Soup of the day VS Coffee of the day

While both are served as X of the day, but it is very DIFFERENT! Taking the same concept of soup of the day, I asked the barista for the coffee of the day since I also can’t make up my mind of what coffee to drink. She returned with a cup of super super Kopi O. I almost faint on the spot.

It is not until later Jean explained that coffee of the day comes about to try to sell off unpopular coffee while soup of the day is designed specially to complement with the dishes.

OMG! Siao liao lor and I ordered a venti. Chui~

p.s: at least learn something today. dun be as blur as me.

So why did Thaksin went back?

Former Thai premier returned to Thailand yesterday and was sent to court. It remains to be seen if he can escape charges on corruption and rebel against the king.

In my opinion, it is highly unlikely that he will be granted amnesty (by the king he wanted to overthrow). In question pop up my mind: why is he returning back and face the possibility of being charged and throw o jail while he can still enjoy managing his ManCity soccer team?

One possibility is that he is very confident of escaping through the loopholes in law.

Another possibility is that he is threatened under certain circumstances and hence the need to return back.

The last possible I can think of is he loves his country very much and throughout the whole incident, he may just be a victim and by all means he wanted to clear his name of the various charges.

So what do you think?

Thaksin back in Thailand, but not off the hook: “BANGKOK - THAILAND’S fallen premier Thaksin Shinawatra vowed to stay out of politics as rapturous crowds welcomed him home, but analysts say he plans to keep close tabs on his allies running the government.”

(Via Straits Times Interactive - LATEST NEWS.)

Bill Gates moving to LinkedIn from Facebook

While Bill Gates may have get bored with Facebook, it is yet to see if LinkedIn can get Bill Gates hooked for long (he’s so rich already, do he even need to network?). I believe by now, many people would have try to contact Bill Gates to propose some business venture.

If you found his LinkedIn url, post the url here. Thanks a lot. I will do a elevator pitch over Skype to “sell” myself to be his god son.

Bill Gates on LinkedIn: ”

Did you know that Bill Gates recently deleted his Facebook profile and moved over to LinkedIn? ‘How can we do more to encourage young people to pursue careers in science and technology?’ asks Bill Gates on LinkedIn. What is your answer to this question? Good move to ask this question on LinkedIn. Unlike many other social networking websites, LinkedIn is very useful if you know how to use it well. Fortunately, you don’t have to know how to throw sheep at others to grow relationships that matter!
(Photo Credit: Alex Slobodkin /iStockphoto)

”

(Via Truemors.)

Tips: How to choose a good FYP

First thing first, always understand where your strength and weakness are. It can be courageous to go for projects out of what you have learnt. It’s definitely ok with it but remember, you have to put in a lot of effort to overcome the “learning” phrase.

Check out from your other friend how’s the professor like. The best way is to find the FYP supervisor working directly under him. But listen from a few person. Don’t put all your egg in one basket.

Go have a talk with the professor on what the project is about and ask him what will you be doing if you’re chosen for that particular project. If he gives you vague answer, drop the project straight away (well again it depends individually). Most likely, the professor has lost touch with the project and doesn’t have anything in mind to continue for the project.

If the professor gives you very superficial answer like “make it better”, “make it faster” etc, you have to keep in mind that he will say the same thing to you if you’re doing the project. You may not have anything in mind (to improve the system) especially the parts are already optimized. Then what?

Most likely you found yourself in a shithole that you have to climb out of - it all depends on how deep is it.

Also find out how helpful is the professor and how friendly is he with the other staff. This comes to the most important part of this article. Cos if he’s not in good terms with other professor, then do you think it’s possible that the other marker (holding on 40-50% of your fyp grade) will give you good marks suay suay if both professors hate each other to the core?

Enough said. For those who will be choosing FYP, good luck.

Extra tips: there’s a secret list of recommended fyp supervisor passing around. try asking from your hall mates.

Video: LandLord. Funniest video ever

I can’t stop laughing when my friend Adlina showed me this video. Keke. She’s so cute and I’m sure she will make a very good business-woman in the future. Watch this, it will sure to bring you laughter for the whole day.

Using Leap Year to save money

I can’t wait to go with DK, Jean, Ridzuan and Alice to watch the “Leap Year”. Here’s some tips using the leap year to save money.

