Bernie Sanders message on whether Russia and Trump colluded

Did Russia act independently in support of Trump or did the Trump campaign actively collude with them in attempting to win the election?

Did Russia act independently in support of Trump or did the Trump campaign actively collude with them in attempting to win the election? pic.twitter.com/8LrHOejLgw

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) May 10, 2017

James Comey's farewell letter - In full

James Comey was fired, by U.S. President Donald Trump, from his position as FBI director, because Trump felt Comey was not doing a good job. The firing received several criticisms for its timing and it raises all kinds of questions especially as the FBI is reportedly ramping up its investigation of Trump associates' connections to Russia.

James Comey's farewell letter - in full:

To all:

I have long believed that a President can fire an FBI Director for any reason, or for no reason at all. I'm not going to spend time on the decision or the way it was executed.

I hope you won't either. It is done, and I will be fine, although I will miss you and the mission deeply.

I have said to you before that, in times of turbulence, the American people should see the FBI as a rock of competence, honesty, and independence.

What makes leaving the FBI hard is the nature and quality of its people, who together make it that rock for America.

It is very hard to leave a group of people who are committed only to doing the right thing.

My hope is that you will continue to live our values and the mission of protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution.

If you do that, you too will be sad when you leave, and the American people will be safer.

Working with you has been one of the great joys of my life.

Thank you for that gift.

Jim Comey

Facebook is down

What can get more worse for some for not able to update their Facebook status to inform the world that Facebook is down? Yes, Facebook is down, at least for me in Singapore as of now May 9, 2017, 09:41 AM (GMT +8).

譚詠麟 ~ 也曾相識

校長譚詠麟金曲 ~ 也曾相識

How Interest Rate Changes Affect REITs?

I chance upon an article on how interest rate changes affect Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and thought of sharing this article to my readers.

In this article, it wrote how REITs react to 2 main factors:- (1) Cost of borrowing changes; and (2) Attractiveness of REIT as an investment asset versus alternative investments. The writer concludes interest rate is a factor, but REIT returns are influenced more by the following instead:

1. Economic growth, population growth, demand and supply dynamics, manufacturing production, jobs demand and supply
2. Valuation of the REIT
3. Manager's Competency

» How Interest Rate Changes Affect REITs | Investment Moats

Rights of a passenger on-board a flight

After seeing how the 69 year old Asian man was rough handled for refusing to leave the overbooked United Airlines plane to make room for additional crew members and hearing most if not all airlines reserve every rights to denial passengers, I decided to read up if such conditions exist.

An excerpt lifted from the 'Conditions of Carriage' of one random airliner:

Notice of refusal to carry you

We will be entitled to refuse to carry you and your Baggage if we have notified you in writing that we will not carry you on our services. The notice will give details of the period for which it will apply and will ask you not to make a Booking or ask or allow anyone to do so for you. If you try to travel while the notice is in force, we will refuse to carry you.

Overbooking

If you are denied boarding due to overbooking of a scheduled flight for which you have a Booking, we will try to get you to your destination within a reasonable time of your original scheduled arrival time. If we do not, we will provide compensation and any care required by any law which may apply or in accordance with our policy if there is no applicable law. This clause 10.3 does not apply if you fail to meet the Check-in Deadline and boarding requirements in 8.1 or we exercise our right to refuse to carry you.

If we are unable to accommodate your Cabin Baggage, we may ask you if we can stow it in the aircraft hold as Checked Baggage. In these circumstances you will not be charged for the relevant Checked Baggage.

That is what we are in for when we tick 'I agree' when making plane tickets booking.

Passenger Dragged Out of United Airlines Plane

A passenger was forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight, bound for Louisville from Chicago, by law enforcement security officers after refusing to give up his seat. The aircraft was said to have been overbooked and additional crew members were needed to be on-board to link up for another flight in Louisville. The airline first seek for volunteers to deplane by offering $800 as compensation. When no volunteers stood out, the airline began randomly selecting passengers to be deplaned and that's when things turned ugly.

Chicago Aviation Security Officers were called in to remove an Asian man after the man resisted and refused to cooperate. The following video showed just how the man was being handled.

WARNING: Footage may be disturbing:

Shortly after the above video went viral on the Internet, the United Airlines CEO, Oscar Munoz, posted a letter to its employees and the letter clearly is short of an apology to the passenger:

Dear Team,

Like you, I was upset to see and hear about what happened last night aboard United Express Flight 3411 headed from Chicago to Louisville. While the facts and circumstances are still evolving, especially with respect to why this customer defied Chicago Aviation Security Officers the way he did, to give you a clearer picture of what transpired, I’ve included below a recap from the preliminary reports filed by our employees.

