Mixed-up Wok

Proton Gen-2 received a 1-star rating!

2005-01-28T16:06:00.000+08:00

... here. Malaysiakini link here.

Food for thought, especially when its competitors all received 3-star rating. ;)

Future prediction game

2005-01-28T13:08:00.000+08:00

This is certainly very neat. It's a link to a site that showcases future predictions by folks, with two main points:

Anyone can make a 'claim' i.e. a future event, that he predicts can happen. This 'claim' must be supported by measurable and verifiable ways to prove its realization. For instance I could make a claim that Anwar will be the Malaysian PM within the next 5 years, and this claim will be substantiated by his appointment being reported in at least 3 non-Malaysian newspapers.

You can place 'virtual' money on claims. It should be pointed out that no money actually changes hands, and that a stash of 'virtual money' in the hands of a skilled player is just for bragging rights. :)

What I find interesting about the site is the generally high quality of the future predictions being put forth. Some of them are pretty obvious if you think about it, e.g. chip speeds continue to increase etc. Some of them are a sign of the times, e.g. a Chinese moon-landing by 2020. Check them out here.

Disclaimer: I do NOT support, endorse, or encourage gambling in the real world !!!

The TNB blackout fiasco ... AGAIN

2005-01-27T21:04:00.000+08:00

Take a quick read at Jeff's post, especially the part regarding compensation, and the arguments against it as given by the TNB Chairman. I think this is (pardon me) the biggest pile of poo that can be said on the whole fiasco.

Helloooooo TNB, your accountability and responsibility starts from the point of power generation until final delivery/interconnection with the end-user's home / building. This means that if we look at the big picture - dude, you screwed up big time - the incident happened in YOUR premises in Port Klang. EWCM Dr. Lim, I for one do not care so much about the who or why - the simple fact that it happened under TNB's nose means that it has been negligent in maintaining its equipment, managing its suppliers, training its employees, securing its premises, or various other lapses. What say you?

Dear TNB, you as a corporate entity are the one responsible for the entire fiasco. Blaming it on your employee(s), supplier(s), nature, the law of physics, etc. isn't going to cut it. For crying out loud - MSC companies don't even trust you to deliver un-interrupted power. What does that say about your public image?

I think we can reduce the number of traffic jams in KL...

2005-01-27T19:23:00.000+08:00

if we implement the following idea. Well, a bit of background - this morning I was stuck in a 1 1/2 hour traffic jam. Nothing extraordinary I suppose for a place like KL, but it got me really pissed and wasn't a good way to start the day, not when the usual journey takes 30 minutes tops.

The cause of the traffic jam was a stalled lorry, having blown its rear tyres. It was obstructing the center lane, which left only 2 lanes open for the morning rush hour traffic. Clearly this wasn't enough, which explains the ordeal I had to go through.

This got me into thinking - let's say that there were 10,000 motorists like me, all caught in the traffic jam. Based on my extremely naive un-scientific layman calculations, this simple traffic jam caused the Malaysian economy to suffer at least RM 1,000,000 in productivity losses, not to mention untold damage to the environment. It's a really high price to pay, considering the relative frequency that we encounter such situations.

What can we do to prevent traffic jams? Well I won't absolve our crazy politicians or town planners of the blame - their utter lack of what some people call 'cow sense' caused KL to be the mess that it is today. But then again, private citizens who do not maintain our cars / lorries / trucks in tip-top condition are also to be blamed. How many times have you seen a vehicle so beat up that it's an absolute miracle it is still out there running on public roads? Or the lorries that keep on belching toxic smoke while travelling at way above the legal speed limits?

So I propose the following - the government should pass a ruling that a motorist whose vehicle breaks down on Malaysian highways (including our urbans highways such as the LDP etc.) will be penalised with heavy fines as follows:

1st offence: RM 1,000
2nd offence: RM 2,000
3rd and subsequent offences: RM 3,000 per offence

Before the fine is imposed an independent report of the incident should be produced, with costs being borne by the local council or highway operators. In the event that the incident was due to poor maintenance of the road, then the local council or highway operators will have to pay RM 3,000 to the motorist for repair costs and loss of income, whichever is higher.

