Whew... September

I guess September has come and gone. Well, it is kind of unfortunate that the promotional examinations have to take place on that month, and it wasn't easy either.
I'm starting to have a ominous feeling about GP. Maths, PHY, CHEM, ECONs seem quite okay, though General Paper (and mother tongue) are the hurdles. Let's hope...
Well, now I know why almost half of the school population got retained in its first 2 years... in order to promote, one would need to pass ALL subjects (except 2 H2s where by you need to get at least a Sub-Pass [Sub-Pass != Pass]).
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Back to PostItLive (my news site). Maintaining it was never easy, well, at least for my web host. :D My site grew quite slowly because I was dedicating my time to study as well. At least effort paid off - well, to a person owning a site, some pages in my site are somewhat "valuable". In addition, PostItLive has quite a lot of content - 340+ posts! Well, at least it is a milestone for my site, though most other blogs probably hit 1500+ posts anyway.

At long last, got a domain for my news site. Though, it is not PostItLive, it is TEvine. I haven't got my site ready - must have been too busy hunting domains. Well, at least I have a domain with some potential in it. I hope I'll get this site ready soon.
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I just noticed something - some of my friends blog got deleted (e.g. Jacob, Si Kai). Maybe it could be they deliberately self-destructed their blog, or maybe Google did it for them. Only more active blogs remained.

Ongoings: July 2007

The mid-year results are out, and I must say, its a good thing I improvised on that study method ("multi-tier studying") and answering method ("hit and run", due to lack of time). I knew the papers were never easy, and I was proven right. At least I managed to pass almost all my subjects, with the exception of my Mother Tongue (mistakes do happen :/). I managed to skim by my H2s with a D (except for H2 Maths, where I had a B), while H1s has an E. My results are a stark contrast to my fellow peers, some of them are even counting their Us (ungraded) rather than their passes. I feel kind of fortunate that I managed to actually pass the mid years on the whole, while majority were still hit by the very fact that the O levels aren't the A levels - it's one step higher, and so are the difficulty of the tests.

What are my next targets? I do still hope to improve, especially for the upcoming examinations (not just the Promos, but the A levels). I still have plan B, but I'll not use it until the situation becomes very dire.

I'm still updating my previous blog - PostItLive. While not as active as it used to be, it is still continually maintained.

Wow, yet another water sprout

It's just been about 5 months since the last famous watersprout was spotted in Singapore. There is a new flurry of excitement as many people watched the water sprout's formation. Obviously, those who are near it get the "front row seat" (the Parkway Parade residents). This water sprout is seen even from Suntec City, even though it occured a distance away at East Coast. Although the water sprout lasted for 15 minutes, it is probably a great experience for many, and to some, it is a nice memory of the most famous water sprout that happened near Sentosa.

Though, water sprouts are actually not uncommon (a few water sprouts occur per year, but most of them are rarely documented), but yet we make a nice fuss about it. Well, it could be that, very few water sprouts occur (within 1 km for visible viewing) close to land. Water sprouts rarely cause damage in-land (if they don't make landfall).

There are no damages reported arising from the phenomenon.

Noted from ChannelNewsAsia

Arg...! Calculator madness

Gee... now I missed my old calculator. Thinking that a Casio scientific calculator can calculate just like the Sharp scientific calculator [since they are after all, scientific calculators], used to be my original opinion, but now...
For some reason, I had to replace my Sharp calculator since I've sort of lost it... [while doing homework in school]

Imagine, having input something that looks structurally correct on the calculator, but both calculators end up getting different answers!

Example:
1/288*2/3^(5)

On my Casio calculator, the output was 1/34992 [wrong].
On my sister's Sharp calculator, the output was 1/2187 [correct].



However, if I input:
(1/288)*(2/3)^(5)
into my Casio calculator, it outputs the correct answer [that is, 1/2187].
However, it wastes time, something of an absence in tests...

Hmm, that would be extremely disadvantageous during the exam.

Updates, more updates

My news site
My news site (PostItLive) has gone on several updates since I last talked about it here.

My news site is here: http://postitlive.110mb.com/

I've added a nice feed in this blog coming from my news site (PostItLive). It is viewable on the right.

For one, it's URL has changed (and it will change again in the near future). Another change is the site layout, and it's usage of "tags" to categorize posts.

Of course, these may not mean much to you, but hey, at least this blog would be "updated" by talking about it here :P.

P.S.: I need editors on it, to cater to other topics (like "general" and "off-topic").

*I've edited most of the links in this blog, so that you can visit the blog through any of my older posts.

My school
I'm still in MJC (Meridian Junior College). I'm actually quite surprized that Marcus is there too (though, in a different CG).

O level results (for 2006 candidates) released: Comfirmed by MOE

MOE has comfirmed the release of the O Level results. It will be released on the 9th of Febuary, Friday, 2007.
The results can be collected from the Secondary School.

You can view the press release from MOE (Ministry of Education).
Press release: http://www.moe.gov.sg/press/2007/pr20070205a.htm

Recent ongoings

It's a pity I caught a cold recently. It came with a sore throat too... Well..., it kind of distracts me from the lectures and all that. By tomorrow, I guess we will be receiving the "permanent" timetable (effects through next 2 months).
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There is only a handful of students from our school who managed to make it to MJC (via PAE or DSA).
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I would have to take a pass for that class barbeque (on the 14th of January) (I almost forgot about it, but still wouldn't want to go anyway...), since I do not want my cold and coughs to worsen.
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The O' level results *may* be coming out on the 8th of February (but 1 thing is for certain, it will come out earlier than the 18th of February, which means, the mood of the Chinese New Year would be dependent on these results).
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My parents managed to signup for Starhub Maxonline (yay, finally we would be able to enjoy speeds 5x faster than now). The new internet service should take effect by the 20th of January.
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I'm waiting for Windows Vista to come out for general public release (Main event: 29th January at Times Square, USA). (31 January 2007 should be plentiful. Hopefully it would reach Singapore by this time.)
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I'm still working on my Newsblog (PostItLive) (an online newspaper). I still need more editors, moderators, and administrators (contact me via Email).

