March 31, 2004
Blackouts Gone Wild (at Irvine)!
Irvine had at least 3 blackouts today. Why at least 3? That's because I re-logined to my computer 3 times today. The first time was in the morning, the 2nd when I got back from work and the last one happened just a few minutes ago. It's sad, blackouts are the only time when I don't hear my computer fan chirping.
March 30, 2004
My Pet Project (continued...)
After doing some research, I found out there is a much faster way to process XML files. Apparently, there are two ways to read a XML file. One, you can read it the DOM (Document Object Model) way. Or, you read it the navigator (Foward-Only traversal) way. Currently, my pet project employs the DOM method and it's slow for techical reasons. It's said that the navigator way is 15%+ faster than DOM. That performance gain tempts me much to use the navigator way; in which I will. The drawback, however, is that its harder to implement and I'd have to rewrite the code.
My Work Ethic
First of all, let me admit this: my work ethic is "sick". There aren't many people who'd prefer coding than play during this break. Everyone's going down south (S.D., Mexico) and having a blast, while I'm here in front of my computer coding some random idea that popped out my head last friday (the last day of last quarter). Worst of all, I enjoy it!
This is bad. Maybe I should join the Work Less Party.
March 29, 2004
My Pet Project
You have no idea how ANAL parsing XML can be, especially when dealing with the multiple versions of RSS. In any case, the pet project I'm working on will allow you to access your blog syndication in your AIM profile. I'm still working on it and don't plan to release to the public until I feel it's good enough. Some feature I've implemented includes:
- Cache content in database for up to 1 hour (for faster access).
- Automatically detect different versions of RSS (currently only 1.0 & 2.0)
- Reformats html tags (i.e. img, li, ol, ul, blockquote, and etc)
March 28, 2004
Google made new UI public!
Google made new UI public! The user interface that Google has been secretly testing is finally made public! No more hacking with bookmarklets!
March 27, 2004
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
I recently watched the movie "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." If you got some time, you should definitely go watch it. View the trailers here.
March 26, 2004
QRIO Conducts Beethoven's Symphony No.5.
Per L's request, here's a blog about QRIO:
QRIO successfully conducted the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra at a concert... Utilizing its sophisticated motion control capabilities, QRIO waved its baton as it conducted Beethoven's Symphony No.5.It's amazing.
View the video clip (RealPlayer required) from QRIO's official website.
March 25, 2004
Magnetoids Yelp
Magnetoids found by Siqi.
Magnetoids are set to become the hottest new stress relieving gizmo/desktop plaything, and are so enthralling you'll forget your worries, your work and everything else in between. Try pulling the Magnetoids apart and holding them on your desk with the tips touching. Then let go. What happens next is truly mesmerising and the first time you witness it you may emit a somewhat amazed yelp.
Early x'mas present?
March 24, 2004
Find Your Way Out: Takagism.
Here's a game for you to solve. Your objective: find your way out of the room.
Note: This game is solvable and isn't a joke. Check it out. Thanks to Patrick for showing me this game.
Taiwan SAR?
"The Basic Law [of China] stipulates that the Hong Kong SAR [Special Administrative Region] is a local administrative region under the central government. Its high degree of autonomy stems from the authorization of the central government. Under this principle, the chief executive and major officials of the Hong Kong SAR should be appointed by the central government. Any revision on the method for electing the chief executive and legislative council must be approved by the central government, the article said."
If, one day, Taiwan and China decides to unify, with China being the ruling body and Taiwan being a SAR (Special Administrative Region), how can China's appointment of chief executive and major officials ever be fair to the people of Taiwan?
In this situation, unlike the US government, people who wish to be elected will appeal to central government rather than to the people of Taiwan. If so, how would public interest be answered? This downward distribution of power seems faulty.
Updated: According to Tommy Lau
Yes Hong Kong cannot directly elect its Chief Executive, but under British rule it was the same so its not any worse right now. There are partial elections for legislators and the basic law also aims for universal sufferage (yes there are many debates as to when this will take place in HK right now).That's interesting...
March 23, 2004
Watch "The Elegant Universe" online!
Watch the PBS programming titled "The Elegant Universe" and learn about time and space.
The program is divided into 3 one-hour mini-series with each divided into 8 parts in Real Media format. I've extracted the links from the webpages for you to view them in your RealOne player's full screen mode.
Einstein's Dream: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
String's the Thing: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Welcome to the 11th Dimension: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Note: These videos are streamed, so you must have high speed connection to watch them. And, if you want to view these video in QuickTime format, go to the source.
Check them out, these video are in high quality.
Sun Plays with 3D Desktop
Stack your windows sideways with Sun's 3D desktop technology: Looking Glass.
