Effects and Consequence

Whilst surfing the internet or rather more specifically, youtube and it's japanese rival nico nico douga ,this rather strange topic of interrelation of certain actions and its effects suddenly came into my mind

To put simply what i observed was the power of a song, whenever a song writer releases a song , he most likely has a story to tell the world, and is using the song to express his story in his own personal style, may it be rock, pop or even heavy metal, every song has a story behind it.

In this instance, i realized that  songs are more powerful than i orginally thought, firstly, because of the power of the internet and the prevalence of technology, just about anybody with access to the net will be able to access the song, barring firewalls and censorship of course.

So onto the main story, i heard a song that was pretty good, then i tried to find related content,unsatisfied by the results that youtube presented me with i headed onwards to niconicodouga where the song was originally released, there i found a world beyond my wildest expectations.

What i found shocked me, it may not shock you but it most certainly expanded my opnion on the power of music and its effects.

I found many many covers of the song by various bands and individuals, i saw multiple groups of people dancing to a song i never thought was meant to be danced to, and they did it fabulously , stylishly even.

Most importantly, every one of those videos had their own ministories to tell, the performers of these covers also had their own mini fanbases and upon futher research i even realized that some of these
cover performers had gone on to form their own original bands / dance groups

And they were happy, and also successful!

So to all you song writers out there, keep on writing those songs, you'd never know who'd you inspire or what form your creation may morph into, but whatever it is, im positive that it will have an positive impact on the people who love it

Singpost's amazingly terrible policies and customer service

Many of you would have ordered from amazon before, for those of you who have not i suggest you buckle up and prepare for a ride, my experience with ordering from amazon has been amazing, the only issue is when they decide to use singpost as their local delivery partner.

Disclaimer, this story is my personal experience with singpost and its officers , you may have better luck than me in dealing with them.

Basically my story starts from amazon, i ordered a hard disk at a very cheap price during some holiday season, so i waited for it to arrive . The thing is it didnt, so i went to amazon and they decided to send me another one as a replacement and i thought everything would be fine this time, double checked my address and everything seemed to be in place, except it's not.

So i waited till the quoted arrival date and then i checked my mail box.. nothing was there. so i proceeded to ask amazon again, they asked me to wait for about 10 days because there may have been delays so i said okay  i will since they had been so nice to send me a replacement without much hassle.

So i waited. 10 days later i checked my mail box again, nothing was in it.. this time i was pretty frustrated so i asked amazon again. Do note that before i asked amazon i had used their tracking system to track my item, the problem is the tracking system broke down along the way. what do i mean?

i will provide an concrete example now.

Basically iParcel was amazon's export partner, they bring the parcel from amazon to singapore then iparcel proceeds to hand singpost the parcel and singpost is supposed to send it to me.

The tracking all the way to iParcel was smooth i got regular updates from amazon about where my parcel was and it was amazing

As you can see the tracking works very well until singpost started to handle it. Although it writes that delivery had been attempted, i saw no such notification on my door nor on in my letter box. I had no idea of what time they had intended to deliver and thus i was probably not at home when they delivered, after all they had not even notified me to stay at home and wait or arrange someone to receive it for me, singpost had absolutely no communication at all. 

That was fail #1 

The second fail came when i tried to trace the package .

so amazon told me that i-parcel was the carrier so i headed over to i-parcel's website to track my item using the code given to me 

try it out yourself , tracking number is AEIRIC20001268711 on this website https://tracking.i-parcel.com/Home/Index?trackingnumber=INVALID

See the link in orange where they generated the sing post tracking number? 

clicking on it links to SPEEDPOST's website

as you can see in the picture above.

So i did what any normal person would do, i clicked on the bright orange link and tried to use the code given to me to track

Guess what? the code didnt work.

So i then decided to contact i-Parcel to ask them as i figured that they  had given me a wrong code, 

after an email i finally figured out that the code actually only works on SINGPOST's website.. 

so i thought, okay fine ill track my code using the singpost website .. keep in mind this was 10 days AFTER the advised delivery date..

So yesterday 11/2/2015 i finally found out that my parcel was with WOODLANDS POST OFFICE

so i tried to ask for a redelivery but alas the form asked me for some strange beat number that i had no way of knowing 

So i though okay nevermind, since the item is nearby at the post office , i could just go down and collect it tomorrow. 

So i decided to go down to the post office and collect it today 12/2/2015.

