Singing Fear of the Dark with the Maidens isn’t about listening to a cool song or being at a good concert. Its being connected to everyone who has ever been to an Iron Maiden concert or have heard the song. I know exactly what you felt in that time and place. That sense of belonging is a powerful force, no wonder the religious groups have been exploiting it for thousands of years.

Iron Maiden opened with their new songs from their Final Frontier album, but they soon got into their stride playing the oldies that everyone knew and loved. Here is the set list. When Bruce Dickinson came on stage in his red English infantry jacket waving the flag, Singapore had not been more excited to see the Union Jack since 1945.

Steve Harris was running around on stage like a teenager, and Janick Gers was every bit the rock star guitarist, acrobatics included. Adrian Smith seemed to have a more subdued night, and Dave Murray was ever the solid anchor. While we saw little of Nicko McBrain, we never stopped hearing his handiwork. Bruce Dickinson was so full of life and energy that he lifted the crowd up a few notches. There were no slouches or lightweights on stage last night. They sound as good as they did in their 18 year old Real Live One and Read Dead One recordings. When the opening band Rise to Remain started to play, I was really glad, the sound would be great tonight, I thought. The Indoor Stadium’s sound is quite inconsistent, but the sound guys got it right this time. The clarity and balance was just awesome. The band did not miss a note or a beat. Perfectly executed as only guys who have been doing this day in day out for the last 30 years can.

Everyone knew the songs, there were as many over 40s as there were under 20s. I doubt anything has united Singaporeans quite like that. Everyone else who commands such wide appear that transcends the decades are mostly dead. So this was an experience that I would not likely get anytime soon. I had not known that there were so many black t-shirts in Singapore. There would be more after last night.

Boys and girls, the new words for this week are: aplomb and jaunty. With the death of Madam Kwa Geok Choo (Mrs. Lee Kuan Yew), Mediacorp had made the documentary clip below describing the life of the lady. In it is included one of the rare clips of an interview with Madam Kwa from some years back, where she was describing Mr. Lee Kuan Yew in his younger days. Madam Kwa not being known to give speeches often. In the clip, the English educated Madam Kwa was using the two terms: aplomb and jaunty. Pay attention at 1 minute 17 seconds into the clip.

In a time like this, where there is an opportunity for Singapore to look back at this lady and consider her the grandmother of our nation, I am not sure the choice of that particular clip was the most appropriate. There are social murmurings that certain segments of society exhibit a detachment from the average Singaporean, and showcasing the use of words that most Singaporeans do not know, may not be the best idea. Perhaps the propaganda intention is to show Madam Kwa as someone special and worldly, and they have succeeded in that. Her life and works are enough of a proof of that. I feel that there was a missed opportunity to give the general public a sense that she was one of us.

a·plomb

/əˈplɒm, əˈplʌm/
–noun
1. imperturbable self-possession, poise, or assurance.
2. the perpendicular, or vertical, position.

I am just sharing an experience I had. I was using a regular bank service over the counter and handed over my well-worn old ATM card. The Bank Teller was nice enough to ask if I would like to have a new card, and some NETS FlashPay gobbledigook which I did not pay attention to. I said sure, and spent a couple of minutes waiting for it to be made.

It all went well till I got on a bus, tapped my wallet on the card reader and had no response. Thankfully I was quick enough to realize that NETS FlashPay was a wireless payment system and that might be interferring with my EZ Link card. Apparently it did. I did some tests, and sure enough, the NETS FlashPay always overruled the EZ Link card when it was in the same wallet. I wonder if there are any cases where both NETS FlashPay and EZ Link cards were debited when they are in the same bag/wallet, etc.

I had recently gone back to the bank to get a new card without NETS FlashPay. I do not expect the bank to be forthcoming with information that NETS FlashPay will overrule the EZ Link card. The banks are shareholders of NETS and as a result need to protect their own interest.

While the idea of integrating the services of an ATM card and a public transport contact-less payment card together is a sound one, it is my person preference to keep them seperate, despite the relative merits of the two cards. For one, I do not mind lending a friend my EZ Link card for a few days to take the public transport, I would not do so with my ATM/Credit card integrated with NETS FlashPay.

NTUC Income fired off the first salvo yesterday in a “Stop The Press” moment of inspired genius. Perhaps they were intending to “spoil the market”, who knows, they might have taken a quick look at their client list and realized that none of the businesses affected insured with them. Whatever the case, I have to applaud the big cojones that decided to run that ad, rushed out just in time. If NTUC Income now starts rejecting insurance claims because of one clause or the other, this PR stunt might just backfire.

