cameron diaoz

Went for a trip to Cameron Highlands and Genting Higlands over the Christmas holidays. It's actually 3D3N although they call it 4D2N. How to 4 day 2 night?

The 10 hours bus ride to Cameroon was insane. Like what my project mate said, the most comfortable of seat will also become uncomfortable after prolonged hours. All I did was to put my hands into the pocket and sleep, and ended up couldn't feel my fingers. I almost freaked out.

But what I saw at the destination more than offset the bus ride. Cameron highlands is known for its farms and plantations, such as the famous BOH tea, strawberries, roses, and vegetables. Trust me, I cook and I know Cameron broccoli is lousy. The strawberry farms offer self-plucking, but it's not like what you see on TV. It's pluck and pay, not pluck and eat on the spot. The tea is nice, but please, they only grow the leaves there, and package it in Kuala Lumpur. So theoretically speaking, the tea leaf at KL is fresher than what you can get up in Cameron.

What I like about the place is its simple life. You see lotsa old Land Rovers on the road, transporting vegetables and goods. You see meandering roads, you see plantations all over the hills. I like the closeness to the wilderness. Maybe I should be a tea leaf plucker.

As for Genting, do I really look that young that the security guards had to check my identity card every time I entered the casinos? Nah I didn't gamble. I went in to watch ESPN.

quote of the day

me: hi Celia, this is (insert my real name), I'm at the void deck
Celia: oh ok, huh? Void deck?
me: =_= erm, I mean lobby

I sure sounded like a stalker.

Somehow my FYP supervisor didn't submit my access card application, so every time I go to use the lab I will have to call her or the lab officer to escort/fetch me in. Celia is the nice lab officer. The troublesome thing is, the toilet is at the other side of the security door, and that if I go for lunch, I'll have to wait for them to come back. Or I will have to sneak in.

But the NTU dude has access card. Not fair!

quote of the other day

You vomit ah?
Why never ask for plastic?
-- coach driver asking a girl, then stopped at a petrol kiosk to mop the floor, then the mop stick broke -_-"

Not me. But the coach ride from Cameron Highlands to Genting Highlands was carrying a few merlions. Can't help it, the hill roads are filled with hairpin turns, tossing our stomach left and right with a few Gs worth of acceleration. And sometimes I think the medicated oil that some aunties use, made things worse.

Oh, there was a variety of buses that we took during the trip. Five Stars (not the rating, but the company name), Comfort (you know, Comfort Delgro?) and the bas sekolah that you see in the photo on top. Just be glad that we didn't have to sit on the roof top.

urban development and satellite

This semester I did a term paper on the urban development of Singapore. With the help of satellite images and aerial photographs, we are able to study the changes in urban land use for the past 50 years. Also, using the Draft Master Plan 2008 (now Master Plan), we can compare the current land use with what is planned for us in the future, eg parks, buildings, etc. You can try and predict when are they REALLY going to demolish the National Stadium after talking about it for so many years.

You can read my term paper here. Note that it carries a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

gift exchange is cruel

A few days ago I was talking about gift exchange is cruel on plurk.

I remember when I was in lower primary ("lower" is not the name of my primary school) there was this gift exchange, and I got a girly doll or something. What the heaven.

Recently I went for a gift exchange which was carried out in a game manner. Let's just say that I don't need carbon dating to tell that the article I received was purchased some time ago, and the screws have rusted, and some of the wood has rotten... It wasn't joy that I was trying to hide. Ok, it's the thought that counts!

Hope you guys have a happy Boxing Day!

merry christmas

Hey people,
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Hope your wish come true!
(wait, do people make Christmas wish?)

video from unplggd

durian on ferris wheel

More than 170 people were trapped for 6 hours on Tuesday on the Singapore Flyer, the world's largest observation wheel.

To fully experience the sarcasm and sadism from yours truly here, please listen to Eason Chan's 幸福摩天轮. "durian 在摩天轮"唷~

Today's newspaper frontpage was filled with photographs of rescue workers lowering passengers on ropes and harnesses. Sure looks like additional tour package with abseiling, are they going to bundle bungee jump in the ticket price as well? Seriously, I'm not rescue expert, but was it that life threatening that they had to lower passengers wearing safety harnesses that looked like yellow diapers in that manner?

They could have called Godzilla to do a hamster treadmill.

Oh, did I just see ideas for the next charity show?

exam-ple

Yesterday was the release of result for this semester.

