Sole pierced by tooth pick

Westgate at B1 level is having a Japanese food fare if anyone is interested. I guess the products are transported from Japan because the price is crazy expensive.
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Are the food good?
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I had no idea because the queue was long and lots of people were seen lining to get the free samples.
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These samples were cut into smaller pieces and held with a tooth pick. The toothpick quality is good. Not those cheap and less pointy ones.
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I wished that it was not the case. If it had been the cheaper ones, I wouldn't be writing a random blog.
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When people were sampling the free food, some decided to be a litter bug. These people are suspected to be hoggers too. I abhor them because when they threw away the pointy toothpicks on the floor, I got injured.
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There I was, walking around the fare and getting a pack of mochi. All of a sudden I felt a sharp pain on my sole.
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When I held my foot up, I saw a pointy toothpick sticking on my sole. I was wearing slippers.
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It would have been a funny pic to take and share, if it hadn't been painful enough that I had to pull it out ASAP.
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I have been pierced by nail, screw, glass and other stuff on the road. But having a toothpick sticking out of my sole in a shopping mall really added up to the wierd stuff that could have happened to me.
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Just to share

Google Play star rating is not up-to-date

Google Play star rating doesn't help much to gauge the popularity of apps. It also doesn't help to inform users about how responsive the developers are to users' feedback. What the star rating does is to average off the rating of earlier versions down to the latest ones.Hence, if the earlier versions were good and millions voted for 5 stars, that rating stays throughout. Even when the app failed later that resulted in millions who removed the apps, the star rating would still contain the previous votes. If that is the case, it will not tell new users how good the app currently is. To me, when the star rating is not real-time it does not help. That is because it won't help users to gauge the real-time performance/popularity of the app in question.

Another benchmark about app performance (or popularity) is the number of downloads. Most hot apps would have millions "downloaded". However, this benchmark is also not useful for the same reason as the star rating, i.e. it is not real-time. Assume that initial release of the apps attracted millions to download it. The millions love it, but then due to complacency on the developers' part, the app lost its luster and millions removed the apps from their phones. Such movement is not reflected on the scale. To me, that is not informative. For all I know, the 10 millions downloaded could well be "1000 still using it" scenario.

All-in-all, these two ratings are not being helpful to both users and developers. If these ratings or benchmarks can be made into real-time, it would help users to decide if they want to waste their phone memory downloading the apps. Also, real-time rating will pressurize developers into addressing users' feedback in order to keep their rating high because they can't afford to have the rating drop overnight!

Wouldn't that be a good idea, Google?

Re: Wisma Atria workers in shock over death of Indonesian man

A 48 yo Indonesian man died from a fall at Wisma Atria around 9 to 10 pm on Thurday. The reason for the fall is uncertain although witness claimed that the man jumped.
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It must have been a shocking experience for the staffs/workers at the mall. The people who rushed to resuscitate the man are commendable.
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One of the staffs, Dolly, at the mall pitied the man and offered prayer to him.
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Some commentators of Yahoo News started comments about Gambling, Money, Health, etc. that could have driven the man to jump (although we are not certain if the case had been suicide or otherwise).
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This is my thought.
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• If it had been an accident, the investigators must find out the factor(s) that contributed to the fall and prevent such recurrence.
• If it had been a suicide, I have only this to say, “it was an irresponsible act by the man”. I am truly shocked by his apathy (even though he might not have been in a right state of mind).

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Let me explain why I am saying the latter.
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In any other days, in a mall, there could have been families or visitors who could be walking around the mall. There could have been children, parents, loved ones, or friends.
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To have someone jumping down from a fifth floor could have caused an unintended death to these people on the ground. Children could surely succumb to the lethal impact from above. We are lucky indeed that there had not been a misfortune in this case. I wouldn’t dare to think what could have happened if the man had "fallen" on a busy weekend!
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Regardless of the factor that contributes to suicidal thoughts, to decide to jump from a high place is always irresponsible, especially when it happens without consideration for other peoples' safety below.
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Finally, for those who are in hurt and contemplating suicide, please give yourself a chance to live by contacting:

• Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) at 1800-221-4444

To friends/families who know anyone who are going through tough time, just be there to lend a support or call SOS if you need advice.
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Just to share

Singapore Yu Sang fish got “GBS”

MOH and NEA have advised the public not to consume raw fish dishes using Song (or Asian Bighead carp) and Toman (snakehead fish) in this news report (Traces of GBS found in raw fish samples: MOH reported in Channel NewsAsia). That is because traces of Group B Streptococcus (GBS) bacteria has been detected in some samples.

