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[ September 2006 ] | |
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TCHS 4O 2000 [4o's nonsense] alvinny [2] - csq - edchong jenming - joseph - law meepok - mingqi - pea pengkian [2] - qwergopot - woof xinghao - zhengyu HCJC 01S60 [understated sixzero] andy - edwin - jack jiaqi - peter - rex serena SAF 21SA khenghui - jiaming - jinrui [2] ritchie - vicknesh - zhenhao Others Lwei [2] - shaowei - website links - Alien Loves Predator BloggerSG Cute Overload! Cyanide and Happiness Daily Bunny Hamleto Hattrick Magic: The Gathering The Onion The Order of the Stick Perry Bible Fellowship PvP Online Soccernet Sluggy Freelance The Students' Sketchpad Talk Rock Talking Cock.com Tom the Dancing Bug Wikipedia Wulffmorgenthaler       |
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bert's blog v1.21 Powered by glolg Programmed with Perl 5.6.1 on Apache/1.3.27 (Red Hat Linux) best viewed at 1024 x 768 resolution on Internet Explorer 6.0+ or Mozilla Firefox 1.5+ today's page views: 438 (49 mobile) all-time page views: 3741376 most viewed entry: 18739 views most commented entry: 14 comments number of entries: 1257 page created Wed Mar 11, 2026 14:43:22 |
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- tagcloud - academics [70] art [8] changelog [49] current events [36] cute stuff [12] gaming [11] music [8] outings [16] philosophy [10] poetry [4] programming [15] rants [5] reviews [8] sport [37] travel [19] work [3] miscellaneous [75] |
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- category tags - academics art changelog current events cute stuff gaming miscellaneous music outings philosophy poetry programming rants reviews sport travel work tags in total: 386 |
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- academics - programming - After completing my latest Computer Graphics lab, I mused about whether it was possible to grab it off the screen and plonk it into a video file; The famous FRAPS came to mind, but sadly it kept crashing my EXE file (recorded FIFA 2003 well enough on the other hand). Secure in my belief that whatever reasonable task one wants to do on a computer, someone out there will have written a program for it, I dug a bit and found CamStudio. It allows the user to draw a box on any portion of the desktop, and will then faithfully record all graphical changes in that area. Oh, and it's 100% freeware. CamStudio sweetly captured my little animation, but it got slowed down by a factor of three, and had an unsightly select box at the start. Now, how do I chop off that front bit of the video, speed it up and shrink it to 320x240 to fit here? Digging a bit deeper, I discovered the GPL-licensed (in short, free) VirtualDub (CamelCase seems rather popular), by someone who "had too much free time in college". Between them, I extracted a 2.5MB, 45-second video that met my requirements. After that, on to YouTube it went: And the ASCII art came from converting with IMG2TXT, like so: ..;;ttLLGGDDKKKKWWWWWWWWWWKKKKEEDDtt.... ..;;ttGGWW##########WWWWWWWW##WW##WWKKEELLtt;; ;;ttGGWW################WWWW########WWWWWWKKKKjj.. ..;;ttGGKKWWWW##############WWWWWWWWWW######WWWWWWWWGG:: ..ttDDWW############WWWWWWWWWWWW######WW######WWWWWW##DD;; ;;ffKK##################WWKKWW##########################KKii ..iiDDWW##################WWWW################################GGii.. ;;LLKKWW##############WW##WWWWWWWWWWWW##########################WWEELL;; ;;LLWW######WWWWWW############WWWW####################################WWGG;; ttKK######WW####################WW######WWWWWWWWWWWWKKWW##############WWWWGGii.. ..LLWW####WW############WWWWEEEEDDEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDEEDDKKWW########WWWWWWKKtt.. ;;EE######WWWW######WWKKDDGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGDDGGGGDDDDWW######WWWWWWWWKKtt.. ..ffWW####WW##WW####WWEEDDGGLLffffffLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLGGDDLLGGGGDDEEEEWW####WWWWWWWWGGii ..ttKK############WWEEDDGGGGLLLLffffffffffffffLLffffffffGGLLLLLLLLGGDDEEEEWW##WWWWWWWWWWLL.. ;;GG####WW######WWEEDDGGGGLLffffffffffffffffffffffffffffLLLLffffLLGGDDDDEEKKWW##WWWW##WWEE;; ..ffWWWWWWWW####WWEEDDGGGGLLLLffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffLLLLGGDDDDEEKKWW##WWWW##KKtt iiKK##WW########EEDDGGGGLLLLLLffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffLLLLGGDDDDEEWW######WWKKtt.. ..jjWW####WW####WWDDGGGGGGLLLLLLLLffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffLLLLLLLLLLGGDDDDEEWW######WWKKtt.. ..LLWWWWWW######WWDDGGGGLLLLLLLLLLffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffLLLLLLGGGGDDEEEEWW######WWLL,, ..LLWW##WWWW####WWDDGGGGLLLLLLLLLLffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffLLLLGGDDDDEEEEWW####WW##KKtt ..LLWWWW##WW##WWKKGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGLLffffjjjjjjjjjjjjjjffjjjjjjjjffffffGGGGDDDDEEEEEEKK######WWWWLL.. ..LLWWWW##WW##WWEEGGGGGGDDEEEEEEDDDDDDDDGGffjjttttttjjjjjjttttjjffGGEEKKKKKKKKWWWWKKKKWW######WWGG.. ..LLWWWWWWWW##WWEEGGGGGGEEKKKKEEDDDDDDGGLLLLffttiitt;;ttttttjjffffGGDDDDEEEEEEEEWWWWKKWW########GG.. ..LLWW####WWWWWWEEGGGGDDKKEEGGLLffffffffffjjjjjjttii;;ttttttjjffffffffLLffffffGGDDKKWWWW######WWLL.. ..LLWW######WWWWDDGGDDEEDDGGffjjjjjjjjttttttjjjjjjttttttjjjjjjffjjjjjjjjjjffffffGGDDWWWW######DDii ..ffWW########KKDDGGDDGGffffffjjjjjjjjjjttttttjjjjjjttjjjjjjjjjjjjttttjjffffLLLLLLGGEEKKWW##KKtt.. ..jjWW######WWEEGGGGGGffGGDDDDGGLLjjttiiiittttjjjjjjttttjjjjjjffGGDDDDDDDDDDEEEEKKKKKKKKWWWWjj.. iiDD######WWDDGGLLGGDDGGffLLffffjjjjffffffffffjjjjttttjjjjjjffffffLLffffLLGGDDDDEEDDKKKKEE;; ..LLWW####WWDDGGGGDDffffffLLGGDDDDGGGGDDLLffjjjjttjjiiDDjjjjjjffLLDDKKWWKKEEEEEEEEEEDD##DD;; iiGG####WWDDKKEEEEGGGGDDEEEEGGWWWWLLffDDLLjjjjGGffffLLGGjjffffLLLLWWWWGGDDWWEEEEEEDDWWKKjj.. ..ffWW##WWKKDDffGGGGGGDDDDGGGGDDDDGGGGLLffjjLLDDLLLLLLDDLLffjjffLLGGDDGGGGDDEEEEEEDDEEEEGGii ;;LLDDWWWWDDffffGGGGGGLLffffffjjjjffffffjjjjLLGGLLffLLDDGGffjjjjjjjjffffffLLDDDDDDEEEEEEDDii ;;ffLLLLEEGGffffLLDDGGffffjjjjttttjjjjjjjjjjffLLLLffffGGGGGGjjttttttjjffffLLDDEEKKEEDDEEGG;; ..ttffLLDDGGffffffLLGGDDDDGGLLjjttiiiittffffffffffffffLLDDGGDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDGGGGDDEEEELL.. ;;jjffDDGGffffffffjjjjjjjjttttttttttjjjjffffffffffffLLDDGGffjjttttttjjjjjjffffLLDDEEDDtt ..ttffGGGGffffffjjjjjjjjttttttttttttjjjjffffffffffffffGGDDLLjjjjttttjjjjjjffffLLGGEEGG;; ..ttffLLDDffffjjjjjjjjjjttttttttjjjjjjjjffffLLffffjjffLLDDGGjjjjjjjjjjjjffffffffGGDDLL;; ..ttffffGGffffjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjttjjffLLffjjjjttttffGGGGjjjjjjjjjjjjffffffffGGDDLL;; ..jjffffLLLLffjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjttttjjLLffjjjjttttttffLLffffttjjjjjjjjjjffffLLGGDDGG;; ..jjffLLGGGGffjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjttttttffjjjjffffjjjjffLLDDffffjjjjjjjjjjjjffffLLGGDDLL.. ..ttffffGGGGffjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjttttttttffjjLLWWDDffffLLEEEEffffjjttjjjjjjjjffffLLGGDDjj.. iiffffffDDffjjjjjjjjjjjjjjttttttttjjffffffjjjjffjjffffffffLLjjttjjjjjjjjffffLLGGDDjj.. ..jjffffDDLLffjjjjjjjjjjjjttttttttjjjjffffffjjjjjjffffLLLLLLffjjjjjjjjffffffGGDDDDtt.. ;;jjffDDGGffjjjjjjjjjjjjttttttjjjjjjjjffffjjjjjjjjffffffLLffffjjjjjjjjffffGGDDDDii ;;ttffGGffjjjjjjjjjjjjttttttjjjjjjjjjjjjffffffffffffffLLffffjjjjjjjjffffGGDDDD;; ..ttffffjjjjjjjjjjjjttttjjjjjjjjjjjjffffffffLLLLLLLLLLffffffjjjjjjffffGGDDDD;; ..jjffffjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjffffffffLLLLLLLLLLffffffjjjjffffLLGGDDGG;; ..ttLLffjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjLLLLLLLLLLLLLLGGGGLLffffffjjffffffLLDDDDLL.. ttGGffffjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjffLLGGDDDDDDGGDDGGGGDDLLjjffffffffffGGDDDDii iiGGLLffffjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjLLDDGGDDGGGGLLGGGGGGDDDDDDffjjffffffLLGGDDLL.. ;;LLGGffffffjjjjjjjjjjjjjjffLLLLLLLLffffffffLLGGGGDDffffffffffLLDDDDtt.. ..ttGGGGffffjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjffffLLffffjjffffLLLLLLLLffffffffLLGGDDLL;; ;;LLGGLLffffffjjjjjjjjjjjjjjffffffffLLLLLLLLffffffffLLffffGGDDDDtt.. ..jjGGGGLLffffffffjjjjjjjjjjffffffffffffffffffffffffLLLLGGDDDDGG;; ttGGGGGGLLffffffffffjjffffffffffffjjjjffffffffffffLLGGGGDDGGtt.. ;;LLDDGGLLffffffffffffffffffffjjjjjjjjjjffffffffffGGGGDDDDLL;; ..ttGGDDGGLLffffffffffffffjjjjjjjjjjjjjjffffffffffGGDDDDEELL.. ..ttGGDDDDGGLLLLffffffffffjjjjjjjjjjffffffffffffGGGGDDEEEEff.. ttffGGDDGGGGLLLLffffffffffjjffffffffffffffffLLDDDDEEEEEEjj.. ttffLLGGGGGGGGGGGGLLffffffffffffffffffffffGGGGDDEEEEEEDDjj.. ttffffffLLGGGGGGGGGGGGLLffffffffffLLLLGGGGDDDDEEEEDDDDDDjj.. ttffffffffffGGGGDDDDGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGDDDDEEEEDDDDDDDDDDjj.. ttffffffffffffLLLLGGDDDDGGGGGGGGDDDDDDDDDDDDGGDDDDDDDDDDLL;; ttffffffffffffffffffffffGGGGGGDDDDDDGGGGGGGGGGGGGGDDDDDDDDii ..ttffffjjjjjjjjffffffffjjjjjjjjjjjjffffffffLLGGGGGGGGDDDDGGii ..iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttiittttttttttttjjjjffffGGDDDDff;;
- academics - cute stuff - sport - Midsemester break, even as it seems that the semester had hardly started. 
A rare card? Do I detect a trace of recognition? Yup, it's a mock Magic: The Gathering card, the sort that was all the rage quite some time ago. It was sent to me by an NS friend some weeks ago, and no, I'm not here to debate the foreign talent issue (yet). My comments will be on its technical specifics. To start off, it should probably be an Artifact Creature - Mercenary. No coloured mana cost in the top right. And it should fit in with the intention of the original creator too. Artifact, artifice, get it? Moving on, a 2/3 for three mana is very good. Any better and it would need to have a sucky drawback tagged onto it, like Battered Golem (3/2) not being able to untap unless you play more artifacts, or Jangling Automaton (3/2) untapping all creatures the defending player has whenever it attacks... you get the idea. Good "Vanilla" creatures (without additional abilities/drawbacks) are pegged at about a 2/2 for two (Grizzly Bear-type) and a 3/3 for four, and that's with colour requirements. But wait! Foreign Talent does have a drawback! "When FT comes into play, put a Singaporean you control into [its owner's] graveyard". Templating issues aside, the solution is just not to play any Singaporeans in one's deck - because there's no obligatory "otherwise, sacrifice Foreign Talent" clause tagged on. So, um, what's the point? Well, though I haven't bought a single M:TG card in my life, I've been an avid reader of their website and appreciate the strategy within, though for the more intricate comboes I'm still in over my head. Last year I was free enough to design an all-original (expect the five basic lands) whole 330-card set, Conflux, and recently I've been dripping card ideas into its sequel, Conflagration. And I was, like, trolling message boards trying to get fellow aficionados to comment, but it appears that having a post count of one doesn't help in that regard. And so, Hmm. Never mind. So, what's been the beeg highlight of the half-semester, academic-wise? It has to be becoming a Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences undergrad. Yah, GLYS, School of Computing undergrad cum Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences undergrad, you heard that right. Usually its SoC with Faculty of Science (Mathematics), but I personally have had it up to here with math for now. I can't seem to escape it, though, the Computer Graphics module is matrice-heavy, and Macroeconomics I has been all formulas up to now. The male-female ratio is super-skewed the other way in FASS - in my Psychology tutorial, it was around one to five. And I've to say its a different culture too; Whoever was it that said that you can tell the extroverted scientists by the manner in which they look at the other guy's shoes? Nothing that exaggerated, but the types of people are... distinct. Got to say that at least one of the tutorial rooms in FASS was tiny. Entered mistakenly while heading for my first Psych tut, and the two guys within immediately suspected that I was in the wrong place. Given the class size, I wouldn't be surprised if they knew everyone else in their module. Newsflash - there's one faculty that is underperforming badly. Nope, it's not in NUS, which as we all know is a world-class institution. Rather, it's the Faculty of Small Furry Things. 
