DIY notebook stand

I've always had a pain in my neck from looking down at my notebook at my work desk. Plus, the lighting here is pretty bad, there's always a glare on my notebook screen from the florescent lights. Today, I decided to change all that.

There was this small basket of tapes on my table that has been there for a few years gathering dust. It was made of plastic with a metal X frame. I emptied it and took threw away the plastic container. I took the frame and bended it until it I had the shape I wanted which is more of a upside down Y shape.

Now I have a notebook stand! The heat dispersion for the notebook should be much better as the exhaust is at the back of the notebook. My internal fan for the video card just died a few days ago, so I have to do what ever I can to keep it cool until I get the fan fixed.

As I type this now, I can really feel the difference as my neck doesn't hurt as much anymore and I can type faster on the keyboard too!

 More space for my keyboard and mouse now! Table looks neater.

 It took quite a lot of brute force to bend the two top parts as I think it was stainless steel. I had to use the table as leverage.

The first time I did it, I realized that the notebook was leaning slightly to the right and I had to make a few more adjustments by pressing on the left until I finally had it leveled. The frame itself is an optical illusion, it looks like its leaning to the right but the notebook itself is leveled.

Anyway, I hope this last for awhile. It's pretty flimsy so it can topple over if I'm not careful.

Lightning storm in Petaling Jaya

I shot this video a few minutes after a lightning storm began. It was shot from my apartment. The rain came down really hard and the lightning was every few seconds at its peak. By the time I shot this, the worst was over already.

The visibility was really low, only a few meters at its heaviest. At one point, I could see the wind suddenly change direction and the rain started blowing towards my window. Normally, the rain blows from east to west here, so when the rain started blowing from the south to the north it was really weird.

I shot this with my DV camera and it was edited on AVID Media Composer.

Took me awhile to finally figure out how to get the paint effect to work. I noticed the contrast was over blown when I exported this to MOV. I had to reduce the video level for export.

Strange Dreams

Had a dream last night, actually it was two dreams.

The first dream, some large gay dude wanted to have sex with me and I was all wierded out from it. Don't remember much after that. Damn, not sure what brought this up. Could be because I was watching Queen on YouTube. That Freddie Mercury is so gay but charismatic at the same time.

The second dream was much more pleasant. I dreamed I when on a holiday with my wife to the US. For some reason, we detoured and ended up in London. I was walking in a really large museum and it looked really grand. I ran into my parents and my mother in law. We were both surprised to see each other. When I asked what they were doing there, they said they were on holiday too.

Don't remember much after that but I think I know why I had the dream. I was playing Napoleon Total War last night and I was trying to invade London. In my version of history, the French had invaded and taken England and the English had taken Paris.

I always liked visiting London, especially the museums. I love English history, especially during the Victorian era.

How I remember Zainal Aznam

When I first read the newsflash that Datuk Zainal Azlam had died of a heart attack, I was quite shocked. He was a man who never looked his age and was always fit.

I've known Datuk for almost 10 years. He was a most interesting man with diverse interest. The first time I heard of him was through reading his articles about films in his column in The Edge. Later on when I did meet him, he was very articulate and could always explain complex economic terms in layman terms. We shared the same interest in film and we used to talk about film history when ever I met him. He also told me he had a youtube channel where he made sketches with his family. I think he always had the desire to direct a movie one day.

I was always amazed at how he used to cycle to work at ISIS near the National Monument from his home in TTDI. One day I saw his arm in a sling and I asked him what happened, and he said he fell down while cycling, after that his family forbade him from cycling to work again.

The last time I met him was last year just before he left for London to do research for a few months. It was just a few days before Najib announced the NEP. He was quite unhappy that a lot of his ideas was censored in the final edition. Of all the NEAC members, he was the most vocal. He fought to have his ideas pushed through but the powers to be decided his proposals were too radical.

My only regret is that I did not meet up with him again after that. When ever I'm stuck in traffic in front of the national monument, I always think of him and wished I had the courage to cycle in KL.

Below is his an interview he did last year and that's how I always remember him.

Anugerah Ahli Politik Paling Popular Malaysia

I watched a few minutes of the Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian last night. I just managed to catch Yuna winning the Penyanyi Wanita Paling Popular. When I saw her walking up on stage, I was laughing and thinking, "hey! How did a Sith Lord get to win this award?" They should have played the Emperor's March when she when up. Anyway, it was a really cool costume. She can pull her cloak over her head and be all mysterious like Lady Gaga.

So after watching that, I got thinking maybe we should also have an Anugerah Politik Paling Popular Malaysia (Malaysian Most Popular Politics Award).
Among the categories are:
1. Most popular politician award (surprise nomination for Bung Mohktar?)
2. Most popular BN politician award (Rosmah's nomination not allowed)
3. Most popular opposition politician award
4. Most popular scandal award. (I hope something else beats the sex video nominations for this one)
5. Most popular issue award. (for anything else that is not a scandal)
6. Most popular supporting role award. This is in recognition of a person(s) who is not a politician but have played a role in a scandal or issue. First Lady Of Malaysia can be nominated here along side with  the yet to be identified lady in the video.

There should probably be a separate award for most hated politician too. So what other categories should be up there and who do you think should be nominated?

The Japanese Spirit

While the Japanese earthquake and Tsunami disaster plays out in real time on TV, I take heart in the fact that the Japanese people have been preparing for this for a long time.

They are a people who have recovered from various earthquakes and tsunamis (though nothing as large as this scale). Their popular culture is filled with monsters and natural disasters destroying cities in movies.

Mentally, I think this one nation that has prepared their people well for such a disaster. If they can rebuilt after World War 2, I am sure they will pull through this within 3 years.

Their earthquake rescue teams are send around the world in any disasters. I'm sure all the experiences they gathered will come in handy now.

The only good that came out of this that oil prices fell by a few dollars, though I suspect this is only a momentary effect.

Japan, my sympathies goes to you but you will pull through this. I know you will.

Corruption Vs. Sexual misconduct

Personally, I think a corruption allegation is more serious than sexual misconduct allegations for politicians. They're elected to manage the country. As long as their private lives don't interfere with their duties, I don't mind.

Only when they abuse their position of authority to get sexual favors (which is the same as bribery) then that is wrong.

A politician shouldn't be a society's role model. Why must we hold them to such high moral standards? We elect them because we trust them to do a good job. They're not saints.

I think politicians make terrible moral role models. To make it as an elected representative, they would have made many compromises behind closed doors. What they are, we can only speculate.

Whom to believe?

Read the two news article below. One is from The Malaysian Insider, and the other is from Harian Metro. Both are reporting about the same incident. Judge for yourself who is telling the truth and if there is any bias in both reports.

From Harian Metro:

Tiga pelajar samseng


HULU SELANGOR: Tiga pelajar tingkatan lima sebuah sekolah menengah di sini, bertindak samseng dengan mengugut untuk membunuh seorang guru disiplin, kelmarin.
Difahamkan, kumpulan terbabit bertindak demikian kerana tidak puas hati apabila guru terbabit enggan menerima buku teks yang mahu dipulangkan mereka.


Berikutan itu, ketiga-tiga pelajar terbabit ditahan pihak berkuasa sejurus guru lelaki berkenaan membuat laporan polis berhubung insiden berkenaan.


Kejadian itu bermula kira-kira jam 11 pagi apabila tujuh pelajar sekolah berkenaan pergi ke pejabat sekolah bertemu pengetua untuk memulangkan buku teks yang enggan digunakan mereka.


Menurut sumber, tindakan tujuh pelajar itu yang berlagak samseng dengan meluru masuk ke pejabat sekolah tanpa meminta kebenaran bagaimanapun cuba dihalang guru berkenaan.


“Hairan dengan tindakan pelajar terbabit, guru disiplin itu bertanyakan tujuan mereka mahu berjumpa pengetua dan mereka memberitahu mahu memulangkan buku teks yang tidak mahu digunakan lagi.


“Guru itu menjelaskan kepentingan dan salah faham yang timbul mengenai buku berkenaan yang dianggap memberi ilmu pengetahuan kepada pelajar,” katanya.


Namun, pelajar terbabit tidak puas hati dengan penjelasan guru itu dan menganggap dia sengaja menghalang mereka bertemu pengetua dan mula bertindak biadab dengan meninggikan suara.


