Tux-Hacker

Real Betis 1-2 Liverpool

2005-09-15T15:47:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

Our first Champions League group stage match ended in a 2-1 win over Real Betis in Spain. Stevie was not in the team. Yes, it's true. We won. I'm delighted that we won without Stevie. Not that he was not playing, but rather we're not a one-man team. The miserable plight of England has been splashed all over the newspapers. And the most important reason is the tactics of Sven being built around David "celebrity" Beckham. A one-man team ain't going to succeed, period.

We took an early goal lead through a curling Pongolle lob over the Betis keeper. 2-0 up when Garcia got one from a Zenden low cross. The Betis fans were playing a huge role throughout the match. The atmosphere was pressurizing but our Spanish players were coping very well. We were playing a really good team game despite people questioning Rafa's tactics.

Betis grabbed one goal back in the second half. Our defensive line suffered a sudden lapse, allowing Arzu to get an easy goal. We were in a defensive siege during most of the second half. Stevie came on in the late stages and we held on. This is a great win for us. Real Betis is a team that could frighten even Real Madrid when on home ground. Keep it up, lads!

Tottenham 0-0 Liverpool

2005-09-12T13:21:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

We were played to a goalless draw at White Hart Lane on Saturday. Our midfield were clearly outperformed by the presence of Davids, Carrick and Jenas. I really wonder why Tottenham could get so many midfield talents while Liverpool only managed to sign a few youngsters and so few quality players. Let's just hope Rafa can get some more players in during Christmas. Joaquin should be a good signing. One more centre-back and one more quality striker who can get more than 20 goals per season.

Crouch played his first competitive game of the season. He could have got a debut goal if not for the bizzare corner-kick. Two goals were disallowed in this game due to strangely taken corner-kicks. Tottenham could have got a goal first. But the ball curled out and back in. The linesman decided it was a goal kick. Then Stevie took a corner and the same decision was taken. It was like a conspiracy to end the game 0-0.

WCG 2005

2005-09-09T14:14:00.000+08:00

filed under Singapore

The World Cyber Games 2005 started yesterday. It'll be held in Singapore @ Suntec City from 8 Sept to 11 Sept. I'd wanted to join the Winning Eleven 8 event but no friends wanted to join me. I really hate people saying that they won't win when it comes to competitions. So nobody would bother to try at all. Fcuk it.

Rapture Gaming is building the game rigs for this event. At a discounted price. I'm tempted, especially when the rigs are tested powerful enough to run all sorts of games. Anyway, I've sent an email to Rapture Gaming and placed myself on the booking list.

These are the specifications.

AMD Athlon64 S939 4000+
DFI LanParty UT nForce 4-D
AData DDR400 1GB CL2.5(Dual Channel 2x 512MB)
Sparkle PCI Express X16
Nvidia 6600 256MB
Samsung 80GB HDD
4KUS DVD Writer Drive
Vantec Stealth Casing(350W PSU)
Vantec Heatpipe CPU Cooler
Creative Audigy2 ZS
Windows XP Pro
Creative Inspire 5400 5.1

Unforgiving Katrina

2005-09-06T14:08:00.000+08:00

filed under World

Human beings have always suffered under the unrelentless force of Mother Nature. The recent natural disasters have made me realise that life is just so fragile that you are gone before you know what happened. The deadly tsunami just took away so many lives when the waves came in a split second. This hurricane came at 225km/h and took more innocent lives.

The aftermath of Katrina has been a spate of unhumane actions, with people questioning the government's competency.

All these seem like a Hollywood movie, but reality speaks for itself.

VICTIMS of Hurricane Katrina have returned to pick through their battered homes as President George W. Bush promised to fix bungled rescue efforts after a disaster in which the mayor of New Orleans said as many as 10,000 may have died.

Shocking death toll.

"We wanted soldiers, helicopters, food and water," said Denise Bottcher, press secretary for Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco. "They (federal officials) wanted to negotiate an organizational chart."

Couldn't everything be done simultaneously? I don't know what the hell is an organizational chart. But I do know that human aid and food supplies could do more help.

``Katrina has been just the opposite. It has been a vacuum of leadership and a failure to take the nation and the people of the Gulf in his arms.''

Bush was a great leader when dealing with the Sept 11 attacks. But he has failed in every sense when dealing with this natural catastrophe. The slow response, the lack of governmental action, the poorly organized rescue operations, ...

Countries large and small have offered aid — from tiny Luxembourg's beds and blankets to half a million food rations from Germany and Britain.

It's heart-warming to see the enormous amount of aid.

A paramedic traveled two days to hurricane-ravaged Mississippi to bring his terminally ill brother home to die.

When disaster strucks, the most cruel thing is to separate a family into life and death.

Discriminatory Remarks

2005-09-03T14:14:00.000+08:00

filed under Singapore

I was browsing over a popular local online forum and there were a whole load of posts about the Project Superstar winner. The finale garnered a viewership of over a million, which is remarkable. I guess this is the only way Singaporeans can have the right to vote. That's why the show is so popular in our so-called "democratic" country. A visually impaired man won the competition, and harsh criticisms came along. In particular, there were discriminatory remarks towards people with disabilities. I was fuming when I saw a post titled "Are we gonna be anticipating a "Disabled Idol" competition anytime soon?" I see the need to reply to this immature threadstarter.

Threadstarter,

"Disabled" is a very sensitive word that shouldn't be used often. I can sense from your posts that you are trying to show that you are very proficient in the English language. But I'm shocked to see that you have no knowledge about the usage of sensitive words.

Your question could be interpreted in a number of ways. So I don't see the reason why someone can be an "idiot" or "retard" (Note: sensitve words) if they interpret the question in a different way from you. And this is a public forum, everyone have a right to say anything they want. I assume you support free speech.

I'll now try to provide an answer to your question. I guess everyone now knows that the winner of "Project Superstar" is a visually impaired man. This issue would definitely spark a series of debates on how he could be a superstar. Young people with physical challenges would see this as a motivation and participate in next year's competition. I assume that the preliminary stages would only be dependent on singing abilities, similar to this year. If one could sing well regardless of their physical abilities, why should we set aside another independent competition? Nobody is perfect. Why should there be a classification for people like Wei Lian? Such classification is a manifestation of discrimination.

I understand that you are worried that a large influx of people with physical challenges will be in singing competitions next year. But we will not be anticipating a separate "Disabled Idol" competition, for sure.

From your posts, I infer that you are trying to show that you are intellectually superior to people here. And I assume that you are physically superior as well, since I don't see that you or your friends or your family members have disabilities from the phrasing of your words. I urge you to use your superior abilities to help the less-abled society in Singapore in one way or another. I really hope to see a more open society over here. We are a far way back from our counterparts in Europe or the U.S where they see these less-abled people as normal people who go on with their lives like anyone else.

The competition is over, go on with your life and we go on with our lives too.

Off To Pluto

2005-08-30T12:41:00.000+08:00

filed under General

NASA is sending the New Horizons spacecraft to study Pluto. We can send our names to Pluto too. I sent mine and got a participation certificate.

Here's an excerpt from the certificate:

Thank you for joining the first mission to the last planet! A compact disc bearing your name will be included on the New Horizons spacecraft, set for the first voyage to a new class of planets on the solar system's farthest frontier.

All you need to do is to submit your name to NASA here.

The probe will launch January 2006 and return in ~50,000 years later. Then our names will return to Earth and people will know that we are the pioneering generation to explore Pluto.

IM Google

2005-08-29T12:23:00.000+08:00

filed under Web

Skype is making Google jealous. Google now wants to step into the IM market.

They say talk is cheap. Google thinks it should be free.

Google Talk Beta is available now. It looks very promising. But competition would be fierce among these two heavyweights. Skype has already about 150 million downloads to date. The customer base is huge. Google, on the other hand, is leveraging on the popularity of Gmail. Anyone with a Gmail account is automatically registered.

