FireFall Beta Weekend

Got this surprise email from Firefall, by Red 5 Studio. (Red 5 has an office in Singapore, and its just downstairs at level 2, Block 71.)

Too bad the Beta Weekend is only 3 days and I'm too packed with projects this weekend, so not testing this game that I discovered nearly a year ago, when I Googled the company out of curiouscity when walk passed their office.

Btw, the Sg office is always empty, or at least look empty from the entrace. :)

[Video] Look at this Instragram

This video actually sums up the features of Instagram and what most people use it for.

CollegeHumor's Favorite Funny Videos

p/s: I think the song is actually not bad :)

Jessen Extraordinary Studio

Saw this video shared by a friend in Facebook. Quite nice.

Stages of Life

1. New interns are almost 10 years younger than you.
2. Slowly, one by one relative passing away, or diagnosed with diseases.

You know you are stepping into yet another different stage of life.

PSY_Gangnam Style Acoustic VER. PSY "GANGNAM STYLE(강남스타일)" @ SuperstarK4 슈퍼스타K4

There are a lot of version of Gangnam Style, and all of them are good! :)

I guess you can call this innovation. When there's no lock down on an idea, you'll get creative variants of it created by different groups of people.

[PSY] "GANGNAM STYLE" inspired videos

UPDATE: The video just hit 50 million today. And not sure everyone just enjoy the funny scenes or actually understand the lyric and the message behind all those funny scenes.

Here's a good read for those who don't understand the "Gangnam Style" that PSY tried to portray in the MV scenes:

Just like that, PSY is making fun of people that are so vain and materialistic; but at the same  time, he's making a mockery of where he's really from, that is, Gangnam.  It’s like he’s shouting, “Look at me!  I’m a true Gangnamese but don’t I look really tacky and pathetic?”

More from http://mydearkorea.blogspot.sg/2012/08/korean-music-psys-gangnam-style-and.html

MV with Lyric

Other"Gangnam Style" inspired videos.
Not entirely related to the original video :)

"Miko Style" :)

Folding fitted sheets

:)

I've always anyhow fold my fitted sheets, until I saw this photo.

:)

City Harvest Church (CHC) Pastor Kong Hee, found misconduct and mismanagement in church fund

Screenshot from MCYS

Read the official report here.
http://app1.mcys.gov.sg/PressRoom/InquiryfoundmisconductandmismanagementinCHC.aspx


For quick summary, read the Infographics here, put together by Channel News Asia Connect. There are few missing points though, read the above report.

Source: Channel News Asia Connect

 Who is Ho Yeow Sun? This article from Yahoo sums it up, with the music video clip!

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/who-is-ho-yeow-sun--20120626.html

My Thoughts

Most religions are good. But, the problem arises when believers become "lazy" and leave everything to God, or worse the pastor who himself is just a human. The following comment that I saw in Facebook page sums it all.

"Stop delegating to authority. You are your own authority, stop outsourcing the work of thinking to someone else."

Donations

Donation to church is not a bad thing. But as a member of the church, its your job also to make sure the money is indeed channeled to those who are in need. Misuse of church funds happens when there is no transparency and proper procedures in tracking the expenses & expenditure of the church. After all, its us - human who manage the money. (I believe there are similar cases go undetected around the globe).

Epilogue

Don't be lazy. Stay smart. Be a responsible person to yourself, and those around you.

Luftbanza Airlines by Alexander Koshelkov

Simply breathtaking.

"Luftbanza Airlines" by Alexander Koshelkov (@AKoshelkov)

Good talk Between Kevin Rose and Brian Wong (19)

Kevin Rose Talks To Brian Wong of Kiip.me - Foundation

Enter University at 14 years old, Brian Wong is very amazing.

Created an app (Twitter tool) at 16 years old. Pretty amazing!

---

Cool dad, brought back a computer for his kid. Not knowing what can be done using the computer, but just know that that's the future.

I'm going to do the same - supportive towards what my kids interested in, and try to guide them as close as possible. :)

---

This happened because of the amount of FTs in Singapore...

"This happened because of the amount of FTs in Singapore..."

This comment by the owner caught my attention.

"This happened because of the amount of FTs in Singapore..."

To generalize crimes as a result of Foreign Talents is just so narrow minded. I worked with so many so called FTs everyday. So many local companies consist of FTs. Can't imagine what will happen to the economy without FTs.

No further comment since I'm a FT myself also. :)

Power of Internet... and Social Media - Kony 2012

The power of Internet, and in particular social media, has resulted in information widespread at a tremendous and scary speed.

Uganda's Kony
This is the best example.

The video was created and uploaded to Youtube by a charity group called Invisible Children 4 days ago on  5th March.

The video was very well produced and with the push of social media, the video has 52 million views in 4 days.

