Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

Something useful

Posted in: Blog Reviews
11 May 2008

Every night, I make it a point to read at least one blog written by other bloggers from the blogosphere. Not only to make new friends, but also to find out what interesting contents are written out there. I like bloggers who blog in their own styles and provide personal opinions about a topic.

Last night, I happened to drop by this one particular blog which focuses on ‘something useful,work online,home working,money online,online money,online working‘. My very first thought was, ‘It’s just another blog full of links to other pages’. But I clicked it anyway. To my amazement, the content is rather unique and the author makes it a point to put some personal touch into each blog entry. Of course, sometime he also peppered his entries with relevant links elsewhere.

What’s so interesting about this blog is: he touches on topics which might be of interest to the critical mass - Making Money Online. The ideas are not as complex as what other probloggers have written, but I believe it’s simple enough for a novice to understand and to find the relevant resources to kick-start their small blogging business.

Being a novice in this area, I begin to find meaning of making money from his entries. He also shared about ads placement in the blog, and gave good critique on pay-per-clicks (PTC) sites.

If you are also a novice in the blogging wagon and hopes to make some $ from your blog, I believe this is a good site for a start.

“Next”

Posted in: Book Reviews
09 May 2008
The replicator in virtually all known life is deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA is far more complex than the original replicator and its replication systems are highly elaborate.Image via Wikipedia

The latest book ‘Next‘, by Michael Crichton is now lying in my hands. I had been waiting for the soft cover for a long time, and recently i managed to get hold of it. He is one of my favorite authors of the fictional series. Even though i am only halfway through this book, I cant keep my fingers from sharing some of the juicy parts of the story here. Okay, i promise there’s no spoiler.

What’s interesting about this book entitled ‘Next’ is, it focuses on the power of genes. …

When i studied Biology some years back, it’s been stated that it took a great number of years for Watson and Crick to discover the human DNA structure. But this book has already started talking about genes therapy that can make one become more mature and intelligent. They can even cultivate one’s own cells to repair cancerous cells - stem cells technology.

My eyes became even wider when the author wrote about talking chimpanzees. Geez… and the chimpanzees speak understandable French and Dutch. Pretty scary. But when i rethink about it, i will say why not? Human beings evolved from ‘monkeys’ anyway, so what’s so surprising if those animals can really be ‘configured’ to speak in the next century?

Another strange and debatable idea which the author touches on is, people who are:

  • Overly desirous of joining the majority
  • Feel depressed when they were alone
  • Surrounded by like-minded people most of the time

have genetic disorders. Blah… this i don’t quite agree. Personality disorder might be a better term, but genetic? Oh great.

You may think it’s all been very ridiculous. But what’s written in this book is nothing far from the near reality.

Some years back, i read about another of his book - Prey. This book focuses on the use of nano-technology. Months after reading the book, the news announced the use of the technology in the medical surgery area. The book ‘Prey’ was also featured in the papers. What makes his fictional books more credible than some other authors is, the author himself is a distinguished medical scholar in academic history. I cant wait for his next book.

Viwawa: Sushido Game Guide

Posted in: Game Reviews
05 May 2008

Have you ever tried the Viwawa game called ‘Sushido‘? That is one of my favourite games in Viwawa. Reasons being:

1. It’s not so brainless

2. It can take a minimum of 2 players

3. It’s hilarious to see how the customers flare up in anger when you don’t satisfy their orders

I personally don’t like the other games because either they are too ’stressful’ for me or you need a minimum of 3 players to play the game.

The purpose of this post is to elaborate on the simple game rules of Sushido. Having the need to explain to my friends over IM is really frustrating without something to refer to. I hope you will find this simple MsSheepy’s very own guide useful.

Here goes…  once you click on the Live button to get into Sushido, you will be prompted to select a channel. For me, i will select the very first channel for Newbies and will be greeted by the following screen. Your avatar will appear on the bottom left corner of the page.

Sushio Viwawa

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Seven Ancient Wonders

Posted in: Book Reviews
04 May 2008
A diary from the year 323–322 BC that records the death of Alexander. Located at the British Museum, LondonImage via Wikipedia

I have another book to recommend - Seven Ancient Wonders. It’s another book written by the author Matthew Reilly. In this book, the hero is not the usual Schofield as introduced earlier in Ice Station.

This hero is another good guy named West. Being a well trained military guy, he led a team of elite members from 7 other countries, in search of the 7 pieces of capstones.

The 7 capstones, when combined together, can produce tremendous power to rule the world. The French, Europeans etc are all eyeing the seven pieces. And together with West team, they set out to race against one another in search of the seven wonders which had been placed all over the world as ordered by the late Alexander the Great.

The adventures are exciting and hair raising. Feel the perspiration, the frustrations as you ‘follow’ the group get pass their enemies and the deadly traps while in search for the capstones - along with a little girl.

Seven Ancient Wonders

RicoChet Tavern - New CyberCafe

Posted in: Reviews
02 May 2008

cyber cafe

Have sometime to spare while waiting for friends at Outram Park North East Line station? Or are you one of those who love to play face-to-face with friends? If yes, why not patronize this newly opened cybercafé inside the very heart of Outram Park NEL station?

I was there to have a look recently and was attracted by the cozy atmosphere inside the cafe. They have web-cam facilities too; so if you are one of those who love to use a web-cam via MSN/Skype to converse with friends from overseas, here is also a good place to settle for a nice chat before taking the train home. But one thing to note, it’s first-come-first-serve .