Link

Liverpool 3-1 CSKA Moscow

2005-08-27T16:13:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

We got our first silverware of the season with a 3-1 extra-time win over CSKA Moscow in the European Super Cup final. Stevie was a huge miss and we fail to dominate in midfield.

We went a goal behind in the 28th minute when Daniel Carvalho rounded Reina to finish a well-taken goal.

We sparked a comeback when Cisse came on to grab two crucial goals. Cisse scored a lucky goal eight minutes from time and took the game to extra time.

We clearly dominated extra time and bringing on Cisse and Sissoko proved vital. Cisse got another goal when his powerful shot on goal rebounded off the goalkeeper. Garcia scored a free header when Cisse went down the flanks in a counter-attack and provided a great cross.

This first trophy will be a great boost to the team's confidence, especially the new players. Anyone seen the Super Cup trophy? It's a bit too small, isn't it?

We Drew Chelsea

2005-08-26T12:03:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

The Champions League group stages were drawn yesterday. We really drew Chelsea. Murphy's law is true: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." But we could see some very exciting matches in this most competitive group G. 4 matches against Chelsea this season, and it could be more with the FA Cup, Carling Cup, and probably the later stages of the Champions League.

Liverpool's Group G Champions League games

Tuesday, September 13th. Real Betis v Liverpool.

Wednesday, September 28th. Liverpool v Chelsea.

Wednesday, October 19th. Anderlecht v Liverpool.

Tuesday, November 1st. Liverpool v Anderlecht.

Wednesday, November 23rd. Liverpool v Real Betis.

Tuesday, December 6th. Chelsea v Liverpool

All kick-off times are 2.45am Singapore time.

Liverpool 0-1 CSKA Sofia

2005-08-24T13:37:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

Six games played, we're finally in the Champions League group stages. But we had to scrape through the third qualifying round tie on aggregate with a shock 1-0 home defeat and a 3-1 away victory.

We have to improve a lot in order to repeat last year's triumph. There's still no goal from open play since the start of the EPL campaign. This is very frustrating for us. Get Owen back and let the goals flow.

World's Lightest RC Plane

2005-08-23T13:32:00.000+08:00

filed under Wishlist

This incredibly light remote controlled plane is sheer fun to play with. It's bundled with a case so that you can carry it everywhere. It's called the Butterfly and butterflies could very well mistake it for their mutated friend. US$239, someone buy it for me!

Link

IceRocket Beats Technorati

2005-08-23T12:45:00.000+08:00

filed under Web

What? Technorati lost?

Technorati currently says that 19 sites have linked to me in the past 6 days while PubSub has returned 38 fresh, unrepeated results during that same time.

kottke.org had enough of this. Link

Technorati has always been slow but I wonder why nobody complains. Well, I never complained too. But soon, we'll be going to see the downfall of a blog search giant that's really in a mess now.

There's always something good.

Link

A Very Satisfied Amazon Customer

2005-08-23T12:23:00.000+08:00

filed under General

This is the first time purchasing a book from Amazon. And I'm pretty satisfied with the delivery speed. It took only a week. The US$10 delivery charge was worth it, I guess.

National Day Rally 2005

2005-08-22T13:30:00.000+08:00

filed under Singapore

For those of you who missed the live broadcast yesterday, you can get the relevant podcasts and audio files here.

Liverpool 1-0 Sunderland

2005-08-22T13:06:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

It was a disappointing start to the first home game of the season against newly promoted Sunderland. We won the game by only one goal, but most fans had expected to see more.

Xabi Alonso scored a spectacular free kick to settle the win from 30 yards.

Two games and we only got a goal from set-piece. It's rather frustrating to see the strikers not getting the goals from open play. It would be great if Owen do come back. And I hoped Crouch could do well when he comes back from suspension.

Stevie limped off during the match. Hope it's not serious and he'll be able to lead the team for the Super Cup Final in Monaco.

A bizzare red card decision from the referee ended a not-so-exciting match. John Welsh was sent off for making a slight contact with Garcia.

Kapo Super Monkie

2005-08-19T20:49:00.000+08:00

filed under Gadgets

This cute monkey with a hilarious name is actually a radio. An embedded system in a monkey, hmm.

Link

Designing A Website

2005-08-19T20:22:00.000+08:00

filed under Project

I was busy designing a website for my honours year project for the past 2 days. Thought a website would be great to record my research and development and resources. I'm trying to grasp the idea of pure CSS while designing. And I sort of got the gist. My project website uses only CSS for styling, albeit a simple one.

While finding colours for my site, I came across a great website for colour schemes that are web-smart. Check it out here.

Voting Denied

2005-08-17T13:47:00.000+08:00

filed under Singapore

Just when I thought I could vote for the very first time, I was denied the chance. So much said for democracy, Singaporeans have not been able to vote for President since 1993. Yes, President Nathan has been doing very well in nation affairs. He's well-loved by Singaporeans too. But a change of face may be beneficial. We would love to have a say in choosing our President.

I'm afraid the criteria for presidential eligibility set by the Presidential Elections Committee may be too strict. So strict that maybe only people from PAP are eligible; I'm only joking, really. Andrew Kwan was a very hopeful candidate until the local media revealed some "facts". True or not, I don't know. But we know the local media, don't we?

Middlesbrough 0-0 Liverpool

2005-08-15T14:11:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

We got off to a disappointing start to the season with a 0-0 draw at The Riverside Stadium on Saturday. Stevie was left frustrated with what could be a 5-0 thrashing or more.

Middlesbrough were running on their luck throughout the match. Ugo Ehiogu was sent off for a last-man tackle on Stevie. But it was unfortunate that we couldn't take advantage of the situation.

Even though we only managed a point, it's great to see that we kept a clean sheet. I really hope we could improve our away form this season. Having a clean sheet for the first away game is important.

In another match played yesterday, I was absolutely gutted when Crespo scored an injury time winner against Wigan. It just wasn't a fair reflection on the game. Wigan was giving Chelsea problems that the champions didn't face last season. In what might be the biggest surprise of the season, Chelsea scored a very late goal. I just felt that Wigan deserved a point. But this is football.

Support Wei Lian

2005-08-12T13:47:00.000+08:00

filed under Singapore

Even though I thought Project Superstar was a flop, I still watch it every week. And in fact, I called to support one of the contestants. Yes, the money goes to Mediacorp and Singtel. But it'll be money well spent if that contestant wins and gets a recording contract.

I'm not sympathising with Wei Lian. I admire his courage and singing talent. It's sad that he's visually handicapped but I believe he could be a superstar. Nobody is perfect. He lost his sight but he got a very special singing ability. His singing touches people.

Most Singaporeans should have seen him singing in the streets. But it's hard to be a street artist in this place, and it's even harder for a disabled person. It'll be easy to imagine whether someone would give 10 bucks to a street artist.

Look at Ray Charles. He's such a great singer even though he's blind. So let's give Wei Lian a chance to cut an album. I'll definitely grab a copy.

P.S. Wei Lian, you have improved a lot this week. Keep it up and do the disabled community in Singapore proud.

EFF15 Blogathon Winners Announced

2005-08-11T15:20:00.000+08:00

filed under Web

The winners have been revealed in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's 15th Anniversary Blog-a-thon. I didn't win anything though. But guess what. My post is hiding somewhere on the awards announcement article. The first paragraph's "free speech in Singapore" link.

Link

CSKA Sofia 1-3 Liverpool

2005-08-11T14:51:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

We are closing in on the group stages of the Champions League after a 3-1 away win in Bulgaria. Stevie stole the limelight from 2-goal Morientes by setting up Liverpool's all 3 goals.

After 24 minutes, Cisse got Stevie's through ball and placed a low shot through the keeper's legs.

Our lead doubled at the 30th minute with a cool Morientes' header from Stevie's free kick. I believe he could be Liverpool's Champions League most lethal striker this season.

Morientes got another goal in close range after a superb play from Stevie and Cisse.

