We are all members of the human race on a pale blue dot
We are aware of a recent video that is making its rounds where a Singaporean of Chinese ethnicity is seen
Tech tip: using mutt to access mailfence.com
tl;dr: make sure smtp_url definition starts as smtps. I needed to set up access to a paid-for email provider, mailfence.com
An interesting justification for use of TT data – the case for a Digital Bill of Rights.
[image from https://www.searchquotes.com/quotes/about/Broken_Trust/%5D I was pointed to an opinion piece in a local paper about a reason for the justification
Of trust, transparency and privacy – TraceTogether
It was announced in parliament on 4th January 2021 (first time the proceedings were livestreamed which means item 7 in
Let’s Encrypt and self hosting at home
I have a NextCloud instance running at home and I need to make sure that the SSL certificate on it
The vibrancy of open source projects/products
On 8th December 2020, the other shoe dropped: the project known as Community Enterprise Operating System (CentOS, and I pronounce
My ESP8266-01 Adventure
I undertook many projects this year, some that I did not even think would be something I would be doing
Being part of a tradition
I am really glad that I am able to contribute something back to the community and society around amateur/ham radio.
“You need Internet banking?”
I am of two minds as to whether I should name the bank, but for now, I will not. But
Holding up half the sky
That is a statement that I can agree with even if I totally disagree with the politics of the person
The reality of standing up for my country – part 1
It has been 17 days now since the Singapore General Elections. Enough of time to put thoughts into electrons and
Hiding in plain sight
[photo from https://rangerrick.org/ranger_rick_jr/hiding-in-plain-sight/%5D In the Inconvenient Questions interview done by Viswa Sadasivan (recorded 3rd July 2020, and released 5th July
Of trust and obfuscation
[image above from http://chloescheffe.github.io/trust.html%5D Last Friday, 19th June 2020, I was part of a group of four from the local
Seriously? NRIC for TraceTogether?
[Image from https://www.solarwindsmsp.com/blog/what-pii-and-phi-and-how-do-you-secure-them and added NO to it using gimp.] I wrote earlier that asking for a phone number when
Looking forward to a recyclable, open sourced, wearable, contact tracing device
So, the other shoe is about to drop. Gov is planning on providing everyone a wearable contacting tracing device to
A flawed idea. Zoom does not get it (or maybe they are pretending).
Earlier this week, a report came out that the video conferencing provider, Zoom, would be providing End-to-End-Encryption (E2EE) but only
Curated playlist of videos
I did not realise that there are plenty of videos of events at which I spoke, interviews I gave and
Working Remotely with FOSS tools
These last few months have been really wonderful in enabling me to catch up on making sure that as much
Jit.si if you care and Zoom if you don’t.
So, last week, from 8th April onwards, the Singapore Government imposed a partial lockdown (PL) – or as they say
A tip to play audio (and video) in a browser
So, the teacher in the house, aka my wife, asked me to help with the online teaching she has to
Mailed in ballots
[photo above from https://timesofsandiego.com/politics/2018/04/08/california-counties-testing-voting-centers-to-boost-anemic-turnout/%5D With all of the talk and tentative actions by the ruling party in trying to hold
No. Internet voting is still a No Go.
I was asked by a friend why is it that we can’t do voting over the Internet. With all of
BuildTogether – data, code, people for the world
The Singapore Government Technology Agency released, at the end of last week (Friday 20 March 2020) a mobile phone app,
Goodbye Prep Chet and Nimi Chech
Two of my all time favourite humans. You both lived wonderful lives, brought joy and delight to everyone you met.
Of NUCs and Bastions
[image above from https://www.redhat.com/sysadmin/ssh-proxy-bastion-proxyjump%5D Just documenting the systems I have on my home network so that I know what to
xrandr – note to self
This is really a note to self because every now and then, the external monitor at my desk, a Dell
The sale of PIR.org (and with it .ORG)
About two weeks ago, the Internet Society announced that their subsidiary, the Public Interest Registry (PIR) will be sold to
Handwaving. No surprises.
So, the Singapore Parliament and the Ministry of Communication and Information replies to my question about the plan to track
Two statements that I live by
Knowing how to think empowers you far beyond those who know only what to think. I would rather have questions
Fa(r)cial Recognition + Parliament = Smart Parliament?
If the Singapore Parliament aspires to be a smart Parliament, it should live stream proceedings in full on the Internet with no delay (Facial recognition system to track MPs’ presence in Parliament, Nov 8). By doing that, MPs’ attendance can be tracked using software that is already available.
