choongyong.koh September 28th, 2006
Today in Straits Times Forum there is an article entitled “State-funded pension means higher taxes” (link is to an archived copy of the article, ST expires its article regularly). I happened to do some research previously on Singapore Ministers being entitled to pension. (Interestingly, I was trying to locate the article at http://totallyconfused.blogspot.com/2006/05/did-you-know-ministers-on-pension.html, but somehow it is not currently available).
Reversing the logic of state-funded pension for all means higher taxes, if we remove the pension from the Ministers (the amount is dependent on the years they serve and their salary), we can save a lot of taxes for Singaporeans! I have not done the math, but since the salary of the Ministers are not transparent to all, I cannot say for sure how much savings there will be.
choongyong.koh September 28th, 2006
Google Operating System: Download Google Videos As AVI Files
Someone asked me today if it is possible to rip Google Video into a file on the harddisk. A quick Google session (google to find out how to beat google? 
) led me to the page above. There were other options like downloading the flash movie version, and of course the official gvp format from Google (which requires one to also download the Google Video Player). I chose to download it as AVI files (actually encoded using DIVx), since I already have a DIVx player installed.
choongyong.koh September 27th, 2006
It is really frustrating when you think that you can throw away your Microsoft IE browser, only to have a government website proclaiming to you that it will not support your favourite FireFox browser. Starting a list here for those I come across:
LTA - www.onemotoring.com.sg - click on LTA e-Services and you will see a big red “Please login using Internet Explorer (Version 5.5 and above) or Netscape (Version 7.0 and above).”
choongyong.koh September 26th, 2006
Ok, it is pretty obvious that I have been putting much of my attention lately on the movie “An Inconvenient Truth“. It is due to be launched in Singapore on 26 Oct, and I am planning for a group screening of the movie sometime after the launch. I am still trying to get the best deal for the group screening, but if you are interested, drop an email to inconvenienttruth@choongyong.com with your email and contact. I will let you know when the details are confirmed.
And if you are wondering if I have any commercial gains for promoting this movie, the answer is “No.”. My objective is to raise awareness of the movie and the problem that we are facing as a planet.
choongyong.koh September 26th, 2006
I was trying to search for a copy of the comics that was published on the past Sunday (24 September 2006), but could not locate it on the net. If you happen to have a copy, do go and search to get a good laugh. I can only describe it here - image of a bunch of dinosaurs leaving a “Mesozoic Theater”. The TRex laughing his head off “Yeah, right! A big ball of fire from the sky! I’m SO-O-O-O scared! The title of the movie was, of course, “An Inconvenient Truth”.
Interesting statement from the artist about how short-sighted some of the critics of the movie are.
On another note, I came across this blog - “An Inconvenient Truth” saved my father 40,000 dollars. Impact of the movie is great.
choongyong.koh September 15th, 2006
Yahoo released a set of developer tools for easy UI development. This includes javascript libraries and UI components that enables cool new ways to interact with a web site. The tools also include a set of CSS grids that takes away a lot of painful work (especially a Java developer who is not so into CSS).
more …
choongyong.koh September 15th, 2006
Bad day. Bluetooth ear piece not working, left wired headset in notebook bag which was left at friend’s place, and received a call from my mother while driving in the heavy rain to retrieve the notebook. I was not able to speak to my mother without a proper earpiece while I was driving, and the loudspeaker mode just did not seem to work properly.
I stopped the car at a carpark and returned my mother’s call. The phone’s speaker at the ear (there is another speaker on the side) for the handset mode just refused to emit any sound. I had no choice but to use the loudspeaker mode, which miraculously worked again.
Called my wife to test the phone after hanging up with my mother. Again I could not hear a thing she said, although she heard me loud and clear. Tried removing the battery. Tried hardresetting. No luck.
Guess I have to bring it to the Nokia Service Centre for servicing. Sigh, and the phone is just a few months’ old.
Is it true that products nowadays don’t last anymore?
Please send comments to totallyconfused: My N80 is faulty!
choongyong.koh September 12th, 2006
The man who used to be “the next President of the United States” - Al Gore presents a movie that deals with the Climate Change crisis facing the world today.
From http://www.climatecrisis.net/,
“Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world’s scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced.”
Watch the film when it opens in Singapore in late Oct.
choongyong.koh September 11th, 2006
In a multi-faceted world, one leads a multi-faceted life. My life so far has been interesting enough (at least to myself) for me to keep a number of blogs for each of the major part of me. Know more about me.
choongyong.koh September 7th, 2006
I have wanted to have an aggregation blog to make some sense of the numerous blogs I am currently holding. Finally I got down to installing WordPress and start on this small project of mine.
All Posts