We conceded a goal due to a defense lapse at the stroke of half-time. But it was still a classy display from the lads. And we saw the club's youngest ever foreign player Antonio Barragan made his debut.

But it was very unfortunate that Cisse suffered racial abuse from the CSKA fans. This shouldn't happen in football and it should disappear from the world too.

Blogger Survey

2005-08-10T12:48:00.000+08:00

filed under Web

There's a Blogger survey going on now. I added a comment to include categorizing features and I'm sure most of you guys want this. Go fill up the survey and Blogger may very soon include categories.

Link

Beautiful Fireworks

2005-08-09T21:31:00.000+08:00

filed under Singapore

The fireworks this time round were beautiful. I could get a pretty good view of the fireworks from my place. The loud thud, followed by the sparkle, were too good to miss.

Didn't have the chance to take pictures though. I would browse around for uploaded pictures tomorrow. Hope some kind souls would upload to Flickr.

Happy Birthday Singapore!

Podeejay

2005-08-08T20:42:00.000+08:00

filed under Podcasts

It’s What You Want, When You Want It.

Podeejay will be launching August 9. It's featured in the Youthink column of today's Straits Times.

Support Singapore's first podcasting network.

Link

Singapore Rebel

2005-08-07T14:45:00.000+08:00

filed under Singapore

I watched Singapore Rebel today. This is the movie about Dr Chee Soon Juan, an opposition politician in Singapore. Guess what, this film exceeds the M18 and even R21 rating. It can't even be shown in Singapore. Apparently, it's a "party political film". Fcuk it. What can a video clip do to PAP?

A legal analysis of party political films can be viewed here.

I don't know who put up this film on the Internet. But thank you for doing so. This is the best present for our 40th National Day. Dr Chee has revealed ugly little details about the government that many Singaporeans thought is the best in the world.

Dr Chee provides a very interesting analysis of Singapore laws. There are unjust laws and just laws in Singapore. Unjust laws are laws the government made up to oppress people and show their power. Banning Singapore Rebel is the manifestation of an unjust law.

Here is a man who faced so many prosecutions in his life and yet he is continuing to fight for democracy and freedom of speech. In the film, we see the life of a politician very different from that of his PAP counterparts. An old office in an old shophouse, while PAP politicians worked in designer offices.

We see the irony and lack of truth of two quotes from PM Lee in the film.

"We are an open, multiracial and cosmopolitan society.
We enjoy a good reputation in the world.
Our people should feel free to express diverse views, pursue
unconventional ideas, or simply to be different."

- Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, 2004

Where is the money? This simple question results in the prosecution of Dr Chee. He was demanding Mr Goh Chok Tong to tell where the loan given to Suharto's regime has gone. According to Dr Chee, Mr Goh pointed to his own pocket. But the media didn't report it. Mr and Mrs Goh, this money aren't peanuts to poor old peasants like us. Stop pocketing our money!

"We should recognise many paths of success,
and many ways to be Singaporean.
We must give people a second chance.
Ours must be an open and inclusive Singapore."

- Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, 2004

Dr Chee is a Singaporean too. I believe he can be a very successful politician. He's doing everything for the rights of Singaporeans. Isn't this a way to be Singaporean? Why bar him from the General Election?

You can download the clip here or here. I'm considering a torrent file for distribution. But I cannot guarantee anything now.

My 100 Words

2005-08-06T21:23:00.000+08:00

filed under Writings

This is my 100 words for the Text in The City 100-word Epic Challenge. Whether you see this as a story or an experience, it's up to you.

My Mini Cooper speeds on the ECP. But the view is stationary.

The falling sun reflects itself on the Esplanade. But I see no colour in the place we met.

Colour was taken away from me the day you went away.

I remember you were playing the cello. Everything was beautiful. We talked for the first time.

You loved chocolates. Chocolate buffet at The Fullerton was sweet. You were sweeter.

Now I see an empty seat beside me. You were always on it watching the sun rise.

Suddenly everything stopped. I see colour but I'm gone.

If you think it's worthy of a vote, click here. Find my post and press vote.

Fantasy League Classic 2005/06

2005-08-06T13:55:00.000+08:00

filed under Soccer

The English Premier League is starting soon. And with it comes the Fantasy League Classic. I've always played those free fantasy leagues. This is the first season I'm playing a paid one. £10 to create a team. Have a look at my team.

Goalkeeper
P Cech

Full Backs
S Finnan
A Cole
S Carr

Centre Backs
J Terry
L King
R Jaidi

Midfielders
MG Pedersen
EH Diouf
S Gerrard
S Parker
L Robert
F Fabregas
P Neville

Strikers
R van Nistelrooy
D Bent

Updated: 09.08.05

Link

Free Michael Shields

2005-08-05T12:50:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool
tags liverpool michael shields

Whether you are a Liverpool fan or not, this is a case against injustice. I don't know what's the problem with the jurisdication system in Bulgaria. But we have to help free this innocent man. Even though we are in Singapore, I believe there's something we can do about it. Whether it's donating money or signing the online petition, please help.

On 30th May 2005, Michael Shields, 18, from Wavertree in Liverpool was arrested in Bulgaria for an attack on a local barman - a crime he did not commit.

On 26th July 2005, he was found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to fifteen years in a Bulgarian jail, despite a confession from the actual man responsible. As you read this, an innocent teenager is held in a foreign prison cell whilst the guilty man walks free.

"Express" Elevator

2005-08-04T12:50:00.000+08:00

filed under Hacks

I came across this evil hack that lets you own the elevator. Wonder whether it'll work in our local HDB lifts.

While some elevators require a key, others can be put into "Express" mode by pressing the "Door Close" and "Floor" buttons at the same time. This sweeps the car to the floor of your choice and avoids stops at any other floor.

Link

National "Boring" Day

2005-08-03T13:40:00.000+08:00

filed under Singapore

40 years on. I've watched NDPs for 20 odd years, and they are still the same boring parades. The themes do change every year. But some bears no truth at all, or do they? This year's "The Future is Ours to Make". I definitely agree that OUR future is ours to make. But THE future, I'm not too sure. Maybe the theme should be "The Future is PAP to Make". True. Oh no, don't threaten to sue me and get my blog down.

I heard that the Singapore Idol Taufik is going to sing and do some mass "Bollywood" dances. I guess it's going to be damn cheesy.

I've never watched any of the rehearsals and the preview yet. But I can really predict the schedule of the parade.

Students performing. People marching. People shouting. People skydiving. People cheering. People singing. People in white arriving. President arriving. SAF showing off their military "power". Fireworks. People rushing home. Boring stuff.

The only fact that National Day is good is that it's a public holiday. But I still wish Singapore a Happy Birthday for providing me with a piece of living land.

Liverpool 2-0 Kaunas

2005-08-03T13:30:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

Stevie was the man again when we got a 2-0 victory over FBK Kaunas in the Champions League second round qualifier second leg.

Momo Sissoko made his Anfield debut and performed well in the 90 minutes. But it was worrying to see Peter Crouch limping off after 54 minutes with a hamstring injury.

Stevie came on at the 75th minute and scored after 2 minutes. He drove a 25 yard shot home after a corner was played out to him.

Cisse then added another in the 85th minute with a beautiful volley from a Luis Garcia's chip.

We are now through to the final qualifying round with a 5-1 aggregate victory.

POEMS Stock Challenge '05

2005-08-02T20:30:00.000+08:00

filed under Investing

I've always been fascinated by the stock market. But I still don't have a clue about how to start investing. The interest grew after reading Rich Dad Poor Dad.

A few days back, I received an email under the header "POEMS" and thought it's another competition for poets. One of my friends told me on Sunday that it has got something to do with investing when we were chilling out at The Coffee Connoisseur at Holland Village. Lucky enough, the email was lying in my trash can and I got it back.

Phillips' Online Electronic Mart System (POEMS) has partnered with the bizad faculty of my school to run the annual POEMS Stocks Challenge.

I thought this would be a good start. They'll be giving $100,000 virtual cash and we'll be trading based on real world stock markets. Fun stuff, I can get some great experience.

