Encryption is necessary

Encryption is so powerful. I posted about wireless encryption previously and that is not its only application. You can encrypt files, create encrypted volumes, secure your online banking transactions, provide privacy for your personal IM chat sessions and so much more. However, not a lot of people have positive perceptions of it... I often encounter even IT staff trying to avoid it where possible.
I can think of a thousand scenarios and stories where encryption could have saved a lot of pain. Take Edison Chan for example... he could have averted the whole PR disaster if he had stored his private "collection" in encrypted form. My friend, Figo, also had a recent incident where she thought she lost her flash drives and was upset because it contained important files. Marks & Spencer had a laptop containing employees' pension details stolen by a sub-contractor.
I'm getting side-tracked but it surprises me that a lot of people still do not take the threat of insiders seriously. People... insiders including sub-contractors have physical access to premises and more access to your corporate assets. Wake up.
Back to the topic, encryption is your friend. As you may have guessed, I have a ready-made guide on encrypting your important and personal files. Email me.

Live

Watching the Pistons vs Celtics at this very moment. Both shooting guards, Rip Hamilton and Ray Allen, are on fire in the 1st quarter... trading baskets like 2 gunslingers going head-to-head.
Half-time now... what? Sheed and KG combined for 2 for 15 shooting? Wallace with 0 but at least he has 8 rebounds.
Game over... a bruising series with a lot of physical play... the Celtics are in the finals for the first time since 1987. Looking forward to the Lakers vs Celtics matchup.

Unexpected

Did I think that the Lakers could make it to the NBA Finals this year? Yes I did but what I did not expect was them vanquishing the Spurs in 5 games.
Nothing against the Pistons but it looks like we're heading for a dream Lakers vs Celtics finals matchup. A good way of ending a long season by rekindling old rivalries. Have I mentioned that I love Sheed? Just read in a Bball mag today that he can sink 3s with his left hand* and he has done it in numerous games! That's insane... what a player. He doesn't get enough credit because he's badly misunderstood and misrepresented by the press.


* He's right handed btw for the uninitiated.

It's finally Friday

I'm always knackered by the time Friday arrives. Enjoying some clouds during a very hot Friday afternoon.

Supposed to have dinner with my bird at the restaurant, Muse, in the National Museum of Singapore but that plan was scrapped.

Oh well... I did get a chance to see the free exhibit entitled "Surrounding David" by Titarubi from Indonesia. It is a 8.5m tall David wrapped with a Kebaya fabric. I've seen the authentic David in Florence btw thus viewing this version is a bit strange to say the least. I also enjoyed admiring the new dome with its stained glass panels.

Uzbeks watch out?

Blogger with tickets to next Monday's World Cup qualifying match against Uzbekistan. A draw would be a good result *keeping my fingers crossed*

Singaporeans... please turn up to show your support. Our team needs us.

Rise and shine

Another day... another freaking early meeting. A nice view while waiting for the bus to work.

Quick glimpse of the beautiful sky before the meeting started.

Damn!!!

Kobe's latest kicks... the Nike Hyperdunk. The lightest Bball shoe ever... weighing in at 13 ounces.
Video of Kobe jumping over a speeding Aston Martin wearing them. Please... Kobe is rich not stoopid. The vid is definitely doctored.

MySpace claims a life

An irresponsible adult used MySpace to emotionally torment a teenage girl... leading her to commit suicide. People can be so cruel to each other. Prosecutors could not find a law to charge her in court but they finally found a loophole and charged her with hacking instead.

Privacy concerns

It worries me that Singaporeans don't care for privacy. Is it down to a lack of awareness or they simply do not give a damn? The Internet is a nifty and convenient means of communication but almost everything that traverses it is in cleartext... emails, IM, logins, etc.
Encryption is a common method of providing privacy. However, for encryption to work... as the saying goes "you need two hands to clap" because it requires both the sender and recipient to install a piece of encryption software. I have written guides on encrypting emails and IM conversations. You can email me if you would like to obtain copies of both. Today, I will zoom in on IM encryption.
I was recently introduced to OTR. OTR stands for Off-The-Record messaging. Simply put... it is a plugin that allows your IM conversations to be encrypted. Mac OS X users can install Adium. Adium is a chat client that supports multiple IM protocols and comes bundled with OTR. Very nice as it saves you the hassle of having to download and install OTR. It is also very stable. Linux and Windows users can utilise Pidgin. Pidgin is one of a few IM clients that interface with OTR. The Sushiman has tested it on Linux and hasn't had problems with it. I did have reliability issues with Pidgin on Windows as I kept getting disconnected. I will try to find an alternative for Windows users... akan datang.

