history repeating

i did it and it got me nowhere.

just empty space and a void where something should be.

such simple things piss me off so easily.

y start when it is obviously going nowhere?

u bo ka lan me i bo ka lan you

Another one for the Forum

Why do i even do this shit.

http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Online%2BStory/STIStory_149255.html






















Who cares? is anybody even gg to give a shit

Ten Years Too Late

ST, Aug 19 2007 Fourth university to be decided within a year: PM Lee

By Imelda Saad, Correspondent

CONTINUING his theme of closing the income gap, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced several measures to upgrade the university sector in Singapore. Descibing education as the 'best way to level up society', Mr Lee said in his National Day Rally speech, that the Government is looking into a fourth publicly-funded university. But he added the Government 'may not limit' itself to just 'one new institution'. 'The aim is to get every student into post-secondary education and as many as possible into tertiary institutions', he said. Currently, 23 per cent of every cohort receives subsidised education in the three universities - The Nanyang Technological University (NTU), The National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Singapore Management University (SMU). The aim, said Mr Lee, is to get 30 per cent of the Singaporean cohort to enter publicly-funded universities by 2015. This means 2,400 more places a year. Mr Lee said the new university will have its own character and unique strengths, different from NUS, NTU and SMU. Minister of State for Education RAdm (NS) Lui Tuck Yew will chair a committee to study how to expand the university sector. Chairman of the National Research Foundation and former Minister in Charge of University Affairs, Tony Tan will be advisor to the Commitee. Mr Lee said the Government wil decide within a year, the best way to proceed with the new university. Malay language The Prime Minister also touched on the importance of acquiring new language skills as part of getting a good education. While emphasising that there will be no change in the mother tongue policy, Mr Lee also urged more non-Malays to learn Malay in addition to their mother tongue. Incentives will be introduced to encourage more students to take up the Malay Special Programme (MSP), to study Malay as a third language. Similarly, incentives will be extended to non-Chinese students who take up Chinese as a third language. .............................

If it dosnt bother me why should i care about it? Seems this is the way things work. Well, its not working. We are a cynical generation who are not shackled by the indebtness which so clouded the eyes of the previous generation and there fore resulted in the accumulation of so much power within just a space of a few decades. True, we have come a long way, but at what cost? What of the long term consequences?

Akatsuki Revealed

If anyone reads Naruto, you would be pleased that today, i am glad to present to the public a SPOILER IMAGE. Yes, yes this is a spoiler image of the AKATSUKI LEADER revealed! His nasty face finally revealed for all its glory! And yes, wouldnt you want to know whats on his forehead protector? Is he Naruto's father? OR does he have the Sharingan too?All these answered in seconds! Hold your breath.........

Drumroll.................










Drumroll..................







Drumroll...............












Even louder drumroll......................














Reaching a crescendo...............



TA DA!!!















Akatsuki Leader:

to my ex neighbour

jason you would have loved this

Roger's Story- Part One

Greetings. Let me introduce you to a friend of mine. A personal friend, really.

His name is Roger. Hanyu Pinyin- Chen Cai Ming, ( Tan Chai Beng)

Born in 1992, he was an average achiever in school. He did pick up some things fast, though. He was able to pick up computer literacy early, and by the age of 8, learnt how to use programs such as Explorer and, of course, how to reformat the computer.

Of course, Roger was born in an age where information sped round the globe in the blink of an eye, where he could be connected to his peers in a manner totally unheard of by those a generation behind him. One of his faves was downloading free programs, software and entertainment off the Internet. He was amazed that the Internet held so much information, and its influx of information dazzled him.

On his ninth birthday he recieved a nasty shock. A letter came through the mail for his parents. Turns out he illegally downloaded some episodes of Japanese Animation off the Internet illegally and as a result, legal action was taken against his parents. Of course, they did not that what he was doing as illegal, and settled on paying the 3k fine instead of going to court. At International Plaza, he met Linny, a school mate who happened to also have performed the dastardly deed. They talked, and became fast friends.

His parents never looked at him the same way after this incident.

His computer usage hours were limited, and closely monitored by his parents after the incident. They became paranoid and limited the time he spent on the computer soon afterwards.

