Love Letter :) Got a 'love letter' from the blogger administrator, accusing this blog is used as a spammer. Technically it is not wrong, I set up a REFRESH meta in my template so that it pointed out to my new blog address at http://www.zalfany.info/blog. Just wondering, the refresh setting has been active for like almost a year, and they just find it out now? :-/ Anyway, this should be the last writing to be posted here. I am moved (and not planning for coming back :) )  ¶ 8:31:00 PM 30 Comments

 
Test   ¶ 8:14:00 PM 0 Comments

  One-on-one With Bill Gates JENNINGS: What is the next big thing? GATES: Well, we can make computers far simpler than they are today even as we're doing more and more with, you still have to learn to much about the innards. You know, security is a great example of that. Even communications, you have multiple e-mail accounts, and instant messaging and phone numbers, it should just be that you pick the person you want to contact and the right thing happens automatically. If you want to have a meeting, you ought to be able to have somebody at a distance be involved in that in a very simple way. So communication itself is still very, very inefficient. That's one of the areas where we see breakthroughs, even in the next 3 years.  ¶ 12:14:00 PM 0 Comments

  UK techies blow 17 days a year yakking to mates He..he..he.. really sounds like me ... (and even worse :-p). What about you? ----------------- The productivity of UK businesses is being threatened by employees who waste time emailing their friends, new research claims. Forty per cent of UK workers spend an hour or more every day messaging friends and relatives and swapping jokes, according to a poll by Clearswift. UK IT departments proved the worst behaved, spending 17 days a year chatting with friends. Their non-technical colleagues dedicated 13 days to personal email. [......] -----------------  ¶ 9:51:00 PM 0 Comments

  Recheck.. recheck ... ;-) Moral of the story: Don't forget to recheck everything, even to the most obvious thing you will always do (e.g. in this case: TURN ON the equipment before you expect the device to work ;-). Remind of what happened to a friend recently, the power adapter for the laptop needs electricity, thus you'll need to plug in the cable correctly :-; [and it took two days to find it out :-)]. ----------------- SPOKANE, Washington (AP) -- David Atkinson spent 18 years designing an experiment for the unmanned space mission to Saturn. Now some pieces of it are lost in space. Someone forgot to turn on the instrument Atkinson needed to measure the winds on Saturn's largest moon. ... "In total, the core of our team has invested something like 80 man years on this experiment, 18 of which are mine," Atkinson wrote. "I think right now the key lesson is this -- if you're looking for a job with instant and guaranteed success, this isn't it." -----------------  ¶ 4:22:00 PM 0 Comments

  800 people aboard on the same plane? The newly unveiled Airbus A380 has the capacity of up to 800 passengers (when all seats are economy class). Would you want to queue up that long for checking in, boarding and later on (after the exhausting flight) to claim your luggage ? Other interesting facts: ----------------------- The gigantic new plane — which is nearly as long as the 241-foot Great Sphinx in Egypt — could not have been built without close coordination with suppliers around the world. The assembly line at Airbus' headquarters here is the final piece in a mind-boggling international jigsaw puzzle. The huge wings, for example, were designed in Wichita and Broughton, Wales. One of the panels is made in Alabama. The wings are made up of about 32,000 parts and 23 miles of electronic wiring. The forward and aft sections of the fuselage are assembled in Hamburg, Germany. They are shipped by ferry to Wales, where the wings are attached. The plane is then shipped to St. Nazaire, France, where the nose section and rear parts (made in Spain, assembled in Germany) are attached. --------------------- Why doesn't the European emulate Boeing strategy by creating a very large factory to assemble the plane at one place?   ¶ 11:23:00 AM 1 Comments