I think this is a fair arrangement - on one hand, the onus is on motorists to service their car and ensure they are in proper running order to avoid being penalised - heck, I would even say that this may contribute towards reduced road accidents, since the condition of vehicles on the roads will improve tremendously. At the same time there are no additional costs passed to the local council and highway operators since they just have to keep to their normal maintenance schedule.

Or perhaps this is just a stupid idea after all. :)

Overdosing on PM statements

2005-01-19T10:41:00.000+08:00

I've only recently noticed that hardly a day passes by, without a statement from the Prime Minister being reported in mainstream newspapers. I don't have a problem with the PM's statements mind you, but I'm more interested in finding out the reason why he needs to make so many of them. A selection of his more recent statements follows:

PM: All will be consulted on the Ninth Malaysia Plan

Consider customers’ needs, PM tells carmakers

Abdullah: No guarantees

PM: No plans to disarm enforcement officers

Non-stop supply vital

Reduce issuance of logging permits, PM orders states

PM: High capacity early warning centre

Five-year plan to instil good values

What do you notice from the above? The PM makes regular statements in the press covering the whole gamut of current affairs ranging from plans to instill moral values, to controlling issuance of logging permits, setting up early warning centres, arming enforcement officers etc. I'm very very disturbed by all this. Now first of all, I appreciate the fact that the PM's statements help to sell newspapers. Of course if I, as an editor, had the choice between a statement made by the PM and a Deputy Minister on the same topic, I would be inclined to put the PM's statement on the front page. It just sells.

Following that line of thought, I would have my guys (no offense to women intended) stalk the PM, and corner him with questions on current issues, just to get a sound-bite or a statement that I can use. Naturally our PM will oblige, being the nice guy that he is. The whole problem starts when the PM is perceived (by me, but maybe by others too) to dominate the whole media. He appears to be the only Government Minister who has a solution for every single problem facing the Malaysian population today. My question is - what are the rest of the Ministers doing? I choose to believe that we have some intelligent and hard-working people in the Government, so it just seems to me that the PM is stealing the limelight from those Ministers who should be fielding those questions in the first place.

Now that I think about it, I think this has been the trend in Malaysian newspapers as far back as I can remember. I'm really hoping that people will see this is a bad sign. From my experience, if you look at the PM as a CEO, then every statement that he makes (and I'm sure he's not always prepared for all these impromptu interviews) will have to be implemented by his subordinates. I'd rather have the PM decline to comment, and pass the question to the Minister responsible. I want to see our Ministers earning their pay, and becoming more accountable and responsible to all of us - they should be, if they had to come up with the answers AND implement them!. In the meantime the PM should focus on strategic issues, and stay away from issues such as water rate hike, toll rate hike etc.

One day I hope that all the Ministers will realise that in the years to come, they will be remembered not for the number of witty statements they make, nor the number of times they appear in the media, but for the actual application of the work they were supposed to do. I hope I will live to see that day come through.

Bill Gates photos from 1983 (must-see, classic!!!)

2005-01-19T10:05:00.000+08:00

(Original source: /.)



Here are the never seen before pictures of Bill from 'Teen Beat' magazine back in 1983.



PS: As some people have observed, yes, that's a Mac in the background



WARNING:



Parental discretion advised. ;)

NCIS Censorship on Channel 8?

2005-01-18T17:29:00.000+08:00

Last night I had a rare chance to watch NCIS on Channel 8. It was an intriguing episode, one that started with this unconscious man tied up in a car, together with a burned out corpse. He woke up, saw the corpse, somehow managed to extricate himself from the car, and ran for dear life. Then we saw a couple of planes dropping their munitions, and some army observers. It turns out that the man is in a live bombing range ! He gets whacked by the bombs, and this is where the NCIS team come in.

Anyway during the show, there was one scene where they were talking about this man's background - how he was a special ops kind of guy, and how he worked on/with Al-Qaeda before. What surprised me was that each time the actors said 'Al-Qaeda', their voices were censored. Not once, but twice (or was it thrice?!)!!! The amusing thing is that the subtitles were not censored in any way, which is how I figured out what was going on.

What in the world is going on? Is Al-Qaeda on a list of words that can't be said on Malaysian tv? Or is it a word that cannot be said in a context that puts it in a bad light? Hmmm.

Holiday at tax payers expense?

