葬礼

今夜难得能一边享受晚餐一边听现场演唱。

我突然想起了最近一次听到的现场演唱，是在2008年初我外公的葬礼上。

当时外公的女儿们雇佣了一支乐队，他们在葬礼处摆了一大堆的乐器，在现场唱了好几首歌，都是些离别之类的曲目。歌手蛮会唱，于当时份外令人伤感。这支乐队当然另有重要任务，就是在运送外公遗体往坟场的路上演奏离别曲。

至于外公的葬礼，印象最深刻的是最后一天来了一大班“兄弟”，个个T衫短裤，其中几位带头，一个接一个的，唱了一些闽南语“江湖曲”，有点像演闽南歌仔戏，值得一提的是他们唱功扎实，从外表是看不出来的。曲终时各位兄弟齐用闽南语喊道”发啊！”，整个过程历时十多分钟，我也从头跪到尾。此环节让我印象深刻。

大道起价是好是坏乎？

很多市民都对大道起价怨声载道。

多数大道使用者都会如此想“过路费涨了，负担也更重了。而且也避免不了堵车！什么道理嘛“

因此，过路费降价乃大众所愿.

可是，事情总有两面。

大道涨价了，很多人为了避免太重的负担而尽量不使用大道，而大道将因此而顺畅了！这可是喜事一桩啊！

前提是要有一个交替公路，好让欲省钱的公众使用。

而大道减价，可想而知，堵车状况会更加严重。

如此看来，大道起价并非只有是坏事而已。我不是在撑大道公司，我只是就事论事。

如果能接受菩萨，为何不能接受粉丝？

最近看到了许多讨论华文污染的文章。

有几个新新名词并不为人所接受，例子就有“粉丝”，“部落格”等等。反对者的理由都是没照意思译而词不达意，就如部落格根本就是硬凑音译的。

其实，众所周知，华文内的外来词汇还会少吗？单从佛经传来的外来词汇可多着呢。数来就有：佛、菩萨、如来、塔、浮屠等。

所以，既然可以接受菩萨，缘何不能接受粉丝？总好过用ABC代替吧？

其实，相关单位也可以试试造新字来说明一个陌生现象，然后鼓励所有华文媒体应用之，在学校教之，就能达成目的了。当然，造字过程要快，要有几个汉学权威不断讨论才成。

Mysteries in the Sahara

There are some archeology findings in The Sahara that may shock everyone of us.

The Sahara is located at the famous north latitude of 30 degree. There are a lot of famous archeology findings at this 30 degree of north latitude.

In The Sahara, people found ancient paintings of flying machines, people who look like astronauts, giants and etc. All these are valuable findings!

How do we measure a company's financial status?

Came across this article online. I am going to try if it is really a good one. This tip is quite useful for us to identify a good company provided it is really accurate :P. Anyway it looks like the index is subjective to every country.

欢迎来做鸡！

根据报导，今年首三个月在我国从事淫业而为警方逮捕的中国籍女性人数大幅度增加，相当于2008年全年的一半！

马来西亚，真是淘金天堂啊！

我的祖父泉下有知，想必会暴跳如雷！堂堂祖国大陆竟然源源不绝输出妓女！祖国越兴旺，女人越堕落。

不提马来西亚，上网查查看，就知道中国籍妓女已经霸占了好多国家的淫业。就连阿富汗这样的国家都有中国籍妓女的影踪。中国妓女的声势简直直逼名闻天下的菲利宾女佣！现在他们甚至想把泰国妹的地盘也抢了过来，泰国妹惊呼饭碗不保啊！

这事虽然丑，但也能褒一褒。

其一，中国大陆经济今年乱糟糟，失业人数渐趋失控，当中的妇女往外跑当妓女，加入原有的庞大阵容，而后又把外汇汇回祖国，这真值得颁奖庆祝呵！

其二，各色人种、各级阶层，从印尼劳工到日本老板，从穆斯林到基督徒，都知道中国女人的温柔及床上功夫，然后大家都向往中国，一窝蜂往中国去，寻找温柔乡，顺便工作！此所谓为祖国大陆吸引国外人才也！

