Since Wednesday, something weird has been happening to my MacBook Pro - the left fan is not running anymore, according to smcFanControl.
I was outstationed, and really didn't have time to dismantle my work machine and take a look to see what happened, until today. Yes, indeed the fan was spoilt!
Since the bluddy fan died, I had no way to work with the MBP on my lap, at least without threatening to fry my balls. Knowing Apple repairs cost an arm and a leg, I decide to take matters in my own hand and see what can can be done to lower the heat characteristics of the machine WITHOUT replacing the fan. First and foremost - thermal paste.
Damn Apple, my Sony TX never gave me trouble of any kind. I have half a mind to rip out the MBP's wireless card, install it on the Sony and run a Hackintosh.
What do you get, when you cross reality TV, and comedy? You get REAL COMEDY, and that's what i'm going to introduce today, one of my favorite tv shows ever - Whose Line Is It Anyway? (abbrev. WLIIA)
The basic premises for the show is simple - 4 talented comedians, some stupendously fun party games, zero scripts - and watch the wit and jokes fly fast and furious.
Hats off to Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles, they hold the show up. These two regulars are also from the UK version of WLIIA, which I yet had the fortune to view, but would think it to be even more hilarious thanks to that quirky sense of British humor.
It is really amazing - no scripts, no second takes - it really is raw comedy at its finest. For starts, and for your enjoyment, below are two great episodes, one guest starring Robin Williams, and the other is what I considered the best of the whole lot so far.
Hope you find WLIIA providing hours of fun for you, as they did for me. To watch more, just head down to YouTube, get out the popcorn, and prepare some stitches - for your sides will be bursting with laughter in no time.
Today's interesting article on Channel News Asia - "Choosing of baby's gender forbidden in Singapore"
Modern science can assist parents in choosing their unborn baby's gender.
But selecting the gender of one's unborn baby is not allowed in many Asian countries, including Singapore, except under exceptional conditions.
Of note, one of the interesting methods is the Spin Method - putting sperm in a centrifuge machine, spinning it fast, therefore the sperm at the bottom of the tube is girly sperm and the sperm at the upper part of the sediment would be the boyish stuff.
So, I was thinking, given China's occupation with bearing a boy during her pre-modern times (read : infanticide), if the Chinese were to have this little tidbit of a fact that the X chromosomes would be heavier than the Y chromosomes, and a crude knowledge of the Spin Method, what might have come to pass?
Imagine the situation - a Chinese couple would like to have a child. They know these facts. So before lovemaking, the husband will go swing round a tree at high speeds, until he felt his balls almost being yanked off. Then they'll proceed to the fun part - the sex. Since the spermatozoa carrying the Y-chromosomes would have filtered out to the top by virtue of the tree swinging, when the husband ejaculates, there's a higher chance that the Y-chromosomes would be the first batch to start the race, thereby yielding a boy. If they wanted a girl, the husband on first ejaculation will have to restrain, pull out and stain the sheets, and then go for Round Two, which means having a higher chance of conceiving a girl.
Also, another interesting theory comes to mind. Since the Y-chromosomes (boy) carrying sperm are lighter, would not it mean that after insemination, if a woman is standing up or lying at a slightly inclined position, the Y-chromosomes sperm would reach the eggs faster? The Y-spermatozoa are lighter after all, thus not being so bogged down by gravity as the X-spermatozoa, would reach its goal faster all things being equal.
With the Y-spermatozoa having such a distinct advantage, over time, it should naturally be over time that males will outnumber females by a significant amount (read : sex ratio). Fortunately, males also have a propensity to take bigger risks, kill themselves, have shorter lifespans, and generally engage in a whole lot of activities that endanger their mortality. As such, it balances out after awhile.
So, the big question - in Singapore's context, is having a boy more advantageous than a girl? I would think not, for 3 nain reasons :
- Girls get a two years headstart in careers, because they do not have to serve National Service.
- If a girl is attractive, she can get a lot of freebies in life by virtue of guys rushing to treat her - thus over time accumulating more wealth.
- Women in the workforce are more capable than ever; their ability to multitask well, affinity towards understanding body language, emotions, and able to participate in political cat fights with better chances of winning than most men.
Chanced upon a website called Turn Your Name Into A Face (yes, that long!), and had a good 15 minutes of fun with it.
