GenSephyr: Risen against Gravity

IE8 Standards Compliant?

2007-12-26T00:16:00.000+08:00

It seems too good to be true… On a recent entry into the IEBlog, Dean Hachamovitch announced that Internet Explorer 8 has successfully rendered the Acid2 test.

This news is expected to be more significant to web developers than to the average web user. For the uninitiated, Acid2 is a test page for web browsers published by The Web Standards Project (WaSP). It aims to help browser vendors ensure proper support for web standards in their products. When correctly rendered, it would show a smiley face.
However, up to this point, none of the major browsers in use today (the non-beta versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer) can render the picture correctly.

The final release of IE8 is still unknown though.. For their part, there are subtle hints in the post regarding the final support IE8 will have… In a paragraph, it was said that:

When we look at the long lists of standards (even from just one standards body, like the W3C), which standards are the most important for us to support? ………… Many advances in web technologies, like the img tag, start out as unilateral extensions by a vendor. The X in AJAX, for example, has only started the formal standardization process relatively recently. ……………….. Different individuals have different opinions about different standards. The important thing about the Acid2 test is that it reflects what one particular group of smart people “consider most important for the future of the web.”

So we just have to adopt a wait and see attitude..

Interesting Finding

2007-12-20T22:57:00.000+08:00

This is plain interesting.. Chance open a site talking about a Thumbdrive which was bought from China, which turned out to be fake. So beware...

Take a look:

Full article at: http://www.gadget9.com/2007/06/17/usb-thumdrive-from-china/. Picture originally from there too.

Asian Idol

2007-12-17T20:18:00.000+08:00

Was watching Asian Idol yesterday. Well, Singapore's Hady Mirza won. Its quite a great accolades..

However, watching the show, it wasn't the singing by all the idols that I took notice of. Rather, it was the some of the things that the MC said that got me laughing or bugged me.

Take for example, after the performance by Singapore's Idol Hady and Malaysian Idol Jaclyn, the MC commented (not quoted ad verbatim here): "Wow. Singapore and Malaysia in perfect harmony. Something you don't see very often.".
How true. The political situation between the two countries, are on a delicate balance which are not always in balance.

Then in another case, the performance by Australian Idol Guy Sebastian, stress was put on the fact that he was from Malaysia, not once, not twice but three times. Also another sentence by Guy, (correct me if I am wrong here) that its Australia needs Asia not the other way round.

Though simple sentences, the implications of these seems bigger than it actually is...

Troubled

2007-12-09T15:55:00.000+08:00

When you think the tunnel has ended, someone or some event seems to start extending that tunnel again. You start wondering when will this ever end.
I guess that answer becomes obvious after a while. "It never ends"...

Maybe I'm a bit "emo" this few days due to my dental surgery which render me unable to talk and eat. Its been mentally and emotionally draining this period and the surgery wasn't the sole cause. Told myself once that I wouldn't fall into that emotional trap again but it seems that I did. I seem to be stuck in a position where I can't let my feelings out.
There are times when I thought I would lose control and times when I almost did... But thankfully, there is always someone who knowingly or unknowingly pull me back from those states.

I really need to snap out of this cycle... Gambatte!

Blogskin: FTStudio V2

2007-11-29T20:32:00.000+08:00

Did a spot of shopping today for my grad night.. But since I got home slightly earlier than expected, I had time to do some programming. First thing I did (of course) was to change my blog skin.

So the usual info:
Skin Title: FTStudio V2 (FusedThought Official v2)
Number: 6th
ID: N6-29D11M2K7Y
Customization: None

Permanent skin application URL: http://gyeojz.blogspot.com/?css=6
Reset to default: http://gyeojz.blogspot.com/?css=0

Feel free to post any comments on this new blog design... =).

Brainstorming for the school project. But still drawing blanks =(

IN holidays

2007-11-28T18:49:00.000+08:00

Well, A levels has long been over, but I still have not been blogging lately...

First, extremely busy trying to see things for my graduation night. No. I don't have to buy as much stuff as the girls but I still do have a problems getting shoes. The shoes I see seems to hit the 200 mark. Not to mention a pair of pants was 400 bucks. Thank goodness I already got mine and didn't have to look twice at that crazily priced piece of cloth.

Secondly, I am brainstorming for 2 websites.

Number 1 : a website project for my school. Yes, I've graduated, but this project was assigned to me in mid of this year and according to my initial timeline and plans, it should have been finished by now. However details are being delayed and not so forthcoming as I would have liked. As such, development hasn't started.

Number 2: I intend to move to a self hosted server BUT I'll still be keeping this blog. Especially so since I am applying for a free hosting account and my experience with free hosting account is that they can suddenly disappear. So, I'll still keep this blog.

On a sidenote, went to parkway parade newly opened borders today with some friends. I must say, the layout is so much better now... However, spent a longer time at parkway then expected as we were caught in by a thunderstorm...

As some may know, I recently obtained Windows Vista too. The experience is less than optimal. Almost all my current software can't be used. Things like Norton systemworks 2004 wouldn't be safe to run in Vista. Although I have shifted my focus on open source software, which was a good move as most of it are supporting Vista now, those old close-source software aren't doing so. This reminds me why I like Open-Source Software.

Douse of a flame

2007-11-08T19:15:00.000+08:00

A flame has gone out in the family....

"The central pillar has fallen.
It is now up to the rest to find a common supporting pillar for the future, be it virtually or spiritually"

I can't say how much that sentence resonates in my mind.

End of school and D-Day

2007-10-13T16:45:00.000+08:00

School ends. D-day in the form of the A levels in 2 weeks. Can't be more stressed than now.

Anyway, yesterday celebrated belated (1 day) as well as advance birthday for lin' and jess respectively. Forgot all about the way Fish and Co celebrates. So naturally, we all got "clowned". Haha.

On a side note, I guess I'll be able to attend the Prom aka. Graduation Night..Yeah!!! "Muchas Gracias!"

Next Tuesday is the farewell concert as well as the Sportsmen appreciation ceremony. Guess we'll finally know who took over as the 2 Captains of the bowling team.

Don't really have much mood to update actually. This post is so fragmented and without a theme. Oh never mind!!

Ciao.

Wisdom of Pain

2007-10-04T16:51:00.000+08:00

You gain wisdom when you have wisdom teeth?
I guess not. Rather, I find that its a royal pain i.t.a.

Going to the doctor proved to be more bad news than ever. I shan't say what happened, but a few of my friends should know by now. haha. Can't help but rant. Really pardon me for that. However, its still darn infuriating.

How come everything regarding medical always come up to such a huge sum? Am I a money tree or something?? Arrrgh!!!

Blogskins: FTStudio V1

2007-10-04T16:36:00.000+08:00

So frustrated. 2 wasted days. Didn't have the heart to do anything.
Turned to changing this site skin to cool down. It may be weird for some, but quite effective for myself.

Anyway, here are the official information about the skin:

Skin Title: FTStudio V1 (FusedThought Official v1)
Number: 5th
ID: N5-03D10M2K7Y
Customization: None

Permanent skin application URL: http://gyeojz.blogspot.com/?css=5
Reset to default: http://gyeojz.blogspot.com/?css=0

Sen No Yoru wo Koete

2007-09-24T18:57:00.000+08:00

(song by Aqua Timez)
(English translation)

I want to be loved, but you don’t seem to love me
I wander within that repetition
I found one answer; that even if I’m scared, even if I’m hurt
I can say “I love you” to the person who I love

Do you love me? Or not love me?
As for things like that, it’s already fine either way
No matter how I wish
There are many unchangeable things in this world, right?
That’s right, and because only the fact of my loving you
Is the truth unchangeable by anyone

I want to overcome the thousands of nights and tell it to you
There’s something that I must tell you
I want to be loved, but you don’t seem to love me
I wander within that repetition
I found one answer; that even if I’m scared
Even if I’m hurt, I can say “I love you” to the person who I love
It’s scary to turn my feelings into words
But I can say “I love you” to the person who I love

In this broad world, I can’t express the joy of encountering you with words
So we smile, sing about the vividly passing autumn in do-re-mi
Turn our backs on winter, wait for the sunlight streaming through trees in spring
And become reborn anew, so that we can protect someone

On the path we came from and our destination, when we looked back, I’d always have timid eyes
I want to face you, but I can’t be honest
I, who repeated days of not being able to straightforwardly love my partner
And hated being alone on that day
Seemed to love people while unwounded

I’ll overcome the thousands of nights and go meet you now
There is something that I must tell you
I want to be loved, but you don’t seem to love me
I wander within that repetition
I found one answer; that even if I’m scared
Even if I’m hurt, I can say “I love you” to the person who I love
Even if those thoughts aren’t fulfilled, I can say “I love you” to the person who I love
It’s the most wonderful thing in this world

Its Over

2007-09-21T17:31:00.000+08:00

Its over.
And it means two things: Exams are over.
However, mugging is going to start soon.
And also.... one word for the current exams: Massacre

Exams Week

2007-09-10T18:58:00.001+08:00

Exam week. Will resume posting again after my exams in about a week and a half from now.

.

Economical Savings?

2007-09-01T12:41:00.000+08:00

Is this recent economic boom really for everyone? As it goes on amid claims from various sectors that everyone is benefiting, it really doesn't seem to be the case at the ground level.

Investments soaring, property prices rising to all time high, this wonderful figures are only for a wonderful front to a worrying backdrop. When these prices are split up into various components, we will then realize that its really not a normal curve. Rather, its leaning towards one side. In property market, that curve falls towards the high end markets like the districts 9, 10 and 11.

With majority of homeowners here being HDB home owners, the property boom here is hardly affecting them. The nature of HDB flats is that they are a linked closely towards a government linked board. Thus, prices are relatively stable in accordance to the aim of the board and the governments in making prices affordable for the masses. Thus, those that are really benefiting from here are the ones already rich and thus have property in these areas or condominium owners who are gong en bloc. However, the en bloc heat is forecast to cool down due to recent ruling.

While we aren't hit that hard by the effects of the sub-prime mortgage problem in the United States, we have problems of our own. With the rising inflation rate and low interest rates for savings, the economy is look set to have a widening wage gap. It is really creating a climate where it doesn't pay for Singaporeans to save.

Interests earned in the savings accounts held in banks will soon be outstripped by the climbing CPI (Consumer Price Index), a statistical estimate of the level of prices of goods and services bought for consumption purposes by households. Thus, in real terms, the value of our money in these savings will drop. In effect, this gives rise to a situation of negative real interest rates.

According to a newspaper article, negative real interest rates favors borrowers and with projection of at least one to two years of negative real interest rates, the risk of fueling asset inflation is very high. With such disproportional rates, people would be expected to want to invest in the property market where returns are deemed to be higher, this driving up the property market and thus inflation of assets.

There is hope however that if many choose to invest, then there is a chance for interest rates to go up. However, with the vast amount of cash in the banking system, which is causing an oversupply even though demand of borrowing is going up, deposit rates are set to remain low for some time.

It is thus timely for us to take a hike and think about whether we should park our savings elsewhere. With these savings paying close to nothing, its not a very bad thing to consider investing in other financial instruments which will maintain our purchasing power in this "pricer" world.

However, with such a decision, the question of whether we dare do so is quite pertinent.. This question is especially "real" for lower/middle income families and the so-called sandwich class of the society, where the money available in their bank accounts are their lifeline to the future. Risk is not a very viable option.

Going Green

2007-09-01T12:31:00.000+08:00

I'm going green recently.
Hopefully with all the green, my eyes won't get so tired after using the computer. Probably is just my wishful thinking...

And if you're interested in the vista start menu which I used here in Windows XP, read more about it at my tech blog. Its a program called ViStart.

A negative programming

2007-08-26T11:30:00.000+08:00

It seems like I've been involved in quite a few school related web stuff this past months. From the bowling blog to the school's anniversary website to the current alumni website which I have no time to complete till the end of my A level.

Talk about work.... The bowling site aren't that much a problem as its blogger based. However the other sites are quite an insomnia causing.
I can't believe I am going to say this, but I am starting to feel tired and nauseated from seeing codes.

Probably have to take a break from programming. coding a fully-fletched content management system, databases, maintenance tools as well as doing the graphics aren't a small feat. Especially when I have to do all those single-handedly with no one to turn to for help.

Stepping down doesn't mean totally abandon one's responsibility. I've wanted to relinquish all thoughts of intervening, but looks like I succumbed to temptation and stepped in.

Though I was asked to recover the pictures after the bowling team site mishap earlier this month, I've decided to contribute a final gift to the team, in the form of a brand new look for the site. I've given the site a "web 2.0" make-over, bringing that site up to be in line with the current trends in the web-design committee.

The theme, titled "bowl-a-lution" would add on to my list of XML templates to my collection, that would be my fifth, including all my works done on this blog (Risen Against Gravity).

Anyway, here is a screenshot of the site:

Or you to see the real thing, you can visit it at http://tjcstrikeforce.blogspot.com

Sigh.

On a sidenote, I've also decided to add a tagboard on this blog also.

Cherios.

Blogskins: Anime.Otaku

2007-08-19T17:34:00.000+08:00

New Skin again.

