Vote wisely....

It's not that I understand Korean, but this clip here is one of the memorable scenes from this Korean drama "President" which I'm watching on KBS World.

"Jang Il Jun" is a presidential candidate facing a group of student in this scene where he chided these undergraduates why they, besides the politicians, should be blamed as well for the present woes facing the country.

If I remember correctly what the subtitles mentioned, it goes something like these.

"It's because you are not interested in the politics!" said Jang

"Instead voting on the polling day that decided the fate, future of the nation, you people choose to spend that day to go dating, having fun out there and leave it to the politicians.

"And when the country is eventually run by those inept politicians that us to a bleak situation, you would just pin the blame on them when you in the first place did not exercise your right as a voter wisely." as he continued with his rhetoric.

"So don't you think you should bear some responsibility as well?" he asked a bewildered audience as seen in the clip.

At the end of the day, not only Jang managed to convey his message across the group of student, it eventually hiked his approval rating as well.

So doesn't it makes sense that it's not about who you vote for, but did you vote wisely in the first place?

"秀琴，你一定要原谅爸爸！”

I'm not sure what is so captivating about these long-winded Taiwanese drama series that captivated the soul of those "aunties".

I still remember years back that "意難忘” was long enough that had Ma glued to the TV set for more than TWO years!

While "愛” may not be her cup of tea initially, but as the intertwined story changes with infusion of new plot and characters, it has become one of the main themes during the conversation while at the market!

Mee Rebus

I'm not sure this qualify as one of the best Mee Rebus served in Singapore?

I'm sure many of you had sampled this unique style of this Malay delicacy at BLK724 Ang Mo Kio Centre Hawker Center.

It's not hard to locate the stall - "Yunus & Family", as it's tucked right at the corner of the hawker center.

Try this "Mee Rebus Tarik" which is served together with choice of either chicken or mutton satay, laden with satay gravy on top the main sample - the Mee Rebus.

从黄大炜看对事务的蜕变

其实起初对他的印象不是很好，可能是当时对重摇滚乐不太能接受。

对黄大炜的出现难免会有些排挤、排斥的感觉。

但时间永远是能让些事务与物得到的蜕变最好过程，所以就在不久前重温了黄老师的经典作品 ﹣≪妳把我灌醉≫ 和 ≪愛讓人心碎≫，到觉得不愧是经得起时间的金曲，毕竟这两首歌也已经是进二十年的“老歌”。

或许，真的是有时候，有些事务刚接触时，会有些歧视和异样的心态来应对，但也许久了以后一除下那带有些负面的思维的眼光，看事务与物就截然不同。

不是吗？

经典作品

有＂色＂眼光

人们难免会有那么点偏激的心态，通常会以某种标准来决定那样事务的好与坏。

好比说刚不久前，我来到驰名的旧机场路熟食中心，由于不知道要吃什么就望人多地方去。

于是，来到一档卖炒粿条的摊位，只因有人在排队(也获奖，上报无数)就不假思索地跟着排队。

排了大概十来分钟，叫了一盘炒粿条，结果发现也不过一般。



刚好，斜对面也有一档类似的炒粿条档，人潮就没那么多但也不之于“拍苍蝇”。

所以，就顿时觉得我们是否常用这种以外表来判断事务的心态呢？

说真的，或许这位"获奖无数”的摊贩如果之前不被赞许的话可能也许保持他原有的水平。

但是到如今，位面对顾客的需求，难免在手艺上或许逊色些也说不定。

Let play footy!!!

I just don't know how I fall in love with this game.

To the folks in most part of Australia on the left side of the Barassi Line, it's called FOOTBALL.

To the other side of the "Line" and the rest of the world, the name "AUSSIE RULES".


Basically, it is a game with two teams of 18 players each side playing an oval-shaped football with aim to score more points over another to win the game on oval-shaped pitch.

The point scoring system works as such if a player scores the "GOALl" by placing the ball through in between the two taller poles, it worth six points.

And it's consider "BEHIND", the ball is place through in between the shorter and one of the taller poles.
And when a team wins, they would just SING in their dressing room!!

That's simple intro to FOOTY...

Charity acts - something pointless if for tv show only?

I always have this question come to my mind whenever I seen any of this "help-the-needy" kind of spring cleaning activities undertake by any community organization or corporate entity.

Don't get me wrong while it is something laudable and should be appreciated, but how long and much can we help when the things are "over"?

Very often, we seen trailers on television screening this type of "help-the-needy" program on primetime slots getting volunteers and celebrities to do all kinds of meaningful stuff.

But at the end of the day, what have these gimmicks benefit those in need who were featured on our TV screens?

