More on 張棟樑

And the continuing adventures of ninghua continue............!

Got this on 張棟樑. I just had to say this......(comments in red are by me BTW)

棟樑的檔案 (Nicholas teo profile:)

姓名： 張棟樑 Nicholas Teo
生日： 1981年11月29日
年齡 : 25 (2006年)
星座： 射手座
身高：176公分 (Shortie~~~~~~!)
體重：62公斤
腰圍：30寸 鞋子：9號
衣服：M Size 褲子：M Size,32寸
家庭成員：2姐1妹
中學：古晉中華第一中學 (Chung Hua Middle school No 1?! Kuchingite allright.....)
大學：台灣世新大學傳播系
語言： 華語 、廣東話 、英文 、馬來文、福建話
(languages spoken: Mandarin, cantonese, English, BM, Hokkien) What about me? 1)can-lah! Not fluent 2)Cannot! Can understanf 1%, and thats it! 3)I'm a (semi)native speaker! Want to beat my 8.5? 4)13 years of my life, and I'm glad its over.......... 5)Limpeh eh hiao kong hokkien uwa! Mai play-play ah! and I: ngo ni ni kiang eh hiu kong ho jiu uwa! (ask someone who know's Fuchow)


嗜好： 打籃球 、唱 / 聽歌 、 電動 、看電影
最喜愛食物： 甜品
最喜愛顏色： 灰色系
最喜愛歌手： 王菲 、陳奕迅 、張惠妹、林憶蓮
最喜愛音樂類型： R&B 、 Pops
最喜愛閱讀： 休閒娛樂雜誌 、 圖文書
最喜愛動物： 狗 (come on man! Kuching boy's like cats! Not dogs!)
最喜愛季節： 秋天
最喜愛的禮物：心意
最喜愛運動： 籃球
最喜愛的顏色：灰色色系
最喜愛的食物：能吃的都愛、甜品，小食
最喜愛的零食：巧克力 (everyone loves it...)
最喜愛的水果：香蕉 最喜愛的運動：籃球、游泳
最喜愛的服裝：隨性
最喜愛的打扮：輕便，舒服
最喜愛的地方：很高的地方 最喜愛的季節：秋天，冬天
最喜愛的電影：很容易愛上電影，所以喜歡的電影太多
最喜愛的收集品：正版CD，因為覺得物超所值 (beli ori!)
最喜愛的一張專輯：王菲－天空專輯
最喜愛什麼樣的女生：大方，健談，合得來
最大的心願：讓父母過舒適的生活
最尊敬的人：父母 (awwww......)
最疼愛的人：家人 (a family boy all right....)
最難忘的生日：21歲生日，發生太多“驚喜”

最討厭的電影：笑料愚到不行的喜劇
最討厭的食物：沒有
最討厭什麼樣的女生(what type of girl does he hate?)：三八，傻大姐 (translation: Ah Lian's)
最想去旅遊的地方：日本，因為喜歡他的文化
最適合結婚的年齡：27－30歲 (keep that in mind....)


最害怕聽見的評語：唱歌音質很差，因為不能改進
最希望聽見的評語：唱歌不錯，長得不錯
有沒有駕照：有 有沒有近視：一點點
有沒有養寵物：沒有
有沒有下廚過：沒有
有沒有座右銘：哈哈
有沒有自己的車：有
有沒有談過戀愛：有，4次 ( 4 times!?!?!?!?!?!?)
有沒有暗戀過女生：有，中學時期

有沒有作弊的經驗：有
有沒有出國的經驗：有，新加坡，泰國，印尼，香港，台灣
有沒有被老師處罰過：當然有，太多了，哈哈，不聽話
有沒有在眾人面前哭過：幾乎沒有
有沒有情緒失控的時候：有，當家裡發生狀況的時候
有沒有在求學時期打工：沒有
有沒有和家人冷戰的經驗：有，小時候不懂事，和家人吵架之後就會冷戰
有沒有被朋友作弄的經驗：有，清明節被嚇
有沒有在求學時期欺負女生：沒有

有沒有在求學時上台表演的經驗：有
當歌手有什麼糗事：剪彩，比別人先剪彩球，好糗
當歌手最期望的事：自己的專輯被肯定、接受
當歌手有什麼開心的事：每次大型演出成功
當歌手之後最大的收獲：接觸、學習很多新鮮的事物
當歌手以來收到最喜歡的禮物：沒收過太多禮物，但是歌迷的信有些真的很感動

random me.........

Subang Drift!!!

Y'know, for a country that legalises illegal racers (that doesn't sound right: if they are legalised, why are they still called illegal racers?), we don't have much in terms of racing movies.

Yes, I know the Malaysian movie industry is in shambles, but bear with me on this one.

You see, the Americans have Tokyo Drift, amongst other movies to satisfy their raing needs.

The Japanese have Initial D.

The British.....well, lets just take Top Gear.

So what do we Malaysian's have?

No, it's not remp-it. Thats just an excuse for our politictians to buy more crack and spend our tax money treating Mat rempits who end up in hospital and lubricating their croines supplying medicine, while they get away from murder.

No, its not some B-grade film subsidised by the government.



