Look At What I Got!

Just like all the reviews said, Win7 is pretty solid for a Beta 1 build. I really like the new UI changes, because it is moving nearer to the usability of OS X :)

80s

If you are like me, who watched a lot of broadcast TV when you were young, then you would have probably remembered stuffs like:

• The Incredible Hulk (not the movie)
  
• AirWolf
• Thunderbirds
• Planet of the Apes (again, not the movie)
• Time Tunnel
  

So there was this very (sexually) awkward Sci-Fi movie/TV show that has been on my mind for the longest time, and I could not find it, until today.




And here is the Google Video link of the ENTIRE 1980 movie => http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3536993421073315692&ei=5TpXSYGeEYe0wgPD3-lw&q=brave+new+world

Or if you prefer to watch it here, it's embedded down below.

It is indeed still one of the most morally disturbing movie I have watched when I was young. Maybe still is.

Enjoy! (getting brained fucked, that is.)

F.U.D.

If you have been to any Microsoft compete seminars, you would have definitely heard of the term F.U.D. (see Wikipedia entry here), which stands for:

Fear - people are scared of things that they do not understand
Uncertainty - plant ideas that the future is "uncertain", or question one's belief in the future
Doubt - plan old negative comments can go a long way

I am very surprised that there are many people around me injecting FUD into me when I talk about migration to Australia. Common FUDs are:

Fear - Have you lived in Australia? Do you know how old is the winter? The summer there is hotter than Malaysia, can your children take it?

Uncertainty - Do you think you can hold a job? Will your job pay enough for your family? What about the economy situation?

Doubt - I don't think you will fit into their society/culture. Can you really leave your parents behind? I have seen many family regret but cannot move back to Malaysia. If you burn all your bridges (put all your savings into it), you will regret for the rest of your life when it does not work out.

Well, I say, thanks for the all the FUD information, it is valuable because I do know that these are things that I need to consider/make preparations for, but this will make me even stronger.

Nokia Part Deux

So I went back to SS2 to show the guy that it was indeed was a lemon. But as part of routine, the sales guy Alex still wanted to update the firmware. Yes, there was a high version jump (4.x to 5.x), but the wait (almost 1 hour) was in vein, as the problem immediately pop up.

So I told him that a one to one swap is in order, since the phone is new, but he insisted that I should bring back the box for the exchange, because there was a serial number at the side. Sigh.

An hour later, showed up with the box, gave me a new unit, which is still the old 4.x firmware. Played around, and the camera function seems OK. Matter a fact, the sliding function is much more solid than the previous 3 units he showed me. Insisted that he upload the latest firmware (there quite a bit of UI change), which he grudgingly did.

I was curious what software he uses to do the upload, and I asked for a copy. Alex was shell shocked and said that it's only for Nokia "authorized dealers" only. Incidentally, there was this brochure in front of his counter and it was showing the Nokia Software Update.

So I picked it up, and showed it to Alex, and he was scrutinizing it thoroughly. When I asked him whether that was the same software he was using, and he said "NO".

TMD KKN CCB. I took a peek at his screen, and true enough, it's the same software => Nokia Software Update.

So guys, be weary of those cock talking mobile phone salesperson.

『焦急』

Copied from http://jht.pixnet.net/blog/post/10952003

其實我也沒有太與眾不同，起碼唸初二之前，我覺得大家都一樣。

直到有一天國文老師把我叫到跟前，告訴我：

「蔡同學，請你解釋一下這段話的意思。」

那是我寫的一篇作文，裡頭有一段：

「我跟朋友約好坐八點的火車去看電影，可是時間快到了，他還沒來。

　我像是正要拉肚子的人徘徊在廁所內有某個人的廁所外面般地焦急。」





我跟老師解釋說，我很焦急，就像拉肚子想上廁所，但廁所內有人。

「你會不會覺得用這些字形容『焦急』，太長了些？」老師微笑地說。

我低頭想了一下，改成：

「我像是正要拉肚子的人徘徊於有人的廁所外面般地焦急。」





老師好像呼出一口氣，試著讓自己心情平靜。然後再問：

「你會不會覺得用另一種方式形容『焦急』，會比較好？」

我想想也對。突然想起老師曾教過詩經上的句子：

「關關雎鳩，在河之洲；窈窕淑女，君子好逑。」

於是我又改成：「我拉肚子，想上廁所；廁所有人，於是焦急。」





「啪」的一聲，老師拍了桌子，提高音量問：

「你還是不知道哪裡出錯了嗎？」

『是……是不是忘了押韻呢？』我小心翼翼地回答。

老師倏地站起身，大聲責罵：

「笨蛋！形容焦急該用『熱鍋上的螞蟻』啊！我沒教過嗎？」

『熱鍋上的螞蟻只是焦急而已……』我因為害怕，不禁小聲地說：

『可是……可是我這樣的形容還有心情很幹的意思。』

「竟然還講髒話！去跟國語推行員交五塊錢罰款！」

老師將被他弄歪的桌子扶正，手指外面：

「然後到走廊去罰站！」

Nokia is not Motorola

So I got Joey a Nokia 6600 slide as a replacement for her aging Motorola SLVR, also known as L7. Not that it broke or anything like that, but she was taking more videos and pictures with it, and the VGA camera is really showing it's age. Not to mentioned the choppy vids that it take (15fraps?).