Should there be someone responsible to follow up on those in need after the end of the program?

If everything head back to square one after those touching scenes on TV, I think it's POINTLESS and WASTE of TIME...

Testing ground for blogbooster

a snap of Bedok Central in the evening

Somehow or rather, the download of this iPhone application - "blogbooster" could only meant one time - blog on the go!

Never thought this is something free and now I have it and that's it..

And this blog had just become the testing ground and so far so good ;)

An Apple noobie...

The "Macbook" I won!!

I hate apple since young.

I'm not sure if that was because "first impression LAST" when I first tasted an apple that wasn't crunchy enough that since then my impression of it stayed that way.

And honestly speaking, I wondering if that was the case too when I first started computing we were trained using "Microsoft" machine that chance of using an "Apple" PC was pretty remote.

So much so, I once declared - "I'm NOT AN APPLE person".

The "iPhone" I got it a few weeks and LOVE it...

However, lately a twist of fate I saw myself being an owner to two AWESOME "APPLE" products (yeah, you saw that word AWESOME) - an iPhone and a Macbook. And since I got them both I will have fully utilize them

Nothing much to do in order to get myself comfortable with iPhone, while the bigger challenge awaits for me when I first switch on my "Macbook"

How it first looked like on the screen when I switched on the power.

I think the main concern I have on my "Macbook" is the limited USB slots given (only TWO!), as you can see from the picture above that when I slotted in my mobile broadband modem, it is impossible to slot in another USB equipment.

I tried this method (as pictured above) using an USB hub to insert my modem and compliment with the card-reader, but the issue now is lays with the connectivity to the internet using this "extended" method, as it tends to cut-off momentary.

But one thing does amazed me is how easy to navigate the movement of the cursor using this trackpad (pictured above) as compared to those Window-based laptop (that's my take on that).

Was told how graphics designers adored "apple" as they give more "sharper" details as compared to Windows PC, well, it's quite true in sense as some of the pictures I snapped looked better on Macbook.

But at the meantime, it's still a long way to go before I get myself familiarized with some of the key-commands, etc.

So, I can't say "I'm NOT an APPLE person now"...

Willie Farquhar - a misunderstood man?

During our history lesson back in school, we were being etched onto our mind that Sir Thomas Stafford Raffles was the founder of modern Singapore in1819.

While his "good friend" Colonel William Farquhar was merely mentioned as his deputy in the negotiation with Tengku Long (later Sultan Hussein) of Johor to allow the British to set up a trading post in Singapore, in return for the Britain's recognition of Tengku Long as the rightful ruler of the Johor-Riau Sultanate.

Last piece of details we had learnt on Farquhar was that he was fired by Raffles as the "Resident" of Singapore for "not doing good job of running the newly set-up trading post" and allowing unethical activities such as "gambling and cock-fighting" to flourish.

Yet when I visited the "William Farquhar Exhibition" held at the National Library. I was being presented to a different side of Scottish-born administrator.

As you can see from the text above, Farquhar actually was "wronged" to be labelled as the "destroyer" of Malacca as he was the one who ordered the preservation of the "A'Formosa", the Christchurch and other historical landmarks.

It was revealed that the "Rajah of Melaka" (as he was nicknamed as) fought hard to have the historical town to be preserve, after the British saw Malacca as a threat to their newly set-up based in Penang.

While the illustration above mentioned that Farquhar claimed he was the one who found Singapore, not Raffles.

So much so that he actually wrote to the press (as pictured above) to stake his share of honour after the widow of his "friend-turned-foe" claimed full credit for founding Singapore.

In the account shown during the exhibition that this first Resident of Singapore was a "well-liked" man by all the communities in this island and a grand farewell party and sending off was organized in his honour.

Yet, during my school days he was being portrayed as an "incompetent" administrator, who actually should be credited for laying the foundation of this island with scarce resources and staff at the point of time.

Alas, it prompted me to left a message on my tweets that reflected on my Facebook as well ...

Interesting to see how history can be dat biased after visited much discredited Willie Farquhar's exhb at NLB

Soon after that was a reply by a friend on my Facebook

History is written by the victors...and most of the time, the vanquished aren't always the bad ones in reality (sic)

How true it is, as people will always remember and lauded those who were superiors...

Something to ponder....

I chanced upon this letter to one of the newspapers' feedback column.

It's not your typical-complaint-type of letter that had turned most feedback columns in most papers to your typical "complaint bureau".

Sometimes, it's really refreshing to read something like this from the newspapers and give a deep thoughts on what the writer is thinking.

A nice pictorial

When I was in secondary school, history was definitely my favourite subject.