I didn't schedule to make a new skin this time round. It was because I was feeling abit frustrated that I decided to code one to relief stress.
Guess it was my record time in creating a new skin also. 45 minutes including the graphics.
In fact the graphics took me almost 30 minutes (I aren't that good at graphic manipulation. The css coding only took 15 minutes.

The rationale behind this skin name was because, Anime Otaku is taken to mean anime fan.
Although Otaku is a fairly derogatory term in Japan. Its most commonly used to refer to excessive obsession with Anime. However, in America, the term is often a badge of honor for hard-core anime fans.

This skin include a few firsts.
These are: Opacity effects, being Anime themed, a gradual (gradient) background as well as a new skin cataloging system.
Moreover, its the first skin to use CSS3's opacity property. However, this means that opacity effects will not be shown on certain browsers. Its minimal though. In fact, almost unnoticeable.

Since I constantly add new skins, I guess I should have some detailed skin launch format from now on.
So here it goes:

Skin Title: Anime.Otaku
Number: Quarto (4th)
ID: N4-19D08M2K7Y
Customization: None

As usual, this skin can be applied to the page permanently regardless of my future layout changes using this URL: http://gyeojz.blogspot.com/?css=4

To reset, use http://gyeojz.blogspot.com/?css=0

Credits to the respective creators of the individual pictures used to make the masthead.

Site Headaches

2007-08-10T16:25:00.000+08:00

Many websites multiple headaches.
I can't list it here due to nature of these projects which are commissioned by certain parties....

My design juice just ran out. No inspiration for any design at all....

On top of that, the bowling website just got all the graphics, JavaScript removed. I don't know how will the current committee settle that. Don't say I didn't warn them on the impending deletion the other time. Too bad it wasn't heeded.

However, since my websites are designed for the LCF (Lowest Common Factor), the bowling website will continue working. Just that at a very basic level.

I really need a design inspiration. And also something to jump start my studying engine...
sheesh.

sick

2007-08-04T22:15:00.000+08:00

Sick for 3 days already... vomited, ached.

Not the first time.

Can say its the second time in a span of a few months....

At least...
Finally can eat...

Stress-sify in Poems

2007-07-29T15:18:00.000+08:00

Talk about stress... I can't believe I actually acceded the request. I don't even know if I'll gain something about of it. A recognition perhaps? but is it even worth it? Was I out of my mind to accept even though I aren't even sure that the prize dangled in front of me is going to materialize.

I just aren't sure about anything anymore.

What used to be my good subjects seem to be going in the opposite direction. I just aren't good quality of a sponge anymore. It seemed to have reached maximum capacity... The days when whatever I put in there usually stays in there. But that reality seems eons ago. It has become a new reality that things just flows out. Facts become hazy, and this is even before the haze season comes.

"The battle cry sounded. Cries for help ensues.
The future seems lost, deep within the forbidden forest.
Prayers are made. It looks as if in vain.

The light of dawn breaks, casting light in the shadowy realm,
Hopes must be rekindled amidst the coming battle.
The clangs of helmet, the sound of swords...
Onward we shall go. Into the battle for hope."
(GenSephyr)

A deprivation

2007-07-22T12:50:00.000+08:00

Not the usual deprivation, but with the release of Book 7 of Harry Potter, I had to steer clear of forums and similar channels due to the spoliers that are posted all over the place.

Sighz. Still have to wait. People like me without pre-orders have to wait. Some stores didn't even display the book on the shelves.

That aside, this is really one bad weekend. Was incapacitated by PE lessons the other day. My left arm, which was fractured before, was rendered unable to bend fully or straighten fully. That came after after holding in "push-up" position for 2 over minutes, 60+ push-ups and 20 chin-ups/pull-ups....

One more day of rest before needing to return to school.

Anyway, to wrap up this post, here is a quote a found quite amusing and interesting...

"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools" Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless

Electrifying Stats

2007-07-14T21:34:00.000+08:00

"Don't stand under a tree when its raining, or when there's lightning!"...
We used to hear that when we are young. That still holds true now....

However, a year or even just months later, you may hear parent's telling their children: "Don't listen to your iPod when its raining!".

What's a phenomenon and deemed as a music revolution has lately become a target of nature. It has become an electrifying experience for a few users. And thats not about the tunes either. Rather, its related to rain and lightning.

Recently, according to the newspaper, a Canadian jogger suffered wishbone-shaped chest and neck burns, ruptured eardrums, and a broken jaw when lightning traveled through his music player's wires. And furthermore, it wasn't even raining, but only a storm in a distance.

"Yikes! more hazards" may be one pertinent thought now. A questionable thing is that, if electronics was to blame here, why is this happening only to iPods? Last summer, a Colorado teen also ended up being struck by lightning when he was listening to the iPod while mowing the lawn.

In fact, any of these could happen to anyone bearing an electronic device on them. And frankly, everyone would have at least one on them nowadays. Maybe they were the tallest in the area? I don't by that argument. What I can accept is that now, with the huge success of iPods, majority of the people own one, whether its an iPod, mini, nano and so on. (Sadly, I don't have any of them). Thus with such a large sample, the chances of lightning striking a person with an iPod is very high.

For all we know, its just an unfortunate accident and a case of bad publicity for it.
However, I guess its best to err on the safer side and keep that music player in your bag or pocket (if you feel safe enough) when its raining, lest it becomes too electrifying to handle.

A pain in the OS (operating system)

2007-07-13T22:06:00.000+08:00

Put my thoughts into action. Finally ditched Windows XP. Ok.. I didn't really fully ditched it yet. However, I finally got my long awaited dual-boot system.

Installed Ubuntu. Actually was planning to use fedora. However, without an easy way to configure internet access, I turned to Ubuntu instead. However, Ubuntu is not without woes. Sadly, it doesn't support WPA well as I'm using a USB wireless adapter and the linux driver doesn't support it.

However, the results have been quite satisfying. Other than the occasional freezes, usually due to the keyboard malfunctioning as the driver support isn't that fantastic. However, I don't mind pressing the power button to reboot again as unlike booting into Windows, it doesn't take eons just to see the desktop. In fact, it takes me about 15 minutes to boot into Windows, waiting for all the services to fully load. Compared to that, Ubuntu loads in under a minute. This is probably due to the lower level of requirements to just run the base system.

Moreover, from my point of view, my Ubuntu installation seems to have more desktop effects, especially since I installed beryl, which emulates some of the Windows Vista features like ALT-TAB preview switching, thumbnail preview when you have minimized applications and also a 3D desktop with as many virtual desktops as you want.

Currently still learning how to use as most of the things, even some common things need to be done in the console/terminal (command prompt in Windows). However, security is and has always been higher as you don't get root access to system folders, a feature Windows recently adopted in Vista. I don't think I ever felt safe to enter the net without a firewall and anti-virus.

Anyway, here are some screenshots:

Main Desktop

Desktop 3D effects (desktop cube)

Weeks

2007-07-01T15:04:00.000+08:00

Exams are over and we get a 4 day break until Monday which is erm... youth day? Yeah.. Something like that...

Finally got my website up and running.. Manage to get two domains... my main one at: http://fusedthoughts.x10hosting.com and a secondary one at http://fusedthoughts.googlepages.com. Althought currently, the x10 one doesn't work. I assume that the uptime for the googlepages one would be better although, it lacks full server benefits.

I never thought my computer had so much files. My C:\ Drive, which has 40Gb now has only 15GB left.. And thats when most of my files are on another partition. I desperately uninstalled over 10 programs and my free space count didn't improve much. I concluded that its all due to the every increasing number of updates for Microsoft Windows and Office... Its really getting out of hand. A base install of XP can take up so much space....

I've been thinking of dual-booting my system. Windows XP and Ubuntu or Kbuntu. I've haven't decided what I like better. The GNOME desktop environment. or K desktop environment (KDE).... Moreover, I'm a bit hesitant as one wrong installation move would require a re-installation of not only the Linux OS but Windows OS as well....

On a sidenote, yesterday was the last day of June and also the last day when Goods and Service Tax (G.S.T.) was at 5%. Starting today, G.S.T. is increased to 7%.

I went Vivocity yesterday. Got a programming book. My only programming book in like 5 years... Been always borrowing from the library. Its on Adobe Flex 2. Wanted to know it as it is integrated tightly with the upcoming Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) and I thought it would be interesting to get to know more about it. Got a 24% discount on the book. So I don't think its such a bad buy...

Oh wells. 2 more days of bliss before going back to school....

Time and GTD

2007-06-16T14:22:00.000+08:00

Time is really a luxury which sadly I fail to have.... the day inches nearer but I aren't moving that much nearer. GTD (Getting things done) is something that I must do but to do that I need that luxury to do so.

Why why why.

Limited by the hours of day, the rising and setting of sun.
Limited by a saddled brain.
Limited by the very things I am suppose to do.

Yes, I know that:

The limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond them into the impossible(Arthur C. Clarke)
However, is it possible? Rules are set. You can't change time. You can't do the impossible of extending time. The sun cannot be stopped from rising neither can it be stopped from setting. Freezing it is out of the question.

Looks like thou has to find another way.

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. (Benjamin Franklin)

Squander not time, as the significant event is near.

Cherish the present, and look forward to what is inevitable.
(GenSephyr)

Windows Vista vs Ubuntu with Beryl

2007-06-13T14:09:00.000+08:00

This should be in my tech blog, but I thought it would be nicer here... seems interesting what the opensource community can do nowadays.

The question on whether there is a need to upgrade to a new OS is really quite pertinent...

The two OS here in question is Windows Vista using Aero interface and Ubuntu Linux running Beryl. I believe the same effects can also be achieved using Compiz which Beryl is based on.

Cheers

Some quotes...

2007-06-11T22:36:00.000+08:00

Some quotes which I saw on television and stuff

It doesn't matter how people say how you should be.
The important thing is how you want to be.

Below are a few by Oscar Wilde. I heard one of it from Oprah Primetime.
Ambition is the last refuge of failure

A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal

Cheers...

(I'm going Mad over Studies and going Moo over Mootools.. Ok.. this is far too random... )

ODEX anime case

2007-06-10T23:36:00.000+08:00

You must have read the papers about Anime downloading. Well, for better or for worse, its already happened. Someone has been warned. Letters are sent out.

In the recent case, ODEX has sent out a letter to an anime fan. Judging from his letter, he was a Bleach fan.

Those who take an interest in that letter, it can be found on Riuva (http://www.riuva.com/?p=628).

These news are already circulating the internet for a while now. A fellow STOMPer has even posted it on STOMP's Media Club "Hot Stuff" Section. That article can be found at http://www.stomp.com.sg/mediaclub/hotstuff/hotstuff_12.html.

Many commentaries can already be found on the net. There isn't a need for me to add another one. Anyway, the backlash to this recent action has yet to be seen. I wonder what will happen to the anime community in Singapore.

Furthermore, an appendice with a list of the titles downloaded was also attached (pictured below)..

After a look at the letter, it makes me wonder how they are able to obtain such confidential client information from the ISP. That include the time of download, Anime, IP address (dynamic) as well as the port which happens to be a port used for torrents...

"There Is No Explanation" is an explanation

2007-06-07T21:38:00.000+08:00

I was replying to a thread in STOMP forum when these thoughts suddenly came to me in my reply.

The phrase "There Is No Explanation" is, in itself, an explanation (GenSephyr)

Sounds weird? After thinking about it, you'll come to realize that it is quite true.
In one's life, there are countless experiences and sights we have seen, smelled, felt, heard etc. However, with each of these, a reason is sought. Questions like "why is that happening?" is always asked, especially by the young ones.

Whenever that question is asked, whether to ourselves or someone, the explanations given comes from one's experiences. More often than not, these explanations have scientific or religious backgrounds. However, what about those that aren't explained either by our religious or scientific reasonings or, taking it further, can't even be explained when you Google it or put it through some other search engines like Yahoo or Windows Live Search?
At that juncture, the answer to yourself would be "there is no explanation (for now)".

Let's take this out of context and give an example.

For example, in a Mathematics question. The teacher tells you that "a x b = |a||b|sinӨ" (its in the topic of vectors). You ask, how the formula came about. The teacher answers that it is too complicated to answer.
At this point, in order for you to accept that formula, the explanation behind the formula (for the student) would be "its too complicated to know".

Take this case above and put it in the previous context, wouldn't the phrase "there is no explanation" which is similar to "its too complex to know" be the explanation for the unexplained?

Don't know if I make sense here but, I'll just end here with you in thoughts (or maybe not)...

water.no.fall

2007-06-04T15:09:00.000+08:00

New layout, about 1 month after the launch of my second layout which was titled: Desire Secundus.

The new layout is titled water.no.fall.
This is the more closely tied to my blog title ("Risen Against Gravity") compared to my other layouts I've done so far..
As you may have noticed, the main waterfall picture is reversed, going against the natural gravity.

I've also finally incorporated a tag cloud.

