RIP, Winters of Easy Company

Band of Brothers' inspiration Winters dies at 92
read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110110/ap_on_en_tv/us_obit_winters

One of the most sensible civil servant

Cheers to our CJ.

No jail for French m-cyclist
mr brown's article: http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2010/08/the-chief-justice-gets-it.html#more
original ST report: http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_571605.html

Development charges to go up - a cooling measure?

Our press has always been supportive of our government; the news they publish will be in tune with our leaders' wish to improve the mood of the people, or to caution them against overspending.
In the recent flurry of feel-good reports, I noted a curious article.  It says that as a further move to curb spiraling prices, development charges will go out.  The article went on to say that as a result of the recent changes, developers will hold back new projects.

Come on.  Seriously?

Cooling down of housing prices

We shall see.

Housing price in future

This... or that?

Telecast rights and the end of the week

Enough about the World Cup!  Enough is enough!  Why are people thinking that because we're damn rich as a nation, it's a disgrace not to have telecast right?  Why is it a reason to vote for opposition? Stop.

Have been ot-ing on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  If work doesn't kill me, my baby will.  No later than 7.30 pm tonight...

Fun with figures

How things can look rosier or gloomier with the manipulation of scales.
Pictures are stolen from.. elsewhere.

Govt figures:

1999 - things look good

2000 - still ok..

2001 - not so rosy

2006 - things are turning for the worse

 

July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike

On 12 July 2007,  2 US Apaches fired on a group that they claimed were insurgents, killing 2 Reuters reporters.  Later, Wikileaks posted a video online and caused international interests.

From the video, it looked that the US Army had mis-identified the cameras as weapons and opened fire.  The footage contains people being killed by the M230 Chain Gun.  If this discomforts you, please do not watch the video.

Site hosting the video: http://www.collateralmurder.org/
Wiki entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007_Baghdad_airstrike
What is Wikileaks?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikileaks
What is a M230 Chain Gun?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M230_Chain_Gun

Doubts about the video: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/07/military-raises-questions-credibility-leaked-iraq-shooting-video/


~

Another hit and run doctor..

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_506151.html

[excerpt]
ONE of two cyclists knocked down in Clementi on Sunday night by a suspected drink-driver died in hospital on Wednesday from head injuries.
Freelance writer Benjamin Mok Chee Kong, 35, never regained consciousness after the accident.
The 62-year-old suspect, a general practitioner, could be facing more trouble as he is under investigation for a hit-and-run offence.
[/excerpt]

Alternative news

I know that the mainstream papers are at best - too timid to write negative about the government; at worst, government bootlickers.  Still, I generally accept whatever statistics they throw out.
Till some logical fallacies challenged my faith in the accuracy of official propaganda.
1: HDB flats are affordable
2. Foreigners are not the cause of rising COV prices.

It appears that HDB reviewed the median salary range of applicants and found that the prices were affordable.  The fallacy is that those who apply, are the very people who can afford them.
HDB then threw out statistics to show that PRs pay the same COV as residents; so they were not to be blamed.  However, doesn't their participation increase demand?  Wouldn't citizens have to match the amount offered by PRs?

What kind of crap analysts do we have on the government payroll?  With that, I'm finally swayed to seek alternative news sources.  Take these with a huge pinch of salt though.  As a friend pointed out, these are non professionals, so their writings are far from desirable.

The molest video

I finally watched it.

The girl in the video was trying to get away.  So much for her enjoying it, huh?
And why are all the pple standing around, video-taping the incident with glee?  Too afraid to act, huh?

link: http://www.razor.tv/site/servlet/segment/main/news/41872.html

Orchard library back by 2013

[Excerpt]
The library will now be re-opened by 2013 in a new spot in Specialists' Shopping Centre along Orchard Road, near the Somerset MRT station.
[/Excerpt]

read more: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_379810.html

H1N1: infection update

from: http://app.crisis.gov.sg/influenzaa/Page.aspx?id=129

Influenza Biosurveillance Report
14 August 2009

Latest data under the influenza biosurveillance programme shows that the proportion of Influenza A (H1N1-2009) detected among patients with influenza-like illness seen at polyclinics, GP clinics and hospitals, in E-week 30 (26 Jul - 1 Aug), continues to remain above 50%.

