Now that orientation is over, this week marks the start of lessons. After two years of National Service its time to hit the books again. Not sure how I am going to fare after two years of brainless activities; hopefully I can get into the mood quickly.
Module bidding went well for me; three modules have already been pre-allocated, leaving space for two modules which I got at 1 point each. 5 modules at 5 points, good start! =D
The bad thing about pre-allocation is that to avoid all the bidding wars I have to accept whatever they give, and so I could not get the four-day school week that I had hoped for. In fact my timetable is screwed up pretty badly haha.
CS1101S Programming Methodology: My first gamble, instead of the more ordinary CS1101. I thought that instead of going through all that I have already learned in JC, perhaps I should go for something that I have not learned before. Scheme promises to be tough, and at first glance I did not understand most of the technical terms in the lesson plan. Haha. Hope my gamble will turn out well.
CS1105 Computing and Society: From the module title, it sounds very much like all the essays that I have written back in junior college. Haha.
CS1231 Discrete Structures: The third module I was pre-allocated, instead of MA1521 Calculus for Computing which I had hoped for. CS1231 is taught by the School in the first semester, and the Maths department in the second semester, and apparently the Maths department teaches the module better.
On the other hand its a good thing that I take my maths module in another semester, because right now I am still undecided on whether I should take a minor in Mathematics, from which I can choose to take MA1102R Calculus instead of MA1521. Now I can gauge where my intelligence level stands first before I make my decision. Haha.
Initially I intended to take two General Education/Singapore Studies modules, but I was afraid I could not outbid the returning students, so I bidded for LSM1302 Genes and Society in the protected Round 1C. I made the correct choice to do so, but I have not mentally prepared myself to take a biology related course in the first semester. Lol.
GEK1506 Heavenly Mathematics: Cultural Astronomy is the last module I bidded for. Taking it out of interest, although as time went by this module became one of the very few that I could bid at 1 point as the bids for other modules started escalating skywards. This module is also the reason why my Tuesdays and Fridays start at 8am haha. The price to pay to conserve my points now.
Finally after days of procrastination I dragged myself to the bookshop opposite my house to buy stationery that has mysteriously gone missing. It had been more than two years since I last stepped into a bookshop! I have always loved shopping in the bookshop, because of the wide variety of things offered, low population density due to the large shop space, the lack of aggressive salespersons, and the nice smell of books haha.
First lecture kicks off tomorrow at 8am! I wish myself good luck!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Sunday, August 09, 2009
le kua simi
Its National Day!
National Days were much more happier days for me in the past. No lessons, just going to school for celebrations, watching the National Day Parades on television, while waiting for RSAF's fighter jets to roar across my window, and seeing the distant skies light up at night as the fireworks were let off.
Then the studio apartments came up opposite my house, and blocked the view to the fireworks. Not long after the NDPs are shifted to Marina Bay, and the fighter jets no longer fly across my window.
Before 9/11 and the SARS outbreak, I'm quite sure security and temperature checks weren't top priorities then. Now, not just at NDPs, X-ray and temperature scanners are common sightings at all major events.
Maybe I'm older now, I'm more aware of what is happening around me, and I find that things are not as good as they should be, people are not as happy as they should be, I am not as happy as I should be, and I'm not exactly in the mood to celebrate anymore.
So now National Day becomes another ordinary day for me, just that the broadcast of the parade and the news bulletin that comes on earlier at 5.45pm instead of the usual 6.30pm adds a little difference to the usual programming.
This year's parade is surprisingly refreshing however; perhaps because there's more singing and music than dancing. Would have hoped for more fireworks though.
Whatever it is, I still wish her a happy 44th birthday and 国泰民安.
******************
The movie G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra reminded me of the Command and Conquer universe, with all the soldier suits and advanced weaponry, while the story itself reminded me of Ironman and the controversies around the weapons industry. They made the major battle scene between the underwater marine crafts looked more like a dogfight in the air instead, and I found it interesting how the Japanese ninjas fits nicely in the movie where it was set in the future with all the weapons and technologies.
Overall I liked the movie; gave some space for imagination.
National Days were much more happier days for me in the past. No lessons, just going to school for celebrations, watching the National Day Parades on television, while waiting for RSAF's fighter jets to roar across my window, and seeing the distant skies light up at night as the fireworks were let off.
Then the studio apartments came up opposite my house, and blocked the view to the fireworks. Not long after the NDPs are shifted to Marina Bay, and the fighter jets no longer fly across my window.
Before 9/11 and the SARS outbreak, I'm quite sure security and temperature checks weren't top priorities then. Now, not just at NDPs, X-ray and temperature scanners are common sightings at all major events.
Maybe I'm older now, I'm more aware of what is happening around me, and I find that things are not as good as they should be, people are not as happy as they should be, I am not as happy as I should be, and I'm not exactly in the mood to celebrate anymore.
So now National Day becomes another ordinary day for me, just that the broadcast of the parade and the news bulletin that comes on earlier at 5.45pm instead of the usual 6.30pm adds a little difference to the usual programming.
This year's parade is surprisingly refreshing however; perhaps because there's more singing and music than dancing. Would have hoped for more fireworks though.
Whatever it is, I still wish her a happy 44th birthday and 国泰民安.
******************
The movie G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra reminded me of the Command and Conquer universe, with all the soldier suits and advanced weaponry, while the story itself reminded me of Ironman and the controversies around the weapons industry. They made the major battle scene between the underwater marine crafts looked more like a dogfight in the air instead, and I found it interesting how the Japanese ninjas fits nicely in the movie where it was set in the future with all the weapons and technologies.
Overall I liked the movie; gave some space for imagination.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
my ultimate social experiment
After hearing many horror stories about how one would end up lonely and all in university if one never attended orientation, I decided to sign up, albeit with utmost reluctance, with the hope that I find at least one person to go to lectures and tutorials with, look after each other's things during lunch and dinner, and do projects together.
Unfortunately by the end of orientation, I haven't found any.
Different people are taking different majors; those taking the same majors are taking different modules; and those taking the same modules are taking different lecture groups and tutorials. Therefore I conclude that the chances of us seeing each other again will be rather low.
On the other hand, maybe I never try hard enough. Ha.
Not to say that there was no use attending orientation. In every sense of the word, I did get myself rather 'oriented'. At least I now have a slight sense of direction when navigating around the different places.
The games planned by the School were indeed mild by the university's standards, especially after I saw and heard about orientations by other faculties.
The orientation ended with Rag Day today. My first Rag Day experience was not from the grandstands but from the tent that housed the participants' belongings; for some reason I somehow became involved in the School's float. I would have liked to watch from the grandstands, but staying at the tent had allowed me to catch up with my sleep.
[Reminded me of how my Army Half Marathon experiences were not of those as participants but as organisers. Interesting why I always seem to get the short end of the stick lol.]
Having being involved in computing since secondary school, I have met plenty of like-minded people at different stages of my life. After some time, our paths diverged, and it never occurred to me that we would ever meet again. Even better, it never occurred to me that these different people that I have met, and the different people that these different people have met, would all converge and become friends with each other one day.
Below as follows:
1) A friend, not a close one though, from my CCA in secondary school. Never in same class, went to different junior colleges, and now met again studying in the same School.
2) I have a friend, A, whom I met in my active unit during my National Service. He has a friend B, whom he met during his Basic Military Training days. A, B and I are now in the same School. In addition, B and I have four common friends, C, D, E and F, where C and D were my classmates in secondary school, and E is a good friend of my friend F. B, C, D and E met in their unit during National Service. During orientation, B was in the orientation group where F was the group leader.
3) One of my group leaders who is a friend of A in secondary school.
4) Three seniors, one from my CCA in secondary school and two from two different CCAs in junior college, are now all studying in the School. Now they are friends with each other.
5) This guy in my orientation group who is in the Computing class as my three gay friends in their junior college.
6) This girl in my orientation group who is a friend of the sister of F.
Some statistics should be drawn up next time!
All in all, I consider it a feat that I managed to attend so many days of orientation; felt rather guilty to have skipped two of the days, but I'm not ready for everything yet.
Unfortunately by the end of orientation, I haven't found any.
Different people are taking different majors; those taking the same majors are taking different modules; and those taking the same modules are taking different lecture groups and tutorials. Therefore I conclude that the chances of us seeing each other again will be rather low.
On the other hand, maybe I never try hard enough. Ha.
Not to say that there was no use attending orientation. In every sense of the word, I did get myself rather 'oriented'. At least I now have a slight sense of direction when navigating around the different places.
The games planned by the School were indeed mild by the university's standards, especially after I saw and heard about orientations by other faculties.
The orientation ended with Rag Day today. My first Rag Day experience was not from the grandstands but from the tent that housed the participants' belongings; for some reason I somehow became involved in the School's float. I would have liked to watch from the grandstands, but staying at the tent had allowed me to catch up with my sleep.
[Reminded me of how my Army Half Marathon experiences were not of those as participants but as organisers. Interesting why I always seem to get the short end of the stick lol.]
Having being involved in computing since secondary school, I have met plenty of like-minded people at different stages of my life. After some time, our paths diverged, and it never occurred to me that we would ever meet again. Even better, it never occurred to me that these different people that I have met, and the different people that these different people have met, would all converge and become friends with each other one day.
Below as follows:
1) A friend, not a close one though, from my CCA in secondary school. Never in same class, went to different junior colleges, and now met again studying in the same School.
2) I have a friend, A, whom I met in my active unit during my National Service. He has a friend B, whom he met during his Basic Military Training days. A, B and I are now in the same School. In addition, B and I have four common friends, C, D, E and F, where C and D were my classmates in secondary school, and E is a good friend of my friend F. B, C, D and E met in their unit during National Service. During orientation, B was in the orientation group where F was the group leader.
3) One of my group leaders who is a friend of A in secondary school.
4) Three seniors, one from my CCA in secondary school and two from two different CCAs in junior college, are now all studying in the School. Now they are friends with each other.
5) This guy in my orientation group who is in the Computing class as my three gay friends in their junior college.
6) This girl in my orientation group who is a friend of the sister of F.
Some statistics should be drawn up next time!
All in all, I consider it a feat that I managed to attend so many days of orientation; felt rather guilty to have skipped two of the days, but I'm not ready for everything yet.
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
backtracking
I recall Seagate once said Singapore was an excellent place for their hard disk business, because of its strategic location, high education levels among her citizens blah blah, and manufacturing costs constituted only a small portion of their total costs, so Singapore, despite being an expensive place to work in, was no problem to them.
HAHA.
Perhaps National Day is coming; or perhaps 2000 seems too big a number to be comfortable with; the media decided to carry in the same news bulletin, the new Integrated Resort at Sentosa will hire 8000 people by the end of this year. Good move.
Please continue to love Singapore!
Genuinely a good video.
**************
Not too long ago our dearest Government published the criteria to be selected as a scholarship holder under their prestigious Public Service Commission, and one point they stressed on is to say the truth, not throw out all the politically correct answers.
I wonder what if I say, "I have no interest in working for the Government. All I want is your money to sponsor my studies so that I can study for free!"
**************
And so China just experienced a once-in-a-lifetime full solar eclipse. Ironic how China was the place where the old stories of 天狗食日 came from, and now the entire country got all hyped up over the Moon covering the Sun and throwing entire cities into darkness in minutes.
**************
Google's way of explaining recursion. Short, sweet and brilliant!
**************
The singer. Not bad a song I feel.
**************
My All-in-One printer which I had won from a quiz back in JC days has a funny problem which I hate: Regardless of the operation, as long as any of the four colours [black, cyan, magenta, yellow] is empty, the printer will refuse to do anything. Not even scanning. -.-
So when my printer refused to print my black-and-white forms which I needed for registration because my colours were empty even though I had a full black cartridge, I turned to the Internet for help.
Apparently light sensors are used to detect the ink cartridge levels; so when I pasted black tape over the translucent portion of the cartridges, the printer was tricked into believing that the cartridges was full!
**************
I'm getting very drained out from orientation. I need rest very, very badly.
HAHA.
Perhaps National Day is coming; or perhaps 2000 seems too big a number to be comfortable with; the media decided to carry in the same news bulletin, the new Integrated Resort at Sentosa will hire 8000 people by the end of this year. Good move.
Please continue to love Singapore!
Genuinely a good video.
**************
Not too long ago our dearest Government published the criteria to be selected as a scholarship holder under their prestigious Public Service Commission, and one point they stressed on is to say the truth, not throw out all the politically correct answers.