Any students from NUS can take part. So join in the fun!

Link

Text In The City

2005-07-31T13:36:00.000+08:00

filed under Writings

The Challenge:
Write a story of 100 words about love, desire, passion and living, in an urban context.

Winning entries:
The top 3 will be determined by online, popular voting then printed on ZoCards distributed throughout Singapore.

To enter or vote: please visit www.swf.sg

Prize: The thrill of it all. You're not in this for the money, right?
Entries close: 1 August 2005. How long can it take?
Voting: 4 August to 8 August 2005. Tell the family!

There's still 12 hours left. So come on guys, get your writing cap on. I'll be writing and submitting an entry. It's only 100 words, so why not.

I'll be posting my entry here after the competition.

Rich Dad Poor Dad

2005-07-31T13:09:00.000+08:00

filed under Books

I just finished reading this wonderful book over the weekend. I had wanted to get this book after playing the CASHFLOW game at Settler's Cafe a few months back. It's a great read.

Money is after all an idea that most people work for all their lives. But we can very well make money work for us. Robert Kiyosaki provides six great lessons that will teach us how to unleash that financial genius in everyone of us.

The name "Rich Dad Poor Dad" comes from two people whom Robert Kiyosaki looks up as his father when he was young. One is his real, educated but poor dad and the other is his best friend's rich dad. And the story unwinds when Robert decides to work for his best friend Mike's father.

This book is for anyone who wants to boost their financial intelligence.

$500 Premium1500 Privilege

2005-07-29T21:07:00.000+08:00

filed under Wishlist

I just got a $500 voucher from Singtel. And I want to get this phone. Sony Ericsson K750i. It's got a 2 megapixel camera. Cool!

The Road Not Taken

2005-07-29T15:46:00.000+08:00

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost, 1916

Trump, Celebrity Or Businessman?

2005-07-29T13:43:00.000+08:00

filed under Business

I was googling for "Donald Trump" yesterday to get some management articles featuring him. My brother was doing a project on management and I thought I could help him do something about it. It turned out to be a fruitful experience and I got an interesting article from Fortune. Rather old article dated April 3, 2000 but it was a great insight into his life.

Trump is really what people want to be if they got the money. The pretty girls, the personal 727 jet, the boat, the limo, the Florida estate, the skyscraper.

Link

Googlefied

2005-07-27T16:05:00.000+08:00

filed under Web

This is what my blog title looks like after Logogle Googlefied it.

Link

Microsoft To Patent Emoticon

2005-07-27T15:04:00.000+08:00

filed under News
tags emoticon

Microsoft wants to own a patent on the emoticon method. What? These smiley faces can be patented? Yes, it's true. They have applied for this: "A method, comprising: selecting pixels to be used as an emoticon; assigning a character sequence to the pixels; and transmitting the character sequence to a destination to allow for reconstruction of the pixels at the destination."

"Monopolising Microsoft". They want a piece of everything!

Will we need to pay for using smileys in future? Pirated smileys, anyone?

Groklaw provides some technical details on this issue and patents in general.

Link

Bloggers vs Mainstream Media

2005-07-27T14:53:00.000+08:00

filed under Web

Link

Kaunas 1-3 Liverpool

2005-07-27T14:10:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool
tags liverpool

Liverpool got a well-deserved 3-1 win over Lithuanian champions Kaunas despite conceding an early goal. We are now on the right path towards the third qualifying round of the Champions League.

Dijbril Cisse was on form again to score after 27 minutes with a good link-up play from Zenden and Crouch. Jamie Carragher then added another goal two minutes later to take the lead. This was his first goal for five and a half years; a downward header from a Steven Gerrard's corner.

Stevie converted from the spot in the second half after being brought down in the area. That's his sixth goal of the Champions League qualifying campaign so far.

I'm absolutely delighted with our six straight wins in pre-season.

Yahooulator!

2005-07-26T21:12:00.000+08:00

filed under News
tags yahoo konfabulator

This name really sucks. Thank God they didn't rename it. Yahoo! has acquired Konfabulator and the great news is that it's now available for free. The platform is now known as Yahoo! Widgets with the core engine still called Konfabulator.

Widgets are really slick and fun little applications that adds that little bit of spark to your desktop. Guess I'll be devoting some time for learning to create widgets. The geek in me is showing up again. One more item to my very packed to-do list.

Minor Revamp

2005-07-26T16:41:00.000+08:00

filed under Web

My blog has undergone a very minor revamp. The original blue header has been replaced by a photograph. The photograph was taken from Stock.XCHNG. It's a wonderful website that provides an impressive collection of royalty free stock photographs. Web designers must visit Stock.XCHNG if you want quality images on your website.

I have also been busy re-designing a website which I have left out in the cold for a long time. The site's now alive and kicking. I'm not linking it from here, but I can reveal that it's got something to do with soccer.

Liverpool 4-3 Olympiacos

2005-07-24T12:52:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool
tags liverpool

Milan Baros continued to prove his worth despite being threatened with Peter Crouch's arrival. He smashed two past Olympiacos in a 4-3 win in Liechtenstein.

Crouch was the star of the first half after going close twice. He made a mazy run into the box and set up Luis Garcia's opener.

But Milan stole the limelight in the second half. He set up Fernando Morientes to slot home the second goal. Then with a great individual effort, he rounded the keeper twice to score twice in six minutes. Brilliant effort.

Although we conceded three goals, it's still 17 goals and five wins out of five matches. Our scoring form is going well.

Longhorn = Windows Vista

2005-07-23T16:30:00.000+08:00

filed under News
tags windows vista

It's official. Microsoft announced the official name of its next-generation Windows client operating system yesterday, 22 July 2005. Windows Vista Beta 1 will be available by August 3, 2005.

Link

My Blog On EFF Deep Links

2005-07-23T15:53:00.000+08:00

filed under News

Derek Slater from EFF Deep Links came to read my post written for the EFF's 15th Anniversary Blog-a-thon and quoted me for his article.

Meanwhile, Tux-Hacker draws attention to the way repressive regimes stifle online speech and a newer front for free speech -- bloggers' rights. He also points out the importance of allowing anonymity so that people can "express any views openly" without fear of reprisal. If you're wondering how to blog anonymously, we've published some tips here.

For your info, Deep Links is a group weblog featuring pointers to news articles and weblog posts that spark the interest of EFF staff members.

Great, at least I know someone's reading my blog.

Link

London Brave Through Bombs

2005-07-22T12:21:00.000+08:00

filed under News
tags london bombing

Terrorists made an attempt to kill again yesterday afternoon UK time. The attacks were very similar to that of 14 days ago. Four almost simultaneous explosions were heard at 3 Tube stations and a bus. It was very fortunate that no casualties were reported as the devices were only partially exploded.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged people to react calmly and carry on with their lives. The Londoners are very brave people indeed. They know the intention of terrorists was to scare people, and they proved the terrorists wrong. Nobody was afraid, life goes on.

I couldn't imagine what if this happens in Singapore. Even though no one was killed, I believe nobody would be taking the trains and buses for at least a few days. Everyone would rush to get their groceries and stay at home. Nobody's going to school or work. And when we thought racial harmony exists, everyone would be blaming a particular religion.

I read at tomorrow.sg that some ignorant fool was telling the British to stop pointing fingers at Muslims. But I guess he didn't realise that Britain was doing a better job at racial harmony than we are. We really have to learn from the Londoners when such crisis hits us.

Firefox 1.0.6 Out

2005-07-21T20:49:00.000+08:00

filed under Web

Shortly after the release of Firefox 1.0.5, Mozilla has released Firefox 1.0.6.

Firefox 1.0.6 is a stability update. We recommend that users upgrade to this latest version.

Here's what's new in Firefox 1.0.6:

Restore API compatibility for extensions and web applications that did not work in Firefox 1.0.5.