Yes folks, direct from Malaysia, we persent:

SUBANG DRIFT!

(Hosted on youtube, but I don't think it's going anyway soon...)

Part 1:


Part 2:


Honestly, I am impressed. For something that is done by Taylor College students (for their LAN subject to boot!) it is amazingly good. The storyboard, the camrea compositon, the music....beats some of the local movies I've seen!

Where did they get the camera? The time? The HDD space to do all the editing? The time? Wait till you come to uni...you never finish reading your text book, much less make a movie!

I'll just let you guys watch it. More comments coming soon.

Watch this space!

How long does it take the west to understand China dolls?

Sorry guys, I have to go back to my Malaysian mode........


NOW ONLY THEY KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????????????

NOW ONLY THEY KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????????????

NOW ONLY THEY KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????????????

NOW ONLY THEY KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????????????

NOW ONLY THEY KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????????????

NOW ONLY THEY KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????????????

NOW ONLY THEY KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????????????

NOW ONLY THEY KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????????????

I've been sayng it since 2006!

Random musings

Ever since I’ve been sucked into attending the TSA(Taiwanese student association) anime club, my brain has been throbbing.

Actually, that’s a lie. The only reason my brain is throbbing is from the lack of sleep, and they fact that I have 3 (THREE!!!) freaking assignments due on Monday. ALL ON MONDAY! Who comes up with the timetable for these things?! I’m completely frozen both in temp and in my brain. So all I can do it type out meaningless posts about the TSA anime club.

So, what have I been watching?

Detective Conan (and the 5th movie)
Anyone who doesn’t know what detective conan is, please slowly back away from the screen. Everyone should watch the 5th movie. Its amazing. Words fail me to even start describing it. Detective Conan is one of those movies that you can drop in anytime. You don’t have to follow all 490+ ep’s to understand it. And besides, at the beginning of every movie they essentially tell you the whole story of Conan anyway.

Naruto 3rd movie
This was bad. Very bad. How bad? When it finished, someone shouted “Finally!”. Unless someone is paying you to watch it, please give this a miss

Klorox
I can’t remember anything beyond “he likes older woman. Much older woman.”

FMP: Fumofu
In chinese, English, whatever, its still as funny as ever! Through I think it was a bad idea to show it when there was only one girl that day………………..

School Rumble
Honestly man, who comes up with the script for these things?! Someone should force our lectures to play this in between breaks! It’s the only thing that’s keeping me alive! And, the OP song is addictive!

Trinity Blood
The most boring movie/show/whatever it is ever known to man. I couldn’t understand anything.

Shakugan no Shana
The only thing I remember about this screening were the loli jokes and remarks that the “wise guys” kept going on and on about. Seriously, its terrible! (the “jokes”, not shana)

And some more I’ve forgotten thanks to a lack of motivation……..
Its amazing I'm watching all these, considering that they're all subtitled in chinese.....


Meanwhile, on my side:

Nagasarete Airantou
Honestly, what sort of island is called 藍蘭島? And it’s a harem gone wrong. Horribly wrong. But the humor is all in the right places.

Kanon (2006)
4 months later and I’m still stuck at ep 3. A bit like my programming really. Lecture 13 and I’m still stuck on lecture 4.


I promise I’ll churn out more intellectual postings after the exams…….

微笑 Pasta and OMG'ness

微笑 Pasta (literary, Smiling Pasta) is one of these Taiwanese Drama's. It has an interesting history for me. While I was in New Zealand, the taiwanese were going gaga all over it, even somehow smuggling the DVD set into NZ and passing them around.

Then I went back to Kuching, and saw the (pirated) DVD sets in every China doll DVD stash where ever there was a Chinese population. Jalan Song food court, Kenyalang, you name it and they probably had it. So, stumped on what 微笑 Pasta was and why everyone seems to watch it, I decided to obtain it. Course, I'm not going to give those Chinamen and China Dolls more incentives to come here, so being the cheap Malaysian I am, BT came to the rescue.

A short cap on the series:


Main Charcter, 成晓诗， played by cutie 王心凌。



No drama, chinese or otherwise, will be completed without a we-need-a-male-character-for-the-girl-to-fall-in-love-with, so they roped in this guy:

张栋梁，plays the very Korean looking 何群.

Now I must admit, I know next to nothing about Chinese drama's. At most, my exposure was limited to the TVB drama's on TV3 at 6pm. Don't get me wrong; there are some gems and things worth watching, but on the whole, the Chinese speaking and entertaiment world largely flew pass me. Sure, I know the big ones like Jay, SHE (what sort of name is that?) etc, but I'm ignorant otherwise.

Not that the producers need us Malaysian Chinese as a audience. China, Taiwan and Hong Kong have 1.3 billion, 24 milion, and 7 million (give or take) people respectively. The 6.15 million Chinese in Malaysia, keep in mind not all of them are literate in Chinese, are just side income for them.

微笑 Pasta is a nice drama, but this is not a review of the drama. No. While I was watching it, I thought, I know 王心凌, but who's this 张栋梁?




Taipei 101 appears too often in the drama. I know its the tallest building now, but seriously guys, it can be overdone.