I wonder what if I say, "I have no interest in working for the Government. All I want is your money to sponsor my studies so that I can study for free!"
**************
And so China just experienced a once-in-a-lifetime full solar eclipse. Ironic how China was the place where the old stories of 天狗食日 came from, and now the entire country got all hyped up over the Moon covering the Sun and throwing entire cities into darkness in minutes.
**************
Google's way of explaining recursion. Short, sweet and brilliant!
**************
The singer. Not bad a song I feel.
**************
My All-in-One printer which I had won from a quiz back in JC days has a funny problem which I hate: Regardless of the operation, as long as any of the four colours [black, cyan, magenta, yellow] is empty, the printer will refuse to do anything. Not even scanning. -.-
So when my printer refused to print my black-and-white forms which I needed for registration because my colours were empty even though I had a full black cartridge, I turned to the Internet for help.
Apparently light sensors are used to detect the ink cartridge levels; so when I pasted black tape over the translucent portion of the cartridges, the printer was tricked into believing that the cartridges was full!
**************
I'm getting very drained out from orientation. I need rest very, very badly.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
ever changing
Unavoidable
Cloudy, sunny or windy
Unpredictable.
**************
Tried out Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" Live CD on my laptop today, and it works like a charm! So most likely the old Ubuntu I have, 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon", has old Nvidia drivers that does not support my graphics card. Probably I can bypass the Graphical User Interface and install the operating system, thereafter update the Nvidia drivers, but I'm lazy haha.
Say, with a new release every six months, its a waste of my CD-Rs. Maybe I should try installing via thumbdrives someday.
Next up is to try it on my desktop after I have backed everything up.
School is starting, and I'm getting scared.
Cloudy, sunny or windy
Unpredictable.
**************
Tried out Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" Live CD on my laptop today, and it works like a charm! So most likely the old Ubuntu I have, 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon", has old Nvidia drivers that does not support my graphics card. Probably I can bypass the Graphical User Interface and install the operating system, thereafter update the Nvidia drivers, but I'm lazy haha.
Say, with a new release every six months, its a waste of my CD-Rs. Maybe I should try installing via thumbdrives someday.
Next up is to try it on my desktop after I have backed everything up.
School is starting, and I'm getting scared.
Friday, July 10, 2009
laptop
Strong gusts of wind blow
I left my windows open
Cooling but dusty.
After weeks of using my laptop, I learnt some interesting things.
1) The laptop's LCD which is only 14.1 inches big is too small. After prolonged use of the laptop and switching back to my desktop with my lovely 19 inch LCD monitor, my eyes feel so refreshed. Each time I got 'refreshed' I will wonder why the hell people need 24 inch LCDs when my 19 inch looks so big and nice. Haha.
I also wonder how I survived my primary school days when my 80486 came with a 14 inch CRT. Haha.
2) I don't like wireless connections. Maybe because of dropped packets or the authentications, I find myself running into time-outs more often on my laptop than on my desktop while surfing the net. RJ45 for the win!
3) Back in the days of Starhub, things were simple. Starhub gave a modem; we bought a cheap router-cum-switch, and we were happily connected. Now with S1ngnet, a stupid 'Mi0b0x' was given to us, which is essentially a modem, router, switch, wireless access point, and hardware firewall all in one.
Due to gaming and *ahem* torrenting, the firewall is obviously an obstacle, but we are not allowed to switch it off. The only way is to set the computer to an 'elevated' mode, where the computer will 'share' the same IP address as the 'Mi0b0x', so all packets will now route to the computer, 'bypassing' the firewall.
So I set my desktop to this 'elevated' mode then.
The problem is only one computer can be set to this stupid 'elevated' mode, so now I have a laptop, the laptop only gets an internal IP address, aka 'normal' mode.
Since my desktop and laptop have IP addresses that are in different families, I can't get them to see each other, even though they are connected to the same 'Mi0b0x', which makes sense logically but not physically.
Worst of all, the 'Mi0b0x' comes with S1ngnet's custom firmware, which is rather restricted. I am guessing static routing might work, but am lazy to find out how.
I understand they are trying to make things user-friendly, but sometimes things get too simple, they become too difficult to use instead.
I left my windows open
Cooling but dusty.
After weeks of using my laptop, I learnt some interesting things.
1) The laptop's LCD which is only 14.1 inches big is too small. After prolonged use of the laptop and switching back to my desktop with my lovely 19 inch LCD monitor, my eyes feel so refreshed. Each time I got 'refreshed' I will wonder why the hell people need 24 inch LCDs when my 19 inch looks so big and nice. Haha.
I also wonder how I survived my primary school days when my 80486 came with a 14 inch CRT. Haha.
2) I don't like wireless connections. Maybe because of dropped packets or the authentications, I find myself running into time-outs more often on my laptop than on my desktop while surfing the net. RJ45 for the win!
3) Back in the days of Starhub, things were simple. Starhub gave a modem; we bought a cheap router-cum-switch, and we were happily connected. Now with S1ngnet, a stupid 'Mi0b0x' was given to us, which is essentially a modem, router, switch, wireless access point, and hardware firewall all in one.
Due to gaming and *ahem* torrenting, the firewall is obviously an obstacle, but we are not allowed to switch it off. The only way is to set the computer to an 'elevated' mode, where the computer will 'share' the same IP address as the 'Mi0b0x', so all packets will now route to the computer, 'bypassing' the firewall.
So I set my desktop to this 'elevated' mode then.
The problem is only one computer can be set to this stupid 'elevated' mode, so now I have a laptop, the laptop only gets an internal IP address, aka 'normal' mode.
Since my desktop and laptop have IP addresses that are in different families, I can't get them to see each other, even though they are connected to the same 'Mi0b0x', which makes sense logically but not physically.
Worst of all, the 'Mi0b0x' comes with S1ngnet's custom firmware, which is rather restricted. I am guessing static routing might work, but am lazy to find out how.
I understand they are trying to make things user-friendly, but sometimes things get too simple, they become too difficult to use instead.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
street fighter IV benchmark
I wonder why a benchmark program for Street Fighter IV was developed when its not expected to be a resource-demanding game[unlike all the hype created around Crysis]. Nevertheless I still tried it out of curiosity. Haha.
Not that bad for my two-and-a-half year old desktop.
Tried it out on my new laptop too:
Haha so much for the dedicated graphics card. Of course I'm not expecting much from the G105M; its a low end card after all, but still find it interesting that my desktop's X1950 Pro thrashed it flat despite it being a three-year-old card.
While at it I decided to monitor the laptop's temperatures as well.
It was a ridiculously hot Tuesday afternoon and the GPU temperatures especially, shot up as soon as I fired up the SFIV benchmark; I quickly blasted my house fan at it.
More 'normal' temperatures.
A little upset I cannot control the fan[or fans, I don't know] residing inside the laptop; nothing shows up in SpeedFan. Overall I'm quite okay with the temperatures, but the area where I rest my palm on gets considerably warm after a while due to the hard disk drive, and it bugs me. Haha.
I decided to get my laptop from the recently concluded PC Show, after a long dilemma on whether to get a cheap laptop or to wait out for Windows 7. So far so good, hopefully it will last long and prosper.
Firefox 3.5 is out! A little tempted to try it now that Google Chrome seems to be a little buggy to me.
Not that bad for my two-and-a-half year old desktop.
Tried it out on my new laptop too:
Haha so much for the dedicated graphics card. Of course I'm not expecting much from the G105M; its a low end card after all, but still find it interesting that my desktop's X1950 Pro thrashed it flat despite it being a three-year-old card.
While at it I decided to monitor the laptop's temperatures as well.
It was a ridiculously hot Tuesday afternoon and the GPU temperatures especially, shot up as soon as I fired up the SFIV benchmark; I quickly blasted my house fan at it.
More 'normal' temperatures.
A little upset I cannot control the fan[or fans, I don't know] residing inside the laptop; nothing shows up in SpeedFan. Overall I'm quite okay with the temperatures, but the area where I rest my palm on gets considerably warm after a while due to the hard disk drive, and it bugs me. Haha.
I decided to get my laptop from the recently concluded PC Show, after a long dilemma on whether to get a cheap laptop or to wait out for Windows 7. So far so good, hopefully it will last long and prosper.
Firefox 3.5 is out! A little tempted to try it now that Google Chrome seems to be a little buggy to me.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
OpenNet
Sian still so far away.
Given that my current Singtel contract ends end-2010, I will be in a dilemma then whether to subscribe to a copper line based network or to wait out for a fibre optic based network.
Check here.
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Home
In conjunction with World Environment Day a documentary titled Home was released worldwide, with Youtube as one of its platforms.
And gosh was it gorgeous!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU
Unlike ordinary videos where they are subjected to 100MB size and 10min time limits, the one-and-a-half-hour documentary was uploaded in a single video and weighs in a heavy 1.4GB. With no loss of quality, there was a occasional lag when playing it on my Pentium D.
I found myself losing concentration to the background narration at times because I was engrossed in the stunning and flawless images of our Mother Earth. Too bad I had no High Definition equipment to enjoy them.
I find that Dubai is strikingly similar to Singapore, especially after listening to the commentary.
"Dubai is a sort of culmination of the Western model, a country where the impossible becomes possible. Building artificial islands in the sea, for example. Dubai has few natural resources, but with the money from oil it can bring in millions of tons of material and workers from all over the planet. Dubai has no farmland, but it can import food. Dubai has no water, but it can afford to expend immense amounts of energy to desalinate seawater and build the world's highest skyscrapers in the world. Dubai has endless Sun, but no solar panels. It is the totem to total modernity that never fails to amaze the world."
The difference is that we did not depend on oil to be where we are today, otherwise we might be the subject of controversy in this documentary now instead of Dubai.
Just like many other documentaries, Home gave some numbers to drive the message furthur. One particular number that got my attention was:
"The world spends 12 times more on military expenditures than on aid to developing countries."
Ha! Try telling that to our country!
Then again, I guess most people will just watch and forget.
And gosh was it gorgeous!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU
Unlike ordinary videos where they are subjected to 100MB size and 10min time limits, the one-and-a-half-hour documentary was uploaded in a single video and weighs in a heavy 1.4GB. With no loss of quality, there was a occasional lag when playing it on my Pentium D.
I found myself losing concentration to the background narration at times because I was engrossed in the stunning and flawless images of our Mother Earth. Too bad I had no High Definition equipment to enjoy them.
I find that Dubai is strikingly similar to Singapore, especially after listening to the commentary.
"Dubai is a sort of culmination of the Western model, a country where the impossible becomes possible. Building artificial islands in the sea, for example. Dubai has few natural resources, but with the money from oil it can bring in millions of tons of material and workers from all over the planet. Dubai has no farmland, but it can import food. Dubai has no water, but it can afford to expend immense amounts of energy to desalinate seawater and build the world's highest skyscrapers in the world. Dubai has endless Sun, but no solar panels. It is the totem to total modernity that never fails to amaze the world."
The difference is that we did not depend on oil to be where we are today, otherwise we might be the subject of controversy in this documentary now instead of Dubai.
Just like many other documentaries, Home gave some numbers to drive the message furthur. One particular number that got my attention was:
"The world spends 12 times more on military expenditures than on aid to developing countries."
Ha! Try telling that to our country!
Then again, I guess most people will just watch and forget.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Electronic Entertainment Expo 2009
I can't help but laugh whenever I see the cover image for the sequel to the popular Left 4 Dead.
Ok the game is not supposed to be funny; its about killing zombies. The first game came out last year and had a striking, easy-to-remember cover image:
A disgusting hand with the thumb gone; simple yet told us alot about the game. I thought it was pretty well done.
Now at the gaming exhibition that is ongoing in USA, Left 4 Dead 2 was announced. And the game cover?
Haha I just find it amusing. ^^v
There are plenty of announcements in this year's E3, and many companies use this platform to showcase new games in development. Game trailers are getting more and more movie-like from my observation; besides the Modern Warfare 2 a couple of posts below, there's also:
Assassin's Creed 2,
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction,
Star Wars Old Republic,
and last but not least, the oh-so-funny Left 4 Dead 2 ^^v [gore alert for the innocent minds!]
Soon we can whack zombies with frying pans! ^^v
As I am typing this Sony is holding their press conference, and they just finished showcasing some Playstation 3 game which I have no interest in. Now they are announcing some new developments on the Playstation Portable.
Allow me to give some live updates! Haha.
0235 Singapore Time:
Pink PSP Hannah Montana package! Lol. And some new PSP games.
CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment announces PSP Go! A new PSP device! Me: With 'new' features that don't sound new at all.
Will be launched in October in North America and November in Japan.
Ahahaha new PSP games will be released on UMD discs and digital downloads! Me: Maybe they realise nobody buys the discs? :x
0244 Singapore Time:
Playstation Video Store will be available natively on the PSP.
Some Japanese boss announces Gran Turismo, a Sony flagship racing game on the PSP.
"This is not a shrunken down subset of the series," says the nervous translator. Me: LOL.
Me: Gran Turismo looks interesting enough, but otherwise the PSP Go and its new features don't really attract me.
0250 Singapore Time:
Some other Japanese boss announces a true sequel to the Metal Gear Solid franchise for the PSP, coming out in 2010. Me: Looks like yet another typical game.
0300 Singapore Time:
Resident Evil game for PSP! Designed from ground up.
Me: As I read the posts of the live blog, apparently they will be launching 100 new titles on the Playstation 2. Looks like they haven't given up on their old system.
0305 Singapore Time:
Talking about their Playstation Network. Me: Doesn't really affect me since I don't own a PS3.
0315 Singapore Time:
Now they are talking about games coming on Playstation 3, showing off gameplay of Assassin's Creed 2, and trailers of Final Fantasy XIII and XIV.
0330 Singapore Time:
Some motion control technology which looks like Sony's answer to Nintendo's Wii Remote is introduced. Me: Pretty interesting. Microsoft announced a 'Project Natal' during its own press conference, something similar which was rather awesome. I think these real-time interactions will be the future of gaming.
0345 Singapore Time:
I shall stop here. Haha.
Ok the game is not supposed to be funny; its about killing zombies. The first game came out last year and had a striking, easy-to-remember cover image:
A disgusting hand with the thumb gone; simple yet told us alot about the game. I thought it was pretty well done.
Now at the gaming exhibition that is ongoing in USA, Left 4 Dead 2 was announced. And the game cover?
Haha I just find it amusing. ^^v
There are plenty of announcements in this year's E3, and many companies use this platform to showcase new games in development. Game trailers are getting more and more movie-like from my observation; besides the Modern Warfare 2 a couple of posts below, there's also:
Assassin's Creed 2,
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction,
Star Wars Old Republic,
and last but not least, the oh-so-funny Left 4 Dead 2 ^^v [gore alert for the innocent minds!]
Soon we can whack zombies with frying pans! ^^v
As I am typing this Sony is holding their press conference, and they just finished showcasing some Playstation 3 game which I have no interest in. Now they are announcing some new developments on the Playstation Portable.
Allow me to give some live updates! Haha.
0235 Singapore Time:
Pink PSP Hannah Montana package! Lol. And some new PSP games.
CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment announces PSP Go! A new PSP device! Me: With 'new' features that don't sound new at all.
Will be launched in October in North America and November in Japan.
Ahahaha new PSP games will be released on UMD discs and digital downloads! Me: Maybe they realise nobody buys the discs? :x
0244 Singapore Time:
Playstation Video Store will be available natively on the PSP.
Some Japanese boss announces Gran Turismo, a Sony flagship racing game on the PSP.
"This is not a shrunken down subset of the series," says the nervous translator. Me: LOL.
Me: Gran Turismo looks interesting enough, but otherwise the PSP Go and its new features don't really attract me.
0250 Singapore Time:
Some other Japanese boss announces a true sequel to the Metal Gear Solid franchise for the PSP, coming out in 2010. Me: Looks like yet another typical game.
0300 Singapore Time:
Resident Evil game for PSP! Designed from ground up.
Me: As I read the posts of the live blog, apparently they will be launching 100 new titles on the Playstation 2. Looks like they haven't given up on their old system.
0305 Singapore Time:
Talking about their Playstation Network. Me: Doesn't really affect me since I don't own a PS3.
0315 Singapore Time:
Now they are talking about games coming on Playstation 3, showing off gameplay of Assassin's Creed 2, and trailers of Final Fantasy XIII and XIV.
0330 Singapore Time:
Some motion control technology which looks like Sony's answer to Nintendo's Wii Remote is introduced. Me: Pretty interesting. Microsoft announced a 'Project Natal' during its own press conference, something similar which was rather awesome. I think these real-time interactions will be the future of gaming.
0345 Singapore Time:
I shall stop here. Haha.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
row row row your boat
You know Dragon Boat Festival is here when you have to eat rice dumplings for breakfast and lunch! Not that I'm complaining though; they are actually quite nice.
I remember back when I was very young, my aunt used to make rice dumplings for selling, and she would 'recruit' my mother to help remove the non-糯米s from bags of 糯米, and I would help out too, because I found it fun then. Haha. At my aunt's house she would set up big pots outside her house along the corridor to steam the packed dumplings.
Now that my aunt is getting on in years she doesn't sell anything anymore, so our dumplings are all bought from outside, and Dragon Boat Festival becomes yet another normal day.
Kinda sad.
My 大伯公 and 地主公 has a new home! Still in the mood for makeovers, my mother decided that the current altar was old, so she bought a newer and smaller sized one. I like the new one. It has a glass top and the wood looks and feels good.
The only bad point is that because of the smaller size it cannot accommodate as many things as the old one.
With this, what's left now are new curtains, the moving away of the two bulky cupboards from the living room to either the rubbish chute or my father's room, the old fridge, 'new' furniture after my cousin sells off her house in August[they are still newer than those in my house now], and hopefully, my little project to set up a very mini sub standard home theater in my father's room. Hehe.
happy 端午节!
I remember back when I was very young, my aunt used to make rice dumplings for selling, and she would 'recruit' my mother to help remove the non-糯米s from bags of 糯米, and I would help out too, because I found it fun then. Haha. At my aunt's house she would set up big pots outside her house along the corridor to steam the packed dumplings.
Now that my aunt is getting on in years she doesn't sell anything anymore, so our dumplings are all bought from outside, and Dragon Boat Festival becomes yet another normal day.
Kinda sad.
My 大伯公 and 地主公 has a new home! Still in the mood for makeovers, my mother decided that the current altar was old, so she bought a newer and smaller sized one. I like the new one. It has a glass top and the wood looks and feels good.
The only bad point is that because of the smaller size it cannot accommodate as many things as the old one.
With this, what's left now are new curtains, the moving away of the two bulky cupboards from the living room to either the rubbish chute or my father's room, the old fridge, 'new' furniture after my cousin sells off her house in August[they are still newer than those in my house now], and hopefully, my little project to set up a very mini sub standard home theater in my father's room. Hehe.
happy 端午节!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
modern warfare 2
Woohoo can't wait!
As I start to lose interest in gaming these days, the sixth game to the Call of Duty series is one of the few games I still look forward to. So far they have not disappointed me, except for the short length of the single player campaign which many have complained since their first game.
That being said, I wonder if my computer will be able to run it when it comes out. The struggle was already a little obvious in the fifth game. Haha.
As an update, my Indian neighbour appeared today! One Indian man returned to the house, along with a man who painted over the loanshark wordings on the common wall. I still have no idea who the borrower was.
Friday, May 22, 2009
who's my neighbour
We were rather close with our next-door neighbours years ago, until one fine day the wife found out that her husband, in the words of my mother, '养了个小龙女', and subsequently moved out and went their separate ways.
The house then changed owners twice; first a Chinese family which moved out about a year later, then an Indian family, but also moved out a few months later, not too long ago. During their respective stays we did not utter a single word to either of the families.
Nobody had an issue with anything, until today we realised paint was splashed onto the next door, with typical loanshark wordings on the lift landing asking for money to be repaid. On the door too, were some papers, apparently addressed to the Chinese family regarding unpaid utility bills.
We have no idea who the loansharks are after, whether is it the Chinese family or the Indian family, given our zero interaction with them. We don't really care too, but going by recent reports on how loansharks go around harrassing neighbours after the original people whom they lent money to disappeared, I hope they leave us alone. We just repainted our house door!
Interesting how there's a recent campaign to help new immigrants get along with their neighbours.
People were much warmer when I was much younger. When the original neighbours were still living next door, we not only knew the family, but also knew the wife's sister and her family; I recalled talking to the wife's sister's daughter before haha.
My aunt, who lives a couple of blocks from us, visited us rather frequently so the original neighbours knew her too. Vice versa, my aunt's next-door neighbours at her block knew who we were as well, so back then, Chinese New Year visits to my aunt's house would definitely include her neighbour's house as well.
Things have changed.
The house then changed owners twice; first a Chinese family which moved out about a year later, then an Indian family, but also moved out a few months later, not too long ago. During their respective stays we did not utter a single word to either of the families.
Nobody had an issue with anything, until today we realised paint was splashed onto the next door, with typical loanshark wordings on the lift landing asking for money to be repaid. On the door too, were some papers, apparently addressed to the Chinese family regarding unpaid utility bills.
We have no idea who the loansharks are after, whether is it the Chinese family or the Indian family, given our zero interaction with them. We don't really care too, but going by recent reports on how loansharks go around harrassing neighbours after the original people whom they lent money to disappeared, I hope they leave us alone. We just repainted our house door!
Interesting how there's a recent campaign to help new immigrants get along with their neighbours.
People were much warmer when I was much younger. When the original neighbours were still living next door, we not only knew the family, but also knew the wife's sister and her family; I recalled talking to the wife's sister's daughter before haha.
My aunt, who lives a couple of blocks from us, visited us rather frequently so the original neighbours knew her too. Vice versa, my aunt's next-door neighbours at her block knew who we were as well, so back then, Chinese New Year visits to my aunt's house would definitely include her neighbour's house as well.
Things have changed.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
makeover
Mini makeover of my house is complete!
Took one day to change the windows in the living room, three bedrooms and two toilets, and two days to give all the rooms a new coat of paint.
My parents were initially deciding if there was a need to install windows grilles, given that we had already grown up, but in the end they were talked into installing them, so that there would be 'no need to close the window panes when friends and relatives bring their kids over'.
I wanted to say we don't receive many visitors anyway, but never mind.
My mother opted for horizontal grilles, so that we could hang clothes and stuff on them, but didn't want the squarish grilles [with both horizontal and vertical, which I think is the norm now] because they would be a bitch to clean.
The end result looked a little bit like a prison window, and I think the windows would have looked great without any grilles at all, just the panes. But maybe thats just because I have never seen horizontal grilles before.
On the plus side, the grilles in the living room are made up of six separate pieces, each being one 'window unit', while the original grilles were three pieces of two 'window units' each. Also, the new window panes come fixed on three rails instead of the original two. Simply said, we can now push all the window panes and grilles to both ends, creating a very big open space of four 'window units' in between, enough for four people to jump off the building hand in hand next to each other.
The windows panes in the living room are dark enough to block out plenty of sunlight, which is especially important for my house given that it faces the South-West direction, but the downside is that I can never use the heavily patterned panes to look at solar eclipses anymore.
Instead of pure white, which had been the colour of our walls for the past twenty over years, a slight hint of green was chosen this time. The walls ended up nice; the colour gives a slight sense of comfort, but the green is so pale that the walls look totally white under sunlight and strong lighting.
While still in the mood of makeovers I decided to give my beloved desktop a makeover as well. I took out every single key on my keyboard and washed the plastic board, dismantled my mouse and cleaned the gaps, and wiped every single cable that ran in and out of it. Did some cable management too when I assembled everything back today so it looks neater. Occupational hazard from my vocation in National Service haha. It still looks messy to the untrained eye, but its really neater now. Haha.
I'm more worried about the heat issues. The computer table has its back against a wall, and I have the CPU, external hard disk, modem and monitor giving off heat all at the same time, with the living room fan and Mother Nature as the only sources of wind. Hope they won't break down so early.
Spent the rest of the time cleaning up the entire house from the outrageous amounts of dust and dried paint. Swept, thrown, mopped, wiped, vacuumed, washed. Repeat. And repeat. And repeat.
There's still plenty of things yet to be thrown away; like an old fridge, an old washing machine, and old curtains. I have a feeling they are going to stay with us at least for the time being.
Looks like they haven't lost their sense of fun!
Took one day to change the windows in the living room, three bedrooms and two toilets, and two days to give all the rooms a new coat of paint.
My parents were initially deciding if there was a need to install windows grilles, given that we had already grown up, but in the end they were talked into installing them, so that there would be 'no need to close the window panes when friends and relatives bring their kids over'.
I wanted to say we don't receive many visitors anyway, but never mind.