Link

Fighting Freedom for Singapore Bloggers

2005-07-21T13:18:00.000+08:00

filed under Web
tags EFF15

Reporters Without Borders ranks Singapore 147th out of 167 countries on press freedom. Traditional media are told to report everything in the country's or rather the government's interest. Then came the blogs. Great, online publications that we thought free speech exists without fear of libel. We were wrong, the government starts to fight internet dissidents. Freedom of speech is not a right here; it simply doesn't exist here.

In the blogosphere, the shutting down of AcidFlask's blog made Singapore famous for all the wrong reasons. Jiahao Chen criticised Philip Yeo, chairman of the government's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), and the A*STAR scholarship system. He was forced to shut down his blog on 26 April 2005 for fear of a libel action by Yeo.

Were his criticisms true or just baseless accusations? Nobody knows, except AcidFlask and A*STAR. I really don't see any reason for a Ph. D. candidate to be lying. But even if the accusations are true, shutting down is still inevitable given the government's intolerance towards any form of criticism.

The youths here are told to speak up more, especially in recent years. In February 2005, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew urged an outspoken student from the National University of Singapore to express his views on the Internet if all other avenues failed. What views would Mr Lee want us to express? How about starting a political debate on the Internet? Impossible, the laws are too restrictive for us to express any views openly. Political websites have to be registered, and are open to libel charges.

Look at Dr Chee Soon Juan, Singapore's opposition leader, and the number of defamation suits he has faced from the government. Why do we have to tolerate with Singapore's authoritarian style of government? The reason's simple, nobody dares to speak up. Whether you publish your views online or offline, someone's watching you.

Government security agencies are allowed to deploy scanning programs to screen those suspected of using computers to endanger national security and essential public services. This includes posting defamatory remarks.

I doubt one can be truly anonymous online if you connect through a local ISP. Your IP address can be easily tracked. But I guess it's possible to be an anonymous blogger. All you need is an url with a free blogging service like Blogger and a fake identity. I've chose to keep my identity private to avoid legal troubles. I'm with Blogger and only my fake identity, tuxhacker, is associated with my blog's url. Who knows who I am?

Come on guys, get a blog and speak up. Freedom of speech does exist on the blogosphere. Tell the government to get a life and stop going online to track down bloggers.

Crouch Signs for Liverpool

2005-07-21T12:41:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

Liverpool have completed the signing of 6ft 7in striker Peter Crouch from Southampton, on a four-year deal. Crouch will wear the 15 shirt.

EFF15 Blogathon

2005-07-20T21:41:00.000+08:00

filed under News

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is celebrating its 15th anniversary this month. They're holding a weeklong EFF15 Blog-a-thon between July 19-26 where everyone's invited to blog about personal experiences fighting for freedom online. I'll write my post tomorrow to show my support. Happy Birthday, EFF!

Singapore Idol and Project Superstar A Failure

2005-07-20T13:37:00.000+08:00

filed under News

Notice the recent hype about Mediacorp's Singapore Idol and Project Superstar? Sometimes, I wonder whether these are really singing competitions. They are trying very hard to replicate the success of America Idol. But voting in US is in the millions and the number of votes are really representing the contestant's popularity. Simon Cowell and gang doesn't vote. I think it's fair, we can't let a few individuals account for 30% of the score like Project Superstar.

I think the five judges over here are not professional enough to be absolutely fair. One of the judges is just trying too hard to be like Simon Cowell. Look at the third judge, her comments are too crude and seems fabricated. We can't assume she can judge someone's singing ability when she has only won a singing competition decades ago.

Our competitions over here are more like "survival of the richest" or to compete who can get the most number of teenage girls to have a crush on them or who has the most number of rich friends and relatives to support them.

It's so easy to be an "idol" here. Spend a few thousand bucks on phone calls in exchange for a lucrative singing contract. But, let's be realistic. Both the winner and runner-ups of Singapore Idol did cut their own albums, but it's only released locally. The winner is not eligible for World Idol. It's such a relief for Singapore; we don't want a guy who wears excessive makeup to represent our country and only knows the R&B genre. And we got a runner-up who prefers Chinese pop but still managed to go second in the competition. Has Singapore Idol been successful in making a superstar? I don't think so.

But Mediacorp sees it a success and created Project Superstar. The revenue generated from voting is too attractive. Singtel should also have got a piece of the cake from the services provided. They thought of another marketing gimmick to boost revenue. Guess what, they made use of the sympathy of Chinese viewers and introduced a visually handicapped contestant.

There's a television commercial going on recently with Wei Lian (the visually handicapped contestant) showing up at the last bit with some words saying whether we should vote him for the sake of sympathy. What's up with Mediacorp for showing this? Even a Mediacorp Radio DJ has criticised this commercial.

Singaporeans have always been insensitive towards disabled people and I thought the media should encourage the public to treat disabled people as normal. How will Wei Lian feel when his disability is used as a marketing gimmick and people are voting him out of sympathy? Please stop this stupid television commercial right now.

TNS 0-3 Liverpool

2005-07-20T12:41:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

Liverpool will face FBK Kaunas in the second qualifying round of the Champions League after a 6-0 aggregate victory over TNS. But again, there was no goal feast in this second leg.

We were kept within a one goal lead throughout 85 minutes of the match with some heroic goalkeeping from the TNS keeper Doherty. But Steven Gerrard came off the bench to grab two late goals to save us from further embarrassment.

Dijbril Cisse scored for the second successive match after 26 minutes. TNS defender's Chris King's mis-kick allowed Cisse to fire pass Doherty into the net.

We should have got the second goal after 50 minutes but Didi Hamann missed from the spot.

Stevie scored late to get 2 goals in sixty seconds with 2 right-footed shots. 5 goals over 2 legs from a midfielder is pretty impressive.

The Future of Embedded Linux

2005-07-19T13:30:00.000+08:00

filed under Linux

Newsforge caught up with Greg Wallace, the co-founder and chief marketing officer at Emu Software, at last month's C3 Expo in New York. They did an interview about his panel's discussion on The Future of Embedded Linux. Interested readers can get a copy of slides from the panel by sending an email to wallace@emusoftware.com

Link

My Blog On The New Paper

2005-07-18T21:22:00.000+08:00

filed under News

I just realised that I was featured on The New Paper on July 15. It's regarding the recent NKF saga and the journalists quoted from a post on my blog.

Link

Here's the article in full:

Get out now, say S'poreans

By Desmond Ng and Liew Hanqing
July 15, 2005

QUIT - the call has come from all over Singapore for the NKF CEO to step down.

From an on-going online petition to The New Paper's hotline down to the bloggers, there is one common word: QUIT.

Yesterday, The New Paper's hotline was buzzing with calls for his resignation.

'He needs to leave if the NKF wants to regain some credibility,' Mrs Tan Ai Khim, 35, a housewife, told The New Paper.

Ms Grace Lim, 23, a corporate tax associate, called to say that she has terminated her regular Giro donations to the NKF.

She said: 'He should quit. NKF's image has already been tarnished.

'If this is the way he has been running the organisation, it's time for changes to be made, or everyone will just stop their donations.'

Mr Durai is also making waves online.

Blogger Whiteout, of threeingredients.blogspot.com wrote: 'I can understand that one would need the comforts of business class to feel rejuvenated and ready to do negotiations straight off the plane.

'But seriously, if someone earns $600,000 a year for overseeing a charitable organisation, where your revenue originates from the kindness of the public, it's no wonder that we need so many charity shows each year.'

Blogger Tux-Hacker of tux-hacker.blogspot.com wrote: 'I'm signing a petition to remove T T Durai from his position.

'I urge many other Singaporeans to sign it, if they think Mr Durai has breached our trust.'

What has angered most people is that Mr Durai's huge salary and perks come from donation money that the NKF has been soliciting based on false figures - in terms of its number of patients and the cost of such treatments.

To put things in perspective, blogger Adrian Loo of www.adrianloo.com has made some calculations.

