire.)

Earth industries: Property, coal mines, insurance, health care, banking, etc
(at least this makes more sense then fire industries.)

As much as I do not believe in all these superstitious forecast, I have to agree that her recommendations are pretty good.

Most recommended stocks fall into this category.
Fire industries
Energy(oil and gas): Erza holdings, Mermaid Maritime
Hospitality: CDL Hospitality Trust
Media: SPH

Earth industries
Property: SC Global, Ho Bee Investment
Banking: Damn, they are all so stable

I was thinking she probably tune her speculation in line with recent stock recommendation.

I was thinking about it for a while. Just a random thought. I got a bad hunch.
All these forecast and speculation is based on the fact that in the middle of 2010, the market will rally due to the completion of the integrated resorts. This is especially so for the property sector.

Most of the recommended property stocks are companies which are building properties on sentosa, more commonly known as Sentosa Cove(the damn piece on the MacDonalds Monopoly promotion which no one seems to get).
Most of these properties companies are doing rather well. They have decent occupancy rates.
However, having decent occupancy does not secure anything.
If people are unable to pay up for those properties, they have to default on the property and then there will be issues.

People who purchase property on sentosa cove is likely to buy the property as investor.
Likelihood is that they aim to flip it when the price is high. Likely, the property owner is looking for a sucker to purchase the property at a higher price. This "next sucker cycle" will continue until property prices are too high and the bubble burst. What if at some point the owner defaults the payment or at some point, someone declares that the property is not worth its price. Then we will have our own little "sub-prime crisis".

Index of the underdog

2010-01-09T12:51:00.002+08:00

I was at popular yesterday after lunch with a friend and I picked up a book, called shares.
Erm, its not really a book...like not exactly something you can read.
Its like a weekly issue magazine which looks like a book.
Kind of like the kind you see horse gamblers read, just that its about shares.
Alot of people were looking at us taking that book.
Its not like its FHM or Maxim. But they're probably thinking, "kids these days, so young learn to gamble."

Anyway, an idea struck me just now, what if I create an index based on 10 of the most undervalued companies based on its discount to NAV and monitor its progress over the year. This would be a nice experiment.

So I flip to a page called "discount to NAV" and there was a list of companies which are sold below its NAV, The names of the company is listed according to the amount of discount.
Here are the list of 10 companies chosen. Prices are taken as of 24th Dec 2009, since 25th which is a Friday is Christmas.

Surface Mount Technology
Last close: 0.11
NAV: 0.524
Discount: 79%

MacarthurCook Industrial REIT
Last close: 0.21
NAV: 0.94
Discount: 79.0

United Food
Last close: 0.07
NAV: 0.311
Discount: 77.5

China Powerplus
Last close: 0.05
NAV: 0.216
Discount: 76.9

New Wave Hldings
Last close: 0.01
NAV: 0.0341
Discount: 76.8

China Sky Chemical Fibre
Last close: 0.175
NAV: 0.733
Discount: 76.1

Eucon Hldings
Last close: 0.03
NAV: 0.1248
Discount: 76.0

Sunright
Last close: 0.13
NAV: 0.532
Discount: 75.6

Ipco Int'l
Last close: 0.02
NAV: 0.08
Discount: 75.0

MacarthurCook Ppty Securities Fund
Last close: 0.125
NAV: 0.484
Discount: 74.2

I'll be using a composite index.
The index will not take into account reinvesting dividends.
If any of you need help on building an index, try the link below
http://http://www.cftech.com/BrainBank/FINANCE/SandPIndexCalc.html

I think I probably need some practice in this...maybe I need to find someone with statistics background.

Anyway, I already created in index on Microsoft Excel.
The index is set at 100 initially.
I'll get the numbers for the index next month and monitor the progress of these stocks after a month.

Erm, just a side note. These companies listed above have a NA PE, implying they are not earning, AKA loss. You might not want to get them, unless you have excess cash and nothing else better to do.

I'm against getting stock which have no PE because personally, I believe that you do not need to subject yourself to such unncessary risk. But this index is just an experiment, so its just for fun.

WSJ

2010-01-08T10:43:00.002+08:00

Bad news this week, Ladies and Gentlemen.
There will be no WSJ(Weekly Shounen Jump).
Its been 2 long weeks of waiting and their double episodes ain't exactly double.
Naruto was like a meer 17 pages,slightly lesser than usual.

