scubear.co.uk

Keane's not a happy monkey

2009-10-05T22:46:00.003+08:00

Roy Keane

Happy monkey

Amazing race SingTel

2009-08-05T08:58:00.005+08:00

Getting something repaired by SingTel is really fun, energetic and a challenge that goes above and beyond the usual amount of effort of other telcos.

The challenge started two days ago at the 'Hello!' store at Jurong Point. I was presented with a computer where they asked for my phone number and IC, after a few questions they told me that my phone could be upgraded next week. Interesting but not quite what I was looking for and then a ticket came out informing me that my details couldn't be processed. At this point there were numerous staff just standing around the store and a short but slow queue at the front desk. So I tried again and entered my details as if I was a new customer and was given a queue number which was called within a couple of minutes.

I detailed my problems to the lady helping me and she helped me to locate a place at Funan where the part can be replaced or repaired, she also noted that I only have a few days guarantee remaining. I thought this was a bit odd as my past experience with telcos is that you usually take things to their branded store where they collect it and then escalate the issue but never mind, I quite fancied a trip to Funan so went the next afternoon. For those not in Singapore Jurong Point to Funan Digital Life Mall isn't exactly next door - it means taking about 40 minutes on a train each way.

I arrived at Funan and tried to locate the store - I was surprised that it wasn't a SingTel centre but a rather generic mobile phone shop. The informed me that I needed to go back to the Hello! store to get some paperwork to prove that the purchase date was within the last year, fortunately there was a Hello! store one MRT stop away in Bugis (which is also where I purchased the equipment a year ago). So I walked back to the MRT, stopping briefly to quench my thirst, and took the train one stop to Bugis, walked through Bugis Junction and straight to the Hello! store - it was fortunate that I knew the area otherwise this would have been difficult.

The store was busy and there was no computer to get a queue ticket so I joined the queue to get a queue ticket. Notably the person in front of me was enquiring about purchasing the same equipment that I reported faulty. So I spoke to their 'triage' desk who gave me a queue number. After a ten minute wait my number came up and I explained what happened to the lady who said I would need to go to Jurong Point as I purchased the phone there - I pointed out that I purchased the phone in Bugis 51 weeks previously and then she asked me to wait a 'moment' and promptly vanished. Well walked away somewhere, if she actually had vanish then the day would have felt more fun and less arduous. Ten minutes later she returned with a copy of the papers and once again I had to walk back to the MRT and travel one stop to City Hall, walk back to Funan and locate the obscure store used for repairs.

At the store they looked through the papers, talked to each other for a moment then photocopied the papers and presented me with five identical sheets which I needed to sign. They then gave me one copy and said I should come back on Monday to collect. The sheet informed me that the problem had been escalated but I also noted that my FIN number was wrong but it was clearly a typo with the first two numbers reversed. Let's hope that on Monday they don't come up with something like the need to go to the ICA because the FIN number was typed in wrong.

The challenge continues, no news about other teams...

Yearbook pictures

2009-08-03T10:19:00.009+08:00

I found an interesting site where I could add a picture and take it back through the years. Starting from the 1950s.

I don't really recognise myself in 1950. I quite like the look.

In 1952 the clothes haven't changed much but I've got rid of the thick glasses, again not a too bad look.

1954... quite a neutral period, the shirt is more casual although it does seem my head has shrunk.

1956 - I'm not sure what that is around my neck, the white suit creeps me out a bit... eek - I'm a pimp!

1958 - I suppose I could work on Brighton Pier

1960 - ...or be a founder of Microsoft...

1962 - ...or Apple

1964 - The Motown look 'works' to a limited extent.

1966 - I like this look although my hair seems a bit fairer than is natural. It's a bit too Roger Moore for my liking and I don't think Miss Moneypenny would like it.

1968 was obviously a very cold year.

1970 - assembly language programmers continue this amazing look until now.

1972 - I threw everything in to work as an Open University lecturer.

1974 - I applied to be the next Doctor Who but didn't get the job

1976 - the glasses are back, the hair is just stunning. Love the collars.

1978 - another career change. Time to save the world and convert everyone to loving Jesus. Praise the lord!

1980 - The secret is to bang the rocks together!

1982 - I tried break dancing but ended up in traction

1984 - Starting to consider having a hair cut

1986 - work as a hair model - poster to be used in India until the 22nd century.

1988 - David Hasselhoff is my hero!

1990 - I look like an extra in Saved By The Bell

1992 - I STILL look like an extra in Saved By The Bell

1994 - But when I modelled myself on AC Slater the look stopped working

1996 - The apprentice yuppie... Where's my Filofax?

1998 - The glasses are back with earrings...

2000 - I like this look. I feel I should take it out for a walk.

2008 - Where's the hair gone?

and finally...

As a 1950s girl

Rest In Peace brother

2009-07-28T19:06:00.001+08:00

I'd like to tell you about one person.

His name is Cass Mann - it's not his birth name but it's the name everyone knew him by. He was my oldest brother but I didn't know him that well as he was exiled by the family when I was a child partially on account of his homosexuality and partially because he lost the trust and desire to keep in contact with a family that treated him badly when he was young. Sure some people changed and some people grew but to get back in contact set a cycle of bad memories that he preferred to not live with - so he self isolated.

In 1985 he tested positive for HIV - one of the first people to do so - and as a result was hit by some of the worst counselling that was ever given on the NHS. They essentially advised him to prepare for imminent death. Then they broadcast the infamous tombstone advert on television with the 'Don't Die of Ignorance' slogan yet at this time the link between HIV and AIDS was not scientifically proven so he initially campaigned for people not to test until the NHS could fix the way that people are helped and the advice given to people was more in line with accepted science. He wrote a chapter of a book with his essay "Deadly Counsels - The Necrophiliacs of AIDS" on this. I haven't yet located this story although I'm looking for it (if anyone has a copy please message me).

He also set up the charity "Positively Healthy" which encouraged HIV positive gay men to live healthy lifestyles to encourage the body's natural defences and positive spirit to find better health. He lived as an example - he exercised regularly, he only ate organic vegetarian food for over twenty years, he was strongly anti drugs and alcohol (he campaigned for poppers to be made illegal). He lived in excellent health until 2008 when AIDS finally took hold and things quickly deteriorated. He then finally started on the medicines and his health recovered and he reported that he was back to full health.

At this point he made contact with the family although many of his messages were far from friendly. I was never quite sure if it was meant as a parting shot or a call for help. Perhaps there was some unsaid truth in what he said but it was tinged in anger and sadness which continued to demonstrate and deepen his isolation.

For me I never quite knew what to say to him. With a common father we had some things in common but he was the eldest in the family and was almost three decades my senior. A lot of bad things happened to him when he was a teenager and I find it hard to fully conceptualise that I'm associated with family events that happened long before I was born so perhaps I don't fully understand the fighting.

Anyway, last April he died in hospital. That's all I know - I presume it was an illness related to AIDS. For three months police and social services tried to locate his next of kin and eventually a cousin contacted the police last Saturday to say there had been no contact for a few months and this set the ball rolling and within hours the family were informed of his death. Although the family are dispersed around the world the news spread very fast and I had overlapping phone calls from the US and the UK. My sister (the second oldest) in Tupelo, MS was the most distressed and is upset now that she couldn't attend the funeral because her passport had expired. My mother refused to attend the funeral as she is still upset about some letters that were sent a couple of years ago and this left the second oldest sister as the only representative from my side of the family. In addition a few cousins will attend but overall it will be a poorly attended service.

For me that's the saddest part. He spent his life helping people who other people didn't really want to help and in a way that other people weren't helping. He dedicated his life to his work perhaps a bit over-focussed to the loss of family relations but has was clearly dedicated and passionate to a cause he both believed in and lived by.

One things can be taken from this by everyone. Here was a man who was hurt and who dedicated his entire life to prevent people in a similar situation from being hurt. He lived as an activist and died in silence. He didn't want to be noticed when things weren't so well, he didn't want to be seen as being weak. He didn't want to be a martyr. He wanted people to see that after almost 30 years of living with HIV/AIDS he was fighting fit and able.

Sure, I wish things were different but it's too late now.

Rest In Peace brother.

[I wrote this during his funeral as I could not attend due to distance]

Lift on ban of Indonesian airline slogans

2009-07-18T17:28:00.002+08:00

For those following the news that some Indonesian Airlines are no longer banned from flying to the EU can't have escaped you.

But what about the slogans.

For this I'll make a list of the main airlines and their slogans.

Garuda Indonesia - Celebrating 100 Years of Nation’s Awakening >> Celebrating 100 Years of National Awakening [it seems they employed a proof reader]
Mandala Airlines - The New Mandala [was the old one that bad?]

Good so far. Now what about those still banned from flying to the EU?

Lion Air - We Make People Fly [with a sling or with a gun to the head?]
Merpati Airlines - Get The Feeling [travel sickness being promoted?]
Batavia Air - Trust Us To Fly [shouldn't trust be assumed with an airline?]
Sriwijata Air - Your Flying Partner [I'd rather fly in the plane than with it]
Wings Air - Fly Is Cheap [insect travel is all the rage but shouldn't it be 'Flies Are Cheap'?]

So it seems that the condition to get onto the EU safe list is to have a good slogan. For now the ban will remain on some Indonesian airlines until they can employ a proof reader.

Conficker eye chart

2009-07-17T05:35:00.003+08:00

Mostly for my own use. If you can see six images below and aren't using a proxy then you're not infected with Conficker.A/B/C

If you can see the following patterns you could be infected (X not showing)

123
456= Not infected (although a later version of the virus could theoretically be at work)

X2X
456= Conficker.A/B

XXX
456= Conficker.C (or greater)

XXX
XXX = Images turned off :p

1 23
4 5 6

Where's waldo?

2009-06-19T18:25:00.000+08:00

Where's Waldo Game

Impolite cabin crew

2009-06-16T16:27:00.004+08:00

As someone who flies quite a lot my interaction with cabin crew is somewhat cordial as I have an idea of what they do and how they do it. I also feel that I can easily identify when they're well trained and professional or when they're clearly disinterested.

For the greater part they're professional, vigilant and happy to help. From my experience the best service has been with Lufthansa and for budget airlines Cebu Pacific in Asia and German Wings in Europe. Other airlines have been good to average with very few complaints, an honourable mention must go to the staff at Garuda, Malaysian Airlines, ValuAir/JetStar and Qatar Airlines. There are also many airlines where a little smile and a bit of effort is recognised as being a good thing - if not taken for granted.