当然，这些妓女当中，有些是被骗或被强迫的。在此要大力谴责贩卖人口的集团，他们把人当货来买卖，简直该被枪毙！

尽管如此，被骗的始终占少数，如果中国政府乐于见到中国妓女的名声逐渐享誉国际而继续“无为而治”，那么将来中国将会有一个全新的国际形象，可喜可贺呵！

在这里真的要祝福中国！祝福共产党！

伟大的食物同化政策

最近的600亿财政预算案可谓贬多于褒，其一，照顾朋党的味道好浓；其二，大多数人都无法从这个预算案中得利。

不受看好？没问题。来看看预算案的隐议程：

预算案中有一项是关于解决国内日愈增长的外劳人数的，那就是提高外劳的人头税，而且是一倍之多！

我首先想到的，就是平常我光顾的那些餐馆档子。我发现，个个来写单的几乎都是外劳！

本地人哪里去了呢？很简单，谁要赚那么几百块的薪水？能活吗？尤其是华人朋友们。

好，回到预算案，外劳人头税提高了，老板们还会要雇用他们吗？

他们走了，有谁能替代他们呢？本地马来人也？他们当中还有很多不介意从事此类工作的。不信？看看那些麦当劳肯德基服务员吧。

有一个问题，华人食物经营者真的要（能）请这些马来人？他们难倒能处理猪肉食物？别忘了，马来西亚的马来人可是宪法规定的穆斯林哦！

巫统是什么居心？

你们想想：马来人决不能处理猪肉食物，而华人餐厅档子老板又请不起贵外劳，结果呢？

1）老板们冒着被检举的风险，聘请身价更低廉的非法外劳。

2）收工大吉。

巫统政府厉害吗？

将来，当你发现猪肉难寻时，可别恍然大悟哦。

Finally i am working on 2nd project!!!

Finally i have a chance to work on 2nd project after joining this company.

The first one has gone for production and it is being supported by the production support team now. Anyway there are several environment issues occurring recently. I want to help them but too bad i am involved in new project already.

To be accurate it is not my 2nd project, but 3rd one. I was involved in a 3 days proof of concept anyway and that gave me a terrible nightmares. It was a typical last minute project which everyone in the team had to work extra time! It is about to build a portal for a telecommunications client.

Now one weird thing of the WBIA running on production is that sometimes the message will be processed twice! This creates a false impression to users of the telco company that the account registration process just fails! The production support team should be quite tension right now of this issue. I think it has something to do with the configuration anyway that why certain XML message is processed twice. Why it is routed back to the adapter again!

Also today i have learned how to upload a WSDL file to DataPower and do a testing today! My teammate said basically we can replace the whole DataPower team after we learned how to configure the WSDL at DataPower. That's funny!

電腦限制了華文的發展？

电脑。二十世纪伟大的发明。是根据二进制的道理基础上，再经人类长年累月累积了经验与智慧而发明的。

炎黄子孙与二进制也有一段渊源。比炎黄二帝还要早出现的伏羲异创造了八卦！八卦这神奇的东西内藏了二进制的道理而在十六或十七世纪为一位德国人发现（我乃凭记忆写出这段，有待考证）。

吊诡的是，虽然电脑为以色列人所发明，但整体的发展乃受到英语的影响。尤其是编程语言。我可不知为何使用英语为编程语言，因为到最后电脑只懂得读“1、0”“开、关”。所以不管编程语言是任何语言都好，最后都会被转化成0和1。这就是二进制精彩的地方。

这情形使电脑使用者都必须多少懂得英语。尤其是编程员。而且不只是电脑而已，在各种需要编程的地方比如机械都必须学习英语。从高阶编程至低阶编程皆如此。

英语也就这样成为了各领域的主要语言。

我衷心期待一个以中文主导编程语言的世界的出现。

中国还会有大地震吗？

今年初中国大陆很多地方出现了干旱现象，根据传说，这是地震来临前的征兆，难道，经过蜀震后，中国大陆会又在经历令一场的恐怖大地震吗？

Human's gene is older than earth!!!???

Human gene is really older than the earth? This is something interesting!

Are we really from other planet?

The old civilization such as Maya and etc. produced a lot of funny puppets that look like alien! They have wings and "ariel", they wear eye mask or some funny helmet!

There is a statue showing that a birdman doing acupunture to a patient! This status was discovered during Han dynasty of China! It was claimed the first ever tutorial for Chinese acupuncture!