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Later, when I went to the kitchen to get water, I told my wife that Singapore “Yu Sang” fish has got GBS. She looked at me puzzled. 

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I repeated, “Don’t eat Yu Sang because they got GBS”. She gave me a similar puzzled look.

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I laughed out loud when she explained to me later why she had looked puzzled. This is what she thought I said.

Getting a laptop in Singapore? What to look out for?

Whenever I am set out to look for laptop, I am never prepared. The thing that I took into consideration first was always price, CPU performance, and RAM. Most times, the acquired laptop would last me more than 5 years while one time it only lasted a year.
I have a Samsung notebook that I am still using for > 10 years. It can no longer support most of the software in use today, but is can still permit playing yesteryear games and doing some MS Office 97.
This particular notebook elevated my impression on Samsung product. I have another netbook and ultrabook from Samsung. Both never disappointed me so far. In our household, we have NEC Versa notebook and it is still working. However, NEC design was bad. the wiring from MB to LCD got severed when the notebook was repeatedly flipped open and closed. I had to disassemble the machine to notice the severed wire and get replacement cable to replace it. I did that DIY as the 2 years warranty was over.
Acer TravelMate was a bad experience. The machine constantly burns up whenever in use for a duration of time. It crashed after less than a year. A visit to the Service Centre suggested that the MB was dead. The tech guy suggested that I top up few hundreds to get a newer and better version. I adamantly declined since I didn’t want to invest further on a brand that didn’t do a good job in the first place. After the MB change, the LCD kaput after few months later. Fortunately it was the backlight problem and EBay again solved my problem. I scoured for the right inverter and got it delivered to me. DIY to replace that part. A visit to any store would have requested that the whole LCD be replaced, which would have cost S$200 or more as compared to S$20 to 30 for the inverter.
Now, after 3 years of using the current Notebook from Samsung, it is time to get a new Notebook that will support most of the current software in use. I am still a MS Windows supporter. Although, I have dabbled with Linux, Mac and Android, I think MS Windows is still the choice for me.
Criteria for the next machine:

• Processing speed. Intel is best, AMD is good and affordable. A review of processors at ComputersShopper and TechRadar. I would want one that is power efficient and “cool-headed” (not burning up with fever).
• RAM. Slots and maximum RAM available for upgrade.
• HDD. Now there are two main types, spindle-type/mechanical HDD and solid state SSD. The latter is like a thumbdrive/flashdrive storage, only better. The spindle-type HDD makes noise and if dropped, it will damage the mechanical parts, whereas SSD will not. Talking about that, a salesperson at Challenger did that demonstration for a colleague to make that point! I was an accidental observer. SSD is faster than HDD but SSD is expensive. Soon, there will be light-based memory to take the spot of SSD. Probably then SSD will cost less. The capacity of SSD/HDD isn’t very important (as long as most software/games can fit into it comfortably). A 1 TB should be safe, while 500GB is no complain. Cloud storage is the way to go nowadays with their great sync and RAID function allowing better protection of our precious data. For example, Dropbox charges approx. USD10 per month for 1TB to USD15 per month per user/team for unlimited storage.
• Graphic and sound should be above average.
• Additional features: USB-A, mini- and micro-USB ports are going obsolete, there is a newcomer in town and it is USB-C. However, I still don’t like the feel of USB-C. Similar to USB-A, mini- and micro-USB, they jut out like a patient wearing intravenous (IV) cannula on an arm which is easy to accidentally shift the connection (Fig. 1). Thumbprint security feature is a joke. Longer battery life is a must (at least 6 hours). Screen size should be > 10.1” diagonally. Should have desired preloaded software, e.g. OS, MS Office, Brand’s additional bundled software, etc. Noise level tolerable (without internal cooling fan making aeroplane turbine sound). Trayless DVD writer. Don’t get Blu-Ray Disc (BD) ROM because a 25 GB BD disk is very expensive (at a range of S$0.50 to >S$1.00 per piece. If you get an equivalent 1 TB, it is about 40 pieces BD. That will cost 40 x S$0.75 = S$30.00 (for comparison 1TB “rewriteable” external HDD is at S$85.00). Moreover, BD is rare in Singapore. Bluetooth, HDMI, and network port are must. Touchscreen is okay but not necessary. Built-in webcam. Wireless connection should dual band at both 2.4 and 5 GHz (e.g. 802.11ac) but not necessary because a  dual band wireless adapters are selling at S$20 to 40 on EBay.