My mother opted for horizontal grilles, so that we could hang clothes and stuff on them, but didn't want the squarish grilles [with both horizontal and vertical, which I think is the norm now] because they would be a bitch to clean.
The end result looked a little bit like a prison window, and I think the windows would have looked great without any grilles at all, just the panes. But maybe thats just because I have never seen horizontal grilles before.
On the plus side, the grilles in the living room are made up of six separate pieces, each being one 'window unit', while the original grilles were three pieces of two 'window units' each. Also, the new window panes come fixed on three rails instead of the original two. Simply said, we can now push all the window panes and grilles to both ends, creating a very big open space of four 'window units' in between, enough for four people to jump off the building hand in hand next to each other.
The windows panes in the living room are dark enough to block out plenty of sunlight, which is especially important for my house given that it faces the South-West direction, but the downside is that I can never use the heavily patterned panes to look at solar eclipses anymore.
Instead of pure white, which had been the colour of our walls for the past twenty over years, a slight hint of green was chosen this time. The walls ended up nice; the colour gives a slight sense of comfort, but the green is so pale that the walls look totally white under sunlight and strong lighting.
While still in the mood of makeovers I decided to give my beloved desktop a makeover as well. I took out every single key on my keyboard and washed the plastic board, dismantled my mouse and cleaned the gaps, and wiped every single cable that ran in and out of it. Did some cable management too when I assembled everything back today so it looks neater. Occupational hazard from my vocation in National Service haha. It still looks messy to the untrained eye, but its really neater now. Haha.
I'm more worried about the heat issues. The computer table has its back against a wall, and I have the CPU, external hard disk, modem and monitor giving off heat all at the same time, with the living room fan and Mother Nature as the only sources of wind. Hope they won't break down so early.
Spent the rest of the time cleaning up the entire house from the outrageous amounts of dust and dried paint. Swept, thrown, mopped, wiped, vacuumed, washed. Repeat. And repeat. And repeat.
There's still plenty of things yet to be thrown away; like an old fridge, an old washing machine, and old curtains. I have a feeling they are going to stay with us at least for the time being.
Looks like they haven't lost their sense of fun!
Monday, May 11, 2009
no idea what to put as title
The man who caused me to waste one month of my life away had been caught!
So, a person did something wrong. Then someone came along and fixed the wrong thing right again. And the person who did wrong now said that he helped this someone fixed the wrong thing right, and claimed credit for it.
And then, there was also this teen who got arrested after he whacked a door with a chair; reason why the owner of the door and the chair called the police was because she thought the chair could kill somebody.
You know, when I was much younger, I was always very excited whenever 9th August came. Now as I grow older, I'm not so sure anymore.
Lately I have been watching the 9pm drama on Channel 8, since the television and my computer are both in the living room. The theme revolves around our local education system, and watching it reminds me of my school days. I like the way they portray tuition as a commercial business. It makes me wonder whether there are still people out there who teaches because he wants to help, rather than because he wants to earn money.
I guess teaching a friend is considered helping, whereas teaching a stranger is considered tuition.
In one of the scenes in the drama, the mother refused to let her son join the school badminton team, preferring him to study so he could become the doctor or the lawyer she wanted him to be. She said she would rather her son blame her now for not letting him play, then blame her when he grows up for not achieving good results.
Well personally I am regretting not playing more during my school years. Haha. Somehow there aren't many memorable things I can recall of my school years now. I should have played more soccer, and I should not have appealed into triple science haha. I think I had missed out plenty of fun when I was in the converted library while everyone else were in the container classrooms, and later, when I was on the fourth floor and everyone else, the fifth.
Haha I have the cassette! I was very, very young then when my brother bought this set done by Jack Neo and his team. There were two cassettes, one on National Service, another on various Comedy Night characters. In the cassette tapes were plenty of songs with edited lyrics [like the one above], and alot of jokes and dialogs. Not sure whether they can still be played now haha.
Anyway for those unfamiliar:
CMPB: Central Manpower Base
ITD: Infantry Training Depot, last time's Tekong.
CSM: Company Sergeant Major, some high rank.
No.3: Office attire
No.4: Camouflage uniform.
SOC: Standard Obstacle Course
I didn't understand anything back then. Now I find them so funny. And true. Haha.
So, a person did something wrong. Then someone came along and fixed the wrong thing right again. And the person who did wrong now said that he helped this someone fixed the wrong thing right, and claimed credit for it.
And then, there was also this teen who got arrested after he whacked a door with a chair; reason why the owner of the door and the chair called the police was because she thought the chair could kill somebody.
You know, when I was much younger, I was always very excited whenever 9th August came. Now as I grow older, I'm not so sure anymore.
Lately I have been watching the 9pm drama on Channel 8, since the television and my computer are both in the living room. The theme revolves around our local education system, and watching it reminds me of my school days. I like the way they portray tuition as a commercial business. It makes me wonder whether there are still people out there who teaches because he wants to help, rather than because he wants to earn money.
I guess teaching a friend is considered helping, whereas teaching a stranger is considered tuition.
In one of the scenes in the drama, the mother refused to let her son join the school badminton team, preferring him to study so he could become the doctor or the lawyer she wanted him to be. She said she would rather her son blame her now for not letting him play, then blame her when he grows up for not achieving good results.
Well personally I am regretting not playing more during my school years. Haha. Somehow there aren't many memorable things I can recall of my school years now. I should have played more soccer, and I should not have appealed into triple science haha. I think I had missed out plenty of fun when I was in the converted library while everyone else were in the container classrooms, and later, when I was on the fourth floor and everyone else, the fifth.
Haha I have the cassette! I was very, very young then when my brother bought this set done by Jack Neo and his team. There were two cassettes, one on National Service, another on various Comedy Night characters. In the cassette tapes were plenty of songs with edited lyrics [like the one above], and alot of jokes and dialogs. Not sure whether they can still be played now haha.
Anyway for those unfamiliar:
CMPB: Central Manpower Base
ITD: Infantry Training Depot, last time's Tekong.
CSM: Company Sergeant Major, some high rank.
No.3: Office attire
No.4: Camouflage uniform.
SOC: Standard Obstacle Course
I didn't understand anything back then. Now I find them so funny. And true. Haha.
Attended a birthday party where I saw a huge close-knitted family. How nice to see a extended family where there's so much noise, so much laughter, so much warmth.
My extended family, on the other hand, was about how a cousin's wife called another cousin's children stupid, which ended up with demands for apologies and tea serving ceremonies, or fighting over the use of television, the use of maids, among others.
I think I have terrible handwriting. Capable of screwing up otherwise beautiful looking things. Ha.
Starting tomorrow my house will be having a mini makeover! Besides the kitchen windows which we changed years ago, the rest of the windows in the house are still the original ones from twenty years back. So they will all be changed to new ones. After that the entire house will also be given a new coat of paint, and some old stuff will be thrown away.
Reason my parents gave was that if we were to sell our house next time we will have to do some makeover anyway, so might as well do it now. Whatever.
In order to keep the dust and the paint out, we kept plenty of things into boxes, or covered them in newspapers. That will include my modem. Unless I'm not lazy to take it out of the box, I will be back three days later.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
sit down and shut up!
My initial opinion about the recent events was that in other parts of the world, people are avoiding crowded places to reduce the spread of the H1N1 flu [cannot use the term 'swine flu' because its not found in pigs. Using the term 'swine flu' will affect the entire pig industry.], while in our lovely island of Singapore, we are squeezing ourselves as much as possible into a tiny room fighting over the running of some organisation.
Then again, after following the entire incident closely today, I have decided that it was not a childish act after all; we have shown everyone that we are neither oppressed nor politically apathetic people. We don't keep quiet when something goes wrong; we do fight back when we need to.
Hurray!
The power of new media was also felt today. Traditional media like television news channels and photographers were not allowed into the meeting today, but those outside were kept updated by Twitter feeds from those inside. The foreigners unaware [pun unintended] of what was happening were wondering why the topic was, all of a sudden, more popular than the flu pandemic and the Wolverine movie.
02 x Hurray!
As for myself, all I want to say is, one, Singapore is a secular society, two, homosexuality is a personal choice, and three, one cannot turn into a homosexual or a lesbian simply by attending sexuality programmes.
***********
I recently finished this book about mathematics: Letters to a young mathematician by Ian Stewart. Its a general book that talks about mathematics, not one that teaches. The book itself isn't that bad, but occasionally I find the English a little too complicated for me to understand; other times the book, especially in the early chapters, was pointing out rather obvious facts. Like why and how we should study maths. Hmm.
In an attempt to reach a wide audience some chapters were irrelevant to me. Like how as a graduate student one should not get too close to his advisor, or how one should teach Maths as a PhD lecturer in a university. =S
***********
So many people are going overseas. What a great difference.
Then again, after following the entire incident closely today, I have decided that it was not a childish act after all; we have shown everyone that we are neither oppressed nor politically apathetic people. We don't keep quiet when something goes wrong; we do fight back when we need to.
Hurray!
The power of new media was also felt today. Traditional media like television news channels and photographers were not allowed into the meeting today, but those outside were kept updated by Twitter feeds from those inside. The foreigners unaware [pun unintended] of what was happening were wondering why the topic was, all of a sudden, more popular than the flu pandemic and the Wolverine movie.
02 x Hurray!
As for myself, all I want to say is, one, Singapore is a secular society, two, homosexuality is a personal choice, and three, one cannot turn into a homosexual or a lesbian simply by attending sexuality programmes.
***********
I recently finished this book about mathematics: Letters to a young mathematician by Ian Stewart. Its a general book that talks about mathematics, not one that teaches. The book itself isn't that bad, but occasionally I find the English a little too complicated for me to understand; other times the book, especially in the early chapters, was pointing out rather obvious facts. Like why and how we should study maths. Hmm.
In an attempt to reach a wide audience some chapters were irrelevant to me. Like how as a graduate student one should not get too close to his advisor, or how one should teach Maths as a PhD lecturer in a university. =S
***********
So many people are going overseas. What a great difference.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Earth Day
Its a day that was supposed to remind us to take care of our lovely Mother Earth, and this year's Earth Day seemed to have done its job pretty well, going by the extreme weathers that occurred in a short twenty-four hour period.
It was an extremely warm day today [and the previous few days too], and as the Sun sets, the 6.30pm news on television reported a heatwave in India. At night, there came a spectacular lightning show, after which, all of a sudden, a very, very strong gust of wind hit almost the entire Singapore.
While I closed all the windows I left a gap big enough for me to stick my head out and feel the gust of wind, which immediately blew dust particles into my eyes @#$%!. For a moment I wondered whether my living room windows were going to hold haha; of course they did, but one of the flowerpots outside my house was blown onto the floor by the wind. Luckily it didn't break.
I recall there were very strong winds at the start of the year too, but I don't remember one capable of bringing down my flowerpot. This gust of wind was epic, and very mysterious. It left a barrage of threads in the forums immediately, many forummers surprised by the occurrence.
Recently there were news reports about possible solar flares hitting Earth in 2012, which could potentially damage all our electrical and electronic equipment, throwing all of us back into Ice Age if we are not already dead.
True or not I don't know, although the year does tally with a whole range of prophecies and predictions that 2012 will be end of the world. One thing for sure is that we need to stop destroying our lovely Earth before its too late.
I quite like the wind though; cooling and smells good haha.
***********
Lately the food poisoning case that resulted in a hundred over people in hospitals threw food stalls and the cleanliness rating system into the limelight. So now there is the talk that food stalls should all aim to get A or B for their ratings, with a hint that customers should only buy food from those with As or Bs, and not from those with Cs or Ds. One letter to the local newspapers suggests converting all kopitiams to air-conditioned food courts, and the Health Minister says he doesn't mind paying abit more for the security [which I do].
You know, I have always loved the whole commercial area just opposite my house; the five kopitiams and one food court mean there is a large variety of food I can choose from.
But I, for one, have never bothered finding out what ratings those food stalls have. While I agree that basic hygiene and cleanliness are important, the ratings are not in my considerations when I buy my food. Trust in the stallholders, my own visual judgment, the cost, the quantity, and most importantly, what I want to eat, are what go through my mind when I decide which stall to buy from.
All these news came at a time where the Education Ministry decides to scrap examinations at Primary One and Primary Two levels so students will stop being obsessed with grades and results.
*************
I seriously wonder what the Thais want. Stability of the country by making a big mess out of it?
Friday, April 17, 2009
panorama
After reading an article on photo stitching in the latest issue of Digital Life I decided to try it out myself. During my Wallaby trip last year I had wanted to take panoramic photos of the various waterfronts I went to; but the camera I borrowed from my friend lacked the function. So all I did was take several photos of the places, and now I have the chance to stitch them together.