And Election Kakis gets underway
I am really pleased to have been able to hold the first (or many, many more) training sessions of volunteers
Majulah Singapura
I truly love how Ramli Sarip delivered the national anthem at this year’s National Day Parade. It was stupendous, visceral,
Democracy is a participatory sport, not a spectator sport!
Over eight years ago, I helped out a political party by volunteering to being their Polling Agent. It was a
Standard C150 handheld – manual and schematic
I am just putting this here more for archival purpose than anything. I have a Standard C150 handheld transceiver that
The Enormous Empowering of Free and Open Source Software Ecosystem
It is quite disappointing to see the escalation of bad behaviour on the part of some of the partners in
Good bye and On on!
Today, a second person that I know, decided to be euthanised. He was suffering from a very rare brain tumour
Start-ups and patents
I have been part of a few start-ups and there has always been the conversations around “are we patenting our
Railway Records
My sons and I had a chance to attend a wonderful evening play written by my wife’s sister-in-law’s sister, Sharmila.
Congratulations to the new SCS president and council
I have been in the SCS executive council for many years. I am deeply thankful for the camaraderie and friendship
Why am I running for the presidency of the SCS?
Yes, I’ve decided that I will run for the post of the President of the Singapore Computer Society. The Annual
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” – Blaise Pascal
This. There was a time when I was so happy to be able to connect to the Internet with my
2019 – Here we come
As the earth passed a point in space that marks the start of the next trip of the planet around
Electronic voting and trust
There was s series of letters published in one of the daily papers here in Singapore about the apparent anomaly
Defending my country
As a former reservist officer, I am deeply concerned with the kind of language and propaganda that is being put
Simple life hack
Turn your mobile data to the OFF as a default when out and about. Why? Read on. Since about October
Working around censorship
The Internet is a wonderful and absolutely essential resource that needs to be looked after, managed well and secured so
NASA Space Apps Challenge 2018 – Singapore
It was wonderful that Red Hat’s Open Innovation Labs is a sponsor of this year’s NASA Space Apps Challenge event
Not allowed to code? Really?
[image from: http://cdn.blog.safe.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/no-coding.png%5D Lots of interesting, but not surprising, information is being made public about the Singhealth data breach. The
Happy 35th Birthday GNU!
The GNU project was officially announced on 27 September 1983 by Richard Stallman. Thirty-five years of a project that has
A healthcare IT foundation built on gooey clay
Today, there was a report from the Solicitor General of Singapore about the data breach of the SingHealth systems that
What I’ve learned in 15 years at Red Hat
[image credit: https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Spock-shades.jpg%5D In September 2003, I was asked by Gus Robertson to consider joining Red Hat – essentially to
Why is 10 million people the target for Singapore?
This is a number that keeps coming up every now and then. Sometime in January 2013, a white paper
You gotta love the UNIX way of doing things
A colleague was asking for some help in a demo he was planning on that would involve him editing a
The value of independence
As we approach the 53rd National Day on 9th of August 2018, Singaporeans have all reasons to be happy and
My updated GPG keys: 0x61AFA27B
I have just updated my GPG keys. The fingerprint is: 0x61AFA27B And my public key is: —–BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY
SingHealth, PDPA, Smart Nation, sigh!
Looks like I am clear from the data breach at SingHealth. My Mom’s data, however, is not. This is the
About that data breach at SingHealth
PSA Notice Please go to https://datacheck.singhealth.com.sg/ and click on the log in button to check if your data was exposed
ssh tunnel via userspace systemd service
[image above is a screenshot of 0pointer.de – in place of a systemd logo] This is short how-to on setting
So, you want to do computer science, huh?
This has been on my mind for a while. Lots of friends are asking me for advise about their interest
And, they are online now
Over a week ago, I was pinged by @l00g33k on twitter with a picture of a description of a piece
You can’t wake a person who is pretending to be asleep**
Lots of what we take for granted found expression in the thoughts and writings of John Perry Barlow. He crafted
Seeking a board seat at OpenSource.org
I’ve stepped up to be considered for a seat on the Board of the Open Source Initiative. Why would I
Of open source, security and collaboration
I had the privilege of being a panelist at the inaugural “India Digital Open Summit” held in Mumbai, India on
Wireless@SGx for Fedora and Linux users
Eight years ago, I wrote about the use of Wireless@SGx being less than optimal. I must acknowledge that there has
My submission to the proposed changes to the Films Act
[The submission deadline is 5pm Singapore time Saturday December 30, 2017. Image above from http://www.newlovetimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/the-godfather.gif ] I have sent the
This is very interesting! (it is proprietary though)
I just came across something called hashgraph that seems to be able to replace blockchains as the basis of distributed
Phenomenal!
