tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-95581162024-03-14T01:33:52.236+08:00Everything JonathanA collection of all my knowledge, thoughts and ideas. TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.comBlogger359125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-82432022902731304392022-02-20T08:36:00.005+08:002022-02-20T09:13:40.506+08:00To Ring the Bell or Not<p>A Facebook group member posted an article about no-bell-price. I fully agree with the video posted about him following a person having mobility issue walking on a narrow path. However, a bicycle bell does have its purpose and use. LTA recommends that a cyclist should have a bell. So it does give cyclists a means of alerting others without using verbal alarm.</p><p>Before I continue, I will introduce three abbreviations.</p><p>1. "AS" - Alarm sound by just ringing the bell once as recommended by LTA.</p><p>2. "MS" - Muffed sound made by ringing the bell while holding to the bell so that it makes a clicking sound. This is my own recommendation.</p><p>3. "ES" - Emergency sound by continuously ringing the bell.</p><p>Basically a bell is for alerting others about pending danger between the bicycle and other users of the road or path. It is not for use by people who just want others to give way because he/she think that they have the right of way and want to zoom pass others.</p><p>The Facebook group member wants to show that we should be compassionate about people having mobility issues and thus are very slow and usually blocks the way when the path is narrow. For this, cyclists should just follow behind and let them take their time. </p><p>This also apply to parents bringing children who does not know the danger posed by others. Those parents who have kids with them should restrain their child so that cyclists can safely go pass them slowly.</p><p>Two person may be using a narrow path. It will be difficult to overtake them even on single file. Cyclist should be courteous enough to just follow behind them unless they give way. After all, they don't have to walk single file on a narrow path. Usually they will give way if they notice cyclist are behind without being alerted.</p><p>There are able bodied people who liked to walk in big groups. They will walk three or four person abreast so that they can chat among themselves. A wide path is not even enough for them to walk on. For these people, cyclist should use "MS" method to let them know others are using the path and is moving faster than them. Kindness Movement Singapore also suggest confronting errant people to let them know what is right and what is wrong. So "MS" is just to let them know that they are blocking others.</p><p>"MS" can be used to alert cyclists in front that you are behind them and possibly trying to overtake. A verbal "bike right" is usually more polite.</p><p>"AS" should be applied in advance if the path user swing widely left and right. This is especially true for those novice cyclist who just learned how to cycle. However, if the cyclist is really a novice, a "AS" should even make them more unstable. Apply it with caution. </p><p>"AS" can be applied to those who are crossing the path without looking out for cyclists. it cannot be applied to people crossing using the zebra.</p><p>For those brazen cyclist who just barge in and out without looking and posing potential accidents, This includes cycling overtaking on opposite path encroaching on your path. "ES" should be used. It should be used sparingly unless it is really a high chance of accidents. Be aware that "ES" may cause irritation to them and is a potential cause of highly charged dialog.</p><p>In conclusion, a bell is used to alert others. It is not for you to make others give way to you because you want to cycle fast. A shared path is for all to use and they have the rights to use it. Unless they abuse their rights while ignoring other users, Cyclist should not use bells to cause irritation.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEilX6MXI5LOrkMKwEqQwra5dknY9pKZMa3gYy22dg_pLz6JHw8bPjOYCRf-iFtRLwQjL93Q7Sx-AkGupEiZvVj7pKNzkyvCZxsZtkOU2r9oZNxpyllFYQeI9UDVwjEpQPMxb9zv27cn3pPGPhdAC5UQS7tQln-EptHaT6W04c-0SUhnMu_J=s48" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="46" height="48" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEilX6MXI5LOrkMKwEqQwra5dknY9pKZMa3gYy22dg_pLz6JHw8bPjOYCRf-iFtRLwQjL93Q7Sx-AkGupEiZvVj7pKNzkyvCZxsZtkOU2r9oZNxpyllFYQeI9UDVwjEpQPMxb9zv27cn3pPGPhdAC5UQS7tQln-EptHaT6W04c-0SUhnMu_J" width="46" /></a></div><br />TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-90832251146770347182021-11-19T16:07:00.000+08:002021-11-19T16:07:47.323+08:00Passing a URL to a PHP to Call GSX<p> GSSX requires user site to be white listed before allowing access. Since our customer are using multiple applications that access GSX. The whitelisted server is not on the same server as our web program. User need to post data to the web server which in turn send a request to a central server which then send the request to GSX. </p><p>Sending normal requests is simple but since GSX has many APIs that have a mix of "GET and POST"., The sending of data to GSX become complex as we have to send specific URL to get the right result. Now sending a POST/GET that contains URL as parameter is not that simple especially when the URL is mixed with other parameters. It need to be url-encoded properly.</p><p>PHP CURL uses query method to do both POST/GET thus the query works on both.</p><p>Luckily, there is a PHP function that could compose the post parameters. It is called HTTP_BUILD_QUERY. You just need to send an array of the parameters and it will compose the parameters properly. This including sending a URL as data.</p><p>The following is an example </p><p>$data= array(</p><p>"id" => "1234567"</p><p>,"address" => "https://gsxserver.com/returns"</p><p>);</p><p>$params = http_build_query($data);</p><p>In your CURL request you simply use </p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $param);</p><p>The central server PHP just need to get $_POST['xx'] to get the specific parameters.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s48/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="46" height="48" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s0/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" width="46" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-5071378257913276102021-11-02T11:48:00.000+08:002021-11-02T11:48:42.280+08:00Divorce for Christian<p>Marriage is a serious event for a Christian. Gen 2:24 "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." Mark 10:9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."</p><p>Unfortunately, things can get sour between husband and wife. Divorce between Christian is even more serious as Jesus says “I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” (Matthew 19:9 ESV)</p><p>Divorce for Christians thus becomes a taboo. Is there no way out? </p><p>Paul mention that “To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife. To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace." (1 Cor 7:10-15)</p><p>This means that separation is allowed. It also means that divorce between Gentile and Christian is still possible. </p><p>However, that classification is not that easy to achieve. Paul said “The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.” (1 Corinthians 7:3–5 ESV)</p><p>Paul also mentioned that "But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1 Timothy 5:8). Therefore a Christian who does not care for his wife, he is as good as a Gentile.</p><p>Jesus said “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." (Matt 18:15-17)</p><p>In conclusion, if a husband does not care for his wife and does not treat her well, separation or divorce is still possible after mediation fails to turn back the one who erred. This also applies to the wife who does not treat the husband well. Paul said "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord." Eph 5:22</p><p>Again this blog does not sanction divorce. It is only after all efforts to make the marriage good then it is accepted. Jesus said "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so" (Matthew 19:8).</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YRaEOu4UsyA/WaJG-_k6YdI/AAAAAAABzdU/9MZtVjvYyKwA3M0gHEwLUJ-wSRcsh3FQwCPcBGAYYCw/s48/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="46" height="48" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YRaEOu4UsyA/WaJG-_k6YdI/AAAAAAABzdU/9MZtVjvYyKwA3M0gHEwLUJ-wSRcsh3FQwCPcBGAYYCw/s0/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" width="46" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><div><br /></div>TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-7329281506294375622021-09-13T20:36:00.002+08:002021-09-14T03:52:47.899+08:00Bible The temptation tests of Jesus<p>Matthew 4:1-11 describes the temptation that Jesus is being put into. Jesus is being led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Obviously, Jesus is being tested like a human and not God.</p><p>The first test is the personal desire out of need. Jesus was fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. He was hungry Matt 4:2. The tempter is trying to induce Jesus to get the easy way out by acting as God instead of suffering as a human. Jesus answer is "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that come from the mouth of God." How many of us could overcome our personal desire and not waver?</p><p>The second test is the pride in man. The test is on the attempt to show off that God is his backer. Nothing wrong? Many people pray to God for protection but they forget that they put themselves in center of focus instead of God. Moses made the mistake of striking on the stone instead of speaking to the stone as commanded by God. He forgets that he is not the one that is glorified in the act. The penalty is that he can only see the promised land but can never enter it Num 20:10-11. Job has done better Job 2:10. Jesus has the right perspective. He said "do not put God to the test" matt 4:7.</p><p>The third test is on power and greed. This test is a bit confusing but based on the standpoint that Jesus is tested as a human, it explains everything. How many can resist the kind of power and glamour of being in control. Jesus answer "Worship your God and serve him only" Matt 4:10 This is similar to what Jesus said in Matt 16:26 "What good is it for man to gain the whole world and lost his soul?"</p><p>If you looked carefully the three test are based on human self-centered behavior. 1. Provide for self. 2. Putting glory on self. 3. Get power for self. Jesus' answer put God before all. He has gone through the test and prevailed as a human.</p><p>Actually there is a ultimate test. A test which he was betrayed, abandoned by all and hanged between two convicted criminals. As a human he has to bear all the humility, being mocked and left to die forsaken even by God. He prayed three times to be spared the agony but to no avail. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s48/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="46" height="48" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s0/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" width="46" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-54617584790659823352021-09-11T12:55:00.002+08:002021-09-11T12:55:17.221+08:00Bible and the Origin of Scam<p> Origin of Scam is usually referred to as Origin of Sin. The latter concentrates on the wrong doings and the punishment given. This post concentrates on the scam itself.</p><p>God created man and put him to work in Garden of Eden. He gave the specific command "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat it you will surely die. (Gen 2:16-17).</p><p>After giving the command, God then created animals before forming Eve out of Adam's rib. It showed that Eve did not receive direct command from God about the tree of knowledge of good and evil.</p><p>The serpent first step is create confusion. He asked "Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden." (Gen 3:1)</p><p>Eve's reply is typical of a person who received second hand information. "We may eat fruits from the trees in the garden. but God did say 'you must not eat fruit from the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" (Gen: 3:2) That is not exactly what God's command. She has totally missed the fact about tree of knowledge of good and evil instead she only knows that the tree in the middle of the garden is forbidden to eat and she even added "you must not touch it".</p><p>The serpent said "you will not certainly die." (Gen 3:4) The serpent deny the fact about dying after eating the fruit. His next phrase seduces Eve about the good effects of eating the fruit. Surely, this is one fact that neither Eve or Adam is told. It directs away the fact about dying and concentrates on the benefit. </p><p>By first creating confusion then sideline the fact with additional facts as incentive, Eve is seduced to do the wrong thing. Although Adam did not say anything, he is with her all the while (Gen 3:6) and is probably being seduced too.</p><p>Did the serpent say anything that is false? Not at all. Even the fact about dying after eating the fruit is also muddled and diluted by his first phrase. He made use of the fact that Eve probably don't know that the "tree in the middle of the garden" is actually the tree of knowledge of good and evil that is specifically forbidden to be eaten. So eating the fruit from the middle of the garden should be allowed because they are given permission to eat from any tree in the garden. Even if that tree in the middle of the garden is forbidden to be eaten, it is God that selfishly hides the benefits of eating the fruit by saying that they will die after eating the fruit. Sadly to say Adam and Eve did not die after eating the fruit. So the serpent is right about the not dying after eating the fruit.</p><p>Modern scam basically use the same tactic of confusion, and incentive. Most people don't know the true fact about things around them. They will willingly accept any one's word as fact without checking. Furthermore greed is one incentive that few escapes from it. Who to blame when they fell for the scam?</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s48/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="46" height="48" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s0/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" width="46" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-82955373460337396522021-07-16T10:20:00.000+08:002021-07-16T10:20:45.493+08:00Setting up a Broadlink SP4L-UK Smart Plug<p> SP4L-UK is a smart switch that can be controlled by hand phone via WIFI. It is compatible to Google Home. This model is suitable for Singapore home because it uses the same 3 pin plug configuration commonly used in Singapore. </p><p>Now before you could do anything, make sure that your home wifi is set at 2.4G because this device is not a 5G compatible device. Most home network have both 2.4G and 5G wifi connection. You handphone will auto switch between two wifi connection automatically anyway. Only problem is that you need to specifically connect to your 5G network manually. While setting up, you must turn on bluetooth and use a 2.4G network on your phone.</p><p>Download BroadLink-Universal TV Remote app. Android users need to make sure no screen overlay app is running when setting up the app. You cannot turn on/off screen overlay if one is already running.</p><p>After setting up user login, follow the following steps.</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Plug the smart switch into the power socket. You will notice the LED on the switch blinks continuously.</li><li>Click add device. </li><li>Choose "Wi-Fi Devices" </li><li>Select "Other Wi-Fi Devices". </li><li>Choose "Smart Setup" and click "Next". </li><li>Click "Done" ignoring all the information on the screen. </li><li>It will prompt you to enter your wifi login information. The SSID will be automatically chosen. Just enter password accordingly.</li><li>After a while your device will be set up properly. The LED on the switch should go off.</li><li>Set up the Name and room information for the device and you will be done.</li></ol><div>In the even of error the LED blinking rate will go much slower. You need to reset it by pressing and hold the button near the IR sensor at the end furthest from the three pin socket. Wait till it blinks at a faster rate. It will be ready for you to try again. </div><div><br /></div><div>You may wonder why I choose a smart plug that is using only 2.4G wifi. Actually, there is not much choise. Furthermore, the range of the wifi is wider than a 5G wifi. Most manufacturer choose to use 2.4G wifi over 5G wifi. </div><p></p><p>You can use your 5G connection to control the devices as they are all on the same router connection.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YRaEOu4UsyA/WaJG-_k6YdI/AAAAAAABzdU/9MZtVjvYyKwA3M0gHEwLUJ-wSRcsh3FQwCPcBGAYYCw/s48/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="46" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YRaEOu4UsyA/WaJG-_k6YdI/AAAAAAABzdU/9MZtVjvYyKwA3M0gHEwLUJ-wSRcsh3FQwCPcBGAYYCw/s0/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-51664329266370118292021-07-15T14:22:00.002+08:002021-07-15T14:22:28.147+08:00Android Screen Overlay Switching Greyed Out<p>Screen Overlay is one facility on Android to have some app hovering over all apps so that user can quickly access the app anytime.</p><p>One thing Google never tell you is that once an app is run with Screen Overlay, You cannot turn on Screen Overlay mode. To turn on or off you need to go to to Settings then click on the wheel on top left of the screen then choose "Draw over other apps" after that slide on "Permit drawing over other apps". The selection is greyed out.</p><p>The only way to enable the "Permit drawing over other apps" setting is to completely close the app that does Screen Overlay then make the changes before enabling the Screen Overlay app again.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YRaEOu4UsyA/WaJG-_k6YdI/AAAAAAABzdU/9MZtVjvYyKwA3M0gHEwLUJ-wSRcsh3FQwCPcBGAYYCw/s48/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="46" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YRaEOu4UsyA/WaJG-_k6YdI/AAAAAAABzdU/9MZtVjvYyKwA3M0gHEwLUJ-wSRcsh3FQwCPcBGAYYCw/s0/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-22524572093732602622021-06-17T22:44:00.002+08:002021-06-18T15:51:24.355+08:00 An Open Letter to the Chairman of the AGM SAVH<p>I do not agree with the process of AGM which I am required to send in a proxy form appointing you as the trustee to attend the meeting on my behalf.</p><p></p><ol><li>Why should I appoint you to attend, speak, and vote on my behalf as a proxy. Proxy is someone who I can trust to conduct matters on my behalf. I don't even know you so how could I trust you to conduct on my behalf?</li><li>I don't see how the process is fairly handled. A security company is appointed to receive the proxy form. The company collects and submits the form to you. Who can guarantee that they do it fairly and faithfully although sending the letters directly to SAVH is even less secure.</li><li>Who can verify the integrity and correctness of the forms. I believe you won't do it by yourself. So if there are no independent witnesses. Who can guarantee the fairness of verification and ensure that there are no alterations to the form?</li><li>Who can verify the correctness of vote count or the resolutions when there is no independent witness? </li><li>There is no independent witness while the counting is done. The tally is also not verifiable and is authentic when presented to the AGM since there is no witness to note the tally during the count.</li><li>Although submitting questions in advance is constitutional. Since we make you as the proxy, we lost the ability to query during the AGM on the answers given by the relevant party neither do we have the ability to raise issues on matters arising.</li><li>Since the votes are submitted in advance, can you be absolutely confident that the resolutions and votes are not leaked to interested parties there by allowing them to manipulate the votes by getting more people to influence the vote count?</li><li>The online submission of the proxy form require signature but no instruction on signing the PDF. It requires a Serial number too. Where is the serial number? I don't receive it. Can you be sure that the serial numbers cannot be obtained by interested parties to vote by someone else?</li><li>Due to the complex process of signing the adobe PDF, How could a VH able to sign it properly without help? Even a sighted have problem unless they know how to do a signature on a PDF. There is no proper documentation on how it can be done.</li><li>Registration online requires an email address. Can you be sure that all your clients have email addresses?</li><li>Letters sent to the totally blind cannot be handled by them. Who will help them go through the process? You expect them to find their own helping hand?</li><li>You don't have online client login access before so how could you ensure that those who register are really who they say they are? </li><li>You being the president of the Executive Committee is deemed to have vested interest as we are voting in committee members who in turn selects the president. How can you be the one handling the votes singlehanded? Those people whom you engaged are engaged by you. Are they acting honestly? Who can guarantee that? You?</li><li>Why is there no option for a group of us to appoint our own proxy who could summarize our resolution decisions and voting choices? At least we could be sure that our forms reach you on the AGM day and submit the forms on the spot accordingly? </li><li>I could be wrongly misled. I heard that the voting process is decided by you alone without the Executive Committee's understanding. Is it not a process agreed by all members of the committee?</li><li>Voting is supposed to be confidential. The proxy form has our names and signature. It is no longer confidential.