[pu2]

Bye bye Blogger!

2007-01-26T16:05:00.000+08:00

I am sorry for the big letters, but...
this blog has been been moved to this website.

Yup, please update your bookmarks and blogrolls, because [pu2] is finally moving to its new home at blog.putu.info. It is my own website, but the main page at www.putu.info is not ready yet. For the time being, it will just redirect to the blog.

Do not forget to check out my Hello, World! post...

Pratabacco

2007-01-12T11:17:00.001+08:00

A woman was caught early yesterday trying to smuggle 98 packets of tobacco into Singapore. According to the same news article, three days earlier a man was also caught trying to do the same.

Of course, they would not interest me unless they have a quirky similarity: they both wrapped their contraband in roti pratas.

They thought they were smart, but they were completely owned. I wonder what is so great about those Indian pancakes. Can you really wrap things and hide them? I thought I might try, but after looking at the failure rate, I would not.

Moving on

2007-01-12T11:03:00.001+08:00

A lot has happened to me lately, hence the silence demonstrated in this blog. First was the blocking of my ears. Yup, the doctor once told me that my ears are particularly productive in wax. It means that, unless I want to run into the risk of damaging my ear drums by deep cleaning, wax will build up in the inner part of my ear canal and lessen my ability to hear once every several years.

It happened again early last week when my right ear was blocked. I did not have time to clean them back in Jakarta, so I left for Singapore with only one ear operational. I went to the doctor in NTU last Monday (he prescribed a small bottle of ear drops) and went through the ear syringing procedure. It was fun but awfully wet.

I have to come back again next week for my other ear...

Second was the problem with my academic life. Severe problem. Remember how I got so excited when I landed on a double specialisation offer? It was no exciting feat at all. It turned out that I do better on my second specialisation instead of my first one!

I spent my holiday in deep contemplation, thinking about my future. Is spending all your effort on something you are not good at to get just mediocre results worth it? Not for me.

I dropped my Actuarial Science specialisation, hence my second becomes my first.

There was a feeling of regret, though, knowing that I am no longer a double-specialisation student and that I have somewhat made a wrong choice in the past. But, hey, that is life. You make mistakes in life (especially in your youth days).

Lastly, I would like to announce that I am, once again, putting this blog on 'inactive' mode. It does not mean that it is under hiatus (unlike the shout I posted earlier). It means that I will be posting less frequently.

It just happens that my time for personal creativity (a.k.a. writing) is limited, and I am diverting the time taken for blogging into something else. I am getting a new web address and, of course, revamping the blog. I am also working on something that I shall share the moment it is finished.

It is not that blogger sucks. I just feel that .blogspot.com addresses are becoming very common now and I need a personal and reliable place to showcase that thing I am working on.

Arrivederci, for now...

Senayan Shitty

2007-01-01T21:19:00.000+08:00

Today, in order to more-or-less celebrate the coming of the new year, my family and I went to Senayan Shitty here in Jakarta. First, for reasons you all should be familiar with, let me stress that Senayan Shitty has nothing to do with a similar-sounding shopping centre that has just been opened in Jakarta. With that settled, let me continue the story.

After much complaints from my dad because the parking area was being so unfriendly with the car he was driving (the ramps were too narrow and curved, for instance - and he was not driving even a Hummer), we managed to find a place to park the car. Entering the newly opened shopping centre (still, nothing to do with that one) from the basement, we were bemused to see how full the place was. It seems that everyone felt that they have to go to this place for New Year. That, or it was just because the place was brand new.

Not long before we finally oriented ourselves to the huge place, a loud popping sound was heard from the bottom part of the atrium.

Then electricity went off. All the escalators stopped with people on them. It took them a while before they started to realise that it was useless to rely on electricity and walked by themselves. The power went back in a jiffy, but escalators remained off until maintenance people restarted them manually (a security feature to prevent people from flying off in case power resumed). So we witnessed some important-looking people running around, restarting escalators.

That incident would be quite an amusing experience, but let me tell you that it was not because of two reasons: (a) it happened again around 6 - 7 times while we were there for 2 hours, (b) there were instances when we were riding the escalator.

In the end even the elevator seems soo creepy no one dared to board it.

When we finally decided to go home after buying a couple of duck-feather pillows, it seemed that everyone were heading downstairs a.k.a. home. Unfortunately the new thing in town had just lost its charm. No one wanted to be trapped on an escalator ever again.

The last time I saw her, that granny on a wheelchair was still stranded on the 5th floor after nearly 2 hours. Poor granny just could not take her chances with the elevator.

I hypothesised on our way back home. Because it was a newly-opened shopping centre, Senayan Shitty seemed unable to cope with the power requirements of its tennants, especially from that electronics shop that turned on all of its LCD TVs. Someone needed to call the power company.

But here is the best part. On my way back to the car, I spotted one of Senayan Shitty's poster along with its motto. It said "Infinite Surprises".

The power outtage was definitely a surprise. Repeat it 6 - 7 times, visitors got pissed and went home. Time to innovate yourself, Senayan Shitty.

[p2di][p2in][p2tr]

Dog trip

2006-12-20T22:10:00.000+08:00

Kiko the pooch was running on my left side, full of anxiety, yesterday as I took him to finish the day's morning walk. I was, of course, holding his leash so he would not chase anyone on motorcycles (he has been known around the house as the infamous bike-chaser).

Only metres away from our house, suddenly a small cat appeared on our far right, instantly distracting the black-brown dog's attention from his original destination. He turned right sharply, effectively blocking my path of running.

There was no time to react properly. I could not break at once, so I tripped over the dog and slammed myself face first to the paving bricks. If I would able to replay the scene in third-person view, it would be just like a football player tackled from the front side. I did the dive.

I walked out from the scene with two wounds on my left foot, one big wound on my chin, one on my right hand and several bruises here and there. Luckily home was near and I was able to get medication quite fast.

I was quite grateful, however, that I fell down using the proper way. I did not use my elbows to hold the impact, so I did not break my arm. I also bent my arms when I approached the concrete so I would not break any. I also had to make a quick decision on whether to hurt my chin or my nose. I chose the first as falling flat on my face might result in a worse outcome.

What about the dog? Apparently he was quite considerate and did not cause too much trouble for the remainder of the day. He just lied down beneath our dinner table, wondering why on earth this bigger dog (me) can be injured so much just because of falling (apparently a dog's coat is fairly durable as he walked away from accident unscathed despite of me kinda falling down on him).

Just following my instinct, Sir!

Continuing this post's theme on my dogs, I promised a while ago that I will post Goku's picture. So here it is. The dog is just about three months old and has been growing very fast especially in running speed. Now we have to put him on leash whenever we potty-train him.

Apparently this little guy over here thinks that he is old enough to go out, chase motorcycles and bite the hell out of every dog in the housing complex.

Wondering whether it has something to do with the Kintamani breed's inherent wild traits...

[p2me][p2ph]

The end for books

2006-12-16T22:53:00.000+08:00

Sometimes I ask: Where do books go when they can no longer be sold? You know, those unpopular books that sit virtually forever on the racks of bookshops. Sooner or later those rack spaces must be given to other, more popular books. After all, putting stuffs on a bookshop will incur inventory costs.

Yesterday I found the answer. I went to a book fair hosted by Indonesia's biggest publisher. The advertisement says that you can get 2, 5 or 10 books for US$ 1. No kidding. That cheap.

To begin, it was, literally, a garage sale i.e. they do the book fair (or shall I say "clearance sale") on the garage of the publisher's building.

Then, being able to sell books that cheap, I still wonder how on earth can the publisher arrange for royalty payment. But then again, royalty is kind of irrelevant at this point because after this clearance sale the unsold books would most probably be turned into pulp.

Of course there were several revelations on why these books were no longer wanted by anyone...

At the end of the day, I left the place with one piece of advice: if you are a writer, never go to these book fairs. Back in my primary school days, my school library used to have this poster saying "Books Are The Windows to The World", asserting that we ought to respect this form of knowledge.

But look what they had done...

Some writers who could not take it would have wept seeing the scene.

Oh, the same advice also applies to public figures, especially Daniel Radcliffe. Dan, I saw your face being stomped upon. Remember those posters you made for that first Harry Potter movie? Yup, those posters. Apparently no one wants them these days, apart from several secondary school girls.

[p2di][p2in][p2ph][p2tr]

Sorry, my opponent's tough

2006-12-13T22:21:00.000+08:00

Of all the excuses that I had heard and read, the excuse that I read this morning on an Indonesian national newspaper must have been the funniest and eye-opening. Not only it was uttered in an international event, it is also funny and has been tickling the humourous part of my brain throughout the day.

The story (those who understand Indonesian can click on the title of this post to read the original article) came from the 15th Asian Games in Doha, particularly from an Indonesian athlete who was expected to win a gold medal (apparently these so-called pundits at the National Sports Commission have such term as 'gold mine', a.k.a sports that deserve more funding). Unfortunately this guy lost in the semifinal against a Malaysian athlete.

There goes the gold medal and a big sum of bonus...

There goes all the money spent for training...

There goes Indonesia's pride in sports (what pride?)...

The team manager blamed the athlete for not doing what had been told by the coach. He also said that the guy was not yet mentally-prepared for the match.

The athlete? He blamed his opponent.

"Maaf, lawan saya berat..."

Translated: "Sorry, my opponent's tough..."

I would love to live in such a world where, when failing a test, you can blame the test for being too hard. Broke your arm because you slipped while mopping the floor? Blame the floor for being too slippery! Or the water for not drying fast enough!

Sometimes I just do not get it. Comparing the public transportation nightmare in Jakarta with, say Singapore, some people will just say, "Well, that's Singapore." Can't they just admit that it is Jakarta that is so bad?

Back to Mr. Athlete. Well, he should have not blamed anyone in the first place. Maybe he could take that experience to better himself, to fight another day with a stronger body and mind. Of course, no one can blame someone because they are better.

Or maybe the athlete just did not know what to say and the newspaper just took the quote out of context? Hopefully...

But it is still something silly to print on a national newspaper.

Well, that was just my two cents. Do not take it seriously and say that I blast someone inconsiderately. Besides, nothing in this blog is true, ain't it?

Thinking again, maybe we should blame that Sports Commission for not putting much effort in improving athletes' welfare and corrupting the funds that are supposed to be used to buy carbs and protein for the athletes. I am not going to waste my time. So many people have blasted them.

They have had too much blasting, they no longer care.

[p2di][p2op]

Home again

2006-12-13T21:49:00.000+08:00

Let this serve as a message of clarification for those who are still trying to look for me in Singapore. I am back at my parents' in Jakarta. That, of course, translates to less frequency of blogging, lots of game-playing and countless hours of fun times with my dogs.

Will be back in Singapore early January...

[p2me]

Back

2006-12-06T00:38:00.000+08:00

I know, I know... It has been a week since I took my last exam paper and friends have been asking why on earth I have not started blogging again. Let me assure you that it has nothing to do with Malaysian government's plan to regulate bloggers (since this is a US-hosted blog anyway).

Instead, blame it on my post-exam recovery effort, which has been pretty lame.

Somehow, I got hooked up by my newest acquisition in the field of gadgetry. Now, I will not spoil the identity of the "thing" I got hooked up to here because it is just so addictive (cannot let you guys fall into the same craving). I can only tell that it has got a 300 MHz processor.

Nevertheless, I have my holiday plans somewhat mapped out in my mind. While most of the people I know use this month-long holiday to do internships, I plan to expand my knowledge. I am learning Java this holiday.

They say, if you do software development in business nowadays, you would either use Visual Basic .NET or Java (both object-oriented programming languages). Since I already had a taste of VB last semester (through my course in Database, I learnt Visual Basic for Applications on Microsoft Access), I think I'll try to drink that cup of coffee this time (for those who are missing the reference, please Wiki on 'Java').

That, and train my new dog. Yes, my family had gotten a new dog after Kiko the pooch (featured as the 'cover dog' of this blog). The new dog, aptly named 'Goku' by my little brother (apparently someone has been hooked up to Dragon Ball these days) is a Kintamani (the native Balinese dog). Well, I do not have a good-quality picture of the dog (going to take one as soon as I get back), but here is one example of the breed to give you a good picture.

That is a Kintamani pup. When it is big, it is going to be really, really big. Goku, according to the MMSes sent by my mum, is also white-coloured and looks like the above picture. Kintamani dogs are known to be brave and very faithful to their masters. Goku, particularly, is also extremely playful (usually to Kiko's discontent because he is constantly being bugged by the little pup).

And, unlike other pure-breed dogs, Kintamanis are known to be low-maintenance. You can just give the dog leftovers from the dining table and he will not shed a hair. This is, according to the Balinese, because they evolved feeding themselves the offerings left on Balinese temples.

Looking forward to get barked by you, Goku.

To end my post, let me present a holiday present for all the faithful readers of this blog. Not much, just an über-cool video I found on YouTube. It's a stop-motion action video, but made using real humans (they take pictures of themselves then animate it). I still have no idea how they do the flying effect... Please click play, it's worth the download time.

[p2fu][p2me][p2ph][p2vi]

Exam break!

2006-11-08T11:08:00.000+08:00

November has come and, again, I am somewhat compelled to stop posting stuffs for a while.

Last paper's on 28th. Expect me to return afterwards...

about: going to a classical music concert

2006-11-02T23:24:00.000+08:00

If you read my blog nearly two months ago, I mentioned that I would be going to a classical music concert in Esplanade. Well, I did it last Monday. It was the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the whole performance (along with the concert hall) was really nice.

The programme for the night was:

Richard Strauss - Don Juan (Op. 20)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 21 in C (K467) - all three movements
Leoš Janáček - Suite: The Cunning Little Vixen
Dmitri Shostakivich - Symphony No. 6 in B minor (Op. 54) - all three movements

Due to my lack of specific knowledge in the domain of classical music, I shall not comment on the technical aspects of the performance (I just love to see how the great sound of the music synchronises with the different sections of the orchestra, all moving in harmony). Instead, I would share a couple of tips for all casual concert-goers out there:

For students staying in Singapore, always get those tickets that are specially priced for students. They cost less, so you can see more concerts. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) or any event organised by Esplanade would have such pricing scheme.
Be selfish and clap a lot, because clapping a lot (continuously) will get you more out of the performers. In the field of classical music, if the audience claps for a reasonably long duration, the conductor will usually come back to the stage for a curtain call. During the BBC concert, the conductor even did about 4 curtain calls in a row!

Of course, numerous curtain calls will prompt the conductor to do an encore. In my case, the conductor decided to perform two more classical works after the last one (normally they will do just one). One was Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance Marches.

[p2ab][p2mu][p2ph]

The trouble with my music

2006-10-31T01:34:00.000+08:00

I have a slight trouble with the items in my music collection: they are expensive. The reason is quite simple. To make things clear, the last three CDs that I bought are the works of Belle & Sebastian, Feist and Sondre Lerche. Ring a bell?

Precisely; I am not that kind of guy who worships mainstream pop. Since I am that kind of guy, the artists whom records I buy never achieved the economics of scale. In other words, they never produce a huge number of CDs to make the price of each CD cheaper.

However, there is another problem: most of the records that I like is not available even in Singapore. Even though some are available, they are unreasonably high-priced because that bloke who owns the record store never went for large-number purchases for such niche items.

That is why I usually go straight to the source. Yes, I mostly buy my CDs from Amazon.com. I know, the international shipping charge is unbelievably expensive. However, I use the vPOST service from SingPost to alleviate the problem. Basically I had Amazon.com ship to a US address that belongs to SingPost. SingPost will then group my item with others' and ship it to SG in bulk and, of course, with lower price.

Ordering from Amazon.com is kinda fun. Normally I buy 2 CDs every time, and they will send it in this oversized box. It is quite big; I actually used it to keep all my lecture and tutorial notes from last semester. However, look what I got yesterday when I ordered 3 CDs instead.

Dear Customer,

The last two boxes you received from your last two orders were examples on how big your box is going to be if you order lots of items from us. Unfortunately, our recent Customer Profitability Analysis has unravelled that sending you those big boxes (mostly filled with bubble wraps instead of your items) actually costs more than the shipping fee we billed you.

The Analysis has also concluded that although you are a repeat customer, you are unlikely to order items with high value in the near future. Therefore, we regret to tell you that we will stop giving free big boxes.

Nah, there was no such letter. Just kidding...

[p2me][p2mu][p2ph]

Jack the cat-ripper in NTU

2006-10-31T01:12:00.000+08:00

Three animal welfare organisations in NTU offer a joint reward of S$ 2,000 for the capture of a cat killer. Yup, unfortunately the much-loved black cat of Hall 7 had been killed viciously on Octover 14 by means of strangulation.

Read the coverage by Digital Nanyang Chronicle for more.

[p2sc]

The green bloke and the yellow Segway riders

2006-10-29T18:15:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I went with a couple of friends to Vivocity, that new mall at Harbourfront that have just been opened. The funny-looking building, by the way, snatched the title as "the biggest mall in Singapore" from Ngee Ann City.

We went to the 15-screens Golden Village cinema multiplex (the biggest in SG) to see Death Note. The film was nice, but that was not the highlight of the day. As you see from the title, the remaining of this post has nothing to do with either Light Yagami or a black-coloured notebook. Read on.

As a newly-opened mall, Vivocity has this apparent need to get visitors. Well, that is not a very hard thing to do in Singapore. Thanks to it being a mall, Vivocity does not need that much effort to get visitors since everyone goes to a mall during weekends in Singapore. And since it is also a ferry away from the Batam island of Indonesia, I was able to hear some Indonesian lingos during my time there.

Nevertheless they tried to create a big buzz to draw visitors. First, the building itself is quite a buzz. It's the biggest; mall-dwellers have been known to be attracted to anything with a superlative verb. The shape of the thing is also unique, but hey, most people will spend their time indoors anyway.

That was why Vivocity went the extra mile to privide satisfaction even inside. Even though nearly half the stores were still closed, Vivocity decided that the proper thing to do to liven up the atmosphere is to... er... open a Christmas store in the middle of the atrium!

Yes, people, shop while it's early! Christmas is just around the corner because now it's already... October! Aren't we supposed to celebrate Halloween? Turned out that Vivocity is trying to target a quite sizeable niche market: kiasus.

If that seems like a desperate attempt to gain attention, try this: why don't we put a bloke dressed as a traffic warden (but with green uniform) to direct the shoppers to their natural habitat (i.e. shops)? Vivocity did just that.

Please forgive the abysmal quality of the picture. I was trying too hard to zoom using my phone's camera (since I did not expect to get such a quirky sight, I did not bring my camera).

