My blog

bubbly? outgoing?

2011-08-04T21:48:00.002+08:00

laughed out when my big boss asked me a favor. He was asked to look for somebody to be involved in company roadshow at NTU. The requirement of the candidate are junior, outgoing, bubbly and young (gen Y). -_- .....

Is this really what U want?

2010-04-05T01:38:00.004+08:00

一种米养百种人. This statement have got a deeper meaning to me recently. Looking at the people surrounding me makes me think about why they are successful in their own way. Some of them are successful academically, some in their career, some in their social life, and many in many different ways or combination of ways.

In particular to sucessful in career, two items hover in my mind whenever I thought about it. Courage to pursue what you want and the capability to acheive what you want.

Putting capabilities aside, I think the upper bound of how successful one can be is set by the courage to pursue. One can be very smart and have perfect plan for everything. But without sufficent courage to execute the plan, nothing can be realized. If one have lots of courage but insufficent planning and capabilities, there is still chance to be successful.

As one grows up, there are more and more things to think/plan/ponder/troubled about. Things that have long term effect and greater impact to life. Career and relationship are the main ones. How much do you want it, how do you want it to be, how good it should be, how much effort you are willing to give, how capable are you.

Often, it hard to acheive and conquer everthing. There is always a give and take. What can you give up to acheive what you want. Does it worth it to give up something to recieve something else? Am I asking too much? Am I on the right track? Is this really what I want? Think I should spend some time to think about it.

time management and overtime

2010-03-07T22:27:00.002+08:00

Went PS for some window shopping today after my lesson and found that there is a wine fair going on there. The wine fair is a 14days (1st-14th Mar) event organized by Carrefour. Went around to try free samples and bought 3 moscato there. Wanted to buy more but one is out of stock and the other (icewine) doesn't have sample to try out. So didn't buy because I am afraid that it will turn out to be too sweet. Also can't find any german riseling and cienna there. Heard from ppl that german rieshling is very nice and wanted to try it. Its a shame that its not availble there.

Its another busy week for me. Looks like its always busy week for me and I thought its not right. Something is wrong. Attended a 1 day time management course with my lab and another lab. Learnt some useful tips about time management. I thought the course isn't conducted as well as I expect it to be. Maybe its because I read a supplement lecture note material the night before the course and was q.impressed by it. The note is based on "Eat that frog!" by Brian Tracy and I thought its interesting and enlightening.

From the notes and course, I realise that some of the things that I have done is actually done "sub-optimally". I think this is because I didn't have the right resource to do my work! For example, I should go for training about a system-A before I start working on the system-A. But due to some crop up, the training was delayed and I have to start working on the system-A before attending the training. Another example, I am suppose to do some estimation about system-A but I didn't have the development environment to work on it. I only have the code to do the estimation. From the mathematical point of view, suppose working on the system is a function F and resources needed are the inputs (i.e.: manpower, time, approperiate skillset, right equipment/tools,..etc). To simplify, I denote it as 4 inputs as shown below:

F(manpower, time, approperiate skillset, right equipment/tools) = solution

a 4 input variables is enough for me to solve for 1 variable which make up 5 variables altogether. But now I only have 2 known variables (manpower and time). How to solve the problem?? though its not that it can't be solved but it won't be efficient because

F(manpower, time) = skillset

then use skillset o/p into F(manpower, time, approperiate skillset, right equipment/tools). So need we have 3 known instead of 4 at the expense of time and that is what I am doing right now...

anything changed must have a reason behind it

2010-02-17T02:39:00.003+08:00

Went for a short run just now so that my sin of taking too much calories will be reduced. But I thought the running is so insignificant to the amount of calories intake for the past 5 days.... =( As usual, it feels sooo good taking a brisk walk or taking a sit at park after a run. Enjoy the wind, the silence and the peace of mind. Its this time and maybe only this time, the minds opens up, free from details and it suddenly able to see big pictures again...

Anw, after the run, I suddenly recall about the first aid event that I did earlier. And decided to come out with a flow chart as a recap of the CPR lesson. Done up the flow chart immediately when I came back just now and realized that there is some discrepency between my understanding and whats stated in the notes. In summary, the discrepency is the sequence of DR. ABC. Which I thought should be DR. BABC. Because shouldn't we check breathing first before we can check airway? Maybe I should upload my flow chart next time to kick start a lesson and refresher session. =)

Ealier tonight, I have broken my practise of not-to-gamble-with-poker-cards (lol). Actually..., its not really a practise or something that I enforce on myself.. but rather its a belief or preference of how money should be used. And the reason why I "changed" is because I am doing it with a different mentality. The metality of doing it as an entertainment and socializing act, than a out-to-win-more-money act. Thought I have realize the difference long time ago, but its recently that I feel that the socializing act is important to perform... And I thought it maybe because of my 2010 resolution that is responsible for this change... Like my RO said, anything said must have a reason behind it. In my context, its anything changed must have a reason behind it. And I thought I haven had changed enough.

First aider course AAR

2010-01-25T01:19:00.002+08:00

Attended 2 Sat 9-5pm First Aider course the past 2 weeks. Learn about the existence of the course through the notice board at my block. Wanted to attend first aider course for quite sometime already but didn't go because of time and money. So I only download videos on internet to learn some basic first aider skills last year.

The course covers quite a broad range of stuff, FROM the very broad and basic knowledge like how to visually identify wounds, accessing what injuries casualty is likely to have suffered, what to do during incidents and etc. TO more specialize skills like bandage and CPR during emergency.

What I like most about the course is the way it was presented. The way knownledge is convey. The instructor shared her life experience, deliver the knowledge in an interactive non-monotone way and videos of real incidents. She really put in extra effort, going beyond whats really required of her to make sure we recieve the message.

Apart from learning about first aid skills from this course, I learn a very different way of conducting a lesson and how a person deserve and gain respects. Setting high standard on one self before you expect high standard from others and how to deliever the knownledge through stories and interactive ways. I must say that the 2 saturday is really well spent.

End of Year 2009

2009-12-30T12:59:00.003+08:00

This the 2nd last day of 2009 and I thought I should do a reflection. Searching through my blog, I found out that I did not make any new year resolution for 09 (formally). But as far as I remember, I think I have completed most, if not all, of what I thought I would wanna do in 09. Actually there isn't much that I want to do in 09.

The list of things for 09 should be:
- to finish off my remaining NS (this is not what I want, but rather I have no choice...)
- slack and relax before I hunt for job
- minimum, get a finance related job to learn more about the industry before I decide on what I wanna do OR get a good pay job in IT industry.

Looking at it, 09 is really a year that I didn't have high hope/aim for myself. Probably thats the reason why I didn't bother to write it down anywhere in the first place. Lol.

Now its time for me to set some goals for 2010. Hopefully the same time next year, I will be able to go through it with satisfaction. =)

Feng's wedding

2009-12-15T00:41:00.003+08:00

The stress on my shoulder can finally be relief today. Feng and ying's wedding finally ended and it ended quite smoothly... It was an unforgetable wedding as I gave my "first time" to feng (as emcee).

Everything run q.smoothly with minimum hipcups through the day. Timing is almost perfect for every events, weather was good until we just finsihed everything (rain started after we fall out from ying's house) and the bro and sis are just excellent.

