Lemming's Insane Ranting

I feel like marching downstair and tell whoever's burning those stuff that they've probably killed a tree by now and whether the dead will be happy about that! Wonder if anybody's did a study on the amount of CO2 generated from these rituals...

On another note, I've been watching Vladimir Horowitz:The Last Romantic on uTube [Link]. An increadibly interesting documentary on him that's priced as intense as his is, Amazon has it for $99.99! You pay for what you get I guess, this 1985 docu has actually won 2 Emmys....

He's such a funny man! Unfortunately the uTube videos aren't synched properly and probably doesn't do him any justice either. Sadly, it's just too bad my uni doesn't have a copy of the video in its/her library...

Over the Air: The Stench of "Death"

Homeless by choice, O.C. student learns self-reliance [Link]

After a long day of film classes, working at the Apple Store, rock climbing at the gym and finishing homework in the student union, Cal State Fullerton senior Andy Bussell heads home — to a white Toyota Tacoma with a twin-size mattress in the truck bed, a camper shell for protection and black curtains for privacy.

The 26-year-old has been living in his truck for nearly 19 months, skirting rules against sleeping in vehicles while otherwise living the life of a mainstream student. What started out as a way to save some cash has turned into a journey of self-reliance and independence.

I've spent a night in the computer labs after being turned away from my flight back home, but living 19 months off the back of a truck... that's commendable... and inspirational!! That would certainly solve the high-rent problems I face in Sydney, however, I'd have to buy a truck or something first! =P

Speaking of trucks, I was wondering the other day about our country's stance on cutting down pollution by our public transportation. Do we have a goal? Do we have a plan? Are we making efforts to use cleaner fuels?

Coming From Volvo: Hybrid-Electric Garbage TrucksComing From Volvo: Hybrid-Electric Garbage Trucks [Link]

The potential energy savings of hybrid powertrains over conventional diesel engines in refuse collection is considerable, mainly because that sort of stop-and-start duty cycle is precisely where conventional powertrains are least efficient.

Is anybody at all taking into account how many busses and taxis ply our roads everyday and how much of our countrie's CO2 emissions would be cut if we swicthed all of these from dirty diesel to clean LPG? Are we even involved in the Clean Heavy-Duty Vehical Conference?

In other news, one of the best M$ vs Apple clips ever!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHO8l-Bd1O4

Maybe I should include the following in my thesis... or frame it up somewhere... or send it to all web developers... Just why do people continue to design in static contexts for the web eh?

WordPress theme designers annoy the cray out of me

Having browsed through over a hundred and fifty themes, I’m left with one burning question in my mind: why are 90% of these themes designed by utter pinheads who don’t understand basic Web concepts like letting the viewer control the presentation?

I’ve ranted about the drooling idiocy of pixel-sized fonts before. Many of these themes not only make that mistake (which hoses anyone in a screen with a DPI different from the designer’s), they cram the content into boxes or vertical bands that don’t resize when you widen or narrow the browser.

There are a handful of honorable exceptions: Clasikue. Anarchy. Curtains up. Dixie Belle. Elvgren. Flex. Fullwidth. Gentle Calm. Gila. Greenhttp://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifwood. Ice. The three “Journalized” themes. Man-ja. Operate. Placidwide. Psycho. Rampart. RohitKumar.org. Sixties. Steam. But by and large, almost all of the more than 250 themes at this site (and elsewhere I’ve looked) make the same basic, unforgiveable error. They treat the display like fancy paper under the control of the theme designer rather than allowing the user’s preferences to control font sizes and the width of the display area.

It’s the web, you morons! Stop wasting readers’ screen space with frames and diapered borders. They have better use for their pixels than all that frou-frou crap.

Am getting quite hooked on Eric's Raymond's blog, just read up on his views on Suicidalism! Wonder which of his propositions can be applied at home...

Getting rather annoyed changing mental models straddling the new 20" LCD between the PC and the PB. The damn MS bluetooth keyboard that I've hooked up to the PB isn't helping either... I keep pressing the ALT key when I'm meant to be pressing the Windows key which is the equivilent of the Apple key... stupid muscle memory!

Now the PB seems to need a reboot now, everything's slowing down. Either I need to reformat my dad's notebook or I've found a bug in OS X/FF!

Over the Air: PB fan noise starting to worry me

Visitations weren't such a drag after all today... festivities this year seem more muted than usual, not that I'm complaining!