Lee Kuan Yew's opinion on the current economic crisis

Lee Kuan Yew(李光耀). A strong man in Singapore. A well known smart and respectable politician in the world. He has gone through the upheaval era back in the 20th century. His voice is always not to be missed by any leaders in this world.

Here is his statement adapted from www.news.gov.sg:

SPEECH BY MR LEE KUAN YEW, MINISTER MENTOR, AT THE TANJONG PAGAR CHINESE NEW YEAR DINNER , 06 FEBRUARY 2009, 8:20 PM AT HENDERSON SECONDARY SCHOOL

2009 WILL TEST THE CHARACTER OF SINGAPOREANS

2009 will test the mettle, the strength of character, of Singaporeans. The PM and Finance Minister have described this worldwide financial crisis that has reached us. This is the first time that all banking systems in all countries are concurrently facing a credit crunch. They have lost confidence in themselves, in their fellow banks and other financial institutions, and even in their customers. US and EU banks have been brought down by complex derivative securities, now called “toxic assets” because they may be worthless.

In 9 months, we will know how President Obama’s economic and financial plans are doing. We will have an indication of when America’s economy will bottom out and start to grow again. With luck, it could be by the end of 2009 or in early 2010. However, many leading American economists contend that spending this huge sum of money, they may still not succeed in kick-starting the economy. Some argue that prices in the mortgaged housing sector must hit bottom and recover before confidence will return. When they do, banks and financial institutions worldwide will be more confident.

The outcome of America’s economic and financial policies will affect the EU, China and Japan, because the US is their major export market. By the end of the year, we will know where the US economy is heading. The “Resilience Package” may have to be updated.

Our external trade is more than three times our GDP. Therefore, the level of international trade is a decisive factor for our economy. Indeed, in this globalised economy, no country - not the US nor the EU, nor Japan, nor Singapore - can single-handedly decide its economic performance.

Big countries like China and India can still make substantial 6 to 8% growth despite this meltdown. They have giant domestic markets and can spend to meet their large infrastructural needs. But China’s GDP is only one-quarter, and India’s less than one-tenth that of America’s. We may get some spin-offs from their growth, but they cannot lift us like a US recovery.

Singaporeans and their government are not in panic. We have got the wherewithal to survive this recession, even if it goes on for several years. We knew such a recession must come from time to time. It is in the nature of the free markets of the western world that our economy is plugged into. People and systems tend to be carried away by exuberance. Investors get greedy and rush in to buy, believing that prices will only go up. When prices collapse, investors find they have lost huge sums. Despair and depression then set in.

Everyone in the world is poorer. US$7 trillion has been wiped off the world’s stock markets. According to a BBC report from Davos, the world’s assets (stocks, properties, pensions, gold, jewellery, etc) have lost 40% of their value. Rupert Murdoch speaking at Davos said personal wealth in the world has fallen by US$50 trillion. Forbes estimated that in Hong Kong, the 40 richest billionaires and millionaires have lost half their combined wealth. Property values have gone down in every country, so have profits for companies and wages for workers. In Singapore, our SGX market capitalisation lost half of its value last year. Properties at the high end, residential and commercial have gone down. However, HDB prices have held up because many are downgrading from private condominiums to purchase HDB flats.

Everyone’s wealth has shrunk as our assets have lost value. But if you have not borrowed excessively to buy assets and have sufficient cash to service your loans, you can hold on to your investments until the market turns up and prices recover.

Singaporeans need not despair or be depressed. We will have to endure some hardship. But nobody will be destitute, depending on soup kitchens or begging in the streets. Everyone has a home, 95% of Singaporeans are home-owners. They will receive U-save rebates and S&C subsidies, GST credits, Workfare Income Supplements and other forms of assistance. Most importantly, the government has launched the Jobs Credit Scheme to save jobs for Singaporeans by giving employers a maximum grant of $300 per month for each Singaporean worker. These measures will help Singaporeans meet their basic living expenses and defray their utility bills and conservancy charges. Support is tilted towards the lower income families in the two and three-room flats, and also the middle-income in four and five-room flats.

Some professionals have written to the newspapers that we are ignoring those in the private condominiums and landed properties. The government has not overlooked them. They are getting income tax and property rebates, and GST credits. But it is right that the low income groups should get more help, as they are in greater need.

