April 29, 2004
Lady William Hung
Listen to lady "william hung" of the new zealand
From Wing Sings the Songs you Love:
1. Castle on a Cloud - listen
3. Bring Him Home - listen
5. Dream Lover - listen
6. Hero - listen
8. Endless Love - listen
9. The Korean Song - listen
10. O Solo Mio - listen
If you love this type of "music," there's more.
via Monkey Prince
April 28, 2004
Jasc Paint Shop Photo Album 4 Made Free
Jasc Paint Shop Photo Album 4 is free on Amazon after a $30 rebate. No tax and free shipping. Make sure to select the free shipping, it is not the default.
Features:
- Everything you need to enhance, organize, and share digital photos
- Enhance photos with fun tools and effects
- Bring photos to life with captions and sound
- Organize and archive your photos
- E-mail photos automatically optimized for quick downloads
Just passing it along...
Holy Cow! I got a Gmail invite!
The invitation was from Blogger.com.
Take a look at the sneak preview screenshots here and here [from google].
This made my day!
April 27, 2004
Don't Trust Online Voting
Don't ever give in to online voting. It should be banned until our current internet infrastructure is upgraded significantly.
Evidence:
Here a website that supports direct online voting with a live system for you to poke around with.
http://directdemocraticgov.us/
No-one Else Did It, So We Did It. . . . Its not all that complex.
Well, it's kinda funny how the site exposes its database login and password so plainly:
http://directdemocraticgov.us/globals.inc
$connection = "localhost";
$dbLogin = "dirdemus";
$dbPass = "justicex";
$db = "dirdemus_Master";
It's almost like the guy made it to make online voting look bad. Horrible!
Look at this guy's image collections:
http://directdemocraticgov.us/images/
Don't mingle politics with religion, that's for sure.
April 26, 2004
Happy Birthday Tommy and Jessica!
Happy 21 goes to Tommy and Jessica! The evil twins!
Me: what are your 21 year old resolutions?
Tommy: to rule the world and have a harem!
Me: what are you going to do with the harem?
Tommy: hahaha .... nasty and unspeakable things
Tommy: and i won't share
Tommy: hahaha
Me: you are quoted
Tommy: WHAT?!
Me: hahaha
Once again, happy birthday!
LATimes Covers eSlate's Ass by Stripping It Away From Article's Title and Content
LATimes published an article on how the electronic voting machine, eSlate, selected by the Orange Country Registrar of Voters, glitched in the March 2nd election.
Voters cast votes prematurely, were given the wrong ballots electronically or were unable to use machines that froze or showed error messages.
It seems like LATimes has modified that article with all mentioning of the eSlate system stripped away.
cache of news.google.com (click to verify me):
OC Still Favors eSlate Voting
Los Angeles Times (subscription), CA - Apr 15, 2004
... Orange County used a system developed by Hart Intercivic of Texas that allowed voters to cast ballots on an eSlate machine, on which they spun a wheel to make ...
modified version on latimes.com (free reg. req.):
Secretary of State Gets Voting Plea
Orange County, which had glitches with electronic balloting in March, wants to keep the system. Many such counties will soon be told whether they can.
Some sort of censoring I suppose...
Is this a common practice?
Update:
Apparently similar incident was published in a book (titled Black Box Voting) too, just that my discovery was more recent:
To this end, it is interesting that Hart Intercivic, which helped organize this meeting, was one of the first beneficiaries of such a strategy. Let's take a moment to see "Deliverable #5" in action. Ellen Thiesen, a voting activist, noticed that a news story damaging to Hart Intercivic somehow got a midday rewrite.
Go to the source here.
Never Get Lost At Amusement Park with Location Tracking Wrist Band
At Legoland, you can now rent a wrist band electronic device, called Kidspotter, that allows you to locate and send text message to your child.
Kidspotters in LEGOLAND (R)!
Being a parent will be a little easier in LEGOLAND during this season, as the park is launching an electronic Kidspotter service in cooperation with the Tryg insurance company. Available for rent in the Information Office, a Kidspotter ensures that parents can always find their children whenever necessary. On entering the park, the wristband is placed on the child's arm. If parents lose sight of their child, they can send an SMS message to the Kidspotter system during their entire visit. They will then automatically receive a return message stating the name of the park area and the map coordinate of their child's position in the park. On their special Kidspotter map of the park, parents can easily see where to find their child. The Kidspotter kit consists of a small wristband with a tiny sender, plus a special Kidspotter map of the park.
via Slashdot
hmm... I think it shouldn't be named Kidspotter, because many parents/adults get lost too!
