Author: Grievous

心情云霄飞车

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二月十八日的心情犹如坐云霄飞车 – 先跌落谷底，后冲上云霄。现在能把一个人的心情弄到如此，肯定是和钱或者工作的保障有关系的。

这件事当然是和钱有关系。而且这件事是今年一月开始，公司被买家完全收购后就开始酝酿。随着事态的发展和越来越多国家对本国的银行注资，在欧洲的新雇主 (买家) 也无法逃避的接受了当地政府差不多整两百亿欧元的援助。

这时候大家就开始担忧了。之前公司发出的花红通知书里的数额，新雇主会不会照发? 加上美国方面对一些银行乱发花红的口诛笔伐，大家就更忧心忡忡。而且新雇主的首席执行官还说了些什么 ‘花红是额外的奖励，它首先取决于公司的业绩，之后才以个人的表现来衡量。’

放屁! 日子好时 “论功行赏” 的情况从来没有出现过，日子不好时拿我们来 “垫尸底” 的情况就常有。哇塞，金钱挂帅和资本主义代表的投资银行突然的变共产党啦!

各位可能觉得我贪得无厌，或者不知道事态的严重。但是以我这样的小职员来讲，拿到花红的数额完全无法和那些上级相比。因为那数目对他们来说就如零钱罢了。所以，在以下的日子里是否还会被雇用也是一个问题的当儿，同事们 (包括我在内) 都渴望能有花红。因此大家都非常关注上月 18日 (星期三) 新雇主发表的业绩报告。

不出所料，业绩可以用惨不忍睹来形容，亏损的数额有如天文数字。最大的震撼是首席执行官宣布花红是一分钱也不会发的。他还说了些什么 “不应该花那些自己没赚到的钱” 的大道理。但他可有扪心自问，问题是谁弄出来的? 那些人现在还在为公司工作吗? 这群搞什么 “信用衍生品” 的浑蛋得到报应了吗? 还是在这些烂摊子被发现之前就从公司里好好的敲了一笔，现在正在享受人生，留下我们来收拾呢?

望着公司里垂头丧气的外汇交易员，虽然觉得过去他们的态度非常嚣张，这时候倒反而有点同情他们，甚至可以了解为何忿忿不平。 因为，这祸不是他们闯出来的啊! 而且，新加坡的分行本身不但没有亏本而且还达到 2008 年所设的目标再加两成，但他们 (和我们这些支援他们的部门) 却在这里承受着责备和代价! 回顾这八年，两边都表现好时，欧洲那群人有更多花红我们的却从来没有增加。我们分行的表现不好，就没花红。我们表现好但欧洲表现不好，也不见得有更多的好处。如果两边都不好就更没话说了。就像抛硬币，字和花都是他们赢… 有谁能不气愤啊?

4:16pm 总公司方面发出的电邮。简单来说就是之前首席执行官之前那视频的文字版。这时候很多人都没什么心情工作了 – 交易员的 “领导” 也正和他们开着会，也有人趁这时候溜到楼下 “喝茶和抽烟” 去了。其余的不是上网浏缆，就是打私人电话。反正，勤劳和努力都是徒劳… 这时候大伙的心情都到了谷底，不难理解此刻其实比平时都更期待下班吧? 嘿…

下班之后，我拖着沉重的脚步步行到滨海城和朋友吃晚餐。途中，从黑莓 (Blackberry) 上看到了总公司方面傍晚 6:43pm 的新电邮。这时我人在浮尔敦桥上，缓缓的走向滨海城，心里正纳闷： “不发就不发嘛! 有屁就一次过放完，干嘛那么啰唆? “

电邮里重复之前公司处境如何艰难的陈腔滥调。但是这回有些不同，里面还加了一些细节，譬如高职位和管理层是是完全没有花红，还有什么职位的花红是完全没有影响的。还有因为公司认同大家为公司的努力，所以不包含在以上的会有一次性的 1000 欧元奖赏。

看了一头雾水的我，给上司发了电邮询问是否那不受影响的是指我们。上司是马上回复的: “看来的确如此。我相信我的英文理解能力，但是我对这新的管理层没什么信心，劝你最好还是等钱入袋了才庆祝。明天我找人事部问个清楚。”