According to the NKF website, $5 buys a patient bloodlines for one dialysis session, $25 buys a patient a week's supply of injections to prevent blood clots, and $50 pays for a Child-Life therapy session to help a child cope with the emotional trauma of his/her illness.

In Adrian's version, Mr Durai's three-year income of $1.8 million could buy 360,000 patients bloodlines for one dialysis session each, each patient 72,000 weeks' worth of injections to prevent blood clots, and 36,000 Child-Life therapy sessions.

Blogger Izydata, of www.djourne.net/singaporeink, wrote: 'Now, having high salaries and extravagant toilet fittings is one thing.

'But (misleading) the public about how much money it needs, in order to raise more... I don't know what to say.'

21,000 ONLINE PETITION

Over 21,000 have signed an online petition as at 9am today, calling for Mr Durai, to be removed from his position. Many also called for the board members to resign.

Created by a Mr Lawrence Tan, the site at www.petitiononline.com was so popular that it became jammed at times, making it impossible for anyone to view or sign the petition.

Even several Internet forums like Sgforums and Singapore blogging bulletin Tomorrow.sg are abuzz with calls to sign the petition urging Mr Durai's dismissal.

The petition addressed to NKF Singapore claimed that Mr Durai 'has breached the trust of the people of Singapore'.

To check the site's popularity, we monitored the number of petitions signed during a five-minute period.

Over 200 people voiced their opinions during that short period.

One Mr Loh Cheng Chiang said: 'When you are using people's money, you have to be answerable to the people.'

One petitioner named Bruce said: 'For five years, I spent my time collecting money on donation cards for you. And I donated monthly through Giro to you.

'At one point, I was even donating $25 each month from my NS allowance of $340. I feel so angry...'

The petition also asked that NKF be more forthcoming with information about how much money goes to the needy and how much ends up being spent on expenses.

The petition said that unless NKF shows it is willing to be more responsible, donors should think twice and donate to more deserving organisations such as the Kidney Dialysis Foundation, the Community Chest and the Salvation Army. - Additional reporting by Karen Wong

Linux From Scratch

2005-07-18T20:42:00.000+08:00

filed under Project

Linux From Scratch is a cool project that provides step-by-step instructions for building custom Linux systems from source code. Building from source code is definitely going to take ages, but it's gonna be helpful to aspiring Linux developers.

There's also a Automated Linux From Scratch project that automates the process of creating a Linux system using XML. These projects have much relevance to my honours year project. I'll be reviewing them this week.

Link

Xbox 360 Launching Nov 4th

2005-07-17T12:32:00.000+08:00

filed under Gadgets

Xbox365.com is reporting that Microsoft is going to launch the Xbox 360 on November 4th. It's still not clear whether this is official. But the date looks good, it's my birthday! This should be the perfect birthday present.

Liverpool 3-0 Bayer Leverkusen

2005-07-17T12:04:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

Our pre-season preparations are getting on very well with an impressive 3-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in Austria. Momo Sissoko made his first appearance in a Liverpool shirt in the second half.

The French connection played a big part in the first two goals. After 25 minutes, we got 2 goals in a space of 60 seconds involving DIjbril Cisse and Anthony Le Tallec. Le Tallec produced sublime passes for Cisse to finish 2 clinical strikes.

Steven Gerrard was again inspirational when he got a pass into Milan Baros' path and the latter produced a nice lob over the keeper.

It's great to see Cisse getting his goals again and Milan is proving his worth with 3 goals in pre-season.

Charity Show Artistes Get Paid Too

2005-07-16T22:15:00.000+08:00

filed under News

I'm absolutely fuming now. Go grab a copy of tonight's Shin Min Daily News and you'll be fuming too. There's a report saying Cao Qitai gets a $16,800 "red packet" per show and other artistes gets 4K to 5K per show. Maybe we could see Mediacorp suing SPH for libel. But I'm assuming it to be true. Look at Live8, the singers don't get a single cent. I had always thought Mediacorp artistes aren't earning anything in charity shows. But I guess this explains the number of charity shows this year. Prove me wrong, Mediacorp and NKF!

Linux Code Absolutely Clean

2005-07-15T14:01:00.000+08:00

filed under Linux

In the August 13, 2002 Michael Davidson email which was unsealed recently, it was revealed that an outside consultant, hired by SCO in 2002, failed to find copyright infringments in the Linux Kernel.

At the end, we had found absolutely *nothing*. ie no evidence of any copyright infringement whatsoever.

But in 2003, SCO still filed a $1 billion lawsuit against IBM for allegedly violating its intellectual property. They ignored the consultant's advice and are still trying to find evidence so they could make money selling "insurance" for Linux. More details over at Groklaw.

Link

The 2005 Fortune Global 500

2005-07-14T20:48:00.000+08:00

filed under Business

The Fortune Global 500 has been released for 2005. The revenue required to make the world's largest companies list jumped 15% to $12.4 billion this year. Wal-Mart took the number 1 spot for the fourth year in a row. Exxon Mobil was the most profitable corporation in the world, with income of $25.3 billion.

Link

NKF Board and CEO Stepping Down

2005-07-14T20:31:00.000+08:00

filed under News

After the events in the past 24 hours, the National Kidney Foundation Board and its CEO, Mr TT Durai, have resigned. Mrs Goh Chok Tong has also stepped down as NKF Patron. I don't find this shocking at all though, they have to step down to restore public confidence. Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan will now help reconstitute a new Board and appoint a new CEO.

We now have to leave this behind us and I hope Singaporeans will continue to help kidney failure patients. But to restore our trust in NKF, they have to first satisfy our expectations on transparency and accountability.

Firefox 1.0.5 Out

2005-07-14T16:21:00.000+08:00

filed under Web

Mozilla Firefox 1.0.5 is available now.

Firefox 1.0.5 is a security update that is part of our ongoing program to provide a safe Internet experience for our customers. We recommend that all users upgrade to this latest version.

Here's what's new in Firefox 1.0.5:

Several security fixes.

Improvements to stability.

Link

Sissoko Signs for Liverpool

2005-07-14T16:09:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

20 year old Mali international midfielder Momo Sissoko from Valencia has joined Liverpool. He'll be wearing the number 22 shirt for this season.

Bloggers.SG 2005

2005-07-14T14:49:00.000+08:00

filed under News

I would love to go, but I'm too busy.

Liverpool 3-0 TNS

2005-07-14T12:37:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

Steven Gerrard scored a hat-trick to seal a 3-0 victory over TNS at Anfield last night. We should have seen more goals if not for the TNS's goalkeeper Doherty heroics. Rafa may have a little to worry about the second leg at Wrexham given the scoreline. Nevertheless, this match was all about the influential captain Stevie G.

Just after 8 minutes, Stevie side-footed Fernando Morientes' layoff to take the lead. He made it 2-0 when he took the ball off TNS defender Evans and lob over Doherty into the net. Again, poor defending from TNS.

Following these 2 goals were a series of heroic defending and goalkeeping by TNS. The scoreline was kept at 2-0 until Stevie put a left foot shot into the corner at the 90th minute. That's his hat-trick and most importantly, the team is in good shape.

NKF CEO Earning Public Donations

2005-07-13T12:36:00.000+08:00

filed under News

NKF's defamation suit against SPH opened yesterday. Thanks to NKF, we finally know where our donations are going to. And every single Singaporean were shocked yesterday to hear that CEO TT Durai earned 1.8 million dollars in 3 years. 12 months bonus last year! And every single cent came from public donations. Some people couldn't even earn this much after working for decades and they still donate to NKF. Couldn't he just forsake some of his bonus and donate them? What about the rest of the board members? We really need transparency and public accountability from NKF. How can Mr Durai prefer to keep his salary private?

I donated 100 bucks to NKF this year and I'm still an undergraduate with minimal earnings. I want my money to go to the needy and not for buying some stupid gold tap or buying "business class" air tickets or for some other stupid reasons.

