Verb for diarrhoea?
choongyong.koh January 25th, 2009
I was typing a blog post in happyeternally.blogspot.com and was thinking of the verb for the word “diarrhoea”. However, searching a few online dictionaries only yielded the noun, and there was no mention of the verb for this word.
Anyone knows?
Late night SMS
choongyong.koh January 25th, 2009
Received 2 SMS past midnight yesterday. Both were friends wishing me a happy and prosperous Lunar New Year. Nice little messages, but the timing could be better. Imagine being woken up from a deep slumber by the beeping of the phone to see a non-urgent message. During the Christmas seasons, I received some messages even at 4 or 5 am!
Some might say I can always switch off the phone if I don’t want to be disturbed, but nobody knows when an emergency occurs that might require friends/relatives to contact me via my mobile phone in the middle of the night.
Not really blaming my friends for the late night SMS, since they might not have control over the actual time I receive the messages. From what I know, SMS messages can get delivered hours after they are sent due to the high traffic over the festive seasons, especially one or two days before the actual ‘Big Days’ like Christmas, New Year and Lunar New Year.
However, some time ago I ticked off a friend who was sending me messages after midnight, during off-peak seasons. His reply to me was that in his circle of young people, sending SMS to people in the wee hours of the day is a common practice.
Maybe I am getting old, but I belong to the group of people that will think twice before calling/SMS people after 11pm, just in case I disturb their rest. Corresponding via email / facebook / twitter is another matter though, since all these communication channels do not usually cause an alert (unless one enables the alerts) upon receiving them.
So during this Lunar New Year season, I hope to receive less of the almost-heart-attack-inducing-midnight-SMS and more Wall Posts / Twitter talk / Email / Blog comments from my friends. 
Heating Up?
choongyong.koh January 16th, 2009
Just went for another round of house visit last evening. As usual, some of the residents’ response upon seeing us coming is “要大选了？” (“Elections coming?”). There has also been some speculation among observers and internet bloggers on the possibility of snap elections.
The same topic is a recurring theme in a lot of my conversations online and offline with friends recently, since they know of my heavy involvement in WP, and so they ask me if I think a snap election is possible.
My responses so far to my friends is that, to me, it does not really matter whether elections is called 3 months from today, or in 2011 when the full term of the current parliament is up. Basically as a volunteer to a cause I believe in, I just put in the same amount of commitment to help contribute in whatever way I can, in a consistent and sustainable way. My foray into local politics since 2006 is not a long one, but it is enough for me to understand one thing – a consistent level of contribution is always a lot better than burst-mode enthusiasm that comes quickly and goes equally fast.
In any case, the changes I hope to help create are long term goals, which do not materialize overnight. Be it the goal to have Singapore wean off its dependency on fossil fuel, or the vision to see Singapore moving away from being dominated by a single party, my dreams will take a long time to materialize.
So does it matter whether there are signs that things are heating up? I will still work as hard as before to fulfill my dreams.
Clean Coal: It is a myth
choongyong.koh December 24th, 2008
Received this video in my inbox today. Interesting ‘reverse-advertisement’ that tells you subtlely about the truth in using coal. Just a nice little thing to think about during the year end holidays….
Petition against Whale Sharks in Aquarium
choongyong.koh September 9th, 2008
Sign the petition! http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/petition-sign.cgi?NoWSinSG
I was at 214.
Crowd Powered Media
choongyong.koh September 5th, 2008
Talk about wisdom of crowds and citizen journalism. Forget Stomp!, forget omy.sg, NowPublic is the latest kid on the block that allows people to collectively create news reports. The best part of it is that it is not backed by a Singapore GLC. Check it out, and you can be a reporter in no time.
Nothing but the truth?
choongyong.koh September 3rd, 2008
It has been drummed into the people that online media is always not worth listening to, because of all the bad things being said there. Today’s Straits Times editorial piece “Online citizen engagement must happen – soon” had the following paragraph:
“A serious handicap is that cybersphere as exists in Singapore today for the purpose of sounding off is a jungle. It is chock-a-block with half-truths, rumour, innuedo, distortions of facts and mispresentations, spiced with loads of off-beam opinion-making and defamation.”
