There are 30 billion prime numbers below 700 billion. The rest are all subprime.


- thanks to Pritpal & Ivy for forwarding this.

National Museum Trip

We took a trip to the National Museum sometime this month.. What we got out of it were a couple of cool pictures and a good look at the new old building.



We love this shot! =)




The museum's rear facade is quite a facade actually, everything looks like its meant to be larger than it is - "What is this?? A centre for ANTS!??"




Shermy imitating pop art. Or.. Mky being copycat.

The Dog

Lovely shots of my dear Jackie boy, taken by dear Shermy on her wonderful Samsung mobile phone. =)

Samsung Innov8 Photohunt '08

Shermy and I entered this contest held last Saturday at Samsung's flagship store at Vivocity. Upon finding out we were chosen as one of 28 teams for this contest, Shermy and I went down to Vivo that night to do some scouting and observing. We got maps and tried to familiarise ourselves with the layout and particular landmarks and patterns in the entire mall. In that short time however, we could only cover level 1 and a bit of level 2, leaving the rest for another day.

Come Saturday, we went early and recce'd the rest of the mall. Registration time - we found out that only the 3rd Floor Skypark would be used afterall. But our scouting was not in vain as we HAD spent some time there, even taking a window seat at Marche for lunch!

As the competition began, Sherm and I were released with 8 photos of objects to be found in the Skypark. From our starting point, we went in a clockwise direction, hitting our first objective within seconds. As we progressed, Sherm's sharp eyes and our carefully talked-over plan seemed to work, and we got the second, third and fourth objects in quick succession. The fourth in particular was one that neither of us immediately knew. A painted cross?? Shermy's brilliant mind associated it with Marche and the red painted cows outside, and voila! She had to kiss the cow's rump for the pic =)

We continued our route, jogging, even running along; we already knew the last 2 shots would be taken near the end point, so we continued for the fifth and sixth pics. At number seven, we realised the objective, a "toy" in the window of a toy store, had been switched! Nevertheless, we took a shot at where the toy was and ran for the final pic - the island of trees in front of Time Zone. And then ran back down the the 2nd floor store where we rushed through the 8 required questions with answers found within the Innov8 brochure.

All in all, we completed our quest in 15 mins flat, out of an allocated 30 mins. From our own batch (they released the teams in batches), we thought we were first back.

Our confidence was high, we were proud of ourselves. But the day was not ours to have. We ended up 9th because of a careless mistake on our part, forfeiting one of the images - the island of trees. We knew we had it.. The Innov8 was to be ours.. The eventual 2nd place winners, a pair of Uncles definitely came back after us, so could have attained 2nd or even first.

But all in all, it was a fun experience, and we resolved to take part in more such games in future. Because it made our adrenaline rush, and the competitiveness in us had a chance to shine =)

Would you like to join us next time?

938 confuses me

So my primary source of news reported this article earlier in the evening:

Updated: 9th October 2008, 1959 hrs
S&P trims NTUC Income's credit outlook

Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's says it's revised the rating outlook on Singapore-based NTUC Income to negative.

S&P previously had a stable rating on the insurer.

The revised outlook on NTUC comes on the back of the recent turmoil in the investment markets which S&P says has negatively affected NTUC Income's financial profile.

S&P also believed NTUC Income's under-performing non-life business and its lower but adequate capital level, have made a negative impact.

But S&P credit analyst Connie Wong stressed that at the moment, it's not downgrading the insruer's credit ratings.

She said, "We affirm the company's rating, basically. But however, we have a negative perspective on the company that if the company's performance deteriorates further more due to the situation and it affects the capitalisation which does not commensurate with the current rating, it can be subject to a lowering of the rating. But if they can get over the situation, the rating can be affirmed and the outlook can be reverted to stable as well."

S&P said it affirms NTUC Income's financial strength and counterparty credit ratings.

This, it said, was to reflect the insurer's strong business franchise and its satisfactory financial flexibility.

And later that night, there was this report:

Updated: 9th October 2008, 2050 hrs
NTUC Income ranks highest in S&P rating



NTUC Income ranks highest among all financial instituitions in Singapore despite the global financial turmoil.

In the latest report released by Standard and Poors, a financial rating company, NTUC Income was reaffirmed its AA rating.

Under the ratings system, a company rated ‘AA’ has a very strong capacity to meet its financial commitments.

Chief Executive of NTUC Income Tan Suee Chieh said its sound fundamentals, diversification strategy and strong governance was the key to its financial strength.

He reassured policyholders that NTUC Income will continue to be prudent and well diversified in its investments.

Makes one go hmmmmm....

Hamster in a Bottle

Taken by Shermy. A well-composed shot! Diggy, the hamster in the bottle, actually looks quite unreal. Makes for a good wallpaper. hehe

We're a Nation strong and free forevermore

SP Power tariffs raised 22%, Singtel raises fixed line charges. In a time of economic uncertainty, our government-owned companies decide that its the best time to tax the people more, indirectly of course. Directly, why, they give us tax breaks, some crap share, and road tax rebates (do they still give this?).

CTE will have 2 additional flyovers. Yay for jam-less transport. More reason for ERP gantries.

With paper losses on investments held by various organisations and companies registered from the last few months, and the short commodity-boom, I am not at all surprised that an increase in direct revenue becomes a tactic that has been recalled. Afterall, the shareholders come first. (read: Temasek, aka, Ministry of Finance, aka the gahmen). And companies need to pander to them first and foremost. The gahmen, of course supposed to pander (too strong a word, well, whatever it is they're supposed to do - listen to us? or in our case, tell us what to do) to us.

Oh surely, the pain isn't too great. It's only, what? An additional few hundred a year, a drop in the pond if you have a multi-million dollar paycheck.

Did you watch "Thank You For Not Smoking?" Its a pretty good movie and there's a certain disturbing relationship in there that I believe we might find has become alarmingly close to home.

(the) Academy of Tobacco Studies, (is) a tobacco lobby whose stated purpose is to research the links between smoking cigarettes and lung cancer. Unsurprisingly, the group, funded by cigarette companies, does not find any link between the two. ~Wiki

Links you might want to see:

Temasek's major stakes

Gerald Giam's blog.

Beautiful Photos of the F1 Night Race

I'm not an F1 fan. I like cars, I like racing. But I'm a MotoGP guy all the way, through and through. Bikes turn me on.

The F1 came to Singapore, and it was a big event. I must admit that I got really excited by it and come race day, I spent the evening with Shermaine's family, and it was fun (F1 Party)!

I was moved by the whole night race because I guess, even if I don't admit it, I feel a sense of pride that such a hugely popular event is being held IN Singapore, by Singapore. Must be that bit of Singaporean blood in me. The same part that felt a semblance of disappointment on hearing that JBJ had passed away.

Anyway, my dad sent me this link, which has very nice shots of the inaugural event held last weekend here, on the Little Red Dot.

Enjoy!