Tried out one of the recommended software in the papers, Hugin, which is free for download and use!
Had quite alot of photos in sequence, but many didn't turn out nice after the stitching.
[I have a feeling the panoramic images are going to screw up my blog layout.]
The most successful photo! Result of stitching four photos together. Place in question was Freshwater Bay, which was inside the restricted training area.
The second most successful; stitched five photos together. There's a small disconnection of the beach, otherwise it doesn't look too bad. Its a pity I don't have the photos to stitch to the left of the image. This was the beach in the small coastal town of Yeppoon. Great windy place!
Overall the software Hugin is rather easy to use, although it stumped me initially with some of the technical terms. I am quite impressed with the algorithms it uses to manipulate the images; hopefully one day I can learn how to do it hehe.
All these is making me yearn for a good camera; which I have been saying for ages but haven't got down to getting one. Haha. I bloody want a bloody camera!
Tried out one of the recommended software in the papers, Hugin, which is free for download and use!
Had quite alot of photos in sequence, but many didn't turn out nice after the stitching.
[I have a feeling the panoramic images are going to screw up my blog layout.]
The most successful photo! Result of stitching four photos together. Place in question was Freshwater Bay, which was inside the restricted training area.
The second most successful; stitched five photos together. There's a small disconnection of the beach, otherwise it doesn't look too bad. Its a pity I don't have the photos to stitch to the left of the image. This was the beach in the small coastal town of Yeppoon. Great windy place!
Overall the software Hugin is rather easy to use, although it stumped me initially with some of the technical terms. I am quite impressed with the algorithms it uses to manipulate the images; hopefully one day I can learn how to do it hehe.
All these is making me yearn for a good camera; which I have been saying for ages but haven't got down to getting one. Haha. I bloody want a bloody camera!
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
叶子 - 阿桑
叶子 是不会飞翔的翅膀
翅膀 是落在天上的叶子
天堂 原来应该不是妄想
只是我早已经遗忘
当初怎么开始飞翔
孤单 是一个人的狂欢
狂欢 是一群人的孤单
爱情 原来的开始是陪伴
但我也渐渐地遗忘
当时是怎样有人陪伴
我一个人吃饭 旅行 到处走走停停
也一个人看书 写信 自己对话谈心
只是心又飘到了哪里
就连自己看也看不清
我想我不仅仅是失去你
This was the only song from her that I have listened to, but I remembered liking the song alot when I first heard it. Its a pity.
翅膀 是落在天上的叶子
天堂 原来应该不是妄想
只是我早已经遗忘
当初怎么开始飞翔
孤单 是一个人的狂欢
狂欢 是一群人的孤单
爱情 原来的开始是陪伴
但我也渐渐地遗忘
当时是怎样有人陪伴
我一个人吃饭 旅行 到处走走停停
也一个人看书 写信 自己对话谈心
只是心又飘到了哪里
就连自己看也看不清
我想我不仅仅是失去你
This was the only song from her that I have listened to, but I remembered liking the song alot when I first heard it. Its a pity.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
the rich gets richer, the poor gets poorer
After a talk with my parents I decided not to apply for financial aid this year. Looking at the combined monthly incomes of my family there is no way I am going to get any form of help. Oh my god I laugh at my own stupidity. Hopefully I get it.
I can't really say that the person who is earning the most right now is not contributing a single cent to the household.
I can't really say that the person who is earning the most right now is not contributing a single cent to the household.
Monday, March 30, 2009
the 'turbo' button
After my Primary School Leaving Examinations, I bought a Sega Dreamcast gaming console [with the support of my mother but not my father, leading to a cold war between him and me lasting a month]. The console was sold in a package, which included a second controller, because back then when online gaming was not introduced to consoles yet, nobody bought a console with only one controller.
So the shopkeeper asked me, "The second controller, you want the one with the 'turbo' button or without?"
At the innocent young age of twelve, I had no idea how the 'turbo' button was going to help in any games, but since turbo == fast, I thought somehow it must be good, so I got the one with the 'turbo' button.
Later it turned out, that controller was simply a non-original one [which means it was made by a third party and not by Sega]. And the 'turbo' button didn't really had any effect on anything [with the exception of Street Fighter 3 if I remember vaguely, the 'turbo' screwed up the gameplay -.-||]
As time went by I had more encounters with the turbo, mostly in games where a single press of the button gave me a short burst of acceleration that put me far beyond the reach of my opponents.
Then as I grew older and learnt more I realised the 'turbo' function was something unrealistic that existed only in the virtual world; one don't find turbo buttons in real world family sedans; one cannot make himself run at supersonic speeds suddenly, because one can't create energy out of nowhere realistically.
The closest thing that comes to it was nitrous oxide, but the gas runs out pretty quickly and it cannot be refilled unless one is playing the Need For Speed series of games, which are, well, games.
Until this season's Formula One!
With the start of this year's season comes the introduction of Kinetic Energy Recovery System, or KERS. Basically KERS stores the energy released from braking, usually wasted as heat, and stored it so drivers can use to increase their speed for a short while, at the press of a button, something right out of the virtual world.
I think KERS has already being in existence for quite some time, but the first time it was brought into Formula One. Still its an expensive system, so only the richer teams carry it.
I usually find Formula One boring because the strategies employed by the teams to win are the number of pit stops, the positions on the starting grid, the point system, the safety car, which all had nothing to do with racing at all; overtaking is far and rare in Formula One. And I haven't mention how budget is proportional to the number of wins.
Now with KERS, together with numerous other changes, like reduced downforce, slick tyres that reduce grip, overtaking is much more possible. Already I saw many splendid overtaking maneuvers during the first race of the season, the Melbourne Grand Prix.
Then again, maybe I watch too many dramas or play too many games haha.
Hopefully the rest of the season is going to be as exciting as the Melbourne race, and that the appeal on the diffuser problem will not affect how the rest of the races are going to turn out. I can't wait for the Singapore GP!
One day I should get back to watching World Rally Championship again, still my all time favourite racing event. And how can I forget DiRT 2!
So the shopkeeper asked me, "The second controller, you want the one with the 'turbo' button or without?"
At the innocent young age of twelve, I had no idea how the 'turbo' button was going to help in any games, but since turbo == fast, I thought somehow it must be good, so I got the one with the 'turbo' button.
Later it turned out, that controller was simply a non-original one [which means it was made by a third party and not by Sega]. And the 'turbo' button didn't really had any effect on anything [with the exception of Street Fighter 3 if I remember vaguely, the 'turbo' screwed up the gameplay -.-||]
As time went by I had more encounters with the turbo, mostly in games where a single press of the button gave me a short burst of acceleration that put me far beyond the reach of my opponents.
Then as I grew older and learnt more I realised the 'turbo' function was something unrealistic that existed only in the virtual world; one don't find turbo buttons in real world family sedans; one cannot make himself run at supersonic speeds suddenly, because one can't create energy out of nowhere realistically.
The closest thing that comes to it was nitrous oxide, but the gas runs out pretty quickly and it cannot be refilled unless one is playing the Need For Speed series of games, which are, well, games.
Until this season's Formula One!
With the start of this year's season comes the introduction of Kinetic Energy Recovery System, or KERS. Basically KERS stores the energy released from braking, usually wasted as heat, and stored it so drivers can use to increase their speed for a short while, at the press of a button, something right out of the virtual world.
I think KERS has already being in existence for quite some time, but the first time it was brought into Formula One. Still its an expensive system, so only the richer teams carry it.
I usually find Formula One boring because the strategies employed by the teams to win are the number of pit stops, the positions on the starting grid, the point system, the safety car, which all had nothing to do with racing at all; overtaking is far and rare in Formula One. And I haven't mention how budget is proportional to the number of wins.
Now with KERS, together with numerous other changes, like reduced downforce, slick tyres that reduce grip, overtaking is much more possible. Already I saw many splendid overtaking maneuvers during the first race of the season, the Melbourne Grand Prix.
Then again, maybe I watch too many dramas or play too many games haha.
Hopefully the rest of the season is going to be as exciting as the Melbourne race, and that the appeal on the diffuser problem will not affect how the rest of the races are going to turn out. I can't wait for the Singapore GP!
One day I should get back to watching World Rally Championship again, still my all time favourite racing event. And how can I forget DiRT 2!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
my little contribution to Earth Hour
Well the song is not exactly about saving the Earth, but since it depicts what everyone is encouraged to do later at night, so here it is!
全世界都停电 - Tank
连你都会残忍隔绝
我的心能要谁了解
眼中烛光摇晃着熄灭
为何把我推向边缘
被砸坏了的一切
卡住了我让我无法往前
囚禁在距离笑声最远的房间
单独隔离 寂寞地盘旋
全世界都停了电 全世界都封了街
我所有窗子外面 被贴上黑夜
我呐喊思念 却没人听见
绝望到极点剩的是疲倦
全世界都停了电 全世界白雪满天
才发觉在我心间 有回忆碎片
一作梦翻身 就刺痛流血
我卷着身体缩成一个圈 像一个句点
连你都会残忍隔绝
我的心能要谁了解
眼中烛光摇晃着熄灭
为何把我推向边缘
被砸坏了的一切
卡住了我让我无法往前
囚禁在距离笑声最远的房间
单独隔离 寂寞地盘旋
全世界都停了电 全世界都封了街
我所有窗子外面 被贴上黑夜
我呐喊思念 却没人听见
绝望到极点剩的是疲倦
全世界都停了电 全世界白雪满天
才发觉在我心间 有回忆碎片
一作梦翻身 就刺痛流血
我卷着身体缩成一个圈 像一个句点
Save the Earth!
全世界都停电 - Tank
连你都会残忍隔绝
我的心能要谁了解
眼中烛光摇晃着熄灭
为何把我推向边缘
被砸坏了的一切
卡住了我让我无法往前
囚禁在距离笑声最远的房间
单独隔离 寂寞地盘旋
全世界都停了电 全世界都封了街
我所有窗子外面 被贴上黑夜
我呐喊思念 却没人听见
绝望到极点剩的是疲倦
全世界都停了电 全世界白雪满天
才发觉在我心间 有回忆碎片
一作梦翻身 就刺痛流血
我卷着身体缩成一个圈 像一个句点
连你都会残忍隔绝
我的心能要谁了解
眼中烛光摇晃着熄灭
为何把我推向边缘
被砸坏了的一切
卡住了我让我无法往前
囚禁在距离笑声最远的房间
单独隔离 寂寞地盘旋
全世界都停了电 全世界都封了街
我所有窗子外面 被贴上黑夜
我呐喊思念 却没人听见
绝望到极点剩的是疲倦
全世界都停了电 全世界白雪满天
才发觉在我心间 有回忆碎片
一作梦翻身 就刺痛流血
我卷着身体缩成一个圈 像一个句点
Save the Earth!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Do you want to win S$200,000 in the OCBC Happy Savings Draw?
The new 2009 MSN Live Messenger.
Fulham 2 Man U 0
New layout; not used to it yet. They reduced the difference between the person's nickname and the actual messages, making the entire conversation window look like one wall of text. The main messenger window too.
There are only four different statuses now; Available, Busy, Away and Appear Offline, differentiated by four different colours.
The "What's New" thingy at the bottom gives updates on everything one's friends have done in their Live.
Quite useless in my opinion; but luckily can turn it off.
An icon will appear at the top right hand corner of the main window when one rests his pointer there, allowing one to change the look of the main window. Again useless in my opinion.
This new Messenger feels more like catching up in the looks department so it looks more like an application in Vista. So in short, no big deal.
Fulham 2 Man U 0
New layout; not used to it yet. They reduced the difference between the person's nickname and the actual messages, making the entire conversation window look like one wall of text. The main messenger window too.
There are only four different statuses now; Available, Busy, Away and Appear Offline, differentiated by four different colours.
The "What's New" thingy at the bottom gives updates on everything one's friends have done in their Live.
Quite useless in my opinion; but luckily can turn it off.
An icon will appear at the top right hand corner of the main window when one rests his pointer there, allowing one to change the look of the main window. Again useless in my opinion.