</li></ol><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YRaEOu4UsyA/WaJG-_k6YdI/AAAAAAABzdU/9MZtVjvYyKwA3M0gHEwLUJ-wSRcsh3FQwCPcBGAYYCw/s48/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="46" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YRaEOu4UsyA/WaJG-_k6YdI/AAAAAAABzdU/9MZtVjvYyKwA3M0gHEwLUJ-wSRcsh3FQwCPcBGAYYCw/s0/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-70262581238100310592021-04-02T09:03:00.005+08:002021-04-02T17:25:58.321+08:00What have I done wrong<p>Although I have quite a few achievements (<a href="https://jnhiew.blogspot.com/2017/02/life-long-learning.html" target="_blank">see my other blog</a>), there were quite a few incidents in my life that is against me. The following are the incidents.</p><p>I worked for a textile company. My work attitude caused the management to promote me to a group leader. I was transferred from department to department in increasing importance area. Obviously I become a sore eye to other group leaders. I have no friends in the company but since I am a loner (I am a bit autistic), I really don't care.</p><p>During my BMT in the military, I was a temporary IC. Everybody ignored me just because I am a loner that don't mix around. I am sure I did not use my position to boss over them.</p><p>At the end of BMT I was told by platoon sergeant to give up the position of "Best Trainee" to a NS men because I am a regular. I don't mind that. But in my heart, I was wondering why the bias. Anyhow, since the NS men is quite close to me (being a fellow jogger), I don't make noise. Even then, I wonder why they ask me. I have no idea that I was nominated "Best Trainee".</p><p>While attached to a military school as a temporary lecturer, There were other lecturers that vows to fail me in my next upgrade. I am just doing my job trying to teach the students in my own way. Maybe it is due to me not mixing around that makes them think that I am arrogant. Also I prepared the training material all by myself without consulting the seniors because the old training materials I had is quite lacking and ambiguous on some area. I left the military after my terms of service completed because of this hatred towards me.</p><p>In the military camp that I was assigned to and is a IC in a department, I was targeted by a logistics officer who placed bad comments on my military record. I suspects that it was a subordinate of mine that bad mouthed me. There were nothing wrong in my department. No errors, no faults, no complaint yet I was told I did not do my job properly. The reason is probably due to the following paragraph.</p><p>For three years I was a "damned" Private who did not get a promotion even though my training qualifies me to be promoted to Lance Corporal. It was probably due to the Captain (logistics officer) that was condemned so the rest of the camp under him also being condemned. I was subsequently duly prompted to Lance Corporal after a letter was sent to my officer (Captain) asking for a reason why I was not promoted (as was told by a clerk in the HQ). Surely it is not me who try to pull a string in the higher echelon. Suddenly from a Lance Corporal I was promoted to a Corporal within three months of last promotion while in the training camp. I wasn't due for promotion before I finished my training. This cause the whole training camp to be jealous of me because I was the one and only Corporal in the class. Have I done anything to deserve this?</p><p>While attached to an oversea base, I was targeted by an Officer who happened to be be the head of logistics that I am under. I was doing my job properly and did nothing to invoke him. He even orders me to fix telephone lines alone in the middle of a hurricane storm. I guess its the logistics officer back in my military camp in Singapore that is the one who instigated the oversea officer's hatred towards me. He even say right in front of me "You are a Christian, I am a Buddhist. I don't like you". Anyhow, the officer was not able to do any other harm because he probably can't. I did my job properly and watched my back.</p><p>In my last year of reservist, I was made a vehicle commander transporting field camp materials back to the camp. All the people assigned to me suddenly deserted me after reaching the camp. I could have put all of them on charge of insubordination but since it is already my last year, I just do the unloading myself and one by one the others creep back to help me unload. At the beginning of my military career and at the end of the career I have people who just ignore me. Well, such is a life of a IC. Pathetic and a total failure because I don't mix around? It probably is because it is an anti-human behavior. I am not a good leader.</p><p>While in a technical firm, I was a QA Technician in the QA department. The QA officer find faults with me on the floor being dirty. There was a cleaner that was doing the cleaning. Why complain to me? He was trying to find fault with me because I foolishly pointed out the error (in front of the customer) that he made in a QA inspection level. He placed the level way too high that it is certain that every batch of delivery have to be inspected 100%. I have to voice out immediately before customer accepts the inspection level. Luckily the customer is a military officer that was my superior who rely on me to handle the QA department in the military before it was handed over to the same civilian company that I was in. She accepted my rejection of the inspection level because she knew that it is not feasible to set such a high level. In the end the QA manager steps in to support me because there seems to be problem between the QA officer and QA manager. </p><p>Life was then smoother after the QA officer give up my department totally. I could handle the department myself because I was the IC before it was handed over to the civilian company. Ultimately I left the QA department because of this and that the life is very stale doing QA work.</p><p>I was transformed from a Customer Relations Officer to be a supervisor (in an outsourced company). In the process of maintaining the group, I began to write programs that could help the department work more smoothly. It worked so well that the manager began to use the opportunity to boast to the corporate world. Many people follow suit in the same type of work so much so that the corporate IT clamps down on the "shadow IT" work. I ended up being just a shadow in a outsourced company doing the same work. I was still doing the same thing just that officially I am the outsourced company tech that is doing technical work to enhance the company's work not the outsourcing company doing "shadow IT" work. Was it my fault that caused the clampdown?</p><p>In the same corporate company I was assigned to set up a whole new Customer Relation Management system including a full fledge web based program to handle customer equipment repair. I worked hard on it but failed on the LED display because my design just could not drive the LED. Luckily I quickly switched over to a TV display using the web method. It was completed just one day before the official launch of the whole program. I was told that my own boss says that "I ask for it". What have I done wrong? I was trying to save the outsourcing company lots of money by doing the whole project in house. This is what I get for doing something that is good for the outsourcing company?</p><p>It is strange that quite a number of people volunteer to keep me informed of what is happening around me. I am a loner so I really don't mix around well but I guess it is my no-harm nature that makes them want to talk to me about people wanting to harm me. Also there are people who helped me without reason. I thank God for that.</p><p>Now that I am "officially" retired, I looked back and see all the things that happened to me. I compared with those martial art stories' hero. It is exactly the same thing that happens to me. I shined too well that caused jealousy in others so they try to silent me. In other instances, I am just a innocent victim who did not deserve the hatred/dislike. Well, it is already history so it does not matter anymore.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s48/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="46" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s0/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-81022018582153295052021-03-21T15:14:00.000+08:002021-03-21T15:14:06.164+08:00Javascript Listening for a specific Key press<p> If you want to know what key was press in a web page, you will normally do a document.addEventListener('keydown',myFunc) function. However, if you only want to act upon s specific key then the situation is slightly different becauses addEventListener does not have function to return anything.</p><p>Fortunately, there is a "bind" function in the event listener. by defining the event listener as</p><p>document.addEventListener('keydown',myFunc.bind(event))</p><p>In myFunc then you could use event.keyCode to determine which key was pressed and bypass any other.</p><p>There is an issue here. You can't capture key combinations. Keys like Alt-s will be passed as two event instead of one thus the function is triggered twice. But for just a simple key press like pressing the space-bar, the script works quite well.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s48/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="46" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s0/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-80073824666475716902021-02-16T19:56:00.000+08:002021-02-16T19:56:18.507+08:00Filemaker Making Progressive Limits<p> It is not unusual for performing progressive limits. Basically it is just to limit the search by selecting various attributes of the item. For example, in a electronic product, you would want to limit to hand phone, Xiaomi, 4 GB Memory, 256 GB storage to find the price of item that match the criteria. Its like setting filters as you browse the products. </p><p>Most on-line product sellers would allow for filters. Here, the idea is to do it in FileMaker which does not have dynamic content and have difficulty in doing paging without resorting to web based techniques.</p><p>Doing filters in FileMaker is not that easy. as lists are not set dynamically according to selected fields. Using SQL to filter is also not that easy as user select different options in various fields.</p><p>Below is a simple method of doing progressive filtering. The key in doing that is to force user to select various options in a fixed sequence/</p><p>Using the model mentioned above, there are three filters. 1. Model, 2. RAM, 3. Storage. Obviously, in real products there are much more options to choose but for simplicity, only 3 options are shown here.</p><p>STRUCTURE</p><p>One main table where the filters are set.</p><p>One product price table where the Model, Ram and Storage are set.</p><p>METHOD</p><p>Create a field for each filter in the main table.</p><p>Create a list based on Model on the product price table and set "Model" field to select from this list.