Saturday, April 13, 2019

Weekend Leisure Post - To Renovate Or Upgrade?

For the past few days, the hottest local news is non other than the preview (soft launch) of the Jewel Changi Airport, for those lucky few who have gotten the free preview tickets, sure to have a blast there. From the videos/photos shared in the social media so far, I feel proud that for a tiny country like us, we can grind out something as spectacular and grand as this!

As for the international news, it's the buzz regarding the upcoming premiere of long-awaited Marvels Universe sequel Avengers - Endgame (from 24th Apr 2019). In local context, it has "forced" Shaw cinema chain to introduce an online queuing system to purchase the ticket (yes, you hear it right, before you can access the site to book your advanced ticket, you need to get a queue number and they will send you a link to access the site when your queue is up!). Beside downing the servers of the cinema chains in the region (due to the high volume of traffics), long queues are forming at selected ticket box offices just to buy the movie tickets (crazy right?). To top it off, cinema chains in the region are competing to screen the earliest show on the first day. So far, I think the winner is from Hong Kong cinema chain whereby their  earliest show is at 6 AM. Mind you, it's on Wednesday and the movie is 3 hours and 2 minutes long :-)

On the personal front, am busy looking around and discussing with IDs (Interior Designers) on renovating our 15 years old home. The quotes received so far is between $80K to $120K, this set us thinking whether it would be more meaningful to sell our existing house and upgrade to EC or Condo rather than spending this hefty renovation cost? Of course, we need to think through a few other factors before making final decision... More to come on this...

Cheers!

Sunday, April 7, 2019

To Dox Or Not To Dox, That's The Question, Or Is It?

At the moment, the hottest local news is "fake news". Reason being that Singapore Government is set to make the spreading of fake news as outlaw. Thanks to this fake news thing, I've learnt something new today. Along came the newly learnt term dox, doxing or doxxing..

So what is dox (or doxing)?

Accord to Google translate, Doxing is defined as:

"search for and publish private or identifying information about (a particular individual) on the Internet, typically with malicious intent."

What it means is that once the Protection from Harassment (Amendment) Bill is passed, anyone committed the act of doxing will deemed outlawed with the following penalty:

"If the personal information is published to cause harassment, alarm or distress, the maximum sentence is a $5,000 fine and 6 months jail term"

"If the personal information is published to cause fear of violence or facilitate violence, the maximum sentence is a $5,000 fine or up to 12 months jail term"

Personal information here includes names, email address, phone number, password, photograph (even such information is readily available online elsewhere, e.g. from that person's social media profile).  

I am guilty of occasionally sharing viral videos/photos (but not personal identifiable information) via my Facebook profile, I guess from now on I need to think twice (or trice) before committing any potential act of doxing. 

Cheers! 

Saturday, April 6, 2019

MRT Map by 2030

In about 11 years time and assuming everything goes as planned, our MRT map will look something like the one on the left. 

For a small country like Singapore, I must say that our public transport is very comprehensive and convenient. Even though there were frequent breakdowns (minor and major) in the past 2 years or so, I can see that there are vast improvement recently, especially from the start of the year (touch wood!), but I think we are going on the right direction in ensuring a more stable public train system. 

For a public transport taker like me, I am happy with the busier lines as it will provide more alternative options for going to the same place. Besides, I believed the value of properties (private or public) along the new lines (especially the Thomson-East Coast Line) will have potential to demand a premium in the near future. 

Clearer version of Singapore MRT Map by 2030

Cheers!

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