The term “Acts of God” had been mentioned twice in two days of this story being in the headlines of the Straits Times, of how some insurance policies do not cover it, but how does one define this so-called “Acts of God”. Depending on what you believe in, sure enough, rain can be an “Act of God”.

PUB has issued a statement that, as far as a common reader such as myself is concerned, tantamount to an admission of negligence on their part in their sewage checking regime. They check once every three months. We have weather forecasts, which presumably did report heavy rains. Does anyone at PUB actually check the weather reports? Do they check sewers for clogs when heavy rains are expected, or after the floods have done the damage? The rain may be brought upon by an “Act of God”, but it does appear that the flood was caused by “Human Negligence”. The proof is printed on the Straits Times. Perhaps the legally educated types would care to comment on this lay interpretation.

I know through and thought, and even though and thorough, but what the heck is throught? If you cannot spell, stick with Thru. It might even give you enough space not to have to abbreviate Rd. At least readers will know where to call to complain about this.

The situation is that for the first three days of ticket sales, fans can only buy the tickets if they own an OCBC credit card. To me, this tantamount to not accepting payment from any other sources as legal tender, and as such, if not illegal, is definitely unethical. OCBC has worked hard to build its brand over the years, and have successfully won over quite a lot of customers, however, this particular decision strikes me as a downright cynical and manipulative. The concert organizers were either very well compensated for their collusion, or bought into some flowery marketing jargon like exclusivity.

I have posed the question of whether this is legal to Monetary Authorities of Singapore (MAS) and to stlife@sph.com.sg. And whether this is the sort of competition between banks that MAS approves of.

The room was clean and spacious for a single person, and I had no trouble sleeping on the mattress on the tatami matted floor. It was not the newest room in the world, but it did not stink of cigarette smoke. The toilets smelled a little of urine (but the seat was heated), and the shared shower room on the ground floor can be a freezing obstacle during winter. But I have no complaints for the room itself, to find something at this price range in the notoriously expensive Japanese cities is a real bargain. Free WiFi seems to be a standard. It was in the neighbourhood of Dobutsuen-mae 動物園前駅.

The major benefit of Dobutsuen-mae is its convenient subway connections. It is on the Midosuji line, which any traveler of Osaka will tell you is the most important subway line in the city. It runs north-south and cuts through Umeda in the north: the major rail connection point to the rest of Japan, as well as having many shopping malls, Namba in the south: the rail link to the Kansai Airport among southerly destinations. Namba is also the hub of large shopping malls and many unique shopping streets. And it runs between Umeda and Namba through Shinsaibashi, THE shopping street of Osaka, and its sidestreets filled with food and unique shopping experiences. Midosuji line also connects to the Chuo line which leads to the Osaka Palace on the east and the aquarium in the west.

Dobutsuen-mae is an interesting neighbourhood. It is the border of commerical Osaka and residential Osaka. A real blast from the past with its 70s style building materials and styles. Across the street from the famed Shinsekai neighbourhood of Osaka, built in the 1912 to model cities in the West such as New York and Paris. It was largely undeveloped post-World War II and gained a bit of a nasty reputation. However, it remains a tourist attraction. Dobutsuen-mae literally means Gate of the Zoo. The Tennoji Zoo lies just to the east of Shinsekai and Spa World, and traditionally, the subway station was located to serve the zoo.

We read a lot about the problems of an aging population in Japan, but if you only hang out in the bustling town area of Osaka, the skyscrapers in Umeda, the high end malls of Namba and the hectic Shinsaibashi, you would think “what aging population? everyone here is young and beautiful.” Dobutsuen-mae reveals the other side of Japan, perhaps even the real unglossed side of Japan. While sitting at a little cafe having 350 yen (US$3.90) breakfast (tea, buttered toast and a hard boiled egg) I saw nothing but the elderly in and around the neighbourhood, it was a stark contrast with what you see down town. I thoroughly appreciated having a glimpse of this unseen side of Japanese life, a normal life like the rest of us leads.

Around the single block by the Dobutsuen-mae subway station there is quite a number of budget hotels. They offer single rooms from as little as 1800 yen (US$20) to 2300 yen (US$26). All of which are affordable. I have only stayed at Hotel Toyo and can only vouch for its quality, but I suspect that the rest are also of similar standards. Check out and read online reviews of the hotels below. Around the block there is a 24hr convenience store and a few eateries (like my 350 yen breakfast place). There is a food street across the road and more eats if you enter Shinsekai.

