Also see https://www.kali.org/blog/kali-linux-in-the-windows-app-store/
Keeping Kali close on hand with WSL2
Also see https://www.kali.org/blog/kali-linux-in-the-windows-app-store/
Author: Amos Ang
Also see https://www.kali.org/blog/kali-linux-in-the-windows-app-store/
Comparison of SSB current interest rates by tranche
Singapore Savings Bonds (SSB) are all the rage again, after the Nov 2022 tranche reached historical highs for the 10-year average yield. Both the mainstream media and the local financial blogosphere have been abuzz with coverage on SSBs, as their interest rates kept achieving new highs, month after month. The incessant news coverage prompted me to relook at SSBs once more, as an investment vehicle.
Immediately, I was faced with …
COVID-19 Power BI Dashboard
Dashboard of COVID-19 cases. 
Progression rate. 
State-level details.
Dashboards illustrating the spread of the COVID-19 virus are springing up around the internet, almost as fast as the virus itself. Hence I thought it’d be an appropriate time to exercise my dashboarding skills and create one too.
This dashboard was created purely using Power BI, with no data wrangling using Python. Credit must go to the excellent web-scrapped data feeds from John Hopkins University (JHU). See their repository here at (…
SSB – Nov 2019
The SSB Nov 2019 tranche has fallen by another 2 basis points from the month before, now returning 1.62% p.a. for the first 3 years. Interest rates are so low that I’m stifling a yawn right now. Actually, I might not continue writing SSB posts anymore if this downtrend continues, since nobody would be interested in reading about SSB in this environment.
Fortunately, I’m one of the few lucky ones to be allocated some Lendlease REIT in the …
How to save an additional 5% (and more!) at COMEX 2019 by doing a FavePay-GrabPay-UOBCreditCard payment chain [5-8 Sep 2019 only!]
![How to save an additional 5% (and more!) at COMEX 2019 by doing a FavePay-GrabPay-UOBCreditCard payment chain [5-8 Sep 2019 only!]](https://amosang.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/piggy-bank-2889042_1280-1170x702.jpg)
COMEX is here again, and its time for the teck geeks to embark on their quarterly pilgrimage to the pop-up tech mecca with gadgets galore, hoping to score a good deal. I chanced upon a hack which seems too good not to share immediately, despite the wee hours right now. Here’s how it works.
Scenario: You intend to spend $1000 at COMEX and pay using FavePay with “COMEXFP” promo code. FavePay can be connected to your GrabWallet (to debit …
SSB – Oct 2019
This month’s tranche gives you 1.64% p.a. for the first 3 years, only 1 basis point lower than last month’s tranche. But take a look at the 10-year return rate of 1.75% p.a and you’ll be shocked. The last time the 10-year rate was at this level was in Sep 2016, which is also the all-time low! Looks like we’re heading into the bad old days of low interest rates of 2016 once more. No wonder people barely …
SSB – Sep 2019
This month’s tranche gives you 1.65% p.a. for the first 3 years, 3 bps lower than the previous month. The 10-year average interest rate has also fallen below the psychological 2% hurdle. For a visual idea of how far rates have fallen, look at the distance between the dark blue line (Jan 2019) and the pink line (Sep 2019). What’s a yield-hungry investor to do these days?
That was a hypothetical question — I don’t have the answer …
SSB – Aug 2019
This month’s SSB rates are indicated by the brown line, which comes in at 1.68% p.a. for the first 3 years. It’s a rather startling drop of 20 bps from last month! For comparison, see the blue line, which shows the interest rates from the Jan 2019 tranche. Looks like rates have fallen a fair bit. And if you hold this month’s tranche for 10 years, you would only make 2.08% p.a. Notice the sharp turn in the …
Cleaning dirty data – Matching similar text strings
I once had the dubious pleasure of attempting to combine datasets where the only field in common is a free-text field containing slightly different representations of the same entity (eg: Company Name). The existing solution in place was to eyeball the records, and to manually create a mapping table to link the 2 datasets. The mapping table records are created only if the system fails (ie: reactive in nature). Here are some of my findings on how to auto-magically generate …
The Calendarific API for global holiday calendars
The Calendarific API provides an intuitive, limited-use API feed, providing access to global holiday calendars, for current, past, and future years. The data may be useful for certain scenarios:
- For HR or factory calendars, so that the system knows which are non-working days.
- For vacation planning. Since you can calculate the day-of-week from the holiday date, you can spot the possibilities to create long weekends by strategically planning your leave.
- Those from the travel, leisure, or tourism industries might be