Cloudywind Podcast #16 - Wise Words from the Thick-skinned MP

The wise thick-skinned MP might be whacked by the netizens but these people hiding behind the cloak of anonymity will not bring him down. "There will always be people who disagree with my views", said the wise thick-skinned MP. There will always be people who thought that waiting for more than 15 minutes for the bus is worth complaining. There will always be the lesser mortals. But the wise thick-skinned MP will not shut up and give in to them, because that is not the function of an MP.


那位大人是一位永不对恶势力低头，永远坚持自己的立场的英明大人，因为那是他身为大人所应该做的。就算他得当无理的言行极端的网民的沙包，也不愿看他们把任何怨气发在无辜的新移民身上。他不明白为什么岛上的lesser mortals有那么多的怨气，看别人花大笔的钱去巴黎学烹饪也不开心，等15分钟的巴士也不开心，为什么他们不可以好像新移民那样子耐心一点，可爱一点。但不管怎样，他还是觉得他是对的。因为他已经当了21年的大人了。


PLAY >> Cloudywind Podcast #16 - Wise Words from the Thick-skinned MP


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成语故事 - 对牛弹琴 Play tune to the cow

对牛弹琴(dui niu tan qin)
Play a tune to the cow

指说话人或作者没有考虑到听众或读者的水平。
When the one who speaks or writes has not considered his audience well and thus over-estimated their level of understanding.


从前，有个筝弹得非常好的著名音乐家叫做公明仪。有一天，他看到一头牛正在他家附近的田里吃草。突然之间他有了灵感，就跑出去为这头牛弹琴。公明仪弹的曲子非常优美，连他自己也陶醉在音乐之中，偏偏那头牛根本不理会那美妙的音乐，只顾着吃草。公明仪感到十分讶异，不明白为什么那头牛对他的演奏无动于衷。当然，我们都知道那头牛不理会他的原因并不是因为他的演奏很差，而是因为它根本听不懂也不会欣赏这种高深的曲调。


Once upon a time, there lived a musician named Gong Mingyi who was very good at playing the Zheng, an ancient string instrument. One day, he saw a cow eating grass in the field near his house. He was inspired by the scene and immediately ran out to play a tune for the cow. Gong Mingyi played so beautifully that he was even mesmerized by the music. However the cow paid no attention to the music at all, but simply focused on eating the grass. Gong Mingyi was shocked to see that happening and he wondered,"My music so bad meh?". Of course, we all know that the only reason that the cow had been indifferent to Gong Mingyi's musical performance was because it could neither understand nor appreciate such elegant music.

Cloudywind Podcast #15 - Spam call that didn't work

The spam calls are back again, with even more excuses to ask for more cash. The spam calls have expanded their market as well, making wild calls at corporate numbers now. Your business partner has killed someone, or your colleague has gotten himself into trouble. The spam callers are threatening to show up at your office now, or even kidnap your wife and have her nude photos taken by force. But will these spam calls work this time?


电话骗案又回来咯！这回，电话骗子集团生意做大，已经打到公司里去了！你的生意伙伴或亲戚杀了人，需要一大笔钱！如果不就范的话，这次电话骗子不只是会对伤害家人，还会上公司捣乱！甚至还会绑架女亲友，强行脱光她们的衣服后，逼她们拍下裸照！手段有多精彩就有多精彩！简直比“双子星”还有看头！


PLAY >> Cloudywind Podcast #15 - Spam call that didn't work Princesses


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No free iced water at these restaurants!

从澳洲到欧洲到美国，从小cafe到大餐厅，只要你一坐下来，服务生就会很自然的拿一杯冷水过来。如果是香港、台湾、韩国或日本的话，你甚至可以喝到热茶！对这些国家的人来说，免费的饮料是服务的一部分。

但在新加坡，有很多大大小小的餐厅都没有这种服务，有的甚至要你付钱！就算你叫的主菜已经不便宜！就算你已经还了10%的服务费！这里就有网友收集的一堆专不给白开水的贪得无厌的无良心餐厅！下次要光顾之前，记得先到7/11买一支$1的可乐！

如果你知道还有哪一些餐厅不给客人白开水的话，快上这位网友的网站去纪录一下哦！
http://sparklette.net/food/restaurants-that-do-not-serve-water

后来,Sunday Times也报导了这位网友的网站，但比较让人意外的是有些餐馆的反应！

"Our patrons are serious diners and come for our food, not to taste water." - La Forketta

"To be frank, I don't think customers will just boycott because of water. There's no urgent need to take action at this point of time." - Cafe Le Caire

"People who complain are not educated about business costs because nothng is free." - Mad Jack's

How to save your smart phone battery life!