Below are photos of some of the entrances and price lists, and links to the various hotels in that area. Check out the website prices and read any online reviews you can get your hands on. Have fun in Osaka.

Hotel Toyo

Hotel Sunplaza II

Hotel Chuo

Hotel Raizan

Hotel Taiyo

Hotel Shinbashi (Tripadvisor)

Ambon is an island at the heart of the Maluku Islands archipelago in eastern Indonesia. The archipelago may be more familiar in other names used over the centuries. The Moluccas, Moluccan Islands, or The Spice Islands during the colonial times. These islands, together with India, was the source of the spice trade that attracted Europeans to Asia in the first place, and Ambon rests in its centre.

Majority of diving in Ambon is in the bay by Ambon City. The city pretty much hugs the edges of the bay and forms a crescent of urban life around the inner side of the bay. The two banks of the bay offer slightly different types of diving. Outside of the bay, there are beautiful wall diving as well. Waters went down to 24 celcius while we were there, brrr.

Getting to Ambon from Singapore involves a flight to Jakarta, and domestic to Ambon via a stop over at Surabaya. It was a really long and tiring overnight flight for us, with a hectic transfer in Jakarta near midnight. Travel concerns about Ambon is possible Malaria infection and its history of fatal inter-religious conflict in the community.

Ambon City bay is good for critter watching. I would not personally grade the muck diving here as better than Lembeh Straits in Manado, but it is rewarding for critter lovers and photographers. The dive sites Laha II, and Rhino City are great to see rhinopias, flamboyant cuttlefish, harlequin shrimps, frogfish, and octopus. There is a price to pay, however, most of these critters enjoy staying under the fishing boats. So you would be diving in rubbish strewn waters. You can see some of Goh Siang’s photos.

On the opposite bank is a dive site called Pantai Nama, a wall dive similar to many you can see in the region, but rare as it is in a bay. Barramundi Cod can be found at this sight among all the usual reef dwellers in Indonesian waters. We even caught sight of Devil Rays and even a single Hammerhead shark at 23m, which totally made the trip for two of my dive buddies who spotted it.

Weather permitting, try to go out of the bay to the sites Pintu Kota and Hukurilla. They offer beautiful swimthroughs teaming with fish life, the underwater-scape is beautiful out there. A trip out to Pulau Tiga will also yield sights typical of Indonesian reef diving, you can find Napoleon Wrasse out in the island. Asilulu Point is a dive site that has gigantic barrel sponges the size of small cars. Definitely something wonderful to see after spending days diving with the rubbish.

Ambon City bay is full of rubbish. It was a stark reminder that the developed world has sold its first world products (with first world packaging) to the third world, without providing first world rubbish disposal. So all that fancy wrappers and plastic bags goes into the sea, the traditional rubbish bin, which was fine when for generations upon generations, only organic wastes were thrown in them. Environmentalists groups should look at providing rubbish collection and disposal services to the third world, and make importers of first world packaged products pay for it.

One awesome thing about Ambon City is that the 24 hours no fly time can be amply taken up. Take a 30km drive to the village of Waai where you can play with 1.5 to 2 metre long freshwater eels that are sacred and native to the cold spring water river. Local fruits are also available fresh from smallholder stalls by the roadside.

I rather enjoyed my time in Ambon but I felt that the dive destination lacks a certain focal point to get my adrenalin pumping (this may explain why it took me 5 months to get off my arse and write this). However, I think photographers of critters would truly appreciate the ease of finding species almost impossible to see elsewhere. Relaxing easy diving if a little on the cold side.

There is no individual attunement for Black Ring Citadel Wing 3, however, the raid leaders need to have one Ameythst Eye of the Serpent and one Ruby Eye of the Serpent, both of which are taken from the last boss of Wing 1 and Wing 2 of BRC. Completion of Wing 3, and receiving the Hand of Leviathus is required for individual attunement for Thoth Amon’s Stronghold, Tier 3 raiding. The descriptions here are purposefully kept more brief than those of the other BRC Wings and Tier 1 articles.

