If the SHoe fits don't eat it

Poetry

2012-01-28T21:48:00.000+08:00

I can has poetry. Yes I has. So I post some old ones here...

But what about my life?

yes, what about it?

what passes before it and after it.

just nostalgic for the doors that open.

guitar strings cut sweetly, air and flesh, sweet samsara.

heart strings, cut neatly, pared and fresh, sweet samsara.

i'll never know love, for it is barter. to buy, one must sell.

that niggard son of adam, whose closed fist turned to murder.

i have the right to remain silent! when threatened by hell itself.

and to be shielded from d4mnation by a half-date, and a happy cat

and by the only healing i know of, the first vow of the doctors.

Mountain
Clock-like, that Tap-tapping of Time,
chisels my definition, but
wearies me into sand.

WOuld that viseage be seen and remembered?
the lathing sky turns and drills.

===========

Salty
Gasped to life by your shard of air,
Breaching up from my wet deep green, I splutter.
I splutter, and you are relieved.
We, made buoyant by shared breath.

I keep rising, tide-pulled by gratitude
to that brightness, gleaming marlinlike, distantly dancing
heroic in your eyes and in mine.

boxinge

2012-01-26T16:00:00.000+08:00

Drawing action poses is quite challenging..

2012-01-24T22:10:00.001+08:00

Kimi ga Naita Hi

Super Cute!

2012-01-18T13:10:00.001+08:00

24 Posture Mouse Tai Chi Chuan by ~Quezzie on deviantART

Early Peanuts

2012-01-13T17:20:00.001+08:00

A Peanuts from 1952. Schroeder is so dedicated!

http://peanutsroasted.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html

Phage Therapy

2012-01-12T20:54:00.000+08:00

Using bacteriophage viruses to treat infections of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Once widespread in the USSR, but unknown in the wider world because researchers published in Russian and Georgian.
Bacteriophages are viruses that are predators of bacteria.

Hoshi no Furu Machi

2012-01-12T18:03:00.000+08:00

There's this manga I liked, but I honestly couldn't remember the title. What made it harder was that it sounded just like that other manga I like, Kimi no Iru Machi.

It messed up all my searches! I kept getting Kimi no Iru Machi, which, while I liked, was not the droid I was Googling for.

So it's actually Hoshi no Furu Machi.

The art style's kinda old, like something you'd find mid-1970s to early 1980s, but the story's charming enough.

Actually I like Hoshi better than Kimi.

2012-01-09T10:10:00.003+08:00

Anwar is acquitted.

=)

Boxing

2012-01-07T15:26:00.002+08:00

Another drawing by Shel-yang

2012-01-06T12:22:00.000+08:00

Just another drawing by Shel-yang on deviantart

I'm really taken by his/her style (I don't know if shel-yang's a guy or a gal)

2011-12-26T11:55:00.001+08:00

Sakamichi no Apollo

Feints

2011-12-17T18:15:00.001+08:00

Tlnh pu iubgf eszk. V du enbr ntghwe bq kqgfe bq i bdlk acl.

P vbdg hn bqfrql mq amfgtyhbbkcm mz tuh 27bh. Trx ng bf Gvxgfugeoe viiv, qlrft'z guqnz z eaoq eqt gc gbfglquqqbr yzd nglilfsaoa hbbtagdq fo chzfgoq, V vpcs kcuhhdk tulvgk rwvbv zhbbkgsgos, V kivw qs rlesojv youcxeg wpegoc vb hvaf otszrqr qhbaai, ear hvaf ugorsde bi mvsiynhxuu upg fdyx wbutd jbwhziz.

Ou tgorr yy jrzk ap wbatdvbb qfheunno.

Inv F wgwas rpv'v vztq a ehil blf,nbs P gfmo hn fmvr pqshiepss tm Cievdjar'f fmrlfjvqpas. Mceyhjk G.H. dtlgtw n ftwzbkgadlf crubixfgnht ac cm oocc, roe d new lj £50. Nh alotb vvd nmyzhvt xlv zm rvrjvi knpw srhus ll lnjt ncubgb sfdohjp.

Tjrpl ob pb b nwbj.

2011-12-06T00:42:00.001+08:00

Did ScribeFire revert? Wuzzle?

mangatar

2011-11-16T21:34:00.002+08:00

2011-11-15T21:55:00.001+08:00

This code is very important:

Y7LYXP

2011-11-15T14:22:00.001+08:00

I am here but not here
a funny lack of
*sonzaikan*

2011-11-12T21:30:00.001+08:00

God willing, to Sarawak I will go next week. There's a bit of work involving a database.

test

2011-11-12T15:30:00.001+08:00

the new scribefire... updated without telling me... wth???

Itinerario

2011-11-08T17:29:00.000+08:00

Some dates to remember:

19 nov 545pm jb-miri

29 nov 805pm miri-jb

Runrig: Abhainn an t-sluaigh

2011-10-31T19:49:00.002+08:00

Chaneil an t-adhar os cionn
Lunnainn a nochd soileir no dorch.
Fada bho abhainn an t-sluaigh.

Gun sgial air coinneal
mor latha no reultan na h-oidhche.
Fada bho abhainn ant-sluaigh.

An sea s'am baile gun
chadal gun fhois is gun saorsa.
Fada bho abhainn an t-sluaigh.

Casan a' gluasad an abhainn an tuil.
Fada bho abhainn an
t-sluaigh.

Na cuibhlichean's cabhaig
a tionndaidh gun sgur.
Fada bho abhainn an t-sluaigh.

Cus ag adhradh beairteas air
altair an tshaoghail.
Fada bho abhainn an t-sluaigh.

Cach gun dochas gun dachaidh
air sraidean gun ghaol.
Fada bho abhainn an t-sluaigh.

Leis gach dath s'gach
creideamh gach cainnt as gach cearn.
Fada bho abhainn an t-sluaigh.

Gach ceist is gach
freagairt sios an abhainn gu
cuan.
Fada bho abhainn an
t-sluaigh.

The skies above London
Are neither clear nor dark
The need to be far from the crowded river

Neither the great candle of daylight
Nor the stars of the night can be seen
The need to be far from the crowded river

In this city that never sleeps
there is stillness, no quiet
The need to be far from the crowded river

Footsteps keep moving
The river in full flood
The need to be far from the crowded river

The relentless wheels
Keep turning without pause
The need to be far from the crowded river

Many worshipping wealth
At the world's altar
The need to be far from the crowded river

Others without hope or home
On streets that hold no love
The need to be far from the crowded river

Races creeds and tongues
From all corners of the globe
The need to be far from the crowded river

All questions and answer
Rushing down the river to the ocean
The need to be far from the crowded river ( x6)

fooffoo

2011-10-29T15:31:00.003+08:00

2011-10-26T21:57:00.002+08:00

2011-10-26T21:56:00.001+08:00

uuuu

RIP RazakSat

2011-10-25T15:06:00.001+08:00

Well... Back in July 2009 RazakSat-1 was launched with great fanfare, and afterwards was silent with no mention in the media.

It's now revealed that the satellite stopped working less than a year after launch. Emotions are running high in this country.

Some facts: the satellite was actually built by Satrec Initiative from South Korea. It was the first satellite completed using their SI-200 design.

A second SI-200 called DubaiSat-1 was built and launched 2009 just two weeks after RazakSat-1. So far it seems to be working, though everyone in Dubai is probably keeping a watchful eye on it.

(left: SI-200 / RazakSat-1 / DubaiSat-1 image from http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sat/satreci_si-200.htm)

RazakSat-1 was launched in an equatorial orbit at about 600km altitude. DubaiSat-1 was launched two weeks later into a more conventional polar orbit at the same altitude. I wonder if RazakSat's equatorial orbit somehow presented some unusual problems with telemetry and control? Problems not anticipated because equatorial orbits for sensing satellites are rarely attempted. A polar orbit enables global coverage as the orbital plane itself precesses. Equatorial orbit only covers the tropics.

There was good reason to try an equatorial orbit; the tropical regions have a lot of cloud cover. A satellite in equatorial orbit overflies the same area in the tropics much more frequently every 24 hours or so, increasing the likelihood of catching a cloudless day. A satellite in polar orbit revisits that same area about 20 days later... and chances are it's cloudy again.

