After a recent rally on the global stock markets, we have seen 3 straight days of losses in Asia. Doubts about the global economic recovery caused stocks around the world to go lower.
The main reason for the downward trend is the fact that several U.S. economic indicators had came in below expectations. There are now fears that the markets may have been pushed up too far, too quickly. These fears are well-founded. To me, there is no reason for the upward momentum we have been seeing for the past few weeks. Evidence of an economic recovery is still sparse and what worse for Singapore is the fact that recovery in the U.S seems to be much slower than in other parts of the world. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner flatly refused to consider cutting back the U.S stimulus as he says that it’s too early in the recovery to do so.
He is right, especially when it come to the U.S economy. Economic data out of the U.S are mixed at best and the U.S dollar's role as the primary reserve currency in the world as come under increasing pressure as U.S debt keep on increasing. If Russia and China decide to abandon the dollar; look out!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
DRM Relapse
Remember when Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA IV) first came out for PC, I blog that I will not be buying it because it has DRM. I really should have followed my own advice because during the weekend, I saw GTA IV at the PC Show and bought it because it has a very good discount.
Man, do I regret it now!
GTA IV comes with an ‘Online Activation’ which you have to go online to activate it. Only problem for me is that I can’t activate it online. I tried but it keep telling me that online activation is overdue. I went to Rockstar Games website and saw that there is a manual activation. It says that during installation, there will be a box that pop-up if you are not online that you can request for an ‘Unlock-code.
It says ‘during installation’ so that means I have to uninstall it first! Ok fine, a little troublesome but I gave it a shot. I uninstall it, off my internet, reinstall the game and there was no pop-up box. I can’t even enter the Rockstar Games Social Club to launch the game and everytime I tried to do a manual activation, it tell me it’s overdue.
I send an enquiry to Rocjstar, it’s over 24 hours and there’s still no reply. Anyone out there know how in the world do I get the game to start?
Man, do I regret it now!
GTA IV comes with an ‘Online Activation’ which you have to go online to activate it. Only problem for me is that I can’t activate it online. I tried but it keep telling me that online activation is overdue. I went to Rockstar Games website and saw that there is a manual activation. It says that during installation, there will be a box that pop-up if you are not online that you can request for an ‘Unlock-code.
It says ‘during installation’ so that means I have to uninstall it first! Ok fine, a little troublesome but I gave it a shot. I uninstall it, off my internet, reinstall the game and there was no pop-up box. I can’t even enter the Rockstar Games Social Club to launch the game and everytime I tried to do a manual activation, it tell me it’s overdue.
I send an enquiry to Rocjstar, it’s over 24 hours and there’s still no reply. Anyone out there know how in the world do I get the game to start?
Monday, June 15, 2009
Uh…so what’s so major about this?
In what was touted as a major policy speech about his Mideast peacemaking intentions, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu called for creation of a limited Palestinian state for the first time. Good, fine and well, but the devils is in the details. Prime Minister Netanyahu say that he will only accept the state if it was disarmed.
So what Prime Minister Netanyahu wants is a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside Israel which the Palestinians will have to recognize as a state of the Jewish people, of course. In return he will then accept the Palestinian state. Now I know Netanyahu has been under intense pressure from U.S President Barack Obama, but that’s no excuse for him to be stupid. How in the world does he even dream of striking a deal with the Palestinians with terms like that? Does he truly believe that the Palestinians will accept being beside a country with over 200 nuclear warheads without even having an army of their own? That’s not even counting the Palestinian refugee problem which he also said must be "outside Israel."
Prime Minister Netanyahu has been called a lot of things but stupid isn’t one of them. It seems that this is a clear smokescreen to lift some pressure from their side, which I can understand, but this is NOT a major policy speech. It’s just a major smokescreen.
So what Prime Minister Netanyahu wants is a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside Israel which the Palestinians will have to recognize as a state of the Jewish people, of course. In return he will then accept the Palestinian state. Now I know Netanyahu has been under intense pressure from U.S President Barack Obama, but that’s no excuse for him to be stupid. How in the world does he even dream of striking a deal with the Palestinians with terms like that? Does he truly believe that the Palestinians will accept being beside a country with over 200 nuclear warheads without even having an army of their own? That’s not even counting the Palestinian refugee problem which he also said must be "outside Israel."