1. Propose on 29th Feb.

2. Get attached on 29th Feb

3. Marry on 29th Feb

4. Get a partner with his/her birthday on 29th Feb

If you plan out correctly, you will marry on the 12th year after you got attached to her. A bit difficult to plan out especially the last point. But after that it will save you guys/girls tons of money. LOL

Sorry for being so unromantic and I believe the girls will make sure that it (blooody) don’t fall on that day.

Guys, add on to this list. I believe you can be more creative than me.

Do a part to track down this man.

Just a helping hand to make sure that the blogosphere in Singapore will all know about this. Like what Jean said, I wouldn’t want to see him in NTU or my way back home. Everyone do a part (by spreading photos and information to your friends or relatives or fellow bloggers) and it will help the police to track him down earlier for the safety of all Singaporeans.

I’m nearing my completion for Honors Degree (even though I dunnoe if I ever get one) and seriously I wouldn’t like to see him at all. No way!

Public announcement service: Have you seen this man?: ”

I figured that as a fellow resident in Singapore, I should be concerned with the safety of the people all around us and as much as every blabbers about the government and the efficiency of the total defence forces, I think true total defence can only come about if everyone works hand in hand. Yes, I know this sounds like propaganda, but seriously, the last thing I want to do is to find a JI militant in my gardens, school or lab. So, if it’s anything else, it’s for selfish reasons

Mas Selamat Kastari, aged 45

So, if you have seen this man, or anyone who looks like him *and* walks with a limp (now I am hoping that he wasn’t faking a limp), then you might want to contact your friendly neighbourhood police center, or just blog about it and ping it. It doesn’t matter that they think that he’s in or near Malcolm Park. He has legs and probably can run anywhere.

Now, you won’t want to be in a plane, bus, train or taxi that is marked by him or his group as a target to terrorize the people in Singapore, do you? So do keep a lookout and help spread the word. In fact, you can just copy everything in this post and put it on your blog so that everyone else can see it.

Safety - it’s in your hands.

Ed: Serious, it’s not propaganda…

”

(Via Simply Me. Simply Jean..)

Are students relying too much on hanyu pinyin? My take: children are just too lazy.

I’ve not been in touch with the primary and secondary education and hence I’m not the right person to comment on this issue. However, it is quite a norm to see student struggling in Chinese. I myself struggle in English back then. To me Mandarin is a breeze, however, with the current Mandarin level getting watered down again and again, it just amazed me that student can just get away with it with Chinese B.

Why not have English B? I’m not whining about it but I believe every student has the responsibility to study well and the parents shouldn’t put so much pressure on the school to change the syllabus. We are just spoiling our children.

In order to improve collaboration and cooperation, shouldn’t we improve our standard of Chinese to get ourselves ahead? Just like English is the main language to help us in trade and commerce in european countries and USA, shouldn’t we have similar form of emphasis for Mandarin since China will be the biggest market in 10 years time?

It’s already a mockery to know that our Secondary 4 level Mandarin is equivalent to Primary 3 in China in my time. If they water down again and again, may as well drop the subject all together.

How I improve my Mandarin? I read lots and lots of novels by Jin Yong. I read “Romance Of The Three Kindom” in primary 6. I think my 6 years of reading comics help partially though it costs me a bomb and I have to hide them from my parents

Extracted from ST
FATHER of two Koon Peng Bee was shocked when he tried to coach his Primary 1 son in Chinese dictation recently.

The list of words was accompanied by roman letters with lines over them, and not the Chinese characters he had expected to see.

‘My worry is that without the Chinese words, you are giving children the impression that Chinese is abc with strokes on top,’ said Mr Koon, 40, an IT executive.

With more children having little or no exposure to Chinese, Primary 1 children these days are first taught hanyu pinyin, or romanised Chinese characters, to ease them into the language.

But for parents like Mr Koon and Tanjong Pagar GRC MP Sam Tan, who raised this in Parliament on Monday, the worry is that students are relying too much on pinyin. Mr Tan should know.

His three children found pinyin a breeze, but Chinese characters tough and had to take tuition on the subject.

‘One day when I came home, I was quite happy that my daughter was able to read a Chinese passage loud and clear. Later on, I realised that she was pronouncing all the words using hanyu pinyin,’ said Mr Tan.