BLACK RING CITADEL WING 3
Black Ring Citadel (BRC) has 3 wings. Wing 1 is to the right of the “lobby”, Wing 2 to the left, and Wing 3 is straight ahead. The main problem is that BRC Wing 3 and the lobby are the same instance. So if your raid leader has already done Wing 3 for the week, and is taking you through the lobby to either Wing 1 or 2, he will end up locking you out of Wing 3 for the week. Wing 3 begins with a cavern similar to Wing 1 and 2. There are no quests here, so just clear enough of the trash to open a path to the first chamber. Do not forget to kill the trash guarding the large snake statue. Clicking on the statue removes death penalty.

Athyr Bast – Athyr Bast stands in the back of her chamber while her Imp Lord stands in the middle of chamber. She is a basic tank and spank, any tank that can get close to 60% physical mitigation can pretty much tank her for the rest of eternity with heals. Her fight revolves around her Imp Lord.

The Imp Lord – This is another fight similar to Sabazios, where tons of Imp adds are spawned that are meant to be dealt with, in this case by clicking on the purple braziers along the walls, but it just seems easier to ignore them instead. The Imps spawn from the braziers and walk towards the Imp Lord, when they reach the Imp Lord, he places a debuff on the person that has his aggro. If the tank gets too many stacks of the debuff, he’ll die. So the main focus of the fight is to swap aggro and for the tank to move out of the Imp Lord’s platform in the middle of the chamber. He should then get healed up and get rotated back into the tanking and aggro swapping. Tanks must spend minimum time in the platform while swapping aggro. If the tanks do not hold aggro well, the Imp Lord will one-shot someone outside of the platform. Holy Cleansing, heal rotation, unholy magic resistance, all help the tanks survive the Imp Lord’s attention. Good use of Irritate is also vital to keep the aggro swapping steady. The tanks need to keep this up while the DPS team burns down Athyr Bast. She drops Wrists, Helmet and a Simple Relic II.

Athyr Bast herself is so boring, I just decided to take a screenshot of her corpse. Which looks like any other follower of Set.

Entering Leviathus’ chamber will trigger a timer. There is a 3 minute 30 second timer before the boss spawns. In that time, the raid has to deal with two groups of trash mobs inside the chamber.

Agitators, Proctors, Guards, Agents and Supporters - Different raids kill the mobs in different orders, so I cannot say which way is faster or best. Proctors can be stunned and should be kept that way. They spawn Supporters who are minions and can be mass one-shot by minion kill spells, like Shatter. Agents will teleport all over the place but can be rooted. Focus fire on each of the trash and kill the groups as fast as possible and get ready for Leviathus to spawn.

Leviathus - Leviathus is one big ugly slug with arms that sits in a pool of boiling water (do not go in there). There are two altars platforms on either sides of the chamber. Two soldiers should be in charged of using them. They must not ever have attacked Leviathus for the whole fight. Their entire duty is to carry a buff from the altar and dropping it on the raid in front of Leviathus. Leviathus casts a spell called Test of Faith on one of the tanks that are on him, and if the tank does not receive the buff from the altar within 20 seconds, they will die.

The fight involves rotating big heals from the 3 different classes on the whole raid, with the tanks rotating aggro and getting out of range of Leviathus to heal back up. And the two players running the altars not to screw up. This is a tough fight that requires many players in the raid to focus on their status. Leviathus drops Helmet, 2 Weapons and a Jar of 5 Simple Relic II. Killing Leviathus completes a quest that gives the player a Hand of Leviathus that is required for Tier 3 attunment. Thoth Amon’s Stronghold.

BLACK RING CITADEL WING 2
Black Ring Citadel (BRC) has 3 wings. Wing 1 is to the right of the “lobby”, Wing 2 to the left, and Wing 3 is straight ahead. Wing 2 begins with a cavern similar to Wing 1. There are no quests here, so just clear enough of the trash to open a path to the first chamber. Do not forget to kill the trash guarding the large snake statue. Clicking on the statue removes death penalty.

Ahazu Zagam – Ahazu Zagam, better known as The Fart Boss looks like The Creature from the Black Lagoon. As his nickname suggest, he farts this poison gas that trails behind him, slowly filling up his chamber. Ahazu Zagam hits hard and it will take a geared and well played tank, and a full suite of healers to keep him alive. The key is to avoid his poison gas, and to kite him around the room in such a concerted way that the rest of the raid has room to kill him before it is all covered in poison gas. Priest of Mitra’s Holy Cleansing spell can help make this boss fight quite easy for a geared raid. The YouTube video below shows how it is done in style. Ahazu Zagam drops Wrists, Shoulders and a Simple Relic II.