Then after queueing for a very long time i spoke to one of the staff at the counter who then proceeded to track my item using their system and informed me that my item was no longer at the woodlands post office as of today and it had been processed to be sent back to the sender as of yesterday 11/2/2015

I checked the website myself to be sure .. and to my horror it really was processing to be sent back.. 

The counter staff then told me about singpost's policy of sending items back if they have not been collected in 12 days.. I had not been informed of this AT ALL. they had not sent me any emails or any reminders to collect my item and my tracking code had not worked until i did alot of digging around and asking different companies to realise how to make it work.

In my humble opinion singpost had screwed up, they did not send out any reminders at all, and had decided without my consent to return the item although they clearly had my contact details from amazon , they had my address and could probably have left a letter or two , they're a mail company too!.

So  i proceeded to ask about my options , the counter staff told me there was nothing she could do and she asked me to call their hotline 1605... so singpost just told me their their counter staff at their post office could do NOTHING for a customer who had went all the way to the post office to collect his parcel and received such news. 

Fine. i decided to leave the queue and went outside the post office to make the call..

i called 1605 followed through the phone menu .. inputted my information and then .. nothing. the phone menu was not functional it broke down into gibberish, press 1 for 28913 press for 237238 press 3 for 42423 

out of desperation i pressed 1 then they said sorry that service is not available please call again, so i called again, and again, the result was not any different.

At this juncture i was really really frustrated and almost ready to throw in the towel..

i decided to queue once again and asked the counter staff for help, luckily they helped me get through to a customer service rep using a short cut

Here's the short cut incase any one of you need to contact them urgently,

dial 1605, then press 1 and 0, ignore any other options, this is the only way i have found to be functional enough to lead to a customer service officer, the other options led me to some broken phone menu that cuts itself off for no reason.

So i talked to the rep and she once again told me that my item was being returned...

BUT i could try to get them to retrieve my item BEFORE they sent it .. at a cost of $21.40

i balked at the price and tried to negotiate, i told her about this entire story but she refused to budge and thus i told her to email me the details so i could consider it after some time.

below is the email she sent me

At my wits end i decided to ask amazon for help.

Amazon was amazing in this regard, i told them about the situation and they advised me to ask singpost to retrieve the item and they would refund me the fees that singpost had demanded.

Amazon had not been responsible for situation but they had been so kind to offer their assistance so freely, for that i thank them.

So i said sure, okay and then i tried to called singpost to arrange for them to retrieve the item.

i tried to ask them to redirect me to the previous customer service rep that had attended to me an hour before but they refused , so i once again had to repeat my story  again, at this juncture i had repeated my story to singpost employees about 3 times already, it is really annoying that the rep did not read the email that her colleague had sent me although i told her to read it.

She then proceeded to tell me that once again that i would need to pay and i said okay,

then she dropped a bombshell on me.

Ontop of paying, i would have to go the the singpost post centre post office located at eunos road personally to pay and obtain my item..

So let me get this straight, i need to head down all the way to eunos road , pay them $21.40 , then bring the parcel home myself?

What exactly am i paying such a high price for? although amazon had promised to refund me, if they had not , it would have been my own $21.40 just for them to find my item and leave it at the far off eunos road post centre for me to self-collect!? 

I tried to negotiate with the customer service rep and asked for my item to be delivered at least to my nearby postal office but she firmly declined, citing company policy saying 'every one who retrieves items must go to the postal office to collect'...

This was ridiculous, but because amazon had already promised to refund me i couldnt exactly cancel retrieval process, so here i am writing this complaint.. 

will be heading down to singapore postal office soon to pay singpost their $21.40 just to self collect because they failed to deliver properly or notify me properly before sending the item back without any notifications or communication at all..

Singpost has been horrible i will avoid it at all costs in the future if i am able to... 

i-parcel please fix the orange link on your website so that other customers may properly track their item.. 

and to amazon, thank you for being amaz-ing in your customer support .

Singpost, your're a national postal service please brush up on your customer support, you bring shame to the singapore brand...

update, tried calling them again and this time they seem more professional and willing to help , we'd see where this goes..

On Ideas Sharing

Ideas are powerful , they are a fundamental part of development, most modern development start from a powerful and awesome idea. Most people think that they have awesome ideas, and many do indeed have awesome ideas, thing the is, most people don't act on their ideas. which is a waste.

Some people cite a lack of interest, doubting the popularity or viability of their ideas even when they may be perfectly sound ideas. These are the ideas that are buried everyday as unique individuals decide to abandon them after a few brief moments of thought.

