Ramblings, Complaints, etc

A few days ago, somehow, all the stars in our galaxy were aligned (had time off in the afternoon, not feeling sleepy, had the car, kids were not around, had my running shoes...) and I decided to go to Macritchie Reservoir Park for a walk, since it's just a short drive from my place. It was a nice day. Warm and sunny. Even the animals were out and about. See the lizard? Look carefully. It was a gorgeous day to be out in the park. Joggers were jogging, canoeists were canoeing, birds were... well, flying. It sure helps that the park was pretty well-maintained. Considering the size of the park, it must require a hefty effort to keep things clean and green. But try as they might, most times, it just requires a few bad asses to destroy the peace. I didn't have to look very hard to find the not-so-occasional litter lying in clear sight. Glass bottles like this one seem harmless enough. It might collect water for breeding mosquitos, but certainly, mosqu...

In this day and age, The Straits Times website still works on subscription? There are so many other websites that offer pretty much the same level of news coverage for free, such as: Channel News Asia AsiaOne Yahoo News Singapore Mr Brown (and many others if we bothered to look) Anyway, there appears to be a way to still access the Straits Times article, if you so desire. When the above page is shown, click on the X button (shown above). You will then be directed to the main page of the site. Then just hit "Back" in your browser and click the "Stop" button in your browser after the article has loaded. If you let the page to continue loading, you will be blocked again with the above screen. Hope this helps. Update: The above method didn't work for me today. Another way is to stop the browser right after the article has finished loading (before it blocks you out). So basically, click on the link to the article, and then click on "Stop...

So, in Singapore, we have this thing called the Sellers' Stamp Duty (SSD). It's a government initiative , started in 2010, to cool down the red-hot property market, together with stuff like ABSD (additional buyer stamp duty), TDSR (total debt servicing ratio). These measures certainly had the intended effect. Take a look at this chart: 2010 - Sellers Stamp Duty (SSD) 2011 - Additional Buyer Stamp Duty (ABSD) 2013 - Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) So we can see the index slowing its rise in 2010 until it reached its peak in late 2013, after the introduction of TDSR. Since then, the index has been dropping steadily. 2013 was also the year where I bought my first property, in Shunfu Ville. Shunfu Ville is famously known for being the biggest enbloc sale in recent years. It has yet to achieve legal completion as the legal case is ongoing at the Court of Appeal. However, the SSD is already paid as somehow, it's dated to the time that the developer exe...

Ego the living planet!! Check this link for details. Star-Lord's father revealed! Wow... mind blown. A living planet, in a human form, is able to use his cosmic family jewels to father a kid with a regular Earthling woman. Who'd have thought??? In the context of fictional entertainment, and being Marvel and all, sure I'll take it. Though I'd wonder how regular conversations between Peter Quill and Ego would be like... Peter : Hey dad, wanna play ball? Ego : Sure, son. One sec, let me grab that asteroid. Peter : Hey dad, do I have any sibling(s) in the universe? Ego : (silence) Peter : Hey dad, what happened to grandpa? Ego : He chased this gorgeous-looking meteor into a black-hole and never made it out. Peter : Hey dad, check out that cute Earth chick! Ego : I liked them better when they lived in caves and wore less clothes. Don't get me wrong. I loved the first movie , I've even got the DVD. I'm sure the sequel will be as awesome, i...