Arzhou's Random News

Man gets life for lottery ticket scam

2007-11-06T22:54:00.000+08:00

Lesson Learnt: Never Screw around with the State Lottery :p

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese lottery ticket seller has been jailed for life for fraud for taking advantage of a system flaw to cash 28 million yuan ($3.76 million) in tickets illegally, state media said Tuesday.

Zhao Liqun discovered the flaw in the Welfare Lottery "3D" system in 2005 that let a person buy tickets with the right numbers within five minutes of their being announced, sources at the Intermediate People's Court in Anshan, northeastern Heilongjiang province, said.

Zhao, 36, who ran three lottery stalls in Anshan, "bought" the announced numbers many times over.

"He asked his neighbors and friends to cash the tickets at the Welfare Lottery Center and to bring back the money," Xinhua quoted the court sources as saying.

The lottery center found the prizes were illegally claimed and police arrested Zhao in January.

The court jailed him for life for fraud and confiscated all his property.

Shopping cart software

2007-11-04T12:04:00.000+08:00

For SMEs. when it comes to online sales, there are certain features what will certainly help drive sales up, besides having a nice and easy to navigate website. There are several key features, 1) Must have a shopping cart feature 2) Must be able to accept nearly all forms of payments (eg: credit card, paypal)

Ashopcommerce offers SMEs the solution for any e-commerce problems. Their shopping cart software is not simple just a shopping cart feature that you can add to your online store, they actually offer a complete range of solutions which include security features, inbuilt web optimisation (SEO), statisic tracking to monitor shopping patterns and fraud detection. Also if there is any problem, there is a 24/7 customer service that you can approach.

Ashopcommerce ecommerce software covers not only point 1 which i mentioned earlier but it also covers the other point about being able to accept all forms of payments. Just by allowing buyers to pay in their preferred format will often tilt the balance in a buying decision to a yes.

So if you are a SME looking to get into Ecommerce, this could be the solution you are looking for.

TopUsaOnlineCasinos.com

2007-11-04T11:50:00.000+08:00

TopUsaOnlineCasinos.com is a Freeguide to help US Players find safe and fun online gambling destinations. The various online casinos ranked by pro poker and blackjack players, according to bonus size, payout rate, customer support,number of games of games, deposit options, graphics and ease of use.

It also includes top poker rooms and top online sportsbook which helps to cater to different interests groups.

Overall site is easy to navigate and the reviews are very comprehensive, giving you the payout rates and how secure that online casino is. It also tells you what are the games being offered so you do not need to spend time trying out various online casinos, you already know which one to go to. Anyone will find the reviews very useful indeed.

This site is rather useful for those interested in online gambling.

Smorty.com

2007-11-02T18:35:00.000+08:00

This blogged just gotten approved by Smorty.com!!!

What exactly is this service about? Is it another advertising service? Well Smorty is a service connecting advertisers with bloggers. Advertisers can pay bloggers to write opinion posts with links back to the advertisers site. Yup so bloggers get paid to blog about a varierty of topics that they might be interested in. Best part you are allowed to write your opinion on it, that means you do not have to be dishonest or anything.

What other benefits does Smorty provide compared to other sites that do about the same thing? Well they will email you about opportunities you do not need to check their website daily, you only go when you know there is something to be blogged about. Also their user interface is really easy to use and loads really really fast. Also you can reserve a job for 3 days while you review the advertiser's product or website. Hence no one loses out on jobs cos they have too slow an internet connection or they are not around at the right time!

So what are you waiting for, sign up with Smorty and blog for money

He's not undead, just unsober...

2007-10-30T01:47:00.000+08:00

LOL! this is really funny, looks like that guy should get an award for ultra realistic costume!

BERLIN (Reuters) - Passengers on a German train mistook a Halloween reveler dressed up as a gore-covered zombie for a murder victim and called the police.

The 24-year-old man fell into a drunken slumber on his way home from a Halloween party in Hamburg, police in the northern town of Bad Segeberg said Monday.

Believing his hands and face were smeared with blood, passengers alerted police after getting no response from him.

A first aid team called to the scene soon cleared up the confusion. Police told the man to remove his make-up after which he was allowed to continue his journey.

"Bad Segeberg is in a rural area and Halloween isn't very well known there," police spokeswoman Silke Tobies said. "So people weren't expecting anyone to be dressed up in the train."

Finding the Right Cartridge for your Printer

2007-10-28T05:15:00.000+08:00

Running an office can be quite a logistical nightmare. You have to ensure there is sufficient stationaries etc etc..

The worst problem is probably running out of ink for your printer, fax or copier. No office can function without there 3 essential equipment, so it would be in your best interest to ensure a constant supply of ink.

Now its not as simple as just heading down to the nearest Wal-mart. Problems arise when manufacturers change the serial numbers or when there is a merger, resulting in a name change and you never knew about it. It can get pretty messy.

Cartridge Finder helps you to source for not only the appropriate cartridge you can use with your fax, printer or copier, but it also checks pricegrabber.com. Thus you will know where to get the best deal, this helps lowers the operating cost of your office! This is a good 2 fold benefit, you get to cut cost and also have easy access to printer catridges.

*this has been a sponsored post*

Go Karter Stuns Police

2007-10-28T05:11:00.000+08:00

BERLIN (Reuters) - A teen-ager speeding through a German town in a go-kart with seven squad cars in hot pursuit managed to give the frustrated officers the slip, police said on Friday.

After leading the convoy on a 5-km (3-mile) chase through the winding streets of Moenchengladbach, the 18-year-old driver spotted a private garage with an open door, where he decided to lie low, police said.

"We were chasing him across town, but the squad cars couldn't keep up because the go-cart was able to take the corners faster and he was able to get away," police spokesman Willy Thevissen said.

However, police later discovered his hiding place. He was questioned and charged with driving without a license and driving a go-kart on a public street, which is not permitted in Germany.

"He told us he knew driving a go-cart on the street is illegal," the spokesman said. "But he had purchased the vehicle from a friend and said he had no other way of getting it home."

Moenchengladbach has produced two Formula One racing drivers. Both Nick Heidfeld of the BMW Sauber ream and former racer Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who retired in 2003, were born there.

Travelling to France

2007-10-28T04:19:00.000+08:00

After graduation, I do believe I would like to go backpacking around the world, or perhaps due to budget reasons I will probably just head to Europe as that is an area I have yet to visit. Now when backpacking, cost of lodging is always crucial, after all it will probably make up the bulk of my expenses aside from transportation.

Surfing around, I found this website talking about cheap hotels in france. Well I do believe France is not a really cheap or low cost destination, so any forms of cost savings would be great. Especially cheap hotels. With this website cheaperthanhotels.com. I believe that it is possible to find a good cheap deal on accommodations to suit my needs. They seem to have a range of hotels to meet different requirements.

Another feature which is appealing is last minute deals. If you have a flexible schedule, it could be a good option where you can get a hotel at a much cheaper rate or with some freebies.

So if you are travelling to France, do check cheaperthanhotels.com.

Interested in Stocks

2007-08-16T02:20:00.000+08:00

It seems that these days, people around me are rather interested in stocks and shares. Personally I do not play with stocks and shares, but it is interesting to observe how it works. I was searching around and happened to see this blog on stocks and trading called the Wizetrade Blog.So what is this about? Well, Wizetrade is a is a powerful stock trading software program and stock research tool.

Its blog provides many useful hints and tips with regards to trading, like advice for beginners, when to pull out of a trade, what to look out for when making decisions. Really useful stuff for newbies or even season traders. From this blog you will be able to see cool videos on trading, news on the wizetrade product, tips and tricks into trading. So why not take a look at the site?

*Disclaimer: this has been a sponsored post*

Wow fake dentist caught only after 29 years

2007-08-16T02:15:00.000+08:00

Wow its amazing how long he was able to pull this off.

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian police have arrested a man who practiced as a dentist for 29 years although he had no medical training and treated patients at his home in a cast-off examining chair.

The impostor's closest brush with the dental profession was during the years 1962 to 1978, when he assisted an army dentist by carrying his bag on visits to plantation workers' homes, the New Straits Times reported Wednesday.

"I watched the doctor diagnose and treat problems with teeth," the paper quoted the unidentified man as saying when officials raided his home this week.

"I also saw how he would extract teeth and make models and measurements for dentures."

The 63-year-old man, who convinced his neighbors he was a retired army dentist after being told he was too old to work as a dentist's assistant, charged 20 ringgit ($5.76) for extractions and 130 ringgit for dentures, the paper said.

Health officials seized antibiotics, painkillers, syringes and bottles of Chinese medicine during the raid, but they needed more than six men to carry off his 1940s-era examining chair, tossed away by the Malaysian army in 1978. The paper said the raid occurred after a tip-off.

The man has been arrested for illegally practicing dentistry and will face charges under Malaysia's private healthcare facilities and services act. He could face a fine of up to 30,000 ringgit or a six-year jail term, or both.

He did provide one unique service, however. "I also make house visits," he told the paper.

Super Bad Clips?

2007-08-01T16:12:00.000+08:00

Hmmm there is a new movie in town called Superbad. What exactly is it about? It is the latest comedy offering to hit the box office. Two rather... Socially inept boy are about to graduate from high school and enter college. Now the problem is that these two are really dependent on each other. One is your typical nice guy who seems to be terrified of anything. The other is just a foul mouth. Together they make a great pair, but the problem is that they got into different colleges! This is the story of them trying to reverse their luck with the ladies... all I can say is GOOD LUCK, they will need it... seriously. The name of the movie is SO apt.. SUPERBAD (I meant the situation the guys are in, not the movie is superbad... bah you know what i mean)

Anyway the producers of Superbad are attempting a TAKEOVER of youtube today by pushing all the superbad clips on you tube all the way to the top! Sounds like an interesting attempt. So this is what you guys can do to help:

1. Check out exclusive clips on:
http://www.SuperbadClips.com

2. visit:
http://www.youtube.com
On 8/1 to watch the 5 Superbad videos.

3. visit:
http://www.AreYouSuperbad.com
For ringtones and downloadables (wallpaper and buddy icons).

Superbad

Japan study finds coffee may prevent colon cancer

2007-07-30T16:32:00.000+08:00

This might just be the perfect news for coffee lovers all over the world!

TOKYO (Reuters) - Drinking three or more cups of coffee a day may cut the risk of colon cancer in women by half, according to a study by Japanese scientists.

Researchers from Tokyo's National Cancer Center studied data from more than 96,000 men and women aged between 40-69 over a period of up to 12 years from 1990, a member of the team said on Wednesday. They found no significant benefit in men.

