2012 New Look

Weeks ago I updated my other blog about computers and electronics with new banner and some changes in colour design. A new look once in a while can be refreshing for a blog that I had neglected for months, even years. Then I looked at this blog and thought:

"Hmm, this new dynamic view design just doesn't feel user-friendly enough."

So I went on for hours upon hours redesigning this blog into a much simpler version instead.

New Blogger UI

It's been few months since I last used Blogger on my computer. The last post was written via my phone. Yesterday I came back to my old blog site. My, things have change!

Prayers

Life is not just about racing with time.

Adapted from a page on Facebook.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Man: Tell me, why has life become complicated now?
Jesus: Stop analyzing life. Just live it. Analysis is what makes it complicated.

Man: Why are we then constantly unhappy?
Jesus: Your today is the tomorrow that you worried about yesterday. You are worrying because you are analyzing. Worrying has become your habit. That’s why you are not happy.

Man: But how can we not worry when there is so much uncertainty?
Jesus: Uncertainty is inevitable, but worrying is optional.

Man: But then, there is so much pain due to uncertainty.
Jesus: Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.

Man: If suffering is optional, why do good people always suffer?
Jesus: Diamond cannot be polished without friction. Gold cannot be purified without fire. Good people go through trials, but don’t suffer. With that experience their life become better not bitter.

Man: You mean to say such experience is useful?
Jesus: Yes. In every term, Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and the lessons afterwards.

Man: But still, why should we go through such tests? Why can’t we be free from problems?
Jesus: Problems are Purposeful Roadblocks Offering Beneficial Lessons (to) Enhance Mental Strength. Inner strength comes from struggle and endurance, not when you are free from problems.

Man: Frankly in the midst of so many problems, we don’t know where we are heading.

Jesus: If you look outside you will not know where you are heading. Look inside. Looking outside, you dream. Looking inside, you awaken. Eyes provide sight. Heart provides insight.

Man: Sometimes not succeeding fast seems to hurt more than moving in the right direction. What should I do?
Jesus: Success is a measure as decided by others. Satisfaction is a measure as decided by you. Knowing the road ahead is more satisfying than knowing you rode ahead. You work with the compass. Let others work with the clock.

Man: In tough times, how do you stay motivated?
Jesus: Always look at how far you have come rather than how far you have to go. Always count your blessing, not what you are missing.

Man: What surprises you about people?
Jesus: When they suffer they ask, “why me? When they prosper, they never ask “Why me” Everyone wishes to have truth on their side, but few want to be on the side of the truth.

Man: Sometimes I ask, who I am, why am I here. I can’t get the answer.
Jesus: Seek not to find who you are, but to determine who you want to be. Stop looking for a purpose as to why you are here. Create it. Life is not a process of discovery but a process of creation.

Man: How can I get the best out of life?
Jesus: Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear.

Man: One last question. Sometimes I feel my prayers are not answered.
Jesus: There are no unanswered prayers. At times the answer is NO.

Man: Thank you for this wonderful chat. I am so happy to start the day with a new sense of inspiration.
Jesus: Well. Keep the faith and drop the fear. Don’t believe your doubts and doubt your beliefs. Life is a mystery to solve not a problem to resolve. Trust me. Life is wonderful if you know how to live.

Man: Thank you so much.
Jesus: You are always welcome. Have a good day my friend.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Blogger on the Go

Apparently Google released an Android app for Blogger. With the advent of microblogging sites like Facebook and Twitter, the good old blogging trend is slowly dying out.

Or does it? This post is written from my Android HTC Sensation, and it will mark my return to blogging.

Happy blogging.

By The Time I Close My Eyes

By the time I close my eyes, I see the past.
I see the wrongs I had done.
But I cannot see the good I had given.

By the time I close my eyes, I see the present.
I see the people around me.
But I cannot see you.

By the time I close my eyes, I see the future.
I see what will I become in the next ten years.
But I cannot see where am I going.

By the time I close my eyes, I see you.
I see you so clearly.
As if you are in front of me.

By the time I close my eyes, I see myself.
I see me hiding in the dark.
I see me running away.
Away from everything.
Away from life.

By the time I close my eyes, I see us.
I see us walking together, towards the sunset.
I see us smiling.
I see us happy.

By the time I close my eyes, I feel happy.
Yet I feel sad.
And lonely.

By the time I close my eyes, I feel fear.
I wished I hadn't closed them.
I fear of losing my sight on you.
I fear of not being able to see.


By the time I close my eyes, I wonder.
Will I ever open them... again?

From Lego with Love

It all started in 1949 in Billund, Denmark: a carpenter named Ole Kirk Christiansen began the legacy of wooden and then plastic building blocks which came to be known as LEGO today. From Wikipedia, the name Lego was coined by Christiansen from the Danish phrase leg godt, which means 'play well'. The name could also be interpreted as 'I put together' or 'I assemble' in Latin.