Sumber berkata, guru disiplin yang tergamam dengan tindakan pelajar terbabit cuba menenangkan keadaan dan menjelaskan perkara sebenar.


“Bagaimanapun, keadaan menjadi kecoh apabila tiga daripada pelajar terbabit mengugut guru itu kerana mendakwa dia menyinggung perasaan mereka,” katanya.


Bimbang keselamatan diri berikutan ugutan pelajar terbabit, guru berkenaan membuat laporan di Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah (IPD) Hulu Selangor, di sini.


Sementara itu, Ketua Polis Daerah Hulu Selangor, Superintendan Norel Azmi Yahya Affendy ketika dihubungi mengesahkan penahanan ketiga-tiga pelajar itu.


Menurutnya, semua mereka ditahan dalam tempoh 24 jam bagi mengambil keterangan berhubung insiden itu dan kes disiasat mengikut Seksyen 506 Kanun Keseksaan kerana mengugut dan siasatan lanjut masih dijalankan.


Sementara itu, Bernama memetik Ahli Parlimen Hulu Selangor, P Kamalanathan, sebagai berkata beliau akan mengadakan perjumpaan dengan ibu bapa dan guru sekolah berkenaan esok berhubung isu buku teks itu.


“Saya akan pastikan pelajar menerima kembali buku berkenaan kerana itu arahan kerajaan yang mengekalkan novel berkenaan sebagai teks komponen sastera (Komsas) tingkatan lima,” katanya di Kuala Lumpur, semalam.


Kamalanathan berkata, berikutan kejadian itu, guru berkenaan sudah membuat laporan polis kerana mendakwa diugut abang seorang daripada pelajar itu pada Isnin lalu, manakala pelajar terbabit turut membuat laporan polis kerana perkataan yang digunakan guru itu.



Now from The Malaysian Insider:

Interlok: Polis siasat pelajar tak sah, Putrajaya digesa adakan inkuiri
Mar 08, 2011 KUALA LUMPUR, 8 Mac — Tindakan polis menyoal siasat tiga pelajar tanpa kehadiran ibu bapa atau peguam hanya kerana memulangkan novel Interlok, yang menjadi kontroversi sekarang kepada pengetua mereka, adalah tidak sah, kata pemimpin Pakatan Rakyat.


Ketiga-tiga pelajar SMK Kuala Kubu Baru terbabit disoal siasat oleh polis bandar itu semalam selama 10 jam.


“Soal siasat dijalankan tanpa kehadiran ibu bapa atau peguam.


“Mengejutkan, pihak berkuasa polis atau sekolah tidak memaklumkan ibu bapa mereka bahawa pelajar berkenaan disoal siasat oleh polis,” kata Naib Presiden PKR N Surendran dalam kenyataan dikeluarkan hari ini.


Katanya, pihak berkuasa sekolah dan Persatuan Ibu Bapa dan Guru sekolah itu seolah-olah menggerakkan dan bekerjasama dalam insiden pelajar berkenaan disoal siasat kerana memulangkan novel Interlok.


“Kami dengan keras mengecam polis menyoal siasat kanak-kanak ini dan layanan yang diberikan kepada mereka.


“Soal siasat ini amat bertentangan dengan undang-undang kerana tiada kesalahan dilakukan oleh mereka,” kata beliau.


Novel Interlok kini digantung sementara jawatankuasa khas sedang mengkaji untuk membuat pindaan yang diperlukan.


Malah menurut aktivis sosial dan peguam ini, proses soal siasat itu bertentangan dengan undang-undang memandangkan mereka dinafikan akses kepada ibu bapa mereka atau peguam.


“Pada hakikatnya, sekurang-kurangnya salah seorang daripada kanak-kanak telah dinafikan kebenaran untuk menelefon ibu bapanya meskipun merayu untuk berbuat demikian,” kata Surendran.


“Kami menggesa kerajaan dan Kementerian Pelajaran mengambil tindakan segera untuk mengelakkan kejadian seumpama itu pada masa depan dan mengadakan inkuiri segera berhubung perkara tersebut,” katanya lagi.


Kata beliau, pihaknya mahu tindakan segera diambil ke atas pegawai-pegawai polis terbabit.


“Tindakan disiplin tegas harus diambil ke atas mana-mana guru yang terlibat dalam insiden ini.


“Kami menggesa kerajaan menghormati hak kanak-kanak dan bertindak selari dengan standard antarabangsa hak dan perlindungan kanak-kanak,” katanya.


Mengikut laporan media tiga pelajar tingkatan lima mendakwa mereka diheret ibu pejabat polis Kuala Kubu Baru dan disoal siasat selama 10 jam selepas mengambil keputusan memulangkan novel Interlok kepada pengetua mereka Jumaat lalu.


Kata laporan itu, pada awalnya, tujuh pelajar SMK Kuala Kubu Baru bercadang memulangkan buku teks sekolah mereka kerana mendakwa tidak berpuas hati dengan kandungannya tetapi dihalang oleh guru disipilin yang kemudian mencaci mereka.


“Semua tujuh daripada kami berjalan dengan tenang ke bilik guru besar apabila guru disiplin menahan kami dan mengeluarkan kata-kata yang melukakan perasaan kami,” kata seorang daripada pelajar di ibu pejabat Parti Hak asasi hari ini.


Menurut pelajar, guru disiplin didakwa menuduh mereka sengaja menimbulkan masalah di sekolah itu dan mengeluarkan kata-kata yang menghina mereka.


Menurut mereka, semalam pengerusi Persatuan Ibu Bapa dan Guru Baktiar Md Rashid, yang juga seorang pegawai polis, membawa tiga pelajar yang terbabit itu ke balai polis untuk disoal siasat tanpa kebenaran ibu bapa mereka.


In the Harian Metro report, they do not mention the name of the textbook, Interlok (actually it's a required reading novel). The article comes of as a pro-government report.

Meanwhile, The Malaysian Insider starts their story with a pro-student report giving their first few paragraphs to those defending the students against the police.

Not sure who to believe these days.

damn, this song is stuck in my head

Damn it, this song is stuck in my head! It's damn catchy.



I probably heard it on the radio sometime ago but never caught on to it until recently I've been seeing youtube videos of people singing it. I saw a 3 year old kid in the backseat of a car singing the chorus and a Jennifer Aniston video with some guy singing it too.

Arghh, can't get it out of my head now... and the chicks in the video are cute too.

TM service disruption

Today, I woke up and found the Streamyx internet dead. The DSL light was stable so I figured the fault must have been on TM's side.

I had to look up their number on the iphone's 3G connection as I knew if I called 100 they would just redirect me. When I reached their automated service and keyed in my phone number, the automated voice said there was a service disruption in my area.

me: I would like to lodge a complaint, I can't access the internet.
TM.Net: okay sir, we checked and there is a major service disruption in your area.
me: okay, how long before service is restored?
TM.NET: they would have to lay new cables so it would take about 2 weeks...
me: WHAT?!!!
TM.NET: erm, maybe 1 week like that...
me: okay, I want a rebate. Please give me a complaint number
TM.NET: Okay sir, your number is XXXXXX. Maybe after 1 day the service will be restored. They will call you to let you know.

So from 2 weeks of service disruption down to 1 day? Okay. Their estimates are waaaaay of.

Now I'm down to tethering my iphone to surf. I only have a 1G allowance and I probably used up half of it already. Damn it.

UPDATE:
LOL, this is damn funny. After I wrote this, I disconnected my iphone's tethering and connected back to my wifi and lo and behold, my internet was back up!

So now, the service disruption when down from 2 weeks to a few hours!

By God, sir, so you have!

I was reading in the BBC a story about their stiff upper lip personalities. One of the stories was about Lord Uxbridge.

Lord Uxbridge, Wellington's cavalry commander, had his leg sheared off by a cannonball. Did he scream, curse and get blitheringly emotional? He did not. He said to Wellington, "By God, sir, I've lost my leg!" The Duke replied with cool concern, "By God, sir, so you have!"

I love stories like that from the Napoleonic war. There's a lot of chilvary and stiff upper lip in them.

Anyway, if you want to read more about the story, go to wikipedia here.

Old french dudes light saber fight

Not sure who shot this video and then added the light sabers but it's one of the best use of After Effects I've seen!



