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Saturday, May 31, 2008
[What to do?]
I'm thinking of ending my planted tank hobby. I don't really have the time and I'm also not as into it as I was in the past. I'm not at home during the day on weekdays and my Dad takes care of the feeding and the switching on/off of CO2 and lights for me. On the weekends, it becomes a chore as I have to do weekly maintenance.
I have a few options:
1) Carry on with it. The tank is still in very good condition considering how little time I have to maintain/observe it.
2) Get rid of this setup, sell my CO2 equipment (I can easily get $100 for it) and start a low-maintenance shrimp tank.
3) Get rid of it altogether, then I can consider getting a new L-shaped table for my room. If I do, I can easily get a bigger LCD monitor. Due to space constraints, it's hard for me to get a bigger one (I'm currently using a 17" 4:3). Another advantage of this is it would probably be better for my posture. My current table has a design flaw and I have to sit in a not-so-good-position. Then again, I wonder if I should invest in the L-shaped table to begin with, considering how little I use my current table as it is.
I need to decide soon. My CO2 is finishing soon. The decision I make will determine if I will go get the CO2 topped up.
^^^ by Locksley @ 12:53 PM.
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Wednesday, May 28, 2008
[24 days...]
Confused: Imagine a jig-saw puzzle with not enough pieces.
Round-hole, square-peg: Different phase, different ideas, different backgrounds. No common ground.
Defeated: Why should I be surprised? They are like parking lots.
Hope: Tomorrow's another day.
Apprehension: What will tomorrow bring?
Despair: What if it doesn't...?
^^^ by Locksley @ 10:35 PM.
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[TalkingCock.com hacked!]
^^^ by Locksley @ 8:08 PM.
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Tuesday, May 27, 2008
[Peer patent...]
I read an article recently about peer patenting. I didn't read it very thoroughly, but I believe that the idea behind this was that before a patent is approved/awarded, the general public (with relevant areas of expertise) are allowed to examine the patent and they decide if it should be awarded, based on the idea itself and whether awarding this patent would be good or bad for the public at large.
I thought that it was an interesting idea, but where would you find the people willing to invest time in participating? Then again, people contribute to Wikipedia for nothing, so who knows? In any case, I thought it was interesting, it's already being done now, but I'm not sure if it is sustainable. Patents are generally very expensive to file, so I guess they didn't expect any jokers to file nonsense patents in the first place but a lot of them still slip through the cracks. I guess this is what peer patenting is trying to "catch".
After reading the newspapers today, I sure hope that this peer patenting idea pushes through, because I just read a totally WTF article.
I couldn't find the article online, but basically, (to the best of my understanding...it sounds so absurd that I wonder if I've got it wrong) a local company has patented the concept of hyperlinking using images, and they've started sending out letters to websites that link using images. They intend to start collecting from the smaller, local websites first, before moving on to the big names like Microsoft or Google.
So basically, they patented the usage of A HREF and IMG tags together. You can't use the IMG tags inbetween the A HREF tags.
If the courts enforce this decision, it would change Internet surfing as we know it. You can forget about clicking on an image, all links will be in text. It's so absurd that I cannot imagine any court in any country not run by monkeys to grant the enforcement of said patent.
And the cheek of the guy to say that he's sure the courts would enforce his silly patent....
What this is, is a waste of resources. All the sites who has received invoices should just band together and go to court against this firm together. This firm should have just gone after the big boys like Microsoft or Google to begin with. I would love to see how the big boys kick their ass all over the yard.
Peer patenting would have caught this for sure.
^^^ by Locksley @ 9:09 PM.
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Thursday, May 22, 2008
[Champions!]
Manchester United are the champions of Europe once again! I won't go into details about the match. It's all over the Internet and will be on the front page of the papers tomorrow. The last time they won it was nine years ago. I'm going to get a replica of United's European jersey when it comes out next season. Who knows when will they win the trophy again? I'm going to have Giggs' name printed on it.
I did have one regret. As the second half of extra time started at about 5am, I started taping the match and went to sleep. I was going to wake up at 6am, watch the rest of the match and have breakfast then head off to work.
It didn't occur to me at the time, but I can't believe that after waiting for nine years, I couldn't last just one more hour.
When my alarm went off at 6am, my Dad rushed into my room and told me United won. Well, he basically spoiled it for me. But I didn't care at that point. United won, and that's all that matters.
It was tough going at work today. I basically had only four hours of not-so-good sleep the night before. I said a rather silly thing in front of three colleagues and then proceeded to "under-perform" at a task.
Dang it.
I see this girl almost everyday when I head off to work. Everytime I see her, I get the feeling that my brain's trying to tell me something, but couldn't.