</p><p>In the database Relations tab, create a duplicate product price table. Set the "Model" field of main table to the "Model" field of the price table. Create a list from this duplicate and set it as select list to "RAM" field of the main table. Hide the "RAM" field if "Model" is not selected.</p><p>In the database Relation tab again create a second duplicate of the price table. This time Set the "Model" and "RAM" field of the main table to the "Model" and "RAM" field of the price table. Create a list from the second duplicate. Hide the "Storage" field if any of the "Model" or "RAM" is not selected.</p><p>In the database Relation tab again create a third duplicate of the price table. This time Set the "Model", "RAM" and "Storage" field of the main table to the "Model", "RAM" and storage field of the price table. Create a script to set the "Price" field of the main table to the "Price" field of the third price table.</p><p>In this way the fields are chosen progressively according to the order of the available fields. This relation setting allows user to change various options easily. You only need to ensure that the "Price" field of the main table is blank first every time user make changes on any of the fields unless you want to make the field as the "Price" in the third price table without the script.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s48/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="46" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s0/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-90281695031933097312020-12-13T10:58:00.003+08:002020-12-13T11:10:10.523+08:00Communicating with Apple Web Services (GSX) via Filemaker 3<p> My <a href="https://jnhiew.blogspot.com/2019/06/communicating-with-apple-web-services.html" target="_blank">previous blog</a> talks about communicating with GSX using JSON. There is one area which is not mentioned. This area concerns with security. GSX requires client certificate issued by them and a white-listed IP. They require user to be certified and communicating from an approved IP address.</p><p>The white-listing is easy to achieve. Just designate your server/computer as the channel to communicate with GSX. All API requests have to be send from the server/computer. This means that if you require multiple user access, then you must provide a means for all of them to communicate with GSX from the white-listed server/computer from Filemaker using the "Insert from URL" function.</p><p>Getting a cert from GSX is done by sending a properly filled CSR to GSX. Note that the Common Name is defined by GSX. It is used to identify user according to GSX format. With the cert, you need to prepare it for use by the server/computer so that you can use it. The following is example done in PHP. The method used is via CURL in PHP. It is not advisable to use Filemaker to communicate directly with GSX as each "execute from server" means one connection used. You may soon find out you run out of connection on your server. By using "Insert from URL" and calls a PHP server, there is no limit.</p><p>Before you could start coding the PHP, you need to prepare your cert for use in CURL. CURL works best with certs in the PEM format. You need to combine the cert and private key into one file by copying and pasting the cert and key into a single pem file.</p><p>The following is a typical CURL setting</p><p>$ch = curl_init();</p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, false);</p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_VERBOSE, true);</p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);</p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true);</p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH, CURLAUTH_ANY);</p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_VERIFYHOST, 0);</p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_VERIFYPEER, 0);</p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $headers);</p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEASDER_OUT, true);</p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSSLCERTTYPE, 'pem');</p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSLKEYTYPE, 'pem');</p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSLCERT, 'your cert');</p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSLKEY, 'your key');</p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSLKEYPASSWD, 'your pass');</p><p>You will have to check the documents to see what are the headers required to be sent to GSX. I suggest you send the header settings from your user to the server/computer as JSON then convert the JSON as array with variable name as $headers as shown above. In addition, not all GSX API calls are POST. You need to get user to indicate whether the request is POST or GET.</p><p>If it is post then you will need to set the following</p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);</p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $content);</p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, 'your url');</p><p>Since a GET requires CURL GET request, you need to define it with the following.</p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, 'GET');</p><p>Each API requires the API to be defined as part of the URL. You need to define the URL for each API call. Compose the URL from the user side and send it as a parameter to the server.</p><p>curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, 'your url');</p><p>Finally execute the CURL</p><p>$output = curl_exec($ch);</p><p>It is a good practice to always close the CURL after every thing is done.</p><p>Now CURL may return two different errors. One from CURL itself, the other is from GSX. Your error message have to distinguish between the two.</p><p>Before you even start to test the PHP coding, you need to obtain an initial ID from GSX. Therefore, you have to visit https://gsx2.apple.com/gsx/login to sign in and get the ID. This id will be used to obtain the proper ID for subsequent GSX API request by calling the "authenticate token" api then copy the ID returned for subsequent use.</p><p>A final oddities is that if you, or your users, use more than one app or one computer that access GSX. Please be reminded that only one ID is provided at anytime. You need to use the same ID for all requests. It is up to you and your user to store such ID in one secure place and use it to consume APIs.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s48/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="46" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s0/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-47337695546772004342020-12-07T09:39:00.000+08:002020-12-07T09:39:59.306+08:00Internet Download Speed is Crawling<p> Quite some time ago my win10 browser loading suddenly become sluggish. I check with Ookla Speed Test shows that the download speed is just 6 mbps whereas I subscribed to 1 Gbps. The upload speed is very much faster but still well below the 1 G bit as subscribed.</p><p>Tried various methods of finding out why the download is slow but to no avail. Checking the speed on my handphone proved that the router is OK thus not service provider problem. It is only the laptop that has the problem. It really puzzles me as it is not due to browser issue since Ookla has a app that could perform the test without using browser.</p><p>After a month or so of intermittent attempts to find the fault, I finally found a clue. Netizens mentioned that SmartByte Network Services could slow down network.</p><p>I uninstalled SmartByte and the speed went up to almost 1 Gbps. SmartByte come pre-installed with Dell laptops. There are instructions in the internet that teaches you how to uninstall it. One such example is <a href="https://windowsreport.com/smartbyte-services/" target="_blank">https://windowsreport.com/smartbyte-services/</a>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fDwyQuR4z_U/X82G11SkI1I/AAAAAAACcSc/kCA2x8VaKHsoUu2PfPmfuveLcIfdIQeYgCNcBGAsYHQ/s770/71169487_2922598621090133_9220108347041120256_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="586" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fDwyQuR4z_U/X82G11SkI1I/AAAAAAACcSc/kCA2x8VaKHsoUu2PfPmfuveLcIfdIQeYgCNcBGAsYHQ/w488-h640/71169487_2922598621090133_9220108347041120256_n.jpg" width="488" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s48/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="46" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s0/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-48623121853408787972020-11-09T10:43:00.009+08:002020-11-09T10:50:29.292+08:00Getting the distance from a QR code with known dimension<p> In working towards an app that guide VI to navigate indoors (<a href="https://jnhiew.blogspot.com/2020/10/blind-navigation-system-using-qr-code.html" target="_blank">Blind Navigation System Using QR Code</a>), I am working out the distance of a QR code from the navigator. This will allow the app to works like iBeacon that could tell the distance of navigator from the device.</p><p>OpenCV already have methods that could measure object dimension from a known reference. The first step is to convert the known dimension to pixel ratio. This will allow for different camera with different megapixel count. The formula is simple. ratio=pixle/real size of object.</p><p>With this constant, I will need to determine the distance from the navigator to the QR code. First I find the QR code then measure the QR Code size. The QR code most likely have to be enclosed within a rectangle so as to allow the measurement of the rectangle. Convert this size (in pixles) by the formula size=pixle*ratio. Viola, we get the distance from the QR code.</p><p>Measuring the position of the QR code is an essential metric. This will allow navigator to know the direction towards the QR code. This is easily done by getting the center point of the camera view then get the relative position of the QR code to the center point. We can inform the user whether it is to the right or left. Calculating the distance from the center point is quite meaningless as it is not useful to the navigator.</p><p>Unless navigator has a perfect memory of the position of all the QR code, there is a need for a map of the location with precise point of all the QR codes. The app should also allow the plotting of routes from one QR code to another so as to provide a voice guided navigation for the VI.</p><p>Deviating from the QR code will be an issue. Unlike iBeacon, once the QR code is not in the camera view, VI is practically lost. A facility to turn VI back to the track has to be made by approximating the last known point.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s48/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="46" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s0/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-83581345661940914822020-10-27T07:25:00.004+08:002020-10-29T05:40:14.957+08:00digiKam Used for Managing Flora and Fauna Photos<p> I need to use an application that could manage those photos of flora and fauna so that I could easily refer to them or search for specific specie. After the demise of Picasa, I found an application called digiKam that could perform most of the functionalities like Picasa. </p><p>digiKam has lots of functionalities that are available. Here I will only talk about those I would use to manage flora and fauna photos.