Prime Minister Netanyahu has been called a lot of things but stupid isn’t one of them. It seems that this is a clear smokescreen to lift some pressure from their side, which I can understand, but this is NOT a major policy speech. It’s just a major smokescreen.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
What a Joke!
After a transfer saga that lasted over a year, Cristiano Ronaldo has finally said goodbye to Manchester United and hello to Real Madrid. A lot of ink had been used to dissect his 80 million pounds move and while I’m not actually against the move, the funniest thing I read so far is how Real Madrid’s new president Florentino Perez had tried to convince the world that Madrid would make money out of the deal.
What a joke! Even if we do not add in the money they spend on Kaka and David Villa, Ronaldo’s deal is worth 9.5 million pounds in his first year with a 25% increase for every year. That’s 183,000 pound a week! That’s not even adding Kaka’s salary that is 9 million a year.
Forget the transfer fees, just the salary of these two will bankrupt most clubs. And although the Spanish giant will certainly not be bankrupt by the moves, thinking (even lying) about making money is hilarious. What a joke.
What a joke! Even if we do not add in the money they spend on Kaka and David Villa, Ronaldo’s deal is worth 9.5 million pounds in his first year with a 25% increase for every year. That’s 183,000 pound a week! That’s not even adding Kaka’s salary that is 9 million a year.
Forget the transfer fees, just the salary of these two will bankrupt most clubs. And although the Spanish giant will certainly not be bankrupt by the moves, thinking (even lying) about making money is hilarious. What a joke.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Swine Flu Epidemic
For the first time in 41 years, there is a global flu epidemic. The swine flu has now been formally declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).
It is hoped that a formal declaration will speed up vaccine production and spur governments to spend more to combat the swine flu. Although swine flu has caused only 144 deaths so far, it has reached 74 countries and infected nearly 29,000 people. By calling it an epidemic, the WHO is basically saying that swine flu is unstoppable.
The declaration has long been expected and it’s not expected to make much difference. However the swine flu is still going strong in many places in the world. In Argentina this week, thousands have flooded hospitals due to fears of the swine flu. China even quarantined the mayor of New Orleans on the slight suspicion of having contact with an infected person.
With such fears in the world, it fitting to call swine flu a global epidemic
It is hoped that a formal declaration will speed up vaccine production and spur governments to spend more to combat the swine flu. Although swine flu has caused only 144 deaths so far, it has reached 74 countries and infected nearly 29,000 people. By calling it an epidemic, the WHO is basically saying that swine flu is unstoppable.
The declaration has long been expected and it’s not expected to make much difference. However the swine flu is still going strong in many places in the world. In Argentina this week, thousands have flooded hospitals due to fears of the swine flu. China even quarantined the mayor of New Orleans on the slight suspicion of having contact with an infected person.
With such fears in the world, it fitting to call swine flu a global epidemic
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Review of Terminator Salvation
The yearly blockbuster season is on us and one of the first out of the gates is Terminator Salvation. After the classic Terminator, Terminator: Judgment Day, and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Terminator Salvation is the first movie that truly shows the war between Skynet and the remains of the human race.
The movie starts in 2003 where Dr. Serena Kogan (played by Helena Bonham Carter) convinces inmate Marcus Wright (played by Sam Worthington) to sign his body over for medical research following his execution. After his execution, the action then jumped to 2018 where John Conner (Christian Bale) leads an attack by the Resistance on Skynet.
A nuclear explosion destroyed the base and John is the only apparent survivor. After John left, a now alive Marcus emerges from the wreckage of the base. Connor arrived at Resistance headquarters and is informed by General Ashdown (Michael Ironside) that the Resistance has discovered a secret radio frequency capable of shutting down Skynet machines. Conner volunteered to field-test the radio frequency.
Marcus arrived in Los Angeles and is saved by Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) after attracting the attention of a T-600 Terminator. He learns of Judgment Day and the ensuing war between humans and machines. Leaving the ruins of Los Angeles, they reached a run-down gas station where they met up with some human survivors. Skynet attacked and Kyle was taken prisoner with some other humans. A pair of Resistance fighter planes was sent in to help by Conner but both were shot down. Marcus locates one of the downed pilot Blair Williams (played by the beautiful Moon Bloodgood) and Marcus is wounded by a magnetic land mine as they were making their way to Conner's base. The Resistance discovers that Marcus is a new type of cyborg with human organs.
