Headache Inducer for $8.80

When eiron and I got back from watching the World Trade Center in the cinema this Sunday, we picked up a package delivered the day before. Leah was puzzled because she was not expecting any delivery but I kind of half expecting something. I did not expect it to arrive this fast though.

About an hour later, after we've both checked our emails, surf the web, check RSS feeds, etc. I finally got around to open the package. As I suspected, it was the Rubik's Magic I bought on eBay a few days ago. Leah was confused as to why I would buy it but it definitely brings back memory for her, especially because she had never solved it, whereas I bought it because I did solve it and want to do it again. When I was a kid playing this thing, I was able to solve the puzzle in 7 (8?) steps within 5 seconds.

It arrived in the initial state but within a few minutes of manipulation from me, it was already in a weird configuration. It took me awhile before I put it back to a decent 4×2 configuration and by then I got a headache. I told Leah about the headache and then I remembered that it used to give me headaches too all those years ago.

Leah summed it up nicely, "So you bought a headache inducer from eBay for 8 bucks?"

😀

P.S. I am going to order Rubik's Cube from Amazon. This I never solved so I don't think I'll have any luck this time round either!

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August 23, 2006 0

QotD: Teacher’s Pet

What was (or is) your favorite subject in school?

When I was at school in Hong Kong my favorite subject was science, with maths a close second. I despised Chinese while English came quite nature to me. Strange for a Chinese but it's true. Then when I emigrated to the UK and progressed to A-Level, maths and science had swapped and maths became my favorite subject with physics second. I liked computer studies too because it is hi tech but at that time my mind was in the clouds of abstract mathematics and so I was no good at writing programs in BASIC. I did learn Pascal on my own and managed to write a rudimentary algebraic graph drawing program. Really I was more interested in computer games than learning it as a skill.

Then I went to uni to study physics and I enjoyed that very much in the first year. The maths was easy (the double maths A-Level I took prepared me for it) and really not much work was needed to get good grades. Then in the second and final years we got into the heavy shit; thermodynamic, solid state physics, etc. that involves statistical maths. I hated them with a vengeance, but since they are a very important part of physics I ended up not doing well in exams. It was then that I realized while I love the concept of physics I am crap at actually applying the theory. Around the same time I found that computer programming came very easy to me and I started taking more and more computing courses as my optional units to boost my average. It worked and I managed to graduate with a degree!

And this is how a physics graduate ended up working as a software engineer/developer/programmer. The road isn't that windy, really…

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August 22, 2006 1

Newsnight as you go

Last week while I was browsing around iTunes Music Store, looking for new podcast to subscribe to, I decided to see how many new BBC podcasts had been added to iTunes since I last looked. So I typed in "BBC" in the search box and the list was pretty long. As I read down the list, I spotted the Newsnight video podcast. It is a short excerpt of the week's footage so it is a nice way to get the best digest of the program.

I didn't manage to watch the three episodes until late last night and a couple of minutes into the first one, I wondered what file format BBC is encoding the podcast. A quick check in iTunes showed that it is just plain mp4 video, and I then wondered further whether my Nokia E61 will play it.

E61 on Titanium PowerBook

So I dug out the USB data cable and connected the phone up. The memory card showed up as a disk on my Mac desktop and I just dragged the file into the disk. A few minutes later I had it on my phone and RealPlayer was playing the podcast in its fullscreen glory! The video quality is pretty good. I didn't notice any dropped frames and the sound from the speaker is adequate for a talking head program. Battery life, of course, suffers when you play video on the phone but that is to be expected.

Anyway, after that it was just a matter of entering the long URL for the podcast into the Nokia Podcasting app on the phone. Soon it was download the latest episode onto the phone via the Wi-Fi connection. This is especially cool for me because I can't play video on my 4G iPod (obviously) and I am waiting for the next generation before upgrading. Being able to play video on my phone means I have less of an excuse to buy the 6G iPod when it comes out.

So now I have even more content to keep me occupied as when I am stuck in a subway train. One thing still annoys me though. Why can't all audio and video podcasts on iTunes uses non-DRM, non-proprietary format like BBC. How about that Apple? Can I have iTunes New Music Tuesday in regular mp4 audio format, may be as an alternative to the special one you've been using? I don't care for the album arts and chapters, I just want to listen to the podcast on my phone!

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August 21, 2006 0

QotD: My First Car

Tell us a little something about your first car. Do you have any photos you can share?
Submitted by tamara.

My first ever car is a second generation Renault 5 (pictures: front, side, rear, and interior). It is a tiny hatch-back (i.e. two doors and a back "hatch") car in red with a 1.1 litre engine, pumping out only 55 bhp. But it was perfect as a first car for someone who had just passed the driving test. It had no power steering so I got to learn how to park smartly than relying on power steering to get me out of trouble spot. It handles pretty good for a small French car and it was fun to drive. I couldn't get it to go too fast though, despite my continuous attempts. I think the fastest I got out of the Renault 5 was about 95mph? I don't think I've ever gotten a ton out of that car.

I only customized/pimped the car in a limited fashion. Sport steering wheel, new springs to lower the suspension, bucket seats from a Renault 5 GT Turbo, and a kick-ass stereo were all I had (Well, kick-ass for a student with limited income that is. My friend Richard and I spent hours cutting up and painting a MDF board to replace the back shelf to house the 10" sub-woofer. The result was a very professional looking shelf and that was very satisfying.). Shortly after I lowered the suspension, the hatch started giving me trouble. Its hinges slowly slipped out of location as if something was pulling it out. Nothing we did can fix it and I suspected that somehow the lowered suspensions put extra load on the hatch that it wasn't designed for.

Sadly, it had to be retired to the scrap yard after I lost control of it on a damp corner and rolled it two and half times. We landed on the roof and fortunately all three of us were not hurt seriously, only bruises and cuts. My parents weren't amused though, I can tell you that…

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