  Been impatient? Been a while since I posted anything here. Spending the holidays visiting the central part of Japan (Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara), and it was a lot of fun. Well, probably too much fun that my research seems to be on holiday until today when I finally found a blur light far away in the horizon :-P. Listening to a speech, and the verse I quote below are good thing to be learnt (disclaimer: not that I've been impatient lately, it's just as if when those days are coming, I will not be ill-prepared). Al-Ma'arij:70 Courtesy of www.quraan.com, click here. [19] Verily, man (disbeliever) was created very impatient; [20] Irritable (discontented) when evil touches him; [21] And niggardly when good touches him;- [22] Except those devoted to Salat (prayers) [23] Those who remain constant in their Salat (prayers); [24] And those in whose wealth there is a known right, [25] For the beggar who asks, and for the unlucky who has lost his property and wealth, (and his means of living has been straitened); [26] And those who believe in the Day of Recompense, [27] And those who fear the torment of their Lord, [28] Verily! The torment of their Lord is that before which none can feel secure, [29] And those who guard their chastity (i.e. private parts from illegal sexual acts) . [30] Except with their wives and the (women slaves and captives) whom their right hands possess, for (then) they are not to be blamed, [31] But whosoever seeks beyond that, then it is those who are trespassers. [32] And those who keep their trusts and covenants; [33] And those who stand firm in their testimonies; [34] And those who guard their Salat (prayers) well , [35] Such shall dwell in the Gardens (i.e. Paradise) honoured. In Bahasa Indonesia Courtesy of http://quran.al-islam.com [19] Sesungguhnya manusia diciptakan bersifat keluh kesah lagi kikir. [20] Apabila ia ditimpa kesusahan ia berkeluh kesah, [21] dan apabila ia mendapat kebaikan ia amat kikir, [22] kecuali orang-orang yang mengerjakan salat, [23] yang mereka itu tetap mengerjakan salatnya, [24] dan orang-orang yang dalam hartanya tersedia bagian tertentu, [25] bagi orang (miskin) yang meminta dan orang yang tidak mempunyai apa-apa (yang tidak mau meminta), [26] dan orang-orang yang mempercayai hari pembalasan, [27] dan orang-orang yang takut terhadap azab Tuhannya. [28] Karena sesungguhnya azab Tuhan mereka tidak dapat orang merasa aman (dari kedatangannya). [29] Dan orang-orang yang memelihara kemaluannya, [30] kecuali terhadap istri-istri mereka atau budak-budak yang mereka miliki maka sesungguhnya mereka dalam hal ini tiada tercela. [31] Barangsiapa mencari yang di balik itu, maka mereka itulah orang-orang yang melampaui batas. [32] Dan orang-orang yang memelihara amanat-amanat (yang dipikulnya) dan janjinya. [33] Dan orang-orang yang memberikan kesaksiannya. [34] Dan orang-orang yang memelihara salatnya. [35] Mereka itu (kekal) di surga lagi dimuliakan.   ¶ 6:20:00 PM 0 Comments

  You Send It Yeah dude... it is really fast. Just downloaded a 44 MB video clip in 1 minute and 12 seconds. Worth a try. http://www.yousendit.com/whyyousendit.aspx -------------------- YouSendIt is easy, fast, secure, safe, and lets you send large files. Key Benefits Send Large Files Up to 1000MB (1GB). Simply the fastest data transfer system available YouSendIt had been designed to be lightning fast in order to provide the best user experience. Data Security Encrypted HTTPS session (SSL/TLS) to make sure your data is secure. Uses Typical Firewall Permissions If you can browse the Web, you can use YouSendIt. Proven Technology Millions of people use it. Value www.YouSendIt.com is completely free. --------------------  ¶ 1:23:00 AM 0 Comments

  Skipping School :-) Should I also skip school now? ;-) Heh..heh.. I am 10 years late to emulate him. But who knows that if I start tomorrow, I will be in his position in 10 years from now :-D. * naah..., I'll skip, may be you want to give a shot? ;-) * [ ... ] Boasting a six-figure salary as chief technology officer of an online security company, Sima is one of a select group of young techies who hit it big without an academic pedigree after technology and Internet-related businesses exploded in the late 1990s. ... Sima was 16 when he dropped out of high school after his freshman year, bored with school and unable to fully pursue his love of computers. He earned a GED, got a job fixing PCs and gradually moved up to security administrator of an online bank before starting a company in 2000. With all the experience he gained, there was never a regret about missing college. Even today, he often finds that job applicants with Ph.D.s in computer science don't have what it takes despite their lofty degrees. [ ... ]  ¶ 8:42:00 PM 0 Comments

  Resolved !!! -- Been ages since the last time I posted anything here -- Finally, the BIG thing that three weeks ago I wrote as: "One BIG [and I really mean BIG] thing is still distracting me right now." has been resolved today. Alhamdulillah, it is resolved in the way that I have hoped. The way that hopefully is the best way. The way that may make me a better person. The way that may be blessed by Allah SWT. Amin. Will vividly remember what happened today for quite long time, I guess ;-).  ¶ 8:57:00 PM 1 Comments