As you will read, this situation was unfortunately compounded when one of the passengers we politely asked to deplane refused and it became necessary to contact Chicago Aviation Security Officers to help. Our employees followed established procedures for dealing with situations like this. While I deeply regret this situation arose, I also emphatically stand behind all of you, and I want to commend you for continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right.

I do, however, believe there are lessons we can learn from this experience, and we are taking a close look at the circumstances surrounding this incident. Treating our customers and each other with respect and dignity is at the core of who we are, and we must always remember this no matter how challenging the situation.

Oscar

Blood stain on armrest - Tweet claimed the security officers smashed his head / face into the other seat:

@ulttgd They had to deboard to clean up his blood. pic.twitter.com/Hfs1DtqILv

— Kaylyn Davis (@kaylyn_davis) April 10, 2017

How to Follow the Obama and Others

Donald J Trump is now the 45th President of the United States of America and has taken over the various social media accounts

1. @POTUS (Twitter), POTUS (Facebook)
2. @FLOTUS (Twitter), FLOTUS (Facebook)
3. @WhiteHouse (Twitter), @WhiteHouse (Instagram), WhiteHouse (Facebook)

Given Trump's 20.8 million followers on his @realDonaldTrump Twitter account, he should still be tweeting from this account.

The tweets and posts from the Obama Administration are not lost and should you are still interested to follow and view them, here you are!

1. @POTUS44 (Twitter), POTUS44 (Facebook)
2. @FLOTUS44 (Twitter), FLOTUS44 (Facebook)
3. @ObamaWhiteHouse (Twitter), @ObamaWhiteHouse (Instagram), ObamaWhiteHouse (Facebook)

Social media accounts from the Obama Administration are now archived and I would think no new posts may come from them anymore. If you want to follow what Team Obama is up to, you can follow them on Twitter at @BarackObama, @MichelleObama and @ObamaFoundation.

VIDEO: President Obama’s Farewell Address

GrabCar Cancellation Policy Not Protecting Passengers

I quote the Terms Of Use for GrabCar below.

Judge for yourself. Cancellation Fee Policy of $2 does not protect passengers at all! I personally had to cancel a booking due to driver never turning up despite I having tried to contact the missing driver. There is just no way for passengers to provide a valid reason to justify the cancellation. Feeling annoyed by the driver's behaviour, I raised a ticket to GrabCar on Dec 20 and the only reply from them was an automatic reply 5 days later telling me they are overwhelmed with tickets and what I could do is either drop my ticket, contact via phone or reply the email, followed by a "guaranteed" resolution in yet another 5 days' time.

After having said so many, let's just hope the few black sheep can be more professional.

Li Chun (立春) - Best day and time to deposit money in Chinese New Year 2017

One of the first timetable detailing the ideal auspicious time for people to do a bank deposit on Li Chun (立春) is publihshed by a Fengshui expert.

What's yours?

First Message from President-Elect Donald J. Trump

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People By Stephen Covey

Explained in video:

• Habit 1: Be proactive
• Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind
• Habit 3: Put first things first
• Habit 4: Think win-win
• Habit 5: Seek first to understand then to be understood
• Habit 6: Synergize
• Habit 7: Sharpen the saw

Donald Trump - Acceptance Speech After Winning U.S. Presidential Election 2016

Hillary Clinton - Concession Speech in U.S. Presidential Election 2016

President Obama - Post Election 2016 Statement

More than 500 million Yahoo accounts stolen back in 2014 and What you should do?

Yahoo has confirmed that more than 500 million Yahoo accounts were stolen back in 2014 by a state-sponsored actor. Investigation concluded the stolen account information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords (the vast majority with bcrypt) and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers. This did not include unprotected passwords, payment card data, or bank account information.

What is Yahoo doing to protect my account?

From the Account Security Issue FAQs published by Yahoo:

1. We are notifying affected users.
2. We are asking affected users to promptly change their passwords and adopt alternate means of account verification.
3. We invalidated unencrypted security questions and answers so that they cannot be used to access an account.
4. We are recommending that all users who haven't changed their passwords since 2014 do so.
5. We continue to enhance our systems that detect and prevent unauthorized access to user accounts.
6. Our investigation into this matter continues.

I personally tried to log into all of my three Yahoo accounts and out of these three, one of them could be compromised. If yours is too, you will see the below popup.

Is there anything I can do to protect myself?