This cybercafé charges $1.95 per hour. This can be considered one of the cheapest hourly rates you can find in the market.

Full day packages:

Monday to Thursday: $15

Friday and weekends: $18

Shop Operating Hours: 10am to 11pm

World of WarcraftImage via Wikipedia

Some of the popular games available at this cyber cafe are:

* Audition
* Cabal
* CounterStrike
* Maple Story
* MuOnline
* Ragnarok
* Silkroad
* World of Warcraft
* and many more….

Where to locate this shop?

Leave the station via the gantry at Exit H in Outram Park NEL station. Go all the way up, the shop is just right in front of the escalator inside the station.

*Disclaimer: The above information is accurate at the time this post is published. Rates and promotional items are subjected to changes by cybercafe owners.

De Coder’s Cafe

Posted in: Food Reviews, Friends
28 Apr 2008

Do you enjoy playing board games with friends? Then i am sure you have not missed the popular board game cafes in Singapore. Heard of the Mind Cafe and the Settler’s Cafe?

This evening, my two buddies and I decided to hunt for another board game cafe called the De Coder’s Cafe. I only heard about this place from my school’s monthly e-bulletin promotions. I myself have personally went to the old Oasis Board game Cafe along liang sia street some years back, but I doubt it’s there anymore.

What I love about this cafe is, the food is nice and their service is good. The place is kinda cramp and noisy today due to its good business. In order to secure a good place, I would suggest that you make a reservation before going down.

De Coder\'s Cafe

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Eye of the Beholder

Posted in: Book Reviews
26 Apr 2008

Eye of the Beholder

How would you feel if you wake up one day and find yourself seeing the world in a different way? You stare at the people along the streets and you can ’see’ and ‘feel’ impending dangers, happiness of people you don’t even know personally. Would you warn them?

How would you feel if you have the power to summon the spirits of the people you once loved but could no longer be with you on earth?

If i am the one being asked the above two questions, i would definitely feel very disturbed.  Just like how the characters in the book, the woman called Greek and her son Joshua feel. It’s good to have those special psychic gifts but it can get scary if you could see sightings which nobody else could see. You could ended up being responsible for the lives of the close ones around you.

Of course if you could summon the good spirits, they may be able to provide good leads to you in solving crimes by tracking down wanted criminals. Or they may even warn you that the BIG boss is dropping by your cubicle today. ;)

This is a very good book, and it keeps me reading till the end. You might want to grab a copy of Eye of the Beholder. But let me warn you, for people with wonderful imagination like myself, it could give you the creeps if you read it at night.

My Viwawa badges

Posted in: Game Reviews
25 Apr 2008

I was amazed to know how cute the badges are. I even saw badges for loses also. :) Don’t be fooled by the badges though. Behind the cutey face, there’s actually a highly skilled player, especially for the Big2.5. I can’t play Big for nuts so how can i actually gotten myself 10 wins?

*giggles*

However, i can proudly say that the 10 wins for Sushido are won by me personally. Thanks to a colleague who taught me the right way of playing it. I find the guide in Viwawa disgusting, and if you don’t know the game in real life, it’s really impossible to play it well just by reading their almost negligible introduction.

I am looking for 3 other players to ‘teach’ me Wahjong Classic. If any of you don’t mind playing with a complete Wahjong nut here, please add me at yuki79, and we can have a little Wahjong session. ;)

Ice Station

Posted in: Book Reviews
23 Apr 2008

It’s really hard to find books of my taste recently. J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter series has swept me off my feet in the recent years. Next is Robin Cook. His medical series has been my all time favourite, followed by Michael Crichton’s medical series. *Ah, these books really make me regret for not studying harder for a medical course in Uni.

Of recent years, i got exposed to more authors and i fell in love with Matthew Reilly’s Scarecrow series. Though i wasn’t really interested in navy or the army life, Reilly has made these characters come alive in his pages without boring me to death. Rather, his books kept me glued to the words and descriptions page after page.

In his book series, I came to know about the fictitious Lieutenant Shane Schofield from the US Marines and his team of loyal members. He is a brave character who really cares for his team regardless of the danger he himself is facing. He makes sure that all his team members are safe before moving on to other ventures. I was impressed by his leadership qualities and his team mates’ undying loyalty to him, even in the face of death. This is something which i can learn from him.

If you have a chance, go grab one of his books and i am sure you will not be disappointed.


Viwawa

Posted in: Game Reviews, Me
18 Apr 2008

I cant play games for nuts. Most of the times, my hands and the brain doesn’t seemed to be able to coordinate well and i ended up losing in all the games that i played. A friend of mine introduced me to this game called Viwawa. The name of the website is catchy, because the ‘wawa’ means ‘little doll’ in Chinese. So this caught me, and i signed up an account with it last night.

viwawa

As i am feeling particularly stressed up this week; especially with all the classes and drafting of module curriculum, i decided to give this online site a try.

Much to my disappointment, all the games required the use of the BRAIN. There are practically no brainless games in the list. So in the end, i spent my time playing Sushi Do and MatchIT. MatchIT is the worst and i can safely conclude that my memory is in fact failing me. I did well for the 4×4 matrix but done horribly for the 8×8 memory matrix. No matter how many times the cards are turn, i just cant seemed to remember anyone of them!

Well of course i will log in more often now and then for a game or two. If anyone of you are keen to play with me, do drop me an email to arrange a time.

This is my wawa and IGN :)

Play with me - I am Bibi!