Zzzzzzzzzzz

I declare "Hero" the Japanese movie... *drum roll*... the most boring movie I have watched this year. The storyline is pretty thin and it wasn't surprising that they decided to make the movie draggy with extremely long scenes. An example is one scene where they showed a lawyer deep in thought... that scene of him thinking must have been at least a few minutes longer than necessary. The main character also made very long winded speeches often repeating things that he had already mentioned previously.
*Big yawn* Lucky it was a rental... I think I will stick to Jap Animes.

Housekeeping

As I've gotten older (and wiser hopefully?), I've started performing some housekeeping in terms of the friends I keep. I've gotten rid of the "rubbish" and made effort to keep in touch with the good ones.
I've always been a straight forward and practical person. Am I wrong to do so? Special thanks to Jim, Figo, Jux, DS, CeCe, The Sushiman and numerous others I did not list. To many more years of friendship.

Damn!!!

This bloke's blog is a thousand times better than mine. I've added his blog URL into my list of fav links.

Too much CSI

Dilbert has watched one too many an episode of CSI.

Haha.

The Imperial March

Darth Vader leading an Orchestra of Clonetroopers performing "The Imperial March" theme.

Star Wars Lego is so cool.

Exercise is good!

The music video that launched the careers of the band "Ok Go".

Goes to show that you do not need to do something crazy or desperate. Creativity goes a long way. Apparently, they only had enough budget to rent those treadmills.

Scarlett Johansson suxs

I'm referring to her as a recording artiste. I listened to her attempt to sing on MTV. She should stick to acting... please.

Wet or hot?

The local weather has been acting up again. One minute its pouring and the next minute its blazing hot. Wet or hot? Which do you prefer?

I like rain on mornings when I do not need to work as it makes sleeping in extremely enjoyable. I like hot weather because that's when glorious clouds can be seen.

Sheed's current kicks

Saw Sheed's new kicks in yesterday's edition of Today newspaper. I like the larger Sheed trademark logo on the side of the shoe compared to his earlier model. He also removed the ankle strap from his shoes. Way cool.

Dramatic

Not as dramatic as Man U's 2 late goals in 99 but dramatic enough. I slept for only 2 hours last night but was rewarded with an intriguing game that was not as drab as I envisioned. Ronaldo scored an early goal and Chelsea had a slice of luck when Frank Lampard equalized just before half time. Chelsea hit the post twice in the 2nd half and Cech was forced into numerous point blank saves. Extra time... more drama... a quarrel ensues over a throw-in... Drogba slaps Vidic and gets his marching orders.
Penalties... Ronaldo is the first to have a penalty saved!!! John Terry aka "Mr Chelsea" is given the opportunity to be hero if he sinks his penalty attempt. Alas!!! He slips while taking his spot kick and ends up missing. Anderson scores next and Anelka up to tie the game... he doesn't look confident and as a result has his penalty saved! Man U are the champs and Terry is left weeping like a girl who had her lollypop stolen.
Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference finals was on at 9am this morning. Was in the office so I was periodically monitoring the score via NBA's website. The Spurs were leading my fav Lakers when I left for lunch. Only just found out the score this evening... another comeback lead by Kobe and the Lakers take Game 1.

Euro2008

Euro2008 is upon us soon. I've already signed up for my Euro package on Starhub Cable. Have you? I feel exploited but I can't bear to miss out. Market forces my ass.
Style of play is closely linked to culture don't you think? Beg to differ? Check out the flair of the Portuguese. The closest thing to the Brazilians.

Witness the German's efficiency. Boring but effective.

The Italians. Very passionate people... I wish they would just concentrate on playing football.

Long weekend

Before the long weekend could begin, I still had some work to be done in Raffles Place. Had Nasi Lemak for lunch at Golden Shoe. Though there was a long queue of customers patronising this stall, I had a taste but came to the conclusion that I still prefer my Punggol Nasi Lemak.