However there are a few airlines that I've not mentioned. British Airways staff can feel a bit stuffy sometimes and are often more the national image than most people are, however I can't say that I've had a bad experience with them (although with their exorbitant excess baggage charges I avoid them like the plague these days). Singapore Airlines was one of my worst experiences. There was an old lady behind me so I only adjusted my seat back a little bit as it was clear that any more would give her some discomfort, however the person in front of me took his seat so far back I was unable to see the TV screen and was clearly in some discomfort - I called a member of the cabin crew who told me that there's nothing she could do about it. So Singapore Airlines is now on my black list.

With budget airlines comfort is less of an issue with shorter flights, a couple of hours in a cage is not as bad as 14 hours not being able to move. Air Asia have always been reasonably polite and professional - except last Sunday flying from Yogyakarta to Singapore . Throughout the flight the cabin crew seemed to be more interested in looking pretty than being professional. The first feeling was the lack of smiles and then the second was more obvious - I thought I had pre-booked a meal but it was only for the outgoing flight. I showed them my booking and they asked if they could take it from my to verify, fair enough so far and then about five minutes later the cabin crew returned and scowled a blunt, "NO!" and started walking away. I replied, "excuse me?" and with her back to me she said in a flat voice, "your food was for the outgoing flight only". I then had to call someone else to actually say I was happy to pay for food. The third incident was while disembarking, I noticed that some of the crew were busy adjusting their makeup and not taking any interest in the passengers while getting off the plane there wasn't anyone saying, "thank you for flying Air Asia" or any other polite comment - they were just watching people disembarking without even a nod of the head.

I know budget airlines train their crew on a tighter budget but this poor level of service really makes me wonder if they would be capable of coping if things didn't go by the book. Sure I'll fly with them again due to lack of options but I really hope Air Asia can up their training. On other flights with them I haven't had this problem, just this one time. I fly about 15-20 times every year and this is the first time I've felt this annoyed by the cabin crew (even after 'surviving' flights with EasyJet and Ryan Air where the crew don't have a reputation to live up to). No, it's not that they were that bad - it was because they were worse that I would expect from Air Asia.

Bread that squeaks?

2009-06-10T19:35:00.002+08:00

(Source: BBC News)

New novelty bread? I thought it was always don't tell anyone or they'll all want one.

Seriously though I can imagine my reaction and can imagine some other people totally panicking and jumping on the table (joking!).

I've had a few experiences myself with a cockroach in a can of beer, dead ants in a cake and turning my stomach when seeing bugs over public food stalls but this is more horrific than most of those.

Update + Dieng plateau

2009-05-30T22:41:00.007+08:00

I realise that I haven’t posted many personal blog postings for a while. It’s been a very quiet year so far and I’ve been mostly working on my university work. For that I took four courses last semester of which I dropped one because it was a total misfit for me and another I didn’t really engage in at all and just did enough to pass. The other two were of more interest – one was a security course that I feel I did enough to have an improved knowledge of the area and the other was on the Interactive Digital Media (IDM) marketplace. Of all my courses this was the one that I was least sure about at the start of the semester yet by the end of the semester it was my strongest course and resulted in my highest grade so far. It goes to show that I’m still discovering myself to some extent and it has opened my eyes to new opportunities.

In addition to my studies I also have a dissertation to work on – at the moment this is on hold as I’m waiting for some translations. I hope to get the last of them in the next few weeks and then I can focus on my first draft. Next semester I’m technically full time however I’m only studying one course – following IDM I’m instantly attracted to a multimedia course being offered that I feel would offer me a more practical perspective of the industry. It does however mean that I’ll have plenty of time to get the dissertation right but I know that I much complete it over time and not cram it in the last few days as I might do with an assignment or a term paper (for my sins). I do like a dissertation as it means I can work on my own and don’t need to rely on other people but more than that I can explore my own research interests and get a preview of what it would be like to do a research degree. My main regret is the extent that I’m relying on other people for this dissertation – it would be substantially easier without needing to rely on translators.

At the moment I’m in Indonesia and a couple of days ago went to the Dieng Plateau. Dieng is a complex of volcanoes in central Java and is notable for being cooler than most of the area due to altitude (about 2000m), having the oldest (Hindu) temples in Indonesia although these have not been well maintained and are relatively unspectacular – then again oldest things are often less spectacular and volcanic lakes and out-gassing. I’ve linked a few images from my Flickr account and have added a couple of videos to my YouTube stream.

On the way to Dieng we stopped at Borobudur for sunrise. It's my third time there and I guess it loses something but sunrise was quite spectacular. Here are some images:

After sunrise we moved on to Dieng first we went to some temples. After that there was an area know as 'the tubes' named after some gas tubes in the area. The main feature was a small volcanic lake backdropped by sulphurous rocks. The video above gives a better indication but here are a couple of stills.

After that we took a short ride in a car to a much larger sulphur lake. There were bubbles in this lake but not so many. It felt more natural although the bright green colour made it look alien.

At the back of the lake there are a few inaccessible caves, one of which has been made into a temple.

The far side of the lake was a little bit less green but still felt more planet Vulcan than planet Earth. I didn't see Captain Spock though nor Sylar with diagonal eyebrows and pointy ears!

At the moment I’m in Yogyakarta. As previously mentioned I lived here for a year while teaching English. It’s strange being back – every time it’s like I haven’t been away. A few people out and about recognise me and treat me as if I haven’t been away. Next week I’ll go around areas where more people will recognise me as so far I’ve just been on the periphery and have met just four people so far who remember me.

English is a weird language...

2009-05-22T07:31:00.001+08:00

* After falling off the rough bough I developed a nasty cough!
* I thought it was going to be tough to plough the rough ground.
* I carved out a rough trough.
* A seamstress and her sewer fell into the sewer pipe.
* Which witch was it?
* A randy buck does funny things when does are present.
* One goose, 2 geese. One moose, why not 2 meese?
* One tooth, 2 teeth. One booth, why not 2 beeth?
* I was too close to the door to close it properly.
* There was a row among the row of rowers about how to row.
* The insurance policy was invalid for the invalid.
* A bas-relief of a bass was painted on the base of the bass drum.
* Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
* He deserted his dessert in the desert.
* He was promised he could take the lead if he could get the lead out of the pencil.
* We must apply more polish the Polish furniture.
* The dump was so full that it had to refuse further refuse.
* His farm was used to produce produce.
* The bandage was wound round the wound.
* When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
* The wind was too strong to wind up the sail.
* After a number of injections my jaw got number.
* You must have seen a few ewe?
* Upon seeing the tear in his trousers, he shed a tear.
* The man bowed to the audience and bowed his violin as he watched the rainbow over the bow of the ship.
* if writers write why don't fingers fing, grocers groce and hammers ham?
* if teachers taught why didn't preachers praught?
* why are slim chance and fat chance the same?
* why are wise men and wise guys opposites?
* why does an alarm have to go on to go off?

Understanding 'swine flu'

2009-05-18T07:49:00.003+08:00

Disclaimer: I’m no medical expert and have relied on entries in Wikipedia, news reports and the World Health Organisation as my sources. Anything mentioned below is purely personal opinion and should not be perceived as medical advice. However I’m trying to give an overview of my perceptions of A(H1N1) influenza and feedback is always welcome.

As I’m sure you’ve noticed there has been a lot of news coverage about A(H1N1) influenza, otherwise known as ‘swine flu’ in the news which has resulted in some countries imposing restrictions on people have travelled to infected areas and some countries have also restricted pork from the infected areas especially Mexico. Is this justified? To answer this we need to consider why A(H1N1) is scaring people and for that we need to take a quick look through history and consider what influenza is or rather what it isn’t.

Influenza is not the same as the common cold even though a lot of people say ‘they’ve got a touch of flu’ when they’re really just got a common cold. Some people say that the biggest difference is the response when someone says ‘there’s a $100 note outside the front door – someone with a cold would go immediately to check while someone with flu would be less willing to move. Flu is serious and feels particularly bad – some people feel as if they’re on their death beds and over history this has been the case.

Every year there is an outbreak of influenza, in mild years a couple of thousands of children, sick and elderly die as the result of infection and healthy adult casualties are very rare. Every few years there are serious strains where the casualty numbers are much higher. In the last 300 years there were influenza outbreaks in 1732/33, 1775/76, 1847/48, 1889-92 and 1918-1920. Notice the gaps – 43 years, 71 years, 41 years, 51 years so it’s reasonable to expect a severe strain every 40-80 years. 1920 + 80 = 2000… we’re overdue (like some of my library books).

The most serious by the number of casualties was the A(H1N1) strain commonly known as Spanish flu that resulted in 50-100 million fatalities. What was most noted was that the people who died were not specifically the young, old or weak but the fit and healthy people with strong immune systems. The virus affected the lungs and triggered the immune system to overreact and this resulted in people being killed by their own immune system – which meant that young and healthy adults were the most vulnerable group.

Now hold on a minute… A(H1N1) Swine Flu and A(H1N1) Spanish Flu… are they the same? The answer is yes and no. The subtype is the same but the virus is (fortunately?) different. I put fortunately in brackets for two reasons. Firstly the Spanish flu can be immunised against while a new variant would still leave people vulnerable who have been vaccinated if the vaccine doesn’t include immunity against the new strains and as the strains constantly mutate there’s no guarantee that a vaccine will be effective. Secondly, with a more positive spin this variant is not believed to be particularly virulent and is less infectious however the previously mentioned mutation is also a major factor here, it also infects the throat and not the lungs so is much less serious. Right now there is no indication that anyone other than those with weakened immune systems have a proportionally increased risk.

What about A(H5N1) bird flu that was in the news a couple of years ago. A(H5N1) was a much more serious strain but cannot be easily passed from person to person. Hemagglutinin types 1-3 and neuraminidase types 1 and 2 are the types most likely spread by humans. So anything from A(H1N1) through to A(H3N2) are the major subtypes that could cause a human pandemic. What’s the A? There are three types of influenza – types A, B and C. A is the most common one that affects humans, influenzavirus genera B infects humans and seals and evolves much slower that A strains and genera C infects humans and pigs and evolves even slower – so it’s easier to build vaccines against genera B and C.

Notably type A can be split into bird flu, human flu, swine flu, horse flu, dog flu and cat flu. Spanish flu was classified as a bird flu and not a swine flu to indicate its origin although this does not indicate that bird flu is more serious than swine flu.

