Wow, starting last year, we (the people living in Singapore) had tons of price increases to face. And it continued till today. Just recently, it was the price of rice which jumped up like 30% in just 3 weeks. Looks like someone is really trying to play the food market and the poor is suffering due to this. I mean price of rice hardly every fluctuates at all in the past and suddenly, it went up 30% in just 3 weeks. It is not like the demand of rice had suddenly increase or the supply of rice had fallen in just 3 weeks. Of course, the weather could have played a part in limiting the supply, but how did it all happen in the last 3 weeks?
How about the price of all sort of food stuff? Price of chicken, sugar, flour, coffee and tons of others have risen like nobody’s business. Sure, we heard that there is a increase in demand for food worldwide. But how is it possible that there is a sudden increase in demand for everything at the same time? I mean is there a sudden population surge in the world that I didn’t know about? Or is there something or someone controlling and manipulating the supply and thus controlling demand at the same time?
I think another unfair price increase is the fares of public buses and MRT. Public bus operators often blame the rising price of petrol/diesel for the increase and claim that they have no choice but to pass the cost to their customers. But then they made record profits. And when the price of petrol/diesel drops, they didn’t reduce the fares. Come on, I mean that’s just ridiculous to blame their fare increase on the price of oil but when it drops, they don’t even bother to reduce the fares. That’s the problem with monopoly (or duopoly) in Singapore. Of course, another problem is the government who failed to do something about that. Probably the main reason is that most of the major shareholders and directors of these public transport companies are also very much related to the government. Furthermore, the bus and train services are really lousy. We get delays, slow speeds as well as extremely dirty buses. And a lot of us poor folks do have to take such pathetic public transport to and from work everyday. I wonder if one day, our ministers were to forced to take public transport, I wonder how will they feel if they sit down in our mobile public cesspool called SBS.
Well, I guess the only group that really suffers from all these price increases are the poor in Singapore. I am not saying that the poor in other countries are not suffering, but their price increase is being restricted and thus they do not face such huge rise in prices unlike in Singapore. Food prices is already very high here and with an increase of 30% on foodstuff, how many can afford to eat? And our government is as usual not doing anything serious about it.
Ahh…I am here yet again to introduce to you another open source software. For this time around, it’s a archiving program. Basically what an archiving program does is to compression or combine different files into one smaller file like our good old Winzip software. I am sure everyone knows what that software does. And it’s name is PeaZip. Why is it called PeaZip? Well, I have no idea. Perhaps it is because it is small in size like a pea? However from the Windows version of the installer, it is about 3.3MB, so it isn’t exactly small in size.
Anyways, this is an open source software and that means it is available freely with source code. And features wise, it is very impressive. It supports a wide range of archiving formats like zip, gz, arc and many more. Moreover, it can open iso, rar and even ace files. You will need to get a plugin to open ace files though. It seems to support nearly every file format which I myself know about, so you should be fairly safe to use this software to access your archives, no matter what format they are in. PeaZip also has some very good security options. It supports various encryption protocols like AES256, blowfish, Twofish256 and Serpent256 encryption. It also protects some archives against corruption by employing “recovery records”.
You can also make use of PeaZip to create, edit and restore the archive’s layout. This helps in speeding up archiving or with backup operations. PeaZip can also handle multiple archives at once. This will make accessing multiple files a breeze for the user.
PeaZip works under both Windows and Linux.
I have just received an email from a Singapore government official telling me that there is no longer a need for a license for us to brew beer and liquors. This is good news for everyone interested in brewing beer. No need to pay and no need to travel down to the customs office to get our license anymore. I had wasted half a day to do that, since my workplace is very far away from the customs office. Anyways, if you are interested in home brewing, go and purchased a beer kit and start brewing! Or if you have just a bucket, you can brew beer or wine as well.
It means that we can brew beer whenever we feel like it but now there are limitations. However, we are now limited to brew only 30 litres per household per month. Unlike previously, we can brew as much as we want but we are limited to 30 litres per single brew, that is the fermenter cannot be more than 30 litres but you can brew like 10 times per month. As usual, home brew is only for personal consumption, not for sale. So you can’t sell it to your friends, but you can share it with them. That’s what home brew is all about - sharing your fine beers!