The Japanese Ramen Boom ($6.36 billion)
ooOoo.. Look at those Ramen, delicious isn't it?
Did you know Japanese "slurp down an estimated $6.36 billion worth of noodles annually?" The market size for it is definitely larger than some of the software markets we have here in the US!
Forget about programming, let's start a ramen store!
But, gotta hurry because people have already started.
Slurp~~ mMmm..
-via Yahoo.
Secrets to Winning the Powerball!
Kuro5shin.org has an article that reveals the number of tickets you should buy to achieve the optimal return on investment!
So, how many tickets should you purchase? For the optimal return on investment, you should definitely purchase ...
Wow, what a great read! I'll leave it up to you to find out.
April 25, 2004
One of My Favorite Childhood Drink
Oh... All the childhood memories came back when I saw the "Super Supau" drink at 99 Ranch Supermarket. They finally brought it here from Taiwan. I've been waiting for it for a very loooooong time!
Another thing they should bring it here is the flan ice-cream bar. *mmmMmmm..., sooOOo good*
Nice Realistic Looking Screen Saver: Holding Pattern
Other screenshots here and here.
Holding Pattern turns your idle computer screen into an airplane window, complete with a moving aerial view. Each time the screensaver plays a unique sequence.
Check out the cool screen saver: Holding Pattern.
April 23, 2004
Viruses amuse me.
The genetic make up of viruses amuses me.
>A/Argentina/207/96
QKLPGNDNSTATLCLGHHAVPNGTLVKTITNDQIEVTNAT
ELVQSSSTGRICDSPHRILDGKNCTLIDALLGDPHCDGFQ
NKEWDLFVERSKAYSNCYPYDVPDYASLRSLVASSGTLEF
NNESFNWTGVAQNGTSYACKRGSIKSFFSRLNWLHKLEYK
YPALNVTMPNNDKFDKLYIWGVHHPITDSEQTSLYVQASG
RVTVSTKRSQQTVIPNIGYRPWVRGVSSRISIYWTIVKPG
DILLINSTGNLIAPRGYFKIRSGKSSIMRSDAPIGNCNSE
CITPNGSIPNDKPFQNVNRITYGACPRYVKQNTLKLATGM
RNVPEKQTR
It looks cooler than assembly code.
April 22, 2004
Man Fly High With Jetpack (46 meters ~ 12 stories)
Read more about rocketman Eric Scott and his jetpack/rocketbelt here.
April 21, 2004
The Most Addictive Flash Game I've Play
Check out Internet Tennis here.
WARNING: this is an extremely addictive flash-based game. Do not play if have any school work due soon. You have been warned.
;-)
via someone who'd like to call himself a prince.
April 19, 2004
Behind Google's Master Plan
Take a look at the techincal papers published by people working at Google.
Building that Parks Your Car For You
A parking complex that automatically parks your car: view Flash Demo.
For more info, visit WOHR Auto Parksysteme's website.
Via Echo.
They should build one here at UCI.
Psychologists Creates False Memory
People can "easily" be manipulated to believe they met Bugs Bunny at Disneyland when no such event ever occured.
[S]ubjects were asked to examine three advertisements that had pictures of Bugs Bunny standing next to the Magic Castle at DisneylandThey were then asked to recall any memories at Disneyland that included meeting Bugs Bunny. Thirty-six percent of the subjects recalled meeting Bugs and some included specific sensory details such as shaking his hand and touching his fur.
One fact was forgotten--it is impossible to meet Bugs Bunny at Disneyland because Bugs is a Warner Bros. Character.
via New University
---off topic---
Money & David Hu.
From now on, when you see money, David Hu appears in your mind. The harder you try to forget, the more you'll think about Money & David Hu. It is stuck in your head now (like songs you can't get out of your head.)
Money & David Hu.
David Hu & Money.
...let me know if this bothered you...
April 18, 2004
Virtual Church Seeks Approval In Church Hierarchy
This is quite interesting.
[T]he preacher and members of the congregation will actually be real, connecting via the web to each other to take part in real services.The church, to be known as the Church of Fools, is being created for the Christian website Ship of Fools, which last year ran a virtual reality gameshow based on Noah's Ark.