How do you catch it? Let’s get one thing straight – there is no way to catch swine flu from eating pork. The virus is carried in the nasal passage and only survives at certain temperatures so any meat produce is safe, some countries have started culling pigs and banning pork but this is an unjustified knee jerk reaction not based on scientific evidence. Can it be caught through the air? It’s believed that this is a weak strain that is difficult but not impossible to be caught by breathing; generally speaking wearing a face mask is a bit excessive unless you’re directly dealing with someone who is infected.

The World Health Organisation classifies influenza in six distinct phases; this is best explained on their own website. Currently it is pandemic stage 5 but the alert level would raise if there are fatalities in a different region of the world – so far only in North America.

Figure 1: Phases of influenza (ref: WHO website)

Are we all going to die… Yes. But not from A(H1N1), we’ll all die eventually though it’s the one thing you can be sure of even if you have plans to live forever! Some predictions are that 1/3 people will contract the virus and up to 5.5 million people could die, about 10-20 times more than normal. The most vulnerable areas are areas with high population density such at Europe, Asia and the Americas. When? Influenza tends to hit, fade away for a few months and then hit worse than before. This is what’s most feared – the second wave.

Should you lock yourself up at home? No – the exceptions being if you’re in an area where there’s a local warning and you’re particularly vulnerable. It’s best to follow local medical advice as published in local, national and international news or check local advice on national health websites such as the CDC in the US.

Anyway, for now here’s a little influenza game, enjoy…

Are you Keane on Roy?

2009-05-04T20:33:00.003+08:00

A couple of weeks ago Ipswich played Norwich. It was an exciting game, the Town had the upper hand against a Norwich team that played with passion but seemed to have run out of steam. Without a doubt manager Jim Magilton had pulled together a decent set of players although there were some questions about whether he had managed to pull together a decent team. Nevertheless there were signs that the team had pulled together and performed admirably with a 3-2 win that was more comfortable than the scoreline.

Still there were clearly two camps. Those who wanted change and those who wanted Jim Magilton to be given more time. Seemingly the second group was slightly strengthened by the result although the inevitability of an upper mid-table finish that is a sign of stagnation from the previous year was the main ammo from the first group. Worse than that supporters were getting disillusioned and started voting with their feet - attendances were down, season ticket sales were down and those who did turn up had to listen to a lot of background grumbling when attending matches. In the end no matter how much passion you felt Jim Magilton added to the job there was an unhappy undercurrent that had become part of attending matches at Portman Road and some argue that this adversely affected the performance of the players of the field.

Some change was needed. Something that gave the supporters hope. In the eyes of the club owner, Marcus Evans, the change needed to come at the top. His first change was to the chief executive with Derek Bowden being sacked and almost immediately being replaced by Simon Clegg. This was neither a popular nor unpopular decision. Bowden was popular with the fans who considered him very approachable and a connection to the club from before the takeover while Simon Clegg is someone who has achieved a lot at national level with the British Olympic team. So overall it was considered a neutral change but perhaps a good one if he has a few connections that are of use. In his first interview his only reference to the manager was not by name which suggested that he hadn't had a chance to get to know him and get to understand the ambitions of the team and of Jim Magilton.

The next day Magilton was sacked. Immediately there was speculation about Glenn Hoddle, Alan Curbishley, Neil Warnock and Alan Pardew with a few dozen other names thrown in for good measure. The bookmakers also curiously included Roy Keane as second favourite. The speculation was intense and short as the bookmakers quickly closed the books when a number of large scale bets on Keane were attempted (and blocked) that were clearly not speculative. The next day Keane was unveiled as manager.

Immediately Keane made a media impact - he shot his mouth off about a number of teams and managers including Sunderland, Manchester United and Arsenal. Newspapers were churning out pages of copy about Roy Keane and suddenly the profile of Ipswich went through the roof. Even here in Singapore when someone asked me about the football team I supported they mentioned Roy Keane as soon as I answered Ipswich.

Within a couple of weeks it seemed that he'd manage to insult half of the Premier league managers and end the season on a high with a comfortable win against out of form Cardiff and a slightly unsure home win against mid-table Coventry. Still it was a bit more than an end of season mid-table kickabout. A couple of out of favour players were brought in and some younger players were given a chance.

So far so good but it's not so simple. Was it right for Magilton to be fired at this stage especially when he was allegedly on a leave of absence caring for his sick mother? Hadn't he done at least enough to stay for the final two games? Is Roy Keane the right choice? His brand of 'nastiness' is very un-Ipswich. Would we (Ipswich fans) prefer a manager who focused on Ipswich rather than mouthing off at other teams and managers? When the going gets tough Roy Keane gives up - has he got it in him to not do that?

Only time will tell. I for one will continue to support Ipswich and will therefore support Roy Keane as long as he is manager as I supported previous managers, he's clearly brought about some unity that's clearly a good thing, he's promised to change the nature of the club - this concerns me and I know I'm not the only supporter to feel like that.

True to form the lookalike hunt started with:

Ayatollah Khomeini? Roy Keane?

One last plea from all Ipswich fans to Roy Keane... Please please please keep shaving!

Bryan Gunn - the truth revealed

2009-04-17T21:16:00.003+08:00

Bryan Gunn? Fester Addams?

Jack Bauer goes green

2009-04-10T13:46:00.002+08:00

NTU isn't cursed... EEE is!

2009-03-30T23:45:00.004+08:00

Following on from my previous posting that NTU is cursed I have to modify it a little bit. The research fellow that was killed while crossing the road on Pioneer Road North (where I cross the road to go to campus) has been named as Dr Hu Kunlun, 29, a research fellow in the Division of Control and Instrumentation from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE).

EEE again! This time there's no debate about the cause of the accident but it's been a torrid 25 days at EEE. Studying in the neighbouring school I get the impression that there's a 'shadow' over this part of the campus at the moment. But I'll stay optimistic and argue that karma will balance and now three good things will happen.

To put this into a personal context I was hit by a car after disembarking from a school bus when I was 16, it put me into hospital for a few days with a fractured leg and skull and I also had a badly sprained arm. I was on crutches within a couple of days and went home to recover as I wasn't coping well in a noisy ward with a skull fracture. After that I left school - I never completed my A-levels - and it took years to get back into the flow of things and even then I felt I was somewhat behind where I should be. Still that's all in the past and when I was 25 I started university part time through Open Uni so managed to eventually catch up with myself - I still consider that period at the 'dark age' of my life.

Still all of our thoughts are with Dr Hu Kunlun, his friends and his family (even though I didn't know him). Rest In Peace.

Dr Hu Kunlun (1978-2009)

Almost being impaled during Earth hour

2009-03-28T23:33:00.005+08:00

I'm sure the news will be full of stories about lights being switched off around the World. Here I switched off my own light, put my computer on sleep mode, turned off the power on my fridge and laptop charger and then went outside to grab a meal.

I looked around. Some lights were off, I think a few more than normal. I watched for a minute to see if any were turned off and then...

*****CRASH*****

Suddenly a metal pole hit the ground about two metres away from me. Immediately I thought if I'd been standing a bit closer then I would have been struck and possibly impaled by the pole. I suspect it was a laundry pole that fell down rather than someone trying to strike me with a home made spear.

Still it shook me for a minute so I went to the kopitiam and drank three cups of tea and chatted with one of the people who works there. We were talking about how different generations perceive change in the context of Singapore moving from a controlled to a liberal society. Not much disagreement but the conclusion we both agreed on was that:

Teenagers - they think they can change the world
20s - think they can influence change given the right opportunity
30s - either get into a position to influence change or realise it's better to adapt to what you've got
40s - if not in a position to make change think it's something only younger people think about all the time
50s - feel that change has to be in small steps
60s+ - are often scared of change

In a society where it's the 50+ who make all of the decisions it's only natural for younger people to feel a bit frustrated. Although it was quite an obvious conclusion it was certainly interesting to get get an older perspective.

After that I had a meal, did some shopping and then switched back on after the hour was complete.

I kept on looking around and none of the lights were off or dimmed, the street lights were all on. I guess suburban Singapore isn't really a target area for Earth hour and this year it was just a minority statement from supporters. Maybe the news will report some higher profile lights out moments around the city that will inspire it to work better next year.

Is NTU cursed?

2009-03-28T22:58:00.002+08:00

It's been a bad few weeks at NTU here in Singapore. A few weeks ago a student died after losing a lot of blood from a wound and falling from the roof of a walkway. A few days later a newly appointed lab assistant was found hanging from a balcony in Nanyang Heights. Now there's been a third death, this time a research fellow was hit by a car crossing the road to get the 179 bus. In a way I find this third death the saddest of all of them as it was the most preventable and also the one that's most likely to happen to myself.

Should my supervisor read this I can assure him that I would never panic in any great way. Although things get me down I can't ever imagine myself being so low that I'd hang or throw myself from an HDB - nor do I think I have any enemies who would do that to me. However I am often in a rush to get to university and know that the crossing point outside Blk 845 is an accident waiting to happen. Just last Weds I was on my way to the campus, I was on the verge halfway across the road, two busses were queued at the stop but the traffic was too intense to cross. I didn't find a safe moment so had to miss both buses. I was going to meet some teammates so thought if I'm 10 mins late it's not going to be too serious.

Now what if I was on my way to work or a supervisor meeting? I'd be that much more frustrated with the traffic, take a few more risks, try and squeeze between cars with a smaller time gap. I think most people are like that and that's what I speculate happened to the research assistant who was killed crossing the road.

What can be done about all three incidents? The first two are very different incidents from the same lab. I'll leave any speculation about connections or what really happened to elsewhere but what *I* think would help would be to have an improved system of listening to the worries of students. International students (such as myself) have different needs and different problems to local students and an improved support network would help.

The third incident is a different problem. There are two things that I think can be done. Firstly it's a bus specific one, there are a lot of 179A buses that go direct from Boon Lay to the university. However the first bus stop outside the university is one that they all fly past because they're not scheduled to pick up there. As their role to get people to and from the campus quicket then I think they should stop there and also stop at Pioneer MRT when returning to Boon Lay as it would get people onto the MRT quicker. Secondly I think there should be a proper crossing point - a traffic light or zebra crossing - history has shown that these tend to only happen when someone is killed, sad but change often only happens when enforced by an incident.

This is me, now give me a job!

2009-03-06T19:32:00.007+08:00

A few weeks ago I went to the NTU career fair. It generally a slightly disappointing experience with the employers mostly looking for fresh graduates rather than mature 'returning' students but one thing I did sign up for was a thing called the 'Harrison Test'. The test asks a series of somewhat repetitive questions and from that builds up a profile of who I am and what sort of work would interest me.