My exam for this semester had been quite special, as none of my papers was held in the MPSH (multipurpose sports hall). One of the papers was in LT7A, where they actually put add-on tabletops (yellow ones) on the lecture theatre desks (black)... like below: (ever wonder how did I manage to snap a shot in the exam hall?)


Also, all of my modules had quite a heavy weightage on term papers and projects. Anyway, whether your final exam is 10% or 100%, you will still study as hard, so no difference.

Wait, I still haven't talk about my result. But what is there to talk about? I'm not that result orientated. Neither am I process orientated :P I'm just not an exam person.

airbus a300 passenger to freighter conversion

The other day I went for ST Aerospace's site visit and one of the things they showed us was the Passenger to Freighter (PTF) conversion. To put it simply, what they do is to take a passenger plane, remove all the seats and replace with pallet loading system, cut out a portion of the fuselage, and fit a cargo loading door.

Here is a similar video clip from EADS EFW converting the Airbus A300. Very dramatic and do look out for the Phoenix.


The wirings made me dizzy though.

aerospace has space

Yesterday I went for ST Aerospace's recruitment talk cum site visit. Sorry no cameras allowed, although I really wish I could take pictures of the awesome hangars.

In times like this, it's really rare for companies to hold such big recruitment exercise. I observed that the turnout was mostly made up of NTU students (argh, where the girls are!), and a very significant number from triple E. The morning part of the programme was held at Swissotel The Stamford, where the president and staffs talked to us about the company. It was more like talking to clients, telling us things like company profile, performance and capabilities.

The afternoon part was more fun, we visited the company at Paya Lebar. It was kinda breathtaking walking past big airplanes under huge hangars, or workshop with engines and propellers.

Sorry nothing much to say, I don't know what is classified and what is not. But how about talking to your elder brother's boss? :P

i hate fyp

I hate my final year project (FYP)

In fact it is like the most miserable part of my university life so far. I don't like to use the "R" word, but I kind of regret choosing this project. I'm not feeling miserable because I'm busy like hell, I'm feeling miserable because I'm lost!

If you tell me to do engineering drawings or calculate forces, I'm fine. But now you are telling me to do things that I have never learned before, such as writing chemical equations and energy balance for plastics, that's like chemical engineering or material science or environmental engineering stuff!

If you ask me, why now after half a year then complain? Cos, all this while I have been heading towards the wrong direction. Even the project description itself is misleading. It is only after talking to a lab officer today, that I realize how much off course I have been. I so feel like dropping my FYP and redo another topic.

If you haven't done your FYP, my advice is, go talk to the supervisor in charge, really DRILL the details out from him, then choose. Don't end up like me, feeling misguided all this while.

Ah, I might as well blog less and work on doing the impossible.

interviewed before the interview

I realize that when I'm put in a situation where I'm alone with a girl, most of the time she will be the one to start the conversation with me. I think I will fail as a flirt.

So yesterday I went for an interview. Before my turn, there was a girl waiting there as well. After a period of silence she chatted me up. Ah, so she's from NTU Business. hmm... then we started talking nonsensical things and non-essential things, just small talks.

She went in before me, and after 10 minutes or so it was my turn for the interview. The interviewers asked me some non-standard questions like my background. I didn't attach my Windows wallpaper background with my application form. :P

After the interview I bumped into the girl again downstairs. Man, was she crawling? She was on the phone then when she saw me she hanged up and started chatting with me. (quite touched:P) We compared the interview questions and stuff...

If you are about to ask me the question, no I didn't get her handphone number, but I know where she stays :P

Oh and I know my character sucks, but thanks to those who agreed to be my character reference!

training and investing

With the economy in its current state, many companies have frozen employment, if they haven't retrenched their employees. Now I'm curious what are their stand on employee training.

A few weeks ago at a wedding dinner I was having a little chat with 2 friends who are civil/public servants. One of them deals with employment training. So we talked about why some companies do in-house training by senior staffs, while others outsource it to trainers. They were saying that if let's say both McDee and Fried Chicky send their new staffs to be trained by the same company under the same programme, how can they say that their employees are different from their arch rival? (seriously, what's the difference except the uniform?)

Then another friend, who has spent a substantial amount of years in Germany, shared that over there companies have those apprentice programes. The companies will groom a pool of technical talents, but they don't expect the kids to return to the same companies after they have graduated from studies. So, you could very well be training newbies for your rivals. But they take it as social responsibility, and from some news article I learn that even though some of these companies are retrenching, they are still pledging to student development. I think that is quite far-sighted. Although we do have industrial attachment and internship in Singapore, but the impression I get is they aren't that effective. Seriously, you may not even want to work in the same field.

