Tuesday, November 28, 2006
JP ONRY
This is something I brought over from my FF'ing. On Vanadiel, there are some issues between the NAs and the JPs. For all those not in the know, NA refer to North American and JP refer to Japanese.
So the NA think JPs hate them and discriminate them (of course there are also JP fanboys) and I guess the same goes the other way.
Anyway, just came across this on Youtube, probably from the same camp as those listed above. Bet this would be an interesting photo project.
0 Adorations
This is something I brought over from my FF'ing. On Vanadiel, there are some issues between the NAs and the JPs. For all those not in the know, NA refer to North American and JP refer to Japanese.
So the NA think JPs hate them and discriminate them (of course there are also JP fanboys) and I guess the same goes the other way.
Anyway, just came across this on Youtube, probably from the same camp as those listed above. Bet this would be an interesting photo project.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Tis The Season To Be Spendin'
Yep, bet everyone has received the customary festive discounts and special offers. Well, I usually don't take much advantage of them. Still I will browse through a bit and the only thing from all the banks promo that I picked up is the 15% disc for $80 purchase at Crabtree and Evelyn and the 15% disc for $30 at Perlini's Silver.
Incidentally, I don't even buy stuff at these places but I have a friend who seems like she might like them. So in the end, I did not find anything I like. As usual.
Oh. And I am determined to have an Andersen's meal by 30th November.
On another note, I just spent $37.50 on 8 books at the popular Mega Sale yesterday. Not really worth going if you are not in the area though.
2 Adorations
Yep, bet everyone has received the customary festive discounts and special offers. Well, I usually don't take much advantage of them. Still I will browse through a bit and the only thing from all the banks promo that I picked up is the 15% disc for $80 purchase at Crabtree and Evelyn and the 15% disc for $30 at Perlini's Silver.
Incidentally, I don't even buy stuff at these places but I have a friend who seems like she might like them. So in the end, I did not find anything I like. As usual.
Oh. And I am determined to have an Andersen's meal by 30th November.
On another note, I just spent $37.50 on 8 books at the popular Mega Sale yesterday. Not really worth going if you are not in the area though.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Announcement
I have an Important Announcement to make.
I have bought myself a copy of Final Fantasy V GBA (English).
That is all.
0 Adorations
I have an Important Announcement to make.
I have bought myself a copy of Final Fantasy V GBA (English).
That is all.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Mathematical Mutilation
I just got this from a forum I visit sometimes.
It's cool to me cos I hate maths. To the core. The only numbers I like are those in my bank book and they don't look anywhere near difficult for even a 5 year old.
0 Adorations
I just got this from a forum I visit sometimes.
It's cool to me cos I hate maths. To the core. The only numbers I like are those in my bank book and they don't look anywhere near difficult for even a 5 year old.
Increase in GST. Any Difference For Me?
After having a little bit of time to think about the increase in GST to 7%, I got to thinking how this may possibly affect me.
First of all, let's assume a 100% no change in spending habits on my part. That's a flat 2% increase in expenditure (or a 40% increase in GST expenditure).
Of course, one can change spending habits, but there are somethings that you simply cannot do without. Like rice. So we end up with a bunch of stuff we simply must spend money on, absolute necessities. I will call this the expenditure floor.
The expenditure floor should be about the same for every single person, regardless of the amount of money they earn. In this respect, who will end up worse for wear in a tax increase? I am not sure if the absolute necessities are currently exempt from GST but it's an idea that's tinkering around. After all, those who are well off could not possibly gain much from a GST exemption on these items but it could well make a difference to someone who is strapped for cash.
On a $500 expenditure, the increase will come up to $10, enough for 4 packets of chicken rice.
Of course, good things for low income people are promised on the back of this increase, but I would rather not be the recipient of these goodies (because of the financial implications) and thus I do not expect to benefit much from these plans.
I guess we have to wait till February next year to see how this all pans out and how it will benefit low income people more when it is implemented.
0 Adorations
After having a little bit of time to think about the increase in GST to 7%, I got to thinking how this may possibly affect me.
First of all, let's assume a 100% no change in spending habits on my part. That's a flat 2% increase in expenditure (or a 40% increase in GST expenditure).