Anyway, you canot really blame them, if you think about it. Its quite hard for the plot to advance at this point of time.
In One Piece, you see that most of the White Beard crew is down, Marco has been handcuffed and shot a few times by admiral Kizaru. Diamond Jose has been frozen by Aokiji and White Beard himself has been stabbed a few times. Only major character one left standing is Luffy, and we all know Luffy cannot match against an Admiral.

In Bleach, Aizen is untouchable. Screw the Espadas and Tousen, they bearly put up a fight against the vizards and the Captains. But the Vizards and Captains are no match for Aizen. so basically everybody is waiting for Ichigo.

In Naruto, Danzo is almost untouchable, they keep on missing him. Its as if he's got the same powers as Madara. Sasuke is only draining his strength by fighting him. Anyway, why did Itachi suddenly come up? Interesting...eh...

Anyway, also on WSJ(Wall Street Journal), I found this article which I thought was rather good. Here is the link.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB40001424052748704254604574614090442551008.html
So maybe we should gear ourselves for another crisis?
What if governments are unable to pay up their debt?
Note that even though most indexes put up a good performance since their March 2009 lows, its important to not that the market has led the economic data.
Note that economic data from the US is still bleak, Britian suffers the possibility of losing its AAA credit ratings and Japan's Debt to GDP ratio is close to 200%.

For wrestling fans only

2010-01-07T14:52:00.003+08:00

Its been a while since I've watched wrestling. They stopped showing it on channel 5 after too many kids died trying to mimick wrestling moves.

Anyway, Bret Hart is back.
Bret Hart is back after 12 year.
Bret Hart is back to bury the hatchet.
What?
Bury the hatchet?
Well, I guess thats what people want when they are old.

anyway, here's the video.

Anyway, watching this video. Kind of reminded me of another WWE video I saw a while back.
Shawn Michaels going back to WWE.
Its rather funny though...

"Ah, My grill is on fire!!!"
Epic

ZOMG, Shawn Michaels beat the crap out of the little girl!!!!
LOL

"And if you are not down with that, I've got two words for you"
"S**k it!!!"

Anyway, this week on Raw...

Watch part 6 and 7 as well. Tag team championships, Christ Jericho and The Big Show Vs Triple H and Shawn Michaels.

Somehow, Big Show is too inba...But somehow as long as they knock him to the ground he is just too weak to get up.
but still lose...AWWW...Spoiler...

New year resolution number 5

2010-01-07T11:58:00.003+08:00

Erm, my fifth and final new year resolution.
Yeah, its to get to know more girls!!!!
Bwahaha...evil laughter...

But I have no idea on how to do that, there are so little females in engineering.
But I have something to brag about. In year 2, the number of girls I know in electrical engineering increase by infinity percent, and all I did was make 3 females friends. This was because prior to year 2 the number of electrical engineering girl i knew was 0 .
So this is a good start although I doubt there will be a harem or anything close to that.

Coffee shop talk: Some people cannot keep their hands to themselves and others cannot keep their clothes on

2010-01-06T16:35:00.004+08:00

It the first week of 2010 and so many crazy stuff happening.

If any of you been surfing singapore related websites, you will realise that one of the latest juicy news is that of a molest incident that happened during a countdown in Sentosa.
The article was out on STOMP on the 4th and to date it has induced 258 comments and 3 videos from razor TV.

You can find the link below:
http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/caught_in_the_act/300696/4_men_harass_woman_at_countdown_party_but_no_one_helped.html

So this girl who was on stage got gang molested(is there even a term called gang molested?) and nobody in the crowd went up to save her. This is so wrong. From the photos you see a group of indian guys groping her boobs and then they try to strip her off her panties. It kind of looked like she was struggling, though by censoring the face, its hard to understand her expression(but I seriously doubt she is enjoying it).

I don't really understand the whole indian guys trying to get chinese girls thing. Its like a new thrend or something, like how they are trying to stay away from their own kind and going for other asian girls except indian girls. I don't really have an issue about that since there are enough chinese girls to go around. Yeah, I know Chinese girls are good stuff...just like Vietnamese girls, Korean girls and Japanese girls. Its just that it wouldn't go well with indian girls since there will be a large surplus of indian girls who are going to become spinsters. No one likes a spinster since they are insecure and nag alot.