‘When I gave her a book without hanyu pinyin, she couldn’t recognise the characters and couldn’t read.’

Mr Tan said that without pinyin, his children found Chinese hard to read.

‘It creates a stumbling block and makes them not like Chinese as a subject,’ said Mr Tan, who is also executive director of the Chinese Development Assistance Council.

Not all parents worry about their children using pinyin as a crutch.

Sign of bread price to rise again

Expect the bread price to rise againt due to increase in the demand for flour but the production is not growing as fast. In economic terms, it means the price will need to go up so as to counter the demand. It only means that the bakery store will be squeezed and pass down the bill to customer.

What worried me is not that the price will increase but many owners will make use of this opportunities and further improve their profit. How will the lower income people going to survive is really a tough question to answer. Hopefully the ang bao from gah-men is enough.

Whether reasonable or unreasonable, this is the sad truth of life and we just have to suck thumb and carry on.

Wheat surges on rising demand, limited production: ”

NEW YORK - US spring wheat used to make high protein flour closed up 25 per cent on Monday after hitting all-time highs of $25 (S$35)a bushel as funds plowed into commodities to profit from rising inflation.”

(Via Straits Times Interactive - LATEST NEWS.)

Video: Edison Saga in movie

Kudos to the people who come out with this video. It is just amazing how come people is so free to do it. But still give them a clap for their effort.

Video: How to hide an erection

Check out this video. It gives a comprehensive guide on how to make it less obvious in the public. A great guide to all guys. w00t

Argument on Google collecting IP (Part 2)

I particularly like this post on the analysis on why Google argument is flawed. What’s really scary is that Google has the ability to track down user all the way to individual household to provide the most relevant advertisement when other information is used.

Is there any other way to stop google from tracking our user preference? Especially when I heard from my friend that MacBook Hardware address is actually unique, which puts me at the risk as a even easier target to track down. Sigh…

Extracted by NYTimes

My post about whether Google’s records of the Internet Protocol address should be considered personal information under privacy law, brought two comments from Googlers: Matt Cutts, an engineer, and from Peter Fleischer, Google’s global privacy counsel.

Both go over the many technical and legal reasons that the I.P. addresses in Google’s records can’t, in isolation, be tracked back to an individual. Very true.

But the converse is also true: The I.P. addresses Google collects, when combined with other information, can sometimes identify an individual, or a household.

This raises all sorts of implications that need to be considered as we move into a world where so many more actions we take will be logged digitally in some way.

The opposite of identification is anonymity. When I.P. addresses of Internet actions are all recorded, anonymity is harder to preserve.

Logging I.P. addresses is similar to a security camera recording everyone entering your store. Without any more information, you don’t know the names or identities of any of the people on the recording. But that recording makes it much easier to gather that information and find out who is shopping. Some people you can identify because they go on to buy something providing their names. Other people you can’t identify, but the government with its database of drivers licenses photographs or other investigative techniques can.

Mr. Fleischer acknowledges that Google’s records, combined with those from an Internet service provider, can indeed link a particular computer to a particular pattern of searches. He says I.S.P.’s, by law, can’t give that information to Google. But he admits that government investigators or even private litigators can:

In order for someone to tie the IP to an account holder, there have to be at least two subpoenas issued: one to Google and a separate one to the ISP.

This is important because people have lots of reasons to keep information private. They may not want Google to use for advertising. But they may also want to keep secrets from people who may have the right to sue them.

Mr. Fleischer discusses at some length the technicalities of European law over what defines personal information. I.P. addresses, he argues don’t qualify. And more broadly, he suggests that some of the general principles that apply to personal information—standards of notice and choice, for example– aren’t always appropriate for I.P. addresses.

Perhaps we should start considering another category: partially personal information—bits of data that can be personal under certain circumstances. There are real questions about who should collect this information, under what circumstances, and what they should do with it.

The statements by Google and others that simply argue that I.P. addresses aren’t personal distract people from the thoughtful understanding of what they are and how they can be used.

FnB business venturing into Islamic market

With a 67 increase in food export to UAE, it is a sign for more FnB business to be Hala certified to grow their business in the Middle East. All thanks to MUIS that allow this to happen.