Survey-of-the-Day

Okie, now that Blogger has rolled out some new stuffs to keep us bloggers hooked on using their service, it's time to put it to the

Duno's Ultimate Test!

Nah, actually it's not much of a test :P

The Mythical Water Clock

Picture courtesy of bedol®

Water Clock - A story of a failure-ridden project

Xpress your Music, the Smart way

Nokia 5730 XpressMusic
The only slider XpressMusic with full QWERTY keyboard
And probably the only phone with both QWERTY and traditional keypad

Quick Specs:
3.5G/HSPDA
Symbian s60 3rd Edition
ARM 11 369Mhz processor
128MB SDRAM
100MB internal storage
TFT 240x320, 2.4", 16M colours
5-way navigation keys and slide-out QWERTY keyboard
Wifi, A-GPS (original Garmin 1-year subscription)
3.2 mega pixels, Carl Zeiss with autofocus and LED flash
Secondary camera with photo and video functions
3.5mm headphone jack

Next stop: Jalan Pasar

From the first few days of lectures, I'd heard my Circuits lecturer talking about Jalan Pasar. Apparently it's a popular street among the locals and definitely the haven for us electrical engineers. Its other name is Teen Chee Kai (roughly translated as Electronics Street in Cantonese).

After about 30 minutes of Googling, I've finally found this haven. :)

The Murphy's Law

"Wath iff vaa...."

The Murphy's Law states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

Anything = - Anything

More Renaissance and Enlightenment

"The more things change, the more they stay the same. Boundaries shift, new players step in, but power always finds a place to rest it's head."

Quotes from Modern Warfare 2

Renaissance

"Back to the brink, Captain?"
"Out of the frying pan is more like it."
Quotes from Modern Warfare 2

A Present

This present is wrapped by me on 12th September 2009 from 3.00 pm to 9.00 pm by using old wrappers, ribbons, and a pre-made box. There are no tapes or glue used in the whole wrapping process. Kudos to me, folks!

Blogger... Hacked!

This is just a note to myself. After getting the Live Activity Feed you see at right, I was thinking of getting a "Read more..." link in my posts. Then something dawn on me, that Blogger doesn't support this kind of... style. There is not any way to get this working, so I did some homework and googled it. Luckily, there's some good geek guy posted a nice tutorial on how to hack Blogger. So after some meddling, tinkering, fumbling with those darn HTML codes which I will never learn, I finally manage to create a hacked Read More link in my blog! Hooray! So now whoever wants to read my blog will show up on the Live Activity Feed "Feed Me!" (service provided by Wowzio) at the sidebar. No one can ever escape the Spy! Hehehe (Evil Laughter) Anyways, this is just a blog to test my new Read More link. Do enjoy! Next time, folks!

Why is soft drink cans tall and slim rather than short and wide?

Once again folks, I stumbled upon the book last week when I went to Jusco and buy some mineral water (Limited Edition!).

It's Spitzer Love Mineral Water! Limited Edition!

From the previous post, I've mentioned that making the cans short and wide would save up to 30% of aluminium than making them the conventional way: tall and slim. So, why do soft drinks companies still manufacture them in the shape of tall cylindrical cans? The answer is pretty straightforward. First, there's this marvelous thingy called optical illusion. People are easily fooled by optical illusion. People think that they saw a curvy line in what appear to be a perfectly straight line. People think that tall slim cans contain more liquid than the short wide counterpart. People think that the yellow rectangle is longer than the green rectangle. People think that they are smart. But in reality, people are fooled by their own mind. Oh joy! The other reason is that people prefer tall slim cans rather than short wide cans. I don't exactly know why, maybe it's psychological factor, like people prefer to have a circular clock rather than a square, even though they both serve the same function equally well. This is a rather short question. Next up: Why are some cars have their petrol tank at the left side, while some others are at the right side?

Walk with them

This is a forwarded email I received a few days ago.

When you were very young...

They spent a lot of time teaching you how to use spoon and chopsticks to eat...

Teaching you how to wear clothes, fasten shoelace, button up...

Teaching you how to wash face, Teaching you how to comb your hair... Teaching you the way of life. So... So, when they were old... "Mom, I go out for a while!" When they could not think of any way to talk to you... Please do not blame them... When they were starting to forgot how to button up or fasten shoelace... When they were starting to stain their clothes while eating... When their hands were starting to tremble while they comb their hair... Please do not urge them... Because as you are slowly growing up they are slowly growing old... When you showed up in front of them... They would feel very happy and blissful. If one day, when they could not even stand up, could not even walk anymore... Please hold their hands firmly, and walk slowly with them... Just like... Just like how they held your hands back then...

Why is milk box rectangular and soft drink can cylindrical?