Fig. 1 USB-A, mini-, micro-USB, and USB-C all share the same bulky plug that jut out precariously like an IV cannula.

Singapore checking/current accounts

I am not going to talk about interest rate for customers because interest rate nowadays is negligible.
Citibank checking account
This is for personal checking account: Minimum balance is SGD5000; below SGD5000, SGD10 fee per month applies; free checkbook.

OCBC current account (bank opens on Sundays)
This is for personal current account: Minimum balance is SGD3000; below SGD3000, SGD7.50 fee per month applies; checkbook is charge at SGD10 per book.

POSB eCurrent account
This is for personal eCurrent account: No minimum balance required (BUT there is the risk of POSB taking money from your SAVINGS ACCOUNT to pay any outstanding amount in the current account); A monthly fee of SGD 2 applies if SAVING ACCOUNT is below SGD1500; SGD10 per checkbook.

UOB current account
For personal current account: Minimum balance at SGD3000; SGD7.50 per month applies if deposit is below SGD3000; SGD10 per checkbook.

Standard Chartered “Cheque & Save” (current) account
For personal account: Minimum balance of SGD5000; monthly fee of SGD2 applies; additional SGD7.50 per month applies if deposit is below SGD5000, thus, if deposit is SGD4999, you pay SGD 9.50 (compared to SGD10 per month for Citibank with same condition); free checkbook

CIMB current account
Note that I don’t like complicated product choices (which CIMB is doing).
For StarSaver account: Minimum initial deposit of SGD5000; there is no minimum balance required (BUT interest to customers is applied when balance is at SGD5000 or above); SGD1 per month applies; Balance below SGD5000 is not charged any additional fee; checkbook cost not mentioned.
For Shariah type, refer to CIMB StarSaver-i account.

HSBC Current account
For personal account: Minimum balance of SGD3000; below that, SGD7.50 per month fee applies; free checkbook

Comparison and my thoughts

• Minimum balance requirement should be less than SGD5000. SGD3000 seems to be the standard (except POSB which tap into SAVINGS ACCOUNT, which is risky in my opinion because SAVINGS & CURRENT SHOULDN’T BE MIXED!).
• Not interested in any interest on deposit to customers because the number is negligible nowadays. I would prefer to use the SGD2000 for other investment purposes rather than park it in CURRENT ACCOUNT (which charges 2.5% fee if the balance drops below SGD5000 [Citibank]).
• I am not interested in FREE checkbook. I haven’t even used up 10% of the 50 pages checkbook given by Citibank! Why would I be bothered with SGD10 per book then? FREE books don’t interest me. Reasonable monthly fee is more enticing.
• Low to no monthly fee for CURRENT account with requirement for low balance in current/checking account. I prefer to keep SGD3000 in the current rather than park additional SGD2000 for the minimum SGD5000 current account. The extra SGD2000 could have been used in other investments.
• CURRENT and SAVINGS account should be SEPARATED! Banks that tap into SAVINGS to pay off CURRENT accounts are risky business unless that SAVING is not the only and main savings basket to the customer.