From the Account Security Issue FAQs published by Yahoo:

1. Change your password and security questions and answers for any other accounts on which you use the same or similar credentials as the ones used for your Yahoo Account.
2. Review your accounts for suspicious activity.
3. Be cautious of any unsolicited communications that ask for your personal information or refer you to a web page asking for personal information.
4. Avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments from suspicious emails.

Android Pay VS Samsung Pay VS Apple Pay

Since the launch of several mobile payments option in Singapore like the Android Pay, Samsung Pay and Apple Pay, just how different are they from one another? The Straits Times put up an infographics tabulating their differences.

How Android Pay is different from Samsung Pay and Apple Pay [via]

You may wish to check out the various banks for the promotions they are offering. Do not miss them!

NDP 2016 Theme Song: Tomorrow's Here Today

Year 2016 National Day Parade theme song is released. The song titled "Tomorrow's Here Today", written by composer Don Rickmond, sing to rally Singaporeans to ponder about the tomorrow of Singapore. It is performed by local band 53A.

How do you feel about this song? For your pleasure, I have consolidated all NDP theme songs from 1998 to 2016.

President Obama slow-jamming on Jimmy Fallon Show

Watch how President Obama slow-jam news together with Jimmy Fallon. Only if our own President is as cool as Obama!

One day off-in-lieu if public holiday falls on a non-working Saturday

With the upcoming Vesak Day that falls on a Saturday, many especially those whose companies they work for do not have clear HR policies on day-offs, must be asking whether there is a mandatory off-in-lieu. The answer is fortunately YES!

Back in 2008, Ms Jean Tan, Director, Corporate Communications for Permanent Secretary Ministry of Manpower, made this remark on Rules on Off-In-Lieu:

For an employee on a five-day work week, Saturday would be considered a day-off and Sunday a rest day.

Under the Employment Act, if a public holiday falls on a day-off, an employee is entitled to one day off-in-lieu or be given one extra day's pay.

If it falls on a rest day, the law provides that the working day following the rest day will be a paid public holiday.

A more recent article on this topic was published on the Manpower Ministry website and I quote:

For employees who are not required to work on Saturdays, they are entitled to claim a day off or compensation in lieu for that public holiday if they are covered under the Employment Act. It is therefore not up to the employer’s discretion or goodwill to grant their employees a day off in lieu under the law.

iHerb Promotion Code - ICO460

Use promo code ICO460 upon checking out to get $5 off your first purchase at iHerb (www.iherb.com). No minimum spending required.

iHerb (www.iherb.com) sells nutritional supplements and other healthy products both in the U.S., as well as internationally, including Singapore.

SharePoint - Site URL Inaccessible from the Server

Despite you having set the 'alternate access mapping' e.g. http://domain.com/, and added the domain url into the server's hosts file, accessing the SharePoint site may encounter HTTP 401 authentication error from the server itself. This issue does not happen if you accessed it from outside.

One cause of this behaviour is related to the loopback security check the Windows server is doing. There are two workarounds as described by an article from Microsoft KB and the following are sufficient to make it work great for me.

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
   
   
2. In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
   
   
3. Right-click Lsa, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
   
   
4. Type DisableLoopbackCheck, and then press ENTER.
   
   
5. Right-click DisableLoopbackCheck, and then click Modify.
   
   
6. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
   
   
7. Quit Registry Editor, and then restart your computer.

Unable to view Roles and Features in Server Manager after Windows Update

Server Manager on Windows Server 2008 or Windows Sever 2008 R2 may not be able to view Roles and Features after a Windows update. Did a Google search and chanced upon an article on Microsoft Knowledge base.

The cause of this issue is said to be due to some catalog files, manifest files or MUM files being corrupted on the computer. To resolve, you will need to download and run Microsoft Update Readiness Tool, run it, check %Systemroot%\Windows\logs\CBS\Checksur.log for corrupt information after the scan is completed, then replace corrupted package(s) that remains unfixed.

Read in details on Microsoft KB.

Microsoft Provides Workaround for Issues with KB3148812 WSUS Update

An important update from the Microsoft team on the KB3148812 WSUS Update.

How to find out which w3wp.exe PID corresponds to which application pool?

Should we have more than one website hosted on IIS, it may be difficult to identify which web application is the one listed on the task manager especially when the application pools are all on Network Service.

Task Manager showing multiple w3wp.exe processes

Each w3wp.exe process has a PID (process identifier), but to tell which PID belongs to which application pool, it is not straightforward.

