Economical Savings?

Is this recent economic boom really for everyone? As it goes on amid claims from various sectors that everyone is benefiting, it really doesn't seem to be the case at the ground level.

Investments soaring, property prices rising to all time high, this wonderful figures are only for a wonderful front to a worrying backdrop. When these prices are split up into various components, we will then realize that its really not a normal curve. Rather, its leaning towards one side. In property market, that curve falls towards the high end markets like the districts 9, 10 and 11.

With majority of homeowners here being HDB home owners, the property boom here is hardly affecting them. The nature of HDB flats is that they are a linked closely towards a government linked board. Thus, prices are relatively stable in accordance to the aim of the board and the governments in making prices affordable for the masses. Thus, those that are really benefiting from here are the ones already rich and thus have property in these areas or condominium owners who are gong en bloc. However, the en bloc heat is forecast to cool down due to recent ruling.

While we aren't hit that hard by the effects of the sub-prime mortgage problem in the United States, we have problems of our own. With the rising inflation rate and low interest rates for savings, the economy is look set to have a widening wage gap. It is really creating a climate where it doesn't pay for Singaporeans to save.

Interests earned in the savings accounts held in banks will soon be outstripped by the climbing CPI (Consumer Price Index), a statistical estimate of the level of prices of goods and services bought for consumption purposes by households. Thus, in real terms, the value of our money in these savings will drop. In effect, this gives rise to a situation of negative real interest rates.

According to a newspaper article, negative real interest rates favors borrowers and with projection of at least one to two years of negative real interest rates, the risk of fueling asset inflation is very high. With such disproportional rates, people would be expected to want to invest in the property market where returns are deemed to be higher, this driving up the property market and thus inflation of assets.

There is hope however that if many choose to invest, then there is a chance for interest rates to go up. However, with the vast amount of cash in the banking system, which is causing an oversupply even though demand of borrowing is going up, deposit rates are set to remain low for some time.

It is thus timely for us to take a hike and think about whether we should park our savings elsewhere. With these savings paying close to nothing, its not a very bad thing to consider investing in other financial instruments which will maintain our purchasing power in this "pricer" world.

However, with such a decision, the question of whether we dare do so is quite pertinent.. This question is especially "real" for lower/middle income families and the so-called sandwich class of the society, where the money available in their bank accounts are their lifeline to the future. Risk is not a very viable option.

Blogging Code of Conduct should be a Guideline NOT Mandate

I guess this is something we all know this will come sooner or later...

In the Straits Times Digital Life Section (May 8, 2007, Page 31), an article titled: "Do bloggers, and readers, need a code of conduct" is very apt and pertinent.

I for one has asked myself this when I first heard about the drafting of the blogger's code of conduct over at blogging.wikia.com

Indeed, there are now threats being made via anonymous comments and also the intolerable advertisements post via the blog's comments system or some chat or tagbaord system on the blogs.

However, the question is, why do we need one? The allure of blogs is its openness, "anonymity" as well as it free-flowing nature. Any comments are posted and aired. Would this code of conduct then turn against the very foundation which blogs are built on?

In this digital age, the internet is used as a personal haven as much as a business tool. With the increasing affluence of the people, and the ease of internet use nowadays it is no wonder some sort of code of conduct is need. That is however, usually covered by a country's law.

However, there has been an increasing need to put some sort of guidelines for blogs. Blogging has seen an exponential increase these few years. With many companies also moving into the blogging scene. With such a trend, and the simplicity of opening up a blog, it is no wonder that many incidents are also happening which are related to blogs.

The online nature of blogs has exposed itself to the internet pits. The list includes (but isn't limited to): flaming, Bias comments, Unwarranted accusations and so on. And with the increasing use of blogs as a media for information, the question on the privacy of one's sources also come into play.

I personally feel that the code of conduct is definitely a good thing to have. However, knowing the nature of blogs and being a blogger, I think that it shouldn't be something made compulsory. Anything made compulsory especially on the web always have an effect of turning people off. Whats more, the web usually presents a snowball effect on the simplest of things.

So in conclusion, I do welcome a "code of conduct guideline" but not a "code of conduct mandate".

Powerpoint woes

I guess many may have read, in the recent Digital Life (Straits Times April 10 2007) a study done by Australian researchers show that the use of PowerPoint Presentations, is actually making it harder for students to process information.

The above findings is contrary to the previous stand of many that PowerPoint Presentations are helpful and thus aid students in studying. This is due to the research finding stating that the "human brain retains more information if digested in verbal or written form, but not both simultaneously." (the quote was quoted ad verbatim from The Straits Times, Digital Life, Page 27)..

