Best LAN cable tester I have used

About 14 years ago, I started working for a semiconductor company and I remember they had one damn good cable tester. This is the one above. Till today, I have been looking for the same one but I have been unable to find it. It does not matter much to me anymore because I have a cable tester built into my cable tracer. But all the same, it would be great to have this in my arsenal of tools

Mackie Thumps powering a block party in Haji Lane

A few days back, I was with some friends at a block party in Haji Lane. Haji Lane is a quaint little place in Singapore with all kinds of shops and bars and this place was one of them. I had written an article about the Mackie Thumps before and I did not think that they were great speakers to get but for the money you pay for them, I suppose you get what you pay for, But these Thumps, in that Haji Lane area, were LOUD. But then again, it was an all-vinyl party so it was not the clearest of audio but still, it was loud and clear. I suppose for small block parties ike these, these will have to suffice…and suffice they did!

Rite Pizza

While throwing some stuff away at a roadside bin one evening, I came across these pizza boxes next to the bin. Looks like there is another pizza brand in town named Rite Pizza. I have never heard of them before but it looks like I might give them a try one day. Interesting…the stuff you find near litter bins…

Lagun Sari in the news because of Sunato Zaidi

My friend got married at Lagun Sari in 2003. I still remember that lovely restaurant that is very popular among wedding couples, especially Malay wedding couples tying the knot. But unfortunately, Lagun Sari is in the news for all the wrong reasons. Why? because of this guy above, Sunato Bin Zaidi. Apparently, Sunato had allegedly pocketed the deposits of clients such as this lady, and because of that, he was subsequently fired from Lagun Sari, and the notice above appeared in the Berita Harian. It basically says that Sunato is no longer in their employ and he is therefore not authorised to handle any transactions, monetary or otherwise, on behalf of Lagun Sari

The Straits times has a report here and another website, Rilek1corner.com has another. Let us hope this fella is brought to justice

 

The haze is back

This was a picture taken this morning and it looks like the bloody haze is back. Those bloody plantation owners in Indonesia are the cause for this haze period and given how corrupted the whole damn country is, no amount of talks with these recalcitrant people will end this issue that we face every year. Oh well. Time to break out the face masks again

Straits Times made a boo-boo regarding Mr SR Nathan

This is not the first time The Straits Times has made a boo-boo with regards to wrong information being printed. This time it was on the death of Mr SR Nathan, the 6th President of Singapore, who passed away a few days back. In the paper, the reporter Chong Zi Liang erroneously attributed the fact that Mr Nathan was the first elected president. That is simply not true. The first elected president of Singapore was in fact Mr Ong Teng Cheong

I do not blame Chong Zi Liang wholly for this mistake. People make mistakes. The proofreaders and copywriters need to be blamed as well. In any case, the Straits Times apologised for the error so all is good

ASUS RT-N12 Wireless-N router

I got just about sick and tired of my routers giving up on me. First it was my Linksys WRT54G and then it was my Linksys WRT54GC. The WRT54GC router went one small step further by having liquid, which I presumed to be electrolyte, leaking out of the power adapter. So after a few days of using my trusty TP-Link WR702N, I finally bought this Asus router.

Now I am no stranger to this router. I used the same model of router once or rather, a few times when I was in charge of a project in Malaysia in 2014. This router model was set up and while I had my misgivings about the router at first, it finally gained my respect. I used it a lot, secretly wishing that I had one but at that time, my router was working fine and I saw no reason to change…until now.

When I went to Sim Lim Square yesterday to buy this router, I had my sights at first on a D-Link Cloud router that I used at my workplace. But after some deliberation, I decided to go and get the router that I had my sights on two years ago, which was this router. I mean, I needed a router and I might as well get the one that I was after right? So after paying $55, the router was mine and I took it back home

Setting up the router could not have been more simpler. You hook up to it via a LAN cable, it starts up and then you can use a wizard to configure it. It does almost everything for you. In a matter of minutes, I was up and running and the router was working fine. The only thing I wish this router fad is the support for the 5GHz band that many others do. But then again, I suppose for the price I paid, it really does not matter. One thing I love about this router is the range of the signal. It really throws it far and I am very happy with it. Also the guest wi-fi mode. That means that when you have guests in your house, you can give them wi-fi access with no worries at all. Its menu is easy to use and well, I guess I realise that I made a wise choice in buying it

In case you are wondering if you should buy this router, why ever not? It is great router with great features. I am really happy with my purchase and it is a safe bet that you would be too

Protest outside Singapore Embassy in Jakarta

We lost our 6th President of Singapore, Mr SR Nathan, when he passed away on Monday the 22nd. Condolences books were opened at our embassies all over the world for people to send their condolences. But then you have these bloody bastards in Jakarta Indonesia. They took this opportunity to launch a protest at the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta, during condolence signing, to put their point across that they disapproved over the alleged mistreatment of a retired Indonesian senior general, Lieutenant General (retired) Suryo Prabowo, in Changi Airport. He was being screened…as part of border security and was allowed to board his flight later

I have nothing against what you fellas want to do in your goddam country. You can do what you want. But when our ex-President passes away, and his condolence signing is marred by your protesters, carrying slogans asking Singapore to apologise or be prepared for war, I take umbrage at that. Try to fight us you bloody bastards, especially you motherfuckers from Pemuda Panca Marga. Don’t you ever threaten my country, you got that?

Linksys router dead

I had a rather unpleasant surprise the other day, a couple of days back in fact, when my Linksys WRT54G router decided to die on me. So I took out the power supply, which was very hot to the touch, and decided to measure the voltage. Bloody hell. It was measured at 18 volts DC instead of its nominal 12 volts! Just to ensure that I was not seeing things, I measured it again. True enough…18 volts! I thought that the heat had something to do with it so I promptly replaced the power supply with an Extron 12 volt power supply that I had on hand. I measure that…12 volts so I thought it would be ok. Hooked it up and the router started working again…only to have it die on me a few minutes later!

So I broke out the old Linksys WRT54GC router and will be using that until I get a new one. Bloody hell…a day of configuring, re-configuring and Internet downtime. But I must be thankful to this old WRT54G router. It gave many years of sterling service but nothing lasts forever. Thanks Linksys!

Rest in peace Mr SR Nathan, 6th President of Singapore

It takes a very special man to be the President of The Republic of Singapore and former President SR Nathan was one of them. At 2148hrs this evening, this great man passed away. Very much loved by Singaporeans, respected by those overseas and a skilled negotiator to boot, President Nathan will never be forgotten. You will always be remembered as a kind and good man Mr Nathan. Rest in peace sir.