I love the ending, they actually removed his head!

desktop recycle

I have an old desktop PC that I don't use anymore. It's a Pentium Core 2 duo 2.4MHz with 3G of RAM and two IDE hard disk. It has 2 CRT monitors. Not quite sure what to do with it. Then I thought, maybe I'll turn it into a media center and hook it up to my TV in the living room.

So this weekend, if I'm not too lazy I'm going to format the whole machine and install windows 7 64 bit on it. Hook it up to my LCD TV and see what happens.

That is if I don't get lazy and then nothing happens.

Ball buster

Check out this story from The Malay Mail. It's in the other local newspaper but they didn't provide as much gory details as the Malay Mail did.

AMPANG: Two snatch thieves had presumed that a woman would be easy prey when they snatched her handbag from her car's passenger seat this morning before attempting to make a quick getaway.


However, they did not count on the woman getting into her vehicle and giving chase.


The end result left one snatch thief dead and another seriously injured when the thieves' motorcycle collided with the woman's car in their haste to escape.


This was the drama that played out at 8.40am today, when the woman, a 28-year-old architect, was closing the gate of her home in Jalan Mega 11, Taman Megajaya, Pandan Indah.


She had left her handbag on the front passenger seat of her Toyota Vios when she exited the car.


To her shock, two men on a motorcycle appeared and opened her car door before taking away the bag.


A struggle ensued with the suspects, who kicked her before revving their bike and escaping. Undeterred, the woman leapt into her car and gunned the engine, intent on giving chase.


Her determination paid off when she encountered the suspects at a road junction in Jalan Mega 7.


By that time, the suspects had panicked when they realised she was on their tail and that the road they were on led to a dead end.


It is believed that the suspects made a U-turn and in their bid to escape, inadvertently rammed headlong into the incoming car, throwing both men off the bike.


Ampang Jaya police chief Assistant Commissioner Amiruddin Jamaluddin said the impact of the fall immediately killed one of the men, a 34-year-old Indonesian.


So great was the impact that it threw both men into a nearby drain.


It was learnt that the deceased's trousers were ripped to shreds. A piece of meat, believed to be part of his testicles, were found stuck on the front of the car.


"His pillion rider, a 25-year-old Indonesian, meanwhile sustained severe injuries. He was immediately rushed to Ampang Hospital for treatment," Amirudin told The Malay Mail this morning.


He said initial checks showed that both men had valid travel documents. However, their motorcycle is believed to be a stolen vehicle.


"We are now investigating the case under gang robbery and causing death due to reckless driving," he said.


Part of his testicles?! Holy crap! The lady really busted his balls man!

The accompanying report below:

AMPANG: "She acted on instinct," says Mahyudin Zakaria, the father of a 28-year-old architect who had driven her car to pursue two snatch thieves on a motorcycle, a chase that ended with one robber dead and the other injured.







Mahyudin, 59, a former police officer, said he had just bade farewell to his daughter, Siti Aishah, about 8.40am yesterday when she was leaving for work from their house at Jalan Mega 11 in Taman Megajaya, Pandan Indah here, when he heard her scream for help.






"One of the snatch thieves had kicked her when she tried to stop them from taking her handbag from the front passenger seat of her car," he said.






"She was determined to track the thieves down and she did."






The snatch thieves found themselves cornered and crashed into Siti Aishah's car. Both were thrown off their motorcycle and fell into a drain.






"Although I did not know what had happened at the time, I followed my daughter in my car and by the time I reached her, her car was stalled on the road and I saw a motorcycle near it.






"I ran to my daughter's car and was relieved to find her safe although she was traumatised and had scratches on her hand," said Mahyudin.






"I checked the drain and saw one of the suspects bleeding while his accomplice was dead. I am grateful Siti Aishah is safe."


Siti Aishah is the third of Mahyudin's five children. The family has been residing at Taman Megajaya since 2000.







"Our house is actually in a quiet area and snatch thefts rarely happen here," said Mahyudin, who commended the police for responding quickly.






Ampang Jaya district police chief ACP Amiruddin Jamaluddin said the two men were Indonesians. The dead man was aged 25 and his body was taken to Hospital Ampang. The other man, 34, is undergoing treatment at the same hospital's emergency ward.






The case is being investigated under Section 395 of the Penal Code for gang robbery and also Section 41 of the Road Transport Act 1987 for reckless driving.


There are more gory pictures if you go to the links above. There's a picture of the dead guy upside down in a drain. I wonder how the accident happened, how the heck did his balls get stuck on the hood of the car?

Maggi Mee old commercials

You know how they say children are very susceptible to TV commercials? Well, this commercial is proof of it.


I used to watch this Maggi Mee commercial when I was kid, I think they even showed it in the cinemas. Now I eat a lot of instant noodles! Arghhh! I still remember the tag line, "maggi mee, cepat dimasak, sedap dimakan"!

Old Malaysian TV commercials

Check out this bunch of old Malaysian TV commercials I found on youtube.



I like the Guinness stout one at the end. At least they used actors who really looks like people who drank it regularly... and the funny thing is, those dudes are probably the same guys sitting at coffee shops drinking it now!

Here's another old one when they used to allow cigarette branding commercials.

Opah

I don't remember watching this on RTM back then but I've heard of it. Check out the montage, it's really long!

What does this have to do with insurance

I don't get this commercial on youtube



It's really funny, but what does it have to do with insurance?

Sudirman

Well, since it's Sudirman's anniversary, I when youtube to see his old music video and I found this below:



I know it's not his own song but I like this music video because it's from 1984! I know some of the locations in this video. The first part where they are in a fast food restaurant looks like the A&W restaurant in PJ State. I think the rest of the place could be at Angkasapuri. Not sure where the food stalls are.

I love looking up old videos of Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur. I like to see what has changed and what hasn't.

spoof Ipad 2 review

I love this review of the iPad 2!



Okay, you probably know by now it's a spoof but I wonder if the screen the guy is using is actually a touchscreen and how did he get the iOS interface on it like that? Maybe he had a large powerpoint display and someone was pressing the next slide for him.

ass webcam

Check out what these two chicks did. They put a small camera into the butt cheeks of their jeans to see if anyone is checking out their ass.



I don't know about you, but I would look too just because there's a camera there! I think most of the guys caught checking out her ass is because they're wondering what the heck is that there?

Hole in the sky

Saw this at sunset today and I took a HDR photo.




Right after I took the photo, the clouds closed the hole.

Interesting perspective and framing of the shot here. The lines lead to the hole in the sky.

Cee Lo Green - f*ck you

Hehe, I love this music video! Funny story.

Valentine Day

I took my 6 year old niece out to One Utama yesterday. While going down the escalator, since it was Valentine Day, I asked her:

Me: Did any of your classmate ask you to be their Valentine?
Niece: No
Me: Well, in a few years time, what if a boy ask you to be his Valentine?
Niece: I tell him "No way!"
Me: What if you he draws you a nice card and ask you to be his Valentine?
Niece: I will slap him, no way!
My wife: Oh, I'm so proud of you!
Me: *fearful for the boy who ever he maybe in the future*

Sg. Buloh – Damansara – KL – Cheras – Kajang MRT line

I was just reading the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit Project website. Very interesting, they just uploaded a new route map for the Sg. Buloh to Kajang line with the new proposed stations.

The picture above was taken from their website. Click on it to get a better view or just visit their website to see the map there.

I find the placement of the stations at One Utama illogical since it's positioned to be right over the river behind my office! Shouldn't it be build over the golf driving range and next to the large parking space? Putting it right next to a TV station is a bad idea as their might be inteference, plus there's no cheap parking nearby. The only nearby parking is in the One World Hotel or IBM and KPMG Tower.

Anyway, I think they still have a long way to go before the stations are finalized. Everybody wants the MRT line but no one wants it right next to them. It's the "Not in my backyard" line of thought.

addicted

Urgh, been playing Plants Vs. Zombies on the iphone and it's really addictive. I've finished the Adventure stage and bought all the plants already.

I was just playing it earlier and got stuck again at level 5-5 where there are only chompers, pumpkins and cherry bombs. Hard because the zombies comes in waves at the end. I wonder how I did it the first time?

Anyway, going to try and stop playing this game and do something more productive now that the holiday is over. Got to start thinking about other things! Now before I go to bed and my brain goes through the thoughts of the of day, all I see when I close my eyes are plants. Damn it.

Well, at least it beats seeing Napoleon Total War.

Buried

Just watched Buried... and it sucks. Shouldn't have watched it before going to bed.

