Saturday, August 29, 2009

Netriders Competition, Singapore

We are going to have 5 teams (3 students per team) to represent us. Mr Leong PK will lead a team from the World Skill Singapore (WSS) while I nominated two from my classes:
Team 1: Wong Yong Hui, Brandon Ng, Chen Jingwen
Team 2: Chan Qi Feng, Tan De Neng and Ng Ze Kai
Team 3: Tang Hoi Him, Phua Joon Kai Eugene, Poh Leong Aik
Team 4: Koh Lin Xin, Ler Ze Chen, Chua Cheng Han
Team 5: Li Si long, Zhuo Mingde, Vivian Luah

Date: 9 October 2009, Friday
Time: 9am - 5pm
Venue: Nanyang Polytechnic, Block L, level 5
Coverage: CCNA + 10% CCNP

Goodies:
Goodie bag, T-shirt, notepad, pen and refreshment from Cisco Systems
CCA points & NP windbreaker
A chance to win attractive prizes and represent Singapore.

The objectives of the competition is to
1. reward and recognise top students.
2. encourage interaction amongst students at a national level as they compete.
3. motivate students to study harder to succeed.
4. identify top talent for recruitment prospects.
5. increase awareness of NetAcad program to employers through media coverage.
6. Encourage contestants to continue their studies in the IT field.
Click here for more details.

Friday, August 28, 2009

DIY Remote Monitoring (Science Month '09)

Update: 12 places taken up. Vacancies still available.
FREE ADMISSION
PRE-REGISTRATION NEEDED
Date/Time: 7 Sep 09, Monday/ 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Target audience: Public
Venue: Ngee Ann Poly, Blk 8 Level 4 Room 3
Have you ever wished you could occasionally keep an eye of your loved ones at home while you are at work? Well, this workshop shows you how this can easily be done.
This workshop will
1. demonstrate and teach participants on the use of web cam for remote monitoring of premises, the elderly, junior or maid at home.
2. teach participants how to setup the PC to observe what their children did on the computer from a remote site. We will be using ICU (freeware) and WebWatcher (award winning software).

Contact person: Mr Low Chee Kin
Send an email to lck2@np.edu.sg to register for the workshop. Registration closes on 3/9/09
Click here for the full list of events during the Science Month '09.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Network Security & Hacking (Science Month '09)

Update: We have only 11 registered participants so far. Please encourage your friends to sign up. The show will still go on even with a single audience.

FREE ADMISSION
PRE-REGISTRATION NEEDED
Date/Time: 8 Sep 09, Tuesday/ 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Target audience: Secondary School Students
Venue: Ngee Ann Poly, Blk 8 Level 4 Room 3
Objectives of the workshop:
To safely surf & test downloaded software
To choose an RF channel for home WLAN
To hide data using Stenography
To communicate with remote servers, switches and routers.

The highlight is a hands-on online competition called King-of-the-Hill .This is a multi-player online game where participants charge up a 'hill' by telnetting to the router/switch in front of them. Their progresses are beamed live onto the projector for the audience to cheer them on. The first to reach the top of the hill is the King-of-the-Hill. Prizes will be awarded to the first five winners.

Contact person: Mr Low Chee Kin
Send an email to lck2@np.edu.sg to register for the workshop. Registration closes on 3/9/09
Click here for the full list of events during Science Month '09.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Painted Skin

In the movie, Painted Skin, a lady ghost catcher had a precious sword that could only be unshielded from its scabbard by the right person. Nobody could do it. Not her or her grandfather. Not by strength alone. It piqued our curiosity: Why? Who could do it? What power does it have? An aka King Arthur.
When the answer was revealed, I was all ears. I liked its explanation: the sword could only be unshielded by love not hatred. In a desperate act to save her love, the ghost catcher was able to remove the sword and used its effects. The sword even loses its power when wielded by another person.
Painted Skin was adapted from the original Chinese Ghost Stories (聊斋志异). The author, Pu Song Ling, was way ahead of his time.

