Monday, June 14, 2010

Youtube upload frustration

The last few days have been pretty frustrating uploading videos to Youtube - Error, Failure or Aborted! It seems to be quite a prevalent problem for a segment of Youtube users. On Youtube website there are some video clips offering help for workaround but they does not necessary work for all. It's probably some software conflict, but what do I know, I am not that savvy technically. Regrettably, I may not fulfill my target of at least one post every two days cos I love to include videos and pictures.

Friday, June 11, 2010

FIFA World Cup - South Africa 2010


Well although I am not a soccer crazy person I do pay some attention to major matches. Same for other games like Table Tennis when our Singapore women's team upset China to become world champs in Moscow. 

The final count down to World Cup! In a few hours time South Africa plays Mexico in the opening match. Soccer fever hits the world. This is most certainly going to be much bigger, more feverish than the 1995 rugby World Cup especially for the people of South Africa. 

Here in Singapore the 5 Community Development Councils (CDCs) and People’s Association (PA) have forged a partnership with Singapore Pools, SingTel and StarHub to screen the 2010 FIFA World Cup matches “live” at 16 Community Clubs island-wide from 11 June to 12 July 2010.

For information of live screening matches visit People’s Association (PA) website - http://www.pa.gov.sg/
The 16 community clubs:
Braddell Heights CC
Address: 50 Serangoon Ave 2 #01-01, S(556129)
Phone number: 62867876
Person in charge: Mr Kuo Jeng Nam (SCM)
District: South East
Cheng San CC
6 Ang Mo Kio Street 53, S(569205)
6458 8222 / 64571172
Mr Chua Lip Teck (SCM)
Central Singapore
Chong Pang CC
21 Yishun Ring Rd, S(768677)
67588528
Jessie Heng (SCM)
North West
Chua Chu Kang CC
35 Teck Whye Avenue, S(688892)
67655001
Mr Damien Tan (ACM)
South West
Clementi CC
220 Clementi Ave 4, S(129880)
67781950
Mr Goh Ah Soon (DCM)
South West
Fengshan CC
20 Bedok North Street 2, S(469644)
64412412
Ms Loretta Tan Mui Ling (SCM)
South East
Gek Poh Ville CC
1 Jurong West St 74, S(649149)
67920095 / 67922750
Ms Michelle Koh (DCM)
South West
Jurong Spring CC
8 Jurong West Street 52, S(649296)
65624066
Mdm Jenny Koh (DCM)
South West
Mountbatten CC
35 Jalan Satu, S(399479)
63460620
Ms Chen Xiaoyi Grace (DCM)
South East
Sengkang CC
2 Sengkang Square, S(545052)
63125400
Razak Abd Rahman
North East
Tampines Central CC
Blk 866A Tampines St 83 #02-01, S(521866)
67858292
Shawn Lee
North East
Telok Ayer Hong Lim Green CC
65333260 / 65330646
20 Upper Pickering Street, S(058284)
Mr Wong Teck Yu (ACM/CM)
Central Singapore
Toa Payoh East CC
160 Lorong 6 Toa Payoh, S(319380)
6256 7601 / 62516515
Mr Kelvin Thong (SCM)
Central Singapore
Vacant Land near Temporary Mkt (Organised by Eunos CC)
Eunos Temporary Mkt (Bedok Reservoir Rd, next to Blk 632)
6448 6071
Mohan Dharan
North East
Woodlands CC
1 Woodlands St 81, S(738526)
63627137
Kho Lilian (SCM)
North West
Zhenghua CC
1 Segar Rd, S(677738)
63106702
Agnes Lim (SCM)
North West

FIFA website: http://www.fifa.com/index.html
World Cup fixtures with Singapore broadcast timings here: 2010 Football World Cup Fixtures and Groups

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Visit to Shanghai Expo 2010

The Expo ground is huge and requires a lot of foot work. Motor vehicles have to stop quite a distance from the entry point.


Multiple long queues with massive crowd formed at the entry point. We were lucky, my mother-in-law being on a wheelchair got us all preferential treatment; we were directed to "Barrier-Free Passage (Express Lane).


We visited the Brasil Pavilion, USA Pavilion and the Joint Pavilion for Central and South American Countries. Because of the big crowd and long queue, visitors are allowed into the respective Pavilions in batches. We didn't make it to our planned exhibits - the Swiss and China Pavilion. The number of people was just overwhelming and the queuing time a crazy 3 - 5 hours.

Inside the American Pavilion a replica of the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange)

Central American

Spain

The majestic China Pavilion


Tired visitors taking breaks

Latest information is that the average count of visitors has now reached 370,000 a day!!! from 220,000!!! On weekends it goes up to 550,000 visitors!!! The common gripe is the exasperatingly long queuing time and it is just not worth the trip. That said, the rural folks from the provinces aren't too unhappy cos the Expo visit would just be a small part of their itinerary. Senior citizens gets subsidized tickets and it is an opportunity for them to travel; for many of them a rare treat.