Firefox is an alternative browser to Internet Explorer (the big blue “E”) that comes with Windows. Not only does it do things quicker, one significant feature it has over IE are “tabs”. Where IE would open up new windows as you browse, Firefox opens up the new links in tabs that live in the same window. Thus not clogging up your task bar.

And now Firefox 1.5 has been released for Windows, MacOSX and Linux. Get it here. Those of you working in a corporate environment where they don’t allow you to install stuff on your work computers, you have my sympathies. You still can use it at home though.

One major improvement of the new version is the improved speed of doing “Back” and “Forward” browsing. If you flick back and forth between web pages, especially if you have those extra buttons on your mouse, then you’d definitely notice the difference. Without getting too geeky on you, here’s how Firefox 1.5 has changed things:

• Normal Browser:
  1. browser gets HTML file from web server
  2. browser interprets HTML file
  3. browser “draws” the page and downloads all associated images

  When you go back and forth, although most browsers cache the HTML file and images, it has to re-interpret the HTML file, and thus re-draw the page.

• Firefox 1.5:

  Same as above but it caches not only the HTML file and images, but also the “drawn” page – it doesn’t re-interpret the HTML file. Result? Quick browsing for the attention-deficit set!

One thing to note though: if you open up a lot of tabs and browse to graphic intensive sites (eg. pr0n) it uses up a lot of your RAM over time and doesn’t give it back to your system – in geek speak, that’s called a “memory leak”.

To fix it, just close and reopen the Firefox browser every so often. It loads up quick anyway.

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That was my first attempt at writing something technical in simple language. Not too shabby at all methinks. *ahem*

This was said by the Deputy Internal Security Minister of Malaysia, Noh Omar yesterday regarding the police MMS scandal, and reported in the Malaysian Chinese press and in Singapore’s Strait Times:

“Foreigners could go back to their own countries and not to stay in Malaysia if they thought Malaysia police were brutal,” said Deputy Minister of Internal Security Ministry Noh Omar.

He also said, “If foreigners think that Malaysia police are brutal, please go back to their own countries and not to stay here. Meanwhile, our immigration department does not need to waste time in clamping down on foreigners.”

What the f*ck is this shite? This was said after the PM, the DPM and especially the Tourism Minister had said that Malaysia needs and wants more tourists to feel welcomed in Malaysia. And for obvious reasons too – China happens to be the single largest tourist market for Malaysia.

I am expecting this dumb f*ck to be smacked down a notch or two by the Malaysian PM. In fact I implore the PM to at least censure him from now on, if not fire him. The PM needs to get his house in order.

On one hand, the government is trying to put out a fire and on the other, some loose cannon is pouring more fuel into it. Insular xenophobic f*cktards don’t belong in the Malaysian Govt, or any government for that matter in this globalised society that we live in.

More at Jeff Ooi’s blog.

Snoop says:

Go Fug Yourself!

Seriously, Go Fug Yourself.

Yes that’s right – fat is flavour. Think of your favourite junk and hawker foods, and then count the ones that are not fatty. Yup, none.

Fat is good but there is always too much of a good thing. I had half of a BBQ chicken just then. No side-dishes, no garnishes. Not even chips! Just chicken. Carnivore man!

But all that greasy chicken that tasted so good going down, now feels like a lump in the back of my throat giving me this gagging and queasy feeling. Plus I now got a headache too.

I still have the other half in the fridge for lunch tomorrow.

What brought this on? $7.50 for a whole BBQ chicken at the supermarket! I couldn’t resist.

I hear it all the time and it irks me everytime I hear it:

Do you know what I mean?

And it seems to me that habitual users of this phrase pepper their conversation with it at least every 3 or 4 sentences.

Look, if I don’t know what you mean I will ask! Ok, f**ktard?!?

But I’m lame, ‘cos everytime I hear it I just grit my teeth and go:

*nod* Yup.

… is still a drug trafficker. In the eyes of the law, it doesn’t matter if you have personal or family problems, if you kill someone you are a murderer. Why should it be different for a drug trafficker?

Because that is what the Australian media and the opposition would have you believe. That because Nguyen Tuong Van was doing it to help resolve his twin brother’s debt that he deserves compassion. What about compassion for the lives of the drug addicts that he will help ruin if he hadn’t been caught?

Yes his death would be tragic but it wasn’t as if the zero-tolerance for drugs in the SE Asian region is not well-known. The rules are clear and he had chosen to dice with his life.

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The government has done the right thing by exhausting all possible diplomatic and legal avenues. The opposition and the media insist there’s more to be done, including the boycott of Singapore and Singaporean companies. Let me address the hypocrisy in all this:

• If they are appealing on humanity grounds, then why didn’t they protest Shanmugam Murugesu’s hanging? Oh that’s right, he’s not Australian.
• If they are appealing on a matter of injustice, then why aren’t they protesting the way the USA is treating David Hicks in Guantanamo Bay? Oh wait, he might be a terrorist.

The USA can do whatever it wants, and the media and the opposition raised the barest of whimper. When Singapore exercises its sovereign right to prosecute with its laws they are suddenly “barbaric”?

There’s also the thinking that the drugs were merely in transit in Singapore and that they were meant for Australia (read: Australian addicts). Really who are we trying to save here? If the laws do not apply inside Changi airport then it’d be a free for all – every drug trafficking syndicate would use Singapore as a transit hub with *more drugs* coming into Australia.

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The way the media and the opposition has handled this leaves a lot to be desired. Rather than address the core issue of drug addiction, or targetting their vitriol at the drug syndicates, they target Singapore and its companies. If they are so worked up about one drug trafficker on death row in Singapore, wait till they get a load of nine in Indonesia.

And one last thing, the PM should go to his cricket game on Friday. Amidst all this hand-wringing, ppl forget that Nguyen is a convicted criminal. Since when did the PM change his schedule for a criminal? If you must have your minute of silence, do it but don’t try to impose your will on the majority of us who are sane and level headed about this.

From Bruce Willis comes out fighting for Iraq’s forgotten GI heroes – Sunday Times – Times Online:

He is expected to base the film on the writings of the independent blogger Michael Yon, a former special forces green beret who was embedded with Deuce Four and sent regular dispatches about their heroics.

Michael Yon’s blog is here. I’ve mentioned it here previously – it is indeed a very good read.

Regardless of your thoughts on the war, this will further cement the position and legitimacy of blogs in the media. We have bloggers that earn a living via their blogs, and we have had bloggers being offered deals to write novels, or to have their blogs turned into novels. Now we have a blog being turned into a movie. I am excited about it.

Viva la blogs!