Urgh. Frustrated now. Hate it when a movie has a bad ending.

free calls to the US and Canada

Hey, this is so cool. I just made a free call to the US from Gmail!

When I signed into my gmail, a window pop-up and said I could now make free calls to the US and Canada. I thought this was only available to those in the US and Canada. I guess now it's available in Malaysia too.

I tried calling my uni in the US and I could get through and the line was clear. Now who can I call in the US or Canada?

El Bimbo!

Someone send me a powerpoint presentation of the carnival in Brazil. It had an interesting song in the background so I opened up the powerpoint presentation to see the title of the song, El Bimbo. Once I had the name of the song, I googled it and found out the group that sang it is Bimbo Jet.

Here's a video of the song I found on youtube



Now, here's the fun part. After watching the girls dancing and enjoying the music, I read the comments at the bottom of the video and laughed. I totally missed out that one of the dancers was a bearded dude with long hear.

If you didn't catch him like I did, watch it again and he's the one in black.

This video is pretty old, 1974. I wonder what those ladies are like now? Most of them are old enough to be my mother!

Anyway, if you like the song, check out another version of it below



Nice. Now I wonder what the lyrics mean?

Funny Chinese New Year advertisements

This year I didn't get to see any of the CNY TV advertisements so I decided to surf youtube.

Here's the Digi one. Slightly funny.



I don't really like the Petronas ones now that Yasmin Ahmad is not directing them anymore. They're all just guilt trips now.

Dinner

Dinner finished!

Now to play game and maybe watch some TV. Ah, I like it like that.

And it's raining too! Lovely.

comments here

Previously, when ever I had something to say, I would post it in facebook. Lately, I realized that I've been spending too much time there and ignoring this blog.

So now, when ever I have something to say, I'll do it here. Let's see how long this will last.

wash later

I was driving around earlier looking for a place to wash my car. The regular place I go too in Aman Suria was already closed for the day and the one in the open car park lot run by a bunch of Indian guys was full. I could see a long line of people already standing around waiting for their cars.

So I decided to give it a miss. My car isn't filthy dirty, just needs a bit of vacuuming and clean the windscreens. Probably do it next week after this new year craze.

Storm panorama and HDR's

The first one on the top is a stitched panoramic shot. The second is a HDR.

Both were taken as a storm was passing by just before sunset.

In the HDR picture, you can see it raining in just one location. Amazing isn't it?

Even animals don't do that!

You know how sometimes you read about child abuse cases and then hear people say "So cruel, even animals don't do that to their young!". Well, that is so untrue. Read the story below from The Star.

Tiger mum picks the best


JOHOR BARU: The law of the jungle applies even in the zoo – a tigress ate three of her newborn cubs at the Johor Zoo here recently.


The seven-year old tigress, Juli, gave birth to four cubs on Saturday, but the joy of the zoo personnel was short-lived when she killed and ate three of the cubs in the following two days.


Zoo chief assistant secretary On Jabbar said the tigress could have eaten her cubs for several reasons, including the cubs’ health and physical condition.


Three of the cubs looked feeble and one had a limp before they were killed by the mother,” he told journalists when met at the zoo here, adding that a tigress would also kill its cubs if instinct told it that the cubs would not have a chance to reach adulthood.


On said this was the third time that 100kg Juli gave birth in captivity after mating with Jeli, weighing 150kg.


She also ate her litter after giving birth in 2006 and 2008.


He said the zoo was hoping that Juli would spare her remaining cub, which he said would be separated from Juli when it is about six to 12 months old.

Here's a picture of Juli

So... in the wild, animals are all about survival. However, don't get me wrong. I'm not condoning child abuse. I'm just saying that even animals can be vicious by the standards we humans apply to ourselfs. In the animal worlds, there are no morals.

Who's next?

Tunisia, now Egypt... Which country is next?

All authoritarian rulers must be really worried.

For the Tunisians, although they got rid of their old ruler, it's going to be a few years before they see any significant improvement. Creating jobs and building infrastructure takes a long time.

Break-up service

Check out this cool advertisement form Adidas. This guy runs a break-up service in Japan. Hehe, I love the mini story in the advert.

Just a day in his complicated life.

vigilantes

The hunt for the poodle abusers is getting out of hand. It's turned into mob justice and the rabid mob can be easily manipulated to hurt anyone. Just take a look at the story below from The Star.


Man receives over 130 nasty calls on poodle abuse case


PETALING JAYA: Businessman Johnson Kang (pic), 44, had the shock of his life when he received a phone call on Wednesday accusing him of abusing a poodle.


Kang’s wife Christina Ng, 40, said her husband told the caller that he had the wrong number.


That was the beginning of a nightmare for Kang and Ng who live and work in Johor Baru.


“Johnson has received more than 130 calls since, with some even threatening to kill him for allegedly abusing the dog,” said Ng.


Meanwhile, Kang, who is an SPCA Malacca life member, said the calls started coming in after someone created a Twitter account with his phone number under the name of an individual believed to be the one who had abused the poodle called Sushi.


“I don’t know who did it. But I have lodged a police report and I’ve also gone to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission,” he added.


A YouTube video showing a man using brute force to train the poodle to stand on its hind legs recently has raised public ire.


Many people tracked down Kang through the Twitter account created with his number, but bearing the alleged perpetrator’s name.


Kang, who owns two dogs adopted from the SPCA, said he too wants the culprit caught and be dealt with.

If there is someone you don't like, you can easily just put their phone number or picture saying things like

"this is the phone number of the brother of the dog abuser, he also abused 3 dogs!"

Then those who don't bother to do any investigation of their own will immediately call the phone number and hurl abuses.

This is another variation of the anonymous sex callers. Guys (and even women) would post phone numbers of people who jilted them on swingers or singles sites requesting for one night stands. Then the victim will get all sorts of calls and harassments from people.

Anyone can be a victim. My advice to those hunting the poodle abusers, don't take justice into your own hand unless you are willing to bear the consequences of what you will do. In a mob mentality, it's so easy to beat up the person accused of being the snatch thief. Only when they discover they beat up the wrong guy, the mob just melts away pretending they didn't do anything at all. No apology.

transfer iphone contacts & new life for iphone 2G

Spend most of the evening trying to transfer the contacts from one iphone 2G to another iphone 2G. See, both my iphone 2G's don't have working wifi. The one that my wife uses has a problem with the screen (LCD crack at corner). So I wanted to switch her phone with the other phone.

The only problem with her phone was that itunes kept asking for the phone to be restored. If I did that, it would have erased all her contacts (and also broken the jailbreak). I couldn't SSH into the phone because the WIFI was out too.

So I spend almost an hour searching google for an answer. Previously, I used iphone tunnel suite and tethered the phone to get into it but that didn't work anymore. Finally, I found a replacement, iFunBox which immediately tunneled into the phone.

From there, I could copy the address book, SMS and history into the other phone. I think there's still some bugs though because when I tried to sync the other phone into itunes, it kept saying the phone cancelled the contacts sync. I only managed to sync the contacts into Outlook once. Probably the database in the phone is messed up already. I guess copying it directly didn't work.

Now I have a phone with a slightly damaged LCD screen. I'm in the middle of loading all sorts of games onto it. I'm going to turn it into a mobile gaming device. It's got no WIFI so I figure the only it's good for is gaming, listening to music and taking a few crappy pictures. Since the camera is only 2MP, it just doesn't cut it anymore compared to the iphone 4.

I think I can probably use it as a presentation kit too. I hacked the recognized device file in the phone so I can plug an AV cable into it. The phone can output movies to a LCD TV. Great for when I want to play a showreel onto a TV. I just copy it into the phone and play it back. Easier than carrying my notebook around.

Anyway, these games aren't going to last long. I get bored easily playing iphone games. They just don't last as long as PC games.

happy new year! Boom!

Check out this story from the Telegraph.

A "Black Widow" suicide bomber planned a terrorist attack in central Moscow on New Year's Eve but was killed when an unexpected text message set off her bomb too early, according to Russian security sources.



The unnamed woman, who is thought to be part of the same group that struck Moscow's Domodedovo airport on Monday, intended to detonate a suicide belt near Red Square on New Year's Eve in an attack that could have killed hundreds.
Security sources believe a message from her mobile phone operator wishing her a happy new year received just hours before the planned attack triggered her suicide belt, killing her at a safe house.


