Make Love Not SPAM

Are you sick and tired of SPAM? (Unsolicited Commercial Mass Email or simply Junk Mail) Feel like letting them have a taste of their own medicine?

Well, if you got bandwidth to spare, or, better still, if you are subscribed to broadband with unlimited access or bandwidth, you can now help fight SPAM more aggressively!

Internet portal Lycos has made a screensaver that endlessly requests data from
sites that sell the goods and services mentioned in spam e-mail.

"Every single user will contribute three to four megabytes per day," he said, "about one MP3 file."

If enough people download and use this screensaver, it will help 'waste' the bandwidth of those sites selling products advertised through SPAM, making it expensive for them to operate.

I downloaded the screensaver and installed it. Nice animation, showing the names of the sites being 'hit' and various other info like their geographical location. Runs as a screensaver when my computer is idling, zero performance hit. Finally a screensaver that does something. (I'm not too much for helping SETI look for ET)

Check out the site and download the thing over at makeLOVEnotSPAM... as reported by BBC.

[EDIT]: Apparently, some time after this posting, the site got hacked, displaying a message written by the hacker(s). At the moment, the site is still down. If you want the file, just send me an email. Just click on the 'email me' button near the bottom part of the sidebar.


Smart Bombs... Away!

National Treasure

I'm really looking forward to this movie, along with Immortal. All these mystical stuff are really so facinating.

After watching the trailers of National Treasure, it really makes me wonder why the 1 dollar bill has the pyramid plus the all-seeing-eye, etc. Then I chance upon this entry which describes in detail what it all means. Now I know! Be sure to read the comments as well.

Somehow, after reading about the US note, it reminds me of the presidents of the US, past to present, which reminds me of... this?

Fogging a fluey fish out of water

ARGGHH...

I think I'm ill. A flu-bug must have bitten me. But better the flu-bug than the mosquitofly thing that spread the deadly dengue. Yes, no thanks to the rainy weather giving them mosquitoflies nice places to breed, the gahment here is trying it's darndest best to nip it in the butt. Spot checks, fogging, and what not.

I actually wanted to soak myself in chlorine to kill my flu-germs-bacteria-things at the SAFRA 'country club' just now, but found out when I reached there that they open late at 11am on Mondays. My guess is that they are doing their weekly clean-up after Sunday, the family day, where all those uncles, aunties, and their young ones relax themselves in the pool and help neutralize the chlorine level with some specially formulated ammonia...

So now, instead of me relaxing in a chlorinated jacuzzi, I'm holed up inside my home while those 'storm-troopers' are fogging the whole neighbourhood. They are right outside my door even as I type this, my cats are scrambling for cover, frightened by their stun-guns. This is the first time I see them go round fogging all the flats, floor by floor, instead of just the ground level. Has the situation gone that bad?

I think this fogging is gonna take me down sooner than killing those commando mosquitoes. I'd die a happier man soaking in that chlorinated jacuzzi, give me the ammonia anytime...

80 beached whales, dolphins die in Australia

Oh no, not again...

as reported by Straits Times Interactive.

This I Need

This I Want

Daewoo on ma hands

Saw the Hollywood remake of Taxi yesterday. It's your typical feel-good comedy. Jimmy Fallon was pretty funny in an off-beat goofy kinda way. And some scenes were so hilarious, with Queen Latifah goofing around with Jim. It doesn't come close to the original French masterpiece by Luc Besson, but it has it's moments.

Don't really like the girls though. What are they flaunting? Skin and bones? And some parts, they are suddenly speaking English among themselves?

Anyway, if you got nothing else to do and want to have a good laugh, the show is alright.
Oh, and if you got a Daewoo car, you've got to catch this movie!

Note: From this post on, I'm not gonna openly rate the movies I watch, cos one man's meat is another's poison, I don't want my liking or disliking of a show to cloud anyone's judgement before they watch the movie. Many a times, after reading bad reviews about a movie, I went on to watch it anyway and I tend to disagree with the reviewer's opinion. So if you are really interested in how I rate them, just hold your mouse pointer over the *

Happy Week

This past week or so has been the best I've ever had in a while.

Watched some great movies, I'm enjoying a good week at work, and now I'm having another 4 days break. Yahoo!

CT is busy getting herself involved in running and stuff and daring to do things without the need to have me around, like the Mizuno Wave 10km run she just did. Check out some pics they took of her. I think she's Edward Scissors-hand's sister or something...