Other than that, the security personnel were also nice. They were dressed and yellow and rode Segways. Yes, Segways! My first time seeing a Segway in action! Well, assessing further, it's a natural conclusion that Vivocity used Segways for their security personnel due to the sheer size of the place. By the way, other than patrolling around the huge mall effortlessly, they also provide entertainment to the visitors. In one instance, I witnessed a couple of the guards doing acrobatics with their Segways.

To see more of the actions involved, I have recorded a video clip of the green bloke and the yellow guards doing their "thing". Just press play. I've added a background music to cover up our useless chatter and laughs...

I really want a 2MP camera phone...

However, one question did pop out form my mind: will they keep doing this after, let's say, a year? After everyone starts pouring in to shop, will Vivocity remain unique by entertaining its visitors instead of just providing shelters for the shoppers and shops? Only time can tell.

So, that's all from Vivocity. In the end, we ended the day with a couple of laughs and a full tummy. Yup, we got our early dinner in the form of HUGE burgers from Carl's Jr. The packaging of the burger is so self-explanatory, I decided to put it here as well.

Everyone visiting The Land of Freedom for the first time should get one of those...

[p2di][p2fu][p2ph][p2sg][p2vi]

Music Player Update 103

2006-10-28T01:13:00.000+08:00

Another weekend; another visit to my library of music tracks. Of course the 5 tracks mentioned here are already uploaded to the Music Player (that discreet white bar under the title banner). Just click the Play button to start listening.

Röyksopp - Remind Me [Somebody Else's Mix]

A member of a group of my favourite musicians, the Bergen Three (along with Sondre Lerche and Kings of Convenience), Röyksopp is an electronic music duo composed of Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge. The group formed officially in 1998 and released their debut album Melody A.M. in 2002.

Taken from that very album, Remind Me is the song that I like the most from the duo. The vocal is none other than Erlend Øye's from Kings of Convenience; you can tell from his distinctive tone and that sense of calmness. Remind Me is also particularly memorable because of its animated video. You can watch it down here.

Note that the version played on the video clip and the Music Player is called Somebody Else's Mix. The original version of the song has less beat.
Pink Martini - The Garden of Sampson & Beasley

I simply like this song because I have heard it somewhere and I have been quite curious for months trying to figure out the artist behind this catchy tune. Thank goodness I found Pink Martini a couple of weeks ago.
Natalie Imbruglia - Shiver

The first single from her third album, I consider it to be better compared to Torn, which made her famous. Speaking of Torn, here's a funny video of a mime doing his interpretation of the song - word by word.
Maxine Nightingale - Right Back Where We Started From

Found it featured on the 2005 film Yours, Mine and Ours. Just like the "family" feeling of the song. The video clip that I put here is a cover version done by Sinitta. Personally, I like the original better. The cover is just too 80s.
UB40 - Kingston Town

This 1990 single by the culturally-diversed reggae band has allegedly been copied by Paris Hilton for her first single Stars are Blind. Although I cannot prove that, I have to say that the melody sounds similar. What's your opinion?

[p2mp]

NTU lecturer shares funny teaching feedback

2006-10-23T23:58:00.000+08:00

The following video is currently very hot in NTU (and all around Singapore). In NTU, every semester we have to complete evaluation forms for the lecturers and tutors of the subjects we are attending. Of course, there is the "Other Comments" area where we can write suggestions instead of just darkening the circles (that are going to be scanned by computers).

Several students, however, decided that they should "entertain" the lecturers by writing completely out-of-the-point stuffs, as you can see from this video.

There has been a little controversy, mainly among non-students, that this video clip will tarnish NTU's image. Well, I beg to differ. This video clearly shows that this lecturer has a great sense of humour! No wonder (according to comments allegedly posted by his students) this lecturer has won many teaching awards. The essence of being a good lecturer, for me, is being constantly connected to students and not only to the subject.

After all, NTU's image has been mostly centred on how the students are mainly geeks. Now, even students from NUS and SMU are complaining that their lecturers are not that attractive. Lol...

PS: If you still don't like the comments, let's put it this way: the lack of "serious" comments might be the sign of a good lecturer (nothing to comment on).

[p2di][p2sc][p2vi]

Nanyang Technological Uranium

2006-10-21T15:48:00.000+08:00

Besides providing numerous libraries, computer labs and many other facilities to improve students' academic experience, NTU also provides an Uranium Enrichment Facility for their top students to experiment and experience how does it feel to be a feared dictator.

Of course, you have to book before using the facility. The queue is quite long since every one wants a taste of the expensive facility.

For proof, look at the following screenshot (click for the larger version). You will notice from the web address that the page is indeed loaded from NTU's server.

The page, however, does not officially exist, nor does the Uranium Enrichment Facility. I was just playing on the PHP parameters. IT geeks would realise that the title of the page ("Uranium Enrichment Facility") will say whatever you write on the address bar. That is why on this fake page, no Venue is actually shown.

So basically, I was just playing on the way this Facility Booking system works. No server or firewall was destroyed in the process. Nevertheless, to stop others from poking fun on the server, I purposely blacked out other parts of the address.

[p2di][p2fu][p2sc][p2we]

Creative Xmod: an idiot's review (part 2 of 2)

2006-10-15T16:10:00.000+08:00

If you have not read the first half of the review, point your browser here.

Xmod test #1: my notebook computer

Here is the rig that I used to test my new Xmod:

My Toshiba notebook computer with an on-board SoundMax Integrated Digital Audio chip. It is loaded with Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Service Pack 2.
For the player, I used both Windows Media Player 10 and Nullsoft Winamp 5.3. Both had all their DSP / effect plug-ins turned off, but I used the Rock EQ setting on both since I like the slightly thumping bass.
The notebook is connected to the Xmod with my standard USB cable. I did not use the one supplied with Xmod since I already had one - no point in ruining the neat packaging.
For the final output I did not use the standard Creative earphones since the result would have been abysmal. For maximum detail, I plugged in my Sennheiser HD 457 headphones instead. I did not use speakers simply because I don't have any and I did not use my Sennheiser MX500 earphones because there was no point in doing it (see Test #2).

All plugged in - ready to go!

The moment I plugged in Xmod to my computer, Windows immediately recognised it as two devices: a USB Audio Device and a USB Human Interface Device. As an audio device, Xmod's function was already clear to me - it takes digital input from the computer and gives analog output to your speaker / headphones.

The HID function, however, only became clear after a bit of investigation. Turned out that the big, silvery volume knob does not control the volume on its own (independent from the computer). In fact, it controls the master volume on Windows. Turn it and you will see the Master Volume slider on Windows' volume control changes. When I pressed the volume knob, Windows went to mute mode (indicated by the volume icon on the taskbar) while to Volume LED on Xmod turned red.

Perfectly because the knob controls Windows, you have to be careful in changing the volume. For instance, when you are running many programs, volume changes tend to be delayed. I actually hurt my ears several times when I tried turning the knob rather fast. Instead of the incrimental volume change that I expected, I got nothing for nearly 3 seconds and a sudden jolt of high volume afterwards. So be careful if you are using this tiny gadget when playing games. Turn the knob a bit, wait for the change to occur, then turn again. The same applies to the mute button. It might get delayed, but you know when mute is activated because the LED will turn red.

Playing two different MP3 files on the players, one with 128kbps bit rate and the other with high quality VBR encoding (following the APX ÜberStandard 3.1 Specification), I decided to test the two enhancements independently.

With both enhancements turned off, the songs were lower in volume with weak bass (despite of the enhanced bass from the Rock EQ). Following the compression characteristics, the "highs and lows" of the songs were not clearly distinguished. Of course on the 128kbps song the compression artifacts were quite audible on several points when many musical instruments tried to jam the microphone at the same time. Boy, I just hate that "underwater feeling" caused by low bitrates.

Turning on the X-Fi Crystalizer feature made the sound a bit better. Of course it does not magically regenerate the missing information caused by the MP3 compression (unless it is some kind of a psychic device). It only guesses the missing information, just like those media player plug-ins (see the first half of the review). So naturally there will be no true 24-bit sound produced by the Xmod. To illustrate, it is like adding a turbocharger, a nice paint job and a muffler to a Toyota Corolla. It will go faster, it will look and sound better, but it will never be a Beemer.

Because the Crystalizer essentially accentuates the difference between the different bits of sound. The result is a clearer sound. It's not crystal clear, but you can still hear the individual instruments better. They are no longer muffled; they all stand out equally now. However, there is a huge drawback for the 128kbps file. Because the Crystalizer makes the sound more "honest", even the compression artifacts got accentuated. So make sure your songs do not have clicks and pops that can hurt your ears. In the end, my MP3 file with higher quality sound better and the 128kbps file ended up being worse.

The X-Fi CMSS-3D feature, on the other hand, did what it promised. After I turned it on, the soundstage immediately felt wider. Since I am using headphones, the improvement of sound quality was felt immediately. Before turning the CMSS-3D, it felt as if the band was playing in my head. Afterwards, they shifted a bit to a hypothetical stage right in front of me.

The better degree of improvement from CMSS-3D only shows when you play DVDs or any video file. I do not know how it does it, but the Xmod can smartly distinguish between dialogue, sound effect and background music to differenciate the way it treats them. The result, dialogues are positioned more to the virtual centre channel while the background music really take their position as a background object instead of dominating the whole scene.

Those two features, again, could have been achieved by some audio plug-ins. However, based on my experience, those plug-ins are really subjected to your computer's processing power. Using a notebook computer, I got distorted sounds most of the time instead of nice sounds. So giving the job to an external hardware is not a bad idea after all.

Nevertheless, there is still one issue arising from my experience with Xmod plugged to a notebook. Sometimes it just generated random clicking sounds without any apparent reason. It never happened when I played media files. It occured when I played nothing (the players are not activated), when I hovered my mouse pointer over the icons on the desktop and taskbar. It is not that annoying, but it will keep you wondering why.

Overall, the Xmod functioned adequately as an external sound card. Wait, external sound card? Yes, if you hate the way your notebook sounds but cannot afford a Creative Audigy 2 ZS Notebook, get an Xmod instead. Of course if you are planning to buy a 7.1 speaker system in the future, stay away from Xmod since it only has stereo output. If you are more of a casual audio enthusiast who can live with 2 speakers or a headphones set, Xmod would be sufficient since it can generate virtual surround with its hardware capabilities.

So, in conclusion, Xmod is not a module, nor a panacea for any computer system. It is basically an external sound card (with the size of a speaker set's volume control module) with two additional features to alleviate your computer's burden of processing virtual surround sound. It does not magically reconstruct any bit of any file's sound information on the fly. It guesses what to do with the signals. It may be wrong, but overall it quite satisfies me.

Xmod test #2: my MP3 player

Several people on the Internet who commented on the Xmod preview said they want to see it being compared to the HeadRoom Total BitHead headphone amplifier cum DAC. Well, it's not going to happen. There are three reasons why Xmod and BitHead are like apple and orange:

Xmod is not an amplifier. It cannot generate enough output to drive a big headphones set.
Xmod and BitHead offer different kinds of enhancements. BitHead offers volume amplification and crossfeed while Xmod offers mainly virtual surround.
Since it is battery-powered, you can take BitHead in your bag with your MP3 player and move about. Unfortunately, Xmod is not that kind of a mobile device.

Let me explain the last part. Several comments in the Internet pages announcing Xmod wondered where Xmod will get its power when plugged in to an analog input (e.g. portable music players). Will it draw the power from your MP3 player or does it have an internal battery pack with the size of an iPod shuffle? Well, both of them are wrong. Xmod requires external power supply to compensate for its small size.

Yup, you can never bring Xmod in your pocket and walk around with your MP3 player. You will hear nothing. The only way to get the enhancements working for your MP3 player is to plug in Xmod to an external power device. No matter what, something has to inject power to the Xmod's USB port.

There is one problem, though: you cannot draw power from your own notebook computer. When plugged in to a computer, Xmod will only channel sounds from the computer and not from the analog input. Disabling the device on the Device Manager will not work, either. So the only solution is to plug in the Xmod to a 5V, 1A USB power supply that is not a computer.

That is why the cashier at the Creative Store offered me a power adapter when I was going to pay for my Xmod. I did not buy it because it was precisely the same adapter that came with my Creative Zen Micro. The thing costs $9.99 at Creative US online shop, but it is out of stock when this was written. Unless you are willing to spend that extra amount to buy an adapter, you can never use the Xmod with your MP3 player. Or if you want to be slightly more mobile, get the car adapter instead.

Xmod + adapter = no longer mobile as it seemed to be...

One more catch, though: Creative does not provide a male-to-male cable with your Xmod. You have to get one on your own. Thank goodness I had a short, DIY one (even better so you do not have to manage so many cable around that small device). So here is the final setup.

As you can see, it's no longer a portable system. Sound-wise, I would have put the same comments as the notebook test, so I shall not elaborate. I just want to add one thing: there is no use in setting the enhancements level while the Xmod is plugged in to a power adapter. When you plug it in again the next time, it will lose all the settings, unlike with computers where the settings are stored (I have not tried plugging it in to another computer to see whether the settings are saved).

Conclusion

Get the Xmod for the sake of your notebook computer, not your MP3 player. If you own a desktop computer, I guess you will be better of buying an X-Fi sound card. If you own an MP3 player, you will get a hi-fi sitting on a table instead of a portable player whenever you want a better sound.

Too bad Creative seems to downplay the Xmod's shortcomings, especially in portability and the real function of the Crystalizer. No wonder some audio enthusiasts are starting to call "shenanigans" even before Xmod hits the store shelves in the US. Remember kids, research on the product before buying one! And please read the reviews ^_^.

[p2mu][p2ph][p2re][p2te]

Creative Xmod: an idiot's review (part 1 of 2)

2006-10-15T00:34:00.000+08:00

When you buy a notebook computer, you would expect it to be a lemon in sound quality. That is perfectly the case with my notebook computer. Although it has a couple of harman/kardon speakers with SRS WOW XT and SRS TruSurround XT plug-ins specially configured to their specifications, in the end it all boils down to a rather standard on-board sound card. I can feel it whenever I play songs, I can feel it whenever I watch films, I can feel it whenever I plug in my headphones. For the last part, even a Sennheiser turns lemon when plugged in.

That is why I listen to my Creative Zen Micro MP3 player even when I am working with my notebook computer. Today, however, I decided that it all should come to an end. I went to the Creative Store at Marina Square today with Esther as part of our shopping trip in order to prepare for our next Toastmasters Club themed chapter meeting (report on the meeting will hopefully be posted later). There I bought the Xmod, Creative's new gadget that was supposed to end my notebook audio misery.

I plugged it in to my notebook computer only minutes after I arrived home. Several hours, numerous songs, a couple of DVDs and several videos later, I decided to write a review. Of course there is an ulterior motive behind "just for fun". The Xmod was just announced by Creative early this month; it has not hit the stores in the United States (apparently Singapore - home of Creative - gets the first batch), so I thought this review would be useful for a large number of audio enthusiasts.

There are some precautions, though, that you need to take into consideration before you proceed reading this review. Note that I wrote "an idiot's review" as part of the title of this post. Here is why:

I am not an audio expert, so please do forgive me if I write something technically stupid on this review. The review is more like my personal experience with the Xmod rather than a professional advice for consumers.
Your definition of "nice sound" might be different from mine. This review is entirely subjective.

Let's start!

First impression

So what is Xmod, exactly? Apparently Creative was as confused as I was. The big box that protected the gadget says, "XMod: X-Fi Module for PC & Mac." Okay, so Xmod is a module. That explains everything...

The big box...

The box then went on explaining the gadget's features. Apparently it states a seemingly-impossible claim, that Xmod can restore the details of compressed MP3 files so you will get better sound quality on your ears. I shall not elaborate its claimed features; you can read on yourself at Creative's product page. I shall comment on the box, though. It was such a big box for such a small gadget. Really, almost half of the box's volume was comprised of foam, carboard and air. Creative really have to learn from Apple regarding packaging.

From the big black box, out came a slightly smaller white box. Clearly not a cost-effective solution.

What's a small gadget like you doing in such a big box like this?

My Xmod box contained a the Xmod unit (duh...), a soft, white carrying case (the one beside the gadget on the above picture, a user's manual, an A to b USB cable and a standard Creative earphones. Honestly, I had expected more from such a big box.

...and underneath that thick foam, the USB cable and earphones are hiding.

When I first looked at the Xmod, it appeared to me like a white remote control (possibly for Apple stuffs, judging from the colour) with a big, silver panic button. Creative could have done better with the design, honestly. Let me explain the Xmod control layout so you can understand why I said so.

Control-wise, Xmod has one dial, two buttons and two sliding switch. The dial can be seen clearly on the above picture. It controls the volume level, as well as the level of the two enhancements (X-Fi Crystalizer and X-Fi CMSS-3D - will be explained later). To select which enhancement you want to change, you press the Select button. If you examine the picture, you can see that the Select button is actually integrated with the upper part of the gadget's face plate along with 3 LEDs with their corresponding function. The second button, which is the mute switch, is apparently the volume knob itself.

Wait... a knob that turns and clicks. Does it sound "click wheel" to you? Actually the knob is not that slippery so I could change the volume by touching and turning the knob on its upper side instead of touching the sides like a normal knob. So why make a knob that is so thick and destroy the beauty of the thinness of the device? I wonder... Creative could have put a click wheel that is similar to the 1G iPod: a wheel that physically turns yet clickable. Unless they use that extra silvery space to put extra chips, I am not satisfied.

The two sliding switches are located at the sides. They turn the two enhancements on and off. They should have been located on the front plate; that way the Xmod will be far more ergonomic to use.

The Features

Xmod offers two kinds of enhancements. The first one, dubbed the X-Fi (Xtreme Fidelity) Crystalizer, is designed to improve the details and vibrance of sounds going through the device. If you see the Crystalizer's logo, you will notice that it says "24-bit". This is practically a marketing technique on Creative's side. The enhancements does not really transform a computer's 16-bit output into 24-bit; it is impossible. What the Crystalizer does is actually running different algorithms on the sound signal and try to reconstruct the possible additional signals lost during compression.

CMSS-3D, on the other hand, is meant to transform the stereo sound input into "virtual surround". In other words, by turning on this feature, you can get a near-studio quality sound (complete with rear speakers) by only utilising two speakers or a set of headphones.

Judging from the two available enhancements, you can see that there are many audio player plug-ins in the market that offer the same functionalities as Xmod (some are even free to download). However, bear in mind that those plug-ins calculate the final sound output using software. It consumes your computer's processing power (sometimes heavily) and in the end, the output is still translated to real sound by a lemon sound card. Using Xmod, you transfer all those tasks to the little white thing, which does it all with chips instead of software codes.