Islamist terrorists in Russia often use mobile phones as detonators. The bomber's handler, who is usually watching their charge, sends the bomber a text message in order to set off his or her explosive belt at the moment when it is thought they can inflict maximum casualties.


The dead woman has not been identified, but her husband is apparently serving time in jail for being a member of a radical Islamist terror group.


Security sources believe the New Year's Eve bomber and the airport bombers may have been members of a suicide squad trained in Pakistan's al-Qaida strongholds which was sent to target the Russian capital's transport system.

Nobody has been arrested in connection with Monday's bombing, which left 35 people dead. Police are trying to identify the severed head of a male suicide bomber recovered from the scene.

Now I can just bet her handlers are going to modify their operations to only allow the bomb to trigger when they receive SMS from a particular number. Anyway, the telco probably saved a lot of people with their new year greeting!

Panorama!

Whoa, check out this story at Gizmodo about a very elaborate panorama shot.

I began the shooting the morning of December 30, 2010, taking photos with my camera on a tripod facing east. The day portion of this shoot is composed of a dozen shots covering the landscape from east to west as well as the Sun's course across the sky, from sunrise to sunset. I recorded the Sun's position exactly every 15 minutes using an intervalometer, with an astrosolar filter adjusted to the camera lens. In one of the shots, when the Sun was near its maximum altitude, I removed the filter in order to capture a more dramatic shot that showed the Sun's "glare."

After sunset, I took various shots with the camera facing west-northwest in order to achieve a more smooth transition from the day portion to the night portion of the image. The night portion is also composed of a dozen landscape shots but this time from west to east. After the transition" shots, I took a short star trail sequence of approximately half an hour duration, with the camera facing northwest. At 7:30, I turned the camera to the north and started taking the "all-night" star trail shots — lasting almost 11 hours. After accomplishing this, I then turned the camera to northeast and shot another short half an hour star trail sequence, and then finally, with the camera now facing east-northeast, I took a series of night-to-day transition shots.



Now, I still don't understand why the shot is spherical, maybe he just stitched it that way so it's 360 degrees. Anyway, I don't think I'm going to try anything like this anytime soon. Waaaaaay to much work.

Bad review

I've been following this story about the curry fish head restaurant that sued a blogger.

Google to retain ‘offensive’ contents on fish head curry outlet

KOTA KINABALU: Search engine giant Google has said that it cannot remove Internet contents deemed offensive to a fish head curry restaurant here.

A company spokesman said in a statement that Google’s policy does not allow it to remove contents provided through its searches except for illegal matters such as child pornography among others.

Furthermore, the search results Google provided to users reflected the contents available on the Internet, the spokesman added.

“In these cases or in cases where we are compelled by local or international law to remove content, we make these actions transparent using public, third party sites such as ChillingEffects.com,” the official added.

On Monday, the director of a fish head curry restaurant that is recommended by Lonely Planet, sued a blogger and Google for defamation.

Jothys Sdn Bhd director Tharumaraj Sivaperumal filed a RM6mil civil suit at the Kota Kinabalu High Court.

He named blogger Poh Huai Bin as the first defendant and California-based Google Inc as the second defendant.

The suit was over allegedly defamatory statements made about Jothys Fish Head Curry Restaurant here which was posted in May last year by Poh, who is originally from Sibu, Sarawak and who now resides in Kuala Lumpur.

The company, which is represented by counsel Marcel Jude Joseph, is seeking exemplary or punitive damages and an order to restrain Poh from defaming the restaurant on the Internet.

The company is also seeking an order from the court to remove the offending articles from Google and other popular search engines used on the Internet.

Tharumaraj said he felt very let down when the blogger demeaned his fish head curry and banana leaf restaurant and urged the people to “avoid it like a bad case of herpes.”

He added that if one used Yahoo or other search engines, the offending blog does not appear immediately but in Google, it would show up first.

I did read his blog on the google cache and he wrote a bad review of the restaurant. Now normally, most restaurant owners would just brush of a bad review but this review must have really gotten onto his nerves.

I think they would most probably reach an out of court settlement.

My solution? Improve the food and service, invite a bunch of bloggers over and see if they write a better review. Now everyone knows your food really sucks because they're probably like me, reading the google cache of the original bad review of the restaurant.

Sade!

How come Sade never grows old? She still looks hot. This music video was made in 1992.

This is what she looks like today.

London 2012 music video

Ah! No wonder this song sounds familiar, it's the London 2012 theme song. I like the music video. A lot of familiar London sites in it. Now for some strange reason I want a bowler hat.

AVID in a music video

Hey, this is so cool! They actually use AVID as a prop in this music video. Hehe... I wonder which version of AVID is this. Probably a Media Composer but what edition?

Anyway, Tom Jones still rocks!

British comedy

Wonderful song!

I've been watching the BBC series Miranda and one of the character sings the chorus from this song in the show. I don't think I ever heard this song before.

Anyway, if you never heard of the show Miranda before, here's an episode.

Part 1 of the episode "Dog"


Part 2


Part 3


I love British comedy. They leave a warm feeling in me after watching it. They have a quirky sense of humour. I don't know why, but every time I watch a British show I get nostalgic. I'm not even a Brit and I've only been to the UK twice.

I wonder how my brain associates the BBC with nostalgia?

Panorama sunset at Tawau

One of my favorite things to do is to take panorama pictures. It's when you stitch a few pictures together to form a larger one.



I took this sunset in Tawau. Beautiful place. It was 4 pictures taken on my Canon IXUS stitched together on my iPhone. Normally I would use Photoshop but this one isn't too bad.

The Thundercats are back!

Check it out, the Thundercats are back!

Not bad looking at all with the anime look.

Link to report here from comicbookresources

movie prop

The British Ministry of Defence (MOD) is going to smash up a £3.9bn spy plane because it's obsolete. They can't sell it because no one will buy or those who would be interested, they can't sell it to them because they're the bad guys!

Why smash up a brand new spy plane?
Unite's John Fussey described the dismantling as 'barbaric vandalism'

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is taking £3.9bn worth of new spy planes and smashing them to pieces. Why?

One of the very first cuts Prime Minister David Cameron announced in October's Strategic Defence Review was to terminate the construction of nine Nimrod MRA4 reconnaissance aircraft.

Three of the planes are 90% finished. One is complete and ready to take off.

But these Nimrods will never patrol for submarines. Instead, they will be stripped of their components, sliced up in an industrial shredder, and their aluminium melted.

The MoD has begun sawing the aircraft into pieces. It says it will save £2bn of operation costs by axing the Nimrods and using existing aircraft to perform their duties.

But why could these new planes not be sold? Or at the very least, mothballed? Is the UK, to quote one defence analyst, "flushing £4.1bn down the toilet"?

The answer is that the most expensive aircraft ever made for the RAF has almost no commercial value.

"These planes were designed 10 years ago. They are no longer state of the art. Cheaper alternatives are emerging," says Keith Hayward, head of research at the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Continue reading the main story THE ANSWERIt will save £2bn on running costsSelling the planes would be difficult, and mothballing too expensiveScrapping Nimrod fleet 'perverse'
"Who would want to buy them? The only countries who might be interested, we would never sell them to."

Iran, for instance, would not be the ideal customer. And Nato countries are unlikely to need a plane designed to patrol long distances over the Atlantic.

India might be an option. But even so, they would be buying an aircraft "effectively without a warranty", says Tim Ripley, a defence analyst at Jane's.

"If something goes wrong, you need someone back at the factory who can fix it for you. So unless you buy all those engineers back at BAE Systems and the RAF test centre, you are buying a plane without a guarantee."

Mothball costs

Another option - popular with campaigners who are trying to save the Nimrod - is to mothball the planes, keeping them in storage until such a time as the MoD can afford to fly them.

But while the ministry is preparing to do this with an aircraft carrier, it will not keep the Nimrods on ice.

"Storage still incurs a lot of the costs associated with the capability," said an MoD spokesman.

"It was therefore not a cost effective option."

The Nimrod was to patrol for submarines in the Atlantic
The trouble with storage, is that you can't just put the planes back in the hangar and fill them with foam. You also have to pay to keep their crews trained up, says Peter Felstead, of Jane's Defence Weekly.

"Not only the dozen aircrew for each of the nine planes, but also the supporting engineers, plus full technical support and spare parts for all the systems," he explains.

"That cost might be plausible if the Nimrods were part of a larger fleet, some of which were still flying, but they are not."