Invisible Children manage to raised $5Mil in 48 hours, reported by National Post.

A lot of people (I'm referring mostly to my friends) talks about supporting the cause instantly after watching the video. I was quite convinced with the video without second thoughts at first, until one of my friend posted on my Facebook wall.



I started digging down the rabbit hole. 

Some artist, including Justin Bieber supported the cause.

this is not a joke. this is serious. TOGETHER we can #MakeAChange and #STOPKONY - help another kid in need! - youtu.be/Y4MnpzG5Sqc
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) March 8, 2012

The are few news coverage on this viral video. Some supported, some critiqued on the financial transparency and expenses of Invisible Children, mislead the crowd and oversimplifythe situation in Uganda.

It stinks of easy answers, of foreign do-goodery, of over-simplistic interference that gives us all a nice warm fuzzy glow.
- Tory Shepherd

Invisible Children reports that in an official account of the $13.7 million raised in the 2010/11 financial year, $8.8 million was allocated for expenses - including filming costs, transportation and production.
- news.com.au

And another video spawned after a few days, titled Somebody is Lying.

Epilogue

Until the facts are made clear, I shall withhold my judgement on this issue. Indeed the video clearly delivered the information that justify the supports for arresting Kony. But on the other hand, the other video seems legit also.

Shall conclude this with this article that titled

"People Aren't Smart Enough for Democracy to Flourish, Scientists Say"
- livescience.com

The power of freedom is good, but sometimes it boils down to this fundamental problem - Are majority of people capable enough exercise critical thinking or... are majority of people still "lack the mental tools needed to make meaningful judgments".



References:
http://www.news.com.au/world/its-all-over-the-webs-but-what-is-a-kony/story-e6frfkyi-1226292956990
http://www.invisiblechildren.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/critiques.html
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.reviews&orgid=12429
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/07/joseph-kony-invisible-children_n_1326759.html
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/08/kony-2012-video-raises-5m/

Lunchsparks 404

This is just a random and short update of my daily work.

Error 404 Page Not Found.

Did a 404 page for my pet project - Lunchsparks.me. (Give me a "Thumbs Up" if you think its nice too! Hahaha)

Personally, I like the ray on top, simply because the animation is done using CSS3 -webkit-keyframes. Cool eh? Haha.

@-webkit-keyframes opacity {
 0%   { opacity: 0.2; }
 50%  { opacity: 1.0; }
 100% { opacity: 0.2; }
}

I find web development (HTML, CSS, Javascript) interesting because theres just so much to learn and the whole language and standards are evolving very fast, which is a good thing!

Despite the restless schedule everyday (including weekend!), I enjoyed the whole learning process.

Looking back the my codes half a year ago makes me feel "oh my, how can I code in such a inefficient way".

Just hope that I can have someone to sit down together to work with, and discuss. A bit "lonely" to work alone... hahaha.

SAY NO TO LYNAS

小皮也参与 "No Lynas"!

Source: NO LYNAS, SAVE MALAYSIA.

难得雨情整家人抽空拍了一系列的 "NO LYNAS" 照片。就连小皮和大老板都拍了，可见政府这次真的踩到大家的尾巴了。

大家可到 http://savemalaysia-stoplynas.blogspot.com/ 搜寻更多有关反 LYNAS 的资料。

虽然。。。

NST今天报道指 LYNAS 工程并不危险 http://www.nst.com.my/local/general/nuke-expert-lynas-plant-is-safe-1.51982

JIB哥也发表强调 LYNAS 并不危险 (http://www.nst.com.my/top-news/scientific-evidence-shows-gebeng-plant-harmless-1.52165)。

但是。。。

我还是认为 (Rare Earth) Chemical Processing Plant 的 "Chemical Waste" 怎样都还是会对环境造成严重污染与损坏。

JIB 哥还说：

"We would not have issued an operating licence unless we are satisfied that the local community can accept the project as safe,"

眼看这么多人反对这计划，肯定是 local community cannot accept 咯。

我觉得这样一个 project 被批准，背后肯定牵涉到（高官）贪污。不排除老大也受惠。 ;)

Sneak-peek of work

Sneak peek: The new guide bar.

A sneak peek on the coming soon feature of TackThis :)

In case you are wondering. This is one of the product of the startup company that I'm working in - PayWhere. Its a platform for casual sellers to setup their online shop in Facebook, and other Web platforms, while maintaining just one inventory.

I'm one of the application developer there, and yup, my footprints is all over the code base.

A lot of development plans coming up for TackThis, and I'm excited about it. Actually I'm more excited about the application framework restructure. This will make the code changes, and maintenance much easier.

Lin'sanity

Screenshot from New York Knicks

This is the hottest guy in Facebook nowadays - Jeremy Lin.

From the interviews, seems like he is a humble guy, despite all the limelights after 7 straight wins for New York Knicks.

