also.known.as “spvn”

Ok so I know this blog’s been neglected for quite some time. I just can’t find the time or bother to blog much nowadays. The typical day involves 8 to 5.30 work before coming home with barely a few hours to myself. Fridays have never seemed so blissful in my entire life.

Rant…

Anyway, recently got a new laptop, the ASUS G51Jx. Brilliant gaming machine, absolutely terrible computer. I won’t bother ranting much about it here, maybe I’ll post the review I wrote for another site here soon, but until then let’s just say I am sorely regretting getting this machine. Mainly because I could have probably gotten an equally powerful desktop for maybe two thirds the price, and more importantly one that has a BIGGER SCREEN.

1920 by 1080 on a 15 inch screen is way too much. Text is all painfully small for my eyes, and I gotta toggle everything to zoom in. But there are some apps that simply won’t let me enlarge the text (e.g. Steam) and I gotta suffer by squinting at everything it throws on screen.

The solution to this all? Get an iPad for web-surfing.

The iPad was stupid…

The perfect solution IMO, though a thoroughly annoying one for me. When the iPad first launch I was firmly in the camp of what’s-Apple-doing-it’s-just-a-larger-iPod-Touch. In recent weeks, I’ve played around with the iPad twice at Apple stores, and now desperately want one.

Mind you, it’s not just me. For the first time ever, you actually gotta queue up at Apple stores just to play around with one of their products on display. Maybe you’re saying, “Sure, Singaporeans love to queue anyway”. For once though, Singaporeans aren’t just flocking to try the iPad out. At the store in Funan, while I was playing around with the iPad (after having waited for at least 5 minutes), iPads were literally FLYING off shelves. Every single person in the store seemed to be leaving with an iPad in hand. And the majority of them obviously weren’t hardcore Apple fans or anything that would fall for anything Steve Jobs introduced. Most of the people I saw were pretty damn old. You know, the kind who can’t tell a USB port from a rectangular hole. Or the type who couldn’t tell the differenc between a Mac or a PC.

Perhaps that’s what’s so enticing about the iPad. It’s simplicity. The iPod Touch gives off the impression of being a tech-gadget. A small, handy device for the tech-savy, maybe because it resembles mobile phones so much. And older people tend to be intimidated even by their mobile phones. The iPad on the other hand feels like a simplified notebook. A really simplified notebook at that. Why? Because it has a screen comparable to that of a laptop. Sometimes, that’s all you need to do for the tech-illiterate to think it’s really a better version of those complicated laptops.

Apple knows what it’s doing

I guess it doesn’t matter how stupid an Apple product sounds on paper. Fact of the matter is that Apple knows what it’s doing. The tech-savy crowd can scream all they want about how the iPad is a joke, but the fact remains that it appeals to the average consumers in ways no other device has ever done before. Heck, after playing with it for about 10 minutes, I already want one, and I used to think Apple had taken a step in the wrong direction by creating a big iPod Touch.

This goes to show that for all the knowledge we geeks have about technology, we have no idea what really resonates with the majority of people.

Seriously. Why is EVERYONE talking about him in Singapore. He had a couple of affairs (OK so maybe “a couple” isn’t the most apt way to describe about a dozen affairs, but what’s the difference?), so what, big deal. Celebrities all over the world have affairs all the time, and they aren’t as hotly discussed as Jack Neo’s latest endeavours. At most, you get a message from a friend going “Hey did you hear?! Tiger Woods had an affair!” You’d raise an eyebrow or so and get on with your day.

With Jack Neo, you gotta listen to everyone talk about him all week long…

“It’s just a publicity stunt! For his latest movie “Being Human” because his marketing came together and figured that the best way to get word out about how bad his latest movie is (as per usual) is for him to announce he has an affair even if he didn’t have one!”

“Feng shui master offers advice to Jack Neo on how to resolve these scandals! Because he’s busy figuring out how many women he needs to have affairs with for it to be considered auspicious!”

The Media: “Jack Neo closes affair saga with dramatic news conference! Only we’re going to report about the whole saga the next day AGAIN! Only this time, we’re reporting about how the parliament is concerned about the manner in which we’re reporting this saga! Yes! Parliament is discussing about a celeb’s sex scandals!”