More importantly, by the time the MoD could afford to bring the planes back out of the hangar, they would be virtually obsolete, says Keith Hayward.

"The electronics on these Nimrods are already out of date. You wouldn't put them in last year's Playstation," he says.

"And of course, the targets you wish to spy on may well have changed. They could have a greater degree of stealth."

For the money it would cost to restore the Nimrods, the government might be better off buying a new generation of spy planes, says Elizabeth Quintana, of the Royal United Services Institute.

"In the not too distant future, you could do the same job as a Nimrod with a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle)," she says. "There may be cheaper alternatives."

Scrap metal

So what is to become of the Nimrods - the last British combat aircraft ever to be built?

Are there any nuts and bolts from 100,000lb (45,000kg) of hardware that can be salvaged, re-used, or sold on?

"Not a great deal, I'm afraid," says Hayward. "The Nimrod's electronic systems are not very advanced compared to what is available today.

"That is the paradox of military development - you will always be outpaced by civil technology."

You might be able to "cannibalise" the engines, he says. "But basically there's nothing there of value bar scrap aluminium."

Continue reading the main story WHO, WHAT, WHY? A part of BBC News Magazine, Who, What, Why? aims to answer questions behind the headlines

Once the insides are gutted, the remains of the aircraft will be taken to an aeronautical "abattoir", says Tim Ripley.

"First, you take a giant industrial cutter, like a pile-driver. Then you hoist it up on a gantry, and smash it down onto the airframe," he explains.

"You gather up the pieces, load them onto lorries and drive them off to the aluminium smelter.

"A few weeks later, they are baked bean tins."

The images of £4.1bn of British engineering being mashed into a pulp are likely to cause consternation for some.

"The government... don't want this to become their iconic image - the sight of this plane being chopped up - like the BSE cull," says Ripley.


I have another idea, instead of smashing it up, why not sell it to the James Bond movie producers? It would make for a nice movie prop to destroy. How about that?

Link to the BBC story

Emergency

I was just reading the Lonely Planet's guide to Malaysia section history. It mentioned that the Emergency was not called a war solely for insurance purposes. Since insurances don't cover acts of war, they still allowed claims on policies that didn't cover riots or civil commotions during the 'Emergency'.

Interesting.

hehe

Quite happy my little project took of. Now that I have started it, this would be fun. Want to see how far I can take this.

anonymous blog

I think I should start another blog where I can really say what I want to say with anonymity. Sometimes there are things I just want to say I also don't want to bear the consequences that comes with it.

It's very different from telling your troubles to a small hole in a tree. No one hears you.

I want to write it and leave it on a blog. I don't care if no one reads it, but if someone does read it... then they would know what I have to say.

Going to do some research on how to do a super anonymous blog.

taking time of facebook

I've decided to take time of Facebook. I have deleted all the bookmarks in my browsers. I've also deleted the FB app on the phone. I was going to suspend the account too but I think I'll leave it as it is for now because some pictures in there are linked to other stuff and people.

Instead, when ever I feel the urge to write or comment on something I'll do it here.

I want to see how long this can go on.

Internal monologues

You probably wouldn't like me if you hear my internal monologues. When I talk to myself, I say the most un-PC (politically correct) thing which I find really funny... well, to me anyway since I like my own sense of humour.

Just today, I was in the elevator and this family with a small girl about 2 years old walks in. After they stepped out and as the door was closing, the girl waved bye to me and smiled. I waved back and smiled back at her.

Then the voice in my head said "oh, as cute as a monkey".

"A monkey!? What? Where did that come from?". There I was, comparing someone's daughter to a monkey. I couldn't hold it in and started laughing.

Mind you, these conversations take place in an instant so before the door closer, I bursted out laughing. The girl's last sight of me was probably me waving at her and smiling and then laughing. Good thing I was the last one in the elevator.

So if you ever see me laughing or smiling to myself, I must have heard something funny in my head... only I can't tell you what it is. It's probably about you... you cute little monkey.

Proton Saga BLM power steering problem

Last week, I finally got my power steering repaired. It took almost a month to get it changed.

A few months ago, I started noticing that my car was making wierd sounds when ever I took a corner. After awhile, the sound started getting louder and louder until I couldn't take it anymore and I made an appointment with Proton at the Mutiara Damansara service centre.

The guy said it was the power steering and it they will change it for free since it's covered under warranty. It was leaking fluid and the resevoir was almost empty. The only problem was that they didn't have the spare part and told me they would call me back when they had one. They topped out the brake fluid and said that should last.

So I waited... and waited. After forgetting about it I called back a few weeks later and the guy said he tried calling me a few times but could never get through. He said, they had the parts for a few weeks already and if I didn't come by the next day, they would have to give it to someone else and order another one. So on the day same, I rushed to the place by 1PM to get it changed.

So after they changed it, I asked the Proton service personnel what happened to the power steering, he said it was probably a manufacturing defect and it was ejecting fluid everytime I made a turn. They also did the alignment for me for free. If I knew they were going to do the alignment for free, I wouldn't have paid for it the last time.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the Proton service. I would rate it 7 out of 10 but I'm only speaking about the Mutiara Damansara service centre. I never been to any other service centre. I find that the staff are always courteous. Even during their lunch break, they take the trouble to find the person I'm looking for which I really appreciate. I'm lucky I guess that I never had any bad experience with Proton.

Why I still hate Chistmas

1. Christmas songs are sappy. They sing about how they miss someone or about snow.

2. I hate snow. No explanation needed.

3. I hate people wishing for a white Christmas. Are you stupid? Snow sucks! If you haven't felt real winter before you wouldn't know how cold and dirty it is.

4. Shopping malls are all jammed. I hate having to find parking and sharing the mall with people.

5. Hate this concept "spirit of giving". Some economist must have invented this to increase consumer spending.

6. People wishing merry Christmas. I don't feel the need to be merry just because you tell me too.

7. I hate all the fake cotton and styrofoam that shopping malls use as fake snow in their decorations.

8. People start taking their leave at the end of the year and it's hard to get any work done when the people you have to work with are not around.

There's a lot more reasons but I'll stop here.

Why am I writing this? A few minutes ago I was trying to park my car and a Christmas song came on the radio. As I was trying to turn into the very tight spot, my handphone started ringing too. The guard standing next me was giving me hand signals on how to park also.

Between trying to turn of the damn radio, looking at the guard, my mirrors and wondering if I should take the call, I ran the side my car into the wall. I could hear paint scratching against the pillar.

Called back the number and it was just a general line. Don't even know who it was.

I blame the christmas song. I was trying to listen to the crappy lyrics about how the singer misses someone. Totally distracted me.

So all my experiences with Christmas is bad. Hate you Christmas. If I could kick your ass, I would.

How to loose your appetite

I stopped by centerpoint for a quick lunch. Since I wasn't hungry, I thought of having the chap fun there. I took 2 veggies with a small rice and the lady charged me only RM2. I thought "wow! That's a cheap lunch!"

So as I sat down to eat, I noticed what looked like a thin slice of mushroom in the curry veggie.

I separated it out and look what I found






It was a small black worm the size of a 20 sen coin. Gross.

Totally lost my appetite. I tried taking a few bites more from the rice thinking if Bear Grylls can do it, so can I but as I was eating, I kept looking at it on my table and gave up.

I ended up taking pictures of it instead. I didn't even complain about it. The fact that it was this little black worm that looked like a small snake that totally grossed me out. If it was a small green caterpillar I wouldn't have mind but this... This is too gross!

So this is how I'm going to loose weight. Before eating, I'll look at the photo of the worm and see if I still have my appetite. If I do, then I'll over come my fear of it. If not, at least I'll loose weight!

Serial killer Sims 3

I started playing Sims 3 again ever since I installed it on my niece's iPad. She's only 6 and her mother told me her Sim didn't have any money as her job was too low paying and she always woke up late (I assumed she got fired). So she started running low on cash.

She had to go to random strangers house and eat from their fridge. This of course made her a lot enemies. I checked her friends list and she had no friends except she was dating a married dude. I told her mother and her grandmother and they had a good laugh.

So I taught her how to fish and sell it for cash. A few days later I checked her sim and she had 7000 plus in cash! All from just fishing. Her mother told her niece told her no need to work, just stay at home and catch fish. Hahaha, I think she's definitely learning the wrong lessons in life from the game.