One method to find out the application pool is to run the appcmd command on command prompt from C:\Windows\system32\inetsrv directory.

appcmd list wp

appcmd command to show application pool of a PID

Simply match the PID against the application pool name. I hope it helps.

Watch how Europe borders have changed since 1,000 AD

The below 3-minutes video LiveLeak takes us through how the borders of Europe have changed since 1,000 AD.

Rui En statement on her BMW car accident on motorcycle

Mediacorp actress, Rui En, 35, was recently involved in a traffic accident involving her BMW car and a stationary motorcycle in Clementi carpark. Reports mentioned the actress smelled of alcohol that day. Rui En was criticised of being arrogant, insincere and unapologetic when she was being confronted by the owner of the motorcycle. One of her first response was "Do you know who I am?". It was also reported that the actress attempted to offer $2,000 in cash as a settlement in private but was turned down.

Rui En's statement to this incident is as follows:

I refer to the recent media reports regarding my involvement in the incident that took place on 12 Apr 2016.

There are various interpretations as to the conversation that took place between the motorcycle owner and myself. To address the context of that conversation, I would like to share what I can without causing any
interference to the ongoing investigation.

Tuesday, 12 Apr 2016. I was about to reach home. Upon driving into the open-air car park where I usually park, I misjudged a turn and accidentally knocked over a stationary motorcycle parked directly in front of a kerb. No other driver was involved during the incident.

I was very disappointed with myself for knocking down the motorcycle. My initial intention was to move my car to a traffic-free spot before addressing the matter.

I was subsequently stopped by a man. He continuously knocked on my car window while I was attempting to move my car. I later discovered that the man was the owner of the motorcycle.

I tried to signal to him to allow me to move my car first but he persistently hit my screen and gradually, his knocks got louder.

I got out of my car. I attempted to explain that I would take full responsibility. He probably had the impression that I looked like someone that would run away from the scene.

In my state of anxiety, I told him “Do you know who I am, I live upstairs and won’t run”

He appeared to be very angry. I was unsure what I said came out sounding entirely different from what I meant. I was simply trying to convey that I live here, people would know and recognise me if I ran away. On hindsight, my choice of words used were inappropriate and I agree that it
caused unnecessary misunderstandings.

What was said next was a process similar to most traffic incidents.

I offered to compensate for the damages.

I offered him monetary compensation in the form of cash. He was not satisfied with the amount offered and asked for more.

By this time the police has been called in.

I would like to reiterate that it was a judgmental error on my part, there is absolutely no excuse on my careless driving and more importantly, I truly regretted it.

I would also like to take this opportunity to apologise to him for the inconveniences and distress caused.

Looking back I wished I handled the situation with more tact.

I sincerely apologise for the unnecessary inconveniences caused and I thank everyone again for your care and concern.

Yours sincerely
Rui En

The Panama Papers Leak - Explained In Cartoon

Heard of the Panama Papers leak but am confused over what is it all about? You may watch the following cartoon illustration by Vox Media for a quick summary on this scandal.

How do I enable ASP.NET 4.5 on Windows 10?

Despite you may have installed Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 on your Windows, IIS has to be installed and ASP.NET to be enabled separately.

To install IIS, you will need to turn on Internet Information Services feature.

The next step to get ASP.NET running is to enable ASP.NET. Prior to Windows 8, we used to run aspnet_regiis /i command. Unfortunately, this command no longer works. I have tried the following command instead to get ASP.NET enabled.

dism /online /enable-feature /all /featurename:IIS-ASPNET45

LG G5 - Official Introduction

How to Clean a Mattress?

Why We Love to Blame Our Partners?

Misued mobile UX patterns

Do you follow well recognised design patterns when building web pages? They may be generally good but they can end up inappropriate. A UX director from Ustream wrote how common mobile UX patterns can be misused.

Number of Blog Posts Trend - Lowest in 2015

This blog has been alive since 2003 with my first post made on May 25, 2003. Looking at the number of blog posts made over the years, 2010 was the highest while this year's the lowest at a mere 63 inclusive of this current one.

Time to get year 2016 resolution written down :)

MsSQL: Shrink ALL Databases Using 1 Single Line of SQL Statement

Over time, the database logs on your database server may take up significant amount of disk space especially if there are many databases with lots of transactions. One quick method to free up disk space is to "shrink" your databases. Instead of shrinking one database at a time using the GUI, you can run a single line of SQL statement to do just that.

EXEC sp_MSForEachDB 'DBCC SHRINKDATABASE (''?'' , 0)'

Hope it helps.