2011-10-12T23:22:00.001+08:00

Tlrb X avjvm oamgt vw, qt'k jmeorbzpcu W gyhea'w jeulqr o syih ifrhaf. Sb pccz mevb!

2011-10-12T22:15:00.001+08:00

Moon-bow!

2011-10-10T21:57:00.001+08:00

Last night I saw something amazing in the sky. Somehow the cloud conditions were just right, and when I gazed directly overhead I saw a moon-bow. It was a large ring around the moon like a faint rainbow.

I've seen pictures of it, but this is the first time I've seen it with my own eyes!

The light of the moon refracted in the clouds and split into a faint spectrum. The clouds must have been exceptionally uniform just there to form the moon-bow.

I have no camera capable of doing a moon-bow any justice, so I gazed at it until I was satisfactorily burned it into my memory.

The moonbow looked something like this:

The faintest red on the inside of the ring, and a bit greenish in the middle, and faint bluish on the outside.

It is also called a moon-ring, at least I got better Google results for moon-ring. And it seems to be caused by ice crystals high up, rather than clouds. Still, it is pretty rare for me to see it.

Hmm....

2011-10-05T22:44:00.004+08:00

Maybe I'll write my own PHP tutorial for coding in the Yii Framework... seriously thinking about it...

Might have to draft it in MS Word first though...

Bach Cello No. 1

2011-10-05T14:00:00.002+08:00

I've always liked Bach's Cello Concerto, but most folks play it a little too fast for my liking. It's difficult piece and they want to demonstrate their skill, but it ruins the piece, in my opinion.

Yo-Yo Ma does it just right in this one (he does play too fast in another video).

Foreign Keys, in EasyPHP

2011-10-04T20:46:00.014+08:00

EasyPHP is a WAMP package bundling Apache, MySQL and PHP on Windows, with a browser-based user interface. (The Linux bundle is called LAMP. There is also XAMPs for both Windows and Linux, but they're all Apache, MySQL and PHP bundled together with a browser based user interface, to save you the trouble of installing them separately and working with a console)

There, I've said it. EasyPHP is quite easy to use for basic functions such as creating database and tables, and populating them. Play with it a bit, creating tables. As long as the first field is integer and is auto-incremented (just use the checkbox "AI" for autoincrement), you'll be fine.

Now, how to create Parent and Child tables on a database and link them together with Foreign Key constraints without writing a line of SQL code!

1) Create a Database, of course. This is so simple in EasyPHP.

2) Create a Child table. Let the table have two fields: a primary key called child_id, and member. Make sure the database engine is InnoDB, as the others don't support foreign keys. Populate it as you like. You can see the populated table in the "Browse" tab:

3) Create a Parent table, and let this one have three fields: the primary key parent_id, name, and child_id. Likewise, the database engine should be InnoDB. Populate it at will. Just make sure the child_id field is only populated with values that exist in the Child table's child_id field, in this case, 1 and 2:

The idea of using Foreign Keys is to create relations between the Parent and Child tables, so that by entering the child_id number in the Parent table one can link that to member in the Child table via its primary key. This is useful in many ways.

You can populate the Parent and Child tables as you like, as long as the child_id field in the Parent table contains only values that exist in the child_id field in the Child table, otherwise the next steps will fail.

4) Now make the Parent's child_id into an index by clicking index (highlighted in red):

5) In the Parent Table's "Structure" Tab, Click Relation View (highlighted):

If you've made Parent's child_id into an index in 4), the Relational View will show

6) ...and establish the Foreign Key relationship thus (you want the Parent's child_id field to refer to the Child's child_id), using the dropdown:

Viola! Foreign Key thingies without writing any SQL!

MySQL will not allow the Child table to be deleted (or dropped) while the foreign key relationship still exists. But all you have to do is go to the Parent Table, click on Relation View, and reset the Foreign Key relationship using the dropdown to blank.

Then you can drop the Child Table.

Foreign Key and such

2011-10-04T15:59:00.001+08:00

If you have a parent table that has foreign key references to child tables, you will find you cannot drop the child tables. MySQL won't allow it before doing a few things. To drop child tables that have foreign keys referring to them:

1) SHOW CREATE TABLE parent_table
will show the foreign key constraints. Look for the line like
CONSTRAINT 'fk_something' FOREIGN KEY (child_id) REFERENCES 'child_table' ('child_id')

2) ALTER TABLE DROP FOREIGN KEY fk_something
where fk_something is the foreign key constraint you identified in the previous step. By dropping the constraint, you can now delete the child table

3) After dropping the foreign key constraint you can drop the child table.

Now I am going to figure out how to attach new foreign key constraints from a parent table to a non-empty child table...

Web project

2011-09-30T18:30:00.001+08:00

Just something I've been working on recently, using the Yii PHP Framework.

Uncanny Valley

2011-09-25T00:02:00.002+08:00

I was watching the old Jim Henson classic, The Dark Crystal. The film is just as magical as when I first saw it back in 1987.

(Anybody remember Jim Henson? The Master of Muppetry and film animatronics, I grew up watching his awesome creations in the 1980s.)

It's also a good demonstration of what 3D animators and roboticists call the "uncanny valley", where, as figures they create achieve more and more human-like realism, it suddenly plunges into a deep valley where they just creep you out, and it needs much more realism before we can accept them again.

Case in point: I found the ground-sloth-like Mystics quite appealing, and the vulture-like Skexis convincingly menacing, but Jen the Gelfling, whom Henson's muppeteers had tried to make cute and human-like as the lead character, seemed stiff and slightly off-putting.

Maybe it would have worked better if the Gelfling didn't have to be almost human-like, but then again you need a character the audience can sympathize with, and an elfin character must have seemed like a good idea.

There was supposed to be a sequel to be made in the 2000's, but I guess nothing came of it. You need muppetry for a proper sequel for this one, and they just can't do it without Jim Henson.

In any case I suspect animatronics is being abandoned in favour of CG 3D graphics, which I think is a pity...

If the shoe doesn't fit, eat it

2011-09-24T11:44:00.001+08:00

What inspired the title of this blog...

485 views in 24 hours

2011-09-22T19:51:00.003+08:00

No idea what caused this spike...

Coppelion manga

2011-09-12T23:53:00.004+08:00

Coppelion is about three genetically engineered girls wandering through a Tokyo devastated by a reactor meltdown, which, it seems, was triggered by an earthquake. Considering that the manga was published in 2008, it's quite prophetic.

Cat hunt/rescue

2011-09-10T17:37:00.003+08:00

Mom took her cat to the public sector vet at Kebun Teh, for some suspected urinary troubles. He seems to have a slight temperature, a minor infection of some kind, says the vet.

That wasn't the big deal.

One of the staff pulled down the metal shutters which rattled loudly while closing the clinic (it was closing time when we finished), and the cat, already tense, was startled, and leaped out of Mom's arms and into the bush in the rather large grounds of the vet's office (the clinic also dealt with farm animals, or rather it used to, so the area was vast and there were a lot of buildings). We couldn't find him at all. That was two days ago.

Yesterday we went back and found him hiding among the struts of a lorry in the grounds, but he slipped through my hands and went hiding God knows where. There were a lot of people around because it was a weekday, and he was scared of so many strangers.

Today we went back yet again. Being the weekend, the grounds was deserted. Mom called out to him, and he meowed and peeped from behind a derelict building (there were lots of derelict buildings on the vet grounds). He was still scared to come out, so she tossed some fish at him and crept up barefoot while he ate. She got him and we took him home. He meowed fearfully all the way.

Once we got back we fed him... After 30 minutes of nonstop eating and drinking (it seems he hadn't eaten anything at all during his two days in hiding) and a three-hour nap on the armchair, he seemed to have gotten over his ordeal, because the first thing he did was to go out and spray Dad's car.

He's noisy, bossy, aloof, and a bit annoying, but he is our cat after all... glad to have him back!

There were a few other cats on the grounds as well. The staff say they're all escapees that jumped out of their humans' arms while visiting the vet. They're all too afraid of people to approach so the staff leave out some food for them.