2005-01-18T15:39:00.000+08:00

Reading this article, the sheer arrogance and ignorance of the State Government downright stinks. Of course I am assuming that the Chief Minister's remarks are reflective of how the State Government views its responsibility and accountability to the people of Malacca.

Dear Chief Minister, you are accountable to the people of Malacca. The onus (there, I used the word again) is on you to prove that the trip is purposeful and has achieved its objectives, and not mouth standard party lines in reply to criticisms. If you were the CEO of a company, and I was a share holder in your company, what I would demand is that you:

Make public an audited report of your trip, all expenses paid etc.
Make public the itenary of the trip, contact persons for each organization visited etc.
Produce a plan showing each stated objective of the trip, and give measurable ways to determine how each objective will be fulfilled in a given timeframe. I don't want you to just drop a vague one-liner such as re-habilitating Malacca's rivers in a similar way as San Antonio's, but dammit, give me a concrete action plan! I want to hear more from you than what I can find out on some tourist web site on the internet!
Explain to me the contribution of your wife and children as part of the official trip - what business have they on a trip that is conducted in your official capacity?
Explain to me the contribution of each person on the trip - what did each of the 23 persons do, and more importantly - WHY DID YOU NEED 23 PERSONS IN THE FIRST PLACE?!!!

And if I deem your explanation unacceptable, you would be fired, plain and simple. I don't care whether you paid for your family's fare, or you included the company's pantry lady etc. To me, if you mixed business with pleasure, or indeed, if you treated the company as your own family-run shop - one in which you have all the benefits of my money yet without the drudgery of accountability and responsibility to me, then you do not deserve to be my CEO.

Dear Minister, I also detect a hint of arrogance and superiority when you said that the DAP can raise questions on the cost of the trip during the next State Assembly sitting. If you have nothing to hide, then just reveal everything to the public - why wait? You stir my imagination with thoughts that such a request by the DAP will be met with a line such as 'not in the public's interests to know' etc. especially since, if I'm not mistaken, the Opposition is in the minority within the State Assembly.

And lastly dear Minister, you can mouth vague things such as your invaluable contribution to the state in drawing health tourists from Indonesia. I concede that the possibility exists that you could have been successful, but without any audited statistics, what you say I can also say, and I don't have to be a Minister to do so.

"Power corrupts - absolute power, corrupts absolutely"

Summon campaign idiocy

2005-01-18T15:14:00.000+08:00

Here we go again, the Royal Malaysian Police have suddenly gone into their occassional frenzy, resulting in moments like this. First of all, I think that their zeal is commendable. Definitely their track record of issuing almost 900,000 summonses over the past 5 years illustrates that they have been on the job and not goofing off at the nearest mamak staff. What bugs me though, is the picture that shows 3 cops handling a single case such as Mr Ong's. This picture raises a lot of thoughts in my mind, such as:

What makes the cops think that their campaign will make any difference at all to the way Malaysians drive? I would think that if the cops were really serious, they should be consistent in their enforcement of the law, rather than going for such 'mega-collection' exercises.
Why does it take 3 cops to handle Mr Ong's case? How many cops would be involved in this campaign given that there are 900,000 summonses to be served? Well, 3 of them would be very welcomed at the Jalan Kepong / LDP intersection each weekday morning!
Has the police exhausted all means at their disposal to notify all the 'offenders'? The onus is on the police to produce the necessary proof at the point of 'arrest' - otherwise, each 'offender' should be compensated for their loss of income and any other expenses if they are hauled up to the police station.

Blackout fiasco revisited

2005-01-14T11:42:00.000+08:00

Another blackout, the 4th major one in the past 10 years. For the sake of my sanity, I just have to shrug this fiasco off as a reflection of the Malaysian system at work. You know, I don't think it's pure coincidence that big Malaysian companies (and here I'm mainly targetting Government Linked Companies although I suppose some private companies are also as guilty) appear to be no better than Government departments with their service delivery. Where do these companies source their leaders from? It seems to me that most of them have this habit of taking on high-ranking Government servants. Now I don't mean to cast any aspersions on the ability of ALL Government servants - certainly those who are qualified would be an asset to any company, but I do wonder sometimes whether such people are chosen based on their qualifications, or rather for their connections to those in power?