Putin's Perspective On 'Who Created the ISIS'

Putin, President of Russia, discussed on his perspective on who actually created the ISIS.

Putin also accused countries including some G20 members are financing the ISIS.

Learn Android and Web Development from Google for FREE

What is better than learning Android and Web Development from Google experts for FREE? Google courses hosted on Udacity caters for beginners to advanced developers are opened for enrolment.

Find the Wi-Fi network password in your saved list on Windows

There may be occasion you may have a second mobile device and would like to be connected to the Wi-Fi network but sadly, you could have forgotten the password completely. What you need to do now is to run a command on the Windows command prompt in administrative mode to reveal the already added Wi-Fi network password in clear.

Replace THE_SSID with your own Wi-Fi SSID.

The below will show details of the Wi-Fi network.

netsh wlan show profile name=THE_SSID key=clear

To see only the password ignoring the rest of the details, feed it with the findstr command like below.

netsh wlan show profile name=THE_SSID key=clear | findstr Key

For similar hack for Mac and Linux, read How to Find the Wi-Fi Password of your Current Network.

FREE Computer Science and Programming eBooks Downloads

If you are looking into absolute FREE eBooks for Computer Science and Programming, you may look be able to find something interesting here.

1. Learn the Art of Computer Programming With These Great Free Beginner Books
2. List of freely available programming books on Github
3. Free Microsoft eBooks

Free Microsoft eBooks

FREE Microsoft eBooks! Microsoft Press is giving away tens and hundreds of eBooks for FREE! Start browsing and download them now!

Betternet - Free, Unlimited VPN With No Registration

I have used VPNs and many aren't really free and if they are free, it usually comes with some restrictions like data cap. Betternet is a VPN I just know of recently that is 100% no frills free of charge with NO usage limits and NO requirement of registration.

According to Betternet, the service does not track any user information for privacy sake. 100% of its revenue comes from ads within some of the Betternet apps to stay sustainable.

Betternet is available on several platforms including Windows, iOS, Android, Chrome and Firefox. Have tried Betternet on Android and it is seamless.

Unlink Skype from Outlook.com

It is time to find a way to find out how to stop Skype from logging in automatically whenever I visits Outlook.com for the sake of just wanting to check my email. This is just so infringing my privacy!

To disable Skype from logging in automatically, you will need to unlink Skype from your Microsoft account. This is how you can do it:

1. Sign in to Skype.com
2. Under Settings and preferences, click Account settings
3. Beside your Microsoft account, click on Unlink

I hope this helps.

» How do I unlink my Skype account from my Microsoft or Facebook account? | Skype Help

How do we interpret PM2.5 value?

The haze condition in Singapore worsens especially on yesterday when the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) breached hazardous level. PSI is used and well known in Singapore as an air quality descriptor. Another important descriptor not to be over-sighted is the PM_2.5 level which is a dominant pollutant during haze episodes. The smaller PM_2.5 particles can pass through the smaller airways and travel deep into the lungs.

How do we interpret PM_2.5 and at which level should we be cautious?

PM2.5 (µg/m3)	PSI (Singapore)	Health Concerns
0 - 12	0 - 50	Good
12.1 - 35.4	51 - 80	Moderate
35.5 - 55.4	81 - 100	Unhealthy for sensitive groups
55.5 - 150.4	101 - 200	Unhealthy
150.5 - 250.4	201 - 300	Very unhealthy
250.5 - 350.4	301 - 400	Hazardous
350.5 - 500.4	401 - 500	Very hazardous

What is 'Emotionally Intelligent'?

I recently came to watch a webinar on 'Understand the Human Factors in Project Management for Success' by Muhammad Mirza. There is one particular presentation slide on the definition of 'Emotionally Intelligent' which I find particularly interesting. It defines as:

1. You have Emotionally Vocabulary
2. You are curious about people
3. You embrace change
4. You know your strengths & weaknesses
5. You are a good judge of character
6. You are difficult to offend
7. You know how to say no
8. You let go of mistakes
9. You give & expect nothing in return
10. You don't hold grudges
11. Your neutralize toxic people
12. You don't seek perfection
13. You appreciate what you have
14. You disconnect with work regularly
15. You get enough sleep
16. You stop negative self talk
17. You won't let any limit your joy

Skype is down web.skype.com is still working #skypedown

Skype seems to be experiencing a global outage with desktop users, including myself, having reported unable to login. While waiting for the service to be up again, you may try to login through their web version - web.skype.com instead.