Unlike other profiling systems it's based entirely on personality and not on skills on the theory that it's easier to pick a job from those that you'll enjoy than to find a job you'll enjoy from existing skills. As my reason for going back to university was to re-discover a career after being unhappy at work for so long I thought that this would be an interesting, if not cheap, way of evaluating my options.

Anyway here's a summary of the main findings:

Reliability score 53 (>50 ~ very reliable)

Jobs with a score over 90 I'll almost certainly be a natural match for, over 80 should still be suitable but I may not enjoy every aspect of the work.

96 - Columnist, critic, commentator
95 - Community social worker
94 - Vocational Education Counselor (Careers adviser)
94 - Occupational Analyst
93 - Criminologist
93 - Labour Relations Specialist
91 - Organisational Psychologist
91 - Placement Specialist
91 - Social psychologist
90 - Clergy (!!!)
90 - Employee Relations Specialist
90 - Hearing officer - Judicial reviewer
90 - Sales - information related
89 - PR, publicity writer
89 - Director, Religious activities (!!!)
89 - Experimental Psychologist
89 - Residential Counselor
89 - Sociologist
89 - Judge/Magistrate
89 - Broadcast News Analyst
88 - Anthropologist
88 - Interpreter
88 - Market research analyst

and many more but I'll keep the list short. So then I shortened the list to jobs that are of interest to me and that I have enough skills to consider it a future direction and was left with quite a few so I then selected the five jobs that I'd have most interest out of the list (not to say that the others aren't of interest):

96 - Columnist, critic, commentator
95 - Community social worker
94 - Vocational Education Counselor (Careers advisor)
94 - Occupational Analyst
93 - Criminologist
93 - Labour Relations Specialist
91 - Organisational Psychologist
91 - Placement Specialist
91 - Social psychologist
89 - PR, publicity writer
89 - Experimental Psychologist
89 - Residential Counselor
89 - Sociologist
89 - Broadcast News Analyst
88 - Anthropologist
88 - Market research analyst

I was then given a personality break down, which was scarily accurate (more about that later) and then offered a career comparison with a job of my choice. I know I could have chosen columnist, writer, critic but all it would have said is that it's a good match and not given me the extra information about where I need to improve so I chose anthropologist, which is certainly something I'd love to do.

For an anthropologist it identified eight key skills and my suitability.

Research/learning - very strong positive impact
Analytical - substantial positive impact
Interpersonal skills - moderate positive impact
Self-motivated - substantial positive impact
Precise - moderate negative impact
Open/reflective - slight positive impact
Science - no impact (neutral)
Handles autonomy - slight positive impact

Overall a very good match for the job but I'd need to work on my precise/data analysis skills. Looking at the other jobs in the 'ball park' I imagine similar results.

The personality survery determined that I have the following (good/bad?) habits:

+++ Meeting and interacting with people
+++ Researching and learning
++ Doing things that helps others or society
++ Making presentations to groups
+ Analysing facts, problems and decisions
+ Working with computers
- Building or making something
-- Doing something artistic
-- Driving a vehicle
--- Doing clerical work

Interests
+++ Science
++ Travel
+ Writing
- Sports
-- Animals
-- Foods
--- Plants

Work environment
Indoors, on my own not in a team, avoid positions where I'm sitting down all day as well as positions where I'm standing up all day, avoid repetitive and monotonous tasks, quiet environment, very structured working situation (I disputed this point).

Interpersonal skills
Reasonably optimistic and positive attitude. Work related tension but can deal with stress quite well. Enjoys interactive work; helpful and responsive to the needs of others (balanced). Balanced between frankness and diplomacy (make my point but try not to hurt people). Tolerant of people who are blunt (think Chloe from 24). Determined to improve myself to the point I can be overly self-critical. Extremely outgoing. Enjoys meeting new people. Enjoys trying to influence others. Empathic and warm but can be over emotional (this is scarily true) but this helps to influence people. Only moderately tactful and a strong tendency to be self critical but very ambitious.

Motivation
Motivated by:
+++ Decision making authority
+++ Taking the initiative
++ Doing something worthwhile to society
++ Receiving recognition
+ Achieving my goals
- Demotivated by goals that are unrelated to my own

Decision making
Enjoys analysing facts and decisions, very willing to assume authority. Moderately willing to collaborate. Balanced between accepting responsibility and collaborating with others. Reasonably intuitive. Moderate and optimistic risk taker. Moderately analytical (in combination controls risks and avoids snap decisions). Open and reflective with strong opinions. Willing to take an unconventional/new approach. Enjoys planning but not the details. Reasonably systematic.

Leadership.
Very clear goals. strong enthusiasm and optimism = able to articulate an explicit vision that will motivate others. Interested in leadership positions. Altruistic goals more likely to gain acceptance and support. Natural planning habit benefits the organisation. Natural ability to influence others and enlist cooperation. Comfortable making presentations. Self-motivated, takes initiative. Well organised. Flexible and adaptable to changes. Strong intention to improve is a great asset. However can be hard on myself which could lead to being hard on others. Desire to work for a capable authority and have autonomy. Willing to enforce rules but may prefer not to do so.

Tagged again

2009-02-18T00:06:00.003+08:00

It must be punishment for my lack of personal blogs recently

This time it's an A-Z

A. Attached or single? Attached
B. Best friends? Rad, Woo, Victor, Sonu, and variously online/mostly online friends
C. Cake or pie? Pies any time, often accused of 'eating all of them'
D. Day of choice? New Year. Almost always have a good time, unlike Christmas or Birthday
E. Essential item? My laptop
F. Favourite color? Blue
G. Gummy bears or worms? Worms but not ringworm
H. Hometown? Ipswich, probably the most historically invaded town in England
I. Favorite indulgence? Sashimi until I'm sick
J. January or July? July, January reminds me of cold winters
K. Kids? Couldn't eat a whole one
L. Life isn't complete without... love
M. Marriage date? Hopefully before I retire
N. Number of magazine subscriptions? None
O. Oranges or Apples? Oranges
P. Phobias? Stripes - anything that's has thin stripes gives me the creeps
Q. Quotes? Be the change you want in the world
R. Reasons to smile? I always smile
S. Season of choice? Paprika? Oh, ok, Summer ;)
T. Tag five people. I'm still new to Blogger so I'll tag at a later date
U. Unknown fact about me? I once did a London A-Z drinking game but stopped when U was borrow the uniform of a police office
V. Vegetable? Raw onions
X. X Ray or Ultrasound? Ultrasound to check if I'm really pregnant or if it's a poor excuse for point C
Y. Your favorite foods? Sashimi, kartoffelsalat, snake, monitor lizard, frogs legs, snails
Z. Zodiac sign? Western: Scorpio; Chinese: Wood Tiger

Another one of these lists

2009-02-13T02:08:00.002+08:00

In response to Rad's list.

Rules for the 'game' is simple but very strict. You may only answer with Yes or No. No improvising. Nothing else but Yes or No.

Although you may explain your answer if anyone asks you to do it later in the comments.

Kissed any one of your Facebook friends? Yes

Kissed someone you didn't like? Yes

Slept in until 5 PM? Yes

Fallen asleep at work/school? Yes

Been cheated on? Yes

Held a snake? Yes

Ran a red light? Yes

Been suspended from school? No

Totalled your car/motorbike in an accident? No

Been fired from a job? No

Sang karaoke? Yes

Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? Yes

Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? Yes

Caught a snowflake on your tongue? Yes

Kissed in the rain? Yes

Sang in the shower? Yes

Sat on a rooftop? Yes

Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes? No

Broken a bone? Yes

Shaved your head? Yes

Blacked out from drinking? Yes

Played a prank on someone? Yes

Felt like killing someone? Yes

Made your girlfriend/boyfriend cry? Yes

Had Mexican jumping beans for pets? No

Been in a band? No

Shot a gun? Yes

Tripped on mushrooms? Yes

Donated Blood? Yes

Eaten alligator meat? No

Eaten cheesecake? Yes

Still love someone you shouldn't? No

Think about the future? Yes

Believe in Love ? Yes

Sleep on a certain side of the bed? Yes

Lied to a friend? Yes

Had your heart broken? Yes

Broke someone's heart? Yes

Have regrets? Yes

If you're interested and want to do the same game just copy the questions and answer them according to your level of confession ;)

Hyperinflation

2009-01-31T10:58:00.003+08:00

Two months ago the rate of inflation in Zimbabwe was approximately 89700000000000000000000%, it's probably now much higher.

There a certain schadenfreude feeling when looking at the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar that certainly makes me feel glad that it isn't happening to myself but still fills me with sympathy to those innocently affected by the gross incompetence of Robert Mugabe.

The collapse of the currency is so absolute that printed money rapidly becomes so worthless that it can be found in public bins.

The rate of unemployment has sky-rocketed and is no longer about whether someone is skilled or not.

Just imagine how different things would be if Zimbabwe had oil.

10 greatest quotes of all time

2009-01-22T23:51:00.001+08:00

The ten worst technology predictions of all time are:
1. “The iPod will never take off” - Sir Alan Sugar in 2005
2. “No need for a computer in the home” - Ken Olsen, founder of Digital Equipment Corp in 1977
3. “Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality within ten years” - Alex Lewyt, president of the Lewyt Corp vacuum company
4. “TV won”t last because people would, “soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night” - Darryl Zanuck in 1946
5. In 1933, after the first flight of the Boeing 247, a plane that could hold ten people, a proud Boeing engineer reportedly said, “There will never be a bigger plane built.”
6. “We stand on the threshold of rocket mail” - US postmaster general Arthur Summerfield in 1959
7. “Nobody would ever need more than 640KB of memory on their personal computer”- Bill Gates in 1981, allegedly (but denied).
8. “The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys” - Sir William Preece, chief engineer at the Post Office in 1878
9. “Spam will be solved” - Bill Gates, 2004.
10. “X-rays will prove to be a hoax” - Lord Kelvin, President of the Royal Society, in 1883.

Honorificabilitudinitatibus words?

2009-01-19T20:31:00.005+08:00

What's the longest word that you know?