Even after adjusting for other factors including diet and exercise, they found that women who drank three or more cups of coffee a day had half the risk of developing colon cancer, compared with those who drank no coffee at all.

The researchers, whose findings have been published in the International Journal of Cancer, did not find any link between consumption of green tea and colon cancer.

"In Japan, almost all the male population drinks alcohol and there are a large number of smokers," said Manami Inoue of the research team. "There may be some benefit from coffee for men, but it may be that we were unable to adjust for these factors."

The mechanism by which coffee may prevent cancer is unknown, Inoue said. The caffeine it contains could stimulate the working of the colon, or the effect could be due to coffee's antioxidant properties, she said.

"Some people cannot tolerate caffeine, so they should not force themselves to drink coffee. But for people who like it, there is no reason to give it up," Inoue said.

The Future of Hockey

2007-07-26T02:01:00.000+08:00

When I think of hockey, I think about the good old days when i was back in the states where there was ICE HOCKEY. There it was called NHL or national hockey league. Being from Philadelphia, I supported the flyers... man they were not that good....

Well good thing in american sporting leagues, if the team had a bloody lousy season like the flyers, they get to have the higher picks in the annual hockey draft. This ensures that the rookies with the most potential will go to the weakest team to balance everything out.

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/nhl_entry_draft/ - hockey

At Hockey Future, they not only anaylse the individual players entering the draft, but also whether or not they will have an overall impact on the team that has selected them. It gives readers great insight into new prospects entering the leagues.

*this has been a sponsored post*

Once again, this blog has moved!

2007-07-24T00:45:00.000+08:00

Yea I just love to keep posting this fact, I have moved the blog to arzhou.com. Pls update any bookmarks or blogrolls. Cheers!

Chinese dubious of "fake" cardboard bun report

2007-07-24T00:43:00.000+08:00

Lots of funny rumours going around, hard to tell if this is now real or not...

By John Ruwitch

BEIJING (Reuters) - When the Chinese government said scandalous TV footage of a Beijing snack vendor stuffing steamed buns with flavored cardboard was a hoax, some quipped that even the news in China is fake.

But since the authorities detained hidden-camera-wielding reporter Zi Beijia and a handful of others last week, many ordinary Chinese have said they doubt the government's line and believe the story of the cardboard "baozi", as the buns are called in Mandarin.

True or not, the original report came at a sensitive time, with China under mounting pressure from abroad over food and product safety scandals and just days after the government blasted foreign media for blowing the story out of proportion. Full article

BP vs Chicago Tribune

2007-07-24T00:32:00.000+08:00

With all the recent hype about environmental issues, it is no surprise that we will see reports regarding the environment. In fact, recently the Chicago Tribune just ran an article about BP polluting the environment. Now we cannot just have 1 side of the story right? So BP has published a paper regarding how they are minimizing pollution. They have also included their plant Fact Sheet right here. Ultimately it is up to you the reader to decide for yourselves what is right and what is wrong. However we have to look at both sides of the story.

Here are some of the key points from the paper:

1) Only treated water is released into Lake Michigan, in fact it is more than 99.9% water — not sludge. All sludge is treated separately, according to state and federal requirements, and never discharged into Lake Michigan.

2) Energy security and diversity: BP plans to spend more than $3 billion to modernize
the Whiting Refinery to process additional heavy crude oil from Canada, a secure and
reliable source.

3) Modern technology: BP operate a modern wastewater plant in Whiting today and plan
to invest about $150 million to enhance the refinery’s wastewater treatment capability.

Full article can be found Here

Milan to impose "pollution charge" on cars

2007-07-22T01:03:00.000+08:00

Nice move by the city of Milan, not only does it protect the environment.... it makes money!

MILAN (Reuters) - Milan will impose a "pollution charge" on vehicles entering its historic centre to try to halve exhaust emissions, the mayor's office said on its Web site.

The 10-euro ($14) daily charge will be aimed at the 89,000 vehicles which enter the centre during weekday daytime hours.

"Today we have approved an important measure for the protection of the environment and citizens' health," Mayor Letizia Moratti said.

The charge was approved by city council leaders on Friday and will be carried out on a trial basis for a year. Corriere della Sera newspaper quoted Moratti as saying the measures could start later this year.

Dating for Goths

2007-07-22T00:46:00.000+08:00

Are you a Goth, Goth-wannabe or a closet goth? Having trouble finding a date because people think you are “weird”, “odd” or just not their type? Unable to find the Gothic Love of your life?

Well gothic dating is a dating website targeting at a niche crowd, in this case, people who are into the Gothic Subculture. Normally online dating websites just target a mass audience, but not in this case. This time when you view a personal on this site, you already know the person would probably have the same interest or interests as you (assuming you are goth). You can view photos, profiles and the contact them if you are interested.

Pupils browse porn on donated laptops

2007-07-21T00:49:00.000+08:00

Its rather sad to see a plan with such good intentions go awry.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian schoolchildren who received laptops from a U.S. aid organization have used them to explore pornographic sites on the Internet, the official News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported Thursday.

NAN said its reporter had seen pornographic images stored on several of the children's laptops.

"Efforts to promote learning with laptops in a primary school in Abuja have gone awry as the pupils freely browse adult sites with explicit sexual materials," NAN said.

A representative of the One Laptop Per Child aid group was quoted as saying that the computers, part of a pilot scheme, would now be fitted with filters.

Need a Friend?

2007-07-05T07:25:00.000+08:00

Sometimes we would love to know more people, meet more friends, get to know more contacts or just find that special someone. In this modern day and age it is often quite hard due to work.

That is where to benefits of an online searchsite like FriendFinder come in. You can search for people in the benefits of your own home at your own time. Futhermore being online, makes it easier to approach new people just by sending them a message. It helps people break out of thei shyness. As I go over their site I found a few distinct advantages it has. Firstly the user interface is intuitive, there is no problem at all figuring out what to do or where to go, its so obvious. The website is not cluttered and is pleasing to view. Best part is the first thing they show are the potential people you can get to meet from your country, not some random person from their database. This shows relavance as you know that there are people from your country who signed up with the service, not just you. Also if you have no idea what to do or how to approach someone, fellow members are around to shell out some good advice, now this is good as there is participation from the community!

Drunk takes a free bike ride on car roof

2007-07-05T07:20:00.000+08:00

I wonder how in the world did they NOT even see him when getting into their car.... good thing the police did not check the car owner for drink driving. Bet he was drunk

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Police officers in the Dutch city of Alkmaar were surprised to see a car passing by with a man sitting on a bicycle on its roof.

The driver and his wife, when stopped by the police, said they heard a noise while waiting at a traffic light, but did not realize they were taking on an extra passenger.

The 26 year-old man who took the free ride was fined for public drunkenness, not carrying an identity card and providing a false identity to the police.

Looking for bed cover?

2007-06-27T00:08:00.000+08:00

When I was in the states, I had to buy my own bedding. While I had limited budget, I knew that a good bedding (aside from a good bed) makes a lot of difference in having a good night sleep. I spent a lot of time hunting for 1 that is not only good, but also of good price. Aside from going to the usual supermarkets, one can also check out sites like terry's fabrics for beddings, quilt covers etc..etc

*This has been a sponsored post*

Yes its true, this blog has moved

2007-06-25T00:17:00.000+08:00

Third Time is always a charm :)

Yup just another reminder that this blog is now at arzhou.com. So pls update bookmarks, links, blogrolls etc.

OMG I am fired from the CIA?

2007-06-23T04:41:00.000+08:00

Imagine, I was Michael Weston, a CIA Operative on USA Network's Burn Notice and I just discovered a secret plot by the CIA. Its not your typical cliche plot, in fact it is a plot to turn every guy in the world except those who are in CIA's top echelon into Gays. (Nothing against gays). Reason being, the top echelon want all the girls in the world to themselves, and being in such a secretive organisation like the CIA, they are unable to pick up any at a club. Hence they implemented operation "gheylord". But it turns out, I found out about it by accident. (just happened to be in the suana when they were discussing it.

So one fine day, I was called into the office..... and in typical donald trump fashion... "YOU ARE FIRED". Then they tried to use the "gheylord" drug on me, but i managed to escape.

Well to find out how Michael Weston really got fired, tune in to USA Network's Burn Notice.

Reminder: Arzhou is now @ arzhou.com

2007-06-23T04:37:00.000+08:00

Just another reminder post to all my friends, I moved the main blog to arzhou.com so pls update your links (much appreciated) and if I forget to add you in my blogroll for my new blog, pls remind me. After migration there is lots to settle so i might forget to add some to my blog :p

Cheers,

Adrian

15 yr old performs surgery.....

2007-06-22T00:03:00.000+08:00

So must for wanting to go to India for medical tourism..... :p (kidding)

NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) - An India couple have been accused of trying to get their 15-year-son into the Guinness Book of World Records by allowing him to perform a caesarean operation, local newspapers reported on Thursday.

The parents, both doctors from the southern state of Tamil Nadu, screened a video recording of the operation on a 20-year-old woman to other doctors in the hope of attaining the record as the world's youngest surgeon, newspapers reported.

Family members said the boy was only helping out in the operation, handing his father medical instruments. Indian medical authorities are investigating the case and could revoke the couple's medical licenses.

Looking for bed covers?

2007-06-20T23:16:00.000+08:00

Dear all, I am moving house....

2007-06-20T22:53:00.000+08:00

My blog has finally been relocated to ARZHOU.COM

Yup the blogspot in the url is finally gone, I got myself my own domain and I gotta thank Ridz for loaning my some hosting space for the transition period!

Anyway this blog will now be officially relagated to being a Payperpost BIATCH :)

For all my fellow bloggers and friends, pls update your blogroll :) Thanks!

Spying Mission 1: DK and the rare Gal

2007-06-19T22:52:00.000+08:00

There has been quite some talk about DK and his gal, who is she, how does she look like...hmmmm sounds like a really dangerous spying mission to get a photo and not get caught.

To acomplish such dangerous missions and not get caught, or have my identity revealed, I do not believe i need any fancy weapons. I prefer it McGuyver style, using non-weapons. This is the age of infomation, what you need is real time infomation. Its like playing an RTS without fog-of-war (ie: having maphack). I guess it would be cool to have small insect like drones that act as front scouts. They will be small enough not to get noticed. All the infomation will be fed in real time to my Cellphone. This cell phone is no ordinary cellphone, it will be like a swiss army knife, all kinds of functions like laser cutter, lock pics, electronic signal jammers (to prevent the enemy from alerting each other). Of course to avoid being seen, i will want those clothes that can diffuse light, hence making me harder to spot! Then i can finally get a photo of DK and his gal :p

Well that is in my dreams and it is probably ameturish, to see a real pro do it, watch USA Network's Burn Notice!