This is my favourite quote from him.

"I don't want to let anything affect me or this team. We need to make sure we stick together, put our egos aside. When we put our egos aside and buy-in we're going to win ball games."
- Jeremy Lin

The popular words in Facebook for the past two weeks:

Lin'sanity, Everyday I'm Shuff'Lin, All'Lin, Absolute'Lin,  Lin'spirational...

He is the reason many people started watching NBA again.

And of course, underdog or well-prepared? This video says it all.

(One thing that I think quite sad about is, at the time Lin's news flooded Facebook and major tabloids,  Whitney Houston passed away. And there are just so few talk/tribute to her contribution in music industry)

Thress Simple Rules In Life

[Source] Facebook

Saw this image circulating in Facebook. At first, I thought its "just another MEME", then I decided to take a look.

Reflecting the points in the image:

1. If you do not go after what you want, you'll never have it : [CHECKED]
I'm working in a startup company - PayWhere. Although the pay is a little bit low (hahahaha), but I enjoyed the job scope and the learning opportunity there.
I'm aggressively working on my startup project also - #LS.

2. If you do not ask, the answer will always be no: [CHECKED]
I've a wonderful girlfriend, so obviously I had the answer - Yes.

3. If you do not step forward, you will always be in the same place: [CHECKED]
I'm always on the move in life. I think I've pass the stage where I'm still cling on computer games, or Facebook game (the more popular option nowadays), or emo-ing/grumbling about how life/people mistreat them (I mean, once a while is okay, but if you're posting it everyday, theres got to be something wrong with yourself that you should seriously reflect on). I'm just comparing myself with friends on Facebook here.
I feel there are a lot more for me to pursue (in terms of career, and skills) at this point of life.

So yup, to my brothers who are still playing games everyday, or aimlessly living through day by day:
- Stop playing games so "seriously" if you're not going to depend on that as a career in the future.
- Start planning/pursuing a career that you think you'll enjoy it for the next 30 years.

Random Update

Typical work desk at home.

Been busy everyday for the past few months, trying to code out the alpha stage of my website project.

Ah, the progress is just so slow, when you only have weekends to work on it. Maybe because I'm not that experience in developing a complete website.

Nevertheless, its still a good experience that I enjoy very much.

行到水穷处， 坐看云起时

中岁颇好道， 晚家南山陲。
兴来美独往， 胜事空自知。
行到水穷处， 坐看云起时。
偶然值林叟， 谈笑无还期。

终南别业－－－王维

更多

看了《步步惊心》，这诗一直在我脑袋里徘徊。我想，这就是电视剧的威力吧。

A Day Made of Glass 2: Unpacked. The Story Behind Corning's Vision.

A glimpse into the near future, by Corning.

Great vision.

If only the whole technology enablers can work together towards this vision, all these can be as near as tomorrow.

A Swarm of Nano Quadrotors

Very cool! Can use this for all sorts of events. From formation for national events, to... wedding proposal (this will be cool right ;) ) Haha.

Bookmarked a a hobby project.

R.I.P. Grandma

The Last Photo.

R.I.P. Grandma.

After diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer for 3 months. Grandma passed away.

On Tuesday, before we left hospital, mom went over to her bedside and told her that she will be coming back on Friday to visit her again. Grandma opened her eyes very wide and hold mom's hand tightly and mumbled incoherently.

Mom later told me that, she thinks grandma doesn't want her to leave.

But since she got only 7 days leave a year, and seeing that grandma's condition is a lot better compared to the time when she was admitted, she decided that it will be better if she go back first, and come back again over the weekend.

Hope mom will not blame herself for not staying.

...

Sometimes I wonder, I can't really express myself at the side of deathbed.

When my other grandmother (whos closer to me, who raised me) was at her last few breath, I find myself only holding her hand, without shedding tears, or just little bit. She always wanted to attend my wedding. But its just not fated.

A lot of my friends says they think

• I looked like I'm coping it well,
• I'm emotionless/heartless,

Regardless what people think, I just think that, 

• Life goes on, need to cherish what's around you more while still can,
• I'm the eldest (guy) grandchild in the family, at least my generation, so I gotta be strong! Instead of crying like no tomorrow. No point.

...

I'm now officially left with just 1 grandparent - Grandpa (mom's side) who is (fully) paralysed now, due to robbery. (Damn the robber! Why the need to hit people in the head so hard until the skull crack, when you are only after the money!)

Its quite sad that both my grandmothers never got the chance to witness their grandchildren get married. Unlike my grand-grandmother who fortunate enough to see her grand-grand-grandchildren, 5 generations!
Still remember last time (when I was in primary school), the grand-grand-grandchild wears red color shirt.

Life. Its like glass, once cracked, it will be hard (if its not impossible) to keep it in shape for long.

Cherish.