The way I look at it, there's a simple and quick way to judge how good is an organization's leaders. Just walk into any outlet that they have, e.g. Kedai Tenaga. Do normal things like product inquiries, apply for service, bill payments etc. See how the people there react. Are they courteous? Are they knowledgeable? Do they empathise with the customer? Are they interested in helping the customer? If they are all this, and more, then the leadership should be wonderful. It is quite impossible for leaders to say one thing, do another, and expect the organization to excel. Therefore when there is service excellence from the people at the shop-front, I expect the leadership to possess the same qualities, and then I will know I am in safe hands. I believe that quality leadership will be reflected not in how well the leaders talk, but in how effective they are in communicating their personal values throughout the entire organization.

What has this to do with the blackout fiasco you might ask?

Look at the statements made in the press (source: The Star)

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi:

“I hope TNB will make sure there will be no more blackouts”

Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik:

“Everybody is calling me. Even my wife called me when the lights in the house went off.
I asked her why she was complaining. I said I was with the Prime Minister in Malacca and even he was tolerating the problem.

I said: 'So, what's wrong with you? Just because you are the minister's wife, Datin, you think you are special. Power failure has nothing to do with me. I have no power to stop the power failure',” he told reporters at Tenaga Nasional's head office here yesterday.

He said: “Looklah! There are millions of people in darkness and my wife is calling me to complain. "

What in the world are you guys smoking?

Dear Prime Minister, I hope that you meant that you told TNB not that you hope there would not be able more blackouts, but that there better not be any more blackouts. To be fair, you could have been speaking in BM, or perhaps you were mis-quoted, but to put it into perspective: TNB has failed the nation not once, not twice, but a record 4 times in 10 years! This is not just a major inconvenience to the people, but a disgrace to our nation.

How can we have the MSC, yet still suffer from nationwide blackouts?
How can we attract businesses to Malaysia, when we cannot guarantee that their business cannot run un-interrupted, much less even talk of compensating them?
What does this say for accountability in our country?

Dear EWC (What a mouthful) Minister, you are wrong to say that the power failure has nothing to do with you. I humbly suggest that your portfolio includes making sure that the people get quality and uninterrupted supplies of energy and water. Making such a statement sends the wrong message to the leadership of those companies, that you are not serious about their accountability to you, do you not agree? How can you even say such things!

Dear PM and EWCM together, you are the leadership of the nation. What you say in public, and how you handle the situation, will reveal your seriousness in leading Malaysia for the next few years. You can have the best policy papers, hire the best foreign consultants, publicise Malaysia in the overseas press to your hearts content - but if you do not have the vision, the confidence, the assertiveness to actually implement policies and crack the whip, then I can only say that Malaysia will continue to decline in competitiveness, until one day when whatever you say will truly not matter any more.

Top 50 DVDs of all time

2005-01-11T09:47:00.000+08:00

Although I must say I liked Lord of the Rings, I loved Star Wars (Episodes 4 - 6), and I think it deserved to be #1. I assume that their choices were limited to only English movies, and that explains some of the more dubious choices, such as The Fifth Element, Monsters Inc. etc. To each his own. :)

Firefox security vulnerabilities

2005-01-10T09:53:00.000+08:00

The sweet smell of security vulnerabilities on a Monday morning. ;) To put it into proper perspective, the vulnerabilities (both NNTP and download filename spoofing) are insignificant if the user doesn't click on untrusted links e.g. links provided in emails from people you don't know. Since Firefox users are, by definition, 'enlighted' users, I'm sure this won't be much of an issue. :)

I think it's a given that any moderately sized software system developed today, will incorporate or collaborate with one or more third-party components (third-party in the sense that it is not developed in-house). Each of these components have the potential to introduce security vulnerabilities into the system e.g. this. That's why it's a good practice for us to go through the list of third-party components installed on our machine every once in a while, and check for upgrades. If I'm not mistaken there are products out there that will somewhat automate this tedious process, but then being the geek that I am and since I use a small number of quality software :) I delight in this process. YMMV. ;)

Tsunami disaster reflections

2005-01-06T13:13:00.000+08:00

Just the other day Sue and I were talking about how Malaysia was managing (or maybe 'reacting' would be a better word) to the tsunami disaster. Since the day of the incident, the casualty toll has been mounting. We see images of destruction and death on our tv screens and on the front page of the newpapers. What these images show very clearly is that our neighbours Indonesia, Thailand, and countries such as the Maldives, India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, have been impacted the most. Malaysia has remained so far, relatively unscathed.