End of Part One

i love singapore

StarHub must give names of illegal anime downloaders

ST, Aug 14th 2007

By Chua Hian Hou

THE Singapore distributor of popular Japanese animated cartoons called anime has won the right to track down fans who download the programmes illegally using their Starhub Internet accounts.

A Subordinate Court has ordered the telco to disclose the identity of about 1,000 of its subscribers accused of illegally downloading anime.

It is believed to be one of the largest crackdowns on illegal Internet downloading by home users in Singapore.

The recent hearing was held in a closed chamber session, so few details of the case are available publicly. The action was taken by local anime distributor Odex.

StarHub had initially resisted the company's efforts to get its customer data, said a spokesman for the telco, as it had 'an obligation to protect our customers' information'.

But it now has no choice but to comply with the court order, as Odex had 'satisfied the court of its need for the information'.

Once Odex obtains the identities of these Internet users from StarHub, it is expected to write to them demanding a settlement of up to $5,000 and a promise to stop further illegal downloading.

In May, Odex went after 17 SingNet subscribers after obtaining a similar court order. It then sent more letters to an undisclosed number of other SingNet subscribers also accused of illegally downloading anime.

Odex director Peter Go said a few infringers with financial difficulties were allowed to settle for about $1,000. He added that a number of those who had received the letter had engaged lawyers, but did not contest Odex's case.

Having succeeded in getting SingNet and StarHub customer lists, Odex will now go after customers of another Internet service provider, Pacific Internet (PacNet), in the Subordinate Courts later this week. It is understood Odex has accused about 1,000 PacNet users of illegal downloading.

PacNet spokesman Bernard Ho said the firm was 'resisting the application' made by Odex in court.

However, lawyers familiar with such applications say they have a strong track record of success. But information obtained this way is not always useful to the plaintiff. For instance, the user may no longer be in the country.

Popular with both children and adults, the anime industry was worth as much as US$5 billion ($7.5 billion) worldwide, according to a 2004 BusinessWeek report. However, illegal downloads, available online since the late 1990s, have cut deeply into the profits of producers and distributors.

Mr Go said the South Korean anime market, once the world's second largest after Japan, collapsed several years ago due to piracy problems.

This prompted Japanese studios making anime to band together to mount the crackdown here as they were worried Singapore, although not as big a market, would end up the same way.

A 23-year-old anime fan acknowledged that there was some truth to Mr Go's words.

'At my peak a while ago, I used to download five to 10 gigabytes of anime a week,' said the undergraduate, who declined to be named.

Now, he is resigned that his past will catch up with him.

'It's just a matter of time before I get the dreaded Odex letter.'

................................................................


Court forces ISP to reveal culprits

Netizens cry foul- How did company track downloaders?

New Paper, Aug 9 2007

By Liew Hanqing

THE white school shoes lined up neatly at the reception area were telling.

Popular series Inuyasha is one of the anime series distributed by Odex here.

Inside were several frowning parents with their teenage children in tow.

That was the scene at Odex's office at International Plaza on Monday.

Odex is the local distributor of Japanese anime cartoons which made news recently when it cracked down on illegal downloaders here.

Most of those caught were students - one, a 9-year-old child.

The episode has caused a huge uproar among Netizens, who are worried that their online privacy has been compromised.

How did Odex, which distributes popular Japanese anime series such as Bleach, Inuyasha and D.Gray-man here, find out who had been downloading illegally?

TROUBLING

Said Mr David Lee, 23, who collects anime box sets: 'What's troubling is how it seems like the ISPs are prepared to divulge user information so readily.'

After some persuasion, Mr Peter Go, managing director of Odex, revealed how the company had done it.

He told The New Paper that a US company had been hired to track down the illegal downloaders.

'All the information we obtained was through the proper channels,' he said.

Mr Go declined to reveal the name of the company Odex hired, saying only that it was also involved in several high-profile copyright infringement cases in the US.

He said that the data collected was then used to obtain a court order.

The court order required Internet service providers (ISPs) to provide the account information of users whose internet protocol (IP) addresses had been linked to illegal downloading.

On disclosing users' identities, a SingTel spokesman said: 'SingTel has a strict policy of not disclosing customer information to external parties.