Although it claims to be a "module", in the end Xmod looks more like a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) to me. But of course it does enhancements using its hardware power instead of just translating your computer's digital output. To facilitate its DAC features, Xmod has 4 ports on its body. On the upper part are the USB and audio-out ports. The USB port connects to your computer and the audio-out is meant for speakers, due to the different optimisations applied (compared to headphones) by the enhancements.

The bottom ports are for audio-in and headphones.

After looking at the Xmod from many angles, I immediately plugged it in to my notebook computer to start the test. The test is comprised of two parts: the one with the notebook computer and the one with my Creative Zen Micro MP3 player. However, this has been a very long blog post. For the convenience of the readers (and for the convenience of my eyes in reviewing), I have decided to break the review into two parts.

Coming soon with the "meat" of the review! For the moment, the review is to be continued...

UPDATE: Part 2 of the review is posted. Click here.

[p2mu][p2ph][p2re][p2te]

This week's first times

2006-10-14T00:59:00.000+08:00

Reflecting on the things I did during the past week, I have come to realise that I have done several first-time-experiences during the period. Before we get to those experiences, however, let me digress for a while.

I did not make it through the Division level. Yes, I forgot to tell some friends about this, but my journey in conquering the Toastmasters Evaluation Contest could not continue after the Division contest last Saturday. For those with understanding of the Toastmasters hierarchy, of course you would appreciate me going past the Club and Area level. For those who does not have any idea about all those terminologies, let's just say that I got defeated by blokes with over 8 years of experience in evaluating other speakers. I was just not that analytical.

Okay, I admit, I underperformed. But let's go back to the main issue, shall we?

Last Wednesday I went to my first proper recruitment talk. You know, those held by companies looking for young, undamaged minds. I don't have a Ph.D (Permanet Head Damaged) yet, so P&G invited me to this invitation-only event (showing off here...). It felt good to actually talk to those who are already in the company. You get to know what they do, how they work, what sort of career progression do they offer, among stuffs.

Several days after the event, I still could not convince myself that there would be someone who does not know what does Procter & Gamble produce. No wonder, despite of the huge size of the company and it being one of the best places to work in (according to polls), it is only known to the general public as Pringles, Crest, Head & Shoulders, Pantene; the brands that they sell. Oh, do you know that they have recently acquired Gillette? Never mind...

I also went to the Boston Consulting Group recruitment talk Friday evening. They gave me this impression that I would get to handle different clients from different industries if I manage to get in after I graduate. They said that the career is extremely rewarding and I would get to travel a lot because BCG works as a global consulting firm where consultants gets assigned to overseas jobs very often. Oh, but there's the 9 to 3 working hour. If you think it is 9.00 to 15.00, you are wrong. It is, literally, 9 to 3, both in a.m.

Learning from these two global behemoths, I could see that global companies tend to act blind regarding your course of study in recruiting, except for certain technical positions. So an engineer can apply for the financial department, for example. It is the attitude and the analytical skills that they want; they are looking for all-rounded people. And their career progression is on an "up or out" basis; you can either be promoted or quit, you cannot stay in one position and slack off forever.

This week I also had my first 30-minute tutorial (usually it's 2-hours). I would not name the specific subject, but the power to the air conditioning system and digital projector just went off so the group presenting the tutorial solutions could not continue. Since according to the tutor it was quite hazardous to stay in such a stuffy room (keep in mind that there was nothing we can do with regards to the tutorial problems), he decided to dismiss the class.

Looking on the other tutorial rooms, I noticed that almost all of them carried on. They opened the doors and windows, and tutors started improvising by using the whiteboard. Students were trying very hard to look at their papers. About twenty minutes later the power went back. No one bothered to return to the tutorial room. Class was officially dismissed for the day.

Apparently it was not just me who had first-time-experiences. When I ordered a McFlurry a couple of days ago, it seemed that the part-timer who handled my order had never made a McFlurry before. So when he attached the spoon to the blender and turned the latter on, he was a bit shocked because of the violent vibration. Luckily he did not dropped my $2 worth of ice cream.

Oh, have I mentioned that this week I also had my first-time-experience of taking a picture of a family of wild boars?

[p2me][p2sc]

Boar sighting

2006-10-10T00:52:00.000+08:00

Some friends have expressed their skepticism of me having a family of wild boars on my back yard. They told me, "Well, you have a camera on your study desk. Why didn't you take a picture of them?"

Guys and girls, honestly, I was pretty stunned back there. Imagine a situation where you never expected any form of wildlife living just outside your window and suddenly one exhibit popped out of nowhere. I am pretty sure that you, too, would be spaced.

However, I was surely prepared for my second encounter with the happy bunch. A couple of afternoons ago they showed up again. Too bad it was not the whole family. Nevertheless I took the opportunity.

So skeptics, here is your proof!

If you look closely on the... er... underside of the biggest boar, you will notice that it was in fact Mama Boar and the baby boars having their after-lunch walk. I wonder where Papa Boar was? Playing with the other bunch of the kids?

[p2di][p2me][p2ph][p2we]

Music Player Update 102

2006-10-06T23:41:00.000+08:00

I'm back again with an update for my discreet music player (that white bar at the top). This time I just put in songs that I have been listening to quite frequently for the past week. Here they are (in playing order):

José González - Heartbeats

You might have heard this song before. It is the theme song of the infamous "Bouncing Balls" advertisement for Sony BRAVIA. It is actually a cover version of a song by a band called The Knife. Considering that The Knife is an electronic duo, I would prefer González' acoustic version any day.

If you have not seen the ad, I purposely embed it here because it is such a cool ad (because they did not use any computer graphics or visual effect).

Belle & Sebastian - I Don't Love Anyone
Taken from Tigermilk, their great debut album. I'm getting a copy soon...

Tom Jones - Sexbomb (feat. Mousse T)
Love the catchy tune, heh heh...

Will Young - Your Love Is King

Taken from the Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason soundtrack. Another wonderful love declaration, and another cover tune. Originally sung by Sade. The following is the music video of the original version. Well, as you can hear, Sade Adu's voice is very, very distinctive.

Sondre Lerche - Days That Are Over
This song was featured in this blog before. Click this link to see the music video, along the other cool videos I put together in one post.

That's all folks. Remember, the last 5 tracks from the previous music player update is still available. So enjoy!

[p2mp]

about: appreciating art

2006-10-04T23:55:00.000+08:00

Some friends were surprised when they read my last post about the sculpture in one of NTU's libraries. They said they had never expected such an idiotic art review coming from me. First, it was not a review. Nevertheless, if you look at my past reviews (on music, films, etc.), you would realise that I did not mean what I wrote in my last post (since sometimes I do 'serious' reviews as well) and the idiotic point of view that I adopted was merely in the 'gloomy' spirit of the whole post.

If you read the disclaimer ("Nothing here is true..."), you would realise that this whole blog is a work of fiction although it contains purportedly-real incidents from my life. Therefore, please play along nicely, people.

So in response to friends who just can't take my deadpan humour, I've decided to revive the 'about' section of this blog. It will give my take on the mentioned topic on the title. But don't take my every word as a serious advice. Disclaimer still applies...

Let's start. The question that I shall answer in this post is very straightforward: When someone ask you, 'What do you think about this piece of art?', how to answer it without sounding like a crackbrain? Please note that art here translates to paintings, sculptures and installations you usually find in galleries, not film and music.

First and foremost, try not to judge a book by its cover. In other words, find the information that is beyond what you see. For example, if you are in a gallery, a piece of art must have an information tag attached to it. Here's one example, attached to the sculpture mention in my last post.

As you can see, the sculpture was far from trying to look depressing. It signifies something completely different compared to the idiotic view I used on the last post (you can enlarge the picture by clicking it in order to read the tag).

What if, then, you are not in a gallery where explanation is conveniently available. Well, if the art belongs to someone and he / she is standing right next to you, ask the owner to explain more about the piece. Ask the owner about the history, the background of the art piece as well as the creator. If the owner cannot do that, you'll be the one laughing in the end.

The point is, ladies and gentlemen, to put things into perspective. By knowing the background of an art, you can put yourself in the shoes of the creator and try to figure out the meaning and purpose of a work of art.

Of course it takes proper experience to get it right. But, hey, there is no right or wrong in the world of art. Art is a personal thing, your personal interpretation of the world. If no one subscribes to the same interpretation and your work of art doesn't sell, too bad.

In the end, if you really just don't know what to say, there is no other way, other than being idiotic. Just say what pops first into your mind. It's better than to say that you have no idea. The beauty of the thing is, it is completely excusable to be an art idiot. Most normal humans do judge a book by its cover since it is a way to save time.

So just in case one day you want to make your own painting, keep that fact in mind...

[p2ab][p2ph]

The Depressing Sculpture

2006-10-02T23:27:00.000+08:00

Today my life has been literally hazy. Yes, the wind direction in the region coupled with the days that have passed without any rain have resulted in a hazy Singapore, again. All thanks to those forest-burners in Indonesia that have created more than 100 hotspots on the island of Sumatra.

Cursed you inconsiderate loggers! As an Indonesian, I feel no need to say sorry as those burnings were not committed by those who I consider fellow countrymen. I am one of the victims. Hopefully the wind will magically change and those inconsiderates can have a taste of their own smog.

Not likely to happen, though. The National Environmental Agency (NEA) of Singapore has estimated that the dry weather would likely continue, and so does the wind direction. In other words, Singapore is preparing for the worse to happen.

To make life more depressing, I found something rather interesting in NTU's main library today. It is a common understanding that as a campus, NTU should encourage students to study with passion by projecting its support in every element of the building. Unfortunately one element has decided to inject depression to the minds of the students. Here it is:

It is a sculpture sitting near the entrance of NTU's Lee Wee Nam Library. I did not even care to look at the title of the thing. To me, it is more like the "Oh my goodness, I can't take my studies anymore" sculpture.

Call it an idiot's interpretation of art, but I reckon that most NTU students that visit the library (mostly with an idiot sense of art like me) will not be encouraged to study or explore the academic world with passion.

[p2di][p2is][p2me][p2ph][p2sc][p2sg]

School of Spelling Errors

2006-09-25T21:54:00.000+08:00

Today is officially the first day of NTU's one-week mid-term recess. Unfortunately, my observation has shown that the campus was still quite alive, filled with people doing their assignments and projects.

I was, regrettably, one of them. Me and the other folks in my group did our Accounting II assignment today. It was quite an exhausting job, but when I found out (to my slight amazement) that the Business School's computer terminal room was packed with lots of people in the same situation, I was relieved. We were not alone.

Nevertheless, I took a moment to know more about my university. I did what I enjoy the most; I went exploring.

It turned out that NTU is full of spelling errors. Some signs and announcements pasted on the school's walls will just amaze and amuse anyone who care to notice their spelling mistakes. The following are the signs that are particularly funny due to their unintended hilarious meanings.

This sign, not the Division of BioEngineering, thanks you...

Yes, I can see clearly that you girls are close to each other. And... yes, you are welcome.

[p2di][p2ph][p2sc][p2we]

Weird Day

2006-09-21T08:39:00.000+08:00

Note: This should have been posted last night, but the NTU - Blogger connection was quite dumb...

Weird day, today. It's not my Accounting II quiz; it went rather fine. It's just that the rest of the day went really wrong.

I saw the signs right from the morning: I woke up 2 hours later than scheduled. Somehow my reflexes had decided that it's a good thing to automatically turn off the alarm clocks (yes, I had two) without telling my brain. Why, reflex? Why?

Never mind, I still had 2 hours to review my quiz materials. But then there were the wild boars. Yes, wild boars passing by the field at the back of my room, 10 o'clock in the morning! FYI, there's a small wood beyond my room's window with a plain green field in front of it (see the picture below).

My "backyard"...

My room mate has been trying to convince me that wilderness is just nearby. I never really believed him until I saw the proof myself.

There was Papa Boar, Mama Boar and 6-7 Baby Boars. The smallest one was barely the size of my Epson Stylus C65 printer. That's really small. Apparently the boars didn't want me to get bored with my sulky day, so they decided to pose for a while before Papa Boar told the family to go back to the woods.

Papa Boar says hi...

I was spaced out. Instead of cheering up my day, the boars ended up making me look stupid and wasted 2 minutes of my time stupefied. I should have taken their photo...

Accounting II quiz - fine.

Then I caught myself a minor cold. Just suddenly, without any prior notice. Somehow my left nostril couldn't stop gushing out liquid. Since I could not concentrate at all in the library, doing my tutorial, I decided to go back home and sleep.

On the way home, I took the scariest 30km/hr shuttle bus ride of my life. It felt as if the back axles wanted to go off. I was sitting right on top of the back wheels, and that particular part of the bus shook violently whenever the driver accelerated and braked.

To my greatest relief, I made it home without any scratch (except the ones I made on my nose when trying to rub the snot off). I slept for one and a half hour, and I immediately felt better after waking up.

Finally, the day ended with a big spill of water in front of my door. Room mate's having his birthday and his friends were coming especially to drown him.

Hopefully tomorrow would be more 'normal'...

[p2di][p2me][p2ph]

Music Player Update 101

2006-09-20T19:54:00.000+08:00

After sitting beneath the title banner for nearly a month now, I guess my little discreet music player deserves some justice, since from the first time I put it in my blog I have never introduced it properly. So from now on, I will post updates about what I put in the playlist.

Let me introduce some of the features of my white music bar:

It is completely Flash-based, so no worries in compatibility
It will only load the music clips once you press play, so it will not take up your bandwidth if you choose not to play anything
Even if you click the play button, it will not eat up your bandwidth since the music clips are small in size (but of course, they are also in Internet quality)
You can click the rightmost small button to open the track artist's website to get more info about the song
Due to copyright reasons, I will only put a 1-minute sample of each song. So sorry, no full track, just the best bits of songs that I like. And you can't download the samples, too.
Because storage reasons, I will only put the last 20 tracks that I entered to the player. But that gives you 20 minutes of music clips, so that would be nice as well.

The reason I am putting this wonderful player is because I want to share my sense of music to the visitors of my blog. So after the testing period is over (where I never announced any updates of playlist), I have decided to upload... Love Songs as the first 5 sample tracks.

They are as follows (links are heading to Wikipedia instead of artists' website):

Minnie Riperton - Loving You
This is, in my opinion, one of the ultimate love songs. The lyrics are so simple, so honest, yet so hard to sing (unless you have a seven-octave vocal range). The song is so popular, I bet you have listened to it at one point of your life. Anyway, if you don't like Minnie's original 70's version of the song, here's a cover by Shanice with a more 90's feeling.
Jamie O'Neal - All by Myself
Also a classic, but I'm putting the cover version here, though...
10cc - I'm Not in Love
A 70's classic. I particularly love the way they created that sense of a choral background by recording their voice over and over again (just like Queen in Bohemian Rhapsody).
Diana Krall - Just the Way You Are
Originally sung by Billy Joel, Diana Krall gave her jazzy interpretation on this declaration of honesty.
Beyonce - Crazy in Love (feat. Jay-Z)
Love the melody, hate the music video (because it got no meaning whatsoever).

More updates coming soon...

[p2mp]

The Scholar, The Gambler

2006-09-16T22:06:00.000+08:00

In Singapore, most scholarships are awarded based on academic performance, past and present. Take my scholarship for example: I do not have to pay my tuition fees and I even get a living allowance that is disbursed every semester. Of course, I need to keep my grades above a certain level and, according to the conditions, I have to maintain my good behaviour and conduct.

Some scholars, unfortunately, has refused take the latter part into notice. They simply do not bother.

My friend, who lives in one of NTU's halls of residence, has a scholarship-holder as a neighbour. Due to the unique structure of his hall, my friend and his room mate share the same bathroom with Mr. Scholar and his room mate, a facility which they have to clean periodically. Naturally they would take turns because it is within their best interest to keep the bathroom squeaky clean for comfortable daily use.

According to my friend though, since they first became bathroom-mates nearly a month ago, Mr. Scholar and his room mate have never cleaned the common facility. It is always my friend or his room mate, never the other two folks behind the other bathroom door (apparently Mr. Scholar's room mate has been treating him as a role model). The two cleaners merely do that because they just cannot stand the grossness and stench of the bathroom after several days without cleaning.

A couple of weeks ago the two blokes decided to start a gross-out war. They went on a cleaning strike to see who broke down first. The bathroom ended up totally filthy, but it was the two good guys that eventually surrendered. They had to clean up the mess they had started.

You might wonder: isn't it plain stupid to include personal hygiene in the conditions of a scholarship? Well, if the benefactor is planning to fund the potential leaders of tomorrow, of course! Would you want a leader with body odour problem?

However, if you can still listen attentively to someone rather revolting without getting distracted, this other moral violation may still interest you.

Again according to my friend, Mr. Scholar's room would always be packed on Saturday nights. At least 6 persons will fill that small room. Naturally the noise of the chatters and laughs is unbearable to my friend. But it is the activity that interests me more.

They gamble. They play cards every single week.

Yes, of course with money. What else? Potato chips? For Mr. Scholar, it is very easy to guess where does the money come from. But, hey, it's his money anyway. It's my money, I can do what I want! Yes, Mr. Scholar, you do sound like Eric Cartman now. Why don't you spend your money on something else? Personal grooming isn't a bad choice.

Now we know where the budget for hygiene went to...

Nevertheless, if it were up to me, Mr. Scholar can still gamble, but only in two conditions: (a) he is researching on probability for his final year project, or (b) he is not gambling by playing cards with his friends, but by buying lottery tickets. Point (b) is still within the norms of a scholarship-holder because apparently the Singapore Totalisator Board, the body that manages the donation of surplus generated from the operation of Singapore Turf Club and Singapore Pools, is one of the university's biggest donors.

So consider it as returning the living allowance to the benefactor...

At the end of the day, I am left with one big question: should scholarship be based on more than just academic results, since not all smart people can be leaders due to their bad habits? Should the interviews include questions such as, "How often do you bathe?" Should inspectors come to check the scholars' room periodically to make sure that the dust level is humane?

What makes a good scholar?

[p2di][p2op][p2sc][p2sg]

My Coming First SG Concert

2006-09-13T00:21:00.000+08:00

The last time I went into a classical music concert was nearly a decade ago. I was still a young boy with a very naive sense of music (my affectionate purchase of a Hanson album would prove it). Nevertheless I enjoyed the experience. I wore my black lounge suit, behaved accordingly during the concert and completely loved the intermission (since apparently the snacks came with the tickets).