Now before I get flamed, I do understand that a number is not just a statistic - it represents real people, families, communities, and we feel awful over those who died and those still missing in Penang, Kedah, Selangor etc. But what I am trying to put down now are my thoughts on how Malaysia could have handled this disaster in a better way, "better" here meaning in a way that is effective, efficient, and inline with the vision of becoming a leader in the developing world.

What I feel the Malaysian Government should have done:

Establish a single, toll-free contact number for both local and overseas callers. Ensure that it is manned by competent people (meaning we need people who speak good English, empathise, sympathise, and are trained listeners) 24hrs a day for the duration of the emergency.
Create a web site to disseminate information. No matter what, ensure that this web site is updated hourly or daily for the duration of the emergency
Setup a single disaster fund, and appoint a reputable audit firm to manage its accounts.
Appoint a visible management team as a single point of contact on the disaster efforts. Have daily news briefings to ensure that information is communicated efficiently.
Within 24 hours of the emergency, ensure that vital basic supplies (medicine, food, clothing, shelter) are provided.
Within 48 hours of the emergency, ensure that a list of those missing or confirmed dead is available and posted on the web site. These may include Malaysians currently out of the country - for this, liase with our foreign missions. Allow people to contribute information to the list. As some people may take advantage of the list by breaking into their properties, ensure that the police set up necessary measures. Liase with government departments (National Registration, Road Transport etc.) to validate information on the list
Set up fund raising activities with local celebrities, corporations, the public etc.

Other things Malaysia could do/should do:

Provide transparency into the entire fund-raising process. Ensure that every cent is disbursed to those in need, according to their loss, irrespective of race or political affiliation. Publish audited records.

Step up and rally OIC and Commonwealth countries to assist other nations. Offer our airspace, ports, and other facilities for relief efforts - even without being asked.

Give tax reliefs to corporations for their donations. Encourage corporations to donate funds, services or products. E.g:

Cellular companies may help to setup a temporary mobile station in the disaster area, and ensure free calls for a certain duration
Car companies may help to donate vehicles in the relief effort
Petrol companies may donate fuel for vehicles (cars, planes, trucks etc)
Transport companies may donate free use of their planes, ships etc.
Water companies may donate water filters, bottled water, etc.
Clothing companies may donate second-hand (factory outlet type) clothes etc.
Food companies may donate instant noodles, canned goods, etc.
Hypermarkets may donate some of the products that they carry

Establish a simple and secure way to raise public funds though bank transfers and SMS. Ensure that the terms of the donations are clearly mentioned.

Setup a strategic long-term disaster handling study, encompassing both natural and man-made disasters. Engage our neighbours in this study, and create a region-wide support network with suitable funding. Make sure that the infrastructure is properly staffed, trained, and maintained.

Daily grind: KL traffic jams

2005-01-05T14:53:00.000+08:00

RANT MODE ON

Many Malaysian motorists have accepted the fact that our "advanced" road networks here would be inevitably jammed whenever one or more of the following situations arise.

Whenever it rains

Malaysia is an Equatorial country, so you'd imagine that our roads will be built to cater for the intensity of our monsoons. How difficult is it to design our roads accordingly, with proper drainage to cater for our intense rainy seasons? The answer apparently, judging from the roads that we have right now, is that it is very difficult. Now I've been to Germany a couple of times, and I must say that I was bowled over by the quality of their roads. The word 'superb' doesn't even begin to do them justice. You can perhaps argue, as I first did, that Germany certainly doesn't have anywhere near the amount of rainfall that we have, but as a layman, I think this is a very weak argument. Malaysians simply deserve good roads - I'm sure the technology exists, hence is it an implementation issue? Lack of political will? Short-sightedness on the part of the local councils? What is the problem here?

Doesn't the Government appreciate the lives lost due to poor road conditions? Doesn't the Government realise the amount of money that is wasted each time it rains?