What is also interesting is that we can now brew wines and other fermented liquors. You can’t do distilled ones like Vodka. So if you want to make mead, wine, cider, sake and so on, go ahead as you can do it legally! No worries about some police officer knocking at your door in the middle of the night demanding to see what you have brewed. You can brew anything! This is certainly good news as I am interested in making cider from Apple Juice. I have found a recipe which is very easy to follow and I have all the necessary equipment to make it. So, this is good timing!
I have the email and pasted below is the message in it.
No Licence Needed for Home-Brew of Beer and Liquors
I am pleased to inform you that with the enactment of the Customs Home-Brewing of Fermented liquors)(Exemption) Order 2008 comes into peration on 4th April 2008, there is no need for an individual to apply or a licence from the Singapore Customs for brewing of beer, stout, orter, ale and other liquors (including samsu, wine etc), subject to the following conditions:
a) the person shall be 18 years old and above;
b) the manufacture of liquors shall be by fermentation and not by distillation;
c) the amount of liquor manufactured shall not exceed —
(i) in relation to beer, including stout, porter and ale, 30
litres per household of the person per month; and
(ii) in relation to any other fermented liquor, 30
litres in total for all such liquors per household of the
person per month;
d) the liquor made shall be used for personal consumption and not for sale; and
e) the brewing activities do not create nuisance to the public or degrade the environment.
2 Our record shows that you are issued with a licence for home-brewing of beer. Consequent to the enactment of the Customs (Home-Brewing of fermented liquors)(Exemption) Order 2008, the licence is therefore withdrawn, as there is no need for such a licence. Please destroy the licence. Please be informed that there is no refund of the licence fee in accordance to one of the conditions for the issuance of the licence which states that no refund of licence fee will be made for revocation or withdrawal of licence.
3 Please contact the undersigned at 63552093 if you have questions or wish to seek clarification on the matter.
Yours sincerely
Yeo Soon Heng
Senior Revenue Control Officer
Revenue Control Branch
for Director -General of Singapore Customs
There are 2 online home brew stores in Singapore, namely iBrew and Home Brew. Do visit them for more information on home brewing.
For the past few weeks, it was a very busy time for me. Weekdays and weekends were all taken up by “work”. Normal weekdays I had to work, that is my “day job”. At night, it’s moonlighting for me. But this is for free, of course. Don’t really like to charge my friends money.
First, I had to help my friend setup his company and incorporate it. Now that was a bit troublesome. Need a lot of time and effort to get all the necessary particulars and ensure that everything is probably submitted. But luckily, it went smooth. Next, I had to help my another friend source for parts on the Internet. He doesn’t really know how to use the Internet and I think it frightens him just to surf. So, I went and kept on sourcing for some very unknown product for him. It took a few days and a lot of email enquiries before I could get someone who is willing to reply and I gave him the contacts. Didn’t know that a lot of people don’t make use of the Internet to do sourcing. However, it looks like this went okay as well. At least, he didn’t bother me again.
And just last week, my friend had a major breakdown in his computer, so Saturday was burnt helping him solve multiple computer problems. But in the end, everything was running along fine for him as well. He was pretty happy actually. Seldom do I see such stressed people so happy. Wuhahaha. Sunday, I had to go down and help my another friend setup his small home office. Ya, another day burnt. It consist mainly of shifting computers, pulling cables, setting up points, setup printers and so on. But again, in the evening, everything was up and running and he can start work on Monday.
Next week, I believe that I will have to go down to yet another friend’s place to setup her Internet connection. It was down for a few days already. So, I really hope you guys will understand if I don’t post so often on this blog. Busy mah. 
Yes, it has finally arrived! And with this, I can start my beer brewing adventures again! Well, as you guys know, I am currently in a certain state where nothing else matters but beer brewing. It has gotten into such a situation whereby my mind is consumed with nothing but making the most delicious beer for my friends and me. Well, err… not exactly, but that’s what I like to think myself to be. A beer brewing freak but one without the actual brewing skills.