The underlying message, of course, is to say that main stream media is all high and mighty and will spare no effort to ensure that the “truths” and facts they present to the readers will never be wrong.
However, it is interesting to note that, in a recent parliament sitting, when MP Baey Yam Keng cited a Straits Times report and asked a question on the management of the fund set up for formerly conjoined Nepalese girls, the Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan replied: “So here is an example of not all reports are factual. So you have to double-check your facts.” (Straits Times, 27 Aug 2008, “Govt has no role in fund for Nepal twins”)
Another instance of main stream media making a mistake is spotted today on ChannelNewsAsia’s website. 
Click on the above image to see the highlighted portion. MP Lim Hwee Hua is a part of the Aljunied GRC, and not a part of the Ang Mo Kio GRC.
Maybe these are just isolated cases where mistakes are made, but it does show that the main stream media is definitely not to be relied upon totally for truths.
Taking the flip-side of the coin, there are many websites and blogs in the online world, using phrases like those written in the ST editorial today does not do justice to the efforts taken by some who seriously and painstakingly ensure that the information on their site are accurate.
Google Chrome – cool new app
choongyong.koh September 3rd, 2008
It is more than just a browser, I think it is a Google OS disguised as a browser: http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/index.html
Took me all of 5 secs to download and install, and this post is written while accessing my wordpress admin through Chrome.
If there is one cool app you install in your computer this year, this will be IT!
只许州官放火，不许百姓点灯？
choongyong.koh September 1st, 2008
谁说新加坡政治发展缓慢？相隔一年，执政党处理政治性活动的方式有了一百八十度的转变，这种变化不叫快，叫什么？
一年前，新加坡的一个政党申请在九月九日于东海岸公园举行脚踏车活动，被警方拒绝。（存档链接：http://www.clipclip.com/choongyong.koh/clips/detail/29750）总理几个星期前宣布放宽某些政治活动的限制，与今天起允许国民在芳林公园示威。无独有偶，在所谓放宽管制的今天，于中英两份主媒体报章中，就看到了总理在脚踏车上的“英姿”。
工人党主席林瑞莲一年前在国会上询问警方拒绝有关申请的原因，内政部兼律政部高级政务部长何炳基副教授（好长的名堂）答复时，列明以下几点原因：
- 东海岸公园是让新加坡人和他们家人休闲的地方，政党不应该用来宣传其政治理念。
- 那是个户外场所，更可能出现破坏宁静环境，导致骚乱、难控制的局面。
- 即使主办者奉公守法（如果只有20人参加，对公众不会造成任何干扰），但其他人可能因为不赞同主办者的政治观点而导致双方争吵起来，引来群众。何炳基对刘程强先生说：“你也许会守秩序，但你在骑脚踏车过程中遇到的一些人也许会逼你停下来，和你争论不休。这可能引来群众加入，引发警方不愿意看到的秩序问题。”
总结以上几点，不难得出警方一年前拒绝批准申请的主要考量：
- 政党不能在休闲地段主办活动
- 政党不能在户外场所主办活动
- 政治人物在外活动，也许会遇到人们和他们争论不休
- 政党在户外主办活动，就算只有20人参加，也会可能引发警方不愿意看到的秩序问题
令人费解的是报章报道昨天的活动时，也有以下几个共同点：
- 主办者是人民行动党社区基金-隶属于人民行动党，新加坡现今的执政党
- 活动地点在西海岸公园，与东海岸公园一样是休闲场所
- 活动地点也在户外
- 据早报报导，参加这项活动的部长和议员包括：李显龙，林瑞生，许文远，尚穆根，颜金勇，张俰宾，林文兴，张志贤
- 据早报报导，昨天约有1万3000人参与这个活动
相比下来，两项活动的共同点实在太多，昨天的活动最大的不同，只有（1）人民行动党是执政党，（2）活动的规模大了许多倍，政治人物也多了许多，（3）活动被批准主办。
所以说，若不是政府处理政治性活动的方式改变的话，就只有一个可能：只许州官放火，不许百姓点灯。
注：点击谚语的链接，读一读典故，细细回味吧。*一笑*
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