Ofcoz, all these won't be in place without putting effort in the first place. I can see that Feng really put in alot of effort to ensure everything will run smoothly. From choosing buddies, assign duties (setting up plot), behind the scene negotiation, making excel sheet for guest list, key appointment holder contact list, documentation and planning of schedule, things to note, who to do what and etc... Ofcoz, I am sure that ying also contributed to these too directly or indirectly. Through this experience, I see alots of work to be done for the wedding, learnt some stuff about wedding, marriage and other important lessons, as well as discovered more about feng and ying. There are many things that I believe I have learnt or can learn from this unforgetable experience.

aero

2009-11-09T22:33:00.002+08:00

Came across this interesting video while doing surfing.

and I also came across this interesting article that talks about the physics behind

http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/phonedrmarc/2003_april.shtml

xmlvm

2009-11-01T20:15:00.004+08:00

Came across an interesting video while I was searching for solution that can allow me to use applet ipod touch. From what I know, there is no solution to access applet on web page using mobile devices. This is because there is no JVM on those mobile devices. The video that I mentioned is a google tech talk video that presents on the idea of xmlvm.

The reason why this videos interests me is because of the lack of JVM on mobile device, this xmlvm concept can cross-compile java class files into objective-C code. Objective-C code is the programming code that is used on ipod touch and iphone, two of the best mobile gadgets in the market now. Besides able to cross-compile from java to Objective-C, xmlvm is capable of cross-compiling between a few other language and platform.

This make me think of "translating" the applet into objective-C code and put them into ipod touch to run. This idea seems technically possible but there are some things need to be sort out before it can be realised. Some things like communication between the original applet and the server, the applet code decompiled was obfuscated and amendment is difficult, limitation of xmlvm to do the cross-compilation and etc...

Looking at the amount of work involve really discouraged me. Guess I should look for other easier alternatives. One of the thing that I am looking at is to replay the packets sent from applet to server. Replay isn't really the solution because of the security mechanism embedded into server (seq num checks). But the idea is what I am looking at. Maybe I can write my objective-c program that can fake the server to believe its her applet that is communicating with them. And if thats possible, my work will be greatly reduced and left with "deciphering" the content of the content send back from server.

The Secret of Human Life

2009-11-01T18:25:00.004+08:00

just watch a very interesting channel programme called "生老病死的秘密2 The Secret of Human Life". This episode of the programme talks about the health of human being. In particular, it shows the how one's health in its adult stage is predetermined when one is in the womb. Some of the points that I can recall on hand are:

- if the mother have high blood pressure, infant might suffer from incomplete brain development. This is because the mother cannot channel blood to infant properly during pregnancy.

- there is a high probability when an infant was born underweight, he/she will become overweight in adult stage. This is because when one was still an infant in womb, there was insufficient supply of nutrients. This causes infant to be programmed to have higher demand of nutrients and tend to store more nutrients. This programmed stands life long and affects one to consume more food after borned.

- nausea is a sign of protection to prevent the pregnants to consume food that is human to baby. An articule that I found online talks about the same thing too.

extract from http://www.womenshealthcaretopics.com/preg_vomiting.htm
------------------------
Spicy and overly fatty foods can certainly contribute to nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. The healthier you eat the less likely you are to feel nauseous. Likewise large and overly heavy meals can sit uncomfortably in the stomach during pregnancy. Pregnancy tends to slow a woman's digestion, hence it makes sense to eat more frequent and smaller meals during the day.
------------------------

- if the diameter of infant is small, it might be because of insufficient supply of nutrients from mother.

- when the mother suffers diabetes, it will affects infant. When mother have high sugar level, it will causes infant to have high sugar level too because the blood of infant is supplied by the mother.

- having a premature baby might be because of ill-conditioned womb. When the ill-conditioned womb threatens the life of the infant, the infant will send SOS signal to the mother. The mother body system will then reacts to "early release" the infant from womb.

Touch screen

2009-10-16T23:42:00.003+08:00

Went to familiarize with the new system again this afternoon and learnt about something interesting. We can actually transfer our ordinary LCD screen into touch screen DIY. All we have to do is to buy the touch screen panel that is to be overlay above our LCD and connect the touch screen USB interface to our PC. Did a quick search on ebay and internet and found that the cost of doing is isn't as expensive as I thought. Ranging between 70USD to 120USD. A little expensive if I were to buy it as a toy to try out new stuff but I admit that I am a little tempted... Below is some information I found on web that might be interesting to IT addicts.

===================================================
source from http://www.virtualvillage.com/17%22-widescreen-touch-screen-panel-kit-display-pos/sku007900-027

17" Widescreen Touch Screen Panel Kit Display POS
Your Price: $77.99

Transform your boring PC monitor into an interactive display screen with this high quality and accurate 17” widescreen touch panel which benefits from a thicker screen - meaning a longer life span than many others on the market.

Ideal for use as POS [point of sale] or for giving directions or instructions – touch screens are an eye-catching and technologically advanced way to communicate in pretty much any business:
•Shops
•Shopping centers and malls
•Restaurants, cafes and bars
•Doctors’ and dentists’ surgeries and clinics
•Hospitals
•Banks
•Estate agents
•Museums and galleries
•Reception areas
Attract more business, create better information systems and involve your customers in a huge variety of situations.

This extra wide touch screen fits neatly over your monitor, is easy to install and works with the following operating systems:
•Windows 7
•Windows 2000-XP
•Windows 98
•Windows CE
•Windows Vista
•Linux
•Dos
•Mac OS 9X
•Mac OS X
•Mac OS X [Intel CPU]
Specifications:
•Panel size: 17”
•Screen type: widescreen
•Power: USB – 5V DC 70mA
•Response time: 35ms
•Report rate: 160 points per second
•Resolution: 2048 x 2048
•Accuracy tolerance: ± 0.5%
•Resistance: 200 ~ 900 0Hms
•Operating temperature: -10°C - 60°C
•Dimensions: 384 x 245 x 2.9mm [15.1 x 9.5 x 0.11”]
•USB cable length: 1.7m
The 17” widescreen touch screen panel is brand new and ready to install. It comes boxed and complete with the following:
•Controller board
•Connecting cable
•Software
•USB cable
We sell the touch screen panel kit in a wide range of sizes, so please check our other listings if you are looking for a size other than this one

V1.5

Damn cool taekwondo

2009-10-16T01:29:00.000+08:00

cannot blog properly now...

2009-10-09T23:34:00.005+08:00

as usual, this few weeks have been very fulfilling for me. Many exposure and acquire many new knowledge. Some of the interesting stuff to share, last week we have an event that last for few days. This event is basically a knowledge sharing event that allow the us to tour around some facilities, to see showcases and have interactions between experts from their field.

During the tour to the Wind Tunnel, we watched an interesting video that show how a "dropped" missile, instead of moving down, flew up and hit its mother plane. This is due to the shape, pressure (Aero dynamics) and design of the missile. From the presentation, we also learn about the history of the tunnel, some interesting story about the tunnel and etc.

From the showcases, we also have chance to see some cool projects which our colleauges have done. Stuff like laser, radar, image processing, machine learning and many many more...

Yesterday went to Ubi to attend a briefing by our "supplier". Buying q.a cool simulator from them. Though the whole system is q.cool, distributed architecture with dedicated view to different entities, nice graphics and robust coverage of physical effects. The demo is q.bad because one module keep crashing and some unintended "behavior" keep showing.