</p><p>Showing photos that are stored in directories grouped by directories is the basic requirement. It won't work if I have to go to individual directory to show the photos inside. digiKam did a good job by showing an entire directory with subdirectory as a selectable list.</p><p>In addition to directory aka Album, digiKam is able to show lists by Maps, Tags and Dates. It also have a search by title. Other list types are available but is of little use to me. Tags list is mentioned together with Tag editing below.</p><p>Maps listing is an interesting feature. You can show a list of photos that is defined by a square selection or select a group of photos that is grouped by digiKam. I find it extra useful to identify flora pictures. It all goes by memory. If you have seen the flora before and remembers a rough location, you could list the photos in the area and try to find the flora. For fauna, it is a bit difficult as they don't stay in the same place unless they are territorial.</p><p>I also contributes to iNaturalist. The location can match with digiKam map to show a list of photos in the same area. It helps if I have already identify the flora and have a picture of it. Inversely, I could use my photo's location and find in iNaturalist to see if there are any observation of the same kind. iNaturalist have the same map area list like digiKam.</p><p>GPS, Tags and Title are the most important information that is stored in a picture. digiKam allows the editing of these tags as individuals and group editing. </p><p>Tags are usually done as a list. digiKam stored hierarchical tags in its database. It did not store the data in the pictures because other applications only look at tags as a list. This feature is best suited for me as I normally set the taxon family and Gender as separate tags. digiKam is able to use tags to show the list of photos that has the same tag. Now I could use the hierarchical listing to see the gender in a family instead of seeing the whole list of photos in the same family. </p><p>Tag editing also benefits from the hierarchical arrangement. When adding tags I had to find the family and gender separately before adding them. Now I just need to find the gender and the family will also show up if it already exists. This save me from having to find the family name for the gender. A time saving feature.</p><p>Zooming is a very useful tool. digiKam allow list photo to be zoomed to a size comfortable. I zoomed to a level that shows 5 photos in a row. That is most comfortable to see enough details of the photo. </p><p>By double clicking a photo you could see a zoomable view of the photo. It even have a full screen zoomable view of the photo. You could set it to full screen when you double click. This is very useful to see clear details of the photo so that I could find the specific character of the flora and fauna.</p><p>Rotation. Sometimes the camera does not automatically store the rotation thus digiKam showed the photo in the wrong position. digiKam has a rotation setting so that you could view it properly. However, I am not sure if the information is stored in the picture after that. </p><p>Photo editing. Not the usual kind of editing feature is available. It is just a set of enhancement that allows photos to be adjusted. I usually use auto color to adjust the photo. Other adjustment features may be useful but is of less interest to me.</p><p>Grouping in a list. It is a unique feature but it does help if you go for a tour and need to group the photos by the day. You could group the photos in anyway. I find it useful to avoid seeing those photos that are not related to flora and fauna.</p><p>Panorama is not part of the feature required for flora fauna management. But it is useful for people who does not have a panorama camera to stitch few photos together to make a panorama view/ However panorama is not a digiKam application. It has to be installed from outside. Luckily when you select panorama in digiKam, it allows you to download hugin (pto2mk) and GnuWin (make) from internet. Download and install, the panorama feature will be activated.</p><p>In conclusion, it is useful to me to manage my photos in the flora and fauna sense. This application is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s48/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="46" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s0/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-29212751690372500102020-10-21T01:05:00.008+08:002020-12-10T08:11:48.466+08:00Do I Have a Problem with NParks<p> I have been posting messages and articles about NPark's not doing a proper job. It all started some years ago. I reported a tree fallen over the McRitchie route. No replies whatsoever.</p><p>In Jan 20 2013, I went cycling with a Facebook cycling group, saw quite a number of cyclist fell at Mandai PCN. The path was covered with slippery moss.</p><p>In March 2013, I posted in Facebook cycling group that PCN is not cycling friendly. See <a href="https://jnhiew.blogspot.com/2013/03/is-pcn-really-for-cyclists.html" target="_blank">https://jnhiew.blogspot.com/2013/03/is-pcn-really-for-cyclists.html</a>. The host suggest me to give a list of actual places that needs improvement. I went from Woodlands to Yishun then showed a list of the issues faced. There are 32 photos I took. Some are rectified over time. Below is just some of it. It showed almost 90 degree turns and exit into pedestrian path with obscured view.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BJSPzFVXfcM/X49tO4x6JNI/AAAAAAACbXg/gHQa4ZW08K81drv7G8jGqJJm3s1HhmM2gCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMAG0215.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1226" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BJSPzFVXfcM/X49tO4x6JNI/AAAAAAACbXg/gHQa4ZW08K81drv7G8jGqJJm3s1HhmM2gCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMAG0215.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JdIJ8YFWu0U/X49tO2fwC0I/AAAAAAACbXc/O4MKEuqXmS0evEH1Hds_zATOIbRgXJ-GQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMAG0220.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1226" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JdIJ8YFWu0U/X49tO2fwC0I/AAAAAAACbXc/O4MKEuqXmS0evEH1Hds_zATOIbRgXJ-GQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMAG0220.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b7fWQnpqJ1I/X49tO35_xnI/AAAAAAACbXk/Wdk109lh4xI0U9LgdSlr4_2oQJQiA2OnACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMAG0221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1226" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b7fWQnpqJ1I/X49tO35_xnI/AAAAAAACbXk/Wdk109lh4xI0U9LgdSlr4_2oQJQiA2OnACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMAG0221.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Jan 22 2014 saw a tag that is not appropriate. How does the MP plant a family of plant as a tree?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-koK6d_e9AXo/X48HbneIITI/AAAAAAACbVI/NWikSYG58FI4cW9urTQgwmy0HzJKONINgCNcBGAsYHQ/s665/2020-10-20%2B23_49_10-Jonathan%2BHiew%2B_%2BFacebook.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="665" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-koK6d_e9AXo/X48HbneIITI/AAAAAAACbVI/NWikSYG58FI4cW9urTQgwmy0HzJKONINgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-20%2B23_49_10-Jonathan%2BHiew%2B_%2BFacebook.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>April 12 2014 mentioned about badly designed PCN.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vhjTN0Ln3ws/X48IU3RIwSI/AAAAAAACbVQ/OhQROtCoPVMzMXDnput8qVSTO6ZjLb4DwCNcBGAsYHQ/s655/2020-10-20%2B23_53_58-Jonathan%2BHiew%2B_%2BFacebook.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="631" data-original-width="655" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vhjTN0Ln3ws/X48IU3RIwSI/AAAAAAACbVQ/OhQROtCoPVMzMXDnput8qVSTO6ZjLb4DwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-20%2B23_53_58-Jonathan%2BHiew%2B_%2BFacebook.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>July 10 2014. Mentioned Daily Farm PCN become a jungle.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pnKhRliX_uU/X48ESgVW_4I/AAAAAAACbU4/PI-FY5oH-2cWZiE_uliIKbvVI4HnAsPEQCNcBGAsYHQ/s758/2020-10-20%2B23_36_33-.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="758" data-original-width="651" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pnKhRliX_uU/X48ESgVW_4I/AAAAAAACbU4/PI-FY5oH-2cWZiE_uliIKbvVI4HnAsPEQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-20%2B23_36_33-.png" /></a></div><br /><p>August 21 2014 saw a tag that is badly misspelled.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--DD9qrMAwOc/X48JMRVjr4I/AAAAAAACbVY/TelY3DkuySMubZnV60g7uhf4yF8b8tqawCNcBGAsYHQ/s662/2020-10-20%2B23_57_24-Jonathan%2BHiew%2B_%2BFacebook.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="662" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--DD9qrMAwOc/X48JMRVjr4I/AAAAAAACbVY/TelY3DkuySMubZnV60g7uhf4yF8b8tqawCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-20%2B23_57_24-Jonathan%2BHiew%2B_%2BFacebook.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>August 20 2014. Flooding again.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fSFUo7g35jk/X48JlHyfs-I/AAAAAAACbVg/cfwwpHvynWkclRSWz-SyRjqNCsS5u7AUwCNcBGAsYHQ/s667/2020-10-20%2B23_59_28-Jonathan%2BHiew%2B_%2BFacebook.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="565" data-original-width="667" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fSFUo7g35jk/X48JlHyfs-I/AAAAAAACbVg/cfwwpHvynWkclRSWz-SyRjqNCsS5u7AUwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-20%2B23_59_28-Jonathan%2BHiew%2B_%2BFacebook.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Jan 18 2015. Algae problem on PCN.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l9Y48RgIniw/X48KmX-lSJI/AAAAAAACbVs/9FUZgqlYqBQsRJo0aaqbTRCktAb0I2MYgCNcBGAsYHQ/s731/2020-10-21%2B00_03_30-Jonathan%2BHiew%2B_%2BFacebook.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="731" data-original-width="682" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l9Y48RgIniw/X48KmX-lSJI/AAAAAAACbVs/9FUZgqlYqBQsRJo0aaqbTRCktAb0I2MYgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-21%2B00_03_30-Jonathan%2BHiew%2B_%2BFacebook.png" /></a></div><br /><p>July 25 2015. Careless work.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E51c_aDSbf0/X48Lt1FtK7I/AAAAAAACbV4/6kqw1BC0UUg5yJNoIuNvxemjRQ3pCPrqgCNcBGAsYHQ/s664/2020-10-21%2B00_08_13-Jonathan%2BHiew%2B_%2BFacebook.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="664" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E51c_aDSbf0/X48Lt1FtK7I/AAAAAAACbV4/6kqw1BC0UUg5yJNoIuNvxemjRQ3pCPrqgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-21%2B00_08_13-Jonathan%2BHiew%2B_%2BFacebook.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>April 3 2016 noticed an error on the position of Chestnut Nature Park. Posted it on Facebook. It has been corrected.