It is just amazing to see how the validity of Einstein’s theories have been tested repeatedly and proven to be
It takes time to apologise. I get it. But …
It has taken full NINE days for the CEO of the SMRT to come out and take ownership of the
Transparency is good. Really.
I got a call from Christopher Tan, the Senior Transport Correspondent of a local MSM earlier this afternoon. Kudos to
Is this a failure of leadership?
Saturday, October 7, saw heavy rainfall and as expected, rain water got into everything. That’s what water does. We know
The ongoing spinning
PAP ministers and surrogates spinning the racially oriented presidential election.
No, Halimah, You Are Mistaken
I just saw this article online on one of the MSM sites. In it, the former speaker of parliament, Mdm
What if no one came?
So, there was this shop that was set up to give a chance for those who like pancakes to go
Three must haves in Fedora 26
I’ve been using Fedora ever since it came out back in 2003. The developers of Fedora and the greater community
The next president and Singapore at 200
So, we are now in the silly cycle of “electing” the next president. This year’s election is very controversial. The
Some updates on “who’s my MP”
I have not received any reply from the person who is supposed to be the MP for my place on
On being an engaged and responsible citizen
I sent this to my MP on July 5 and am awaiting a reply (if there is a reply, I
Thank you, Uncle Sar, and Rest In Peace!
I’ve always known him as Uncle Sar. He was a teacher, a biology teacher no less. When he used to
A better model to work with citizens
I have been putting off installing the SGSecure application on my phone. I finally decided to do it via the
Quarter Century of Innovation – aka Happy Birthday Linux!
Happy Birthday, Linux! Thank you Linus for that post (and code) from a quarter of a century ago. I distinctly
Joseph Schooling should not be the last
It was a supreme delight to have been able to sing Majulah Singapura (the video cannot be viewed because the
Congratulations NUS Engineers Class of 2016!
My speech at the Commencement of NUS Faculty of Engineering on July 12, 2016 at 3:00 pm. Mr Neo Kian
This is quite a nice tool – magic-wormhole
I was catching up on the various talks at PyCon 2016 held in the wonderful city of Portland, Oregon last
Lots of rescued data
I had finally managed to rescue one of many drives that had documents and articles I wrote from the 90s
Remember, Remember The Eleventh of September. Majulah Singapura.
My extended family will be voting sometime today. My wife and I will be exercising our right to vote at
Ensuring that this gets as wide a read as possible before September 11, Polling Day
This has been circulating in the chat groups on telegram.org and whatsapp.com and want it to be as widely read
As the silly season starts
By noon on September 1st, we will know who are running for the 89 seats in the parliament. As voters
He probably is indeed telling the truth! (info graphic updated on Aug 29)
It would appear that ESM Goh Chok Tong is indeed telling the truth that “checks and balances are a seductive
The need for a independent Electoral Commission
I am reading the Candidate Handbook for Parliamentary Election 2015 for the first time. I don’t have any of the
And the games have begun
Oh, the classic off-by-one error. All of us who were expecting the polling day to be September 12, started counting
What I want for the future of Singapore starting today.
Fifty years of being an independent country and having seen how we have evolved over the years with my fellow
To keep things in context
Just so that we don’t get distracted with all the SG50 festivities and forget key historical details, here’s some of
A special moment in time
It is sad that Achan (dad in Malayalam) is not around to watch and take part in the festivities around
Completely missing the point about silly mobile “data plans”
I have on my cell phone a “plan” that gives me 50G of mobile data. When I first got the
Secure E7y Nomadic Toolkit
I spoke about creating the Secure E7y Nomadic Toolkit at FOSSAsia 2015. Here’s the video recording and the link to
The rain on the parade made it meaningful
Thank you, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. You gave your whole life to this country of ours. My parents, my siblings,
Congratulations, Howie!
I am pleased to have had the opportunity to contest for the post of the president of the Singapore Computer
homage
This was penned by my sister, Srila. It is Nineteen Seventy-five Thirteen years of age Be aware of the world
Charting the future of the Singapore Computer Society
As some of you might know, I am a Fellow of the Singapore Computer Society. That honour was conferred on
Congratulations Class of 2014 Republic Polytechnic
I am honoured to be invited to be the guest of honour and speaker at this year’s graduation at the