Skifree

found an intersting comic at http://xkcd.com/667/ about skifree. didn’t know you could press the f key to go faster to try and escape the monster at the end.

found the “officialest” website for skifree at http://ski.ihoc.net/ to download the game.

Brunei Exam Results No Longer Available Online?

Being super IT Literate :p , a lot of friends and family members often ask me whether exam result were online. whether it was o level, a level, psr or pmb.

It used to be easy. 10 years ago, someone in MOE would either photocopy a print of the list or copy the softcopy on disks(some had viruses because of this ), then people could find it from chat rooms (remember mirc?) a few years ago it started popping up on blogs and websites like bruneiexam.blogspot.com, threecents.wordpress.com, ranoadidas.com and anakbrunei.org.

But recently in 2008, MOE has been more “careful” with releasing the information, this happened since MOE had an MOU with a private company to release the information via paid SMS. There is also an “issue” of Individual Private information (but then that’s only the name and result so there is not much risk). even bloggers at that time were “warned” not to post it as that would go under revealing government secrets. And so like any other good citizen, they obliged. But now even if the results were not revealed through SMS, the information is still not released to the public online. Some people will just say just go to MOE office and check.(hmmm…i wonder if that applies to MOE depts in other districts..)

So to answer the question. I don’t think you can find them online anymore. I have tried in vain. But if you are persistent (more than me), then Good luck in finding them. And please share with me if you will.

It was cool to be able to see the information online wasn’t it?

• Didn’t have to travel far to be disappointed. Imagine waiting 15 minutes to 1 hour in the car with all that anticipation.
• Didn’t use much fuel to get a single line of information. On average a trip would cost about $2-$10 depending on your distance and your car type.
• Didn’t have to pay 3 cents or 3 dollars to get that information. Although $3 would still be cheaper if you have to buy fuel worth $10.
• Didn’t have to wait to get back from holidays overseas to look at the result. I wonder how much the SMS would have cost in that situation.
• You could check your friends results and tell your friends the good/bad news. People do this looking at the bulletin board anyway. So what is the difference with looking on a board on the internet?

I believe the role of the government is to govern the people, to help them, so that the people in turn will be grateful and contribute to the government’s efforts. To bring the nation forward, and not backwards. I had hoped that MOE would learn from 2008, but apparently it hasn’t. Lets just hope they make the right decisions in 2009. Because in this case as citizens, what else can we do but express our opinions and upsets.

Oh btw, if any MOE officer is reading this. Could you please work on making the website less heavy/lagging. Sure the designs nice looking, but it slows down the whole PC, and loads very slowly on some connections.

Phys Ed: Does Exercise Boost Immunity? – Well Blog – NYTimes.com

To run or not run? Better run but not run too much.

Basically, some scientists separated mice into groups of active, overactive and lazy mice. Actually, forced the mice to be active or superactive. Then they exposed those different groups to a flu virus. So what they found were the overactive and lazy mice succumbed easily, only a handful of the active mice were affected.

They interviewed (human) marathon runners and found that one-fifth usually fall ill 3 weeks before or after the race.

Aidilfitri Pics

My parents had open house Hari Raya on the 5th October 2009. I took pictures.

2009-10-05

Enjoying Aidilfitri.

Mostly I’m too old and too married to be given angpow/duit raya/gifts during raya. But in that absence I’ve realize what Hari Raya really means. I’ve also realize how humongous this one event is.
To help non-muslims and non-malay countires to understand I’ll relate to other holidays.
Hari Raya is like:
1. Thanksgiving – family members, close and distant relatives get together and catchup. and oh yeah.. some houses visited are “open houses” meaning they prepare a buffet for visitor to eat…where’s my turkey pants!?!
2. Christmas – People go last minute shopping and decorate their houses with lights and ornaments. no dolls or or pictures of animals and stuff. Almost Everyhouse is dressed in its best decor! watch out for the electric bill :p
3. Independence day (and Chinese new year) – After a whole month of fasting the whole day, (not night as well) people love to celebrate with a bang! firecrackers, cherry bombs, and even fireworks. This year i’ve seen a lot of people buy 6 pack sized fireworks that produce a few seconds worth of July 4th! Watchout for the firehazard. I feel sorry for people who want to sleep early.
4. Halloween – okay, so people don’t dressed as ghouls.. but they dressed their best out of the whole year. and there are a lot of candies for everyhouse you visit.. my sisters often grab some candies and put them in their hand bags.. oh yeah.. their in their 20’s. hmm..this also the time we usually visit the graves of our loved ones… hmmm… so its haloween..ish? :p
5. Valentine’s day… okay so its not lovers’ day…but hey.. Some people send to each other letters, postcards (kad raya), e-mails and sms’s celebrating the holiday.. and couples tend to dress in similar colours when visiting other people’s houses. hmmm… I don’t get kad raya anymore… anyone out there still does this?