原本是食不下咽的我这时的心情是冲上了云霄，手机里也收到一些无法准时下班的同事发来的短讯。这时大家讨论的是几时会把钱发给我们，因为夜长梦多，不知道以下的日子里这新的管理层又会不会反悔。

虽然那是还没确定我们的花红是否会发给我们，但这时候心情肯定是好了许多。因为不管未来公司是否裁员，有了这笔钱心里肯定是会踏实一些的。


注： 钱是一个星期后 (25日) 就发给我们了。虽然这事告一段落，下来的日子里工作保障的问题还是困扰着我们。希望大家未来的一到两年里都还有工作吧。

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Commentary – Hari Sombong

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If you are wondering what the title is about… it’s been a year since 27 February 2008. The significance of it? It’s the day Mas Selamat bin Kastari escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre. At this point of time, it is certain that no one is any wiser as to the fate of Mas Selamat.

No credible information of whereabouts of Mas Selamat Kastari
Channel NewsAsia – Friday, February 6

SINGAPORE : Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said his ministry also has no credible information on the whereabouts of Mas Selamat Kestari, the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) leader who escaped last year.

Yes, it’s the one year anniversary of one of the most astounding and perhaps the quickest escapes ever in Singapore history. It has to be Mas Selamat’s very own Hari Sombong. I wondered, when his JI brothers sees him in his hideout on the day itself, will they all greet him with Selamat Hari, Mas Selamat!?

Several weeks after his escape, the authorities were still saying that he might still be in Singapore. I wonder which clown will still be saying that today. Definitely not the very clown who didn’t need to take any responsibilities! It reminds me of a friend’s response when I asked him whether he thinks Mas Selamat is in Singapore. This is his reply:

Brudder… sekarang Mas Selamat minum teh botol, makan rendang, merokok dan relacking di Indonesia lah…

Anyway, the guy who will never take any responsibilities, wouldn’t have taken it even if he has his head in it after he’s led to the pile of dung. Looking at him, sometimes one might even wonder if he can find his own ass with both hands even with the lights on. *sigh*


Song taken from The Mr Brown Show
Click the ‘Play’ button to start

Military Terms: Chinese – English translation
分导式多核弹头 – MIRV (Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicle)
雷达散射截面 – RCS (Radar Cross-Section)

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Karma catching up…

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So, I have finally gotten myself banned on ping.sg. All this for trying to ping one post. As DK has said on Plurk – ‘who ask you itchy backside go back there?’, and he is right.

Still, I am quite sure this brings to mind the following comment made sometime ago by the President of the Association of Bloggers:

They were easily manipulated and even banned for standing up against the foreign tyrant from self-proclaimed ‘community meta weblog for Singapore bloggers’.

Was my case an example and proof of this?

Unfortunately not, for those who were hoping for it. And this post is nothing more than a personal reflection on what I had done on Thursday (19-Feb-2009) that leads to the ban after I tried to ping just one post from nowhere.per.sg. When my attempts to get that pinged failed, I set up the rss feed using the mirror at Xanga.

That went well and so I plugged (i.e. advertised) the post on a private Plurk message to several friends who still have ping.sg accounts and seek their help to pong it.

Whatever happened next was pretty swift… by midnight, all my new new posts fed from Xanga had disappeared from my ping.sg profile, and then I could no longer ping any posts. On attempting to set up my blogs for pinging again the next morning, this is what I see:

Do I think I was unfairly banned, I wouldn’t say I am. I could at least console myself to the fact that as of 20-Feb-2009, I can still log on to that account, and the last post since July last year is still there. I hadn’t bothered to check again since then.

If my account still there, it is somewhat interesting as the people who were previously banned for speaking badly about ping.sg did not suffer the same fate, but had their accounts and all their posts removed. Am I tempting fate by pointing this out?

Either way, a friend pointed out that I was probably banned for reasons such as mirroring, and if that is the case then it is puzzling since I used to ping both blogs when I was active (see screen capture below:)

If it was because of cloning (i.e. the use of many accounts to falsify the popularity of a post) then perhaps the end user’s agreement has changed ever since the exodus of a number of former ping.sg users because I recalled it used to be the banning of the ghosts account while the pong count is reset to zero.

Whatever the disparity in treatment is, it no longer matters. An admin of any site can take whatever actions necessary as he deems fit as long as any violation of an end user’s agreement has occurred.