So, i put in 张栋梁 to the internet, and guess what I got?


OMG

He's a Kuchingite!?!?


He is a Kuchingite!!!!!!!!!


Do we have people like this in Kuching?

(I know its just a name they used in the drama, but who on earth names their kid 蚊子？The poor kid.....)

Do we really have someone like this, born and bred in Kuching?


Is it possible for someone like this to come from my dear Kuching?


Kuching is a small place. What are the odds of people like this being born in Kuching?


And making it big?


In the international (chinese speaking) arena at least?


Kuching= population: 500,000. Small place. Nothing much happens. People still very rual in terms of thinking. What are the odds of this happening?



With 王心凌 too boot?!

This...is a pure Kuching boy, born and bred in Kuching:


This is what a Kuching guy, lets call him Ah Beng, usually looks like.


Do things like this happen in Kuching?


I am just so shocked....I'm going to stop here.....@_@

You know you've spent too much time in the computing labs when....

-You start using IEEE802.3, IEEE1394, IEEE802.16, IEEE802.8, IEEE802.15 instead of Ethernet, Firewire, Wimax, FTTH and Bluetooth respectively.

-When someone says the net is slow, you go on into TCP/IP, packet size, latency, collisions, route tables for 1 min before realising that normal people don't talk like that

-777 is the scariest number in Linux (I'm not joking)

-Everything seemingly can be linked with a Hcode, Fcode, Primary and a Secondary key

-You get very frustrated when people say they don't care about internet privacy

-You use ancronyms like FAT, NTFS, EXT2, EXT3, HPFS to describe someone's 250GB external HDD

-When someone asks you what the time is, you reply "=time(now)"

-You know that the maximum date a Windows XP file system can handle is 28 May 60056 . After that the whole thing just crashes.

-LISP, FORTRAN, C, C+.,C++, C# are some of the languages in the world

-You know F00F = 61455

-You cower in fear when you see and hear the word "recursion"

-Your life becomes: wake up, lectures, labs, dinner, study, sleep. Rinse and repeat

-chow means something else other than food or a chinese surname

-You cannot talk about anything other than a push stack and pop stack, thus making you an outcast in gatherings

-When someone asks you to go and see fireworks, the first thing that comes into your mind is: "But I have a database to compile!"

-You can narrow down the reasons why the barcode scanner in Coles wouldnt scan your purchase.

-You're writing this!

A time and tradition gone by

You know, since the Borneo Post (and it's shadow counterpart) moved into the 21st century, it has been great for true blue Kuchingites like me. When I was in NZ for that one year, news from "home" was scarce. The Star and NST don't really say anything about us east Malaysians.

Bring back the 8 o’clock cannon
By S J Chin, Kuching

WITH the current emphasis by the State government to attract tourists to Sarawak, much effort and money have been invested to showcase our uniqueness from the rest of Malaysia, indeed, the world.

Kuching especially has been a magnet to tourists who love to venture off the beaten track and those who made it here usually have fond memories of the state and its people.

For this reason, I would like to humbly offer a suggestion that would help to make Kuching even more unique and memorable.

When I was a small boy, there used to be the familiar sound of the firing of a cannon at precisely 8 o’clock every evening from the current Police Museum ground across river.

The boom can be heard from many parts of Kuching and was particularly clear during high tide. I was living at the Sungei Priok then and the boom was a signal to us children that schoolwork was over and time to go to bed.

And if you were out of the house playing with the neighbours’ children, you better get home soon or mom would chew your ears off.

For adults, the signal was a call to check your watch and clock for accuracy or simply that the time 8 o’clock.

For fishermen and boat operators, it was a sign of high or low tide, time to arrange work schedule.

For civil servants and Kuchingnites, it was time to switch to on BBC news broadcast by Radio Sarawak (now RTM).

I believe the practice was discontinued during run-up to the confrontation with Indonesia in the 70s.

The reason was not to cause panic to Kuching residents in case it be mistaken for an Indonesian invasion. Unfortunately, it died a natural death after confrontation was over.

It would be really nice if our State government can bring back this unique feature of Kuching. In fact so unique that no other place in the world have it.

Not just bringing it back but do it with fanfare, like the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. This can best be work out by the police.

In other words, make a show of it and let the public and tourists witness it. Once it become a regular feature, it will become an attraction. It will also bring business to the Waterfront and to the tumpang operators who ferry people to watch the show, if we maintain the original site at the Police Museum.

If the Police Museum is not suitable, then the old fort at the Waterfront would be ideal being more accessible to the public. I believe it will be spectacular and can attract a huge crowd to the show.

I hope others will support this suggestion and our Urban Development and Tourism Ministry will give it a serious thought. For oldies like myself, it’s nostalgic.

Borneo Post, letters section, 14/5/07

While some ignorant peasants are scraching their heads like someone who's totally ill informed in (Kuching) history, I relished reading this letter. The fact is, while the internet and blogs have made a huge impact on how news and information is disseminated, at the end of the day, outside of the well educated and informed, the daily papers still make an impact to the bloke on the street. I'm glad the Borneo Post brought this to light.

