TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent The Online Citizen (TOC) has come under relentless (DDOS) attacks during the past one week and the site is only intermittently accessible. It appears that the attacks are orchestrated with the sole intention of crippling it once and for all. We did a "whois" search and discover that TOC is hosted on a shared server which will make it an easy target for these hackers. Based on our own experience, the attacks will probably continue unabated in the near future till the attackers achieve their objective. Previously, they used to "play" around with us by attacking our site once every two or three weeks, giving us just enough time to beef up our IT security which makes it increasingly harder for them to launch the next attack. Perhaps they have decided to change their strategy now and "kill" us off in a single wave of consecutive attacks once and for all instead of wasting time with us. Fortunately, our system is now strong enough to withstand their attacks though we still experience occasional downtime when our firewall kicks in and blocks all traffic in one go which will usually last no more than 10 minutes. (If you find our page is taking too long to load, just refresh the page 10 minutes later) Though we have some petty differences with TOC in the past, we are more than happy to bury the hatchet with them and do whatever we can to help tide them over this difficult period. We have always emphasized the fact that we do not have anything personal against anybody from TOC. How can we bear a grudge against them when we do not even know them in real life? We will like to take this opportunity to apologize to the writers of TOC if we have caused them any hurt or distress with our words in the past and we hope they can take it in the right spirit for we have been misunderstood and criticized unfairly as well. An anonymous netizen posted a comment on our site gloating over TOC's misfortune, saying that with "TOC now down, there is one more to go." To whoever is responsible for these attacks, let us tell you categorically in no uncertain terms that as long we are around, we will not allow TOC to go down for the simple reason that if their site is incapacitated, we will have to bear the next wave of attacks on our own. There is a Chinese saying which goes - "When the lips are gone, the teeth will freeze". Both sites are like small fishes swimming in a sea full of sharks. If we do not band together, we will soon be gobbled up by them eventually. TOC cannot afford to waste any more time to deliberate on their next course of action. They need to come up with a contingency plan immediately to keep their site up at least half the time till they work out a permanent solution. We propose they mirror their site to another server and switch their IPs between the two when the attacks arrive again which we expect they will. That's the cat-and-mouse game we have been playing with the attackers for the last few weeks and it helps keep our site accessible to at least half the readers which is better than it being down most of the time. As such, we are offering TOC two options: 1. We will offer them one of our dedicated server (we have three) and use of our firewall free of charge for three months. OR 2. They can select their own hosting company and we will pay for their server and firewall for the same period of time. In this way, they can block the attacks for the time-being while they ponder over what to do in the long run. Alternatively, if they have any other plans, they are free to contact us at [email protected]. This offer of help comes with no strings attached. Money is not an issue to us, let us get the site up and running first because the longer it drags on, the more readers they will lose and the more precarious our position will be. Editor's Note: Graphics contributed by our reader, Sinkapore.  Read More →

International Living, January 2010 1. France: For the fifth year running, France takes first in our annual Quality of Life Index. No surprise. Its tiresome bureaucracy and high taxes are outweighed by an unsurpassable quality of life, including the world's best health care. France always nets high scores in most categories. But you don't need number-crunchers to tell you its bon vivant lifestyle is special. Step off a plane and you'll experience it first-hand. I always wish quality of life indicators could measure a country's heart and soul. But it's impossible to enumerate the joy of lingering for hours over dinner and a bottle of red wine in a Parisian brasserie. Or strolling beside the Seine on a spring morning, poking through the book vendors' wares. Or buying buttery croissants in bohemian Montmartre...hearing Notre Dame's bells...walking antique streets paved with poetry. Romantic Paris offers the best of everything, but services don't fall away in Alsace's wine villages...in wild and lovely Corsica...in lavender-scented Provence. Or in the Languedoc of the troubadors, bathed in Mediterranean sunlight. Provincial French properties are often keenly priced and lifestyles are less expensive than Paris. The Southwestern Midi-Pyrenees region is a particularly good hunting ground for village homes for less than $100,000—and classic three-course lunches for $14. Houses cascade with wisteria blossom; outdoor markets are everywhere. Foie gras, pink garlic, Armagnac, and crystallized violets aren't gourmet fare for locals. Rather, just another day's shopping. 2. Australia: They don't call it the "Lucky Country" for nothing. Australia is famous for its large beaches and temperate climate. Across the continent, Aussies and those who've chosen to emigrate there have access to an active and healthy lifestyle. But urban dwellers will find plenty of great culture and excellent food in Sydney and Melbourne, and a cost of living below that of some of the world's other great cities. Australia's economy has managed to weather the Global Financial Crisis better than any other Western country. For tourists and travelers, this means you'll be dealing with a strong Aussie dollar, making your visit there more expensive. But if you plan to stay, you'll find that few English-speaking countries with quality health care and good infrastructure will benefit as much as Australia from the economic booms in Asia and China. The Australian economy is powered by agricultural, mineral, and energy exports that feed the voracious appetite of rapidly industrializing populations in Asia. Housing in Australia remains expensive by global standards. But there are plenty of jobs for skilled expats who can ride the Asian boom from the sandy, sunny, and safe beaches of the land Down Under. 3. Switzerland: For Harry Lime, in Graham Greene's story The Third Man, all the Swiss have to show for five centuries of peaceful neutrality is the cuckoo clock. The rest of Europe, meanwhile, stumped on through rivers of blood to create art, history, and civilization. This is rubbish. Switzerland is an award-winning country because it turned all its natural disadvantages to its own advantage, ending up as a super-efficient, high-tech society while still managing to play Alpine inn-keeper to the world. Moreover the cuckoo clock comes from the Black Forest in Germany. Lacking natural frontiers or a unifying religion, and divided by five different languages, it sensibly decided that internationalism was its calling, quickly adding English to the French, German (two kinds), Italian, and Romansch (like ancient Latin) its people already speak so that foreigners of every linguistic persuasion could feel at home. Altruism followed from this and Geneva became home to the United Nations and the Red Cross. Landlocked, mountainous, and without natural resources (except cheese), Switzerland still needed more than tourism to provide a living. So it developed secretive banks, whose potential clientele is numberless and efficient engineering and pharmaceutical industries whose appeal similarly knows no borders. Such achievements reinforce each other. Tourists gladly clamber into Alpine cable cars because they trust their Swiss steel cables and electric motors. Jump on a Swiss train and you know you will arrive on time. Swallow a Swiss pill and you know it won't poison you. Likewise, you know the bank will always be discreet and the hotel room spotless. You also know everyone will speak your language. The Swiss succeeded because they made everything work. Read rest of article here  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent The "OverEasy" bar has launched a promotion tonight with the cheeky name - "Fill My Cups" for ladies who will be given free drinks based on the size of their breasts as measured by the cup size. A cup women can receive a free drink followed by two for B cuppers, and three for C cuppers. D cup ladies will be awarded a bottle of wine worth $168. According to a spokesperson from the bar, the company will assign a musician and lawyer to assess the size of the participants' cup using their eyes only. They are not permitted to have any sort of physical contact with them. The promotional event will last from 9pm to 12am tonight. As of now, over 200 members of the public have indicated that they will be attending the event on the bar's Facebook. The spokesperson added that they have received "warnings" that many D cup ladies will be patronizing the bar tonight. The gimmick apparently did not go down too well with some women who found it distasteful and insulting. A 19 year old student who possessed a C-cup said she will not attend the event as it will "lower" her status. Dana Lam, the President of AWARE slammed the organizers for being "stupid": "The organizers doesn't seem to consider the safety and dignity of the lady customers who may be molested or harassed at the event," she added. News source: Shin Min Daily  Read More →