It's weird but my mum's side were commenting that I look like my mum now... I wasn't perplexed but rather irked that I wasn't alone in noticing it. They were rather kind in saying that my mum's really quite pretty and how she had tons of suitors when she was young... even going onto reminiscing about the olden days where they didn't have a phone and all the boyfriends would be hanging around their house waiting for their respective girlfriends to return home!

Kinda makes me wonder how my brother's going to turn out though... he seems to be the luckiest so far gene wise. He's rather handsome apparently, quite the lady killer, mild mannered compared to me but IMHO quite lacking up there unfortunately... I must point out though that he's been diagnosed with slight dyslexia... but then compared to what I'm going through... hmmm... well it's not exactly apples to apples is it?

Ended up at Wine Network @ Dempsey after all the family duties were done with, shared a really good cheap white with the rest, the finger food's admittingly rather delectable too!

Over the Air: Inexplicable loud whirring from the PB 12"

Can't believe I got on the wrong bus today... swore it said 77 on it!

Apparently I've just won myself a mp3 player taking part in Sony's Soundaholics contest!

Set-off today waking up at 4am... goodness knows why!

Walked around the house a bit, surfed a bit, checked my mail, then back to bed.

Dad woke me up again in the morning to remind me to settle the car insurance and road tax for him around 7am. Went back to sleep, brother got home around 8am so I woke up to interrogate him on where he's been and scolded him for making all of us worry, then back to sleep.

Woke up around noon hungry, took around half an hour to fill in the insurance forms and fax it off... ripped my Bonobo CD to do the Apple specified battery test. Decided that their specifications of AAC@128kbps is an unrealistic benchmark and so ripped it at my normal 192kbps instead. Instructions also called for putting a single song on repeat as part of battery test procedure. Just how is that an accurate real-life test? The iPod would just cache the entire song and then never spin up the HDD for the rest of the 11+ hours that the battery is rated for! So decided to loop the entire Bonobo playlist instead...

Found out that LCD screen is indeed faulty as bleeding or smear can be seen even when iPod is off and so called Apple tech support again to lodge my complain. Unfortunately when they wanted to call "web management" to arrange a replacement, the y were already close. They're apparently located in Sydney... Have to call back tomorrow and go through the whole process all over again! Wondered to self how they managed to pipe in "ethnic" music over the phone when they put you on hold.

Was on the computer outside and decided that enough was enough. My brother was adamant on sticking to the ADC 17" CRT I got 10 years ago but which is losing sharpness, the control panel is kaputz and so calibration is extremely off. Text just appears fuzzy and unfocused now but it's the only monitor we have around the house that can do 1280x1024 (my brother prizes resolution above all else too). I can't say I wouldn't have made the same decision to stick with the old dame but thinking of my dad suffering the same cognitive load of having to strain his eyes, I decided to get them a new LCD panel instead.

Dell's having a 20" monitor promotion now so their new E207WFP is the cheapest 20" widescreen now at $469! Other considerations for TNs are the LG 204WT or Samsung 205BW both at $499 but am leaning towards the Viewsonic VX2025WM because it's an P-MPA panel... but then it's $529.

Bro just came up to me complaining that the muffins he was making for his girlfriend failed miserably...

Oh well, guess I better get down to Allianz and see if they're ready to renew our road tax yet!

Over the Air: Piano Concert No. 3, Mvt 2 - Rachmaninov

Bonfire of the brands [BBC News] [Blog]
By Neil Boorman

The manner in which we spend our money defines who we are. This theory isn't exactly new. Thorstein Veblen conjured the phrase "conspicuous consumption" back in 1899 in his book the Theory of the Leisure Class. In this secular society of ours, where family and church once gave us a sense of belonging, identity and meaning, there is now Apple, Mercedes and Coke.

These brands offer us a set of beliefs and goals which we can aspire to. Is this sounding far fetched? Don't take it from me, here's Kevin Roberts, worldwide CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi.

Listening to music being played from the Powerbook to the main speakers in the living room now. I'm still not sure about what kind of quality is used to stream music to the AX but they do sound rather artificial now. As if they're being pulled longer, artificial reverbs and exagerated bass...

Well then again might be becauase I've never played MP3s using the living room speakers, which are the best pair in the house at the moment. Hence have never noticed that they're of such bad quality? Hmmm...might just have to try a direct line-out to the amp and see if there's a difference.

Oh I can finally listen to ABC Classic FM out in the hall!

Was a tad of a bother to get the AX set-up with WDS but got it eventually...though I'm still irked by the fact that I had to downgrade from WPA2 to WEP encryption just for WDS...

Over the Air: Rubberneckin' - Elvis Presley (Paul Oakenfold mix)

I'm such a bad boy..