If you've read the Straits Times yesterday, you have every reason to be mad with Mr Durai. He was simply avoiding every of SPH's Senior Counsel Davinder Singh's questions. For simple yes or no questions, he forked out a whole lot of stupid reasons and just avoided answering them. They have to stop playing games with the public and tell the truth. Mr Durai did fly first class, I don't care which airline or whether it's cheaper. Chairman Richard Yong revealed that senior executives fly business class for long-haul flights. This is not true. And I believe that there are more matters in NKF that the public does not know.

This is extremely cruel to the people who really need these donations. After this public scrutiny of NKF's administration, some people may think twice before donating now. We simply do not know who we are donating to. Unless NKF accounts for every single cent it gets from the public, I would choose to donate to other charity organisations instead.

12 months of bonus is outrageous. I'm signing this petition to remove TT Durai, CEO of NKF, from his position. I urge many other Singaporeans to sign this petition if you think that Mr Durai is breaching our trust.

Sign the Petition

PTXdist

2005-07-12T13:59:00.000+08:00

filed under Project

PTXdist is a tool to generate root filesystems based on Makefiles and a KConfig frontend. It builds complete embedded distributions and makes it as simple as configuring a kernel. It's a rather simple tool compared with OpenEmbedded, Rock Linux, Emdebsys, etc. But too bad there's little documentation available and the source code is hard to understand.

For the past few weeks, I've chalked up a whole load of bookmarks on embedded linux issues, and I've basically grasped the idea behind building embedded systems. I'm not feeling so lost now and the motivation is coming back to me. This project is getting more interesting. I'm beginning to see the beauty of Linux.

Link

Wrexham 3-4 Liverpool

2005-07-10T15:11:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

The first competitive run-out for Liverpool was a 7-goal thriller match against Wrexham at the Racecourse Ground. We came from behind to win 4-3 against the League Two team on a hot day in North Wales.

We were stunned when Mark Jones rounded debutant Jose Reina and scored due to a lapse in central defence. We really need a fast paced central defender. Rafa, please do look out for one.

At the quarter hour, we equalised through a close-range tap from Fernando Morientes after a Darren Potter cross. And we lead through Nando's second with a close-range header from a Steven Gerrard corner, six minutes before the interval.

Our third goal was a Milan Baros' slot into an empty net after rounding the keeper. Milan got his second by diverting Xabi Alonso's through ball into the top corner. We got a 4-1 lead within 20 minutes of the second half.

However, we conceded two late consolation goals to end the match at a thrilling 4-3 win. Our defence ought to be improved though.

Soccernet's 10th Birthday

2005-07-10T13:25:00.000+08:00

filed under News

Soccernet is celebrating its 10th anniversary this July. I was reading through articles on the history of Soccernet when I realised that it was started as a hobby project in the bedroom of a 12-year-old schoolboy, Tom Hadfield, in 1995. It's amazing that this website with over 21 million fans visiting last season was started by a 12-year-old. Even though Tom Hadfield has sold this website, I thank him for creating this wonderful place which I visit daily. Happy Birthday, Soccernet!

4 Year Deals for Gerrard and Carragher

2005-07-09T12:08:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher have signed new four year contracts to stay at Anfield until 2009. I'm absolutely delighted with Stevie's decision. Carragher has been outstanding last season and I hope he will continue to stay at top form for this season. But I still see a need for a central defender for Liverpool.

London Bombs

2005-07-08T13:14:00.000+08:00

filed under News

Blasts rocked Central London during morning rush hour yesterday, killing at least 37 and injuring many hundreds. This is the worst attack on London since World War II. Three Underground trains and a bus were bombed in multiple synchronized attacks. This is the signature of al-Qaeda attacks; co-ordinated attacks on innocent people in the public. A secret group of al-Qaeda in Europe has claimed responsibility. These evil people claimed to act on behalf of their religion, but they are actually just extremists who kill innocent people. I strongly condemn these stupid, babaric and despicable acts. Terror will not and must not win. We have only become stronger to fight these terrorists.

These are definitely planned deliberate acts. Just as Britain was celebrating its Olympic triumph, these terrorists came out to kill. This was also in coincidence with the G8 Summit. This is especially cruel when poor people in Africa are waiting for help from the G8 leaders. The world leaders of the G8 Summit have issued a united condemnation at the attacks and re-iterated that violence would not halt the summit, where talks would continue "in the interests of a better world".

A massive intelligence investigation is now under way to hunt down those responsible for the London attacks. These stupid people have to be punished and terrorist networks around the world have to be wiped out completely.

I am deeply saddened and extremely angry on seeing pictures and video clips of devastation in Central London. I send my deepest condolences to the victims, their families and friends.

Installing Ubuntu

2005-07-07T16:34:00.000+08:00

filed under Linux

I removed my ancient version of Red Hat Linux today and installed Ubuntu's Warty Warthog. I had loads of these Ubuntu installation discs mailed to me from Shipit - the Ubuntu CD Distribution System. The installation process was smooth with no errors. It took about 45 minutes. Yeah, it took quite a while, but most of the time was spent downloading and installing updates. I'm posting this from my Ubuntu Linux OS right now. Internet connection was set up without hassles. I just installed the GNU C compiler and everything's up and working now.

London 2012

2005-07-07T13:00:00.000+08:00

filed under News

The host city for the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games will be the city of London. The result was revealed yesterday at the 117th IOC Session, in Singapore, after four rounds of voting by members of the IOC. It was a close competition between London and Paris, after Moscow, New York and Madrid were eliminated from the race earlier. London eventually triumphed by taking 54 votes from a possible 104. Congratulations, London!

Link

Gerrard U-Turn

2005-07-06T21:24:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

In an amazing overnight u-turn, Stevie now wants to stay at Liverpool. I really couldn't believe it, it's too good to be true. He today reflected on his decision to remain at Anfield and admitted: "I just couldn't leave the club I love." A few hours ago, I had just hoped that he will change his mind and he did.

Gerrard's Leaving Anfield

2005-07-06T14:47:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

Liverpool FC today issued the following press statement regarding Steven Gerrard.

"The club has made it crystal clear we want to keep Steven at Anfield. Sadly, he has told us this afternoon that he will not accept our offer of an improved and extended contract because he wants to leave Liverpool. We very much regret the decision he has taken."

Sad news. I really hope Stevie could change his mind.

Waiting for Bigfoot

2005-07-06T13:11:00.000+08:00

filed under News

From July 2 to August 20, San Francisco-based American artist Jill Miller will be camping in a remote Northern California forest, the epicentre of Bigfoot sightings. This project is part of Norwich Gallery's EAST 05 international exhibition. During this time, we can get a live feed of images updated in real time directly from the bigfoot campsite. Be sure to check it out.

Link

Ninth of Australia's 12 Apostles Crumbles

2005-07-05T21:06:00.000+08:00

filed under News

This rock formation near Port Campbell was called the Sow and Piglets until 1922 when its name was changed to The Twelve Apostles. But interestingly, there were only nine main rocks in the formation and further reduced to eight now. The 45-metre structure collapsed into the Southern Ocean at 9.18am (AEST) 03 July 2005.

EmDebSys Deprecated

2005-07-05T16:11:00.000+08:00

filed under Project

I was doing a research on EmDebSys and realised that it has been deprecated. Emdebsys is a system creation and configuration tool for embedded Linux. It was originally known as CML2+OS (2000-2001). This tool relates closely to my project, although my supervisor wants to see a more powerful system. It's a pity that the development of Emdebsys has been abandoned. I also found out that CML2 is not very popular among kernel gurus, with kconfig preferred in line with the current Linux kernel configuration system. Now, I'm off to reading "Building Tiny Linux Systems with Busybox" by Bruce Perens.

DIY Electronic Signboard

2005-07-05T13:51:00.000+08:00

filed under Web

Check out this interesting electronic signboard that allows you to enter your own message.