I told catch fish first then make friends later. So she never bothered to make any friends. I make one of enemy into her best friend through chatting so at least she has one friend now.

Anyway... After seeing all the fun she had, I started playing it again on my notebook. I created a 'zen' cheat sim. He had loads of cash and stayed at home perfecting his skills. He didn't make any friends and was a loner. The only people he knew was the maid he hired.

One day, the aim when to the gym to test the mood machine on random people and I zapped this one chic on the treadmill and before I could runaway she came over and screwed me for doing it.

That pissed my sim of. So I changed my Sim's life goal from being a zen master to a serial killer. His mission was now to kill the whole town.

However, killing Sims is harder than I thought. I invited the chick I hated over to play chess but it was actually a trap and walled her into a room upstairs. I build a room next to hers and started a stove fire and tore the wall down so she would die in the fire but she kept putting out the fire, even when I blocked her of with furnitures.

Two neighbors I never met came to help to put out the fire too but since they saw my dungeon I had to invite them into the trap too.

After awhile the first one starved and died. Death came for her and I made friends with him. Couldn't trap him because he can teleport. Now I have two more prisoners to kill!... After that, the whole town!

Storm over the NKVE

Past few days, it's been raining. I managed to take a few pictures from my study room as it was raining at dusk.

You can see the storm clouds and the heavy traffic on the NKVE as people make their way home after work.

This photo is actually a HDR, I took 3 exposures and combined it.

I love watching the sunset and especially when it's raining.

After all the games

You what? Before I got my new iPhone 4, I was looking forward to playing all the new games the old iPhone 2G couldn't support like street fighter IV; Red Alert and some racing game.

I realized that those games that have been converted from other platforms to iphone don't play as well. For example, trying to play Red Alert on the IPhone is just too frustrating. No right click and keyboard shortcuts. Also, the map is too small.

However games like Angry Birds which are simple and designed for the iPhone works well. They're simple and highly addictive. I stopped playing them but still keep them in the phone. They drain the battery but I keep it around to entertain my niece and wife when we are waiting for food at the restaurant.

In the end, I end up playing really simple games like Blackjack which was on my IPhone 2G also. The most I won was about $37000. It doesn't make me want to go to Genting right away because I also keep in mind the millions I lost playing it! Good thing it's all virtual money!

My new iphone 4

For the pass few days I've been setting my new iPhone 4. Now I have it just about the way I like it.

For 2 weeks I've been calling maxis and visiting their service center to ask if they had any on stock.

Their reply was always "no stock and we don't know when we will have stock."

So last Thursday I woke up early at 6:30AM because it was warm. Thinking since I already got up, might as well go early to the Maxis center at Taman Tun Dr Ismail and see if they have phones in stock.

I arrived at 7:30am and there was already about 10 people waiting in line. Some of the ladies knew each other and from their loud conversation I gather they've coming here every morning for a week now. So thats how throbbed. Total strangers waiting for an iPhone.

I thought to myself damn, is it that bad? What if they only had 5 phones today? That will totally suck!

When the shop opened exactly at 9am, everyone moved to a small counter on the right and I was immediately relieved when they didn't turn them away. Instead, they were given a form after writing down their name. There is stock!

I wrote down my name and took the registration form and waited for my turn.




The maxis guy who came to photocopy my IC said they had a 100 plus stock today which is great. Just my luck.

After 15 mins, my name was called. I took the RM100 plan with the 16GB 2 year contract phone. The guy took my credit card to swipe and then brought out the phone for me. I told him I wanted to test the camera and make sure there was no yellow tint on the screen.

From my research I knew that there was two big complaint about the latest batch of IPhones 4. The first is that the whole screen has a yellow tint. According to my research, this is caused by the improper drying of the used to attach the screen.

The second problem is a blue tint when taking a photo with a white background under fluorescent lights. It seems to me that there is a white balance problem more than a hardware problem.

Anyway, when I tested my camera sure enough there was the blue tint. Luckily no yellow. I asked for another phone and they transferred me to another guy upstairs which is where the fun started.

The second phone also had the problem and after 15 minutes of arguing with them, the guy gave me an ultimatum, either they refund me the money or I take the phone. Damn, considering how long I have been waiting for it, I took the phone.

Brought it home and straight away I jailbroke it and installed appsync from Cydia in. Spend the next few days downloading apps and trying them out. I have to say a lot of these apps are crap and not worth the money. I think it's just bad interface.

Now my old iPhone is my wife's new toy. She's been playing the angry bird game on it everyday. It'll cost me about RM350 to fix the wifi on the old iPhone 2G so I'm going to hold back on that for now. Plan B is to buy an electric oven to fix it myself.

Right now I'm just enjoying my new phone. Blogging from it right now in fact.

Bahasa Malaysia, the Malaysian language.

A comment in my facebook about why we don't have 1Bahasa in the 1Malaysia concept elicit the response from me below:

If you look into the etymology (the history of words) of words in Bahasa Malaysia, you will see that it reflects the rich history of the Malay archipelago. There are Tamil, Sanskrit, Hokkien, Mandarin, Persian, Arabic, and English influences that reflect the cultures that have help influenced the history of Malaysia.

If you read books about what Buddhist believe in, you will soon see similarity in words such as Duka (suffering) which is also in the Malay language.

The Tamil and Sanskrit influences in daily words in BM reflects the history of Lembah Bujang. This site was once a Hindu and Buddhist pilgrimage site. Archaeologist every day are still uncovering the magnitude of the importance of Lembah Bujang in this region.

The concept of Sultan and Daulat we use for our Sultans has Arabic and Persian influences. Before the arrival of Islam, our kings were called Raja. With the arrival of Islam and Arab influences, The Raja became Sultans.

When the English colonist came, Romanized script overtook Jawi to become to the main written form of the Malay language. Open any secondary school science book and you will see the influences of English in it. The very name of the subject Fizik and Biologi comes from the word Physics and Biology.

The English language itself has a lot of European language influences in it and this influences too we have absorbed.

We call it Bahasa Malaysia and not Bahasa Melayu to note that this language is specific to Malaysia even though it share the same basis as the Bahasa Melayu that Indonesia and Brunei uses. However, the influences that has gone to make it unique is truly a Malaysian one.

With all the international influences and constant evolution of the language we call Bahasa Malaysia, it can be said that this is a global language.




Personally, I have always made it a point to use the word "Bahasa Malaysia" and not "Bahasa Melayu" to enforce the view that this national language we use is truly a national language, that it belongs to all Malaysians.

Fixing my Samsung HC-1114 vacuum cleaner battery

For a few weeks now, my wife has been complaining about this handheld vacuum cleaner I bought more than 6 years ago. She uses it almost 3-4 times a week to vacuum the house. It's a handheld vacuum with 7.2V battery that powers it and after so many years of service, it couldn't hold a charge anymore.

So a few days ago, I finally found the time to open up the vacuum to see if the battery could be replaced. I downloaded this service manual for the battery from some russian website that had all sort of service manuals. It stated the battery was a 6 cell 1600MAh lithium battery.

The motor was working fine so I was pretty sure the battery was gone. Actually, the charger doesn't have an auto-stop charging function and I've always left it charging (for 6 years plus!). Good thing it didn't blow up on me.

After spending 10 minutes unscrewing it, I finally got to the battery.



So this is what the battery looks like inside (hey, that's my foot there!). It's a wierd battery size, not the usual AA sized lithium batteries. I think the size is called 123.


A close up of the battery, it's some obscure company in China. I googled them and they make mostly handphone batteries. I wonder how they won this contract from Samsung.

When I bought this vacuum, it was RM99. If I was to buy a new vacuum with the same specs (7.2V), it's at least RM200 now. So I did a bit of searching on Google to find a replacement battery to see if it's cheaper to repair or buy a new one.

I found one battery supplier on eBay selling a similar battery set (I think it was MAh 2000) for about RM41. After going through eBay, something turned up in my search. It seems that Remote Control cars also used similar 7.2V batteries. So I thought to myself, why not drop by the RC Pitstop shop in One Utama to see if they sell the batteries there too. If I bought it on eBay, I would have to wait 4 weeks and I have to do my own soldering. Plus, I wasn't sure if it was the right size.