I believe this is made possible due to government reputation as a clean government and the confidence they have in us to deliver “guaranteed-halal” food to the Middle East customer.

A few famous one would be Banquet and Old Chang Kee. It is actually quite surprising that Old Chang Kee is so well accepted by the Malays locally even as a Chinese brand.

What is more surprising is that Singapore companies is known to outsource many of their operations oversea especially IT, it actually gained a niche market to get “outsourced” by UAE. However, it is still too early to predict how Singapore can protect this niche especially when China and India have advantage in lower wage workforce.

SINGAPORE : Singapore’s food exports to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2007 was S$171 million, a 67 percent increase from the year before.

Exports have been rising since UAE recognised MUIS’ (Islamic Religious Council of Singapore) Certification System and its halal certificates in 2006.

Bilateral food trade now at S$180 million makes UAE Singapore’s largest food trading partner in the Middle East.

To further showcase Singaporean food, 22 Singapore F&B companies are taking part in Gulfood 2008.

This is touted to be the largest food trade show in the Middle East, and is on till Wednesday (27 February). - CNA/ch

Internal Microsoft memo may calm Yahoo is just another bluff

A post “No major layoff when Microsoft merge with Yahoo. Are you kidding?” just yesterday. The memo mentioned about Microsoft intention to take good care of Yahoo people if they takeover the company.

Here’s some of the comments
Ntt: But why do the share holders care if there will be any change in the company or not, esp once they sell it.

Neo: I think the merger will only benefit the shareholders not yahoo as a company (which includes their employee). I agree with NTT the shareholders won’t care whether is there any changes or restructuring of the company. As for employee, i am skeptical that they can still secure their jobs.

Here’s another article from BloggingStock, with an analysis of why Microsoft mentioned is just a bluff that support the comments by NTT and Neo. In short,

1. Microsoft is known to be independent and solve problems alone.
2. This deal will only benefit the shareholders and nothing more.

According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), ‘Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft’s Platforms and Services Division, reiterated the Redmond, Wash., software maker’s reasons behind its unsolicited offer, writing that a combination would provide a compelling alternative in search and online advertising.’ The note goes further to indicate that Microsoft values both the Yahoo! brands and the technical skills of its engineers.

Yahoo! should not take the memo seriously. It would be hard to name a company that Microsoft has purchased that still maintains its own brands and independent operations. Bill Gates has said that the software company will put its full engineering skill behind an effort to build better search technology than Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has. It may be an audacious and arrogant approach to catching the industry leader, but Microsoft has never looked for outside help to solve its most urgent problems.

All Yahoo! shareholders can look for in the generous Microsoft buy-out offer is a good payday. The world’s largest software company looks at Yahoo! as a step in advancing its own agenda and nothing more.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

(Via BloggingStocks.)

Clinton refutes Obama claim while McCain accused of affair. More twist for US Presidency.

While time and tide has turned for a change. I always felt politics is something evil and only for people who either has a very pure history or born to cover things up. In order to get an advantage, the opposing party will often dig out the dark side of the competing candidate first. Like McCain accused of having an affair. But is it really true? While Obama has been accused of spreading rumours. This is getting complicated.

While I believe Obama is the right person to lead the country to bring changes to the entire nation, it is really disheartening to know if he really use this ploy of incorrect information of Hillary plan. While we don’t know which side is telling the truth. Is it a ploy by Hillary to gain back public support? Did Obama really do it? There’s a lot of question left to be answered.

CINCINNATI - MRS Hillary Clinton slammed rival Barack Obama for campaign leaflets on her healthcare plan that she called ‘blatantly false’ and accused him of using Republican tactics in their contest for the Democratic United States presidential nomination.

In a bitter exchange, the Obama campaign defended the leaflet as accurate and decried Mrs Clinton’s ‘negative campaign’.

‘Shame on you, Barack Obama,’ Mrs Clinton said on Saturday, speaking to reporters after a rally in Ohio, a state that is key to her struggling campaign.

Brandishing a copy of the leaflet, Mrs Clinton said the Obama campaign was spreading ‘false, misleading, discredited information’ about her healthcare plan.

‘Senator Obama knows it is not true that my plan forces people to buy insurance even if they can’t afford it,’ Mrs Clinton said. ‘It is blatantly false and yet he continues to spend millions of dollars perpetuating falsehoods. It is not hopeful. It is destructive, particularly for a Democrat to be discrediting universal health care.’