Ministers and senior civil servants are taking pay cuts of up to 20% as the economy has slowed down substantially. Middle and lower-ranking public officers would also receive lower salaries, but with smaller reductions. It is to share the belt tightening that other Singaporeans have to bear in this difficult period.

Most of what we consume is imported. We do not grow our food, nor manufacture the goods we buy. Whatever we do, retailers will find customers more cautious, because they are preparing for what could be a longish period of negative or little growth. Retailers, like other companies, will get up to $300 per month for each Singaporean employee through the Jobs Credit Scheme, and should also benefit from the 40% property tax rebate, which is the least that landlords should pass on to tenants. Along Orchard Road and many other shopping centres, tents have been put up next to shopping malls for the mall tenants and others to sell their wares to passers-by at lower prices. The market will adjust. This experience will be remembered by everyone, especially by all those who were born after 1971. After 1971 and the oil crisis which caused oil prices to quadruple, our economy has grown steadily year after year. So this generation may believe that Singapore and Singaporeans will automatically go up the escalator every year. This is not so.

In testing times, we must have the guts to face our problems, maintain solidarity and work together, learn new skills and knowledge through the SPUR programme that the government has launched. We will overcome our present difficulties and emerge stronger from the experience. We will get fresh investments again, higher value investments that will employ more workers who are better-skilled and more knowledgeable. Our standing with investors worldwide is high. They know we are restructuring and that we will pay for our workers to be trained by them, and by other institutes, under the SPUR programme to match the skilled workers that they need. We should take this opportunity to go for training and upgrade ourselves for these higher value-added jobs.

Singapore’s security, stability, reliability and good labour relations are well known. Whatever your job, you are better off in Singapore than if you are in a similar job in any other Asian country, including China and India. The only country where job for job, you can be better off, is in Japan. The Japanese have huge reserves, top class infrastructure and a highly skilled, industrious and knowledgeable workforce.

Do not be discouraged by the present hard times. I am confident the younger generation of Singaporeans have the grit, stamina and resourcefulness to bounce back.

My generation of Singaporeans will never forget the 1960s and early ‘70s when we had only $100 million in our reserves. We faced separation from our then economic hinterland, Malaysia, and “Konfrontasi” and no trade with Indonesia. That generation kept their nerve and were determined to succeed. Your parents’ and grandparents’ generations had hard lives in shanty huts with no running water or modern w.c, not knowing what the future could bring. They simply concentrated on hard work and built the foundation for the Singapore of the 21st century.

We will go through with restructuring our economy. And retrain and educate our workers to higher levels of skills and knowledge. When recovery comes in the US and EU as it must, we will be ready for a higher level of economic activity.

Your generation can take Singapore forward to become one of Asia’s most vibrant and beautiful cities. We will have a spectacular marina in the Central Business District; the island will have many beautiful streams and water bodies; our housing estates will be clad in exuberant foliage and ringed by gardens, recreational and sporting facilities. This is not a pie in the sky. It will be realised in the next 5 to 10 years, even with the current financial crisis.

The success of Singapore came from the hard work, resourcefulness and ingenuity of your forefathers and their leaders. You are the descendants of these lion-hearted pioneers. You have it in you to succeed. Joining you are hardworking and talented new emigrants from Asean, India and China. Together we can make the grade.

His statement is basically practical. You can see that he is very much concerned on the benefits of all Singaporean regardless of the races. That is the mindset of what a true nation leader must possess.

To our Malaysian leader. Please do not neglect the fact that Malaysians consists of different races. When you speak for Malaysians. You actually speak for all races. Is not it great that you represent all Malaysians rather than just one single group of Malaysians?

亚洲各国节节败退！

2008年第四季度坏消息频仍：

中国 - GDP增长了6。8%

台湾 - GDP下降了8。6%

香港 - GDP萎缩了2。5%

新加坡 - GDP也下滑了12。5%



触目惊心！大中华区域经济体都遭到重创！中国看起来没事但不知能熬多久。

马来西亚方面，据称即将宣布去年最后一季国内生产总值，情况不容乐观。

可想而知，美欧日都完蛋时，亚洲各国无一幸免，甚至可能跌得更重！

世界的钱如果都象中国日本那样购买已成垃圾的美国国债，丢进无底洞的话，最后伤得更重的人是自己，名副其实帮倒忙！

世界经济，呜呼哀哉！

世界性的战争将不远了。