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9_llK85EVAg/X47_5ZnBMGI/AAAAAAACbUs/GEEdTJ7UHMsTn3zsfNMXyXh_VFkchTcHACNcBGAsYHQ/s641/2020-10-20%2B23_17_33-Jonathan%2BHiew%2B_%2BFacebook.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="641" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9_llK85EVAg/X47_5ZnBMGI/AAAAAAACbUs/GEEdTJ7UHMsTn3zsfNMXyXh_VFkchTcHACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-20%2B23_17_33-Jonathan%2BHiew%2B_%2BFacebook.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Nov 27 2017, flooded PCN.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3yLL8mTcD2A/X48Qo1Pf1AI/AAAAAAACbWE/fjRaJM1vYB4ws5GiJQPa-EiDsThi5oS8ACNcBGAsYHQ/s664/2020-10-21%2B00_29_02-Windows%2Binto%2BLife%2B_%2BFacebook.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="664" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3yLL8mTcD2A/X48Qo1Pf1AI/AAAAAAACbWE/fjRaJM1vYB4ws5GiJQPa-EiDsThi5oS8ACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-21%2B00_29_02-Windows%2Binto%2BLife%2B_%2BFacebook.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>April 30 2017 tried the new PCN. Not a good experience.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rph38F4QxCw/X48R6brIgoI/AAAAAAACbWQ/uSaofR87EP4lVvTVwyzGDyMcckJUNTEJwCNcBGAsYHQ/s728/2020-10-21%2B00_34_54-Windows%2Binto%2BLife%2B_%2BFacebook.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="728" data-original-width="645" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rph38F4QxCw/X48R6brIgoI/AAAAAAACbWQ/uSaofR87EP4lVvTVwyzGDyMcckJUNTEJwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-21%2B00_34_54-Windows%2Binto%2BLife%2B_%2BFacebook.png" /></a></div><br /><p>May 1 2017, jumping the gun. Misleading. Make people think that it is completged.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2zpuY5TGdVw/X48SVT3xfAI/AAAAAAACbWY/7KRiUfyFx_Iyw7CS5FLxmQReq1d03A8KACNcBGAsYHQ/s648/2020-10-21%2B00_36_41-Windows%2Binto%2BLife%2B_%2BFacebook.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="648" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2zpuY5TGdVw/X48SVT3xfAI/AAAAAAACbWY/7KRiUfyFx_Iyw7CS5FLxmQReq1d03A8KACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-21%2B00_36_41-Windows%2Binto%2BLife%2B_%2BFacebook.png" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>July 25 2017 Unchecked work again.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mAydJAsV9Qc/X48TMNRQZ6I/AAAAAAACbWk/HqHm8mY4qdgt6b2T5nMpt98J2L7kB2jjACNcBGAsYHQ/s657/2020-10-21%2B00_40_20-Windows%2Binto%2BLife%2B_%2BFacebook.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="616" data-original-width="657" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mAydJAsV9Qc/X48TMNRQZ6I/AAAAAAACbWk/HqHm8mY4qdgt6b2T5nMpt98J2L7kB2jjACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-21%2B00_40_20-Windows%2Binto%2BLife%2B_%2BFacebook.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>On 30 March 2019 the coast to coast 36KM route was launched. I mentioned on FB cyclist group that it is not cyclist friendly thus is for walking only. See <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/lovecyclingsg/permalink/2209026995821303" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/groups/lovecyclingsg/permalink/2209026995821303</a>. It provoked a few people. However, I coolly explained that it is the media that says its for cycling and that I do not obliquely say NParks did a poor job. But actually 36KM is not for average people. It starts from Coney island which is quite a distance from bus stop. Since it is not cyclist friendly, it is not suitable for cycling also. So it is neither here nor there. I would question why they design a hiking only route instead of catering to both pedestrians and cyclist too.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lYrmaQBDJn4/X495D25QFzI/AAAAAAACbX4/Ie53qz21EWghNF3M6r-VmC-EkX8xtwJ2wCNcBGAsYHQ/s769/2020-10-21%2B07_55_33-.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="769" data-original-width="681" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lYrmaQBDJn4/X495D25QFzI/AAAAAAACbX4/Ie53qz21EWghNF3M6r-VmC-EkX8xtwJ2wCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-21%2B07_55_33-.png" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Jan 10 2020, New Flora and Fauna web is a let down. It has since then been redesigned.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_2H9h4hB8P0/X48VOFdJVrI/AAAAAAACbWw/FEKIB_QDEuce9N8Z_JkK_U6IVkqR6kGcACNcBGAsYHQ/s658/2020-10-21%2B00_48_51-Windows%2Binto%2BLife%2B_%2BFacebook.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="658" data-original-width="655" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_2H9h4hB8P0/X48VOFdJVrI/AAAAAAACbWw/FEKIB_QDEuce9N8Z_JkK_U6IVkqR6kGcACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-21%2B00_48_51-Windows%2Binto%2BLife%2B_%2BFacebook.png" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div> Oct 18 2020 another web fumble.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AMiIXqywtxo/X48VrIaAAeI/AAAAAAACbW4/vCRmXWjcZvsoxyZdPXsBXljwmLQu9MA_gCNcBGAsYHQ/s728/2020-10-21%2B00_51_06-Windows%2Binto%2BLife%2B_%2BFacebook.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="728" data-original-width="646" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AMiIXqywtxo/X48VrIaAAeI/AAAAAAACbW4/vCRmXWjcZvsoxyZdPXsBXljwmLQu9MA_gCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-21%2B00_51_06-Windows%2Binto%2BLife%2B_%2BFacebook.png" /></a></div><br /><div>Oct 21 2020, yet another fumble in information technology.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s8LQyLWNIKA/X48WHlI7sRI/AAAAAAACbXA/E8EBfaliLawuLpwJ2iv6OpwagfZDVex9gCNcBGAsYHQ/s742/2020-10-21%2B00_52_33-Windows%2Binto%2BLife%2B_%2BFacebook.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="742" data-original-width="636" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s8LQyLWNIKA/X48WHlI7sRI/AAAAAAACbXA/E8EBfaliLawuLpwJ2iv6OpwagfZDVex9gCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-21%2B00_52_33-Windows%2Binto%2BLife%2B_%2BFacebook.png" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Oct 21 2020 You would expect NParks update its web page on PCN tracks. Its not. The new Changi Airport PCN is yet to appear after one and half week of its debut. I guess they are more interested in Jurassic Miles instead.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MUtCYbFdB2g/X48XuAqRItI/AAAAAAACbXM/vwQZ1iX0n5AwL3uyZd6E1199uBJepDTdwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1088/2020-10-21%2B00_59_34-Park%2BConnector%2BNetwork%2B-%2BGardens%252C%2BParks%2B%2526%2BNature%2B-%2BNational%2BParks%2BBoard%2B%2528NParks%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="729" data-original-width="1088" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MUtCYbFdB2g/X48XuAqRItI/AAAAAAACbXM/vwQZ1iX0n5AwL3uyZd6E1199uBJepDTdwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-21%2B00_59_34-Park%2BConnector%2BNetwork%2B-%2BGardens%252C%2BParks%2B%2526%2BNature%2B-%2BNational%2BParks%2BBoard%2B%2528NParks%2529.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>Nov 11 2020 posted on Facebook group and Tweeter about PCN being blocked and a sign to "dismount and push" because accidents happened there.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ljE0O0eGbNQ/X87NlKbyuaI/AAAAAAACcj4/k6D7ioXutRgA3b6fR1Ucp7Sj7xGBTL7nwCNcBGAsYHQ/s680/EmfcVRQVgAAEioA.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="510" data-original-width="680" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ljE0O0eGbNQ/X87NlKbyuaI/AAAAAAACcj4/k6D7ioXutRgA3b6fR1Ucp7Sj7xGBTL7nwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/EmfcVRQVgAAEioA.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>Nov 12 All the species of trees have gone missing.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GKxuTAShV_c/X9FnlgnEKxI/AAAAAAACdE4/qL_MOjzZ9gEMG5xvsqjAVT1r6-bILt_ZQCNcBGAsYHQ/s680/EmnXlHuVcAEQtM2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="483" data-original-width="680" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GKxuTAShV_c/X9FnlgnEKxI/AAAAAAACdE4/qL_MOjzZ9gEMG5xvsqjAVT1r6-bILt_ZQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/EmnXlHuVcAEQtM2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Dec 8 2020 commented on TODAY group about Jurassic Mile being a PCN yet is too narrow with many pedestrians around and the hated "dismount and push" signs.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E7R12hpalOk/X87N26oRtzI/AAAAAAACckA/cLDBOC_xWJwSAkUUzRr19v55G5Yuq92KACNcBGAsYHQ/s742/2020-12-08%2B08_50_06-Facebook.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="706" data-original-width="742" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E7R12hpalOk/X87N26oRtzI/AAAAAAACckA/cLDBOC_xWJwSAkUUzRr19v55G5Yuq92KACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-12-08%2B08_50_06-Facebook.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /><p>After all the above posts, people may just wonder whether I am indeed finding faults with NPark. My motto on Windows into Life is "Veni Visi Scripsi" (I came I saw I wrote). It spells exactly the attitude when I am writing the posts. NParks is not the only one I mentioned. It just happen that I come across problems while looking for something else that is of interest to me. NParks happened to be related in the things I looked at.</p><p><br /></p></div>TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-40594290972136346502020-10-06T04:04:00.002+08:002020-10-06T04:14:16.376+08:00Media Article and Response of Reader<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xxhevzmh3ew/X3t87bR0ARI/AAAAAAACbQE/dUqXQHLYeH4dl8vNPtn4HuoNn-i4EBYFQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1048/2020-10-06%2B04_06_22-Are%2BTan%2BChuan-Jin%2Band%2BLim%2BWee%2BKiak%2Bclaiming%2Bthat%2Bmainstream%2Bmedia%2Bis%2Bbiased%2Btowa.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="803" data-original-width="1048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xxhevzmh3ew/X3t87bR0ARI/AAAAAAACbQE/dUqXQHLYeH4dl8vNPtn4HuoNn-i4EBYFQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020-10-06%2B04_06_22-Are%2BTan%2BChuan-Jin%2Band%2BLim%2BWee%2BKiak%2Bclaiming%2Bthat%2Bmainstream%2Bmedia%2Bis%2Bbiased%2Btowa.png" width="320" /></a></div><p> </p><p>Recently the Straits Times published an article "Silvia Lim's Motion on Parti Liyani case not picked for Parliament Sitting". There were quite a few exchange of words between MPs and readers.</p><p>The article's choice of words are entirely the author's in the author's own understanding and expression. It may be carefully crafted to make the title striking or perhaps crafted to mislead people. However, in the context it was clearly stated that it was "decided by ballot".</p><p>The question on whether it is deliberately crafted to mislead or just simply stroking reader's reaction is best left to the author since it is worded by the author. The author may well be in the "you know" mindset that assumed reader understand the title by reading the context. Thus, the choice of word is entirely the author's "bias".