Depressing state of Education My mum inquired about whether I was raising hamsters. Hamsters?! Does the pic on the left look like one to you? Goodness gracious me. Previously, another friend who shall remain unnamed referred to that perfect specimen of hopping bunnyhood on the right as a furry pig. Yes, you got that right. P-I-G pig. Oink-oink pig. Champion, and still undefeated. Granted, none of us lives on farms nowadays, but that's hardly any excuse... How might you do? Let's play Bunnypuppypiggykittyhammy? to find out: 
Instructions: Each of the ten pictures shows, you guessed it, part of either a bunny, a puppy, a piggy, a kitty or a hammy (hamster). Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to identify the critter. Some are, of course, more obvious than others. Good luck! Soccer now: It was a horrible, dismal, miserable (this) Sunday, and the worst of it was that Man U just never looked into it. Giggs' was a bigger loss than I thought, and after having a penalty saved and a ball cleared off the line, I can't say they were unlucky either. Rooney was a shadow of his former self, and he needs to get back to his all-action charging-barging basics. And Drogba chose this of all nights to score - otherwise, I would have raked in over $110 on the Chelski-Liverpool goalless draw I predicted. Got a nice round numbered loss statement: -$45. With three weeks gone, $248.30/$300; Compares favourably to the real New Paper tipsters though, they're floating at about -$200 now, albeit having taken on more cycles probably. Actually, this form of wagering isn't exactly optimal, since it forces the punter to lay down a fixed amount even on weeks where it just seems that there are no good fixtures. And since I'm loathe to bet against the Devils, it's further to my detriment. Twelve points from fifteen is roughly championship form, if they can keep it up. $20 on Man U (-1.5) vs Reading (at 2.50) (!) - A straight win would bring just 1.40, so why the big bonus on one more goal? Guess only the professional odds-setters know... $10 on nil-nil in the above game (11.00) (!!) - Sometimes, double digits has its own lure $20 on Arsenal (-1.5) vs Sheff Utd (1.53) - They can pay me back this way $10 on H-H in the above game (1.50) - And this way $10 on Liverpool to beat Tottenham (1.50) - Good deal for a home Pool game $20 on Fulham (+1.5) vs Chelski (1.63) - Again, at home $10 on Villa to beat Charlton (1.55) - Haven't been following them, but they seem bright. And yes, they're at home Yes, I realise I have been posting my Saturday predictions when the first match is already in progress, but unless Man U are in it I generally don't bother watching. So there!
