Screwed Yet Again!

1660 days ago

Yes, we were all screwed yet again. If you have been following this blog, you will realize that my company have been plagued by financial problems. The truth is that one...

Yes, we were all screwed yet again. If you have been following this blog, you will realize that my company have been plagued by financial problems. The truth is that one of the director supposedly stole a lot of money from the company and ran off to somewhere, leaving all of us in the dust. Anyway, there is an external audit and the police was called in to investigate further. The accounts staff and the rest of the directors were hauled off for “intense” questioning. Well, this is the story what we were told by our remaining directors – one of their trusted “friend” was the only one involved and he alone took all the money. Yes, I know, that sounded a bit fishy but hey, those people have been working with us for years already. I mean, we sort of trusted them. However, this is NOT the entire story.

It was discovered that not only one of the directors was involved, but many of the directors and their relatives were involved! Yes, we are all screwed upside down till our collective asses are bleeding continuously. Ha, and a lot of the staff are not particularly surprised that these revelations. I guess maybe they are more worldly than me. Greedy directors! These group of people probably have been doing this for years and they being not as smart as the one that ran away, are now left to answer for their crimes. Although I think (I have no idea how much they took) that they did not siphon a lot (well, not as much as the one who ran away anyway), they did steal money and I think they deserve to be punished for causing so much misery and heartaches for the rest of the staff. Worse, they lied to everyone with a straight face. I don’t expect people to be super honest or anyway, but I think this kind of behavior is unacceptable.

What can I say about the greed level in Singapore? Is it really “Greed Is Good”? It always amazes me to see a lot of greedy people think that they will get away with it. I mean if the government allow them to run off with millions, then Singapore is as good as gone. Crime will run rampant throughout the country and everybody will be stealing money here and there. Greed is never good in my opinion and those who get too greedy will soon get what they deserve in the end. Trust me.

Google’s Webmaster Tools

1661 days ago

Formerly the artist known as Sitemaps. And if you are a webmaster, this will be the most important place for you right after your webstats console. If you haven’t sign up...

Formerly the artist known as Sitemaps. And if you are a webmaster, this will be the most important place for you right after your webstats console. If you haven’t sign up for Webmasters Tools, you should do it now. What it offers to webmasters is the ability to check crawl errors, look at your backlinks (always very important), see any problems with your Google Sitemaps, check your domain preference and much more. Oh and you can remove URLs from Google’s index by requesting a removal.

I mainly use this web tool to check my backlinks. How many backlinks I have and from which site are my backlinks coming from and use this information to improve my site instead of just knowing my traffic. A backlink is considered very important, so attracting backlinks should be one of your prime concern. It also tells you which site to concentrate your promotion or advertisements. You should make use of your webstats program with this backlinks tools. See whether the backlinks have been effective in attracting traffic as well. And I also use this web tool to check my Sitemaps for errors. Sometimes I use this tool to check whether Googlebot has any errors when crawling my site.

The URL removal request is actually very interesting, especially if you have a lot of old URLs you don’t want to be in Google’s index. I have seen a lot of sites which have a lot of old and unwanted URLs (especially URLs that have been changed or directed to another page which may result in duplicate pages) which the webmaster surely won’t want to be in the Google index and they can use the removal request to remove the URLs. I don’t know how fast they will do it after you submit the request but it sure is very useful.

And my plumpy hero Matt Cutts likes it too. That alone should give you the confidence of using this tool to improve your site.

Ice Cream Chefs

1662 days ago

As all you might will know, I am always a snicker for Ice Cream. And I recently found a nice little shop at East Coast Road called Ice Cream Chefs. This...

As all you might will know, I am always a snicker for Ice Cream. And I recently found a nice little shop at East Coast Road called Ice Cream Chefs. This shop sells home made ice-cream and they have something called a “mix-in”. Okay, how it goes is that you choose a flavour or more, then add it with other ingredients like candy, nuts, cookies or fruits and the staff at the shop will “blend” it for you. Yes, it is sort of like a little mix. You can experiment with different flavours. Of course, you may not get it right the first time, no no venture, no gain right? Exactly like those served by Cold Stone Creamery where the work is done on a cold stone base. And yes, they are right here in Singapore! Furthermore, I believe that they allow you to bring your own ingredients if they are not found in their shop.

I was reading through their website and found that they do “Ice-Cream Parties“. I believe that it is the same as what they do at their shop, except they do it at the office or your house. They have this portable mixing area(from the photo it looks like a tin container) so that their staff can do the blending at your place. You can impress your guests with the art of ice-cream “mixing”.