GET A HOLD OF YOURSELVES SINGAPORE.

Jack Neo is just a pompous director whose only decent movies are either a decade old or recent comedies comedy that relied on slapstick more than anything else. I (regretfully) went to watch Being Human before the whole saga even began, and Neo has really reached a new low with it. In fact, reports are coming in that it might not even make the S$2.5 million required for it to just break even. That’s just sad.

And just hours ago an actress who I’ve never heard of before (granted I don’t exactly know many local celebs) has made a police report, claiming that Jack Neo sexually harrassed her. Will this Jack Neo thing ever just go away…

I think it really goes to show how bored Singaporeans are. Even the slight whiff of a scandal brewing somewhere is enough to get everyone excited enough to stop sitting around picking their noses all day long I guess. But seriously, how utterly bored do we have to be as a nation for everyone to get excited over the idea of someone (who doesn’t even matter all that much I might add) having an affair. No Singaporean even cared when Tiger Woods (who might I remind you is one of the most iconic athletes in history) had an affair, but suddenly when Jack Neo’s story comes out it becomes the talk of the town. Compared to Woods, he’s nothing. Yet he’s receiving more media attention than he’s ever had.

Lesson learnt: To get famous, make love, not movies.

I can just picture next week’s headlines:

JACK NEO HAS DIARRHEA, LET’S DISCUSS!

Oh come on…

So I saw the app Rising Card make it to the “What’s Hot” list on the iTunes App Store and thought the description of the application sounded pretty cool. For those who don’t know, Rising Card is a magic application for the iPhone and iPod Touch, created by magician Chris Kenner. For those who dabble a little into magic, you’ll understand what I mean when I say that this guy invented Threefly (coin trick) and the Sybil cut (card flourish). For those who don’t give a crap about magic, meaning the only name you know in magic is David Copperfield, well this guy has been David Copperfield’s executive producer for the last 16 years. Seriously.

Obviously, this guy is no small-time magician. But I still wanted a few opinions on what the app was like or at least a hint as to how it worked (set-up time, difficulty, etc.) but I couldn’t find a single thing about it. Just official video demonstrations about the app which aren’t exactly the most reliable source. Besides, they didn’t even provide much useful information. Regardless, I eventually got it, hoping that it’d be good. Boy was I not disappointed.

For those of you who’re hear searching for the secret to Rising Card app, you’re in the wrong place. I’m not going to give out the secret. I hope no one does. This blog post is more for people who are thinking about getting this app but aren’t quite sure yet.

Anyway, on to the app. For those who don’t know the effect, I’ll briefly describe it here. Spectator thinks of any card (or chooses a card out of a deck, etc.) and tells you. You then take out your iPhone (or iPod Touch), unlock it, open the Rising Card app upon which you should see a hand holding a deck of cards face up. From here, you can either shake it yourself or hand it over to the spectator and tell him to shake your device. Either way, the named card will rise out of the deck.

It’s a really simple effect, but still pretty mind blowing. I’ve been pretty busy with school stuff recently, so I haven’t used this app with a particular routine or with any form of presentation yet (my bad, I know). But I’ve been getting pretty good reactions. Just to be clear, all I do is tell someone to name any card, I then take out my iPod Touch, open the app and hand it to them, tell them to shake it, and they’ll see their card rise out. Simple as that. I’ve gotten all kinds of reaction. A few of them smirked or sat there in (stunned) silence before asking how it was done. Most of them were completely shocked when they saw it rise out of the deck (I did not tell them what to expect beforehand), their jaws just dropped and they stared at me with huge eyes asking how the hell I did it. Then there are those who just freak out when they see the card. One of my friends almost tossed my iPod onto the table as if it were burning him. Not to mention he enquired as to how I did it with a significant number of expletives. All in all, I’ve gotten really good reactions for a trick that I never practiced beforehand and didn’t even bother to add ANY presentation whatsoever to the effect itself (please don’t do that )

Anyway there are certain limitations that anyone considering purchasing this application might want to know. First, you have to know the card (either they tell you, or force, or they pick a card and show you, etc. you get my point). One more thing is that really observant spectators might notice something amiss, but whether that happens really comes down to how well you’re able to present the trick. Other than that, I can’t really think of other limitations.