  Bill Gates' inbox, by numbers This Bill guy must be a very popular person, ain't he? ;-) The entire article is stolen below. ------------------------ 4 million is the number of emails Bill Gates receives every day, according to buddy Steve Ballmer, speaking in Singapore. 19 Nov 2004, 09:44 GMT - 2.9 million is the number of spam messages Gates gets every day. 2,778 is the number of emails Gates gets every minute. 2,033 the number of spams Gates gets every minute. 10,000 - Gates is the recipient of more than one out of every 10,000 emails sent by anybody anywhere in the world. 34 days is how long it would take Bill to download a day's worth of spam to Outlook, if it (generously) took just one second per message. 22 weeks is how long it would take Bill, working solidly without breaks, to manually delete one day's spam. 458 is the number of people, working 8-hour shifts, Bill would need to hire to delete that spam manually each day. 1.2 terabytes is the disk space needed to store a month of Bill's spam. 460 gigabytes is the disk space needed to store all of Bill's non-spam email, given the company's alleged 30-day email retention policy. Sources: Steve Ballmer (Bill's big inbox), Postini Inc (73.2% of email is spam), IDC (4 to 5 seconds to delete a spam), Yahoo! Inc (average email size is 15K), MX Logic Inc (31 billion emails are sent per day), Burst.com Inc (Microsoft's 30-day retention policy). ------------------------  ¶ 9:19:00 PM 0 Comments

  scholar.google.com Cool :=> Help a lot on finding references, surely raises my dependency-level on google ;-). From http://scholar.google.com/scholar/about.html -------------------------- About Google Scholar Google Scholar enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web. [...] --------------------------  ¶ 11:19:00 PM 1 Comments

  Google's index nearly doubles Ever pay attention the announcement below the google search form? I did not. And thank's to news.google.com :-), I realized that the google index now reached 8 billion pages. Wow .. =D> This is what The Register say http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/12/microsofts_google_killer_arrives/ --------- On Google's PR blog, we learned that Google's index had doubled overnight to 8 billion pages. (Where had they been keeping the new 4 billion pages all this time, you might well ask.) "Together these pages represent a good chunk of the world's information, but hardly all of it," wrote Google's VP of engineering Bill Coughlan, in what might be the understatement of the century. ---------  ¶ 9:16:00 PM 0 Comments

  2 awfully busy weeks Don't know for sure what happened to me lately. Been neglecting my main job: the research :-(. Neglecting here doesn't mean that I left it completely, it's just that in the initial phase of research like now, I should have spend my time more on this rather than on others. The 'distractions' are finished now. Should get back on my research. And pray a lot ;-) that I can come up with good ideas... ASAP. Just for my own record. Those 'distractions' are: - Responsible for the "eat and then knowledge-learning" event -- [guess which part of the event is more attractive :-p]". Price: take at least 2 full days of my time. Priceless: the satisfaction after realizing that the events run smoothly and surely bring benefits to many people. - Involved in the 'angklung' performance shown at Titech welcome party [I'm not the busiest person, but still it used some part of my time. Two thumbs up for the 'sensei' and PPI 'chairman' who -- undoubtedly -- dedicated much of their time for this event]. And just for the record, we had good appraisal for the performance. Cheers ^_^. - Been slept for only about 4 hours per day because of 'after-life business' engagement :-). Thankfully I could stand the full 10 days. Still wonder where did I get my power to endure the whole time... hmmm... surely motivation is a very strong driving force ... - One of my best friend is in the need of a big help to complete his study. More than happy to help him, less time and energy for my own research ;-). * final result: * * physically --> tired.. tired .. tired .. * * mentally --> Never been in a better conditions than now :-) * One BIG [and I really mean BIG] thing is still distracting me right now. Advices from the experts are being explored. Hopefully it would eventually be resolved on the good way.  ¶ 8:30:00 PM 0 Comments

