My Little Corner

There is no avoiding it

2012-01-27T21:40:00.000+08:00

I quote from Helen Keller: Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. "Danger" is always everywhere, whether you step up to meet it or it meets you when you least expect it. The question is whether you want

Inflation is up 5.5%

2012-01-25T21:19:00.000+08:00

These are the Singapore inflation rates for 2011: January: 5.5% February: 5.0% March: 5.0% April: 4.5% May: 4.5% June: 5.2% July: 5.4% August: 5.7% September: 5.5% October: 5.4% November: 5.7% December: 5.5% Transport and Housing are once again leading the pack, rising by 10% and 9.9% respectively year on year. Inflation went slightly lower as expected, most probably due to the

Didn't know it is so easy to get PR

2012-01-24T22:58:00.001+08:00

According to a recent article I read, permanent residents (PRs) are granted five years after their first long-term pass, which include employment pass, long-term visit pass, student pass, work pass and dependant's pass, was issued. Basically, it means that as long as you studied here (e.g. honors 4 years course), you only need to work one more year in order to be eligible for PR. No wonder some

新年快乐

2012-01-23T00:05:00.000+08:00

Do not stagnate

2012-01-20T20:55:00.001+08:00

I quote from Henry A. Kissinger: A leader who confines his role to his people's experience dooms himself to stagnation; a leader who outstrips his people's experience runs the risk of not being understood. Similar to real life. Confine yourself to what is generally known and you'll stagnate. However, go too far out of what is known and people will think you're wacky. The question is how to

Why don't they link the iPod Nano to the iPhone?

2012-01-18T21:02:00.000+08:00

I find it pretty frustrating that the iPod Nano still does not have any integration to the iPhone itself. iPod Nano is what you can describe a iPod on the wrist. However, it can only play music. What if the iPod Nano can link to the iPhone and : show you the latest SMS control the music in your iPhone allows you to make and answer phone calls through the iPod Nano and allows you to talk through

Disable your iPhone iMessage if...

2012-01-17T20:54:00.000+08:00

Since iOS5, Apple has added the iMessage to the iPhone capabilities. Idea is very good. Think WhatsApp but inbuilt into the iPhone. However, there is a problem if you are changing to a non-iPhone from an iOS5, like an Android phone for an example. Apple servers still think that you are using an iPhone, so it will send all iPhone SMSes to you as an iMessage, which you will never receive because

Productivity is not the only way to generate more profits

2012-01-16T21:18:00.000+08:00

Recently one of the ministers said that the only way to prevent a zero-sum game (more profits) is to upgrade productivity. I disagree the word only. It is not the only way though. Productivity is not the only way to generate more profits. Innovative products have always been the key point in generating profits. Look at Apple. The iPod, iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad. All these products made them, at

Take time to feel your negative emotion

2012-01-13T21:53:00.000+08:00

I quote from Bo Sanchez: Whenever you feel a negative emotion be alone in a room and just sit down with it and feel. Don't judge it, criticize it, intellectualize it, explain it away. Allow yourself to feel the pain. It's okay. Accompany it - breathe into it - and after a while, you'll feel the anger or fear or sadness lose it's urgency and power.

Reduction of Corporate Tax will not help the economy

2012-01-11T21:34:00.000+08:00

Budget day is approaching and as usual, some are asking for the corporate tax to be reduced, in light of the problems in the eurozone. However, by looking the situation in the United States, anyone will know that this will not help the economy at all. In fact, all those savings only resulted in an increase of savings in the bank. It did not result in more hiring or more spending. The only way to

Parkland Residences @ Hougang

2012-01-10T00:40:00.000+08:00

I was surprised that there was another DBSS sales coming up so fast after Trivelis@ Clementi. I will not repeat what I have written in my other posts on DBSS and you refer to my other posts for more information. DBSS @ Hougang has been named Parkland Residences, and is located near Upper Serangoon Road. The indicative pricing and configuration are as follows: 3 room67 sqm (136 units)from

Definition of CEO?

2012-01-09T00:39:00.001+08:00

SMRT CEO's surprise resignation triggered many responses throughout Singapore. Some said that its about time while some says that she should not step down because the top should not resign for every single fault. My problem is that should we consider the latest 2 breakdowns as any fault? First, let's have a look at the definition of CEO. According to Investopedia, CEO is the highest ranking

Moral education taking a back-seat in Singapore

2012-01-06T20:56:00.001+08:00

Recently, Singapore's Prime Minister has urged parents to pay attention to their children's moral and national education on top of encouraging them to do well in their studies. However, this has been simmering in the background since before the election where our government has been putting too much emphasis on education and of course, making money. Case in question? A scene I saw at a cafe in

Turn off 3G? How to do that on the iPhone 4S?

