Posts

Showing posts with the label random

691st post: How to prepare to travel abroad

Having travel abroad myself, I have went through the trouble of preparing for my travels. I have seen and heard of people who don't travel just because of the fear of the unknown, or not understanding the situation behind horror stories they may have heard, or while they are just about to travel, they have forgotten something important at the last minute. This guide assumes that you are not using an agent to help you or have anything that requires your attention while you are away that can't be done while travelling. This list is sorted according to how important you need to get things done, with the most important first. Get a passport This is the most important document you would need to travel. Some countries have agreements to let citizens of one country into another with just an ID, but you will need a passport for all others. If you already have a passport, make sure it isn't expired, or a few months close to the expiry date. The exact number of months varies b

687th post: Water and electricity wastage

From time to time, I come across a situation where there is obvious wastage. No, these aren't like "this factory uses too much energy", but more of "hey, someone left this tap running for a long time" or people unnecessarily turning fans and air conditioning to its maximum, leaving the tap running as they brush their teeth, and so on. I don't know if anyone knows, but phones these days uses more and more energy (and battery technology not keeping up with it) means charging more frequently, and indirectly, more energy being used. Well, at least the good thing about energy use these days are that devices are that they generally use less energy than the older counterparts.

682th post: Designing a profile, and maybe attract followers

Image
So you probably have a Twitter account or some social networking page that says about you to other people. However, there is more to just typing words and inserting images. This is probably what an average person would see on their screen. As you can see, the interface would take up some space. More importantly, the whole bio should be visible in the remaining space, and leave some space around them. However, the view can look different if viewed on a mobile device and exclude some elements like profile background, along with possible extra steps to view everything. The banner image might not appear if viewed from a 3rd party app, or the mobile web version on non-smartphones. Keep this in mind as not everyone wants to view everything or viewing from something that doesn't show it. If people are viewing your profile, along with several others at the same time, you would want to make it look appealing. This also means that the choice or words and images needs to look nice t

678th post: Pseudo Japanese things that aren't Japanese at all

You call that manga? You got to be kidding me. pic.twitter.com/IxpKwOl9Z5 — that girl タカハシハルカ (@takhsiru) June 19, 2013 You may have seen them before. From that " How to Draw Manga " I came across in a London museum (above tweet, possibly by an American author), to having the "の" (or its romanised form "no") being used excessively like " Ookami no Jutsu " or, if in Chinese, something like "时间の乐趣". If you aren't familiar with Chinese or Japanese, notice the random の being used as a substitute for 的 in the middle of a Chinese sentence that contains characters that aren't normally used in Japanese, or used only in Simplified Chinese. If you are having trouble telling apart a genuine Japanese product with a copycat from China (Taiwan especially), look at the design like the fonts used: some products uses particular fonts that are commonly used on other Japanese products, but never elsewhere. If there's a barcode, the first

649th post: Testing out twitter embedded tweets

Hey Judeの歌詞早見表わろた twitter.com/masuko_o/statu… — ʞsɯさん (@masuko_o) 2013年3月1日 visual.ly/rapid-expansio… Petabyte 1.000.000.000.000.000 bytesTerabyte 1.000.000.000.000 bytesGigabyte 1.000.000.000 bytesKilobyte 1.000 bytes — Mikko Hypponenさん (@mikko) 2013年2月4日

647th post: Getting around abroad

In recent years, I had travel to countless number of different countries around Asia. I travel because I hear so much about different countries, but never actually visited them. Back then, I had thought that you could only go abroad through "packages" by travel agencies, which I found expensive and inflexible. Not a fan of tour guides that travel around in large "herds" I see around me either. Just visiting a tourist spot near where I live and I could already see how expensive it is over the "less-touristy" ones. Expensive: Hotels they offered, which is typically 3 to 5 stars, and may include meals containing food I do not want to eat. Inflexible: They have schedules that are made up of mostly visiting tourist places and, looking at it, there is only little time where we aren't herded around except perhaps arriving and departing days, which, depending on what time of the day, can be short or long. I hate following schedules. Anyway, during my