Fathers Day @ Some Korean Restaurant which I cannot remember the nme

2007-06-17T22:48:00.000+08:00

Today being father's day, my mum and I brought my dad to this korean-restaurant-which-i-cannot-remember-the-name for lunch (actually he drove us, but still....)

We ended up sampling quite a lot of Korean Dishes, including BBQ, Ginseng Chicken soup, dumplings, Crab and Seafood Pancakes (Omalettes-like).

Appetizers

Ginseng Chicken Soup

BBQ

*forgot to take pictures of the rest of the food*

HAPPY FATHER DAY

*edit* The food was actually quite nice I must add, its amazing how a family of just 3 people can eat over 5+ dishes :p

Ping.sg 1st Anniversary + Post event Party

2007-06-17T20:07:00.000+08:00

The Ping.sg 1st anniversary meeting was concluded on last Saturday with more concrete details about the entire event. Head over to the ping.sg wiki to see more details. I believe Uzyn will be getting the registration page up soon, it will be really cool to finally meet up with everyone else who are on Ping.sg :)

We will also be needing people to help out with the event, so do sign up if you are interested once everything is posted up on the wiki.

The event will be at 07/07/2007 at Geek Terminal. There will also be a post event party (or gathering) at a pub or chill out place nearby. Right now the issue is to figure out which is a suitable place. I believe the requirements are:

1. Near Geek Terminal (preferably around the boat quay area)
2. Can hold maybe 20(?) people
3. Live Band (I believe NTT requested this)

If anyone knows a good place, please suggest on the Wiki :)

Man fails school exams on 38th try

2007-06-16T01:42:00.000+08:00

Seriously... I gotta give him props for being so persistant. Best part is he REFUSES TO GET MARRIED until he passes school... Honestly I think he needs a tutor.

"JAIPUR, India (Reuters) - A 73-year-old Indian farmer who vowed not to marry before passing his high school exams has failed to get through for the 38th time.

Shiv Charan Yadav has been taking the exams -- normally given to schoolchildren at the age of 15 -- every year since 1969, without success.

He was in his 30s when he first decided to better himself through education.

This year, he failed everything except Sanskrit, scoring only 103 out of a possible 600 points.

He said he found mathematics especially hard, blaming the subject for dragging down his score.

"Once I pass I want to get married to a girl who's under 30," Yadav, who lives alone in Kohari village in the western desert state of Rajasthan, told Reuters.

He is now revising for his 39th attempt next year." Link

Alizee - HAWT French Pop Star

2007-06-15T19:45:00.001+08:00

Ever wondered how the designers of World of Warcraft got their inspiration for the Night Elf dance? They were probably huge fans of Alizee, this really HOT, I mean REALLY HOT, French pop star. Check out these youtube videos, she can really shake it like the Night Elves :)

Steamboat + Cockroach = JC Class Gathering

2007-06-14T23:59:00.001+08:00

Finally after over 1+ year, there is finally a JC class gathering (at least for me since I was not in Singapore for 1 year). My apologies to those whom I sort of did not invite, I had limited numbers on my hp and it was a really ad hoc gathering. Just had a craving for steamboat so yea…

Thanks to all those who showed up, Wy-en, Daniel, Weirong, Wenbang, Zhihong, Lifen, Joyce, Yiqin, Limin and Jenn. Its great to catch up with everyone, not just those I see in NUS on a regular basis. Quite nice to learn what everyone is up to these days, and I get to blame both Wy-en and Limin for the GST hike :) (Both work in the civil service that deals with money). And somehow everyone just cannot believe I bake cakes/cookies....

Oh yes, my online bakery website is www.sweethut.biz (JC classmates wanted to know)

Photos!

Oh Yea just to add, the evening had an interesting turn of events when we had baby cockroaches run across our table while having steamboat. It was interesting to see all the girls scream simultaneously, but not the ideal situation to have when you are eating steamboat and baby cockroach appears where the plates are. Just to let ppl know, this is Singapore, we will have insects and lizards etc etc…

Anyway for those who might want to know where I ate… its…

Chuan Yi Pin – It’s a steamboat place opposite bugis junction right along North Bridge Road

Where should i get a vacation home...

2007-06-14T16:31:00.000+08:00

Sometimes after staring at a computer screen for too long, I take a break and start to think about where would be the ideal vacation home. Naturally Bahamas pops into mind first, after all, I was there for holiday and I love the idea of having my own island. But sadly, it ain’t cheap. So looking at possible alternatives…. North Cyprus is a possibility. Taking a look at this website selling North Cyprus Property, it seems like a pretty nice place and cheap too. Apparantly North Cyprus is not as developed so it has that nice nature feel to it.

*another paid post :)*

Chinese Invasion of Germany cos of Sausages?!?!

2007-06-13T08:57:00.000+08:00

Wonder if these 2 stories are related somehow.... Germany introduces "interesting" new Wursts and a chinese artist bringing 1001 of his countrymen to Germany :p

BERLIN (Reuters) - Hoping to spice up their summer business, German butchers have introduced a new line of exotic-tasting sausages with flavors ranging from kiwi, maraschino cherry, lemon and even aloe vera. Link

BERLIN (Reuters) - A Chinese artist will bring 1,001 of his compatriots to Germany to spend months wandering around the city of Kassel as live-exhibits for his entry to a leading modern art show. Link

WOW! PayPerPost Gets $7Million in Funding

2007-06-13T00:47:00.000+08:00

Wow… and I never thought the sponsored blogging market would get this big. Payperpost just annouced it recieved $7 Million in series B funding. Its amazing that PPP had created such an huge market pretty fast. I guess its natural, after all they are giving bloggers an alternate avenue of getting revenue and for advertisers a unique way of advertising. Not to mention, for those of us with personal blogs, it pays out much better then running ads, after all most of our post do not really center around a specific topic, hence it is hard to have targetted advertising. But for PPP, its different, we blog about the topic of the opp. Of course with paid blogging, comes with it blog ethics. When blogging about something, you gotta be honest about it and always disclose that it is a paid post. That's why its just best to take opps that are in accordance with your interests.

Anyway, in celebration of the funding, PPP will be having a 7 day promotion called Lucky 7's. Between noon today and noon next Tuesday Opps of $10.77, $70 or $700 will be released! I am gonna camp the PPP website for a while :)

The Press release:

The PayPerPost Revolution Accelerates, Sponsored
Blogging Marketplace Secures $7 Million Series B

Draper Fisher Jurvetson leads round and joins Board of Directors

ORLANDO, FL – (June 12, 2007) – PayPerPost, the leading marketplace for advertisers to reach bloggers and other consumer content creators, today announced it has completed a $7 million second round investment led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, an investor in the company's Series A and one of the world’s leading high-technology venture capital firms. The financing brings the total amount of capital raised by PayPerPost to over $10 million, giving the company considerable resources for further development as the industry’s leading Consumer Generated Advertising marketplace. Additional participants in the round include existing investors Inflexion Partners and Village Ventures as well as new investor DFJ Gotham. With this investment, DFJ Managing Director Josh Stein also joins PayPerPost’s Board of Directors.

“PayPerPost created this exciting new advertising space and has established itself as the industry leader,” said Ted Murphy, chief executive officer of PayPerPost. “Although we’ve only used a portion of our first round capital, this added support from investors unlocks significant growth potential. Our content creator and advertiser ROI metrics clearly demonstrate the upside for PayPerPost’s model. We intend to use this capital to build the infrastructure, visibility and professional expertise necessary to reach and retain a greater network of advertisers and content creators than ever before.”

Since its founding in June of 2006, PayPerPost has signed more than 6,500 advertisers to its groundbreaking service, which has enabled Consumer Content Creators to be compensated for their efforts discussing specific companies, products or services via blogs, videos or other media. The content creators are required to disclose relationships with advertisers on their blog, providing transparency for the end reader. Over 125,000 Internet postings, most in the form of blogs, have already earned money for their creators through PayPerPost’s innovative marketplace. PayPerPost recently released PayPerPost Direct, a disruptive new service that allows advertisers to contract and negotiate directly with individual bloggers they identify through a safe, managed system.

“PayPerPost has laid a strong foundation for the future,” noted Tim Draper, founder and managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. “It continues to attract a critical mass of participants from both the advertising and blogging communities. Analogous to Overture’s sponsored search model, we believe PayPerPost’s business model holds disruptive potential and will enable the company to thrive in the evolving paid-content arena.”

To mark the $7 million dollar funding, PayPerPost has launched a new website detailing the company’s service offering at http://www.payperpost.com. Bloggers and advertisers can easily sign up at the site and begin leveraging the self service marketplace.

Dinner@Marmalade Pantry & Sun with Moon Cafe

2007-06-12T23:30:00.000+08:00

Went for dinner today at Marmalade Pantry, followed by dinner at Sun and Moon Cafe. With who? Sorry I cannot say who they are (signed some NDA). Anyway on with the food :)

Marmalade Pantry
Location: Unit B1-08 to 11
Palais Renaissance
390 Orchard Road
Singapore 238871

Had 2 starters (which were really huge), a pan-seared Tuna Salad and a Crab Ceasar Salad. For Main courses, we had a Crab Pasta, Salmon with Soba and Snapper Pie.

Sadly the photos are taken by my crappy camera phone so the quality is bad.... and I forgot to take photos of the main courses! But overall, the food was really really good, the crab meat was sweet and nice and the Salmon , which was half cooked, had just the right texture. I would definitely recommand Marmalade Pantry. Definitely going back there again to get hold of their cupcakes!

Pan-Seared Tuna Salad

Crab Ceasar Salad

After Dinner, Dessert was at Sun with Moon Cafe.

Location:
501 Orchard Road #03-15 Wheelock Place

I gotta admit, the desserts were presented REALLY nicely, but overally, i thought it was just nice. Nothing really special about their sweet box. The tofu cheesecake had a really smooth texture, and the crust was lovely, but it was so small! But I like its presentation :)

Tofu Cheesecake (caged)

Tofu Cheesecake

Sweet Box

Sniffer dogs fired for humping legs

2007-06-11T21:52:00.000+08:00

I guess sniffing drugs is bad for dogs :p

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Two Thai street mutts who became ace sniffer dogs at an airport near the notorious "Golden Triangle" opium-producing region have been fired for urinating on luggage and sexually harassing female passengers.

