April 2003 Archives

Today we bid Margaret River a fond adieu. We drove down south to Augusta to see the lighthouse, where two oceans (Indian and South) meet. Then we headed to a vineyard at Pemberton for lunch. After which we stopped at Walpole to see the Valley of the Giants - an invigorating tree top walk, 40 metres in the air.

Here's a photo of a tree called 'Grandmother Tingle', estimated to be over 400 years old. Can you see her face? :-)

We drove through Denmark via the South Coast Hightway towards Albany, and that was when the sun went down. Here's a picture of the setting sun, brilliant pink, from the rear window of the car.

We continued the journey in darkness, guided only by the beams of our headlights, occasional signage and very sporadic street lighting. There were also a few dodgy-looking bush fires. One of them gave me the creeps because it was in the middle of nowhere and I could swear I saw three white robed figures, looking like that of a mother and two daughters, one being carried by the adult, facing the flames. *shudder*

We finally located our motel along the Albany Highway, and realised it wasn't quite as four-star as they claimed to be. It was very old, and our room had a rusty stove and a shower curtain that stuck onto itself. All in all, it was rather dodgy to me.

We had dinner at Kooka's, another Gold plate award-winning restaurant. My lamb balti was very tasty, and Vicki's laksa wasn't quite authentic what with the eggplant and peas, but she ate it all up anyway.

Margaret River, day four. It was a fine sunny morning and we left to visit Fonti Farm which is a cheese factory. Very lovely cheeses and yoghurt; somehow they taste nicer in Australia than back home.

Me and Vicki (left) outside the coffee processor's.

After that, we had a coffee tasting session. Most unfortunately, as I drove along the highway, keeping to the speed limit, I noticed a big, dead kangaroo lying crumpled on the side of the road. I felt a little ill. On the way back we passed another smaller kangaroo, also dead. I think it was only a baby.

Finally we went spelunking! I mean, cave exploring. In a 1.5 million year old cave. It was quite an eye-opener, but we didn't dare shout.

And I have to go now.

Today we visited another vineyard, a Lavendar farm, Brookland Estate (where we had lunch at Flutes, their restaurant), had some cake and hot cocoa at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory, toured an olive farm, and dined at Prideau’s which is a Gold Plate award winner. It was there that Vicki spotted a young girl taking orders in the restaurant and recognised her as Claire, an eighth-grader at St Hilda’s where she studies. Turns out the little lady is the daughter of Trevor, who owns and runs the restaurant with his wife.

The weather was lovely today, bright and sunny with cool winds.

[ This is a post-blog. ]

We visited our first winery, Voyager Estate, and had lunch at its restaurant. Then we checked out an art exhibition after emerging from the Tourist Information Office with a load of pamphlets. There is just so much to see at Margaret River! We had dinner at another restaurant called Fortes, located in the main town area. Food has been excellent so far.

Woke up at 8, had breakfast, packed up the rest of my stuff, helped sister with last-minute laundry, checked out. Left Perth for Margaret River. Had lunch a third of the way. Took over the wheels for the rest of the journey, which lasted over two hours. That was my inaugural drive into Australia. What was disturbing and heart-rendering at the same time, were the many little crosses marking the spots I presume where motorists and passengers were killed. I counted 9 in total. A grim reminder for us not to drive recklessly.

We eventually reached the Margaret River town area, dropped mum and sis to information centre only to find that it was closed since it was just past 5 o’clock in the afternoon (doh). Using a tourist map kindly provided by a nearby restaurant, Mum continued the journey at the wheel, and we drove and drove and got a little lost before eventually locating Margarets Beach Resort. We liked it for its size and modern furnishings, but did NOT like the fact that hair dryers were optional (by the time we realised that, the reception had – you guessed it – closed). Mum disliked the place because the service was unfriendly (in the stony, plastered faint-smile sort of way). Now my hair smells a little smoky tonight, but that’s fine, I’d rather not catch a cold, and the only alternative I have is to stick my head into the clothes dryer.