This finding is in support of what students have already feedback to teachers. The use of PowerPoint exacerbates what is already boring. It makes interesting lessons boring and boring lessons worse.

The situation is made alot worse when the presenter already dumped all the information on the PowerPoint slides and is just reading from it. This coupled with the fact that every other PowerPoint presentation looks the same as it comes from the same set of templates is just unbearable.

To be fair, PowerPoint can be a good supplementary tool for teaching. However, the use of PowerPoint for everything is simply distasteful. In my opinion, it should not be used as a main medium for teaching. It really cuts out the interaction and excitement of a lecture.

But what really marvels me is that why does it need to take a study to prove a point? I believe by now, many students would have complained about excessive use of PowerPoints in school. So the question becomes "Why wait so long for the study?"... "Are things going to change now that the study is out?"

The answer to those questions lie outside my scope...

in-turns and more

In-Turns... My period as an intern has officially ended... I shan't discuss much about it as the report has yet to be handed up... Like a company's FY status, I shan't reveal it first....

Well as usual, since I've been "working" for sometime and thus didn't update here as much as I could, I shall have a slightly longer post. Categorized of course... So that you may skip parts of no interest...(or probably all.. LOL)....

Lets go GP-style from big to small, starting with: On the News

Well watching the news sometime ago, it was announced that the national museum is now reopened... Like the National Library, it is really revamped and I hope to go there once again... Although I can't remember the last time I've been there already....

Another piece of surprising news was that the gov feedback unit has also revamped itself and officially launch blogs as a means to communicate and gather feedback from the masses... It can be found at http://www.reach.gov.sg/... However, with the attitude and mindset already driven deep into Singaporeans, it remains to be seen whether the blogs will actually gather any momentum.

The lack of momentum can be attributed to few reasons...

1. People have their own blogs already...


2. Going through such an avenue with strong association with the government presents some concern...


3. There is this "hold back and look-see" attitude powering many Singaporeans, driven into our mindsets through generation: "What are the consequences of voicing out?"....


4. Sure... there is a increase number of people voicing out.. but what continues after the thought stated in point 3 would be: "what are the benefits of doing so?"

With such concerns, it would be sometime before the site would actually take off...

Another much awaited news would be the island-wide wifi network that is free for 3 years as well as the workfare bonuses... I am in no position to comment on the workfare bonuses... However, on the issue of wifi, it marvels me, or rather, it failed to marvel me (I can't really decide) that the take-up rate has been so high, when broadband penetration rate in SG is only 58.9%. It goes to show the power of something being "free".

Free? I go "yar sure"... This is something I don't really think is sustainable without some form of revenue... As what I learnt the past few weeks, or you can put it down to plain common sense, company's exist to make money... (with the exception of non-profit charity organizations)... there must be some way to gain back... Either at the end of 3 years, you'll be charged a nominal fee, or you start getting some form of advertisement the moment you connect to the network or while you roam on the network... Oh well.. only time will tell...

On the Technology side

Intel has launched quad-core chips... and definitely a power user's dream. Now there is a jungle of chips out there.... getting very confusing... With AMD and Intel's different naming systems as well as 32-bit and 64-bit versions of processors, and with Intel having the old Celerons, Pentium M, Pentium 4, Pentium 4 HT, to the newer Pentium D, Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Extreme (quad-core), Core Solo... and the list is growing.... Ouch.. my head hurts..

Not to mention Vista has been officially gone into RTM and also released to VLK clients. Likewise for Office 2007 which adopts the OpenDocument format as well as finally has a plugin which supports export to Adobe PDF format.

On the Personal Front

Got a web-development project.. and boy.. my head is throbbing over the implementation... I am venturing into somewhere I've never been... that is adopting the use of a Database (MySQL) and also the use of a preprocessor (PHP)... Ok.. PHP not much of a problem as I am quite strong in the presentation part which uses XHTML and CSS, but there is much to be learnt on the logical layer... And with plugins to a certain system which has to be developed to control the forms and Database, this "one-man-show" seems a bit daunting and a headache... But then again, looking "ahead" at least I got a push to learn what I would otherwise put off: about Database f(x)...

Training has also restarted and we are supposed to have our eyes on the National Schools Tournament. And talking about that, I still haven't get to see the Direct-School-Admission Students... Well... Better start doing the attendance list...

and oh last but not least....Happy Feet!!!

Wow! That shooting star is going up! Thats GST!

GST is going up again... and by GST, I meant Goods and Service Tax, not Greet, Smile and Thank. If the latter was true, it would have been great...

I don't know, but I guess its another cycle of increment. I guess we should be used to it already since that time when it was increased from 3% to 5%. Now it would be increased to 7%.