Anyway, enough of the deep deep talk, it’s time now to showcase what I have just purchased. This time, I bought them from Home Brew. By the way, it cost S$99.50 for this “set” where includes the beer kit (that’s the Morgan’s Blue Mountain Lager Beer Kit) , Lager Malt, Hops, Wyeast Ale Yeast, 30×740ml PET bottles and caps and a priming scoop. The priming scoop is used to measure the amount of sugar for priming the beer which basically means carbonating the beer. I am too cheap to buy any more carbonation drops (which cost S$5 per pack by the way), so I got this instead and will be using just table sugar for priming. Hey, that’s like S$1.05 per kg of sugar at Sheng Siong. Some big shot with a multi-million dollar paycheck told me to go and find cheaper alternatives, so I follow “loh”.
And now we begin!
Well, this is one of the most important part of kit beer brewing - the actual kit itself. This is the Morgan’s Blue Mountain Lager. Looks quite professional too. I have heard great things about Morgan and their beer kits and thus I am very keen to try out their products. If I am not wrong, the Blue Mountain Lager is their best seller. The blue stuff in the background is my nephew’s Thomas train tracks where they connect onto each other to form longer train tracks.
The back of the Blue Mountain Lager Kit. The instructions tells the same thing as what the Cooper’s Kit has stated. Add hot water, add the goo, add some more yeeky goo, stir, add more cold water and add yeast, pray and so on. As usual, I believe that we can safely ignore those instructions and do a partial boil for this kit. Plus, I have ordered additional hops, so boiling should be necessary. The due date on the can states October 2008 and for this I am glad. Always get the freshest liquid malt extract you can find for the best tasting beer. I believe that you will find a pack of dry yeast underneath the can cap.
What do you know, I am correct. There is indeed a packet of yeast underneath the cover, plus an instruction booklet.
Morgan’s lager yeast - pure strain brewing yeast. I heard that it is from Mauribew, so I am not sure whether the yeast will produce a good tasting beer. It’s better safe than sorry, right?
Hmmm….it can ferment at a temperature of 30 °C! Well, from what I have heard, at 30 °C, I think the beer will not come out nice at all. In fact, it will probably taste like some pungent poison.
Confirmed! The kit is still in it’s shelf life. Well, I hope that this means 05-Oct-2008 and not 08-Oct-2005! Wuhahaha!
That’s the Lager Malt Extract, not sure which manufacturer. Feels very different from the Cooper’s Light Malt Extract. The Cooper’s Light Malt Extract feels more “malty” and silky in texture. The lager malt feels more like starch. I guess they are very different in the way they are processed, thus we have such different textures. I was supposed to get the liquid malt extract but Home Brew ran out of stock, so I have to settle for the dried variety.
Eeeeeeek! Cluster hops! And this one comes in a specially designed infusion brew bag, which I think is just like a normal tea bag. Not sure what I will do with this, maybe just do a quick aroma hopping. I don’t really want the Cluster hop flavour to permeate into the brew and I may not even use the hops provided. You may wonder why then did I get this hop? Am I stupid or something? Well, I didn’t really order the hops individually, it came in a package which includes the beer kit, lager malt and the cluster hops. But for just 45 Singapore bucks, what do I have to complain about?
The hops will be kept in the freezer to preserve it’s shelf life.
Yes, that’s what Brewerkz is now serving to their customers. Xtra Gloop Stout. In fact, I think most of the customers of Brewerkz are just too drunk to realize what the hell they are drinking and this is not surprising, their best seller. Na, just kidding. I don’t want to be sued by Brewerkz. I mean if I got sued, who is going to feed my 16.5 children? Actually, it is the yeast that the owner of Home Brew Singapore is providing me. I didn’t want to use the dry yeast provided in the can, so he was kind enough to get some liquid yeast for me. And it’s the Wyeast Ringwood Ale Yeast! Anyways that’s a hell lot of yeast for me to pitch into my wort and for just S$5! I think I will split them into two batches and hope for the best. Remember, liquid yeast in Singapore is very expensive. I believe a smack pack of Wyeast is selling for S$17 at iBrew.