After buying a refurb iPod 20GB from the apple store on the 6th, I caved into their Red Friday gimmick sale today and bought myself an Airport express!!!

I'm sure I'd be able to put it to some use, heck I can just think of a few now!

• Wireless to Ethernet bridge for study room PC (no more hanging vines!)
  
• Audio Streaming to Living room amp
  
• Audio Streaming to ANY of the stereos around the house!
  
• Wireless range extender (WDS)
  
• Print server which means I can relocate the big laser to the study room
  

Well, it's only $108 for a print & music server + wireless AP/Bridge/Range extender =P

Sexier slimmer model of my K800i that reminds me of my K700i with the slighly chiseled corners. But the ugly calculator buttons?! Faux paux!

In today’s demanding studio environment, the right set of headphones can make or break your performance. You need high quality and superb frequency response to insure you get the best results from your recordings. The HPS5000 studio headphones were custom designed to meet and exceed the expectations of the most discerning audiophiles, bringing out pure listening performance by providing an ultra-wide frequency response, well defined bass and super-transparent highs. Their high-efficiency cobalt capsules, a single-sided cord with oxygen-free copper wires and optimized oval-shaped ear cups make the HPS5000 a truly studio-worthy set of headphones.

Bought the Behringer Spezielle StudioTechnick GmbH's HPS5000 to replace the "half" dead HP890s. Only $65 so can't complain too much... Have yet to burn them in but they already do sound better than my bro's HD202. At least they're closed like the old philips, shame though they're not as comforty, no velvet padding =(

Mucho gracias to tshush for loaning his Grado SR80s to tide me over... though I have to admit they needed to be driven hard to be truly appreaciated but when properly amped sound booberlicious!!

Shuffle went missing today, am afraid that it might have dropped out of pocket outside... coincidentally my refurbished Click-Wheel 20GB ordered yesterday were delivered ealier tonight!! Would still like to find my shuffle though coz resume and thesis are on it but thank goodness for backups!

Oh yeah and before I forget, do check this out!

I think my home is sorta like life back in company line, the parrellelisms are shocking...

The hireachy would be as follows though -
OC - Dad
CSM - Me
Men - Brother

So as usual, the OC would have all sorts of illogical crazy ideas, the CSM would have to be the one who advices him on his stupidity with great tact by subtlely recommending alternatives and also the one who has to tell the men what to do and receive the shitload of cursing from the top when the men cock-up.

If my dad isn't going crazy then I am...

Dad went nuts just now barging back into the house literally screaming that he lost the car keys, took the spare and rushed back out again. Woke brother up to ask him to search the house and went downstairs to help. He was nowhere around... neither was the car.

Went back up and found out dad managed to find them in the trash... prob dumped the keys out along with all the rubbish... How the hell am I going to have a peace of mind overseas when he's all stressed out about the simplest things?!!!

He insists on leaving for work early, still stresses himself out about the traffic and reaches work 1hr early. I think he needs some pills to ease his anxiety...
Oh well, at least I can confirm it runs in the family now...

Even though I had to think twice about it, I gave my brother the benefit of the doubt and asked him for something simple like helping me assemble some ikea furniture.

I really don't know how he can screw that up... assembling it the wrong way round!

Sigh... haven't slept the whole day, been trying to tidy up the house, brother had to cheek to play games whilst I was doing housework... even though I didn't say nothing, I wonder if he even feels guilty about it...

Over the Air: Stardust - Nu Jazz

Managed to have a long overdue conversation with someone and in essence in was more of a conversation with myself I guess.

Just how do you go about reconciling what you feel whilst keepig the faith? Think I've resolved that to telling myself that you can only let the book tell you how to live your life, but convincing the soul is somewhat more difficult.

I guess I've taken long enough time letting the word convince the heart how it should feel...

Mr Cheapskate walks into his favourite convenience store, picks up his usual can of peaches in syrup water, frowns and walks to the owner of the store.

Mr C - How come the peaches more expensive already?
Owner - Orh, price increase because I now give away my bread to the homeless
Mr C - Give away bread how come my peaches can be more expensive?
Owner - Oh, at first I just hire consultants to rename my store. But in the end, they say no need, can keep name. Just give away bread from the end of the day to the poor is better. Also hor, you see now you got security guard patroling the store, interior design by european architect and the meat now flown in from australia instead of over causeway! Good right! No need to change my name somemore. But aiyah, must charge my customers abit more lah....
Mr C - Orh? Good man, giving food is very gracious of you! I'll take 2 cans instead, Amex card can buy 1 get 1 free right? I sign first ah, my chauffeur waiting outside lah!