Ahazu Verin – Every minute, Ahazu Zagam spawns two adds, miniature versions of itself called Ahazu Verin. They need to be taunted away from the main tank, Cry of Havoc by a Guardian is probably the best way to grab them both. Ahazu Verin hit really hard so they need to be individually tanked and focus fired down.

Black Ring Reanimator – Most of the other trash mobs in Wing 2 are quite standard fare. The only exception is the Reanimators. They need to be focus fired down because they constantly spawn large numbers of regular undead mobs that can kill squishier classes.

Incubus and Succubus – Incubus and Succubus are a pair of lewd demons, whose only interest seem to be in spreading their seeds. They need to be tanked on opposite ends of their chamber. Every so often, they will break aggro and watch towards one and another. If they get to close enough, they will both Enrage and hit like trucks. Both tank groups must fight hard to regain aggro once they start walking off. Our raid usually focuses on Succubus first, killing her before proceeding to Incubus. Both bosses with do a knockback before wandering off towards each other, this knockback also wipes the aggro. On top of that Incubus does an AoE root which can be avoided if the players are alert to the cast bar. Incubus and Succubus drops Belts, Boots and a Simple Relic II.

Rooted, damn it!

Cambions – Adds spawn during this boss fight called Cambions. They can be easily off-tanked, and burn down fast. They are a small distraction for this fight.

Seruah – Seruah begins the fight inside a magical cage in the middle of the chamber. There are four mirrors, one in each corner of the chamber. Out of these mirrors will spawn waves of adds. Starting with large 4 Dust Fiends, and increasing exponentially to 64 small Arctic Beasts. At the start of the fight, the whole raid stays together beside one of the mirrors. A soldier will be at each of the mirrors and will bring the Dust Fiends towards the raid. The raid will burn down each Dust Fiend in turn. While this is happening, the subsequent waves of adds are spawned and must be AoEed down. Soldiers are to keep the adds off the squishies. When the last Dust Fiend dies, the raid must all move to the centre outside Seruah’s magic cage.

Every single member of the raid must clump up on Seruah and be within melee range of her once she comes out of her cage. Anyone further than melee range will cause her to teleport and instant-kill the character. She will knockback characters near the top of her aggro list. She would then follow up with a big hit if the aggro remains on the knocked back character. Cunning Deflection will allow a soldier to survive her big hit. It is a steady fight to swap aggro. Not a hard fight if few or no players died needlessly at the start of the fight. Seruah drops Gloves, Chest and a Simple Relic II.

You may want to drop your particle effects and damage numbers because of the massive number of mobs involved.

Chatha the Commander of Demons – The chamber with Chatha follows straight after Seruah’s. It is a two storey chamber linked by a flight of stairs. The raid should run past the Bottomfeeders on the bottom floor of the chamber to the stairs. Moving too far up the stairs will trigger the boss fight, so raids need to get themselves ready on the stairs first.

Chatha begins the fight as a normal human boss. He can be tanked and spanked for the first half a minute before he teleports away. He teleports to random places on the top storey of the chamber once every minute. He also spawns a Sartorus and 3 Utamons every time he teleports. The 2nd storey of the chamber contains pit traps that are invisible from the top. Players who walk over the pit traps will fall down to the 1st storey.

Sartorus and Utamons – While the Utamons are near the Sartorus, they get a buff that allows them to deal massive reflective damage. They can kill a tank in a matter of seconds while the buff is up. The main strategy for the first phase of the Chatha fight is to have a seperate Sartorus and Utamon tank/DPS groups on opposite sides of the 2nd storey, by the stairs and by the far wall. Once seperated from the Sartorus, and their buff allowed to run out, the Utamons can be burned down easily. Repeat this for every single group of spawns.

Chatha the Giant Centaur Horn Headed Monster with Scorpion Tails – When Chatha drops to 60%, he will stop teleporting and spawning Sartorus and Utamons. He will mutate into a giant centaur horn headed monster with scorpion tails. He hits like a truck in this form and has several special attacks. A PBAoE knockback, and a frontal cone stun followed by a big hit. Avoid the latter and position yourself so that the former does not knock you into one of the pit traps. If you did not lose many or any players during the first phase, then its a game of aggro swapping, watching his cast bar, and a DPS race to down him in his second phase. Chatha drops Chest, two Weapons and a Jar of 5 Simple Relic II. Chatha also drops a Ruby Eye of the Serpent which, together with the Ameythst Eye of the Serpent is required to open Wing 3 of BRC.

A screenshot of an EU guild downing Chatha. I need to get one of my own.