The thing is, it does not have to be this way. Several sites like IndieGoGo and Kick Starter have proven that crazy ideas that are built by a team of passionate individuals can indeed inspire enough confidence in the public to get people to buy-in to their ideas based on their ideas and some credentials and also maybe some rewards.

Although Kick Starter and IndieGoGo have created an avenue for established professionals in their own fields who have had a great idea and allowed them to actually pitch and put together a team to build the idea , what about the vast majority of ordinary people who have great ideas?

Most successful kickstarter pitches have great demos and big names behind them, this is essential for backers to be able to have enough trust to put in their money into these kick starter projects,
but what about those with no budget for demos , the ordinary joes who have come up with an awesome idea but has neither the skills nor resources to pursue the idea?

Imagine a platform that is pre-kickstarter , a platform that functions similarly but with a fundamental difference. A platform where ideas are voted on and where outstanding ideas created by ordinary joes can be noticed. A platform where the ideas are thoroughly vetted and tested by the public to test the waters of how much demand there is for the idea.

Imagine a wonderful platform where people propose the craziest ideas, rocket shoes, swords shaped cakes , or even the next facebook!

The idea is to create a platform where great ideas can be noticed , similarly to kick starter but without the initial set-up costs so that there is absolutely no barrier to entry and anyone with an idea will be able to pitch it to an active community of users who are equally excited to find awesome ideas and help them become a reality.

Would you spend your time to jot down your amazing idea?
I certainly would. The most important factor here is the community and the ranking systems and most importantly , the brillant ideas that are in every one of us, hidden

i truly believe that such a platform would help us reveal our craziest most awesome ideas, and then the skies the limit.

For now ill be leaving this idea here the idea for an ideas platform.

But first we'd have to build it.

AFA 2013

It was an amazing weekend at suntec city singapore this weekend, hordes of anime lovers swarmed the convention centre to scour for an assortment of anime goodies at asia's biggest annual anime event, Anime Festival Asia!

It was pandemonium early in the morning, people had been queuing up to get into the convention halls hours before it even opened, some of the earliest had been queuing since before the sun had even rose. This was not an unusual sight, for the past few years which AFA had been held, there had always been people queuing up early just to be amongst the first few in line, so as to be able to buy the limited edition goodies that were on sale, in fact it is almost compulsory for anyone who wanted a share of these limited edition merchandise to queue up early, for these items ran out very very quickly, it was known that within the first hour or so , the entire event had probably sold out on all of it's limited edition merchandise.

Even without the limited edition merchandise on sale, people continued to enter the convention halls throughout the day, many of them in full costume, or rather "cosplay" a term used to describe people who dress up as anime/manga/Japanese characters. Each and every year, AFA holds a cosplay event to find the best cosplayers in the region, this event attracts cosplayers from around the world to attend, and naturally, many locals are also inspired by these first generation cosplayers to cosplay and ever since then, the number of cosplayers have been rising steadily, year after year.!

AFA has created a wonderful event where anime lovers from around the region can gather and collect anime merchandise that came directly from japan and from local artists, it also provides a platform for anime lovers to express their love for anime through cosplay, anyone and attend the event, provided they purchase the basic entrance ticket at $10, anime lovers get to see their favourite anime characters get brought to life by cosplay, indulge in delicious japanese food, purchase unique merchandise and even hear their favourite anime tunes in the IloveAniSong Concert!. This is one annual event that every anime lover has marked on their calenders, one that is certainly not to be missed. So, mark your calenders everyone for next year's AFA!

{Photo credits, AFA, Danny Choo,Amin}

Singapore's Haze Fiesta.

Over the course of the last few days, Singapore experienced the thickest haze in it's history since its independence. The Haze was not a surprise to most of the residents of Singapore. What surprised Singaporeans was the severity of the haze. In recent days, the haze has spiked upwards to an astounding value of 401 PSI (Pollutant Standard Index), with many speculating that the actual value should have been upwards of 500, some even claim that the government may be playing down the numbers to prevent widespread panic. One should note that the previous highest recorded PSI in Singapore was 250 in 1997s. Thus this haze was rather unexpected and it caused quite the uproar among citizens, many of which going online to vent their frustrations.

The Haze caught everyone off guard, everyone knew that there would be haze at around this time of the year, caused mainly by indonesian farmers engaging in the "slash & burn" practice to clear their lands and prepare for the next season of plantation. Thus, every year, without fail, in this season of slash & burn, haze would be blown over to singapore from indonesia, blanketing our little island in haze and polluting our airspace for weeks.