Apparently there are slight differences, between islamic countries, but its more or less the same. I heard Middle east muslims celebrate it for that day only and call it Eid Mubarak. But us malays (Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei) call it Aidilfitri and celebrate it upto the whole month of syawal! (arabic calendar) Let the celebration continue!!!

We often say to each other Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Maaf Zahir dan Batin. directly translated as Good celebration Day of Aidilfitri (that word’s arabic, i’m not sure what it means), and Apologies for any physical or emotional/spiritual mistakes. Oh its also a time of forgiveness..I especially love that part
Okay, I hope I painted a good picture of raya.

Happy celebrations and Apologies for any misgivings.

Anti snore treatments!!!

My wife has been bothered by my snoring, and i’m often not satisfied with my sleep, (allegedly to my snoring as well).
finally a solution! Just sharing this with anyone who may have a problem..
reminder to myself to reduce snoring..
1. find cause of allergy. Probably have to cleanup room.
2. Reduce weight.. yes, i have to admit… i’m overweight … Shahbandar? Here I come!

Hmmm…how much bath is too much bath?

According to this article. http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/daily/tips/daily-shower-skin.htm
If you had to many showers you can have crack or irritated skin. I’m already showering twice a day! I don’t think i can do any less. hmmm… solution… remind myself to buy moisturizer for my cracked heels.

Healthy or unhealthy?

Found interesting Article on

http://www.livescience.com/health/090918-bad-health-tips-1.html

Basically the summary is:
7. Runner’s have better knees than non-runners
6. UV ray even those in tanning salons are dangerous, but we need the sun to produce vitamin D.
5. health food junkies might be eatings wrong and therefore might be a new eating disorder – orthorexia nervosa (the compulsion to eat right?)
4. Margarine like any highly processed food product is unhealthy, Butter is better.
3. Eggs are healthy (YAY!!!) as it contains a lot of nutrients, and doesn’t really alter your cholesterol level that much.
2. Vitamin Supplements may not provide extra health benefits, (damn, what am i gonna do with all this supplements?!)
1. Aspirin therapy good for people who are at risk for hearth attacks, but might risk healthy people to hemorrhage.

Brunei National (Indepedence) Day and the Oscars on the same “Day”

23rd February 2009
Spent the National Day at My Sister-in Law’s Place in KB. Watched TV most of the day. Interestingly I found that the Oscars were happening at the same “time”. National Day Parade in the morning in Brunei, Oscars happens in US, the other side of the world at the same time, but different dates.. makes you think. Anyway, I “almost” cried to tears when I saw Heath Ledger Post-humously receiving an Oscar. There was a standing ovation. Damn. Again.. Makes you think.. He  deserve it though. We can only wonder what his future performance would show.. but alas..

national day info at www.nationalday.org.bn

Oscars info at www.oscar.com

Landslide in Tutong

I actually always feared landslides in places with hills that were more than 45 degree slope. Never acknowledged that hill was on my usual route. It was raining hard in the middle of the day. You’d think this kind of thing happens at nights.
I don’t blame any deforestation for this landslide, I guess all the rain in the past few weeks have turned the land mushy, and the thunder may have have shaken it up a bit.
I actually love rain, but this is just too much.

http://www.brudirect.com/DailyInfo/News/Archive/Feb09/02/nite01.htm

Landslide