Nexus 7: Guide for receiving 25$ credit from non US countries

If you bought Nexus 7 and didn't get 25$ credit (and missing Google Books, Google Magazines, Google Movies) this method may work for you.

1.Make factory reset.
2.When you get to the screen to enter Google account skip it.
3.Uncheck all the check-boxes in next screens.
4.Now when you got to the home screen, go to settings.Under Wireless and Networks click more.
5.Click on VPN, Add VPN. Now the Nexus 7 will ask you to define security (Pattern,Password,PIN), Define whatever you want.
6.Click again Add VPN, and enter this definitions:
Name: SuperFreeVPN
Server address: superfreevpn.com
and click save.
7.Now click on SuperFreeVPN,for username enter:free, and for password go to website superfreevpn.com and look for VPN Password.
8.Click Connect. If connected successfully you will see key icon in notifications.
9.Go to Settings, under Accounts click Add Account and choose Google. Enter your username and password, if everything is OK you will get to screen that will ask you to enter credit card to Google wallet to receive 25$ credit.
10.While you using VPN you can download Google Books, Google Magazines, Google Movies.

Courtesy of freesoul27 at Xda-Developers forum

Thank you.

Food for Thought: Talk on Injustice.

"..Ultimately, you judge the character of a society, not by how they treat their rich and the powerful and the privileged, but by how they treat the poor, the condemned, the incarcerated. Because it's in that nexus that we actually begin to understand truly profound things about who we are."

~ Bryan Stevenson, founder and Executive
Director of the Equal Justice Initiative.

"Talk on Injustice" is broadcasted over at TED. The transcript can be found at Dotsub.

Food for Thought: Corruption.

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

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“Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.”

~ George Bernard Shaw

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"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.”

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Food for Thought: Bamboozled.

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back."

~ Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

Why the State ask people to mind their own business..

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Quotes The Straits Times on 04 Febuary 2012: "One PAP member who stayed [as party member] when he became NMP [Nominated Member of Paliarment] in 1997 was Gerald Ee, chairman of the National Kidney Foundation.

Mr Ee, who is no longer in the PAP, said then that being an NMP was an advantage over being a party MP, as he would not be subject to the party whip. The whip ensures MPs vote according to party line."

Is this an official notice or a commercial brochure?

Notice of Repair

Once upon a time in a far, far away Land...

At first there was a champion of people who was interested to be the Top Head.
Upon seeing fellow people embroiled in Ponzi schemes and losing loads of money, he stood up for them when the establishment was adamant to act.

While he may not be the most eloquent speaker and paints a white sheet black, he felt he can represent the people on the ground and bridge the gap between the establishment and the people.

The establishment had growing concern when the day to select the Top Head was near. Knowing a duel was not a safe bet, it called upon one contrarian among its ranks to rise to the challenge. The ruse was to divide the support for the champion.

At the mean time, the rivals to the establishment had acquired their own challenger, hoping to pip the Top Head at the post. This make the Selection more complicated while unwittingly played into the establishment's hands.

The champion hoped to do a re-group but was in vain. He had to go ahead against bigger odds for the Selection.

Will he succeed?

Polling Day 2011

Dear fellow citizens,

Today is a special day.
We will reflect on what were going on for the past 5 years, decide which box shall we mark a cross over and project our expectations for the next 5 years.

I have set a few benchmarks while considering the judgement.

1. Cost of taking public transport.
2. Presidential and Cabinet's pay.
3. Town councils' investments in structured products.
4. Cost of public housing for first time buyer.
5. Utility bills.
6. Taxes on possession and usage of private vehicle.

Please use your vote wisely.
May the force be with us.

A few curious points about Sembawang chief's words.

"To reach out to 140,000 voters, when they've never been here (Sembawang GRC), it's difficult. So we know they'll be just using rallies and of course they hope to have a debate with my team, then they're on national TV - straightaway, they reach out. So I can understand why they prefer this tactic."

~~ Khaw Boon Wan explained why a public debate with opposition party is unlikely to happen. 24-Apr-2011.

1. Isn't public debate a good opportunity to prove the credibility of the opposition, or rather the lack of it, once and for all?

Why the concern over the opposition reaching out to the voters?
The opposition only indulged in hifalutin talks and baseless accusations, don't they?
Can they strike a chord with the common voters?

As one deceased US President said, "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."

2. Will a debate undo one's ground work of over 6 years?

3. Could it be futile to engage in public debate as you believe the election as a forgone conclusion?


One question shot to mind when hearing some said the opposition is rarely seen on the ground during normal times: Does the opposition require police permit to walk the ground so to not infringe illegal gathering rule or whatever laws applies?

GE2011: If I vote for the opposition, the government will blacklist me.

We always hear stories of some people being dis-advantaged because they voted for opposition in an Election. But we never know who they exactly are.

While it may not be true, the rumour persists.

Understandably, the ruling party will not pull out all the stops to debunk this.

So here we go again.
Who got "condemned' at work in a government-linked organisation after voted for opposition?
Whose kid is denied entry to preferred school due to the parent's political choice?
Which couple has tried for years and never been successful in any new HDB flat ballot because each of them failed to vote for the ruling party? ...


Reference:
1. http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/04/three-local-myths/
2. http://fbshare.me/AbFGA

Ask not what your country can do for you; Ask what you can do for your country.

Mah_comment_on_lower_land_cost_for_HDB

You can't handle the truth !

Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

~~ Colonel Jessup in "A Few Good Men", 1992.

Netizens reacted in doves after hearing PM Lee spelt out people who supported the ruling party are favoured for national programme which are public funded, over those who didn't.