Leap out

2011-09-10T14:20:00.002+08:00

This picture kind of leaped out at me. Sometimes they just do.

2011-09-06T23:59:00.002+08:00

It's becoming a farce lately. First they were bashing Mat Sabu. (I have my own thoughts about it)

Then a reporter was killed in Somalia and suddenly everybody wants some air time about that.

Then it became clear the Putra 1 Malaysia team was not trained or equipped properly:- no flak jacket, riding around in a Somali Govt vehicle (which Govt is technically merely one of the warring factions, since it hasn't established sufficient power); as retired General Arshad Raji said, the team behaved like they were on a picnic.

It was going to blow up in their faces.

So they went back to Mat Sabu.

In case people have forgotten, the Communists were one component of the MPAJA (Malayan People's Anti Japanese Army), supplied by the Allies in WW2. I remember the history textbooks we used at school describing the MPAJA in a favourable, even heroic light.

Independence is more complicated than most people think. Looking at the history of other countries, we see that there are usually several competing groups with different ideologies and principles wanting to create the new nation according to their own beliefs. Usually one group wins, establishes government and power and suppresses the others, and more than that, completely deny that the other groups were fighting for independence, going so far as to make sure the history taught to children paints the other groups in a bad light and portray the winning group almost as legendary heroes.

There were many other groups outside of the UMNO-MCA-MIC Alliance striking out for independence, some leftist, some Islamist, others secular republican. And yes the communists too. There was more than one vision of how the country should be.

Just read up the history of other countries. One group wins and suppresses all the others. To be fair, the communists would have done the same thing if they had won.

mangas

2011-09-05T17:19:00.001+08:00

Qab apuuba jouc mtguiclbh zm pahfvvwnl. U'd oowg gmiazn, iiu bjsx'pq ynrq mskkng:

Wvbuw Aoisg

aag

Aulbrryd uc Lithd

Mzll iwuj zlndilft wh Gtrqnrnw ng Heeht hff xwpkgehrg wndfrr cc toooctnv, nug wpe ulzrf ehuf qprhamtrv yuaqi n ttd apzg. Kgyf I ylsev xfbii avfag hvm yaajis ap xuoi avf ith rrklr la ngq xbc qpgig... vvd rkpvfildv pnfvl umwugx ckef, qirjla pvxu ool uhhaw tulv lgkk ywbig ewp'h znbeno it sip gc bl, pvb c fzrtee pwrw jefqjswom uhxjq acsmadp zrfn cssg oibf unqhmd!

Historynet.com

2011-09-01T01:41:00.002+08:00

I found this
http://www.historynet.com/

The funny thing is that all of its content consists of battles.

I typed "Sumeria" in the search box and it came up with... nothing? What kind of history site contains no content about Ancient Sumeria?

Video Chatter

2011-08-26T14:48:00.002+08:00

So I'm trying to setup video chat. I'm really behind the times, my laptop doesn't even have a webcam or a microphone so I have to buy those.

I thought FaceBook had a video chat, but apparently they've suspended registering new users.

So I'm trying out Google Plus and Skype... and I just found out I can link Skype to my FaceBook account.

Hmmm... Let's see how this goes.

2011-08-21T23:56:00.000+08:00

Qlrft hff aqad bdajlvgk F lnjt wctbgr nl peilinlxvg ock co gcch emlyhzy. Lei xwck cg xgcojq wur ticb ql rghkjvig zpq apwcadic xwck cg aeoqw!

Fhrq igsfr, fcbl cg bjs ocapyh bhako fcbl cg ua rqyiiaja ajb wpogf...

into the woods

2011-08-17T15:35:00.000+08:00

F qvuwa pf wp hgc heejm ox oindxuu ng ycqi an ZbAQD xrq DWW ool Awh ddazheojh. Xus Hhfbecy bjueaw pak pirb ios xwty H bud nql ik pyvhpizz qodqcesrg, eafqw gc roooog o eci drwiidp ear ehm va uww rtohvinv bepv.

Pur J ucm fm fo Fdzaoxo gc ilgu wwh sfq dnwibspi bb pjhvin fddxepwinub hnhp. Pt jb'u okj sobg, bhw tsey vvst wpzhlq nrab ywxv nbs toz jg oedulvdbev tmgv Haoonqfc Ndifrv Uffzrfhphz. Q oszl Etnqnoja Yawklftqvm.

Kmx, sbpmtajif kwlb J zgoc ynohw bhw lpq dgpgpv glocdmvqmt, aq qnytz af ekgg gf hng jewk vrdthhfl cbc G taq wpe ueeaqt ac qithhaupnwm if fx.

V'a vvwoo vc rrmrg wikakk twczsoo cuzgz brfiukb M'yz clse bjs rrdeajbh ll eyhty him fosynafh bo krmg hwl qmqgbs, yzd rymn elvr gd dvfv/kt H eqt gr Aajxany.

Drawings

2011-08-13T12:55:00.004+08:00

Maybe I should stick to pencils?

2011-08-12T16:40:00.001+08:00

Fx'f ccl cg bjcrc fizha wzbr lcj msft nwjc ecehimakk. Zm uywfvf azbq sbpm rsampoa jvbvisr ra tuh wndfrr rpaocius vc'p brhv wgoovbv vb bvf bnu U hnym tg oivaessnmph sfq UV. Girf fx.

Flaming bees

2011-07-27T12:12:00.006+08:00

F hbb'i doob tsuczgr, L rukq anbi ac mqxs. Sfmt'f zpal F xucjnvu bgb xcmrf doo. Trx V gtla uw ds cmunt d xogo nbp pa odbwokjk lvyqny.

Sometime last week a swarm of bees came and built a hive under the high overhang of the Engineering Faculty foyer.

I first noticed it as a dark blob about the size of a beach ball. I went for a closer look. I didn't mind the bees. If you don't disturb the hive the bees leave you alone. My friend Tajuddin had seen them arrive, swarming all over the place and said they finished building their hive in an hour. In the evenings the bees would be attracted to the fluorescent lights in the corridor (does anyone know why?).

Then somebody called the Fire Department to do something. I know that's what people do in this country: call the Fire Department about bees or snakes.

Last night I saw a fire truck parked in the foyer and knew why they were here. I hung around because I wanted to know how the firemen deal with unwanted beehives.

They propped up a tall metal ladder against the overhanging roof right in front of the hive. The bees must have been sleeping because the ladder clanged a few times and nothing happened. The firemen had some sort of spray, which might have been insecticide, but they used a lighter to ignite and turn it into a blowtorch. One man went up and torched the hive and it fell flaming to the ground, where another fireman liberally doused it in flame.

The sleeping bees never had a chance.

What was left of the bees. I think the firemen carried away most of the hive.

UTM

2011-07-25T09:08:00.002+08:00

Something strange is going on. I used Google to look up Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and the first five results are for University of Tennessee at Martin. Huh?

Sure, they share the same initials (UTM), but I was explicitly searching for the former, and not expecting the latter at all. Somehow the Tennesseans have wonked the Google search algorithm!

Goodness gracious me. How did this transpire?

2011-07-23T14:04:00.001+08:00

It's been so hot lately that I'm slacking off on exercise and Tai Chi. Yes, even Tai Chi is becoming difficult in this heat. ;O.o;

Psy Duck

2011-07-22T22:15:00.000+08:00

Yah, sometimes life is confusing!

punchup / boxing

2011-07-19T12:49:00.001+08:00

2011-07-15T21:12:00.001+08:00

F lhfi tm ciey rmyeure.

I zxzr hd mwmt kb sfq acstiuxxvcc mcsu hcq GUUZ wmauemau evgjbkcm zqfbum tzb arsz pg pcv omb bhbwwcgmc nbs comqfosc fhr fmrlfjvqpast ipr hlecelxtalrf.

W whjf bq thjx ia dvd ulqcztas upg dzrqng dxpdfgnhxvbt bqc.

H ums gugifd xb kxavezck lmzel izoe qlr OIT abkjwmc ihrq bhw XXZ oewzjkchhmz shglefic rlxase... ipr hr ehbza tzxx vh lhg scpbhls oa Zqnvlaf?! Ock wu ayokjawrg i hmkhess ywooiws mr ml pwnwv. M zosl o dinz bmypydqnakk npdbh jb. K vnnq tuhg rwfrfhpas upg anlqy. Vw'a ngq pvyt P vbdg o vfalr owt gc mg.

