Tuesday 30 November 2010

if only i could....



is there anyone willing and interested to buy me a pair of B&W 802D loudspeakers for Christmas...???

i must find a good chance to sit down and listen to it......

is it worth the money...???

ah it depends on the markup....... which is too generous to say the least......

red swell...

damn.... knocked against the drawer chest and now my toe is swollen......

is it a sprain????

i cant tell but then it's such a bitch.......

PAIN...!!!!!!!!!

Monday 29 November 2010

say say only

motor insurance is a necessary evil...... you need it and i need it.....

since it's something we all have to pay for it, why not pay less and be happy about it......

to test the waters, i applied for an online quote from aviva......

too bad..... their offer is not attractive at all.....

nah.. next better player.....

Ring ring


It may not be the best or the latest but I still like what I hear from the ring radiator tweeter......

Nice job ..!!

Over dose ...!

For the whole day was facing laptop computers....

Went back home still facing laptop computers..!!!

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Sunday 28 November 2010

Just eat....

What's this?

Nevermind just eat ok......

ISSE 2010 - Worthy mentions.....

on previous occasions, i didnt stay too long and was probably gone in a couple of hours ... but on Friday i was there from 1430 to 1830 hrs..... 4 hours in total!!!

gotta give the organisers and myself a pat on the shoulders even though the mini concert and autograph session itself took up 45 mins..... i guess i enjoyed myself.......

this time round, there were quite a few rooms which did pretty well....... and here's my list of worthy mentions in random order.....

audiomanufacture sls loudspeakers and wyred for sound amplifiers

german physiks loudspeakers and simaudio amplifiers

verity audio loudspeakers and nagra ampilifers

sanders loudspeakers and amplifier

atc loudspeakers and room correction

asi resonators - these tiny metal cups on wooden blocks made the room acoustics calm, relaxed and ready for playing music..... compared to other rooms, there was a greater sense of ease and musicality from the martens loudspeakers and shanling amplifiers / front end...... i bet the asi cables also played a part in achieving the good sound i'd heard....

fair play

if only they know what is fair play.....

http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2010/11/26/in-the-military-the-non-malay-is-ridden-like-a-horse/#more-10156

well not everyone can understand how it feels to be ridden like a horse.......

Saturday 27 November 2010

ISSE - LPCD

Most test and audio show CDs are essentially useless....

At the most they get played once or twice and then would receive the archive treatment: collect dust ...

I have a strong feeling that this will happen the 2010 ISSE LPCD..... Nothing in it is likely to make me come back for more.... Especially the reverb effects in track 9 which drove me NUTS....... Why why why do they have to use so much reverb?? Beats me.....

Such a waste.....

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ISSE 2010 - No telling

I was quite busy yesterday and did not get a chance to look through the show CD & other CDs I bought at the ISSE ....

And when I opened it up, I said to myself "What? No liner notes no explanations why these pieces were picked for the LPCD????"

They must be tired.... Where's the heart?

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@OYAIDE_NEO, 26/11/10 13:40

オヤイデ電気_OYAIDE_NEO (@OYAIDE_NEO)
26/11/10 13:40
みじんこブログアップ!!!「Power Inret R発売されます!」 作りやすさはもちろん、音質も格段にグレードアップ!アンプや電源タップの自作に活躍するのはもちろん、コネクタ着脱型の機器を持っておられる方のグレードアップに!!!! http://bit.ly/alorEP


Check this out .... The product is late when compared to the competition but better late than never....

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ISSE 2010 - Head banger


They are allocated same room as before and well they did it their same old way..... some things never change do they.....

It was just TOO LOUD..!!!!!!! Are they selling a PA system ...?????

Yes the room was big and at times there were many people in there but this was no way to showcase a world class system....

Pity the superb components put on show here....

This ranks as my personal disappointment of da show....

ISSE 2010 - 现场录音



sharing video of live mini concert.....