Mr Budget walks into his favourite conveinece store, picks up a can of milk formula for his baby, frowns and walks in search of the owner of the store...

Whilst in the car trying to drown out the evil guise of horrible traffic condition mua with Bonobo, I realised if the gahmen wants to decrease the rich-poor gap and needs to find money...why not take from the rich and give to the poor then?

Why make an across the board increase in GST that will affect the poor, the very people the GST is supposed to help? I mean tax the poor to help the poor?! Why not just increase taxes of the rich? Wouldn't that decrease the divide too then? Why can't there be a mordern day robin hood in reddishlogoofoneparty-pore?

How is it that you can justify to Mr & Mrs Poor that in order to help them, the price of their children's meals, transport and education will be more expensive?!

Why can't we make our policy makers sit through a 5 day civilisation workshop? Instead of trying out policies on real-life people, why not try it out with something smaller scale? Increase the luxury tax, have military attrition and you have an uprising in your hands... what is thy command supreme ruler?

Tremendously long day... good thing I had the use of the car.

Sent dad to work at Changi South Street 2 got home to laze around for while, then to my medical appointment where I spent $168 for a month of medication ! Gosh, just so damn shocking to learn about the exorbitant cost of my meds since I never had to empty my own coffers since SAF took care of everything.

Then to pick up bro so we could go Ikea to shop for stuff for the house... should have guessed the stuff that we wanted were mostly out of stock in the nicer colour and you're left with the sad stuff like white, oak and birch... things that really do scream out "I'm cheap Swedish furniture that's made in china!!!". Though I was happy going with the ugly amoebas and the garishly coloured chest of drawers... my brother on the other hand was surprisingly more concerned about whether it blends in with the house... I mean not as if anybody's coming to visit!

We were of course sure to eat lunch at the Ikea cafe of course... which is when my brother conveniently forgets his wallet...but then is willing to top up the difference for aesthetically pleasing furniture.

Managed to throw out my back not lifting the heavy Rambery chest of 3 drawers up, but while positioning the heavy thing in the boot!!! Such a telltale sign of ageing...

Off to cold storage to get some light bulbs and bro wanted to buy some stuff to make blueberry muffins too... for his 1 month anniversary date tonight. He can really put effort to being nice and sweet... but just not when it comes to showing this kind of care and concern to family members...

PIE to Changi was rather packed at 4:30pm but still managed to get there in 30 mins, got dad to drop me off at Suntec where I met the rest later for dinner.

Dafus indeed had a surprise for us, somebody we hadn't seen for a long time! Was indeed a shocker to receive the phone call...

More wonderful food, even more wonderful desserts. A not so surprising lack of enthusiasm on the part of the BD boys in doing the ubitious cake cutting duties and posing... and the shocking realisation how old we'd be this year as we celebrate the first 2 birthdays amongst friends...

So tired now I don't even have energy to assemble the pool of flat-packed furniture!

Over the Air: Lost S02E20 - Two for the Road (One of my favourites!)

Computer Metaphors in reverse!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=topeBoB-ApQ

So far so good this brand new day, think my body might have managed to get rid of whatever nefarious stuff that was camping in my digestive system...

I doubt it was something as simple as "indigestion" that the youthful but condescending looking doctor diagnosed. He didn't even bother to set me down flat on a table when he proceeded to check my tummy for obstructions...

After chatting with him about my use of trisilicate or MMT which the dole-eyed doctor then proceeded to explain it's effects as if reading from a textbook ethusiasticly peppering his rendition of a text-to-speech processor with as many "MMT" as if he earns a dollar for every mention. He then asked me whether I wanted a referal. I mean, this is starting to get stale, is there some kinda operatus modi to get referred to a consultant everytime you see a GP at the polyclinic? Or could it possibly be that the only reason people pass through those public doors is to seek a referrel to better healthcare at hospitals where they keep all the consultants?

You do get what you pay for really, for a miserly $8 I guess you can't really complain can you? Well... actually you could if you were one of the poor people whom can only afford subsidised health care at the polyclinic! But wait, that's me! (Ok ok, so I'm not poor.... but I'm not rich either!!!) I've already figured that I probably need some domperidone to ease the nauseousness but since lack the proper credentials to do anything else but treat the symptoms... which I figured a trip to the private clinic would ensure anyways so why bother when I already have all the medications I need here at home (yes, I run a pharmacy...exclusively for our family).

Since when does polyclinic = cesspot of med school fresh doctors? Surely the number of dollars you front up isn't proportional to efficacy of these professionals?