Ice Cream Chefs make their own Ice-Cream in their shop so the ice-cream should be much fresher than those you find in other shops. Their flavours include Durian Decadence, Nutella Delight, Mrs Smith, Beanie Vanilla, Horlicks and much more. You can check their entire list on their website, which is actually a blog. Yes, you can have your ice-cream delivered to your house if you want. It is S$95.0 per pint and delivery is free if you purchased S$50 or more.

Sure, the idea itself is not original, but you know, the problem with Singapore is everyone likes to follow each other. At least Ice Cream Chefs did something different first right here in Singapore. Not sure whether there will be other ice-cream business popping up soon with the same idea, but a thumbs up for Ice Cream Chefs for being so daring. That’s the spirit!

PhpLD Photo

1662 days ago

David has released another script for sale. It’s the PhpLD Photo script which is based on PhpLD and is a full featured photo gallery. Well, in my opinion, it is actually...

David has released another script for sale. It’s the PhpLD Photo script which is based on PhpLD and is a full featured photo gallery. Well, in my opinion, it is actually PhpLD but instead of links, it has photos which you can categorized into different sections for display. Yes, since it is based on PhpLD, you can easily convert themes for PhpLD to PhpLD Photo script but you need to ensure that they are meant for PhpLD v3.2.0.

Features of this script includes the ability to sell “higher” quality photos through Paypal, unlimited categories and files, auto-resize of large images and the creation of thumbnails for easy viewing, Search Engine Friendly URLs, Watermark protection, Sitemap (Yahoo & Google) generation, allow user comments and supports EXIF. Basically a strip down version of PhpLD but with more support for photos and images. I would expect much more impressive features since this script is by David. But alas, that’s about it. The biggest advantage is that if you are familiar with PhpLD, then PhpLD Photo shouldn’t be a problem to administrate or modify to your heart’s content.

Pricing for this script is the same as the pricing for PhpLD. It’s US$25 for a branded version and US$75 for a unbranded version. Well, I don’t think that this script is worth it. I mean, there are a lot of other photo and image galleries with way more features than this one and they are available for free. And their community is definitely more active than PhpLD Photo’s and you will be able to get help or support from other users. Sure, they may not have the Paypal system integrated, but it is really that important? How many of us sell images on the internet anyway? And with only PayPal support? How about other online payment systems out there? I have to say, this sure is disappointing. If you want to sell images or photos, it would be better to get a real payment gateway.

Dead Pixels Buddy

1663 days ago

I have found an interesting software for you guys to test on your brand new LCD monitor. It’s called Dead Pixels Buddy. You can use this software to test for dead...

I have found an interesting software for you guys to test on your brand new LCD monitor. It’s called Dead Pixels Buddy. You can use this software to test for dead pixels, bright pixels or any other defect on your LCD monitor. Well, what this simple program does it to blank your entire screen white, black, red, green and blue so that you can spot these dead pixels much easier. And it blanks the entire screen, which includes your taskbar as well. You won’t need to strain your eyes to spot any dead pixels anymore. Especially now with big sized LCD panels, the chances of getting a dead pixel on your screen is quite high. Some companies do have a 30 day return policy, so you should use this program once you get your brand new LCD monitor and check for dead pixels. If you discovered dead pixels, then you can safely exchange or return your product. A lot of manufacturers won’t let you change if you have one or two dead pixels/bright pixels, so it’s better to do the exchange during the 30 day period.

A dead pixel is sort of like a small black spot on your screen which doesn’t change. Same case for the bright pixel, just than it is now bright.

This software is for windows and is free. Just download the program and run it. You don’t even need to install it. And it’s small enough to fit on a floppy or a thumb drive, only about 28k in size. Fantastic piece of software.

I am just surprised that it is not widely available. Perhaps it is not that well known, but this is surely a very useful software for nearly everyone to have. Even for an IT administrator to test out his/her monitors. When I first bought my monitor, I didn’t know about this software. But luckily, the monitor I purchased don’t have any dead pixels at all now that I have tested it.

Pretty Good Advice For An Aspiring Directory Owner

1663 days ago

After reading a few forums, I have stumbled among a rather good blog which provides pretty good advice for all new directory owners -  8 Reasons Why You Should Not Start...