Marcus believes himself to be human, and informed Conner that Skynet has Kyle Reese. As Conner decides on what to do, Blair helps Marcus escape from the base. Marcus and Conner came to a deal where Marcus will enter Skynet and help John rescue Kyle. The plan works at first, until Marcus discovers that his deal with Conner was all a trick by Skynet to kill Conner. The secret radio frequency is also fake; another ruse to kill off the Resistance. The nuclear sub that housed the Resistance HQ is destroyed by Skynet along with all the top leaders.
Marcus helps Conner in fighting a T-800 and the mission turn out successfully with the human prisoners rescued and the Skynet base destroyed. However Conner is wounded in the fight and requires a heart transplant. Marcus offers his heart for Conner, and the surgery was successful. At the end, Conner is on the radio telling the other Resistance fighters that the war is far from over.
First I will go off on the good points of the movie. Terminator Salvation is without question the most action-pack movie in the Terminator franchise. In the past movies, we see one or two Terminators in each movie, but in Salvation there are more Terminators than all the other movies combined. You have Terminators in the air, on the ground, and in the water. More Terminators equal more action and there’s plenty of that in this movie.
Not only is there more action in Salvation, there is also more eye-candy. Bryce Dallas Howard as Kate Connor must be one of the most beautiful pregnant woman to have ever grace the silver screen and Moon Bloodgood look like she just walked off a catwalk somewhere. I’m not sure if women should still look so good in a post-apocalyptic world but I’m not complaining.
I’ve read somewhere that they had to change the script when Christian Bale picked John Conner as his role instead of Marcus Wright. I don’t know how the script was originally but there are some serious loopholes in the movie. Conner secretly entered the Skynet base, so what transport was he talking about to the prisoners? “Run to the transport, Get to the transport” What transport? You are there in secret and the base belongs to Skynet! Also how did Conner escape from the nuclear blast at the start of the movie? Even if he wasn’t caught in the blast, there’s still something call “nuclear radiation” that you can’t ignore.
I always though Christian Bale is a good, if slightly over-rated, actor but I have to question why he pick John Conner over Marcus Wright because to me Marcus Wright is by far the better role. Marcus was the heart of the movie but at times he was almost ignored by director McG. Maybe if the movie had better direction by McG, Terminator Salvation would have been a better movie. The original Terminator was a classic and Judgment Day was an “almost classic” movie; Salvation is about as far away as those two movies as you can get. Salvation is basically a war movie and I have to wonder about that.
Salvation isn’t a bad movie but it will not be a classic either. In terms of ranking, I will probably put it above “Rise of the Machines” but behind Terminator and Judgment Day. I heard it’s the first of a trilogy, so maybe it’ll get better but the later movies will need to be better than Salvation. If not, the Terminator franchise may die a sad death.
The movie starts in 2003 where Dr. Serena Kogan (played by Helena Bonham Carter) convinces inmate Marcus Wright (played by Sam Worthington) to sign his body over for medical research following his execution. After his execution, the action then jumped to 2018 where John Conner (Christian Bale) leads an attack by the Resistance on Skynet.
A nuclear explosion destroyed the base and John is the only apparent survivor. After John left, a now alive Marcus emerges from the wreckage of the base. Connor arrived at Resistance headquarters and is informed by General Ashdown (Michael Ironside) that the Resistance has discovered a secret radio frequency capable of shutting down Skynet machines. Conner volunteered to field-test the radio frequency.
Marcus arrived in Los Angeles and is saved by Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) after attracting the attention of a T-600 Terminator. He learns of Judgment Day and the ensuing war between humans and machines. Leaving the ruins of Los Angeles, they reached a run-down gas station where they met up with some human survivors. Skynet attacked and Kyle was taken prisoner with some other humans. A pair of Resistance fighter planes was sent in to help by Conner but both were shot down. Marcus locates one of the downed pilot Blair Williams (played by the beautiful Moon Bloodgood) and Marcus is wounded by a magnetic land mine as they were making their way to Conner's base. The Resistance discovers that Marcus is a new type of cyborg with human organs.