We drove all the way back to town for dinner at VAT, which was excellent, my mother declared that was the best lamb chops she’s ever had, period, and I wasn’t too far from disagreeing with her either. My sister even ate the bak choy that came with her crispy oriental Chicken dish, which is a breakthrough since she generally hates vegetables. And we we demolished their trademark toffee-vanilla cream covered walnut pudding with honeycombs. The restaurant offered accommodation a floor above, but it was fully booked this week. Mum complained to our waitress that we stayed really far away and the waitress looked surprised. “Not really…that’s only 10 kilometres…” which made me realise that distance is relative to the person and the country you’re living in. I think I drove twice the span of Singapore this afternoon, and it didn’t feel like much. We’re so tiny, I’m ashamed to admit.

After dinner, we got home and watched a movie on the telly, called Angst. An Australian production about three friends, a girl and two guys who stay together in an apartment. The characters are all pretty cool in the sense that they're charmingly flawed and get in and out of all sorts of trouble.

We went to Subiaco, had lunch at an open air food court with live music, watched a movie (Anger Management), browsed the eclectic mix of shops in the area. I hardly bought anything, even at the fruit market, but it was an eye-opener anyway.

Guards and airport officials were stationed ahead of the check in counters at Changi Airport, asking travellers if they displayed any SAR syndromes. Then we were each given a notice containing important contact information.

Before we got our passports tamped, we were scanned at the door by those amazingly newfangled machines that the Straits Times reported about. Fortunately, our body temperatures were fine and I admired the psychedelic colour outlines of each passing traveller on the screen. Mum and sis didn’t even notice they were being scanned. We met up with my friend Karen who works at the airport, and proceeded to buy up the entire store check out the DFS sale.

Terminal Two was fairly empty. The occasional traveller walked around, wearing a mask. Not many of them wore it properly. One man actually fidgeted with his mask, took it out and put it back on again. A big Middle Eastern man pulled the mask atop his head, making him look like he was wearing a ridiculous hairband. They might as well not have bothered wearing any at all!

The flight was uneventful, save for a white male passenger sitting in front of us who kept on coughing. I wondered how they let him through. I’m pleased, however, to report that when we landed in Perth there was no manic SARS witch hunt.

After claiming our baggage, I proceeded to the Green Zone by myself, as mum honestly decided to declare the mint sweets she had brought with her, and Vicki followed her. I stood in the queue, wondering what kind of questions they’d interrogate me with.

The Customs lady looked at my immigration card.

“A Web Designer, eh? We need a few of those!” She said jovially.

I smiled.

She proceeded to ask me a few simple questions about my health (Am I feeling well? Do I have a temperature?) and gave me another card with a 1800 toll-free number to call in case I started feeling unwell. And that was all!

We dashed out in the drizzle to the rented car, hauled our luggage in, and drove to South Perth. After checking in, we were told that there was late night shopping tonight, as tomorrow all the shops would be closed for ANZAC day. So off we went, to Westfield Carousel, to buy our groceries and browse the shops. It was very crowded.

On Saturday the real fun begins – We head on to Margaret River.

I'll be off to Perth in several hours' time. I've finished packing and am now unsure if I can stay awake long enough to catch the Man United v Real Madrid match.

My dad and sister are supporting who else but Man U. I'm going for Real but I don't think they'll do as well this time. Then again, without playmakers Scholes and Raul, you never really know how the game will turn out for either side.

I might be able to blog on the go in Perth, since mum has work to do and is bringing along her laptop (which I probably have to carry). We'll see. Oh, and I'll get to drive this time!

England's patron saint may not be English, and he may not have killed a dragon, but we still love him anyway. Read more.

Someone I knew personally has died.

He was Dr. Alex Chao, a friend of my father's, and the son of the late Professor Chao Tzee Cheng, our most famous forensic pathologist. I don't know him as well as my father does, of course, but I can say that he was very intelligent, outgoing, warm-hearted and well-spoken. [ Read the Straits Times report. ]

Last evening we were shocked to hear that he was hospitalised, but had no idea that he was already dead by then.

This previous post of mine describes how I first met Alex and his lovely family, entirely by chance. I recall that his precocious little daughter (I presume it was the older one, Beatrice) was happily dancing around the dinner table and we were all applauding her on.

The day I missed Shin Dee's birthday bash, was the day I last saw the doctor and his mother, as we were all attending the wake of a university lecturer who taught many doctors, including my own father. He actually recognised me, and waved cheerfully to my family from another table, as he was getting up to leave. That was about a month or two ago.

Sometimes you never really know when you're going to go, so make the most out of life while you can.