Of course, one can change spending habits, but there are somethings that you simply cannot do without. Like rice. So we end up with a bunch of stuff we simply must spend money on, absolute necessities. I will call this the expenditure floor.
The expenditure floor should be about the same for every single person, regardless of the amount of money they earn. In this respect, who will end up worse for wear in a tax increase? I am not sure if the absolute necessities are currently exempt from GST but it's an idea that's tinkering around. After all, those who are well off could not possibly gain much from a GST exemption on these items but it could well make a difference to someone who is strapped for cash.
On a $500 expenditure, the increase will come up to $10, enough for 4 packets of chicken rice.
Of course, good things for low income people are promised on the back of this increase, but I would rather not be the recipient of these goodies (because of the financial implications) and thus I do not expect to benefit much from these plans.
I guess we have to wait till February next year to see how this all pans out and how it will benefit low income people more when it is implemented.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Why My Firefox Could Not Work With UOB
I was surprised to notice a large number of comments being posted on my post on my Firefox 1.5.0.8 not working with UOB. I had no idea where they were coming from, but an enlightened friend showed me the tomorrow page.
Now, as I have started the flak around Firefox and UOB, I feel the need to clarify things a bit.
First of all, previous to the incident when I could not use Firefox with UOB, I was happily using Firefox to access UOB. It just so happened that some settings of mine must have been screwed up by something I did. I'm not a very good tweaker of browsers so I decided to call UOB Technical Helpdesk to see what they can do.
At that point in time, the Helpdesk told me that a memo was circulated informing the Helpdesk that only IE 6 is being supported by UOB. This then led to my statement on why should we be forced to use IE.
I feel the need to clarify this, because out of the comments I have received, alot of them either feel that I did not check facts or something to that effect.
It is a fact that my firefox could not access UOB and I called UOB Helpdesk and got the 'IE 6 only' info .
I did not state that ALL users of Firefox CANNOT access UOB.
If anyone STILL feels that I need to double check facts (or triple check or qudruple check it), please call UOB to ask them what browser they support. I have just verified the information as of 1911 hrs 14th November 2006 that they only support IE 6. They also do not recommend using IE 7.
I appreciate those who have helped me to sort out my browser issues and I am glad to announce that I have upgraded to Firefox 2.0 and am currently able to access UOB iBanking site with Firefox.
Now someone help me sort out my post limit issue!
2 Adorations
I was surprised to notice a large number of comments being posted on my post on my Firefox 1.5.0.8 not working with UOB. I had no idea where they were coming from, but an enlightened friend showed me the tomorrow page.
Now, as I have started the flak around Firefox and UOB, I feel the need to clarify things a bit.
First of all, previous to the incident when I could not use Firefox with UOB, I was happily using Firefox to access UOB. It just so happened that some settings of mine must have been screwed up by something I did. I'm not a very good tweaker of browsers so I decided to call UOB Technical Helpdesk to see what they can do.
At that point in time, the Helpdesk told me that a memo was circulated informing the Helpdesk that only IE 6 is being supported by UOB. This then led to my statement on why should we be forced to use IE.
I feel the need to clarify this, because out of the comments I have received, alot of them either feel that I did not check facts or something to that effect.
It is a fact that my firefox could not access UOB and I called UOB Helpdesk and got the 'IE 6 only' info .
I did not state that ALL users of Firefox CANNOT access UOB.
If anyone STILL feels that I need to double check facts (or triple check or qudruple check it), please call UOB to ask them what browser they support. I have just verified the information as of 1911 hrs 14th November 2006 that they only support IE 6. They also do not recommend using IE 7.
I appreciate those who have helped me to sort out my browser issues and I am glad to announce that I have upgraded to Firefox 2.0 and am currently able to access UOB iBanking site with Firefox.
Now someone help me sort out my post limit issue!
Monday, November 13, 2006
Errors in Article. Hmm.
Maybe I should really think about being an English teacher of sorts.
I was reading a Channel News Asia article and I saw the following errors. Why am I so picky about these typos? It's because they appear in a publication that should have been proof read! I don't care if you misspell half the words on your blog, but if you write for a living, for goodness sake get it right.