Marcus believes himself to be human, and informed Conner that Skynet has Kyle Reese. As Conner decides on what to do, Blair helps Marcus escape from the base. Marcus and Conner came to a deal where Marcus will enter Skynet and help John rescue Kyle. The plan works at first, until Marcus discovers that his deal with Conner was all a trick by Skynet to kill Conner. The secret radio frequency is also fake; another ruse to kill off the Resistance. The nuclear sub that housed the Resistance HQ is destroyed by Skynet along with all the top leaders.
Marcus helps Conner in fighting a T-800 and the mission turn out successfully with the human prisoners rescued and the Skynet base destroyed. However Conner is wounded in the fight and requires a heart transplant. Marcus offers his heart for Conner, and the surgery was successful. At the end, Conner is on the radio telling the other Resistance fighters that the war is far from over.
First I will go off on the good points of the movie. Terminator Salvation is without question the most action-pack movie in the Terminator franchise. In the past movies, we see one or two Terminators in each movie, but in Salvation there are more Terminators than all the other movies combined. You have Terminators in the air, on the ground, and in the water. More Terminators equal more action and there’s plenty of that in this movie.
Not only is there more action in Salvation, there is also more eye-candy. Bryce Dallas Howard as Kate Connor must be one of the most beautiful pregnant woman to have ever grace the silver screen and Moon Bloodgood look like she just walked off a catwalk somewhere. I’m not sure if women should still look so good in a post-apocalyptic world but I’m not complaining.
I’ve read somewhere that they had to change the script when Christian Bale picked John Conner as his role instead of Marcus Wright. I don’t know how the script was originally but there are some serious loopholes in the movie. Conner secretly entered the Skynet base, so what transport was he talking about to the prisoners? “Run to the transport, Get to the transport” What transport? You are there in secret and the base belongs to Skynet! Also how did Conner escape from the nuclear blast at the start of the movie? Even if he wasn’t caught in the blast, there’s still something call “nuclear radiation” that you can’t ignore.
I always though Christian Bale is a good, if slightly over-rated, actor but I have to question why he pick John Conner over Marcus Wright because to me Marcus Wright is by far the better role. Marcus was the heart of the movie but at times he was almost ignored by director McG. Maybe if the movie had better direction by McG, Terminator Salvation would have been a better movie. The original Terminator was a classic and Judgment Day was an “almost classic” movie; Salvation is about as far away as those two movies as you can get. Salvation is basically a war movie and I have to wonder about that.
Salvation isn’t a bad movie but it will not be a classic either. In terms of ranking, I will probably put it above “Rise of the Machines” but behind Terminator and Judgment Day. I heard it’s the first of a trilogy, so maybe it’ll get better but the later movies will need to be better than Salvation. If not, the Terminator franchise may die a sad death.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Golden Wig?
Taiwan is famous/ infamous in Asia for its no-holds barred, winner-take-all political scene. Go to Youtube and I’m sure you can see some of the fights that had taken place in the Taiwan parliament. However the case I read yesterday took the cake.
A man was sentenced to 5 months jail for snatching the toupee off the head of ruling Nationalist Party lawmaker Chiu Yi. When Chiu went to file a complaint against former president Chen Shui-bian in December last year, he was met by a group of people who were in support of Chen. Huang Yung-tien, 50, who was the leader of the said-group, snatched the toupee off Chiu revealing to the whole Taiwan his bald head.
That in itself is funny, but what’s hilarious is the 5 months jail term. A 5 months jail term who tearing off a wig? Some people don’t get that much time for stealing money! What kind of wig is it? Maybe it’s made of gold
A man was sentenced to 5 months jail for snatching the toupee off the head of ruling Nationalist Party lawmaker Chiu Yi. When Chiu went to file a complaint against former president Chen Shui-bian in December last year, he was met by a group of people who were in support of Chen. Huang Yung-tien, 50, who was the leader of the said-group, snatched the toupee off Chiu revealing to the whole Taiwan his bald head.
That in itself is funny, but what’s hilarious is the 5 months jail term. A 5 months jail term who tearing off a wig? Some people don’t get that much time for stealing money! What kind of wig is it? Maybe it’s made of gold
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