Just a Thought!

  We hear so many scary news of systems being hacked as well as the dreaded ransomware which can block you from assessing your files unless you pay hackers bitcoins .  How then can you protect your computer from malware especially when you have limited IT knowledge and wouldn't want to spend big money too? Fear not as here're 7 free, simple & effective tips which will greatly reduce your risks (from easiest to most difficult to implement): Be very wary of clicking anything Do not click on any online ads as it's real easy to embed ransomware in them Do not click on links in unsolicited emails even though they come from a seemingly legitimate source (sender's email can be easily manipulated to look real) or someone you know (their accounts might have been compromised). When in doubt, do nothing and consult a friend with IT knowledge first; remember, there is never ever any urgency in clicking links. Avoid visiting dubious websites because they can easily install m...

In the midst of a pandemic and impending recession, it is vital for us to stay positive and hopeful else we can easily spiral into depression. But where can we find glimmers of hope in such dark times? Dr Hoe-Nam Leong is one shining beacon of hope as he recounts his arduous experience of contracting SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) while treating Singapore's first SARS victim in 2003 in a recent interview on 12 April 2020. And now, he is back at the frontline battling the highly contagious Covid-19 virus! Be inspired by his powerful sharing and how he thinks the Covid-19 pandemic would eventually pan out!

It has been more than 8 years since I last felt compelled to write a movie review - and this time, it is on a most unlikely choice: Passengers (2016) . I downloaded it recently on Netflix for my budget flight to Osaka to watch with my beloved wife. I had low expectations because it seemed like a standard Hollywood movie which cashes in on two of the brightest stars in the entertainment industry: The ever-lovely Jennifer Lawrence and brawny Chris Pratt . The story sounded intriguing right from the onset: The Avalon , a sophisticated spaceship transporting 5,000 colonists and 258 crew members in hibernation pods, is en route to the Utopian planet Homestead II , a journey which takes 120 years. However, due to an unexpected asteroid collision, one pod malfunctioned which caused its inhabitant, Jim Preston (Chris Pratt), to wake up 90 years too early. Hence, Jim finds himself in certain doom and gloom: spending the rest of his life in solitude and knowing he can never reach Homest...

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie Inception and I recently encountered something eerily similar to it but oblivious to many: the use of persuasive technology by social media and online games to influence human behaviour. It is by no chance that hordes of youths and even adults are spending more and more time on mobile games and social media to the extent of becoming unknowingly addicted. This is the engineered result of the unprecedented marriage of psychology and technology which gave birth to apps with drug-like power - so now you know why you can't resist crushing candies or checking Instagram/Facebook for the number of Likes ! I personally witnessed its destructive power in youths, causing them to neglect their studies, family and even their own health. And the saddest thing is that there is little we can do. I have tried to help one teenager through professional counselling but not one counsellor has succeeded. I only discovered the reason recently through this insightful...

I must confess that I didn't have high expectations of the movie " 3 Idiots " and resigned myself to being bored for 164 minutes watching the show with my colleagues in our monthly get-together. The title was idiotic, the length sounds like eternity and the genre invoked images of lame dancing around trees and it didn't help that the show is in Hindi and I had to read the subtitles. But at the end of it, I realized what an idiot I had been because it was the best movie I had ever watched in my life!!! Since then, I've bought the DVD and soundtrack and watched it 7 times with family and friends and still counting! What made me transform from a reluctant viewer of " 3 Idiots " to its most enthusiastic evangelist? I can't pinpoint the exact reason but I found myself laughing, crying, cheering, singing and being inspired to follow my heart to be the best I can be! There are touching reflections of life, death, friendship and family bonds as well as ...

Heard of Quantum Mechanics ? You might have heard it but think little of it because it sounds terribly complicated and unrelated to daily life. And you are right: it's so mind-boggling that even Albert Einstein (named as the greatest physicist of all time) had problems with it, and of course, life goes on even if you can't understand its equations. But I think everyone should know a bit more about it because it might affect one's orientation towards religion which, in turn, would completely change one's life. Quantum Mechanics was conceived in 1838 but only received wide attention in the 20th and 21st centuries because it was experimentally proven to be able to explain physical phenomena at the atomic level more accurately than two of the most successful theories known to mankind: Einstein's General Relativity and Newton's Classical Mechanics . In simple layman terms, Quantum Mechanics tells us that no physical phenomenon is certain until being observed, eg. t...

On 7 June 2007, Nature , the world's foremost scientific journal, reported the possibility of extracting embryonic stem cells from adult skill cells according to experiments involving mouse cells. This made me sit up and think about the intense Stem Cells Debate that has been going on for a while... Why are there so many arguments on controversial morality issues but so little on practical issues? Here's my take on why scientists involved in embryonic stem cell research should switch to other viable alternatives from a pragmatic view: M ore scientists : It's a fact that scientists who are pro-life will not participate in embryonic stem cell research - so why don't scientists from the embryonic stem cell camp join the pro-life camp instead? The greater the number of scientists working together, the greater the potential for breakthroughs right? M ore funding : Governments are more likely to give more funding to research that does not spark public outbursts nor ant...