I've done training-needs analysis (TNA) for a company before and training is far from being cheap. I guess in times like this, keeping a job (or for the boss, keeping a company) is more important. When you have spare cash, then you talk about other stuffs.

interesting reads:
Investors in People
People Developer

hard sell, soft tissue

What do you think of those old people selling tissue paper at MRT stations and eating places? Well on one hand you can say that they are trying to make a living without relying on handouts, but sometimes their retail strategy can be a little... annoying.

Yesterday I was at Novena Square, and I saw this old lady with those environmental friendly shopping bag. She was holding 3 packets of tissue paper in hand and was seen walking into stores after stores, selling tissue paper to the sales personnel. Ok, she skipped Watson's.

Some stores tried to get rid of her quickly by giving her the one dollar, while other stores waved her off.

I'm wondering are there other ways in which old people can make some money and at the same time preserve their self-esteem? (don't get me wrong, I don't mean they are self-degrading now, but I just wish there are better ways)

$1 image stabiliser

A while ago my friends were talking about this $1 image stabiliser. At first I thought it was some sophisticated gyroscope or something, turn out it's a bolt, a piece of string and a washer. Basically you tie one end of the string to a bolt which has the same size as the tripod screw, and the other end of the string to a washer or anything that can weigh the string down. You screw the bolt into the camera, and step on the other end of the string and pull. Then, just snap on~ I've seen some of the comparisons and the photos seem less blurry.

We can analyze this using mechanics of machine (parallel mechanism would be overkill). It works by limiting the degree of freedom of the camera, so displacement wise you can only move within the radius of the length of the string. However, you can still rotate the camera, and shake within the radius, so you must pull the camera away from the restraint, ie your foot or the other end of the string.

I know how it feels like carrying a long Manfrotto tripod around.
(btw, the image above is a cake)

climbing, statics & dynamics, team building

So I just came back from climbing.

I can't remember when was the last time I went climbing, but it was great doing the stuff once again. Catching up with friends, watching others climb, lazing around, talking with 3 NUS Dentistry students about canteen food, talking with NTU Civil Engineering student about statics and dynamics of climbing move, or exchanging sarcasm with other gangs. :P

So I was sitting there watching and/or waiting for my turn to climb. Across from the wall, a group of working adults from some company was doing some team building game. (team building, team learning, team dynamics, etc) I noticed that some of them were like crossing their arms and didn't look interested in the activities. Fellow climber KS was saying, these activities just go to prove/agree that there are no leaders or team in the workplace. I seriously doubt the effectiveness of team building games. Does your company spend on these stuff?

After burning some calories and skin, it feels good. I just realize cooked crab has red shell too.

read your mag on google book search

Hey do you know that you can read your favourite magazines like Popular Mechanics and Popular Science on Google Book Search? Well, not sure for you, but these titles are my favourites. And the scary thing is, they have back issues as back as 1870s for PopSci!

But if you are looking for new issues, you may have to wait. Or, go to the library.

The library still has its reason for existence.

motherboard fxxker

So my computer is back. *clap clap clap*

Turned out that I've fried the power supply unit, the motherboard, and the video card. What a barbecue. That's the life of a blogger / CADder / anime fanatic / drama-mama's computer.

There was a little drama to it as well. So yesterday the repair shop called telling me the computer was ready for pick up. I went to the shop, the uncle ran the computer up to show me everything was running fine, gave him the money, and carried the computer back. When I reached home, I happily plugged the plug into the socket to test it out. Wait, I hadn't pressed the power-on switch but the computer came on on its own... then died off after 2 seconds or so. What the beep. I tried using another power cable, another socket, same thing. I went online on my handphone to check, and some forum says it could be the power grid. Huh?

So I carried the bastard back to the repair shop. It is ridiculous that it worked at the shop but not at home right? With the smelliest face ever the repair uncle checked the comp.

Ended up the power-on switch was shorted. What the beep. WHAT THE BEEP!

I'll go crazy if I was in computer engineering.

lebih baik naik vespa

That was the second time rinaz gave me a ride on her Vespa. It was fun as ever.

Years ago I have tried riding a scooter in some rural village in China, cutting sharp corners, avoiding chickens. Riding in urban Singapore was something else. I don't know if it was the machine or the (wo)man behind the machine that was fierce, it was exciting zipping through the weekend jam on Central Expressway, overtaking Honda bikes, going in circles in Raffles Place, and jamming brake when the car in front suddenly opened its door.

