2008 June Archive at Deadpoet’s Cave

I was fed up with Internet Explorer (i.e. the Blue E) as it was clunky. I never liked how it handled bookmarks (or favourites, in IE-speak). There wasn’t much I could customise or extend. Most of all, it’s just plain unsafe. The number of security issues that arise from the combination of Windows and IE is astounding. I have no hard data on this, but I reckon that switching to an alternative browser is a major step to safer browsing.

Firefox is a joy to use. It has tabbed browsing. No more opening multiple windows. This really helps as I rarely browse with just one window open. Firefox has extensions, which I use a lot to tailor the browser to my needs (perhaps a blog post on this another time).

It’s not perfect though. Like other users, I’ve noticed that Firefox 2 (about to be defunct), hogs RAM. And it just gets worse over time. Thankfully, Firefox 3 doesn’t seem to suffer from this problem. I’ve been using it on my MacBook, and it is really fast and responsive.

I hope Firefox 3 solves another issue. It’s okay to visit a site using Java (such as some internet banking sites) but visiting another site which uses Java later on in the same session (lets say I go to a government e-service site which uses SingPass) results in Java not working. It’s a bit of a pain as I have to quit Firefox to get the Java engine to close, then restart Firefox.

Whatever the case, Firefox is a better browser overall. If you haven’t gotten rid of that Microsoft junk that passes for a browser (tell me you love IE 7’s upside down interface and I’ll be speechless), help set a world record tomorrow - Wednesday, July 18, 1am to Thursday, July 19, 1am according to Otterman - by downloading and trying Firefox 3.

You won’t look back.

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Where I go, fires seem to follow

Published

acroamatic

on Wednesday, 4 June 2008

in Personal

. 6 Comments

I’m not sure how many people have been to places which have burnt down or caught on fire. Admittedly, having lived in Australia for two years made the chances of that higher as bushfires are common there. Still, I think it’s a little unusual to have been to a number of places that have been ravaged by fire.

The kitchen in my house, Bishan, Singapore
On fire: Ash Wednesday (the irony) early to mid 90s.
Cause: Stove fire.
Remarks: My grandmother left cooking unattended while she was on the phone. I was the only other person who was at home. I was supposed to be at church when the fire happened, but I had decided to go for a later mass. I managed to put out the fire before it got really big. The kitchen had to be renovated as the fire destroyed the hob, stove and part of the cabinets.

Mount Stromlo Observatory, Canberra, Australia | article
Visited: July 2001.
On fire: 18 January 2003.
Cause: Bushfire.
Remarks: Not many people visit Mount Stromlo (or Canberra, for that matter), so I was shocked to find out one morning that the observatory fell victim to a massive bush fire.

Victoria Ranges Indoor Rock Climbing Centre and Pistol Range, Melbourne, Australia | article
Visited: Various occasions in 2002 and 2003.
On fire: 12 November 2004.
Cause: I believe it was an accident. Can’t seem to find an article which confirms the cause.
Remarks: This place, next to a paper warehouse, was entirely gutted.

Wilsons Promontory National Park, Victoria, Australia | article
On fire: 1 April 2005.
Visited: Just a week or two before the fire.
Cause: Out of control back-burning
Remarks: I went to Melbourne for a short break in 2005. Not long after my first-ever visit to Wilsons Prom, a major fire (apparently due to back-burning gone wrong) wiped out a lot of the vegetation.

Universal Studios, Los Angeles, USA | article
Visited: December 1995.
On fire: 2 June 2008.
Cause: Apparently, an accident.
Remarks: The animatronic King Kong that scared my brother is now no more.

So, beware if I’ve ever been to your house…

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Singapore 3 Uzbekistan 7

Published

acroamatic

on Tuesday, 3 June 2008

in Review and Sports

. 2 Comments

Not the kind of scoreline you see every day.

I made my way down to the National Stadium for what will probably be the second-last time. (The last time should be Singapore v Saudi Arabia two Saturdays from now, by which time the game might be inconsequential to our qualifying hopes.)

A colleague, my boss’ kid (I kid you not) and I missed the bulk of the action in the first half. By the time we got in, it was already 2-3 to the Uzbeks. Judging from the cheering we heard just as we were walking towards the stadium, Singapore were the most recent scorers.

(We got in free. Primary school kids and below get free entry. And some random guy passed complimentary tickets to my colleague and I as we were walking up the stairs.)

Anyway, in the next few minutes, everything fell apart.

Here’s the odd thing. I felt we could still fight back. Even after we eventually went 2-6 down.

The Lions performed admirably but were let down by some seriously naive defending, especially at set-pieces. Daniel Bennett, normally solid, had a topsy-turvy night. Precious (I won’t even try spelling his surname) was given a torrid time. His lack of pace was totally exposed by the short-passing Uzbeks. Our defensive organisation was horrid.

Besides the defending, we were creating chances. Not as many as the Uzbeks, who could easily have won this game by double-digits if not for some unbelievable misses from close and the fingertips of Lionel Lewis. But we still created chances. We still fought.

Which is why there were no boos, no jeers for the Lions, even though we conceded more than I can remember in any recent game. Even though we were beaten by four goals.

I remember the last major embarrassing scoreline we had. That infamous trashing by Malaysia in the Tiger Cup a few years back. That night, the crowd turned on the Lions, and almost justifiably so. We just let them trample all over us.

Tonight, we took a severe beating, still got up and tried to give as good as we got.

For that, I applaud our Lions.

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