Note: Alex Chao's cause of death hasn't been confirmed yet, so I can't say if it was caused by the SARS virus, or Dengue fever as originally diagnosed.

[Update: It was SARS.]

This is a little morbid but touching all the same: Deceased bloggers living on through their websites. More from Wired.

The American Sugar industry has launched a ferocious attack on the WHO, for reporting that sugar should only take up a maximum of 10 per cent in our diets. They say the figure should be closer to a maximum of 25 per cent (!).

They have threatened to influence funding cuts for the Geneva-based organisation, claiming that the report, written by a group of 30 independent experts based on 23 national reports, is 'unscientific'.

Read the full story in The Guardian or The Sydney Morning Herald, which voices an opinion from the Australian health ministry.

I've just located the WHO report in question, 'Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases' (PDF, 395 kb).

And to answer claims from a previous pro-sugar campaign (involving 40 ambassadors) citing that health reports would damage the economies of developing nations, read how US trade policy favours only a few farmers anyway, leaving many third world countries out in the cold (PDF, 81 kb).

[Comments for this post have been closed.]

Oh, this is just sweeet: Talking Cock reports that the Singapore Government has just hired the Iraqi Information Minister to head our very own MITA.

My sister Vicki arrived in Singapore in the wee hours of the morning, but will be going back to Perth in a few days' time with me and my mother.

My mum's glad I managed to obtain leave, because we're planning to tour Margaret River and Vicki can't - and doesn't want to - drink wine. My parents however weaned me on shandy at the age of two, so I'm fine with pretty much anything alcoholic.

We'll probably do some shopping as well, since it is an extension of my mother's official job. If anybody has more suggestions on what else to do in Perth, do let me know!

Netcraft's April survey is out. It seems that Apache is still by far the most popular web server software, more than doubling nearest rival Microsoft's share.

It is interesting to note that Apache and Microsoft appear to mirror each other statistically. If you look at the graph, June - October 2002 for example displays a sharp increase in Apaches servers and an equally sharp decline in Microsoft servers.

While I have much to learn about servers and software, I can give two good reasons why the Apache Software Foundation is still holding their ground:

1. It's free (thus, web hosting is cheaper, and you can still work wonders in PHP, Perl and XML. Hey! That's the stuff Movable Type is made of!).

2. It's open source. Along with the likes of Linux, I'd say the open source movement is giving Micro$oft a run for its money.

The body of a 65 year old Muslim grandmother (who died of cancer) has been violated in a London hospital mortuary, covered with rashers of bacon. Read the full report in the Guardian.

I don't blame the old woman's family for being shaken and appalled. It is a horrifying act, most irresponsible and insensitive, and does absolutely nothing to address growing racial and religious tensions. In fact, it's more than downright childish; it's unimaginably warped.

(Not that I have any real authority over this, but) I condemn this act.

This makes me all the more glad that this sort of thing has never happened in Singapore. The race riots in the 1960s don't even come close to what's happened. Racial and religious harmony is something we often take for granted.

If you ran an internet consulting company, which of the following would you do?

• Purchase software or extensions to make your web pages accessible to everybody.
• Send your staff for courses on how to build usable, standards-compliant and accessible websites, instead of living with code that is archaic, bloated and difficult to update.
• Alternatively, give your staff time off to experiment on their own and encourage them to learn newer technologies and languages such as XML and even FML.

Or is this something you never considered before, or don't see as important? After all, you've a business to run. As long as the work's done quickly, the images are nicely spliced up and the web page looks fine on Netscape 4, you're happy. Training is expensive, and your employees can do without it.

As for accessibility, a web page is a web page, after all, and handicapped people really shouldn't be on the Internet. Why bother spending more time improving on things the client won't appreciate?

The last answer was a response my chief web coordinator from Project Eyeball received from a local designer / businessman (I can't remember exactly) over two years ago. Of course I have no idea if anyone's using a text-to-speech reader to view this site, but I do intend to make it more accessible to all even as I learn about accessibility. I haven't quite passed the Bobby test yet, but I'm determined to get it right one day.

There's one thing I agree with the US Government on, and that's section 508. People can and have been sued for making inaccessible websites in (where else but) America.

Check out also the W3C's Guidelines on accessibility.

Happy Easter, everybody. Let's make the world a better place in the best way we can.