Apparently the longest word in the English language is (very deep breath)

Methionylglutaminylarginytyrosylglutamylserylleucylphenylalanylalanylglut-
aminylleucyllysylglutamylarginyllysylglutamylglycylalanylphenylalanyvalyl-
prolylphenylalanylvalythreonylleucylglycylaspartylprolyglycylisoleucylglut-
amylglutaminylserylleucyllysylisoleucylaspartylthreonylleucylisoleucylglut-
amylalanylglycylalanylaspartylalanylleucylglutamylleucylglycylglycylisoleu-
cylprolylphenylalanylserylaspartylprolylleucelalanylaspartyglycylprolythreo-
nylisoleucylglutamiylasparaginylalanylthreonylleucylarginylalanylphenylalan-
ylalanylglycylvalyltheonylprolylalanylglutaminylcysteinylphenylalanygllutam-
ylmethionylleucyalanylleucylisoleucylarginylglutaminyllysylhistidylprolylthre-
onylisoleucylpriIylisoleucylglycylleucylleucylmethionyltyrosylalanylasparag-
inylleucylvalyphenylalanylasparaginyllysylgyycylisoleucylaspartylglutamylph-
enylalanyltyrosylalanylgutaminyllcysteinylglutamyllysylvalylglycylavlylaspart-
ylserylvalylleucylvalylalanylaspartylvalyprolylvalylglutaminylglutamyllserylal-
anyprolyphenylalanylarginylglutaminylalanylalanylleucylarginylhistidylaspara-
ginylvaylalanylprolylisoleucylphenylalanylisoleucylcysteinylprolylprolylaspart-
ylalanylaspartylaspartylaspartylleucylleucylarginyglutaminylisoleucylalanyyls-
eryltyrosylglycylarginylglycyltyrosylthreonyltyrosylleucylleucylserylarginylal-
anylglycylvalythreonylglycylalanylglutamylasparaginylarginylanylalanylleucyl-
prolylleucylaspaaginylhistidylleucylvaylalanyllysylleucyllysylglutamyltyrosyla-
saraginylglycylphenylalanylglycylisoleucylalanylprolylaspartylglutaminylvalyl-
lysylalanylalanylisoleucylaspartylalanylalanyglycylalanylalanyglycylalanylisol-
eucylserylglycyserylalanylisoleucylbalyllsylisoleucylisoleucylglutamyyylgluta-
minylhistidylasparaginylisoleucylglutamylprolyglutamyllysylmethionylleucyla-
lanylalanylleucyllysylvalylphenylalabylvalylglutaminlylprolylmethionyllysylala-
nylalanylthreonylarginylserine

This is typically shortened to 'Titin' and is not universally accepted as being the longest word as it's really just a scientific place name.

This leaves:

Lopadotemakhoselakhogaleokranioleipsanodrimhypotrimmatosilphiokarabomelitokatakekhymenokikhlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryonoptokephalliokigklopeleiolagōiosiraiobaphētraganopterýgōn

which is really jsut a coined word derived from Greek fiction (λοπαδοτεμαχοσελαχογαλεοκρανιολειψανοδριμυποτριμματοσιλφιοκαραβομελιτοκατακεχυμενοκιχλεπικοσσυφοφαττοπεριστεραλεκτρυονοπτοκεφαλλιοκιγκλοπελειολαγῳοσιραιοβαφητραγανοπτερύγων).

Which leaves the lung condition,
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, the longest word in a major dictionary but again it's a coined word - a word made deliberately long, which leaves Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism as the longest non-coined technical word, floccinaucinihilipilification is the longest coined non-technical word (and the longest word I have memorised!) and antidisestablishmentarianism as the longest (arguably) non-coined non-technical word.

This leads to longest place names:

Krungthepmahanakonbowornratanakosinmahintarayudyayamahadiloponoparatanarajtha-niburiromudomrajniwesmahasatarnamornpimarnavatarsatitsakattiyavisanukamphrasit

is the long name for Bangkok and is very rarely used, usually by locals showing off to tourists.

In New Zealand there's:

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu

and in Wales there are two:

Gorsafawddachaidraigodanheddogleddollonpenrhynareurdraethceredigion

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

Pronouncing it is another challenge!

Do you like hot curries?

2009-01-11T22:18:00.002+08:00

Phaal

An excruciatingly hot curry, more pain and sweat than flavor, for our customers who do this on a dare, we will require you to state a verbal disclaimer not holding us liable for any physical or emotional damage after eating this curry. If you do manage to finish your serving of curry, a bottle of beer is on us

Chicken $17 Lamb $18 Goat $19 Fish $19 Shrimp $20 Paneer $15 Tofu $15 Vegetable $14

With such an enticing advertisement how could one resist? Although I haven't personally been to New York I have certainly had a Phaal at other restaurants. The Phaal itself is rather tasteless but of course the reason for eating it is more about testosterone than taste. Just imagine a reasonably hot dish. The add 12 ground chillies - you have the Phaal! Eating it is as far removed from savouring fine cuisine as possible, you really must eat it as quickly as possible to minimise the amount of pain in your mouth. This one is hot, I stongly recommend Raita (cucumbers and yogurt) as a side dish to cancel out some of the heat. One thing is certain, by the end of the meal you think 'never again' however after a few days that becomes 'never again... until next time!'

The restaurant, The Brick Lane Curry House is in New York and uses the London Underground logo for its restaurant emblazened with the name of the station 'Brick Lane'. Brick Lane is a road (and underground station) in East London that's famous for spicy Indian food. Despite living in the area for a year I only ate down the lane 2-3 times. As is typical of British Indian restaurants the selection is very much a mish-mash of North Indian and South Indian cuisine + a few British inventions such as the Chicken Tikka Masala, Vindaloo and Phaal.

I last had a Phaal in the city of Bath about five years ago, I think I'm in the mood for another one - perhaps I'll head to Little India next weekend. However food in Little India tends to be too Indian to have dishes like this.

Ipswich or London

2009-01-11T05:20:00.002+08:00

I found this fascinating quiz while browsing around. It's targeted primarily at Ipswichians (such as myself) but is also a challenge for any Londoners - I do admit that Ipswichians have an advantage as there's less to remember!

Anyway, some are easy and some are difficult.

Click on the picture to play! And, yes, I know exactly where this picture was taken.

Back at uni

2009-01-06T03:12:00.002+08:00

Yesterday was my first proper day back at uni. Although it was only a short 9:30am lecture it was good to get back into the flow. After the lecture I had a look around WKWSCI (Wee Kim Wee School of Communications and Information) to see if anything had changed. Not much!

After that I was about to go home but the clouds burst so I dived for cover instead in the Lee Wee Nam library. I found out there that my first choice subjects have all been accepted into my study plan, one was from another degree course so needed special approval but as it's close to my own degree there wasn't much risk of being rejected although there was a certain amount of jumping through hoops to be accepted.

Apart from that not much news. I just added a Last.fm section to my profile so you can get a taste of what music I am listening to. Of course it doesn't always reflect what I like, especially when asleep!

How to open a bottle of wine

2009-01-04T02:24:00.002+08:00

How do you open a bottle of wine?

Now that's a crisis that faced me just over an hour ago.

I'm here equipped with two bottles of wine of reasonable quality and the will and desire to consume them. However I seem to be unequipped of a corkscrew. I know I've got one somewhere!

Can't find it so what do I do? My mind is already drinking the wine.

I have a tin opener that has a condensed milk piercer that I often use to open beer bottles with. That's a start. But no corkscrew... I also have a nice rubber mallet, in combination maybe? But not quite the right shape.

What else can I find? I tried a pen - too fragile, a chopstick - too small. I look around the room with no avail. And then I look at the clothes dryer. Under the dryer there's a metal pole - I wonder?

So I put the pole into the end of the bottle (it's about 1m long) and then tapped the other end with the mallet and VOILA! The cork rapidly descended into the bottle... so... CHEERS!

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T23:57:00.003+08:00

Here are some images from the NYE party at the Mayflower bar at NTU. Sorry about the quality, I took these with my phone.

2008 review pt.2

2009-01-02T00:23:00.000+08:00

The first thing I did when I arrived at the hotel was go to the ATM to take out whatever money I could from my Singapore account, buy a SIM card and call my UK bank to find out what the problem is. The person I spoke to said that my card had been blocked in error and that they would need to send out a replacement card, this was clearly unacceptable so I killed the call, bought more credit and called again. The second person said my card can be re-activated but this could take a day. This was certainly a much better option and as an interim measure I managed to contact my family in England to send some money through Western Union.

The hotel was quite supportive and gave some pot noodles so I could at least eat something that day. As soon as I had confirmation that the money will be arriving within a hours I spent my remaining money on a meal out, got the money a few hours later and then went for a decent meal out. I also paid for my accommodation so far and then arranged to change hotels as it was a little bit too noisy and I needed a place I could stay while looking for a more permanent place to stay.
It was now late July and my top priority was to register at the university. The instructions were a little bit vague with a map that seemed very two dimensional for a significantly three dimensional campus and it took me a while to find my way around. The registration was an exercise in jumping through hoops and this was frustrating.

August was a month of frustration while trying to look for accommodation. Absolutely no practical help was offered by the university when looking for accommodation, this is a sour memory and experience that has permanently damaged my perception of the institution. For a month I had to travel in from a tacky hotel in Geylang where the typical customer seemed to be a slightly older ‘gentleman’ with a younger girl and was given two condoms and a small bottle of water upon arrival. This was certainly not the experience I had expected for an International student arriving at a university having attempted to find accommodation for months beforehand. It took me three weeks to find a place (but it felt longer) and then about the same to actually move in. This meant that my somewhat limited budget for accommodation had been decimated by staying over a month in hotels and then the place I eventually found was about S$250/month over my budget (as advised by the university). Overall a disappointing experience.

By September I was able to start getting into the flow of studying albeit having already dropped behind the pace the previous month. As a month it was a relatively orderly and ordinary one, as was October. Things did seem to go very quickly.

November saw the start of the exam season with the first exams just days after the final lessons; this seemed to be a strange scheduling with the absence of a week to revise. This was reflected in December with my results being worse for the earlier exams and better for the later ones.
December saw me go to Indonesia partly on holiday and partly for research. I’ve detailed much of that elsewhere in my blog. When I got back it was Christmas time and was also my first ever Christmas on my own. This was upsetting and not an experience I’d care to repeat. As far as I’m concerned Christmas is an essentially non-religious time to spend both with family or close friends and by arriving in Singapore the day before I lost the chance to plan anything properly. This is why I made the decision to do something for the New Year. See my next post!

2008 review pt.1

2008-12-31T01:43:00.006+08:00

This year started on the first of January. This was not usual. I was at home having a few drinks. This was not unusual. I watched TV and surfed the Internet. This was not unusual. I fell asleep watching TV. This was not unusual. In fact the only unusual part of new year 2008 was that I didn't do anything unusual and for anyone who knows me the unusual is part of who I am.