This is my Third (Terzo) XML Layout.
And that can be applied to the page permanently regardless of my future layout changes using this URL: http://gyeojz.blogspot.com/?css=3

To reset, use http://gyeojz.blogspot.com/?css=0

Last but not least, a credit..... the original picture is taken by Jessica =)

Milestones: Passing the baton

2007-06-03T00:15:00.000+08:00

Its been a few days, (3 days to be precise), since the last training. Been enjoying myself these few days.

Yep. Thats right, I had my last training last Wednesday, May 30th. It marked the end of 6 years in bowling. Memories aplenty. I don't know to feel happy or sad.

May 30th, has, with it, another significance. It was the stepping down of the 2006-2007 Executive Committee of Bowling. I relinquished my post as the Secretary and the Webmaster of the Temasek JC bowling events and announcement website.

It seems not too far ago when I was propelled into the team, blur and all, not knowing many of my team-mates and I still remember my reluctance to go back into bowling after my stint in secondary school. However, I still don't know what enticed me back into it. Ok... Maybe I do know the reason... buried somewhere in my mind.... Its just that I don't want to admit it =P

Since that fateful first training, many things has happened...

Over 2 years, (slightly over 1 year to be precise), I've made some good calls, made some bad calls too.
Came up with a id system for attendance filing as well as my personal database for attendance (for my use only though).
Designed, implemented the website, brought most things online etc.
Although some were scrapped later, looking back, it wasn't really how effective it was, but rather, the process which was required before finding a suitable method was the part which was enjoyable and filled with learning points...
On top of that, there are also other learning points (HR and social for example), that just can't be put into words here...

Fast forward to last week, I've already been through another 2 National school's competitions, National Age Groups, other mini tournaments and stepped down from the competition scene for good (at least for now).

Its been days.. and I still don't know what to think.

Starting 31st May the new committee (2007-2008) has already taken over. All I can say is, congratulations to Darryl, Chris, Marcus, Yixuan, Natalie and Petrina, in forming the new committee.
May you bring the team to greater heights....

Blogskin / style switcher Version 2

2007-05-27T14:37:00.000+08:00

In the last post (http://gyeojz.blogspot.com/2007/05/blogskin-style-switcher.html), I've announced the availability of the blogksin switcher.

After some work, I've updated it to remember the user's preferences via the use of cookies. It was some work, but finally it is ready.

For those who want to have a style switcher but are unable to use brothercake's IOTBS in Blogger or some other sites due to the same-origin policy, my style switcher may be the answer. However, it may not be suited for all, but at least it works.

Some good points over the usual "alternate stylesheet method";
1. It loads the styles on demand.
2. Its cross-browser compatible. (at least its tested to work in Firefox, IE6, IE 7 and Opera).
3. Its customizable to load other style required elements like javascript on demand too.
4. The file size is relatively small.

Known Issues
~~1. In Opera, default is alright. but some layout problems when a alternative style is used. Seems that it doesn't really support link disabled.~~

The switcher works by getting the ?css= Parameter in the URL.
index.html?css=0 resets to the default style. While other numbers corresponds to the other style types.

I'll be packaging the scripts into a zip file and releasing it under a license once I solve the Opera bug/problem.

So watch this space =)

UPDATE: Opera Problem fixed.

Blogskin / style switcher

2007-05-22T20:41:00.001+08:00

Remember a few post ago at the release of my current blogskin, "Desire Secundus: Choosing the path to take", I was musing about the lack of support for the IOTBS switcher because of cross-domain restriction?

well, I've thought about it and came up with a solution.
Using a script from netlobo which gets url parameters, I've came up with something which emulates PHP (but less efficient) and is expandable for future blogskins/style.
It even downloads the blog styles on-demand...

However, there is one limitation. The user preferences aren't remembered and the only way is for the user to visit the site using the appropriate URL parameters to view the skin.

Probably the user preference will come at a later date.
For now, enjoy the switcher (located in the sidebar or somewhere in the page depending on the blogskin/style).

The GET URL parameter script is copyright to the respective programmer.
For now, the switcher is copyrighted to me. I may decide to release it under another license at a later date. For now, it is still undergoing some tests.

So enjoy!

(p.s. For those who haven't read the news on the closure of Yahoo photos, you can read an article about it at my tech blog.)

Migraine or is it?

2007-05-21T20:03:00.000+08:00

Migraine. Or is it not. I don't know.
All I know My head is spinning in a circle as big as earth....

Probably due to a disturbed sleep pattern yesterday, when I woke up almost every 20minutes to half an hour.
Situation was exacerbated by staring at the Overhead Projector (OHP) and the PowerPoint projections during tutorial and lectures respectively. Much better now though. My eyes are like 20 times more tired when I stare at an OHP or projected screen as compared to using the computer.

I really dislike them. Nothing I can do though.

Hope tomorrows tournament goes well.

Anyway, lets end with a quote shall we??

Fighting isn't good. But if you must fight, WIN!

Cherios.

Blogskins: Desire Secundus

2007-05-21T20:01:00.000+08:00

As you may have noticed, a new layout/blogskin is out. my old layout is still in use at my tech blog: http://tech-no-borders.blogspot.com.

This layout/blogskin is titled: Desires Secundus: Choosing the path to take.

Any comments on the blogskin/layout please do so.
Hope I've broken the "corporate look".

Wanted to incorporate a layout changer though... but (surprise surprise), it works in Firefox but not Internet Explorer (IE).
Even IE7 can't use it because of some cross-domain restriction that the browser places on JavaScript. So no choice. Had to take it out.

EDIT (22 May 2007): An update to a new style/blogskin/layout changer (which works in IE) at http://gyeojz.blogspot.com/2007/05/blogskin-style-switcher.html

Ruling in favour of no blogs | Coding New Layout

2007-05-17T19:09:00.000+08:00

Main

We've been banned.. or rather, discouraged from blogging anything related to the current ongoing tournament by the teacher in charge. So for now, nothing of that sort.

I don't usually blog anything about the Sport anyway... haha..

New Layout/Skin

On top of that, I'm working on a new skin. The drive for the layout/skin is different than the current one.

The current one, titled Primero(1st), is my first XML layout and also a trial to see what the new Blogger could do. Moreover, I wanted to see how a layout will look like, using just one image for the entire site. And the result was Primero(1st).

The new layout/skin will be of a less serious style than this one, based on the above banner picture which I put it there as a preview.

Its gonna be titled: "Desires: Secundus..."

Till the end of the tournament.

LOST: phone

2007-05-13T16:32:00.000+08:00

What a week. I would say I attended my most expensive drama at VJC.

Ok. The drama is 8 bucks. However, the total cost to me incurred was, to be exact, over 600 bucks.

That value comes about from the lost of my W850i handphone in the cab. It was my error and mistake to actually drop my handphone in the cab. I didn't manage to get the Taxi car plate.

But from that I found out a few things.

1. The Taxi company, or to be precise, the Cab Driver, was quite unhelpful. Probably my luck to get one who was sighing loudly all the way from VJC to my house. The company sent a mass radio out to all the cabbies but got no reply. Wonder if he was the one who pocketed my phone.

2. I guess there are still many people who are dishonest and are greedy a**holes. The person who picked up my phone has the cheek to call, remain silent when I said hello and put down the phone and switch it off.
The person must have sold my handphone for a fat 300 bucks (I went to my Phone Provider to find out the trade-in price).

I have since disabled that line and got my Phone Provider to replace my SIM card and deactivate the other one before re-enabling my line again. Now I'm only worried about the data in the Phone and Memory card.

To make matter's worse, I got a phone call from an indecent Chat line which I slammed the phone down at.
(Figure of speech. I can't risk destroying my old handphone that I'm using now - from 6 years ago, or I'll have none left to use)..

I have already reported the lost of the phone as well as the phone's IMEI number to the Police. The person better not try anything funny.

Cur*** that person who found my phone and didn't return it.
Hope that person gets struck by lightning or something.
Or better still, lose all his/her money.

I know I'm harsh here... But I just too heartbroken and angry.

On a side note, my National Schools tournament begins tomorrow.
Hope I aren't too affected by this....
For the sake of myself and my school, I must "Get My Head In The Game!";

Blogging Code of Conduct should be a Guideline NOT Mandate

2007-05-08T21:18:00.000+08:00

I guess this is something we all know this will come sooner or later...

In the Straits Times Digital Life Section (May 8, 2007, Page 31), an article titled: "Do bloggers, and readers, need a code of conduct" is very apt and pertinent.

I for one has asked myself this when I first heard about the drafting of the blogger's code of conduct over at blogging.wikia.com

Indeed, there are now threats being made via anonymous comments and also the intolerable advertisements post via the blog's comments system or some chat or tagbaord system on the blogs.

However, the question is, why do we need one? The allure of blogs is its openness, "anonymity" as well as it free-flowing nature. Any comments are posted and aired. Would this code of conduct then turn against the very foundation which blogs are built on?

In this digital age, the internet is used as a personal haven as much as a business tool. With the increasing affluence of the people, and the ease of internet use nowadays it is no wonder some sort of code of conduct is need. That is however, usually covered by a country's law.

However, there has been an increasing need to put some sort of guidelines for blogs. Blogging has seen an exponential increase these few years. With many companies also moving into the blogging scene. With such a trend, and the simplicity of opening up a blog, it is no wonder that many incidents are also happening which are related to blogs.

The online nature of blogs has exposed itself to the internet pits. The list includes (but isn't limited to): flaming, Bias comments, Unwarranted accusations and so on. And with the increasing use of blogs as a media for information, the question on the privacy of one's sources also come into play.

I personally feel that the code of conduct is definitely a good thing to have. However, knowing the nature of blogs and being a blogger, I think that it shouldn't be something made compulsory. Anything made compulsory especially on the web always have an effect of turning people off. Whats more, the web usually presents a snowball effect on the simplest of things.

So in conclusion, I do welcome a "code of conduct guideline" but not a "code of conduct mandate".

New Layout

2007-05-01T13:42:00.000+08:00

I guess this is obvious. After a day's work, (time slightly wasted), I've finally rolled out a new layout for this blog and will soon port it over to my technology blog http://tech-no-borders.blogspot.com.

This is my first Layout for the new Blogger. It is a full eXtensible Markup Language (XML) template.

There are still some features like tagboard which aren't up yet. I still need to do some fine tuning. so for now please post any comments you have at the respective comments link in the posts. Non-article related comments are also welcomed. Cheers.

And to all my friends, thanks for the concern. I should be going back to school tomorrow.

Cheers!

Lesson learnt: Sleep properly.

2007-04-28T21:04:00.000+08:00

One lesson learnt: Sleep properly.

It wasn't fun to have to move around the place with a sprained neck. Feels like a robot. Made things worse when I went for P.E. in the morning. Left my neck almost paralyzed on Friday. Had to skip school.

No choice. Can't escape forever. I must be out of my mind, but went for training today. Bowled close to six games in 3 hours. Now my neck hurts like crazy.

Ouch...

Chart functionality in Google Spreadsheet

2007-04-18T21:40:00.000+08:00

Google Spreadsheets finally added chart functions.

Read More about it at Tech-no-borders (My Tech Blog) at: http://tech-no-borders.blogspot.com/ 2007/04/chart-functionality-in-google.html

The Last Samurai

2007-04-18T21:06:00.000+08:00

Was watching The Last Samurai on Television. Although I felt if that scenario happened in the real world, some deaths can be prevented. However, besides that, I think one quote that is worth giving thought about is:
There is Life in every Breath

This quote seems simple enough, but with it encodes a valuable lesson I think.. That is to treasure life and feel every step you take. You can't regret in the future and go back to the past...

Other gems (memorable conversations) found in the movie include:

Katsumoto: You believe a man can change his destiny?
Algren: I think a man does what he can, until his destiny is revealed.

Emperor: Tell me how he died.
Algren: I will tell you how he lived.

Project Work

2007-04-15T13:40:00.000+08:00

Project Work results are out on Friday.

The word Project Work somewhat bred enthusiasm in me last year.
However, after Friday's Result release I only have one word for it: Unjustified.

In all fairness, I didn't do that badly. Some say I should be happy with it. However, the fact that it wasn't an A still resonates. In fact I feel quite unjustified that our entire group no one got an A. The time put in just wasn't reflect in the final results.

Sigh.. all the unfairness of the world...

Powerpoint woes

2007-04-12T19:50:00.000+08:00

I guess many may have read, in the recent Digital Life (Straits Times April 10 2007) a study done by Australian researchers show that the use of PowerPoint Presentations, is actually making it harder for students to process information.

The above findings is contrary to the previous stand of many that PowerPoint Presentations are helpful and thus aid students in studying. This is due to the research finding stating that the "human brain retains more information if digested in verbal or written form, but not both simultaneously." (the quote was quoted ad verbatim from The Straits Times, Digital Life, Page 27)..

This finding is in support of what students have already feedback to teachers. The use of PowerPoint exacerbates what is already boring. It makes interesting lessons boring and boring lessons worse.

The situation is made alot worse when the presenter already dumped all the information on the PowerPoint slides and is just reading from it. This coupled with the fact that every other PowerPoint presentation looks the same as it comes from the same set of templates is just unbearable.