I happened to stumble upon an interesting book a few days ago. I can't remember what the title is, but it's a book about economics, something about why economists can answer some interesting facts of life. Written on the cover is some quirky questions like the one in the title. So, why are milk boxes rectangular rather than cylindrical, like soft drink cans? The answer, it seems, is also a bit quirky. First of all, science has proven that cylindrical cans can withstand much higher pressure than its rectangular counterpart. Soft drinks are mostly carbonated drinks, hence they exert higher pressure than standard liquid. If soft drink cans were rectangular in shape, I doubt you will be able to drink it after you pull of the ring. Another explaination is the user-friendliness. Soft drinks as we know are meant to drink immediately after opened, so it is more rational to be in cylindrical shape. Imagine holding a rectangular shaped soft drink can. It will be hard to get a grip onto the can. And think about this: if soft drink cans were in rectangular shape, then Arnold would not be able to squeeze it open with only one hand, would he? Then came the economic-esque explaination. Economists say that cylindrical shape wastes much more space than rectangular one, if they are to put on shelf. Soft drinks are stored in whatever places you can imagine: on the shelf, inside your cupboard or even your closet, on top of the fridge, on your coffee table during CNY, in shooting range, by the roadside, etc etc. There's no need to worry about space. On the other hand, milk is not as cincai as soft drinks. Milk has to be stored in refrigerated shelf, which means the running cost is higher. So, instead of wasting space making them into cylindrical shape, companies have came up with the idea of packing them in boxes. This design fully uses up all available space on the shelf, so it's much worth the cost of storing them. Something the economists call the cost-benefit factor. There you go, the reasons why milk is in boxes while soft drinks are in cans. Well, that's what I remember. Not exactly what the book says, but almost. I will continue reading it if I happen to walk by the bookstore again (yes, I was reading it inside the bookstore, for FREE!). Coming up next: Why is soft drink can tall and slim rather than short and wide (both have the same volume), even though making the can short and wide saves about 30% of aluminium?

回忆中的欢乐和幸福

这是一篇朋友传发给我的电邮，不知道你们是否有看过…… 分享给大家吧。 那么一对情侣： 女孩很漂亮，非常善解人意，偶尔时不时出些坏点子耍耍男孩； 男孩很聪明，也很懂事，最主要的一点：幽默感很强。 总能在两个人相处中找到可以逗女孩发笑的方式 女孩很喜欢男孩这种乐天派的心情 他们一直相处不错，女孩对男孩的感觉，淡淡的，说男孩象自己的亲人； 男孩对女孩爱甚深，非常非常在乎她。 所以每当吵架的时候，男孩都会说是自己不好，自己的错 即使有时候真的不怪他的时候，他也这么说。 他不想让女孩生气…… 就这样过了5年，男孩仍然非常爱女孩，象当初一样。 有一个周末，女孩出门办事，男孩本来打算去找女孩，但是一听说她有事，就打消了这个念头。 他在家里呆了一天，他没有联系女孩 他觉得女孩一直在忙，自己不好去打扰她 谁知女孩在忙的时候，还想着男孩 可是一天没有接到男孩的消息，她很生气 晚上回家后，发了条信息给男孩，话说得很重 甚至提到了分手 当时是晚上12点…… 男孩心急如焚，打女孩手机，连续打了3次，都给挂断了 打家里电话没人接，猜想是女孩把电话线拔了 男孩抓起衣服就出门了，他要去女孩家 当时是12点25。 女孩在12点40的时候又接到了男孩的电话，从手机打来的，她又给挂断了。 一夜无话，男孩没有再给女孩打电话。 第2天，女孩接到男孩母亲的电话，电话那边声泪俱下 男孩昨晚出了车祸。 警方说是车速过快导致刹车不急，撞到了一辆坏在半路的大货车 救护车到的时候，人已经不行了。 女孩心痛到哭不出来，可是再后悔也没有用了。 她只能从点滴的回忆中来怀念男孩带给她的欢乐和幸福 女孩强忍悲痛来到了事故车停车场，她想看看男孩呆过的最后的地方 车已经撞得完全不成样子 方向盘上、仪表盘上，还沾有男孩的血迹。 男孩的母亲把男孩当时身上的遗物给了女孩。 钱包、手表、还有那部沾满了男孩鲜血的手机。 女孩翻开钱包，里面有她的照片，血渍浸透了大半张…… 女孩拿起男孩的手表，赫然发现，手表的指针停在12点35分附近 女孩瞬间明白了…… 男孩在出事后还用最后一丝力气给她打电话，而她自己却因为还在堵气没有接 男孩再也没有力气去拨第2遍电话了，他带着对女孩的无限眷恋和内疚走了…… 女孩永远不知道，男孩想和她说的最后一句话是什么…… 女孩也明白，不会再有人会比这个男孩，更爱她了！

U.F.R.

顿时间，Duno.com 多出了很多U.F.R. U.F.R. - Unidentified Flying Readers (不明飞行读者) 留下了言但却没留下名字。 留言前，麻烦U.F.R.们写下各自的名字 方法如下：

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谢谢合作噢！

部落格主人 ： 小杰