Tag Archive for 'Singaporeans'

Know What The New Images On The MRT Means?

Published
by
krisandro
on August 7, 2008
in My-Views
.

I am sure most of you people have noticed the new images on the MRT for ‘Priority Seats’.

priority-seat

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Think you all really know what each image represent? Judging from my observations of the people occupying those seats when the train is crowded, I’m afraid that your perception of the images are WRONG!

Let me educate you peeps.

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old-man

Is this image of an OLD MAN?

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WRONG!!!

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It’s….

charlie-chaplin

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pregnant-lady

Give up the seat to a Pregnant Lady?

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WRONG!!!

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It’s….

fat-woman

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man-with-child

Could this be a Man with a Child?

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WRONG!!!

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It’s….

ventriloquist

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So ladies and gentlemen, please do not be frustrated when you see young punks hogging the ‘Priority Seats’. These people cannot find Charlie Chaplin, extremely fat women and ventriloquists on the trains you see.

UNDERSTAND?

10 Comments

Finally! The Review Of The HP 2133 Mini-Note I’ve Won!

Published
by
krisandro
on July 30, 2008
in My-Life and My-Views
.

This is a proper review of the HP 2133 Mini-Note (HP Mini) and not like the last rubbish review I did. And this is definitely a review based on my true opinions of the product, even though I did win it from the Ping Awards II. Be warned though! I am only a half-past six geek and I am better at talking about himbotic stuffs like how many idiots there are in the MRT every morning. So please bear with me if this review is not up to your expectations.

I managed to squeeze some time out of my schedule to collect the HP Mini last thursday and if not for the crowded bus ride, I would have whipped it out in excitement to play with it. It was only till I reached the office when both my colleagues, Claudia and Andy unboxed the HP Mini for me and they would have been mistaken to be having orgasms from all the “OOoooooooo(s)” and the “Ahhhhhhhhhhh(s)” when they saw it. Both of them own laptops and their immediate reactions was coming from the fact that it is so small!

hp-mini-size
HP Mini VS My Hand

I know it is a bad way to compare the size of the HP Mini to something since my hand is rather large. But I just want to remind you people on what they say about guys with large hands…

WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!

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And you know what? The people at HP gave me the top of the line model from the HP Mini series!

1.6G Processor!!! 2G of Ram!!!!

But…….

hp-mini-windows-vista-buisness
Windows Vista Business?

The bane of all new PCs and laptops - the Windows Vista. It is akin to buying a brand new Lamborghini and fitting it with one tonne of parts. Chio (Beautiful) but useless as it is S.L.O.W. Not to mention that it is buggy. 7 Days with it and it crashed 5 times so far. If only it came with WIndows XP pre-installed!

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The other thing that one will notice immediately apart from its size is the built!

hp-mini-case
Great finish

Upon looking at it closely and handling it, I found it to be very sturdy and a little heavy for it’s size. I am not one who can determine what material a product is made of with a knock or a bite and so a quick google search reveals that the HP Mini is made of aluminum all round and the internal structure is protected by a magnesium alloy. The surface of the LCD is also made scratch resistant which means that if my girl decides to damage the HP Mini because I spend too much time on it, the HP Mini should be relatively safe.

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The HP Mini looks moderately pleasing from the outside but I think the finish on the inside makes it one of the most aesthetically pleasing UMPC I’ve seen. I did say ‘one of’ right? The Mac fanbois look to be ready to slit my throats with their Macbook Air.

hp-mini-opened
Gorgeous ain’t she?

hp-mini-power-button
The cool power button

People are quite used to seeing people whip out notebooks in public places but not this one. The size and the built turns heads whenever I take the HP Mini out. OKAY FINE! It could have been due to the kaypoh (nosy) nature of Singaporeans but… but it really turns more heads than usual!

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hp-mini-keyboard
Nicely sized for laptops

hp-mini-keyboard2
Extends all the way to the edges for easy cleaning

The keyboard is 92% full sized and it is comfortable enough to type on for long durations without feeling the need to strangle someone to loosen the stiff muscles.

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hp-mini-speakers
Speakers on the LCD face

Most laptops I have seen have their speakers on the face of the keyboard or around the sides of the base. The HP Mini has the speakers right where the sound should emit from. The front! I think this works well especially to the audiophiles as it makes more sense to have the sound propagating from where you are seeing the image from. The power of the speakers is also good. I haven’t had the chance to increase the volume beyond half of what the HP Mini can offer.

One problem which might be only particular to my unit is that the covers of the speaker (the one that my finger is pointing at on the pic above) keeps popping out by a couple of millimeters. It could be an issue of bad assembly but I am not sure. Not a big problem, but I keep pushing it in so that it can stay flushed with my screen. I don’t have OCD. Really.