- sport - 
Waited a week for my skin to peel off, wasn't able to sleep properly for three nights. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, if you must go out at midday like mad dogs and Englishmen, don't be macho, don't be a cock; Please, please slather on the 80-proof SPF sunblock. $120.80 from $100 from Pretend Betting Week Two, but still a negative cumulative total - $193.30/$200. Portsmouth did the main job, and I would have backed them again on Saturday and made another collection, if the Premiership's consensus Big Five weren't duking it out today. How often can one see a fixture list that reads Chelski vs Liverpool followed straight afterwards by Man U vs Arsenal? Likely once in a neon-blue moon, like when Man City win the Champions League. I've always felt Arsenal was a Henry team, as Cashley Cole bluntly pointed out while backstabbing just about everyone but the groundsman's cat back at his old club. Rooney was invisible against Celtic and Giggs is a huge loss, but Man U are at full strength otherwise and shouldn't pass up the chance to mire their old rivals in the relegation zone. Pool could do themselves and Man U a big favour by holding Chelski - heck, take the three points, it would be even better. Neither have been especially impressive in front of goal, and since both are built from the back, a 7x return for no goals is tempting. The final match is something of an afterthought, and hardly a sure thing given Fulham's horrendous away record last season. All in all, it looks like a narrow victory or draw for Spurs. $30 on Man U to beat Arsenal (at 1.78) - Following both head and heart $10 on two goals in the above game (3.50) - Two-nil, three-one, four-two? $30 on Liverpool (+1.5) vs Chelski (1.35) - Never won, but never made it easy $10 on a Chelski-Liverpool draw (3.35) - Why not? $10 on zero goals in the above game (7.00) - Indeed. Why not? $10 on Fulham (+1.5) vs Spurs (1.45) - Fulham doing okay, Spurs not so much Hokay, that done, let's open the next MSN-in query to Ask-Bert-A-Question. Our latest caller is edchong from... ok, you all know who he is, the guy with the biggest social conscience (especially when it involves his money too) this side of 4O, which isn't saying much. If we had the USA yearbook polls tradition, he might have been voted most likely to be the next Chee Soon Juan. (In case any of his prospective employers are Googling this up, I'm just joking. Honestly.) Anyway, that day's question was, i ask u ah in computer all the info is recorded as either 0 or 1 righ right that means on a chip got billions of switches on/off corresponding to 0 or 1 ok then how does a computer "know" that maybe 010101010101 represents a letter, say A on the screen ? i mean how to you control a computer to do that if is just electrical circuits Idiot that I am, I couldn't just type i dunno or even a more personally endearing u ask me i ask who (censored) luv you My immediate reaction was that it is all so easy, and then I realised that my courses never actually covered that exactly in any detail. Perhaps it is more under Comp Engineering? Like why the sky is blue appears simple (Rayleigh scattering, anyone?), but even a made-for-kids answer covers several pages and straddles several subdisciplines. Just to put an end to this sorry matter, a complete study of which begins to look like it could fill a whole module or even a postgrad research course, I offer my own mostly baseless interpretation. Caveat reader. Start with a light switch. No-one has a problem with that? Everyone fully understands electrons, protons, charges, conductors, impedence, alternating currents, drift velocities, etc? (Not me) Great! I'll carry on. And everyone also knows the higher level abstractions: You type a key -> keyboard -> data cable -> PS/2 port -> motherboard microcontroller -> OS -> application software -> monitor. So no need to go into detail. What can be do with light switches? We can put two in a row, one after the other; Voila, an AND gate! We can, in a fit of inspiration, place them in parallel - an OR gate! We can define the initial state of all switches to be open, then declare that some switches begin closed, thereby creating NOT gates. With these three, we can construct any Boolean sequence we wish. Interestingly, the NAND gate is sufficient for the same purpose, easily proven because AND, OR and NOT gates can all be derived from it. CS1104 FTW. So, with switches we can simulate all these gates. Now imagine a lot of them, very very tiny in size. Millions, indeed soon billions of them. And flip-flops, and multiplexers, and cheeky little messages. 
If I had US$80 billion, I wouldn't mind (From About.com) So that's what a processor is. What's RAM? Similarly microscopic capacitors, all very physical. I'm sure how they are manufactured and later manipulated at such terrifying speeds must be fascinating, but the concept is the same. So, how does a computer know? Short answer: It doesn't. No more than a switch knows that it's brightening up the room, or a vending machine knows that it should dispense a can of soya bean when coins are plunked in and a button is mashed. What makes a PC ostensibly cleverer than either of these is that it has far, far more possible states, but if you enter some input, it follows the same rules, and if the relevant portions of the machine are in the same state, you get the very same result. Big surprise there. Take something as basic as a Turing machine - it consists of a practically infinite tape, a finite alphabet, and a finite transition function that defines how the machine will behave, subject to the restriction that its head can only move one cell on the tape each step. Suffice to say that this seemingly laughable toy can do anything a supercomputer can do, if we ignore the time component. Of course, for something as simple as addition, of say two banks of marked cells on the tape separated by a predefined separator symbol, we have to go through the inconvenience of marking down a special "head" symbol at the beginning of the two banks, then continually moving one way, erasing each marked cell as it is encountered and then laboriously crawling back in the other direction to deposit a counting symbol on the other side of the head symbol. For multiplication of two banks of marked cells, the provision has to be taken to delete the start of one bank as soon as encountered, and then copy the whole other bank one-for-one as in addition, so that after all n cells of the first bank have been removed, the m cells of the second bank have been copied n times, thereby giving n*m as the final result, which is what we wanted all along; But this is as far as I will go. Quite obviously most humans would have little interest in programming a Turing machine at this level of logical detail, and therefore are generally willing to trade off some efficiency for far greater ease. Instead of reinventing an addition function, compiler makers would probably just use the ADD machine code function to add the contents of two registers and place it in a third. Then higher-level language users would use the "+" command to ask the compiler to use ADD, and the end user of say the Calculator accessory would click a button to trigger a "+" to trigger an ADD. Oh, and they say the first test of any compiler is to compile itself. Stunning. Clearly, from those zeroes and ones zipping around to some nub playing DotA, a lot of layers are involved. The chip and memory designers, the assembly coders of the first compilers (though it appears that few bother to delve here any more), the OS programmers (Windows is mostly written in C, with some assembly at kernel and device driver level), the application programmers, and finally the nub. The beauty of all this is that the nub doesn't need to know a shred about computers in general. He just needs to know the WC3 interface; In the same vein, many application programmers could care less about lower-level stuff. One doesn't need to know how a browser works to write HTML. Each layer introduces its own abstractions, and I'm not gonna try to fool anyone here - it's mind-bogglingly complicated. Does anyone living know exactly how it all comes together? Let's just say that I would like to meet the guy. And oh, I still dunno why the sky is blue.