This new Messenger feels more like catching up in the looks department so it looks more like an application in Vista. So in short, no big deal.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
如烟 - 五月天
我坐在床前 望著窗外 回忆满天
生命是华丽错觉 时间是贼 偷走一切
七岁的那一年 抓住那只蝉 以为能抓住夏天
十七岁的那年 吻过她的脸 就以为和她能永远
有没有那么一种永远 永远不改变
拥抱过的美丽都 再也不破碎
让险峻岁月不能在脸上撒野
让生离和死别都遥远 有谁能听见
我坐在床前 转过头看 谁在沉睡
那一张苍老的脸 好像是我 紧闭双眼
曾经是爱我的 和我深爱的 都围绕在我身边
带不走的那些 遗憾和眷恋
就化成最后一滴泪
有没有那么一滴眼泪 能洗掉后悔
化成大雨降落在 回不去的街
再给我一次机会 将故事改写
还欠了他一生的 一句抱歉
有没有那么一个世界 永远不天黑
星星太阳万物都 听我的指挥
月亮不忙著圆缺 春天不走远
树梢紧紧拥抱著树叶 有谁能听见
耳际 眼前 此生重演
是我来自漆黑 而又回归漆黑
人间 瞬间 天地之间
下次我 又是谁
有没有那么一朵玫瑰 永远不凋谢
永远骄傲和完美 永远不妥协
为何人生最后会像一张纸屑
还不如一片花瓣曾经鲜艳
有没有那么一张书签 停止那一天
最单纯的笑脸和 最美那一年
书包里面装满了蛋糕和汽水
双眼只有无猜和无邪 让我们无法无天
有没有那么一首诗篇 找不到句点
青春永远定居在 我们的岁月
男孩和女孩都有吉他和舞鞋
笑忘人间的苦痛 只有甜美
有没有那么一个明天 重头活一遍
让我再次感受曾 挥霍的昨天
无论生存或生活 我都不浪费
不让故事这么的后悔
有谁能听见 我不要告别
我坐在床前 看著指尖 已经如烟
生命是华丽错觉 时间是贼 偷走一切
七岁的那一年 抓住那只蝉 以为能抓住夏天
十七岁的那年 吻过她的脸 就以为和她能永远
有没有那么一种永远 永远不改变
拥抱过的美丽都 再也不破碎
让险峻岁月不能在脸上撒野
让生离和死别都遥远 有谁能听见
我坐在床前 转过头看 谁在沉睡
那一张苍老的脸 好像是我 紧闭双眼
曾经是爱我的 和我深爱的 都围绕在我身边
带不走的那些 遗憾和眷恋
就化成最后一滴泪
有没有那么一滴眼泪 能洗掉后悔
化成大雨降落在 回不去的街
再给我一次机会 将故事改写
还欠了他一生的 一句抱歉
有没有那么一个世界 永远不天黑
星星太阳万物都 听我的指挥
月亮不忙著圆缺 春天不走远
树梢紧紧拥抱著树叶 有谁能听见
耳际 眼前 此生重演
是我来自漆黑 而又回归漆黑
人间 瞬间 天地之间
下次我 又是谁
有没有那么一朵玫瑰 永远不凋谢
永远骄傲和完美 永远不妥协
为何人生最后会像一张纸屑
还不如一片花瓣曾经鲜艳
有没有那么一张书签 停止那一天
最单纯的笑脸和 最美那一年
书包里面装满了蛋糕和汽水
双眼只有无猜和无邪 让我们无法无天
有没有那么一首诗篇 找不到句点
青春永远定居在 我们的岁月
男孩和女孩都有吉他和舞鞋
笑忘人间的苦痛 只有甜美
有没有那么一个明天 重头活一遍
让我再次感受曾 挥霍的昨天
无论生存或生活 我都不浪费
不让故事这么的后悔
有谁能听见 我不要告别
我坐在床前 看著指尖 已经如烟
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
reduced intelligence
In an attempt to find out why VJC did not win anything in this year's National Olympiad in Informatics, I went to try out the problem set myself.
This year's problem set had been reduced to four, instead of six in previous years. Therefore, instead of giving progressively difficult questions, this time out of the four, only the first was a giveaway. The second problem was a story so long I could not understand; the third was a simplified Traveling Salesman Problem which I tried but had quite forgotten how to code it out :/ The last problem was on ciphers which I had no idea how to solve.
Two years of National Service had had its effect on me; I have become more stupid now. Although I should say I did not have a good knowledge on the various algorithms in the first place. Haix.
The rain is coming! I love rain!
This year's problem set had been reduced to four, instead of six in previous years. Therefore, instead of giving progressively difficult questions, this time out of the four, only the first was a giveaway. The second problem was a story so long I could not understand; the third was a simplified Traveling Salesman Problem which I tried but had quite forgotten how to code it out :/ The last problem was on ciphers which I had no idea how to solve.
Two years of National Service had had its effect on me; I have become more stupid now. Although I should say I did not have a good knowledge on the various algorithms in the first place. Haix.
The rain is coming! I love rain!
Monday, March 16, 2009
看病难，养老难，上学难
Caught a repeat of 焦点, and those were the 三座大山 that many people in China are facing now. Quite an apt description, not just to the Chinese but to everyone too. I remember there was a dumb Channel 8 television drama which I watched in the past, and the character in the drama was saying in Singapore, its better to die than fall sick.
The show talked about millions of graduates in China who could not find jobs. And today's news mentioned tens of thousands of graduates in Singapore who are jobless.
And there were the Singaporeans who put their aged parents in nursing homes in Johor and even Malacca because the nursing homes in Singapore were too expensive to afford.
I loved the watch! Thanks to all yet again. Must have cost quite abit, felt bad that you all are spending money on me. Have not worn a watch for a long time, and still not used to an analog watch. A little too formal. Hehe.
The best birthday wish I had came from my very good friend in primary school. Although since primary school we had both moved on with our respective lives and seldom talk to each other anymore, even on MSN, the birthday wishes to each other still carried on year after year without fail. To 15 years of friendship!
My house is now bright again! Some time back my father decided the original round fluorescent light tubes were too expensive, so switched to the really small type that one normally uses for toilets, and it made the entire living room looked really dark.
I guess my mother complained about it, so now its back to the round light tubes again, but with a smaller radius, most probably cheaper as well. Nevertheless the living room looks like a living room again.
When I was much younger, and when the family was warmer then, the living room was always lit with both lights at night, and I really loved the very bright living room. Now, in the name of saving electricity and the cost of replacing the light tubes, only one light is on at night, and sometimes when I come home at 7.30pm the living room will still be in pitch black. I don't like dark living rooms.
Then again, even if the lights are still there, the noises aren't anymore.
The show talked about millions of graduates in China who could not find jobs. And today's news mentioned tens of thousands of graduates in Singapore who are jobless.
And there were the Singaporeans who put their aged parents in nursing homes in Johor and even Malacca because the nursing homes in Singapore were too expensive to afford.
I loved the watch! Thanks to all yet again. Must have cost quite abit, felt bad that you all are spending money on me. Have not worn a watch for a long time, and still not used to an analog watch. A little too formal. Hehe.
The best birthday wish I had came from my very good friend in primary school. Although since primary school we had both moved on with our respective lives and seldom talk to each other anymore, even on MSN, the birthday wishes to each other still carried on year after year without fail. To 15 years of friendship!
My house is now bright again! Some time back my father decided the original round fluorescent light tubes were too expensive, so switched to the really small type that one normally uses for toilets, and it made the entire living room looked really dark.
I guess my mother complained about it, so now its back to the round light tubes again, but with a smaller radius, most probably cheaper as well. Nevertheless the living room looks like a living room again.
When I was much younger, and when the family was warmer then, the living room was always lit with both lights at night, and I really loved the very bright living room. Now, in the name of saving electricity and the cost of replacing the light tubes, only one light is on at night, and sometimes when I come home at 7.30pm the living room will still be in pitch black. I don't like dark living rooms.
Then again, even if the lights are still there, the noises aren't anymore.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
narrow and complicated
That's how my mind works sometimes.
I finally solved the problem with my MIO router that had plagued me since day one when I gotten it, by a fairly simple method that had eluded me for so long because, as the title says, my mindset had been too narrow and complicated.
As mentioned before, my desktop would be disconnected from the router, and hence the internet, whenever I played games; any game, with the unexplainable exception of Company of Heroes which I could still play. Also I had no problems with other activities like web surfing and MSN-ing. Even my most bandwidth intensive activity, torrent-ing, worked without any problems.
So I tried all sorts of methods to my LAN card; reading up tons of articles, turning off power saving options, updating drivers, disabling IPv6, etc. I reset my router, tried to bridge it to my Asus router :S, installed Microsoft Network Monitor and monitored my network traffic, then installed a Linksys LAN card, just to describe a few.
Couple of days ago I realised, to my stupidity, that besides LAN cable, I could actually connect my router to my desktop via USB cable too. For a long time all I had in my mind was LAN, LAN, and LAN, because that was the case when I used Starhub before I switched over [and then there was my two years of National Service where it was even more LAN]. And people these days don't connect routers to computers via USB anymore, because it requires installation of the router.
Problem solved, at least for now. Tried half an hour of Left 4 Dead and I'm still connected. And there's one more light blinking furiously on my router now. Ha.
Of course that did not come easy. Apparently there was no installation software to get my desktop to recognise my router, so I had to comb the Internet for a while before I managed to obtain it.
Haha I laugh at myself.
I finally solved the problem with my MIO router that had plagued me since day one when I gotten it, by a fairly simple method that had eluded me for so long because, as the title says, my mindset had been too narrow and complicated.
As mentioned before, my desktop would be disconnected from the router, and hence the internet, whenever I played games; any game, with the unexplainable exception of Company of Heroes which I could still play. Also I had no problems with other activities like web surfing and MSN-ing. Even my most bandwidth intensive activity, torrent-ing, worked without any problems.
So I tried all sorts of methods to my LAN card; reading up tons of articles, turning off power saving options, updating drivers, disabling IPv6, etc. I reset my router, tried to bridge it to my Asus router :S, installed Microsoft Network Monitor and monitored my network traffic, then installed a Linksys LAN card, just to describe a few.
Couple of days ago I realised, to my stupidity, that besides LAN cable, I could actually connect my router to my desktop via USB cable too. For a long time all I had in my mind was LAN, LAN, and LAN, because that was the case when I used Starhub before I switched over [and then there was my two years of National Service where it was even more LAN]. And people these days don't connect routers to computers via USB anymore, because it requires installation of the router.
Problem solved, at least for now. Tried half an hour of Left 4 Dead and I'm still connected. And there's one more light blinking furiously on my router now. Ha.
Of course that did not come easy. Apparently there was no installation software to get my desktop to recognise my router, so I had to comb the Internet for a while before I managed to obtain it.
Haha I laugh at myself.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
disappointment
1.
2. So turns out past two days I was not the only one to experience the [very] frequent Internet disconnections; there were a few others who had the same problem too, and we all lived in the same area, meaning something is wrong at the service provider's side.
I sent an email before I realised I was not the only one, so a technician has already been scheduled to come down to my house next week. Its ok, for even without the disconnections for the past two days, I still have other problems [together with tons of evidence to show] for the technician to solve.
How interesting it is that when I was in National Service, I was the 'technician' who went around solving problems that users encountered.
2. So turns out past two days I was not the only one to experience the [very] frequent Internet disconnections; there were a few others who had the same problem too, and we all lived in the same area, meaning something is wrong at the service provider's side.
I sent an email before I realised I was not the only one, so a technician has already been scheduled to come down to my house next week. Its ok, for even without the disconnections for the past two days, I still have other problems [together with tons of evidence to show] for the technician to solve.
How interesting it is that when I was in National Service, I was the 'technician' who went around solving problems that users encountered.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
deception
Another Wallaby 2008 photo. Its the Rockhampton Post Office, which I thought was in use but turned out it wasn't anymore. Obviously the building had been given a facelift; looked new and nice.
Add a film grain and a sepia overlay, and...
Couple of days back, the news carried a report about an economic rice stall that was selling food at $2.20. The stallholder when interviewed talked about a regular customer who could not even afford $1 economic rice, and fell to his death, probably because he was too weak from the lack of energy.
And then there was this organisation that managed to raise $19 million in less than 24 hours, for construction of its new building. 22,000 people donated, which means on average each person gave more than $800.
Again overdone.
And what the hell is wrong with my Internet tonight?
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
discoveries of a mountain tortoise: widescreen
Being in a poor family means that I am usually not among the early birds when it comes to playing with new gadgets. I only get to use them when the ones I have finally break down one day.
So, despite widescreen technology already being in the market for years, today was the first time I got to play with one, because my LG 4:3 LCD monitor is still running perfectly well. My father, perhaps out of his mind, came home with a China-branded LCD TV [apparently he bought it because it was cheap -.-']. Happily I borrowed it to hook up to my desktop.