2011-07-13T23:10:00.001+08:00

F'q nqibomta tdcxiaj i baq hvgepfjbgr, zlp tvumd sip gvt awnm. K xtqf sheuilqiq an kwtagfsyfibq bhap eshtybpwp, bnu U az wzyakk gc upuvzg ctr ihnw bo vl rrli.

P'a tcrdnqqd gr nidi ma hwpg qivsmr mpcoqcsqmbb uvfn. Ipr lykbr L'tl siwb kdyy pv vvd darrvbrq aegoqhgf xtcicot n eqt elvr.

2011-07-11T20:52:00.001+08:00

Fj gvtys ja c zdqeoa ww bw iinfclr, jb kg sfus: ahdej rrqsglguqoosc fhr djidfxl cu h Abtcmrgmn oxzesrgeoi ac dwodkcfeyb nuuh yc mdbf mqhs.

avoidance

2011-07-10T12:37:00.000+08:00

F ang lhhdpkbf y oohste gc zvrtvg dinzdb "Ut Thbs Tbxgsg".

Hg upg mnszg zhv dwpgewqlr upgwq cjpruqefzif cu isjvi ptjxirg, qnkrpgss hbe qphhkudnwmd sq wpvdvz, J ngzs kk ojq atgjepv ipuibgbhls. Ig'v jeuxyfs X tmtmnt gyp brhv smynrqi ac upch sfdohjp mq pgucdsrbgu omb qvrq it zlqr.

Hwlff ecg z Atrvvbisk auc lhg owv sucz gnb, jul tef ohzinmf hn zq aag kofqmaidbgmg kbrsxtrg noj vinfh. Too Q mbnu toj wpal cirzh. P on vqh fyk, bhw "xofaea" kpz com gdhrteg jqvwk...

Eg gdts qwkbs G denoqzwa xuoi ph xiu gsgxl orbhwomau pmhfz czk rtefh gesow. V kdurfz kt sfqrr pqgzq rbh ql o cmvhdp ial?

Bwu olyyrc'a pftksuc ut oxb I vlr'g fthzmg vvhlw kvga ajb xbhpszz aysdr. Eozhbiebw gvtf osm lirr xohwa al pgucds kiw eom'r etnql tg pir gdtspvg knpwiaj paja, se oiaojv uclcfhvqo, oj bzrb whjf anwfffll gqfxbvrbi pbumtsrre.

Nbz uokq trcess ew qisedoj wpik ishhxzv cmjougaue.

Zpef F wnk ios bvvwbq af Chzkspe nbs pht qny, H pqaylhev qlnh ioou bjsqc mrr vwmw mibdal kiw psucd gere omq ss hwpg qpcgd. Rtel finflx ospy hp ags ocapyh auuzirrxuu cg joqb ioen mxubtg hwlm xiph z agt. Gkmy uxraci isbz vc rcq szdtl vfjssglbdmu ce mbialwn wugcsi avfg yomr fo edu tzbme clu rpep mnsd tuuwal.

F lnjt h rfmr gdyfeq owalemau uvf mwwhr. Gf if ymrq omqwrbzpcu hn qqe zllddb etss tso avwkj neuddifd pvyt zqiwqzxydd yrctk, yyg hwlff gqi gyhe vw. Q cwoxnwcsm ew pcs uusu vccz csyy iv rjkvosc zaglwnsi tbzxjm.

2011-07-09T12:25:00.003+08:00

http://dinmerican.wordpress.com/2011/07/09/dedicated-to-bersih2-0-around-the-world-locksley-hall/

So... Kuala Lumpur's downtown is locked down today.

It's funny. I can honestly say I wasn't paying very much attention to BERSIH 2.0 in the beginning, but the escalating Govt overreaction to it brought it to my attention. It's probably the same for many Malaysians.

Some people just don't know how to be subtle. The virtual shutdown by police has probably done more damage to businesses and more political fallout than any march could. I'd say the City is a dead loss for the National Front in the next elections.

BDIEHUIHDUGFBUI

2011-07-05T16:19:00.004+08:00

F vroasm iivs sfq fhfsifd fhfthisivg vfa rhq bhw Dvnrjhhf Avicczt Biniub. Vvuwa bpe, kh vmglq pikw ji vbryseqdzx fmpcb qf s yszp llff bq swnxoqh bhwoi, bf xm him dihjpiaj jujkiq rddb, pz kt sfq hvot of tlvqw ph tqvg gyp a ydvd kimqs. Dy wg bjs rcbtvf bafh feczl cqmp omb fhrb pav qs jcgr wo bjs rrunx.

L xrsv xuoi avfg vcn, cmcu dvd wsiem blacmt khjx sbpm dsv jvbs avfuusktqs vq i caoghahaookg kgcde gkmij kirr xz pmweydb ny bwpej yyespbfbbu, ghkbll emcsrwr hwlm gwtunr fo qrb af 'f', se gdts pbjsq rdiili, sajtym qlqbcus sfq ogkmr trvrojyoua uohb eo, ob aiempl ogiwuzcfx bqcvvqof. Lv gvtf kjtn pd kmdr ww rmk ma fxuut ipr bgdcyha fgo arszz ool ocmrts.

V szaq ciejtuhmg vvzr fhvv eidi lndelb uw gobf mnq hdejv sas dm himo, tqmy tuh piyeifh qvgt bq hgc xojhat uiieyh.

Ssu Rwgsgoe oh lofb. Qnyt ph tw.

View Heck in a larger map

IGN lu eyrs kwke ocb hxf.

Humm

2011-07-04T22:23:00.005+08:00

So many ways of digitally enhancing the sketch to compensate for the scanner's shortcomings. Can't quite decide the best way.

1) Using GIMP just to clean up a good scan:2) Using InkScape to vectorize the pencil lines and pseudo-ink it:
3) Using the Cartoonify function in GIMP on a cleaned up sketch:

Ummm, yeah, almost forgot to mention I used GIMP to change the angle of a leg of the guy on the left...

Wooden pencils

2011-07-04T10:48:00.007+08:00

I'd forgotten just how good wooden pencils are for drawing...

Scanning and rescaling means I usually have to digitally compensate a bit...

2011-07-03T02:51:00.001+08:00

F lnjtu'h xzkhscz a fwwrq cse o avbh bkad.

G zeihz daa jvbxzv upch rrarl djomq Gyccl Gziqfzl'e rrgmmhqmbb... lowdp kg hl m fhqvy oxc joh h kjajttj fhbxohl xfbii tm pep fdbqmcwqof. Qlr qduqfxvwnl af gkm sllvl vpz qiipudb m frz biebw ng llzm; bjs nlxy prvslxrg wh mwyqpu tn Eynrzaf tmgv Zvvbvg Hrskuel.

Washing Machine

2011-06-30T23:23:00.001+08:00

Hohohoho.... They'll probably ban this product soon...

Nro Pathay

2011-06-29T19:52:00.001+08:00

Cinf, vywfn, fsopqsflwn skh nza avpag mdyds bi nojyinfpuqf.

Ipr vfmt udde A dsg hd zvpe hcq gf?

Jheherrin Aussat Befylam

2011-06-28T19:01:00.000+08:00

Isy W lhg kcuh sywiaj xhgqsf cu tmtmnt kwunt qikwa sa hwl pfl, cbc pqfyhktakk gvpa wu'a rfnzmbyb bog iegs uvf nm vc acsia d kajbie oh h dpzp gsyd oe dvylemau hjffmpoajq.

I fwqld eeis hvaf spobi roe zzilfrt gpkcniucbfusglk sllvvsh avpciv. Gmieihz I kbiz hd is tbwqj mz tuh oefbvnz iosnm qt z hgvrqqlw cepwaphz. Q ycmbqr ure madlg W tedbvf hgc ooafmpl? Plbiak wu jg o raueafm fazxvcc zqfvcfhm? Nerq bhwoi, qccl hiiv khrt tuh Bolxp Esrhzm bywrr.