The Article
Error: Scandinavian misspelt as Scandanavian and Scadanavian. Perhaps both Scandinavian and Scandanavian are acceptable, but I'm sure scadanavian is not! (" ... cannot follow the Scandanavian model of 'welfarism'. Examples include Scadanavians not depending... ")
Error: Permanent misspelt as permanant (" it becomes an entitlement, it's permanant, there'll be budget deficits...")
And someone needs to explain to me what is a 'social compact ("...because globalisation is going to strain our social compact.")
0 Adorations
Maybe I should really think about being an English teacher of sorts.
I was reading a Channel News Asia article and I saw the following errors. Why am I so picky about these typos? It's because they appear in a publication that should have been proof read! I don't care if you misspell half the words on your blog, but if you write for a living, for goodness sake get it right.
The Article
Error: Scandinavian misspelt as Scandanavian and Scadanavian. Perhaps both Scandinavian and Scandanavian are acceptable, but I'm sure scadanavian is not! (" ... cannot follow the Scandanavian model of 'welfarism'. Examples include Scadanavians not depending... ")
Error: Permanent misspelt as permanant (" it becomes an entitlement, it's permanant, there'll be budget deficits...")
And someone needs to explain to me what is a 'social compact ("...because globalisation is going to strain our social compact.")
Are We Turning Into a Welfare State?
PM has announced an increase in GST, from 5% to 7% (read full article here). This hike, as emphasised by PM Lee is " necessary to finance the enhanced social safety nets needed to help the lower income group".
Does this imply that we will eventually turn into a welfare state? If taxes go up and yet the 'offsets' in terms of helping the lower income families is inequitable, then why the increase? If offsets are equitable, wow, I'm really going to have to bend my mind around the notion then we are moving in a semblance of welfare.
Then again, welfarism is pretty subjective. What one deems to be welfarism might be what another thinks to a an entitlement.
IMHO, for Singapore to be a welfare state... hmm... not much chance.
0 Adorations
PM has announced an increase in GST, from 5% to 7% (read full article here). This hike, as emphasised by PM Lee is " necessary to finance the enhanced social safety nets needed to help the lower income group".
Does this imply that we will eventually turn into a welfare state? If taxes go up and yet the 'offsets' in terms of helping the lower income families is inequitable, then why the increase? If offsets are equitable, wow, I'm really going to have to bend my mind around the notion then we are moving in a semblance of welfare.
Then again, welfarism is pretty subjective. What one deems to be welfarism might be what another thinks to a an entitlement.
IMHO, for Singapore to be a welfare state... hmm... not much chance.
Upgrade!
I have just upgraded to Firefox 2.0 and the first thing I need to say is that I can log onto UOB without IE ! I had to enable SSL 3.0 encryption in Firefox first though, but that was an easy one to solve this time round. Now if only this installation also resolved the dumb post limit issue I have been nagging on and on about.
Firefox 2.0 is choke full of new features and I have yet to figure them out. Most obvious are the 'close tab' buttons on each tab, the ability to re-open your most recently closed tabs, and a inbuilt spell checker! As I am typing this post, Firefox is checking my spelling ^^
The installation was quite painless. Download, install, go! It was done in about 3 mins.
Tomorrow is the audit that I blew my leave for. I hope the course that I am supposed to be in charge of next month is cancelled so that I can clear my leave, or else I will just devise something to make it worth my time taking this bunch of new guys through their course. Heh. Heh heh. Heh heh heh.
Anyway after using the word 'cancelled' in the above paragraph, I think Firefox's spell check is aligned to American English. It wants me to use 'canceled'.
I am just coming to realise the extent of ignorance my colleague has. He is a good worker. He wants to get things completed (many time at my exasperation but I guess you can't fault people for doing work) but my goodness he can be clueless about the most basic things. I'm trying to be nicer to him, but it takes time and sometimes, you just can't let him do what he wants cos it affects too many people.
He'd be a great co worker for people who love to delegate jobs left and right. Just stuff the job to him and let him do it. He'll be happy cos he's got work to do and the delegator is happy cos he doesn't need to do the work. Maybe I should learn to delegate BIG TIME. Win win situation.