I finally figured it out. She worked at the same company as I did before I entered NUS. Mystery solved. We didn't talked much (if at all) or anything, but I just knew that that face meant something.
I'm getting old. My brain needs more RAM.
They're upgrading the lifts at my block. Finally. I can't wait for the lift to open up just outside my door.
Anyway, there's a rather foul smell in the old lift that's still running. A few days ago, they put up a notice.
Anyone wants to get high?
^^^ by Locksley @ 8:54 PM.
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Tuesday, May 20, 2008
[Bored...]
I'm sure most people have seen a movie about a guy who's afraid of commitment, wants to stay single and enjoy a bachelor's life. It's usually a romantic comedy. He will then meet this girl, and she would change his view of life and they get married and live happily ever after.
In the past, I've never understood why the guy behaved that way. I mean, doesn't everyone want to meet someone, fall in love, get married, etc etc?
I do now. Married people are boring. And if they have kids...Boring-er. But I can't blame them. When you have kids, your priorities change.
I'm going out of my mind. Generally, I can't complain much about work or my work-place. The people there are mostly nice and friendly and while there are the usual "characters", it's nothing I can't handle...So far. But we have nothing in common after work. Nothing to look forward to. They just go home to be with their families. I need some excitement, something to look forward to. If I knew life would be like this now, I would enjoy life a lot more when I was in Uni. Life now is so boring it's not even funny.
I hope I meet some people my age at the induction programmes, so we can have something to do after work.
I'm pretty sure I overheard the cleaning lady tell my colleague in the next cubicle that I was very "dao". When I get the chance, I'm going to confirm with my colleague if that's really what she said.
I'm not surprised that she said that. I've been told that the first impression I give people was that I was unfriendly and very fierce. When I'm concentrating on something, I'd look even more unfriendly.
Then again, the cleaning lady isn't the life of the party neither. How dare she judge me. And how silly was she to say it out loud in the next cubicle?
^^^ by Locksley @ 9:12 PM.
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Monday, May 19, 2008
[Too much or too little?]
If there's too much bandwidth, then why is the file disabled?
^^^ by Locksley @ 10:45 AM.
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[Baby, when the lights go out...]
I bought a UPS in the December of 2006. I can't remember exactly, but I believe there were some blackouts around that time and I wanted to protect my computer. For those who don't know, a UPS is basically a big battery for computer equipment to draw power from during a blackout. Home UPS usually provide about 10-15 minutes of power (don't believe marketing when they say that there's enough juice to sustain your computer for 30 minutes...not for home UPS anyway) while those used by IT companies could probably keep the servers going for several hours.
My UPS has never been called into any real action. Me turning off the power on purpose to test the UPS doesn't count. That was actually one of the reasons that made me ponder whether or not to get one in the first place, because let's be honest, the power supply in Singapore is very reliable.
About an hour ago, my UPS was called into action.
The power in my house tripped. I'm not sure what caused it. No one flipped on any switches when it happened. My parents were asleep, my sister was reading and I was taking a piss. The circuit breakers didn't offer any clues neither. The main breaker "jumped", but all the others were fine.
My computer was on at the time and the UPS allowed a graceful shutdown of my rig before I went and turned the power back on. I'm glad I shelled out the $77 in 2006.
I think that everyone should get a UPS to protect their computer. It costs about $60+ (prices have dropped since 2006) which is a small sum compared to what you paid for your computer. It gives you time to shutdown your computer properly during a blackout, offers surge protection and supplies "clean" power to your computer. I'm not 100% sure what "clean" power is (I have some idea, but don't want to get into it) but it sure sounds a lot better than dirty power.
^^^ by Locksley @ 12:18 AM.
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Sunday, May 18, 2008
[Steal a fish...]
The sign at the fish tank reads, "Shoplifters will be handed over to the police."
Really, I don't think they have anything to worry about. I don't see how anyone can "shoplift" an arowana.
^^^ by Locksley @ 11:05 PM.
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Saturday, May 17, 2008
[Bad-at-maths tax...]
Beer. The first sip is always the best. By the time you reach the bottom of the glass, it already tastes old and all you can taste is its bitterness.
Someone once said that the lottery is a tax we impose on people who are bad at maths.
Just look at the people standing in line to pay the tax.
When I was in NUS, I sometimes had to download journal articles for project purposes. Unless I'm mistaken, we weren't allowed to download an entire journal. We had to download them article by article.
Every field has their own premier journal titles. There are several for computing/computer science, personally, I prefer the articles in practitioner journals. Short, more relevant and easier to read (and you don't need to know statistics).
Since my current job has absolutely nothing to do with what I studied in school, it was important for me to be kept in the loop with regards to the latest happenings and developments because I see myself returning to IT/computing somewhere down the line. So I was very glad to see that my employer has a subscription to CACM. And this time, I could download the entire journal. Not the pissy article-by-article nonsense.