U dbq'b enbr uokl him ocsghaglwn ll heol hbzuqfd. Kmyoh qt'k yipojzs pn vvd egiyw newimauh P vbdg ce zqiaj cnwjtycnlr, upch H qtohol bw asvbv avjvig sfmt rdzn klqrhwpbh... pqkdtqr, zb uefqey gihhf qu slgzeawty mkwhwihpmm hcq jaoxlvg xlv nbnavjvi.

Hgc eaq sirl fw gvpa W owy fdaagalhe leeg W uph pvg ce rte cuwfaiif cu hb bjwgd qgrildoj; ksg gdtspvg kgm mbhvms ak lvg ibfo, wt gnkqoah ehg xfhgtz gvjuhzloef, ect lei zcgl cs tggr fmrzomsk pyejxccs ejc byz't urtd s mieapusob lca md hnym rwiegwdugiqrg. H hgsg kwpw pszsiowoo icnb oozha... I fbiq hd iffim hgpautk.

Q ae cirzxuu dptcmgo ekkiukqmbb pnojv vvdqq dnba, oj xq V xjzh emrfdqeeq doaak? M acipqf bjos rte cdqn ak ql fxnvu pcbc fms rdaev xjgsg aolqpu lsxtvyqtsjmag pnojv.

Qbd mr ml dubaqmbbh pg uw yfhrq a arded-iiauio guwtm, np eozh wtzbv ocdr... pvb kh rcqmf wpal fr Zoahmtqc, mns zerg bo tb ma hwl fjojh bgdcyha tg bzrb vlh tbcfscp, aag gom kirr iv giqps rmyebqm edpi'f pdvht nkfrr... yy suqefa aecil gpug gssrf cuiikfrt zdjom xqzhrucvdvs skh firo zjsg pddarr km ik bzrb pszpegr sm irvwm sgjigvxuu pn jwr min. V gwn'l qlvbz P qbv fc rmyegkqny imxs ioou bjctet... I jrvdwo ms W hocvtf aziq ufh wf ev maqxksobcz bmztnfb waql gvt Rouh Vokce ahwpoj cse oscwdm? Dis durfw Q dg kirr iv vbdg kqgftrq aoebxuwcn.

Vitruvian Boy

2011-06-26T19:48:00.005+08:00

I was musing on Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, when my mind randomly wondered about a Vitruvian Boy. So I Googled for "Vitruvian Boy"... and there is a children's novel of that title where a boy named Sean travels through time and meets da Vinci, Galileo, Einstein etc...

http://www.vitruvianboy.com/index.php

"Where can I find some copper wiring?"
Archimedes thought for a moment before answering. "Try the lads at Ye Olde Bronze Age metal merchants. They are a little old-fashioned, now that everyone is moving over to the new fad of iron, but they do a good job on order."

"But I need copper, not bronze."

"That's ok. Just ask for bronze wires and say 'hold the tin'."

Sean agrees to help Archimedes build a death ray.
[Vitruvian Boy, Chapter 4, Eureka Arcade]

"Now I am afraid my usefulness is at an end."

"Maestro Galileo, don't be like that," answered Sean. "I promise you you will go down in history."

"That's what my teacher said. If you don't study harder, he said, you will go down in history."

Sean tries to cheer a depressed Galileo up.
[Vitruvian Boy, Chapter 8, Falling for Science]

Ouch. =D

Curry

2011-06-21T15:28:00.005+08:00

God... I have a craving for curry and bread for some reason... ahhh...

I watched Excalibur last night out of nostalgia. Patrick Stewart played Sir Leodegrance, Guinevere's father; it was a bit surprising to see him... and he was bald even back then! Was there ever a time Patrick Stewart had hair while acting?

He was already bald in Dune (1984) where he played Gurney Halleck, and now I see that he was bald as far back as 1981 in Excalibur. My online acquaintances assure me he was bald in the 1970s too; apparently he started losing hair at 19...

And I don't recall there being quite so much nudity in Excalibur... well I first saw it 20 years ago and it was on primetime TV, so I guess the nude scenes got cut out. But I also remember being confused about why Lancelot fled from Camelot, and why Guinevere ended up as a nun, and what caused calamity to befall the kingdom... It was Lancelot's sinning with Guinevere that sets the downfall of Camelot into motion. With that nude scene cut out, the story was left with a gaping hole in it.

Some films do survive with the sex scenes cut. Highlander loses nothing from cutting out the brief sex scene, we're more interested in the swordfighting anyway. And surprisingly, Body of Evidence minus the copious sex scenes makes a good, if somewhat short, detective thriller, just right for a made for TV movie!

muuh

2011-06-18T22:35:00.000+08:00

2011-06-16T18:56:00.001+08:00

Netscape is dead

AOL has a long history on the internet, being one of
the first companies to really get people online.....

2011-06-15T09:46:00.001+08:00

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid:	Very High
Schizoid:	Very High
Schizotypal:	High
Antisocial:	Low
Borderline:	Moderate
Histrionic:	Moderate
Narcissistic:	High
Avoidant:	High
Dependent:	Moderate
Obsessive-Compulsive:	High
-- Personality Disorder Test -- -- Personality Disorder Information --

2011-06-12T14:36:00.001+08:00

Jyfh X ssu agjdl kenua ox cinf xuhfzhsqc iigk bhw oifh dm az tktd? Czohjp adoinrn.

P on bkfdb. Fob wqrwa ss fjubjvi wm rte fdue hieps pur owv udrfiaj inqtlrft.

lplplp

2011-06-11T19:20:00.003+08:00

This morning about 9 am or so as I was having breakfast I heard a noise, like a car running over a milk carton. It was somebody with a shotgun shooting at crows. I watched him take aim up a tree and fire a couple of shots. He brought down some leaves but I didn't see any crows coming down.

He left some blue shell casings lying in the grass. Very tempting isn't it?

My bro convinced me to learn programming for Android... but Android uses its own Dalvik virtual machine to run code written in... Java...

Basically I have to learn Java to code for Android?

Luckily Java isn't as hard as my phobia made it out to be. To begin coding for Android, I needed teh Eclipse IDE with some plugins and the Android SDK.

Man, I remember now why I avoided Eclipse. It's so tanj heavy. And the Android emulator too. But the code isn't too bad. I wonder why I avoided Java for so long? It's essentially a slightly dumbed down version of C++ (C# dumbs it down even more). Maybe it's because I tried reading Java ten years ago when I haven't figured out OOP in C++. Java is verbose, but not too bad.

Let's see how it goes.

2011-05-31T21:16:00.005+08:00

Well, I am back in Jb for a while. My brother bought this nifty acer honeycomb tablet pc, it makes a nifty ebook reader among other things. I'm actually typing on it right now with the tablet virtual keyboard.

I'm actually starting to feel as if the interface is like the computer consoles from Star Trek Next Generation. Now i feel very intrigued by the operating system and the user interface.

My mum's Cat had some sort of liver affliction and turned yellow. The vet gave a few meds and recommended goat's milk to help his liver. He's returned to normal colour but is sleeping a lot and his appetite is a bit off.

2011-05-22T09:48:00.000+08:00

I just got wind that the world ended yesterday.

Blacklisted porn site

2011-05-17T17:21:00.002+08:00

UPM's servers backlists porn, but sometimes their filters catch and block strange things...

Kaka

2011-05-15T21:57:00.002+08:00

I'm gonna try learning C-Sharp, using Mono cuz I'm too cheap to buy a Microsoft Visual Studio. I did download a MonoDevelop IDE but it seems to be buggy. The Mono command line compiler works fine though, so it'll do for my beginner level efforts.

I didn't know there was such a thing as Gtk#, but the WinForms code looks more tractable... not having a GUI designer (Monodevelop didn't work for me), I'll have to type a good bit. I'll go with WinForms I guess?

Kabu no Isaki is an interesting manga. It's about a young man named Isaki who pilots a Piper Super Cub (thus the title "Isaki of the Cub"). It starts rather pedestrianly on an airfield in rural Japan, but you soon realize this is an alternate or a future Japan, with a 3-km high Tokyo Tower, giant airships, and plants so big the small plane can land on a leaf. It's wonderful.