To be fair, PowerPoint can be a good supplementary tool for teaching. However, the use of PowerPoint for everything is simply distasteful. In my opinion, it should not be used as a main medium for teaching. It really cuts out the interaction and excitement of a lecture.

But what really marvels me is that why does it need to take a study to prove a point? I believe by now, many students would have complained about excessive use of PowerPoints in school. So the question becomes "Why wait so long for the study?"... "Are things going to change now that the study is out?"

The answer to those questions lie outside my scope...

One Errr... Week

2007-03-30T22:05:00.000+08:00

Its one err... week. Can't find a word to fit in there.

It wasn't fantastic, neither was it so horrible. Probably next week will be worse with all the tests cramped into that space of 4 days (Friday is good Friday).

No handphone now as it is in the Repair center. Went to get that Service Provider customizations out. So troublesome. Wished the service provider didn't customize the phone in the first place. The Service provider replaced the Menu button with a shortcut to GPRS button.. So irritating. Always end up having to pay for data charges at the end of the month because of accidental access. Especially infuriating is when u finish a call and hang up, if the other party hang up faster than you, there is a chance that u will access GPRS because the end call button is the GPRS button after the customization. Really was a dis-service.

Got some interesting views to post... But too lazy to complete it.

I set up a satellite blog, which is aimed at documenting interesting technology (software) finds and useful tips among others... it is located at http://tech-no-borders.blogspot.com/

Thats all for now.. ciao.

New Week

2007-03-26T19:32:00.000+08:00

This is the start of a new week... And darn. Our timetables have changed like countless times.. lets just hope it is now confirmed...

Anyway, just recovered abit from the last bout of sickness... Hope it stays that way.. Don't want to miss school again....

Anyway, I am thinking of starting a tech blog documenting new software finds, website or other useful tips I found... haha..

Can't be online long... got Biology SPA tomorrow...

Sickly start

2007-03-20T20:08:00.000+08:00

Oh no. Sick again.

To do

Serious need to revive this blog.
Complete sorting of my notes and tutorials

Chinese Results

2007-03-03T21:32:00.000+08:00

A Level Chinese results are out yesterday. Shan't comment. Did relatively well.. However, still not happy with it.

Well, I've found some topics to write about for my new blog posts... some of them are from the show, The Arena. However, commentaries are quite long.. taking sometime to write it out as well as ensure that nothing can be misinterpreted...

Thats all for now...

CNY 8th Day

2007-02-25T16:00:00.000+08:00

So its another Sunday. Also the 8th Day of Chinese New Year. So yesterday was the 7th Day. In other words, Happy Belated Birthday to Everyone!

So bored. Nothing eventful of inspirational to blog about... Searching for an article to talk about...

Looks like my tagboard is down too...

Ghost Rider

2007-02-17T22:28:00.000+08:00

Ghost Rider!!... watched it. Although, like my friend said, it feels like two stories and two plots mashed together....

hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

2007-02-15T20:09:00.000+08:00

Its been sometime since I blogged as I haven't switched on my computer for about a week or so. Many things have happened.... New friends were made, but sadly, some were lost.... Well, back to the blog topic....

hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

A friend was telling me about a long word in a dictionary. Well, what can I say. Long words are intriguing.... we just cant get enough of it.

Remember Mary Poppins? There was a song with the word: “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”. The word is obviously not a real English word. However, there are real English words which are just as long. One example would be “Antidisestablishmentarianism”

There is even an hypothetical disease of the lungs, caused by inhaling mineral or metallic dust. The name of the disease is: “pneumonoultramicrosopicsilicovolcanoconiosis”

For the uninitiated, according to Wikipedia, hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is the fear of long words...

The word itself is an irony.. as a person who has sesquippedaliophobia, would fear the word itself.

So after this post, I hope no one gets hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia!!

(N.B. All meanings are obtained from Wikipedia)

Paradox

2007-02-03T14:00:00.000+08:00

There are always somethings which is just paradoxical

Like the sentence on Wikipedia: “This sentence is false” (The liar paradox).

A paradox is an apparently true statement or group of statements that leads to a contradiction or a situation which defies intuition. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox)

There are many experiences that results in a paradoxical situation that one may not be able to describe or put in words. It just seems so awkward and sometimes confusing.

Another example would be: “If truth does not exist, the statement ‘truth does not exist’ is a truth, thereby proving itself incorrect.” (Nihilist paradox taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_paradoxes)

Sidetracking.. ok.. actually still on topic....recent events followed by a reflection lead to me to conclude with this quote....

“We have to (learn how to) Let Go in order to Hold On (to something)....” (GenSephyr)

Paradoxical? Ironical? But quite true if you think about it... Many of these quotes depends on how you see it, or from what “angle” you look at it.

(N.B. and disclaimer: If you find any quote here in this post anywhere else (which is recognized to have been said by any person long time ago) but not cited properly, ... inform me so I can do the relevant citation or changes to include proper citation to the correct person... but for now, I take credit for the last quote about Letting Go... )

Life's Like That

2007-02-01T19:57:00.000+08:00

Yeah... Life's Just Like That.. the monotony of life is sometimes unbearable... Its school, work, pdp, work, and the cycle goes on. And in school we have to learn things like the Kreb Cycle, Calvin Cycle, not to mention Economic cycle (Circular Flow of Income) and trends...

Everything seems to be going in cycles or circles...

Nothings fair so far. Things aren't going right for the time being.. I really wonder if days are becoming shorter than the length of an ant. Its back from school and then a few hours and its 12am. Morning signals lack of sleep. 4-5 hours is hardly what is optimum recommended my professional psychiatrists and sleep analysts. I think if going by those sleep studies, I would have destroyed who knows how many brain cells already....

Running toward road run

My legs are aching like crazy again.... Ran 3.6km on Monday, Tuesday about 2.4km, Wednesday Bowling Training (footwork again), Thursday (today) 3.6km again... Tomorrow, well.. Bowling Training again...

3.6km is actually not that bad... other than the fact that it was an uphill run for a section.. took 22 minutes and 16 seconds today... Thats slow... I admit I walked abit, but that time still slow.. must improve although my legs were aching today even before I ran... the area behind my ankle is just screaming pain.

According to Mr Goh (a.k.a The person who calls us "army boy"...), he said that I was putting too much strain on the back of leg as its too tense when I run.... no wonder its driving me up the wall with the pain.

The 'O's and 'A's

'O' Level results according to Natalie, would be out next week... Anyway, good luck to all who are receiving their results.

(N.B: hey Nat.. You will do alright.. don't worry... =)

O.o... The post haven't end yet.. although "N.B." should come last in a letter.. but this is a blog... haha...

However, following that would be the 'A's and that'll be my turn and my classmates and the JC2s to start sweating in worry... Chinese and Project Work Results... Oh no... Hope there will be good news...

Just a quote

Guess like the quote of the week announced by Mr Liu (hey.. I pay attention during assembly you know...):

"The pessimist sees challenges in every opportunity, but the optimist sees opportunities in every challenge."

Story of Public Toilet

2007-01-28T14:03:00.000+08:00

Its really a wonder what kind of issues public toilets can throw up. Two issues that is almost intolerable... especially the first...

Issue One: Cheeky Uncles (Usually quite old)..

Thankfully these type of people are a minority... These people, trying to peep across urinals, can't mind their own business... Such creeps. You would think they feel that they aren't obvious in their peeping ethics.

Just the other day I was at a heartland shopping center toilet, I saw one uncle, probably about 50-something going 60 years old.... He kept turning his head side to side, looking around and sometimes even stretching his neck, trying to mind OTHER people's business.... The guy beside couldn't take it and left. I exited too. Couldn't tolerate that cheeky old guy...

Issue Two: Doors

You really wonder what are doors for....

Doors are suppose to keep what happens inside a particular area from what others aren't suppose to see.. So then I wonder, why do they put a stopper in front of the door keeping the main toilet door permanently opened.... So whatever activity that happens inside... No wonder nowadays, newer toilet designs do away with doors...

However, doing away with doors means a risk of people entering the wrong toilet...

For example, at a shopping center along orchard road, one guy came out of the male toilet and almost walked straight to the female toilet if not for the few of us who shouted out...

Toilets... one can wonder how many events can be associated with it....

Risks...

2007-01-27T23:52:00.000+08:00

This is probably a follow up of the last post: "Broken as it is..."

This poem was brought to my attention through my friends blog... Its aptly titled: "To Risk" by William Arthur Ward... So credits to YX for bringing it to my attention and to the author, William Arthur Ward

It should probably help me refocus...

"To laugh is to risk appearing a fool,
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out to another is to risk involvement,
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.

To love is to risk not being loved in return,
To live is to risk dying,
To hope is to risk despair,
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.
He may avoid suffering and sorrow,
But he cannot learn, feel, change, grow or live.
Chained by his servitude he is a slave who has forfeited all freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.

The pessimist complains about the wind;

The optimist expects it to change;

And the realist adjusts the sails."

Broken as it is...

2007-01-26T21:53:00.000+08:00

Its been a week since I last blogged... Everything is going past very fast... A blink of an eye an its gone... Busy with almost everything. Schools not making anything easier. 8 hours of sleep? Thats history...

Broken as it is

Come to the topic. Nothing was actually broken.. Perhaps mentally but not physically...

I guess 2 main events. Caused my heart to break like a thin glass.... One happened a while ago (Event Number 2), and that I need sometime to organize before could write about it...

Lets start with Event Number 1...

Event Number 1 (only a small crack): Ok.. for the boring one... bowling today was a bit of a heart break. Videos and friends say otherwise, but to the coach it still seems wrong... time delay? Friends say yes, videos say yes, but coach say no.

Just what am I going to do???

Now for Event Number 2 (its broken entirely): Well... its already some time... but this was a big heartbreak.. Ok.. not that big.. but at least it was a closure... Or so I thought..

Still got lapses of aching-ness.. But at least I can sleep at night now... I really shouldn't dwell on it... but sometimes just can't help myself... at least everything went back ok... Certain degree of changes definitely.. my HP also went darn silent.. it became so eerie....

I really need to refocus...

-out-

Ham and strings

2007-01-19T21:58:00.000+08:00

Ham and Strings

This post is all about eating Ham and making strings...
Nope.. I wish...But its not.. not about ham and strings but a word that is formed by those two..... thats right.. hamstring..
1.6km PLUS 2.3km PLUS 3km PLUS training (2 hours) AND more training (2 hours) EQUALS to serious muscle ache....
Ok.ok... its probably due to the lack of exercise previously.... I accidentally hurt my hamstring... this is made worse by the fact that a right-handed bowler needs to use my left leg the most... OUCH!!

Oh well... hope it gets well this weekend.. before physical education again on Monday.. If its still bad, maybe I should pay a visit to the physiotherapy clinic which is open in school every Tuesday...

Training

Two new additions to the team today.. more is expected to come next week... YX looked so down today...Blisters on foot etc... Guess we will find an increase in the number of cases as PE these few weeks will be running about 3km each time... Hope she is feeling better..

Forecast

Next week will be quite a horrible week.. I'm not looking forward to the Chemistry lecture test results. Though I'm quite ok with Economics....

Looks like our class is going to be some "sample" at a survey again... This time is for some Maths thing.. unclear its purpose though. We're suppose to go there and do some test which we don't even know is on what topic. I guess it'll be a general test similar to those Australian Maths Competition papers ...

Oh well....

Track and Track

2007-01-16T19:25:00.000+08:00

On the running tracks...

Probably never desired to run that much before. But started going for runs. Today was the first. Did a 2km run and was supposed to do 6 x 300m run / dash according to Trina's Track Tips to Pak, but couldn't do so because of the rain....

We could have ran in the rain like on Monday (Yesterday), but I'll be crazy to do so. Already I'm down by 1 pair of shoes as it was soaking wet by the time we finished our PE on Monday. Ran 2 rounds, School gate to school gate which translates to about 1.6km+. Darn cold after that...

It was about over a year since I last wore my Secondary School PE attire... But I did so today. Probably its the only time we can do something like that because its the first three months and there is a mixture of uniforms...

Gauri called Pak and me crazy when she saw us running... Maybe we were. but oh well....

Forecasts...

Well, half looking forward and half dreading tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be the Trials for year 1 intake. Wonder who will actually turn-up. However, I'm also dreading tomorrow as it would signal 1 more day to Economics Test and 2 days to Organic Chemistry Test.... I aren't that worried for the Econs test but that feeling is not echoed in the Chemistry Test. Organic Chemistry has over 8 Sets of notes which would be almost impossible to cover in a day... Hope a miracle happens....

Data...

Well, for those interested, here are Trina's Track Tips which I reproduced from Pak's Blog... List was originally given by Trina.