Monday, August 10, 2009

One particular lunch I had in Australia

While watching the 44th National Day Parade, I was reminded of a lunch I have had with a Caucasian in Australia. I worked for a short period of time in Sydney in 1995. One day, I was having lunch at a cafe and a total stranger came in and sat opposite me. We started talking, after he realized that I was from Singapore. He started to berate Singapore for all the stereotype that the Western media wanted their readers to believe – no freedom of speech, no chewing gum, no smoking, no picking of flowers, no littering; he went on and on.
At the end of his ranting, I told him that as a child, I stayed in a 1-room flat with four other siblings, my parents did not have much expectations of us. In 1995, I owned and stayed in a executive apartment, drove my own car, a graduate and a decent job. I attributed the transformation for the better to our government and I have great respect for them. I gave him some examples to show that the Singapore government has foresight. After I finished, he did not utter a single word.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Iron Man

We watched Iron Man yesterday and left feeling good about it. I was expecting a WWII type of setting given that I knew about it when I was a child. It was a pleasant surprise to find that the story was transplanted into our modern day world which would relate better to the younger generation.
The protagonist’s change in attitude was told in a convincing manner. He started off as a cocky and over-confident man who believed that ‘there is peace as long as he has the bigger stick’ to the realization that his weapons were killing those he sought to protect.
His ability to escape was due to his engineering skills – it gave a feel-good effect and it certainly resonance with the engineers out there.
As he was perfecting his suit; it gave the impression that he was on his way to invincibility. I was beginning to wonder what surprise they could churn out to make us want to root for him. The story could well degenerate to what happened in X-Men evolution: The Origin of Wolverine. I remembered my son’s comment on the latest X-Men installment:
“How exciting it is to see an indestructible man grunting his way around?”
Iron Man outdid itself when it came up with a more powerful enemy in the form of his business partner who stole his technology and he had to fight with a his old and depleted power pack.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Ip Man

After watching the movie, Ip Man, I said, “I enjoyed the movie.”
My eldest son retorted, “But there is no quotable quote.”
I replied, “Well, I liked it when he said, ‘There is no such thing as being afraid of one’s wife, only RESPECT.’”
The next day, I suddenly recalled a funny exercise (a physical exercise for the physically challenged) my wife taught us. It so happened that this son was just beside me. I asked him to do the exercise. He promptly followed my instructions which was quite unusual given his character. It was so funny to see a lanky fellow like him doing that exercise but I had had to put up a straight face.
At the fourteen count (my wife said that the exercise is to be repeated fourteen times), my son sprang up to me, our faces almost touching each other and said cheekily, “There is no such thing as being afraid of my father, only RESPECT.”
Both of us broke into spontaneous laughter.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Keeping Toman as pets

About two months ago, my son was drying his school shoes on the window sill and one of the shoes dropped into my fiber glass ‘pond’. The freak accident decimated my ‘colony’ of shrimps and with it my pride and joy. The last time something like that happened was many years ago when my wife’s orchid dropped into the same pond. The pesticide in the pot of orchid killed almost everything in the pond, notably my daughter’s school of guppies.
A perpetual optimist that I am, I see it as an opportunity to start something new, something different. I decided to keep snakehead fish or Toman. They are well known for being hardy. I have always enjoyed watching a particular Toman in NP pond (outside NP Convention Centre). Every time, I pass by the garden, I would detour and try to look for it.
My good friend, Quek SK, bought me three snakehead and they have been with me for one week already. I am very happy with them for they are such active swimmers bring much life to my pond. I have no qualm about eating them when they are bigger but my family protests to no ends.

Comment from Quek SK:
In America Toman is a pest not pet.
You have foresight. Spore is trying to reduce food imports thru fish farming.
If every household do what you do Spore can be self sufficient in food.
This morning I saw a toman at BT hawker aquarium fish shop.
About 2.5 inch.
Best Regards, qsk

Update:
My wife booted the snake-head fishes out of the house after they gave my children nightmares. The Tomans swam in the middle section of the water. They were not interested in surface food like flaks or worms at the bottom of the pond. The only food they went for were other fishes. The way they attacked other fishes was so vicious that it upset my wife and that sealed their fate as well.
There goes my Toman dinner.