Switching from standard 4:3 resolutions to widescreen 16:9 there is nothing to 'wow' about simply by looking at the Windows desktop [there's just more space] or watching a movie [there's just no more black bars on top and below]. The awesomeness comes in when playing games haha.
Games, unlike those from years ago, support widescreen natively now. Instead of having fat-looking monsters or out-of-proportion buildings and vehicles that arise from using standard resolutions in widescreen monitors, the graphics now turn out correctly.
I tested out Company of Heroes, still one of the favourite games yet.
Standard 4:3
Widescreen 16:9
More space by the sides, and no obese looking soldier!
Standard 4:3
Can only see two buildings =(
Widescreen 16:9
Can now also see my engineer squad busy with their work! =)
As one can see widescreen monitors do not stretch graphics, but really allow players to see more when playing. The screenshots above are resolution-dependent and monitor-independent, so one cannot see standard graphics being stretched in the widescreen TV.
Of course if anyone thinks the extra screen space doesn't seem to help much, that's because its only 19inch wide. Apparently if one wants to get a widescreen, one should get one that's >20inch.
Its a pity my graphics card does not come with High Definition input, otherwise there will be even more fun! Makes me gian to get a widescreen monitor hehehe.
Sorry if this doesn't excite anyone. It excites me lol.
So, despite widescreen technology already being in the market for years, today was the first time I got to play with one, because my LG 4:3 LCD monitor is still running perfectly well. My father, perhaps out of his mind, came home with a China-branded LCD TV [apparently he bought it because it was cheap -.-']. Happily I borrowed it to hook up to my desktop.
Switching from standard 4:3 resolutions to widescreen 16:9 there is nothing to 'wow' about simply by looking at the Windows desktop [there's just more space] or watching a movie [there's just no more black bars on top and below]. The awesomeness comes in when playing games haha.
Games, unlike those from years ago, support widescreen natively now. Instead of having fat-looking monsters or out-of-proportion buildings and vehicles that arise from using standard resolutions in widescreen monitors, the graphics now turn out correctly.
I tested out Company of Heroes, still one of the favourite games yet.
Standard 4:3
Widescreen 16:9
More space by the sides, and no obese looking soldier!
Standard 4:3
Can only see two buildings =(
Widescreen 16:9
Can now also see my engineer squad busy with their work! =)
As one can see widescreen monitors do not stretch graphics, but really allow players to see more when playing. The screenshots above are resolution-dependent and monitor-independent, so one cannot see standard graphics being stretched in the widescreen TV.
Of course if anyone thinks the extra screen space doesn't seem to help much, that's because its only 19inch wide. Apparently if one wants to get a widescreen, one should get one that's >20inch.
Its a pity my graphics card does not come with High Definition input, otherwise there will be even more fun! Makes me gian to get a widescreen monitor hehehe.
Sorry if this doesn't excite anyone. It excites me lol.
Saturday, March 07, 2009
perspectives
Perfect Cut 2 is quite a nice drama. Moving away from the issues around cosmetic surgery it now involves other touchy family and relationship problems too. Or maybe the first series already included them but I never watched haha.
Went down to take a look at this year's Career and Education Fair, which was, as pointed out by a friend, more like a education fair than a career fair because other than the highlight of the entire event, the Integrated Resorts, and a couple other companies like Sakae Sushi and Mediacorp, that were offering jobs, the entire floor was filled with private schools and institutes offering courses for people to sign on to 'retrain' or 'upgrade' or 'reskill'.
In the narrow circle of friends I had when I was back in secondary school and junior college, when we talked about 'furthur education' we usually meant NUS, NTU, SMU, or prestigious overseas universities like those in Ivy League and Oxbridge. Now that my circle of friends have expanded through National Service, furthur education now also includes SIM University, which offers degree courses by UOL[where the godly London School of Economics is part of!], RMIT and University of Wollongong. And then there is UniSIM, University of Melbourne, MDIS, Digipen, and many other academic institutions that may sound lesser but not a doubt, still provide decent education to people who found themselves at a disadvantage due to society's obsession over academic grades.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
sharpening by unsharpening
I had some fun with GIMP, which is a free alternative to the godly but expensive Photoshop. Used a photo which I really liked alot taken during last year's Wallaby.
Couldn't achieve much with a compact camera shot through a windscreen, so I used the Unsharp Mask in GIMP and dragged the various sliders around...
Haha. Its just for fun. I think I overdid it lol. Maybe should get down to some serious reading on image manipulation sometime.
Couldn't achieve much with a compact camera shot through a windscreen, so I used the Unsharp Mask in GIMP and dragged the various sliders around...
Haha. Its just for fun. I think I overdid it lol. Maybe should get down to some serious reading on image manipulation sometime.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
my Briefcase of zeroes and ones
Yes I live in the past too; I think my days of secondary school were the days I had the most fun, and definitely one major contribution came from my involvement in my co-curricular activity, the uber cool computer club. Haha.
As mentioned before I was in Multimedia group, creating animations and games using the then Macromedia Director, which was a forerunner to the now-so-popular Flash from the same company [now all bought over by Adobe].
Unlike my good friends who did programming or micromouse, where source codes were in mere kilobytes, Director files could go up to megabytes, easily balloon-ed up as we kept adding in elements.
[Flash uses primarily vector graphics, thus file size can be kept small. Director takes in anything from bitmaps to MP3s to AVIs to entire Flash files.]
Well the word 'megabytes' doesn't raise any fear in anyone today anymore, since space is now dirt cheap and redundant. Back in the good old days of secondary school, however, the only form of storage I had came in the form of...
Image koped from Wikipedia
...where all it could take was 1.44MB worth of things [its really 1.38MB only]. CD-rewritable drives were expensive then thus I could not afford them. Not to mention external hard disks or USB thumb drives, if they were already in existence then.
To bring a Director file simply from home to school or from school to home was one big headache, especially once the total space required exceeded the size of one floppy. Therefore we had to come up with all sorts of methods to circumvent the lack of space.
One method was:
Yes its WinZip, used back then when Windows did not come with its own compression software. I would use WinZip to compress my files to squeeze into the floppy, but when even the compressed file was too big for it, it had the ability to span the compressed files over several floppy disks!
Another method I could use was via the Internet, after I just got my 56k modem haha. Back then there was neither Megaupload nor Mediafire; there was no Gmail yet, and Hotmail only provided a miserable 10MB[?] of space allowing only 1MB[?] of attachments.
In comes [Finally at the main topic. I sincerely apologise for my long-winded-ness] Yahoo Briefcase! It provided a generous [by standards then] 30MB of space, and had no attachment limits.
One that I created together with my friends. Brotherhoodofevilhelldeath. Haha.
With space constraints gone, my Internet speed became my limiting factor. With download speeds at 56kbps and upload speeds at 33.6kbps[?], one upload could take hours!
Anyway the reason why I talked about this is because Yahoo sent me an email yesterday, that they will be closing down Briefcase soon, asking us to save all our files inside.
With the abundance of USB thumb drives and external hard disks running into the gigabytes and terabytes, and with new startups like Megaupload offering gigabyte worth of space, Yahoo's 30MB 'briefcase' isn't that attractive now, and its closing down should be seen as a matter of 'when' rather than 'if'.
Nevertheless Yahoo Briefcase has played an important role during my days of fun; more than just providing me the ability to bring my things around, it has also become a time capsule of sorts for me. Even now I enter the username and password of this Briefcase it still gives me a good chuckle.
Thank you Yahoo Briefcase!
Last but not least some other little graphics I did back then:
Can you see which part of the world this is? Lol.
For the above two pictures, I drew the arms [and the bird] myself. It was also a modification from a ClipArt picture like the 'wildman'. It was meant to show 飞鸽传书. Haha.
As mentioned before I was in Multimedia group, creating animations and games using the then Macromedia Director, which was a forerunner to the now-so-popular Flash from the same company [now all bought over by Adobe].
Unlike my good friends who did programming or micromouse, where source codes were in mere kilobytes, Director files could go up to megabytes, easily balloon-ed up as we kept adding in elements.
[Flash uses primarily vector graphics, thus file size can be kept small. Director takes in anything from bitmaps to MP3s to AVIs to entire Flash files.]
Well the word 'megabytes' doesn't raise any fear in anyone today anymore, since space is now dirt cheap and redundant. Back in the good old days of secondary school, however, the only form of storage I had came in the form of...
Image koped from Wikipedia
...where all it could take was 1.44MB worth of things [its really 1.38MB only]. CD-rewritable drives were expensive then thus I could not afford them. Not to mention external hard disks or USB thumb drives, if they were already in existence then.
To bring a Director file simply from home to school or from school to home was one big headache, especially once the total space required exceeded the size of one floppy. Therefore we had to come up with all sorts of methods to circumvent the lack of space.
One method was:
Yes its WinZip, used back then when Windows did not come with its own compression software. I would use WinZip to compress my files to squeeze into the floppy, but when even the compressed file was too big for it, it had the ability to span the compressed files over several floppy disks!
Another method I could use was via the Internet, after I just got my 56k modem haha. Back then there was neither Megaupload nor Mediafire; there was no Gmail yet, and Hotmail only provided a miserable 10MB[?] of space allowing only 1MB[?] of attachments.
In comes [Finally at the main topic. I sincerely apologise for my long-winded-ness] Yahoo Briefcase! It provided a generous [by standards then] 30MB of space, and had no attachment limits.
One that I created together with my friends. Brotherhoodofevilhelldeath. Haha.
With space constraints gone, my Internet speed became my limiting factor. With download speeds at 56kbps and upload speeds at 33.6kbps[?], one upload could take hours!
Anyway the reason why I talked about this is because Yahoo sent me an email yesterday, that they will be closing down Briefcase soon, asking us to save all our files inside.
With the abundance of USB thumb drives and external hard disks running into the gigabytes and terabytes, and with new startups like Megaupload offering gigabyte worth of space, Yahoo's 30MB 'briefcase' isn't that attractive now, and its closing down should be seen as a matter of 'when' rather than 'if'.
Nevertheless Yahoo Briefcase has played an important role during my days of fun; more than just providing me the ability to bring my things around, it has also become a time capsule of sorts for me. Even now I enter the username and password of this Briefcase it still gives me a good chuckle.
Thank you Yahoo Briefcase!
Last but not least some other little graphics I did back then:
Can you see which part of the world this is? Lol.
For the above two pictures, I drew the arms [and the bird] myself. It was also a modification from a ClipArt picture like the 'wildman'. It was meant to show 飞鸽传书. Haha.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
ORD LOH!
[I typed this out on 230209.]
And yes, I have reached [and passed] my Operationally Ready Date; is officially a NSman now. Unlike my peers in various fighting battalions where ORD is celebrated with parades cheered by families and friends, my ORD was more like a chore for me to complete. Nearing my day of freedom I wrote my transcript and testimonial and submitted them, got various signatures for my clearance, got my dental and medical checkup done, and handed over everything to my understudies.
On the day itself I proceeded to S1 Branch to retrieve the pink IC which had eluded me for the past 1 year 10 months, and my Certificate of Service. Before taking home the remaining personal belongings, I recorded my final book-out in the book-in/book-out book, where the unspoken rule was that we would scribble anything we wanted on the book under the columns for our next book in date and time.
My consolation was that I walked out of the gate with three other friends, at least better than my bed buddy who ORDed alone a few days back. Haha. And as the day itself was a normal working day for everyone else, we were still able to see all our friends, though this time with a little 难分难舍。 Haha.
When people talked about National Service, most would talk about how they bashed through thick vegetation, leopard-crawled through mud, or climbed up steep slopes. For me, however, National Service had been about servers, computers, routers and LAN cables. Doesn't really fit into the picture of 'army' huh? Haha.
On the other hand I was still very much a soldier; defending the nation [or so they say] was the very reason why I was conscripted in the first place. I had my fair share of firing weapons, sitting in tracked vehicles [not every vehicle that has tracks is called a tank! Haha.], and close combat fighting.
The difference came in when I was out in the field. Instead of running from tree to tree taking down 'enemies', my peers and I set up systems within the shortest time possible.
Because of my vocation and appointment, I have learnt quite a fair bit about networking. The servers, routers and the expensive softwares used are luxuries that I have never touched before, coming from a junior college where A Level Computing means C++ programming haha.