2km warm-up pace, 300m x 6
2.4km running pace, 150m x 4, 120m x 1, 800m cool down pace
2.2km slightly faster than warm-up pace, 800m x 6, 200m x 3
5.5km about running pace, 100m x 10 striding, 1.1km around cool down pace
800m warm-up, 2.2km, 150m x 10, 2.2km
100m x 5 striding, 15min run
20min run, 5 x 100m striding
20min run, 100m x 5 striding
800m warm-up, 2.4km and 1.6km time trial (10min rest in between), 150m x 8, 3 mins cool down
100m x 20, 2.2km about cool down pace
2.4km, 300m, 200m, 15min run cool down pace
200m x 4, 400m x 4, 800m x 2
3 mins warm-up, 7.5km, 200m tempo striding x 4
5 mins warm-up, 7.5km, 200m temp striding x 4
400m x 12, 100m x 10 striding
800m warm-up, 800m x 4, 120m x 5, 400m cool down
7 mins warm-up, 3.75km race pace, 200m striding x 3, 3.75km cool down/recovery run
1.1km, 600m x 5, 100m x 4 striding
600m warm-up, 1.2km x 3, 3.6km running pace
5 min warm-up, 3.75km race pace, 200m x 3 striding, 45 sec run x 2

Probably she won't read this but thanks Trina!

With that.. ciao.

A busy schedule

2007-01-09T18:18:00.000+08:00

Its been a hectic few weeks. I know I haven't been blogging. My time at the computer has been limited to work and emails. Moreover, I forgot that I could blog by email. Though its only the 2 week at school (really feels like the 1st week only because of orientation activities), there has been tests scheduled and I am hard-pressed for time.

Over the past few weeks, other than recovering from a bad case of food poisoning and Stomach Flu, I turned 18 also. Finally M18 shows... Not that I am rushing to watch one. Its just nice to know that I can legally watch one if I want.... Anyway, below is a summary of events and thoughts (if any):

Orientation 2007 (BOND 2007)

After much rushing and much perspiration and running all over the place, the Orientation 2007 for the new JC1 intake finally ended on Saturday on a high note. Highlights include the "O-Nite" and the Mass Dance at Suntec Center.

Being in the Sub-committee of the Entertainment Committee has been a different experience. And this is especially significant also since I didn't get to participate in an Orientation during the first three months last year. Well it was fun overall and well, to a certain extent, the first day of school after the orientation, my friend and I agreed that we had a slight "Orientation Hangover".. Haha

30th Anniversary Website

As all TJCians know, TJC will be celebrating the 30th Anniversary this year, and the 30th Anniversary Events will kick off tomorrow with the official "launch" of the multitude of activities. Part of this will be the launch of the 30th Anniversary Website at http://www.tjc.edu.sg/anniversary

I heave a short sigh of relief as it signals the imminent handover of the website handling and maintenance to the actual team. I've been cracking my head over the website since December... not to mention server problems and stuff... And there are still a couple of things I must add as well as 2 or more plugins which I have to programme. Not easy being a one-man team for so long. Doing everything from banners to the coding.... Arrgh.. seeing stars....

Bowling

Tomorrow will be a PDP showcase for the year 1s. Nothing much here to say since the event isn't over yet. But.. I really like the banner which the team did this Sunday. Heres a picture which I obtained from Yixuan's blog...

Class

Regarding Classes... It seemed that we changed our Civics Tutor. With that, our Biology teacher changed too.... haiz.

The class is also thinking of printing a class tee.. Most probably dryfit material. Its still in the design stages. But seeing the draft design today, it should come out quite well....

Lunch with...

Went out with Jeremy for lunch on Saturday. So nice to see my best pal again. haha... He even visited SJI. Sad to say, I haven't gone back yet... He's flying back to London soon though. But before that I wish him good luck for tomorrow's National Service NAPFA test.

Sick

2007-01-01T21:48:00.000+08:00

I'm as sick as a dog...Got food poisoning or stomach flu.

Ok.. today was probably better than yesterday which was darn bad...

Had diarrhea 3 times and vomited 5 times.. Feel and taste horrible. Threw up everything including stomach acid and bile.

Didn't eat the whole day. I think I'm gonna lose weight again. Haiz.

Haven't finish my holiday homework and school reopening on Wednesday. These few days were spent sleeping. Too sick to do anything..

These few days really horrendous.

New Years

2006-12-31T13:24:00.000+08:00

First and Foremost, Happy Birthday Natalie Hilary Lim!! Finally, your sweet 16th.

And also, to everyone out there, Happy New Year 2007!!!

New Blogger Schema

2006-12-27T20:52:00.000+08:00

EDIT: (30th March 2007) Full Schema is now posted on my new tech blog: http://tech-no-borders.blogspot.com/

I know this post is going to bore those non-coders. But Oh well.. here goes...

I guess by now, since Blogger has gone out of beta, many would know that the templating system has been slightly changed. The most notable one would be the use of XML and the addition of the xmlns:b, xmlns:data and xmlns:expr namespaces...

Well, for those who use Eclipse IDE, XmlSpy or any other web development tools that accepts custom Schema, I've generated an inferred XML Schema file for the xmlns:b namespace...

Its definitely not complete. I use my current layout as the base to generate the inferred XML Schema... Maybe someone could improve on it. It would be even better if Blogger were to release a schema file to add template developers...

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xs:schema xmlns:tns="http://www.google.com/2005/gml/b" attributeFormDefault="unqualified" elementFormDefault="qualified" targetNamespace="http://www.google.com/2005/gml/b" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <xs:element name="include">
    <xs:complexType>
      <xs:attribute name="data" type="xs:string" use="optional" />
      <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required" />
    </xs:complexType>
  </xs:element>
  <xs:element name="skin" type="xs:string" />
  <xs:element name="section">
    <xs:complexType>
      <xs:sequence minOccurs="0">
        <xs:element maxOccurs="unbounded" name="widget">
          <xs:complexType>
            <xs:sequence>
              <xs:element maxOccurs="unbounded" name="includable">
                <xs:complexType>
                  <xs:sequence>
                    <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="loop">
                      <xs:complexType>
                        <xs:sequence>
                          <xs:element xmlns:q1="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q1:ul" />
                        </xs:sequence>
                        <xs:attribute name="values" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                        <xs:attribute name="var" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                      </xs:complexType>
                    </xs:element>
                    <xs:element minOccurs="0" xmlns:q2="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q2:select" />
                    <xs:element minOccurs="0" xmlns:q3="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q3:ul" />
                    <xs:element minOccurs="0" xmlns:q4="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q4:a" />
                    <xs:element minOccurs="0" xmlns:q5="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q5:h4" />
                    <xs:element minOccurs="0" xmlns:q6="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q6:span" />
                    <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="if">
                      <xs:complexType>
                        <xs:sequence>
                          <xs:element minOccurs="0" xmlns:q7="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q7:h2" />
                          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="if">
                            <xs:complexType>
                              <xs:sequence>
                                <xs:choice maxOccurs="unbounded">
                                  <xs:element xmlns:q8="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q8:a" />
                                  <xs:element name="else" />
                                  <xs:element xmlns:q9="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q9:div" />
                                </xs:choice>
                              </xs:sequence>
                              <xs:attribute name="cond" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                            </xs:complexType>
                          </xs:element>
                          <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="else" />
                          <xs:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded" xmlns:q10="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q10:div" />
                          <xs:element minOccurs="0" xmlns:q11="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q11:dl" />
                          <xs:element minOccurs="0" xmlns:q12="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q12:span" />
                        </xs:sequence>
                        <xs:attribute name="cond" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                      </xs:complexType>
                    </xs:element>
                    <xs:element minOccurs="0" xmlns:q13="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q13:p" />
                    <xs:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded" xmlns:q14="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q14:div" />
                    <xs:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded" name="include">
                      <xs:complexType>
                        <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                      </xs:complexType>
                    </xs:element>
                  </xs:sequence>
                  <xs:attribute name="id" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                  <xs:attribute name="var" type="xs:string" use="optional" />
                </xs:complexType>
              </xs:element>
            </xs:sequence>
            <xs:attribute name="id" type="xs:string" use="required" />
            <xs:attribute name="locked" type="xs:boolean" use="required" />
            <xs:attribute name="title" type="xs:string" use="required" />
            <xs:attribute name="type" type="xs:string" use="required" />
          </xs:complexType>
        </xs:element>
      </xs:sequence>
      <xs:attribute name="class" type="xs:string" use="required" />
      <xs:attribute name="id" type="xs:string" use="required" />
      <xs:attribute name="maxwidgets" type="xs:unsignedByte" use="optional" />
      <xs:attribute name="showaddelement" type="xs:string" use="optional" />
      <xs:attribute name="preferred" type="xs:string" use="optional" />
    </xs:complexType>
  </xs:element>
  <xs:element name="if">
    <xs:complexType mixed="true">
      <xs:sequence>
        <xs:choice maxOccurs="unbounded">
          <xs:element xmlns:q15="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q15:span" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q16="http://www.google.com/2005/gml/data" ref="q16:title" />
          <xs:element name="else" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q17="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q17:a" />
          <xs:element name="if">
            <xs:complexType>
              <xs:sequence>
                <xs:element xmlns:q18="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q18:a" />
                <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="else" />
                <xs:element minOccurs="0" xmlns:q19="http://www.google.com/2005/gml/data" ref="q19:post.title" />
              </xs:sequence>
              <xs:attribute name="cond" type="xs:string" use="required" />
            </xs:complexType>
          </xs:element>
          <xs:element xmlns:q20="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q20:h3" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q21="http://www.google.com/2005/gml/data" ref="q21:top.authorLabel" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q22="http://www.google.com/2005/gml/data" ref="q22:post.author" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q23="http://www.google.com/2005/gml/data" ref="q23:top.timestampLabel" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q24="http://www.google.com/2005/gml/data" ref="q24:top.commentLabel" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q25="http://www.google.com/2005/gml/data" ref="q25:post.numComments" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q26="http://www.google.com/2005/gml/data" ref="q26:top.commentLabelPlural" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q27="http://www.google.com/2005/gml/data" ref="q27:postLabelsLabel" />
          <xs:element name="loop">
            <xs:complexType>
              <xs:sequence>
                <xs:element xmlns:q28="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q28:a" />
                <xs:element name="if">
                  <xs:complexType>
                    <xs:simpleContent>
                      <xs:extension base="xs:string">
                        <xs:attribute name="cond" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                      </xs:extension>
                    </xs:simpleContent>
                  </xs:complexType>
                </xs:element>
              </xs:sequence>
              <xs:attribute name="values" type="xs:string" use="required" />
              <xs:attribute name="var" type="xs:string" use="required" />
            </xs:complexType>
          </xs:element>
          <xs:element xmlns:q29="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q29:h4" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q30="http://www.google.com/2005/gml/data" ref="q30:commentLabel" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q31="http://www.google.com/2005/gml/data" ref="q31:commentLabelPlural" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q32="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q32:dl" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q33="http://www.google.com/2005/gml/data" ref="q33:comment.author" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q34="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q34:p" />
          <xs:element name="include">
            <xs:complexType>
              <xs:attribute name="data" type="xs:string" use="required" />
              <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required" />
            </xs:complexType>
          </xs:element>
          <xs:element xmlns:q35="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q35:ul" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q36="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q36:dd" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q37="http://www.google.com/2005/gml/data" ref="q37:label.name" />
        </xs:choice>
      </xs:sequence>
      <xs:attribute name="cond" type="xs:string" use="required" />
    </xs:complexType>
  </xs:element>
  <xs:element name="loop">
    <xs:complexType>
      <xs:sequence>
        <xs:choice maxOccurs="unbounded">
          <xs:element name="if">
            <xs:complexType>
              <xs:sequence>
                <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="if">
                  <xs:complexType>
                    <xs:sequence>
                      <xs:element name="include">
                        <xs:complexType>
                          <xs:attribute name="data" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                          <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                        </xs:complexType>
                      </xs:element>
                    </xs:sequence>
                    <xs:attribute name="cond" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                  </xs:complexType>
                </xs:element>
                <xs:element minOccurs="0" name="include">
                  <xs:complexType>
                    <xs:attribute name="data" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                    <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required" />
                  </xs:complexType>
                </xs:element>
                <xs:element minOccurs="0" xmlns:q38="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q38:h2" />
              </xs:sequence>
              <xs:attribute name="cond" type="xs:string" use="required" />
            </xs:complexType>
          </xs:element>
          <xs:element name="include">
            <xs:complexType>
              <xs:attribute name="data" type="xs:string" use="required" />
              <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required" />
            </xs:complexType>
          </xs:element>
          <xs:element xmlns:q39="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q39:dt" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q40="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q40:dd" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q41="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q41:div" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q42="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q42:a" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q43="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q43:li" />
          <xs:element xmlns:q44="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" ref="q44:option" />
        </xs:choice>
      </xs:sequence>
      <xs:attribute name="values" type="xs:string" use="required" />
      <xs:attribute name="var" type="xs:string" use="required" />
    </xs:complexType>
  </xs:element>
</xs:schema>

Christmas

2006-12-25T19:57:00.000+08:00

Its Christmas.. But is still raining.

Roads at Orchard was closed to the traffic. Shopping centers are packed.

Car parks are filled and all other things u get during a holiday.

Anyway, to All, Merry Christmas!!

Training.....

2006-12-20T22:17:00.000+08:00

Thumb got cut during training because of the uncut badminton tape in the thumb hole of the bowling ball.... Such a weird suggestion from one of the coaches...