The trick itself is really easy learn and requires little practice to master the moves themselves. How you present it is obviously a different thing altogether. Even if people spot the secret move you’re making, they can take your iPhone and try it out for themselves and even if they copy your actions it won’t work for them (that happened to me once, it’s when I realised how awesome this app is). The sacred rule of magic that states “never do the same trick twice” can actually be bent slightly, at least from my experience. I’ve done this trick five to ten times on one of my friends and she never could figure out how I did it even when I did it in slow motion without any patter. Even for say groups of five people I can do this trick at least twice without them realising how I did it. In fact I’d think doing this trick at least two or more times makes it more effective because then spectators will stop thinking that you somehow set it up the first time. Yes, this trick is that strong.

The unfortunate thing about a magic app on the iPhone is that people automatically think you’re cheating the moment you pull out something that has a computer in it. Even if they don’t figure out the secret to the Rising Card app they’ll just chalk it up as you doing something fishy with a device. Unlike sleight of hand or even gimmicks where their brains just can’t think of any logical explanation for a trick. However, as far as iPhone magic apps go, this is most probably the best one out there right now.

I’m going to admit I don’t know ALL the details about the new Obama bill. However, I’m getting increasingly furious as I continue to listen to those who oppose this bill even though I’m not even from the USA. Most of the arguments they give are downright ridiculous and in some ways insulting.

Obama VS. Hitler – cutting healthcare expenditure VS Holocaust

First, they compare Obama to Hitler.

I am absolutely appalled by this. Do they have ANY IDEA what Hitler stands for? In case you haven’t heard of people like Anne Frank, Jews back then had to hide in secrecy, for if they were found by the Nazis, THEY WOULD BE KILLED. Many of the people who are against this bill claim that Obama’s cutting of Medicare expenditure by $500 billion over 10 years is the same as him employing Hitler’s “Final Solution” to purge all Jews.

Are they out of their minds?

First, part of this $500 billion that is going to be cut is going to come from reducing inefficiencies within Medicare itself, for example switching to electronic medical records which would facilitate easy sharing of patients’ information. Of course, doing stuff like that isn’t going to save $500 billion, and the funds for medicare will definitely be lesser than previously. BUT, does that mean having lesser funds for healthcare makes Obama another Hitler?

For those who don’t know, back during the 1930s and 1940s, Jews were all thrown into ghettos in Germany where they literally rotted to death. Later, Hitler’s Nazi party went around rounding up Jews as if they were sheep, after which they were separated into two groups of people: those who would go to labour camps, and those who would go to the gas chambers to be “exterminated”. For those who went to the labour camp, nobody cared when they would die. For those who were immediately sent to the gas chambers, they would all be packed into a room until there was absolutely no space in the room, after which the doors were closed and toxic gases were fed into the room. After awhile, the doors would be opened, and all of them would still be in their original standing positions, all packed together.

Only difference? They weren’t breathing anymore.

People are comparing THIS to Obama cutting $500 billion dollars from Medicare.

And let’s not forget the Holocaust isn’t Hitler’s only claim to fame, this following quote not from myself, and I’m not exactly sure whose story it is:

My mom was born in Germany in 1941. When she was 4, a group of SS officers showed up at the front door of a two-story flat where she lived. Two of them went downstairs, and two of them went upstairs where she and her parents were. She watched while an SS officer put a gun to her father’s head and threatened to shoot him on the spot if he didn’t drop everything he was doing, leave his wife, leave his family, leave his job, and “volunteer” to fight in the German army. (Near the end of the war, they were becoming desperate to keep the ranks filled, ultimately making children and old people fight..)

The two SS officers that went into the apartment below theirs did the same thing. In that case, the father in the apartment below theirs was shot in the head, probably for begging not to be taken away from his family.

And to think people dare to show up at protests with a picture of their President photoshopped to look like Adolf Hitler, a man whose atrocities can never be put down in words.