Also, check out these demo videos:
Note: /.ers are hammering the links. Check again later if the links aren't working.Game Controlled Directly By Brain Waves
Here's a game that you can control directly with your brain waves.
To get their brain working with the game the player first focusses on two chequered boxes which flash at different speeds or frequencies...
via BBC
Who will you be?
A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts:
"Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?"
The man below says, "Yes, you're in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above this field."
"You must work in information technology" says the balloonist.
"I do," replies the man. "How did you know?"
"Well," says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but it's no use to anyone."
The man below says, "You must be a corporate manager."
"I am," replies the balloonist, "but how did you know?"
"Well", says the man, "you don't know where you are, or where you're going, but you expect me to be able to help. You're in the same position you were before we met, but now it's my fault."
Life found on Mars?
NASA will announce another "major scientific finding" from its Mars rover Opportunity at 2 p.m. today. ... "They were clapping and cheering in there," said Veronica McGregor, spokeswoman for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.via here.
Oh, com'on, what have they found?
Have to wait until the afternoon... boo!
Updated: I see. So, they found out that salty sea once covered part of mars.
New Domain Suffixes Proposed: .xxx, .mail, .mobi, .asia, .jobs, .tel, .post and .travel.
.xxx for pr0n websites
.mail for spam-free mail
.mobi for mobile (shortened to be easily typed on mobile devices)
Imagine .exe gets proposed... how vulnerable our system'll become.
March 22, 2004
Learnt RDF a year ago and forgot about it
Wow. Looking back at my old LiveJournal entries, I realized, I had learnt the basis of RSS (RDF Site Summary a.k.a. Rich Site Summary a.k.a. Really Simple Syndication ) almost a year ago (3/25/2003).
Oh My! It's William Hung!
Wow! William Hung's first album, "Inspiration", has finally arrived! Check out the track samples!
Full Track Listing
- William Hung Words of Gratitude
- She Bangs
Real Media - [Hi/Lo] Windows Media - [Hi/Lo]
- Bailamos
Real Media - [Hi/Lo] Windows Media - [Hi/Lo]
- William Hung's Inspirational Thoughts (Passion)
- I Believe I Can Fly
Real Media - [Hi/Lo] Windows Media - [Hi/Lo]
- Hotel California
- Can You Feel The Love Tonight
- Two Worlds
- William Hung's Inspirational Thoughts (Perseverance)
- Rocket Man
- Free
- Circles Of Life
- William Hung Inspirational Thought (Be Yourself)
- Y.M.C.A Featuring The Gonnabees
- Shake Your Bon-Bon
Real Media - [Hi/Lo] Windows Media - [Hi/Lo]
via williamhung.net
Economics is boring!
I'm glad I'm done with my Econ final, it's so boring. Unfortunately, there are two more to go: Algorithms and Networking.
I don't like this quarter. All these classes suck. Didn't get any programming assignments. I wish we had some so I get to see the concepts we learn in action.
All I can think of is Web technologies these days. Here's a list of things I look foreward to play with in the coming days:
- MovableType plugins
- .Net .Text
- PhpBB
- DotNetNuke
No going back to Alhambra for the Spring break. All weekdays will be occupied with 8 hours of work at Unisys.
Hackers Hit Jackpot!
Ralph Gray, 18, and a friend, hacked into 9 e-commerce sites and stole credit card information related to 26,000 people in the United States, Canada, Thailand, Japan, and Britain.
Among those credit card numbers was Bill Gates'. However, the guy and his pay got busted by government authorities...
Hmm... I wonder what did he buy?
March 21, 2004
"Psychoacoustics of a Chilling Sound."
Nails on a chalkboard and squeaking of styrofoam are said to be universally irritating. For me, I'm only affected by the former. However, there's another thing that annoys the hell out of me, and that is CORN STARCH. Whenever I try to scoop a spoonful of corn starch, even though I can't hear it, I can FEEL it. It annoys me the same way how nail on chalkboard does. I suspect the friction between each fine corn starch particles generates the same annoying nail-scratching-board sound but at a higher frequency (like the different octaves of sound).
I suggest people should study more into this subject. If people are annoyed by a unique frequency, the military can possibly be able to create a weapon out of this. In this case, the weapon holder may use it to generate piercing sounds without annoying themselves.
A team of researcher has done a research on this and titled it "Psychoacoustics of a Chilling Sound." Here's a summary:
It appears that the sound (and certain other sounds at the same frequency) plays havoc with a middle ear muscle known as the stapedius. Normally, this muscle contracts just before we speak or chew, and helps to protect the inner ear. If something disrupts its function, the piercing sound goes right through to the sensitive eardrum.
Anyways, if you TOO feel the same way about CORN STARCH, please LET ME KNOW!