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Friday 26 November 2010

ISSE 2010 - 好听


马小倩与刘德丽签唱会......!!!

and they are my VOTE for the BEST SOUND OF THE SHOW.......

ISSE 2010 - Click your head


Here is one of the kuku who dunno how to turn their camera to silent....

People come here to hear the singers not your camera LAH

Damn....

Thursday 25 November 2010

On my way

Oh yeah its going to be Friday very very soon ....

ISSE 2010 here I come lah..!!!!!

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Wednesday 24 November 2010

Is there a mine?

What's with the merc driver? Is there a bomb or mine or invisible barrier..????

Some people leave an extra big gap between themselves & the vehicle in front ....... As in really a big gap!!!

For what?

This behaviour causes the traffic to be stretched further than necessary..... Then it stretches and stretches....

If everyone maintains a 5 metres gap, the seemingly minute problem escalates into something serious & major....

So? Close up LAH..!!!

No stick

At the hawker centre a man approached me for a cigg...

Too bad dun have...

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SITEX or ISSE

your choice.....???

well why not visit SITEX on thursday for scouting ..... and make your final slashing on sunday..... if you have eyes only for gadgets you can buy everything on the first day itself and rest during the weekend.....

for the ISSE..... it's always a less crowded option to spend a good friday afternoon browsing...... weekends are usually way too cramped and noisy.......

will you be buying the 1 day or 2 days pass..???? to be frank, i'd never seen the need to visit ISSE for more than half a day....... so why spend the extra $5 for an additional day ......

maybe i'll reserve the $5 for prawn mee.....

in or out...

well well a record is a record......

by selectively including and excluding certain information, the document no longer qualifies as a "record" of a person's behaviour and performance......

shame on you HCI for your "no apology" stance.....


Half a grand

Aha eagles is coming back to Singapore & for $499 + $3 booking fee you can get a front view seat...

OUCH..!!!!!

Half a grand...!!!!

different steps....

looking for mp3 songs is easy......

but looking for original versions in FLAC or WAV requires more effort.......

maybe most people think that ripping in 320 kbps is sufficient and confirmed their choices as such.....

of cos handling FLAC and WAV will involve more disk space.....

A gap....

Is there anything to get from ferragamo ....????

An additional 10% is not too bad.....

Tuesday 23 November 2010

Polarity

It seems the RR-77 is quite sensitive to AC polarity......

When I switched the power plug over, everything become better as a result....

If you find yours to be not that effective, just switch the unit over....

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Stick it up 4

If you purchase the tape instead of the bigger sheets, you will get 5 metres of it.....

Since it's quite of lot of tape to go about you may wish to share with some friends to spread out the cost.....

Remember: do it slowly 1 at a time.....

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Pipe travel

I am so tired ..!!!!... All after getting rid of the choke in the aircon drainage pipe....

What's wrong with this idiotic pipe....????

Damn..!!

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cosy....

i remember telling friends that mr mas could be somewhere warm and cosy and watching barclays premier league football matches.........

opppsss ... he did..!! well at least the warm and cosy part.......

Monday 22 November 2010

Stick it up 3


Maybe I wasn't able to tell the actual difference with the EMI tape on the car ECU but it was surely not subtle when applied on audio components.....!!!!!

My very first piece was for the aircon fan unit in the room..... Errr seems quieter.... So so I thought....

2nd piece was on the little power supply for the RR-77..... WOWWW!!! This is no joke huh...???!!!!

There and then I pasted little pieces on the rear of the CD transport, starhub antenna box and rooftop antenna box (unused but may have stray signals anyway)....

The most effective way however is to paste the sticker on the inner panels but I am too lazy to dismantle everything.... So for the preamplifier, DAC & power amplifiers I simply cut a few sheets and place them as near as possible to the power transformers.....

Be aware that too much of a good thing is always too much.... Never never overdo it..... So I took care to introduce the EMI sticker incrementally by cutting each piece the size of a 5-cent coin....

Thief who stole electricity

Spotted at the coffee bean & tea leaf:

A guy who unplugged a floor lamp so that he can power his laptop ....