Legs aching from 50 crunches, 50 push-ups and 5 rounds of 20 lane length slides....

Excessive Lactic Acid buildup...

Haiz

Markup Languages, Blogger , the Web and Beyond

2006-12-19T15:57:00.000+08:00

Ok.. This post is gonna sound like a big rant and most would probably be turned off by the web jargon. Oh well... here goes...

As the title suggested, its about markup languages. Well we don't seem to get enough of it. Although mostly based on eXtensible Markup Language (XML) which made things slightly easier. In fact, HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and the reformulated HTML base on XML rules: the XHTML (eXtensible HyperText Markup Language) is like a subset to XML.

Blogger

With the introduction of the new Blogger beta, is the introduction of a complete set of template-ing tags. It now takes XML tags instead of the classic HTML tags. Not that the support of the old tags have broken, you can choose classic if you want to, but then whats the point of upgrading if you don't use it?

Have you noticed that the you no longer need to wait to republish the entire site or the "Publish Index Only" etcetera? Well, I heard that Blogger works differently now. Instead of having published static files, the files are brought together dynamically before serving up to the browser. When a file is requested, information about the widgets and post and headers are gathered and then a HTML file is generated. It reminds me of PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor), Adobe / Macromedia ColdFusion and evem the newer Adobe / Macromedia Flex Data services.

Well judging from the namespaces given, it seems that it may be named Google Markup Language (GML).. But then again, GML also stands for Geography Markup Language for those who are familiar with mapping tools.

And by the way, namespaces refers to the xmlns section. In an attempt to explain: "XML namespaces provide a simple method for qualifying element and attribute names used in Extensible Markup Language documents by associating them with namespaces identified by URI references." (Source: W3C) But really namespaces are more useful than that and frankly, I don't know much about it myself.

Its going to take sometime again before I can come up with any new layout that conforms to w3c standards. However, for the quick and easy way of customizations, there is actually a website which already does some hacking into the new blogger beta templates. Hackosphere has some excellent methods and hacks. I use their label widget hack too..

With a 3 new namespaces, I really hope Blogger would release the schema for the namespaces. Doing so is going to make development of the templates even easier. With tools like XML Spy and the excellent Open-Source Eclipse Integrated Development Envrionment (IDE) where it is possible to customize it to use custom schemas (.xsd files).

XSD by the way "is a library that provides an API for manipulating the components of an XML Schema as described by the W3C XML Schema specifications, as well as an API for manipulating the DOM-accessible representation of XML Schema as a series of XML documents, and for keeping these representations in agreement as schema are modified." (Source: Eclipse Community)

And well API stands for Application programming interface. I shan't attempt to go into it and act like I know it well.. because I don't...

Adobe/Macromedia Flex

Well this is something that I am looking into now, ever since the release of version 2 of Flex, and the release of the free Flex 2 SDK. It uses a customized version of XML too. Known as MXML. Again, knowing XML is useful here.It is to be a framework for RIA (Rich Internet Application) development. Flex generates Flash (.swf) files as the front-end.

There isn't much I can say here since I just started looking into it.
However, for the curious, you can look at the Flex website at http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/.

Its quite free in a sense as you can develop Flex Applications with just the SDKs and a editor of your choice. My favorite is Eclipse, but even Notepad will do.

ColdFusion

Its been in the market for sometime. Can't say much about it though... Never really taken to it since ColdFusion pages require a coldfusion support to be installed on the server.

However, like the rest mentioned here, ColdFusion also has its own Markup Language called the CFML (ColdFusion Markup Language)....

And??... (Web 2.0, Web 3.0 and Beyond)

The list goes on and on and on... There are definitely more out there which other may know and I have not heard of. But the list is definitely growing. The only good thing that comes out of this is that it increases a person's employability to have these skills in the age of Web 2.0. In fact, Web 3.0 is already being disussed.

Web 2.0 is "a phrase coined by O'Reilly Media in 2004, refers to a perceived or proposed second generation of Internet-based services—such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies—that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users. O'Reilly Media, in collaboration with MediaLive International, used the phrase as a title for a series of conferences, and since 2004 certain technical and marketing communities have adopted and loosely adapted the phrase." (Source: Wikipedia

Information about the percieved Web 3.0 is still dispersed. But according to ZDnet, Web 3.0 is divided into few secions, namely: API services, Aggregation services, Application services, Serviced clients. There is much that I haven't read about Web 3.0, but for more information, the article on the topic at A List Apart may help shed more light to it.

For now, I guess we'll have to be adaptable to the various languages and look as the web proceeds beyond into semantics, user experiences and controls.

Jap Ice-cream

2006-12-17T22:14:00.000+08:00

Currently, it seems that the Japanese Ice-cream is all the rage now... with stalls popping out in quite a few places...

I am referring to the Japanese Ice-cream chain: Uzumaki.

Should try it one day. From what I remember, they have green tea (Their specialty) chocolate and chip, wasabi, blueberry and black seasame... I don't know if I remember correctly, but pardon me if I don't...

Here is a pic of the stall at Harbourfront Mall:

Those two gave quite a shock to some kids... because they stand quite still till someone comes by and they "jump out".. I mean they just start moving.. haha

Megastore openings

2006-12-16T22:43:00.000+08:00

Recently went to two places: 1. Vivocity and 2.IKEA, Courts

Went to Ikea, Courts today, but had dropped by Vivocity a few days ago...

1.Vivocity

Dropped by at vivocity a few days ago. And what luck. It was the day when the Singapore Premiere Curse of the Golden Flower (满城尽带黄金). And the guest is none other than the movie's main actor, Chow Yun Fat (周润发).

For a moment, I wished I was on attachment to SPH.. so I could stand on the less crowded platform. You should see how crazy some people are... shoving and elbowing so they could get a better picture... Not that I was a fan, but how often do you get to see a movie star in town? I wasn't the crazy few in front, but I did get a good look... Manage to get a picture...Not that clear though...

(I see many phones... lets leave for the movie!)

Anyway, took a nice walk around the place.. Its huge.. though abit of a bore.. However, the place would do fine for some one-stop shopping... The roof of the place have this pond/pool or whatever you call... I guess they can just take away the "No Swimming sign... it just isn't working. 2 days I went there and I can safely say there has been an increase in the number in the water...I found it incredulous that some even come prepared!! A change of clothes and swimming trunks!!

I know this is abit random, but the entire place on the outside doesn't look very interesting either.. felt that the off-white color of the building was made the whole building look so old and boring with a grey background. A brighter color of white would have been better.. Oh well...

and oh another pic:

(Let's Play HangMan)

2. IKEA and Courts

Can't believe that I actually gone to a megastore's grand opening in Tampines... That partly because wanted to go to Ikea which was situated next door.

The Grand Opening of the Courts Megastore today got Mega Crowded. Likened to the Ikea Megastore opening.

I can't imagine when the Giant Hypermart opens next door in the not so distant future. The place would seriously get congested... Then all we need is other stores like carefour to open one nearby and the area will resemble a beehive with cars inching along the roads... That is unless there are still space to inch along.

Saw a familiar sight though... now I know where the school got the snake in one of the classrooms from... It was on sale at IKEA...

(Snakes Galore!!)

Blogger Beta

2006-12-15T15:15:00.000+08:00

I can effectively throw out all my knowledge on the blogger template requirements. The upgrade is causing me a new headache: templates no longer in plain HTML. making use of widgets now, I need to study their XML coding again. oh gosh...

I guess for the time being, I'll make do with this excellent blog template which they adapted from mezzoblue.

Oh.. and sorry about the links... looks like its all gone, the blogroll... need to slowly add one by one...

in-turns and more

2006-12-06T21:36:00.000+08:00

In-Turns... My period as an intern has officially ended... I shan't discuss much about it as the report has yet to be handed up... Like a company's FY status, I shan't reveal it first....

Well as usual, since I've been "working" for sometime and thus didn't update here as much as I could, I shall have a slightly longer post. Categorized of course... So that you may skip parts of no interest...(or probably all.. LOL)....

Lets go GP-style from big to small, starting with: On the News

Well watching the news sometime ago, it was announced that the national museum is now reopened... Like the National Library, it is really revamped and I hope to go there once again... Although I can't remember the last time I've been there already....

Another piece of surprising news was that the gov feedback unit has also revamped itself and officially launch blogs as a means to communicate and gather feedback from the masses... It can be found at http://www.reach.gov.sg/... However, with the attitude and mindset already driven deep into Singaporeans, it remains to be seen whether the blogs will actually gather any momentum.

The lack of momentum can be attributed to few reasons...

People have their own blogs already...

Going through such an avenue with strong association with the government presents some concern...

There is this "hold back and look-see" attitude powering many Singaporeans, driven into our mindsets through generation: "What are the consequences of voicing out?"....

Sure... there is a increase number of people voicing out.. but what continues after the thought stated in point 3 would be: "what are the benefits of doing so?"

With such concerns, it would be sometime before the site would actually take off...

Another much awaited news would be the island-wide wifi network that is free for 3 years as well as the workfare bonuses... I am in no position to comment on the workfare bonuses... However, on the issue of wifi, it marvels me, or rather, it failed to marvel me (I can't really decide) that the take-up rate has been so high, when broadband penetration rate in SG is only 58.9%. It goes to show the power of something being "free".

Free? I go "yar sure"... This is something I don't really think is sustainable without some form of revenue... As what I learnt the past few weeks, or you can put it down to plain common sense, company's exist to make money... (with the exception of non-profit charity organizations)... there must be some way to gain back... Either at the end of 3 years, you'll be charged a nominal fee, or you start getting some form of advertisement the moment you connect to the network or while you roam on the network... Oh well.. only time will tell...

On the Technology side

Intel has launched quad-core chips... and definitely a power user's dream. Now there is a jungle of chips out there.... getting very confusing... With AMD and Intel's different naming systems as well as 32-bit and 64-bit versions of processors, and with Intel having the old Celerons, Pentium M, Pentium 4, Pentium 4 HT, to the newer Pentium D, Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Extreme (quad-core), Core Solo... and the list is growing.... Ouch.. my head hurts..

Not to mention Vista has been officially gone into RTM and also released to VLK clients. Likewise for Office 2007 which adopts the OpenDocument format as well as finally has a plugin which supports export to Adobe PDF format.

On the Personal Front

Got a web-development project.. and boy.. my head is throbbing over the implementation... I am venturing into somewhere I've never been... that is adopting the use of a Database (MySQL) and also the use of a preprocessor (PHP)... Ok.. PHP not much of a problem as I am quite strong in the presentation part which uses XHTML and CSS, but there is much to be learnt on the logical layer... And with plugins to a certain system which has to be developed to control the forms and Database, this "one-man-show" seems a bit daunting and a headache... But then again, looking "ahead" at least I got a push to learn what I would otherwise put off: about Database f(x)...

Training has also restarted and we are supposed to have our eyes on the National Schools Tournament. And talking about that, I still haven't get to see the Direct-School-Admission Students... Well... Better start doing the attendance list...

and oh last but not least....Happy Feet!!!

Wow! That shooting star is going up! Thats GST!

2006-11-16T20:40:00.000+08:00

GST is going up again... and by GST, I meant Goods and Service Tax, not Greet, Smile and Thank. If the latter was true, it would have been great...

I don't know, but I guess its another cycle of increment. I guess we should be used to it already since that time when it was increased from 3% to 5%. Now it would be increased to 7%.

It seems to be a legal way to "take from rich and give to poor" theory. However, one question would be: "What would happen to the society's middle class". We are neither here nor there. We don't qualify to get the benefits and also not rich at all.... So in my view, it seems that the middle classes are the ones that bare the full brunt of such an increment.

Its a vicious cycle. In the market, consumers would ultimately be the one to suffer. Picture this..... If price of materials increase, manufacturing cost increase, and thus, product cost increase and then this amount would be passed on to consumers.

One point to note. There is a snowball effect along that price pathway. When materials increase in price due to GST, in order to cover cost, manufacturers have to increase the price. And in addition to this price, there is still GST. and this would continue increasing until the final party to get the goods.

It was argued in the radio that hawker stalls may also suffer quite a lost. Although there is an increase in GST, hawker pricing aren't as price inelastic as other goods. A small increase in pricing of the food would turn even the most frequent customers away. Actually especially frequent customers. They may feel that they have been paying that amount for years and an increase is unacceptable.

To conclude, I think that any increase by the Government will generate alot of arguments and views... But ultimately, I guess a persons view is will still be bias towards their own backgrounds in cases such as this.....

News Article: Abolish Homework

2006-11-12T21:46:00.000+08:00

This article appeared in today's newspaper (The Sunday Times, November 12,2006, page 24) , about a new call in the US to abolish homework....This age old question never fails to come up after some time....

A group is saying that children are doing more homework but there is no evidence that it adds to the learning experience... It is also said that the correlation between homework and academic achievement is more visible as one get into a higher level of education...

And I guess the education system here in SG is somewhat similar in terms of homework load. Though they are sure moving to a teach less learn more method, which means more work/research to be done at home, which equates to more homework...