Lee Hsien Loong speech at People's Action Party (PAP) rally, 9 Sep 2015 #GE2015

English Speech



Chinese Speech



Malay Speech

Tharman Shanmugaratnam speech at People's Action Party (PAP) rally, 9 Sep 2015 #GE2015

Dr Lily Neo speech at People's Action Party (PAP) rally, 9 Sep 2015 #GE2015

Lim Swee Say speech at People's Action Party (PAP) rally, 9 Sep 2015 #GE2015

Workers' Party - Empower Your Future

People's Action Party - With You, For You, For Singapore

Chiam See Tong speech at Singapore People's Party (SPP) rally, 6 Sep 2015 #GE2015

Chiam See Tong looked frail as he made a brief speech for Singapore People's Party (SPP) rally for Mountbatten on 6 Sep 2015.

NSP's Choong Hon Heng - BOO to PAP

Can someone enlighten me what message NSP's Choong Hon Heng is trying to convey?

Just for entertainment

Lee Bee Wah speech at People's Action Party (PAP) rally, 8 Sep 2015

Lee Hsien Loong speech at People's Action Party (PAP) rally, 8 Sep 2015

Lee Hsien Loong almost an hour's lunchtime rally at the CBD area.

Sim Ann speech at People's Action Party (PAP) rally, 7 Sep 2015

Watch Sim Ann's rally speech, described as a speech "dripping with sarcasm" against her opponent in the election contest, Dr Chee Soon Juan. Ms Sim Ann remarked Dr Chee "chu pattern".

I feel that in the whole of Singapore, if Dr Chee claims to be second-best in "chu pattern", no one would dare claim to be number one.

Chee Soon Juan at Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) rally, 5 Sep 2015

Chee Soon Juan lunchtime rally at the CBD area.

Chee Soon Juan at Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) rally, 4 Sep 2015

Chiam See Tong speech at Singapore People's Party (SPP) rally, 4 Sep 2015

Admire Mr Chiam for his dedication towards Singapore.

Tharman Shanmugaratnam speech at People's Action Party (PAP) rally, 5 Sep 2015

A speech full of facts and substance. We really need to keep Tharman as our Finance Minister.

Lim Ee Ping at Workers' Party (WP) rally, 4 Sep 2015 #GE2015

Watch Lim Ee Ping insulting Singapore's founding father Mr Lee Kuan Yew a liar and current Foreign & Law Minister K. Shanmugam a dog.

Chee Soon Juan at Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) rally, 3 Sep 2015 (Hokkein) #GE2015

You may also want to read Chee Soon Juan's rally in English.

Chen Jiaxi Bernard at Workers' Party (WP) rally, 3 Sep 2015 #GE2015

Chee Soon Juan at Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) rally, 3 Sep 2015

Powerful Speaker. Passionate, Composed, Sincere.

You may also want to read Chee Soon Juan's rally in Hokkein.

Sylvia Lim at Workers' Party (WP) rally, 3 Sep 2015

He Ting Ru at Workers' Party (WP) rally, 3 Sep 2015

Leon Perera at Workers' Party (WP) rally, 3 Sep 2015

Han Hui Hui heckled at her rally - Guy shouting 'No' to voting for her

A guy spotted shouting 'No' to voting for Independent Candidate for Radin Mas, Han Hui Hui. This just sums up her campaign.

Singapore GE 2015 - Party Political Broadcast 1

Pritam Singh speech at Workers' Party (WP) rally, 2 Sep 2015

Png Eng Huat speech at Workers' Party (WP) rally, 2 Sep 2015

Gerald Giam speech at Workers' Party (WP) rally, 2 Sep 2015

Chan Chun Sing speech at People's Action Party (PAP) rally, 2 Sep 2015

Rousing and impactful speech

Lee Hsien Loong speech at People's Action Party (PAP) rally, 2 Sep 2015

Sounds a bit like another National Day Rally or Budget speech.

Cheryl Loh speech at Workers' Party (WP) rally, 2 Sep 2015

Daniel Goh speech at Workers' Party (WP) rally, 2 Sep 2015

Koh Choong Yong speech at Workers' Party (WP) rally, 2 Sep 2015

Sylvia Lim speech at Workers' Party (WP) rally, 2 Sep 2015

Chen Show Mao speech at Workers' Party (WP) rally, 2 Sep 2015

Low Thia Khiang speech at Workers' Party (WP) rally, 2 Sep 2015

All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor Parody - "All About That HAZE"

A creative video parody done to highlight the environmental issues of haze in Singapore.

Rebuild all Indexes on a Microsoft SQL Server

As part of database maintenance, a DBA may wish to do periodical rebuild of all indexes. The below may come handy.