Every year, the haze would come and go, without much hooha , aside from the occasional complainer.
But not this year. people felt the thick haze affecting their face, throat and eyes. People started wearing masks, few at first, but more and more people started wearing masks and soon, everywhere you looked, dozens were wearing masks. Things were really bad then, visibility dropped below 1km. The government finally stepped in, they made a haze committee of sorts, told everyone to avoid "strenuous physical activity" particularly the young and elderly and advised the people to only buy and use N95 mas filters 95% of airborne particulates )  The problem was, the market was not ready for the sudden demand, and within hours, many shops were out of these N95 masks, thus leaving many.. without a mask.  
ks. (

Because of this shortage of masks, many stayed at home, hiding out from the haze, those who had masks had to deal with going about their daily lives with a new accessory on their faces. The lives of singaporeans were truly
affected negatively by the haze. 

In light of singapore's troubles, the ones whom the haze originated from do not seem to be doing anything at all the help stop this haze. instead they made statements like this. "It's called sharing, you go through good times together, don't make noise to the world when things go bad. It's just like husband and wife, don't take your quarrel outside," Personally, i think such a statement is totally inappropriate and unprofessional. i mean, if obama were to say such a thing i'd think he would lose a lot of support.

Here's another golden quote. "Let me remind our friends from Malaysia, Singapore, don't just because of the haze, tell stories to the world,"  courtesy of the indonesian  Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik .

i think the statements speak for themselves. 

inspite of all that talk,, he said, that the indonesian government was also doing its utmost to put out the fires. so hopefully he'd stick to this words and stop this haze once and for all. 
credits: http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/se-asia/story/haze-update-malaysia-singapore-should-know-themselves-says-indonesian-mi

Naruto 633

Spoiler Alert

------------------------------------ NARUTO!-----------------------

In this week's chapter, we finally see some classical Naruto action. most of the ninja fromNaruto's generation reunite here on this forsaken battlefield, to fight for their world. light gray are my ramblings.  The infamous team 7, consisting of Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura finally reunite, and it was known only just last week that sasuke was even on naruto's side. The week before , there was heavy speculation about Sasuke's allegiance. would he follow the path of vengance and darkness (that he himself created many many chapters ago) and seek an end to the world or would he be convinced by his brother's final words of advice and traverse back to the path of light? Seemingly , he's taken the latter choice and now, united with his friends he's fighting to correct his mistake and bring down the evil mastermind that is (Madara Uchiha.) and thus, this chapter showed the shinobi of konoha(and the rest of the ninja world) fighting against the greatest evil.  Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru are shown to be executing a highly polished version of their infamous combo move. Fast forward to another scene on the battlefield, Hinata shows off her latest skill, a sixty four palm strike. , that'll be something incredible in the anime. Tons of amazing skill and teamwork are shown in this chapter, it'd be one of those chapters that the anime can drag on for 5 episodes. There's just so much content that leaves tons of space to the imagination and later on, the animators.! The anime adaptation of this part of the series is going to be awesome. 
Shortly after/ simultaneously after Hinata's cameo, Sai confers his worries about the battle but naruto sasuke and sakura blow away all worries by summoning their beasts. and thus the manga ends off on a really high note. I personally can't wait for the next chapter! Shortly after/ simultaneously after Hinata's cameo, Sai confers his worries about the battle but naruto sasuke and sakura blow away all worries by summoning their beasts. and thus the manga ends off on a really high note. I personally can't wait for the next chapter! 

this is one chapter you cannot miss!. go ahead and read it if you hadn't 

(credits: Masashi Kishimoto for the manga, Mangastream for hosting and translating it )

The Great Coca Cola

Coca cola is something that i believe we are all familiar with,after all it's available everywhere and it is rather popular.

One might think that Coca Cola rose to the top through its sheer iconic design and taste but the truth is millions upon millions of dollars are probably poured into this brand to subtly brainwash us to drink it.

Well looking at this ad, it pretty seems pretty much certain that, that is indeed the case.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=72fRuE8vmo0#!
I feel like rushing out to buy a can of it right now.. dayummm.

It has had many many ads everywhere in the world and most of em are probably at the top of their class,
there are even movie tie ins. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDiZOnzajNU 
and there was this retro one featuring the moonwalking legend.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyF6XmFbAxc

well those are 3 of the many remarkable ones , apparently there are 1800++ more videos where that came from. just look at the coke channel.

simply amazing.

well whatever coke's doing to make people drink it, i guess its working . it's adverts are top notch and are actually one of the few well thought out ones that i'd gladly watch and not just skip. so yeah. coke keep doing your thing.       -ZW