Virtual worship & a congregation of online volunteers
Although an unofficial move, the virtual church may well receive approval in the church hierarchy. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has called for the church to become more "mission-shaped" by adopting new forms of worship, which could include new ventures such as "cafe churches".
via BBC News.
Maybe we'll hear some phrases like this: "I didn't go to the church this sunday because the internet was down."
April 17, 2004
April 16, 2004
Japanese Hostages Released
Nahoko Takato, Noriaki Imai, and Soichiro Koriyama was released by their captors, as promised earlier.
"Right now I'm tired and I have had a lot of shocks, but I will not hate the Iraqi people," she said.
-via BBC News
I'm quite puzzled. How come she explicitly say she will not hate the Iraqi people? The article didn't say anything about it. I would like to know, but too lazy to go find it.
A Marathon of Random Lines
- Only in America......do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.
- Only in America......do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke.
- Only in America......do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.
- Only in America......do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.
- Only in America......do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.
- Only in America......do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process so well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning 'bloodsucking creatures'.
- Only in America......do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.
EVER WONDER ...
- Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?
- Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?
- Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?
- Why is "abbreviated" such a long word?
- Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"?
- Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?
- Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
- Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
- Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?
- Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?
- Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?
- You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?!
- Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
- Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?
- If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
- If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?
Oh no! Restrain me from posting spam!
I anticipate your snappy comments.
April 15, 2004
Dalai Lama Visiting UCI tomorrow!
Dalai Lama is visiting UC Irvine tomorrow. Free tickets were given to students earlier last month. Unfortunately, I didn't get one. By the way, people are selling those tickets on E-Bay each for up to $200!
For more information, click here.
UC Irvine ranked 14th for being the "most unwired college campus!"
According to Intel, UCI is ranked 14th for being the "most unwired college campus" in the nation.
If we only consider California, UCI is ranked #1!
The Top 20:
1. Indiana University - Bloomington (Bloomington, Ind.)
2. Purdue University (West Lafayette, Ind.)
3. The University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Texas)
4. Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland)
5. Dartmouth College (Hanover, N.H.)
6. Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh)
7. University of Akron (Akron, Ohio)
8. Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, Mich.)
9. American University (Washington, D.C.)
10. St. John's University (New York)
11. Colorado College (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
12. Albertson College (Caldwell, Idaho)
13. CUNY - Queens College (New York)
14. University of California-Irvine (Irvine, Calif.)
15. University of Southern California (Los Angeles)
16. University of California-Riverside (Riverside, Calif.)
17. Tulane University (New Orleans)
18. University of Miami (Miami)
19. Boston College (Boston)
20. Iowa State University (Ames, Iowa)
For the complete list, see here.
Former eMachine Owner Rewards Employees $72.5 million USD
After selling eMachine to Dell, Orange Country Entrepreneur, John Hui, distributed half of his profit totalling $72.5 million to his employees as bonuses (equivalent to 30% of each worker's annual income). He, himself, kept only $57 million.
Source: NBC4 News (Online article here) or via Google News
Hmm... I wish I had worked for him... (I mean, this happened here in Irvine!)
Probably, he's the one who anonymously donated $20 million to School of ICS of UCI.
Off topic, but seems like someone donated $50,000 to UCI last month. View chart here (By the way, I created this site for UCI. It even recieved an award!)
Lindows renamed to Linspire (Offer Free Download for Limited Time)
Lindows, the Linux based Operating System (OS) company that was sued by Microsoft, has been forced to rename its product and company name from Lindows to Linspire.
"What better marketing to promote your new company name than to give away your products, completely free of charge?" as I.T. Vibe has pointed out.
To download a ligit copy of Linspire for free, go to its order page and apply the coupon: LINDOWS.
NOTE: Its retail price is $49.95 and "offer is good for the next couple of days."
Click to Enlarge. (entire gallery here and five-minute flash demo)
Holy Cow, First Person Shooter = 96kb!
This is truly amazing. The first person shooter game .kkrieger from .the .produkkt is only 96kb in size! That's dopely compact!
Here's another, another, another, and another.
Moderately beautiful ... All textures are procedural and generated at startup.
Download the game here.
via /.
April 14, 2004
View your Windows XP desktop in 3D with SphereXP
View your Windows XP desktop in 3D with SphereXP like Sun's Looking Glass I posted before.