I believe that the homework problem can be seen in all countries especially those with a very established education system... Well its been done for so many years and there is nothing against it. There is also nothing that says that it is bad. In fact I guess I must agree there is a certain degree of usefulness in homework. There are some subjects which needs alot of practice.

However, the situation whereby homework is increasing is not new. Compared years ago, homework load has definitely been increasing. I believe that it is now more prevalent that subjects covers more depth and thus, would translate to more work....

It is stated in the article that a study had suggested that the amount of homework be based on a child's age, example would be a first-grader 10 minutes of homework, second-grader 20 minutes. etc. This led me to think about it....

What if it is implemented in SG? well, I guess a few things would come up.

For one, if it is implemented according to age, what about those who are older than the mean age for that level? For example, a 19 year old can be in secondary school...

Second, 10 minutes of homework? Yea right... if each teacher would allocate 20 minutes of homework, and taking an average secondary student who takes 8 subjects, this would add up to about a 160 minutes of homework. And a Secondary 3 student is definitely higher than 2nd grade.. not sure what grade though... I think its 5th or 6th grade... If the time allocated to homework increases , the total amount of time allocated for homework would also increase proportionately.... Wow!.. Huge number...

Again, moderation is the key... One man's meat is another man's poison... Though some may be against, I think there are some who likes doing homework... Though I aren't one of those, but I find that it helps and thus will still do so... (p.s. Moreover, there are reprecussions if we don't do, and I'm not referring to grades... ok maybe grades too as it counts into our "daily quality of work" marks..)

The concerns that the group is bringing up definitely deserves a second look. However, I really don't think it is wise to totally abolish homework...

궁 (宮)

2006-11-08T12:58:00.000+08:00

Been watching the 7pm Korean Drama: 궁 (宮)..

Lolx... didn't want to watch at first.. but it seems like its quite funny... Grew to like the song too...

Belows the song: Perhaps Love

Scene from NEL

2006-11-05T22:27:00.000+08:00

Took this picture while I was in the North East (MRT) Line on my way back home

Advertisement nowadays... Crowding the already crowed train....

Free Alternatives

2006-11-03T23:35:00.000+08:00

This post is quite random I think....

Well.. Recently, Microsoft has announced that Windows Vista will have even more restrictions.

For one, they will not be allowing it to run in a virtualised environment for the Home and Home Premium Editions which I think would form the majority of the market.

As many know, Microsoft hasWindows Genuine Advantage (WGA) programme which caused some privacy concerns. Now, according to an business technology site, InformationWeek , a new programme called the Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) has been launched. (source)
As published in InformationWeek, and I quote: "Beginning Friday, users of Office XP and 2003 must prove to Microsoft that their software is legitimate to download add-ons from the Office Web site. "OGA only gets invoked then," said Jaidka. To download a template, for instance, requires that the user validate Office."

Though I aren't affected by this ruling since I invested my allowance on their software... $400 bucks for Office XP..., it has nonetheless got me thinking about the future of using such proprietary software...

I've been slowly but surely, migrating to opensource (OSS) and freeware once I feel that my software has become outdated than their respective freeware and OSS competition...

Looking through, I was actually able to sorted some of the more actively used softwares on my computer into a few categories....

Online

Filezilla,
Firefox,
Thunderbird,
Opera,
Internet Explorer 7 (To test my websites and visit sites built with ASP - Active Server Pages )

Compression

Izarc,
Zip Genius,
KGB Archiver

Development and Graphics

Inkscape,
Visual Studio Express,
OpenOffice.org,
GIMP,
Picasa

Server and virtualisation

VMware Player,
VMX wizard,
Apache

Maintenance and Security

Starter,
FreeRamXP pro,
EULA analyzer,
AntiVIR,
ZoneAlarm,
Spybot Serach and Destroy,
Ad-Aware

Media

VideoLan,
Audacity

LOLx... Welcome to the world of OSS and freeware I guess... haha...

STOMP and others

2006-10-31T21:55:00.000+08:00

STOMP

After much resistance, I've finally joined STOMP. For the curious, STOMP stands for Straits Times Online Media Portal. I must add, it is quite engaging.

One thing that I felt it could have improved upon is to tie the two forums, that is STink And Spill (the teens forum) and the main STOMP forum, Talkback together. Now it is 2 separate systems...

And this thread lead me to be utterly disgusted. Didn't even want to post a reply... heres a link http://stinkandspill.stomp.com.sg/forums/showthread.php?t=343

Chinese and PW

OH I can't believe the Chinese A level examination is just 2 days away... Really doesn't feel like it lor... And on that day there is also the Insights and Reflection submissions. So glad... After the I and R submission, we are left with the Oral Presentation and we can say goodbye to Project Work... YaY!!

Technology

Windows Vista, Microsoft's long overdue operating system should be coming soon. Release Candidate 1 has been open to the public for sometime now. Release Candidate 2 on the other hand is already available to MSDN Subscribers....

According to neowin.net, the packaging for Windows Vista as well as Office 2007 has been released... Below is a picture posted on neowin.net

The two widely used browsers have also released their next version. Mozilla has released Firefox 2 while over at the Microsoft's front, Internet Explorer 7 has been released. On that note, Microsoft has also released the 11th version of their Windows Media Player software.

Death Note デスノート, Desu Nōto

2006-10-29T22:24:00.000+08:00

Yup.... Death Note (デスノート, Desu Nōto).. Finally watched it....

Guess its goodbye AND Dangerous Lorry

2006-10-26T18:41:00.000+08:00

Guess its goodbye...

Yup.. its so sad.. Ms Ng gonna leave the school to venture into the "darkside". Came as a surprise to many... Showed no hints of leaving... STill cracking so many jokes...

The whole of the science department came to bid her farewell at her last lecture here... Lectures will never be the same again...

Dangerous Lorry...

Like the heading suggests, it was really dangerous to load the lorry with this much things... I snapped a picture of it but turned out a little blur... He was driving so dangerously and to make matters worse, he was talking on the phone without a handsfree set... Really negligent driving...

Below are photos of it... Couldn't actually take the driver talking on the phone because of two reasons.

1. He was driving with that load, on a phone. I was afraid that if he sees me photographing, he may swerve unexpectantly and it would be a road disaster.

2. I don't know what he will do if he finds out he is being photograph...

Wanted to send the photos to STOMP but decided against it..

A few things

2006-10-17T22:52:00.000+08:00

Just for fun, I'll reverse the order of the points my post this time... haha

Random-ness

I know this is totally random, but yea.. I thought it was quite innovative to put the ashtray in a swivel design... haha

Sportsman Appreciation Talk

Today marks the official day that all JC2 PDP heads stepped down. Thus is also marks the new exco official undertaking of their appointment. The rest of us got our certificate of appointment... Sadly.. there there was a glitch somewhere... Won't elaborate further... haha

Haze

The haze isn't getting any better. SG hit a high PSI of 106 and stayed in the unhealthy range for quite sometime. Below is a picture taken in school... The buildings are supposed to be clear...

Classical Gas

2006-10-15T14:09:00.000+08:00

Wished I could play that

Below is a guy who play the same song with a little bit of madness...

OH, OP and others

2006-10-13T21:13:00.000+08:00

Since I have not blogged for sometime, this would be a longer post.... Let me go backwards, from wide to narrow... GP style.

Global

It seems that situation is still quite unstable with North Korea. They are threatening the global committee by saying that their response on the development of the Nuclear Warheads will be linked to American Action.This is really bad as you can be sure that the United States would definitely not back away.

With the probe still ongoing on whether the nuclear test was real, it no doubt be a matter of grave concern as it may threaten to split the world into two camps again – against and for camps. It really reminds me of the 1955 Warsaw Pact and the 1949 North Alantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) as well as all the appeasements policies during the war era. However, this time, I do not think we will see appeasement being used very much.

With the war on terrorism still ongoing, this is going worsen the feelings of unsafty of the global committee.

The feeling of safety has again plummeted. The recovery from all these problems and war does not seem to be anywhere near the visible horizon.

Home

Global problems are one thing, but closer to home, the indonesian forest fires caused haze does not seem to be slowing down much. Though the situation has certainly improved, the Pollutants Standard Index (PSI) is still fluctuating

It is irritating to note that this happens every year... I shall not comment further already as actions have been taken against it.

OH: Open House

The TJC open house was held today. Oh man.. I spent so much time updating the bowling blog to reflect the open house event, up to the extent where I opened a new blog just for the open house details.

The actual open house was quite uninteresting to me. With all the expected stuff that can happen. Probably because I've past that stage... But oh well... at least the brochures were all given out.

here is my design for the brochure:

OP: Oral Presentation and other exams

The PW oral presentation and other A Level paper – Chinese, is drawing nearer... and with the ending of our promotional exams, it is a mark of the start of another stress period...

The Written Report is due next friday... Chinese A Level is coming at the end of the month....

And just last thursday (i.e. Yesterday), there was a talk... Asking us to think about our Epitaph....

oh what are we going to do....Arrrrgh

The Windows Live Writer Beta

2006-10-07T23:55:00.000+08:00

This is just a post to test the Windows Live Writer beta blogging platform.... And I must say, I'm quite impressed... Although the preview feature is still not up to standards.. I think

OH.. and the PSI went down to 140...

Worse and worse... PSI

2006-10-07T22:30:00.000+08:00

The haze problem caused by the Indonesian forest fires is getting worse.

Today's PSI (Pollution Standard Index) reading has alot of flactuations, with readings going as high as 150. This is supposed to be a unhealthy level.
I cannot concentrate properly today either... Had alot of eye irritations.... Extremely frustrated now...

The farmers just never learn. This happens again and again, year after year. Put it in economic terms, their action of burning the forest to clear the lane is causing alot of NEGATIVE EXTERNALITIES to their country and the neighbouring countries...

I think time for some concrete actions to be taken to stop this again. If warning and signs don't work, I think they should confiscate the lands. Although this may not be the best alternative, taking into account other factors that may be present, but Hey, I think it is a very good form of deterrence...

For now, I can only hope that the skies will clear up by tomorrow morning

Below is a list of readings until 10pm today, taken from the National Environment Agency website.

For more recent updates, visit http://app.nea.gov.sg/psi/

7am — 89

8am — 101

9am — 119

10am — 130

11am — 128

12pm — 115

1pm — 102

2pm — 91

3pm — 83

4pm — 80

5pm — 86

6pm — 98

7pm — 126

8pm — 143

9pm — 150

10pm — 145

3 Days and countless things more to do

2006-09-28T17:44:00.000+08:00

School

Yup.. 3 more days and its the promotional exams. However, there is still a pile of things to be done and revised... ARrgh!!...

Went to school today.. Class was half empty / half full.. Half of the class stayed home today...

For the first time, we had lessons in the Watson and Crick biololgy IT lab...

Oh gosh.. I did not know that sitting in the school were 13 Apple G5 Macs... I aren"t sure whether its G5 or the new macs with Intel Processors, but definitely a Mac... And thats only the Watson lab... I assume that Crick"s lab would have the same facilities which means that we have 26 Apple Macs.

Those labs must have cost a lot.. And oh... I like Apple"s mighy mouse... haha

Net

When I was surfing the net to relief some stress, I was surprised to find that Microsoft made Virtual PC 2004 free.

Wow.. I've been hoping for this to happen. However, it seems that the only supported platforms are Windows XP Professional and Windows 2000 Professional... Windows XP Home aren"t even supported.. But I installed anyway... Shouldn" be a problem since XP Pro is supported..

Blog Layout and Singapore Idol

2006-09-26T12:50:00.000+08:00

yup.. changed layout.. so happy with this new one...

For the first time it is a fully fluid layout. Its still standards compliant as usual, although I am still having problems with the blogger inserted codes as they aren't standards compliant rendering my site uncompliant with stricter doctypes..

Couldn't migrate fully from iframes also because browsers have restrictions on cross domain XmlHttpRequest. Thus I have to use back and iframe for the tagbaord...

Any comments welcome... whether its on the improvements of the site or the layout, or the accessiblity... Thanks.

OK.. enough tech stuff.

Singapore Idol!!! Finals!!

Yup Singapore Idol 2 finals result show is now shoing... wonder who will win... This time round its a bit hard to determine...

Oh well... off to watch it...

Wrong Timing

2006-09-23T15:21:00.000+08:00

Oh man... first mouth got ulcers, then found out that one of my wisdom teeth is growing. Arrgh...

"Wisdom teeth are third molars that usually appear between the ages of 17 and 24 (although they may appear when older, younger, or may not appear at all). They are commonly removed when they affect other teeth—colloquially known as "coming in sideways."

Wisdom teeth are often described as an example of a "vestigial" trait. Some argue that recent changes to softer diets which cause less wear on the teeth may be causing the third molars to be less useful, and, in fact, problematic in many humans. Alternately, it is possible that wisdom teeth were useful when it was common for humans to lose several teeth to decay by the age when they appear.

Although most people have four wisdom teeth, it is possible to have more or fewer. Absence of one or more wisdom teeth is an example of hypodontia. Any extra teeth are referred to as supernumerary teeth.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Hope it can hold out until after my A Levels when I decide to remove it.

More chaos and something else...