While the rest of my peers were playing DOTA, Counter Strike, and going on about SHE plus Jay, I was with my parents and grandparents listening to their stories. Believe me, they have some good stuff. I just think its sad that they will take with them their stories of life when they pass on. It may not be the most interesting thing on earth, but someone has to document all these.

According to the letter, thanks to Sukarno, we lost one of the last few things the British (Brooke's mostly) left for us.Then the Malaysians came in and decided he didn't do enough. While like most of Malaysia, there are single celled creatures who thinks history is a joke, I personally think it would be nothing short of execellent if this tradition was brought back. Development doesn't have to mean the loss of history: just look how long the changing of the guard lasted.

I mean, its one bang in the night. How hard can it be? Besides, it will be an execellent way of making sure my watch is correct.

Another time, another era

*Sigh*

It was inevitable, but here it is.....

School gets land for relocation
By Puvaneswary Devindran

State govt to alienate 3.38 acres in Tabuan Jaya Baru for Chung Hua Primary School No. 2

KUCHING: The State government will alienate more or less 3.38 acres of land for the relocation of Chung Hua Primary School No 2.

Liu (left) briefing Dr Chan (second left) on the school’s model as (from right) Mawan, Assistant Minister of Infrastructure Development and Communication Lee Kim Shin, Yong and Jabu look on.

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan made this announcement yesterday during the earth-breaking ceremony for the building of SJK Chung Hua Sungai Tapang Hilir at MJC Batu Kawa New Township here.

He said that Lot 11720, Block 11, Muara Tebas Land District at Tabuan Jaya Baru would be alienated to Kuching Chung Hua Primary School No1-6 management committee after its official handover to the State government.

“The letter of offer will be issued to the committee as soon as the due process of amalgamation and surrender has been completed,” he said.

He hoped that the committee would work closely with SUPP to relocate Chung Hua Primary School No.2 to Tabuan Jaya Baru for the benefit of the Chinese at both Tabuan Jaya and BDC.

Committee chairman Dr Chou Chii Ming said the decision came as no surprise as SUPP had promised to provide a new site for the school and find the funds for its building cost.

He said it was glad tidings for all and was especially thankful to the government for supporting Chinese education in the state.

“So as you can see, the committee and SUPP Education Bureau have been working quite closely to make this a reality,” he said in a phone interview.

Dr Chou said that once the land had been officially given, the committee would apply for a relocation licence from the Ministry of Education.

As to whether the opposition would play up the issue, Dr Chou believed that they would welcome the news as they too would like to see good development of Chinese schools.

The need to relocate SJK Chung Hua No 2 had often been highlighted by the local Chinese dailies due to its poor location.

The school is on a slope near Lorong Temple (behind a Chinese temple) in a high traffic area.

The school currently has around 200 pupils.

via Sunday's (20/5/07) Borneo Post

This is not new news, rather something that hs been talked about since I was in 四小。It was inevitable that 二小 would be relocated sooner or later. It is really smack right in the middle of the city, completely surrounded by the (so-called) CBD, with really no land to expand （why does this sound so familar?). I think it is the last school in Kuching to be completely made out of wood. And still standing. The location is also not bad: the tabuan area has no other schools other than SK and SMK Tabuan (which was also relocated to its current location from Kampung Tabuan Dayak or something like that, but that's another story for another day...), which will finally serve the growing population in that area.

But at the same time, there is a slight tinge of sadness in me. For better or worst, I was a (by) product of the Chung Hua schools. It wasn't perfect, but they had their own pride in a country where vernacular schools are constantly under pressure. 二小 was truly the last remaining school which was truly built by the early Chinese settlers. 一小 had a new building ages ago, on land from a former tycoon. While the name and school will no doubt live on and develop in their new location, it is sad that a part of Kuching has to go in the name of development.

Granted, this is an occurance in any urban area in the world (point in case: one of the buildings in Margaret St here used to be a school. If you look closely, you can still see the facade in the entrance to the building.); think Bukit Bintang Girls school. But still, it's sad. There will come a time, where my alma mater, 四小 will also have to make way for development. My mum could bring me to her old primary school and tell me "This was my class" ,"This was where I usually had my break". Would I be able to do that with my kids? Tell them the spot I played ping pong. The back alley (sort of) where I assembled those plastic toys we bought from the canteen. The class where I leant, and heck, where I sat.

Almost half a generation has passed through the gates of 四小 since I left it. Since then, many others have passed through the gates, taking them both good and bitter memories with them like me. Must time and development have to erase the place of our early education and memories?

Picture of the day

Guess whos the most expensive girl of the month?

More details in my photo-log site.

Welcome to ITB001

Due to (not very) high demand, the adventures of Timothy's lectures continues!

As per usual, click on all images to see a bigger, higher res version.


Welcome to ITB001! Where 25% of students fail this unit!


Admin notices. LEX is up, blah, blah, catch up session, blah blah....

(At least you know I listen in class)


The internet in this lecture hall wasn't working that day. But we kinda had a 30 min outage in the uni network that day, so it wasn't surprising.