We could only say this: You cannot handle the truth.

One advantage about single party system of government is policies are drafted and implemented more efficiently without much opposition or debate. Hence the impact on people whether positive or negative will be felt quickly. How good the policies are relies heavily on how wise the group of people who drafted the policies are.

While in a multi-party system, policy implementation will take longer time as you are expected to debate and convince majority of parliarment to pass the policy. The policies have to withstand the acid test before the people can felt it.

You choose which one is better suited here.

Is goods and services tax (GST) a form of regressive tax?

I read from Lucky Tan's post that GST increase from 3% to 5% from year 2003 in Singapore is to top up the reduction in top marginal personal income tax rate and corporate income tax rate.

In 2007, GST is raised to 7% with an offset package for locals over 5 years to cushion the impact of the 2% GST raise. The package will cost SGD4 B in total.

According to Tony Tan's report, the gain in GST at 7% as of end 2009 is SGD4.9 B.
This seems to be sufficient to fund the offset package.

What will happen after the offset package lapse?
=========================

Elsewhere,

a) In Malaysia - "The GST would replace the existing taxes on sales and services and would not put pressure on prices, he said, adding that to ease the burden on consumers, staple foods such as rice, sugar, cooking oil and flour will be exempted.

The plan drew immediate criticism from opposition lawmakers who said it will cause living costs to spike."

Malaysia has yet to implement GST.

b) In Pakistan - "FBR (Federal Board of Revenue) was supposed to collected Rs 73 billion additional revenue through conversion of GST in to Value Added Tax and due to political opposition of VAT in the country FBR is unable to generate the same."

Pakistan has yet to implement the new RGST (reformed GST).


Reference:

1. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific_business/view/1020728/1/.html
2. http://www.brecorder.com/component/news/single/623:news.html?id=1164412
   

Electricity tariff among the 4 little dragons of Asia.

Electricity tariff here as compared to Hong Kong, Seoul and Taipei.

1. Electricity tariff in major cities, as of Dec 2009:

Notes: Tariffs and exchange rates are as of December 2009.
Comparison based on annual residential customer consumption of 3,300 kWh

2. Electricity tariff in major cities, as of Nov 2010:

I think 2011 will be no much different as the rate of rise historically for past 5 years indicates.

3. Electricity tariff rises in major metropolitan cities (2005 – December 2009):

Note: Comparison based on annual residential customer consumption of 3,300 kWh.

Reference: Charts from CLP Power Hong Kong Limited website: http://www.clpgroup.com

A curious case of negligence.

"The prescribed legal limits for drink driving in Singapore is 80 milligrammes of alcohol per every 100 millilitres of blood or 35 microgrammes of alcohol per every 100 millilitres of breath. This is currently similar to the United Kingdom’s prescribed legal limit although they have the additional limit of 107 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of urine."

~~ Quote from www.lawnet.com.sg

成者为王,败者为寇

History is a myth that men agree to believe.

~~ Napoleon Bonaparte.

The scary part about reading History is one cannot seperate the half truths from the real truths.

A Barrage just dont hold water.

"To alleviate the risk of flooding in low lying areas of the city, the Marina Barrage has been in operation since 2008. It has served to remove tidal influence at the Stamford Canal outlet. During heavy rain, up to 9 gates and 6 pumps at the barrage will be operated to discharge excess storm-water to the sea. .."

~~ Response by Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Dr Yaacob Ibrahim in Parliament on Flash Floods. 19 Jul 2010.

I checked in Wiki, the common primary functions of a barrage are:
a) Increase the depth of a river (similar to a weir),
b) Maintain a separation between fresh and salt water,
c) Reduce the risk of tidal flooding up the river.

Secondary functions may include:

e) Tidal power generation,
f) Artificial whitewater leisure centres.

Curiously, I wondered: What is the difference between having the barrage at the mouth of Marina Channel as compared when without it in terms of flood control capability among low lying areas in the city?

Below are the stats for rainfall in Singapore recent years. We have seen heavier rainy days in 2003 and 2006.

Reference:
1. SingStat - Yearbook of Statistics Singapore 2009, Monthly Digest of Statistics Singapore Jul 2010.
2. Diary of a Singaporean Mind.

No one is above the law.

A Few Dictators Among Us.

Foreign Policy magazine recently compiled a list of worst living dictators (at this point of posting) and some of the brief CVs are quite interesting.

At number 14.
TEODORO OBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO of Equatorial Guinea: Obiang and his family literally own the economy, having reportedly amassed a fortune exceeding $600 million while the masses are left in desperate poverty. Equatorial Guinea's extraordinary oil wealth puts its GDP per capita on par with many European states -- if only it were evenly shared. Instead, revenues remain a "state secret."

Years in power: 31

At number 17.
HUGO CHÁVEZ of Venezuela: The quack leader of the Bolivarian Revolution, Chávez promotes a doctrine of participatory democracy in which he is the sole participant, having jailed opposition leaders, extended term limits indefinitely, and closed independent media.

Years in power: 11

At number 20.
PAUL KAGAME of Rwanda: A liberator who saved the Tutsis from complete extermination in 1994, Kagame now practices the same ethnic apartheid he sought to end. His Rwandan Patriotic Front dominates all levers of power: the security forces, the civil service, the judiciary, banks, universities, and state-owned corporations. Those who challenge the president are accused of being a hatemonger or divisionist and arrested.

Years in power: 10

Reference: The Worst of the Worst - By George B.N. Ayittey | Foreign Policy