The pair, Mok and Lai, had been plucked from obscurity under a program initiated by King Bhumibol Adulyadej to turn strays into police dogs, the Bangkok Post said on Sunday.

Although they won plaudits from police for their work in sniffing out drugs at northern Thailand's Chiang Rai airport, near the border with Laos and Myanmar, so many passengers complained about their behavior they had to be fired.

"He liked to pee on luggage while searching for drugs inside," Mok's former handler, Police Lieutenant Colonel Jakapop Kamhon, said. "He also liked to hold on to women's legs."

"Both were just as good as foreign dogs trained for use in drug missions," he added. "But they were stray dogs, so their manners were worse than those of foreign breeds."

Mok and Lai now work on a farm, herding chickens and pigs, the paper said.

Link

I love.............

2007-06-10T20:17:00.000+08:00

Eastcoastlife tagged me with this meme to talk about my favorite food in my country/state. Ok since I lived in Singapore but also was in Philadelphia for 1 year, I will talk about my favourite food from both places.

Singapore:
This is a pretty hard one as Singapore really has so many nice food. But I guess I had to decide on Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee, simply because I realized that this is the dish I will try out the most often wherever I go in Singapore.

A quick brief on this dish, according to wikipedia: “Hokkien mee is served in Malaysia and Singapore and was brought there by immigrants from Fujian Province in southeastern China.”

The version I am talking about is uniquely Singapore, as Hokkien mee from other places like Penang, KL are different. The Singapore version is essential stir fried noodles (rice and egg noodles), in prawn stock, with eggs, prawn, sotong etc. (I am no expert on this dish, I just love to eat it).

Shot using a cam-phone (sorry for poor quality)

I guess different people have different preference with regards to this dish, I like mine simple in the middle, not too dry, not too wet. The stall I happen to frequent most is right in Clementi, it can get really crowded and my record queue was 1 hour! But still, their Hokkien mee is done the way I like.

Philadelphia:
This one is a no brainer, its Philly Cheese Steak from Pat’s. Nuff said, its just good, real good. I walked all the way from my place at 40th and market, to its place at around 9th and Passyunk. That is almost across the entire city.

What exactly is Philly Cheese Steak, in essence it is Cheese, Steak all on a nice hoagie roll (bread). Perhaps with some onions as well. And the cheese, IMO has to be Cheese Whiz, no other cheese will do. The way the cheese whiz just melts and melds into the thinly sliced and fried steak, every bite is simple heavenly (but sinful too). There is so much to what makes up a Philly Cheesesteak, even the kind of hoagie roll used. Heck there is even a specific way to order Philly Cheesesteak. In general, you gotta state the cheese you want, and whether you want it “Wit” onions or “wit-out”. So for me generally, it will be “Whiz, wit”.

Typical Philly Cheese Steak

Ahhh the recipe from Pat’s website
The Original Pat's King of Steaks® Philadelphia Cheese Steak recipe

For all the people who can not get to
South Philadelphia to get the Original.

Here is the recipe for you home chefs.

Serves 4

24oz thin sliced rib eye or eye roll steak

6 table spoons of Soya bean oil

Cheese {we recommend Cheez Whiz®} American or Provolone works fine

4 crusty Italian Rolls

1 large Spanish onion

Optional
sweet green and red peppers sautéed in oil
Mushrooms sautéed in oil

Assembly

Heat an iron skillet or a non stick pan over medium heat
Add 3 table spoons of oil to the pan and sauté the onions to desired doneness
remove the onions
add the remaining oil and sauté the slices of meat quickly on both sides
melt the cheez Whiz® in a double boiler or in the microwave
place 6oz. of the meat into the rolls
add onions, and pour the Cheez Whiz® over top
garnish with hot or fried sweet peppers, mushrooms, ketchup
Put on the theme song to the first Rocky movie and enjoy!

**Copy this**

* Meme Topic : What is your favorite food in your state or country?

Find some info about the food & show delicious pictures of it.

Tag FIVE people. Do if you want to increase traffic to your blog!
(ECL did request ppl from ping.sg)
1) DK
2) Nicole
3) Tstar
4) Hendri

And the only non-pingster
5) Weijia (founder of the fatsunshine club)

You leave their blog and post link and add to the list below.

Mybabybay loves Asam Laksa from Penang, Malaysia
JustMyThoughts loves Penang Char Koay Teow
My Lil Venture loves Laksa Sarawak
Monterssorimum loves Teluk Intan Chee Cheong Fun
Chinnee loves Melaka Wan Tan Mee
Peimun Leah loves Hakka Lei Cha
Hui Sia loves Crispy duck skin from China
Karen loves Pan Mee
Simple American loves Cheese Enchiladas
Nicole Tan loves Char Tau Kueh
velverse loves Otak-Otak
Giddy Tiger loves Dim Sum
may loves Roti Bakar
Selba loves Gado-gado
Chen loves Satay*
eastcoastlife loves Shanghai Buns
arzhou loves hokkien mee / philly cheesesteak

**The End**

Congrats Wee Ann and Jesline on their wedding!

2007-06-10T00:34:00.000+08:00

Just got back from the wedding dinner (military style) of my army friend, Wee Ann. Its amazing how fast time passes, just not too long ago we were in the same unit in army. Now, Wee Ann is already getting married.

I am certainly falling behind (LOL)

Well it was a great chance to meet up with the rest of the ppl like Edwin (whom i still meet semi-often), John and Hong Qi. Gotta organise more meet ups when possible.

Anyway here is the military wedding from the PoV of a blogger. ( they got the pros filming it upclose, so here is my poor lighting, shaky version)

edit: Looks like SOMEONE thinks Wei Ann (and other uniformed men) Look good! :p

World's tigers on "catastrophic" path to extinction

2007-06-09T18:24:00.000+08:00

Its almost the deadline to submit your photo to be part of the WWF's (worldwidefund for nature) Tiger Mosiac. It is to highlight the dangers that these beautiful creatures are facing. So pls do your part before 15th June. Click here to see the mosiac.

"

Plans by China to lift its 1993 ban on the domestic trade of tiger parts is sure to re-ignite interest among more than a billion consumers in emerging economies and this could be the greatest threat to the animals, said the paper.

"Ultimately, China, the state that has the fewest tigers, may pose the greatest threat to the tiger's ultimate survival in the wild."

Many of the tiger habitats are also too small, isolated or degraded to hold populations of the predator over the long-term, with increasing human encroachment and development of forests.

For example, in Sumatra, vast oil palm and acacia plantations are replacing some of the richest lowland rainforests on earth" Full story

Attack of the Spyware

2007-06-09T00:50:00.000+08:00

What exactly is spyware?

Defined by wikipedia:
Spyware is computer software that collects personal information about users without their informed consent. The term Spyware, which was coined in 1995 but wasn't widely used for another five years, is often used interchangeably with adware and malware.

Purposes range from overtly criminal (theft of passwords and financial details) to the merely annoying (recording Internet search history for targeted advertising). In any case, these programs still use the resources of the host computer without permission.

Probably my worst(and only) bad experience with spyware was when i first got broadband. After upgrading from a dialup, it was natural to start downloading stuff like crazy given then faster connection and much larger bandwidth. Being an avid gamer, i was downloading any and every free game i found online just to try them out. I guess when you just download stuff from any random site, you are definitely inviting trouble. After sometime, my computer performance naturally went downhill. Actually it went way downhill. I did stuff like defrag or scan for viruses with my anti virus but nothing worked. Only after doing some research and asking around, I learnt about spywares. So I just grabbed the first anti spyware program i could find and it scanned about 1000+ spyware... that is quite a large amount. It took quite a while to delete them but eventually, I cleaned up my system. That taught me a lesson. Aside from using anti virus, i needed anti spyware program too. One such program is Spy Sweeper. It has several good features (aside from just scanning and removing):

It provides a spyware shield, preventing spyware from even installing
It accesses the threat level of each spyware
Constantly updated

So get anti-spyware programs like Spy Sweeper and do regular checks.

Booz2Go - Alcohol powder - Just add water to get drunk

2007-06-08T07:19:00.000+08:00

Damn, why did I not think of this idea! Could have probably done this as my FYP (final year project)

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch students have developed powdered alcohol which they say can be sold legally to minors.

The latest innovation in inebriation, called Booz2Go, is available in 20-gramme packets that cost 1-1.5 euros ($1.35-$2).

Top it up with water and you have a bubbly, lime-colored and -flavored drink with just 3 percent alcohol content.

"We are aiming for the youth market. They are really more into it because you can compare it with Bacardi-mixed drinks," 20-year-old Harm van Elderen told Reuters.
Van Elderen and four classmates at Helicon Vocational Institute, about an hour's drive from Amsterdam, came up with the idea as part of their final-year project.

"Because the alcohol is not in liquid form, we can sell it to people below 16," said project member Martyn van Nierop.

The legal age for drinking alcohol and smoking is 16 in the Netherlands.

In Germany, alcopops -- sweet drinks containing alcohol and in powder form -- caused quite a stir when launched on to the market. Alcohol powder, classified as a flavoring, was sold in the United States three years ago.

The students said companies interested in making the product commercially could avoid taxes because the alcohol was in powder form. A number of companies are interested, they said.

Link

Fallout 3 Game Trailer

2007-06-07T19:33:00.000+08:00

This is probably not as uber exciting as when blizzard annouced Starcraft 2 but..

Fallout was set in a post-nuclear war world where basically everyone nuked each other and you are one of the few survivors who survived by hiding in underground vaults. It’s a really non-linear game where you can develop your character anyway you want (sniper, HtH expert, mad bomber). There are lots of titles to earn like Karma Sutra Master (this is one of the hardest k). Of course, aside from the setting, gameplay, I enjoyed the gore :p. Its nice to see how realistic it is when you snipe the enemy between the eyes, or groin(my fav sniping target)

So when I heard about the Fallout 3 trailer at Penny Arcade, I was naturally pleased, not excited just pleased. This is really nostalgia, especially seeing the trailer, its so Fallout. Oh well 1 more year to wait for it. Just like Starcraft 2 (which is probably longer)

What could this be?

2007-06-07T07:24:00.000+08:00

Its not very long, but can contract or expand. Its rather thick. It can bend as you will and its pretty flexible. So what is this item?

