卦Trigram 2.0
Asian Snowcrash

No-one likes paying tax, but it can at least be made easier. Online payment is convenient - when it’s done right.

I spent a long time last night  trying to submit my Singaporean tax return. My last employer had entered all the necessary details, so that was already on the system. Very convenient. However, the job before that had overlapped into 2007 slightly, and that employer hadn’t been connected with the tax system, so I had to amend the form to add on that income, subtract CPF, etc.

Except - it wouldn’t work. Every time I tried to submit, I was stopped by a pop-up that informed me “Only positive numbers are accepted”. Try what I might, this stumped me. There was nothing in the FAQ.  Why on earth was the system thinking that I was inputting negative numbers?

Eventually, after much frustration and wasted time, I had an inspiration. What if I took off the 67 cents from the end of the amount..? Bingo! It worked!

Note to the retard who wasted my time - find a dictionary, please! “Positive number” and “round number” are very different things!

Sometimes I really have to wonder why Singapore persists in calling itself an English-speaking country…

A Cylon Centurion:

A Motorola Smart Rider Phone:

When I was still at school, taking my O-levels, I was really keen on science fiction. For many years, I had been reading the likes of Larry Niven, Joe Haldeman, Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov… plus, of course, Arthur C. Clarke, who was born just across the Bristol Channel (more correctly, Y Môr Hafren) from me. I still remember reading in one of his memoirs that, as a child, he looked with fascination across the sea at the dark hills of Wales, and realising that he meant the hills where I lived.

I was fascinated by Deep Space, space travel, and the concept of exploring the void.  At that time, I was starting to think about A-levels and, beyond that, university. From my reading of university prospectuses, I thought that Astrophysics would be a good area to study. However… I had no idea where would be a good place to study.

So, in my youthful naivety, I wrote a letter to Arthur C. Clarke, care of his publishers, to ask for his advice.

Some months later, a dog-eared air-mail envelope arrived, with some advice, hand-written.

I wouldn’t say that I didn’t follow it; it’s just that by the time his letter arrived, my life had already forked onto another path. Still, I won’t forget that the already eminent writer took the time and trouble to write back to an obscure Welsh schoolboy. I wish I’d had the opportunity to meet him and thank him in person.

RIP, Arthur C. Clarke.