Unlike most of my peers who struggled to memorize the dates, event, key persons, their involvement, etc.

It's like reading a non-fiction storybook to me, since it was something that really took place in the place in the past and furthermore my keen interest in politics (however, not to get involved with it though).

Days ago, I came across this pictorial - "Through the Eyes of The King" (pictured above) at Bishan Library.

This pictorial detailed the visits of Thailand's King Chulalongkorn's (the grandfather of the present Thai monarch) to Malaya - that included Singapore during his reign (1868-1910) with comprehensive information coupled with old photographs, oil paintings of those colonial days.

King Chulalongkorn continued the modernization of Siam started by his father, King Mongkut.

A group photograph of the Thai Royal Family during one of their visits to Singapore.

Old photographs and oil paintings of the colonial Singapore and Malaya are depicted inside this pictorial.

IT product fair can be fun and enjoyable, if one...

Always plan your route
Normally, the event hall of any large scale IT fair is like venturing into a giant maze with booths, stalls of vary sizes dotted around everywhere.

Despite the very best effort to widen the walkway that segregated stalls from stalls, many visitors still find it a mammoth task to walk among the crowds. Very often, pushing and shoving being part and parcel of the game while scavenging through the wares.

As the result, it's important to plan your route properly before entering the war zone, so that you need not have to waste your precious time hunting high and low amid the human jam.

Common sight at any IT product fair - WHERE'S MOMMY? (think carefully before bringing small kids to such condensed venue)

Unfortunately, it's not always the case that the floor plan of any fair is made available for the visitors (unless, there are some kind Samaritans who are kind enough to scan and uploading popular message forums to share with the rest.) that one has to be at the main entrance, take a sneak peek before plotting their next move.

Since such an event would spread over the weekend (traditional from Thursday to Sunday) and if I really have the time and something to look for, this is normally what I do.

• FIRST DAY – collect brochures, hand-out of ONLY my desired products
• REST of the EVENT – compared and monitoring the prices fluctuation of those products, while researching for more essential information from whatever source.
• DECISION DAY – it could be any day other the FIRST DAY, when you decided to head down, pay the money and EXIT out of the human jam, unless you still have the mood to carry on.
  

Price-slashing exercise is a common gimmick to draw customers who are constantly on the lookout for best bargain.

Although, I tend to be apprehensive if it's true that best time to get the best bargain would be the LAST day of the event, as numbers of booths are keen to offload their barang, thus carry out price-lashing on the final day.

Know what you want.
My observation is that many people always think you'll get the best bargain in fair like these.

I bought this bluetooth headset, but only to sell it away as I hardly use it because hassle of using it.

True to certain extent with some of those freebies that come along with it, which at the end of day you would realize that either those complimentary gifts are those lower-end or you deemed redundant.

Although, there were case that if some of these complimentary gifts are not required, some consumers would just ask for some other stuff of similar value OR put up for sale on the net to recover some of the costs.

Be firm and don't easily get sway by those sweet-talk by those promoters about how great, wonderful their gadgets are and end up paying dearly for nothing (like a solar-charger- pictured above - which I hardly use it).

Do your homework at HOME
Of course, without saying it's true in this instance.

You can't never depend much on these promoters (illustrated in picture below) for more in-depth information on your desired product, other than asking them the price, warranty and those freebies.

Never my intention to belittle these girls and boys, nonetheless, in my countless of dealings with these kids you can tell that lack of knowledge and uncertainty when dealing with floods of enquiries from those often eager, yet impatient customers.

Once, I asked one of these kids whether a PDA phone I keen on is loaded (pre-installed) with Chinese language software.

"Yes..." he replied confidently.

"So what is the name of this software?" I followed up from what he answered.

Nonchalantly, he added, "No, you must install it!"

Rather taken aback but I pressed on, "And what is the name of software?"

"DUNNO!" he answered.

"#$%*&..." I said to myself after wasting my time at that booth.

So from then onwards, I followed what seasoned consumers always do – researched and concluded everything at all places, except at the venue halls.

Sites like "HWZ" and "VR-ZONE" are places where most IT problems are answered and discussed.

To put it bluntly, it's the commission that these kids count on and consumers themselves have a part to play by not asking those irrelevant or too technical questions that no one really have the luxury of time to explain in such a constrained environment.

Conclusion
At the end of the day, I would say go to any IT product fair can be fun and enjoyable, if each and everyone play his or her part for being more patient, considering etc.

Just sharing some of my insights and please feel free to share your thoughts with me too.

Appreciate the art of photo-taking

I realized it photo-taking is more than zooming and focusing after I bought my "Fuji S2000" (above).