A slice of good baguette, followed by heaps of heavenly butter at the top. Add some beef pâté or tuna to it, and top it off generously with lots and lotsa shredded mozarella cheese.
Stick it into the oven, 10 minutes, go make some tea, and VWAAAH! There ya go, a piece of heaven right in front of you - the bread with its crust so crunchy, yet soft, warm and buttery inside, and the toppings is a delightful mix of cheese and your favorite meat spread.
Ah, this is what Sundays should be like.
I sat at the coffeeshop today after work, soaking in the cool evening air listening to music and reflecting upon the day's events. Out of the blue, an Indian man stood in front of me, his hands holding assorted items of socks, belts and underwear, indicating if I would like to purchase any.
My pre-conditioned social response kicked-in - I smiled at him politely, and shook my head insistently. For a whole of 15 seconds, I looked at him, yet did not look at him really, all the while displaying the body language of the equivalent of chasing him away.
He lumbered over to another table, with the same response by the man sitting there. And as he proceeded to the third table, the occupants of that table continued their talk, and as he stood there for close to 30 seconds, always patiently holding out his wares, they continued as though he was invisible...
It was as he moved away, and I gazed into his gaunt retreating back, hands holding the promises of food for the day, and a backpack in which are the means he eked out an honest living. It was that moment, that I felt the unbearable sadness of being... of being in a world where poverty exists.
I cursed myself. The very least I could do was to purchase a pair of socks from him - I needed socks anyway. It was just a pair of socks, but to him, it could meant dinner for his family that day. To him, it could meant some money to buy stationery for his schooling kids. To him, it could be a small bit of precious hope amongst a flood of despair.
When Barack Obama quoted the term "spread the wealth around" to Joe the Plumber, John McCain's campaign latched on to it like a leech - they said this reinforced the notion that Barack Obama was a socialist, someone who wanted to start 'class warfare' - someone who was out to grab from the people who are successful by their own means to give to the people who did not deserve anything.
During my younger days, adults always tell me that these people are useless, that if you help them, they will just squander whatever you have for them on their vices such as drugs. What if, just what if, all these adults were wrong? What if they were just honest people who could not fit into the system society imposed upon them? What if they had encountered some truly terrible misfortunes not of their doings? Why do we always take the negative view of things towards these people? Why did my brain refused to register his presence when I first saw him, as if I did not want to acknowledge such people are around?
As I gathered my things hastily and ran in the direction of where I last saw the man, what Obama said was on my thoughts : Spread the wealth around. Just that it was not exactly that. What went on in my mind was that if I could bring a little bit of happiness to someone's life, a little bit of food to his dinner table, a little bit of joy to his kids as they get that new pen they needed so much, i would gladly do it.
It is a sequence of images that is forever etched in my mind - a man with deep sadness in his eyes, dressed in a cheap red-purple checkered shirt tucked into a faded pair of black pants, and well-worn shoes on his feet. Clutching his wares as though it meant everything to him, he was surprised as I ran up to him and told him I wanted to buy a pair of socks.
For a while, thinking I might be confronting him about something, his face was a mix of confusion and fear. I smiled, and pointed to one of the socks he was holding, and again indicated that I would like to buy it.
Like the dawn of the sun breaking on the horizon, a smile slowly emerged across his face. It was the genuine smile of a man who tried his best to eke out an honest living, and the lovely smile of a man who suddenly saw hope in a world of despair. It was the glorious smile of a man who suddenly found conviction that there is a chance he could stand tall once again.
As he gave me the pair of socks, I took out a ten-dollar note, and pressed it into his hands. I refused the change, and said softly to him, "Keep on fighting, don't give up.", and waved goodbye.
As I walked away, I clutched the pair of socks tightly in my hand. To others, it is just a pair of socks, but I know it meant much more... so much more.
Colin Powell endorses Obama as his choice of US President, and this is widely regarded as the final nail in McCain's presidential bid efforts - the first nail being McCain's pick of Sarah Palin as his running mate.
When I did a CPR course many years back, I knew I was going to forget how to count the chest-presses and the breathing.
And now, this truly oh-my-gawd-why-didn't-i-think-of-that piece of news comes along - you can actually set the timing by singing the Bee Gees's song Staying Alive!!