- outings - sport - Made 110 50-metre laps in three hours almost purely on breaststroke, not too bad considering I'm totally out of practice. Other than the mandatory event T-shirt (and other goodies), I also took home a lobster tan (ouchie). The obstacles might even have helped, seeing as to how they forced a relaxing deep breath twice a lap. The pool was crazily crowded at the start, but after about an hour it started thinning nicely. Freestyle was the stroke of choice for most participants, and it does offer the best ratio of speed to energy expended, but I was not prepared to try long distances with it just yet. The marker-written numbers on my arms were faded soon enough, leading me to worry that the referees wouldn't count every lap, but in the end they got all but five! Nearing the end, it was the thirst and ravenous hunger that got the better of me. Good reminder to carbo-load for StanChart. Quaffed two bottles of soya bean milk right after the end, and sampled Subway for the first time, a 6-inch Turkey Breast sub. Not totally to my taste. [Advert] Look for extra-terrestrials further afield after Pluto's demotion - contribute spare processor time to SETI@home. Nifty screensaver included. Good news: Singapore held China nil-nil not long after China scraped a 1-0 win through an injury time penalty. Bad news was that there were apparently more PRCs at the National Stadium than locals. Better news: Some of the Lions showed creativity beyond the call of duty in staging a mock rally in a locker room. IMHO, our little nation needs a lot more of this, of taking fun more seriously, as endorsed by de Govt. But then again, how would we recognize each other abroad? Now, we can still look out for the good, upright, solid citizens waiting at a junction by a completely deserted street in a heavy downpour waiting patiently for the lights to turn green. Lastly, here comes the second splash. After my first foray into fake betting, I'm on $72.50 from $100. Will I turn my first "profit", or will I sink further into the cashhole? We'll see... $40 on Portsmouth to beat Wigan (at 1.68) - Just looks very good quality. $20 on Chelski to beat Charlton (at 1.15) - Will dance if I lose this! $20 on Tottenham (+1.5) vs Man U (1.53) - Much as I would love a thrashing, it'll be hard without the Roon and the Ninja. Sentiments don't stand here. $10 on the Everton-Liverpool derby draw (3.10) - Likely enough for that price. $10 on Arsenal to beat Boro (at 1.27) - Are the Gunners that bad? Probably not...
- current events - RIP Steve Irwin, laid low by a stingray at the age of 44. Lived and died doing what he loved, and had a wider reach than I thought, as testified to by the many turtles (no built-in croc emoticon) popping into nicks and personal messages as a tribute on my MSN. I confess I haven't seen him much on TV, maybe once or twice, but all reports point to a vibrant personality. Who wrestled crocs. 'Nuff said. I guess what made a lot of people instinctively like him was that he was a down-to-earth bloke, not the kind to want a state funeral, as his dad said (though I have a sneaky suspicion they might just push one on him). Y'know, the sort who would throw another shrimp on the barbie for you. I'm sure many slices of sambal stingray will be consumed in his memory locally, and the TCHS boys will have no trouble wearing khaki as a tribute. Though he might have been a "refugee from the law of averages" in his not exactly insurance-friendly line of work, Irwin's death at a relatively young age was still tragic in its unexpectedness. That, and the fact that his kids are pretty young. Off the top of my head, people like Eddie Guerrero, Princess Diana and "Maradona good, Pele better," George Best all went without warning (okay, less so in Best's case), and unfortunately Death seems to contrive to reap some of the tallest stalks early, to keep the rest of us on our toes. Dying young does give a certain cachet - think Che Guevara, Yukio Mishimo and Duncan Edwards - the crisp, spotless glory of a blossom in first bloom, forever untouched by the unforgiving ravages of time, a promise never fulfilled but because of that, elevated to the realm of perfection; But many more are those who cannot in any subjective way be considered special, who walk the long road to its conclusion. Now I think of an old Malay gentleman, always with a green skullcap, who could be seen cycling slowly in the neighbourhood when I was a small kid. He was always amused when I recited Malay numerals up to ten, as my grandma taught (she's fluent in Malay by the way). I have not seen him for many a year, and naturally one hopes that he might be holed up cozily in his flat somewhere, perhaps too frail to venture out but still hale and hearty. But I fear it is more than likely that he has also moved on, to whatever paradise he believes in, be as it may. 