0 Adorations
I have just upgraded to Firefox 2.0 and the first thing I need to say is that I can log onto UOB without IE ! I had to enable SSL 3.0 encryption in Firefox first though, but that was an easy one to solve this time round. Now if only this installation also resolved the dumb post limit issue I have been nagging on and on about.
Firefox 2.0 is choke full of new features and I have yet to figure them out. Most obvious are the 'close tab' buttons on each tab, the ability to re-open your most recently closed tabs, and a inbuilt spell checker! As I am typing this post, Firefox is checking my spelling ^^
The installation was quite painless. Download, install, go! It was done in about 3 mins.
Tomorrow is the audit that I blew my leave for. I hope the course that I am supposed to be in charge of next month is cancelled so that I can clear my leave, or else I will just devise something to make it worth my time taking this bunch of new guys through their course. Heh. Heh heh. Heh heh heh.
Anyway after using the word 'cancelled' in the above paragraph, I think Firefox's spell check is aligned to American English. It wants me to use 'canceled'.
I am just coming to realise the extent of ignorance my colleague has. He is a good worker. He wants to get things completed (many time at my exasperation but I guess you can't fault people for doing work) but my goodness he can be clueless about the most basic things. I'm trying to be nicer to him, but it takes time and sometimes, you just can't let him do what he wants cos it affects too many people.
He'd be a great co worker for people who love to delegate jobs left and right. Just stuff the job to him and let him do it. He'll be happy cos he's got work to do and the delegator is happy cos he doesn't need to do the work. Maybe I should learn to delegate BIG TIME. Win win situation.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Kusu Island (Part 1)
*Note: My post limit is STILL THERE!!!*
Yep. Went to Kusu Island today. Ahh. Reminds me of all the antics I got up to when I was knee high to a grasshopper. Well. Not really that short but anyways.
First, you now have to go to Marina South Pier to board a ferry to Kusu. I overheard a couple of comments on how great it was that it is "now only a 15 min ferry ride!" as opposed to the previous 30 min ferry ride. Yeah and they forgot to add in the additional 30 mins waiting for service 402 to bring us to the Pier.
Talking about service 402, the staff at Marina Bay MRT station were adamant to make sure we were not lost on our way to Kusu.
And look at this cute tortoise couple!!
0 Adorations
*Note: My post limit is STILL THERE!!!*
Yep. Went to Kusu Island today. Ahh. Reminds me of all the antics I got up to when I was knee high to a grasshopper. Well. Not really that short but anyways.
First, you now have to go to Marina South Pier to board a ferry to Kusu. I overheard a couple of comments on how great it was that it is "now only a 15 min ferry ride!" as opposed to the previous 30 min ferry ride. Yeah and they forgot to add in the additional 30 mins waiting for service 402 to bring us to the Pier.
Talking about service 402, the staff at Marina Bay MRT station were adamant to make sure we were not lost on our way to Kusu.
And look at this cute tortoise couple!!
Kusu Island (Part 2)
Anyways, the crowd going to Kusu is NOTHING like what it used to be. With the increasing differentiation between Taoism and Buddhism (and the great numbers of mixed people labeled as Buddhist) as well as the younger generation probably not even considering a trip to Kusu as something they want to do, the sunday crowd has dwindled greatly. I'd say maybe 20% of what it used to be 10 years ago but perhaps it's cos most people went during the first 9 days of the month.
Whilst there, we could see the storm clouds gathering on Mainland, but Kusu was sunny as ever.
After having tea there and walking round the island, we figured it was time to go back to mainland. Upon disembarking, we encountered someone giving out pamphlets for the Buddhist "舍利" event. I had half a mind to ask the person what they felt was their relevance there during the Kusu Pilgrimage.. but um.. I didn't. My friend said :"go go go!" but walked away. Boo. Hahah!!
Oh. And O'Brien's does not have crispy bacon on the menu anymore.
1 Adorations
Anyways, the crowd going to Kusu is NOTHING like what it used to be. With the increasing differentiation between Taoism and Buddhism (and the great numbers of mixed people labeled as Buddhist) as well as the younger generation probably not even considering a trip to Kusu as something they want to do, the sunday crowd has dwindled greatly. I'd say maybe 20% of what it used to be 10 years ago but perhaps it's cos most people went during the first 9 days of the month.