Halfway on the expressway my phone rang a few times and they were from the tech65 crew whom we were meeting. I dared not answer the call (ok it was brave enough to dig out the phone from my pocket) lest the phone dropped right at the entrance of CTE tunnel. Ah, and the air flow was so strong I could feel saliva flowing out from the corner of my mouth. If it's too disgusting to visualise, try visualising the fume test in a wind tunnel or those coloured dye hydrodynamics test.

Seriously I think the Vespa is one of the most popular products in the world. And it could be the solution to road congestion. Beats having a sedan with only one person inside.

what the beep

It started with a rebel firing a RPG rocket at me. That froze my screen and I had to do the three finger salute (aka ctrl + alt + del)

From then on, which was barely 2 weeks ago during exam period (shh, don't tell anyone I was playing games during exam period), my computer would freeze halfway while I was doing simple things like dragging windows around my desktop. Once in a while it would give me the blue screen saying nv4_disp problem or infinite loop. So I thought it was a driver problem. I've been playing the game for weeks, how come the problem only pops up now? Or did the bazooka hit the driver?

So I updated the graphics card driver, but the problem still popped up. Last Thursday, when I reached home after my last exam paper, I couldn't boot up the computer at all. No beep, no POST, no display. The fans were turning though. I opened up the casing, changed to my previous graphics card. It booted up, worked fine albeit a bit of misalignment on the screen. So I thought everything was alright. So I went to sleep.

The next morning it was back to the no beep no display no boot. I stripped the computer, disconnected the drives, took out the card, took out the RAM, reset CMOS. Gave me all kinds of beeps. One long beep, one long beep + 2 short beeps, etc etc. The next thing, the light only came on for one second before dying. Great.

Really, what the beep. My computer was just next to the window. Was quite tempted to do the Newton experiment.

It's like a crying baby. It's a signal that something is wrong. Could be the baby is hungry, could be he wet/crap his pants, or could be he just doesn't like your face. It's not always that obvious what's wrong. Ok for baby you don't take out his parts to check.

I've sent the computer for repair. Turns out, I've shorted the motherboard and the power supply unit. Circuits are so beyond me.

otherwise may not be unwise

Ok I'm writing this entry on fellow blogger rinaz's Lenovo T60.

My computer is still down and I received questions like "if your computer is down, then how did you write this?" Maybe I'm a bit edgy but it kinda annoyed me. It kind of feels like I'm cooking up a story. You see, if my computer is down, I can still use my wifi enabled Nokia E51 to go online and do short updates. If I'm desperate enough I can go to public libraries, cafes, or even back to campus to use the computer. And my brother offered to lend me his laptop, but I just don't feel comfortable using his lappy.

Imagine this, your mobile phone has been stolen and you call up your mobile service provider to disable the SIM card. How will you feel if the other end of the line asks you "if your handphone has been stolen, then how did you make this call?" -_-"

The computer withdrawal syndrome is getting to me.

puter out of order

due to unknown reason, my computer decided to die on me while i was out having my last exam paper. How good can the timing be, to reach home and find that the computer is not booting up, when my holiday just started.

As such, there will be no new entry until further notice. Or until my computer decides to wake up.

Tsk.

Back to analog life.

cmm

I'm revising for my ME3261 Principles of CAD/CAM exam. Part of the syllabus is on CNC (computer numerical control) and CMM (coordinate measuring machine), what G code M code, etc. My brother who graduated from mechanical engineering from the other university can't understand why we are learning the codes when most likely we won't be using them. *shrug*, maybe that's the difference between them n'us.

Oh, I always find the CMM's calibration gauge looks like Doraemon's hand.

And there's a new definition of CMM:
Chinese Melamine Milk.

remote sensing

Remote sensing is an useful tool in monitoring landscape changes over time. Let's look at an example.



So what can you say about the 2 images? (other than someone has retrieved his/her bamboo pole) Nah I'm talking rubbish, these are not satellite images but photos from my camera phone. Far from being remote.

Just had my GEK2503 Remote Sensing for Earth Observation paper today. Regardless of the grades, it's one of my most enjoyed modules in NUS. As for the paper, let's say I was still writing right till the last nanosecond of the 2 hours.

Oh, one thing you may infer from the images is that my neighbourhood has been flooded in a sea of construction noise during this exam period.

EDIT: the TV station is showing Enemy of the State tonight, which is a negative example of what satellites cannot achieve in real life. Eg, ultra high resolution until you can see text on newspaper, or real time monitoring.