I walked into the RC Pitstop shop and explained to the guy there by the name of Nik my problem. He showed me a MAh 3000 battery for RM68. At first I thought, "yeah, that's way more expensive than I thought). Then he asked me if I was going to do my own soldering. I said "yeah". He said, they do the soldering for free as part of their service. That sold me already because I hate soldering. I'm quite allergic to the smell.

So the next day I brought the vacuum back and after 2 hours, it was done! Nik had to do some minor modification to get the batteries in. He said he had to cut some plastic bits out. Also, it'll take about 24 hours to charge the batteries, which is fine since we don't use it everyday.

Now the vacuum's suction is much better than it used to be. So I'm pretty happy that of all places, an RC shop repaired my vacuum.

Plus, my wife stopped complaining about it, so that itself is worth RM68.

Iphone 4 by Maxis "any day now"

Maxis just send me an email saying that they are bringing the iPhone to Malaysia "any day now". What does that mean, like next week? December? Hate ambiguous emails like this.

Proton Saga service after 10000KM

I wanted to write this earlier but I totally forgot about it.

I send my Proton Saga BLM to its 10000KM service last month. It's just shy a few weeks of its one year anniversary. I think I really under utilize this car because it says in the service booklet "10000KM service or 6 months, which ever first". I think users normally drive 10000KM in 6 months, I only drove 10500KM in 12 months.

At the service center, I complained about my passenger doors again for the 3rd time. Every time I send it for service, I tell them that my passengers have a hard time opening the door. Seems that the cable inside the door is extra tight. It takes a lot of force to pull it open. Personally, I don't mind because I hardly use the passenger doors. It's my wife and my mother-in-law who has a hard time.

I also asked for new wipers. The Proton service guy said they don't sell rubber wipers anymore, they only have silicon wipers. It's about RM100 plus and it comes with 6 months warranty. I asked him if anyone has ever returned it in 6 months, he said no. Well, I thought okay since Proton QC has improved I got it. The wipers work much better than the rubber ones but they squeak sometimes.

Now that I think about it, I think I did see one guy selling silicon wipers in Tropicana City's Carrefour. He had a lifetime warranty for the wipers and even provided delivery for the wipers if they failed. I think the price is higher but since he was selling it at a stall, I didn't really trust him. If the wipers failed 6 months from now, he might not be around anymore.

I also asked them to do wheel balancing. So far the driving performance is still the same. The fuel economy has improved. I find that since its an auto, I average about only 9KM/Liter for my daily home to work commute. Mind you, that drive is only 7KM so it's not that far really. Plus everything else I want is in Petaling Jaya so I hardly drive very far. I get about 240KM for every full tank I fill. A full empty tank is 40 liters, the warning light comes on when there's only 10 Liters left. So I fill it in about 30-35 liters each time.

For long distance driving I find that the car does much better at 15KM/Liter so this car is more suitable for those who commute longer distance... say KLIA to Petaling Jaya via highways. I also stopped using the Shell V-Power (the red one). I find that the kick is too much coming out from a stand still. Personally I don't mind it as a driver but my passengers find it nauseous. The acceleration is too fast. Once awhile I still use it just to clean the engine.

I have a nicks on the car already but overall, its find. The biggest nicks and scratches is actually at the door opener on the driver side. It's got small scratches all over the part under the handle. Either it came from accidental contact with the key or just plain wear and tear from contact with my fingernail maybe?

The other problem I have with it is the mat they give for the driver side and front passenger side. It keeps curling up and droops as the front side is curved at an angle. The mat is made of a soft rubber so it keeps sliding down and the material bunches up. It can be slightly dangerous if the material gets in the way of my pressing the paddles. I keep having to pull the material up and arranging it. I would have preferred a hard rubber mat they used to provide for the old protons. Those were easier to clean and wash also. The current one is a like a rubber carpet. Dirt gets stuck in between and it's hard to remove them.

Over all, I can't complain much about the car. I find it's still value for money.

The iPhone is dying

My phone 2G is dying. No doubt about it.

Originally, I bought two, and it was a good thing because after some time the phones started developing problems. In the end, I took it to a shop and merged all the good parts together. I got me a new battery for the 'good' phone and now my wife uses the 'bad' phone as her nokia died an untimely death too.

Every 2-3 days I put the phone in the freezer for 15 minutes just so I can get the wifi to work. Not sure how putting it in the freezer works but the wifi works right after coming out of the freezer. After a few days I have problems with the wifi. It just refuses to connect or even show the available wifi in the area. The phone technician says it's the motherboard. All those cheap car chargers and plug chargers I used messed up the board.

So now I'm just waiting for Maxis to launch the iPhone 4. It's going to be a long wait until the end of the year!






In one of the Iphone after the technician took it apart to replace the battery.


Writing from my iPhone

Laser gunsight for my toy gun

I bought a toy gun for RM2.50. Saw it in a shop that sells all these plastic stuff from China in Kelana Jaya.

I added a laser pointer I bought to do presentation with it. The effective range of the toy is only about 5 meters.

Having a lot fun shooting and trying to calibrate the laser sight. I might buy another gun and another laser pointer to use with it. Two gun always better than one!




Writing from my iPhone

Update on the Android versus Iphone 4 in Malaysia

Did a bit more research about my search for an Android phone that can compete with the Iphone 4 in Malaysia. I just read about the Motorola Droid 2 release in the US and it's the phone I wrote about earlier. In Malaysia, the Motorola Droid phone is called the Motorola Milestone.

I hope Motorola launches it soon in Malaysia, hopefully before the Iphone 4 actually enters the Malaysian market. This the Android phone I have been waiting for to finally compete against the Iphone 4. I would want to hold one in my hand before finally deciding to buy it.

So far Maxis doesn't offer any packages for the Motorola Milestone so I don't expect Maxis to offer a package for the Motorola Milestone 2.

Update: Okay, I got it wrong. I shouldn't be writing postings at 3:18AM in the morning. The first phone I wrote about is the Motorola Droid X. This Droid 2 has less hardware specs than the Droid X. However, I'm quite excited about the Dell Streak which might give a good fight.

Looking for an android phone to beat iPhone 4 in Malaysia

I was going to post the below as my facebook update but it was just too long. So I thought this would be a good post to re-start my blog again.

I think I finally found a phone that will beat the Iphone 4, it's the Droid X by Motorola. 2 LED flash, 3 mics! It's even got 2 antennas and the phone can double as a wifi hotspot for up to 5 devices.

Hardware wise, everything else is the same. Only the iPhone resolution is higher. It's like motorola made a phone specifically to outrun the iPhone 4. The T1000 to beat Apple's T800.

The itunes apps market is over rated. They may have more apps than Android but most of the apps are the same type and most of it are crap.

Too bad it's a CDMA model, doesn't work in malaysia's GSM network. If motorola makes a GSM model and maxis sells it with a package, I'll pick it over the iPhone 4.

As a long time user of the Iphone 2G, I've been through a lot with the Iphone. I've tried many different jailbreak and unlocks on it. I've tried all sorts of apps too. Some time back I realized all that work just to get the damn phone to perform like a 'normal' smart phone.

When I say normal, I want mms, working YouTube and wifi and email on it. The rest are all extras. I dont want to have to worry each time a firm ware comes out the damn phone will stop working because I unlcoked it.

I'm not sold the facetime app on iPhone 4. How many people am I going to find with another iPhone 4 to use it with? as it is, I only have 4 people on my Skype.

I was waiting for a very long time for the iPhone 4 to replace this Iphone 2G. The wait was so long, other competitors can along and are offering products that can beat it now. Now I don't have to be loyal to Steve Jobs anymore. I never liked Mac and have always been a PC getting and iPhone 2G at first had been a fluke.

Don't get me wrong, the iPhone 4 is still a fantastic phone and there is no other phone in the malaysian market that can beat it, I'll probably get it. I don't mind waiting longer but I don't know if my current iPhone can hold out. Every three days I have to put it in the freezer for 15 minutes to fix the wifi problem. Yeah, the crazy stuff I have to do to get the phone working like 'normal'.

You know what? As I write this I feel much better about myself. At first I was torn about thinking about another phone but after writing my thoughts down I can think clearer.


Writing from my iPhone

Should I start blogging again?

Hola. You know, when I first started this blog there was no facebook, I wasn't married and basically a whole lot of other stuff just wasn't around.

Gradually, creating content for this blog just lost it's appeal. I started spending more time in facebook.

Recently, I've been thinking about this blog again and if I should make another attempt at writing again. Should I?