</p><p>On the readers' side, it may be entirely misunderstanding of the title coupled with the lack of interest in the context or lack of knowledge in Parliament Process or deliberately reading the title out of context before commenting. Other readers reading the content is thus lead in the comment to belief what was stated and thus MP responded by lashing out. This is typical readers mindset. They formulate the message entirely in their own understanding of the title. Again is is said to be readers' "bias".</p><p>Obviously, there will be others who jump in the wagon and make a scene out of it like the article published in "The Independent" showcasing MPs and readers comment thus making a case out of it.</p><p>There is no way in stopping the authors' choice of word in the title and no way to stopping readers to response in anyway they like. One must be aware of the subtle messages conveyed by the title yet understand that it could be just plain inadequate portraying an incident or a deliberate means of attracting readers' attention misfired. The author's article would have been vetted by the publisher before being published. Depending on the bias of the publisher, it is then shown to the public as an edited article. </p><p>Since (according to some) the publisher is pro-government, it may well be a gimmick backfired rather than "bias" as stated by Tan CJ in his comment.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s48/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="46" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp8RM2oahJQ/WSNWGQ0RQrI/AAAAAAAByY4/whKwjy5lpHIEyb4bCpY8rsduUzJNHHlfACPcBGAYYCw/s0/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-53375068374169595052020-10-03T14:57:00.004+08:002020-10-04T06:25:49.512+08:00 Blind Navigation System using QR Code<p> My previous blog talks about using RFID for navigation. The only problem is that the reader is not cheap and is hard to come by. This blog talks about an alternative for the RFID.</p><p>QR code is good because it can tolerate high margin of errors. QR code can be scanned using a hand phone. Thus the data and the reader is available cheaply. QR Code need not be read from a close proximity. Just enlarge it and it can be read from a distance. </p><p>I tried a two inch square QR code (1234-56) and it can be read from a meter away. Proportionally, a 5 inch (12.7 CM) should ideally be read from 5 meters away. In actual fact, it can be read at 3 meters distance only . However, that will be good enough otherwise it cannot fit the camera view at close distance.</p><p>The use of it is similar to RFID. There is a mapping of all the QR code within the area. They are placed 3 meters apart. 3 meter is used to ensure that the next QR code is within scanning distance. Using the same triangulation method of the RFID, the same navigation method can be done.</p><p>Obviously, the QR code should be hanging high enough so that human traffic will not obscure it. Since it is passive, Visual Handicapped may totally lost trace of it and wonders off course. Illumination is also a issue unless the place is perpetually lit.</p><p>See my post on RFID <a href="https://jnhiew.blogspot.com/2019/06/navigation-system-for-blind-using.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BrtakGiglRc/X3gg19qYJHI/AAAAAAACbPw/hF1oGXN4J3IyzdZxop587cpFTBnbK9bUwCPcBGAsYHg/s48/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="46" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BrtakGiglRc/X3gg19qYJHI/AAAAAAACbPw/hF1oGXN4J3IyzdZxop587cpFTBnbK9bUwCPcBGAsYHg/s0/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-3830692013734484402020-10-02T09:05:00.008+08:002020-10-12T13:23:35.455+08:00玄幻小说<p> 近来无聊的去看网上玄幻小说。看了几篇后有感想。他们大都采用同种格式。都有抄袭的嫌疑。不但是抄袭而且一直重复。以下是一些范例。</p><p>1. 穿越 - 死后穿越到另一个世界。附体于另一个人的身体。美名为夺舍。</p><p>2. 进阶 - 故事通常为武术。可以进阶。 进阶时是以梯级式而不是线性累进的。跟网上游戏一样。</p><p>3. 夺宝 - 时常有秘境开放。有进阶上限。进去时会分开。时间到会自动弹出。宝物常有武功传承,武器,药物,进阶等。</p><p>4. 异兽 - 像人一样有阶段。生体内有灵晶。</p><p>5. 竞选 - 不同形式的武术比赛。</p><p>6. 地位 - 进了宗门有外门,内门,精英等分别。要往上爬就必须进阶或比赛。</p><p>7. 闯关 - 通常有几层的。失败的会被弹出或死亡。</p><p>8. 成神 - 不少小说主人会成神或仙。会升仙。</p><p>9. 同阶无敌 - 通常是越阶挑战。</p><p>10. 灵药 - 灵药生长地一定有灵兽保护。</p><p>11. 天谴 - 进阶到某种程度,修炼超世而受天惩罚降下九道雷劈。</p><p>12. 不死 - 人被打死死了灵魂可以离体找人夺舍重生。</p><p>13. 储物戒指 - 可大量的储存物资。</p><p>14. 离题 - 作者会加上个人写作感想或请求。</p><p>15. 法则 - 武功的一种。时间与空间法则为最厉害。</p><p>16. 领域 - 另一种武功。</p><p>17. 大话 - 在打斗前对方常说的话。</p><p>18. 自废 - 对方常没开打就叫主角自废后给他全尸或自己断手脚。</p><p>如果情节完美结束那还可以接受。某些作者半途以主角死亡结束或没头没尾的完章。有一个作者完全迷失情节搞到主角变成另一个人然后突然结束。</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3gZQKeo0M5g/X3Z35K110GI/AAAAAAACbPc/r2FRHbIxcHgmV1DdLueGrIMyXxJmAu4xACPcBGAsYHg/s48/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="46" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3gZQKeo0M5g/X3Z35K110GI/AAAAAAACbPc/r2FRHbIxcHgmV1DdLueGrIMyXxJmAu4xACPcBGAsYHg/s0/qr_facebook%2Bsmall.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-7058725111881941652020-03-22T10:57:00.000+08:002020-03-22T10:57:19.038+08:00Telling liesFrom the bible the biggest lie that was told is in Genesis 3:4 "You will not certainly die". Gen 2:17 clearly says "for when you eat from it you will certainly die".<br />
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Now what is a "lie"? According to Cambridge English Dictionary, "something you said that you know is not true." In Gen 3:4, the serpent knows it and tried to deceive Eve, the woman that is created after Adam was told not to eat the fruit. The reason why the serpent lie to Eve is that she does not receive the command from God thus only knows the command second hand. This is not to say that woman is weaker than man just that the doubt is planted by the serpent on a person who does not receive the command directly. That person happened to be Eve. If it is Adam that defies God, directly mankind probably no longer exists.<br />
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The wider purpose of a lie is to gain something from a lie for personal benefit. The serpent lied so that it could destroy faith in God. For most people, it is just to benefit self.<br />
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When a person tells a lie that could prevent the lost of a life other than your own, is that still a lie? Literally it is still a lie but it is used for a different purpose. During WW2, Chiune Sugihara issued visas to Jews despite being told not to. He lied so that 6000 Jews could live. What does he gain? A dismissal from foreign office. He and his family felt no shame on it because it served a higher purpose.<br />
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We are just little people but often we have to tell lies just to avoid embarrassing the person we lied to. We gained little from telling the lie. It is wrong to tell lies to prevent embarrassing ourselves or cover our wrong doing.<br />
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Real lie is from people that tried to achieve gains from it. The lying person tell lies that could benefit from it or served his/her purpose. They tell lies to gain from others or prevent damage to themselves.<br />
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Lying is not just for monetary gains. It could be used to destroy faith in the person or state. For example, giving false statements. Singapore has a law against POFMA (Protection from Online Falsehood and Manipulation Act). Although it could be used to deter people from telling the truth, it generally prevents ill hearted people or group that tries to destroy others.<br />
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<br />TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-80618603902441596502019-12-30T20:52:00.000+08:002019-12-30T20:52:47.219+08:00PHP Use of Openssl EncryptionThere are a number of encryption methods available in PHP. While they are used in various applications, the main objective here is to talk about a two way encryption/decryption using Openssl.<br />
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Openssl is a general cryptography library. PHP has a number of functions that handles openssl. To use openssl you have to create or buy a SSL certificate. Buying from a cert authority means that your certificate are certified authentic. Creating your own private cert has its own use. For the purpose of encryption and decryption, there is no advantage in not using a authentic cert sine your purpose is only between two parties. You can generate ssl private cert using command line Openssl library. I will skip this part as it does not involve using PHP.<br />
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A certificate has two keys (a set of strings that can be used for encryption/decryption). One is Private key the other is Public key. By its name, you can see that the former is only used by one party. The Public key can be distributed to many others. Its uses is discussed below.<br />
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The user that has a private key uses it to encrypt a string. Any one with the corresponding Public key can decrypt it. Any one with Public key can use it to encrypt a string but only the one with the corresponding Private key can decrypt it. The former is for sending common data to many people that has the Public key. Its actual use is for a specific purpose detailed later. The latter is for many people to send data to a central person. This means people can sent personal data to a site but only the site can read it.<br />
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Lets talk about using Public Key to encrypt and decrypt data. First we do public key encryption.<br />
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$aok = openssl_public_encrypt($data. $encrypted, $pubvlicpemkey);<br />
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$aok is just for checking whether the encryption is successful. $data is the raw data to be encrypted. $encrypted is simply the variable to store the encrypted data. $publicpemkey is the Public Key in PEM form.<br />
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To prevent data transmission error, we need to convert the encrypted data into a special text format using "base64_enconde($encrypted)".<br />
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On the receiving end, we need to use bse64_decrypt($encrypted) to return back the encrypted string before using<br />
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$aok = openssl_private_decrypt($encrypted, $data, $privatepemkey);<br />
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As usual $data is the decrypted data.This method is basically used by sites to let customer send personal data or banking transaction. Since only the site is able to decrypt, the transaction is secure.<br />
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Next we use private key to encrypt. Its use is to ensure that the sender is authentic (if it uses recognized cert authority certs or has a understanding between sender and receiver.) Its main use is just to sign the data that was send in plain or encrypted text. It usually involve two certs each exchange their public cert with the other.<br />
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The method use is<br />
