I laughed out loud, nearly toppled off my chair, and couldn’t stop. That’s worrying. (From xkcd, and on SvN)

I don’t have a birthday wishlist. However, after being repeatedly pressured by friends and family who either (1) really really really want to give their cousin/friend/niece a present she likes for her 21st next weekend, or (2) don’t want to be embarrassed at the party when I open their present with a blank look on [...]

Because in Singapore, the average consumer: Thinks just because he’s “spending so much money” on an iPod, it’s ridiculous it doesn’t come with a speaker. Like a Bose SoundDock. Because all music players on the market give free high end speakers, right? Wants to buy a MacBook, delete OS X and install Windows on it. Is about 10 [...]

Bill Clinton: “Society is important because of Ubuntu.” He has the habit of getting us excited unnecessarily, because he certainly wasn’t talking about everybody’s favourite distro. (Imagine if he was! Al Gore, Apple’s bitch, and Clinton, Ubuntu poster boy. What a great pair! If I had it my way, I would choose presidents based on the [...]

When one is faced with a paper and presentation in 10 hours, 2 papers and 2 exams in a few days, and a mounting back log of other non-school work-work, what’s the best approach to have? Why, buy a new-old camera (Konica C35), watch Liverpool thrash Galatasaray (sorry, Alp), read Michael Palin’s engaging epic on China, [...]

Latest addition: Nikon F3HP. She came in with a big splash by having herself detained at customs for duty inspection. The trip down to Eunos wasn’t for nothing. Left to right: Canonet QL17 (fixed 40mm, f1.7), Nikon F3HP with 55mm, Yashica Electro 35 GS (fixed 45mm, f1.7). They don’t make cameras like these anymore, and I’m [...]

So in the age of budget travel, your friends discuss lunch plans in Bangkok, weekend jaunts out into other regional destinations “to see the Angkor Wat”/ “go to Borobodur”. It’s lovely and wonderful. Then there are friends who fly 4 hours from Bangalore to Singapore to buy a MacBook Pro, at a price which is similar [...]

The only day I have classes with the business school students is Friday. Fridays are also the days when I consistently struggle with the “Where you are from” questions, from my compatriots (not sure why, only business students think I’m foreign when no one else does). Typical conversation. “Where you from ah?” “What do you mean, where am [...]

Bombay Rockers — Ari Ari (Hindi) Seden Gurel — Sebebim Ask (Turkish) Khasi Students’ Union — Harud I Wahduid (Khasi; a hill tribe language) Janai — Lawei (Khasi) Cai Qin — Bei Yi Wang De Shi Guang (Mandarin Chinese) Tabla Beat Science — Devotional (Indian devotional/percussion) David Tao — Tian Tian (Mandarin Chinese) Download them all here. This is your only chance [...]

As of SGT 0145 hours, I don’t think anybody really knows what the hell is going on in that city I call my second home. My friends in Bangkok say they were watching TV and suddenly all channels started playing patriotic songs with pictures of the king, mobile coverage is dying in the city, the [...]