  Inside Dell's manufacturing mecca You must realize that Dell is so big that when you finished eating a cookie [comparison with food always work, eh ;-)], they have had at least 10 new PCs ready to be sold. This is indeed a very cool report. A must read for techies. -- quote -- ROUND ROCK, Texas--Two thousand, three hundred fifty. That's the number of desktops Dell was trying to produce per hour in the Mort Topfer Manufacturing Center here earlier this month. Put another way, that's roughly 1 PC every 1.5 seconds, 40 a minute, or 23,500 per shift. -- end quote --  ¶ 2:28:00 PM 0 Comments

  Indian tech grads bring parents to work * GRIN * --- quote --- Call it equivalent of a parent-teacher meeting for the global economy. [..] Hebert noted that arranged marriages are common among young people in Hyderabad, where Sierra Atlantic has its Indian offices. The company intends to hire about 400 people over the next year. "If they have arranged marriages, why can't they have arranged careers?" Hebert said. [...] --- end of quote --- * GRIN (again) *  ¶ 3:26:00 PM 1 Comments

  Saved, and enslaved, by the cell Interesting report on (yet another) side-effect of technological advance ... -- quote -- [ ... ] cell phone use may be making us less autonomous and less capable of solving problems on our own, even when the answers are right in front of us. According to Christine Rosen, a senior editor at the journal New Atlantis and the author of "Our Cell phones, Ourselves," a recent article exploring the social effects of the mobile phone, the ease of obtaining instant advice encourages cell phone users to respond to any uncertainty, crucial or trivial, by dialing instead of deciding. The green sweater or the blue, pizza or Chinese, the bridge or the tunnel - why take responsibility for making up your own mind when you can convene a meeting in a minute? [ ... ] -- end quote -- And at least I have a friend who still resists on having a mobile phone... guess he doesn't want to be enslaved (instead of saved) by the cell .. a wise choice probably :-)  ¶ 10:46:00 PM 0 Comments

  Will I ever grow old? ;-) Meet at least three new Indonesians today. * excerpt, NOT word-by-word accurate, but the whole context of the conversation is preserved * -- ONE ---------------- A: I am A, I am from Chiba. Me: I'm Zalfany. I am from Tokodai here in Tokyo. A: An undergraduate student? Me: * grin * Well ... actually I am starting my PhD study this October. -- turn out that A is graduated from high school at the same time as me -- -- TWO ---------------- Me: Just came to Japan? B: Yes, actually it was a week ago. Me: Joining what program? B: I am an exchange student at Todai. I am from UGM, class of 2001. Me: I am at Tokodai, starting my PhD study just this month. B: Waa.. I thought you're at the same age as I am ... Me: * grin * He.. he.. I am at least 5 years older than you ... -- THREE -------------- (Talking to C, a senior at Tokodai, to whom I've only met once before, and never had a chance to talk) Me: I am starting my doctorate study this October. C: You do not look old enough to be a PhD student. Me: * grin * [Thinking: "Hello .. hello .. I am 25 and will be 26 next month. Even my will-be colleague in my PhD research is a year younger than me!!"] Those stories are very typical of me :-). Been always BLESSED with a 'delayed-physical-development' of my body. Blessed, because like about four months ago when I joined a bunch of newly graduated high school students from Riau, I can pretend that I am one of them and nobody seems to disagree :-D. Will I ever grow look older than who I am? ;-) [not that I am discontent with this, as long as I am mentally well-developed; well-matured, I will still have more than enough reason to always be grateful to Allah SWT.]  ¶ 6:50:00 PM 1 Comments

  This is a cool idea -- using "light bulb" to communicate? Why would I consider this as cool? What stood out between inventors and ordinary people are how they see things from different angle, and be able to exploit it. You, me and everyone else switched light bulbs on and off everyday ... raise your hand if you ever think of using that to communicate! Anyone? ;-) -- quote -- While the technology sounds far out, the concept was minted long ago. Alexander Graham Bell conceived of a similar idea in 1880. The Photophone consisted of a mirror that vibrated when someone spoke. The vibrations were then captured by a subsequent receiver and turned into electrical impulses. "It worked for 200 meters," said Nakagawa, adding that Bell predicted it would be one of his biggest achievements. So why haven't optical technology companies tried this? Most have spent their time trying to wring more performance out of fiber. "Maybe the blind spot was invisible light. It is kind of an irony," Nakagawa said. "Very few people did research on the free space." -- end quote --  ¶ 10:14:00 PM 0 Comments