March 20, 2004
Razor Thin Vote Count Difference of 0.2%
Wow
"The Central Election Commission declared that President Chen had 29,518 more votes than Lien Chan, the leader of the National Party, out of 13.25 million ballots cast..."
29518 / 13250000 = 0.002227... !!?!
Supporters of opposition candidate Lien Chan "stormed into a courthouse in central Taichung early Sunday to protest against his wafer-thin defeat in a presidential election. ... They are demanding recount and had given the court a deadline of 3:10 a.m. (1910 GMT) to respond to their grievances or they would storm the building, broadcaster ETTV reported."
Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian RE-ELECTED!
Wild celebrations greeted Mr Chen's dramatic victory
The victor and running mate Annette Lu
March 19, 2004
Orang-utan: Robot that can think (via AI Neural Network)!
Look at this Orang-utan named Lucy:
Sources say it is able to "make a difference between an apple and a banana." This is a big thing. If you've ever taken an AI course that teaches your Artificial Neural Network, you'd agree with me.
Read more about this creature here.
An AI specialization now seems really attractive. AI or Bioinformatics? Hmm...
DVD Drive Labels!
Pop in a blank DVD to your DVD+RW drive, what comes out is a laser etched DVD. Not the content, but the label on the top side! No more sticking some white circular sticker on those burned VCD/DVDs. All you have to do is pop them in and WALLA! This is great! Here's an article from PC World.
Phuket
Found this...
"Sex kills Brits in Thailand NEARLY 150 Brits died on holiday in Thailand last year — mainly because of booze and sex.The most common causes of death were motorbike and car crashes, usually after tourists drank too much.
But many holidaymakers were also found dead in bed after sex sessions with Thai girls.
Barrie Kenyon, British consul in the “sex resort” of Pattaya, said: “We have had a number of people just die in bed.
“Viagra is widely available and in conjunction with alcohol and sex it can be fatal.”
The 148 British deaths, a 50 per cent rise on 2002, also included 13 suicides. Others drowned in rough seas off Phuket."
from here via Dave Barry's Blog
Taiwan President & VP SHOT Today (1 Day Before Taiwanese Presidential Election)!
Not dead. Read on.
"President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Hsiu-lien Lu were shot today at approximately 1:45 p.m. while campaigning in Tainan City. At a Presidential Office press conference, Secretary-General to the President Chiou I-jen said that the president was wounded in the belly and that the vice president was hit in the right knee. The injuries are not life-threatening, and both candidates are fully conscious. They were taken to Tainan's Cimei Hospital for treatment."
Source: Immediate press release from the Office of the President of the Republic of China
So far, no suspects have been identified. However, according to press, two different bullet shells were found at the scene. So potentially, this act was comitted by two or more people.
According to AM 1600 (a local Chinese radio station in LA), speculations of the motive behind this act have been divided into the following 6 categories:
- Act of opposing party
Obvious? - Act of China
China considers Chen a radical and opposes his believe in Taiwan independence. - Act of United States
Bush Administration want Taiwan to maintain status quo. Chen's recent proposal of popular referendum troubles the Bush Administration. - Act of party holding interest in Chen's winning
These non-fatal injury might gain more vote in this close election. Thus, giving interest to people who support the direction he's pushing Taiwan towards. - Act of Japan [This has to be confirmed, I didn't hear very well at that moment]
Japan's power in Asia is influenced by the Taiwan's status. I suppose, if Taiwan "reunifies" with China, ... well, just think of it like monopolies and anti-trust laws... - Act of Chen himself
Some people suspect this is all but an act to gain votes, since today is the day before the Taiwanese presidential election. Of the people who believe in this case, they questioned why the President and Vice president was taken to a smaller hospital at further location than the biggest closes one to the scene. In addition, people question why, if the motive was to kill him, would shoot him at the stomach as oppose to the upper part of the body. In addition, rumor has it that in the morning before the act was comitted, the hospital was notified in advance that "something big is going to happen today." Furthermore, a caller to AM 1600 pointed out that it's odd to not have strip President Chen naked for the wound inspection. (I have to add, they are both conscious, they probably know exactly where they were shot. So there's no need for such extra step.)
I may have presented more information on the 6th point, but that's because it was mentioned on the radio to clear up the rumors. It was also mentioned that the use of communication (text messaging, television, internet, and phone) will be a all-time high in the next two days.
Do not quote me on this. I'm may be completely wrong. Please go google research it yourself.
Once again, do not quote me!
Domain Registration
Well, I was trying to register an expiring domain. Unfortunately, there's a wait of up to 40-or-so many days before an expired domain is released back to the pool.