View all screenshots here.
Sapphire (a.k.a Novec 1230) = Liquid That's Not Wet
A representative of Tyco Fire and Security displayed the amazing properties of the chemical that's called 'Sapphire.'As part of a demonstration, Pelton submerged several items into a tank of Sapphire that was on the Good Morning America set. Books did not get wet. Electronics were not be destroyed. Items that were submerged in the liquid were dried in a matter of seconds, and showed no ill effects.
The computer was left on when they submerged this laptop into this fish tank of Sapphire.
The proposed application for this is to put out fire without damaging goods.
Amazon A9 Search Engine (Based on Google) Competes with Google
Check out A9, the search engine that Amazon has rolled out.
April 13, 2004
Brain Chip-Implants Enable Reading of Mind.
Cyberkinetics Inc. developed a tiny chip to be implanted in the brain which allows a person to operate a computer by thought alone. Earlier studies allowed monkeys to manuever cursors on screen, this one, however, allows you to move your arm in the 3d space.
In some studies, the monkeys eventually appeared to realize that they no longer had to move their arms to perform the tasks.In a sense, this is a form of mind reading, scientists say. But in addition to passively letting its thoughts be read, the brain also learns to control the cursor actively, just as it acquires any new skill.
This is absolutely amazing. With this, I'd be able to program while walking, eating, sleeping, and what not...
Check out the article at New York Times.
April 11, 2004
Car Designed for Women, by Women.
Take a look at these cars designed for women, by women. Reminds me of that episode of Simpsons when Homer designed a car for his brother's company. Hehe.
The YCC does include a few feminine touches. Small compartments in the ceiling were designed to store sunglasses and tissues, and the seat covers and floor mats come in a variety of colors and textures.
Click to Enlarge.
Refilling the window-washer fluid is done through an opening behind the driver side door, so there's no need to open the hood.
That shouldn't just be for ladies' cars, it should be for all cars.
Via Wired News.
April 10, 2004
Iraqi group says they will release hostages within 24 hours.
UPDATE: Iraqi group says they will release the 3 Japanese hostages within 24 hours.
"They will release them in 24 hours in response to a call from the Muslim Clerics Association," Al Jazeera said, referring to a body of Iraqi religious scholars.Source: Router.
3 Japanese Captives Will Be Burnt Alive If Japan Don't Withdraw Troops
Iraqi Insurgents held 3 Japanese civilians as captives and declared that they be burnt alive if Japan don't withdraw their troops from Iraq by THIS SUNDAY (that's TOMORROW!!!).
Source: CNN.
April 09, 2004
Live as Long as You Want!
Wow, according to Aubrey De Grey, we'd be able to live for a long long time, relatively.
Technology Review: Would you care to guess what the lifespan of someone born in the year 2025 will be?5,000 years, eh? I guess I'll witness Y3K bugs after all.Aubrey De Grey: The number I usually put on that is 5,000 years. But this, I want to stress, is an absolute finger in the air. The way I calculate it is as follows. If aging already didn't exist but we did have all the other causes of death at the rates we have them now-infectious diseases that kill young people, car accidents, wars-then basically you come out 1,000 years that people would live on average, plus or minus a few hundred. I tend to say it will be more like 5,000 years simply because when society is faced with the opportunity to live an arbitrary length of time, we will become more risk averse. I predicted in 1999 that driving would be outlawed, because it will be too dangerous to other people. I still think that's likely, unless we design cars that are much safer and can avoid serious accidents even in the case of severe human error.
Put A Bear In Your AIM Profile.
Copy and paste to following piece of code to display a bear in your profile when someone clicks on the link:
Pass on this creation.
What's special about this is that the image is composed of SPACES with colors. I've written a piece of code to convert any jpeg, png, gif, bmp, and etc image file into a HTML code. The html code, in AIM's profile browser, of many tiny character spaces of different color, will represent an image.
Oh well, you gotta be an old AIM user to appreciate this, because in the past, displaying a image in profile wasn't possible.
April 08, 2004
Gone Too Far!
Check out the William Hung's official music video... This is getting out of hands. The media has too much power! I can't believe this.
A More Challenging Flash-Based Maze
Challenge yourself with The Mystery of Time and Space. Be prepared.
April 06, 2004
RSS AIM updated!