  Olfaction Ever heard the word 'olfaction'? I only heard this today, and that's why I (and you too) are not the next Nobel Price laurates in field of Medicine or Physiology :-p. -- quote -- Our ability to smell, known as 'olfaction', is a potent yet often neglected player in our sensory world, and a surprising 3% of our genes are dedicated to fine-tuning its subtleties. ... But, as the pair went on to show, any receptor can be activated by a handful of related scent molecules at different intensities. And most odours are composed of many molecules, which activate different receptor-bearing cells. The researchers revealed a combinatorial code, often likened to the colours on a patchwork quilt, that allows us to recognize, and form memories of, around 10,000 different odours. -- end of quote -- Hmm... so this is why I could still remember mom's 'yellow soup' or 'ayam kecap' .. nyam .. nyam ... :-D This is the link to the official Press Release: The 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine  ¶ 11:25:00 AM 0 Comments

  My friends are leaving :-(( -- PS. This is indeed the first time I really blog at this page. The other posts were link to the news I read from the internet. -- I won't consider today to be the best day ever since I came to Japan. Workload-wise, there is no difference from the other days [been 2 weeks since I mess around with the gate level simulation problem, and I haven't even been able to locate the cause of the problem -- let alone solving the problem :-((], but today is the last day for Dani and Mulyanto at the Kunieda Lab. Their study-exchange period is over, and they went home to Indonesia tomorrow for good. Been more than four months since I get to know them, and I am going to sorely missed their absence. Already had that feeling when I did the Isya' prayer tonight. Alone. Usually it was Dani who remind me whenever jama'ah prayer time is coming. Good luck to both of you ... hope we can still meet sometimes later when I have chance to went home to Indonesia.  ¶ 8:09:00 PM 0 Comments

  CNET: Five tech firms at a crossroads Good articles over 5 companies (Tivo and PalmSource are among those five that I know) that were innovators. Quote: "Each sells a product or service considered brilliant. Each has drawn raves from consumers .... But that's not always enough." Competitors (or we can blatantly said copycat) are lurking behind to take (and even overtake) their market shares. -------------------------- NEWS.context What's new: Apple used to own the home computer market. Today it's in single digits. Brilliant first movers often falter as the rivals catch up. Bottom line: Five companies flashing all the brilliance of early Apple are reaching the point when the wolves start nipping at their heels. Can they stay ahead of the pack? -------------------------- PS. Been a while since I blog (and I knew it was long, because the URL disappears from the Mozilla's location-bar auto-complete list :-). Anyway, another bomb explode in Jakarta yesterday :-((. It explodes in front of the Australian Embassy, and again, just as the previous bombs, the victims are all Indonesians :-((. (Note that it does not mean that I would support the bomber should the victims are Australians they are targetting to). Sad .. sad ... sad .. :-( And so is another slaughter in Beslan, Russia last week. Many victims were children. What a world we are living now :-(.   ¶ 11:03:00 AM 0 Comments

  Ian Thorpe's feet size is 17 !! -------------------- Feet There isn't much I can say about my feet - I guess I was lucky to be born with sized 17 feet. They certainly help me to swim faster! -------------------- Anyway, well done to Ian Thorpe. It's worth the wait to see the 200 m freestyle final so late at 1.45 AM [not to forget to mention that the race last only for less than 2 minutes :-p]. PS. I don't know exactly how long (in centi metres) is a "17" sized feet. The conversion tables I found in the internet only shows until size 13 :-D. By doing some quick calculation, it should be about 32.6 cms (which is about 1.5 time the size of my feet). This guy must have a problem in buying shoes .... And another thing ... got my PhD entrance examination today. And I feel that I am doing fine (which I hope at least guarantee me of not being kicked out :-).  ¶ 9:42:00 PM 5 Comments

  "The people of Bolivia welcome the president of Canada" Couldn't help to laugh on this piece of news taken from a not so interesting (* for me *) report about Brazil. ----- [ ... ] Even some heads of state seemed clueless. "It's nice to be in Bolivia," Ronald Reagan told an audience on his first state visit to Brazil in 1982. His hosts took it sportingly. "The people of Bolivia welcome the president of Canada," read the next day's newspaper. [ ... ] ----- A quick research using Google confirms that this is indeed a true story. * big smile *   ¶ 10:21:00 PM 0 Comments

  World's first advert-only TV station

Hmm... an advert-only channel? Because of my habits to start switching between TV channels when ad is coming, it will be skipped all the time :-D ------------------- LONDON (Reuters) - Has television become so bad that viewers will shun the programmes to watch nothing but advertisements?