1,000 [press] 2,000 [press] 3,000 [press] 4,000 [press] 5,000 [press]
1... [blow] 2... [blow]...
(BEEGEES CPR COUNT)
Ah... [press] Ah... [press] Ah... [press] Ah... [press] Ah...[press]
Staying alive... [blow] Staying alive... [blow]
By the way... there's an extra "Ah." in the CPR steps. Adjust and improvise like true jazz musicians, all ye lifesavers!
For those non CPR-certified, there is absolutely NO EXCUSE for you not to learn CPR anymore now. It's easy, it's peasy, and it's the Bee Gees!
Seriously, it's darn fun with frantic finger movements when the battles get tough with other human players. And nothing else will teach you the concept of balance-of-power like this game does.
Despite the many reservations I have about "high living standards" in Singapore, her public transport system garners my respect.
From Channel News Asia (link to news article) :
Another initiative is a real-time Short Message Service (SMS) bus arrival information service.
The SMS service will be on trial for six months beginning October 10, 2008, and will cover 166 bus stops along the Western academic belt, which includes National University of Singapore and Singapore Polytechnic.
I have been to my fair share of countries, and still public transport in Singapore ranks as one of the most efficient, well-organized and comfortable I have yet experienced.
In an age where the issue of rising costs and consumption of energy pervades our lives - running an efficient public transport system is paramount to every country's energy policies and strategy. The main objective of a public transport system is to move masses of people around EFFECTIVELY, and it is with a good public transport system that compels people to go off private ownership of vehicles - reducing energy consumption, traffic accident fatalities, road congestion, pollution, land-space usage for carparks, etc.
Singapore's transport system is based on a "hub-and-spoke" model, where the subway and major bus routes links various hubs... and then the feeder buses or your trusted feet can take you where you want to go.
The most uncomfortable gripe of any public transport system is the waiting. In an era where the term "impatience" can be loosely applied to almost all city-dwellers, people just hate to wait. In a usual commute, at the worst case, waiting for public transport can be almost 50% of the commuting time.
And I applaud this new initiative of SMS notifications of bus arrival times. If you are in the office, you can continue to focus on your work until your cell phone notifies you that the bus will arrive in 5 minutes time, signalling that it's time to wind down for the day. Without that, you might head down just to find out that you just missed the bus, seeing it rambling off in the near distance... that sure drives up my blood pressure!
So, again, a public transport system does right brings countless benefits to a community. In my idealistic future for Singapore's public transport system, majority of our people would be on efficient public transport - which have these points to it :
- Just-In-Time notifications to prevent time wastage and allow happy commuters
- Higher frequencies of buses and trains at the right spots and times in order to achieve load efficiency
- Energy efficient vehicles and mediums to enable cost savings and environmental consideration
- Lower costs brought about by automation, energy-efficiency and volume
- Effective and affordable carpools for singular instances where you might want to take your lady love out for a nice dinner, etc.
Finally, it'll be totally great if Singapore can authorize and encourage the use of Segways as a supplement to the transportation in Singapore. We are a small country, the Segway can reach 60km/h easily, and runs entirely on electric.
Right now, the main obstacles to the Segway's adoption in other countries are essentially that traffic authorities have no clue where to place it - on pedestrian walkways, the Segways endanger walking peds. On roads, the existing vehicles endanger the Segway commuters. It's a tricky problem.
Let's go back to China just a few years back. Each major road has ONE huge lane dedicated just for cyclists. And there were heaps of cyclists, I was amazed when I saw all those people on bicycles in Beijing and Shanghai, even Dalian. These lanes had their own traffic control mechanisms that allowed them to coexist (quite) safely with existing roads and vehicles. This, however, only applied to major roads, not small roads, and in China, major roads are HUGE swathes cutting the urban landscape like tattoos on skin. In Singapore, however, our major roads are barely sufficient to contain the existing traffic as it is, so dedicating a lane for PT (Personal Transport) vehicles seems to be a long way off.
However, even without PT technology, if the public transport system is developed right enough, the fundamental problems of moving people around efficiently can still be overcomed. With the right social graces, such as giving up seats to the elderly and needy, public transport can be a most enjoyable experience. And once you put in wireless internet access on the trains and buses, it would be perfect.
Kudos, LTA, keep up the good work. Now if only the price revisions would come at a slower pace...
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