Its the thing that shoe shops put inside the shoes on display. Yea.... it has definitely been a while since i actually been in a shoe shop. What ever happened to just stuffing shoes with used newspaper?

Possibly Singapore's best Beatboxer

2007-06-06T22:48:00.000+08:00

I always thought Timothy (my friend from NOC) was already one of the best beatboxer I would know. That was until I saw this guy youtube video on MrBrown.com :

Must take ALOT of effot to do what he does =.='

Gah... i need to puke now

Workers Protest and hold a Strike over...... Sex

2007-06-06T00:21:00.000+08:00

Of all the reasons to hold a protest.....

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African workers striking over pay and benefits have a new complaint -- they no longer have the energy for sex.

Monroe Mkalipi, a regional chairman of the powerful COSATU federations of trade unions, complained that work conditions are so tough workers can't perform in the bedroom.

"The harshness that we have in all our workplaces is so severe to such a point that when you get home at night it becomes a problem expanding our families," the SAPA news agency quoted him as saying.

Public sector workers are negotiating with the government to increase pay for the first time since 2004.

Link

An Astronomer in your Pocket

2007-06-05T00:57:00.000+08:00

I remember in my freshman year i went for the astronomy club "orientation". It was just a session to see if i would be interested in joining. So there was a session where we had to gather outside and view the night sky... being short sighted i barely saw anything :p anyway I would not have figured out which star is what.

Perhaps with this new device from meade telescopes I might have fared better.

It is called the Meade MySky. It is an interactive, hand-held, point-shoot-and-identify multimedia guide to the night sky. Kind of like having an astronomer in your pocket actually. I guess it is a cool gadget for geeks who wanna impress girls by bringing them stargazing and you have no freaking clue what is up there.

*this is a paid post* (yea payperpost again)

The Magic of Photoshop

2007-06-03T19:59:00.000+08:00

This is how photoshop can turn FAT into Fab (as in fabulous). Got this clip when i saw the link on my facebook updates. I guess I should go master photoshop :)

Click on the video to start:

Dinner@waraku + fondue

2007-06-03T10:10:00.000+08:00

Finally after 5 years.... (2 years NS +2 yrs NUS +1 yr NOC) I met up with that long lost JC jnr of mine, Peimin. Its funny how after so long if i am starting to catch up with so many people.

Anyway Dinner was at Waraku@Clarke Quay, managed to reserve the seat over looking the river. At least if the food sucked, the view was nice :p But fortunately the food was great! And their set meal is super massive (just check out the pics). After that we went around the cannery looking for a dessert place and in the end we settled for fondue... which we took over 1 hr to finish cos it was simple massive(again!).

(BTW I am testing this Shareapic thingy to see if it looks nice on the blog)

Anyway after eating so much we decided to head down to St James to dance off all the sugar and stuff we ate. And she had the nerve to call me an old man.... so I had to up the dancing tempo.... now my legs are sore... after 2 days :(

(@St James: gotta see how a normal photo compares to those share a pic)

Proof that women can't drive

2007-06-02T10:26:00.001+08:00

All that talk about women drivers etc etc... well here's proof :p

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German mistook a subway entrance for an underground car park and her vehicle got stuck on the stairs, police said on Wednesday.

The 52-year-old drove her Volkswagen Beetle across the pavement in central Duesseldorf and into the entrance where it ground to a halt about five steps down, police said.

Police estimated the damage at around 1,500 euros ($2,000).

link

Vesak Day - Visit to the new Buddha Tooth Relic Temple@ China Town

2007-05-31T20:28:00.000+08:00

Today is Vesak Day, its a significant day for Buddhists (such as me).

So today I dropped by chinatown to visit the new Buddha Tooth Relic Temple which cost something like 20million to complete. It houses the scared Buddha tooth relic and is also a museum into Buddhism. The opening day happens to coincide with Vesak day, and is the area packed!

Its like trying to get into Zouk (heh clubbing analogy). I had to queue for over 1 hour. Good thing the crowd control was fantastic with water being passed out to those in the queue. Good thing cos there are really lots of elderly folks here too.

I will let this be a photojournal :)

Adrian arriving at chinatown

Adrian trying to find the start of the queue.... i was really far off btw

Adrian in the queue

Buddha tooth relic temple (that is what it says)

Getting flowers to pray

Adrian finally gets in

Prayer session: top view

Devotees entering

The scared tooth relic

Short clip of the monks praying (Special webcast for Peiling)

Bloody tiring day - Food Expo and more

2007-05-29T21:46:00.000+08:00

Amazing how a half day at work can become so bloody tiring. Did not go to work in the morning cos I had an interview in NUS (More on this if the interview does make it to the papers). I ended up being a brownie deliveryman the entire day.

In order of brownies given:
7.40am: Sz@clementi MRT
9.30am: Huimin, Richard and Gean@nus
10am: Law and Kai an@nus
7.30pm: Genie@PS
8pm: Hendri@Wisma
8.15pm: Ridzstar who were on a date at this secret location

Anyway one good thing about working near Expo is being able to drop by for any event. In this case it was the Singapore Food Expo.... it was bloody crowded, I managed to grab some samples, then I was on my merry way (typical freebie grabber :p)

Food Food Food

Another sale at Expo

Someone trying to hide her face after they got found out :p (its amazing how innocent photos look scandalous)

Diet Using your Handphone!

2007-05-29T08:49:00.000+08:00

I think this is really useful especially amongst us bloggers since we take pictures with our handphone all the time :p

"TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Wondering how much of a diet-buster that banana cream pie on your plate is? Some Japanese have a novel way to find out: Photograph it with your cell phone and send the image to an expert." .... full story

Beta Testers Needed: Brownies Part 2

2007-05-28T23:53:00.000+08:00

Made another batch of rum brownies. This time i tweaked the chocolate and rum ratio, chocolate went up by 10% and i switched to a richer type.

Since all brownies look more or less the same... all are well... brown...

I decided to do some "creative" Photoshoots

As always, still looking for beta testers ( more the merrier). So just contact me or leave a comment.

Visit my online bakery!!! --->>> www.sweethut.biz sweethut.wordpress.com

Thriller - Indian Remix with "special" Subtitles

2007-05-28T06:56:00.000+08:00

When I saw the one without subtitles I already thought it was hilarious, then my friend sent me the one with subtitles, and I was ROFLing. Its amazing how the guy was able to catch the lyrics :p

Yippeee Brownies are done

2007-05-27T17:31:00.000+08:00

Finally I got a rather decent batch of brownies after last week's accident. (This goes to show when you do not calculate the heat transfer coefficient of your oven and co-relate that to the energy required for perfect baking you will flop!)

Well all this baking is cos:
a) I enjoy it
b) I am coming up with new stuff for my online bakery www.sweethut.biz
c) I just like baking.

Anyway at the request of nicole and the others of ping.sg, here are the pictures.

Not exactly the best looking right now, I am working on the taste and flavour first. Btw this is RUM brownie, which my mum thinks is very british ( dunno why)

I will be looking out for beta testers for my future cakes/cookies so those who wanna be part of this beta testing crew, pls email, sms, msn, twitter me.

I am looking for ppl who love deserts, will give feedback (I am not afraid of ppl telling my it sux), and preferable can discuss it in more scientific sense with me :p

p.s: These brownies are just the start, I will be improving them and tweaking around the flavours.

p.s 2: www.sweethut.biz and sweethut.wordpress.com will be having our father's day line of products so do check us out!

p.s 3: or just leave a comment :)

Equivox @ Raffles City

2007-05-27T01:28:00.000+08:00

I seem to have a thing for using "@" in all my title posts. But what the heck, its good. You get to know the event or group of ppl and the location.

I digress...

Was at Raffles City today when i heard a familar beatbox sound as I walked past the performance stage. I thought it sounded like Timothy, who was my friend from NCBV, he always had a great voice and loved to do beatboxing. I turned to take a look, and lo behold... it was really Timothy.

Turns out that Timothy was part of this award winning acapella group called Equivox and they were performing.

I managed to grab a few videos of the performance, but sadly, my phone has poor sound recording quality so it would be hard to tell how good the singing is from the videos. Overall I think they did a good job performing, but perhaps its the sound system that is affecting them, cos often the lead singer's voice is so loud it over powers the rest who are doing the beat or other stuff. It is pretty hard to perform in a place where there is a crowd and the acoustics is probably not the best anyway.

Gd job Tim!

http://equivox.blogspot.com/

Videos

The first song I heard, not too bad but i cannot hear anything else but the lead singer.

Timothy showing his stuff, as always he is good.

Once again, apologies for the poor sound, not like i had planned in advance to record this.

Village Talk @ NTU

2007-05-26T14:05:00.000+08:00

Amazing tiring week, thursday was blogout, then last evening (friday) was Village Talk, an event that brings together thinkers and movers from various fields and areas and gets them to TALK :p

I was super late for the event, missing the food and the first 3 spreakers, cannot be helped if you happen to get off work at 6pm and you work in changi. The add to my lateness, I took Hendri's directions on how to get to Techno Plaza, NTU, too literally. So I ended up at the opposite end of NTU and had to walked the entire way there.

It was pretty spooky arriving at Technoplaza as the main entrance area was not even lit up, so it kindda spooked me when the doors just opened automatically. Anyway the event proper was really nice, the speakers were really passionate about that they are doing, why they are doing it and many other issues. It really is kind of a wake up call, to check if I am still trying to follow my dreams or am i taking a rather long detour right now. Probably I am at the pit stop having a burger and soda.....

Pity I could not stay too long for any post event networking and talking, would have loved to get to know everyone better.

Cheers to the 2 organizers, Ridz and Kelvin

Payperpost Direct

2007-05-26T12:56:00.000+08:00

Well, I decided to drop by the payperpost website after 1 week of inactivity, and interestingly enough, there is something new there. The folks at PPP have done some cool updates with the services and more importantly they introduced something called Payperpost direct.

First what are the "upgrades"? The first feature i is Bans and Benches. Now users have the option to 'bench' each other. It means as a blogger i can bench advertisers who do not interest me (eg: insurance) so that way my interface remains clean.

Post Reservations is another issue, how many times have most of us spent time doing a nice post, then we get that "all opps have been taken" message..... well they solved it. Dun care how.

Finally they removed Technorati rankings from the system.