I've downloaded all the issues for this year so far. Going to start reading them soon.
^^^ by Locksley @ 10:27 PM.
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Thursday, May 15, 2008
[Set as Phone 1...]
Because my workplace doesn't allow camera phones, I'm currently using two phones. One with and one without a camera. I signed up for M1's Multi-SIM service, where two SIM cards share the same number. It's pretty cool. Both phones can make outgoing calls/messages. Incoming calls will ring on Phone 1, followed by on Phone 2 if it's not answered. Messages, however, get sent only to Phone 1.
So basically, Phone 1 is the primary phone. The problem is, whenever I get off work and switch back to my usual phone (with camera), I always forget to punch in the code so that the primary phone (Phone 1) is re-assigned. Yesterday I only discovered it at 11pm+ while today I only remembered about it at around 8:30pm. I'm not used to punching in the code when I switch back to my primary phone, but never forget when I switch to the non-camera phone that I use only at work.
This going to take some getting used to.
CNA reported that SMRT is going to put up bus maps in the areas under their control service. In case you don't know, said bus maps have already been put up in town. I've seen it, and for the life of me, I don't know who the hell looks at them.
It would probably take a person (of decent IQ) several minutes to figure out how to read the map, assuming said person didn't lose his or her mind in the process. If you ask me, I think you're better off tracing the circuit paths on a computer motherboard, because that's exactly what the bus maps look like.
What's the purpose of the bus maps? To confuse commuters so that we don't get mad that our buses never arrive on time or are always too packed to get on during rush hour?
I'm thinking of tearing down my aquarium. Even though I've only started working for about two weeks, it's evident that I don't have time for it. My Dad's the one who switches on the CO2, turns on the lights as well as feeds the fish. I reached home a little earlier today, so I was in time to turn off the CO2 and lights (planted aquariums need a schedule for CO2 and lights) and I realised a lot of the fishes were sick and stressed, the plants were not doing well and there was a lot of algae on the walls. These are all signs that things aren't right. My Dad's been great in helping me when I'm not around, but he doesn't understand the science involved (a lot of science is involved in planted aquariums) so there's a limit to how far he can help me with.
I'm thinking of tearing it down and starting a shrimp tank. Again. No CO2, no ferts and just easy-to-grow plants, low maintenance all the way. This means I'd probably be selling my CO2 setup. To think I bought that top-of-the-line solenoid only in January. I think my CO2 setup should fetch at least $100 on the aquatic forums.
I'm also thinking of getting a L-shaped table for my room. I'll probably have to decide on the table soon, because I need to tear down the aquarium before it gets here and only restart the shrimp tank after that as I plan to put the tank on the table. Anyone has a L-shaped table in their room? How much did it cost? Was it custom-made? I want to change to a L-shaped table because my current computer table is too high (although it's a Sitoca) and my back/neck's getting affected...
^^^ by Locksley @ 9:31 PM.
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Wednesday, May 14, 2008
[Security vs Usability]
One of the things I remember from the security modules I took when I was in NUS was that security is about balancing the need to be secure and the ability for your employees to do their work. Employees don't like security measures because more often than not, these measures take up time and slow them down.
Coming from an IT background, while I do get annoyed at some of the security features found in computer systems, I understand the need for them and why they are important. I never thought I'd ever get really pissed about computer security because I understood the rationale behind it.
Until today.
I won't go into the specifics, but let's just say that due to a security feature, I was held up at work for over 45 minutes. Now I totally understand why people complain and bitch so much about annoying security features.
^^^ by Locksley @ 9:49 PM.
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Thursday, May 08, 2008
[All sorts of random things...]
I started work on Monday. It's been a big adjustment for me, and I'm mostly very tired. Due to the sensitive nature of my work, I'll never reveal the name of my employer or talk directly about my work-related duties/matters here. So don't ask.
I'm part of a three-man team. But really, it's just me and my senior. I don't think we'll have a lot of contact with our supervisor. My senior has been phenomenal in helping me settle in and getting me up to speed with regards to what we're supposed to do. I honestly don't know what I'd do without him. Probably curl up like a fried prawn and suck my thumb and go to my "happy place".
Haven't had a lot of contact with my supervisor. Had some. Have a feeling that he might be a difficult person to deal with. We'll see.
Everybody's older than me there. I'm never gonna get used to being the youngest (or at least, one of the youngest). The people there mostly in their 30s and up, and some are married and have kids. I can have a working relationship with them, no problem, but I don't think we'll even socialise outside of work. That's just the thing, they don't seem to anyway. I guess having a family takes precedence over socialising after work.
I miss hanging out in the school canteen, talking about whatever people my age talks about. Grown-ups are dull. Hahaha!