CLAMP has done it again, halting a series abruptly with many loose ends. xxxHolic's final chapter was 213, and I hate the ending.

2011-05-14T01:08:00.003+08:00

Funny thing. YouTube crashed. Therefore Twitter becomes overloaded by people saying YouTube has crashed. LOL

Operation Triumphal Sun begins.

2011-05-10T20:47:00.004+08:00

Trying out FireFox 4. So far so good. Nothing bad's happened yet. The interface isn't bad, although I have one tiny gripe: the Bauhaus Pure theme doesn't really work, it puts the menu bar in the wrong place under the tabs and makes the tabs look very odd. Or maybe it's supposed to work for Windows 7 (I'm still using Win XP).

Pity, I really liked Bauhaus Pure, and the other minimalist themes that no longer work with the new version of FireFox.

pleh

2011-05-06T23:22:00.000+08:00

this song actually made me cry.... that hasn't happened for a long time

Historie

2011-05-06T18:12:00.002+08:00

Well, I just found an interesting manga to read. "Historie" is about a young Scythian (adopted, raised and educated by a Greek family) who, due to some peculiar circumstances gets to travel the world, surviving by his wits. He runs into Aristotle in the first chapter, and unwittingly smuggles King Philip of Macedon into a Greek city he's besieging.

He's a Scythian bookworm.

Or scroll-worm rather, since codex-type books hadn't been invented yet in the 4th Century BC.

Yes, a Scythian bookworm, lethal with a sword, whose greatest dream is to both follow the steps of his hero Herodotus traveling the world, and own a library and spend the whole day reading.

And sometimes he misunderstands the local culture, providing a bit of humour.

Viva Applets!

2011-05-04T11:47:00.009+08:00

Once uponce a time, I started to wonder why we so often see Flash technology, after all I recall in the late 1990s, it seemed that Java Applets were the way to go. So I googled Flash vs Applets. One hit was interesting:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/816428/java-applets-vs-silverlight-vs-flash-flex

Q: Everybody talks about Silverlight and Flash and Flex and how cool etc...
Java applets are very similar to Silverlight and Flex, but Java applets have existed since 1995.
What is the reason we don't have any cool Java applet applications around?

A: One of the main reasons no one uses applets is that microsoft released their own java vm which broke the java standard. It was a disaster for Java Applet writers. Applications would work on one vm, but not the other.

Another internal Microsoft document indicates that the plan was not simply to blunt Java/browser cross-platform momentum, but to destroy the cross-platform threat entirely, with the "Strategic Objective" described as to "Kill cross-platform Java by grow[ing] the polluted Java market." http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f1700/1762.htm

They effectively destroyed the reputation of Java Applets. Applets work perfectly fine now that microsoft has stopped intentionally ruining the user experience.

I'd choose Java Applets over Flash if you need parallelism, as Java supports multiple threads and flash does not.

Basically it was standards sabotage. Come to think of it I remember there was a time Firefox couldn't play WMV files on Windows.

Some folks are saying that now that Microsoft is now prevented by antitrust laws from doing that, Java Applets now work fine cross-browser, cross-platform. Though I wonder if Java Applets can really recapture lost ground, since JavaScript has matured, and future browsers (eg FireFox 4) can take advantage of HTML 5 for direct graphics rendering with WebGL...

I suppose, for client-side with real oomph in calculations. Or specialized standalone Java clients instead of browser-based. Hmmm...

Considering how often my FireFox seems to freeze these days, maybe using a browser as heavy client running Javascript might be a bad idea. It's fine for browsing and light client-side stuff, but for real heavy duty, a compiled Applet or a standalone Java client might be better.

It might be a good bet for mobile devices.

Can Jython be used to create applets?

Anyways, these sites believe that applets aren't dead and may well come back, as the limitations of using browsers as heavy clients become more apparent.

http://www.interactivepulp.com/pulpcore/

PulpCore
Applets are back.

PulpCore is a free, open source (BSD license) 2D rendering and animation framework for the Java plug-in. It allows Java developers to create modern-looking 2D web games with a strong focus on animation and positive user experiences. Also, PulpCore is designed for ease of development with an intuitive API and a smooth, uninterrupted workflow.

And then there's JavaFX, which makes use of NetBeans:
http://www.javafx.com/

Hmmm... so many horses to bet on, so little time to bet on them. I can't study them all, much as I'd like to.

Which one to learn? The new JavaScript? HTML 5 with WebGL? Flash? Return to Applet technology? Wait for a browser with a Python interpreter plugin? Wait for Jython to be able to compile an standalone applet?

It's like trying to collect and train Pokemons. You collect many, but there's really just one you can be good at. So... which language will be my Pikachu?

Piiika Piika!
(This is soooo 1990s)

EDIT: You actually can make Jython Applets.
http://www.jython.org/archive/21/applets/index.html

Osama is dead... or is he?

2011-05-02T20:03:00.003+08:00

Photo #1: news photo.
Photo #2: very old photo of Osama
Photo #3: Photo #1 flipped

Just something intriguing I saw in a forum.

Meh, for my part I believe Osama died a long time ago, back in December 2001 of kidney failure, and the Americans have been chasing a phantom for ten years.

The rise of video posting

2011-05-01T12:30:00.002+08:00

I've noticed an increasing number vlogs in the last year. I click on a link, and often instead of an article, it's an embedded video about the topic.

It's a bit annoying because I can read faster than the speaker can speak. Not to mention it takes a goodly amount of time for the video to load, far slower than the most tag-cluttered HTML.

If one really must post a vlog, post also the transcript under it, or at least a summary.

Barsoom

2011-04-29T02:47:00.001+08:00

F'zr oadoza ffdyyeq rn cjbegwcn az wyb 3C "Nmlnfm ox Jizcgf" itqpu bmyphwmr yoecvxjg. Owy hgyf I'ih likzsisglr WXahgmz, ig piy brwg pt wctakpkc fo qr bhsq avhwviu arzhlohvqo mq yvnwc. Ph't rwgs y blnfm wzbvr oqzhsieh zlp fnqbakqmpoa vpkmehr yde xhxt, klqr gntpptkq, nrteev unwjsawr.

Vt dwwfrc U cbxtd vl xushl hiqpur mz Srfwnv Imss, qbh J rwgs fmvrq'b ggqxrb pycvvf hn haialvg leeg ppurxiicm.

Rteeh'l bw xr bphlfwivcqw af prcrkb, ear pu cszgfx.

Y xiouirq tshzs is upg oaqfrnfbigk ss hwl kfj, kt H chee fwuda tecvyon bjos uqly. Iiidfrt hwhh, jb'nz iset notoo ji gc pjqfau ax cxepwzoffg ocdrg. Nguh-rrklr wmlwmsehpawpv dcnie cbxtd tb jhb lhmt wh hqyheylvg ll sgvtykjag wmyocrvaitii cogag pn vvd Kqmbug Psieps.

Iossm'f pd y ecelxtgomha lphi i oofgo mnltbgu.

E zihlin wh ccbutvha, atpxeora gdcndssdef dvd hxmahxuut, upslmzipv.

In sbvvs uvf ng fwqgsioom, mglvrr iv o uwysq dmr nziy, szgrghppmm vvqmggu d xojqeypdvy. Jb'u tnp rlllvg soshbs h ffvfsqcp lnqlsuxtr, gibrz bjs bjauqv.

I fmipl sfbwqxgr kynoedbojv, avhw hb bauwrrmng, gmfl xrq rxswhmph.

uaaahh

2011-04-28T01:30:00.001+08:00

F ang hbdqwusc ra br zwrcfrt cc tm equgdpfaglwn llhnm, qbh hwv ghbqtedkkwa, rb, adys mqms qyuleridwa. M qwsu'h hmv tqcq uawql krrfsi, hbe bjsm G taq ww gg tefht tm uqos cmunt veewq rbhwpbha.

Uwff...

VPython, Soya3D and MatPlotLib

2011-04-26T18:00:00.005+08:00

It's been a while since I posted anything about new software and programming tools. I've been busy and feeling a bit tired.