Its a bit hard to take pictures in ITB001, coz the lecture goes on and on and on non-stop for the 2 hours, and frankly, there isnt anything very interesting on the screen, save for the slides and the code, so it's not the most interesting lecture on earth.


Hah! Caught MSN'ing in lecutre!


Bugs in code, and on steps on how to debug it. Click to see the bigger image to see what caused the bug.


Low light conditions, but a attempt in far-near photography. The notes (a bit blur thanks to the focus) are on the same page as the code on the screen.

Never thought multiplying 2 numbers could be do difficult.


Lab session. To be honest, most people don't really go for the lab sessions, unless a assignment is due. Bastards. It can get quite lonely and cold, plus I have no idea what the tutor is talking most of the time. Except that Scheme is useless; no one really remembers it beyond 1st year, but you've got to pass the damn thing!


A macro shot of my database assignment, marked and feedback given. I love macro shots. It looks a lot cooler inhigh res. LCD flat screens ROCK!

Rant and Rave

I seriously need more sleep. I’m now in the Linux labs, and I’ve made so many mistakes in the last hour or so, including mistyping ‘/dev/sda1” which drove me crazy for 5 mins until I realized my mistake. Everyone has left, having completed the labs. So have I, but I’m just going to use the remaining 45 mins I have left in this session of the linux labs to bang out this rant and rave entry.

In this entry, I will go on about:
-brisbane’s public transport
-a intro to VOIP
-winter and weather in this place

But first, a word from our sponsors my health. I haven’t been well as of late. Fell sick over the weekend, and even 1 week later I’m still suffering the side effects of it. High fever (37.9C), runny nose, cough, headache etc etc. In hindsight I don’t think it was a good idea to sleepover at issac’s place last weekend. Ah, the stupid things I do in my youth …..

Anyway, I’m still having this nagging cough, which is literary keeping me awake at night, as I cough away like a old man in the Mater hospital. I don’t think the guys on both sides of my room like it any better either. I have been to the doctor, but as Ek Guan and all those doing medicine know, antibiotics are useless against a viral infection. I need a nice hearty bowl of chicken soup. And a lot of rest. Its been a crazy week for me. The lecturer decided to give a crash course in MS Access, which while easy enough, we have to do ‘exercises” that are 120 pages long. It starts of easy, but after page 200 or so, it goes tough going. And we have this 3 part Access assignment due every Tues, which after the end of this month were supposed to bolt together the 3 parts and make…… a database. Gee, thanks!

Databases are evil. Kids, don’t go near them too often.

Mind you, databases are the lesser of the two evils. The other evil is called programming. People have quite just because of this. Many have broken down just because of recursion(don’t get me started on that one!). the statistics don’t make for good reading. For Sem 1 2006, 30% failed 1st yr programming (ITB001). 20% failed to make it in the 2nd sem of 2006. A overwhelming majority (67% I think) only make it to band 4 (out of a max of 7), barely passing. And me? I’m that 22% which drops it in 1st sem and has to do it all over again next term. Way to go Tim.

Cant we all just stick to binary math………………………………………….?

Brisbane’s public transport
There’s an entire category in wikipedia just on Brisbane’s public transport. So I wouldn't do too much into their network. What I will go on is the insane things that happen on BCC buses.

All around the world, peak hour (7-9am, 4.30-6.30pm) is the worst time for both drivers and public transport commuters. But I’ve never seen anything as bad as brisbane’s one. Usage of public transport here is VERY high, with the 130 bus to Sunnybank PERMANENTLY full, even at night, and there is no sitting room in the to/from UQ bus at 10pm on a weekday (and Saturday) night.

It gets worst for me, living at Wooloongabba (I still cant spell it…..), I’m on the map at least, quite close to the city. So every morning, when I take the bus to uni, the buses are quite full, having come from a far far away place (usually Cooparoo). Now and then I get buses sailing pass me, with the destination plate changed to ‘Sorry, bus full’. What irks me is that this has happened to me FOUR times this week! On the way back isn’t any much better, with me having to squeeze next to the driver, literary, just to be on the bus.

Of course, there are some advantages (for a guy at least) being squashed in a bus. But seriously, on the long run this will seriously affect the Australian economy. I’ll tell you how. The other day I was squashed into the 175 bus. Next to me was this cute girl. Long hair, cute face, the works. Anyway, that’s not the point here; its good news to me, but have you ever considered the poor girl. Having this tall and ugly asian guy (she was asian looking BTW) towering over her. Who knows what he’s thinking. The poor girl will be so traumatized, she wouldn’t be able to sleep that night. So she wakes up cranky with lack of sleep. Her productivity falls. He workload becomes heavier. She snaps at her friends. He productivity falls further, leading to a 0.00000000000001% drop in the Australian GDP output. She gets fired. The Australian government gets 0.000000000001% less tax revenue.

Can Australia afford such a loss in productivity and revenue? Of course not! Will BCC take responsibility for such a traumatizing experience for the girl? No way! So for the sake of Australia, the world, the countless girls traumatized by me and for my sake, PUT MORE FREAKING BUSES ON THE ROAD! How about an extra route along Logan Road to Cooparoo? Or another route to Sunnybanks? Lets call it the 130E (for extra)! And while we’re at it, how about improving the 150 route, every 10 mins at other times, and every 3 mins at peak hours?