And looking back at everything that has transpired, I simply look at it as my karma catching up with me. After all, I could have stayed neutral during the disagreement then but I had chosen to make a video to declare what my stand is, and then went on to write a series of posts on that matter to voice my displeasure.

Of course that means making myself a pariah and I now got what I deserved. I have always believed that a man has to face the consequences of his own actions, and I definitely considered this a pretty mild response. Clearly, there is nothing more I can do to set right something which if I was in his shoes, considered as an act of betrayal.

Was it a lapse of judgement or pure stupidity that I even considered pinging that post? Perhaps it’s a bit of both and maybe some of these days I may even find it funny just like the rest of the people who hated me. I’ll laugh along with all of you when I could find a moment…

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Commentary – R(A) C*ck Teaser Sites

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What are c*ck teaser sites? I will not name them but I refer to those sites which screams at you with a scandalous, outrageous title – for e.g. Naked Pics of Perak State Councilor – but contains nothing except a sanitized report from a newspaper or some other reputable site.

Most of the time, a reader would say – WHAT. THE. FXXK?!, right? But hey, kudos to them for getting all news of these kind into one location, so you don’t have to google for them. If you are merely *erhem* interested in reading just the news, then you have hit gold. But if you are looking for more than just the news, and expect it to deliver what it claims… too bad.

That is why they are called c*ck teasers. It is sort of like someone getting you an erection, and then denying you the sex. Close, but no cigar!

Fret no more, however! We bring you good news. Our brave agents in the field of the wild Internet have found some of the sites with more than just a clean report of the scandal. Sites which can satisfy your fantasies and even more have been found. In fact, as long as these sites are kept up to date, you can now ditch the c*ck teaser sites.

And no, it’s not the Sammyboy forum, where access is somewhat restricted. The Lycan Times will like to introduce you to these two sites.

  – Malaysian ex-Minister of Health Sex Scandal
  – Singapore Scandals

So, get set, ready, grab your d*cks… and double click!

Now, WYSIWYG*!!!

Now, you no longer have to get that lousy feeling of being cheated and denied your fantasies!

Now, you will get the latest scandals and MORE!

Don’t be angry you didn’t find out sooner! If not for our brave contacts who risked the wrath of their mothers and wives, we won’t know either! Just pray hard that they will update regularly!

So long, c*ck teaser sites. Shame on you!!


  Note: WYSIWYG – What You See Is What You Get

  Disclaimer: The Lycan Times is not related and in no way affiliated with the above sites introduced. The information is provided as is for your benefit.

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Windows7 Beta Build 7000 – First Look

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Chronology of Installation (31/01/2009)
10:40am – Install begins (Build 7000)

10:42am – Select language
(Clicked Install / Accept License)

10:44am – Format away old partition
(This is pretty fast, I believe it merely removes the file allocation tables and didn’t do an actual format)

10:45am – Installation begins. There are 5 stages:
  Copying files
  Expanding files
  Install features
  Install updates
  Completing Installation

10:52am – First restart after completing first 4 stages

10:54am – Reboot completed & resumes at Stage 5
(Chews on my CNY bah kwa leftovers.)

10:58am – Second Restart

11:01am – Reboot completed: Computer naming and user creation stage

—>

Lenovo X61 (7674-DA3)

Specifications:
Core2Duo Centrino 1.8GHz
Intel 965 Express Chipset
2GB RAM
80GB Westerm Digital ATA HDD
LaCie d2 DVDPRO USB DVD-Burner

11:02am – Went looking for misplaced activation key

11:07am – Entered new activation key obtained from Microsoft

11:08am – Prompted to select Security Settings & selected ‘Recommended Settings’

11:09am – Select Time Zone and Set Time

11:10am – Installation complete


Time Elapsed: 30mins | Space used: 8.6GB

I have no extended experience with Windows Vista so I do not know what improvements or changes there are in Windows 7. I believe there are blogs on CNET with better entries than mine so you might want to search for those and read them for further details.