If my memory serves me right, it was the Nusantara Symphony Orchestra, which was then called Nusantara Chamber Orchestra. That concert was my second classical concert experience after the Vienna Boys' Choir several years before, and I had found them both very interesting (back then I did not even know that classical music is supposed to be entertaining).

About a couple of weeks ago, I decided that it was time to get another dose of live classical music when my classmate offered me to go to a concert in Esplanade. Sure, why not? That's what I thought back then. After all, besides jazz and acoustic (sob sob... still thinking about me missing the Kings of Convenience's concert back in February), classical music is a kind of music that I prefer to experience live because a pop concert will just be a mess with no exclusivity (a stadium!).

Somehow all those bits in a CD just cannot capture the whole grand experience with lots of instruments singing at the same time. Coupled with the Esplanade oncert hall's famous acoustic design, nothing could stop me from buying. Besides, there is always a student discount to help me ease the expenditure.

So here's the ticket:

It is the BBC Symphony Orchestra, one of the best orchestras in the world. Naturally, the demand to see this particular concert would be high since, according to my friend, the last time they went to Singapore was in 2002. It is an October 30 event (which is more than a month away), but my friend could not even find two coupled seats with a nice view for us to seat together less than a week after the sale started.

So we sacrificed the coupled seats for a better view (and sound).

There goes my S$42 for a purple-coloured ticket with a nice envelope. Hopefully it pays off. Well, at least some entity tried to assure me that the experience will be worth the money spent. As it is written on the envelope:

MasterCard wishes you a priceless experience

But still, I know for sure that it had cost me S$42...

[p2fu][p2me][p2mu][p2ph][p2sg]

The Customer Is Always Right

2006-09-10T20:31:00.000+08:00

I went to buy my groceries at a nearby supermarket today. As with any other public place in Singapore during weekends, the queue at the cashier was unbelievably long. The cashiers, naturally, tried to speed up transactions either by slamming the groceries into the plastic bags at a rapid speed or rushing the bags to the customers after they had paid, again at a very rapid speed.

But one customer decided to hold up the queue and claim for his rights.

This guy was using his gift certificates to pay his groceries. Unfortunately, as we all know, gift certificates do not give you change in cash if you are spending less than the amount printed on the gift certificates. So, if you use a $25 gift certificate to buy a $21 item, you will certainly lose $4 from the transaction.

Assuming that this guy got the gift certificates from somewhere (he did not buy them - what is the point in doing that?), losing money spent by someone else should not be a problem. But no, he did not want to lose even a cent from the gift certificates.

So he left his groceries at the cashier and went to the candy and batteries display. You know, those small racks usually standing right before the cashiers. Luckily I was not on that line, but it was quite amusing to see how people behind him got a bit agitated. Of course they wished that this petty purchase decision would not take long.

They were wrong.

This guy hovered from packs of Kit Kats to boxes of Tic Tacs. After deciding which flavour of Tic Tac he wanted to buy, he picked a box and moved back to the cashier. The entire line was relieved. But then he changed his mind, and the whole line went unhappy again.

He put the Tic Tac. This time he went for colourful line of Ricola boxes. After realising that cough drops was not his favourite after all, the guy resorted to Mentos. Then again he pondered on which flavour to buy.

Almost a dozen of staring eyes apparently did not affect him in any way, nor the cashier that started to shake her head out of disbelief.

After contemplating for another moment, the guy resorted to his primal instinct: he settled on a pack of Durex and, without further consideration, walked back to the cashier.

[p2di][p2sg]

A Day in the Life

2006-09-08T01:18:00.000+08:00

Excerpt from The Beatles' song, A Day in the Life:

Woke up, fell out of bed,
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup,
And looking up I noticed I was late.
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke,
Somebody spoke and I went into a dream

Sounds more like a day in my life...

[p2me][p2mu][p2ra][p2vi]

The Science Embarassador

2006-09-07T00:41:00.000+08:00

Starting yesterday, 1,113 students from Indonesian elementary, junior high and high schools have gathered in the city of Semarang to crack their heads and earn a PhD (Permanent head Damage) in science. Yup, it is the annual National Science Olympics where you can find Indonesia's brightest young minds in one confined area.

So the organisers better set up fool-proof security measures, in case the Russian mafia try to blow up the place and transform one generation of Indonesians to dumbs.

However, every time they do the Science Olympics, a big irony will always creep into everyone's mind. In reality, there is such a big disparity between those stars at Semarang, and those who got left behind all over Indonesia.

Yes, as a guy who has experienced 3 curriculum changes in about 10 years, I must say that I am not happy with the education system in Indonesia. I know that so many people have babbled about this until they become so tired, but someone have to add the pressure again since all the pressure we gave for the past years were only reciprocated with hot air.

Take my university, NTU, for example. They can accept an Indonesian high school student even before he / she finishes the high school final exam. How do they do it? They conduct their own entrance examination. So does all universities in Indonesia, including those that are government-owned.

So what if someone managed to get into a good university but flunk the high school final exam? Too bad, no matter how good your grades are for the past 3 long years in high school, you still can't get into a university. Apparently the government thinks that those entrance examinations are stoopid since they can't repel these supposedly dumb people. Did you feel something was off? I did. But I'm too lazy too elaborate; maybe some other time. In the meantime, you can search the Internet to find some pundit's writing on that matter.

Back to wunderkinder of Indonesia. Of course, the winners of this event will be sent to their respective international science olympics according to subject. When they all go there, the whole world will be so impressed and think that all Indonesians are that well-educated.

Me? I'm quite embarassed on how messed up the education system is. Those winners, whom I applaud for their gift, are merely the tip of the iceberg. Down below, it's all yellow snow.

[p2in][p2op][p2ra]

On The News 103

2006-09-03T02:25:00.000+08:00

Another update from The Grand Mud Pool of Sidoarjo, East Java: the regency will lose another 300 hectares of land since the government has decided to enlarge the pool used to contain the mud. Sidoarjo had earlier lost 150 hectares for the current pool, which apparently is just not enough to hold the never-ending flow of earthly fluid.

At this point, I guess the question is no longer, "When will the mud flow stop?" but rather, "Will our planet earth turn inside-out?"

Meanwhile, two domestic airlines received a bomb threat on their fleet, on exactly the same day. The first airline, which received both threats via fax, had to delay its flight in order to screen all the passengers. Fortunately, the threat turned out as a hoax.

Both fax messages from the threat... er... givers claimed that both aircrafts would be blown to pieces by a certain Russian mafia group with the initials of "RI". The messages said that this group is particularly famous in their home country and is currently on top of KGB and FBI's Most-Wanted List. Apparently, still according to the message, this group specialises in bombing aircrafts back in Russia.

I wonder whether "RI" stands for "Random Indonesian", and why on earth would a Russian mafia organisation bomb planes in Indonesia? In Indonesia! What do we have against them? Last time I checked, they do drug-trafficking as a main business.

Clearly someone has been watching too much mafia films...

Or maybe those two airlines used their fleet to deliver drugs without permission from this "RI" group? Well, who knows? But as far as mafia films are concerned, mafias don't send faxes. They set up gruelling death scenes and execute them without warning.

On a more hopeful note, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and biologists announced that they have found indications of the birth of four Javan rhinos in the Ujung Kulon National Park, Banten. Everyone should be happy since Javan rhinos are considered to be the rarest large mammal in the world, with fewer than 60 alive.

Let's just hope this announcement doesn't get heard by the poachers...

[p2on]

The Scanner Holds Many Secrets...

2006-09-01T14:08:00.000+08:00

Several days ago I went to one of the libraries in NTU to scan some stuffs. It's amazing how a public scanning station can store so much confidential information. Yup, I took the liberty to prowl through the 'My Documents' folder of the computer.

Basically, the station (a scanner + normal PC) requires no login. Anyone can scan anything there, then print, email or store the scanned document into a removable storage. However, some of them apparently forgot to delete their scanned document from the computer's internal storage. Most of the abandoned file could be found in 'My Documents', while the rest in 'Recycle Bin'. It turned out that most people don't quite understand that your files can still be revived from the 'Recycle Bin'.

So what did I find? Someone's academic transcript, that's for sure. Probably he / she was scanning it to apply for a job. A passport! Wow, I could do something malicious with that. Lecture notes (complete with additional handwritings), done by someone who clearly had been skipping lectures.

No one was foolish enough to scan a credit card, though...

This scanner reminded me of a case that happened several years ago in Indonesia: boy met girl, boy got hooked up with girl, boy decided to make a homemade porn video with girl, boy went to a shop to encode the tape to VCD, boy turned off the screen while encoding so no one would see, boy deleted the file in the computer after burning it to a CD, but boy forgot that there's 'Recycle Bin'. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy...

So, people, whenever you use such a public facility, always remember to wipe all of your traces. You must even wipe all of your traces from your own mobile phone nowadays, in case it got stolen. Who knows? Countless number of people have found their most private videos circulating on the Internet, just days after their camera-equipped phone got stolen.

Therefore, act wisely. Don't even trust your phone, let alone some public facility that can store your most important stuffs.

[p2di][p2ra][p2te]

Band of Case-Solvers

2006-08-28T23:27:00.000+08:00

Let me explain why I have been away from blogging for nearly a week: I have been really busy. Yes, you are welcome to tell me that the expression is overused, cliché and all, but it is true. Other than painstakingly trying to comprehend my Actuarial subjects, I have been involved in yet another competition.

This time it is no debate competition as some of you might have guessed. I have decided to immerse myself into a competition that I had never joined before: a business case competition.

Yup, my friends and I formed a team of 4 and basically had to solve real-life business cases within a very tight time limit. At the preliminary round of the NBS Case Competition, which was two weekends ago, we had 36 hours to make a two-page report plus an executive summary for Singapore Airlines. After working in many places around the school, including tutorial rooms, a canteen and a Hall TV lounge, we completed everything less than 20 hours before deadline (so much for the time limit).

We found that Tutorial Rooms are particularly cozy to work in. Of course, this act of vandalism was not done by any of us.

We magically made it to the Quarterfinals, despite of our team's name that was quite lame. It was lame simply because we took the name Synergy (after an overdose of The Apprentice) and apparently someone else in the pool of participants also thought that the name would be a good idea, too. Lucky for us, we're Synergy, and that other team was Synergy (2).

The Men in Black

The Quarterfinals were conducted last weekend. The case with a 24-hour deadline was officially released on Friday, 9.45am for us. However, due to conflicting schedules with our classes, work only started effectively at 3 o'clock in the afternoon and went on for the next 12 hours. I practically slept for only 3.5 hours before we present our recommendations for yet another Singapore Airlines case to a panel of judges.

It seemed that everything we did was wrong. The judges scrutinised our presentation content from all directions. However, I knew that there is no such thing as a bulletproof case (a thing I learnt from debating) and the judges were there to rebut everything we said. After all, that was partly why they were there.

I was tired, but I still had to go to a Toastmasters event in the afternoon. However, our work paid off; we made it into the Semifinals, which will be held in one month time. It was quite surprising since we only joined the competition to get a taste of experience from the preliminary (which we thought we would not pass). It turned out that when you think of winning too much, you tend to forget how to win.

Hopefully I can fix my other side of life while waiting for that next challenge to come. I was referring to my academic life: it is time to put proper power and concentration into it.

Signing off...

[p2me][p2ph][p2sc]

Technology? LOL...

2006-08-21T23:25:00.000+08:00

No matter how innovative or technologically-advanced an Information Technology project is, it will always fail when users cannot or don't want to use it. Some may feel it's too complicated to use; it's just not user-friendly. The others may feel that the project is completely redundant or, even worse, useless.

Earlier today, my Accounting II lecturer decided to give a new meaning to the word "Technology" in our university's name for Business School students. She introduced the SMS Query system for our lecture. Students were enabled to text anything to a particular number, then the message will be displayed on the big screen in the lecture theatre during the breaks.

Of course, the system had not gone advanced yet in order to manifest itself as running text on the bottom part of the screen or a sidebar. The reason was logical: students would be paying attention to the messages instead of the lecture.

According to the lecturer, the reason of installing such cool facility was the lack of two-way communication between the lecturer and the students. Therefore, students were encouraged to send in questions. We were allowed to send anything else, too. Yup, anything, even jokes will do. The lecturer said that the system had successfully been implemented in School of Computer Engineering lectures, so Accounting II students should be able to utilise this system to the max.

The good thing about this system is it's completely anonymous. So there's nothing to be ashamed of in case you ask something stupid. To prove her point, our lecturer sent a test message to the system. It immediately appeared on the screen:

Query: Mrs. ABC says hi.

The entire class gave a big awe. The thing worked! And no name mentioned, too. But then everything went awry as the next message was really far from what constitutes as a question.

Query: cool lol

This time everyone burst into a big laugh. Other messages were even less serious.

Query: I like the girl in the red shirt.
Query: ***********************************

The last one was actually not a line of stars. The reason I'm not disclosing it here is because it was a rather racist joke that I don't intend to share. Turned out that being anonymous felt really good for certain people.

By the end of the lecture, no one posted any question.

Query: Wat the hack?

Only those types of messages. At this point, I really doubt that the SMS system will still be used in the next lecture, since response had been quite comical.

[p2di][p2sc][p2te]

The Freshmen Business

2006-08-19T09:49:00.000+08:00

In one of my previous posts, I wrote about how companies can capitalise on Freshmen Initiation / Orientation events in Indonesia by making product-selling one of the tasks given by the seniors. It turns out there is another business opportunity; this time more suitable for those who prefer to run a home industry or a small-scale production line.

As usual, Indonesia's Freshmen Orientation activities are all about doing and making the unthinkables. Right from the start, a freshman has to follow a certain quirky dresscode. Although most college authorities will deny, most of the time it includes gift-wrapping ribbons on the girls' hair and backpacks made of flour or rice sacks. Moreover, freshmen have to bring strange stuffs every day. Be it a baked toast of certain brand, a certain brand of candy, a list of all the news from a certain news programme, or a photo of the freshman standing in front of a police station with his / her pajama on.

Good news, freshmen! Now you can buy all of those required items at a very convenient, one-stop location: just outside the briefing hall. Yup, an article from The Jakarta Post that I read today says that street-side vendors are tapping on this very lucrative business. They are willing to sell all of those items you don't want to make or find through the usual, hard way.

And they're affordable, too... Items are sold ranging from Rp 1.000,- to Rp 10.000,- (about 10 cents to US$ 1). With such low prices, no wonder many freshmen use this very convenient facility. Besides, who wants to waste time and go through all the trouble. Certainly everyone would want some quality time.

That's why this is a perfectly good business. The article says that one group of traders can make up to Rp 1 million in one campus. And yes, they're opening everywhere.

However, bear in mind it's impossible for them to sell you the pajama photo. The best they can do is to provide a nice pajama for you to take to the police station. I don't know whether they provide the camera, though...

But how on earth would they know the required items even before they are released to the freshmen? Turns out they have an insider in the committee telling them what to manufacture. Of course this person would not walk away empty-handed. Commission? For sure!

So, it's a perfectly fine thing to do if you want to tap on this seasonal opportunity. It's only once a year, so you can revert to your New Year's trumpets business afterwards. Besides, as one of the freshmen says:

"Our senior wanted us to be creative in making these things ourselves, but if there are people who can provide them at affordable prices, why bother,"

The tasks have finally lost their point. But hey, as long as you can make money, it's okay. And for Orientation committees out there, you better catch that mole who decided to make a fortune out of this business. Or you can just make the deal with the vendors yourself. That way, it will benefit all committee members. It's a very good win-win solution between the committee and the vendors, ain't it?

[p2di][p2in][p2sc]

On The News 102

2006-08-16T08:59:00.000+08:00

Newest update from The Grand Mud Pool of Sidoarjo, East Java: the hole just keeps gushing out hot fluids. To think about it again, it's not new at all. That earth-penetrating hole has been constantly producing a never-ending stream of mud since May 29 this year; just like Old Faithful with diarrhea.

The school kids, for example, have now developed the habit of dropping off in class and passing in late homework. No wonder, they have to take army trucks to school every day. Of course that would not be necessary if their old school had not been completely submerged in mud. If you thought school was bad, it's nothing compared to losing your education because of the immense force of nature. Wait, was it nature? Oh yeah, it was a drilling accident.

As thousands of residents from the 8 villages are in the line of threat of being permanently relocated, the local regent is planning to turn the submerged villages into a giant dam to contain the massive flow of mud. Of course, that would mean that Sidoarjo will have the world's biggest pond of mud in the near future.

The damned dam might turn out to be the next big thing in ecotourism. Yup, Sidoarjo's local officials should conduct a study to the town of Butte, Montana, USA to assess that possibility. There they have the Berkeley Pit, which is (according to my limited knowledge) the biggest body of contaminated water in the world.

Quite similiar to The Grand Mud Pool of Sidoarjo, East Java, this pit started off as a mining accident. It is so polluted with metal that "mining" on the water has been done. The interesting thing about this pit is that scientists have found some evolved organisms (thanks to the pit's condition) that might be used in the future to fight cancer cells! Keep it up, Indonesia; you might find the cure for AIDS.

And yes, Berkeley Pit is a tourist attraction. If you don't believe it, watch this following clip from The Daily Show:

[p2on]

Bye Bye Cullum

2006-08-15T01:51:00.000+08:00

After one full day of planning and 7 hours of non-stop work in front of my trustworthy notebook PC, I finally completed the facelift effort for this blog. Say goodbye to my old blog template, Cullum.

And please join me in welcoming version 1.1 of the template, which I affectionately call Feist (after the singer, of course).

Technically speaking, what I did was a rearrangement of the codes provided by the PsycHo Template Generator. If you peek into the source code, it's still the complete mess from the 1.0 era. I moved the menu bar over to the left side and align the whole blog to the left. Now it looks more like a proper website.

I also dumped the Google Search component (which was completely redundant), and threw in 4 new banners to decorate the blog (I just love these new creations). I also enlarged the text areas by throwing away unnecessary borders.

Note, however, that Feist is still in her beta stage. I'll do bug-checking if time allows me, but for now it looks quite good. Please shout on the shoutbox if you find any bug.

Unfortunately, the layout bug on IE (where the second column gets pushed downward below the first column) in still present (reminiscent of Cullum, I guess). I don't know what's wrong, but I've been reading reports that IE doesn't actually comply with the correct HTML standards. Not my bad; there's nothing I can do. So far it only affects pages with wide pictures and / or video.

Enjoy Feist! And please shout it out if you have comments on this new template.

