Fake $50 notes

Hawkers have fallen prey to fake S$50 notes surfacing in Boon Lay Market and Food Centre. The hawkers, who sell drinks, food and vegetables have lost S$300 as a result of the fake notes. According to the hawkers, the culprits will turn up alone when they are busy serving customers at their stalls. Police said they were 72 such cases reported from 2006 till the first half of last year. I feel that the reason the hawkers did not notice the notes at first was because they couldn't tell the difference between a fake and real note. This despicable way of obtaining money is really indescribable. This is no different from stealing money. I really sympathise the hawkers as their hard-earned money are gone just like that. It is really difficult to make a profit already due to the rising cost of rent. However, according to a STOMPer who received a letter ostensibly from the Police, warning about fake $50 notes being used locally, "The culprit uses a fake S$50 notes, commonly bearing a serial number 2EY322725 at pubs, restaurants, petrol kiosks, convenient stores and 4D outlets for purchases." Thus, I hope that people can spread the message as that would result in less people getting conned. All in all, hawkers also have to play their part and be vigilant.

Vulnerability in Apple's Operating System

Hi all, Today, I am going to talk about the glitch found in Apple's Operating System. According to security firms, Apple's operating system for the iPhone, iPad tablet computer and iPod music player have been discovered to have vulnerabilities. The vulnerability could be exploited by remote attackers to take complete control of a vulnerable device. However, at present, experts say that the threat only exists on paper but Apple has to address this issue before it becomes a reality. Apple said that the company was aware of the report and was investigating. One vulnerability is caused by a glitch triggered when a user views data in Portable Document Format (PDF) documents. As Apple's Mobile Safari automatically opens PDF files, a hacker could have embed malicious codes into this files. However, ironically, the only way to prevent Mobile Safari from automatically opening PDF files is by jailbreaking a phone and installing an application called PDF Loading Warner. That application asks for permission everytime the browser tries to open an PDF file. Now, it up to Apple to release a patch that would either prevent Jailbreak from working or close the highlighted security flaw. But, in retrospect, Apple has been slow to fix problems on their mobile browsers. Personally, I feel that Apple, has to change its method on facing problems and creating solutions as the present one is not effective at all. This threat could become major if nothing is done about it, a person could just suddenly lose control of his expensive device just because he opened a PDF file. When the hackers start exploiting the vulnerability, it will be even more difficult for Apple to prevent it, and the unknowing users might fall victim to the hackers. Thus, I feel that Apple should try and solve this problem as soon as possible.

Youth Olympic Games

Hi all, Today, I am going to talk about the Youth Olympic Games which is taking place In Singapore. The Opening Ceremony was held a couple of days ago at the Floating Platform. Singapore has never had so many visitors from so many countries. There are in total 204 nations and 3600 athletes. The first Youth Olympic Games, which is taking place in Singapore, was inaugurated by Our President SR Nathan during the opening ceremony. During the opening ceremony, the athletes were sitting in the stands, watching the showed that was being performed for them. However, now is the time for these young athletes to show case their talents to the world. Although the area for the opening ceremony was not as large as compared to the Beijing Stadium, where the Opening Ceremony for the 2008 Olympic Games took place, but no doubt the level of enthusiasm and energy level had been as high and as great. This had thus became a historic moment for Singapore, where a small island is holding such a big event. This is indeed a big event, the First Youth Olympics Games, and Singapore will be marked down into the History as the first nation to organise this event. While holding the Youth Olympic Games, Singapore would also improve on its economy as more people from all over the world would come to Singapore to watch the Opening Ceremony and also to watch the matches of the sports competitions. Thus, they would tend to stay over in Singapore and also they would go to try out the delicacies in Singapore and the popularity of the food in Singapore would rise and the economy of Singapore would also improve. I wish Singapore good luck in holding this Youth Olympic Games. As the first Youth Olympic Games holder, Singapore must make a very good impression of itself for the other countries

National Day

Hi all, Today was my national day celebration. If you don't know, National Day is to mark the nationhood of a nation or non-sovereign country. Thus, National Day is very important to a country. Today, we did not go to school in our school uniform. Instead, we could wear our own clothes from home, provided they are red or we can wear the Pe + Khaki combo. I chose the Pe + Khaki combo due to the fact that i was lazy to search for red shirts in my closet. Back to the story, so when i arrived in school, everyone was slacking in class and we were all in a very happy mood due to the fact that there were no lessons on that day. Much to my surprise, there was no one wearing red t-shirts. Everyone was wearing the pe + Khaki combo or just the school uniform. However, during flag-raising, I saw one of my classmates, Carlin, wearing red. So after flag raising, there was this long speech as usual which practically no one listens to(correct me if I'm wrong) and everyone was just staring around and occasionally saying a word or two to the people beside them to pass the time. So when we finally entered the Kah Kee Hall for our National Day celebration, it was very squeezy as there was not much space to start with and 2 levels had to squeeze(the sec 3 and 4s sat upstairs) and there was also the teachers. So mainly, I was talking to my friends and playing my handphone games as I was never interested in the performances. Anyway, there was wushu, malay or indian dance and there was the mass singing of national day songs. So at 10am, the celebration finally ended and I went out with my friends. Yay.