Whilst there, we could see the storm clouds gathering on Mainland, but Kusu was sunny as ever.
After having tea there and walking round the island, we figured it was time to go back to mainland. Upon disembarking, we encountered someone giving out pamphlets for the Buddhist "舍利" event. I had half a mind to ask the person what they felt was their relevance there during the Kusu Pilgrimage.. but um.. I didn't. My friend said :"go go go!" but walked away. Boo. Hahah!!
Oh. And O'Brien's does not have crispy bacon on the menu anymore.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
iBanking, IE only?
CLARIFICATION!!: Please read this post for clarification on the Firefox and UOB issue. I did not say ALL Firefox browser CANNOT work with UOB. I merely posted information told to me by the technical helpdesk when I encountered difficulties with my browser (which was probably my own doing) and I did not distort the information in anyway. If you feel that I should have checked my facts before posting, then please, kindly call UOB and check with them what browser they support.
Now this is the original post.
*************************
I'm a user of UOB internet banking, and quite some time ago, I was unable to use Firefox to login to my internet banking account. After calling up the techinical helpdesk etc, I found out that UOB does not support Firefox. WHY? They recommend using IE.
I made a comment to the tech that we all know how secure IE is, therefore why force us to use IE. Guess what, the tech had no comments at all. I think deep down inside, he agreed with me but of course he could not verbalise that opinion.
Till this day, I cannot understand why I cannot use Firefox to login to UOB internet banking services. This happened quite suddenly after a long period of me using Firefox happily.
15 Adorations
CLARIFICATION!!: Please read this post for clarification on the Firefox and UOB issue. I did not say ALL Firefox browser CANNOT work with UOB. I merely posted information told to me by the technical helpdesk when I encountered difficulties with my browser (which was probably my own doing) and I did not distort the information in anyway. If you feel that I should have checked my facts before posting, then please, kindly call UOB and check with them what browser they support.
Now this is the original post.
*************************
I'm a user of UOB internet banking, and quite some time ago, I was unable to use Firefox to login to my internet banking account. After calling up the techinical helpdesk etc, I found out that UOB does not support Firefox. WHY? They recommend using IE.
I made a comment to the tech that we all know how secure IE is, therefore why force us to use IE. Guess what, the tech had no comments at all. I think deep down inside, he agreed with me but of course he could not verbalise that opinion.
Till this day, I cannot understand why I cannot use Firefox to login to UOB internet banking services. This happened quite suddenly after a long period of me using Firefox happily.
Post Limit, Begone?
Just in case anyone remembers me griping about limits in my post length, I think I may have found the solution. While there is no post limit, Blogger has a 1MB page limit, so you cannot exceed that limit per page.
I have reduced the number of posts displayed on the main page to 8 (it was 10). We'll see whether that works out. I haven't quite worked out how that allowed me to posts much longer posts while in Australia, but I guess that was probably at a time when my page limit happened to be much lower.
Another thing I'm thinking of changing is post archival. As you can see, the archives are listed on the left hand side in months. As time goes by, that list will grow to be very very long and it would look absolutely horrible. As far as I know, the other option is to only display a limited number of previous posts. My ideal is to be able to retrieve old posts easily, but I don't think that is supported by Blogger.
Also, if anyone knows of a way to update book reading lists without manually going into the template and changing it, please let me know. I currently manually add the book into the template. Please see "Currently Reading" in the left hand bar.
Incidentally, I do think that I have exceeded the normal 'post limit' I would have had. I am going to save a copy of this post, and press the "Publish Post" button. If you are reading this, then that means I found the solution ^^
0 Adorations
Just in case anyone remembers me griping about limits in my post length, I think I may have found the solution. While there is no post limit, Blogger has a 1MB page limit, so you cannot exceed that limit per page.
I have reduced the number of posts displayed on the main page to 8 (it was 10). We'll see whether that works out. I haven't quite worked out how that allowed me to posts much longer posts while in Australia, but I guess that was probably at a time when my page limit happened to be much lower.
Another thing I'm thinking of changing is post archival. As you can see, the archives are listed on the left hand side in months. As time goes by, that list will grow to be very very long and it would look absolutely horrible. As far as I know, the other option is to only display a limited number of previous posts. My ideal is to be able to retrieve old posts easily, but I don't think that is supported by Blogger.