Whenever there's an accident

Some Malaysians have this morbid fascination with road accidents, not because they really care about the victims (if they did, they won't hold up emergency services in the first place!) but because they want to spot the number plates of the vehicles involved. Or they just want some fodder for mamak conversations. I don't know what is the true reason, but please folks, why can't we all just maintain a decent pace around the accident spot? If we want to help (and that's a good thing), then please stop the vehicle where it doesn't obstruct traffic and go. Otherwise, please move along ok?

Whenever there are heavy vehicles during peak hours

I really do not understand why heavy vehicles are allowed on our highways during peak hours. First of all, most KL highways (I think we are the only country that has highways in the city, but that's a separate subject altogether) have only two lanes. These slow pokes mostly stick to the left lane, and thus we have only one lane left for normal traffic. The chaps stuck behind these vehicles would proceed to cut out, hence causing a backlog, sometimes a few kilometres long.

I'm so frustrated because it's just a colossal waste of time and money, that could have been prevented through strict enforcement. Why doesn't the authorities consistently enforce a ruling and force these vehicles off during peak hours?

RANT MODE OFF

Free Communication - Redefining the global landscape

2005-01-03T22:02:00.000+08:00

I think that by now, lots of people have heard about Skype. A confession before I begin - I've read a fair bit of literature on the subject, and have contemplated using the service since we have broadband service in our condo, but I've procrastinated thus far due to cost reasons. :) Yes yes, I know that Skype is free, but I'm referring to the cost of getting a decent USB headset, with noise-cancellation/compensation technology. I've tested it briefly with the bundled microphone from my Creative Soundblaster package (yes, from a long long time ago), and the echo/feedback was simply horrible. Plus it's rather uncomfortable for long conversations, which I suspect is one of the reasons that we'd use it in the first place, eh? ;)

Anyway Skype, to put it most simply, is a VoIP application. Skype is not the first, nor the last - indeed it is not the only VoIP available today, however what distinguishes it from its competitors is its superior voice quality. Although I still haven't used Skype, I'm inclined to believe this claim because their architecture is designed around a community model similar to Bittorrent, which I've had the pleasure of using on numerous occassions. Plus of course if their technology doesn't work, they wouldn't have built up such a huge user base, no? ;)

Jeff Ooi has written a couple of articles on Skype in the Malaysian context, but I'm more inclined now to take a step back, and pen a few thoughts on communication's impact on the global and social landscape. What prompted this was an article on the VoIP revolution, which can be found here.

I think that communication was, is, and forever will be, the driving force behind civilization. Man simply has the need to express, to share, to relate, and to grow with another person. The written word is a form of communication, and we are here today because of the accumulated body of knowledge communicated on paper. The cost of communication has declined substantially through the ages:

paper was really scarce and expensive in the old days (limited to only the priestly-types and the wealthy), but yet today it's available for mere cents
the cost of making a call today, is also measured in mere cents, be it via a fixed line phone or a cell phone
the cost of sending an email is for all intents and purposes, free

Today there are new forms of communication in our midst:

web logs (or popularly known as blogs) are prevalent today, and are redefining journalism itself. A person can be a journalist if he desires to be one, aided by freely available technology. He can report, share, and influence the community that he lives in, thus again promoting communication
Google has aided communication by making information more easily accessible than before. Arguably its search engine aids communication by cataloguing, ranking, and promoting information sources (such as blogs). It also makes us more consistent, accountable and responsible for how we communicate, as our thoughts may be recorded for all posterity
GMail will redefine communication by not only helping us to relate our personal information with the world information (based on Google's advertising technology), but also enable all of us to have a historical view of how we individually communicate, aiding in personal growth and maturity
Lastly, Skype together with WiFi/3G/Super 3G access technology will allow us to communicate in a very intimate manner, whenever we want, with very low cost

Skype, Google, Gmail etc. - I have no idea how long the commercial entities behind them will endure, but they have opened the flood gates to freely available communication, and more importantly, they made free communication something that we deserve, in the same manner as clean air, clean water, shelter and food.

I think that as the idea of free communication gains more momentum, we will see a truly global community emerge, quite different from the present one that is formed based on trade, forced assimilation (wars), and voluntary assimilation ( immigration). Maybe then we will truly learn to respect, value, understand and accept each other.