After reading a few forums, I have stumbled among a rather good blog which provides pretty good advice for all new directory owners -  8 Reasons Why You Should Not Start A Directory. I agree with most of the points, especially the one that says that directories take a lot of time and effort to create and maintain. And I might add, it takes a lot of patience as well. New Directory Owners should not expect everything to be smooth and easy. They should not expect easy money with minimum work. A directory really takes a lot of time to create and to maintain a high editorial standard. The listings which a directory owner allow in his/her directory makes up the content of the directory, so it had to be good. You need to really browse through the site first before approving it. Descriptions of the listings should be comprehensive and unique enough so that visitors can understand what the site is about and the listings should be correctly categorized. And just think of the time (and money) you need to spend on advertising and promoting your site. You definitely need to frequent forums and promote your directory to those already well established. They can help get customers and visitors to your site.

I also agree that you need passion to start a directory and not just think of your directory as a money making venture. A lot of directory owners gave up after starting their directory in just a few months, accomplishing nothing at all. I really doubt that a directory will be successful in just a few months, it will probably take a few years before you can see the results of your hard work. And it is the passion that keeps a directory owner going.

Sad to say, it is almost impossible for a directory to offer something unique to the web directory industry. Even if you have something unique, it will be copied three folds before you can even login to your control panel. Yes, it’s that competitive. I think that the most important thing a directory must provide is to offer better value to their customers. Actually, that is simple. You just need to have a attract targeted traffic to your site’s categories and listings. And please make sure your directory is Search Engine Friendly.

The thing I disagree with the article is the domain name. Directories don’t need a directory sounding domain name for it to work. Seriously, if your domain name isn’t spam sounding and if you promote your directory well, it doesn’t matter. In fact, if your directory domain name is unique sounding, all the better, seeing that there are probably thousands of “something-directory.coms” out there. Unique is good in this very crowded market.

Greed & Grief

1664 days ago

Greed, that’s what makes a lot of people tick. Sure, everyone is greedy. I mean even the godly saints themselves are greedy. But for most of us, there is a limit...

Greed, that’s what makes a lot of people tick. Sure, everyone is greedy. I mean even the godly saints themselves are greedy. But for most of us, there is a limit to our greed. However, some people take it to the extremes. I mean really extreme. And worse, these greedy people’s action affects everyone around them and gets them into trouble. You may ask why I am saying this. Well, I had just faced this situation. One of my company’s directors stole money from the company and we are all affected by it. It has gotten so bad that I am sure the company will close down completely and a lot of heads will roll. It has already closed partially.

And the funniest thing, the person stole like hundreds of millions of dollars over several years (that’s what rumours are saying). What is the person going to do with so much money? I mean, it’s not like you are going to be able to spend that much money if you have to hide eveyday from the law right? I believe that the director has fled overseas but still, stealing so much money will bound to attract attention from the law( and greedy criminals) in the other country as well. So what’s the point?

And the effect on those in the company and related to the company is terrible. And the high ranking bank officials who have approved loaning money to the company will certainly be affected as well. I am sure that they will be forced to resign or they will be demoted. Furthermore, everyone in the company is in low spirits and very worried. Even the rest of the directors are hauled up to the police for questioning and I am sure that they are very worried too. Who won’t be? I am sure being questoned by the police is not something someone is being used to. You can’t concentrate if you have this kind of thing hanging over your head, right? It’s also so very depressing.

I wonder why those auditors who had audited my company for years weren’t hauled up for questioning? I mean, since the auditors is “supposed” to have been doing this for years, shouldn’t it be already been discovered a long time ago by these highly paid auditors? Why blame the directors for not doing their job when it is supposed to be the job of the auditors and their big auditing companies to check companies for fraud? And I believe that one very high ranking senior auditor will sign off any completed auditing, so shouldn’t this be the correct person to be hauled up for questioning? Something is very wrong here if we let these people go scott-free. They are paid highly for a reason and if they are not responsible, then who is?

Gum Problems – Swollen Gums

1664 days ago

Here I go again. Now I am having gum problems. A few days ago, I eat something hard and it sort of went deep in between my teeth and cut my...

Here I go again. Now I am having gum problems. A few days ago, I eat something hard and it sort of went deep in between my teeth and cut my gums there. I think it got infected and now it is swollen (with a little greenish pus). Initially it was a small problem and I didn’t think that it was that serious. So I being a genius at dental problems decided to go and poke it with a needle. Well, that got rid of the pus but the infection now grew worse. It was in fact spreading! And the swell is bigger now! So big that it looks like I have something on one side of my mouth.

Sad. So I went to the dentist who then did a better job in reducing the swell and cleaning the little wound. He told me that my gum is badly infected and germs had gotten in. Hey, he used a little knife thingy to cut the pus and disgusting black-colored blood came pouring out. He then gave me some medicine and antibiotic to reduce swelling and hooray, he also gave me one day worth of medical leave! I love my dentist. I guess he thought that the “massive” lost of blood will render me incapable of work or anything. Anyway my gum feels much better after taking the medicine too. At least I don’t have problem opening my mouth anymore.

