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Be in command

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Charter. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have not paid any television licensing fees. I do so legally in Singapore by not having a television at home. It isn't because the money, which is not much, but my time and selection of contents. I find it difficult to be in command when there is a television set at home.

In a broadcast setting, I can't decide when to watch, what show to watch, watch again fully or partially, pause for a moment, etc. How about you? Do you want to be in command of when, how and what show to watch? Personally, I like the concept of on demand so that I can be

Work and play. Upsized.

Months have passed since I changed my phone from Nokia N80ie to Samsung Omnia II i8000. Another rather big step just as I had previously moved from Nokia 3250 to N80ie.

My verdict after just using for only a few days still stands today, which is that hardware wise, it is a good phone but Windows Mobile 6.1 OS does not match up to it. Now that Apple iPhone 3GS and Google Nexus One just come out more recently, I feel Omnia II is

Merry Christmas!

To all who celebrates Christmas. Yes, Merry Christmas!

Now, please stop reading as the rest will likely make your Christmas less merry.

The new CEPAS-compliant ez-link card

I read a letter in TodayOnline about the new CEPAS-compliant ez-link card by LTA. The author claimed that the new card would require him to make more top-ups. I scratched my head..

In the old system, there is a S$3 deposit and when stored value (excluding the deposit) is less than S$0, one cannot board a MRT train or bus.

In the new system, there won't be any deposit, and when stored value is less than S$3, one cannot board a MRT train, while for buses, minimum stored value must be more than that required for the rest of the journey of the bus.

I really don't see this change can lead to more frequent top-ups necessary for anyone. ... why? The current top-up procedure ask how much one wants to top-up. Thus, regardless if there is deposit, or the amount of deposit, or the amount of minimum value (for MRT), there is no reason to do more top-ups. Unless, the author has been using a procedure that I have not come across where he was asked how much stored value he wants in the card, and he doesn't intend to change this amount when using the new card. However, I don't think there is such a procedure.

Even for those who mainly travel by bus, they may instead top up lesser, but by only 0.1 top-up lesser assuming that their minimum value is S$2 instead of 3 and each time they do S$10 top-up.

However, if the S$3 deposit on existing EZ-Link card will not be refunded, then yes. Similarly, it would still be just an additional 0.3 top up, using the above assumptions.

I believe there are many not so good or correct letters sent by many, but to be selected for publication is slightly more than the common excuse of human err. Instead of thinking that it was some mistakes by the editors, I suspect it was intentional to create some heated discussions. They are facing low volume of letters to Voices and needed to take articles without asking from blog. There is one from reclaimed.wordpress.com but I couldn't find the article in this inactive blog.

By the way, I pity the LTA and TransitLink being wrongly accused by many. From what I understand, it was the IDA initiative and directive to adopt the CEPAS standard that led to the change, while many unhappy comments were targetted at TransitLink and LTA.

Football, anyone?

If you are interested in football, do you consider yourself a fan? If so, this might be of interest to you too: www.partofthegame.tv is a Web-TV channel about football and fan life launched by Carlsberg recently.

It has 5 channels showing ... all aspects about football from the classic football matches to life as a fan. I think as a fan, you can also upload your own clips about football such as your own favourite football moments. Even, if you've found the videos on YouTube etc.

Interestingly, although it is about football, due to Carlsberg, the first page requires you to declare you are of legal drinking age :)

Live casting

Our PM Lee's demostration of live casting during his speech inspired MrBrown to test Qik out, and in turn inspired many, including me to try it out. Only a few poorly captured videos while cycling at my Qik, but hopefully more will come.

I think if Qik can disallow edited videos, then its contents will truly be reality shows.

Being different has a price

Someone called kishore who is interested in collecting new cracked mobile softwares for nokia mobiles invited me to visit his blog on s60v3 applications. Happily I paid a visit there but sadly I read about an online TV application that supports on all NOKIA N-SERIES mobiles with resolution 240x320. And supports on N95, N93 and N82.

What!!! N80 is not supported? If it was due to older model, I am fine with that. However, it was about ... resolution, and not that N80 has a lower resolution. Instead, N80 has a higher but too uniquely kind of resolution: 352x416. First I encounter this was the application pfingo, and now this!

I don't think it is difficult to make such applications work on a higher resolution, but I know it is not about technical difficulty. It is more about commercial profitability.

No free lunch? How about music?

Yes! Get free music at Sites and Sounds! That's what this very recently (May 2008) started blog is about: to bring you cool music and sites from around the web. Here are some tracks available for downloading ... that are featured on the sites are:

• By Jeff Merchant - Li’l Miss Riding Hood / Landlord Song / Sick Of It / You Can’t Save Me
  
• By Megaphone - Not your Enemy / Stain / Drama Queen
  
• By Louise Mosrie - Complicated / Rockslide / Never Gonna be the one
  
• By Chester Bennington - Let Down
  
• By Jason Silver - Time will Tell / Lover’s Road
  
• By Assembly of Dust - BootLegger’s Advice / Grand Design / Lone Tree / Leadbelly
  
• By Eric Nicholas - Lost inside your Eyes / Song for my Future Wife
  
• By Billie the Vision & The Dancers - Absolutely, Salutely

I am sure you will find more when you visit Sites and Sounds.

Frankly, I am not into music and art. I am much better in mathematics. Nevertheless, I think I have picked up more knowledge about music last few years by watching those singing/talent competition shows with emphasis on judges' comments. I supposed it all started by the American Idol show.