More importantly it is the introduction of PPP direct. Its a way for advertisers to directly approach the bloggers to make a paid post rather then though the PPP website. That way advertisers can request a specific kind of post for certain bloggers. In fact PPP is only there to help facilitate the transfer of money. What makes PPP direct different? Other services like ReviewMe charge 50-100% markup and keep up to half the money, PPP Direct only charges a 10% fee, 5% of which goes to transaction fees for PayPal and credit card processing. That just means the blogger gets a bigger cut. Also using the PPP widget on your blog makes the negotiation and payment process simple and easy as PPP handles all of that. So if you are interested, go take a look at PPP.

The details:
http://blog.payperpost.com/2007/05/part-one-of-birdo-release.html

The overview video:
http://blog.payperpost.com/2007/05/payperpost-direct-overview.html

Ping.sg @ Blogout + possible scandals (AGAIN)

2007-05-25T00:16:00.000+08:00

Just got back from Blogout... ok ok actually my home internet was down for 2 hrs so i played some games. Blogout was a great event, I met not only the ping.sg ppl, but familar faces from NOC, Jeff, Kaihong, Deliang, Aileen and also ppl that i just happen to know anyway. Great meet up, great panel, Uzyn did a good job!!! More on a possible scandal below :p

Anyway here are the pictures from blogout! Apologies for the poor quality, my camera phone could not handle the indoor lighting well.

Ping.sg's very own GENIE!!! *clap clap* Our resident blogger-singer :)
Her blog is www.genie.sg for those who wanna know more (her songs are inspired by her blog post!) yay bloggers rule

The Panel featuring tomorrow.sg, PING.SG, moblog and errr i forgot :p

Uzyn speaking to everyone on why ping.sg roxxxxxx

As usual the Ping.sg Scandal crew were up to our usual crap trying to comeup with scandals...

Why is Hendri having Genie's name tag HMMMMM...

Whose hand is that placing her name tag oh soooo gently on Ridz :p

As usual scandal photos are posed and non of that is actually true :p

shameless plug: www.sweethut.biz <--- my online bakery

Paranoia over Credit Card Safety

2007-05-23T22:40:00.000+08:00

Credit Cards are really a convienient item, after all you can carry less cash around, pay for stuff online easily, get points for stuff :p (my mum loves this). The points are really great, even i like them. Its one of the ways we are definitely moving to a cashless society. But with great spending power comes great responsibility (crappy pun from spidy 3)

I always have this paranoia over credit card, its pretty extreme sometimes, like insisting that I will not give my number over the phone. Estee will remember that time i insisted on wasting time walking to the hotel in chicago to pay rather then give my CC number over the phone. Seiously i was worried, its just a matter of trust here, after all once that person has my credit card number, he can do ANYTHING with it online. Hence I chose to WALK the entire distance back to the hotel to pay rather then take the "easy" way out. Its better this way in my opinion, never tell anyone your number.

Aside from losing your card, you can easily lose your credit card number in many ways. Just watch this youtube videos "The real hustle" they really show various ways you can lose you CC number. Just going through your trash can yield such info for a thief.

Well good thing is my mum also agrees with me and we are gonna get a nice shredder, I am thinking of the uberized confetti cut type that REALLY shreds, not the pansy kind.

Found some nice articles on CC here:
0% Balance Transfers
The phishing threat hits home
Shredders: The Anti-Fraud Weapon
Fool reveals credit card cons

"This is a sponsored Post :) "

Viagra has another use :)

2007-05-23T22:28:00.000+08:00

Its amazing what scientist find out these days. Apparantly the famous ED (erectile disfunction) drug viagra has another use..... and they found this out by testing it on hamsters. Amazing that they did not get a massive population boom in the lab :p I guess future jetsetters and frequent travellers to other countries have a reason to have a bottle of viagra with us :p (NOT THAT I NEED ANY OK)

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The male impotence drug Viagra may be useful for treating jet lag as well, according to Argentine researchers who gave it to hamsters made to feel like rodent globe-trotters.

The researchers manipulated the schedule of turning lights on and off to induce jet lag in the laboratory animals, they reported Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Adult male hamsters given Viagra, also called sildenafil, recovered from jet lag up to 50 percent faster than hamsters that were not given it, the researchers said. The scientists stopped giving the hamsters the highest dose they had been using in the experiment due to a certain side effect.

"However, we used the intermediate dose for the rest of the experiments because at that dose animals did not manifest the effects of sildenafil-induced penile erections," they wrote......" full story

I am weird

2007-05-22T22:20:00.000+08:00

I must be the only guy who gets excited about going to Phoon Huat. It is this shop that caters to a baker's every need, its got almost everything you need to bake cool stuff for your friends, CNY etc etc

In fact I just a few new equipment and pans from Phoon Huat. No choice all my old stuff is back in Philadelphia with Shamantha. But then again I get to buy new baking stuff! Yay

This post is "sponsored" by my OWN online bakery www.sweethut.biz(Our linzer cookiers are good)

My brand new mixer

Some of the new stuff i got

No excitement over starcraft 2 for me

2007-05-21T19:47:00.000+08:00

Despite all the excitement over starcraft 2 that I have seen not only on the blogosphere but around the internet, I just do not feel any excitment at all. Kindda unusual considering gaming was more or less my life. Well in theory I should be excited, like OMGWTFBBQ kind of excited, but it just ain't there, not when I saw the protoss immortals (cool name btw) or the stalkers (blinking is cool too) or when I saw the trailer of that big ass protoss ship that defeated 6 terran BCs (that is close to being broken).

It just did not feel the same, not like when WC III was launch or when i took part in the world of warcraft launch. Gah... maybe I am getting too old for gaming, or maybe after all that blizzard has put me through in WOW, the endless grinding for rep, farming for gold, doing 5 hr raids etc... I just am not interested. Maybe when the release date gets closer(perhaps only after I graduate or later), I might feel a bit more excitment. Guess I am getting old....

On the sidenote..... when the hell is warhammer online gonna be release.... argh.

PARTYING in Latvia

2007-05-20T21:49:00.000+08:00

How do Latvians party? Well that question occurred to me on my flight over to Riga. So I decided that I definitely had to find out how.

The Answer? Latvians party really hard and really good. Nuff said.

Fortunately, there was a PeakTime party held in the school itself, hence being participants, team tetra threat was invited. Naturally being Singaporeans…. we were late.

The theme was called Casino, and the organizers really did bring in actual casino equipment, from a roulette table to a blackjack table. You cannot gamble from real money, but you use “PeakTime” cash which can be redeemed from drinks.

Well in this case pictures are way better then me typing crap :p

Startup@sg Semis - Here we go again

2007-05-19T07:43:00.000+08:00

About 1-2 hrs away from my presentation at Startup@sg semifinals.... Getting real tired this week, after returning from Peak Time, I jumped right into my internship. In fact due to Peak Time and the internship, me and kai an were left with very little time to prepare for Startup@sg. But then again, we been presenting this biz plan during 446 in philly and at QEC 2007, so I guess it is not that bad since we already have most of the parts down. Just rehearse, get the timing right, go thru the plan again.

Oh well, here we gooooo again, more biz plan presentations!

Oh no more Zara for now!

2007-05-18T22:36:00.000+08:00

Ahhh back to the topic of online shopping, made even more interesting by the fact I am not shopping at Zara for a while :p

As usual, online shopping is not online shopping if you just go online click on some stuff into a shopping cart and use your credit card. You need.......ONLINE COUPONS! Having these helps to make the online shopping experience more fun... and its cheaper too! All you need is the coupon codes

In fact I have relooked my brand preference, in light of the Zara incident, I decided to go with their main competitor Esprit (Esprit coupons here). It is gaining on Zara in terms on brand recognition, it is ONLINE, which is something Zara refuses to do, and if it is online... there are ONLINE COUPONS.

One such site that provides such coupons is Couponchief (link below)
coupon codes

They provide all kinds of coupons like stuff including some of the brands i buy:

American Eagle Coupons
Banana Republic Coupons
Urban Outfitters Coupons (great for college kids)

This has been a sponsored post.

Blur Judges and X-rated car washes

2007-05-18T07:17:00.000+08:00

Saw these stories on reuters just before going to my internship... their oddly enough page has some weird stuff :p, just shows how disconnected some people are and why more ppl wanna go to australia :p

"LONDON (Reuters) - A British judge admitted on Wednesday he was struggling to cope with basic terms like "Web site" in the trial of three men accused of inciting terrorism via the Internet.

Judge Peter Openshaw broke into the questioning of a witness about a Web forum used by alleged Islamist radicals.

"The trouble is I don't understand the language. I don't really understand what a Web site is," he told a London court during the trial of three men charged under anti-terrorism laws...." fully story

"CANBERRA (Reuters) - A nude car wash offering an X-rated sideshow and topless cleaning in Australia's tropical Queensland state has been given the all-clear after police and officials said they were powerless to scrub it" full story

Polar Bear found in Stockholm shopping center

2007-05-17T21:40:00.000+08:00

Forgot to mention this interesting incident at Stockholm, Weiyi was draging me and law into this shopping center when we realised that at the entrance there was a crowd..... cos a POLAR BEAR was in the way.... omg...

It was seriously a shocking site... a homeless polar bear....

So I gave it 4 kronos (1SGD) to get itself some food and went it to shop :)

p.s This is a publicity stunt to raise environmental awareness by some swedish group.

Who wants to seduce a celebrity?

2007-05-16T20:22:00.000+08:00

No... i am not teaching how it can be done, if I knew it, I would have done it already don't you think so? It just happens that this online video website called GoFish.com, not the card game go fish but the online video website, is having this promotion which lasts for about 14 weeks. The lucky or unlucky celebrity this time is actress, Mirelly Taylor, the hottie who has appeared on movies such as Kiss Me Again and Serving Sara and television shows including “Las Vegas”, “Punk’d”, and “Numb3rs”. I watched Las Vegas and I find her quite hot, then i went to the actual Las Vegas (the place) and was kidda dissappointed :p
Free videos at GoFish.com
What makes this unique and interesting is how you get to "seduce" the celebrity. It is a very participative game where ANYONE can take part. Its definitely different from what other such "win-a-date" The celebrity will have 3 "call to action" which gives contestants an idea on what video to submit. Contestants than create 3 videos to answer those 3 calls.

For example: One of the most recent ones is to show how good a kisser you are by kissing a fruit, I guess some guy can try kissing a durian, after all no pain no gain :) (NO i am NOT doing that.....), now HOW to actually kiss is another matter.... sorry no experience here.

The best part of this is that users(those who are too embaressed to make any videos) of GoFish.com get to vote who they want to be the finalist. Nice to be able to participate still right?