[p2me][p2mi][p2ph][p2si]

Bold & Bald

2006-08-12T22:03:00.000+08:00

In a society where competition gets fiercer each and every day, you have to be bold in order to get noticed, to be distinguished from the ordinaries, to get advancements in life. There are many ways to show your boldness. Some exhibit their competence to show that they're good, should be trusted, ought to get a raise. Some use their baldness, because anyone can easily spot a boldly-shaved head among a well-haired crowd. Some, strangely, try to get noticed by showing a bald action of bold ignorance.

One example presented itself to me yesterday. I was sending an email in one of the libraries in NTU when this guy on another computer picked up his mobile phone. I do receive phone calls in libraries now and then, because it's such an inevitable thing unless you want to disconnect yourself whenever you enter a library. But I usually keep the volume very low, whispering and immediately asking the caller to call back or keep it really brief unless it's dead important.

This guy decided to be bold. Despite of his approximately 7 metres distance from me, I could clearly hear what he said, although I could not understand any word because of the language he used. It seemed that he thought he was in the middle of a shopping centre, where slight screaming becomes necessary in taking phone calls.

I thought he wouldn't be long. I was wrong. Throughout the 10 minutes I spent sending my email, he chatted happily with the person at the other end of the conversation, sometimes laughing so hard he bugged everyone even worse.

Apparently, this guy thought that it was his right to talk oh-so-loudly in the library. When some concerned, pestered, and bold people let out a big "Ssshhh!!!", he simply gave the "What have I done wrong?" look back. In the end he even gave the "What the f@%#?" look.

Oh, please! I know that we are supposed to respect individual rights, but it was a library! You don't have the right to shout in a library unless it's an emergency. This guy clearly knew no boundaries, in a rather derogatory way though.

He was either ignorant, or simply needed his own small 3x3 m country to impose his own rules.

So there you go: a reminder that your rights can be limited by other people's.

On a lighter note, here's a vignette from The Daily Show that shows us that being a stubborn selfish ignorant is simply stupid. It's reported by Stephen Colbert (read: coal-bear), a fictional, comedic news reporter portrayed by real-life comedian Stephen Colbert (this time you read the "t").

To get you interested, it's about some people in the US who feel discriminated because they are smokers. Yup, they want to be allowed to smoke everywhere. Watch it through the end, and you'll love the satirical edge. By the way, I have found reports by Colbert to be really funny at times. I hope there will be such a smart comedian like that in Indonesia in the future. Sure there will be so many issues to cover and satirise. Here's the video:

Please note that although it's a comedy show, all the interviewee are real people, not some character spoofed by some actor. That's perfectly why it's really funny.

So remember, be considerate or... be bald!

[p2di][p2op][p2sc][p2vi]

On The News 101

2006-08-09T23:33:00.000+08:00

Indonesian Supreme Court chief Bagir Manan said that the most important part of a corruption investigation was the return of the stolen money, rather than the punishment of the corruptor.

Should the money be returned with interest? If not, that would be a great way to "borrow" money without any interest charged. Clearly someone needs to learn about the power of compounding...

He also said that there was no need to name suspects in the case of the flow of toxic mud from PT. Lapindo Brantas' gas well in Sidoarjo, East Java, since the most important thing was that the company had compensated local residents for the losses they had suffered.

So now in Indonesia any company can dump toxic waste and / or pollute the environment until it becomes unrecoverable, as long as they pay for it. Finally we have found a great way to get more money: green tax (green as in green toxic goos you normally see in comic books).

Off from the Chief Justice to the Tangerang Regency (a regency just next to Jakarta) who have just received donated garbage trucks, fire engines and excavators from Japan. The old vehicles, mostly built around 1993 - 1996, have drawn complaints from local council members because the instructions labelling are all written in hiragana. It turned out that the Rp 4.3 billion (approx. US$ 470,000) spent on transporting the vehicles to Indonesia didn't cover for labelling.

Of course, they did it so that they can milk more money from the budget to train the operators basic Japanese...

[p2on]

On The News

2006-08-09T22:58:00.000+08:00

Today is Singapore's National Day; naturally, I had a day off from school. Upon reading news about Indonesia on one of Indonesia's major newspapers' website, I stumbled upon this idea of putting comments about the news in my own blog.

My own "On The News" segment was born. Basically, I will post several summaries of news taken from Indonesian newspapers' websites and put my own twist of wickedness. It will all be archived under one category, so you can always look on the sidebar for past posts.

Of course I won't be able to post this segment on a daily basis; frequency is subject to free time and mood. But I'll try my best. Here goes nothing...

[p2fu][p2me][p2mi][p2on]

First Day All Over Again

2006-08-07T22:50:00.000+08:00

How kiasu can you be on the first day of the new academic year? For me, revising in the library until it closes is only a hairline away from the boundary between being a hard-working person and a kiasu. No, I didn't do such thing today. There was simply no power. After a considerably overwhelming introduction to some of the subjects I'll be taking this semester, and after realising that my Actuarial Science course is a 4-year course that got compressed to a 2-year one, I needed time to step back and take a bird's-eye view on everything.

I read Persuasion by James Borg instead. The subtitle on the cover says, "The Art of Influencing People" The book surely has influenced me to turn and read over the pages, so I'm expecting to continue reading tomorrow. It sure beats my course materials regarding to the degree of boredom produced, but sooner (no later) I would have to do my coursework. I got to set my priorities right.

I also provided support for my Toastmasters club this afternoon by manning our booth at the university's Extracurricular Activity Fair. More than 200 people registered for our Welcome Tea (a.k.a. Demonstration Meeting), but past year experience has shown that no more than 40% of them will attend, and even a lower percentage will end up joining the club. The Fair continues tomorrow, we're hoping to allure more people into signing up.

Moving chronologically backward to a brighter (and wicked) note, I would like to share my experience this morning that taught me that sometimes you need some sort of a psychic power when communicating. As usual, I was walking towards the southern half of the campus where Nanyang Business School is located. Out of the blue a girl literally shouted at me with a very typical Singaporean accent.

"Business, ah?"

What happened to the "get someone's attention first before you ask questions" part of the conversation? Never mind. It seemed that this girl had efficiently attracted my attention and delivered her question all in one go. But there came the problemo: what does the question mean?

Using the still-sleepy part of my brain, I immediately conjured several alternatives for the meaning:

Is your name "Business"?
Do you want to do business with me?
Is this the way to the Business school?
Are you a Business student?
Are you a businessman?
Are you trying to mess around with me?

Naturally, I didn't have any supernatural power to peek what's inside her brain. So I threw back a similarly quick answer.

"Yep."

[p2me][p2sc][p2sg][p2wo]

Keep Your Children Away From Indonesian TVs

2006-08-05T00:31:00.000+08:00

Off to the movies we shall go,
Where we learn everything that we know.
Because the movies teach us what our parents don't have time to saaay!!!

Mountain Town, song from the film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

Finally, after a grueling 9 hours of travel (including settling my accommodation in campus) and another 9 hours to unpack and arrange everything in place, I have settled properly in Singapore for the second time (the first time was during the start of my first year).

It certainly feels as if I'm a first year student, since I'm moving to a new hall and I have to arrange my personal space from scratch. I would not bore the readers of this post by describing how I unpacked and set up my Epson printer, however. I would like to share my experience that happened a few days ago.

I was going through a haircut for economic reasons (as a haircut in Singapore costs you S$ 10 while it only costs Rp 10.000 (S$ 2) at the barber near my house) when I saw the television on the barbershop. It was some local channel, one of my few exposures since I'd been feeding myself mainly HBO and AXN during the holiday.

What's on screen immediately shocked me. It was a sinetron, the Indonesian breed of soap opera. It was meant for kids and shown on the evening, so it's supposed to be educational. Yup, many parents now trust either the nanny or the TV, or sometimes both, to educate their children because they don't have time as the quote above have said. In this case Indonesian TVs, letting your children watch alone can be ultimately detrimental.

Here's what was on the devilish box: an elementary school kid. That's usual. How about an elementary school kid giving his school a bomb threat via phone? Even the most ignorant parent would say that it's very unusual. The motive of terrorising the school? He just wants to go home quickly.

I know it sounds paranoid, but children are known to sometimes replicate things they see on TV when parents don't (or can't, because they don't monitor their children's TV usage) provide the moral buffer.

That's really educating...

And the language! I didn't even find such language being used by what considered to be the rudest high school kids in Indonesia. Maybe you can find a high school kid with such bad language, but when they do it on elementary school kids in national broadcast, they're trying to standardise badness all over the country.

Really, this is serious. Kids, stay away from Indonesian TVs. They will only turn you into society rejects.

[p2di][p2in][p2is][p2me][p2op]

Ubud Part 2: Pork N Paintings

2006-08-01T23:14:00.000+08:00

One good thing that happened to me in Bali was the presence of the seemingly-unlimited supply of good local food. Of course, this might not apply to those who are naive enough to go through a gastronomic adventure with a sensitive stomach. That's why, other than local cuisines, there was also a huge supply of Western and Asian food present everywhere. I even spotted one Mexican restaurant just nearby my hotel.

What's the use of going so far away to Bali and eat a bunch of Pizzas in the end? Well, if your belly won't cooperate, I suppose there is no other way than to comply. You're better off sightseeing with a calm belly.

My aunt recommended this following eating place on the way to the hotel. It was a warung, not a fancy restaurant, but rather a stall under a shed with lots of long benches and huge tables. It served grilled stuffs plus rice, chips ("fries" for Americans), or salad. It's owned by an American, with lots of travel memorabilia hanging on the wall. It's called Nuri's, but most of the locals dropped one part of the name and called the place Nuris instead. In Indonesian slangamajig, the new pronunciation can be interpreted as touristing, which in turn means more-or-less "doing what to tourist does".

Mum and I ordered spare ribs and pork chops, one serving each. We thought they were individual portions. We were wrong, partially though.

Yes, they were individual portions, but no, they were not meant for our rather small Asian stomachs. Nevertheless, we finished all of them (plus chips and rice) and we barely had the power to walk home. Out guts were lagging behind.

The following morning, we went to the Neka Museum, just adjacent to Nuri's. It housed so many paintings and several sculptures; we only skimmed through all of them and barely spent our time really paying attention. Most of the paintings were of Balinese style, old and new, local and foreign painters who fell in love with the style.

Speaking of Balinese paintings, this post won't be complete without showing one example. Here's one painting in the museum that I particularly like.

Excerpt from the accompanying info tag:

Abdul Aziz (1928-2003; Purwokerto, Central Java)
MUTUAL ATTRACTION (SALING TERTARIK), 1974, 1975
oil on canvas, 122 x 45 cm each
Although painted separately, these two works were put together as a single piece in 1980 by Neka Museum founder Suteja Neka after he noticed that the man appeared to be admiring the woman.

Other than Neka, there are two more museums that I know of in Ubud that house paintings. Besides the museums, there are also individual galleries where you can buy paintings from myriads of price range, from the cheapest high-detail portrait to a completely abstract charcoal scratches that sells for $ 1 million.

Interesting...

This post ends my chain of posts about Bali. Will go back to normal mode from now on...

[p2di][p2in][p2me][p2ph][p2tr]

Ubud Part 1: Bed N Beads

2006-07-30T13:26:00.000+08:00

Although we spent most of our time visiting relatives, Mum and I actually managed to spend one night doing what tourists usually do: stay in a hotel and go sightseeing. We stayed in Ubud, the arts and culture town of the island. There you can find wooden carvings, paintings, as well as traditional garments on the market. The place was green and quiet with lots of rice fields; that explains why most Japanese go there while the Australians prefer to remain partying in Kuta.

However, technically speaking, we didn't spend the night in Ubud. We went to Tjampuhan, the neighbouring village, instead. They still got the right to call themselves "Ubud", though, for tourism industry purposes. The reason? I got a treat from my aunt to stay in her hotel, so the option of staying in downtown Ubud suddenly became economically-unfriendly. After all, this village got quite some interesting arty things as well; that's why this post is a two-parter.

Kori Ubud, the hotel which we were staying in, was surrounded by rice fields that provided the eye-candy needed so much by every tourist that decides to go to the island. It was built on a sloped land, and we stayed on the highest room with the widest view. It's got a restaurant, a bar, a two-deck swimming pool, a spa, a jacuzzi and bathrooms almost as large as their respective bedrooms.

Yup, it's a quiet, 12-rooms exclusive hotel meant for couples, especially honeymooners (the staffs will spread flowers all over your bed and tub if you order the honeymoon package). Sorry, no partying or running kids, but you're in for a treat if you demand a nice retreat from the hustle and bustle of our hectic world.

Food-wise, it was great. I particularly liked their rendition of Balinese fried banana, which had a very-crispy crust although it was not deep-fried. In the end I managed to get the recipe from the chef but until now I've been failing over and over again in recreating it at home. Too bad...

The above is a shot from my porch to one of the other rooms (no worries, no one's staying there so it was perfectly legal). Friends, feel free to contact me whenever you want to stay there with a preferential price, heh heh... (but really, I'm serious)

Staying near Ubud also meant easy access to arty souvernirs. Luckily, the beads shop was just across the street from our hotel.

They got necklaces, earrings, bracelets, even belts with beads. There were literally hundreds of different items and after almost an hour I bought several bracelets for my female friends in Singapore (but guys are also welcomed to ask from me, just in case). So all of you interested can start asking the moment I'm back in that other island (of course, while stock lasts).

To be continued...

[p2in][p2me][p2ph][p2re][p2tr]

Clap When You Land

2006-07-25T22:54:00.000+08:00

I've noticed something peculiar on the last three flights I've taken recently (Singapore-Jakarta, Jakarta-Bali, Bali-Jakarta), whenever the aircraft landed. The moment the aircraft reached its taxi speed (right after that scary braking sequence), I heard clapping noise from all corners of the passenger cabin.

Apparently the passengers were not clapping their hands because of the really smooth landings (unfortunately they were not). They were not clapping because they were glad they had made it alive, either. It was not even their hands that made such sounds. It was their seat belts.

Everybody was unbuckling at the same time, as if they had been strapped with a hot wire to a tarantula-infested seat.

Hold on, now. Why unbuckle? Didn't the flight attendant told everyone not to unbuckle before the aircraft stopped completely?

Contemplating...

Running cost-benefit analysis...

Still contemplating...

And still haven't found the answer...

No matter how you look at it, the benefit of unbuckling cannot outweight its dreadful consequences. Even when an airplane is taxiing, it can still be turned upside-down by a sudden heavy wind, bursting tires, engine failure, etc. There's always a risk. Even if someone can prove that there is no danger associated whatsoever with unbuckling right after the plane lands, doing so is still, apparently, pointless.

What are you going to do after you unbuckle anyway? Jump like crazy because you've made it? Get your overhead luggage with hastle and beat everyone else to the door? Or maybe get your PSP and continue your game because taxiing takes too long? What about going over to the flight deck and steer the aircraft yourself?

Well, sometimes logic escapes even the crowd...

[p2di][p2op][p2tr][p2we]

Twisted Turn Signal Logic

2006-07-22T20:19:00.000+08:00

Note: I just went back yesterday after a five-day holiday in Bali with Mum. This and the following few posts will attempt to recount the various quirky and/or interesting stuffs I encountered during my stay at the Island of The Gods.

Nowadays, all cars and motorbikes have amber lights as turn signals. Long gone have the days of waving your hands whenever you want to go left or right.

Motorists in Bali, in general, are very particular about this safety-related function of a vehicle. Whenever they head to an intersection, they will oblige by the rules and flash their turn signals accordingly.

The left amber lights whenever they want to go left, and the right amber lights whenever they want to go right.

What if they want to go forward, i.e. cross the intersection?

They flash them all. In other words, they use the hazard warning lights, symbolised by the red switch with a white triangle on it, present in every single modern car.

This, I found, is a super-strange logic that nobody out of the island has ever thought of. I wonder what's the meaning of flashing all those lights, except for, "Watch out, HAZARD crossing the intersection!"

"Who? The Dukes?"

I wonder whether people in motorbikes will flap their ~~wings~~ arms ~~and fly~~ to signal the other road users. So far I've never seen any rider or passenger doing so. Hopefully not, especially for those in control of the handlebars...

[p2di][p2in][p2tr][p2we]

Things You Do With The Menu

2006-07-15T00:16:00.000+08:00

Thursday was Mum's birthday and to celebrate, the whole family went for a fancy Chinese dinner. The food was nice, but I won't be writing here unless I discovered something wicked. Here's what I found written at the last page of the restaurant's menu book.

For those who are not able to read the Chinese characters nor understand Indonesian, the writing said, "NOTE: THIS MENU BOOK COSTS RP. 500.000" To put the price into perspective, a normal pack of breakfast toast (with 10-12 loaves of bread inside) would cost you around Rp 4.000,-. In other words, Rp 500.000,- is a really hefty fine (especially when you imagine the mountain of bread you can trade) if you decide to make the menu disappears.

But still, the note is still funny in a way because they could always write, "NOTE: DAMAGING OR STEALING THIS MENU BOOK WILL COST YOU RP. 500.000" instead. Why should they let the customers read between the lines? Or maybe they were simply boasting about the amount of money they spent just to print that one copy of the menu. I wonder whether the big decorative letters in the menu were made of real gold if the price was really that amount. Doubt it.

Finally, that note lead me to the final question, "Who would be crazy enough to risk Rp 500.000,- and try to abuse the menu?" Several possibilities came to my mind:

Those who feel that they would be better off stealing the menu and look at the beautiful and "tasty" pictures printed in it every day, rather than spending fancy amount of money to buy the actual food. Of course, this will only apply if one has a humongous part of the brain dedicated to imagine.
Those who have similar restaurant businesses, believe that a beautifully-crafted menu will influence the buying-decision of customers and are wondering why on earth this particular restaurant is selling big.
Those who have similar restaurant businesses, believe that pictures in a beautifully-crafted menu will influence the buying decision of customers and acknowledge that actual appearance may differ. These people would steal the menu just to cut and paste the pictures into their own menu books to decieve customers.
Those who collect menu books and cards from various restaurants and are still having an ample of space inside their special glass cabinet, dedicated to the most expensive of the collection items.
Those who want really nice pictures to decorate their walls, notebooks, ring-binders, etc.
Those kids who really want to see their parents crying over losing money on stupid stuffs.
And finally... those cheapskate thrillseekers or people with criminal tendency with simply too much money yet so little creativity.

Anyone else?

[p2di][p2in][p2ph][p2tr]

Ordinaryman

2006-07-13T12:36:00.000+08:00

Why Superman? Why on earth would lots and lots of people spend their money just to see The Man of Steel in action? Well, because he's SUPERman!