I never thought having a bus that has a frequency and comes every 15 mins would not be enough. Never.



Winter and Weather
We seem to have missed Autumn and gone straight into winter. Its been freezing the past few days, with temps of 15C at night and 25C max in the noon. While its heaps warmer compared to Auckland (and minus the bloody wind!), and its so much better for me, it can get quite cold after 4pm.

Unfortunately, the guys who manage the computer labs in S (science) block, where I am right now and usually spend an unhealthy amount of time in, haven’t realized that summer is over and have kept the thermostat at “COLD”. Seriously man, turn the damn thing to “warm” already! Spending 2 hrs on just 2 database questions is bad enough. What makes you think we want to be frozen????

I spend most time in the labs, partially because the VMWare Linux machines are only available here, and I’m more likely to get a computer in the labs than in the main library. They have some good gear here: I’m running a P4 3.0GHZ D, aka Intels lame attempt in dual cores. The labs at level 8 use C2D, E6600 I think, dam good stuff. Most of the time, when there not being used in a class, its used to play WoW or CS. Legally. Ahhhhh…….the wonders of doing Bachelor of Game Technology……………

The only problem is that getting a computer at level 6 here is impossible most of the time, and that happens to be where the printer is located! Bloody hell, I have to pack up all my stuff just to get a printout…..

I’m waiting for the weekend. For some strange reason the weekends are warmer than the weekdays. And its not just because I’m in uni in the weekday…I’m in uni 6 days a week.


So guys, my life is as hard as it is.....please don't create more trouble for me eh?

My long rant on VOIP (Voice over internet protocol)

If you don’t know what VOIP is, google and wikipedia give a (insane) rundown on it. Basically its all about voice communications through the internet (like the microphone function in MSN messenger.)


(Note: this post was inspired by one of my essay questions: “what protocols are commonly used to implement VOIP? Are they compatible? Describe the problems that occur with VOIP and why are they difficult to solve?” I’ve skipped the technical bits, so its easier to read. Bear with me if I start talking about algorithms through.)


One of the most well known VOIP application is Skype, now everyone can talk for free™. A quick look at wikipedia throws up heaps of PC-to-PC VOIP programs. Gtalk. Gizmo project. Jabber. Heck, even MSN Messanger and Y! Messanger has some sort of VOIP function built in these days. They all claim to offer free calls and good quality audio. The on the other end of the spectrum are calling cards like italk (CHEATERS! THEY DON’T CHARGE AS ADVERTISED!) and digi’s chatz. Here in Brisbane we have CardCall and OZfone, amongst others. All these allow us to call to places cheaply (my card, PPS, which is part of Optus, gives me 2.7cents/min to Malaysian landlines and 9cents/min to Malaysian handphones). All these calling cards use VOIP in some way or another, even if they have their own, dedicated VOIP infrastructure.


Here in OZ, the push to VOIP by small providers is strong. With ad’s like “$9.95 a month and unlimited national phone calls!”, it is tempting. And this is in a place where 50 cents (the currency, not the rapper) in a Telstra public phone allows you to talk as long as you like to local numbers. I’m serious. If you have a landline, all you pay is 20c (depending on your provider) for local calls, and you can talk as long as you like. Talk for 30 seconds? 20c. 3 hours? Same 20c. There is a 5 hour time limit (if you talk for more than 5 hrs, you are charged another 20c, but IMO if you do reach that, you really need a life……). The thought of being able to call as much as you like, NATIONALLY (so I can talk to someone in Adelaide as long as I want), is tempting. And international calls aren’t that expensive either! One provider offered 2c/min to Malaysia landlines, which is not only cheap, it eliminates the need for me to run out to buy and new phone card when I’ve run out and avoid the robot system. (I can memorise the entire damn thing: Press 1 for English, pu tong hua, qing an er, guand dong wa, ching onn san, untuk Bahasa Indonesia, tekan empak, hang ku kok, chae belarau…..)


But anyone who thinks VOIP can replace the traditional fixed phone line system and tells companies to migrate to VOIP should be shot and buried under State Highway 1. The problem with VOIP is that it uses the internet. And the internet is rubbish. It is useless for voice communication. Because that is how the internet was designed. Data is split into packets and sent out NON sequentially. Say the data “hello” was broken into 6 packets of 4-bit each, and tagged with A1, A2, A3, A4,A5 and A6. With congestion, packet loss and latency, most of the time, the packets will arrive NOT in order, such as A4, A5, A2, A3, A1, A6. That is fine for things like emails and websurfing, as the server can wait for that extra 0.005 seconds for all the data to all arrive, and lets face it, to a human, there is very little difference between 0.005 and 0.05 seconds, where web surfing and emails (even MSN sometimes) is concerned.