EXEC sp_MSForEachTable 'ALTER INDEX ALL ON ? REBUILD'

President Obama 'AMAZING GRACE' Eulogy For Clementa Pickney

President Obama delivered a 40-minute 'AMAZING GRACE' eulogy for Clementa Pickney who was murdered by a racist terrorist on June 17, 2015 at an evening Bible study at his church. This touching speech is a thoughtful meditation on the whites and blacks race in America.

Watch the video below:

NDP 2015 Theme Song: Our Singapore

The theme song, written by Dick Lee, for this year's National Day is released.

How do you feel about this song? For your pleasure, I have consolidated all NDP theme songs from 1998 to 2013.

Chen Tianwen's un-un-un-un-unbelievable song got a remix

The famous Mediacorp's 'Spouse For House' actor Chen Tianwen music video "Un. un. un. un. unbelievable!!!" now comes with a remix version.

If you are interested to listen to the original version, do check out this link!

MsSQL Split Function

The following demonstrates how to do a string Split using a character delimiter.

Edited: [dbo].[Split_PerformanceEnhanced] added - better performance results (31 July 2017).

--SQL function to do split (performance enhanced)
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[Split_PerformanceEnhanced]
(
 @List NVARCHAR(MAX),
 @Delimiter VARCHAR(5)
)  
RETURNS @RtnValue TABLE
(
 ID INT IDENTITY(1,1),
 Data VARCHAR(MAX)
) 
AS
BEGIN
 INSERT INTO @RtnValue(Data)
  SELECT [Value] FROM 
    ( 
    SELECT 
     [Value] = LTRIM(RTRIM(SUBSTRING(@List, [Number],
     CHARINDEX(@Delimiter, @List + @Delimiter COLLATE Latin1_General_100_BIN2, [Number]) - [Number])))
    FROM (SELECT Number = ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY name)
     FROM sys.all_objects) AS x
     WHERE Number <= LEN(@List)
     AND SUBSTRING(@Delimiter + @List, [Number], LEN(@Delimiter)) = @Delimiter
    ) AS y

 RETURN;
END
GO
--Test out the SQL function
SELECT * FROM dbo.Split_PerformanceEnhanced('one|two|three|four', '|')
GO

Below SQL function still works but prefer the above new performance enhanced version.

--SQL function to do split
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[Split]
(
 @RowData NVARCHAR(MAX),
 @SplitOn CHAR(1)
)  
RETURNS @RtnValue TABLE
(
 ID INT IDENTITY(1,1),
 Data VARCHAR(MAX)
) 
AS
BEGIN
 DECLARE @count INT
 SET @count = 1

 WHILE (CHARINDEX(@SplitOn COLLATE Latin1_General_100_BIN2, @RowData) > 0)
 BEGIN
  INSERT INTO @RtnValue (data)
  SELECT Data = LTRIM(RTRIM(SUBSTRING(@RowData, 1, CHARINDEX(@SplitOn COLLATE Latin1_General_100_BIN2, @RowData) - 1)))
  SET @RowData = SUBSTRING(@RowData, CHARINDEX(@SplitOn COLLATE Latin1_General_100_BIN2, @RowData) + 1, LEN(@RowData))
  SET @count = @count + 1
 END

 INSERT INTO @RtnValue (data)
 SELECT Data = LTRIM(RTRIM(@RowData))

 RETURN
END
GO
--Test out the SQL function
SELECT * FROM dbo.Split('one|two|three|four', '|')
GO

So stunned like a vegetable by Chen Tianwen's "Un. un. un. un. unbelievable!!!" music video

Mediacorp's 'Spouse For House' actor Chen Tianwen music video "Un. un. un. un. unbelievable!!!" is so unbelievably funny. What a multi-talented guy.

Spouse For House airs every Wednesday, 10pm on Channel 5.

Google Malaysia access disrupted and hacked

As of now, access to Google Malaysia (www.google.com.my) remains not possible and is showing 'Google Malaysia HackeD' message.

The disruption is reported to be due to DNS redirection as confirmed by a tweet from Google Malaysia.

Getting reports some users are experiencing http://t.co/uIvl6RbDzu DNS redirection. Please use http://t.co/AdkzwxVR4U in the meantime.
— Google Malaysia (@GoogleMsia) April 14, 2015

A WHOIS check on www.google.com.my domain confirmed the DNS redirection.