Customers with checking accounts in Singapore should be aware of T&C and bank service fees

What irks me and probably many others is that banks don't work in the best interest of customers. When banks advertise next time, they should just say the truth, "WE WORK ONLY FOR YOUR MONEY & CUSTOMERS ARE JUST NUMBERS".

I have just realized that Citibank checking account had updated their terms and conditions (T&C). It used to be that we have to keep a minimum of $2000 in the account to have the service fee waived. I was surprised to notice that that minimum amount had been revised to $5000. If customers have less than $5000 in their checking accounts, a monthly fee of $10 per month applies. I am charged $50 for 5 months.

What does it mean?

Citibank is earning at least 2.4% pa of interest if my deposit is $4999 (above $5000 for waiver). Or at least 12% pa if my deposit is $1000. Also, if I have $100 in the account, it will only take 10 months for Citibank to wipe it clean.

Now, what upsets me is that Citibank did not contact me to inform about the service fee charges. There is no courtesy call to talk to customers and advice them to top up the deposit so that Citibank will not keep on savaging customers' hard-earned deposits (without them knowing about it; akin to a silent killer, e.g. cancer). If there should be any service charges, we as customers should be made aware of first before Citibank (or any other banks) starts deducting deposits! Furthermore, Citibank should charge us via bills and not by automatic deduction from our accounts! At least with bills, customers are made aware of impending fees or bills to be paid. By surreptitiously deducting our deposit is unfair (especially when some customers don't regularly check online statements) or might be oversea on months' assignment.

Why Citibank bother to get customers' contact details if Citibank will not use that to talk to customers when there is a REAL NEED? To me, the only use of my contact detail to Citibank is to SPAM call me about additional credit cards, more loans, insurance etc. That is not for my best of interest. That to me is a nuisance. It irks me more especially when Citibank failed to call me when they decided to charge me service fees. If Citibank had billed me instead of deducting from my deposit, I would have been less upset. Parking my money with Citibank is not safe anymore after this incident and especially considering that Citibank could at their whims decide to deduct something from my checking account (without notifying account holders). I am deciding to look for alternatives real soon.

Note that I have severed any link/business with Maybank Singapore. The reason: I was upset by the way Maybank handled my online money transfer oversea. I was charged two types of fees to transfer the money, i.e. transfer fee and exchange fee in Singapore for a sum of money that I wanted transferred to someone in Malaysia.

I was shocked to get a call from the recipient saying that the amount I transferred was insufficient. It seemed that Maybank Malaysia decided to charge me a transfer/deposit fee as well (and deducted the sum from the money transferred without notifying me!). That was a big embarrassment to me especially when the exact sum transferred was to pay off an EXACT debt! Nowadays, whenever I see solicitors from Maybank credit cards/services, I simply tell them that I hate the bank they represent and walk off.

I am contemplating of doing the same for CITIBANK.


Sorry, I just needed to vent out my frustration. That was my two cents thought.


Related complaints about fees for checking accounts in other banks

• Standard Chartered Bank complaints - monthly fee for checking account

Read also
Singapore Checking/current accounts

Unsolicited sales or donation at HDB flats after office hours

Lately there have been several visits by salespersons or "volunteers" soliciting donations (hereafter will be termed as solicitors) to my HDB home at private hours (e.g. 7 pm to 9 pm where we would be having our dinners). There was one occasion when a solicitor rang our bell and knocked on our door at 10 pm.
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First of all, I would like to say that such action by them are unwanted and annoying. Secondly, I will not contribute a single cent to them mainly because of their inconsiderate action (e.g. encroaching our private time to have uninterrupted dinner especially after work), regardless of what they are push-selling (or push-marketing). For families with 4 months old babies and an unpleasantly loud door bell (which we never got the time to change), having someone pressing the door bell repeatedly can make your blood boil when babies started crying out from their slumber. One thing I suggest doing is to buffer your door bell with cotton balls (which worked for me).
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Let me tell you about my experience with these solicitors at my HDB neighbourhood.
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1. Ice-cream students used to coax HDB occupants to buy their products. It worked initially (and I bought some) but after the frequent visits, the trend probably died with dying demand (because I have not seen anyone of them knocking on my door anymore).
2. Donation solicitors with improper attitude and sometimes appearance. The ways they approach the subject of donation are akin to asking for fees. I got one that irked me tonight. He rang the bell and then knocked incessantly on my door. At time like this having a "legit" warning signage such as below would make my day.