I'll be monitoring it for the coming month. I know I have the choice to back-order a domain, however, back-ordering cost like 3x the amount of regular domain registration.
I need to start acquring domains again! Maybe...maybe... a ".cx" domain... ;-)
March 18, 2004
A Personal Mission
Today is a special day. I am going to do something, I'm not sure when, but I'm going to do it. I hope it will go through! Sorry, can't tell you more about it until tomorrow...
Today Our Voice, Tomorrow Our Thoughts!
Man. NASA has developed a technology that will allow us to hear words not yet spoken! Snooping the nerve commands from our brain to our vocal cords; that's how it works! I swear I was just wondering about this yesterday. How coincidental, since I don't think about this stuff often.
Anyway, just imagine the possibility...This technology will definitely be used in court as a lie detector. How hard can you keep a secret in your mind? I certainly find that very hard to do! But, I'm sure there are people out there who are able to control every part of their mind. Lucky for them, for the rest of us, who knows...
March 17, 2004
News Aggregators - The New Fad
Maniacally wired netizens who read a hundred blogs a day and just as many news sources are turning to a new breed of software, called newsreaders or aggregators, to help them manage information overload.Many now say that their news aggregator is as indispensable as their e-mail client.
Now... Go get yourself a news aggregator!
March 16, 2004
Banning of Dihydrogen Monoxide!
The city of Aliso Viejo, CA almost banned styrofoam cups because of this report. =)
BAN DIHYDROGEN MONOXIDE!Dihydrogen monoxide is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and kills uncounted thousands of people every year. Most of these deaths are caused by accidental inhalation of DHMO, but the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide do not end there. Prolonged exposure to its solid form causes severe tissue damage. Symptoms of DHMO ingestion can include excessive sweating and urination, and possibly a bloated feeling, nausea, vomiting and body electrolyte imbalance. For those who have become dependent, DHMO withdrawal means certain death.
Dihydrogen monoxide:
* is also known as hydroxl acid, and is the major component of acid rain.
* contributes to the "greenhouse effect."
* may cause severe burns.
* contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape.
* accelerates corrosion and rusting of many metals.
* may cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile brakes.
* has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients.
...
Bahahah via Slashdot!
H2O, how poisonous!
March 15, 2004
Godwin's Law
This is something I'll remember for the rest of my life.
Godwin's Law: prov.[Usenet] “As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.” There is a tradition in many groups that, once this occurs, that thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress. Godwin's Law thus practically guarantees the existence of an upper bound on thread length in those groups. However there is also a widely- recognized codicil that any intentional triggering of Godwin's Law in order to invoke its thread-ending effects will be unsuccessful. Godwin himself has discussed the subject. See also Formosa's Law.
Godwin's Lawhttp://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/G/Godwins-Law.html
March 14, 2004
Google News - MISLEADING SOMETIMES
... if you get what I mean.
March 08, 2004
March 07, 2004
Interface with Blogger via the Atom API
According to Blogger's Developer Network, Blogger provides third party blogging clients to manage blogs via the Atom API. Man, to tell you the truth, I've had enough of it! After playing for hours and hours, I'm unable to get a sample C# code and its couterpart WSDL to post a simple entry to my Blogger blog. Hey, don't get me wrong, I've compiled the damn thing. According to the error message, my username/passworddigest was authenticated and all that, but it gives me this stupid error 400 message:
Malformed Atom API Request received.
I'm unhappy! After some googling, I found this post on Yahoo Group bloggerDev and realized someone else have also experienced the same problem. I tried sending this guy a email, however, his mail server bounce it right back indicating his email box is full! This is very disappointing!
I guess, I just have to let Blogger work on it a little bit more before I start working on it again.
Commeting System For Bloggers
I'm trying to design a commenting system for Blogger. As you can see, Blogger do not provide a commenting system. The lack of such feature really bothers me. An inspiration came to me when I was browsing Liz's AOL journal blog. What's interesting about AOL journals is that their comments are dynamically loaded via javascript & DOM. This idea will allow bloggers to embed a commenting system into their blog template. Unlike existing free services, the commenting system I plan to implement will not require comments to be viewed in a popup windows, on a remote server, or in IFrames; instead, comments will be seamlessly appended to blog entries. Hopefully, I'll be able to test this idea on www.HuPlus.com. =)
March 05, 2004
Don't Steal My Ideas!
Wired News has a story about how prominent bloggers steal ideas from less prominent ones. By steal, I mean, duplicating the idea without attributions. Due to this, a new ranking system, iRank, has been devised to measure not the popularity of a site but "how good they are at injecting ideas into the mainstream." In addition, the team that conducted this research have also provided their research online in the form of a java program called Blog Epidemic Analyzer which shows the linkings between blogs visually and interactively.