Introduction to Project Management

Greg Balestrero (Strategic Advisor on Corporate Consciousness, Leadership & Sustainability, IIL) provides a quick but thorough introduction to Project Management, how it is being used, and why it should matter to you, especially if you are into Project Management.

Charlie Munger in 2010: ‘Don’t ask Charlie Munger. Study the life and work of Lee Kuan Yew, you’re going to be flabbergasted’

In a Q&A at University of Michigan in 2010, Charlie Munger who is Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation praised the Singapore system and Lee Kuan Yew. He said, ‘Don’t ask Charlie Munger. Study the life and work of Lee Kuan Yew, you’re going to be flabbergasted’.

Watch the segment in the video below.

Project Spartan: Beyond Browsing

Amazon newly revamped design - RETRO

As part of April Fool, Amazon has just launched their newly revamped retro design. See below if you like it!

My condolences to Lee Kuan Yew's family

Dear family members of Lee Kuan Yew's,

With the great loss of founder of modern Singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, I would like to send my deepest condolences to PM Lee Hsien Loong and his family members. Without the late Lee Kuan Yew's courage and lifelong commitment, it would have been impossible to see what Singapore has achieved since independence day.

Lee's contribution will be remembered for generations to come. Let us continue building Singapore into a fine, gracious nation.

With deepest sympathies,
A Singaporean born and bred here

Remembering Lee Kuan Yew, 1923 - 2015

Restore wrong or unknown program icons in Windows 7 Start Menu

Should you see wrong or unknown program icons in your Windows 7 Start Menu, you may try the following steps to restore them.

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Copy and paste %userprofile%\AppData\Local onto the address bar.
3. Find and delete IconCache.db. This file is hidden by default.
4. Open Command Prompt.
5. Run taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe on Command Prompt.
6. Run start explorer on Command Prompt.

I hope this helps.

How do I remove the cached username and password from SQL Management Studio?

You may have your reasons to want to remove the cached username and password from the SQL Management Studio e.g. before handing your laptop to someone else.

The step to remove will require deleting a file but differs depending on the version of SQL Management Studio you are using.

SQL Server Management Studio 2014
Delete C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\SQL Server Management Studio\12.0\SqlStudio.bin

SQL Server Management Studio 2012
Delete C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\SQL Server Management Studio\11.0\SqlStudio.bin

SQL Server Management Studio 2008
Delete C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Shell\SqlStudio.bin

SQL Server Management Studio 2005
Delete C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\Shell\mru.dat

One good news is as of SQL Server Management Studio 2012, you may delete an entry by using the tool itself without the need to delete a file. To delete, you will need to click on the 'Server name' dropdown in the 'Connect to Server' dialog. Move your mouse or use your keyboard arrow key to highlight the server to remove followed by hitting on the 'Delete' key on your keyboard. This is so convenient!

Infographics: When should we use JPEG, GIF and PNG?

The side-effects of young children using mobile / handheld devices

In current generation where penetration rate of mobile devices is high, we see many including young children often using mobile devices while travelling, in school or even before bedtime. A fact sheet published on Zone'in advised infants aged 0-2 years should not have any exposure to technology, 3-5 years be restricted to one hour per day, and 6-18 years restricted to 2 hours per day.

The fact sheet researched on areas:

• Technology Use: usage statistics; technology addiction prevalence
• Physical Impairments: developmental delay; obesity, cardiovascular disorders and diabetes; movement deprivation, sensory overstimulation, elecrtromagnetic radiation, sleep disruption
• Mental Disorders: human detachment and mental illness; psychotropic medication, restraints, and seclusion rooms, touch deprivation, pornography and risky behavior
• Social Disorders: communication, aggression and declining empathy,
• Academic Decline: attention deficit; illiteracy, education technology;
• Implications and Solutions: costs, technology screening an management, playgrounds as epicenter for child development and learning

How to stop FortiClient from starting automatically?

Installed FortiClient recently but the challenge in disabling the application/service from running automatically on every start-up annoyed me. Attempt to stop 'FortiClient Service Scheduler' only return 'Parameter is incorrect' error message.

An article on Technet help solve my trouble. To stop FortiClient from starting automatically, try the following:

1. Shut down FortiClient from the system tray.
   
2. Run net stop fortishield on command prompt.
   
3. Run msconfig.
   
4. On msconfig, switch to the Services tab. Clear the FortiClient Service Scheduler check box and click Apply.
5. Run services.msc on command prompt to open up show all available services.
6. Look for FortiClient Service Scheduler. Switch Startup type to Manual.
7. Restart your computer.

FortiClient should not be running automatically the next time round. Hope it helps.