Blup blup blup It's getting late (or rather, very early), so I leave with a quick spoiler - I'm due for Splashdown! 2006 tomorrow! Er, later today. The last time I swam like twenty laps at a go was probably back in primary school, when I was still collecting certificates. Wish me luck...
- cute stuff - poetry - sport - Been some time, this will be fragmented.  Despite my life's ambition to one day own a bunny, I've settled for this for now. Yes, quite far off course already. 
Yah, no fight (From cuteoverload.com) Coincidence: Of Needs, And Wants More or less abandoned the POEMS Stock Challenge. Didn't even feel like treating it as a no-loss lucky draw. This is one field I definitely need to delve deeper into. In macroeconomics, stocks are supposed to be a martingale - i.e. the best predictor of their future value, is their current value. For all that fancy equilibrium, there is still profit to be made at the margins, which is where "economic agents" come in. Which makes for a slightly unsettling realization - is engaging in speculation any way productive? It certainly manufactures no tangible goods, and does not appear to have the traditional pluses of investment, that of providing long-term capital to firms with a concept/product but no wherewithal to start off. Looking further, the commodity market is zero-sum, so for one person to earn a dollar, another must lose one. Of course, to producers who want to hedge as a form of insurance, it does serve a purpose. The business of money itself has long been regarded dirty. In ancient China, merchants were the second lowest of the low, barely above soldiers, the base metal among men. (It happens that I think I came across a Greek work lamenting the exchange of [some city's] sons of gold and silver... for men of base metal. If anyone comes across something familar, please inform me. It may have been from a novel even) Islamic banking prohibits even the collection of interest, which may be a bit hard to swallow in an inflationary world. And lest we forget, the past restriction of the Jews to moneylending and assorted usury was one of the key reasons why they were so disliked. But on slightly further thought, humans now need not be productive in the same sense as the past. For the vast majority of our history, existence could best be described as based on subsistence. Men and women worked, and if they were fortunate, set aside extra grain; The best that could be expected was not much more than one-to-one, that is, one worker to support himself with a bit left over. Today, take America. Two percent engaged in agriculture, and they can export surpluses. That's a 1:50 ratio. Interestingly, that most vital to us is often the least appreciated. Food may be a basic need, but at a stretch it can be done without for weeks on end. Water, not for more than a day or two, but as some food does grow on trees, water falls from the sky, and what are rivers but roads paved with water? And air, that lowly gas we literally keep out of sight - ten, fifteen minutes without it (the record for holding one's breath underwater is 8 minutes 58 seconds, probably in a meditative trance with heavy preparation. David Blaine got just past seven minutes in his Drowned Alive stunt) and we are dead. But few have ever paid for the tiniest sniff (excluding pure oxygen)! So, what do the (many) others who do not have to farm or weave do? Yes, there are all sorts of professions, but even in areas like manufacturing, it is becoming increasingly cheaper for robots to work. Thus, a lot of us will have to choose between working inefficiently when machinery can do a better job, or bow to the inevitable and dabble in the non-essential. Entertainment. Art. Sport. Play stocks. Blog. No need to feel bad about it. Coincidence: Proper Ever feel that some events in your life are connected, despite having precious little in common? I apologize if it sounds New-Ageish (as my blog colour scheme may come off as emo-ish, but I just like black. And white. And red. Oh, and green), but about every day, I notice links between the most unlikely material. Wikipedia featured the Watchmen recently, and as is my habit I browsed through their front-page highlight. One of the members of that superhero band was Rorschach, which rang a bell. Wasn't some inkblot test named such? Sure enough, that was no coincidence; The character was modelled after it. In his story, Rorschach encounters Kitty Genovese, a real-life person meshed into a fictional work, for her sad part in unearthing the bystander effect, i.e. if you are going to have a heart attack, please try to have it when there are few people around - or they will all look at each other and shrug and think some other bugger will help. AFAIK there is no direct linkage between blots and that effect in normal psychology texts, but there you have it. And of Tom Hanks' famous volleyball "Wilson" in the movie Cast Away, my psychology textbook refers to it in the margin of page 344 as a "soccer ball". Even the Kingdom of Loathing webgame got that right (the "Blood-faced Volleyball" familiar), which only goes to show that one shouldn't always trust the professionals. On a sidenote, why didn't the producers use, say, a rugby ball? There was also a spelling error that I have to look out for again. If only authors were all like Knuth, who offered $2.56 to the first guy to spot each mistake in his The Art of Computer Programming! 