Imagine a storyline involving an alternative superhero. Call him Ordinaryman for a change. After five years away from the society he used to live in (taking an extra year in university, perhaps, despite of his labourous attempt to study all the time just to get a Bachelors degree), Ordinaryman discovers that everything has changed around him. The girl who used to be his girlfriend has married someone else (who superhumanly has gained a Masters degree in those five years).

To cut short, he ultimately finds out that the world has moved on without him. High-paying jobs are already taken by people who didn't take the extra year to complete their degree, while low-paying ones are being outsourced overseas.

Ordinaryman then decides to find his place again in the society, but to no avail. He just can't find a job as there are always (a) people requesting the same pay but offering higher qualification, or (b) people offering the same qualification but requesting lower pay. In the end, Ordinaryman is just a homeless guy who resents globalisation...

You wouldn't want to pay for that in any given cineplex. It's just not entertaining for most of us who demand films that don't keep us thinking philosophically after seeing them. Well, some arty people would love such films, but let's not digress.

The point is, people love extraordinary or unusual things. That's how people in the entertainment industry gain their huge amount of income. Even in those things labeled as "Reality Show", there's always at least one set of circumstances that differentiates them from the real "Reality", be it the atmosphere of competition, the different boundary of sanity, or simply the presence of a seemingly unlimited amount of money, which results in an outrageous cast who doesn't know how to spend them without wreaking havoc.

Back to the extraordinary or unusual things, it has been proven by numerous theories that people always try to associate themselves with the films they're seeing. The audience is always pulled by the film to imagine together, to establish a certain bond with the story or character(s) of the film that is often associated with common dreams (What if I can fly?). In short, films enables us to partly experience the things that we may never have or do. That's why they sell.

And that's why Ordinaryman would never sell big, because most of the target audience would experience the things shown in the feature. To extend the conclusion, that's why Indonesian TV dramas would always depict the super-unrealistic high-class life with too-stupid-to-be-true scenarios, and that's why Superman's story would never sell in Krypton because everyone is just like him.

That explains why Aquaman never makes it big. After all, he only has superhuman strenghts, durability, endurance, etc. Hey, what's so special about those powers? Oh yeah, he can also breathe underwater and communicate with all sea creatures. Yeah, right. Those trips to the "Fresh Seafood" section in the supermarket must have been so dreadful to him, I'm surprised he hasn't gone insane until now. No wonder he got parodied so many times.

Finally... All those theories will at least ensure that most Kryptonians are seeing or have seen Ordinaryman Returns as you're reading this post...

PS: To add, I want to point out that Superman might have been the earliest form of outsourcing depicted in comic books. After all, Metropolis' police force would have been jobless when Superman catches even the pettiest criminal.

[p2fi][p2fu][p2ra]

It Takes Two

2006-07-08T19:52:00.000+08:00

Sleuth (Twentienth Century Fox, 1972, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz) is probably the film with the least number of real cast that I have ever seen. I write "real cast" here because out of the 6 members mentioned in the opening credits, 4 are imaginary: one is a real cast in his second role in the film (his name is written in anagram to create an illusion of another actor playing the part), 2 are only mentioned and the last one is merely represented by a painting.

The two real actors seen in the DVD cover above, however, are apparently enough to stop this film from becoming a dull and boring 138 minutes. There's Laurence Olivier, regarded by many as the greatest actor of the 20^th century, who virtually dominated the screen as Andrew Wyke, an award-winning mystery writer who got so obsessed with games-playing. For those who don't know Olivier, he's that main villain who was digitally created (just like Marlon Brando in Superman Returns) in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

In Sleuth, Wyke invites his wife's lover to his Cloak Mansion (complete with a labyrinth that completely set the tone of the film when it is shown in the beginning) to play an elaborate game that is actually a part of his diabolical plan to humiliate this young lover.

The lover, Italian Milo Tindle, is played in turn by Michael Caine who was really a junior actor if compared to Olivier. Even back then he had shown that he would be an actor of great versatility, as he plays a second role in this film. No wonder he's now known as a senior actor who lent his power of love and care to Christian Bale, as the butler Alfred, in Batman Begins.

Put the two together in a finely-created indoor set of the Mansion (the only other set beside the outdoor labyrinth, complete with cluttered stuffs and oddities that marks a mystery writer home), and you'll sense the power of the two. Yes, only the two. They don't even borrow the power of technology like Michael Keaton (Multiplicity), Eddie Murphy (The Nutty Professor II) and Tom Hanks (The Polar Express) did. It's just make-up for Michael Caine's second role, who doesn't even appear at the same time with his first role.

And you'll wonder how on earth these two actors somehow gain a strong force to keep you glued to your seat...

That's how both actors won their Academy Awards nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

I won't spoil the fun here, as the film has a multi-faceted story with multiple twists. Instead, I would recommend you to watch straight ahead. However, if you fancy popcorn flicks which don't keep you thinking after you see them, better stay away.

[p2fi][p2fu][p2re]

How to Market The Useless

2006-07-03T23:50:00.000+08:00

You want to sell something, but there's only one problem: it's completely useless. Be it a specially-formed pillow to help comfort one’s back, but will only last for three months due to the awful quality of the sponge, or a publication that is written only for the sake of spending the printing papers, even the most useless thing of all can bring money if marketed correctly.

After all, humans have this trait called “feelings” that sometimes trespasses logic.

So what would you do? Set up a booth in the middle of a shopping mall and try to ~~con~~ persuade passer-bys? It will be costly; of course there are other ways.

I found one last week when a guy in university jacket approached me and begged so that I would buy the small-sized alma mater magazine that he was selling. Really, he even used the words, “Can you please buy one?”

Ladies and Gentlemen, if you want to sell something useless, use university freshmen. Do note, however, that (a) it will only work in Indonesia and other countries where the same requirements apply, as I will explain below, and (b) it will only work during the Freshmen Orientation period (which sometimes unoficially streches up to a full academic year for some unlucky students).

To explain both points for those who don’t get it, I will start by explaining that freshmen orientation activities in Indonesia, organised by seniors, are mostly run under the theory that friendship and solidarity will be produced among members of a group when those members are subjected to mutual stress (or pressure, torture, humiliation, depending on the way you look at it). The seniors clearly don’t know that there is a limit to this theory; it’s when mental trauma occurs.

Imagine a week where seniors have complete control over their ~~minions~~ juniors. They can order the freshmen to do anything, from dressing funny, yelling in order to destroy one’s vocal cords, crawling in a gutter, up to selling stuffs. Get it?

All you need to do is make a deal with the organising seniors. Then the seniors can make the freshmen choose between selling 10 of your item or countless rounds of push-ups. You can give the seniors their share of commission if you want, but usually you don’t have to if you are their senior who has graduated.

In the end you will get a reasonably large number of motivated students. Motivated? Yes, for those who have read the theories about Operant Conditioning, the freshmen are subjected to something called “negative reinforcement”. To quote from Wikipedia:

Negative reinforcement occurs when a behavior (response) is followed by the removal of an aversive (commonly seen as unpleasant) stimulus thereby increasing that behavior.

In our case the aversive stimulus is, of course, the push-ups.

And in the end, we will get bright freshmen with brilliant creativity. After all, they will do anything to get those things sold. That should keep them thinking in a constructive manner. At least that will balance off the mental damage that they get from the seniors.

Unfortunately, this marketing technique has only been applied by the seniors themselves, for example to sell their own useless products. Who knows, maybe companies will be interested in the future, and finally students can practise their entrepreneurial skills while having "fun" in their new campus.

"Excuse me sir, can you please buy this anti-osteoporosis pillow? My senior will have me half-squatting for an hour if I don't get 5 of these sold by noon. Please..."

[p2fu][p2in][p2mi][p2ra]

Why Should It Be Like This?

2006-06-30T00:37:00.000+08:00

Last weekend, when I was caught in the middle of a traffic jam with my Suzuki Karimun, I saw a fireman in his uniform. He was running to find the front end of the jam, sweat rushing down his face, which had the word "panic" printed all over it.

It immediately became clear to me: there was a fire beyond the queue of cars where people needed help, there were big fire engines with their sirens on behind me and a huge, messed-up traffic fiasco in between. The lone man in blue uniform was trying to connect the two ends, unfortunately with no avail.

Why should such thing happen? Why should that be the norm in this metropolis called Jakarta?

Oh, I know! It's because of some oaf city (pronounced as: shitty) planner who accidentally placed a fire station right in front of a bus interchange (I don't know which one was built first, but the outcome is surely plain stupid). That way the fire engines would be permanently obstructed whenever there's an emergency. Bravo!

Wait! Maybe it was built as an anticipatory step. The planner had predicted that the buses would be poorly maintained, especially the air-conditioned ones, so that the engines can emit thick, black smoke anytime. Luckily no bus has ever exploded. If it happens, Mr. Planner there would have to put a hospital nearby as well.

It had also been predicted that these burning buses would clog the streets. That's why highways were built in the first place. Of course motorists have to pay to use them.

However, in the end even traffic jams found their way into the highways. So now people pay to enjoy stagnancy instead of a deep push on the accelerator pedal. That's why now Jakarta has Busway (which people, funnily, referred to the buses instead of the actual special lane) that are still obstructed by intersections shared with other vehicles.

Oh, we're now building a monorail network as well...

But in the end, even with the presence of an expensive monorail hovering around, will the firefighters get to put out the fire in time? Not in a million years. Not as long as that bus interchange (complete with the burning buses) is still there.

That's what you call a smart city (shitty) planning: put spanking new stuffs to awe the masses, but never tackle the underlying, basic problem.

And be extremely careful whenever you light a fire in Jakarta. Help won't be there until you finish one whole house.

[p2di][p2in][p2op][p2ra]

Students' Circle of Fire

2006-06-25T19:32:00.000+08:00

In Singapore, a student trying to organise a mass protest to change his university's policy is highly unusual.

In one part of Indonesia, even burning the campus' buildings and other facilities to express one's discontent is quite normal.

Yes, when students are angry to their university, sometimes they burn their classrooms, labs, computers, etc.

Then they get more irritated because now their university doesn't have the necessary facilities to educate them.

Then the administration decides to increase the tuition fees to cover the cost of building.

Okay, let's burn some more...

Ah... Things students do to make fools out of themselves...

[p2in][p2ra]

Training The WSDC Kids

2006-06-23T13:25:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I went to the vicinity of Depok with Bowtak^TM to meet four high school debaters who are going to represent Indonesia in the upcoming World Schools Debating Championships 2006 in Wales. As a senior (I'm not that old) who represented the country in both the 2003 and 2004 Championships, I decided to come down and help the training, mainly working on the 'manner' and 'method' aspect (with the other one being matter) of the team.

Think about it as paying back to one's country...

The training went well, but I shall not elaborate more on it since, who knows, their opponents might be reading. I just put a picture here instead.

(From top left, clockwise) Coach Donny, Kevin, Pei Jung, Diera, Teddy, me, Bowtak and Coach Dhika

[p2in][p2me][p2ph][p2wo]

Jakarta, Here I Come!

2006-06-20T09:03:00.000+08:00

Photo by Rudolf Ammann

Leaving today...

Will be back early August...

Singapore friends, you know where to contact me...

[p2me][p2mi][p2ph][p2ra][p2tr]

Sorting Hat says...

2006-06-16T13:21:00.000+08:00

Ask my any time for the past year and the answer would always be the same.

"What are you studying in NTU?"
"Business."

Business. It just doesn't sound like something you would learn in university. The reason? Just read the success stories! Most of them didn't went to university at all and went head-on instead, while the others took any other major except Business. For the past year my future full name,

Putu Sanjaya Setiawan, B.Bus (...)

has always seem to have a lack of purpose.

Blame it on the bracket. It is supposed to be filled with a specialisation, a real major that will present me not as a generalist bloke who is a master in nothing.

The bracket has always been empty until today.

It was an email I opened in the wee hours of my morning (which is quite afternoon) when my vision was quite blurry. After reading the small letters (Arial, 10pt - still quite small for morning reading),

Dear Business students,

The business streaming exercise for the 1st year is completed. Please assess StudentLINK (at the url below) for the outcome of the streaming exercise and your allocated specialization.

I came to realise that the Nanyang Business School Sorting Hat had finally spoken; the mighty hat determined to affect my future path of life forever (well, at least until I decide to switch careers).

It took me nearly a minute before I clicked on the link. After all, it would be one of the defining moments of my life!

I clicked, logged in to the system and immediately found the newly-decided future of my full name...

...

Wait! That was way too much pressure. So I actually took the time to go to YouTube and watch this footbal bloopers video (of course in the spirit of World Cup).

Ah, back to the future of my full name...

Putu Sanjaya Setiawan, B.Bus (Actuarial Science)

Uh... What's Actuarial Science?

Precisely! Since "an Actuary" has never been on top of children's "What do you want to be when you grow up?" list, its number has been really small in the market while demands are soaring higher and higher. Just apply the basic principle of economy and do the maths...

Somehow I sound as if I'm all about the money... Maybe...

However, if you still want further justification, you can visit this website, Be An Actuary (just found it this morning, still can't believe that they actually set up a website to promote the profession). For the "Top 10 Reasons to Consider Being an Actuary", you can click here. But please DO take note that they're really not my Top 10 Reasons.

For now, I have other matters to attend: packing my stuffs. I'm leaving for Jakarta on June 20 noon to have a well-deserved month-and-a-half break. Anyone wishing to pick me up?

[p2me][p2sc][p2vi]

Changi, do you read me?

2006-06-14T00:28:00.000+08:00

The dream used to be big: if I get very rich in Singapore, I'll go to one of the ~~casinos~~ integrated resorts and spend my money there as if they're the ones used in Monopoly.

Now the dream just got bigger: if I get super rich in Singapore, I'll just go to Changi, hop into a spacecraft and go piercing the atmosphere.

Yup, they're opening a spaceport in Changi, just near the airport. And no, you don't go there just to go up, up and away. You can also get a five-day astronaut training (which includes a neutral buoyancy tank where you can experience spacewalking here on earth). For those who aren't brave (or rich) enough, you can still hop into the simulators, eat astronaut food or shop space-related gifts (uh... moon rocks?).

For more info, you can visit a report by SPACE.com here. By the way, the facility is slated to open in 2009, so start piling up your money.

Imagine a family vacation in future Singapore: dad goes roulette, mum goes shopping and kids go space camp. There's something for everyone...

[p2di][p2ne][p2ra][p2sg][p2tr]

Bananaphone

2006-06-11T21:42:00.000+08:00

I found this home-made karaoke clip on YouTube today. Since I first played it, the tune and lyrics of the song have been singing themselves inside my head all the time.

Then I looked up about the song. From Wikipedia:

Bananaphone is the name of a children's album, as well as a humorous song by Raffi, released in 1994. The lyrics describe a combination between a banana and a telephone, using many puns ("It's a phone with appeal!") and nonce words like "bananular" and "interactive-odular" as Raffi extols the virtues of his unique telephone.

Just push play, and I guarantee that you'll be singing along in no time.

[p2di][p2fu][p2mu][p2nt][p2vi]

My High School's BIG Green Sign

2006-06-07T00:56:00.000+08:00

Note: This post has been updated. ~~Strikethroughs~~ and [brackets] denote the update.

Once upon a time, my former high school in Jakarta was known as a cool boys-only school. Back then long hair was a fashion, and dress code barely existed. It didn't matter for the school's administrator and teachers, as long as the boys keep their grades satisfactory. And they did.

But now it has become a case of the past, a legend that most likely will not repeat itself. Now Canisius College (Kolese Kanisius in Indonesian) looks like any other grade-chasing school out there if you remove the boys-only factor. That is dissapointing, but what I discovered just now is... well, hillarious!

After ridiculously (albeit successfuly) grabbing a national record (and attention) for holding a mass veggie-eating fiesta, it seems that my former high school's passion for green stuffs will not come to an end in the near future. Just now I stumbled upon this amusing picture taken by fellow blogger and former classmate, Bowtak^TM:

Picture taken from this page and, unlike this blog, is under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

It looks like a BIG green sign has been stretched on my high school's front yard. For non-Indonesian speakers, the writings there mean, "Wanna be healthy? Eat vegetables and fruits every day!" On the right there's the plant-covered image of the aforementioned objects and on bottom left is the school's logo.

To think that CC (pronounced "say-say", adhering to ~~Indonesian~~ [the Dutch] pronunciation rules [that is often used by Indonesian oldies] as "sissy" would redden our faces) will go this far to promote its unthinkable cause is something I would never do. Come on, they even put a couple of bulbs to shine on it!

Now that it has become a reality, I'm starting to act as the devil's advocate again. First, where would you find such signs? In Indonesia, the only places that put up such a sign would either be a hospital, clinic, community health centre or a health ministry office. As for educational institutions, you would only find veggie signs at kindergartens and elementary schools.

Here's such a sign, erected in front of a private, boys-only campus of junior and senior high school, inhabited by people who mostly have passed puberty. People would probably think that CC has turned into an elementary school upon seeing the sign. And rival schools would really love to emphasise the second pronunciation of "CC". My head says I would, but I don't have the heart.

I would also like to point out the irony of the sign. It happens to be put in front of one of the most-polluted street in Jakarta. Menteng Raya, where CC is located, is precisely in the middle part of the city and the four lane layout (two for each direction) just doesn't hold the traffic. Motionless traffic jam is an everyday sign. Of course, kids coming in and out of the school are exposed to deadly substances on a daily basis (which explains that grey area inside my head). They would certainly need all the antioxidants they can get.

Maybe that sign should be facing inside instead. Nah, double-side would do...

And they should put something catchy on it, so people stuck in cars would have something to stare at. A hot girl eating the fruits and veggies? Will do, but CC will have to outsource...

[p2di][p2in][p2nt][p2op][p2ph][p2sc]

My DIY Headphone Amplifier

2006-06-06T12:56:00.000+08:00

For those of you who noticed, this blog has not been updated for nearly a week. It's not that I was being too lazy to do so, but simply because I had been preoccupied with something else more important.

Behold... The Black Box!

Last time I managed to construct an LED-based Toastmaster Timing Signal, but this time I went a step further. A big step, I shall say, for this one is more complicated and at times even overwhelmed me in the process of making.

The Black Box (I named it so since I don't know how should I name it) is a crossfeed-equipped headphone amplifier, designed to do several cool things. As an amplifier, it's designed to increase the power of a portable music player so that it can drive even a big headphone, such as my Sennheiser HD457. This results in a more 'wholesome' feeling of sound, especially in high-quality recordings. As a crossfeed, it was made to subtly change the audio signal so that it suits headphone-listening properties. To quote from Wikipedia:

"In essence, crossfeed blends the left and right stereo channels slightly, reducing the extreme channel separation characteristic of headphone listening that is known to cause headaches in a small fraction of listeners (and compensating for extreme separation in older stereo releases)."