I think what I just blogged is kinda crap because not sure what I can say and what I cannot say. And my brian is overwhlem by a terrible mistake I just made. Cannot think properly now.

New project/study

2009-09-20T01:15:00.002+08:00

On Friday early morning, I was called to attend a surprise meeting. The agenda of the meeting is to go through the design of a upcoming project assigned by one of my colleauge plus announcing another new project/studies. During the meeting, we went through the project in a higher level view using UML. Was q.confuse during the meeting because I wasn't familiar with the particular framework they were discussing plus I wasn't very familiar with the higher level view of system.

The new project is rather interesting and challenging. I am actually q.interested to take up the project but was unsure if I could cope. Wasn't very faimiliar with current project I am working on and the skillsetsssss required for this new project. Look like I have to work/learn harder/faster and see hows the progress before making any decision. Hopefully I can take up this project because I thing starting a new project/study will be very beneficial to me in terms of learning.

compliant to SMRT

2009-09-12T19:04:00.000+08:00

Below is what I just sent and I am q.sure that they will give their "standard reply" and continue to do nothing about it....

--------------------------------------------------
The display board to show timing about next reaching LRT is simple silly! It have been q.a few times that I reflect this to you and nothing was ever changed. The board keeps display irrelavant information about the current time than timing to next train info, which is the primary purpose of the board. Many times I have encounter situation when I waited for the stupid board to display the timing to next train and next thing I saw is "The train is arriving..". It makes me exercise by rushing up the flight of stairs to catch the arriving train. Why can't u guys do something about it? Is it a too challenging problem to overcome? Does it makes sense to show irrelavant information on the board? Do you guys have common sense?

Serangoon broadway studio

2009-09-12T18:38:00.000+08:00

Ok, this happened q.sometime ago but I think its good to let people know about this. The stuff that takes care of phone calls in serangoon broadway studio really has a VERY VERY BAD attitude.

I called them to query about the direction to get to their shop. The staff who pick up the call gave a very confusing answer which says "blah blah blah... and when the bus pass the traffic light, press the bell... blah blah...". I tried to clarify which "THE traffic light" she is referring to but she challenges the me by repeating the same old sentence again and again. Finally, she got very impatient and said "I understand that you are asking which traffic light that I am saying when I say THE traffic light. But if there is more than 1 traffic light, ofcourse I will tell you 2nd or 3rd traffic light right? Do you understand me!?"

Omg, she makes me feel like an idiot who looks for trouble or do not understand simple instruction. Which in the first place, that is not true because its confusing. "THE traffic light" simply doesn't contain information about how many traffic lights are there and in fact, the bus passes three traffic light before reaching the studio.

sick...

2009-09-03T02:30:00.000+08:00

Have been sick for the past 2 days. Early in the monday morning, I had diarrhea and developed into fever and feeling nauseous by evening. In the late afternoon, made a big mistaken by having salad with dressing. Didn't know that I shouldn't take that until my doctor told me. Btw, I also learn that one shouldn't consume milk when one had vomitted or diarrhea. All the above will make the matters worse.

Not sure if its because of the illness, my brain is behaving weirdly by producing weird dreams during my sleeps. For consecutive 2 nights, I dreamt of a girl in the first night and the same girl, as my wife, and our son in the second night. I was q. freak out in the second nights' dream. I hope its not a omen...

funny - what are you thinking about?

2009-08-21T23:42:00.000+08:00

this one is very funny

Everyday is a learning day

2009-08-15T00:03:00.002+08:00

It has been 1.5mths since I started work. So far things have been going fine. Everyday is a learning day for me. There are tons of things to learn and understand deeper. Thought sometime work can be pretty dry, things can be "chim" and bugs can be frustrating, still, I enjoy myself in learning new stuff everyday. =)

ORD (again) Loh!

2009-07-30T00:27:00.002+08:00

Today I had my convocation. Not really excited about it until this very day when I was sitting inside waiting to go on stage to collect the empty board. Eveything went smoothy today and was q.happy to be able to see many "old" friends. Took few pictures around campus but didn't manage to catch prof Yeo C.K. for photo shots. Pity..

After the convocation, together with my family, we went to buy my fav dao sar biah at long fa. Initial plan was to go for swensen 1 for 1 lunch at vivo but didn't execute because of various reasons. Instead, we went to buy our 4th computer today at SLS. With this latest addition, I hope my room will be less pack and I won't have interruptions when using computer again.

improvise + recycle

2009-07-12T23:40:00.009+08:00

Due to the fact that my savings running really VERY low, I have got myself into some recycling activities and I am so satisfied with my work. ^^

First will be my guitar stand. I have been thinking of buying a guitar stand for "my" guitar for q.sometime already. Because I am too lazy to take it out and put it into the guitar bag. So I improvise a stand using one of my plastic chair. Below are the images for my new stand.

Figure 1: My plastic chair

Figure 2: My new guitar stand

Figure 3: My guitar stand with guitar

Frankily, I am q.surprise that this new stand is very stable and able to hold the guitar and doesn't need support from wall.

Figure 4: My new document trays made from shoes boxes

Figure 5: My CDs holder made using tissue box

I have never thought that recycling and improvising can be fun. The sense of satisfaction is the reward when I see my stuff put into use. ^^

A wonderful surprise and a great experience

2009-07-06T00:53:00.003+08:00

Just finished my shower after attended a BBQ session at coasta sand. Its a BBQ birthday celebration for J and ying (The E.T.). In particular, its a surprise celebration for J planned by Ping.

We are suppose to gather 4+pm today (or rather yesterday because its already past 12mn) at qing's house. Some cropped up here and there but managed to reach the BBQ area around the time we planned. When we reached there, the sky is drizzling and covered with grey clouds. We knew that the weather is not right and the plan might not be able to work out because it seems that the weather can only get worse and not better. As expected, the rain starts to pour very soon and everything turned from bad to worse. Check out with J's sis and found out that his father drove back home because he can't find his way to the place. Everything turned against us and nothing seems to be in place. Ping was very upset and worried about this.

Luckily, its BQ (if I didn't mistaken) who gave a clever suggestion that we can do an indoor BBQ by using aluminium tray that save our night. We implemented the suggestion q.successfully in the end but burned and damaged a table while implementing. From this gathering, I learnt something and got to know more about BQ. Soon, we learn that J's sis went back to pick up her parents to the BBQ area and everything seems to get back to track again.

Despite the initial setbacks, we managed to have the surprise very successfully. More successfully than I ever will expect. Its a great experience that I have gained today. An experience that I can think and rethink and hopefully gain more things out of it.

Hammer Pants Dance

2009-06-26T19:42:00.001+08:00

oh man, this is so cooool!!! The 43rd sec action is so funny. This video just makes me smile big.

transformer

2009-06-26T19:37:00.000+08:00

omg, this video looks f**king real. Cool stuff.

weird dream

2009-06-24T16:27:00.006+08:00

the company finally informed me about the date to start work. had a shock when the HR called not because i wasn't expecting it, but i realize i left my phone and wallet in the dressing room when i was having my shower.

today, I recall that I have been having the same dream frequently recently. Its about me suddenly realize my exams are just a week away and I wasn't prepared at all. Was feeling shocked, depressed and regretful about why did I let such important matter slipped off my mind. I wonder whats wrong with me for having such a dream. Is my dream telling me that I have something important slipped off my mind or what?