It appears that the Iraqi Information Minister's influence has pervaded even English football commentary. A Guardian reporter for the most recent Manchester United v Arsenal clash, writes, after van Nistelrooy's opening goal:

Hilarious stuff. And I'm sure many more M.A.S. tributes abound.

Today after a big workout at the gym, my instructor tried his utmost to stretch my unfit body in various ways. Bending forward with one leg crossed over the other. With his knee pressed into my back, arms pulled behind me. Lying down, with knee pointing to the side, leg pressed towards my head...

It helped that he looks like Japanese soccer star Nakata, because little else would take my pain away. And that was where he discovered that my right arm, while stronger than my left, was not as flexible (or, shall we say, 'backward compatible').

[ We interrupt this post to bring you photos of the real Hidestoshi Nakata. Mmm! Official site's photographs here, another nice photo here ]

Being a part-time web designer himself, he reasoned that I sat too long at my desk and my right arm has sort of 'retracted', from holding the mouse and stylus all the time. My left arm, however, has been very much a free agent, used at times to bop errant colleagues on the head when they stray too near to my desk partition.

I was advised to stretch my arms whenever I can, preferably by leaning my arm against a door frame. Sigh. The hazards of a desk-bound job.

In other news: This is my three hundredth post. So while this blog's not exactly old, it's not that ... young anymore. And in a month's time, I myself will be a quarter centenarian. Urgh. Da pain, da agony.

Two Safaris: take your pick, Apple or O'Reilly.

Blair's administration apologises for asking a British woman widowed by the war to return her late husband's pay and move out of her armed forces home.

The NY Times reports that coalition forces overlooked Iraqi museums, focus instead on protecting oil wells. It was always a question of priorities, after all.

BBC reports that the Iraqi national library has been razed. Ancient Islamic scripts have been destroyed. Check out the Iraq section of the UNESCO website for more information on how the UN is dealing with this destruction of cultural heritage.

Those who are getting crossed eyeballs reading too many different war blogs can instead point their browsers to Warblogs.cc.

More on my Iraq Special page.

I had a long chat with my big boss today, and some things have turned out better than I hoped. He recognised my real interests, addressed my concerns, and I will be undergoing a job title change soon.

If all goes well, I will be travelling more frequently and doing things I've only dreamt of doing before. Just when I was resigning myself to the fact that my code and all my preachings about web standards and accessibility were going out of the window, he presented with the opportunity to teach and implement these principles - and this time I may have the authority to do so, tyrant that I am.

The amazing thing was, my career was something I've been praying about fairly consistently, and just last night I cried out once again for guidance in my prayers. Then, today I was presented with an opportunity to speak with my boss when I bumped into him at the door, but then I decided not to spoil his day. Next thing I knew, he called me over for a chat, so I guess it was something I couldn't avoid!

So thanks be to God for giving us this opportunity to communicate with each other once again, because it really did me a world of good. Amen.

Let's sign this online petition in support of our brave medical staff.

The observant reader may notice that I've added a Blogshares logo to my website. This was to confirm that I am indeed the owner of vantan.org (not like anybody else would want to claim it, but, well...). I discovered, after reading Andrea's post, that I too have been included in the index as of March 2003.

I'm more amused with this new stock market than anything else - seeing how my valuation isn't exactly going to make me go IPO any time soon. Pundits, be warned!

From what I gather, Blogshares.com works by calculating the value of incoming links. There are a few bugs, though:

Only links from home pages are indexed.
Only sites that ping weblogs.com will be included in the indexing.

Well, whatever. I've been having fun playing Oanda's real-time Forex game. I unintentionally made a huge profit on September 11 a few years ago, but that was a most unfortunate fluke.

I am pleased to announce that my uncle, Yeow, has launched his second album. He will be performing at Hard Rock Cafe on April 24, 2003. More info on the Planet MG website, where you can also win his CD.

You can listen to two of his tracks (Windows Media Player):
This Generation (his first single from the album)
Run

He still sounds a bit like U2's Bono.

I was keeping an eye on MIT's Blogdex and noticed a very new and popular site: We Love the Iraqi Information Minister. The site has been overwhelmed with hits so it's being moved to a more capable server at the moment, but I'd like to see how it develops.

And I think Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf does deserve some recognition for his comedic talent. I wonder if he's still alive.