Programmers will soon find out when the world's first channel devoted exclusively to adverts launches in September, allowing viewers to tune in 24 hours a day to their favourite 30-second spots for Guinness, Walkers and Yellow Pages.

[ ... skipped to the last sentence ... ]

And just to make sure viewers have time to get up and make a cup of tea, the Advert Channel also will have nine minutes of paid advertising per hour. ---------------------

  ¶ 4:21:00 PM 0 Comments

  Temperature in Tokyo hits record 39.5 degrees Yeah.. right ... it's so hot in Tokyo lately ... (and yet... I was playing football for at least an hour last Monday ^_^ --> futsal inside the gym ... but still ...) ----------------------- Temperature in Tokyo hits record 39.5 degrees The temperature in Tokyo hit 39.5 degrees Celsius on Tuesday afternoon, the highest figure ever recorded in the capital of Japan since the government began measuring it in 1923, weather officials said. Mainichi Shimbun Tokyoites swelter in record-high heat near JR Shibuya Station on Tuesday. The previous highest temperature in Tokyo was 39.1 degrees Celsius on Aug. 3, 1994.Japan's highest record stands at 40.8 degrees Celsius, which was recorded in Yamagata in July 1933. Several other cities in the Kanto region, eastern Japan, had scorching temperatures on Tuesday. The temperature rose to 39.5 degrees Celsius in Otemachi, downtown Tokyo, at about 1 p.m., 10.1 points higher than average.  ¶ 9:51:00 PM 0 Comments

  Women of the Tour deliver kisses, jerseys A nice article on another side of a tournament, which most of the time never get exposed. ---------------- Women of the Tour deliver kisses, jerseys   ¶ 7:02:00 PM 0 Comments

  Akihabara becomes geek sex paradise Zalfany's note: Yup.. this is Japan ... ;-) Quotes from the full -- very interesting :-) -- text. ----------------------------- Akihabara has long been known for its overwhelming array of electronics stores like Ishimaru Denki, Onoden, Satomusen and many more. [...] When this many "otaku" boys get together in Akihabara, someone must feed them somewhere, so cafes and restaurants, especially for them have opened one after another. At the Cure Maid Cafe, all the waitresses wear maid costumes. "There are seven waitresses at this moment. They've got pretty names such as Pudding and Chocolate," said manager Masato Matsuzaki. "We also have a website on which customers and waitresses can chat. We get nearly 1,000 page visitors a day, which is unbelievable for a restaurant." The maid's skirts at Cure Maid Cafe aren't as short as other restaurants; they tend to be longer and more elegant. So why are the "otaku" so crazy about ther maids? "It's because of the image that a maid is always supposed to obey a customer. That has a sort of healing or calming effect on a guy," explains Matsuzaki. [...] These shops at Akihabara are not in the sex business because for geeks, fantasizing is much more important than actually doing anything with girls. ----------------------------- And one of the comments below the text :-D : "i'm so glad i work in akiba :-)"  ¶ 9:27:00 PM 0 Comments

  Mom's Never Too Far Away Zalfany's note: Miss my mom, a lot ... :-( ----------- CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Still weary from his spacewalk, space station astronaut Mike Fincke got a surprise call from a "specialist" with a rundown on new bedtime procedures. "Step 1 is that you may have a bedtime treat if you've been good and not sassed anyone. And step 1A is that you have to go to the bathroom ... "Step 3 is, let me see, that's wash your face and hands - that's both hands. And brush your teeth and don't spit on the floor. And number 4 is, oh yes, say your prayers. And number 5 is get into your jammies and you may have three bedtime stories but nothing too scary. Copy?" The reply from space: "Hi, Mom." Alma Fincke burst into laughter at Mission Control. "You got me," she said. NASA broadcast the interchange on Friday, a day after it took place. [ ... ]  ¶ 6:19:00 PM 0 Comments

  SMS World Speed Record "The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human" Write that text in your mobile phone, and if you can correctly write the whole 26 words in less than 43.24 seconds, then enter this competition next year (should it still exist). Can boost your pocket a cool amount of S$ 25,000 :-D.  ¶ 10:16:00 PM 0 Comments