Coming Between Doctor and Patient

Second, there is to be medical review boards that will provide guidelines for doctors on what type of treatment would be appropriate for their patient. Now some people argue that this would prevent doctors from fulfilling the Hipprocratic Oath – putting their patient’s well-being before anything else, because they will have to choose between doing what’s best for their patient and being sued or getting in trouble with the law somehow.

Bulls**t.

First, the guidelines provided are only SUGGESTIONS as to how the doctor COULD go about treating his or her patient. It is NOT a mandate of any sort. There is nothing that is going to come in between the doctor and his or her patient.
Second, are people that naive to think that ALL doctors are doing the best for their patients?

Massive medical fraud exposed: pharmaceutical company paid doctors to prescribe drugs and run sham clinical trials

The fact of the matter is that due to the private nature of many pharmaceutical firms and thus their profit driven nature, coupled with certain irresponsible doctors, the patient’s needs are often neglected for profit’s sake. There NEEDS to be something that oversees healthcare in the USA in order to ensure proper healthcare for all its people.

End-of-life planning = “death panels”

Third the whole idea of there being “death panels” which is apparently a panel of “bureaucrats can decide who dies” according to Sarah Palin. In essence , it encourages senior citizens to kick the bucket earlier?

People who suggest this have got to be illiterate, or they are willing to take Sarah Palin’s words for it (which is probably even worse than being illiterate).

What the bill actually does is pay doctors for voluntary consulting sessions with older patients to discuss end-of-life issues which include stuff like living wills, learning about hospices as an option for the terminally ill, facilitating emotional expression, allow doctors to appreciate the psychological state and the suffering which their patient is going through, etc. Because let’s face it, we’re all eventually going to die, and this bill incentivises doctors to assist patients in making plans for this eventuality.

Where in the world does it promote stuff like mercy killing or euthanasia? In fact, it would block funds for counselling that presents assisted suicide as an option for patients.

Oh and let’s not forget to mention that back in 2003 or 2004, the Republicans were in favour of a similar proposal which would help senior citizens pay for end-of-life counselling. But now that the same thing is being proposed, it suddenly becomes “death panels”.

Sheesh…

Start Being Rational… PLEASE

In my opinion, people who are busy shouting and screaming at those town hall meetings really need to start educating themselves about what everything here really means. Also, they should probably learn to not have the patience of a 10 year old, because they’re screaming questions at Representatives and Senators without even giving them the chance to answer their questions before continuing to shout. There are times when the speaker will simply tell them that they are misinformed about a certain portion of the bill, explain to them what that part of the bill is really about, and they just continue shouting.

I do wonder how this whole fiasco is going to end…

I’ve begun to realise that it’s becoming some sort of trend for sites that require registration to access to have really annoying rules for what your password should be like. I mean the usual rule is something along the lines of “between 6 – 15 characters” and they just leave it at that. But it seems that in recent times, it’s becoming more and more often that I’m met with a site that has this on their registration page:

Seriously? Is it really necessary to have such a secure password? I mean of course it depends on the context of when you apply such rules. If you’re a webhost and want your customers to make sure they have a secure enough password so that someone else won’t simply brute-force their way into the server and mess around inside, go right on ahead. You obviously need security for services like these. But for crying out loud I encountered that rule above when trying to register for a forum. Seriously? Is hacking into other people’s accounts such a big threat that such stringent rules are necessary? For such cases a simple ban/IP ban will do the job.

I know it seems like I’m making a big fuss over nothing, but my real question here is: What’s the point? You’re just unnecessarily adding another obstacle for users who want to get into your site and contribute to it. I’ve lost countless accounts in the past because I can’t remember what weird rule the site implemented for my password, and plenty of their “Recover Your Password” services don’t even work properly.

So please, site admins, if your site doesn’t require such a high level of security, don’t bother doing stupid stuff like this. Thanks.

FYI, the forum I was trying to register for was Quake-Live TV, the site which provides video with commentary of all the latest Quake Live Tournament matches. Anyone who’s interested in the game, please check it out!