RSS AIM updated! Per users' requests, I've modified the user interface to RSS AIM. Tell me what you think. Thanks.
April 05, 2004
RSS AIM continued.
RSS AIM was a bad name, I must admit. A better name would probably be AIM Blog. Many people seems to be intimidated by the acronym RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary, or RDF Site Summary (confusing, isn't it). It might be too late to rename this, but I'll try.
But, overall, the general response to RSS AIM was positive. That makes me happy. I've received several suggestions for improvements. Truly appreciated.
To all the people who helped me publicize this service, thanks again!
April 04, 2004
RSS Aim Released!
Check out RSS Aim. It takes your Blog to AIM, like this:
It works with LiveJournal, Xanga, and many other blog system! It's very easy to setup and improves your blog's readership. Give it a try, now!
By the way, thanks Siqi, for publicizing it for me!
Familiar Looking OS?
Take a look. That's not Windows, it's Linux! For those of you who never tried Linux because you're just too lazy to learn another user interface, here's something for you. The XPde team is working hard to make Linux look and feel like Windows!
Impressed? Here's more screenshots.
Too bad Windows Longhorn's going to look different. LHde?
April 03, 2004
Surf the Net Right In Your Car
Are you both a car fanatic and computer fanatic? If yes, you might want to install a computer in your car, like this:
Here's more photos.
Yet Another Flash Cartoon
Here's an another Flash cartoon. Enjoy WIDE SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEN!
This is the reason why we're watching less tv.
Group Photo of the Backrub Team
This is the computer set that powered Google (formerly known as BackRub) back when it was at Stanford:
More photos at the Web Archive.
More Money or No More D'oh!
The actors who do the voices for the Simpsons characters is ON STRIKE! Oh man, please don't replace them! If Homer's voice changes, I'd be able to pick it up, ... or will I?
Humanoid Robot Plays Soccer!
"Robovie-M", the programmable automonous humanoid robot, can do so many tricks:
Walking Stretching Balancing with one leg Side stepping Kicking a ball Bowing Waiving hands
Defencing Kun-fu Pick up a ball and throw it overarm Pick up a ball and throw it underarm
Getting up from lying on back Getting up from facing down Doing a handstand (I can't even do that!)
turning over turn over and get up step back turn circulate circulate in back ward fighting
Girl Abducts Herself!
Seiler told police that after taking her at knifepoint, her captor used duct tape, rope, cold medicine, a gun and a knife to keep her under his control.Although those items were found in the marsh where she was found, buttressing her account, police obtained videotape Thursday that showed Seiler entering a store in Madison and buying those items, he said.
Source from CNN.
Sorry for the "hundreds of police, relatives and community members" who searched for her.
Sad. Can't believe anyone would cry wolf like that... Too much...
April 02, 2004
HP Unveils Always-On Camera
This camera is meant to be on 24/7 and records everything you see through out the day. Too bad this gadget is not for sale, yet.
Read more.
...moblog?
Drink Soda = Obesity
The average 12-ounce (360 ml.) can of soda pop contains about 40 grams of refined sugars. That's 10 teaspoons of pure calories. Would you ever eat 10 teaspoons of sugar at once? ... Calories from liquids -- like soft drinks -- don't seem to register as food in the same way that solid candy, like jelly beans, do. That means consuming soft drinks with your meal instead of water or another calorie-free beverage could really make a difference to your weight and waistline. "Beverages are a huge contributor to obesity," researcher Richard Mattes, told CSPI's Nutrition Action Healthletter. "They're major players that often get overlooked."source
Being a big fan of soft drink, I must admit, it did put on weight on me. If I continue to drink this stuff, I'd be fat sooner or later...
Beware, better check with the death clock.
RSS Aim
I have been actively developing RSS Aim for the past few days. The back-end has been re-written and and modularized. The front-end has been developed, but not yet finalized. By the way, RSS Aim now supports Atom format. Makes me wonder if I should rename the service, since it hasn't gone live yet...
I plan to release this on April 4th, since my webhost is doing some upgrade.
Here's a sneak preview:
LiveJournal -> AIM
April 01, 2004
Google's Real Name = BackRub
Did you know "[w]hen Google was a Stanford research project, it was nicknamed BackRub because the technology checks backlinks to determine a site's importance."
Sources:
Do you BackRub?