'In this particular case, Odex's solicitors had obtained a court order that required us to release the information to them.'

Then came the tedious process of matching the names obtained from the ISPs to the files they had downloaded, as tracked by the US company.

Additional administrative staff had to be hired to do the matching.

Infringing users were then sent letters, inviting them to enter discussions with Odex to avoid legal action being taken against them.

Users who admitted to the downloads were made to pay between $3,000 and $5,000 in reimbursement fees to Odex, according to Mr Go.

They also had to sign a letter of undertaking promising not to illegally download any anime licensed to Odex.

NO CLAIMS MADE YET

He said: 'At this stage, we have not claimed damages against any of the downloaders.

'The money they've been made to pay is to cover the costs which Odex has incurred.'

Mr Go said besides the usual legal fees, they had to pay the ISPs for identification of users, the US company hired to track illegal downloads, as well as the additional administrative staff.

Mr Go added that the company had no choice, as Odex's business had been severely hurt by illegal downloads.

He said: 'Our sales for 2006 fell more than 50 per cent compared to the year before.'

Statistics show that Odex's declining sales are part of a global trend.

And even though 13-episode anime VCD box sets released by Odex cost just $10, and DVD box sets, $20, consumers were not biting, Mr Go said.

Sales of the box sets have been poor, and got even worse last year.

Odex is still sending letters to users who have been identified as illegal downloaders - one ISP at a time.

Said Mr Go: 'We just haven't finished matching the data obtained from the other ISPs yet. We are not targeting any ISP in particular.'

LEGAL ACTION

He added that Odex would begin taking legal action if the situation does not improve.

He said: 'We would like to avoid getting to the point where we have to raid the homes of those who download illegally. But if this continues, we may soon have to.'

Mr Go said that while there was a 50 per cent drop in the number of illegal downloads a week after Odex sent out the first batch of letters, the number of downloads went back to normal the following week.

Mr Go said he was frustrated that users on anime forums were discussing ways to continue downloading anime illegally, without getting caught.

He said: 'There are so many ways people can get their anime fix.

'And our VCDs and DVDs are already priced about as low as they can go, but people still aren't buying.

'It's very sad.'

Under the Copyright Act, users found guilty of wilful and significant downloads face fines of up to $20,000 and up to six months in jail.

The Act does not specify what constitutes a significant number of downloads.

.....................................................

Business ethics

-Is a specialized study of moral right and wrong.

-It concentrates on moral standards as they apply to business policies, institutions and behaviour and to the systems and organizations through which modern societies produce goods and services and to the people who work within these organizations.

....................................................

Do you think that there are any ethics involved in business? Nah. Ethics dont get you money or bring you anywhere. Mainland china is an example. In the capitalist world we live in today the key ideal that drives us is the pursuit of monetary gain, be it thru whatever avenue we might choose. In a country where regulation is subservient to those who wield it there is no room for ethics and implications. I can make money through this so what?

No, there is no use spouting profanities and cursing and swearing at how the situation has becomes. We should accept the fact that it is this society that we live in, the grim reality of what life really is. It is not a bed of roses.

In a way one of the very poignant texts which relates closely to the situation would be Aeon Flux. Replace the Goodchilds with a different name and voila. There you have it. As is quoted in the film- "we trade our freedom for a gilded cage". At the same time, we should be thankful for this cage- it is responsible for shaping us into the individuals that we are. Undoubtedly, it is very easily to condemn a system because it does not work the way it does, but then we are all fallible human beings.

But what else can we do but complain? It is what we have been doing, it is what our whole culture is about. We are shaped by this influence into the people that we are today. Perhaps what we can do, is not to lament the fact that everything sucks. (cos it really does) It is just the same old thing being rehashed over and over again, the endless rhetoric about how lousy things are, and how we all yearn for a better life.

Rhetoric stays as rhetoric. Nobody will ever do anything, because they cant, and they wont. We are selfish creatures, merely concerned with the state of our own personal well being.

Like i told a friend one night before, i guess what you can do is, perhaps, choose alternatives to a bad situation. It may suck, but complaining solves nothing. A simple boycott and an import purchase is an action that speaks louder than a million letters and angry online posts.