[ The Registry claims responsibility for readers who have downed its server after publishing an article about the site. They report that the site can be viewed here in the meantime. ]

[ Jan from Belgium sends two more links: A soundboard where you can play back his voice and make all sorts of funny sentences, and another fan website. ]

I don't mean to be anal, but ...

My father pointed out to me last night that 'SARS' is simply the syndrome. So if we are referring to the illness then we should call it 'the SARS virus'. Just as AIDS isn't actually the virus, just the syndrome representing it. Something to bear in mind the next time we refer to it.

More news snippets.

Do surgical masks help? As mentioned in the Straits Times recently, the N-95 is more effective than other masks, BUT the amount of particles it can filter also depends on which company manufactured it. Also, the coronavirus in question may be small enough to slip through anyway. Slate investigates.

Panicking doesn't help.

I know it shouldn't be a laughing matter, but it is sometimes amusing to see how people react when faced with the possible proximity of the virus.

My uncle's colleague recently had to deal with a patient who told him he had just returned from China and had a cough. Following the rules the patient had to be quarantined at once. He was sent to an empty room, avoiding contact with anyone else, and an ambulance was called to take him to Tan Tock Seng hospital - which was where he should've gone in the first place!!

What didn't help was that other patients outside in the waiting room saw the ambulance, and one ran out of the clinic, screaming hysterically and refusing to return.

Nothing else has happened so far in the clinic, and I hope it'll stay that way. People of Singapore, please stay calm. There's no point causing a panic that may be uncalled for.

In fact (and this is my own unscientic opinion but I just checked with dad and he says I'm right) if you panic and run about, won't that lower your immunity level? My gym instructor told me that's one reason why people are avoiding the gym.

So, I repeat: stay calm! Don't cause a stampede. We'll get through this together :)

I wrote in to USC Admissions the moment I received my rejection notice:

They replied to me just now.

I feel ... vindicated. And I don't feel so stupid anymore.

I feel very sorry for those who have been labelled as 'super infectors' by the Government and media. Not only are they ill, they run the risk of being treated as society's scapegoats in the wake of the SARS epidemic.

"Esther Mok infected the whole lot of us," health minister Lim Hng Kiang said at a recent press conference. Source: Yahoo News. Yet, authorities are reportedly afraid to release her, as it may spark a media frenzy. I wonder why.

Was it solely her fault for being highly contagious, for a reason our researchers have yet to uncover? While it may be a fact that some people have a higher propensity for transmitting the virus, we should focus instead on how to identify and immediately isolate these 'super infectors'. And move on from there.

Public education is most important now. It's time we thought of the wider community, and not ourselves. Our behaviour could save, or cost, lives.

For instance, I've heard a report of how another Singaporean with fever refused to go directly to Tan Tock Seng hospital. Instead, he/she went for a checkup at another hospital which was not equipped to handle the SARS virus. This patient's reason? He may not have SARS, so why should he put himself at risk of catching it there?

This person had the SARS virus, and also infected two or three other medical staff from the other hospital who were neither equipped nor protected against the virus.

There are repercussions every time a new medical institution is hit with the virus. That means that wards get closed, staff get sent home, and other patients who seek treatment for non-SARS related illnesses are put on long waiting lists or denied treatment outright.

I hope Singaporeans see the bigger picture, and realise that we now bear a heavy responsibility. On hindsight, I am thankful to the many more patients who did go to the right hospital, thereby protecting other people from catching the virus from them.

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that this sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
(Shelly)

[ Update: While the pro-war networks celebrate this liberation, Indymedia reveals a wider shot which shows how few people were actually there. I smell a rat. ]

[ Further update: People from the Right are, naturally, refuting the validity of the photograph. There are certainly more people shown in their photographs, but the street behind it is still fairly empty, as I recall it was when I saw it on BBC / CNN. So it's not a handful, but not exactly a mob either. You decide. ]

Tariq Aziz, Iraqi defence minister calls a meeting of all Saddam's doubles after the latest attempt on Saddam's life.

"Guys, I have good news and bad news for you", he says.

"First the good news: our glorious leader Saddam escaped death in the last bomb blast.

"The bad news is that he's lost an arm."

Heh. Thanks to Chris for cheering me up a little with this joke.

[ Denyse just sent me this Dancing Bush plaything. It's cute! ]

I didn't get the place.

I'm trying to find out if there was any particular factor behind it, and see how I can improve myself. Unless of course it's my measley university grades that influenced it. That I cannot change.

