Another Day in the Antz Farm

When I graduated from Monash University in 2004, I received more than just a Computing education. The experiences and opportunities in Monash opened my eyes and spurred my desire to understand a larger and interconnected world of knowledge and disciplines. My time in Monash has also encouraged me to boldy pursue my interests and passion which is the manner I want to live my life.

I thought the distinguished alumni featured in this videos perfectly described the capability and potential of this young and fine institution – Monash University.

Related link: Honouring our distinguished alumni (Monash University)

- Picture taken near North Melbourne station

Remember the Chaser’s 2007 APEC Summit Osama security stunt (see youtube video)? The new season of the Chaser (War on Everything) returns on ABC1 in midst of the swine flu (H1N1 influenza) pandemic.

As a general advertised health alert, all fans and new viewers are strongly encouraged to wear those little blue facial masks and stay at home especially on Wed, 27 May for further updates.

When I lived in Australia, Assoc Prof Raj Buyya (Melbourne University) is one of the few academics I knew who is a true research leader and teacher in the field of grid computing. He was a humble and generous man, ready to share his passion, knowledge and time with anyone who is keen to learn.

I congratulate him on being the 2009 IEEE Medal of Excellence (Scalable Computing) recipient.

Related link: 2009 IEEE Medal for Excellence in Scalable Computing awarded to Professor Rajkumar Buyya (IEEE Technical Committee on Scalable Computing)

Since the economic downturn I have almost stopped buying CDs and moved onto podcasts for my aural stimulation. An audio diet laced with humour, news, business and commentary. Here is a list of my absolute must-hear feeds:

1. Hamish & Andy – My fav commute-time comedy duo from Melbourne. Give these guys a try and I reckon you will become a fan too.

2. American Public Media’s Marketplace. Great way to get an summary of Wall Street overnight performance and news.

3. NPR’s Planet Money. How to make sense of all these news from the Wall Street to the White House.

4. Robert Reich’s Commentary. Prof Robert Reich teaches public policy in Berkeley and served as Labour Secretary during the Clinton administration

5. The Story is about “people whose lives are intersecting with significant issues in the news.” The programs has previous discussed about how older people coped when their unemployment benefits ran out (foreclosures), how our past can come back and haunt us via Facebook (Facebook), and how good people can be lured and trapped in money laundering (white collar crimes).

6. BBC’s World Business Daily. An audio documentary of the world of business.

7. ABC’s 7.30 report (video). A snapshot of current issues affecting Australia.

8. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) public lectures and events. Perfect if you enjoy a detailed discussion of the world around us.

9. Sky News Business Report. My 25mins update on the Australian economy and AUD performance.

10. The Gruen Transfer (free video vodcast) by Wil Anderson (now back for Season 2)! The Gruen Transfer is about the science of advertising served with a dead wit and humour.

Does anyone know of an informational podcast feed from Singapore? It’s really difficult to find a Singapore business or social commentary podcast. I would really listen to a Singapore Mandarin podcast after MM Lee is now reminding us the importance of speaking Mandarin.

The 2009 Economist Intelligence Unit’s cost of living survey reveals that Tokyo (1), Osaka (2) and Singapore (10) ranked among the Top 10 most expensive cities.

2009 EIU World’s Top 1o Most Expensive Cities Ranking

1. Tokyo, Japan
2. Osaka, Japan
3. Paris, France
4. Copenhagen, Denmark
5. Oslo, Norway
6. Zurich, Switzerland
7. Frankfurt, Germany
8. Helsinki, Finland
9. Geneva, Switzerland
10. Singapore, Singapore

…

35. Sydney, Australia
…
39. Melbourne, Australia

Little comfort for those who are out of a job or struggling with lower income.

Related links:

• Survey shows Singapore is world’s 10th most expensive city (Channel News Asia)
• Aussie cities now less expensive: survey (The Age)
• London cheaper than New York for first time since 2002 (EIU Press Release)
• Strong dollar makes US cities expensive places to live (EU Press Release)

This page (mainly for my personal record keeping) will be regularly updated as I sign up (confirmed) for more events.