How to live?

2009-06-15T00:33:00.003+08:00

Went Suntec City Conventioanl Hall today. bought a samsung laser printer at 88 bucks. Though I didn't really do much comparision between the different brands of printers at the place, I believe mine is the cheapest laser printer there. Didn't do comparision because had already done my research online before going.

Besides buying my printer, I also went there to meet up with XJ. Haven seen her for sometime already, since last Sep I believe...

Sigh... Life is so bored... At least mine is boring... I guess I am not doing a good job. The job on sorting out what is the correct way to live my life. Had thought/planned about it before. But looking back, at how I planned, I think its crap.

My brain is sqaure and my thought is boolean. A boolean way of thinking. Always thought in a way that for one to be successful in the future, one must work "HARD" today. Where is the guarentee? What is successful? Sucessful is so subjective. Life is fuzzy and have so many aspects.

Life is short and one cannot live twice. Life can also be filled with many regrets. Thus, how to live is really a "chim-alogy", a philosophy.

Man-made star to unlock cosmic secrets

2009-05-25T23:39:00.002+08:00

Ok, this is something very cool but i can't really digest... Extracted from BBC website.

---------------------------------------
By Jonathan Fildes
Science and technology reporter, BBC News

NIF can recreate the conditions inside an exploding star

When the world's most powerful laser facility flicks the switch on its first full-scale experiments later this month, a tiny star will be born on Earth.

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) in California aims to demonstrate the feasibility of nuclear fusion, the reaction at the heart of the Sun and a potentially abundant, clean energy source for the planet.

But whilst many eyes at the facility will be locked on the goal of satisfying humanity's energy demands, many scientists hope to answer other fundamental questions for mankind.

"In recreating the process of fusion it was always understood that we could pursue three areas of interest and value," explained Dr Erik Storm of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the home of NIF.

First and foremost, NIF has been built for national security purposes, to study the conditions that exist in nuclear explosions and the way that nuclear weapons perform.

"That gives you an ability to maintain a credible nuclear deterrent in the absence of underground nuclear testing," said Dr Storm.

"Then, we can study the physics of fusion - can you make a fusion power plant here on our planet? And we can do basic physics and planetary science."

Right on time

It is this last area that has got the attention of scientists around the world, who hope to use the machine to study distant phenomena, such as the formation of planets or the violent explosions of supernovae, from the comfort of the lab.

HOW NIF TRIGGERS FUSION

A pea-sized spherical capsule is filled with fusion fuel
This comprises a 150-microgram mix of deuterium and tritium
The NIF laser set-up pulses for 20 billionths of a second
For that time, it generates about 500 trillion watts
That's equivalent to five million million 100-watt light bulbs
All the laser power is focused on to the capsule's surface
The fuel is compressed to a density 100 times that of lead
It is heated to more than 100 million degrees Celsius
Under these extreme conditions, fusion is initiated

How to build a star on Earth
"To understand where we find ourselves in the Universe and what we find ourselves made of, one really needs to understand exploding stars," explained Professor Paul Drake of the University of Michigan.

He is just one of a number of researchers waiting in the wings at NIF who hope to test their theories using the giant facility.

"At NIF you can schedule a supernova explosion for Thursday at nine in the morning instead of waiting for one to happen by accident in the Universe," said Dr Storm.

"And you can change experiments each time. So you can do a supernova explosion again, and again and again."

Other facilities, such as the Omega laser at the University of Rochester in New York, are already used for this kind of test.

But NIF's 192 lasers will deliver more energy than any facility has ever done, giving scientists an unprecedented glimpse into what are usually distant cosmic processes.

During fusion experiments, the beams briefly focus 500 trillions watts of power - more than the peak electrical generating power of the entire United States - on to a ball-bearing-sized pellet of hydrogen fuel.

See how the laser works

The intense energy creates temperatures of 100 million degrees and pressures billions of times greater than Earth's atmospheric pressure, forcing the hydrogen nuclei to fuse and a colossal amount of energy to be released.

In the astrophysical experiments, however, the fuel pellet would be substituted for a half-sphere of layered elements, designed to mimic the core of a star.

The periodic table that we learn about when we first start chemistry is fundamentally altered at pressures of a million atmospheres

Professor Ray Jeanloz
UC Berkeley
"You choose the material and the structures between them to be relevant to what happens when the star explodes," explained Professor Drake.

"The laser would strike the centre - the analogue of the core of the star- launching a tremendously strong shock wave that would blow the material apart."

The whole experiment may take just billionths of a second, meaning the explosion has to be monitored in incredible detail by a suite of sensors.

"The challenge is to do experiments that reproduce the conditions that occur and then scale the results to the astrophysical environment."

This should allow the researchers to probe the insides of stars and supernovae in unprecedented detail and understand more about how these astronomical objects came into being.

Diamond showers

But it is not just astrophysicists who are excited about getting their hands on NIF. Planetary scientists also want to get hold of the machine to test their theories about how planets and solar systems formed.

Hydrocarbons would actually decompose to a mixture of hydrogen and a carbon - the end result being that diamonds would actually be hailing out of the atmosphere.

Ray Jeanloz
"The architecture of the Solar System was very likely controlled to some extent by the existence of planets like Jupiter," said Professor David Stevenson of the California Institute of Technology.

The gravity of the giant planet controlled the position of vast clouds of dust and debris in our cosmic neighbourhood and therefore what building blocks were available to form the other planets, including Earth.

And since 300 gas giants that have a similar mass or are bigger than Jupiter have recently been found orbiting other distant stars, understanding how and when these giants form could also help shed light on the evolution of other planetary systems.

To do this, scientists have turned to NIF to try to understand more about the extreme temperatures and pressures at the heart of the planets and their effects on matter.

Previous generations of experimental facilities were able to create pressures up to a million times that found at sea level on Earth; NIF's lasers will be able to produce pressures up to billions of atmospheres.

"These are conditions that exist inside these super giant planets," Professor Ray Jeanloz, of the University of California, Berkeley, told BBC News.

At these crushing pressures, he said, the conventional understanding of chemistry and the behaviour of materials is turned on its head.

"The periodic table that we learn about when we first start chemistry is fundamentally altered at pressures of a million atmospheres," he said.

"By a billion atmospheres, we expect even more dramatic changes."

Giant laser experiment powers up
Laser vision fuels energy future
For example, at millions of atmospheres, the bonds between atoms begin to break down. At billions of pressures, the atoms themselves begin to be crushed.

"This regime has never been explored before," Professor Jeanloz told BBC News.

Scientists hope to probe what happens to abundant elements such as hydrogen and helium, as well as life-critical materials such as carbon and water.

"It's only been in the last year that the theoretical community has really pursued these calculations. We're just beginning to get a more detailed sense [of what might come out of NIF]."

However, even lower pressure experiments hint that the results may range from the exotic to the bizarre.

For example, tests have shown that hydrogen - the most abundant element in the Universe - becomes a metallic fluid at pressures similar to those found inside the Earth.

Whilst at higher pressures, such as those found on Jupiter, stranger things begin to happen.

"Hydrocarbons would actually decompose to a mixture of hydrogen and a carbon," explained Professor Jeanloz. "The end result being that diamonds would actually be hailing out of the atmosphere.