2006-09-20T22:08:00.000+08:00

On Thailand

Martial law.. Never thought I will hear the phrase out of the history class context.

For those who are unsure, "Martial law is the system of rules that takes effect (usually after a formal declaration) when a military authority takes control of the normal administration of justice." (source: Wikipedia)

Whats even more surprising.. Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Wednesday, 20th Sep 2006, endorsed coup leader to head the new governing council, according to a televised announcement. (Source: International Herald Tribune)

That was something quite unexpected... Endorsement of a coup... I am curious what's going to happen next...

On a SideNote

Quite a remarkable download speed... Didn't believe my eyes... Too bad its a one off thing.. Never happened again since then.

Anyway, for those curious, xampp is a integrated installer for a WAMP setup (i.e. Windows, Apache, MySQL and PHP). I was setting up a development server on my computer to test my websites...

Starting Soon

Promos are starting soon.. I really need to find time to mug...

oh well

-jz out-

IMF Woes

2006-09-16T14:41:00.000+08:00

So its been decided that 22 out of 27 banned activists will be allowed into the country, with the remaining 5 subjected too screenings and interviews first...

While there has been outcry, surely there are people out there who agrees with what SG has done (the ban)...

You may argue that I am young, but I believe and agree that security is also a human right. If we were to make an exception just because a world body is coming here, then will the citizens or even other people respect our laws?

I really can't comment... I don't know the entire picture... Neither will we know the actual impact of this event...

Maybe we should have done things differently... We could have relaxed the security... Take the risk... But if something really happens, they will blame us for not increasing our security...

haiz.. such a dilemma.

Going on and on.. and getting no where....

2006-09-12T22:34:00.000+08:00

yea right.. life's going on but it seems that I aren't getting anywhere with revision. Promos in 3 weeks and still got hmwk to clear which is taking time away from revision.. sighz...

Today, the area was undergoing fogging. Came back... on the pathway back to my block, I conuted... About 110 cockroaches and 8 were still alive, before I lost counted.. Thats because I got too distracted when I walked past the lift landing of the adjacent block... There were already about 30 died cockroaches in that area..

oh man... should have taken a picture of that gross situation.. too bad I didn't think of it... BUT I aren't too keen on seeing that scene... HAHA.

.......gy.jz out............

Finally the green light for SJI (International)

2006-09-06T23:36:00.000+08:00

Just in the news a while ago. Its announced that the Ministry Of Education has approved the application for the opening of the third international school in Singapore.

St. Josephy's Institution (SJI) International is now officially recognised. An announcement will be made to the current students and parents soon... I think recruitment has already started. Even the new principal for SJI(International) has been chosen.

I wonder we will hear from the SJI Old Boys Asscociation (SJIOBA) too... haha

YAY!

Shock the other day, Scare today

2006-09-06T22:11:00.000+08:00

On Steve Irwin

The other day, the news of the untimely death of Steve Irwin met with disbelief... I actually got the news early in the afternoon when i chance across a blog post about it. I was skeptical of it until I double checked the authenticity of that claim with Australian News site.

The fact finally sunk it when I saw it on the television.

At home

Got such a scare when my uncle's maid called saying that she couldn't wake my grandma up from her sleep.

Turned out to be a false alarm... It seems she had fainted or something along that line.

We still don't know the cause, but I'm are just thankful that nothing happened.

Back to Normal and IMCB photos

2006-09-01T17:27:00.000+08:00

After three days going to IMCB at biopolis from 9-5pm (i.e. working hours).. It seems that everything is back to normal..

Gosh... it feels weird. Kinda miss going back there...

Oh well.. When I have the chance...

Yup.. Some photos...

From the skybridge.

Our ECL Test results

Group photo... five of us from TJC

Group Photo: 29th-31st Aug 2006, GG Lab.

Attaching tomorrow.... and 4 other things

2006-08-28T22:24:00.000+08:00

5. Things in total.

1. IMCB

haha... Funny heading. But yar.. tomorrow will be reporting to the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) instead of school. Oh man... Its so far... all the way to biopolis... But I aren't going to complain...

Missing a few tests though... Have to do a make-up for those... (i.e. going back to school during the holidays to do)...

I already cleared my "tests deficit"... I sat for the this wednesday's Chinese test in advance last friday.... Then I sat for the long overdue biology test on eukaryotic and prokaryotic genome today. Going to do the economics test during the holidays... Don't know about the maths test though....

Whats more, I'll be missing teacher's day celebration... so sad... cannot go back to my secondary school as I'll be dismissed at 5pm from IMCB.

haiz... guess I'll just have to make do with an sms to my teachers...

2. Pluto

Yup. I'm sure many of you have read or heard about it by now. Our solar system has shrunk.. We have 8 planets now as opposed to what we used to believe. This is because of the demotion of pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet.

This demotion arised from the new consensus among astrologist/scientist who agree to a new definition of a planet. Thus although we have 11 objects of masses (inlcuding Xena and another dwarf planet), only 8 are full planets now.

So now, other than the sun, we have Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Urananus, Neptune. Effectively, the common way in which we learnt the planets of the solar system last time (i.e. My Very Excellent Mother Just Serve Us Nine Pies)have to go without the pies.

3. Fun with Firefox

It really marvels me the things you can do in firefox. haha... Was playing around with some plugins.

My google homepage:

My Gmail login page

Those photos are really screenshots of my computer.. and not an edited image... Lolx

Its quite fun playing with user applied stylesheets... Although they are visible only on my computer.. But the results are quite statisfying. You can actually turn certain sites which you find difficult to read, or sites that has layouts which you don't quite like into something visibly pleasing to you.

4 .About YouTube

I heard that youtube has revised its site terms... So its advisable for those who upload there to take a look at the site terms again.

5. Site design

I've been thinking of it for a while but haven't really got to designing it yet. I've got a few concepts currently in mind. Since its been so long already, I've decided that I will give a total overhaul to this blog as well as to my website.

This web will undergo base r-ecoding, which will re-shuffle everything into a hierarchical order, from masthead to navigation to content. All these are really part of semantic web coding. The current layout, has taken a step into CSS, but it hasn't really reached a standard which I like. There were still some workarounds which I employed. Moreover, it definitely has some accessiblity issues which needs to be ironed out. I was also thinking of using some AJAX to spice up the blog interactivity, or even add a portfolio of my past designs.

As for the main site, I'm still learning the ins and outs of a Content Management System (CMS). It the CMS system prove too much, I may just resort to wordpress, a blogging system.

oh well... so much to do, so little time....

求其上，得其中,
求其中，得其次.

Moody

2006-08-26T19:12:00.000+08:00

Don't know... didn't switch on the computer the whole day till now.

However, for some reason didn't get much things done.
So bored. Stoning the whole day...

Arrgh.. what am I to do!?

Joined the web standards group. Yup. Wished there is an influx in people using web standards, thus eliminating the dependency on one browser especially Internet

Explorer (IE).

However, I must add that IE 7 is really a major improvement. It has seriously improved support for standards and I applaud the changes made. It is now at Release Candidate 1.

Hoping that blogger will go out of beta soon. Then can make use of the new functions, especially the catergory filing. yup

-Stoned out-

Wi-Fi Free? as well as Food Surprise

2006-08-22T11:15:00.000+08:00

Saw something interesting.

I am sure there are people who have seen this sign before...I won't mention where I saw this sign. I even took out the name.

I have been wondering for a while what was wrong with it. Then it finally "hit" me.

I am sure we know what the difference between "free sugar" and "sugar free".

Same thing applies here....

Since the place is boasting a free wireless service, shouldn't the sign read "free wifi access"?"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but won't the phrase "wi-fi free hotspot" imply that the place has no wi-fi?

On the sidenote, I fell sick again. Can't even swallow the food properly.. My throat is seriously inflamed. Ouch..

Went to the doctor yesterday. Told me to stay at home, and don't even think about going to school. First time he gave such specfic instruction.

Almost swallowed some metal thing when I went for lunch after seeing the doctor.

Below is a picture:

Luckily, a wasn't drowsy enough not to notice it.

Anyway, here I am, confined to the 4 walls of the house. Didn't even go to school today.. Don't know how the presentation went. Luckily, I did the presentation in html instead of powerpoint. At least they could use it through the browser.

Oh well.. drowsy again... 5 different kinds of medicine. Mostly medicine which will cause drowsiness...

-out-

Sick.

2006-08-21T19:31:00.000+08:00

I'm sick............

Got "ordered" to rest at home.

oh well.. thats all I can say. Shouold be resting now...

Halt

2006-08-18T23:15:00.000+08:00

yup.. trainings will be put on hold soon... Next week will be tha last week of training... There goes another avenue to vent frustrations.

Training

Today's training was relatively ok... I actually felt 2 hours was too little... haha... I guess its gotta do with the last 2 training mindset... Didn't even attend the gamma house function today at 6.30pm. Oh well, look forward to beta house function... Anyway, I'm no longer in gamma since after orientation... HaHa.

School

Today's lessons was actually quite hilarious... Especially since we had two "project" presentations (one for economics, another GP).

GP came first. it was quite a miracle how we managed to come up with something for the presentation... we were supposed to "sell" a specified item, i.e. making a sales pitch. No planning, no prior discussions.... We sort of straggled in and presented something... (by the way, our item was a "3 legged donkey")

Then next was Econs presentation. We were supposed to do during our lunch, seeing that we didn't do it yesterday as too few of us were online. Then, we landed up listening to Mr Brown's Podcast... Didn't start doing anything till 3 minutes before the lessons starts. The only thing we did was to input all the suggested websites to read-up.

Dreading class, we walked in, unprepared, unsure and no idea what to do. Since there were 4 groups, we had to "draw lots" to pick who goes first. So unlucky.. got number 1.

Somehow, we managed to persuade our econs teacher to let the other group go first. haha... Secretly (or rather, not so secretly, because we weren't exactly hiding..) we were making the powerpoint as the other groups presented...

The last bell sounded so sweet... Since we didn't manage to finish with the other 3 groups, our presentation was postponed to Monday.. *phew

But sadly, now, we got alot more work to do. With a deadline on the Econs report on monday, and the virtual deadline of our PW written report set on firday, on top of the lecture test on the whole of Organization and Control of Eukaryotic Genome as well as Prokaryotes (both of which are quite "big" topics) on Tuesday, our schedule gonna be tight.

Other Musings

Looks like I'm gonna exceed this months handphone bill again. it was my first time last month... and looks like the same thing is going to repeat itself this month.

Last month was outgoing calls... This month gonna be sms...

Drats.....

.....Gensephyr, out. =)

Communications.

2006-08-17T20:10:00.000+08:00

Regarding communications, it seems that I have some untold words written across my arms which says "pinch" me. And yesterday, I obtained a 7cm long scratch... courtesy of a certain someone who got too excited about something, and put or rather "drilled" 3 fingers into my side/waist area..

Talking about communications.....

An interesting article I read on CNN... can't republish it here because of CNN's website terms.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/08/08/cybercouples.reut/index.html

It really makes people wonder if we are losing our real-life communication skills or it is just another step into our future... Maybe this is the next step in communication? I don't know... This isn't a monopoly.. No one can dictate how we should communicate...

It seems that IM and blogging has came from being a something extra to something that is infused in our lives.

TPJC Invitational

2006-08-13T18:48:00.000+08:00

Gen topped everyone and became first in today's TPJC invitational. She was spectacular...

However, there was once during the last game when a pocket shot gave a 7-10 Split...

Qwhee took a photo of her and the pins.

So nice to see her smiling so much today... =)

Not long after, erm... to be precise, straight after that, her partner, yx ,replicated the result... Qwhee took a photo of her and the pins too.

Told yx not to put her arms that way as it didn't really look good... Don't believe... Now that she got to see the photos, she agress... sighz...

Anyway, congratulations to all the winners, including but not limited to the two featured here....

oh well.. now that I'm back home. Have to study for the Organic Chemistry test tomorrow.. Seeing that I didn't get much stuff into my head during the invitational, I better start.

Cya

schedules...

2006-08-12T19:37:00.000+08:00

I seriously need a some re-scheduling... promos are coming and there seem to be a lack of time... During the JC1 morning assembly in the audi, the VP said to have at least 2-4 hours of study.. However, it seems to be difficult to do so...

Tried sitting down to do some serious work but nothing seems to go into my head.. Don't know, maybe the mood still hasn't come yet...

Anyway, tomorrow theres gonna be a TPJC invitational... Better bring some work there to do... If not, I'll not be able to complete my stuff when I come back as there won't be much time, with a organic chemistry test on Monday.

National Day Theme Song

2006-08-09T23:25:00.000+08:00

My Island Home

By Kaira Gong

This is my home

She's everything to me

Grace and beauty

In all that you see

My island home

Wherever I may be

I never will forget her

Nor will she forget me

Chorus ^

And I will sing

A song of home

A land of peace

Where dreams are born everyday

My home

Wherever I may be

I believe

You will always be a part of me ^

My island home

Home of my family

This is my future

Where I want to be

(This is my future

This is my home)

Repeat Chorus x 2

My home

Wherever I may be

I believe

You will always be a part of me

A part of me

Source: http://www.ndp.org.sg