On my 40th Birthday…

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Time really flies. On this day I am 40 and it seems not too long ago when I left school for National Service [NS] in 1992. On looking back, it suddenly seems so far away when I first joined the workforce in 1995. Back then, I had thought I would live forever and now I am into the last year of the fourth decade of my life. I would no longer be getting NS reliefs for my 2011/12 Tax Returns and I had even received a letter which, if I am not wrong, offered me to opt-out of Eldershield! And that’s ELDERshield, not Medishield alright?! Thank you CPF Board for reminding me of my mortality!

That reminds me of a separate celebration with another friend when he joked that we all know we are old when we are listening to Madonna on Class 90.5 FM. After all, we probably used to listen to those songs on 98.7 FM when we were younger. So for those brats who are laughing at this old fossil right now, somewhere down the road you will be listening to Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber on Class 90.5 FM and perhaps they will play Madonna as “classical music” by then…

Anyway, it was almost an uneventful day. I always take leave on my birthday whenever it lands on a working day since I do not like facing shit at work on that day. On top of which I superstitiously believed that if I get a scolding or get into an argument with anyone on this day, it would ruin the entire year of my life.

Anyway, I had pre-arranged to meet up with Angel for lunch at Causeway Point a few days back. I was late and when I arrived I found that a trio had cornered her for a survey. Thinking it was probably the usual kind whereby the objective is to mine user information (such as email addresses and phone numbers) for insurance agents, I just stood by while she filled it up.

It was when I saw questions related to religion and Bible verses in the questionnaire that I took a closer look. By then, it was too late. When they “explained” that she has “misunderstood” a Bible verse, I realised that this was a cult group which talked about ‘God the Mother’. Do not confuse that with Catholicism’s Mary the ‘mother of God’, because these are not Catholics. I recalled having heard of this cult previously, and a brother-in-Christ even gave me a flyer he received from them and told me to write about it on this blog to warn the brethren. At that time, I had intended to write about this but I misplaced the flyer so the entire matter was shelved.

If I am not wrong, the formal name of this cult group is World Mission Society Church of God and it originated in Korea. Founded by a Korean man named Ahn Sahng-hong who claimed to be the Second Coming of Christ, the church is now led by a woman Zahng Gil-Jah. This ‘God the Mother’ doctrine reminds me of the Eastern Lightning or Oriental Lightning (东方闪电) cult in China which also teaches that their leader is female incarnate of the second Coming of Jesus.

Unlike the ‘World Mission Society Church of God’, the Eastern Lightning is confined within China. While local Christians may breathe a sigh of relief knowing this, it is not so fortunate for fellow believers in the home churches not affiliated (or “registered”) with the Three-Self Patriotic Movement in China. According to a brother-in-Christ who participated in missionary work in China, Eastern Lightning preys on these churches and a lot of missionary work has been undone because of their predation. I was told the Eastern Lightning would resort to all kinds of underhand methods to corrupt the leaders of home churches and subvert them. One of the methods include using women to seduce the pastors and they will then use the evidence of wrong-doings to coerce these “fallen” members to either bring part or the entirety of the home church into their fold. Since these home churches are not registered, the pastors would not dare to seek help from the authorities as the Communist state persecutes home churches and inflicts harsh punishment on them.

Although they do not seem to be related, the similarity in doctrine between the two makes me wonder whether they are all controlled or founded by the same sinister organisation. And by that I do not mean the spiritual entity that is behind these earthly organisations.

Photos – Urban Decay: Margaret Drive

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It has been a stormy Sunday morning. The rain started around 6am in the morning and intensified around 10am. In fact, the skies didn’t let up until the afternoon. The morning torrential rains have brought flash floods again which added much misery to those going to church and the market in the morning and in specific the tenants at the basement of Tanglin Mall. In several places, unfortunate souls waded through knee-deep waters while some roads become only partially passable.

However, it brought me some joy as it has created a cooling afternoon. I took the opportunity to take the MRT down to Queenstown station in the late afternoon and take a slow walk to Margaret Drive, where 2 blocks of HDB flats and its surrounding area were left desolate. I had wanted to go there for a long time to snap some photos, but the hot weather and my laziness have prevented me from doing so. Thus, I decided that if I don’t do it today, I’ll never bring myself to do it… ever.

I am surprised to see just how fast nature has started to creep in and stake its claim in some places. It was a little sad looking at the dreary state of one of the places I grew up in…

Movie “Marathon” – Kungfu Panda 2 + Pirates of the Caribbeans 4

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Watched Kungfu Panda 2 and Pirates of the Caribbeans 4 on Saturday evening almost back to back and this is my view.


A scene from Kungfu Panda 2

In this sequel, Po the Panda is now the acclaimed Dragon Warrior, maintaining the order and peace around the Valley of Peace. Yet his life will soon face a drastic change when he was sent across China along with his companion kungfu masters, the Furious Five, to save a city from a villain who has created an unstoppable weapon to conquer China and destroy kungfu. In the process he will also discover his origins, and how he became the son of a goose. We will also discover a softer side of Tigress.

To advance to a higher level of kungfu mastery, Po will need to discover his inner peace. It is something that Po will need to discover on his own and cannot be taught. Po will come to face with a tragic part of his life before he can defeat the new villain and this weapon. There are also new kungfu masters, though these were resigned to defeat and did not participate in the action until the end.