"That's the kind of process you would never have guessed unless you had studied the materials themselves."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7973111.stm

funny baby

2009-05-21T02:48:00.001+08:00

wahahaaa, this baby is so funny.

funny panda

2009-05-09T19:13:00.001+08:00

熊猫打喷嚏~~笑死人了

funny dog

2009-05-09T19:11:00.002+08:00

funny dog. make u laugh in 3 secs

funny guy

2009-05-09T19:08:00.001+08:00

ok, this guy is super funny.

2009-05-09T18:47:00.001+08:00

Again and again, this boy impressed me. How I wish I can be half as good as him in terms of guitar playing.

This is AWESOME!!!

2009-04-04T23:58:00.002+08:00

OM*G!!! This guy have a pair of lightning hand!

Speak Good Mandarin Singapore

2009-03-29T20:55:00.005+08:00

few funny videos for speaking chinese.

How it feels to have a stroke

2009-03-29T03:24:00.003+08:00

Recently I had a dream. A very bad one. Its about my loved one having trouble and needed first aid attention quickly. I went up quickly to help and woke up without any conclusion. After having this dream, I suddenly come to realize my lack of knowledge about first aid and importance of first aid. This pushes me to want to watch a few videos about first aid in case I ever need it. And I think and urge everyone to do the same too.

During the course of searching and watching first aid related videos, I came across this interesting talk. The way the speaker convey the message, the body lang, choice of words, how she phrase, structure and describe is incredible.

sending out rec with broken forearm

2009-02-18T00:33:00.002+08:00

Damn tired.... just reached home from CGH after sending a recruit to A&E because he broke his left forearm during training, and didn't have my dinner until just now...

Today is my first time sending rec out and also sitting inside an ambulance. The rec who got injured is actually q.funny because he was smiling all the way even when his forearms is actually forming a U shape. Kinda er xin and funny when his expression doesn't tally with what I was thinking... I wonder is it because he is a PR from burmese, thats y he seems tougher or its actually not as painful as I thought? In anyway, I think he leaves a deep impression in my mind not just because of this incident. But because of the interactions we had over these few weeks. He is actually one of my fav rec in coyline. A good soldier with an unfortunate incident. 3 more weeks to POP and just left with final 2 important route march before clearing everything... Really felt the pain and sadness for him but there is nothing much I can do to help at this point of time. What happened cannot be reverse... Sigh...

Waited for his family to fetch him back home from hospital just now. His dad rushed back to Singapore within 4hrs from his work at Indonesia. Po~wer~! The reaction of the family members all seems to be pretty cool and claim. Didn't make any big whoo haa. Again.., this makes me wonder if its due to nationality or what? No matter what, just hope that he will be fine and have speedy recovery...

Sick!!!

2009-02-01T00:47:00.002+08:00

Sick!!! thanks to the recruits, i am sick for the past 1wk+... why must i fall sick during this festive season? went to see doctor last week and it costed me 78 bucks! I think its really true that nowadays, we can die but cannot fall sick. Somemore the medicine isn't really effective. Hmm... but on a second thought now... could it be because i have been drinking the bacardi 151 for the past few days that cause me not recovering for the coughing...? Anw, i hate coughing and falling sick. I missed life as a civillian... I wanna earn more money... money money money...

what a day...

2009-01-25T01:27:00.002+08:00

wah sian... having fever now.. this week have been q.a fast week for me. Because there are many things to do. Everynight sleep very late and wake up very early. Not enough sleep and crawling like shit this morning.

So far my platoon, from my observation, have been the lousiest one in coy. Some funny ppl and stuff. Not going to write it now because damn tired and feeling sick...

Some big big shit happened today and roll down hitting our book out timing. Some of the recruits were already sitting on ferry liao but last min called back to coy. Initially was told cannot bookout but last min there is a change of plan again. Book out very late and reached home late too.

Feeling sick now and dun wish to think. So thats all for today. =p

Chinese New Year celebration

2009-01-17T00:03:00.003+08:00

just came back from another week of army life. But inparticular, I just book out after a chinese new year celebration event at spec mess. The plan today was that the specs can book out in the evening excepts those with duties today and tomorrow. But due to this event, I am not able to book out until after 2130hrs. So my thought for this event was very sian and think its simply a waste of everyone's time. But still, I told myself to try to enjoy it because I wanted to have a happy army life. Thinking that I could spent time with the other commanders with a celebrating occasion, I tried to put my spirit high. In summary, the event was q.nice with lots of cheers, few hot babes, alot of alcohols and many commanders. A few of "older" commanders, including me, buy drinks for the fellow commanders in my company. I spents abotu 30 bucks on cheap alochol.

Was rushing back home just now and one of my fellow spec lobang me and anoter specto newton. Got a bit high and talked a bit too much and talked abit on my past sad history about my army life. Though happened q.a few year ago, but to me, it feels life its something happened not long ago. Maybe its because I went back to the "old life style" after so many year and so, I felt that it happened not long ago...

Was feeling frecking boring in camp and thought its time to get a gf. But yet, I kinda life keep contridicting myself... Sigh... next week is the field camp week, hope for the coming many weeks till I ORD will be a high morale. So far I have been gaining momentum on my morale. Hope everything will goes fine.

There are too many things to blog about (e.g.: change bunk, road march, funny soldiers...etc) and I dun think I can do that with my brain filled with alcohol now. Maybe I shall blog about it till next time... =)

1st week in a*my

2009-01-10T11:32:00.003+08:00

My first blogging in 2009. In this first 10 days of 2009, I have experience 1 week of the a*my life. During the 1st two days, I was arranged to wait in a discussion room with a bunch of OOT, regulars-to-be-enlisted and etc. Some of them have been waiting inside the room for more than 1 month doing nothing, starring in the air wasting time. Though most, if not all, of them have the chao geng and slacking attitude, and my impression of them isn't any positive. But after listening to the conversation among some of the indian OOTs, I have a slight changed of views towards them. Many things that there had talked about but in summary, I found that they are actually very knowledgable in music and some other funny stuff. Couldn't catch alot of the stuff that they were talking about. This makes me reflect on myself and, though I am aware of the fact that I am a boring person long long ago, I thought I really should have some change in my life to make my life a bit more interesting.

My life in the company have been peaceful and ok so far. Found that there are some of discipline problems but I didn't wanna be hash on them. Trying to adapt to my new(old) status while making adjusting to emotions and figuring out alot of things. Still cannot decide on whether I wanna be ga rang/slack/devil/angel. Hopefully everything will goes smoothly till ORD.

army memories

2009-01-05T00:06:00.002+08:00

Sigh... finally I have to go back to the place that I dislike most, Army. Going back to the place where I had lots and lots of memories, most of them very bad ones... Packing my bag today makes me recall those time when I first enter army. I remembered that these folding uniforms and packing stuff was done by someone that I loved. And today I am doing it myself. Anw, those are past and buried behind... Am looking forward and hoping that this time round, I can have lots of good memories and to cure the trauma. Everytime had gone by q.smoothly for 2008, for at least my main goal had been achieved. I hope 2009 will be a good year for me.

FINAL RESULT

2008-12-29T04:05:00.003+08:00

Today marks the end of my 3.5 yrs of uni school life. The result was release 12mn while I was trying to help my client troubleshoot some configuration error through remotely control connection. Due to some misunderstanding/confusion on the school website, I didn't actually plan to check my result today 12mn and was shock to reliease that the result had been released from the friends msn nick.