Let's go back to New Year 2004. For five months before the new year I was in India, in fact my flight back to London was on 31 December leaving 30 minutes past midnight. As always I didn't sleep well on the flight but I went direct to a NYE party in London just because that's why I had planned to do and I was determined to do it. I found the friends I had planned to meet were disappointing and I had a better time talking to people I didn't know than those I had actually planned to meet that night. 2005 I was in Braunschweig, Germany, following Christmas in Frankfurt; I particularly remember the tsunami happening as I was with a friend who was in Thailand a year previous and I was on the Andamans, both areas were affected. In 2006 I was in Hungary and had been in Singapore just a few days before so the change in climate left me shivering - it was snowing when I arrived! I stayed on a boat on the Danube and went out clubbing for the New Year. 2007 - I was in Kuta, Bali after scuba diving. 2008, well I didn't really do anything which is not unusual over the course of my life but is for the last few years!

Anyway... A couple of weeks into 2008 I flew over to Hong Kong and Singapore and then Indonesia for a holiday (with the same stops on the return jouney). It was in Singapore on the way back that I decided that I wanted to teach English again (the previous year I had taught in Yogyakarta) and I applied to two schools, one accepted me almost immediately and after a few days (now mid-February to keep the time-line going) I decided to accept. The only complication was that I had applied to study at university in Singapore and was still waiting to see the result of my application but at the time I didn't think I would be accepted.

Over the next couple of months I was back in England and spent some time with my family and some time improving my skills as an English teacher. It was cold, it was miserable and I was glad to leave and return to a more comfortable environment. It's strange that when I go back to England now I'm not really happy there although it's great for a few days. I also found out that I had been shortlisted by the university and needed to do a time limited application interview. At this point I was a bit confused as I had already accepted a job in Jayapura.

In April I was due to fly to Jayapura with the eclectic combination of flights from Oasis Hong Kong, JetStar, ValuAir and Garuda. Everything was booked and all the arrangements were made... and then Oasis went bankrupt. In a mad scramble I booked a flight with Lufthansa so my final route was London-Munich-Hong Kong-Singapore-Jakarta-Makassar-Biak-Jayapura. If only those flights were with airlines that gave me air miles!

I spent exactly three months in Jayapura and I can't say they were the happiest three months of my life. I enjoyed the work but was never happy where I lived - it was in a small part the house as it needed some small improvement but also because of who I was sharing with, there was a bad atmosphere in the house and that was very unsettling, if I had the option I would have moved to another place but it wasn't an option as the accommodation came with the job. I was quite happy to leave the house but was sad to leave the job. There was a bit of a crisis in the house shortly before leaving and that left a sour taste in my mouth. One of the other teachers staying in the house decided that it was time to totally re-arrange the house and that did improve things however there was still a 'legacy' that could be felt until the day I left. Still it wasn't enough to get me to leave although it did play a small part in my decision.

What had happened was a couple of days after I arrived in Jayapura I received an offer of a place at university in Singapore. This was very much unexpected and left me a little bit confused. I knew leaving my job in Jayapura would be difficult and expensive. I hated the thought of leaving the school in the lurch and really didn't want to do that but I couldn't see any alternative. I asked if it was possible to defer but was told that if I wanted to do that I'd need to apply again. This was my first 'concrete' offer of a place at university where I wanted to study and I realised it would be foolish not to accept, however I did delay my decision as long as possible and eventually accepted slightly after the deadline. The deadline wasn't a simple one, I was offered a place and then after the deadline those who has just missed out had the chance to sign up and while my place was 'vulnerable' I realised that I should apply, and did and the rest was just jumping through hoops to get all the paperwork in place.

Moving to Singapore in late July was another big upheaval. My baggage was certainly over the allowance but I was ok until Singapore as I was travelling with a friend who was travelling comparatively light - also the check-in desk at Jayapura (Sentani) didn't seem to be too bothered to weigh accurately. From Jakarta to Singapore I needed to 'get away' with as much as possible in hand luggage but I did manage with a small excess baggage charge (and an incredible amount of airport shopping bags - ahem). My flight was to Johor Bahru in Malaysia. The plan was to 'chill out' in a hotel for a day and then take a transport to Singapore. I hadn't pre-decided which transport but I wanted to consider my options while in Malaysia. Not unreasonable but since my last day in Jayapura my UK ATM card has stopped working. Never mind, I can log on to the bank from the hotel and check my account. No. Didn't work. My account showed as not existing even though I could log in. So I messaged the bank. More than once, in fact more than five times. No reply. Each time the standard message that replies could take five days. Five days?? This was an emergency. My money was so limited I couldn't make a phone call to the UK to chase the bank. I had a limited amount of money in my Singapore DBS account but was loathed to use that as I knew I was only a couple of dollars away from the $500 minimum to avoid service charges and it was money I would need when I arrived in Singapore. Nevertheless I decided to take the risk and empty the account so I could pay for WiFi at the hotel, a meal and transportation to Singapore.

My food was limited to whatever was complimentary at the hotel and transportation was by the cheapest means available. It meant that I had to haul bags over the border (and if you know the Johor Bahru checkpoint then you know it really is a haul). When I arrived there it was crowded. There were hundreds of people all clamouring to get on and off buses and the queue to get our passports stamped was not a short one. Needless to say with sore hands, tired, and seriously annoyed with my bank I eventually arrived in Singapore at the Bugis bus station. Fortunately my hotel was only about four roads from the bus station but unfortunately my bags weren't easy to carry and I didn't have enough money for a taxi. Anyway upon arrival at the hotel I had to explain that I couldn't pay in advance and they kept my passport for security.

I'll stop now and post the second half of my 'review' later.

It's a ssssssnake!

2008-12-29T21:10:00.005+08:00

I was out at Mayflower, the bar at NTU, last night. It was a quiet night so I had a few drinks then walked home. I also went there on Christmas Eve night when it was also very quiet. I guess it will 'wake up' a bit when the semester starts.

Anyway the interesting part happened on my way home. I noticed another student walking on the opposite side of the road. He seemed slightly distracted and suddenly stopped walking. As the footpath ended I needed to cross over and might have done so anyway to satisfy my curiosity. The student then pointed out to me that there's a snake on the footpath. I didn't notice it immediately but eventually did. I think he was a bit surprised with my 'cool!' reaction and I just had to take an image even if it was just with my mobile phone. I was tempted to pick it up but suspect it's a poisonous snake so just went close enough for a picture. As I approached it retreated onto the grass verge and it took a moment to spot it again.

Anyway, here's the image. I'm not sure what type of snake it is, I suspect a tree snake. Recently I've only ever previously seen images of or have eaten snakes as part of a meal although I did find some European grass snakes when I was a child. If you know better let me know!

Earthrise: 40 years of postmodernism

2008-12-25T21:04:00.005+08:00

Forty years ago the world was much bigger (40 years and one day to be precise). Scientifically this is not true but the perception of the Earth as a planet changed in one day. It was the day that Apollo 8 took the now famous Earthrise picture reproduced below.

It's not the best picture ever taken, it's black and white and at a strange angle. But it's the first ever image of the Earth from the perspective of another stellar object - in this case The Moon. Slightly later a colour image was also taken that is probably the more famous of the two images. The astronauts were so stunned by the experience that they abandoned everything for a moment to snap a picture and then change to colour film to snap a second one.

It was a pity that there weren't a little bit better prepared as they missed the oportunity to film the first video of an Earthrise although more recently a Japanese probe has done just that.

Earthrise from Apollo 8 (rotated):

Japanese film of an Earthrise and an Earthset:

There's very little doubt that these images changed the perception of the Earth for a generation and what is often called the postmodern generation since then. It also made a lot of television shows popular that were previously only of interest to a limited audience, such as Star Trek, as people started to grow in interest about space.

So every Christmas Eve, whether you celebrate it or not, remember to say happy birthday Earthrise - one of those moments in history that defines generations.

New words

2008-12-24T14:01:00.002+08:00

Every new edition of a dictionary has a few new words. Here are a few that I feel should be added to the next editions.

Bottomsupability - the ability to drink a pint of beer in a short amount of time.

Coffly - when you've had so many coffees you can't sit still.

Huh-huh - the sound you make when you laugh to a joke you don't understand.

Plagiartist - an 'artist' who produces work you're sure you've seen before.

Poetician - a politician with a poetic spin on things.

Procastinateability - the ability to think about anything other than what you should be thinking about.

Slowding - when loading a website with a slow Internet connection or from a slow server.

Sturdying - studying while sitting on the toilet.

Yoghurt (new meaning) - pulling a muscle during yoga.

Yogout - breaking wind during yoga.

Please add more in the comments!

Back home (via KL)

2008-12-24T03:57:00.002+08:00

I got back home to Singapore a few hours ago, just settling in back home listening to the rain pouring through the open window but also realising that it's freshening up the room where a couple of unwashed dishes from before I travelled are providing a less fresh aroma. Overall the balance seems to be working for now while I attempt to clean up the room using the Zen method of thinking about doing it rather than actually doing it - ok, tomorrow ;)

Anyway I've been in KL the last couple of days, didn't really do much just hung around the hotel and bar hopped for one night. Was thinking of catching some of the Christmas mood but I guess my mind was elsewhere. Anyway I just got home - a bit of a haul. My scuba bag weighed 20kg (with added dirty laundry and I had a 5kg laptop as a backpack and a 7kg travel bag. All a little bit too much, especially with the scuba back lacking a shoulder strap, on my own needing to haul it to the monorail where I noticed the 'rule' was to push in front of everyone and even block people coming out. Being a typically polite Englishman I managed to get on to the third train that arrived by queuing until I was at the front so only a few people could push ahead - the fine art of queueing is also typically accompanied with the related fine art of tutting and this was also the case yesterday.

One on the monorail it was standing room only, after almost flattening a young Muslim lady I also remembered to hold on tightly. Once at KL Sentral it was another haul of bags into the railway station only pausing to find out I've missed the bus so must take the train. I then found out that rather than a RM15 bus I needed to take a RM35 train, oh well - at least it will get me there quickly. On the train I chatted with a Pakistani student who, if I understood him right, was on his way back home to his first girlfriend while having a second one in KL, I think he also mentioned at least one works in the aviation industry - in interesting life and a strange thing to admit to a stranger on a train.

Once in the airport I quickly located a trolley and then went through the usual rigamarole of checking in. I chatted with a blinf Turkish lady from Australia who has an interest in journalism about my studies and about travelling around Asia while her brother took about an hour to not find a toilet. She's certainly had a few interesting experiences.

The flight itself was typical with the JetStar staff all looking a bit grumpier than normal. On arrival I found out that I couldn't buy any Duty Free as Malaysia is classified as domestic so I just made my way home. It took me a while to locate my keys, after emptying two bags I then remembered they were in my pocket.