Maybe we shouldn't blame the party goers there. Probably they thought that it was one of the programs in the countdown. 4 guys molesting a wasted girl. I know Singapore legalised bar top dancing , but I don't think they did legalised stage top molesting. Or maybe its just classical bo-chap and mind my own business attitude.

Quite interesting is the comments induced by the netizens. Most of them were not sympathetic towards her. Rather mean I guess, I actually pity her.
Some say she deserve it for wearing such a sexy outfit. Erm, isn't it a beach party? Shouldn't she be wearing a bikini? It would be surprising if she wore a power suit. Yeah, kind of think of it, why do they call it a power suit? because it empowers woman? Then they should have it in like some MMORPG. Maybe they should add it in Diablo 3. Imagine

Power suit
only wearable by female characters
gives you balls(women have balls you know, just that it doesn't hang outside like men's)
+10 to strength

Yeah, anyway, getting back, its not like she was wearing the wrong attire, right?

Other claim that she should have seen it coming. I thought that was also an interesting comment. I think its suppose to be a countdown beach party, not a sex party. Who in the right mind would have seen it coming?
Rather sad though, she should have brought some friends with her. Although if they are as wasted as her, then it doesn't make any difference, since they would get molested as well. The police should really try to catch those Indian guys and smack some sense up their ass.

Yes, in other news. Some caucasian guy was subdued by a stun gun after playing naked hide and seek with the cops.
http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/300106/ang_moh_goes_naked_and_plays_hideandseek_with_cops.html

We had one of these kind of incidents last year, where a swedish exchange student and a A star scholar took a nice walk down holland naked. I really wonder how people looking at them will react. Well, in this case, I guess the guy probably got bored waiting in line and decided to entertain the crowds, Tarzen style(kind of think of it, Tarzen wear more than he does), running through the urban jungle of singapore with his manhood dangling.

I guess like how some people cannot keep their hand off other people's assets, some people cannot keep the bird in the cage. I didn't really know we had a stun gun in Singapore. It would be terrible if the bird got stun, some creatures cannot handle high voltage, you know.

You know there is a saying, "do what you want, just don't get caught". This is obvious, doing what he wanting and trying to get caught.

New year resolution number 4

2010-01-06T11:32:00.002+08:00

Resolution 4 is to get fit...

Erm...Goal...pass IPPT...
But if I pass IPPT then I'll not get 8 dollars from army to eat Botak Jones...dilemma.
I'll probably try to go school gym with Samuel and Daniel or go to home gym or delta gym with Brian.

During this holidays, I've been going gym with Brian, in fact, I just came back from a gym session. Even though I still am very skinny, I think I got like a little bigger...like 1mm of muscle more. haha...

Anyway, just bid for my module. I'll probably be doing Evolution of a Global city state, SSA2211.

New year resolution number 3

2010-01-05T10:59:00.003+08:00

Finally, new resolution number 3.
I was waiting 2 days to get to this, since all the resolutions are writtern in terms of their priority.

Resolution number 3...Financial resolution.
I started to put my money into investments only last year, at the bottom of the economic crisis. I was lucky to start at the right time. I was lucky to start at the right stock. But luck can only get a person this far. I need to keep on learning.

Looking back on my strategy, I realised it only works well when i time the market correctly, which I did for my first trade. So I need to keep on thinking of strategies and direction of my portfolio. The aim is to diversify and develop a portfolio that is able to prosper during good times and reduce losses during a recession, or probably find alternative investment opportunities.

Some things I learnt and I hope to share.

Buy quality stocks: preferably blue chips, but mid-cap will do
Buy on fear, sell on euphoric: I know there will be that adrenaline rush, but bear with it
Its okay to time the market, but don't overdo it: They always tell you not to, because they know you will overdo it, but pls try to at least buy when the index is low. Any time is not always a good time, unless you know what to buy.

I don't think I need to explain too much about it, so I can move on to talk about my resolution.

As of now, the total returns of my portfolio is about 103%. I am currently holding only 3 stocks. My aim in 2010 is to get more stocks into my portfolio. My investments involve companies in the oil and gas, property and transportation. I see myself likely getting REITs. Anyway, its too early to discuss what I'll get.

I am aiming for my portfolio to give me returns of 150% by the end of the year. Erm, this isn't very difficult if I am just going to hold my current portfolio and get rid of stocks which are not performing. But I want to grow my portfolio and hold better quality stocks, so this might be a challenge, especially when the market has risen so much from its March 2009 lows.