After seening the result, I felt sad and happy for both gd and bad news. The bad news is that I recieved my one and only lower grade (C and below) in my uni life. My AI module kana a C+. I thought I did okay for that module and so I suspect what I saw and guess was right....

What I saw: The useless prof that I dislike very much for my AI module purposely peak at my matrix number when collecting my paper.
What I suspect: Needless to say, its pretty obvious....

The good news is that almost everything went according to plan, I finally got my 2nd upper class. My FYP got a A- and vert surprised to know the module that I thought I did badly got a B+. GPA for this sem alone is 4.04.

Coming to the end of 2008, everything goes q.smoothly... Its time to plan for year 2009. First thing to do now is to arrange to resume NS. After so many years, I still have the negative feelings for NS... So much for now. Think this should be my last post for 2008. Looking forward to 2009 (not really. hahaa) and its time to have a little celebration. =)

mind supplement

2008-12-07T22:59:00.004+08:00

With a bit of reading about motivation and stuff, I become feeling better. Suddenly I realised that actually the motivationless symptom that I suffered is actually an illness that makes me feel down. My mind is ill and needs mind-food or mind-supplements. And with some deep thinking about life and goals, I found direction and light.

When I did my deep thinking, I frequently apply a technique that I realised its usefulness when I did my FYP. During that period of time, I faced tons of doubts, confusion and stress. Lost direction and the ability to analyze problems. Then I started picking up late night jogging to relax myself and followed a problem analysis session quietly at the neighbourhood fitness corner.

The technique I used is actually an understand the problem technique that ask myself "what is the problem? What is it that I don't know?". This technique is especially useful when one lost his/her analytical ability through overflooded with doubts. How the technique works is self explainatory and a commonly known name for it is divide-and-conquer.

It is very hard to solve a problem when one doesn't have the answer to all the sub problems within the big problem or even unable to see what is EXACTLY the problem. Its only when you break down the big problem to smaller ones then you find out what exactly is the problem. So in this sense, the problem is actually the problem of skipping the process of understanding the problem and jump straight into the process of solving the problem.

No motivation

2008-12-07T01:38:00.003+08:00

Suddenly feel so free and lost. Haven been doing anything productive since I woke up in the evening till now. It isn't that there are nothing at all for me to read up or work on, but I just don't have the motivation at all. Hmmm... this is bad...

051208 aloha changi chalet

2008-12-06T10:32:00.003+08:00

Just came back from Uni chalet at Aloha changi - fairy point 4 chalet. Didn't get to sleep not because we were having activities till the morning but its because of insomnia. I think I am the only 1 who did not sleep the entire night. Wanted to make myself sleep but the more I lay on the bed, the more awake I became. arggghhh...

Anw the chalet is very big. There are 6 rooms and a few store rooms but only around 15 of us on the first day (Which is the only day we planned to have it because 2nd day is reserved for another group). The gathering is q.nice though there isn't alot of activities. Basically the things that we do are BBQ, watch TV, go changi v. walk walk plus eat dessert and fried some nuggets and fries. Though these are just simple activities, but I think we enjoyed ourselve very much or at least I enjoyed very much. Maybe its because of the click or because we are freeman and women or because we know that after these last few gatherings, we are going to have little chance to see each other again...

For the past 3 years, I have been very into myself and limit myself from these activities. Q.a anti socialist I guess. Never thought I would enjoy gathering with my uni friends like this before. Come to think about it, its q. saddening that the ending of the uni stage have finally arrive and have to begin another stage of life that have so much uncertainty in it. But before that, I gotta resume my NS most probably this coming early Jan. Dunno where will I be posted to, dunno how my results will fare, dunno hows the econmy will become when I finished my service and dunno which job will I get into... anw...

Life has so much uncertainty and its how you act upon these uncertainty that determines what kinda life you live.

Last academic bachelor day in uni (official)

2008-12-01T23:43:00.003+08:00

YEA!! Finally finished my FYP presentation! The past few days are stressful. Chionging journal and presentation stuff to the max. This morning presentation is considered as smooth I guess. Though its not very good but I think happy about it because I just can't wait to get over it! After the presentation, I went to see the prof to submit all the FYP stuff. Briefly chat for a while with him and recieved 1 gd and bad new. The good news is, the project is ok and the bad news is that I have to continue working on the journal.

Went over to eugene's house for uni gathering. This gathering is q.meaning as it marks the ending of our uni life officially (if no hip cups). Had lots of po piah, alcohol today and emotions between the 10 of us. We took q afew pics using jin yan, linda and linus's camera. Hope to post it on the blog soon. =) happy day.

Last bachelor's paper

2008-11-19T14:45:00.004+08:00

finally, this day has come... I just finished my last exam (I hope) for my bachelor's degree this morning. Out of the 4 papers I had for this exam period, I think I have done okay for 3 and badly for one. Things didn't went smoothly as I hoped.

Was feeling very sick 2 days ago due to flu and bad sore throat. Had alot of water + Strepsils + pi pa gao and got better yesterday. Thanks to my eldest sis for the virus attack. =( My revision didn't go through smoothly and have delayed due to the virus attack. Was feeling very very tired last night(this morning) and the thought of giving up keep bugging my mind. Luckily, with the goal in mind and the awareness that this might be the last paper I am ever going to have gave me the support to persist. I am glad that I have made the right choice. Not solely because of the paper but its also about the mind and determination.

Now that I have finished all the papers, next in the pipeline will be the journal paper and FYP presentation which due 1st Dec. Pretty worried about my FYP because really have no idea how the project fare because I have no guides at all. I guess all I can do is to do whatever I can and hope for the best. Wish me luck. =)

2008-11-05T21:49:00.001+08:00

hungry... need food... need motivation...

jogging

2008-11-02T02:19:00.003+08:00

Tonight is quite a special night. Because 5 out of 6 of my family member went for a jog or walk around the canal near our neighborhood fitness corner. This is the second surprise after my brother finally got his as* off the chair and started jogging with me recently. Not very sure whats the reason behind his sudden move, but that isn't important at all. All I hope is this "movement" will last and carry on on a regular basis. I guess this should contribute to realizing of my dream of getting my own single room plus a study room. Hiak hiak.

Lazy and useless prof

2008-10-30T19:06:00.003+08:00

I can't help annoyed by the 2nd part lecturer of my AI module. I was going through the e-learning video just now and found that the slides in the lecture note is once AGAIN different from the video!!! ^&+*($&^*&^

To me, this is TOTALLLLY unacceptable. It seems like that fellow is a super lazy and useless prof. I wonder who is the fellow who decided to hire that prof. ^&*(^% No wonder NTU ranking dropped in the recent survey. The provost comment that it is mathematically that the uni ranking to drop 8 position according to the different criterials for ranking. I doubt the ranking is accurate too, because if they sit in for the our AI lectures, I guess NTU's ranking would dive much more.

IMPT: Read this story

2008-10-28T01:32:00.000+08:00

It's pretty rare to get an Olympic Gold Medal, wouldn't you say? Only 1,210 Americans have received one. It's unusual to climb Mt. Everest, too: Just 2,300 people have done that. But there's an even rarer category: The number of billionaires. No more than 1,125 people in the world can claim that distinction.

My friend, Bill Bartmann, did just that. Now keep in mind that this group of 1,125 people includes people who had major help along the way: Many were born with it, inherited it, or had every advantage while growing up.