However, I must say I like it a lot when I looked at these figures. 30 minutes to install and roughly 1.5mins (87secs to be exact) to boot up a freshly installed copy of Windows 7 on the Lenovo X61 (bought almost 1 year ago) is quite impressive. Comparatively, I recalled a recent re-install of Windows XP (32bits) took me 39 minutes on my old HP dx5150MT Desktop (AMD Athlon64 3200+ @2GHz with 2GB RAM, bought in 2005) and it doesn’t quite match Windows 7 in terms of boot time. While that is not a fair comparison since the Athlon64 is a technology that’s 3 or more years old, I recalled that Windows XP is even older than the system. (After all, it says © 2003 Microsoft Corp on bootup in Windows XP).

Shutting down Windows 7 is a breeze too. On top of that, if you put it to sleep mode on the laptop, opening the cover will wake Windows 7. I believe this is what it should have been on all Windows versions, and only on this version they got it right.

Aesthetic wise, Windows 7 is nice. But gone are the old Pre-XP Start menu and themes. Even selecting the ‘Classic Theme’ does not restore it to pre-XP state. So it might take a bit of time to get use to navigating around Windows 7. The Control Panel is a little different as well, but it didn’t take me too much effort to try and find what I want. Controls are also more responsive and killing off offending programs that misbehave is far easier. In fact, on one particular occasion Windows 7 actually prompted me when a program has stopped responding, and ask me what to do with it.

That may have happened because that program is Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 Beta, but still, it actually just closed the offending tab (not the entire IE) and restarted it when I selected the option to leave it alone for awhile. So far I hadn’t seen a BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) so I am quite happy with it. In fact, I can’t even recall when was the last time I actually saw a BSoD even on Windows XP.

The Quick Launch Toolbar is also gone in Windows 7, though that doesn’t mean you can’t have your favorite programs on the taskbar anymore. You can now pin a particular program to the taskbar, and Windows Explorer, Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer are pinned by default. I recalled someone mentioning that this is stupid, but again, I liked it with the Aero UI since I can tell from the thumbnails the individual tabs opened in IE8 or which windows are opened for a particular application and go to them specifically.

So, the Aero UI from Vista is retained and I suspect its performance will be tied to the system’s GPU as usual. This is something I seriously dislike and I actually considered it the ‘Achilles Heel‘ of Windows 7. The reason being, users will probably find their experience varied between systems, and for users with older systems their experience may not be as pleasant as mine, and it might even actually be unpleasant. If that happens, sentiments from the loudmouths among these users may sink this otherwise decent OS.

Unfortunately, I do not have an older system with a less powerful CPU & GPU which is Windows 7 capable to verify whether the user experience will be different. On the other hand, I was told by some Mac users that installing a newer Mac OS on older Mac hardware does not usually give a varied performance. Granted, one may find a new version of Mac OS running a little slower on older hardware, but it’s not so significant that you will actually complain about it.

Thus, while UAC (User Account Control) may cease to be the chief irritant here, Microsoft may not be able to regain market share as long as it continues to build new OS where user experience is mostly affect by one single component on a system. Using the Lenovo X61 as the example, the Processor, RAM, even Gaming Graphics and Hard disk obtained a sub-score of 4.7 ~ 4.9, but a pathetic 3.5 for Graphics for the Aero UI. Just like my old gripe with Windows Vista, I have no idea why an aesthetic feature continued to be given priority over functionality. If this is done to appeal to Mac users, and the end result is losing more Windows users to the Mac, Microsoft should really give this ‘strategy’ a serious rethink.

Beyond this, I can’t say more about it. I have installed a number of stuff on it, from Google Chrome to VLC Player, and they all installed without problems. Nokia PC Suite (v7), however, refused to install in the beginning, and complained that it’s a version of Windows it doesn’t recognise. After toggling it to run in Windows Vista mode, it installed without much of a fuss. UAC comes up frequent enough, but not as frequent as it does on Vista. At least I no longer find UAC to be the pain in the ass compared to the time I was trying to solve a virus problem on a friend’s laptop running Vista.

I believe I’ll upgrade to a copy of Windows 7 when it is shipped. However, from what I gathered, even while there are not going to be much hassle for users buying a new PC, users who intend to upgrade will be confront with a myriad of versions just like Windows Vista where certain functions are missing from certain versions. Again I do not understand this business strategy. It is fine that network domain connection features are missing in the Home Edition, but having the Ultimate and Professional Editions with varying features is… rather annoying.

Sometimes I wondered whether Microsoft actually listened to our feedback at all! After all, the many confusing versions of Windows Vista have been one of the main gripes among Windows users for a long time.

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