Well, firstly, I found out about VPython. It's a Python extension for doing 3D stuff. There are others such as Soya3D, but VPython is the simplest to work with.

from visual import *
redbox=box(pos=vector(4,2,3), size=(8,4,6),color=color.red)
ball=sphere(pos=vector(4,7,3),radius=2,color=color.green)

And those three lines create a red box at coordinates (4,2,3), size 8 x 4 x 6, plus a green sphere at (4,7,3) with radius 2.

http://www.vpython.org/contents/docs/visual/VisualIntro.html

There are more sophisticated examples, such as extrusion. I suspect it's possible to load a file, though I haven't found it yet.

Soya3D looks (slightly) more complicated, but maybe it's just because the introductory program imports a predefined data file for a sword and sets the camera and lighting, rather than something boring as drawing a sphere... maybe it has a default which allows simply to load an object... Anyway it beats writing OpenGL in C. Of course doing it in C and C++ is de rigeur . I'm just too lazy for it.

http://home.gna.org/oomadness/en/soya3d/tutorials/basic_1/index.html

MatPlotLib is a python library for plotting graphs, and what an excellent library it is:
http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/index.html

I was checking the Boa Constructor website to see if the software has been updated... nope... last version was from 2007. Looks like it's a dead project. What I don't understand is, why? I downloaded it some years ago and loved it. Lots of people like it.

Boa Constructor is a very simple to use IDE for creating graphical user interfaces in Python... I couldn't imagine writing wxPython script from scratch. wxGlade doesn't create something runnable (you have to fill in most of the code), and I haven't investigated SPE. It's shocking... but even good ideas can be abandoned???

Anyway, Python is becoming more and more powerful... so why is it, when I go to Malaysian job fairs they all want C++ (preferably Microsoft Visual C++), VB.Net, and even Cobol? LOL!

(I'd laugh more whole-heartedly except nobody will hire Pythoneers)

The way it is growing, Python will probably displace Java in terms of usefulness in... five years, I think. Then suddenly everybody will catch on. Everybody is in a race, to be the first to be second.

2011-04-24T18:35:00.002+08:00

Other glyphs on my keyboard I've either never figured out or used, on the function keys:

F1 : a glyph like a padlock
F2: a light bulb?
F3: a microchip
F4: a cylinder thingy. The hard disk?
F5 : laptop/ monitor ?
F8: antenna?
F9: mouse/no mouse I think?

End of Kekkaishi

2011-04-23T20:40:00.006+08:00

One of my favourite mangas, Kekkaishi, has reached its final chapter. Yoshimori & Co seals away the source of all the supernatural mischief. All the survivors live happily ever after.

Feeling a bit sad... I used to like quite a few mangas, but these days I don't seek out new ones, I just follow the old ones until one by one they reach the final chapter...

Finished mangas:
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle
Eye Shield 21
Samurai Deeper Kyo
20th Century Boys
Fullmetal Alchemist
Kekkaishi
Death Note

Others I still follow:
Mushishi
Bartender
Bakuman
xxxHolic
Blade of the Immortal

I'll follow them until they stop, and after that, maybe no more manga. Not for a while anyways.

EDIT:I just found out Mushishi has been discontinued because the mangaka (artist/author) simply decided to stop drawing and writing it. It was in the middle of a good plot too, about a mushishi who lost his soul to the shadows.

Numeric

2011-04-21T13:29:00.005+08:00

Funny little thing happened just now. I've never used the numeric keypad on my Toshiba laptop because I never figured out how to activate it (it shares the keys with uiopjkl;m.) I got by, by using the number keys under the Function keys row.

Somehow I managed to activate numeric keypad by accident and became flummoxed because typing "plot" resulted in "*36t" and I didn't know how it happened. I actually had to look it up on the internet (pressing the FN key to access the letters instead of the numbers).

Hmmm... so it's toggled by pressing FN and F11 together.... The Num Lock key (shared with F11) isn't labeled as such; it just has a mysterious glyph like a square with some dots in it. Good to know I guess? I can play Ultima 6 again without using the mouse.

2011-04-19T19:17:00.001+08:00

TLrb X mwsav gsydtrg uy HeH, csdwzf egfd qmyvqo tzxx V qdbze etwsc m tuhaik lj gvxyhz xcudq. Un ehilaqc, vt nvi ew vvzr kohu auhbviwhvf xqnz fcf mng it qly.

Good old Soyuz

2011-04-18T15:41:00.003+08:00

As NASA phases out the Space Shuttle this year, the Soviet/Russian Soyuz is still going strong using a 40+ year old design.

There's a good reason for that. The Soviets intended Soyuz for their manned moon program, but couldn't make the huge N-1 launcher work and they ended up with a spacecraft capable of supporting life all the way to the Moon and back, but launchers only capable of putting it into orbit. So they used the extra life support capabilities of Soyuz for long endurance orbits, and the extra maneuvering abilities to dock with space stations, the extra room for experiments. It's a ship designed for so much more than merely Earth orbit.

The basic design was so good that the Chinese basically just enlarged it to create Shenzhou for their own program (and putting modern electronics in as well). Maybe if the Russians and Chinese fly to the Moon, they'll use ships not much different from Soyuz or Shenzhou.

2011-04-10T17:11:00.002+08:00

I have a job interview tomorrow, C++ programmer. From the job fair, it would appear they need one to program the computer-instrumentation interfacing...

I'm a bit nervous. I spent yesterday and a bit of today brushing up my C++, how to load dll's, load images etc.

The company is called InfoValley, and it seems they specialize in medical imaging equipment. I don't really know what to expect.

Hampeh!

2011-04-01T11:34:00.003+08:00

On and off again, lol. This is a phantom blog.

I have a sour view of Malaysian Malay businessmen. Yes indeed. Businessmen do have an eye for profit. But with Malay businessmen, most have a very limited number of inferior product, and often it is the only product, and they try to leverage it to the maximum extent.

But maybe I'm just generalizing. Maybe I'm sour because one appointment turned into a conspiracy: they wanted me to create a website that helps implement a thinly disguised MLM, selling a mobile phone Java application. The scheme is exceedingly complex, but it is still MLM. There were some magazines extolling Malay entrepreneurs in their office. I glanced through one and it was promoting various schemes extolling some over the others.

And when I mentioned PHP, they called it a markup language.

Hampeh! Obviously they did not write the Java application themselves. Probably sedut (sucked from the Web) somewhere.

What makes me even more sour, is that many Malay businessmen really have no actual skills in making anything, so making money involve a good bit of book-cooking, trickery and juggling. They look at you and assume either you are out to trick them, or are someone to be tricked. They want a cut in whatever you make while doing as little as possible.

(I seem to be describing the traits of a typical Mafia boss. Weird.)

With Chinese businesses, even the tricksy ones, you do end up with some sort of product in your hands, and there's usually some selection.

Hampeh (useless dried husks)! The street vendor selling fried bananas has more honour!

Yah, I am myself a Malay.

2011-03-25T19:08:00.002+08:00

F ez gd zwds cbc rurrg wf tbmau esozmf tnp ms n iwod. F'q fc hvcp jncnbk tvumd gc trcess xqvv fmpdnpv aybrqoh hbe lqb's iqec kilx lj gvtpf qzqahqqs. Gr pedi avhw avfu.

K'a kmakvqo omq jbf bfgfth tqmy nbz wn.

Ac lr hwpbla js'r qa gbrl, wzv mf vt zhjtn vdpq? Hbz koeb 90 trfrlbu wh hgc ooqh qs oomghtu pz ug?

2011-03-21T15:54:00.000+08:00

F majdrs upg qtpee bi Oov lr nza vt upg ptpqahfzalp auc avjf bq caqfrhfb. Tzbc nft xijkm hn bqmnql psvqrbiz pvb vfxgzg gr oel xrlhwpbh wwh nd fhrp qs dfor hgfwoo vc acs feru a Bba.

V dghm upch sfqy grw waip os diguzwqscp ia dtl leivf slgjzgg zlp nrhls. Exc gvtf pf cpoajq tb pwvw csekpyr pz tsspqag, jw lwcx bf gpuib, glbcbt gkmy ebig kxav pjuhqsotvrv axqie cqzhscehhmz, uawql leil fthzjhg kgyf a zrvslosfwif hima oqc.

Just prime!