In the history of billionaires, Bill Bartmann stands alone. He's the ONLY former homeless person and gang member ever to have made a billion dollars. That's right, Bill went from eating out of dumpsters and living under a bridge viaduct, to having after-tax, take-home pay in a single year of more than $100 million and being listed as the 25th richest person in America.

Here's where it gets extremely interesting: Bill is willing to coach YOU on how to succeed in business.

After all, what can you learn from someone whose daddy died and left him a billion? But it's totally different with Bill Bartmann: He worked in a slaughterhouse. He was an alcoholic at age 17. And at one point Bill was paralyzed from the waist down. Yet Bill discovered a DIFFERENT way of thinking and acting that enabled him to overcome all of that, and become a self-made billionaire.

After scaling the highest peaks in the business world and getting his fill of toys like $25 million aircraft, what's Bill up to now? He has one current passion: Showing others his special techniques for overcoming any challenge and being as successful as they want to be.

Do you think Bill might know a few things YOU could use to overcome your own challenges? What if you could get his thoughts on dozens of business topics?

Now you can. Bill is launching a one-of-a-kind online service, called his "Billionaire Business System". This is not some one-size-fits-all deal. Instead, Bill has built a mentoring tool that provides you with laser-targeted advice on many individual topics.

Are you already running a business but not sure what's the best way to secure financing for your next stage of growth? Bill covers that topic. Not even sure if business is right for you? Bill has a video session just about that.

In fact, the Billionaire Business System currently has almost two dozen topics, and is constantly growing.

I strongly recommend that you take a look at Bill's system and see for yourself how it can remove whatever roadblocks are in your way to greater business success. You can find it by going to: Link

Name me anywhere else on the planet that you can get specific, useful, and comprehensive business-building advice from a self-made billionaire? That's OK, I can't think of any, either.

The sooner you have Bill Bartmann in your corner, advising you on business success, the sooner you can sit back and bask in your own dreams coming true.

To Your Success

P.S. The chances are really good that whatever challenges you have, Bill's been there, and found a way to overcome them. Let Bill show you how, by taking the easy step of going to Link

Crop up AI lecturer

2008-10-27T22:01:00.003+08:00

One of the thing I hate most in my academic is the ill organized lecture notes. This happened a few times in my uni school life, including this semester. The second part of my AI module is q.screwed up because of the lecture notes. The one that were given to us initially on the web site is different from the one the lecturer is using. I highlight the matter to the lecturer and got the notes after insisting for 3times that the presented version should be given to us.

Last week is our e-learning week and we are having lesson online watching the recorded lecture videos. But I was focusing on my revision on another module, so I didn't go through the videos until just now. I was surprise(frustrated) again for not able to find the presented notes online and have to email the prof for notes again. This time round, I "got smarter" and ask for new set of note before hand if he is going to present different set of notes for the remaining lectures.

To me, this is really unacceptable. The crop up and stuff. Anw, nothing much I can do except to wait and see his reply.

shopping therapy

2008-10-26T15:05:00.003+08:00

Feeling down these few days and especially today. Was walking around JP looking for something just now but didn't manage to find it. Instead of buying the stuff that I want, I bought a pair of slipper and a piece of t-shirt. Was feeling better when I shop at Giordano because of the bright smile given by the crew. Then I sort of can understand what is shopping therapy and why women like to shop when their mood is down.

For my case, its because the stuff that I bought are actually things that I wanted to buy for q.some time already but didn't, due to time and emotional attachment with my money. And those things are things that I should buy but not urgent. Usually its some minor "problems" that I can bear with. And so, shopping and buying these stuff actually lessen the things that could annoy me and make my day less annoying. On top of that, the bright smile on the sales person's face is really contagious. Somehow, it just make my day and I respect their professionalism. Actually I didn't really want to buy the piece of shirt that I bought, but still bought it because I was really touched by the excellent service given. Without having to look at my facial expression when the sales person first greet me, I know my face looks like a "black pile of shit" (you4 hei1 you4 chuo4). Thats the reason why I used the word professionalism earlier. I hope whatever I said can be a boost of morale for any sales person happen to read my blog. =)

p.s.: I forgot to point out that I recieved 20% discount for the tee because my bro is a member of Giordano and this month is his birthday month. Didn't know there is such discount until the payment. Luckily all I need do to enjoy the discount is to key in my bro's phone number.

emtional day...

2008-10-24T02:12:00.003+08:00

wat is the purpose of life?

today i read a book by robert kee "The 25 Cents Meal and The $50 Buffet". Robert is one of the directors of OHF which the org was featured in channel U "find me a singaporean 2" (if i remember to title correctly). Inside the book, there is a quote relating to what I have asked myself and my friend many times "What is the purppose of life?". The answer given in the book is "The purpose of life is a life full of purpose". I found the quote meaningful and yet vague. Because it did not answer the defination of purpose. Wat is purpose? After some thoughts about the quote, I had some conclusion for myself and I thought maybe it is worth some time for everybody to ponder about.

It have been an emotional day for me today. Something happened which led me to think about how good am I. I wanted to tell myself that I am strong and self confident but I know that is not totally true. I might look strong on the outside, but I am pretty fragile inside me... Life, purpose, self reflexion, emotional... Success is a must for me...

抽刀断水水更流，举杯消愁愁更愁

Bored and nice video on "My grandfather's clock"

2008-10-22T19:33:00.003+08:00

I am so bored... hours and hours of video lectures is killing me. I find myself can't concentrate well today. Been switching between lecture videos to youtube videos now and then. Sigh... Anw, I came across this song called "my grandfather's clock" on radio yesterday night and did a quick search about it today. Found an awesome youtube video on this song. I have already emailed some of friends and thought its nice to put it on my blog. Below are two videos, the first one is the "original" version and serve as "background info" and comparison to stand out the second video (I don't know which or what is the original version). ENJOY! =)

First video

Second video

kind taxi driver

2008-10-22T12:53:00.003+08:00

Today is a good day. Because I took a free cab ride to school today. This is the second time I have took this free ride given by a very kind hearted taxi driver, who he gives free ride to students to canteen A everytime he is going into NTU. If I am not wrong, the first time I took his free ride was on my birthday this year.

uP quiz result

2008-10-17T19:51:00.002+08:00

Lucky~. Today just got back my quiz paper done yesterday. 5 people got full marks and I am one of the 5 this time. Overall, everybody got q.high marks because the quiz is easy. Most importantly, I am lucky. Because I didn't finish studying for the quiz. Only finish like half of what I should study and either skim or didn't study at all for the rest of the other half. So I actually study while taking the open book test.

I was so damn not confident that I will get good marks for this quiz before the quiz. Yesterday when I came to sch, I was somewhat about to be late and thinking whether I should take a cab. But in my mind I felt so "confident" that I won't get good marks for the quiz, so I thought it would be a waste of money if I took cab and still get bad grade for the quiz. So I decided to take a risk, took 172 and see how it goes. By the time I reached the bus stop outside sch, its already 10 mins before the quiz starts. Thus I decided to take a cab to the quiz LT because knowing that now the damage to my wallet have been minimize already. Its costed me $5.1 if i remember correctly. But its worthwhile.