A closeup of the yeast. Yeast really don’t look very nice do they? In fact, I am pretty sure that if I am not a brewer, I won’t have dared touch the cup. The rubber band is to warn people that the cup might implode or create a nuclear meltdown. So beware.
Anyways, the yeast needs to be stored at low temperatures, so in it went to the fridge. And what I did was to put a little plastic bag over the cup to prevent bacteria from entering and infecting the wort cum yeast through the opening in the cup cover.
Well, that’s everything. As you can see, brewing beer is quite easy if you have the time and the interest. And yes, on the top left corner, that’s Thomas The Train Engine, my nephew’s favourite toy and quite possibly the world’s most expensive piece of plastic.
Oh, before I forget, here is the picture of the priming scoop, also another expensive piece of plastic. The smaller scoop is for the 330ml beer bottles while the bigger scoop is for the 660ml beer bottles. If you are using the 740ml bottles, then just add a little more sugar to your beer. But luckily, I am using the PET bottles, which shouldn’t be as dangerous as glass bottles. At least they won’t explode if you over-carbonate them.
Anyways, I won’t be brewing this weekend. Too busy and tomorrow I will have to go and clear my grandparents cemetery. So next week, I will do my wonderful “Blue Mountain Lager which taste like ale” beer. Wish me luck and don’t get too drunk.
Link here.
So if you are pretty free and don’t have anything to do at the moment, you should take a look at the link I have just provided. It list down some of the more interesting pranks you can play on your office mates on their computers. This is all good clean fun without the porn or the naked female pictures. I am sure that it is very boring in the office right? Everyday, you go around doing your work and after getting scolded by your boss a few times, you will want some fun to relieve stress. Hey, who doesn’t? In Singapore, where stress and pressure is a everyday occurrence, we really need an outlet for all our anger issues. What better way than to sabotage your friends? And you don’t have to be good at IT, most requires just one or two files and some setting changes on your friend’s or office mate’s computers. Some don’t even need to make use of the PC. Of course, this is assuming that you can access their computers.
In Singapore, we take everything too seriously. I look at Singaporeans and I believe that we are about to reach the boiling point. The level of stress and pressure has gotten out of hand as Singaporean workers now face stiff competition from foreigners who are coming in large numbers. I see a lot of Singaporeans being replaced by foreigners in all sectors of the workplace. Even bus driver positions are now being taken over by foreigners. I am a practical person. Sure, foreigners do help Singaporeans economy. But importing too many foreigners will only benefit the rich and the powerful while the Singaporean worker face increasing downward pressure on their salaries. This coupled with the rising cost of living in Singapore, I don’t know what will happen to my country soon. I always say moderation is the key. But apparently, some powerful and rich people who are controlling Singapore disagrees and thus we are left with poorly paid Singaporeans in the streets. Sad.
Don’t know how this became bitching about the government. But it did.
And here is one more prank.
You can take a look at them here.
Nope, it is not something for you to showoff your javascript or your flash coding skills, but these are photos/image galleries made using Javascript and Flash. And after taking a look at some of them, I am very impressed. They do look very good indeed. And all these probably don’t require much in coding, all you have to do is to add a few lines in your html code and you should be okay. Some of these beautifully crafted galleries are even free and you can use them anywhere.
My favourite is Flash Gallery. It is a free customizable flash gallery which is very easy to configure and use. All you need to do is to edit the XML file and tell it where your photos and pictures are stored and you are done. It also comes with image preloader and effects. Not to worry, this software is extremely lightweight and should not take up a lot of space on your webserver.
Another software I like is Simple Viewer. This is yet another free software for you to setup your online image gallery. You can easily manage your photos with this software and it looks very nice. And another plus point, it is very customizable and you can change the fonts, colour and background easily as well. As with Flash Gallery, it comes with an intelligent image preloader. However, the free version comes with a link back to their site, so you need to pay in order to remove the link. Too bad, it is a bit costly - US$45! There are many other commercial software which are more powerful and you can purchase them for even lower.