THIEF.....!!!!!!!

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Stick it up 2

Errrr I felt a difference or did I ...????

The engine seems to be quieter and more eager to pull than before.....

Maybe it's all just placebo.... Perhaps......

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Stick it up


Everyone knows that EMI is bad..... But bcos we rely so much on electricity we have no choice but to bear with these electro and magnetic nasties.....

There are however many ways to deal with it.... From zero cents to many dollars of ways...

After checking out the competition, maybe I'll try this.....

Most importantly I will stick some on the car ECU.....

blind and deaf?

referring to cleopatra wong and her "wonderful" story.....


dun u think she has a serious hearing problem as well as terribly poor eyesight.....

and even a layman could not possibly believe that incredulous story of her mitigation......

sigh....

Sunday 21 November 2010

kimber PBJ

many years ago i had kimber PBJ interconnects and 4TC speaker cables in my system....

they were cheap and cheerful products that sounded very good, especially at the prices back then..... if i could recall. a metre of PBJ terminated with kimber ultraplate RCA plugs was less than S$100......

it was much later when i decided to replace the kimbers with silver sonic cables...... all bcos of my old friend who loaned me a set to try......

the original BL-1 interconnects and T-14 speaker cables were not leaps and bounds better but the slight improvements were still enough to induce me to swop....

anyway it is gratifying to know that there are still people who heartily recommends the PBJ ... follow the link to see what this malaysian blogger has to say...


no doubt i agree that the PBJ interconnect cable is a true high-end product...... caveat? it may be too honest for its own good......

Saturday 20 November 2010

1 more...

now that one of its scholars is busted for possessing child pornography, PSC may be tempted to include sexuality tests to beef up its current selection process......

they could be interested to know what turns a scholar on and off....

well well why not....

this case is the first for them but may not be the last........

Equilibrium????

Although car prices are back to levels never seen before in 10 years it may not be a bad thing after all....

It used to be a case where the more affluent people in Singapore owned cars. The then sky-high ARF, loan and downpayment restrictions and conservative growth rate for vehicles all combined to make cars out of reach for the more common folks.....

E.g. Without 30% downpayment in cash, one could forget about getting a loan and there was no such thing as a 10-year 100% loan....

By cutting the supply of COE, the only way for prices to go is up..... And current owners have less reasons to deregister their cars and that will lead to a small pool of COE for the next 6 months....

Looks like we all fug for the next few years.....

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no desire....



one day in the 80s, i saw a performance by a French lady on TV...... and was deeply attracted by her song voyage voyage.......

as i didn't manage to catch her name, i was quite eager to find out more about her and da song .... only when i returned to class and talked about it with a classmate (secondary school) did i know da name is desireless.....

so began my search for da song and i wanted to get the 45 rpm single or da album itself...

all the stores i visited had either not heard of her or did not know what i was talking about....... be it supreme music centre, DA DA, valentine's and so on......

nowadays with google and da internet, one can find almost anything........

listen to it and you may like it......... even after so many years, it is still as timeless to me......

Friday 19 November 2010

Small but big 2....


Instead of the supplied vibration damping sheet, I followed one of the proven methods and put on a piece of AR QR-8.....

It seems to be another small step ahead.....

White band


According to the product literature, this White band has been impregnated with tourmaline and possesses properties of negative ions ....

No idea what it's all about but since it's only $2, why not.....

another a cheap experiment from daiso...

More = less?

How come I end up feeling more lethargic after sleeping for 12 hours?

Maybe 16 hours should be better for me..?? Cos I know 4 hours are definitely not enough...

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Thursday 18 November 2010

Small but big?


As usual I was sceptical....

How good can this little duralumin plug be? I'd read about it from most of the online sources and all have been positive and encouraging ..... Can it really be that good?

Furthermore it's "quite" expensive for such a plain little thing..... This is surely another dun-tell-your-wife-how-much audio accessory.....