I did clear my GRE. They only needed 1000 points for two subjects. I think they received all my documents (eventually). I think all my references were fine. I had samples of published work. And I also told them to view my weblog.

I can't think anymore.

Argh. I'm waiting for news from the university, to see if they've given me the Masters place. All plans have been postponed for months, because this is my number one priority. Everything depends on this.

If I get a place, I need to make arrangements pronto. Find a place to stay. Get the fees paid. Book my flight tickets, call my relatives in California. See if they want me to go for a SARS checkup, heh. Quit my job.

If I don't get a place, I'll continue doing what I'm doing now, until it kills me. Sometimes I wonder why people hire designers when they still want to control the design. I'm more like an executor. 'Make it better', I've been told. How? They don't know. Or, make the colour brighter.

Nobody knows how (ahem) carefully I code my pages for my clients, so that everything's clean, easy to update and program, and the file size is smaller.

Nobody cares that I label all my images with ALT text, let along the occasional longdecriptions. Maybe a few blind people out there have noticed. Everyone else, after all, is able to see, so they don't need to know that I use header tags.

Nobody knows how often I curse under my breath (today was a fine example) when hideous font tags are added to my code. Or how often I sneak back in to a folder and abolish all of them ... how dare they overrun my preciousss stylesheet.

Tomorrow the same will happen to me. And thus my life drones on, day after day, not being taught anything new; earning less than when I first started working, and not likely to earn any more. Blah blah blah...

I'm teaching myself XML, I'm trying my darndest to master the slippery Actionscript, and I think I'm due for a time out so I can go wallow in self-pity some more >:-P

Then again I'm lucky I still have a job and a roof above my head. And I'm still alive. No fever, last I checked.

I guess I should be thankful.

And now, maybe I should give USC a call. Pray for me.

[ Update: No news yet! I ended up speaking to the answering machine. Sob. Why can't I have a future?? ]

Jason Kottke hits the nail on the head - everybody is biased. If you truly support freedom of speech, let's all be open about it and don't deny other networks the right to operate. Read more.

I would like to thank the following family members for coming:

Mum and Dad, for supporting me despite not being Christians themselves. Thank you for not questioning my faith or throwing me out of the house, which happened to another good friend of mine when she got baptised. I won't take that for granted.

'Mama, for bringing me to this church for nearly ten years and letting me make my own decisions. And for praying that I would come to know Christ (See - another prayer answered!).

Auntie Eve, Uncle Hooi Hwa, cousins Sheryl and Stacey, and Grand Auntie Lee Leng (whose birthday is also today). I am so happy to see our extended family come together for this occasion.

I would like to thank the following friends who made it to my church:

My best pal Vanessa Heng, for being there for me (real early too, at 9.20 am)and supporting me in everything I've chosen to do. For having the guts to drive halfway across Singapore, into unfamiliar territory, to sit in a Protestant church by herself >:-)

Queenie, for walking together with me, and for all the insights you've shared with me as you've grown in His light; Wanxi, for standing up against adversity, for listening to me for the last several years without judging me; Gwen, Denyse and Shin Dee, for being there for me, and for the gentle encouragement you've shown.

My old friend and colleague, Alison, for surviving the mission trip, bringing me along for Bible talks and showing me the ropes.

Church friends: Newlyweds Kenneth and June, soon-to-be-wedded Kristen and Mark, Christine, Ricky and Janice, Michael and Esther, Auntie Linda, Uncle SQ and Min Yen, and everybody else who was somewhere around whom I didn't get the chance to speak to. Vicar Loren Fox for guiding me through baptism.

To the medical teams working overtime in hospitals: I salute you.

To all the nurses now afflicted with SARS, including the 21 from the Singapore General Hospital who have just caught the virus: You are brave, you have performed your duties and I pray that you will survive this ordeal.

We should be proud to have you with us, fighting to save lives: While the rest of the public locks themselves up at home trying out peculiar home remedies, hoarding antibacterial products and jumping with fear every time a neighbour sneezes.

While landlords reportedly tell foreign nurses to move out of their flats, and taxi drivers refuse either to take them as passengers or drop them at the hospital.

Our nurses are shunned and stigmatised, simply for doing their jobs. Ha - other people get promotions or a raise.