Well, what the morale of the story is don’t try to be clever. If you don’t know anything about something, don’t stick your hand in. You will get bitten. Especially if you don’t have much common sense like me. And remember to always brush your teeth and floss daily.

Tea – My Latest Craze

1664 days ago

It has gotten hold of me! Yes, tea. I am now crazy over tea. And all sorts of tea, whether it is English Tea, Chinese Tea, Green Tea, Bubble Tea or whatever I...

It has gotten hold of me! Yes, tea. I am now crazy over tea. And all sorts of tea, whether it is English Tea, Chinese Tea, Green Tea, Bubble Tea or whatever I am into it! I bought several some tea cups and tea pots too. When I go back home from work, I would pour myself a cup of tea and enjoy the evening with some very refreshing tea, even if the weather is warm. I don’t mind. I like the taste of tea. Wait, does that make me very English?

Well, if you are interested in tea as I am, you might be interested in getting tea accessories like tea pots, tea cups or even get some advise and information on tea, you can check out Tea Chapter. They sell all kinds of chinese tea leaves, tea pots, tea cups and even sells tea cakes. You can even have your ROM (Registration of Marriage) ceremony catered by them! I know it is weird, but who knows, perhaps there are still traditionalists in Singapore who thinks that we are still part of the English Empire afterall. However, this site is all about Chinese tea. You should look elsewhere if you are interested in Japanese or English Tea.

My personal favourite is green tea. It’s just so refreshing and it doesn’t have any aftertaste. I never got sick of drinking green tea too. I like those that come with the actual tea leaves in small packets. But you have to really heat them up first before the tea flavours come out. So I usually use boiling water and a tea pot with a lit and wait for a while till the flavours flow out before I start drinking it. I learned this from a tea expert. Okay, that’s not true, I read from somewhere on the Internet but it works so….

There are a lot of benefits to drinking tea. First of all, it is refreshing and it tastes great. In fact, it makes food taste better because it helps to clear your throat. It also helps to improve your digestive system. Think of it as a cleanser of sorts. It helps to get rid of unwanted particles and access oil from your body. Hey, furthermore, it helps to prevent tooth decay. I also heard that it prevents cancer and is very good for the skin. So you should go reduce your coffee intake and start drinking tea!

Wireless@SG Review

1664 days ago

I recently was given a laptop by my ISP(that’s Starhub) for signing a 30 month contract for their Internet broadband service (Cable). Yes, that’s a 30 month contract I am stuck...

I recently was given a laptop by my ISP(that’s Starhub) for signing a 30 month contract for their Internet broadband service (Cable). Yes, that’s a 30 month contract I am stuck with. But anyhow, I got a laptop in return which I can bring around whenever I need to. Well, the laptop is not really a good piece of hardware, the keyboard is the worst I have ever seen with it’s keys falling all over the place. Very cheap and flimsy construction.

Ok, so armed with this laptop, I went around Singapore to test out the Singapore’s free wireless service. The three service providers are Singtel, Qmax and IcellNetworks. First I tried Toa Payoh Central’s McDonalds. The signal strength was excellent but somehow I faced a numer of disconnections. I had to login once every one hour or so. But the speeds I experienced was acceptable. I used both QMax and Icellnetworks. I don’t have the Singtel userid and password. You need to sign up with the three service provider first before you can login. It seemed to me that QMax is more stable than ICell. But I am nitpicking here. I stayed there for about 3 hours doing some work (which involved the Internet). Later, I tried Yishun. I went to the Starbucks at Northpoint. Again the connection there was great but I didn’t stay for long to test everything – coffee was too expensive.

A few days later, I went to Tampines Point and ate at McDonalds. As usual, I tried the Wireless service there too. No problems. The signal was excellent and I stayed connected for several hours. However, I discovered that the speeds were intermittent. Sometimes it would be fast and sometimes it will slow to a crawl. But at least I stayed connected. I believed that I stayed for 3 hours before going to Long John Silvers. Yes, no problem with the connection there either. I am quite impressed with this free Wireless service.

This should work out very well if they maintain the same service. Do note that this free service is for three years and will end somewhere in 2009. Why? I don’t know, perhaps the Singapore government think that nobody will be using Wireless anymore in 2009. They predicted we will all be using a whooping “high-speed” 28.8Kbps fax modem by then. Anyway, I can say that if you are planning to do some work while you are outside the office, you can quite safely depend on this service.

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