We are all Anton Casey

Posted on January 26, 2014 by icedwater

To be honest, I didn’t really pay attention to the whole scandal till way after the “WANKER Special” photo made its rounds on Twitter. And then I maybe only looked at it once or twice or listened while people were making loud noises about “the bloody ang moh”. So he has been fired from his firm, and won himself even more attention over several pages in the Straits Times: 2,3 and 35 (screenshot of the digital version featured below.)

But why are we “all” Anton Casey? Every now and then, we let slip a remark that is utterly insensitive to another group of people. Sometimes we mean it, sometimes it’s just a poorly-considered knee-jerk reaction. Either way, we may have to regret it later on.

But we should really be reflecting as well.

St. Anton paid the price so that we may all learn to be tolerant of every expat

Continue reading →

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Sports Desk 1, Singapore 0

Posted on October 1, 2013 by icedwater

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SINGAPORE – Readers of the most respected English broadsheet on the island might have been forgiven for not knowing which country they were in had they begun reading it from the back page, which is the front page as far as sports fanatics are concerned. Continue reading →

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Bowling again

Posted on September 25, 2013 by icedwater

I went bowling with some other staff from I2R, my second time in two weeks and considerably more affordable than my solo trip to the West Coast Recreation Centre. This was to the SuperBowl in SAFRA Mt Faber. I enjoyed most of the 8 games we squeezed into the 2.5 hours. I should really get more practice… but it’s expensive.

Ah well, as long as I indulge sparingly it won’t strike my bank account too hard.

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Poking away at the XLSX

Posted on July 23, 2013 by icedwater

Hope to be able to write my own filter that can handle Excel files in different programming languages. I will be updating information here as I find it (and have time to document…)

As always, StackOverflow has already got something interesting and there is a link to some sort of reference site which seems to require a login. So … yeah, more open, but not quite.

Points I have already found out from a simple table of data: Continue reading →

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Really, Media, Really?

Posted on July 6, 2013 by icedwater

LionsXII fielded a second-string side against Kelantan at Kota Bharu and lost 2-0. With the title already won and their seeding in the Malaysia Cup confirmed, they can afford to.

In the New Paper today, three and a half pages were given to the LionsXII – Kelantan match, and one to the 1-1 draw between Courts Young Lions and Albirex Niigata (S). But wait, weren’t there two matches last night? I had to flip through their sports pages three or four times to find one sentence.

“In the other match last night, Woodlands Wellington came from two goals down to beat Brunei DPMM 5-2.”

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TNP, I am disappoint. At least you are not alone – Lianhe Wanbao gives you a run for your money.

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The Malaysia Cup beckons — but for whom?

Posted on July 6, 2013 by icedwater

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I have many things to say about the LionsXII – not all of them are nice. But the overwhelming media coverage of this johnny-come-back-lately is as sickening as it is understandable. On the off chance you haven’t heard of the LionsXII, variously known as the LionsX11, the Lions, the Singapore LionsXII, and even Singapore, allow me to introduce them. I promise to be objective. For as long as I can.
Continue reading →

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Provide Standard Information

Posted on June 26, 2013 by icedwater

So the very responsive NEA site has chosen to emphasise the 24-hour PSI values in the respective zones. You have to scroll all the way to the bottom to see the trends for 3-hour PSI.

Is it really less relevant as they claim? I do not think so. An average over the last three hours, although already lagging, provide a better picture of what the air has been like. Of course, it does not include PM2.5, which is the more important value to look out for.

Then the question would be, why not use the AQI instead?

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In index we trust

Posted on June 22, 2013 by icedwater

PSA: the NEA has reworked its PSI readings page again. It is now deeper in the site.

So obviously there is a lot of discussion about the Pollutant Standard Index (PSI, not PSI Index please). It is, as some have quipped, an index even more closely watched than some of the the stock markets around the world. But is it really relevant? Continue reading →

Posted in Just Me, Singapore | 2 Comments

Football and Linguistics

Posted on June 10, 2013 by icedwater

Who knew there was an intersection between two of my interests? …then again, was this really unexpected? A research group at the Universität Innsbruck focusing on multilingualism has done some work relating football and language, and this is definitely worth a closer look. Continue reading →

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Laos 2 Singapore 5

Posted on June 8, 2013 by icedwater

For those inclined to receive them, the Lions will be arriving on SQ975 today at 3.55pm. They return after having picked up seven goals and conceded two against regional opposition, a respectable start to the new coach Bernd Stange’s reign. Yet this is little cause for celebration. Why? Continue reading →

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