Link

4 New Liverpool Signings

2005-07-04T21:08:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

Rafa Benitez unveiled 4 new Liverpool players today, with Bolo Zenden the latest signing. The Liverpool boss said: "We have today introduced Bolo Zenden as a Liverpool player but we have also signed Jose Reina, the best goalkeeper in Spain, Mark Gonzales, the best player in Chile and Antonio Barragan."

Building Embedded Linux

2005-07-04T17:20:00.000+08:00

filed under Project

I'm currently in the starting phase of my honours year project on "Building Embedded Linux".

Project Description:

This project looks at how to automatically build a small linux distributions, this means both the kernel and the rest of the OS, given constraints on the hardware platform. The reason for doing so is because embedded systems are usually constrained in terms of memory and storage. They may also not require the full generality of a distribution.

This project is motivated by an industrial partner which would be able to supply a development system for specific embedded target platforms. Related work is for example the Embedded Debian Project which makes use of the CML2 configuration system. However a more powerful system is envisaged for this project.

There is also an opportunity to be able to work with several players in the embedded arena such as Proxim.

I'll be posting my project activities on this blog, so that a project timeline can be drawn up easily when needed. As a start, I've been reading Robert Love's Linux Kernel Development and hope to finish it by mid-July.

Link

Cheap Tze Cha

2005-07-04T12:26:00.000+08:00

filed under Food

Being a foodie myself, I'll be blogging more about good food in Singapore from now on. I had Tze Cha for yesterday's dinner. For your info, Tze Cha is like a cheaper version of ala-carte restaurant food, which is very popular among Singaporeans. These stalls are often located in coffeeshops. I had mine at Tiong Bahru's Tze Cha which is ironically located in Jurong East. Sweet sour fried fish, oil fried vegetables, tian ji (delicious meat of a species of frog) cooked in sauce and claypot beancurd were served. S$38 for 4 people. Most people living around Jurong East should have heard of this well-known stall. The food's delicious and affordable.

Block 254A Jurong East Street 24 (S)600254

BBQ Food

2005-07-03T12:33:00.000+08:00

filed under Food

Yesterday's dinner was a simple matter of a BBQ stingray, 3 BBQ crayfish and fried rice. Typical Singaporean food. But hey, it's simple, tasty and cheap. S$30 odd for 3 people. In my opinion, this is the best stall selling BBQ food around Jurong. People living around Jurong should check this out.

Block 456 Jurong West Street 41 (S)640456

Streetdirectory.com.sg Hacked

2005-07-03T12:04:00.000+08:00

filed under News

I was just going to check out some maps when I realised that the website was hacked by some guy called ammok. "Hacked by ammok!!!" appears as the title with a rectangular orange bar on the page.

Update: The website is back to normal as of 1230 today.

Indexed by Google

2005-07-02T15:28:00.000+08:00

filed under Web

Great news, my blog is now indexed on Google Search. Thank you Googlebot.

Google Maps API

2005-07-01T13:26:00.000+08:00

filed under Web

Web developers can now embed Google Maps into their own websites with Javascript. This is a free beta service available to websites that are free to consumers. But this service is totally useless to me as Singapore is not covered in detail by Google Maps. I hope the developers enable worldwide coverage as soon as possible.

Link

Creative Launches Zen Sleek

2005-07-01T13:06:00.000+08:00

filed under Gadgets

Creative has launched the Zen Sleek MP3 player, the latest expression of the Zen style. This new product has a striking resemblance to the Apple iPod mini. The "sleek" design doesn't seem to appeal to me though.

Zen Sleek Features:
· Stunning design, in smooth aluminium and cool white contours.
· 20GB hard disk
· Vertical touchpad with LED backlight
· Large blue backlit display
· FM tuner with 32 presets and direct recording.
· Built-in microphone
· Equalisation feature with nine acoustic environments
· USB 2.0 connection

Google Earth

2005-06-29T16:41:00.000+08:00

filed under Technology

Google has launched yet another amazing service, Google Earth, as a standalone application. The rumours are true, it's available as a free download. It combines the power of Google Maps satellite imagery and Google Search to put the world's geographic details in a feature-rich application. Grab this free download and travel around the world.

Link

Watch Live 8 on Starhub Digital Cable

2005-06-29T15:00:00.000+08:00

filed under World

Great news for people living in Singapore. We will be able to catch the special "Live" telecast of Live 8 from 2 July, 9pm till 3 July, 7am. This telecast will be on Channel 01 Preview Channel, exclusively for Starhub Digital Cable subscribers.

Live 8 - The Long Walk to Justice

2005-06-28T21:40:00.000+08:00

filed under World
tags live8

The upcoming G8 summit on July 6th in Scotland may just be another world leaders meeting for ordinary people like us. But these 8 world leaders could make a decision that would make poverty history for our generation. We have to make sure they make this decision. Live 8 is a series of concerts that only wants to spread one message: To stop 30,000 children from dying needlessly of extreme poverty every single day. Every single human being has a part to play. These are the actions we can take

1. Watch LIVE 8 on tv and online
2. Go To Edinburgh
3. Send a Friend to Edinburgh
4. The Long Walk to Justice
5. Wear a White Band to show your support
6. Send in a picture and join the G8 Gallery
7. Edinburgh 50,000 - the final push
8. Email your leader
9. Sign the Live 8 List

Link

Sign The ONE Declaration

2005-06-27T21:39:00.000+08:00

filed under World
tags live8

Come on guys. Let's help the poorest people of the world kick out AIDS and extreme poverty. The main goal of this campaign is to direct ONE percent of the U.S. budget to help poor countries. This ONE percent amounts to US$25 billion and could help transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the poorest countries. So, please take ONE minute and sign the ONE declaration.

Link

Bluefish

2005-06-27T14:31:00.000+08:00

filed under Web

" Bluefish is a powerful editor for experienced web designers and programmers. Bluefish supports many programming and markup languages, but it focuses on editing dynamic and interactive websites. "

This lightweight editor for web design and programming is an open source development project, released under the GPL licence. It has mutiple syntax highlighting for programming and web development languages. Developers should check this out.

Link

The Barney Rustle Blanket

2005-06-24T15:01:00.000+08:00

filed under Wishlist

Check out this cool yellow Crumpler bag. I have no idea what's up with its name "The Barney Rustle Blanket", but it sure looks good. It has to be on my wishlist.

Anyone who wanna sponsor me, please click on the Google ads on the right and bottom of my blog.

Link

2005/06 Premiership Fixtures Released

2005-06-23T21:25:00.000+08:00

filed under Liverpool

Liverpool's first EPL game of the 2005/06 season will kick off away at Middlesbrough on Saturday, August 20. Well, it's still a 2 months wait.

Link

80X15 Brilliant Antipixel Badge Maker

2005-06-23T14:22:00.000+08:00

filed under Web

These buttons are especially popular with bloggers. I came across this web interface to create "80x15 brilliant buttons" using Bill Zeller's php script. It's a wonderful generator that also allows you to add images to decorate the button. A few of the badges on the top of my blog are made from this generator.

Link

Gmail Icon Generator

2005-06-23T13:41:00.000+08:00

filed under Web

Look at the right of my blog. I've found a nifty generator to make this gmail icon that knocks out email harvester bots. It's done in 2 simple steps. It's amazing. It's free.

Link

Steve Jobs at Stanford Commencement

2005-06-21T20:21:00.000+08:00

filed under News

At the Stanford's University's 114th Commencement recently, Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, gave an inspiring speech urging graduates to pursue their love and see death as a tool to help us make important choices in life. I wouldn't have guessed that he was fired from Apple and later rejoined to turn it into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. Everyone should have a read/listen at his speech. It's available in its full entirety in audio and text format over at wiredatom.

Link

Coldplay X&Y

2005-06-21T14:15:00.000+08:00

filed under Music

X&Y, the brand new album from Coldplay, is out now. It has sparked a worldwide Coldplay fever, scooping the No 1 spot in more than 25 countries to date.

Sponsor me to get a copy of this album by simply clicking on the Google ads on the right and bottom of my blog. Thanks in advance!