中国50年来罕见暴雪

这几天中国暴雪新闻陆续受到大家的关注。电力供应紧张及春节回乡人潮滞留在火车站使我们为他们感到担心。

希望暴雪快停，人们也能顺利回乡过年。天灾固然无法避免，希望在人力范围内给于帮助。

他终于跳海了

开年以来，台湾最热门的话题就是王世坚什么时候跳海。这起源于竞选时的一个承诺。

跳、不跳？成了娱乐新闻。今天他终于跳了。结束纷扰多时的闹剧。

不过值得称赞的是他遵守了他的承诺。诚信的普世价值是人人都应该身体力行的。

News of the day - Record ticket sold in cinema

CNA reported that record number of tickets were sold in box office last year. Local film proved to be a big draw on viewer.

Good for the cinema operator. From the pirated VCD days to current cinema goers crowd. Local audience has changed some what. More pursue greater enjoyment by watching movie in cinema. The cramp down on piracy also helped. The economy was good last year, more people willing to fork out the extra few dollars. No wonder the ticket price keep increasing.

This year could be some what different. If the good time slow down, I wonder the ticket sales would be affected. We wish there are more good films to watch.

Local firm like 881 was popular last year. I felt it was pretty much a hype than great substance. I watched the movie in cinema. There was a few touching and enjoyful moment. But the story line just not very understandable. No matter what, I still enjoy the hokkien song.

当周杰伦对上周星驰

农历新年即将来临，贺岁片的预告也陆续出炉。今年的大牌有周杰伦与周星驰。功夫篮球对上长江7号。

戏还未上映，媒体就已经在大做文章了。分析到底谁的票房会更优胜？我想这纯粹是没事找事写。个人的观众群不一样，并不会造成冲突。况且谁规定不能两部一起看？

我也正在考虑是否买票入场观看。可能吧。看到时的评论怎么样。大家拭目以待。

但是近年来周星驰的无厘头笑料已经大不如前了。

New blog layout done

The new blog layout is ready. Just decided to change a new layout today. Luckily, found a clean, 3 columns layout.

The font is bigger and there are more space. I think I would stick with this for quite sometime.

News of the day - S$20 billion on new rail lines and extensions

Good news again. Transport minister announced the new investment to brush up the transport system. This news is after the bus system overhaul. Also, Authority would work with smrt to increase the train frequency and tackle crowded train.

I am not sure their exact plan. Although building more track is certainly good for everyone, but key questions remain.

1. There are still some way to go before the track is ready. The overall system cannot be transformed overnight
2. The current train transfer system is not efficient. Let's say I transfer to NEL at outram park. My walking time + waiting time at NEL station eat up a major part of my total travel time.
3. The transfer to feeder bus service should be seamless, otherwise it just a time wasting effort.

Some highlights:

"The Thomson Line, to be ready by 2018, will run from Marina Bay through the Central Business District, all the way up to Ang Mo Kio and Woodlands. It will connect to another new Line, the Eastern Region Line, at Marina Bay. "

"The Eastern Region Line, to be ready by 2020, will serve areas such as Siglap and Marine Parade."

It is a spammer world

Ya, really. I received endless spam mail from around the world.

From ex Africa prince seeking partnership to retrieve lost fortunate to recommendation mail for market beating stock tip. I had enough but I have no power to stop them from reaching my mail box. Worse still, my desired mails were ended up in junk mail box, which I have to scan through and rescue them.

Curse the spammer. No matter who they are - ulu place fallen king/prince or S.B.Woo (an ever exist spammer).

Cheap flight to KL

Are you game for the cheap flight promised, which fly to KL? My friend even joked that we can go for weekend vacation.

So, I do a little experiment. I select the Wed, 23 Apr flight to KL from tiger airway website. The flight is 9.99 only! so cheap.

Click the continue button. Dang dang... Tax is 57. Total cost 66.99. But still significantly cheap.

However, take train/taxi from KLIA to city would burn a hole on your pocket.

Success failure is all about US

In chinese, we would say 成也老美，败也老美。

They like to spend a lot, buying lots of stuff, we export goods to them. We keep them happy, and our own wallet happy. They keep borrowing, housing bubble and sub prime problem. We buy the CDO which finance the sub prime loan.

Now, the bubble bursted, it drag all of us down. US, Europe, Asia, everywhere. Who is going to clean this up? Fed would cut the interest rate to keep everybody happy. This is to prolong the bubble's life and wait for the next disaster.

Having said that, a rate cut is necessary to restore some confidence. At least, they are showed they are doing something.

Let's pray for the storm to be over...

独立电影 － 杂菜饭 戴敏非

这是一部由戴敏非独立制作的搞笑电影。我是在报纸上看到有关报道。蛮好笑的短片，值得一看。

据了解他是戴佩妮的兄长。

Singapore bus system change

Singapore bus system is going to change in the coming years. The notable policies are

1. LTA would plan the route, instead of the bus company. This would eliminate the situation that some places are "not reachable".