But we managed to crash the Nokia every time we take a picture. It seems like either the shutter or the zoom function is broken, and whenever we try to engage those functions, it would result in the phone crashing.

I hope that my unit is a lemon unit, and this is not a design fault, as Joey likes the phone, in general. I am going to bring it to the Nokia Care Center and let's see what they have to say.

So I made a case video to prove it. Do let me know what you guys think of it:

Pretentious

Back to the new Honda City again, and the 2 things that I majorly did not like:

1. The smaller, yet fatter steering wheel. Almost hinting at a sports wheel, and
2. The peddle shift/S-mode.

To me, Honda's trying to hard to make City into something that it is not. It's like those people who stick in a hugh ass spoiler on their Wira, insinuating that Wira is a sporty car, which in fact it is not.

Don't get me wrong, as I mentioned before, I do like the City as a family car. But it's just being too pretentious.

Scary Weather

This is what I saw on my way back from the house.



Another shot from my floor:



These weather phenomenons sure get more apocalyptic year after year.

EOS 5D Mark II Support!

Wow, that was fast. The Mark II is barely out and Apple already has released the iPhoto and Aperture RAW support!

Honda City Test Drive

So Corra, Andy, Kevin and I went to the Honda-Mofaz showroom next to LDP to check out the brand new Honda City. Lucky that I called ahead and manage to get a test drive slot booked.

The queue for the test drive was still maddening, as for some lame reason that there was only one car and all the salesperson were jumping their queues. All in all, it took us about an hour before it came our turn.

So Corra started the test drive, from the showroom towards TTDI. Then came my turn, and of course, I had to use the S-mode. So I expected the drive to be similiar to a manual drive, and that sure didn't happen. I put my foot down, and the engine rev-ed up rather slowly. Shifting from 2 to 3 was unsatisfying at all, as I find myself constantly downshifted to get more power, then to lose the torque when I shifted up to 3. Then had to shift down to 2 again.

Maybe it was because the car was loaded to the brim (3 lads and 2 girls), but I am very sure that everytime I pulled on the peddle shift, it takes about 0.5 to 1 second before it kicked in.

So I was driving pretty aggresively from TTDI back to the showroom, and at the very last turn (a left on the flyover), I got really scared. Pretty sure I was going to lose traction and crash. My heart practically jumped out of my skin.

In conclusion, I had my expectation put up too much. I have Honda to blame a bit for that, as cramming in the "S-mode" and peddle shift is suppose to scream "drive me aggresively!". Maybe it's too hyped up, and they should have kept it what it is suppose to be. Which is an unexciting, B segment, small family car. Which translate into safe driving, sufficient boot space, and 2 little children, and no more.

Anyway, I have decided that a B segment car is not for me. I need something bigger, more stable on the highway, a proper family far. D segment is more like it. I guess it's back to my original plan, the Cefiro 3.0 1999.

Switcher

Many years before I started as the lowly Microsoft ASP programmer, I was a hardcore non-MS user. I actually started with Sinclair ZX Spectrum, learning my ropes around BASICA.

(switch 1) Then came my first MS-DOS machine, a 80286. Then the first "proper" Microsoft Windows, which is Win95 on a Acer Pentium.

(switch 2) Although by the time I was in collage, Windows 95/98 stuck, nothing else from Microsoft did. I used Netscape Navigator (remember those?), mIRC, ICQ and my final year project was on ColdFusion. I was tempted to dabble in Linux as well. So no MS in sight.

(switch 3) Then came my first job, and all I could eat and drink was SQL Server 6.5, IIS 5.0, Visual InterDev 1.0. Then came Windows NT/2000, Active Directory, Exchange 5.5/2000 and I never turned back. Was preaching Microsoft both professionally and personally. Beta tested several apps, and started to use Vista on a day to day basis since Beta 2.

(switch 4) Then came the MacBook. And with it, Leopard. And has been loving it since. Who cares about missing apps (there is always VMWare/Parallels). Who cares about Microsoft's "integrated" experience with WinMob and god forbid, Zune. It's all about the reliability! The sub second wake from sleep, the multi touch pad (which is so good that I ditched my RM299 VX Nano), the simple software update process, and the feeling that it will work everytime, anytime. Priceless.