Feeling relieved now as I have finished my report, assignment and quiz. All I hope now is there is no problem with my report so I can concentrate on my revision for exams. My exams starts on 12th Nov this sem and I have 3 hit combo on 12th, 13th and 14th this time. 3 years of hardwork and this one is crucial to my honours. My past few sem's result is forming a downturn and this is making me worry. All I hope is it won't follow the stock market and crush.

1 cleared, 1 pending and 1 more to go

2008-10-16T16:48:00.002+08:00

finally submited my FYP report today. This week is a busy week for me. Within this week, I have 1 quiz, 1 FYP report to submit and 1 assignment to submit. Spent most of the time working on FYP report this week and only started studying for my quiz this morning. Haa, another last min hug hug my budda's leg. But I think the quiz turn out fine because its quite easy i think. Hopefully I didn't commit any mistake.

This quiz is my 2nd quiz of the module (adv uP sys). Initial plan for the module is to only have 1 quiz, having this additional one is due to the general poor score performance of the group. The prof says she will take the better of the two score as our CA. I didn't score well for the first quiz, only got a 17/25. If I am not wrong, this is my worst, or one of the worst, score I got for so many years. Suddenly realized there is a trend of bad records coming up lately, the overdue assignment, overnight rushing of assignment and bad score for quiz... Hope all of these will go away together with my submission of FYP report. But I haven really got over the FYP report yet because I am still waiting for review and comment from profs and gotta write a journal for submission. Sigh... this FYP is really giving me a long painful headache.

Looks like everything is going fine so far... I have just applied to stay in hall today. Hopefully the application will be accepted. Let hope everything will go smoothly and see my 2008 will be a hua ah! or a fu*k ar! LOL.

impromptu

2008-10-13T15:03:00.002+08:00

Yesterday i attended my aunt's "shop warming" session at balestier area. The beauty and slimming theme shop which located very near to one of my ex-working place. Talking about ex-working place, I recently did a calculation and found that I have worked for around 8 companies/organization before (including IA and freelance). Didn't realise I am so "experience" until I did the counting. At the shop, ping mei together with me and almost all my family members had a impromptu motivation talk. Little did I expect that the talk would a success but it turned out to be good. Hopefully this thing will be a success and I will have my dream come true. =)

Shit, the more the merrier, the longer the better

2008-10-08T20:54:00.005+08:00

The stock market have been going many "lao sai" days recently especially these few days. For the last 10 days, STI lao-ed 410.63 pts or 20.2% of today's closing! Looks like investors in the market have already gone into deep fear and making alots of irrational trades. And it is these fears and irrational trades that creates opportunities for rational investors to seize opportunities to make a fortunate. So, that explains how I came out with the title of this blog. =)

Glucosamine

2008-10-02T02:40:00.004+08:00

Haa, my second post of the "morning". Just wanna share this info that I learned from one of the ntuc pharmacist. Recently I went to check out about glucosamine for my knee problem because I though I should do something about it for long term plan. Though (I thought) the condition have been getting better because I didn't suffer from pain when I run. //I think its because of the squats I done before the run.

From the queries about different brands of glucosamine, the pharmacist told me that some of brands of glucosamine is not very suitable for some people, especially people who have high cholesterol or high blood (I can't remember very clearly which symtoms is it liao). Though I do not have these problem (according to what I know), but the point is, do check with professionals if you wanna buy health products. Try not to ask sales person from shops with no or close to zero knowledge about health products and what they care about is making sales. From my personal experience, most of the time, they will tell you whatever product is "good", many people are buying it and the feedbacks recieved for the product are excellent...etc. However, whatever they said doesn't mean everything. Something that is good for others might not be good for you and vice versa.

All in all, my advice for everyone is to check with professionals before buying anything, be it health product or other stuff. Know who really are the professionals, looks are decieving. Feed them with information before getting information from them (Give and take). Tabulate and process the information gathered before making decision. =)

overdue assignement and stuff

2008-10-02T02:23:00.005+08:00

Sigh.... I just "realized" my assignment was overdue two days ago after recieving email from the prof. FYP is really occupying too much of my time and mind. Not really in the mood to bother about other assignments and in the bo chap mode lately. One of my another assignment was due on Monday and I only realized that on Monday midnight after Xin asked if I have done my assignment already. Luckily I have a few copies of references from friends(including Xin), if not, I think I won't be able to make it on time liao. In the end I spent around 8 hours (2am to 10am) to finish it. As far as I can remember, I think this is the first time I have an overdue assignment in my recent many years. Sigh... I think my mental strenght, time management skill, discipline and etc are just too weak to multi-task. Hope the rest of the plans will goes well for this year.

Btw, I just tied up "my part of the room" today but somehow don't feel very happy about it. Its not that its because not tidied properly, though its not very tidied yet, but don't know why I just can't get into the happy mood. Hmm.... I wonder what exactly is the reason...?

2008-09-21T01:51:00.002+08:00

I finally "finalized" my FYP yesterday. Report deadline is this coming Monday and I am still at my page 4. Luckily I extended my report deadline with my supervisor by 2 more weeks. If not I think I have to jump from 11th floor liao.

Attended Cheng's son 1 month old party. Met Feng chat with him about his plannings and preparation for wedding and stuff. Was a bit shock of the amount of money needed for a wedding. Total up everything for hotel and flat alone will cost him close to half a million! He kept emphazing the need to save up early and I can't agree on that more after the shock. Though this belief has already been inside my mind long ago already. But it got firmer and deeper after the chat. Hopefully I can get a job with good pay after my graduation so I have money to start some investment. Though the market is at bad time now, I still believe that one should plan and start investment as early as possible. Because only with investment, money can then grow and not strink. And when I say investment, it also mean homework has to be done before any decision made because INVESTMENT != GAMBLE. To win in a gamble, luck is needed but to win in an investment, luck and wisdom are needed.

SLOW reaction

2008-09-12T02:58:00.002+08:00

After meeting my sup today, I went to can A to join Sam and others for lunch. While queuing at the Jap cursine stall, a friend purposelly knock into me from behind. It took me around 2+sec to react to a shock and another 2+sec to turn and recognise him. We were both shocked to see how SLOW my reaction was today. Even when I was in my sup's office, he commented twice that my reaction is slow. I guess that might be because of the lack of sleep for the recently. My turn into bed time lately have been around 4-5 am and wake up at around 7+ near 8am to 11am. There was once I couldn't really sleep and went to school straight in the morning.

I told my friends how slow my reaction was when I got back and explained it as "slow context switch due to memory overloaded and processor heated up too high" to my friend. Actually these terms are related to one of our current module, Avanced microProceessor system, and my friend commented that my future wife will turn crazy if I keep communicate in these terms with her. Well, I guess thats true if my future wife is non tech person but if otherwise, this way of communicating, in my perspective, is quite fun actually. LOL.

pressurized rice cooker

2008-09-11T08:41:00.003+08:00

Was jogging yesterday late night(actually early morning because after mn) again and thinking about my FYP as I ran. Suddenly this analogy came into my mind.

"I am a highly pressurized rice cooker which doesn't produce rice. It is because there is nosubstance inside me in the first place or its still not time yet?"

Have been jogging q.frequently lately because jogging helps me destress and after the jog, at a cool and quiet place, I tend to be able to think systematically and able to analyze better.

2 weeks before the project should end rightfully. At this point of time, I have came out with something I considered as not correct. Hopefully I will be able to produce that I can satisfy with by then.