Obama spokesman Bill Burton in a statement responded: ‘Everything in those mailers is completely accurate, unlike the discredited attacks from Hillary Clinton’s negative campaign that have been rejected in South Carolina, Wisconsin, and across America.’

March 4 contests
Mrs Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, would be the first woman US president if she won the general election, and Mr Obama, an Illinois senator, would be the first black US president.

Mr Obama has won 10 consecutive state nominating contests since Feb 5. The string of victories has put him ahead in the race for delegates to a nominating convention this summer where the party will pick a candidate for the November election.

Many analysts say Mrs Clinton must win contests in the delegate-rich states of Ohio and Texas on March 4 to cut Mr Obama’s lead and still have a chance at the nomination.

Campaigning in Ohio, Mr Obama told a roundtable on health care at a hospital in Columbus that his healthcare plan would cut medical costs more than Mrs Clinton’s and that hers would force people to buy health insurance.

The Illinois senator touched on the issue that Mrs Clinton had complained about when he said they both are seeking universal health care.

‘The main difference between us is that Senator Clinton includes a mandate, which means she’d have the government force you to buy health insurance, and she said that she’d consider ‘going after your wages’ if you don’t,’ Mr Obama said, adding that he disagreed with that approach.

Trade views
Meanwhile, Mrs Clinton said the campaign leaflet on health care reminded her of health insurance industry attacks on her plan.

She also said another leaflet Obama’s campaign issued misrepresented her views on trade agreements such as Nafta.

‘Let’s have a real campaign. Enough with the speeches and big rallies and then using tactics that are right out of Karl Rove’s play book,’ she said, referring to the Republican political strategist behind George W. Bush’s winning presidential campaigns.

Mrs Clinton said Mr Obama’s proposal to fix problems of health insurance availability would leave 15 million Americans out, while hers would be universal.

‘I’m not going to give up on it (universal care) the way Senator Obama has given up on it,’ she said.

At the earlier rally, Mrs Clinton had trained her fire on Mr Bush to try to undermine Mr Obama’s message of change.

Mrs Clinton said Mr Bush, who campaigned on a platform of ‘compassionate conservatism’, also had promised Americans change.

‘He promised change, didn’t he?’ she said of Mr Bush. ‘The American people got shafted and we’re going to have to make up for it.’

When the new president starts the job next year, Mrs Clinton said there would be a lot of work waiting on the desk in the Oval Office: ‘Let’s imagine a folder … on the front of that folder it says something like George Bush’s mess,’ she said.

‘That’s going to be a big folder.’ — REUTERS

This is the dark side of politics. What affair has to do with politics? Everyone make mistakes. To err is human. Whether he really committed that mistake is unknown. Maybe this is why I don’t like politics. Remember Bill Clinton and his affair? But he did contribute to the wellbeing of the nation. So there’s really no right or wrong.

As I posted Wednesday, questions have been raised about whether Senator John McCain had an affair with Vicki Iseman, a lobbyist with Alcalde & Fay whose client, Paxson Communications, contributed to McCain’s campaign. And McCain, who holds himself out as a paragon of virtue, did Paxsons’ bidding in front of the FCC. Yesterday, McCain denied the story — claiming that McCain had never even spoken with anybody from Paxson or Alcalde & Fay about the matter.

But today, Newsweek reports that McCain’s flat claim seems to be contradicted by an impeccable source: McCain himself. ‘I was contacted by Mr. Paxson on this issue,’ McCain said in the Sept. 25, 2002, deposition obtained by Newsweek. ‘He wanted their approval very bad for purposes of his business. I believe that Mr. Paxson had a legitimate complaint.’ While McCain said ‘I don’t recall’ if he ever directly spoke to the firm’s lobbyist about the issue-an apparent reference to Iseman, though she is not named-’I'm sure I spoke to [Paxson].’

If McCain is not telling the truth about his involvement with Paxson or Iseman, it wouldn’t be the first time a person has ever lied. But it does suggest he might back off of holding himself up as a paragon of virtue as he attempts to win the Republican presidential nomination. Otherwise some might start wondering whether McCain is a hypocrite.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter

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(Via BloggingStocks.)