As a "noobie" (novice) in this art, terms like shutterspeed, aperture, ISO etc. are some of the jargons I came to pick up or refresh along the away.

When I'm using my compact "Fuji F31fd", those jargons were not issues since all the default settings are good enough to meet my expectations.

Fuji F31fd - this has been my default camera since Jul 2007

And that's being the reason why I decided to opt "Fuji" when I decided to buy a much sophisticated camera, but to realize it's the camera NOT brand that determine the outcome of the picture, as what a colleague told me.

Having "trial and error" a few sessions before he said that, I realized what he meant.

There were a few shots I took that failed to "freeze" the motions of subjects, it was then the term "shutterspeed" came to the picture.

Like this picture here, I was told by increase the "shutterspeed" and "ISO" would eliminate the "shakiness" of this picture.

Increase of the "Shutterspeed" would have "freeze" the motion right?

The increase of the "shutterspeed" is not the deciding factor if the "aperture" is not able to compliment with it, as this may result the picture to be "over or underexposed".

As the result, the ISO setting of the shot would decide how much light it's going to "brighten" up the picture, but the over-reliant of this setting will do more harm than good to it with the end-product will turn out to be pixelated or "noisy" in photography term.

Toa Payoh Stadium is one such photographers' nightmare, if one's camera is like your truly's

Other that the above-mentioned, the other critical thing to take note is the lenses of the camera. It is to say the importance of camera's lenses is more than that of the body itself because the focusing of it on the subject is equally crucial.

When I first got my “S2000", the idea was to get something that is "presentable" to be alongside with the rest (you can't expect someone holds a "compact" cam among this crop of shutterbugs, as above).

Soon, the reality struck and what a shock I was in when I first made my debut on the pitch side of Jalan Besar Stadium.

Beside the ability to anticipate where actions are going to take place is something that really takes time to master, constantly having to change the camera settings according to the surrounding lighting is another arduous task as I need to have fast, nimble fingers to press those tiny buttons on the camera body as and when is essential.

Two pictures of the Old Supreme Court - the day was shot using hand-held, while the night-shot was aided with tripod.

This picture was digitally enhanced to look more "sharper" as the subjects are those buildings and Singapore River.

I also learnt that when taking picture like the above-portrayed, it's best to remain still until the shutter is sounded.

It taught me that how good the picture was taken also depend on the lighting condition then and as times goes by, I appreciate terms as such “RAW” images, why DSLR is the preferred choice for sports photography, the use of “monopod” instead of “tripod” when taking action photos, the importance of using “slow-sychronized” flash in poorly-lit areas etc.

Perhaps at this stage, what my colleague told me are areas I should be focusing at,

“Basically, photo-taking is about 'trial and error', it's doesn't matter which brand you using but the camera you're holding.

You may have master the settings of one particular camera, but that settings doesn't mean are applicable to other cameras as each individual camera varies from one and another.

It's about keep shooting and practicing.”

Wise words, indeed.... Thanks.

其实，参加类似《抢摊大行动》的节目不一定能达到期望的效果甚至也是恶梦的开始。

(照片提供∶抢摊大行动2 Facebook 区)

借由名厨指点和加上电视的大批宣传一番后，如果日后无法维持原先所传受的一切，即使挂着印有这节目的标志的招牌也无法能挽回食客的谓。

但也有些人认为向节目寻求援助的落难档主是受到节目播出后的社会，舆论压力而崩溃渐渐无法发挥节目内“大试吃”所展现出的水平。

与此同时，制作组因公信力的考量也为这节目设下严格的标准，就因为地给欢众一个交待。

也就因在这公信力的前提下，观众如果无法尝到节目所塑造成的口碑，就有这权利来发表对食物的评价和看法。

也因如此，残酷的现象都几乎出现在多数参与的档口—节目播出后所带来的另一批“坚定团”。

通常来者，多数是试吃的心态，一旦达不到所设的标准，就会有那种“吃过一次就算”的心理。

另方面，被债务和许多开销的负担所累，这些档主也会趁这“热潮”能赚多就尽量应付大家的“期望”。

也就是这样不眠不休的情况下,也难怪长厨的人可能在体力耗损后影响了所端出的佳肴。




而预告片呈现出的画面是不会撒谎地，名厨们大多也为了自己的面子及名誉，而好无保留的斥责这些无法保持水准的徒弟。

像那位卖肉脞面档主的经典语录：“师父，我，我不可太压力地，我会疯掉地！”已很好地印证参与这节目过程地背负起的义务及责任。

结果，忙到来也是一场空。