So what are you waiting for? GO make a video and let me laugh at you :p

Latvia - Day 4 - Why I might not ever shop at Zara again

2007-05-15T18:45:00.000+08:00

I decided to post about the final day of competition first instead of the Peak Time Party. Much lesser photos to sort through, and nothing much to say too.

Ok so after 2 days of business case simulation where Team Tetra Threat (my team) crawled our way out of the pits from 8th place out of 12 to end up 2nd at the end of prelims, we had to face the next round of business case analysis.

The semi finals' case was about an online accounting startup.

The finals' was about.... ZARA.... great... a team of 4 GUYS... need to do a case about ZARA.... what a "perfect" match. At least we did not get something like Loreal or other cosmetics, that would really rock.

Needless to say, we tried our best, and in the end, we did achieve 3rd, not too bad I guess considering we did party until 2am the night before.

Opps just realised the photos of the finals are not with me, just this 1 team photo:

PeakTime Semi finals - Online accounting

2007-05-13T08:26:00.000+08:00

The Semi-finals of PeakTime was a case study analysis that had to be done in 1.5 hrs. That is seriously a mad rush, considering we had to analyse the case, come up with a solution then translate that into powerpoint for presentation purposes. In fact my team was still rushing out our slides up until the last second, it was amazing that we actually got something out.

The topic of the case study was online accounting. How can a start up firm in this industry break into and compete. So naturally, considering the team was 3 engineers and a finance guy, we had no choice but to engage in online research.

As always, google saved us, by throwing up infomation on various systems like this particular website: quickbooks accounting.

Using the data from that website and several others, we were able to gain insights into the industry. We learnt that online accounting has quite a lot of advantages like low cost and ease of use which can appeal to small businesses that often cannot afford an accountant due to tight budget.

*disclaimer: this is a paid post from payperpost.

Living in Latvia - Pubbing

2007-05-13T00:37:00.000+08:00

Party and drinking seems to be pretty much part of Latvia, especially Riga's culture, the students here love to party. So my wonderful hostessess, Katrina and Svetlana, brought my team and also a few other competitors out to see the local pubs.

It took quite a while before we actually found a suitable pub, one reason is due to the fact that there were 16 people and also for some reason, some pubs do not serve tourists. Eventually we settled at this place called Casablanca, its a pretty decent chillout place, although not as good as this place that I had dinner(the waitresss was uber cute).

So here are some photos from the pub tour.

Got to get some rest now, PeakTime party in 3 hrs time.

Latvia - Day 2 - Finally meeting the competitors

2007-05-11T12:34:00.000+08:00

Day 2 was finally the first chance i got to meet other competitors involved in PeakTime, its quite an international flavour considering teams from brazil, costa rica and taiwan are involved.

Today was mainly just a bunch of introductions, guest lectures and ice breaking games. So most of us were re-grouped and made to run all over Riga in your standard university style ice breaker game. But at least it allows most of us to learn more about Riga and its Culture.

Some pics of the group I was in:

Speaking of Culture, the main culture here is CLUBBING, yea its a party capital or something, so everyone loves to party. Sounds fun. So after everything, my team (as in tetra threat), went to grab a bite, and then headed to this nice fancy chill out place called skyline. Its up on the 26th floor of this hotel and its got a good view, good music and decently priced drinks.

Dinner!

Drinks

Tmr we will be visiting Riga's top club. so stay tuned.

Drunken Moose in Stockholm

2007-05-11T05:49:00.000+08:00

What do you get when you cross a moose with beer? A drunken moose :p (ok that was a really cold joke).

Sort of wanted to post this video up earlier, but it slipped my mind. Anyway I was in a souvienier shop in Stockholm 2 days back and I thought it would be funny to make a drunken moose video out of the items in the shop. All it took was a moose toy that can snore and a beer magnet and my trusty handphone :) My friends thought i was nuts.

Why I love Payperpost

2007-05-11T05:08:00.000+08:00

Sometimes you might notice that some of my post have this little tag "sponsored by xxxxxxx" well, it just happens that that is a blog post that I do to get some cash from payperpost. What is payperpost about? It is essentially consumer generated advertising, where bloggers are given topics to blog about by advertisers and well we blog about it and get some cash.

While I am not some hardcore payperpost user, I just occassionally blog about the topics given to me when i find it relavent or it interest me. Its pretty decent cash for just blogging.

I been a member of payperpost for perhaps 1+ month, started sometime in april and up to date I have made about $39 from about 6 blog posts. Not too bad considering I only blog about stuff that interests me. So that is what I like about payperpost, I just blog about stuff I am interested in, and i get some cash to eat and if i feel happy, perhaps treat some friends to a drink.

Living in Latvia - An intellectual hotel

2007-05-10T14:49:00.000+08:00

Staying at the Albert Hotel, which i think is a very intellectual hotel. When I got to my level for my room, i was greeted with this:

Wow, that certainly got my brain juices moving. And if you wish spend some time in "deep thought", just place this unique Do not disturb sign outside the door:

While having breakfast (which was amazing), I saw these very cute quotes, apparantly they are by the great scientist himself.

Very intellectual hotel, i feel my brain is levelling up :)

Latvia - Day 1 in Riga

2007-05-10T12:52:00.000+08:00

Arrived in Riga at about 10am, where our friendly hostess Katrina met me and law at the airport. She is currently a freshman at the Stockholm School of Economics. Really a cheerful and bubbly person she told us lots about Latvia, her life in school (how she hates marketing :p) and what to do in Latvia.

The currency of Latvia, the LVL is almost equivalent to the British Pound. We took a bus down to the hotel for 30 cents. Along the walk to the hotel, we passed by Old Riga, kind of the Old City here. Its olden architecture reflects the Russian influence in Latvia from days gone by. Now Latvia is a booming eastern european country where there is lots of contruction and things are really really mordernising up (as long as prices do not modernise until swedish prices :p).

Old Riga

Laima Clock - this is where most couples meet for dates - Soooo any girls wanna meet me at the Laima Clock?

A more modern Riga - most banks are along this street

Symbol of Latvia's Freedom

National Museum

Was able to grab a decent lunch for about 1.4 LVL, and dinner was at a CHINESE restaurant! Yea it was pretty surprising to see more asians in Riga after not seeing any the entire day. At least this Chinese restaurant was not serving Kung-Pow Chicken or General Tsao Chicken (typical sauce heavy food in the States).

Currently I am staying at the Albert Hotel, its this rather chic looking modern hotel with an interesting theme, guess if you enjoy maths, ALBERT einstein then yea this is the Hotel for you. The shower is really cool, you do not need to go thru the pain of adjusting temperature, you just turn a dial to the temperature setting you want and YAY.

Albert hotel

Hopefully i will get more shots of the competition and ppl around Riga for my next post, at least the Jetlag is over. And the party is this Saturday!

Prices in Stockholm KILLS

2007-05-10T05:26:00.000+08:00

That was a reciept from a breakfast meal at the Stockholm Airport (aralanda). Had to grab a quick breakfast before getting on my flight. I had simply ordered 1 egg (the kaviar), 1 basic wrap and 1 juice. Total cost 104 SEK = 26 SGD.

OUCH

The egg was 20 SEK, thats like 5 SGD.... that was 1 really really really tasty egg...

Ok gonna start blogging about my first day in Riga(Latvia).

Greetings from Stockholm

2007-05-09T05:59:00.000+08:00

WoooHooo, currently blogging right here in Stockholm!

Ok just updating everyone on how things are going on right now. Arrived in Stockholm on time, minor delay with the baggage (lawrence's bag got stuck).

Took the train from the airport, met up with Diana, the program director for NOC stockholm. Lunch with her and some NCSH students.

Next was a tour around the city with our capable tour guide Weiyi.

Dinner with more NCSH + minor drinking session.

Time to sleep, gotta get up at 5pm to catch my next flight.

Operation PEAKTIMEand Operation SweetHut

2007-05-07T18:12:00.000+08:00

Alright, my bags are packed, my notes are ready, got nice winter clothes, a good printout of what to do there.... yea OPERATION PEAKTIME is now at T -4.5hrs to go.

I will be flying off to Latvia to compete in PeakTime 2007. Its a very interstesting competition, so for those who would like to know more... go google it out, i am too lazy to post the link.... okok I am posting the link HERE.

It was definitely an eventful week leading up to the competition, first i got to meet up with the cool people of PING.SG not once but TWICE in the same week. Went clubbing twice in the same week (that burnt a beautiful hole in my pocket). And finally got the online cake business that me, shenzhi and cherry (yes 3 chem eng mugger toads) have been sort of working on and are rushing to meet the mother's day deadline. The online bakery is called SweetHut (I had no say in the naming....)

Yup, Adrian has finally taken the next step in his interest for baking!

So for those who sortof forgotten that mother's day is around the corner, why not get a cake! :p Its at www.sweethut.biz

Rock Shrimp YUM

2007-05-07T09:47:00.000+08:00

Was suddenly thinking about the POD rock shrimp that I had back in Philly, so I decided to make a video talking about it and..... i found this nice website with lots of Seafood Recipes. Hopefully i can figure out how all this is done.

Here is me talking about rockshrimp:

This was a pretty old video of me in philadelphia enjoying rockshrimp (my co host is estee):

SCANDALS@ Ping.sg Meetup 2

2007-05-06T23:29:00.000+08:00

Today I headed down to far east plaza to help out with the Ping.sg booth and also to meet up with everyone else. The turnout was AMAZING, so many pingers showed up! I am so glad i got to meet many familar faces and some new ones too (or those old ones i did not meet).

Photos can be found at DK's blog and I am waiting for Keropokman to upload his too.

But the best part about this is catching up and finding out about NEW SCANDALS occuring in the ping.sg community.... here is 1 sample

Ok I shall do it in the typical aunt agony fashion

So this girl T found out that this girl E was talking to this guy R up until 6am in the morning. Upon finding out, T turned RED!!! (due to the need to sleep... i seriously cannot think of a better way to write this down)

Disclaimer: all this was done in good humour, pls pls pls pls pls pls dun kill me!

Americans are SO not stupid

2007-05-04T01:18:00.000+08:00

This video certainly proves the Americans are not as dumb as their president Bush :p

Exam is over.... Still no time to REST

2007-05-03T00:19:00.000+08:00

WOOT, exam is over, school is out! Yet I still had no time to rest, right after the paper it was a trip down to St James Power Station to let loose, then after that I had to start preparing for my trip to Stockholm/Riga for PEAKTIME 2007. What is PEAKTIME? well its a biz competition, where competitors take part in business simulations, case analysis and stuff like that. Its gonna be real fun.