Like, no contest? Last example, I think it was edchong who used this in his MSN personal message once: I'm only a man in a silly red sheet/Digging for kryptonite on this one way street Not knowing where that came from, but thinking it evocative, I read the latest Alien Loves Predator strip and came across a reference to Five For Fighting, and guess whose lyrics for Superman (It's Not Easy) fit? I didn't google the lines straight out either... Maybe it's just that I tend to remember these "matches", conveniently omitting the thousands of non-coincidences that do not make the grade. Kind of like horoscopes, where they throw in a little of everything for everyone, like P. T. Barnum did. Identifying the set of possible connections and determining what percentage is more than simple chance is hardly trivial! Coincidence: None Nothing to do with the theme, just some cleaning up. Yes, Chelski beat Blackburn 2-0, so I end up with $72.50 from the original $100 on my first week's simulation. This week's an international matchday week, so bets are off. Watched England stomp Andorra, but considering Andorra's population is like, below seventy thousand, 5-0 is not that bad an achievement. Small wonder England was listed at two cents for the win, and the half-goals option was set at +/-3.5. Roy Keane became Sunderland manager, of all things. That drew some wisecracks from the United messageboard, and one in particular is worth repeating. Bemoaning Ferguson's inactivity in the transfer market, one wit remarked that Keane would have no such trouble, with his characteristic style of "negotiation": "£2 for Torres or a broken leg, do we have ourselves a deal? £4 for Mascherano and Tevez or two broken legs. Deal? I thought so." Hilarious. Finally, some poetry appreciation, yarn of choice today was quoted on a Magic: The Gathering card. Wanted to add variety to the extract from Atalanta in Calydon at the top of the page, but thought better of it. I will add them to the bottom of blog posts instead. To paraphrase Captain Nemo, great art and great music lives forever. OH! WHY SHOULD THE SPIRIT OF MORTAL BE PROUD? by William Knox (1789-1825) OH! why should the spirit of mortal be proud? Like a swift-fleeting meteor, a fast-flying cloud, A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave, Man passeth from life to his rest in the grave. The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade, Be scattered around, and together be laid; And the young and the old, and the low and the high Shall molder to dust and together shall lie. The infant a mother attended and loved; The mother that infant's affection who proved; The husband that mother and infant who blessed,-- Each, all, are away to their dwellings of rest. The maid on whose cheek, on whose brow, in whose eye, Shone beauty and pleasure,--her triumphs are by; And the memory of those who loved her and praised Are alike from the minds of the living erased. The hand of the king that the sceptre hath borne; The brow of the priest that the mitre hath worn; The eye of the sage, and the heart of the brave, Are hidden and lost in the depth of the grave. The peasant whose lot was to sow and to reap; The herdsman who climbed with his goats up the steep; The beggar who wandered in search of his bread, Have faded away like the grass that we tread. The saint who enjoyed the communion of heaven; The sinner who dared to remain unforgiven; The wise and the foolish, the guilty and just, Have quietly mingled their bones in the dust. So the multitude goes, like the flowers or the weed That withers away to let others succeed; So the multitude comes, even those we behold, To repeat every tale that has often been told. For we are the same our fathers have been; We see the same sights our fathers have seen; We drink the same stream, and view the same sun, And run the same course our fathers have run. The thoughts we are thinking our fathers would think; From the death we are shrinking our fathers would shrink; To the life we are clinging they also would cling; But it speeds for us all, like a bird on the wing. They loved, but the story we cannot unfold; The scorned, but the heart of the haughty is cold; They grieved, but no wail from their slumbers will come; They joyed, but the tongue of their gladness is dumb. They died, aye! they died; and we things that are now, Who walk on the turf that lies over their brow, Who make in their dwelling a transient abode, Meet the things that they met on their pilgrimage road. Yea! hope and despondency, pleasure and pain, We mingle together in sunshine and rain; And the smiles and the tears, the song and the dirge, Still follow each other, like surge upon surge. 'Tis the wink of an eye, 'tis the draught of a breath, From the blossom of health to the paleness of death, From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud,-- Oh! why should the spirit of mortal be proud? Supposedly Abe Lincoln's favourite.
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