My room mate and I both made one Black Box for each of us. Naturally I didn't design the circuit on my own since I only know basic electronics. I used the popular Chu Moy design for the amplifier and crossfeed. However, I made several alterations on both parts. I used the single-chip version of the amplifier instead of two-chip, available on Tangentsoft. For the crossfeed, I used the modified Chu Moy design by Mika Vääräniemi.

After I designed the circuit board layout using EAGLE Layout Editor, my room mate and I transferred the pattern to the actual circuit board using the infamous ironing technique. Yes, we used a normal household iron and a transparency film with the circuit board pattern printed on it, faithfully following this guide set up by Tom Gootee. Etching proved to be more difficult since Ferric chloride - the usual etchant I used back in junior high - is banned in Singapore. Creatively, we used a combination of Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) that we got from a Pharmacy and Hydrochloric acid (HCl) that we obtained all the way to an industrial estate in Sembawang.

For components we used only the best. To maintain the small size of the device, we used surface-mount components (super duper small resistors and capacitors) instead of the usual relatively big-sized components. Here's a picture of the soldered circuit boards.

Notice how small the components are. For reference, the crossfeed board at the bottom is approximately 5 x 3.5 cm.

The next problem is the enclosure. We used a small Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (plastic, in short) black box from Hammond. However, we needed to modify the casing in order to fit the outer components (switches, jacks and volume control). Hence began the mutilation...

For the heart of the amplifier board (the amplifier itself), we used a OPA2132 Burr-Brown Operational Amplifier, known for its laid-back sound and low-voltage requirements (it's a 9V-powered pocket amp anyway...). It's a very small 8-pin IC.

Wiring all the components proved to be a difficult business, as seen below. Fitting everything into the enclosure is even more difficult. In the end we had a very, very tight layout where any service attempt in the future would most likely be impossible. But it's good that we had a very rugged construction, heh heh...

However, the result was really worth the effort. I can now treat music-listening as a true leisure activity, as the sounds are now better-tuned and vivid-sounding. Unfortunately, The Black Box is still short on two things. First, its performance is still below those tube amps used by true audiophiles. Of course, what can you expect from a pocket device made on a budget under S$ 100 a piece? Next, if this can be considered as a weakness, is how honest this thing is. If you put a good recording through it, it will sing back to your ears very nicely. But feed this small thing a bad-quality recording you downloaded in some file-sharing service, it will scream back in agony. In short, all the gems and flaws will be revealed. No favouritism.

[p2di][p2fu][p2me][p2mu][p2ph][p2te]

Covers Ain't Cool!

2006-05-31T16:48:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I went to one of Singapore's many shopping centres. At the ground floor, I couldn't help not to notice a very big, enticing sign. It said, "CD Sale - $3 each!" There was even a crazier price tag below it, "$1 each for 5 CDs!" Drawn inside by the very cheap price (as one CD would normally cost you $20 - $25 here in Singapore), I glanced over the plain of CDs, arranged on a very big table.

The names on the CD covers seemed promising: Michael Bolton, George Michael, ABBA, Coldplay, even Robbie Williams and Norah Jones to name a few. But then, I noticed something peculiar about the covers: I'd never seen any of them in any other CD store! All of them were also labeled as "The Best of" albums and I noticed that The Best of George Michael had a rather pixelated photo of the singer on its cover.

Were they fake or pirated CDs? No, they weren't even close...

Revelation came to me as I flipped a copy of The Best of Coldplay. There was no Parlophone - the band's record label - insignia on it. Instead, there was a fine print at the bottom saying, "Songs were re-recorded by various artists in different studios..." blah blah blah... I didn't take care to remember the full writings, "...Cover version."

So, instead of selling pirated stuffs (which is illegal, of course, and quite impossible to do in Singapore), they sell cover CDs for a very cheap price. For those of you who are thinking that this is a good deal, think again because these cheap cover versions sound nothing like Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman doing a cover on Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra's Something Stupid, nor like The Corrs doing R.E.M.'s Everybody Hurts.

For $3 / CD you'll get songs played by one instrument: a keyboard. That, of course, translates to the heavy use of synthesiser to simulate the various instruments that ought to contribute in a song. I personally would prefer an acoustic guitar for an unplugged version of a song rather than a synth being pushed beyond the limit, since the electronic instrument is meant to colour a song, not building it from scratch.

Add to that a singer being pushed beyond his / her own limit. Think about Bohemian Rhapsody sung by someone with a considerably narrow vocal range for the song. Therefore, it's quite guaranteed that you may find the singer losing his / her breath at several points in the song.

A song is only a treat to the ear when sung beautifully, exquisitely, skillfully; take your pick. However, when a CD is even in a worse quality than a pirated one of the original artist, what is its purpose? What will you do after you pay the $3? Play it in a party? Listen it by yourself?

You're better off listening to William Hung...

Then here comes a question: who will be stupid enough to buy those CDs? I know someone who did. The person bought an entire collection, 6 CDs of Evergreen songs for only $9. The person has regretted the sudden impulse that resulted in the purchase, and has never listened to the CDs since they were first played.

In the end, I learnt two things yesterday from the cover CDs. The first one was a reminder to examine everything you're offered and be aware of the fine prints. The second one? Well, as economists say, there's no such thing as a free lunch.

[p2di][p2mu][p2op][p2sg]

My DIY Toast Timer Lights

2006-05-27T22:39:00.000+08:00

For the past week I've been quite occupied. Not with books, but with a hacksaw, an electronic screwdriver cum drill, a multimeter and, last but not least, a very hot soldering iron. It was the week to revisit my electronic DIY hobby from Junior High, but this time with more investment and precision.

In a Toastmaster meeting, giving a speaker the signal to indicate his / her remaining time is very important. That way no speaker will unintentionally exceed his / her allotted time and the meeting can be held according to schedule. The signal uses the traffic light colour coding - green, yellow and red - to indicate the remaining time.

Ideally the signalling device should use lights, but some Toastmaster clubs still use coloured cards to signal their speakers. No wonder, professionally-made timing lights cost you a hefty sum of money. Of course most include presets and automatic timer so that the Timer of the meeting doesn't need to use a separate stopwatch.

Unfortunately my club won't be able to afford that. We're still opting for lights instead of cue cards, but the one currently owned by the club is not that chic either. It's made out of a shoebox covered with coloured plastic filters and it has three wall-powered lightbulbs inside. With all the cabling (the cables are big), it's quite unpractical to carry and there's a certain danger in the use of AC power.

So the club was planning to buy or construct a new and better-looking timing lights. Then I thought: why don't I contribute and use my skills in electronics? I immediately planned for a better-looking device. I decided that I'd be using LEDs instead of lightbulbs since they're simply more robust (some LEDs can even last until 10 years). I also decided that the device should include a buzzer to signal the speaker that his / her time is really out.

After going over the drawing board which was situated right in my mind (I was too lazy to draw the design), I bought a S$ 3 alarm clock, stripped the clock and the alarm bell machines, hacked and modified the enclosure to accomodate the components, soldered and wired the components, mount them and... voila! I got a new LED-based timing lights for my Toastmaster club.

I put some captioned photos below. Since this post is not meant to be a DIY guide, they won't describe the steps to make the device. They're just here to illustrate more-or-less what I was doing for 2 afternoons, finishing the device.

The poor alarm clock, waiting to be destroyed.

My messy work area. Well, this is only part of it since I mostly solder on the floor out of fear that I might burn a table that's not mine.

When I drilled the enclosure, my room was practically a mess with all the plastic shards dirtying the floor.

42 LEDs - 14 for every colour - soldered to the black paper-covered circuit board, ready to provide the much-needed illumination.

All components wired and waiting to be mounted on the enclosure.

"It's alive!!!"

Can you figure out which switch does which?

[p2di][p2me][p2ph][p2te][p2wo]

Punctuate This!

2006-05-25T09:36:00.000+08:00

It's amazing how different people perceive things differently. Maybe you have heard or read this somewhere, but here's an illustration that I really want to share due to the fact that it's hillarious:

An English professor wrote the words "Women without her man is nothing." on the blackboard and asked his students to punctuate the sentence correctly.

The men wrote, "Women, without her man, is nothing."

The women wrote, "Women: without her, man is nothing."

The existence of different views is a fact of life. Acknowledge it, cherish it and, sometimes when appropriate, laugh at it.

[p2fu][p2ra]

The Subtle Power

2006-05-23T00:41:00.000+08:00

I always believe in the subtle power of speech. If such thing does not exist, why do people compile famous speeches and even make money out of them in the first place? Words change minds, but only when they are delivered in the right manner.

So, just like a hermit trying to find the right path to enlightenment, I constantly search for the right path in the craft of public speaking. I know my journey is still far from complete, but one step at a time is still better than standing still.

One of the steps took place last Sunday when I went to District 80 Toastmasters Table Topics And International Speech Contest. Yes, it was a Toastmasters event, and I got the ticket as a gift since I am the Chartering President of the soon-to-be-born NTU inspYre Toastmasters Club.

District 80 comprises of Toastmaster Clubs from Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand. Yesterday I had the chance to see best speakers from the three countries trying their best to get a ticket to represent the District in this year's World Championship of Public Speaking.

It was a fruitful experience. I could really see how some speakers in particular outshone others; simply because they had practised more or maybe just because they had this inherent talent in them. I saw how they affect the audience's emotions, how they gained rapport and how they paved their way to glory.

Four jolly Toastmasters attending the District Contest. (L-R) Me, Guanying, Esther and Lester.

I shall not discuss more about this experience as the discussion will certainly trespass into the technical world of Toastmasters (you won't like it). I just want to share this conversation that I had with a friend.

"Wanna join Toastmasters next semester?"
"That public speaking club?"
"Yup, that club."
"Nah, I'm not good at speaking. Never could do it"
"Dude, you join because you can't do it. If you can do it, you'd be earning big bucks by now!"

Unfortunately many people decide to stay away from public speaking just out of fear (and it's one of the biggest fear known to mankind, they say). The Subtle Power, it turns out, is not easy to be embraced.

[p2me][p2ph][p2ra][p2wo]

The Exploding Girl

2006-05-19T12:52:00.000+08:00

...and more!

I was really bored this morning. Although I knew that I still had many chores and tasks to do, my butt just wouldn't move from my red study chair (with my notebook on the desk, of course). So I decided to crawl YouTube to watch some videos. I didn't watch music clips like the occassion before; this time I searched for some funnies, and here are some of them to share...

The Soda 'Fountain'

Mentos + Pepsi = Big Eruption... Maybe you can try this by yourself.

Pepsi Girl Superburp
(might be shocking and / or disturbing, 18+ only)

Girl + Mentos + Pepsi = Big Explosion... Nice video editing, though...

The Wrong Guy

A computer expert has described his astonishment at seeing the BBC's 24-hour news channel interview a taxi driver - in the mistaken belief it was him. The real guy's name was Guy Kewey and the guy being interviewed was Guy Coma. What are the odds? By the way, it was a live interview, heh heh...

[p2fu][p2nt][p2we][p2vi]

Singapore: The Other Side

2006-05-16T00:26:00.000+08:00

When foreigners think about Singapore, most of them would probably think about a city with a streed called Orchard Road and lots of places to shop for global brands. Some other would think about a metropolitan regional hub with lots of trade opportunity. The remaining, unfortunately, still view Singapore as a stereotypical third-world Asian country with low level of education and bad sanitation. The latter group of people naturally will flunk geography as they think that Iraq is next to China.

However, there is another side of Singapore that is left quite unexposed. Last Sunday Agam and I went Indiana Jones and went to the northern tip of the island to visit Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. It's basically a mangrove area with a view of Johor Bahru on the horizon.

The following images might be disturbing for some of you who hold the aforementioned image of Singapore, heh heh...

Behold! The vast area we explored... Notice the shelter with a green roof in the middle?

Agam: "This reminds me of my backyard..."

In Indonesia people somehow have a higher propensity for vandalising. I wonder whether Agam thought about this when he referred to his backyard. By the way, notice how kiasu these people were; they even took the effort of bringing their own marker!!!

At some parts of the mangrove, boards are provided to walk on so you won't dirty your shoes with mud.

Even Johor Bahru was visible from the observation tower.

There are even a large number of vegetable and fish farms around the reserve area.

[p2di][p2me][p2ph][p2sg][p2tr]

Crazy Patents

2006-05-13T21:19:00.000+08:00

Nearly two weeks ago I pointed out that it is very easy to put yourself in a record book: just do something unthinkable and label it as extraordinary (even though it's not). This post has, again, something to do with the word "unthinkable", but this time it involves a more tangible thing: money.

A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted for a fixed period in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or composition of matter (in short: an invention) which is new, inventive, and useful or industrially applicable. The exclusive right is the right to prevent others from making, using, selling, offering to sell or importing the claimed invention.

In other words: invent something, patent it before someone else does, then license it to others. Of course, licensing means money. No wonder around 160,000 patents were registered in the USA alone last year.

I have been interested in a particular Patent Commercialisation Competition lately. When I did my background research on patents, I stumbled upon several websites that focused on crazy patents. They are patents that are simply "unthinkable"; not because of their innovativeness, but simply because of their sheer stupidity.

Rather than letting you browse around with the result of getting lost, I have selected some of the most hillarious ones that I found. All are supplemented with links so you can check the original patent documents by yourself.

Someone actually invented a condom that can play sound. This "Force-sensitive, sound-playing condom" (US Patent No. 5,163,447) has "a chip-controlled piezoelectric sound transducer which plays a melody or voiced message" during intercourse. I wonder what kind of sound it will play...

The next time you play the swing on the playground, make sure you pay royalties to the person who found "Method of swinging on a swing" (US 6,368,227).

I once thought about this when I was small, but unfortunately someone had found this "Protective underwear with malodorous flatus filter" (US 5,593,398). Basically it's an underwear to keep your flatus (fart) filtered. No more smell, I guess...

For those who regularly drink beer, maybe this "Substance Dispensing Headgear" (World WO9939598) is the right thing to wear. It's basically beer-barrel-shaped headgear. It can also include an cooling, audio and video system. Wouldn't it break the wearer's neck?

Imagine a candy maker giving you his name card. One week later you're hungry and decide to eat the name card. With the invention of "Business card made from edible material" (US D493601), it's possible to do it. Too bad it tastes like your dirty wallet..

I really cannot provide any explanation for this "Toilet Snorkel". Just visit the link here.

More to come in Part 2 (if there is one)!

[p2di][p2fu][p2nt][p2we]

Budget Tissue

2006-05-10T21:49:00.000+08:00

My room mate bought a bunch of these boxes just now. Haven't tested the actual quality yet, but I am sure that there is another way of branding to get the message across...

Or maybe some customers do hate it when producers beat around the bush about their products...

[p2di][p2ph][p2we]

Welcome to Deutschland!

2006-05-09T00:30:00.000+08:00

Learning a new language to me, even only a phrase or two, is always good. The reason is simple: by learning a new language you can communicate with more people. Who knows, maybe you may even find your future spouse because of your ability to master his / her language (I know someone who did).

Unfortunately there are limitations. Some people just cannot master certain languages. Take me as an example. Somehow I have a very weak affinity with Chinese. Don't know why, but my attempt to learn in Junior High proved to be a disaster. I couldn't master the letters, let alone how to read them. Maybe my brain just couldn't accept any more letters except Latin, or maybe it just wasn't the right time to begin.

So why did I pick German? Part of the reason was my trip to Stuttgart in 2004. Even though I was only there for two weeks, I had come to realise that I liked the way the language sounded! Yes, you can can call it unreasonable, but... it does sound nice even though it's not as beautiful as French (touted by many as the sexiest language in the world - and the one with the biggest vocabulary for swearing).

Reason #2... my tounge is just compatible with German. That's why I didn't choose French to begin with. Reason #3... I didn't get Economic Theories. Never mind; as I said earlier, maybe it's a blessing in disguise.

Having all of the above things in mind, I stepped into Tutorial Room 37 this late afternoon to start my journey in learning German. At least this first day everything went fine, and I hope the same will happen tomorrow.

By the way, it felt rather funny. It seemed that the whole class went back in time into little German toddlers: limited in vocabulary and structure, trying to comprehend the complex world around us. For me (who is not someone who masters 7 languages - I know someone who does), this is quite a surreal experience.

That's one small step for mankind, one giant leap for [a] man...
Kein Problem!

[p2me][p2ra][p2sc]

Town

2006-05-05T22:22:00.000+08:00

To continue my previous post, here are some photos taken during my trip to town last Tuesday with Aha:

The Old

The Old and The New

Me, somewhere in Chinatown...

The Magnificent Structure of National Library

[p2ph][p2sg][p2tr]

Zoo

2006-05-03T00:16:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday Agam, Aha and I went to Singapore Zoo for a full-day adventure. Although the sky was dark and cloudy, it didn't stop us from having fun (we had escaped right on time before it rained). Here are some photos that I took, all in chronological order.

The notable thing about Singapore Zoo is its smart marketing tactics. Fancy a Maharaja-styled wedding complete with a big elephant for your ride? They can do it for you. I wonder if they offer Lion-King-themed weddings with all the animals as the audience...

Speaking of The Lion King, here's a meerkat, one of Timon's kind.

Bats: "Oy, what do you think you're doing?"
Sloth: "Uh... You know, just hanging around..."
Bats: "Go away, you're disturbing our daytime sleep."
Sloth: "Don't worry. I'm the king of procrastination, also trying to sleep here..."

A peacock (which is a male peafowl - there is no such thing as a "female peacock") had agreed to pose for us. Thanks, dude!

Watch out, stupid penguins inside!

A white tiger enjoying his / her lunch (unfortunately we were not able to verify the cat's gender during the shoot without getting torn to pieces). There are only 600 of them left on the planet.

[p2fu][p2me][p2ph][p2sg][p2tr]

My High School Is A Record Holder (Post #100)

2006-04-30T23:03:00.000+08:00

... by eating vegetables. No, I'm dead serious.

I was astonished this morning. On our way to the Singapore Zoo (will be posted later), my high-school-friend-turned-NUS-freshman Aha told me that my former high school in Jakarta, Kanisius, was recently listed in the Indonesian Museum of Records (MURI - Indonesia's own version of Guinness World Records, perhaps).

No, it was not listed as the biggest boys-only school in Indonesia. No, it also was not listed as the school with the least female population percentage. In fact, it was listed in the category of "having 1000 individuals eating vegetables and fruits at the same time" [Jawa Pos]. My goodness, I'm even shocked that there is such a category for records...