Yup from next week onwards I will be blogging about my adventures(or misadventures) while i figure my way around Stockholm and Riga. Till then its time to PARTY! (p.s anyone wanna go St James or MOS lemme know :p)

P.S: Got a NEW MIXER AND NEW OVEN!!! BAKING TIME!!!!!!!!!

Dick LEE sings about PM LEE

2007-04-28T20:42:00.000+08:00

This song by Dick Lee is HILARIOUS!!! Hope he doesn't get into trouble with the ISD or something :p

Sung at his 40th anniversary concert: Dedicated to our dear PM LEE... Count on HIM

OMG- Piano Playing Cat!

2007-04-26T20:56:00.000+08:00

Oh wow, this is REALLY REALLY cute, a cat that can/try to play the piano!

Help Save the Tigers!

2007-04-26T08:36:00.000+08:00

The WWF (world wide fund for nature... not the wrestling company) has came up with this project to do a Tiger Mosiac, essentially everyone submits their photo and it will all add up to form a Mosiac picture of a Tiger. The result will be a powerful display of the world’s support for wild tiger conservation, which will be presented to delegates from 171 countries at the June meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in the Netherlands. So pls help by submitting this and also spreading the word.

Click here to help with the mosiac!

The tiger is one of the most revered, feared and popular species on Earth. It is perhaps the most powerful symbol of our planet’s endangered wildlife.

Once widespread across Asia, fewer than 5,000 wild tigers are now found in just 7% of their historic range.

The good news is that the Chinese government has taken action to help save the species. In 1993, China outlawed all domestic trade of tiger products and public awareness campaigns have curbed a demand that once saw tiger products annually sold in the tens of millions.

But there is a new threat in China that could put every last wild tiger at risk: The increasing population of captive-bred tigers on so-called "tiger farms." These farms, currently used as tourist attractions are speed-breeding tigers in hope that China will one day allow the sale of their parts and products.

More than 4,000 captive-bred, semi-tame tigers live on these farms today, and farm owners are now pressuring the government to allow them to sell tiger products.

Reopening even limited legal trade in tiger products from farms would reignite a demand for tiger products. It also would give international crime syndicates an easy avenue for "laundering" illegally killed tigers from India, Russia and other tiger range states and make law enforcement nearly impossible. In essence, legal trade in tiger products from China's tiger farms would spark an open season on tigers in the wild.

Uncyclopedia: Hwa Chong Institution

2007-04-25T20:31:00.000+08:00

I have no idea who took the time to do up this WIKI on Hwa Chong Institution, but it was definitely a good laugh about this entry about my Alma Mater. Seriously, to write this kind of crap must take some serious brain power

Just a sample of what was written on the wiki entry.

“Hadst I a choice of where I wouldst like to have studied Advanced Gypsy Magick, it wouldst've'd been NASA. But then again, NASA doth not offer Turnip as a third language, so I doth think I wouldst've chosen Hwa Chong Institution.”

~ Conan O'Brien on Hwa Chong Institiution

“You know, before we invented rocks, we had to use pinatas to scratch our 'nads.”

~ Denzel Washington on a plane

“Simply the best 12 years of my life.”

~ Oscar Wilde on Hwa Chong Institution

"Hadst I known that mine strategies would fail, I wouldst've enrolled in Hwa Chong Institution."

~ Macbeth's final words before being decapitated by Macduff

Good reason to get drunk - Fruity Cocktails are health foods!!!

2007-04-22T10:41:00.000+08:00

Now this is a good excuse to drink and get drunk, its all in the name of STAYING HEALTHY!

Stumbled upon this report on the health benefits when you mix alcohol with bright fruits. Now this is good new, so instead of a morning coffee, I will have vodka orange, or strawberry next time :)

From Reuters

"A fruity cocktail may not only be fun to drink but may count as health food, U.S. and Thai researchers said on Thursday.

Adding ethanol -- the type of alcohol found in rum, vodka, tequila and other spirits -- boosted the antioxidant nutrients in strawberries and blackberries, the researchers found.

Any colored fruit might be made even more healthful with the addition of a splash of alcohol, they report in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture." full story

This is the way I want to start my day, healthy and drunk :p

Did you know.......?

2007-04-21T22:30:00.000+08:00

Did you know SIZE matters?

At least that is what this video says:

KEEPON -- SOoooooo CUTE

2007-04-21T21:23:00.000+08:00

When I first saw the video for the Keepon, I was wondering what so intersting about this yellow marshmellow like thing with 2 eyes. Then as I watched the video, I was simply awed (OMG KAWAIIIIII) by its ability to pick up rythmn and dance according to it, I simply loved it when it did that saturday night fever move as well as a marshmellow like object could. Not only that, it has built in video camera to pick up visual stimuli for more "intelligent" dancing! If I can get my hands one 1, I am bringing it clubbing with me, it might be a the new chick magnet that I am in need of :p

Its an interesting project done up by this Carnegie Mellon University phD student

Original Song Dedicated To Families Of Virginia Tech Victims

2007-04-20T21:23:00.000+08:00

In light of the tragic events at Virginia Tech, and all the crazed media hype going around the killer, I found these 2 videos on songs dedicated to the victims and their family. I am sure glad that in Singapore, we do not get any of these events, or whatever is happening around the world, like in Iraq etc...

Suddenly the looming exams in front of me sure seem like nothing....

8 days promotes Sammyboy.com

2007-04-19T23:57:00.000+08:00

OMG, 8 days made such a funny screw up. Guess the editors had no idea betweent Sammyboy.com (NSFW do not click on this unless you are 18 and above... i am NOT responsible)and the Sammyboy Alfresco Coffee Shop (Good forums to visit).

Got this from Mr Brown's website

Working "Elites" work for half a catty, get 8 taels...

2007-04-19T23:10:00.000+08:00

Saw this at theonlinecitizen website, provided a nice chuckle from the nice exam stress I am facing right now (OMG MATLAB!!!)

Nice satire about singapore politics ( we ain't gonna let this pay raise thing die :p)

Drunken Squirrel and Japanese Pranks

2007-04-17T20:51:00.000+08:00

As the exam stress and workload piles up.... I start surfing randomly to relax.... not productive I must mention but oh well.... this beats studying CN2116 anyway. After the exams is over, I am so gonna go out and get drunk.... Then I will probably end up like this cute little drunken squirrel

The japanese sure have some interesting pranks.... giant snowball rolling down a hill?!?

In other news from parts of the world:

KARACHI (Reuters) - Mobile service providers in Pakistan have been inundated by calls from subscribers worried by a prank message that they could die of a deadly virus being transmitted via their phones.

The rumor was so effective that some mosques in the country's biggest city, Karachi, made announcements that people were being killed by a mobile virus and they should be aware of God's wrath.

In a prank reminiscent of the plot in the hit Hollywood movie "The Ring" in which people die within a week after watching a video, the prankster warned users that a deadly virus transmitted through phones had killed 20 people. Full story

Yup... those who read this blog post are now infected with a deadly virus that will make you send me $5 each!!!

A New Web Directory, Big Weblinks.com

2007-04-16T14:40:00.000+08:00

I learnt about this new web directory, Big Web Links Directory, which uses a new and novel way to rank their listings. Instead of voting or page clicks, websites instead are ranked by the amount of dollars contributed to the listing, which offers more control for web site owners!!! This is really great for those who are trying to or already making money off their blog!

Right now this webdirectory is fairly new, but it is being very heavily promoted to offer traffic as well as very good link value. The site is expected to have a very respectable Google PR soon.

The million dollar question that is best answered from Big Web Links Directory
How is that a different reflection of popularity from other web directories?
Web directories usually equate the number of clicks a listing receives to popularity. For example, if more people click on a listing, that particular listing tends to remain popular in that directory simply because of its high ranking in the first place. This is hardly an accurate reflection of true popularity on the Internet.

Theoretically, every website on the Internet has a chance of becoming the most popular piece of virtual real estate in cyber space. Big Web Links Directory simply attempts to reflect that by ranking websites according to the dollar amount contributed for that website. A major benefit of such a ranking system is that it provides some indication of the quality of traffic from a particular website. This is the directory where advertisers will come looking for you and visitors will find you!

So if you want to increase traffic, get more advertisers this might just be the site for you.

Want to drive someone crazy? Introducing the Annoy-o-tron!!!

2007-04-16T08:48:00.000+08:00

Yes... after my last encounter in the tutorial room, I went back to surfing randomly for a while and found this nice article on the Newyork Times and IHT. It was about interesting gadgets and why we have been buying up such weird BUT COOL stuff from places like thinkgeek.com etc.

What caught my eye at first was.....

"BEHOLD the Annoy-o-tron. The easy-to-hide magnetized device promises to drive a co-worker insane.

“The Annoy-o-tron generates a short (but very annoying, hence the name) beep every few minutes,” assures the sales copy from ThinkGeek, its maker, which says it has sold 6,000 of the $10 practical-joke gadgets online since December.

“It is very annoying,” confirmed Jennifer Kuropkat, a ThinkGeek spokeswoman, who was a victim of the Annoy-o-tron during its testing phase. After three days of wondering where the brief ear-jangling sound — bzz-eee-eeep! — was coming from, she found the device hidden under her desk and managed to switch it off."

So I decided to go off to thinkgeek to check it out :


photo from thinkgeek

This is the description from thinkgeek:

The ThinkGeek Annoy-a-tron would be useless against an army of Snowbots, but it's very effective at disturbing that guy in the sales department or your "friend" down the hall. With its thin design and embedded magnet for easy hiding, the Annoy-a-tron can be placed in a variety of locations. Select one of the three sound choices (2 kHz, 12 kHz, or alternating) and push the switch to the on position. Place it in a proper hiding spot and let the "fun" begin.

The Annoy-a-tron generates a short (but very annoying, hence the name) beep every few minutes. Your unsuspecting target will have a hard time 'timing' the location of the sound because the beeps will vary in intervals ranging from 2 to 8 minutes. The 2kHz sound is generically annoying enough, but if you really really want to aggravate somebody, select the 12 kHz sound. Trust us. The higher frequency and slight 'electronic noise' built into that soundbyte will make a full-grown Admin wonder where his packets are.

3 simple steps.

Turn on.*
Hide it.
Muahahaha...

Now this has gotten me thinking... what if I got a few of these.... placed them strategically in popular study spots in NUS, eg: tutorial rooms, study rooms, quite corners where people study and couples.... erm...

I would get CHAOS!!! MUAHAHAHAH ANARCHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!