Also, if anyone knows of a way to update book reading lists without manually going into the template and changing it, please let me know. I currently manually add the book into the template. Please see "Currently Reading" in the left hand bar.
Incidentally, I do think that I have exceeded the normal 'post limit' I would have had. I am going to save a copy of this post, and press the "Publish Post" button. If you are reading this, then that means I found the solution ^^
TARA Online. Complete.
Took us a mere 40 mins to complete, inclusive of all the login problems and page refreshing etc. There was only 2 route markers. Route Marker 12 and then a road block. Completion of the road block means you have reached the Pit Stop....
I'm so disappointed. the 1st Leg was much more fun than the 2nd Leg (which was marred by login issues).
At the end of the day, I still like TAR
0 Adorations
Took us a mere 40 mins to complete, inclusive of all the login problems and page refreshing etc. There was only 2 route markers. Route Marker 12 and then a road block. Completion of the road block means you have reached the Pit Stop....
I'm so disappointed. the 1st Leg was much more fun than the 2nd Leg (which was marred by login issues).
At the end of the day, I still like TAR
Friday, November 10, 2006
Search for a New Handphone: Begin!
Well, I dropped my phone bad twice in 2 days. I'm not sure if that had any undesirable effects on the phone but it seemed as if the reception is a bit worse for the wear these ciouple of days. Of course, I am working in an area where the reception isn't very good anyway (That's my service provider for you).
So I figured that I might want to start looking for a new phone.
Rule number 1: No camera.
So I went to a HP shop just now, and they only had 2 phones that were non-camera phones. Motorola W220 and Nokia 2310 I think.
I hate Motorola. However, this piece looks quite pretty. I was quoted $188 for a non contract phone. I was tempted to buy it then and there, but I remembered that I hated Motorola UI .... and I don't know what's the market rate for this phone. Not to mention that I am also hoping to find SE Z300 for sale.
Any recommendations? Anyone?
0 Adorations
Well, I dropped my phone bad twice in 2 days. I'm not sure if that had any undesirable effects on the phone but it seemed as if the reception is a bit worse for the wear these ciouple of days. Of course, I am working in an area where the reception isn't very good anyway (That's my service provider for you).
So I figured that I might want to start looking for a new phone.
Rule number 1: No camera.
So I went to a HP shop just now, and they only had 2 phones that were non-camera phones. Motorola W220 and Nokia 2310 I think.
I hate Motorola. However, this piece looks quite pretty. I was quoted $188 for a non contract phone. I was tempted to buy it then and there, but I remembered that I hated Motorola UI .... and I don't know what's the market rate for this phone. Not to mention that I am also hoping to find SE Z300 for sale.
Any recommendations? Anyone?
Thursday, November 09, 2006
TARA Online Race.. Past Elimination!
Well, me being quite the TAR buff... I HAD to take part in the TARA Online Race. Clean forgot about it untill today when my friend reminded me (OMG!) and we managed to get through the Online Race in 1 hr and 20 mins. I think that's a pretty decent timing especially when you see those that took 4 days.
Now to wait for Part 2 of the Race ^^
Excitement!
0 Adorations
Well, me being quite the TAR buff... I HAD to take part in the TARA Online Race. Clean forgot about it untill today when my friend reminded me (OMG!) and we managed to get through the Online Race in 1 hr and 20 mins. I think that's a pretty decent timing especially when you see those that took 4 days.
Now to wait for Part 2 of the Race ^^
Excitement!
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
On Leave...
本小姐这个礼拜是 on leave 的喔！I just got back from work...... at 2345hrs. That's during a week when I am supposed to be on leave. I doubt I can take leave this week... all because of a nice audit coming up next tuesday.
Thank you audit. I <3 you much.
再说一次。 本小姐这个礼拜是放大假的！！
0 Adorations
本小姐这个礼拜是 on leave 的喔！I just got back from work...... at 2345hrs. That's during a week when I am supposed to be on leave. I doubt I can take leave this week... all because of a nice audit coming up next tuesday.
Thank you audit. I <3 you much.
再说一次。 本小姐这个礼拜是放大假的！！