Microsoft warns of computer security hole

Microsoft warns of computer security hole.
Funny how this article can force a switch to Firefox when I had been highlighting how much of a greater emphasis Mozilla places on security...
Full article here: http://www.avault.com/news/microsoft-warns-computer-security-hole/

A dated but simple breakdown of the various browsers, as at Dec 2008: http://www.obsessable.com/news/2008/12/04/browser-break-down-ie-firefox-safari-chrome-opera/

Vulnerability statistics:
from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox#Vulnerability_statistics

Firefox security vulnerabilities have been patched relatively quickly. Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report Vol. 10, based on data from the first half of 2006, reported that while Firefox had more vulnerabilities than Internet Explorer during that time period (47 vs. 38), Firefox's vulnerabilities were fixed on average one day after the exploit code was made available, as compared to nine days for Internet Explorer.

[excerpt]
Microsoft has taken the rare step of warning about a serious computer security vulnerability it hasn’t yet fixed. This vulnerability affects Internet Explorer users whose computers run either Windows XP or Windows Server 2003, and can enable hackers to remotely take control of victims’ machines. The victims don’t need to do anything to get infected except visit a Web site that’s been hacked.
.
.
Microsoft has urged vulnerable users to disable the problematic part of its software, which can be done from Microsoft’s Web site, while the company works on a “patch” for the problem.
[/excerpt]

Full article here: http://www.avault.com/news/microsoft-warns-computer-security-hole/

related post: http://jwitworker.blogspot.com/2006/01/1-2-3.html

Sadastic inmates in Singapore

Play a game - choose your own torture
http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,207170,00.html?

Aware Saga: Money matters

They made a profit with from the surge in membership, so the extravagant spending is forgiven...
http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,207178,00.html?

Internet censorship in Imperial China

It was reported that Facebook is now inaccessible in China, land of stone walls.
I don't know about the other violation of human rights but I find this quite distasteful.

Why?  The Ürümqi Riots.

Pixar grants girl's dying wish to see 'Up'

source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/pixar-up-movie-2468059-home-show

[excerpts]
HUNTINGTON BEACH – Colby Curtin, a 10-year-old with a rare form of cancer, was staying alive for one thing – a movie.
.

On April 28, Colby went to see the Dream Works 3-D movie "Monsters Vs. Aliens" but was impressed by the previews to "Up."
“It was from then on, she said, ‘I have to see that movie. It is so cool,’” Lynch said.
.
By June 9, Colby could no longer be transported to a theater and her family feared she would die without having seen the movie.
.

Pixar has an automated telephone answering system, Orum-Moore said, and unless she had a name of a specific person she wanted to speak to, she could not get through. Orum-Moore guessed a name and the computer system transferred her to someone who could help, she said.
Pixar officials listened to Colby’s story and agreed to send someone to Colby’s house the next day with a DVD of "Up," Orum-Moore recalled.
.

At about 12:30 p.m. the Pixar employee came to the Curtins’ home with the DVD.
He had a bag of stuffed animals of characters in the movie and a movie poster. He shared some quirky background details of the movie and the group settled in to watch Up.
Colby couldn't see the screen because the pain kept her eyes closed so her mother gave her a play-by-play of the film.
At the end of the film, the mother asked if her daughter enjoyed the movie and Colby nodded yes, Lisa Curtin said.
The employee left after the movie, taking the DVD with him, Lynch said.
“He couldn’t have been nicer,” said Lynch who watched the movie with the family. “His eyes were just welled up.”
After the movie, Colby’s dad, Michael Curtin, who is divorced from Lisa Curtin, came to visit.
Colby died with her mom and dad nearby at 9:20 p.m.
[/excerpts]

Read from the link above for the full story.

64 detected cases

More cases.  Again, half of the cases are from people going on holidays or going about their daily routines.  The other half, thanks =]
http://www.crisis.gov.sg/NR/rdonlyres/D4985A06-E928-4B4E-9A0B-938EDBC88860/24447/H1N1PR17June_rev.pdf

Whether this disease turns out to be harmless or not, we're at Yellow Alert..

49th detected case

http://www.crisis.gov.sg/NR/rdonlyres/192A0CF6-9715-483D-BADC-18D090AF4A75/24395/H1N1PR16Junrev.pdf

[excerpt]

1. The 49th case is a 26-year-old Indonesian man who works in Singapore. He
2. went to Melbourne with friends for a holiday on 5 June
3. He developed symptoms on 11 June while he was there
4. He was not picked up by the thermal scanner at the airport as he did not have a fever then.
5. On 15 June morning, he sought medical attention at a GP clinic, and was given 2 days of medical leave.
6. Before he took a taxi to TTSH ED, he did some shopping first.
7. Laboratory results confirmed his infection at 2140 hours on 15 June.

[/excerpt]