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openssl_private_encrypt($data, $encrypted, $privatepemkey);<br />
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The other party then uses the following to decrypt the data.<br />
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openssl_pubhlic_decrypt($encrypted, $data, $publicpemkey);<br />
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Since only the sender that has the private key can encrypt the data to be decrypted by the receiver with the public key, the receiver basically can be sure that the data is from the sender with the private key.<br />
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Another use of the Openssl is to send a signature. A signature generally follows a text and is used to prove that the text is authentic from a specific person. It is similar to sending a private key encrypted message but with a layer of security added called hashing (a method of mapping a data to a specific size).<br />
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$hashed = hash($method, $data, false);<br />
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There are many methods of hashing. Usually we uses 'sha256'. The last parameter specify using raw output to ensure that nothing is changed.<br />
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The next method encrypts the data using a different functtion<br />
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openssl_sign($hashed, $signature, $privatepemkey);<br />
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Obviously, by sending the above does not quite let the receiver know how to identify the signature. The signature is basically used to accompany a plain text or an encrypted text. If it is encrypted then the receiver has to decrypt it first using methods previously discussed above.<br />
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On the receiving end, the following decrypts the signature. Before doing anything, the receiver has to hash the text (plain or encrypted) that comes with the signature. If the text is encrypted then the receiver has to decrypt it first. The following function then is used to verify that the hash matches the signature.<br />
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$hashed = hash($method, $data, false);<br />
openssl_verify($hashed, $signature, $publicpemkey, OPENSSL_ALGO_SHA256);<br />
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The last parameter specify 'sha256' hash method.<br />
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Note that if the text is encrypted, it usually use a public key from the receiver otherwise the encrypted text is already proving that the sender is authentic.<br />
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<br />TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-37892801234377003452019-10-28T05:02:00.000+08:002019-10-28T05:45:34.138+08:00National Step Challenge Can it be Completed?I joined and faithfully completed National Step Challenge season 4. I continue to join Season 5. Season 5 added 2 more tiers to MVPA in Season 5 when I started the season, I was thrown back to Season 4 MVPA tier 5. So my Season 5 cannot start huh? Am I a completer then?<br />
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On calculating the time needed to complete 6 tiers of MVPA, I was surprised that it requires 187 days (40 points a day maximum). The challenge period is 189 days. To start MVPA challenge I am supposed to complete the steps challenge tier 2. Minus the bonus, It takes at least 37.5 days to complete tier 2 of the step challenge. Adding it to 187 days, it is impossible to complete.<br />
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Now that I am thrown back to Season 4, I need another 75 days. It is equivalent to I cannot be a completer in season 5. I decided to quit completely. It is a challenge with a set period so it should start and stop within the period. HPB make it so difficult to complete. I wonder why.<br />
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By the way, in Season 4, HPB actually recommends 150 minutes per week for MVPA. That is 5 days of 30 minutes MVPA. Which translate to 200 points. Therefore, to complete the 6 tiers (7500 points), you need 37.5 weeks which is 262.5 days. Another puzzling figure. Absolutely mission impossible.<br />
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<br />TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-69958415177074400082019-09-28T12:05:00.000+08:002019-09-28T12:06:04.729+08:00One Plus OneMost kids will know that 1 + 1 = 2. But to adults. It has quite a variety of answers. The following is a list of answers.<br />
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<ol>
<li>1 + 1 =2 (simple arithmetic)</li>
<li>1 + 1 =11 (simply put two 1 together)</li>
<li>1 + 1 = II (roman number)</li>
<li>1 + 1 = ∥ (parallel symbol</li>
<li>1 + 1 = 1 (logical OR function)</li>
<li>1 + 1 = 1 (overlap two 1)</li>
<li>1+1 = 王 (if you turn your head side ways)</li>
<li>1+1 = 土 (if you overlap two 1 with + and look side ways)</li>
<li>1 + 1= 士 (same way except using a smaller 1)</li>
<li>1 + 1 = 干 (same way but turn your head the other side)</li>
</ol>
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The above is based on the principle that the ones stays in its natural vertical form. If you can place any one or both side ways, It has another dimension.</div>
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<ol>
<li>1 + 1 = T (one vertical one horizontal)</li>
<li>1 + 1 = + (same as above but move the horizontal one to the middle.</li>
<li>1 + 1 = L (move the horizontal one all the way down and to the right.</li>
<li>1 + 1 = <b>Γ </b>( Greek Gamma character)</li>
<li>1 + 1 = 二 (both placed horizontally)</li>
<li>1 + 1 = 一 (overlap both horizontally)</li>
<li>1 + 1 = V (bottom end touch each other)</li>
<li>1 + 1 = X (both touch center)</li>
<li>1 + 1 = Λ (Greek Lamda character)</li>
<li>1 + 1 = <b>=</b> (equal symbol)</li>
<li>1 + 1 = <b>></b> (greater than symbol)</li>
<li>1 + 1 = <b><</b> (less than symbol)</li>
</ol>
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The above is not an exhaustive list. There are probably more that can be made out of it.</div>
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So, don't just take things as is, think out of the box and you find a lot of simple things can be viewed in different ways.</div>
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TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-53194722133116356892019-09-08T09:16:00.000+08:002019-09-08T09:18:38.512+08:00Defending our faithAs a Christian, we are to defend our faith. However, does it means that we have to do it every time some one says something against our faith?<br />
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Singapore have a law on Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act. Which explicitly prohibits "causing feelings of enmity, hatred, ill-will or hostility between different religious groups" (Wikipedia). Some company thus have rules against religious activities and discussions while conducting business.<br />
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While in this working environment, if some one starts to provoke you by saying something against Christianity, do we have to defend our faith regardless?<br />
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Jesus have a solution. Matthew 22:17-21 says "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's". Jesus is saying that taxes are taxes and religion is religion. While you are doing your duty, you should do your duty and not mix religion in it. Why break the rule just because some one did not observe religious harmony and badmouth Christianity?<br />
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On a Facebook page, some friend of mine posted two religious quotes side by side. One is based on Old Testament (Joshua 6:21) total destruction of a city another portray his religion as a peaceful religion ( i will not disclose the religion nor the quote). Obviously, he is trying to portray Christianity as violent and destructive compared to the peaceful nature of his religion.<br />
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Now I can defend Old Testament by saying that it is the act that is commanded by God for a specific purpose and reason at that specific time. It cannot be applied to Christianity in general. The quote is simply out of context. I will not venture into the person's religious quote and draw a different picture. By doing so I am in breach of causing hostility on other religion. The person is probably trying to provoke a hostile response.<br />
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By Just defending our Bible, I already achieved the purpose of defending our faith. There is no need to bring down the other part of the statement by the person. It served the purpose and still maintains religious harmony.<br />
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<br />TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9558116.post-91047486857466872782019-07-02T16:19:00.001+08:002020-10-02T12:37:41.915+08:00中国五千年跳不出去的九大定律拜读了题目文章后 (刊在《历史开讲了》),觉得那是人类的问题不是中国独特问题。这问题是在于权力与控制。如果中国是真正民主制度就可大大减少定律问题。下面是我的见解。<br />
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1.象牙筷定律<br />
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这是人类贪婪的特性。没有限制的话就会造成恶性循环。如果不是民主制度话就无法限制这恶性循环。<br />
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2.兔死狗烹定律<br />
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这是人类独裁问题。当没有敌人的时候就会内斗。没有法律的话就会造成此现象。没有民主的话就权力至上无法无天。<br />
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3. 包围定律<br />
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这也是人类独裁问题。因为没有民主就成绝对包围。 <br />
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4.敌戒定律<br />
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生存法律。有了民主才会有”敌人“。敌对政党时常会盯着你。那你会时时提防被攻击。<br />
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5.朋党定律<br />
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朋党不是问题。那个社会没有朋党? 不受控制的朋党才是大问题。民主制度才能有些控制。<br />
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6. 黄宗义定律<br />
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独裁主义以上制下。最下层的老百姓跟本无能力反抗。如果是民主制的话就不是大问题。<br />
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7.五世而斩定律<br />
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这也是独裁主义才会有的。庸才会被推为首领。民主制是民选。无能的话跟本上不了台。<br />
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8. 权大欺主定律<br />
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人类通病。权大就不受控制特别是掌握握军权的。民主制度也无法。这就看其他军人会不会反抗。人民也可以反抗不过只手对不了枪杆。<br />
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9. 皮毛定律<br />
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也是独裁问题。 语言自由是民主制才有的。只有霸权社会才控制语言自由。<br />
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总而言之,有真正的民主制度才会防止这九大定律的重复。当然民主制度也有其弊病。<br />
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<br />TechieOldFoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02843210474325257045noreply@blogger.com0