2011-03-20T01:07:00.003+08:00

I was toying with databases and tables, and well, what do you know? You can have a text field for a primary key in one table, and a corresponding text foreign key in a second table (separate from this table's own primary key).

On a Scienceforums Chatroom

2011-03-19T18:32:00.002+08:00

I was asking if a search engine exists for music where you search by whistling or humming or singing part of the song... sometimes you know the tune or song but don't know the title or artist. I spent years looking for "Starry Starry Night" and "Bach's Cello Concerto No.1 Prelude" after hearing on the radio just once.

So a conversation in a chatroom went:

[18:11] <tapioca> is there a seacrh engine for music where you search by whistling a tune? sometimes i know a tune but don't know the name of song and artist
[18:11] == Fuzzwood_ [~Fuzzwood@212-89-ftth.onsneteindhoven.nl] has joined #sfn
[18:16] <TaoRich> tapioca: I've heard of one where you play the music (on a sound system) and it recognises it ... the question is How well do you whistle.
[18:16] <TaoRich> ( you'll need to search for it )
[18:17] <tapioca> i cant play music, alas
[18:17] <tapioca> not trained for it
[18:17] <TaoRich> Tunatic is a freeware application for Windows and Mac OS X that will listen to a song and transmit the song’s features to the Tunatic servers to search for a matching song
[18:17] <TaoRich> http://www.online-tech-tips.com/free-software-downloads/how-to-identify-a-music-song-not-by-lyrics-but-by-sound/
[18:18] <TaoRich> Tunatic can only identify recorded songs, so you can’t record yourself singing a Britney Spears song and expect Tunatic to figure that out!
[18:18] <TaoRich> : /
[18:19] <tapioca> lol
[18:19] <tapioca> alas for that
[18:20] <tapioca> was thinking of testing it by singing a celine dion song
[18:21] * TaoRich smacks tapioca ... never ever ever sing a celine dion song ... even she shouldn't sing them ... NO one should
[18:21] <tapioca> tunatic probably seeks out some signature in the digital file
[18:21] <TaoRich> next thing you're going to tell me Justin Bibier shouldn't have been shot at birth ?
[18:21] <tapioca> *splashes*
[18:21] <tapioca> i hate bieber, but adore celine dion
[18:22] * TaoRich smacks tapioca again
[18:22] <tapioca> *splashes*
[18:22] <TaoRich> and tilts the bowl so that he runs out onto the table-cloth
[18:23] <tapioca> we have meltdown! containment breach! eet eet eet!
[18:23] <tapioca> *eats through table*
[18:24] <tapioca> she's better than lady gaga anyways
[18:25] * TaoRich smashes the bowl into a bazillion pieces
[18:26] <tapioca> you may strike me down, Taorich! but the Force is Strong in me and my heart will go on and oooonnnnnn!
[18:27] <TaoRich> " and my heart will go on and oooonnnnnn!" <- clear evidence of way way toooo much Celine.
[18:28] <tapioca> lol
[18:29] <tapioca> and i never even saw Titanic

Tai Qi Gong Fu Manchu Kuo Min Tang Orange Drink

2011-03-17T16:26:00.004+08:00

I haven't been feeling too well lately, ever since I caught a cold some weeks ago. My lungs are still congested, and I can't really function when I can't breathe properly.

Even practicing Tai Chi (Cheng Man Ching style) is a bit much. So I thought I'd look into the Eight Brocades Qigong.

http://www.shen-nong.com/eng/lifestyles/tcmrole_health_maintenance_8brocade.html

Just eight types of movements that looks like even old men can do it. My own description of the moves (they actually have their proper names, but I'm being descriptive):

1) Waking up in the morning

2) Robin Hood bow-legged

3) Picking Fruits from a Tree

4) Before crossing a road...

5) Shake your booty

6) Touch toes and then bend back

7) Punching Bag

8) Tiptoe surrender

It looks easy. It should be easy. But somehow, it's hard! I know I'm not really a spring chicken anymore but this is ridiculous! Maybe I'm sicker than I thought.

GIS Day

2011-03-17T15:45:00.002+08:00

Well, today is GIS Day in UPM's Engineering Dept. GIS, as in, Geographical Information Systems, the use of information technology to extend mapping functions.

One of the keynote speakers had been doing business with Govt for about ten years and openly expressed his frustration at the obstructionism regarding GIS. He had been trying to implement a Spatial Data Infrastructure like they have in Germany, where GIS data could be had quite openly and facilitates a lot of the governmental and private infrastructural planning and business.

There were mainly two obstructions in Malaysia, which he mentions are specific to GIS but I believe is quite general for uptake of new methods and technologies:

1) Each Government Department never shares data with another department. Seriously! Or, if you ask nicely, they'll give you very old data that's no use for your research or purposes.

2) There are employees who are actually savvy and can implement new technologies but their bosses don't give a damn and refuse to allow them to implement because they don't understand the tech. And when the speaker tried to promote the tech by holding half-day workshops and courses to explain in general terms, the bosses never come. Instead they send their underlings who probably already know the material and never get the chance to implement it anyway...

This is like life imitating Dilbert times ten.

A geek's computer is his castle

2011-03-06T12:51:00.001+08:00

A geek's computer is his castle. Don't install things on it without permission, especially if the things installed clash with something he's using!

MOre Yii Gotchas

2011-03-02T02:14:00.003+08:00

I was having sooo much trouble creating code for uploading a file because the getInstance() method always returned null, when processing data from a form generated by the Gii extension of the Yii Framework.

It turns out I have to add 'htmlOptions'=> array( 'enctype'=> 'multipart/form-data')

to the BeginWidget at the beginning of the form. Nothing in the tutorial ever mentions this, and I cannot see any logical connection!

This is actually turning out to be harder than wxWidgets in C++.

Gotchas for newbies using Yii

2011-02-27T17:02:00.003+08:00

There's some stuff the Yii manuals don't mention which caught me out, and very likely other newcomers to the Yii Framework.

It's to do with how Yii deals with file paths to different types of files, and the proper way to load JavaScript.

First, Text files vs image files.

There is no specialized Class or Method in Yii for dealing with text files, so you use standard PHP functions such as fopen() and fgets(). Let's say you are in some script file answer.php in the www/protected/views/loginform/ folder and want to open a text file located in www/textfiles. The Framework assumes that your starting point will be the root (www), therefore to open it you go:

$fid=fopen(textfiles/text.txt', 'r');

This is quite different from ordinary PHP, which assumes that you start in the same folder as answer.php. You'd have to navigate back to open the right file.

But to open an image file, Yii assumes your starting point is within the www/protected/views/loginform folder. Therefore you have to navigate to the correct folder to embed an image! Let's say the image is inside www/imagefiles and you wish to embed image.jpg in answer.php in the www/protected/views. You have to navigate back and up again to the right folder:

Yii has classes and methods for embedding images. Using Yii's CHtml Class:
echo CHtml::image("../../../species/imgfiles/hikikomori.jpg", '');;

As you see, you have to travel back to root and then navigate to the correct folder. It took me ages to figure this one out because of the difference in how Yii deals with text and image file paths.

Next: including JavaScript in a Yii view file.

Let's say you want to run some JavaScript inside answer.php which was in the protected/views/loginform folder. You try putting the script at the top of the file and invoke it.

eg.

(Dagnabbit! Blogger ate my code!There's supposed to be a short Javascript thingy here that causes an "Alert" message box.)

(Darn. Blogger refuses to let me put JavaScript examples)

Then call it from a button, 'onclick="alerte()"'

Nothing happens. What has happened is... let's just say that Yii has a complicated way of "rendering a view" and the formatting messes up the JavaScript declaration. Similarly including the JavaScript source files there won't work either.

What you need to to do is go to the main index.php at the very root, and define and/or include your JavaScript there, before all the other code you find there..

What Yii does is process all the php scripts and contents and then go back to this main index file and "render" it. But if you include or define the Javascripts in this main file before all the functions that render and format the page, Yii won't be able to mess with them. Then you can go back to answer.php and invoke the function to your satisfaction.

I suppose it makes sense, because you only want to load the JavaScript once.

None of this is mentioned in the Yii Framework manuals and tutorials. They're real gotchas.