When Giants Fight

By now the Apple Samsung patent infringement suits has inflicted bruises along the very wide global battle front.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh sums it all up "“Samsung may have cut into Apple’s customer base somewhat, but there is no suggestion that Samsung will wipe out Apple’s customer base, or force Apple out of the business of making smartphones,”

With this, Apple was awarded $450.5 million, nearly half of the $1 billion damage awarded earlier before Samsung appealed.

Judge Lucy Koh of Korean descent was born 1968 in Washington DC. Awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College in Social Studies in 1990 and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School in 1993.

The dust has hardly settled and Apple is now all set to launch  the 60-inch iTV this year. This is in direct confrontation with Samsung and LG 55-inch OLED TV expected in stores this year.

Absolutely Obsolete

Bus ticket hole puncher. The job is overtaken by the contactless stored value card.

The card communicate with a terminal by radio waves.

Contactless cards were first used for electronic ticketing in 1995 in Seoul, and 1997 in Hong Kong.

The turning indicator of the old days is a pop-up lever to indicate the driver's intention to turn.

Today, all vehicles are installed with electric blinking turn signal lights.

 

The manual car window winder has gone electric power.

  

Sony, Panasonic, Hitachi, Sharp have ceased production of CRT television sets.

Own time, Own Target

All Singapore males report for full-time National Service upon reaching age 18.

Weapon training include live firing with the SAR 21 rifle.

The shooting target, depicting a charging German soldier, is widely used by most armed forces.

It is more than 60 years after the war but this image is still in use.

It is a case of "if it ain't broke dont fix it" situation. Poor Jerry.

The North Korea military has their own version of the shooting targets.

They have no qualms about telling the world who their mortal enemy is.

The Shady Tree

Otherwise known by the scientific name Bucida Molineti.

The tree has its origin from the Caribbean and Bahamas.

The peculiar characteristic of the Bucida Molineti is its multi tiered shady branches.

Can be commonly seen along Singapore roads.

Cheers, Again

Sulfur Dioxide or Sulphur Dioxide chemically known as SO2 is a colourless liquid used in industrial processes, and chief ingredient of sulfuric acid.

The food factories called it Sulfite, and is added to beer, bread, chocolate bar, dried fruit, soft drink to prevent oxidation and spoilage of food.

If you drink wine on a regular basis, you would have noticed that "Contains Sulfites" is on the label of wine bottles.

"Contains sulfites" is on all bottles of wine sold in the United States, no matter where the wine was made.

Wine bottle labels in Europe do not necessarily have the warning.

Some wine drinkers suffer from headache after a glass or two. They suspect sulfites. But as usual doctors insist the actual cause has not yet been proven scientifically.

Grandmother of All Scams

Many of you may have received this message in your email. And such message have email addresses known to the receivers.

Sorry to disturb you but a terrible thing has just happened and I need your urgent assistance. 

I have just being robbed in an alley by a gang of thugs here in London. One of them had a knife poking my neck for almost two minutes and everything I had on me including my phone, credit card was stolen, quite honestly it was beyond a dreadful experience but looking on the bright side I wasn’t seriously hurt or injured and I'm still alive so that is what’s important.

The good thing is I still have my passports, I just don't have enough some money to get back home. Unfortunately for me, I can't have access to funds without my credit card since the robbers have my card now. I've made contact with my bank but they need more time to come up with a new one. 

Right now, I just need help with a quick loan for me to get back home. l was wondering if you could loan me some cash, promise to refund it as soon as i get back home in a couple of days. I've been to the embassy and the Police here but they're not handling this issue efficiently. 

All I need right now is £1,660 pounds or anything you can spare pending when I get things straightened out will be appreciated and I promise to refund you as soon as I arrive home in a couple of days. If it's possible for you to do this, Western Union is the best way to get money across to me. Please let me know if this is okay with so I can provide you with my wiring details.

Looking forward to hearing from you, I will check my email every 30 minutes for your reply as I've got limited access to internet here.

Nuisance or Music

Many have been woken up from deep peaceful sleep by the calls of the Asian Koel.

As early as 3 in the morning.

female KOEL

Koel is derived from the Tamil Kuyil which describe the sound of its call.

male KOEL

But to some, it's a lovely sound of nature.