Ooo... Look at them, all so happy with their healthy meal... Wait, they even had special shirts made? That had to be expensive...
(Liputan6.com)

You can read the full coverage (in Indonesian) here and here (this one with video). If you read the first source (Jawa Pos), they noted that "only male students of the school participated in this event" [Jawa Pos]. I would like to clarify again that Kanisius is a boys-only school; that's why they don't have female students to exclude to begin with (and that's why there's no "sex" field in the school's application form).

Following the running gag among the alumni, I will add several other reasons here why this event is plain amusing and (sorry, people) stupid. First of all, the fact that my former high school is a boys-only one only makes matters worse. I cannot imagine my juniors being referred to as "the student from that vegetable-loving school". Honestly, the activity sounds kinda funny (some even put it as stupid) for a boys-only school like Kanisius. There goes the manhood image of the students...

Although I believe that vegetables and fruits are important (despite the fact that I ate only coleslaw for today), there had to be a more serious way to promote it, not something too trivial and d'oh like this. Maybe it's better to have 1000 students doing arm-wrestling instead to promote the boys-only image? Or maybe some people had already done that...

The next point I'd like to make is due to my surprise that there is such a record category by the name of "having 1000 individuals eating vegetables and fruits at the same time". Honestly, this only amplifies my lack of respect to the records institution. What's so extraordinary about having 1000 individuals eating vegetables and fruits at the same time? I bet that even right now there are at least 1000 people eating vegetables and fruits at the same time on this planet. They should've added the word "in the same place" for a change. That would add the extraordinary factor slightly (but still funny, though).

Last, but not least, I want to see some other people breaking this record. Maybe a month from now another school will come up with 2006 (just for the sake of the numbers) individuals. And maybe, a month from then Kanisius will have its comeback by "having 1000 individuals eating vegetables and fruits with pure, pasteurised, homogenised, unsweetened, fresh milk at the same time".

I want to see 220 million people doing it. Then Indonesia will be a healthier place...

[p2di][p2in][p2me][p2ne][p2op][p2sc][p2we]

Why pirate the product?

2006-04-28T23:31:00.000+08:00

When you can fake the whole company?

Pirates are getting smarter. Imagine how NEC was completely puzzled when it received complaints from customers in China regarding a product that it didn't make. Yes, the pirates are not just making fake NEC products, they even develop their own product range! This way, they also maximise profit by using the company's reputation.

Read the full article here.

And NEC said that the counterfeits were of generally good quality, heh heh...

[p2ne][p2nt][p2te]

The Quiet Campus

2006-04-28T23:12:00.000+08:00

This evening I went to campus to visit the libraries and borrow some more books to read for this holiday. Although the exams period is not over yet, there was no sight of people studying on the benches. I took a couple of pictures with my mobile phone, but only one survived (the other is quite blurry).

No wonder, since Monday is Labour Day and everyone is in for a long weekend. For those who are still battling exam papers (for instance, my room mate), I wish you all good luck.

[p2ph][p2ra][p2sc]

Shaun of the Rom Zom Com

2006-04-28T22:54:00.000+08:00

Sometimes gross-out or slapstick comedy doesn't entertain. And sometimes you watch a movie with a suspension of disbelief as it turns out that the main character is a totally flawless, bulletproof character who can manage every situation while still looking cool.

Although I'm craving for entertainment this holiday, I'm not intending to lower my standard of films to watch. After all, watching takes time that you cannot buy back. Luckily I stumbled upon this British film yesterday...

Shaun of the Dead has gained a strong cult following among film fans, not because it followed the same gross-out or slapstick comedy like Scary Movie, but because of its approach as a "rom zom com" film (that is, zombie-themed romantic comedy). The characters are not some famous people, they are mainly common folks trying to survive and live another day.

Most notable, though, is its strong British humour. There is no point in the film that comedy is done just for the sake of being funny (some would remember this point being address in a recent South Park episode), and common "British English" word like 'fuck' (77 times in 99 minutes) and 'cock' (all with exclamation marks) are being uttered rather freely despite of the film's 15 certificate in the UK.

So if you happen to stumble upon this film, watch it. It's not to cheesy, it's not too scary, it's not too stupid of a comedy; it's just right.

[p2fi][p2fu][p2re]

Holiday Resolution

2006-04-26T20:04:00.000+08:00

At last I managed to get through all of this semester's exam papers. Although I sort of promised that the blog would be updated as soon I finished my last paper (24/04), it turned out that it took me a couple of days to deal with the post-exam hangover.

Leaving that behind, suddenly I am faced with a big question after completely procrastinating for two days: what to do for the rest of the holiday until I get to my German lessons, mid-May? Shall I slack off all the way, or shall I do some constructive things. Although the former seems tempting, based on experience, procrastination can be boring sometimes. That's why I've decided to move along the continuum to the better end.

To start with, I've been watching episodes of South Park during my study breaks and I'm expecting to watch some more during this holiday. Somehow I find it funnier than The Simpsons, although anyone can try to refute that.

I hope that this activity doesn't interfere with my room mate, though. He still has several papers to go. Yes, NTU's exams period doesn't end until mid-May, and I'm happy to be relieved from all the pressure this early!

By the way, my room mate did pick up some of the catch phrases, heh heh... Now he can impersonate Ms. Crabtree from the show...

Back to the list of stuffs to do, I have thought of several things to do this holiday:

Borrow interesting books from the library and read them (currently I'm in the middle of a Francis Fukuyama).
Design and manufacture a headphone amplifier together with my room mate, DIY style. Why buy an expensive stereo set if you can listen to exquisite sound just with headphones? Details coming soon...
Collecting Pringles cans. Just kidding, it's just that I'm digging for Pringles lately. I hope that I don't get fat...
Discovering more about Singapore. I haven't been to the zoo, so I might go there soon...
Working on my personal project that has been there in my head since nearly a year ago! I hope there's enough time and priority to do this...

That's all for now. Off to another South Park episode!

[p2me][p2sc]

Lots And LOTS of Music Videos

2006-04-09T11:41:00.000+08:00

Kings of Convenience, Sondre Lerche and Feist. Just push play...

I know I should be studying for my exams. However, I just woke up nearly an hour ago after studying last night and found that I'm completely bored. I opened YouTube, started watching my favourite music videos, and they helped.

So here they are to share. They're comprised of my two favourite Norwegian artists Kings of Convenience and Sondre Lerche - as well as Feist.

Be warned, though. Once you click on the big play button the video will try to stream. So you can either stream one by one, or click on all the play buttons, let them all load, then enjoy the non-stop music video screening.

Kings of Convenience - Failure

This is a very interesting music video from the duo of Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe. In the video, Erlend is in London (if I'm not wrong) recording his part of the song. Then, he sends it to Bergen, Norway (the duo's hometown) for Eirik to add his part. In fact, the single Failure was indeed written out of inspiration when Erlend went to London to join a band and failed in the end.

Kings of Convenience - Toxic Girl

Notice the girl who appears on this video? She was also there on the Failure clip. She's Ina Grung, Eirik's girlfriend. Not only she appears on almost all of Kings of Convenience's music videos, she's also the cover girl of their albums, excluding Versus. By the way, Toxic Girl is my most favourite Kings of Convenience song so far, and this video features the version with the string arrangements that is only present in the Versus album.

Kings of Convenience - I'd Rather Dance With You

Here you can watch Erlend teaching a bunch of ballerinas how to really dance, heh heh... Catchy tune, too!

Kings of Convenience - Misread

A very simple and laid-back music video. It only consists of one, long, continuous scene. Love it!

Sondre Lerche - You Know So Well

Up to this point, I can't help realising (and loving) that all of my favourite artists' music videos are simplistic in nature. They don't feature any bling bling things. By the way, this song is from Sondre's first album, Faces Down. It didn't receive a wide international release like the second one, but I'd say it's better in quality.

Sondre Lerche - Two Way Monologue

This is the coolest Sondre Lerche video. It features not only one, but three Sondre Lerches! In fact, I bought Two Way Monologue after watching this video and immediately fell in love with the guy's music style.

Sondre Lerche - Days That Are Over

This video is particularly hillarious. It features Sondre in a chain of spoofs of many TV programmes. You can see him as an American-Idol-like contestant, a boy band member, as well as one of the participant in a Big-Brother-like reality show.

Feist - Mushaboom

This video has a distinct 80s feeling from the visual style. It features Feist with a big red scarf, dancing. By the way, MTV mispelled the song title as MUSCHABOOM. Typo, typo...

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A German Holiday

2006-04-03T22:17:00.000+08:00

Hoping for a blessing in disguise...

NO, this post will not tell you how my holiday has suddenly started in Germany. In fact, my first exam is just approximately a week away.

So how come I put such a misleading title? The truth is, the result for my Special Session I application is just out today. Although I've been hoping to take HE192 Economic Theories to kickstart my Economics minor right away, it turned out that the oh-so-sophisticated NTU's system has deliberately put me into a German language class.

Yes, I did register for that class as a second choice. Yes, I did check the waiting list of HE192 before the registration closed (there were still spaces, by the way). So what went wrong?

I guess the oh-so-advanced system have decided that I should take my 5 minor subjects in 4 semesters (doubling in one semester, that assumes that I get HE192 on the next semester) with no known reason.

Nevertheless, I hope that there's still a silver lining among the murky clouds. Who knows, maybe I'll be diverted to Germany on my way back to Indonesia (heh heh heh). Or maybe I'll encounter a lost, wealthy German who'll give me big bucks just because I point to the right way.

Who knows...

But for now, I better think about the coming exams, and expect the aufregende Erfahrung to appear in the end...

[p2me][p2sc]

Nothing Here Is True

2006-04-02T22:01:00.000+08:00

Finally I have added something that I have been wanting to add to this blog since long ago. With the emerging cases of bloggers turned into convicts, I felt that I need to protect myself against lawsuits. I'm a very busy guy, so I don't really have the time to verify all the facts in my blog. I also cannot ensure that no one will be offended by my writings. Who knows, maybe someday someone may turn up and sue me!

Therefore, I present the DISCLAIMER for this blog! You can click on the link to view it, or use the link pasted on other parts of this page (one on the sidebar and one on the footer)

It started out with a basic, simple premise: nothing in this blog is true! Yes, I cannot be sure that all the facts are really facts. So, it's better to assume that everything is a lie (except for the disclaimer, that is...).

Nevertheless, don't let the disclaimer discourage you from enjoying this blog. Happy reading!

PS: For those who are quite observant, you might realise that the title of this post is a form of a liar paradox!

[p2me][p2mi][p2si]

The Dog That Stole The Show

2006-03-30T23:40:00.000+08:00

Quirky things you find in Singapore...

Last Saturday evening Agam and I went to Orchard Road to meet my cousin who was returning to Jakarta from Thailand on a business trip. When we got to Ngee Ann City, the towers with Takashimaya department store, we noticed that a huge, closed tent was erected on the main atrium.

It was the place for this year's Singapore Fashion Festival, and of course we couldn't get in without any invitation (we didn't want to argue with the bouncers, that is). Realising that we wouldn't get any form of entertainment just by watching the festival's broadcast on a big display outside the tent, we decided to take a stroll before meeting my cousin.

And we found this:

Since some people whom I showed the photo to had a hard time figuring out what type of creature is featured, I would like to clarify that it is clearly a dog. Yes, a dog, posing in front of Ngee Ann City with many people taking out their cameras (and phones with built-in camera) to take a picture of the majestic dog.

Just to give you a better picture on how majestic the event was, here's a wider shot of the crowd:

Notice the dog in the middle of the picture?

You might be wondering whether there was indeed a Singapore Dog Festival taking place just beside the Singapore Fashion Festival with people taking picture of the animal models. It was not another festival. It's just a nice-looking dog, owned by one of Ngee Ann City's many visitors.

One other visitor thought that the dog was cool, then asked whether its picture could be taken. Then another person came, then two other, and the crowd proceeded to grow larger... and even larger!

Singapore had never seen a dog this great, I guess...

Anyway, it's worth noting that the dog was not nervous at all, despite all the camera flashes being directed to it. I know that my dog, Kiko, at home would. And I know he's not that majestic, not that smart and stuffs... But still he's a man's best friend (but sometimes pain in the neck).

[p2di][p2ph][p2sg][p2tr][p2we]

Another Car Mayhem

2006-03-27T17:25:00.000+08:00

A man caught speeding in NZ was apparently armless!

As if two crazy incidents involving cars are not enough, I've decided to post another one. Yes, it's not me if it's not wacky. BBC reported that a guy with no arms has been caught speeding at 121 km/h (75 mph) in New Zealand! To quote:

"The driver, who used one foot to steer and another to operate the pedals, told officers he was born with no arms but had been driving for years."

And he's got no license, too.

Apparently the officer who stopped the car was particularly shocked when he saw that there's a foot on the steering wheel and the seat was reclined.

Well, as I said before, sometimes people do strange and dangerous things with that big lump of metal, namely the car.

[p2nt][p2ne][p2we]

Analysing Gary's Email

2006-03-24T02:59:00.000+08:00

An email complaining about NTU lecturers' English proficiency is causing a stir. Let's analyse what's wrong with it...

The email came out of nowhere and landed on my inbox last Monday. In his email, second year Mechanical Engineering student Gary Goh complained about his hard times decoding some foreign lecturers and tutors in NTU, particularly the ones coming from China and India. Furthermore, he called for action; asking students to join him on a big "legal protest" (i.e. rally) during holidays to urge the school to filter its lecturers and tutors, not to let those with broken English to teach.

I've been wanting to comment on this issue since the email was first sent to nearly 8,000 undergrads in the campus (yes, 8,000!), but I held back myself since it should be an internal problem that shouldn't be publicised outside. However, when I read Straits Times today, I was flabbergasted. Just like Gary Brolsma and his Numa Numa Dance, Gary Goh managed to gain fame. He was there in the paper, so parts of my discussion here will be based on the actual printed news (that is, to play it safe, not to distort information and be objective).

So, let's recap, Straits Times version. According to ST, Gary also complained about the poor and heavily accented English spoken by some of his lab instructors who are Chinese and Indian nationals doing their PhD at NTU. He said that he skipped a lecturer's class for a whole year because her accent was too distracting.

To add, I had to include this direct quote from because I just want to:

"Checks with 23 NTU students showed that the language problem appears confined to the engineering faculty."

Heh heh... Okay, I'm digressing here. Let's get back to analyse what's wrong with all the fuss.

The Email

To start, the way he delivered the email was quite inappropriate. As I don't want to host the email contents (I'm analysing, not spreading), a copy can be found here instead. The email was sent to a list of (according to ST) 8,000 students. The thing was, most of the email data chunk was occupied by the recipients list (yes, he listed all the addresses one by one). In result, the email message was extremely heavy to load even using the campus intranet. So to begin with, it was not impressive nor catchy. Since it burdened almost everyone's mailbox due to the huge size, most people have deleted it upon first contact.

A deeper look into the message revealed that it was done quite in a hurry, and it had the impression that the writer never took the time to read, re-read and re-re-read the message before sending. He didn't consider the sensitive nature of the message, just sent it like that. Therefore, it was not organised and it didn't inform the reader about the issue right away at the beginning.

I said that not just because I took AB114 (Communication Management Fundamentals), but because it's an important element that every person should know when trying to sell an idea to a mass audience. Basically he was sending an advertisement, and it was not appealing.

Strangely, in the end, he also sent several updated versions of the message (like the one hosted on the link above) that included complaints about tuition and hostel fee increase, the ineffectivity of the Students Union, as well as the absence of a 7-Eleven outlet in campus! Come on, don't digress, stick to the initial message...

What's Bad English?

In his email Gary complained about instructors who speak English that he doesn't understand. However, he never clearly defined what form of bad English he is attacking. Is it the accent? If it is the accent, don't we all will need to decipher someone's accent in some points in life? It's a common problem in this world, so don't complain.

Is it the pronunciation? If it is the pronunciation, then the problem is still not justifiable. Since pronunciation is closely related with accent, it usually takes a student several lectures to discover an instructor's pronunciation pattern. Some can even do it in one lecture! Maybe some people's decision to skip lectures for the whole semester is just a product of ignorance and laziness and discovering that pattern.

Is it the bad grammar structure? No way, because any teaching staff should have gone through an interview before he / she is allowed to teach. If they can't even do basic communication during the interview, how can they teach in the first place? No worries, NTU's standard is high. They must have ensured that this requirement is fulfilled.

That only leaves us with one problem: the inability of the instructor to convey his ideas to the students. In a quite harsh way, we would say that these are the people who don't know how to teach or simply don't have the talent. If that is the problem, then it's no longer a language a problem. Even if we want to tackle it, we should approach the instructors on an individual basis, not by sending a mass email to 8,000 students (thus, stereotyping staffs from China and India as not being able to teach).

Many students decide to stay behind after lessons to ask instructors. Usually they're more than happy to help. However, how can a student complain about an instructor to the whole wide world without even coming to lectures, let alone asking the person in question personally.

So, what's bad English?

You Have to Face It, Sooner Or Later

The world is getting more globalised. You simply cannot expect to do business successfully only with people with certain accents. The key to a good verbal interaction is to understand differences, not condemning them. How can NTU graduates be competitive if they don't learn to appreciate, and cope with, differences?

What if, at one point in life, Gary got confronted by his peers at work because they simply don't understand the way he speaks? Everyone has their own difficulty in language. Even if you sport an American accent, your English still won't be recognised easily by... say Japanese! So what will you do?

When I went to the two World Schools Debating Championships, I learnt that lesson in a crash course. In order to win the debates, I had to understand my opponents' point. In other words, I had to decipher everything they did (gestures) and every element of their speech. From the BBC English to the unique Scottish, Filipino to Singapore English (yes, I learnt how to decipher the latter only when I went to WSDC); all took time to understand, but in the end they're all understandable.

To end, I'd like to cite from ST again:

"The [Students] union's communication officer [...] put it down to students' lack of exposure to foreign nationalities. [...] 'It has become a non-existent issue. It even helps when I go overseas on attachment programmes to multinational firms."

Learn from diversity, don't chastise it.

Bottom Line

Honestly, I just didn't get it. How come a message with such a weak underlying premise like this be so popular and even gain some followers? Are some students refusing to accept others' weaknesses, thus disacknowledging that they, too, have weaknesses?

I hope not. Because if some do, we're facing a bigger problem of intollerant graduates here...

Ref: Foreign lecturers' English riles NTU student. (2006, March 23). The Straits Times. Retrieved March 24, 2006 from Factiva.

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