2012-01-05T23:12:00.000+08:00

Singtel 3G services has disrupted twice in 24 hours. Advice from Singtel? Disable your 3G. My question is how do you disable 3G on the iPhone 4S? There is no way that you can do that. I believe some phones also do not have the option to turn off 3G. So what happens if the telco gives instructions that cannot be followed? Nothing apparently.

Left unspoken, Singapore last year grew less than inflation

2012-01-04T21:37:00.000+08:00

In the 2012 New Year's message, Singapore has announced that they grew 4.8% in 2011. However what was left unspoken is that the real growth is negative, based on my advanced estimates of 5.2% inflation rate for 2011 which I have written in my post here. The fact that Singapore is dependent on the global economy growth is no secret. However, what puzzles me is that since Singapore is keen to

How to worry less about ourselves

2012-01-03T21:25:00.000+08:00

I quote from Ethics for a New Millennium: Consider the following. We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others' actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others' activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of

Something to ease our hospitals?

2012-01-02T21:45:00.000+08:00

I was recently reading an article on relieving the overcrowded hospitals by giving elderly an alternative to hospitals. The solution was to allow certain specialist healthcare at home. The person, also a doctor, detailed an experience of an elderly in a hospital: I called an ambulance and admitted him to the hospital, where we soon brought his urinary tract infection under control. But he

Is social media going to replace email?

2011-12-30T20:57:00.004+08:00

I've been reading a few articles talking about social media such as Facebook replacing emails. Personally though, I feel that they are missing the whole point. Emails and social media functionality is not exactly the same. What exactly is e-mail? For those people who doesn't know, e-mail stands for electronic mail. What does it replace? Snail mails, the mails that you get in your letter box. Its

The Laughing Heart

2011-12-28T21:18:00.000+08:00

I quote from Charles Bukowski: your life is your life don't let it be clubbed into dank submission. be on the watch. there are ways out. there is a light somewhere. it may not be much light but it beats darkness. be on the watch. the gods offer you chances. know them. take them. you can't beat death but you can beat death in life, sometimes. and the more often you learn to do it, the more light

Earth Hour: 31 Mar 2012, 8.30pm

2011-12-27T22:00:00.000+08:00

Earth Hour 2012 will take place at 8.30pm on Saturday, March 31, when Singaporeans are encouraged to switch off their lights for an hour. For one hour, the community, businesses, celebrities and government agencies will be encouraged to switch off lights for Earth Hour and show that Singapore is committed to the planet with the rest of the world. You're also encouraged to engage and share

Towel Folding Class on board the Legend of the Seas

2011-12-26T20:19:00.002+08:00

There are quite a lot of activities on board the Royal Caribbean Legend of the Seas cruise, one of which is the towel folding class. The team on board the Royal Caribbean will actually provide steps and instructions (provided after the class) on how to fold the towels into different types of amazing animals. They demo about 5 different types of animals during the class. It was not possible to

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T00:07:00.000+08:00

Inflation is up 5.7%

2011-12-24T00:20:00.000+08:00

These are the Singapore inflation rates for 2011: January: 5.5% February: 5.0% March: 5.0% April: 4.5% May: 4.5% June: 5.2% July: 5.4% August: 5.7% September: 5.5% October: 5.4% November: 5.7% Transport and Housing are once again leading the pack, rising by 11.6% and 10% respectively year on year. The inflation was as expected in my previous post, most probably due to the

Interesting Cake Making demo on board the Legend of the Seas

2011-12-23T21:44:00.001+08:00

There are quite a lot of activities on board the Royal Caribbean Legend of the Seas cruise, one of which is the "Cake Making" demo. Why the inverted commas? Mainly because the cake is already made, and you're just only putting the finishing touches on it. It helps though that you get to eat free cake at the end of the demo. It is interesting though how the cake finishing is done, and how many

Food time in the Legend of the Seas

2011-12-22T21:08:00.004+08:00

No way anyone can forget about the food once you're on a cruise, especially when you in the cruise from the Royal Caribbean. Just a couple of things to note on the ship as it may not be that obvious for the first timers. There are only 2 places where you can go for food. One is the Windjammer cafe which provide meals in the buffet style, and Romeo & Juliet Restaurant which provides meals in an