   

   You can buy it at The Patriot Post Shop

3. Singtel salesperson push-selling broadband service at our home is mind boggling. Why would an established brand such as Singtel go door-to-door soliciting subscriptions?
4. Great Eastern insurance salesperson at my door step during dinner time is like asking to be shooed. What is worst was that he came back ringing my unmodified doorbell (i.e. prior to stuffing cotton balls into the darn thing) and woke up my baby at 10 pm later.
5. There are plenty of others whom I did not bother to greet them at the door step. Those who are smart will not bother to ring my bell or knock on my door. However, the one who did incessantly knocking on my door was the guy with bad attitude and appearance (see point #2). I can only try to guess his odd and inconsiderate behaviour.

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Now, we must be asking the same question right now. Are those solicitors who knocked at our HDB doors are doing something legit? If private homes such as condos can afford to have securities protecting them from unwanted solicitation, what do HDB occupants have to protect them from such unwanted solicitation?
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What is not cool is that there are some HDB occupants who motivated such trade by buying into their solicitations, e.g. products, services, or donations (I'm assuming that these donations are legit but I am sure there are also those belonging to scams). These gullible customers are doing disservice to other HDB occupants because once there is motivation sparked by sales and profits (or positive response), many others will be jumping on the bandwagon to start "pushing" their trade to other HDB occupants. Be prepared to answer more door bells and knocks if that ever happen.
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Tired of Private Number calling in at inconvenient time?

If you are tired of receiving spam calls from Private Numbers or any numbers, you have two choices.

First, register your mobile phone number with Do Not Call Registry at Personal Data Protection Commission Singapore. That will prevent unsolicited phone calls, SMS, and fax.

If you don't want to register to Do Not Call and would want to have more control, then the second option would be to utilize your reject list setting on your Android phone (I'm not familiar with other operating systems).

Here are the steps.

Steps taken to set auto reject to Private Numbers (or Unknown).

However, be warned that if you reject Unknown (or Private Numbers), you will not be able to receive calls made from Singapore public phone booths. Strangely, calls from public phones are under Private Numbers (or Unknown).

To add a specific number to reject list, it's easy - Just go to Call Log and touch on this number. A pop up will appear showing several options with one asking "Add to Reject list". Touch that option and the number will be added to the reject list.

To select a number from Call Log to be added in the Reject List. Go to Logs and select the number by touching it. A popup will ask for several options. Select Add to reject list.

The thing about Reject list is that even my three year old toddler can do it. My number was selected in my wife's phone and added to Reject list. When I wanted to call my wife, I would get the "Line Busy" notification. I never thought that my call was rejected until I tried numerous times. This had happened twice (palms on face).

About Bali Nine death sentence and Indonesia-Australia standoff

This is the latest news I followed, "Indonesians collect coins to protest Australian tsunami comments" (Yahoo 10 March 2015).
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I have no objection to death sentence for convicted drug traffickers. It is not revenge killing, BUT more to removing threats from society. Similarly, death sentence to Bali Bombing perpetrators served to remove threats from society. In this case, Australians and their government kept mum over the sentencing. Is there selective objection over death sentence here?
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Is Australia aware of the devastation caused by heroine (which is not RECREATIONAL drug) to any society?
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Now, if Australia really insist on not letting these Australian drug lords being subjected to death sentence, and was willing to dig-out the old issue of humanitarian aid it selflessly volunteered during the 2005 Tsunami crisis (Publicity then, Shame now - Abbott's blunder), then if I am with the Indonesian government, I would have suggested to the higher-up to just accept Australia's demand of not giving death sentence to these Australian drug lords.
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On two conditions.
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These two Australians will be locked up in Indonesian prison FOREVER.
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The cost of maintaining them will be footed by Australia, in which case the well-being of these two prisoners will be dependent on the amount paid by Australia.