But for voice, it’s a disaster. Remember the old days when you had to pay RM1/min to call to the US using IDD? You could tell there was a lag between words, as it took around 400 milliseconds to the satellite signal to travel from, say LA, to KL. The internet is not immune to lag. Even in the best fiber channel, it still takes AT LEAST 180ms to get from Singapore to LA. We can’t bend the laws of physics. Add the fact that data is going through routers in Hong Kong, Taiwan and/or Japan on its journey to LA, the extra overhead will add another 50ms-70ms to the travel time. And that’s in a perfect channel. In real life, it takes around 300ms to get a packet to data from Singapore to the US. On the way it will meet/have packet collisions (yes, they do happen), data loss etc etc. In web browsing, its not too bad, as it just asks the source to resend the data; just that the data takes another, oh, 0.2 seconds longer to arrive.


In the world of voice communication, 0.2 seconds is an eternity. The lag is already 300ms, and waiting for data that doesn’t come in sequential order adds another 60ms or so. Waiting for resend data will take another 300ms. So, the lag between 1 computer to another can be 300+60+300=660ms!!! (more than half (0.5) a second!). I haven’t even added in pipe congestion, processing time (usually about 5-10ms, depending on the computer) and data shaping! Added the fact that data doesn’t travel sequentially on the internet (this is why sometimes on VOIP systems, when someone says hello, you hear the “llo” before the “hel”), you get problems or broken words and echo. All this is fine when youre just talking about life to your family, where the occasional “Can you repeat that? You broke up.” request isn’t that bad.


But what if I was in an emergency, and I was calling an ambulance? The “sorry sir, can you repeat your addresses? You broke up.” isn’t just annoying, its wasting time, precious seconds we humans can feel that can literary mean the difference between life and death. What about currency speculators and people who play with stocks? That 5 second wasted having to repeat themselves can make a difference between a profit and a loss. And that’s the thing: too many people are diving into VOIP, thinking its just a cheaper form or the telephone, without thinking of the technologies limitations and consequences.


Its ironical that ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), which TCP/IP killed in the 90’s, is being given a second life with the construction of dedicated VOIP networks to bypass the problems and limitations of the TCP/IP protocol. But the construction of such networks is just like using band aid to treat a 3rd degree burn; it may look like it covers the affected area, but it just hides the problem by covering it. ATM is not the answer to VOIP’s problems. Only dedicated channels can truly carry voice data reliably. But building a global dedicated voice data channels will cost heaps, and look like we’re reinventing the wheel (after all, the current global IDD PABX system is a dedicated (analog, through its being replaced with digital PABX’es) voice channel network), not to mention resistance from state owned monopolies who don’t like the idea of cheap international calls. The whole idea of a global dedicated channel for VOIP will undermine the reason why VOIP can be so cheap in the first place: it latches on to the existing internet network.


This is why, VOIP should never be even touched by a 1000 foot pole by businesses and technology challenged people. In another 50 years maybe, when the technology has maturated and stablised, and my grandmother can talk to me without having to repeat herself all the time.

Welcome to ITB002!

Some random snapshots of one of my lectures, ITB002. Not the most interesting topic on earth. Anyway, some pics. click on all of them to see the full image.


This is as far as I camwhore.Not the most flattering picture of me, but I didn't activate the flash, hence I'm a bit dark while the lights at the back are bright. Dont want the whole (half empty) lecture hall to know that I'm taking a picture. I looked tired...


Empty seats in my front. No one acctually seats in the front rows really.


To my left...since I used a 1/8 exposure at ASA 400, some pics are a bit blur thanks to shake and people moving. But at least its bright enough for all to see.

yes, some people do bring their notebooks to the lecture hall. The whole place is one huge, massive university wide hotspot. I can tell you most people who bring their notebooks never use it for the lecture. I've seen people play Warcraft, Maple Story and some other games (I think it was Serious Sam) in the lecture hall!


Blah...blah....blah....

This was about web design. Thanks to Blogger and AJAX filled push button publishing, my HTML skills are a bit rusty. but I still remember the ASCII colour codes. And people, Red and Yellow DONT mix! honestly, some people still never see it.....

This lecture is needed for n00bs who are just setting up their blogs! its all about style and usuability!


Strech break half way through the lecture.

if you look closely to the left, you can see, at the edge are some people on their notebooks. usually the people with notebooks are at the back, cause the power sockets are all the the fact. And from them I've confirmed the fact that geeks dont talk. there was once I saw a row on 4 people, all on MSN, and they were talking with each other, ON MSN!!!!

Either that, or there was some serious external coordiantion. Everytime someone typed something and hit enter, another's will sound the MSN sound. For goodness sake man, youre seating next to each other! Even I'm not that bad!


People at the far right leaving the lecture hall. Either for good or for some grub or the loo.


Any one want to join me? Every Monday, 7-9pm, Z block, hall Z411. Without fail.

Now you know why no one goes for the lecture..........

Chinese and Criticism

I was talking to a (Taiwanese) person the other day, when the conversation somehow strayed to downloading programms. Somehow we ended up talking about xunlei, when I commented how hard it was to find out where xunlei is connecting to which peers, I said "Like most things Chinese, transparency is lacking in Xunlei".

Wrong thing to say to a Taiwanese sometimes.

Which brings me to my point: what is it with Chinese and criticism, notwithstanding the fact that most of them can't spell "criticism" properly, that makes them so defensive over their own "race"?