Zulican virus, whats that?

2005-01-02T15:12:00.000+08:00

Received an SMS saying that there's a new virus in the wild, due to the recent tsunami disaster. Some people have such bad taste in spreading this hoax. Sigh.

Learn French in a jiffy!

2004-12-31T13:02:00.000+08:00

I'm thinking about learning French - well, not that kind, but I wouldn't mind .. heh heh. Anyway, I've always found languages to be quite interesting. To be born a Malaysian, is to be born into a meltingpot (or mixed-up wok) of cultures and languages. From my earliest days, I can recall hearing Malay, English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, and of course my mother tongue Hainanese (which I have gracefully returned to my parents :)). So it's quite a tough job being a Malaysian in a way. Chinese people inevitably will ask "So, which clan are you?", and mind you, they are not talking about MechWarrior clans here. Well, I exaggerate a little bit here - before they ask you, they will do like Sherlock, and deduce it based on your surname (or last name, family name etc.). And once you guys agree on the whole clan thing, well, from that moment on, you'll be talking clan language baby, all the way.

I think what's interesting about the article is whether the concepts can be applied to say, learning Spanish. Why Spanish, and not French? Well, Spanish is in the big leagues now. It's worth learning because:

As a Malaysian, we have rudimentary Chinese (as in Hokkien, Mandarin, Cantonese etc.) so we already start off on a strong footing. Enough for survival in foreign lands "Yo there, give me a packet of my instant noodles, and be quick about it!"
English, ah English, the language of our colonial oppressors (or liberators). Well, our English is not too bad, and some people say, much better than 3rd world countries, which as we all know, Malaysia is not - heck, we're a developing country. Anyway, so scratch English.
That leaves only Spanish, because it's the 3rd most widely spoken language. The Spanish language is only going to spread further, because from what I've read, the Hispanic population in the US will overtake the native American population Real Soon Now. Besides, I've always liked Speedy Gonzales

For me right now, it's a toss-up between Spanish or French, but I think the choice in the end depends on what I'm going to do. Choices, choices.

Firefox speed-up tips

2004-12-31T10:34:00.000+08:00

I love Firefox. What's that? Well, Firefox is the new (kinda) browser, sort of like a second-generation Mozilla. It's new, it's fast, it's open-source. What more can a guy ask for? ;)

But seriously, Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE for short) is horrible. It's shortcomings are well documented (just google for them), but in a nutshell, Microsoft's design for IE weaved it tightly into the Operating System (Microsoft XP, 2000, etc.). This gave tremendous flexibility to the application of course, and probably contributed to its snappiness (is there such a word?) during normal use, but it's a double-edged sword: A rogue application (trojan, spyware etc.) can harm your computer through IE, especially through ActiveX nastiness.

Reading this is not enough - you have to actually sit down in front of a computer that's been infected with spyware to appreciate the enormity of the situation. Argh. Plus, Firefox comes up pop-up blockers built-in (did I mention I hate pop-ups?), which is a big plus. I suppose Firefox will also come up with pop-under blockers soon, once advertisers start to realise they are losing eyeball share with this blocking technology.

The other tremendous advantage of using Firefox is that it's extremely customizable. Just type 'about:config' and you'd see tons of stuff that you can manipulate to make it better. I've tweaked my configuration according to the article, and am expecting at least 10% improvement since we have oodles of bandwith here in the office ... heh heh.

What are you waiting for? Get Firefox - TODAY.

Updated: 4 Jan 2004

I've decided to reduce the number of pipelines to 8 after reading this article. Anyway after enabling pipelining, I feel that the browsing experience is much snappier, but unfortunately I don't have any metrics to back it up. YMMV.

Tests, tests, and more tests

2004-12-30T15:13:00.000+08:00

Argh. So it's confirmed. I have an IQ of 124, which puts me as a "Word Warrior". Take the test yourself and let me know your score. ;)

Metadata explosion

2004-12-29T16:02:00.000+08:00

By chance, I discovered some webinars at JBoss' web site. The one that focused on EJB 3.0 really caught my attention. What's interesting to me is how a single feature, annotations, as available in JDK 5.0, will now be propelling the next wave of technological advances in the Java world. Annotations coincidentally is also the basis for JBoss' Aspect-Oriented Programming implementation.