Anyways, take a look at the first link and tell me which catches your fancy. I am always very impressed with coders and designers nowadays and how they can create such marvelous piece of software cum art. A toast to all you coders out there! Respect!
Well, I have ordered the ingredients for the next brew already. As you know, it’s going to be Morgan’s Blue Mountain Lager and I am all psyched up for this. I am using a different beer kit this time, it’s Morgan’s and I have heard great things about it. Although it is not as popular as Cooper’s (mainly because of Cooper’s more superior advertising skills), I think their products are of a high quality and I am sure the beer will turn out great. I will be getting the ingredients from Homebrew Singapore and it comes with Dry Lager Malt Extract and additional aroma/finishing hops. However, they are providing Cluster hops, which I think I will not be using. From what I know, Cluster is not a great aroma or flavouring hops, it is more for bittering. It would be better if Homebrew provides some other aroma hops like Cascade or Saaz for lagers! Too bad, but for just S$45 bucks, I have nothing to complain about.
Oh I also got a liquid yeast called Wyeast Ringwood Ale. Looks like an okay ale yeast and it is exactly what I am looking for. You may be confused as why I am using an ale yeast for this lager beer. Well, first of all, I don’t think I will be able to keep a low enough temperature for a true lager beer. And secondly, why not? Although the ingredients should be mainly lager malt, it doesn’t mean that you can’t use ale yeast for it. In fact, the taste may just be surprisingly good. From what I read, a lot of brewers were very successful in making a good tasting beer from lager malts using ale yeast. So, I am going for it. And you may be wondering why I don’t use the yeast that comes with the beer kit. The reason is because I am afraid of the quality of the yeast and whether it is still viable or not. Remember, these are stuck on the beer kit cans and we have no idea how long or what conditions it had been exposed to. So, it is always better not to rely on the yeast from the cans and get your own yeast. I also keep a stock of dry yeast in my fridge just in case. Don’t bother with keeping liquid yeast, they don’t keep well.
I will also be getting another 30 740ml PET bottles. I like PET bottles. Unlike glass bottles, they are much lighter and the best thing, you don’t have to worry about bottle bombs if you don’t prime them properly. I don’t want to cut myself handling the bottles. But I think in the future when my skills in beer brewing improved, I will switch to glass bottles as it look more professional and the beer keep better than in PET bottles too. However, you need to get a capper (to cap the bottles, silly) and bottle caps.
Well, it’s the Weather! Yes, it is indeed the weather. It is sort of against us Singaporeans and almost everyone living in Singapore. Singapore has a series of weather patterns that usually fall into this two categories - blistering hot and sunny or windy and rainy. Seldom do we have anything in between these two extremes. When the weather is hot, it is very hot. I mean the sunny is like shining unmercilessly on you and if you will easily get sunburnt if you are not careful. Plus, it is very humid in Singapore, so you will start to sweat and feel sticky and dirty all the time. One of the worst feeling is that. Not to mention, if you sweat to much, you will start to stink and people around you will die like flies.
How about the other extreme? Yes, I am talking about raining. In Singapore, it rains very often. About for 1 month of so in Februray, we have been getting rain everyday. It is like someone is trying to flood Singapore and wash the people away. Well, in this case, you will be drenched and even with umbrellas, your shoes will still get wet. It usually rains very heavily and there is no escape from it, except if you drive and your parking area is sheltered. For people like me who takes public transport, we will almost certainly get drenched. After that, we will all fall sick and some even die.
So that’s it. Why we can’t enjoy life in Singapore. If you think of going to the beach and suntanning, it will rain! No kidding, I tried a few times myself and it rained. So everyone flocks to the shopping malls or stay at home and rot. If you are thinking of going to the park and have a leisurely walk, it will respond simply by providing you with the blistering sun shining on you continously and giving you a big headache or it can just make you blind. Then you flock to the air-conditioned shopping malls as well. Truly, that’s life in Singapore and you will keep doing that until you die.