It seems to be a legal way to "take from rich and give to poor" theory. However, one question would be: "What would happen to the society's middle class". We are neither here nor there. We don't qualify to get the benefits and also not rich at all.... So in my view, it seems that the middle classes are the ones that bare the full brunt of such an increment.

Its a vicious cycle. In the market, consumers would ultimately be the one to suffer. Picture this..... If price of materials increase, manufacturing cost increase, and thus, product cost increase and then this amount would be passed on to consumers.

One point to note. There is a snowball effect along that price pathway. When materials increase in price due to GST, in order to cover cost, manufacturers have to increase the price. And in addition to this price, there is still GST. and this would continue increasing until the final party to get the goods.

It was argued in the radio that hawker stalls may also suffer quite a lost. Although there is an increase in GST, hawker pricing aren't as price inelastic as other goods. A small increase in pricing of the food would turn even the most frequent customers away. Actually especially frequent customers. They may feel that they have been paying that amount for years and an increase is unacceptable.

To conclude, I think that any increase by the Government will generate alot of arguments and views... But ultimately, I guess a persons view is will still be bias towards their own backgrounds in cases such as this.....

News Article: Abolish Homework

This article appeared in today's newspaper (The Sunday Times, November 12,2006, page 24) , about a new call in the US to abolish homework....This age old question never fails to come up after some time....

A group is saying that children are doing more homework but there is no evidence that it adds to the learning experience... It is also said that the correlation between homework and academic achievement is more visible as one get into a higher level of education...

And I guess the education system here in SG is somewhat similar in terms of homework load. Though they are sure moving to a teach less learn more method, which means more work/research to be done at home, which equates to more homework...

I believe that the homework problem can be seen in all countries especially those with a very established education system... Well its been done for so many years and there is nothing against it. There is also nothing that says that it is bad. In fact I guess I must agree there is a certain degree of usefulness in homework. There are some subjects which needs alot of practice.

However, the situation whereby homework is increasing is not new. Compared years ago, homework load has definitely been increasing. I believe that it is now more prevalent that subjects covers more depth and thus, would translate to more work....

It is stated in the article that a study had suggested that the amount of homework be based on a child's age, example would be a first-grader 10 minutes of homework, second-grader 20 minutes. etc. This led me to think about it....

What if it is implemented in SG? well, I guess a few things would come up.

For one, if it is implemented according to age, what about those who are older than the mean age for that level? For example, a 19 year old can be in secondary school...

Second, 10 minutes of homework? Yea right... if each teacher would allocate 20 minutes of homework, and taking an average secondary student who takes 8 subjects, this would add up to about a 160 minutes of homework. And a Secondary 3 student is definitely higher than 2nd grade.. not sure what grade though... I think its 5th or 6th grade... If the time allocated to homework increases , the total amount of time allocated for homework would also increase proportionately.... Wow!.. Huge number...

Again, moderation is the key... One man's meat is another man's poison... Though some may be against, I think there are some who likes doing homework... Though I aren't one of those, but I find that it helps and thus will still do so... (p.s. Moreover, there are reprecussions if we don't do, and I'm not referring to grades... ok maybe grades too as it counts into our "daily quality of work" marks..)

The concerns that the group is bringing up definitely deserves a second look. However, I really don't think it is wise to totally abolish homework...

STOMP and others

STOMP

After much resistance, I've finally joined STOMP. For the curious, STOMP stands for Straits Times Online Media Portal. I must add, it is quite engaging.

One thing that I felt it could have improved upon is to tie the two forums, that is STink And Spill (the teens forum) and the main STOMP forum, Talkback together. Now it is 2 separate systems...

And this thread lead me to be utterly disgusted. Didn't even want to post a reply... heres a link http://stinkandspill.stomp.com.sg/forums/showthread.php?t=343

Chinese and PW

OH I can't believe the Chinese A level examination is just 2 days away... Really doesn't feel like it lor... And on that day there is also the Insights and Reflection submissions. So glad... After the I and R submission, we are left with the Oral Presentation and we can say goodbye to Project Work... YaY!!

Technology

Windows Vista, Microsoft's long overdue operating system should be coming soon. Release Candidate 1 has been open to the public for sometime now. Release Candidate 2 on the other hand is already available to MSDN Subscribers....

According to neowin.net, the packaging for Windows Vista as well as Office 2007 has been released... Below is a picture posted on neowin.net

The two widely used browsers have also released their next version. Mozilla has released Firefox 2 while over at the Microsoft's front, Internet Explorer 7 has been released. On that note, Microsoft has also released the 11th version of their Windows Media Player software.