The Sawah

2008-12-22T00:35:00.004+08:00

Following on from an Internet cafe in the middle of a Sawah we went to The Sawah world kitchen on Saturday night. It's a difficult place to actually describe - it insists it is not a restaurant but "a place to eat”, which initially seems a bit conceited. Booking needed to be made at least before midday. Upon arrival the reason for this becomes clear. It is not a retaurant but a rather elegantly designed house where you are treated as a guest of honour rather than as a customer. The owner, Wim, and the head chef, Phillip, go out of their way to welcome you and, on this occasion, we were the only 'customers'. As a concept it's more of a place to go with a close friend or partner rather than on your own or with a family. I could imagine someone might want to use this venue to propose marriage or for an anniversary. Still it doesn't have to be 'that' special in able to just go there and enjoy the vibe and the food.

The food is set each day to a chosen theme; again I'm sure that changes and modifications would be possible on request. On this occasion the meal started with a Cajun Shrimp Chowder, it was nice, not too heavy. I had a really nice seafood chowder at the Wida hotel in Legian a couple of weeks ago and that was both delicious and heavy, it's certainly something I would like to experience again but for now this lighter version was enough to get the taste buds waiting for what was next and, of course, it was a different food albeit similar. To accompany the meal we chose a bottle of white wine - the selection was limited but the bottle they had happened to be one I like. Purchasing wine in Indonesia is always hard work and even in Bali the selection is limited. We were given the choice of music or the natural sounds of the area. I think the former would have been more suited for a slightly larger group but the latter was quite pleasant and unimposing.

Between each course the hosts came over for both feedback and small talk. It was both friendly and professional with the feeling of honesty and openness - certainly things that are rare to experience in a typical restaurant. I'm sure that a different group wishing for more privacy would be offered this without any feeling of imposition. The main course was a Creole Meatloaf with Peppered Potato and Green Salad, something quite new to me so no real frame of reference for comparison. The meatloaf was delicious and the salad as expected, I personally found the potatoes a little bit too heavy with the wine but they tasted good - perhaps this was more of a red wine meal.

The dessert was a Brennan's Bananas Fosters and was a reasonable recreation of this famous dish. It certainly wrapped up a good evening out with a feeling of being satisfied by the meal and the atmosphere of the environment, Phillip then kindly offered to drop us back at our hotel. Other theme nights include Brazilian, Indian and Egyptian and it would be great to go back and try some new foods I haven’t eaten before or new ‘takes’ on those that I have next time I'm in Yogyakarta.

The cost was Rp.125,000 per person and Rp.225,000 for the wine.

My 'scubear' gear is back!

2008-12-19T23:54:00.005+08:00

Five months ago I worked as an English teacher at English First in Jayapura, West Papua - formerly known as Irian Jaya but changed its name so that cartographers can sell new maps :)

Anyway when I was in my last week packing became a major issue and I amongst my belongings there were the following:

A laptop bag crammed full of papers
A 'hand carry bag' with more papers and souvenirs from Jayapura and the Baliem valley.
A plastic bag with a wall hanging from Sentani and some kotekas
My main bag with clothes and miscellaneous items
My scuba bag

Overall it was a little bit too much to carry no matter how many ‘tricks’ I could conjure to maximise my baggage allowance and, initially by accident, my scuba equipment got left behind. It was equipment that had been unused for a few reasons. Before starting the job the director of studies ‘sold’ the fact that there was a dive centre near the house and that she had a special arrangement with them. However she never quite got around to introducing me to the centre and the equipment instead just gathered dust in the spare room, in addition as soon as I handed in my notice all of my pay was suspended and I had to work to pay fees rather than to earn money and this meant that I had very little disposable money – not a particularly good position for a student to be in when he should really be saving money before studying.

Anyway as I’m back in Indonesia I’m thankful that Alvie was able to arrange for the equipment to be mailed to Rad and it arrived last week. Today I went to collect it and meet his family. That was certainly an interesting experience and they made me very welcome. There were a couple of kids in the house who were, typically, initially very shy with me and then younger one jumping all over the place and play boxing with me just before I left.

However there was a problem with the bag… rats! In this case a single rat who had made residence and passed away in the bag. I had been warned that the bag would be a ‘bit smelly’ but it was slightly worse than expected. So with Rad I went to the local laundry and dry cleaning service and sorted through the bag. The bag itself and the weight pouches were ok to put through conventional laundry; the wetsuit and BCD were reluctantly put through dry cleaning – I’ll get them serviced when I’m back in Singapore before my next dive trip and the plastic items – the camera housing, computer and fins I took to wash conventionally in soap water and the regulator (also in need of servicing) in plain water. I must especially thank Rad’s father for helping me with this.

I’ll collect them tomorrow and I hope they’re not damaged in any way. I don’t think I can afford to dive for a while so they’ll again gather dust so I’ll also delay any service until I’m able to plan my next dive trip – perhaps in Malaysia or Batam/Bintan. Fortunately on the 8^th floor of an HDB the chance of a rat getting into the bag is significantly reduced!

Still I’m delighted to get the equipment back as I’m really not happy renting equipment – the kit is all very personalised – the BCD is an exact fit (although a bit on the large side since I lost quite a lot of weight in 2007) and is weight integrated, the camera housing is specific for my camera (the camera itself is in need of repairs at the moment but that’s an issue for another day), the wetsuit is personalised and has ‘scubear’ written on it and the regulator supplies just the right of air so I can dive comfortably and stay in the water for 45mins+.

A bit more about the ‘scubear’ nickname. Just after I ordered my wetsuit I was asked if I wanted to personalise it in any way, my initial response was that I didn’t think it would be worth it and that I didn’t want to spend any extra on that, the suppliers then informed me that adding a name wouldn’t cost me any extra so I thought about, “what name could I use that would be unique?”. A number of friends have called me a bear based on how big and hairy I am so I came up with the portmanteaux that I’ve previously explained. On the spot I decided to add this to my wetsuit and this nickname has since formed a significant part of my online identity.

Although I haven’t dived for a while here are some ‘classic’ dive images I took in 2006.

Interviews complete!

2008-12-19T20:46:00.003+08:00

I just got back the final interviews from Vera, with a friend she collected ten interviews and nine recordings today so there are 30 interviews and 28 recordings from the second phase of the project. 30 was the target so it's slightly short but should be enough to analyse. A couple of the recordings are in Javanese so I'll need a second translator as my key translator doesn't speak the language.

Results include a interviewee who claims to have only ever used the Internet to search for pictures of women and hasn't even used a search engine, some have no interest at all in the Internet as they feel they don't have access or training and that they were too poor and 'scared' of the prospect of using the Internet, one has never used a computer - has only seen one on TV. I look forward to the translations to really understand why some people don't want to use computers or the Internet - is it because they are genuinely 'scared' of computers or is it because they haven't had the education and training - or is one a symptom of the other. I wonder if it would ever be possible to 'connect' people like this. Interestingly the surveys have shown that 20 people who are from a poorer community living near an Internet cafe have, as a majority, accepted the Internet and are happy to use it even if they need someone to show them what to do and that 10 people in a community that lacks any connection feel that the Internet is not for them.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the translated interviews to confirm this assumption and perhaps so I can find out even more.

Date fixed

2008-12-18T20:25:00.002+08:00

I've just fixed it so the time zone is correct - well almost, correct for where I live rather than where I am, just take off one hour until the weekend.

A few new spots on the map, it seems that I have a reader in California and another one in Malaysia, still early days of course. Please post comments!

Seven facts

2008-12-18T18:38:00.001+08:00

I was tagged by Rad about a month ago to do the seven facts challenge where I should list seven facts, well, here we go:

1. My first scuba dive was in India from Havelock Islands in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Since then I’ve dived in Cornwall (UK), Mallorca (Spain), Bali and Lombok (Indonesia) and have advanced my dive training to PADI Rescue Diver + five specialities.

2. Before I was 25 my highest qualifications were my GCSEs (finishing school at 16). Since then I’ve completed an Open University degree, part completed three Open University honours degrees, completed two professional qualifications and am currently studying at one of the top universities in Asia. I had to learn that the only limitation on personal achievement is myself.

3. I generally consider myself a pacifist and the only exceptions to the rule are rats/mice and mosquitoes. I am a meat eater so I am somewhat a hypocrite. I still favour fish over meat as I think I would be able to catch and prepare a fish for eating.

4. I became a non-meat eater when I was 21 and this lasted until I was in a restaurant in Bali when I was 24 and realised that there wasn't a single decent non-meat option. In addition after 'giving in' once there was a lot of peer pressure to continue to eat meat and I started liking it again - still it made me ill for a week as my body re-adapted.

5. My first relationship was when I was 22 although it was doomed to failure from the start and was very stormy, my first serious relationship started a year later. The main reason my early relationships failed was because I was too clingy and didn't trust my partners. I’ve changed a bit since then!

6. I had two general anaesthetics in 2006 and 2007; for the latter one I woke up during surgery briefly.

7. I never broke a bone as a child. I first broke a bone in a car crash when I was 16, my left tibia and my skull. I was on crutches for about four months. The worst part of the recovery was the amplification of high pitched sounds that were usually beyond the human ear, such as the sound of a television.
For now I'll end the 'chain' here as I'm quite new to blogspot and haven't worked out which of my friends have blogs.

"Prone to ranting"

2008-12-18T16:28:00.000+08:00

I should warn you that at times I'm a bit prone to ranting, for example when I posted the 'game' to through shoes at Dubya last night I originally included a rant about the guy missing at point blank range and then the involved security officers being somewhat more accurate and then hit the delete key to avoid being overly political.

Anyway, my rant for today is about global climate change. PLEASE STAY AWAKE AT THE BACK!

Sorry if it's something you've got tired of hearing about. It does seem to be an issue that people keeping thinking that but feel that any individual can't actually make a change. So why bother?

I'd like to offer a reason and a solution.

Almost every credible scientists believes that things are rapidly getting worse, let's look at the Arctic ice cap - scientists say this is where change will be the most rapid and most dramatic in the short term. But let's first define what the 'short term' is.

How old is the planet Earth? Let's make this a multiple choice question.

a. 34-35 years
b. About 6,000 years
c. About 4.6 billion years

As far as I know a could be true if it were just about personal observation. Perhaps the world was created and I was placed in it. Stranger things have happened - such as the Florida recount eight years ago - however I do consider this a significantly unlikely scenario as I'm sure that there are people around older than me and no matter how many mistakes there are in the world I don't believe they can all be made is such a short time. There are some religions that teach that the Earth is about 6,000 years old, however these are somewhat in the minority with scientific consensus ageing the Earth around 4.6 billion years old.