I also think that it is important to decide what I want my portfolio to do, for now and the long run. The direction will dictate the type of stock I will buy.

Erm...after typing so much, suddenly I feel lost, maybe I do not know my financial goal as well as I think I do. I've been treating stocks like a game. A very fun and exciting game. Maybe I should start evaluating my own financial goals. Maybe setting the direction of my portfolio should be the main priority, followed by setting goals for the performance of it.

New year resolution number 2

2010-01-04T11:38:00.003+08:00

I've been thinking the whole night.

New year resolution 2 should be about my studies.
I've been improving every sem which kind of makes me happy.
I hope I can do better for this coming sem.
I'll work hard and hope that I'll hit 2nd upper by the end of the year.
I haven't been talking much about my studies, I guess its because anything interesting at this point of my life does not revolve around my studies.

erm...how should I go about that...
Erm, strategy time...
1) find friends doing the same module, group up with them and study group
2) mug
3) mug
4) mug
5) MUG!!!!! This is NUS!!!!

New year resolution number 1

2010-01-03T20:11:00.002+08:00

I've been making new years resoultions and goals every year.
Without fail, every year, I fail to complete most of them.

This year will not be the same.
I'll list down some goal which I aim to accomplish and break them down into smaller parts and aim to complete the goal but gradually completing each small parts.

erm...What should my first resolution be?
I'm a student, studies should be my priority.
But looking back on my life, there is one goal which I fail to complete every year.
That is to enhance my spiritual growth.
I've been neglecting that a lot for a while and I've been thinking. God has done so much for me, yet I continue to disappoint him.
Ok, its settled then.

My first new year resolution is to grow spiritually.
Erm...spiritual growth has always been something hard to measure...
Ok...small steps to big goal...what small steps can I take?
1) Church attendence.
above 80%...must monitor that though.

I was thinking of joining a cell group, but I don't have a friend that close that I would want to be in the same cell group as. I will probably keep a look out.

2) Get baptised by this year.
Not something I can confirm on. I wanted to do it a long time ago, but for some reason I became very reluctant to do it because I don't really like some things my christian friends say to me. They are too judgemental. They think they know everything, alway critising me. It pisses me off!! Then its times like these I become irrational and say or do things that I regret and drift away from god.

I guess its not too easy to gauge and measure such stuff, but when the middle of the year comes, I'll look back and evaluate my goals again. Maybe from there I can conclude on how to modify the goals.

The most epic super hero film of all time

2010-01-02T21:50:00.006+08:00

Everyone has their own special super hero.
Some like Marvel, others like DC.
Now, imagine a movie with marvel and DC and the power rangers and captain planet and the teenage mutant ninja turtles.

I just found this awesome video on dailymotion.

The Greatest Fan Film of All Time
Uploaded by Bullcrank. - Watch feature films and entire TV shows.

Please also visit Bullcrank's account since they produce so many awesome videos.

Personally, my favourite hero is Monkey D Luffy.

When faced with overwhelming problems,and it looks like there is no way out, I always ask myself, "what would Luffy do?".

Luffy will not give up!!!!

Line of the day(2/1/2010)

2010-01-02T14:42:00.003+08:00

I'm currently reading this manga about an otaku dad, who just reunited with his daughter and tons of funny stuff happens. The manga is called Otaku no Musume-san. Catch it on onemanga.com

This is a line I found which is damn funny.

"When woman exert themselves, they become mothers. When men exert themselves, they only fart"

First post of the year!!

2010-01-01T15:21:00.003+08:00

Happy New Year!

New year, New goals, New resolution.

For those who tend to not accomplish their resolutions, below is an attached video to help you do so.

Better start thinking of things to do.
Anyway, I'm pretty much struggling to plan which modules I should take next sem.
Modules that I'm interested in clash with my timetable.
Those that don't, sound either too boring or too specialised.

Back to the drawing board. Best of luck to everyone. Stay cool and may the force be with you.

What's next?

2009-12-31T15:01:00.003+08:00

I've been having a lot of thoughts lately when I was in Thailand.

Looking at the development in Thailand and how the economy works, it makes me think a lot about my own country, Singapore.

I'll try to pen my thoughts about the development of my country, although its not as fresh as what it was in my head then.

Singapore's economic success is due to its ability to take case studies of other developed countries, list out the direction taken, problems faced, solution taken and the outcome of the solutions.