有没有发现smartphones的电池都很不耐？好像只用了一两天就得充电了？那是一定的啦！以前的手机只是用来打电话，当然用不了多少电，但现在的smartphones除了拿来打电话，又要拍照、听MP3、上网、玩游戏等，电池会耐才奇怪咧！

我从网上找到了一些资料，在这里告诉你可以怎么延长smartphones的电池的使用时间！

• Do not switch off the phone
  Your phone's battery charge will last longer if you don't turn it off. The reason for this is that smartphones are actually pocket-sized computers with a phone built into them, and just like PCs, smartphones take a while to boot up, and this booting process involves lots of intensive computing processing. If you switch a phone on and off lots of times, it will use up the battery very quickly because you're asking it to boot up lots of times. Your battery will last a LOT longer if you just leave the phone on all the time, and charge it while it's still on.



• Shut down unnecessary applications
  Some smartphones like S60 smartphones can run several applications at once (for example you can listen to music while surfing the web and receiving instant messages). However, the more applications you run at the same time, the faster the battery will be drained, so it's a good idea to shut down any applications you don't need.



• Turn down the screen brightness to the lowest acceptable level
  One of the biggest battery drains on portable devices is the screen's lighting system, which is why mobile device screens usually dim themselves when they're not in use.



• Switch off the screen when not in use
  When you're not using the smartphone it's a good idea to lock the screen, partly because it stops the screen being touched by mistake, but also because it switches the screen off too. The phone itself carries on running, but the screen being off will make the battery last a lot longer.



• Use headphones instead of speakers
  If you listen to music on smartphone's built-in speakers you will use the battery up more quickly than if you listen through headphones. Headphones are inside your ear so they use much less power to deliver the same intensity of sound.



• Avoid using the camera flash unnecessarily
  There are many situations when your smartphone camera will automatically use the flash even though you could get a reasonable photo without it. In those circumstances you may want to switch the flash off because it's using up the battery unnecessarily.



• Use 2G instead of 3G
  The advantage of 3G is a very high speed internet access. In fact, the latest 3.5G HSDPA technology allows you to use speeds up to many megabits, comparable to PC broadband connections. The disadvantage of 3G networks is that they use up a phone's battery more quickly during calls. Usually, a smartphone will use GSM/CDMA for 2G and UMTS/WCDMA for 3G. By default most smartphones use 3G networks, but can automatically switch to 2G when there is no 3G network available in the location. If you don't need high speed internet access, try switching your phone into 2G-only mode in order to save battery life during phone calls.



• Try to get a good signal
  The better the signal on your phone, the easier it is for the phone to connect to a base station. The easier it is to connect to a base station, the less power a phone uses during calls. You can get a better signal by being out in the open, or if you're indoors try to be near windows.



• Use Offline Mode or Flight Mode
  If you're using your smartphone just to do offline stuffs like listening to music or watching a video, and you don't need to take any calls on it, you might want to switch it into Offline mode or Flight mode. Offline mode means that the phone switches off anything which involves radio transmissions, such as phone calls, text messages, internet connections, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Offline mode saves a certain amount of battery life as the phone no longer has to use its radio transmitters.

试试看你可以怎么省电吧！毕竟用少一点电就可以环保一点点哦！

What happened after you have eaten only mussels for lunch

今天同事们建议去The Mussel Guys那边吃午餐，因为他们有$10.50的特价Executive Lunch（为什么要叫做“Executive Lunch”咧？如果职位是specialist还是officer的话就不可以吃吗？）。坐下来后，服务员告诉我们说如果我们有某银行的信用卡的话，吃mussels main courses就可以拥有1-for-1的折扣。哇！1-for-1咧！同事A立刻问谁有兴趣跟他一起吃！其他两个同事对于只是吃mussels当正餐觉得很奇怪，我倒觉得可以试一下，便跟同事A一起叫了Spicy mussels和Creamy mussels各一份。

其他两个同事：就只是吃mussels很怪咧...
我：应该有面包配吧？记得我在Fish & Co吃的时候，他们有给我几片面包喔！

结果咧？

服务生拿来了那两大盆mussels和另外一个空的大盆子让我们丢壳。那两大盆的mussels里除了mussels就只有mussels，还真的没面包的说。同事A突然好像有点后悔的问：“呃... 这样子会饱吗？没有碳水化合物咧...”。不过后来我们发现他的这个顾虑是多余的。因为原来连吃350g的mussels也会超饱的！再加上那些mussels还真的蛮不错吃的，这个1-for-1的午餐应该算是很划算吧！

唯一的问题只是... 我们两个应该会有好一段时间不想吃mussels...

Cloudywind Podcast #14 - Too Hot for Fairy Tales Princesses

Cloudywind Podcast #14 - Too Hot for Fairy Tales Princesses

How hot is 34 degrees Celsius? Too hot. Too hot even for the princesses in the fairy tales. Too hot for Snow White to eat the apple! Too hot for Cinderella to dress up! Too hot for Sleeping Beauty to sleep!


34度C有多热？是非常的热！热得连童话故事里的美人们都受不了！热得白雪公主不要吃苹果！热得灰姑娘不要换装！热得睡美人睡不着！


PLAY >> Cloudywind Podcast #14 - Too Hot for Fairy Tales Princesses


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