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I would say, AUD 20,000 per month per head wouldn't be too big a deal. On top of that, whatever security measures, medical bill, and additional costs will be borne by Australia. Also, if these two prisoners escaped (due to whatever reason), Australia will have to pay compensation to Indonesia for "letting loose" two threats to Indonesian society yet again.
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Just an alternative thought.

No time to blog, the only index I have is how many diapers I've changed and how many oz my baby had drunk

Baby's 3 weeks old.

There is no greater place to be in the hospital than the maternity ward. The patients are happy and nice. The attending nurses and doctors are lively too. The comparison is astounding, especially when I had to register my wife during admission at the Accident & Emergency (A&E) ward. Over there, the staff are constantly admitting angry, frustrated and in-lots-of-pain patients around the clock. I asked one of the hospital staff there and she said that "tonight is considered better".

Going back to the maternity ward, the only cries are from babies reminding mothers that it is feeding time. As adults, we often forget that baby's only means to communicate to parents is through cries. Baby's cries can be grouped into main two reasons, (1) I'm hungry, (2) I'm uncomfortable. The second one is difficult to discern because it could be due to "shee shee" (pass water), "poo poo" (pass motion), "boo boo" (colic and wind), discomfort due to heat  or nappy rashes, etc.

I have been up and about for two-and-a-half hours feeding and cleaning baby. I took turns with my wife to help out the first week. After that, I only contribute at 9.30 pm, 11.30 pm, and the 2 am slots. I slept like a log afterwards and sometimes I would dream of cries.

That's how I spent my time these few weeks.

Balancing egg during LiChin or Equinox

I have no idea what Equinox meant and I Googled. Read about Equinox from Wikipedia here. I still couldn't picture the earth's spin and orbiting around the sun.

Anyway, I am guessing that the concept could be that when the earth's rotation is similar in direction to earth's orbiting around the sun, then the added up centrifugal force will be "singular" and less interference. That time, if you stand in the equator, you will be more lighter and "upright" (due to the combined centrifugal force). I'm not sure if that's how the egg balancing came about.

Today is Lichun and many of my friends are balancing their household eggs on the floor. They are posting their achievements on social media. I wanted to try that too in my HDB flat. However, I got no success in different location of the house. I guess I will need a "surface level" tool to spot which part of the flooring is truly flat.

It's fun to be able to balance eggs on flat surface but it has got nothing to do with celestial events. That's because the Earth's gravity is more influential to an egg than any other celestial forces. I think patience and luck are criteria for a successful egg balancing. Sigh.

What is fascinating is that for less dense matter like water, it is easily influenced by the moon's gravitational force (and Earth's centrifugal force) than denser matter like humans and eggs, hence the high and low tides. As for me, I don't feel lighter or taller during high tides.

I'll try again the egg balancing soon.
Good luck in your tries.

References

• Egg balancing by Wikipedia. Note that egg balancing on a nail is not possible unless superglue was used or super flat nail head and super duper amount of patience were involved (my opinion).
• It took 1 min 20 sec to balance an egg, and 3 min 40 sec for the second one. "How to balance or stand an egg during Li Chun " Youtube entry by Dian Miao Ling.

Backup your phone contact

Samsung S4 motherboard damaged. The problem started during system upgrade that failed and caused a reboot loop (constant restart and shutdown, repeated infinitely). There wasn't any chance of getting the contact list backed up. The only alternative was to factory reset the device. Tried it and didn't work. Submitted the phone to Samsung Service Center at Plaza Singapore. Do you know that there are four Samsung service centers in Singapore?

The service staff was robotic. She talked robot-like with "Sir" added to the end of the sentence. The usual, "if phone found tampered, dropped, etc. then it voids warranty). I said I understood. At the end of the session, I submitted an electronic feedback as "excellent". The electronic tablet for feedback was placed right in front of the service staff for him/her to see and I wouldn't want to demoralize her by giving mediocre rating (it sorta defeat the purpose, right?).