My 1 year 10 month stint brought me out of my previous comfort zone of education; back in school the closest one could get to having bad experiences with people was during projects when some people seemed to do everything while some never did any work at all. Coming to army that was rather mild. I began to meet people whom made one wonder how they could have survived for so long.
[Out in the field where everyone slept on cold hard benches in the training shed there existed one who asked "WHERE IS MY PILLOW AND BLANKET!" while sitting on his safari bed.]
There are too many for me to recall now anyway; have already forgotten all the bad experiences. If I try to recall and write all that I can write a book.
To be fair I met many good friends in the army too [I don't think there's any other place where one could start hugging another after knowing each other just three days ago LOL]; last time in school friends usually meant those of the same age, those older were considered seniors, those younger, juniors. But in NS, rank, and not age, decided who my friends were. In the bunk I slept in, I was one of the youngest among all.
I met people with backgrounds that were very colourful. I met people who had went to jail, to boy's homes, to detention barracks, to exotic countries like Mexico and Turkey. I met people who had received public caning in school before, people who had stolen before, people who smoked like there was no tomorrow; met a swimmer who once held local youth records, and even a Taoist priest.
Coming from schools where everyone around me never did anything more than skipping lessons and cheating in tests, each of them had an interesting story to share.
[On a side-note, I think I have breathed in enough cigarette smoke to shorten my life by two years.]
And thanks to NS, I the mountain tortoise finally had the chance to fly in an aircraft for the first time in my life! I went to 2 countries for 3 separate events on a total of 8 flights; my 23+49=72 days in Australia and ~3 weeks in Taiwan will be major unforgettable highlights of my life; if my life had anything worth highlighting in the first place haha.
All in all, National Service had been a memorable experience. I am glad I'm finally out of there, having tolerated the lack of freedom, but kind of sad that I have to leave the friends I have literally lived with for the past year. After going through NS, my conclusion will be: Defend the country, definitely yes. Do National Service, definitely no.
And yes, I have reached [and passed] my Operationally Ready Date; is officially a NSman now. Unlike my peers in various fighting battalions where ORD is celebrated with parades cheered by families and friends, my ORD was more like a chore for me to complete. Nearing my day of freedom I wrote my transcript and testimonial and submitted them, got various signatures for my clearance, got my dental and medical checkup done, and handed over everything to my understudies.
On the day itself I proceeded to S1 Branch to retrieve the pink IC which had eluded me for the past 1 year 10 months, and my Certificate of Service. Before taking home the remaining personal belongings, I recorded my final book-out in the book-in/book-out book, where the unspoken rule was that we would scribble anything we wanted on the book under the columns for our next book in date and time.
My consolation was that I walked out of the gate with three other friends, at least better than my bed buddy who ORDed alone a few days back. Haha. And as the day itself was a normal working day for everyone else, we were still able to see all our friends, though this time with a little 难分难舍。 Haha.
When people talked about National Service, most would talk about how they bashed through thick vegetation, leopard-crawled through mud, or climbed up steep slopes. For me, however, National Service had been about servers, computers, routers and LAN cables. Doesn't really fit into the picture of 'army' huh? Haha.
On the other hand I was still very much a soldier; defending the nation [or so they say] was the very reason why I was conscripted in the first place. I had my fair share of firing weapons, sitting in tracked vehicles [not every vehicle that has tracks is called a tank! Haha.], and close combat fighting.
The difference came in when I was out in the field. Instead of running from tree to tree taking down 'enemies', my peers and I set up systems within the shortest time possible.
Because of my vocation and appointment, I have learnt quite a fair bit about networking. The servers, routers and the expensive softwares used are luxuries that I have never touched before, coming from a junior college where A Level Computing means C++ programming haha.
My 1 year 10 month stint brought me out of my previous comfort zone of education; back in school the closest one could get to having bad experiences with people was during projects when some people seemed to do everything while some never did any work at all. Coming to army that was rather mild. I began to meet people whom made one wonder how they could have survived for so long.
[Out in the field where everyone slept on cold hard benches in the training shed there existed one who asked "WHERE IS MY PILLOW AND BLANKET!" while sitting on his safari bed.]
There are too many for me to recall now anyway; have already forgotten all the bad experiences. If I try to recall and write all that I can write a book.
To be fair I met many good friends in the army too [I don't think there's any other place where one could start hugging another after knowing each other just three days ago LOL]; last time in school friends usually meant those of the same age, those older were considered seniors, those younger, juniors. But in NS, rank, and not age, decided who my friends were. In the bunk I slept in, I was one of the youngest among all.
I met people with backgrounds that were very colourful. I met people who had went to jail, to boy's homes, to detention barracks, to exotic countries like Mexico and Turkey. I met people who had received public caning in school before, people who had stolen before, people who smoked like there was no tomorrow; met a swimmer who once held local youth records, and even a Taoist priest.
Coming from schools where everyone around me never did anything more than skipping lessons and cheating in tests, each of them had an interesting story to share.
[On a side-note, I think I have breathed in enough cigarette smoke to shorten my life by two years.]
And thanks to NS, I the mountain tortoise finally had the chance to fly in an aircraft for the first time in my life! I went to 2 countries for 3 separate events on a total of 8 flights; my 23+49=72 days in Australia and ~3 weeks in Taiwan will be major unforgettable highlights of my life; if my life had anything worth highlighting in the first place haha.
All in all, National Service had been a memorable experience. I am glad I'm finally out of there, having tolerated the lack of freedom, but kind of sad that I have to leave the friends I have literally lived with for the past year. After going through NS, my conclusion will be: Defend the country, definitely yes. Do National Service, definitely no.
Friday, January 30, 2009
civilian conversion course
A course that everyone for once yearns to go through, now its finally my turn, as can see from the time I am doing up this entry and the reason why I am doing up this entry instead of sleeping: waiting for the conversion of my Japanese drama to complete haha. I don't want to leave the desktop on for yet another night[or morning, that is]. It has already been running for >48 hours.
Before enlistment National Service was perceived by many of us as a good two year break from the monotonous work of studying; while our female counterparts were cracking their heads over their next step in life we were all going, "Ah never mind lah apply first. If never get can try again the following year." And the following year x2.
Then when everyone was inside we all could not wait to come out, to go back to studying again :/
Then again National Service indeed forms a nice cosy shield from all the external factors. A small but manageable sum of allowance every month, no worries about daily transport fares or locations to settle the three meals, and free trips to go overseas!
Now that the comforts of the National Service 'shelter' is gone I am faced with the pressure of finding work to do, for a good five to six months before university starts. Introvert me is having abit of trouble finding one hahaha.
Before enlistment National Service was perceived by many of us as a good two year break from the monotonous work of studying; while our female counterparts were cracking their heads over their next step in life we were all going, "Ah never mind lah apply first. If never get can try again the following year." And the following year x2.
Then when everyone was inside we all could not wait to come out, to go back to studying again :/
Then again National Service indeed forms a nice cosy shield from all the external factors. A small but manageable sum of allowance every month, no worries about daily transport fares or locations to settle the three meals, and free trips to go overseas!
Now that the comforts of the National Service 'shelter' is gone I am faced with the pressure of finding work to do, for a good five to six months before university starts. Introvert me is having abit of trouble finding one hahaha.
Monday, January 26, 2009
new year happy
As we usher into the new year of the Ox, I look out of my house window. Just like previous new years the lights of many neighbouring apartments are still on, in addition to the bright flames from the burning candles and incense paper. Then I notice that many lights from the studio apartment across the road are also on as well, which makes me wonder if the aged living there have anybody to celebrate CNY with. I guess for them its already a disappointment that Lunar New Years these days are vastly different from the times of yesteryears where they were noisy affairs with firecrackers and strong crowds and all.
Hopefully without the firecrackers or the crowds today the aged living in the studio apartment will still have families, or at the very least, some friends, to celebrate the new year with.
Hopefully without the firecrackers or the crowds today the aged living in the studio apartment will still have families, or at the very least, some friends, to celebrate the new year with.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
the iron brigade
Its actually iron picket, but thanks to my not-so-proficient-in-ang-moh boss it turned into a rather funny inside joke.
Went for what should be my last outfield last Tuesday, in a company exercise to get the new guys to be proficient in their respective appointments. As a lao jiao who is 老 until cannot 老 anymore I went without any stress; however the weather was so hot I came down with a headache that lasted till Wednesday.
After yesterday I am now left with three working days, the rest of the time clearing my off. But no I have not ORD yet; off and ORD are two different things. While on off I still need my mobile phone to be by my side for any calls.
I am actually a little upset I am not joining my camp mates for the Chinese New Year celebration tonight; want to go but I have things to do on hand and camp's too far. Both Chinese New Years I have missed both celebrations; last year I was in ROC.
Today is Budget Day! Hopefully everyone can get a big fat ang pow from the government!
Went for what should be my last outfield last Tuesday, in a company exercise to get the new guys to be proficient in their respective appointments. As a lao jiao who is 老 until cannot 老 anymore I went without any stress; however the weather was so hot I came down with a headache that lasted till Wednesday.
After yesterday I am now left with three working days, the rest of the time clearing my off. But no I have not ORD yet; off and ORD are two different things. While on off I still need my mobile phone to be by my side for any calls.
I am actually a little upset I am not joining my camp mates for the Chinese New Year celebration tonight; want to go but I have things to do on hand and camp's too far. Both Chinese New Years I have missed both celebrations; last year I was in ROC.
Today is Budget Day! Hopefully everyone can get a big fat ang pow from the government!
Monday, January 12, 2009
last countdown
ONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE more month to ORDDDDDDDDDDDD!
One of the happiest and saddest days in my life is going to come soon! YEA!
One of the happiest and saddest days in my life is going to come soon! YEA!
Thursday, January 01, 2009
happy new year
Hope 2009 will be a good year for all!
想搜集夏天的热 穿越叫幸福的河
想做吞大象的蛇
不自量力说真的又有何不可
我想写歌
当天是空的 地是干的
天气疯了 海水滚了
所以我要无乐不作
不要浪费每一刻快乐
当梦的天行者
当天是空的 地是干的
天气疯了 海水滚了
所以我要无乐不作
不要浪费每一刻快乐
当梦的天行者
当天是空的 地是干的
世界末日就尽管来吧
我会继续无乐不作
当梦的天行者
要快乐 OH～
想搜集夏天的热 穿越叫幸福的河
想做吞大象的蛇
不自量力说真的又有何不可
我想写歌
当天是空的 地是干的
天气疯了 海水滚了
所以我要无乐不作
不要浪费每一刻快乐
当梦的天行者
当天是空的 地是干的
天气疯了 海水滚了
所以我要无乐不作
不要浪费每一刻快乐
当梦的天行者
当天是空的 地是干的
世界末日就尽管来吧
我会继续无乐不作
当梦的天行者
要快乐 OH～
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
black for white, green for red
After four years of subscription with the green Starhub broadband today marks the day the Ethernet cable from my computer is detached from my black cable modem and attached to the white ADSL modem from the red Singtel!
I first started using Starhub through a corporate plan from my father's company; at the end of the two year contract I extended another two years because I needed the desktop that came with it. Now that contract was up again, but given that I will gain no benefits for continuing the plan, cost now becomes the deciding factor instead. So much as I have enjoyed the [somewhat] huge 8mbps bandwidth, I have no choice but to downgrade to a 3Mbps from Singtel.
Testing on a Singapore server...
...and a US server...
The speeds are good for now, but with the hardware and the connections still being new and green, they have not quite settled down. My analog home line disrupted my Internet and the mio TV box initially, and halfway through an online game with some friends I got mysteriously disconnected and after many hours of troubleshooting to no avail, my desktop was mysteriously reconnected again after a restart.
I first started using Starhub through a corporate plan from my father's company; at the end of the two year contract I extended another two years because I needed the desktop that came with it. Now that contract was up again, but given that I will gain no benefits for continuing the plan, cost now becomes the deciding factor instead. So much as I have enjoyed the [somewhat] huge 8mbps bandwidth, I have no choice but to downgrade to a 3Mbps from Singtel.
Testing on a Singapore server...
...and a US server...
The speeds are good for now, but with the hardware and the connections still being new and green, they have not quite settled down. My analog home line disrupted my Internet and the mio TV box initially, and halfway through an online game with some friends I got mysteriously disconnected and after many hours of troubleshooting to no avail, my desktop was mysteriously reconnected again after a restart.
One other thing that bugs me a little is the colour of the modem. After painskatingly building up a [somewhat] uniform colour of black, grey and silver for my computer equipment, now comes a modem that is so white it looks out of place! Haha!
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