  Tokyo is the World's Most Expensive Cities Mercer Human Resource Consulting publishes their latest survey on the living costs among big cities in the world. And guess what city is topping the list? TOKYO -- by a mile. Tokyo's index is 130.7, which means that in general it is 30% more expensive than New York. The index for second most expensive city, London, is 119.0. Guess this explain why my bank account balance is not that encouraging .. :-). The list can be obtained here : http://www.mercerhr.com/costofliving  ¶ 6:47:00 PM 0 Comments

  Cool Signature Visit a forum and watch one's signature is quite cool. Apparently it came from www.danasoft.com. You could even (though the variation is quite limited) customize your signature. Like mine shown below:   ¶ 6:42:00 PM 0 Comments

  Bush's WMD This must be what Bush's means of the WMD (Weapon of Mumbrella Destruction) :-D.
U.S. President George W. Bush negotiates his umbrella in the wind during a rainstorm while being escorted by U.S. Air Force Col. John R. Ranck Jr. after stepping off Marine One at Andrews Air Force Base, June 1, 2004. The president boarded Air Force One and departed for Colorado. (China Daily/Reuters Photo) See more at Xinhua  ¶ 6:27:00 PM 0 Comments

  Maturity of Brain? Picking the brains of teenagers shows how we 'mature' By ROWAN HOOPER What an age we live in. Science is progressing in ever greater leaps and bounds. The way things are going, we might one day even understand that most enigmatic and mysterious of natural phenomena, the teenager. "If youth knew; if age could." Such was the lament of the French publisher Henri Estienne in the 16th century. But youth doesn't know and age can't: Such is the tragedy, as Estienne saw it, of human life. Young people don't know -- but good luck to them. It is the prerogative of the young to be different and inscrutable to their elders. And now we know why. A 10-year study of people ages 4 to 21 has revealed that the higher centers of the brain -- those involved in reasoning and problem solving -- are among the last to mature. The prefrontal cortex, the site of the higher centers, is the last to come "on line." It might explain why some teenagers lack the ability to be reasonable (though it doesn't explain why the same is true of many adults). [.. read more by clicking the link above ..] -------- Hmmm.. this explains why my childish behaviour is still dominating, that is because I still have a large amount of undiminished grey cells in my brain :)  ¶ 8:37:00 PM 0 Comments

  Tilde (~) on Japanese Keyboard He.. he.. it's been a month since I was here, and just today I found the following page http://sonobe.s5.xrea.com/knowhow/computer/homekey_eng.html very useful. To type a ~, what you have to press is the key located two keys to the right of the 0 (in where the character ~ is really printed in the keyboard). Strange ... :-) Before I found this, I have to open the Character Map, then copy the tilde character from the list before pasting it to the place I wanted (how incovenient!).   ¶ 2:31:00 PM 0 Comments

  Launch at Yahoo I have been busy streaming down from Yahoo for the last few days. It's very cool (especially if you have very decent connection like me in the university :-D) and it's free (don't know till when though). Though I am more interested in listening to the music, the ability to stream the video clips in the highest possible quality (300 kbps) is super cool ... (plus the addition that you are free to choose any available clip to play for). May the streaming be with you :-)  ¶ 6:50:00 PM 0 Comments

  Reality TV - Watching Paint Dry? Reality TV shows are very popular every where in the world right now. I don't watch TV a lot these days, but the news are everywhere in the net (those I knew that Fantasia is the newest American Idol, the 4th season of Big Brother is starting in UK, etc). The newest on the line is "Watching Paint Dry" . Ha.. ha.. ha.. these people must be crazy. Check out the related news -- The Age: A corner painted for boring drips or CNN: New reality show: Watching Paint Dry.  ¶ 4:33:00 PM 0 Comments

  Another Attempt on Blogging It's been three years since I was familiar with weblog (mostly by reading other's), and then I started to create one of my own to record my stories upon living in the Netherlands. The blog itself didn't last as long as I wanted -- only for about 4-5 months-- mainly because of time issue, slow internet connection and lack of motivation (the most probable reason probably). Anyway, today I created another one. Hopefully I will be able to post regularly here, so that I can keep track of what I was up to (speaking of, probably, 10 years from now), what catch my attention, etc. etc.  ¶ 4:12:00 PM 0 Comments