I just love it when I see my dear enjoying life and having fun. Hope she'll keep it going even when school starts next year. Healthy body=healthy mind=attractive person!

Ok! Time to get back to some running and swimming! And movies, of course!

If things go as planned, I should be going for a morning swim later and hopefully a movie. My colleague said Bride and Prejudice was horrible, so I think I'll give it a miss. Maybe I'll go for Taxi instead. Can't wait for Immortal to screen...

Grateful

Are you grateful to be alive?

Are you thankful for what you have? Or are you too concern about what you think you need, what you think you should have, or simply with what you want?

Are you abusing the time you have in your hands? Are you abusing yourself, and those who love you? Spending too much time with your earthly possessions, and so much effort in persuing them?

What if you were told right now that you have only a day left to live? 24 hours, maybe less.

What would you do? How would you choose to spend your remaining hours?

Saw

Went to see Saw just now.

Saw the movie, that is.

Erm... pardon my poor Ingrish. I try again. I just finished watching the movie titled Saw.

This is some great movie making. For something that's shot in just 18 days, with no need for expensive special effects or some over-paid super-idols to carry the movie or some big name director to call the shots, this is the kind of movie that's worth my time and dime! 9/10.

Saw 2 has been announced. And Alexandra Bokyun Chun is such a babe.

Halfway through the movie, 2 men in blue came in to frisk the theater with their flashlights. A few minutes later, another 2 came in to join them. I made sure that my cadbury bar which I smuggled in was hidden well out of sight, just in case. Nah, maybe they're just looking for a big rat, must be.

Music discovery alert: From FIFA2005 soundtrack~ "Take Your Mama" by Scissor Sisters, best song of the lot. "Augen Auf!" by Oomph!, Rammstein soundalike but nice song anyhuay. "Brooklyn is Burning" by Head Automatica, feet tapping muzak!

Next Up: Birth, Taxi, Aishwarya Rai... oops, I mean to say... Bride and Prejudice

Oh no, another dive accident...

Reminds me of 2 close calls I had on my dive trips at Batam Indonesia and the Rainbow Warrior wreck in New Zealand.

My dive buddy was, who else, my dear ct.

In Batam, halfway throught the dive, at about 12 meters deep, I looked away for a moment and the next thing I know, she was no longer beside me. Visibility was poor but I managed to spot her about 3 meters above me, ascending leisurely. I tried to catch her attention by waving frantically, but she was looking up, where she was heading. I tried shouting at her, but underwater with a SCUBA mouthpiece in my mouth, only God can hear me. I tried to catch up with her, but rapid ascensions are a definite no no in SCUBA diving.

When we surfaced, I asked her why she didn't stick with her buddy like how we were trained, she said she couldn't see me. But how do you explain that I can see you ascending? I think she just felt uncomfortable and scared and wanted to ascend. That's ok, very normal, and to discontinue the dive is correct. But the proper way to do it is to inform your buddy and ascend together. No matter what, never break the buddy system!

In New Zealand, we were exploring the famous wreck of Greenpeace's ill fated Rainbow Warrior wreck. Visibility was good, but the current was rather strong and water at the surface was choppy. Plus at 18 meters deep, the water was quite cold. This time, ct stuck well to my side, and I made sure that I'm always holding on to her. But I ended up having to pull her through the current all the time cos she got tired pretty quickly. Very soon, I find that I'm getting tired too and my oxygen was being used up almost twice as fast as compared to her's. I signalled to her that we should cut short our dive and ascend. She was already too tired to swim and I'm running out of oxygen fast due to all the extra 'work' of pulling her weight. It was thrilling, but the danger was real.

We need more dive hours to gain more experience. But dive accidents can happen to even the most seasoned divers. And when it does happen, it is often fatal.

The NE monsoon is almost over, anyone care for some S.C.U.B.A diving?

Another Perfect Day

In line with how IMDB rates the movies, I will from now on rate movies I watched on a scale of 10.

Just came back from The Incredibles, and I must say, what a fantastic show! Great plot, funny and interesting characters, superb animation by the incredible talents at Pixar, and some amazing voice acting that really fleshed out each of the characters' personalities. A wonderful joyride not to be missed. Better than Antz, A Bug's Life, and Finding Nemo, and probably on par with Ice Age, losing only in the tear-jerking department. 9.5/10 for exceeding my expectation. Would have been a perfect 10 if not for shows like LOTR, Matrix, and 5th Element.

And Lido 1 remains the undisputed KING of all cinema halls in Singapore. THX baby! Although GV's excellent online booking system will eat Shaw's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Oh, and throw in Supper, too. Yeah, it's that bad.