After putting it into the unused r1 outlet, I have to realign my sights and expectations ....

The effects are not subtle at all.... Hmmmmmm

It works!!!!

Wednesday 17 November 2010

b version



the B version of the CIA D-100 is out........ and i believe it is around SS$2800.......

as an owner of the original D-100, i am interested to know the sonic improvements ....... is it worth to trade in and upgrade????

unfortunately the D-200 is far too expensive over the D-100..... if not the bigger amps will be a good choice for upgrade.....

Monday 15 November 2010

Body protection

I was thinking if downtown east should offer bullet proof vest for customers..... Haha why not?

Anyway how come these gang members bring parang but never wear body armour..???

At least put some steel plates in their shirt lah..... To ward off some blows....

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Sunday 14 November 2010

Oakley concrete prescription frame


Like the plank I wrote about many months ago, the concrete is made of lightweight aluminium ..... From my left vs right hand weighing scale, it is nowhere heavier than a pair of titanium frame.....

Compared the other metals, aluminium is far more pliable & compliant so you can bend & shape the frame to your needs.... If you have a odd-shaped face it can be crucial for your comfort.....

In terms of cost, it is also cheaper than other Oakley titanium frames..... Something to take note if you prefer to track every dollar you spend......

Most importantly it is made smaller than the plank.... And those that go for a more compact look will like it.....

It is my fav Oakley prescription frame right now.......!!

Next year

There goes the 2010 formula 1 season ....... Did it end the way you wished for?

No matter what the man fought for what he believed in and won it fair & square..... There was no other way except to go as fast as he could and beat everyone else that way.....

No team orders and every best man for himself..... Which is the loftiest sporting code and behaviour that everyone should learn from......

Shame on you Scuderia Ferrari....!!

Finally am here extending my congratulations to the 2010 formula 1 drivers' world champion: Sebastian Vettel....

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stop what...

Now the high-profile contraband is printer cartridges...... not one is allowed to get through airport security ....

Hey you can ban this and that but those guys will just look for another generic item to carry their IED.......

And what's next...???

Laptop batteries..??? iphones??? ipads????

I'm sure one can stuff an ipad with enough powder to do enough damage ......

How to stop these guysss..?????

Full cycle

Without the obligation of waking up on time for work over the past few days, my body clock is now all messed up.....

The trouble is I have to pay the penalty on Monday during work hours.....

Ahhhhhhh only a good nap after lunch can help me.....

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Saturday 13 November 2010

He & he

Remember: FA only has to race MW......

The rest is not so important after all..... And now FA starts in front of MW....

How can the 2 RB6 respond..???

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The right bend


If I had this I wouldn't have had to suffer a heartbreak.....

Make sure u get this if you have a super stiff hdmi cable and a tight wall clearance ......

It can save you hundreds of dollars (if your hdmi cable is that expensive).....

Harvey Harvey

You know the jingle ..... Harvey Harvey ... Harvey Norman....

But can you remember Pertama...??????

If you dunno what I am talking about it's ok.....

For those who are old enough to know, I'm sure Pertama stores ever had a place in your life in one way or another....

I had so much hanging out in the old plaza singapura..... One can find Pertama, Tat Chuan, Atlas, Kingsley and one other shop that sells Sony audio components (ES series even..!!) .... It was like hifi heaven .....!!!

Inside Pertama, they had this wall of speakers ready for demo anytime simply by pressing a few buttons ..... Everything was wired up together and it was soooo easy for the salesperson....... And I was always so excited when looking at all the Mission speakers, Wharfedale speakers, Celestion speakers ... They also have Denon amplifiers, Sony amplifiers, Pioneer amplifiers etc.... Maybe Sansui even......

Another highlight was their advertisements in the papers..... Sometimes they would have good offers for their audio components.... Even though I can't afford any of those beautiful things, it was nice just to daydream .... Hmmmm

Life was truly simple back then.... No 5.1 no surround sound no DVD ..... Only LPs and cassette tapes; even CDs were new kids on the block ...