Kungfu Panda 2 is a more action packed than the prequel and in my opinion is worth every minute of it, though however I would have preferred a more vicious and dark villain. The ending however, makes it almost certain that there will be a sequel.

Anyway, I would still recommend it for laughter and to loosen up.

~ * ~


A scene from
Pirates of the Caribbeans 4

Pirates of the Caribbeans: On Stranger Tides is the fourth installment of the series, and perhaps this franchise has reached the end of its usefulness and the producers have made one sequel too many. It has nothing to do with the storyline or the new cast, but I am sick of watching Captain Jack Sparrow making one narrow escape after another just like Jacky Chan in his own movies.

In this story, three groups of people were competing to find the Fountain of Youth. They are the Spaniards, the British under Captain Barbossa and the much fear pirate Blackbeard, who has a strange ship – the Queen Anne’s Revenge – that responds to the power of his sword. Jack Sparrow was a hostage on the ship as a result of his old flame Angelica Malon and Captain Barbossa was after Blackbeard to seek revenge for his lost leg.

Some of the mermaids (in particular Gemma Ward, the first mermaid which appeared) are great eye candies. Though I would say the part where the Mermaids showed their true colors could have been better done, because for a brief moment it reminded me of the “Blade” or “Underworld” movies. Why the hell does everyone think of evil beings to all come with elongated canines (or fangs) like werewolves or vampires? On top of which, I do not really understand the ending for the Priest Phillip. He seems to be in love with one of the mermaids he saved and at the end I could not tell whether she took him out of her own nature or to save him.

However, the Spaniards in the movie made up the best twist! Right from the beginning everyone was given the impression of them as competitors looking to gain the rejuvenating power of the fountain for their liege. Their intention wasn’t obvious until they made their way into the fountain site. I wouldn’t elaborate on that as it would be a terrible spoiler.

Unfortunately, in spite of all the action, the editing left much to be desired. Some parts were so draggy that is almost boring but perhaps that maybe the result of me watching this back to back with Kungfu Panda 2. Either way, it still gives the general feel that the movie makers were rushing through the entire movie and the ending seems rather abrupt. I personally don’t think this is a must watch on the big screen. Unless one is a big fan of Johnny Depp, I suggest getting this on a DVD when it becomes available.

Security Alert – MacDefender [Malware]

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A screen shot of “MacDefender”

It is with mixed feelings when I read the news of a rogue malware plaguing the Macintosh Operating System. Since I am not pro-Mac person, I was a little disappointed that the MacOS has finally reached enough critical mass to attract the attention of malware writers. While I’ll admit grudgingly that in many cases the Mac does some things better than a Windows PC, I am in the opinion that the reason why Apple computers have gone almost virus free all these while is because there simply isn’t any reason for malware writers to do so. After all, releasing a worm like SQL Slammer or Conficker would make a bigger splash since there are simply more Windows PC users in the world, not to mention Microsoft’s dominance in the enterprise. (There is of course also the conspiracy theory that computer virus and malware are released by anti-virus companies, and the reason that a Mac specific anti-virus program will not achieve a return on investment is the reason why there never was any real threat back then.)

However, the fact that a myth (that Macs are impervious to computers virus or malware) is now dispelled made me felt a little smug. In fact, I had really burst out in roaring laughter when I read that Apple allegedly refused to offer support to affected (or ‘infected’) users. I practically felt that I was vindicated for my long time opinion that Apple is even more unscrupulous in business practices than Microsoft.

While Apple has finally posted removal information and announced that it will release a patch to deal with the malware, it pleases me a great deal that there is finally no more safe haven for those computer morons thinking they are L337 elite or superior to PC users. As long as malware continue to evolve to attack the MacOS, computer morons with bad computer usage habits can longer carry on with life without repercussions. I am hoping that this will not be a one time incident, but a recurring problem that will teach some technically deficient people a hard lesson.

I have installed the free Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition on my older generation MacBook Air for precaution, and I was quite surprised that while I was surfing for images for “wedgies” (don’t ask me why I was looking for those), I came across a site containing such an image which automatically start downloading “MacDefender” (also known as “MacProtector”, and “MacSecurity”). Sophos caught it handily once the download has completed but unfortunately it doesn’t remove it automatically. It prompted me to remove the infected file manually and I was fortunate that all I need to do was delete the zip file from the download folder.

Of course, for good measure I search on Google the removal procedures and ensure that I missed nothing. However, no matter how much I wanted to gloat, I must say that the removal procedure was far simpler than doing the same on a Windows PC since there is no registry in a Macintosh. But then again, Windows has come a long way fighting this old scourge and depends on who you ask, it is no longer true that MacOS is more secure than Windows.

Then again, that doesn’t mean a Windows user should be gloating. The fact is, no computer is invulnerable… unless it is not networked, in a secured underground bunker with reinforced concrete under lock and guard, and switched off.

Even then, I will still have my doubts.

Photos – Singapore River

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Took these on the way from Clarke Quay to Funan Center yesterday. I didn’t have the intention of taking photos when I started, until I saw the iconic Marina Bay Sands right in front of me while I was walking towards Coleman Bridge.

So I took out my FZ-8, and make a slight detour around the old City Hall and Supreme Court buildings. Here, is a display of my terrible photography skills.

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