Last year, I wrote about AJAX: “Oh, for programmers, I am sure AJAX programmers is going to be in demand.”

Now, I am writing to look for AJAX programmers to work with me on a project. It will be a 1-2 month project that you can do your own free time. Yes, you will be paid.

(Since we are on this topic, I am also looking for good J2ME & Symbian programmers)

If you are interested, drop me an email at james@seng.sg.

ps: Please don’t ask whats the project. Will tell you after you sign the NDA.

Another silly video clip :-)

Man, Clinton is good! On hostile ground no less.

I had an email exchange with a friend based in Thailand. Got his permission to repost part of his email

The King has openly showed his distaste for Taksin for some time. I think the King–or really Prem–gave the “go” signal for the coup. For months now, bank employees, toll collectors–any organization that wanted to show its
“devotion”–have had their employees wear polo shirts colored bright yellow
(a symbol of the Monarchy). More voluntarily, much of the Bangkok middle
class has also been wearing these shirts as an indirect slap at Taksin’s
face–one that he couldn’t complain about–so that the area around, say, the
Silom financial district has become a fiesta of color. Less so upcountry,
because Taksin was “their” man, but 1000 baht at election time only buys so
much loyalty.

That makes me think of my neighbor Thomas Fuller, who ended an article in
the IHT quite a while back about vote buying up-country with a cute
interchange with a humble old lady–a broom seller as I recall–who got a
cagey gleam in her eye when she misinterpreted being interviewed about
bribery in general and thought she was being canvassed for a bribe. . .

Fuller has been writing some interesting background articles around the coup
for the IHT–don’t know whether they bleed over to the NYT or not. . .But
yes, the fact that Sonthi is a Muslim helps in the South, and it’s also good
for national unity in general that he wasn’t really in the anti-Taksin camp
before the coup–another reason to think that he was put up to it by the
Monarchy.

Now the match-making begins, with the junta looking for a properly
credentialed, “democratic” PM. The paper I had an article in yesterday, THE
NATION, which is pretty unabashed about its political stance, has been
playing yenta, announcing rumors about one candidate or another almost as
fact, I think in order to get the whole process going.

The military, for their part, would like to get somebody “like” Anand
Panyarachun (times, and politics, have changed, but I mean someone
well-reputed who would prove equally successful) to give them some
legitimacy. Or maybe the military will even step away as fast as they say
they’re going to do. But I’d be surprised if that happened–read Paul
Handley’s book if you want to understand why.

On the left is my old shoes. I brought them when I first left school many years ago. It brought me to US, and I wore them to see my first VC, and the same shoes I wore at the lunch when the deal was signed in Singapore. I wore them through out the little startup, going through every airports, every hotels and I wore them when I hand in my resignation. I went to the interview with IDA with them and I continue to wear them everyday in IDA, till the very last day.

This is the shoes that brought me to the pyramids in Egypt, the Great Wall of China, Eifiel Tower in Paris, the Fuji mountains in Japan and the beautiful JiuJiaGuo. Its also the shoe I wore during my wedding and the same shoes I wore when I first become dad.

It is comfortable and it has bought me to many places and see me through many part of my life. My wife nagged non-stop about the silly old shoes. I never give it up, saying it is still fine.

But alas, it is not fine. It is old, it has white scratches all over and it is hardly presentable anymore. Old time IBMers would faint at the sight of my shoes. I have meetings with folks who raise their eyebrow at the sight of my shoes but too polite to tell me otherwise.

So I got a new pairs of shoes (right). New and shiny replacing the old and ragged one.

I know it is silly to rant on an old shoes but I love my old shoes. And I already missed it :-(

Was sorting out my photos and thought I should share this. It is a CV from an operator employee that reads: “Lead a team in various business functions to address the regulatory environment with the telecommunications regulator and telecommunications ministry to optimitise “X’s” position through lobbying – delayed implementation of potentially adverse regulatory stipulations by one year”

He sure is proud of that achievement.

… “Parents”.

Childrens (particularly your own) will turn a liberal into a moderate, and a conservative into unreasonable extremist.

Before Children: “Porn? Whats the big deal?”
After Children: “Porn? What the F*** is the government doing!?”

Got to be the strangest news I hear today: Philanthropy Google’s Way: Not the Usual. The story on Google.org a for-profit philanthropy arm of Google.

Yea, read it again, it is a for-profit non-profit arm. They have to pay taxes but it also give them the flexiblity to work with VCs like a commercial company. Totally werid but hey, they are afterall the one who started their IPO letter with “Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one.”

I was often asked to help to look at some company. Google was obvious the starting point which would more likely than not find me the company website.

Now, it is really useful that there is an unspoken practice to have a “About Us” (or somethng similar) link on a well designed company website. It is also often accompanied with a similar link to “Management Team” and “Product & Services” which is great.

What is not so great is these “About Us” and “Product & Services” are sometimes filled with so much marketing bullshit. For example, try this:

Welcome to XXX – the Carrier that offers a broad range of wholesale products and services, namely the best solutions to accommodate your business needs coupled with unbeatable wholesale rates for A-Z destinations around the globe.

How does that tells me anything about what you do exactly? You are a wholesale cheap carrier…okay…but what kind of service do you provide? Cables? Satellite? From where to where? A-Z? Huh?

And people wonder why website dont work well. *doh*

Reading craps like this makes me want to write to the CEO and advise him to send his Marketing Director back to University for a refresher course on Communication 101.

Today is suppose to be a holiday in Singapore – It is the National Day.

Holiday..Ha! I think I had five “business” meeting today. -_-;;

Lunch was fun: with a bunch of very experience technoprenuers (lots of radio guys :) who now went on to run their own company or now helping others to start theirs. It was also in a way strange because one of them is with a company that I keep coming across lately and wondering who they are. And bingo, there is the guy who did the deal.

Charles Lee is also in town so we met up for dinner. And thanks to Charles, I get to watch the National Day fireworks from the Executive floor of Swissotel. It was an amazing view. But in the excitment of our discussion, I forgot to take any photo! *sigh*

Oh yea, also met up with an former colleague who told me one of the presentations I did a year ago is now being highly appreciated. In fact, it is going right to the top. “Very high up” is what he said. I guess it is going on to Cabinet :-)