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One of my last gripes of the HP Mini is of the touchpad.

hp-mini-touchpad
HP Mini’s Touchpad

The left and right click buttons are unconventionally located on the sides of the touchpad instead of the bottom and it takes some getting used to. My lack of experience with a laptop might prove to be a bonus in this as I should be able to be accustomed to this faster than people who are so used to the conventional placements. The touchpad seems to be over sensitive at times and undersized while the “I-don’t-know-what-is-the-proper-name” scroll thingy that you see on the right side is super laggy. And when it does detect that I am trying to scroll, it becomes overly responsive as well.

hp-mini-special-button
Special Button

I took sometime to figure out what that button is. Once activated, it actually disables the touchpad and the purpose of it is to actually prevent users from accidentally activating the touchpad when you are typing for long hours. Not a problem for me so far as my hands don’t seem to have the problem of touching the touchpad when typing.

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One final and biggest problem I have with the HP Mini is that the batteries don’t last very long. I use the HP Mini a lot on the go or when I am in my room and even when I am doing my ‘business’ (Ewwwwww! I know!). And I use it mainly for surfing which means the wifi is constantly on. Such usage brings the life of the Mini to about 1 hr 20 mins to 1 hr 30 mins or even lesser sometimes. I wished HP had provided me with the 6-cell battery instead which can theoretically bring the battery life to twice the amount which makes it in the acceptable range for a mobile computer.

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In summary, apart from the big problem of the short battery life (*cough* 6-Cell Battery HP? *cough cough*) and the other small nuances, I love the HP Mini to death. It’s small and light for me to bring it almost anywhere (toilet not forbidding)! It’s not much of a workhorse because of it’s small screen and slow OS & processor but it definitely meets the need for blogging and surfing on the go (and while doing ‘business’).

Once again, a big thank you to Ping.sg for bringing in the sponsors, Waggener Edstrom and HP for the prize, and to the people who voted for me!

Before I end this, I shall leave you guys with my favourite website.

hp-mini-overview

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WAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAH!!!!!!

 


14 Comments

Why Male Bloggers Have it Tough!

Published
by
krisandro
on July 4, 2008
in My-Views and rambles
.

I don’t know if anyone shares the same views as me on this one, but I generally find that male bloggers have it tough compared to female bloggers. Since there is such a wide range of blogging styles, let me tie the success of a blogger by his/her traffic. Of course there are other factors that can determine the success of a particular blogger but let’s face it…

NO TRAFFIC NO TALK!

If someone on the street asks you, “Name me 3 top bloggers in Singapore.” How many of you people will actually name 3 guys or even 2? I think there will be some of you who won’t even name one.

battle-of-the-sexes
[Image from here]

Why is it so? Are women better bloggers than men? What defines ‘better’?

What brings in the traffic? Someone who writes insightful posts in perfect English or a looker who post pictures and cannot write for nuts?

Go look at the blogs that you guys bookmarked or subscribed and tell me if it isn’t female dominated. If you have nuffnang polls, look at it and tell me if it isn’t female dominated readers.

First, let’s define success of a blog again. It’s largely based on popularity and popularity = traffic. And high traffic does NOT MEAN that a blogger writes well. In fact, I feel that there is a misconception in some people that blogging = writing. So to these people, they feel sick to their toes when they see female blogs full of camwhore-d pictures and little writing and these bloggers have enormous amounts of traffic. Many of these bloggers who enjoy relatively high traffic are often ridiculed by people but the amazing thing is…

Most people who dislike popular female blogs still visit them.

Do people who dislike popular male blogs still visit? Yes! But not as much as the former.

Let me just quote an example. I visit Dawn Yang’s blog often even though I think little of her writing. If you ask me to list a blog post that she wrote about, I really cannot remember anything she wrote. I only visit her blog to look at her pictures. My eyes automatically disregards all the text in her entries. I know many who dislikes her but still visits her.

Why oh why? It’s because the measure of a ‘popular’ blog is not by one’s writing.

It’s measured by how ‘interesting’ it is. And it doesn’t matter if you are an life, insightful, entertainment, food, pRon, LINKster(bloggers who scours the internet for links) or camwhore blogger. Whatever genre you are in, if you are interesting, traffic will come.

Now, let me paint you guys a situation. Let’s compare two imaginary bloggers.

  1. Blogger A - Male, plain looking, writes about his mundane life.
  2. Blogger B - Female, plain looking, writes about her mundane life.

If you had to choose between the two, who would you visit more often? I can name another 10 examples and most people will choose to read the female blog.

In reality, regardless of gender, people in general just like to visit female blogs more. It’s just the way it is. There are always exceptions but you simply can’t deny the fact that female bloggers tend to get a bigger chunk of the traffic.

