What a rainy day. The sky went from relatively bright to almost totally dark. The Vado nicely captured the difference in the lighting.
[flashvideo filename="http://blog.alicecheong.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/rainy-day-with-vado.flv" /]
PS: The original Vado clip, an avi file requires Xvid codec (www.mylivecam.com/xvidcodec) to view it. It has been converted to flash. Perhaps the next time I will try the other options available for web viewing. 
Apparently, Google has started saying sorry… and has been more aggressively treating certain Singapore IPs’ users with the human or robot test of captcha. I have no idea what is the exact algorithm behind it, but apparently, the same IP is not given much chance to verify itself.
My IE is showing the following.
While my Firefox is showing this (after being given a single chance of typing in at the captcha, while I didn’t take it).
Noticed any difference? The difference is that the chance of typing in the captcha is not always given once the program-IP is blacklisted. Frustrated? Maybe viewing the comments to this post helps. 
Oh. So what are the alternatives since you need a search engine, and google search refuses to cooperate? Oh yes, there are www.yahoo.com, www.excite.com, www.altavista.com, and free feel to comment more sites.
And yes, We’re sorry I’m sorry… to say, my home page URL after 2 days of constant captcha treatment, is now no longer google search.
PS: And I doubt the missing TM at the google logo means that this is a virus/trojan hacked. The same logo is shown in an article pertaining to this issue from The Inquiry.
I am quite sure, by now, everyone in Singapore, would have hear of the petition of the Serangoon Gardens’ residents who petitioned against the converting of the unused Serangoon Gardens Technical School into the foreign workers’ dorm.
We have self-righteous writers condemning these Serangoon Gardens’ residents as pathetic, prejudice, xenophobia, bigotry against poor people of other ethnic groups and nationalities, to the police and Ministry of Home Affairs concluding that their new statistics show foreigners, including construction workers, commit fewer crimes in relation to Singapore residents. We have NMP Mr Siew saying “That’s a difficult question to answer, but a large part of that fear is not really grounded in truth.” in reply to the question on whether the fears about migrant workers are justified. (More about the beautiful calculation of these statistics later.)
Now, lets look at what is “Ethnics Integration Policy“. Most people will not be familar with this policy. However, for everyone who had ever purchased new flats, resale flats, SERS (Selective En-bloc Redevelopment Scheme) or DBSS (Design, Build & Sell Scheme), they would have came across something called “Ethnic Group Eligibility”, which is the enforcement of the “Ethnics Integration Policy”. Basically, a maximum percentation is set for all ethnic groups for each block, and each neighborhood. That means, you cannot have an entire block of flats being sold to say all Malays (or for the matter all Chinese or all Indian/Others) only.
Quoting our beloved HDB website, “The Ethnic Integration Policy is to promote racial integration and harmony and to prevent the formation of racial enclaves, by ensuring a balanced ethnic mix among the various ethnic communities living in public housing estates.”
I will really wonder why such a well-thought of policy should not be apply to Serangoon Gardens, or for the matter any other areas. Serangoon Gardens’ is a residential of around 2000+ houses, while the dorm will house around 1500 foreign residents. If we apply the equivalent policy, the entire school will be equivalent to a block or more blocks. Why should a block/blocks be exempted from the equivalent per block limit? Moreover, what about the per neighborhood limit?
Oh. Ministry of National Development (MND) is not Housing Development Board (HDB). The policy don’t apply. Or, maybe, does it means that MND does not agree with our HDB policy of racial integration and harmony? Or maybe, my aged memory of the Singapore pledge “regardless of race, language or religion” is falling me?
Now, back to the beautiful calculation of these unjustified fears. Our never made public before figures from the authories say that the number of foreigners arrested last year in proportion to Singapore residents is lower. Firstly, their statistics shows that the arrest rate of work permit holders is just 277 per 100,000 total population, while the arrest rate of Singapore resident is 435 per 100,000 total population. Looks beautiful, isn’t? More Singaporean are arrested than work permit holders. But, hold it! Arrested does not mean crimes committed. It just show that our police force is able to arrest more Singapore residents than Work permit holders.
Do you remember that one can get away with assaulting stranger in Singapore? A foreigner, which you are unable to identify or track, can just hit you and walk away, and a police will not bother to run after the assaulter, as long as it is a non-grievous assault without weapon. Our in-famous Section 323 (Penal Code, Chapter 224, Section 323) is a non-seizable offence which the victim needs to get a Magistrate order, and must be able to track and identify the assaulter after the laspe of at least one day. Will such criminal ever be arrested for committed crime? How could the usage of arrested statistics be used to justified that crimes rate is low?
Beautiful statistics. The above is just one only illustrated example. What about vandalism and theft in which the culprits are never arrested? Would I even suggest that the number of reported crimes be disclosed, when beautiful arrest statistics are already given to conclude on crime rates?