Ahhhhhhh those were the days.....

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green and hot.....


ho ho ho...... it's green but very fast....

177 hp from a 1.4 litre engine......................... too bad there's only 200 pcs.....

Friday 12 November 2010

Gills 2


After experiencing what the acoustic revive room conditioner can do for the room I am ever curious to improve things with wooden diffusors ..... But then the available products in the Market can be priced quite steeply....

Being the occasional audio cheapskate, I was thinking what can be done at DIY prices .....

As usual I look toward Ikea for inspiration .... And I found a few interesting items that could potentially be used for a DIY project......

Since I can't buy everything I wanted, I chose the wooden dish rack as my guinea pig.....

Hey tell you what: after some measuring and drilling, I'd got everything up and running.....

How do you like the look....????

You gotta try hard to guess how much these cost me.....

Gills

Discovered something in Ikea that could well be a good choice for DIY acoustic diffuser....

Flip it and mount a few on the wall... Viola!! Instant improvement?

Haha maybe maybe...

Random


So often people often remarked that winding crowns on their rolex watches are not aligned at 12 o'clock position.....

All along I knew the position is random cos one cannot direct when the screw threads meet exactly....

Coincidentally there was such a random moment this morning: TADA...!!!!

But the next time I unscrew the crown, there's no guarantee it will be the same again....

Dried up

Thanks to an intensive dose of flu medicine, I'd managed to put it up before it really had the chance to whack me hard....

A little bit more rest & I should be back to normal.....

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Thursday 11 November 2010

Run or walk

Almost everything needs to run in, break in or just settle into its rhythm ..... Engines, brakes, shoes, cables etc.... And even nose pads..!!!

The new pair of pads I replaced at Oakley Singapore certainly feels too new to be comfortable haha....

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One swop

Went down to Oakley Singapore to see what are their terms & conditions for repair or upgrade..... I was curious to know if small paint chips could be repaired or parts replaced...

Found that after the 1 year warranty, you are pretty much on your own.....

If there are any parts to be replaced (due to parts defect only) after the warranty, you still have to pay about $100++....

On the other hand you could hang on your frame until it's almost kinked out and then pay an upgrade charge which may be offset against a to-be determined credit due to your existing frame... Maybe around $100++???

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Wednesday 10 November 2010

please dry up...


oh no i hate having a drippy and damp nose..... and how long is this going to last this time....????

1 day 2 days or more? let's get it over and done with........

what i need is rest...... more and more of it......

talking about flu, i cant remember when was the last time i had a flu jab.....???
 

hot alarm....


it's one thing to charge a person for murder.....

but it's another thing to prove the charge beyond reasonable doubt........

more often that not, the prosecution's cases are seldom watertight....... and there is always a fighting chance.......
 

quick action 2.....

something stronger is required to suppress and defeat the onset of the flu .......

popped 2 pills this time and made sure i have a good sleep after work.... but it seems i need another 2 pills now.....

hope it works.....

Monday 8 November 2010

quick action


since saturday i was feeling some effects at the back of my throat...... a little itch and discomfort.......

so the threat is looming.... and i knew i was going to fall sick if i did nothing......

to stave off the unwanted trouble, i popped 2 panadols and had a good short nap after lunch.....

hopefully this will work to keep the flu or fever away....

Sunday 7 November 2010

Who knows

Yeah yeah recently it's been quite tough on a wandering mind......

While trying to solve one issue, I realise that I have inadvertently created another problem.... And it seems that these new creations are getting cumulatively expensive and irritating.....

Can I wish for something that's far less exciting..... Seeing my stuff going bonkers is not a good way to spend my weekends....

Sigh.....

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Some gust

Its task at hand is to blow the guts of hot air away from the onkyo AVR...

Can it do the job? ..... Somehow it may not be strong enough....

A little fan

Something is not right but there is no panic....

Since the 55 is obviously larger than the 47 it replaced, the bigger panel has brought along a problem I didn't expect.....