2. A single fare system base on distance, regardless of mrt/bus ride taken. The effectiveness is yet to be seen, as pricing the fare too expensive would be against the original intention

3. More bus lane. Sometime, this does not help, if the road is very congested.

4. More aircon terminal like Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio hub. This is very unnecessary.

5. Enhanced information system to let commuter know estimate bus arrival time. I guess this can be achieved by installing more signboard at bus stop and allow sms for arrival time. The catch? sms has to be free.

6. Launch of monthly ticket. This is the most missed feature in Singapore transport system. But don't be excited too early, what if it is $100?

I am excited on the news, because I am tired of the jam or long traveling time.

All I want is very very simple.

1. I want lowest fare

2. I want to get to my destination fast, with less waiting time

China KFC is selling you tiao 油条

China KFC is planning to start selling you tiao very soon. This sound very interesting to me. When the foreign company entering a market like China, they are willing to customise the product to suit local taste. The approach aims to establish a bond with the local consumer as it is a traditional food.

However, this approach might not necessary work. As the local competition would be very strong. We know KFC is strong in fried chicken, we don't know how it would fare in fried you tiao.

In Singapore, KFC tried to sell the chicken porridge and selling breakfast. I think that's dropped already. Remember few years ago, when Mac Donald trying to sell the fried chicken? Despite extensive advertisement, the product eventually failed to sell well.

In business, having idea is good, whether it would work out eventually is another question.

BEA system fate is sealed

It has been quite sometime since Oracle started the take over bid. Now, they finally complete the deal by taking over Bea system. BEA shareholder got more money, Oracle got their target.

Well, the IT industry trend in recent year is for big player to swallow the smaller player. Then, the big players would have more market share and could bundle their software/service together to gain even more market share. Look at Oracle now, it is a gigantic entity with so many different software product. IBM is also another typical example.

I don't know what's their plan for BEA. Are they going to retain the brand and continue the weblogic line? Or they would be simply adsorbed into the existing Oracle line up. It is yet to be seen. Being an ex-user, I would say Bea's product is really better than others. But the future road is unclear now.

Taiwan presidential election news

It is the hottest topic for these two days, follow by the KMT big victory. Almost every media I visited, have a dedicated section on it. The world eyes are on Taiwan.

But we have to reckon that sometime common sense doesn't work in election. It is fascinating that they come out with all kind of theories. Like the clock theory or skirt theory, I am not good at translating the name, so I would just describe it is. Analysts said it is not a sure win for two months later.

Expect the unexpected is always part of life. One should not be complacent and should be humble in all circumstance. In this case, Ma did the right thing, I think. View it seriously. No matter what opposition is going to do. Concentrate to convey the important message across. I do hope the people would give the weak no chance this time.

Jam and ERP

Follow my entry on the TPE massive jam, it jam again today. One car broke down in the middle of the expressway and caused everybody to be late.

Coincidentally, the headline on mypaper.sg today is Heartland Gantry Trap. I read the news report with interest, I think it highlighted some key issues.

One sales executive mentioned "If you are used to driving, you won't switch back to public transport and would pay the few dollars anyway". Transport policy expert: "Once people buy a
car, they have every incentive to use it a lot."

We know the key focus of this scheme is to shift ownership cost to usage cost, but would people listen? Would they think? Sometime the answer is not straightforward.

• Usually, people is good at big figure, but neglect the small sum
• Some aspire to own a car, and try their very best to drive it
• Bus commuters would have to suffer together with them

Taiwan KMT win a landslide victory

This was in the news on Sat, Taiwan KMT win the parliament election by a big margin. It is a good news to the Taiwan people. Changes are needed and overdue for too long. People is more concern on the economy, wallet than on those insignificant matters.

The lessons here are

• what ever you did, people would remember
• even you can escape the first round, you would still get it the second round
• divert attention strategy won't work every time
  

Advertlet a second chance

Advertlet was down last weekend because of the domain issue. People were sad, angry and dissatisfied. After the issue is fixed, they issued a public apology and announced the compensation plan promptly. I would say the handling of matter is correct.

A sincere no excuse apology, promise of never occur again and announcement of compensation plan should bring back some confidence. I think we should just forgive, forget and move on. As we always learn in life, people always make mistake(although it was a costly one). We should find the root cause, put in preemptive measure and never make the same mistake again.

Google page creator - First take

I just discovered that Google actually offer a web site creation tool these few days. Tonight, I finally got a few min to try it out. After log in with my google account, and proceed to the page creation first page, I am presented with the creation screen.

It offers a few icons on the toolbar for my usage and the page would be auto saved. The web page would be publish to the default address like username.googlepages.com. As a word processor and layout editor, I guess it would do the job well. However, I only view it as a word document creator that create web page. It is for beginner, where you want minimum coding and ability to create page content easily. The whole process is supposed to be fun and easy.