SingNet Saga, a TRUE story (SingNet, once again lets another customer down)

I do not want to sit in front of a computer only to see a "Page Cannot Be Displayed" message comming out here and there while surfing the net. Its really annoying, and dissapointing to think that we pay people who do not give 100% of what they promised. I'm convinced to switch over to Starhub MaxOnline. (Insert farewell message to SingNet here).

Here is the proof of the downtimes (using Command prompt "ping" command) [192.168.1.254 is the local modem, accessable only by the family using the modem only]:
C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),
C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),
C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=8ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=6ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=8ms TTL=255
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 6ms, Maximum = 9ms, Average = 7ms

Now here is another downtime, which occured 20 minutes after the above one.

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=8ms TTL=255
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 2, Lost = 2 (50% loss),Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 8ms, Maximum = 13ms, Average = 10ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=255Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=255Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=255Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=8ms TTL=255
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 3ms, Maximum = 9ms, Average = 6ms

Here is yet another recorded downtime (occured 5 minutes after the one before this) that occured today (24 Dec)

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),
C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=1753ms TTL=255
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 1, Lost = 3 (75% loss),Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 1753ms, Maximum = 1753ms, Average = 1753ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Nicholas Kwan>ping 192.168.1.254
Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=255
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 4ms, Maximum = 7ms, Average = 6ms

Other than that, there are 4 other unrecorded downtimes (2 detected by Google, Blogger while writing this post). So SingNet/SingTel, is this your Christmas Eve present for one of your customers? Its NOT very amusing, its very incovenient. Even if you unintendedly do this (which you probably do), please let your customers be heard.

SingNet Saga, a TRUE story (Arg... Singnet internet connection getting bad)

Oh gee... During the time when I wanted it to be good, it never turns out that way (except on late June). The poor internet connection makes me wonder if all the information downloaded actually passes through a thin wire which is 1mm thick. Singnet, happens to be... one of those few PAID services that upseted me. I didn't want to go to tech support. Why? They would reply with a standard answer: "Okay, we will send someone down there to check on it (the modem)". The worst of the internet connection was last year, where we had a 6 day downtime on the internet connection. The reason? Someone apparently hacked into the sysem and changed the password. So far, the only person who knew the password and WEP key is my father. After much negotiation, the problem is eventually solved... much later.
The next series of downtimes occur on July, 2006. It seems that the internet connection was suddenly going on and off at random intervals during the day. By then, my father had given me administrative access since I use the internet most of the time. I had to reset the modem when the connection was horrid. I kept manual downtime logs for future reference (and proof to SingNet/SingTel). My father noticed the problem more and more, since he was unable to access his email. The problem lightened up on late October, when my father changed the password once more. We cannot keep logs on who is accessing the internet connection, since we do not have a router (my father do not want to buy one I could offer to set one up, but do not have the equipment (another computer that has to be on 24/7) to do so). The internet connection is so bad, that it seems as though the internet connection in the school is 7 times better (which it is [a download there have a download speed of over 300KB/sec, while at home, the average download speed at that time was a measly 42KB/sec]).
Prior to December. and after September, the internet connection is hovering around the 0.5MBPS range (moderately slow). The internet connection speed stablelized. This was until December, where the connection speed appears to drop after the 7th of December. It worsened until it was a hassle to open my mailbox (at Gmail), access blogger, access whatever webpage. Most webpages were loading half-way. Even the Google main page can load halfway through (quite unusual, since the main page is one of the most lightest webpages online). Not long, it became a hassle to wait for webpages to load in minutes, and sometimes, its just irritating to find that the webpage just loaded halfway.
I really want my father to switch the ISP (internet service provide) from SingNet to Starhub (which may not happen in the near future). At the moment, my father decided to signup to another internet service, the well known "wireless@sg", free internet service that will be used actively next year, 2007. The arrangement (the contract that my father signed) lasts for 3 years, and will cost $0.00 (that is the "free" plan, not the "premium" one).
Personally, I do not support that plan. Why? The maximum connection speed is 512KBPS (0.5MBPS). The current service Singnet is providing to us is 11MBPS. If we are struggling with a connection speed that is supposed to be over 20 times faster than the "wireless@sg" plan, how fast would the connection speed that "wireless@sg" provide be? Oh..., and, the best part is? SingNet/SingTel is part of that programme! Oh gee.... *Sign*

Ongoings...

My newsblog going down...
Oh great... one of my sites (the new newsblog) went down due to a domain registrar (place where you sign up for domains like http://www.????????.com...) problem my web host of dealing. Anyways, I do hope that any one of you would visit my new newsblog. At the moment, a not very stable backup of it is at here. I do hope that you could suggest any ideas to improve my blog.

I hate that cold
Oh well... I got sick with a flu (within an amazing 3 hours). Whats worst, I had a sore throat and wasn't able to enjoy eating very much. The symtoms are lightening up fortunately.

Meridian Junior College entrance
Yay! I got accepted into Meridian Junior college (in Pasir Ris) via PAE (old news). Looks like I'll be joining Zul and Shenny :). I'll have to go to the Junior college on the 27th of December (wow, after my birthday!), on 7.45am for a orientation. First, I need to find the shortest (and low cost) path to reach to the JC (I'm looking out for the Ikea Tampines route).