Female bloggers are more interesting and hence more popular and there is nothing wrong with it!

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ACCEPT IT!

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And guys suck at camwhoring by the way.

epic-fail

…

…Like me…

15 Comments

Have You Seen the Singapore Wall?

Published
by
krisandro
on June 27, 2008
in My-Views
.

Which wall am I talking about?

wall
Not this.

argentinewall
Not this either but it’s close.

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I am talking about pedestrians who walk about in Singapore in LINE FORMATION a.k.a The Singapore Wall or in short, I will like to call it the SingWall.

Qn) WHERE can one find this SingWall?

Ans) The SingWall is found everywhere in our sunny island. You will see it at the train doors before you enter. You will see it at the train doors when you exit. You can find it in our buses. You can certainly find it on overhead bridges. And you will most likely see it on pathways!

Qn) WHEN can one see this SingWall?

Ans) Anytime actually! And the appearance of such walls have been widely speculated that its related to how hurried you are. If you are in a rush, you’ll most likely see the SingWall!

Qn) Who can be a part of this SingWall?

Ans) Anyone! Even you! The usual SingWall is made up of inconsiderate people like a-holes, deekheads, beeeches, farkers and all sorts of names that will make your Mum blush when heard.

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So how does a typical SingWall looks like? Let me illustrate!

singwall

  1. You(Red) are in a hurry.
  2. SingWall(Grey) is strolling along in the same direction you are heading at a toddler’s pace.
  3. You are huffing and puffing and almost breathing down the neck of the member of the SingWall on the extreme right.
  4. They are oblivious to you.
  5. You attempt to squeeze through the small space on the right.
  6. You fail and have to step to the side again because a guy(Blue) walking from the opposite direction approaches.
  7. You watch as the extreme right member(E.R.M) of the SingWall steps back and lets the approaching guy pass.
  8. You see the window of opportunity and sprints towards the gap.
  9. Agony and disgust fills you up as the E.R.M walks BACK TO WHERE HE WAS.
  10. You mutter a meek “Excuse me…” and E.R.M doesn’t hear it.
  11. As you mentally control adjust your volume in your head to let out a big one, another random guy from the opposite direction approaches and the same thing happens all over again.

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Have You Seen the SingWall?

17 Comments

Rules You All Should Know When Taking the MRT

Published
by
krisandro
on June 1, 2008
in My-Views
.

Having a regular job now means that I am again subjecting myself to the rush hour where Singaporeans and foreigners come together and rear the ugly side of humanity. I am no angel but I think I might be be given an associate membership into the hall of saints when compared to the kinds of people I see on the train.

Without further a due, I present to you Krisandro’s list of MRT Rules.

1. When on the escalator during rush hour, either keep left or you follow the rushing passengers on the right. Don’t stall the fast lane and tempt me to grab your legs and throw you over the side.

2. When SMRT says they are increasing the number of train trips, it doesn’t mean that you can wake up later. And please don’t look at the screens telling you how long the next train is going to arrive if you have high blood pressure.

twitter-smrt

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3. If you want to get into the train cabin and you do not let the passengers in the train cabin out first, you deserve to be knocked down by a smelly, sweaty, giant man with huge man-boobs.

4. If you do not move to the center of the train, you deserve to be sodomized by a horny blue whale and wear a tag so that we understand your plight that you cannot move around much.

5. If you will not give up your seat to a pregnant lady or a senior citizen, have the courage to at least PRETEND that you are fast asleep. Stop looking at the lady’s stomach and mentally weighing it against your beer belly and deciding who has the heavier load.

6. The vertical poles in the train cabins are for passengers to hold onto with their hands. If you lean on them with your whole body, I might need to separate your left butt cheek from your right to secure a holding spot and I do not have that much Dettol to cleanse my hand afterwards.

7. If you are blasting your choice of music through your phone speakers, please make sure that your taste in music is at least accepted by 70% of the people who are within earshot. If you are not sure how you can figure that out, please purchase a device called “ear-phones”.

8. The fare you pay for travelling on the MRT entailed you to a limited space. If you need space to hold a copy of The Straits Times fully opened in front of you during peak hours, consider buying an EZ-Link card for the newspaper as well.

9. If you fart or burp in a an MRT cabin, have the courtesy to say ‘excuse me’. If you think people will get angry over it, have the habit of laughing like a hyena as soon as you fart. I can assure you that it will be more amusing than anything.

10. Do not scold me if the train is packed and I am poking your butt from behind. The one who you should scold is the one who is poking my butt. Don’t ask me to push back as well because it will seem as though I am reciprocating.

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Someone I am following on twitter also rightly pointed out that,

“Why is it called the RUSH HOUR, when everything SLOWS to a CRAWL?“
(Please claim your twit as I forgot who said it..)

25 Comments