By identifying the direction to take, the leaders see whether this strategy is suitable for Singapore. Surely, no one will push for Singapore to move into agriculture, unless it is high-tech. Even so, no one will make it the general direction of Singapore.

Having said that Singapore's success is largely due to evaluating case studies, nothing will be possible without the power to implement it. The government in Singapore has been in power since the start of Singapore's independence. This political stability is assuring to investors to know that the strength of the current government is strong. This assurance should not be underestimated as the current government is pro-economic growth, which is vital towards businesses. Yet, it should not be over-estimated and bragged about, because many other countries such as Hong Kong also provide every good business environment.

Singapore's economic direction, in my opinion, seems to follow a 10 year life-span. Since independence, the pattern seem a little like this, I know it seems like secondary 4 social studies.

1965 - 1975 : labour intensive industries
1975 - 1985 : blend of labour and capital intensive industries
1985 -1995 : capital intensive industries
1995 - 2005 : knowledge intensive industries
2005 - ???? : knowledge intensive and service industries

Having seeing this timeline, its also important to note that just because one type of industries exist in one time does not mean that it does not exist in another. We still see cobblers and tailor shops these days, but their numbers are dwindling. This time line just represents the focus placed by the government on certain industries. Some industries just fade away like the sunset.

The movement towards service oriented industries is most evidently seen in the decision to have 2 Intergrated Resorts(IR) in Singapore. These 2 integrated resorts are expect to be completed by the 2nd quarter of 2010. This also implies 2010 will be an exciting year for the Singapore economy, especially the property sector. Much speculation has been place on companies such as Genting, which is reponsible for one of the IRs in Singapore.

But the question which bugs me most is "what's next?". We have been learning and doing case studies of other countries, and how great nations come to be and problems faced. Issues such as declining population and immigration has been based on research and academic studies. Even fears of gambling addictions due to the coming IRs has lead to groups to research and curb gambling in Singapore when the IRs are complete.

Singapore may not be in the fore front of engineering development such like Japan and Germany, but she has grown into a developed nation. As we look ahead into the future, a very interesting question is, "what's next?".
Are there still any case studies for us to learn from? Or are we going to be our own case study?

I'm back ! With the Funk

2009-12-31T11:48:00.002+08:00

Thailand is so fun!!!

Just an advice, for those going there, change your money in Thailand.
The exchange rates the money changer is offering is better than Singapore.

Erm, for those interested in investing, my friend Joe has just posted a comment on things analyst note of when evaluating a company's strategy. I'll summarise in point form below.

value the firm's strategies by understanding what our firm's strategy is relative to its competitors (key success factors)
compare ratios and the such to determine whether they have successfully achieved its desired strategy.
You have to know what differentiates your firm from the other competitors and identify possible events that would cause this competitve edge to diminish.
Finally, other factors related to its strategy such as management effectiveness, creditor policies (is their credit terms good? Reputation plays a major role in credit policy), pay structure (are they being paid too much, to not care about shareholder value?).
Government created monopoly may sometimes not be as effective as those created by talented entrepreneurs, therefore you should be aware that changes in regulations may cause those with weak management to lose its "shine", and paying a high price for a monopoly like that will cause large dissapointments when regulations do change.

Just some things for you guys to note. I know its completely copy and paste. Haha.

I'm in Thailand and its awesome

2009-12-26T23:31:00.002+08:00

BOO YAH!!!

Day 3 in Thailand, It just gets better and better.

Erm...what did I do today...
In the morning, we left immediately after breakfast. We met our tour guide, Anna. She was friendly, like any other Thai person. Thai people are exceptionally friendly, they make you feel really at home in their country...AWESOME!!! Looks like they got the funk!
WELCOME TO FUNKLAND!!!!

First we went to the floating market. It was a market which was on those wooden houses which were by the river.
We went to the Royal woodwork center. Got a good look at some very fine and intrinsic woodwork. Then we left bangkok, and headed for our next destination.

We stop by a restaurant there was on a platform and had awesome food. From here we took a boat, and visited some World War 2 memorial sites. I'm not too crazy about it though. Then we went to a elephant farm(not that they grow elephants to eat), its kind of like a nature park to protect and take care of these elephants. I got a chance to ride an elephant. Maybe I'll post it up in a few days time.

I notice quite a few japanese restaurants in Bangkok, but I've yet to try them. The food is so cheap and so good!!! Sugoi!!!

OKOK, need to rush my mother hurrying me...argh!!!