Listening to that webinar, you'd think that annotations / EJB 3.0 is the best thing since sliced bread (or since EJB 2.x). Well - I'd hesitate to say that. To be sure, some of the features in EJB 3.0 are really neat, but annotations don't exactly revolutinize the entire software development discipline. Why? Well, whether you annotate in your code, or you put it in a XML configuration file external to your code, the fact remains: Someone has to do it. There is no tool on earth that can read the developer's mind and generate the required code. Hence while annotating is preferable to mucking in layers of XML, the effort to do one or the other remains.

Ah, this is the beauty of working in software development. You get to play with bigger, and hopefully better toys, on a frequent basis. Learn, unlearn, relearn. ;)

Litigious Malaysian society on the rising?

2004-12-21T09:39:00.000+08:00

This is probably a record of sorts - the first time ANYONE in Malaysia has won a case over mis-representation in a book or in this case, a recipe book. I'm stunned by the fact that the report did not include the defendant's testimony; it would've been been, shall we say, interesting.

Which brings me to my point: I recall listening in to many conversations amongst the older folks and generally they would mention that cooking is a matter of 'agak-agak' or guesstimate. Generations of chinese have enjoyed culinary delights based on '1 pinch of this, 2 shakes of that...' measures, dished out by the cook's unwashed (kidding) hands. To be a good cook though, you have to be passionate about food. You can recognized a good cook by the way they enumerate the ingredients of the dishes they are cramming into their mouths. In fact, a great cook would be able to whip up the same (or similar) dish afterwards, and probably throwing in a minor variation as well. Ah, now that would be interesting.

Spring et. al.

2004-12-15T17:39:00.000+08:00

No no, not that Spring - ah - the birth of new life. I'm referring to the Spring Framework. Have been playing with it for the past few days, and well, I've somewhat enjoyed the ride.

I've been working in the Software Development line for quite a while now, almost 9 years. In the first place the stuff that we learned from school became obsolete at almost the exact moment we left school. The "old" way of doing programming has been ingrained in me for so long, and Spring was like a jackhammer, hammering away at the crusty rods that held them in place.

Actually Spring is not really that different from other frameworks. Now hold on, don't flame me just yet. It's not a whole lot different from say, Struts, where the wiring is exposed in a configuration file for users to mess up. Ok, I admit it - I threw the last bit in - the developers fall over themselves to mess it up. Hehe. But anyway, the point is, these new fangled frameworks expose the wiring in a way that permits rapid re-configuration where needed. And in a way, this is a Good Thing because then we have the opportunity to do all sorts of stuff in a dynamic manner. For instance, I found the test mockup example to be very interesting. Imagine that you have already deployed code out into production, and there's a bug - no, there's a feature that we need to implement. Rather than touching the existing code, you just stick in a new jar file into your spanking new application server (no code changes yet), edit a few lines in file (still no code changes), and voila! You are done. I find this simply amazing - I don't think you can do it the old-school way.

The other trend I noticed is the powerful application of aspects could have tremendous implications for the science of programming, although I must say I've read a lot of examples about using aspects for logging and transactions, and little more than that. More research on this topic over the next few days then.

My adventures into the world of Spring have been very fruitful, and at least now I have a better chance of jumping back on the technological wave. Thoughts for today:

As any software person would know, the more technologies/tools you know, the better the chance that you can solve a problem elegantly.

How does one pronounce 'blog'?

2004-12-15T15:14:00.000+08:00

Ah, the joy of google, answers at our fingertips. A possible answer?

A new hope

2004-12-15T14:32:00.000+08:00

I still remember when I was a little kid, I went to see this to-die-for movie at (please remember, this was in the old days, ok?) this big cinema in downtown KL. I went with my folks of course, since I was rather young to be driving - but I digress.

Anyway, the point is we were all sitting down comfortably waiting for the movie to start. The lights dimmed. The music began. The first scene was of this absolutely HUGE spaceship roaring past. My jaw opened up and I was making like a fish. Wah. Thus, the seeds of a plan were planted in my head to be a spaceship pilot someday.

The point of the story: Just like George Lucas built his empire on that one movie .. err .. well, I hope there would be more sequels to this post. "A new hope, a new beginning". The End.