On a related note, I saw a man at Specialist Centre today, wearing a face mask. I could see a gap between the mask and his face. Obviously he didn't wear it properly. I wondered what the point was.

Face masks are going for S$0.60 at a Guardian pharmacy. I felt like walking about wearing one, after drawing a smiley mouth on it.

Maybe I should.

Some of you have seen me through my darkest moments, when I rejected the Light, thinking I could carve out my own destiny. Temptation haunted me, causing my life to spiral out of control. But I now know the true path, and I trust in my Shepherd to guide me through the Valley of Darkness.

To the dear friends I've invited to witness my baptism: If you're concerned about SARS, you don't have to attend the service this Sunday. I will understand. One old friend is unable to do so precisely because she works in a hospital handling SARS patients.

And it's time I made my testimony. I've decided to place it online, which you can read here.

Local creative online collective, the2ndrule, is organising an online protest:

Click through the teaser (it's really cute).

It all started off with K10K syndicating their content and showing us how to do use their newsfeed. As part of the learning process, I've taken some of your RSS / XML feeds too, and regurgitated them on this website. More details on the page itself.

{ WHO report on SARS | S'pore Health Ministry homepage }

During our lunch break today we made a visit to the newly-renovated NTUC along Tanjong Pagar Road. It was fairly crowded. I haven't seen so many people in Singapore for the last week or two!

While weaving in between the aisles, I noticed a little boy throwing a tantrum and pulling his dad's arm. I was near enough to hear what he was complaining about.

"No mask?! Dad-deee I wan' a mask!" He sounded quite unhappy and a little frightened.

The father was unmoved: "Here got no more mask. Dad-dee will get one from the office tomorrow okay?"

I moved away from them and eventually found myself at the toiletries section. There I noticed that almost all the bottles of Dettol wash were sold out.

After which, I noticed a chemist's deeper inside the supermarket. A sign was placed near the cash register: 'Sorry face mask out of stock'.

A colleague mused, "Hmm. Should I buy some Vitamin C?"

England versus Turkey. Old world meets New. It depends on how you look at it. On one hand Turkey has never scored a goal against England before, being whipped as badly as 8-0 in the last several years.

On the other hand, Turkey came out third in the most recent FIFA World Cup, the only team to defeat both hosts, South Korea and Japan. Both England and Turkey were beaten by Brazil, the eventual winner, with respectable 1-goal margins (2-1s and a 1-0).

Turkey has played more convincingly than England in this current series, trouncing Liechtenstein 5-0 compared to England's paltry 2-0. It will field international players such as Emre Belozoglu (Inter Milan, lethal and very cute), Tugay Kerimoglu (Blackburn Rovers) and experienced goalkeep, Rüstü Reçber. Alpay Ozalan, better known for warming the bench at Aston Villa, now has a chance to prove himself, as he says, to England.

Playboy striker Ilhan Mansiz, the fiery Hasan Sas (still my favourite) and veteran Hakan Sükür may yet surprise us with another performance reminiscent of the World Cup, despite their relatively poor current form.

The Turkish team is now ranked 7th in the world while England is 9th. However, the betting odds are still in favour of an England win. Earlier this week, the under-21 teams played to a draw in Newcastle.

Turkey is already at the top of the table, and nothing much may happen to Turkish coach Senol Gunes if they lose or draw. But Sven Goran Eriksson's job is on the line if England don't win this match convincingly. They've already lost to the Aussies, traditionally more famous for cricket than soccer, and drawn 2-2 with Macedonia, which Turkey have beaten.

Security will be stepped up this evening at Sunderland. Previous Turkey-England clashes have resulted in violence.

Ye gads. First there was BBC's Celebdaq. Now we have Blog shares. Which makes this humble little site the equivalent of a nonprofit...

[ Link from Notsosoft. ]

“It is clear that within the United States there is growing challenge to President Bush about the conduct of the war and also opposition to the war ... The first war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance. Now they are trying to write another war plan.”

Pulitzer-prize winning news reporter Peter Arnett has just lost his job with NBC for appearing in an interview with Iraqi state TV. The reason is that his actions have 'affected his objectivity'.

A weblog is good for many things, but not if you're looking for a single page listing information on the war in Iraq. So I've just made one.

This page isn't exactly the definitive guide to anything at the moment but I'll update it regularly. Contributions welcome.

Michael Moore on why he made that speech.