Something not for me, as I would want more control. Give it a try if you got time! You might just love it.

Massive jam at TPE

There was a massive traffic jam this morning at TPE. I was stuck in the jam for 1 hour 40min. My usual traveling time is 40min. That means I wasted 1 hour in the jam. This is a record for me and in certain way, it is also the first sign of trouble.

I think people living in this city has slowly realised that the road is not as smooth as previously now. Wherever you go, there are cars and people. Congestion is slowly becoming a big problem.

The contributing factors to this situation are

• Good economy, everybody can afford a car
• Government releasing more COE and lower the cost of ownership
• Policy shift of using ERP to control the traffic instead of COE

There is a serious flaw here. Because there are too many rich people in Singapore who are willing to pay the few dollars ERP charge. As a result, bus commuter also stuck in the jam. The limited MRT network also doesn't help the situation.

What if you bring up the ERP charges, install more gantry, but still releasing so many COE? Curb the vehicle growth. Come 2009, what welcome the world riches at IR could be traffic jam instead of the entertainment.

Iron my shirt?

I just read this news. It was a little bit funny. During the US president candidate rally of Hillary, two protesters hold the signboard and chanted "Iron my shirt".

What was the intention? Was it intended for an insult? Maybe. Judging from the scenario.

Usually, where you can find the iron my shirt campaign is only at home. Where the husband would shout.

You can use it in a romantic way also. When proposing for marriage, "would you like to iron my clothes?" Not sure whether you would fail or not ;)

Final trip to Old Airport Road

It is Old Airport Road again. Yes, again. This is the third time. We went on Sat, because my colleague mentioned he die die must try. There we went.

Here is what we have ordered. A plate of mee, $3.

Initially, I don't expect it to be great. Because there is a limit to how good the food can taste. As a result, but with its own merit, it didn't disappoint me. The mee is almost dried, as all the soup is being absorbed into the noodle. Every mouthful would bring out the unique taste of the wok, prawn, sotong and mee. I am like swimming in the soup of hokkien mee. Worth the trip and money. Go if you have spare time.

The get rich quick scheme

I think I just saw the advertisement too many times already. They appear in advertising link, news paper, bulletin note. Typically, these are the headings:

• How I make $xxxx within two weeks?

• Easy and proven system to earn 5k a month

Do you believe them? I am skeptical. I am skeptical because if it is going to be true, then we don't have poor man on earth. Everybody doesn't have to work so hard anymore. My favourite quote is if it is too good to be truth, then it most probably is.

Some are just con scheme to trick you into paying the money for some useless tactic. Some provide you a system that is not practical for the current environment. Those that offer preview is much better, at least it gives you a chance to see whether it is practical. However, there are just too many variables. So, we still have to work hard in daily job and continue to search for the multiple stream of income.

Chinese New Year is coming

You don't have to explicitly remember the date of CNY. When you see the shopping centre is painted with red decoration, then you know it is near. Very soon after the christmas, Tampines mall already transform the decoration into CNY theme.

In the weekend newspaper, the CNY sales is starting today. Time to shop for the new year. Hope everybody has a good bonus last year. So, can spend more to help the economic growth this year.

Advertlet disaster

Luckily, I visited ping.sg tonight and reliased the disaster that is happening for advertlet. Remove the advertlet code as soon as possible. Otherwise, once you open the blog, it would be redirected to another website. We shall see how the story would unfold in new few days.

Malaysia control cooking oil buying

Malaysia has imposed the cooking oil buying control, due to the panic buying and rumours. There is indeed a shortage of oil and you can hardly find oil in the provision shop. No reason has been given to the shortage. But, there is something really wrong with this scenario.

Being a palm oil producing country, we are short of cooking oil? It is a joke. Possible reason I could think of maybe

1. Because it is controlled price item, manufacturer reluctant to produce more
2. Recent palm oil price, cause them to sell the oil to other people instead for domestic consumption

If the market is controlled, we are bounded to see this kind of anomaly. Looks like inflation has taken another twist for the year.

Food hunt - Golden mile food centre

It is year 2008 already. I done my new year count down at woodlands, with small crowd and firework display. When I woke up in the new year day, and nothing important to do, I decided to go to Golden mile food centre.

It was a 20min walk from the Bugis mrt station. The food I am going to try is Fried Hokkien Mee which I came across during the recent TV show and encountered it again at the "i eat i shoot i post" blog. Looks and sounds good.

I reached the place and ordered a plate which is $3. The portion is small, but the mee is good. Not as fantastic as you thought when seeing from tv or picture. The noodle and bee hoon is dried and fully absorbed the essence of soup. I would rate it a 4/5. After eating it, you would still have stomach for other things.



After finished eating, I just walked around the food centre. The stalls were surprisingly good. I saw many newspaper stick on some of the stalls. It is worth going the second time. But, of course, I would be trying out other things. Maybe I would give an update by then.