Also went to watch The Forgotten yesterday. The story had potential, but I felt the trailers gave away too much. Hard as I try, I could not help but correctly guessed what the fuss was all about. But I still find it rather entertaining in some ways, although the terrible sound system at GV Bishan Hall 2, the drilling noise from the renovation works, and giggly/chatty/restless teenage school kids almost made me wanna leave the hall. But I stay focused on the reasonably gripping storyline instead and in the end... oh, I'm not gonna spoil it for you. Watchable, but very soon you'll forget lah. 6.5/10.

Oh, my dearest little sis has quietly put up her blogz, check out Zephyr & In Loving Memory in my Blogroll!

Now I need to get a good rest. Slept at 4am this morning for about 3 hours and went for a run at East Coast Park, yeah, I feel great!

On the way there, the Class95 DJs were talking about what we Singaporeans think about the quality of life here, and whether we're happy about it. Well, take away the high expectations and the pressure we receive at work, I would say I'm pretty happy with it. Like what the Flying Dutchman said, right now, he wouldn't trade it for anywhere else in the world!

This I agree.

Take this morning for example. Nice sunny weekday morning, the locals as well as the expats, both male and female, were either having a nice stroll, jogging, walking their dogs, in-line-skating (usually referred to as Rollerblading), and cycling. They were having the time of their life! Just like I was!

After my little run, had breakfast at McDowell's, sent our nephew back home, took a shower at his place, join my colleagues for lunch at The Rice Table (didn't like the service that much), catch a movie, walk around Orchard Road. Almost a perfect day. Well it's just that when I'm back at work, I have to really focus, deal with the pressure, and know that I'm doing it so that I can look forward to yet another perfect day...

Women of Substance

Was googling around the web while listening to Kevin's mishmashed(in my icq profile, I once stated that I speak some Yiddish, well there you go, don't ask me how and where I learned it coz I donch know) playlist when this rich voice suddenly broke the monotony. The song is In The Glade, sung by... Milla Jovovich?! That model/actress and... singer?

Just to be sure, I googled up her name and, indeed, the song was sung by her, and there's many more! I was already pretty impressed by her performance in The Fifth Element, one of the many movies she acted in. I know she is this beautiful Revlon model. And now, she is a singer/songwriter, too.

She just became the most talented model in my little red book.

Oh, and I just found out from Miyagi's blog that, besides Hossan Leong, he seems to be old buds with Steph Song too... what the.... this chow-corprer... maybe I should ask him if he knows my DJ/songwriter/singer cousin who goes by the monicker Jiujian, or Q-Ken (believe me, his real name sounds alot nicer), kinda lost touch with him for years now. Oh, but I did asked if he's friend with Amy Cheng, my biggest fan

Faster! Faster!

Went for a run with ct yesterday before breaking fast, feeling inspired by Sukaimi of the roadburners. Sharon de Costa from The Straits Times actually contacted Sukaimi, wanting to feature the roadburners' blog in a weekly column like what they did for Miyagi's, but for reasons best known to himself, he turned it down.

We planned out a 5 km route and started the run at about 6:10pm. That should give us more than enough time for a very slow jog, just in time for us to cool down and break fast.

As I've laid off running for more than a month, I decided to jog at ct's pace, also taking into consideration that this is the first time I'm running while fasting. About 2km into the run, I was beginning to feel pain in both my knees, but I told myself that as long as the pain is not too unbearable, I will not stop. Then ct suddenly slowed down and showed me the 'V' sign. Turned out it's not for 'victory' but for 'wanna pee'. Alamak, why didn't do it when I reminded her so before we started off 10 minutes ago? 500 metres later, I waited for her for about 5 minutes outside SAFRA country club, trying not to let my body cool down too much.

She contemplated taking a shortcut. I told her to go ahead, but then still find her jogging slowly behind me. For the next 2.5km, I was able to pick up my pace after my heart rate and body temperature went up again.

Quite happy that after a long layoff, I was still able to finish the run with just some minor pain in the knees. I started very slowly and was still able to almost sprint the last 100 metres without feeling too tired or breathless. I think ct picked up her pace too towards the end, coming in only a few minutes later. But then 35 minutes to run 5 km is rather slow, we need to improve on our pace! Let's see, for myself, my personal best timing for 2.4km was 9min 21sec. So, for 5km, I should be doing it in about 20 to 25 minutes.

That means given 35 minutes, I should have ran another 2.5km more!