Finally, the weekend had arrived! Blogger on a fake throne before catching the movie "Sweet Rain" aka "Accuracy of Death" starring Takeshi Kaneshiro. A lot of talking... not everyone's cup of tea. Me? I don't hate it but I wasn't blown away by the movie either. Had my fav Club Sandwich from Olio on Sunday. Wasn't as good as I have come to expect. The fries were a bit soft and not fully cooked... the bacon was burnt. A pretty uneventful long weekend.

Sometimes old is better

The remake of "Get Smart" will be out in the cinemas soon.


I'm a diehard for classics I guess. I still prefer the original.

Leisurely stroll

Took a leisurely stroll along the Esplanade Bridge this evening. It was quite crowded with a number of Chinese Nationals. Decided to filter out the dim and commotion generated by them and be in a world of my own. I feel that "The Singapore Flyer" is quite poorly planned and placed. I have yet to find an optimal location to photograph the whole Ferris Wheel. Any suggestions anyone?

Words fail me

I can't dance for my life... that's why I really love this clip.

Revamp

The Bball court at Geylang Serai CC underwent a major revamp recently. I was forced to play elsewhere while it was undergoing a facelift. I'm so glad that the work has been completed. I have to say that the court looks really good now. They even brought in a new set of rims to go with the new flooring.

Take it to the next level

New Nike Football commercial directed by Madonna's husband, Guy Ritchie.

"Life is like a box of chocolates... you never know what you're gonna get"

Did you know that there is a hidden Star Wars game in OpenOffice? I utilized the portable version of Calc to confirm this. Enter =Game("StarWars") into any cell to launch the game menu.
Imagine... an office productivity suite contains embedded software hidden inside it. It would be similarly so easy to hide a malicious program into any software. Be wary and only install reputable applications.

NBA nickname

Kevin Garnett is known as "The Big Ticket". The NBA website has a nickname generator. Decided to give it a whirl and it came out with several hilarious ones to go with my name.

• Belly*
• The 9th Man
• Margarine
• The Ostrich
• Backup

* Belly... geddit? Hahahaha.

Sunrise wait

Intentionally woke up early to get to a 7.30am meeting. Saw the sun slowly illuminate the sky while waiting for the bus. 

Ended up being late for work by 45 minutes. Freaking SBS... the more they increase fares... the worse the passenger experience becomes. Can you imagine? I couldn't board 4 freaking buses because they were all full! Not to mention that out of the 4 that I couldn't get up... 2 of them were single deckers even though it was peak timing as people are heading to work.
Sickening. I wrote SBS a very "nice" feedback.

Sheed AF1s

These AF1 Supreme with Rasheed Wallace's mug on it was on sale at Far East Sq. Too bad they didn't have them in my size... the salesman was trying to convince me that I could get away with wearing them one size bigger than my actual feet!

The other one is quite cool too. It has "The Sheed" logo close to the rear. All Star edition... far out. The website I saw it on has very nice Pistons wallpapers.
Vid of "The Sheed" doing... "The Sheed"... very "creative" minds at work. Haha.

He is infamous for being a bad ass, collecting technicals and getting kicked out of games. There is another side to him.

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Yoda monument

Monument is the right word... it's huge!!! I saw the real thing in "Simply Toys" at Raffles Xchange. Would you pay S$899.90 for it?

An axe to grind

I hold a grudge against Robbie Savage because he refused to sign autographs after Blackburn's game at Pride Park. I was yelling his name because I held him in such high regard but was left disappointed (together with many others who were also screaming for him) when he headed straight up the team coach sulking.
This remark by Benni McCarthy brought a smile to my face. Benni on Robbie ahead of his return to Ewood Park... "the worst player I have ever seen in my life... he has no skill at all".

Have you given up?

I saw this equation on cable TV.
Life - dreams = job
I think Singaporean youths are told to give up their dreams and be practical. We are not a nation of risk takers. I stopped dreaming since I was in Secondary School. I remember being inspired to be a professional Basketball player watching Magic Johnson when I was growing up. I used to practice diligently everyday. My parents told me to give up that dream because it would never happen. Wonder what could have happened if I had not listened to them? Of course, there was no Yao Ming in those days to convince them that Asians can get into the NBA.

Welcome shelter

Clouds are a welcome shield against the blazing hot sun... especially over the past few week or so. Insane weather.