I would love to have the lyrics together with the songs. Hope they can have a section on lyrics, or are there copyrights issue for lyrics?

PS: Not only did I Discover New and Free music at Sites and Sounds, I also discovered TimeTube - Timeline for YouTube, which I find quite interesting.

Witness protection - alternative to undercover?

The USA Network's new original series In Plain Sight (Pilot - Episode Premiere: June 1, 2008) is about the highly secretive Federal Witness Protection Program (WITSEC). Simply put, U.S. Marshal Mary Shannon protects and helps witnesses to start anew. However, homicide detective Bobby D disgust for the branch of law enforcement that ... puts known criminals back on the street.

A character that I can relate to is Mary's partner Marshall Mann, specifically about knowing a little bit about everything. I am not the kind of person who goes into a subject deeply to understand it thoroughly. Rather, I would prefer to know just enough of a subject but knows about more subjects.

Coming back to the story, is putting known criminals back on the street OK? Probably not. However, I see WITSEC as an alternative to sending in under-covers, risking and wasting the life of otherwise good law enforcers.

What is good?

Enjoy a Fathom event featuring DeathNote at VCM Fathom. Then, think about what is good?

NCM Fathom and Viz Pictures bring Live Action

nationwide in US - May 20th and 21st at 7:30 PM!

To have some supernatural power is a dream not only fancy by kids because adults ... too wish to have more power to do good. In this movie based on the successful Japanese manga about the owner of a notebook of a death god can end the life of anyone whose name he writes in the notebook. What seems to be an evil power was put to "good" use by the main character, Light Yagami, who vowed to use it to get rid of evil people. However, he is being hunted by a legendary detective, L, when people, even though criminals, started dying mysteriously.

This reminds me of a line by Martin Luther King, Jr., "We never get rid of an enemy by meeting hate with hate; we get rid of an enemy be getting rid of enmity." Thus, sending the evil people to hell is not a solution. Emptying hell is.

As if their tails (as if they have) is being stepped on

Would not showing homosexuality publicly hurt those who choose to be of this "minority¹" group? I don't know. Err, actually, I think it doesn't hurt them.

Would showing such hurt those who ...
- are naturally heterosexual? Yes, it does.
- have conservative, or I prefer long accepted moral standards? Yes, it does.
- have faiths, such as Islam, Unificationism, etc. that condemn such stuffs? Yes, it does.

I support and encourage the Singapore's Media Development Authority for being firm on such issues. There are always pros and cons. Here, the cons is some self-defined homosexual people would be offended, while many many others would applau us. Thus, the net results is we would be attracting more people to Singapore, as this is a unique and rare place that uphold such moral standards.

¹ Quoted not because of their numbers, but because of the difference from the use of the word in "minority races."

Another real advertisment

My previous mention of a real advertisment at emailcashpro was real only during the festive season last Dec.

This one should be real. It is an advertisement for Mosaic, Music Festival Singapore. There, you can find a very impressive ebook about the concert. An ebook is not just a book, it is electronic! This ebook has video clips in it! There is even a button that bring you to the booking page! Check it out!

Singapore, winner of Youth Olympics 2010

In the report FACTBOX-Facts about Singapore, winner of Youth Olympics, there is this point mentioned:

"* Singapore is famous for its tight social controls and restrictions on the sale of chewing gum. Homosexuality is illegal and pornography is banned. Demonstrations are illegal, while public speaking and gatherings of more than four people require a permit. Reporters Without Borders' 2007 press freedom index ranked Singapore 141st out of 169 countries ... So what?, after Azerbajian and Sudan, reflecting restrictions on the media and arts."

These are what I would like Singapore to retain, which is something rightfully described by the slogan Uniquely Singapore! Majority of the media and arts is not doing service to the world. Restricting them is actually not enough. More need to be done to channel them in the better direction.

I find FACTBOX does not have a neutral stand about Singapore. Doesn't matter, since the fact is, Singapore has won the competition to host the first Youth Olympic in 2010! Congratulations! Also read about it in these reports, Olympics-IOC awards 2010 Youth Games to Singapore, and Singapore ecstatic at winning Youth Olympics bid.

Can I say that to have intimacy is to infect each other?

In an excerpt, Homosexuals Squelch Facts About MRSA Outbreak, of an article in CNSNews.com:

But the media are now obscuring that fact, according to Matt Barber, director of cultural policy for Concerned Women for America (CWA).
“The real story here is the way that the media have whitewashed this outbreak,” Barber told Cybercast News Service. “It is amazing to see what they’ve done with this.”…

and ...

Medically speaking, any break in the skin that is exposed to the organism can then set off an infection, which can destroy “a lot of tissue” before it’s brought under control, [Internationally known infectious disease specialist Dr. John] Diggs said.

Since the main media have whitewashed such news due to concerns about political correctness, let the side media like bloggers who do not have political correctness concerns spread these important information out.

Looking at the medical perspective on infection, it seems like most intimacy behaviors are acts of infecting the other party. Thus, having only one partner in one's lifetime is a smart choice!

TV drama lengths

I thought some drama serials from Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan are long, with some can continue for years at the rate of one episode per week. Only recent years I started watching some drama serial from US. In fact, theirs is even longer, not in terms of how many episodes and how long a drama serial continue, but in the number of years they cover. At about a series of about 10 to 25 episodes per season, 2 seasons per year, a 6 series drama will cover 3 years! Some examples come to mind are the Cosby Show, Friends, CSI, etc. We watch not only the show, and also the growing up of the actors/actresses, especially those younger ones.