Using this as accepted science we now need to consider the length of the industrial revolution - about 200 years, the duration of significant carbon dioxide pollution - about 60 years, the length of time global warming has been identified as a problem - about 25 years.

25 years... Now let's divide that by the length of time the Earth has been around - 25/4600000000 = 5.4 x 10^-9% or 0.0000000054% of the duration of existence of the Earth - I hope you can accept that is a small number. Dividing even 2000 years would also produce a tiny number. So what is 'rapid climate change' - as far as the Earth is concerned probably any number that's 0.5% of the lifespan of the Earth. so 4600000000 *0.05 = 230000000 or 230 million years.

Let's look at some graphics, this was taken from the BBC (I know I should start adding variety to my sources!) and shows the decrease in Arctic ice extent over the last 58 years. Sceptics would point out that in the last year there has actually been a small increase. Yes, it's there, it's that little up line right at the end but I really don't think that it's time to open the champagne and start celebrating that climate change isn't happening. Perhaps it's time to think about what we all can do to stop this crisis from getting worse.

What can any individual do?

For a start cut down on the amount of power you're using. It wont just help the environment it will also add money to your pocket. How? If you're going to keep a light on overnight make sure it's a low energy bulb, if you're not watching TV then switch it off. If it's too warm in your room set the a/c to a sensible level and not to Arctic conditions. Try to use natural gas rather than electricity as it pollutes less - just think how most electricity is made.

If you travel a lot and can afford it then try to reduce your carbon footprint by investing in schemes that are carbon negative. I know this isn't for everyone and think that there should be an enforced global pollution tax to make airlines carbon neutral. For now try to avoid flying unless really needed. On this point I'm a self confessed hypocrite running up about 10,000 air miles/year and haven't given a penny to any of these trusts but at least I'm aware of them and have plans to do so when I can move beyond a student/backpacker budget.

Although airlines are a great polluter there is one thing that almost everyone can do to make a difference. Don't ever drive your car when it's not needed and try to ensure every seat is occupied. Sure we all need the occasional short journey to the shops to carry back shopping or to go to pick someone up, or maybe too tired, or it's too cold/hot outside but keep things down.

What difference will one person make? Good question. The answer is 'not much'. What about 100 people, still not much, 1000 not really significant, 1 million now this would start to be noticed, 1 billion - this would make a huge change. There are probably millions of people who think that they individually can't do anything. Combine them and each one can "be the change you want to see in the world" (Gandhi).

Sock and Awe

2008-12-17T22:53:00.003+08:00

Sawah Internet

2008-12-17T19:40:00.000+08:00

Had a full day collecting data and saw the most intriguing Internet cafe. Firstly thanks to Vera, Rad and Wisnu for their help collecting the Interviews, much appreciated!

Today the interviews were conducted in a district of Bantul, south of Yogyajarta. The spot we chose was at the point where two roads cross and there are shops in each direction anda number of houses providing options to interview shop workers while it was quiet and local residents. A few hundred metres down the road there was a rather surreal Internet cafe. Difficult to see it from the pictures but it was right in the middle of a Sawah (rice paddy), from the interviews it was clear that this was the main connection in the area, it seems that the Internet cafe is quite new and was built after the area was badly damaged in a big earthquake. The respondents specifically mentioned natural disasters for a loss of Internet/computers - one lost a computer in an earthquake and the other lost an entire lab to a tornado. Most young people the area used it however according to their responses most of them were quite limited how they used it.

Overall it was an interesting experience and the people in the area all seemed very friendly and gentle. It did feel as if the Internet was a distant dream and that some training would be required for users to effectively use it. I'm starting to build a picture of what to expect from the analysis but I'm still not entirely sure, the analysis is going to be a 'monster' to manage.

Interest rates going down and down and down

2008-12-16T12:35:00.000+08:00

...and the Pound and the Dollar go down and down and down on the international currency market. Although this might not mean much to many of you as a British student based in Singapore and doing research in Indonesia it means that things get more and more and more expensive, my rent goes up in real terms and my daily living expenses also go up. The greatest irony is that it by the time I'm earning money in Singapore things will probably have reversed and the pound will be strong again.

Research

2008-12-15T22:24:00.000+08:00

At the moment I'm conducting research in Yogyakarta, Central Java. I've used four different people to collect interviews. So far two have been very good and one very poor. The first results were from the 'poor'/rushed interviews and I was starting to think that everything that I'm doing was going wrong, today I got back some well conducted and comprehensive interviews from a second interviewer and that's reassured me that things are going in the right direction. As a friend says all the time, 'let's see'. I suppose that some of the quantitative information from the 'poor' interviews is usable although there are too many refused answers and too many 'answer not given' answers that restricts qualitative analysis. I can see my next days being very busy conducting 'extra' interviews to make up the numbers.

Now there's a lot of data to translate and analyse. I really owe a big favour to the translator!

Why 'Scubear'

2008-12-13T16:29:00.000+08:00

As prompted by another blogger my logic for the 'nickname' Scubear is the portmanteau of Scuba diver and 'bear' where bear is a term used for big and hairy men (well I suppose it could be used for big and hairy women but other less polite terms are typically used in those circumstances). Anyway, here's a contexualised image to explain my point. Another pic without the beard! I quite often shave the beard off before diving as it reduces the leakage with the mask. I haven't actually dived for a while (an expensive hobby for a student) but I'll post some of my 'classic' pictures soon.

I also have a wet suit with the 'scubear' name on it. I haven't tried the suit on for a while so I hope it still fits comfortably! I've been warned that there was a dead rat in my dive bag and that it's a 'bit smelly', I'll get my bag back this weekend - I dread to think about the state it's in, certainly an excuse to get my equipment fully serviced (and washed!)

Blackouts and how to torture a goldfish

2008-12-13T15:28:00.001+08:00

I certainly feel as if I'm on the disconnected side of the digital divide at the moment. Although there's WiFi in my hotel nobody has managed to connect this morning, three Internet cafes in the area were also offline due to a power blackout that's supposed to end around 4pm. So I'm in the notorious Internet Queen on Pasar Kembang as the one place in the area that has a generator (not 100% on this as it could be on a different circuit as the a/c is on and there's no generator sound).

Anyway, my discovery for the day is a new way to torture goldfish. For years we've been able to torture while making tea but now we can do it while blogging!

It's actually a rather interesting computer for gadget freaks and certainly a typical wired.com feature! It's a computer that's liquid suspended for a total cooling solution, certainly progress from the dusty fans that clog up after a few months.

According to wired.com (a URI that's a typo away from weird.com):

It's packed to the gills with high-performance, server-grade hardware, including room for a pair of hot-swappable drives so you can switch HDs without ever shutting off your machine. Other goodies include integrated WiFi, up to three solid-state drives, and dual power supplies — just in case one fails in the middle of a World of Warcraft raid.

As always I want one but as always I'll wait until it has a decent market penetration until I can afford it.

I also just took a look at weird.com - a rather lame attempt to use a very usable URI. Prime domain parking is an annoyance that is lessening with time although organisations tend not to pay prices for generic names if the price is too high and instead opt for something else. It's a pity as it's one of those things that significantly depreciates the Internet. My other Internet grudge is what Tim Berners-Lee referred to as the need for there to be new systems that would give websites a label for trustworthiness once they had been proved reliable sources. (BBC). So many people use Google as their window on the world without validating content,
this reminds me of the now infamous Professor Wikipedia:

A reminder that anything that's universally peer reviewed and updated is only as reliable as the last peer to review.

This leads to people believing in 'scares' such as the Large Hadron Collider causing a significant black hole, the MMR jab causing problems with kids health (from Sir Tim again!). A personal grudge is when some extremist group claims that something is true by combining two facts from an article. For example what if I said "the sun rose today... there's a powercut in central Yogyakarta all morning" - are the two facts both true... yes... are they related... no. This is what I call logic chopping, it can be a bit of fun but there are people with PhDs out there who do it to imply facts that justify personal views without any validated scientific referencing. I read about one of those such 'scientists', Dr James Dobson, this morning, it does make me feel that whatever your view on the issue this 'scientist' doesn't inspire credibilty. It makes me question all the reseach presented by him and the intentions of organisations that fund his 'charity' - I put it in quotes as it doesn't seem as if he's very charitable! I for one will move my money to OCBC and close my account as soon as I can.

Werewolf day!

2008-12-12T23:24:00.000+08:00

Dig out your silver bullets, tonight is the night to spot werewolves. Beware of anyone becoming suddenly hairy or howling more than normal!

It's full moon, but not just any full moon, the Moon is closer to the Earth at full Moon than it has been for 15 years according to the BBC.

Still it DOES NOT mean that people who are big and hairy are werewolves. Time to stop that assumption Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow...

Happy birthday Rad

2008-12-12T21:48:00.000+08:00

I must give thanks to Rad Sujanto for all his hard work over the last few months, he also (re)introduced me to Blogger.com. Anyway I should introduce his blog as well. The URL is my present to you :)

When I see you in Jogja tomorrow you'll start to hate me, sorry, too much translation needed.

Boring first posting

2008-12-12T21:07:00.000+08:00

Starting a blog is always difficult, what should I say? A basic introduction - no that's boring; a detailed life story - wait for my biography when I'm famous, after all that's when it's worth something. So the question is how can I become famous? The easiest way is to assassinate someone or become a criminal gang leader however I've never been someone to do things the easy way.

Anyway... I'm a 34 year old student in Singapore. I started my undergraduate studies when I was 25 by studying part time at Open University in the UK, since then I've completed a degree without honours and part completed three honours degrees - it was enough to get me onto a postgraduate course at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore where I'm studying MSc Information Studies.

As I type this I'm in Yogyakarta, Indonesia where I'm collecting a series of interviews for my dissertation topic of studying the digital divide in Central Java. For now I'll keep my methods close to my chest as I'd hate for someone to replicate what I'm working on and publish before me :)

Anyway, here are a few recent pictures of me.

Ok... Boring stuff over, let's start :)

This picture was taken on Mt. Bromo in East Java in February. It was cold hence the double shirt!

This snap was captured in Wamena in Papua (Irian Jaya), unlike some of the locals I wasn't wearing a koteka - I'll explain with a later posting :)

A slightly older picture, it was taken about a year ago in Bangkok.

and finally... a picture without the beard! I do shave it off sometimes... Just often enough to remind me how bad I look when shaved.

Now how long before I get a comment (from someone other than Rad :))) )