Maybe I'll switch back if Windows 7 can proof it's worth, but I doubt that it'll win me over that easily. So now, it's me and my Mac for the meantime.

Misunderstood

I think I am often misunderstood. For example:

Me: I feel really bad about myself when I see kids driving more expensive cars than me.
Other people would think: Why you are so materialistic? Is driving a better car a very important thing in life?
What I really meant: I feel sad that I am not within control of my life. If I can't even reach for something simple, like a car, what about other bigger things in life? Can I provide for my family for the next 20 years? How about my children's university tuition fees?

Me: I want to migrate to a developed country because I see all my friends there are doing so well, even with just holding a job.
Other people would think: So you just want to live a better lifestyle overseas huh? Is bigger house and car what you are chasing for?
Me: I want the best for my family. When I meant best, not cars and houses. Education and medicare systems are more important to me. If my friends can have excess finances to afford luxury items even with just holding a job, that means that a career does mean something there. That is what lifestyle means to me. And that is what scares me in Malaysia, good education and proper health care is very very expensive. If I can't afford a proper car, what of the things that really matters.

Sometimes I think I am better with words than speech.

Bingo！

不懂你們有沒有這樣的朋友：

明明是有錢的，但是因為很喜歡儲蓄，搞到手頭上的現錢不夠用時， 就會天天喊窮。“沒錢換車”，“沒錢買樓”，“沒錢買名牌包包” 就變了口頭禪。

最吊的是，偏偏很喜歡在我們真的窮人前面講醬的東西。

Anyway, 今天和一個朋友講起她時， 朋友給了一個很好的比喻。問：你讀書時， 有沒有那個同學每逢考試時，常常會說 “死咯死咯。。 這次一定會考到很差。”。。。 但是成績出來時， 偏偏會考100分。

真的很歹死咯。

Of Traffic Summons

Dear friends,

Please stop giving bribes to traffic polices. Other than the fact that it's illegal, I'll give you several more good reasons why not.

Some police blockades are not authorized - and these cops are acting on their own benefit - in another words, they are out there to make a profit, not to enforce the law,

If you are genuinely got red handed for an offense, please admit that you wrong and pay the price of having lesson learnt - you'd get better at your driving skills,

The feel good factor, knowing that you have help the country to reduce the corruption rate. If we all do the same thing, sooner or later the coppers will give up asking for a bribe,

Of many times you got blocked, most likely you did not had a genuine offense, and you were scared into paying a bribe for something that you did not commit. If everyone stand up to them, they'll stop pulling this dirty trick

Have you ever felt angry as you are pulling away from the road block, having given a bribe? Trust me, that feeling is part embarrassment, part cheated. The solution is simple - stop "paying" bribes.

So the next time you pulled over, be honest and be firm. Apologize and ask for the summon. Play dumb when they ask "macam mana nak tolong?". Do not ever pull a smart comment or else you'd get yourself into even more trouble then need be.

Wanna a good example? Read here.

Consolation Price from Apple

I was probably the first few person to order a MB from the Apple Online Store Malaysia, so they were nice enough to send me something as a thank you gift.

Although they have over promised on the deliverable date (not their fault, it was the stupid Royal Customs), they did provide an excellent phone experience. The IVR had 2 simple options only (1 for purchase, 2 for support) and a human being (from Singapore) always pick up on the 2nd ring.

Back to the gift, here is what they gave me.


Such a purtee box!


A thank you card with Apple logo on it.


Feels like Christmas comes early!


Ooh! What is this? A micro fabric for me to wipe off the grease from the MB display? (grin)



It's actually a custom t-shirt, made by American Apparel


Here's the back.


Somehow those Apple people are rather telepathic, the got the size exactly correct. Or maybe I got fatter again.

The Great Blogging Software Search (OS X)

So I had been searching high and low for a proper replacement for Live Writer. Like it or not, Live Writer is one of those rare gems that Microsoft got it right the first time around. It's clean, easy to setup, and supports drag and drop picture uploads. And it supports Live Spaces (d'oh) and Blogger perfectly.

After much research, I am sad to announce that there is no equal in the OS X world. Many bloggers will swear by either ecto or MarsEdit, and some even ScribeFire, but here are some glaring misses compared to LW:

1. Full support for Live Spaces. That means easy setup and picture upload directly to MSN Storage.
2. Full preview before post within Editor. Which means that the software should totally apply all the CSS templates and give me a full preview when I am still editing the post inside the editor.
3. Insert pix first, upload later together with post. Means I can write all my posts offline first, pix included. All the OS X variations forces me to upload the pix before I can continue to edit.

Don't get me wrong, the OS X experience has been great so far, but these are some of the very few shortcomings. Maybe I am missing something, anyone to comment?