1. 22 Feb 09- Singapore Tribob Sprint Aquathlon (750m swim, 5km run)
2. 7 Mar 09- Singapore Biathlon (1500m swim, 10k run) Absent
3. 24 May 09 – PAssion Run 2009 (15k run)
4. 30 May 09- Adidas Sundown Marathon (42k run): Timing (), Photos(Here), Report()
5. 28 Jun 09- Kuala Lumpur Marathon (tentative)
6. 1 Australian race (tentative): Geelong Half Marathon (19 Apr)/  Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon (17 May)/ Gold Coast Marathon (5 July)/ Sydney Running Festival (20 Sep)/ Melbourne Marathon (11 Oct)
7. Singapore Army Half Marathon – tentative
8. Borneo Marathon 2009 (11 Oct) -tentative
9. OSIM Singapore Triathlon – tentative
10. Angkor Wat International Half Marathon 2009 (6 Dec) – tentative

The 2009 Victorian Bushfire season’s death toll is expected to claim more 200 lives (as at 11 Feb 09), making it Australia’s worst natural diaster in 110 years.

As the firefighters continue their brave effort to contain the fires, thousands of survivals who lost their loved ones, pets and homes now faces an even tougher task ahead. Please consider a donation to the Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal to assist these individuals and communities to get back on their feet.

Your kind donation will marks your solidarity with these victim and let them  know that they are not suffering alone.

Click on the link to make a credit card donation to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009 (Red Cross).

Related links:

• ABC News Bushfire Emergency micro-site (with the latest news, pictures and audio feeds)
• The Age’s special Bushfires coverage

The pictures are not taken by me. Please click on them to see the enlarged credits.

Happy new year to everyone reading my blog! I hope you had a ball over Christmas and the New Yeak and slowly getting back into the daily grind!

It’s a new year and I recently re-discovered the joys of podcast, thanks to my gorgeous 4 months old Nokia N78. Prior to my N78, my last podcast (G’day World) was back in 2006. Returning back to the Nokia platform is such a delight and dare I say a phone almost designed for human use. I love my phone but I will keep my praise for another day. Listening to podcast is fantastic and time efficient way for everyone to catch up with the news, commentary and hopefully get some laughs during your commute.

If you share my weird interests in the following: a) humour and satire b) technology c) business and economics, there were an incredible amount of great podcast content available. Here are a selection from my podcast feed. The links goes to their website so that you can check out the content before you subscribe to the feed.

• Humour and satire

Hamish and Andy Radioshow – Podcast sized of my favourite Melbourne radio comedic duo syndicated across Australia and Kiwi-land. (Good stuff always comes from Melbourne)

Friday Night Comedy – BBC Radio 4 – If you are fan of British humour. Actually laughing at the Poms, ain’t too difficult.

The Unger Report- NPR- Humorist Brian Unger takes on the pressing issues of the moment.

• Technology

Technology Podcast – NPR

Tech Weekly – Guardian

• Business and Economics

Peter Day’s World of Business – BBC World Service

Business Daily – BBC World Service

Planet Money – NPR – Making sense of the American economy

Color of Money – NPR – Making sense of your personal finances especially during these trying times

Happy listening!

As my “gift” to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the incorporation of Monash University, I ran a marathon with TeamMonash. Every year, TeamMonash and the local university alumni chapter (together with the Malaysia campus and chapter) would organise a TeamMonash Singapore marathon team for all alumni, students and friends.

Click on the image for enlarged version

This year, TeamMonash came first in the non-profit organisation distance challenge, our team of 500 runners ran the greatest distance as a group! I reckon this is pretty impressive for an Australia based university to achieve a fine showing in a Singapore event. Well done, TeamMonash!

I love my school and grateful to all the opportunities and experiences it has given me.

Zheng Yantao (NUS) received the 2008 Fellowship Award from Hon Hsiao-Wuen (MD, MSRA) during the Singapore 21st Century Computing Conference. Dr Su Guaning (NTU) and Prof Tan Eng Chye (NUS) witnessed the ceremony.

This years 4 winners from Singapore and Australia top universities received the Microsoft Research Asia Fellowship award after undergone a highly competitive and stringent process. These students received an open internship invitation to Microsoft Research Asia, a cash award and a commemorative plaque.

Australia

• Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller (Melbourne University)
  Floyd’s invention “Remote Impact” was recently short-listed amongst the top 11 most innovative games at the 2008 European Innovative Games Award 2008.
• Dong Yifei (University of New South Wales)

Singapore

• Huang Yi (Nanyang Technological University)
  Huang Yi is currently undertaking her internship under Steve Lin in MSRA.
• Zheng Yantao (National University of Singapore)
  Yantao is a member of NUS SoC’s Lab for Media Search.

Congratulation to ALL our 2008 MSRA Fellowship winners across Asia Pacific.