I've never been one to believe in fortune-telling or anything, but my horoscope has been so dead-on for the past few days that it's not even funny. I'm actually getting a little scared. Not that it's bad news, but because it was so...applicable to me.
Rush hour traffic sucks. To think I was so happy that I could take five out of the six buses that calls at my work-place's bus-stop. Truth is, the interval between them is insanely long and often, they don't even stop because they are too full.
Rush hour traffic sucks. On the way to work, I want a seat to nap, which I don't always get. It's a 50-60 minute trip and I'm tired. The last time I regularly woke up at 6am was from 1995-1998. 10 freaking years ago, when I was in secondary school. I'm so not used to it.
Rush hour traffic sucks. On the way back, I always get stuck next to a smelly guy.
Rush hour traffic sucks. I want a car. COE so cheap this month. Oh, who the hell cares...Not as if I can afford one anytime soon. By the time I could afford one, we'd all probably have flying cars.
Received yet another scam call today. A PRC bitch asking me if I could speak Chinese. Fuck you. How fucking dumb are you? You and your tactics have been exposed in the media. Give it up. Find a new tactic. I'd be waiting.
This Sunday is a football fan's wet dream. But all the matches end at around midnight...Which means if I would only get six hours of sleep. Not good enough on a regular day, not to mention I have IPT on Monday evening. I'm dead tired as it is after work on a normal day, I can't imagine going for IPT with only six hours of sleep the previous night.
Champions League finals will be once again at an unearthly hour. 2:45am local time I believe. I'm going to watch it, nevertheless. United better win.
^^^ by Locksley @ 9:24 PM.
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Sunday, May 04, 2008
[Good news and bad news...]
I'm starting work tomorrow. The good news is that although it's somewhere near NUS, I have much more choices when it comes to getting there compared to getting to NUS. On my way home, it's even better. Of the six services that stops at the bus-stop, I can get on five of them. Only one of them is direct, but changing buses might be faster. We'll see.
The bad news is that there's no easy way for me to get to Khatib Camp for my IPT. I will probably call a cab from my workplace or from Clementi.
Recently, a young kid was killed when the school-bus he was in was involved in an accident. Tragic, yes. The fallout from that incident is the renewed called for the use of seat-belts.
I think it's stupid. Accidents happen and people die. Get over it. Why use the incident to renew the call for seat-belts? They have been around forever and everyone should know how important they are. If people don't want to use seat-belts and lose their lives in a traffic accident, then that's too bad. It's on them. Who cares? That's the risk they have to take.
And thumbs-down to our media for playing it up. There's an article about some seat-belt-related subject almost everyday for the past few days. Is there nothing else to report?
And don't get me started on why they publish letters from people writing in about the situation in Tibet and why the Olympic torch didn't come to Singapore. Honestly, who the hell cares? I don't give a shit about the Olympics, much less the torch. In fact, I'm glad it didn't come to Singapore. It would probably cause a lot of inconveniences, like road closures and such. And I think that most of us have better things to do than to line the streets for hours to catch the few seconds where the runner runs past with the torch.
But really, the most hilarious letters are those who wrote in offering advice on how China should deal with the whole Tibet incident. Did the writers of those letters really think their opinions actually mattered?
There are more important things to worry about.
Like global warming, for one.
The weather's really getting me down. Last night, I actually got up in the middle of the night for a shower. Never happened before.
And my silly Dad...still refuses to turn on the air-con. Didn't we get it installed for days just like this?
^^^ by Locksley @ 2:04 PM.
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Friday, May 02, 2008
[Ivory-tower logic...]
I can't remember the specifics, but recently, a local beer lady's concern was raised in the media (or in Parliament, I can't remember how it started). Her concern was regarding how her bosses have started hiring foreign workers to work as beer ladies. They were willing to work for less pay (which was still a lot for them once they sent the money home) and the local beer lady was concerned about losing her job.
The government's reply? She should be thankful, because the foreign beer lady will improve sales, thus allowing the local beer lady to keep her job (huh?). Something like that.
Maybe the air is fresher up in the ivory towers, so their brains work faster or better than mine. Personally, I don't see how they ended up at that conclusion.
What's more likely to happen is that the coffee-shop operator would rather hire foreigners from now on, especially if they are younger, sell more beer and would work for less money. Which sane employer would pay more for less?
Is this progress? Or is this an act of....betrayal?
I think the next GE would be very interesting. If memory serves, the ruling party got 66% of the votes in the last one, and called it a "strong mandate". Mmmm...In a country like Singapore with no real credible opposition (at the very least, during the last GE), 66% of the votes means that out of three people on the streets, one of them didn't vote for you. Is that really a "strong mandate"?
I really wonder.
^^^ by Locksley @ 1:42 PM.
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