This is a difficult entry, as I myself is an ethnic Chinese, and also suffer the pitfalls of being defensive over my mistakes. I mean, we all don’t like to be wrong in anything (by and large). But what is it that makes Chinese usually so defensive over their race when other people comments on them?

Anyway, after I said that, they looked at me like I was some alien, from mars, who is “bad mouthing the Chinese race”. If I was an Australian, they’d call me racist and ignorant of the Chinese culture. But I think they were a bit at loss to describe me. Who knows what was going in their head: “He’s Chinese, speaks Mandarin, and is criticising Chinese for not being transparent.”

I’m not Chinese. I will make that clear. I am Chinese in ethnic group. I am Chinese in my name. I have Chinese blood in my veins. I do know some mandarin. But for all practical intents and purposes, I’m not Chinese. Which also brings another description problem: am I a banana? Language is usually used as a indicator if you are a banana or not. And I speak Chinese. I can read Chinese. But I can’t understand the Chinese nationals and Taiwanese. (Ok, I know this not the most politically correct thing to Chinese nationals and Taiwanese in the same sentence thanks to politics, but bear with me on this one….)

When I talk with the Mainland Chinese (MC), they have this “pride” in them, like their right and you're wrong. Once I had a conversation with a MC (ok, its the guy that lives next to me..) and somehow he misunderstood me, and he thought I was staying in a motel when I first arrived in Brisbane. So he said “You went on a drive [sic] holiday?”. Apparently, he thought a motel was a caravan, the one on wheels. I told him, no, I did not stay in a motel when I first came here, and a motel is a building, its not going very far, but its quite cheap to stay in. The rest of the conversation somehow went back to the definition of the word “motel”, with him saying something along the lines of “But I learnt that a motel is one on wheels. Are you right?”. He even went so far to say that his English teacher in china went to England.

For what? A holiday? Supposedly he was trying to impress me with this “great” English teacher. And that seems to be the problem with the Chinese mentality. We try to find every excuse to prove that we are better. Just look the the petronas ad a few years back. Its all about salary, education, where there working, what car their driving, what sort of education they had etc etc. And when there wrong, they would say “But I graduated from Adelaide University, home of 5 noble prize winners, I came out with a GPA of 7, and therefore I’m right and you're wrong.” He probably didn’t tell you that the GPA of 7 was for a BA.

My point is, what is it about the Chinese race in general that is so, by and large, intolerant to criticism? I know this is not just limited to the Chinese, but I will speak from it as I know the most about it. Why is it that just a small remark that Chinese aren’t exactly well known for transparency (prove me wrong. People, please prove me wrong in this.) sparks a debate on the Chinese race? And I get informed that I’m not Chinese enough. Gee, thanks for the news flash!

The irony of all this is, it is the Chinese which are usually the first to (quietly) criticise other people. Like the fact that from July onwards, the minimum IELTS score for would-be Australian PR holders has gone up from 5 to 6.

I'm down.............

Down and depressed (kinda). Also not feeling well, dats why I'm doing this.....

1. Color of most clothes you own?
No idea.

2. Number of pillows you sleep with.
2. But I need more. 2 is really really not enough.

3. Where are you right now?
A Queenslander with ten 2m by 4m rooms. And I'm in one of them.

4. What are you doing 12 AM last night?
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

5. How old will you be in 10 years?
very old.

6. What do you think you'll be doing in 15 years?
If I could tell and see the future, people will be lining up my door to pay me and I'll be able to afford a better place.

7. Do you have braces?
Used to. I miss them.

8. Are you paranoid?
I need panadol

9. Describe your wallet?
Brown

10. Your alarm clock?
Basic with a sound making device. How else do you think I wake up at all?

11. Your hair?
Black and fluffy

12. Tooth brush?
No idea.

13. What color are your eyes?
Black, I think

14. Unforgettable enemy?
Too many to list. keeps changing.

15. First play/musical/performance?
I........dont..........remember.......

16. Last movie seen in cinema?
"Blood and Chocolate", only because Jon paid for my ticket, or else I wouldnt have gone near it with a 1000M pole

17. Last person you yelled at?
Myself

18. Last crush?
Cant afford one from Starbucks

19. Last shoes worn?
Sneakers.

20. Last ice cream eaten?
Cadbury's cream ice cream during easter. It was heavenly....

21. Last word written by hand?
"digest" on my "Issues on data integrity" essay...(believe me, its not fun....)

22. Last time you wanted to die?
Not that long ago...........

23. When was the last time you went out at night?
Tuesday, to the labs to do something

24. What was the last song you heard?
Cant remember

25. What is about the opposite sex?
Refer to no 6

26. What do you want to do now?
Sleep forever and not have to wake up at 7.30am coz there is a freaking lecture at 9am and I havent printed out the notes....

27. What’s the first thing you ate this morning?
Home Brand milk. Really.

28. What’s the one song you never get over?
"Not so furious" by Rudy and JJ, the Hitz.fm morning crew!

30. Fav day of the week?
Saturday

Aerobridges are needed in the tropics

Saw this in my mailbox today:



Yes, aerobridges are sorely needed in the tropics. And guess why AirAsia doesnt have aerobridges?