The repair was swift, it took three days to get the phone repaired. The notice for collection was sent to my other number via SMS. At the counter, while I was there to collect the phone, I asked what was wrong with the phone and the staff said that they had changed the motherboard. I asked how long is the warranty for the motherboard. The staff said that the warranty is the same as the remainder of the phone warranty, i.e. few months time, which translate to mean that there isn't any warranty. I asked if the motherboard issue was frequent for S4. He said it's case-by-case (meaning, "I don't know"). Anyway, I was glad that the phone is available for use.

What I was not glad was the contact I had on this phone was gone forever. I should remember to backup my contacts regularly in the future.

Battery compartment door/cover of compact camera

Compact cameras. They have one thing in common,  i.e. the battery compartment door/cover is made flimsy (non-durable, easily damaged).

This part of the camera is important. The door act not only to cover the battery compartment for aesthetic reason, but also to close the circuit of the battery. When the circuit is not closed, you won't be able to switch the camera on. Try it, open the door ajar and press the "on" button. Nothing will happen.

So, it is important that the door is intact. If you accidentally break the door, you should keep that piece with you. Use a tape to stick the door to the camera for it to work. If you lost the door/cover; you must find a compatible cover for the camera to work. Using a cardboard and sticky tape will not revive your camera.

I have no idea for the reason to ensure that the door must be closed to operate the camera. Was it to prevent shocks from the exposed battery? Whatever it was, it seemed important enough for all camera manufacturers to want to implement the same design concept.

My Nikon coolpix S6000 has a clumsy design at the cover. My camera automatically switches off whenever I want to use it (even though the battery indicator showed full bar). The problem seemed to be due to the cover constantly losing contact with the battery and hence breaking the circuit. If anyone has an "automatic switched off camera" problem, it's likely caused by the cover/door to the battery.

Nikon conveniently stated that the cover/door to the camera is not under any warranty. That was their point when I first bought the said camera (S6000 series). Try asking the sales representative or Nikon Service Center. Most probably, the policy is still retained,  i.e. no warranty for battery compartment cover/door.

Another problem I faced with this camera is that,  now I'm having dead pixels at two corners of my LCD screen. I just hope they don't spread. Worst come to worst, I'll have to shoot without any cue from the LCD, just like old compact camera (but without "view finder"). Haha.

Types of baby's cough

There are two main types, such as dry and wet coughs. Dry cough is usually caused by a cold (viral infection) or allergies, whereas wet cough is due to bacterial infection which causes phlegm/mucus.

Coughing in baby (< 4 months old) shouldn't be taken lightly and hence decoding baby's cough is important. Refer to this website by parents.com for detail.

Common cold/flu (viral): Cough sounds like "hacking" (not the literal meaning, but rather the "hacking" sound) sound. For discerning different types of coughing sound and the term used such as "whooping" (sound ending in the each coughing), dry/"hacking", productive(with phlegm)/wet, and "wheezing" coughs can be referred to in webmd.com site. Cold (viral origin) normally requires the immune system to beat, and there are several ways to alleviate the symptoms such as more fluid, rest, regulating fever (by damp cloth), humidifier (to alleviate blocked or irritated nose/airway), honey (make sure baby has no allergy to pollen; Asian has less problem), Luo Han Guo (or monk fruit, or scientifically Siraitia grosvenorii) which has been known to have no reported toxicity, among others.

Croup (viral origin is common): common in countries with winter season. The cough sounds like barking. Refer to kidshealth.org site.

For other illness such as pneumonia (productive/wet cough), bronchitis/asthma (cough with "wheezing"), whooping cough (pertussis), you can refer to parents.com site.

Wishlist @ Popular bookstore

Loved the popclub magazine. Very informative and in it,  there is a section on stationery and electronics for sale. Here is my wishlist:

• Aurora LM3233H A3 laminator @sgd 58.00 (up sgd69.00)
• HP K2500 wireless keyboard @ sgd 19.70 (after additional 10% members discount)
• Brother HL-2270DW wireless mono laser printer @sgd 168 (up sgd228)

However,  couldn't find the wireless keyboard at my local bookstore and didn't know where to look. Wish that the catalog could have provided bookstore branches that carried the items displayed.