The centre speaker is now blocking part of the screen..!!! Now part of the issue is because of the installers' incompetence: they mounted the bracket lower than it ought to be....

The solution is therefore to bring the centre speaker to within the tv console; the result is less ventilation headroom for the super-hot running AVR..... But that can be easily overcome with a USB laptop cooling fan....

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Saturday 6 November 2010

Elevate

For too long I'd been depending on styrofoam to raise power cables ..... Due to their non-natural properties I think they are not ideal but then I wasn't able to find suitable alternatives...

And then I saw these wine bottle racks from daiso..... !!!! Bull's eye!!!!

Now I've got what I wished for....

Friday 5 November 2010

Kuku taps

Why are there so many cock-eyed sensor taps around that dun really work as they should be.....

So long I wave my hands at the sensor I expect water to flow.....

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step by step...

i was soooo hungry...... and had decided to get a bite nearby until i was intercepted.......

after a late lunch, what should be the next best thing?

a good nap of cos...!!!

well it wasnt voluntary, i was lying down and then i didnt know what happened next....

Tuesday 2 November 2010

Sotong大学

I dun care if it's 大学或小学.....

So long as the cuttlefish is good I dun care.....

Eyes open

Most filter lanes intersect with a give way line.... Most but not all....

So when I was running behind this kuku cab, I have da feeling the driver was going to slow down & give way even though there is no need to.....

True enough the kuku fellow began to slow down and of cos I have to wake him up: tap the horn !!!!

But that sensitive pig of a man crawled to almost a halt and looked at me through his mirror ... What else can I do but to continue tapping the horn....

CB lah open your eyes please..... No need to give way slow down for what.....

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aggravated fatigue


if one was tired and fell asleep while driving, it could be reasonably construed as negligent...........

if one had not slept for 22 hours and fell asleep while driving, how can that be negligent only.......... ???????????

dollars and cents.....


let's say i can sell my car for $60,000 and if i cough up another $10,000, i will need to loan $70,000 to buy a exo X SST at about $142,000.......

repaying a $70,000 loan over 5 years at 2 percent interest rate will require $1283 each month...... most importantly, i have to find out the terms and expenses involved in early settlement of the current car loan i.e. how much do i have to top up....

hmmm if i stop buying watches or audio equipment, there shouldnt be any problem with the monthly obligations...... but the problem is i cant guarantee anything like that.....

perhaps i can shave a few thousands off the expenses if i opt for the 5-speed manual........
 

Monday 1 November 2010

small thing big headache....

my colleague wanted to get new tyres for his car...... and i wasted no time to convince him to do it today.......

and so we went to the el cheapo shop: uncle lee will know where this is......

errrr but because we are looking for 185/70-14 tyres, only one model was available: from thunderer @ $68!!! .......

what my friend wanted is toyo teo plus, which is out of stock right now..... but the price quoted was pretty good: less than $100........

since we were around ubi, we also dropped by autobacs....... their range was slightly better: 4 models...... thailand bridgestone, indo bridgestone, thailand michelin and japan yokohama...... all between $102 to $110.....

in the end, he decided to wait for the toyo............

morale of the story: what i realised today is that buying small tyres is actually tougher than buying big tyres......... the selection is SOOOOOOOOOOO limited ah.....

Whose is it

Diaoyu islands are occupied by Japan.... But the Japs insist there is no territorial dispute.... To be fair, blame the Americans: they were the one who handed the islands over to Japan.......

Meanwhile Kurile islands are occupied by Russia .... But the Russians are in no rush to return to Japan while the Japanese can't wait to get them back..... These northern islands have a special place in history as it was the rendezvous area for the carrier strike force that eventually attacked pearl harbour on Dec 7 1941...

So who is making the right noises?????

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Half pack

If one is a espn subscriber, then he gets access to espn web tv. Free.....

But if one is a mio BPL subscriber, access to web tv is subject to charges.....???!!! Siao ah.....

Make it a complete package singtel...!!!

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