645th post - World records and their authencity

So, you may have come across a book like "G****** World Book of Records" and looked through and get amazed at the things they mention. But how many record-breaking things are there that are not recorded in this book? How many are achieved through cheating, or through impractical and unrealistic means? Which record has the most number of failed attempts? Some of these records looked as if they are done for the sake of doing it and either beat the previous record (even by just a tiny amount) or have it to themselves. If you watch their shows, or a news article about it, you would noticed that the event is "officially" supervised by someone. Nobody is going to recognize an event that actually breaks an existing record without shortcuts used if it is not "officially supervised", like a man running up and down the countryside by himself faster than that Bolt guy. Just don't believe everything others say, but leave room in the possibility that it coul

642nd post: Kindle - 3 weeks later

Image
It has been 25 days since the kindle arrived (Seemed longer to me) and in that time, I have finished reading 2 Harry Potter books, plus quite a number of manga volumes. These, however, form quite a small number of the amount I had already loaded on to it. Since then, I had figured out how to take screenshots on my kindle.  How to take the screenshot varies on which version it is (press and hold the keyboard and menu buttons for mine). If you do it correctly, the screen would flash and the screenshot would appear in the documents folder when you connect it to the PC. Of course, the Kindle has a hidden feature where you could view images: just create a "pictures" folder in the root directory. To make sure it is optimal for the screen, make sure the image is as close to 600*800 (3:4) as possible in monochrome, though images could still open if you didn't do that. The loaded images would appear on the main menu in the same way as a normal ebook, but using the folder name

640th post: Kindle 4 (2012 version) arrived

Image
Back in 21 December 2012, I ordered an Amazon Kindle from the US store, along with other problems that followed involving the delay of delivery due the holidays. Anyway, it arrived at the delivery center closest to my home on Friday, 4 January 2013. I knew Saturday deliveries are only by appointment. The day it was delivered (6 January 2013) being a Sunday, I wasn't sure if I should be expecting it to arrive since it's the weekend until I saw on the courier's tracking page earlier that day that I saw it being delivered. It was a good thing that I wasn't planning to head out that day, though I did on Saturday. The Kindle is packaged in a "fustration-free" packaging that uses minimal resources. The only things inside was the kindle itself, a microUSB (or was it mini?), and a card containing some basic information. (Why include a very long printed legal information anyway?) I opened it up and was presented with several languages to choose from. (Japan

638th post: Update on Kindle Shipment

Image
The Kindle I mentioned earlier has been delivered to forwarding service with US address at 5am on the 27th of December 2012 (JST). The forwarding service took two "business days" to process it (sort it out from other people's packages that arrives at the same time), and then another two "business days" to prepare to ship it to me. In between these two events, it is held at their warehouse for up to 30 days (for free) so that I could wait for other shipments to arrive and ship everything from the US address together, which I didn't have any. The state it is located in, Oregon, has a 0% state tax at the moment. Unless the shipment comes with information regarding its value, you would have to declare its value (in USD) before you are allowed to ship it out. Then they charge US$11 (international shipping) + cost of fuel (based on actual weight or volumetric weight, whichever is higher) + "mandatory" insurance (based on some percentage of the t

637th post: eBooks (Eletronic books)

Image
Recently, I have been gaining interest in reading books. It wasn't until I started a movie marathon of the Harry Potter film (grew up with it) that I felt the desire to wanting to read it: I had read the book versions of the whole series (except the 7th, which I had only seen the movie version), and knew that there were things in the books that were omitted from the film version. The problem is that I seem to have misplaced it, or was not with me when I wanted. (I can't carry a lot of books with them weighting me down or leaving little room for other things, especially with the 4th volume onwards.) Well, you do know that I write my own stories on this blog. About two hundred thousand words on last count. Weeks earlier, I wrote down the first 3 parts of Teary Promise on sheets of lined A4 paper I had lying around: it took up 22 pages, and I had to take a break to rest my hand at every 3rd or 4th page. (I found typing errors as I did it.) I myself was shocked at how many pages

632nd post: How to select files to open/upload files more quickly with a different program

Image
You may have faced this before: you open the file explorer in Windows to search for a file, or selecting a file to upload, only to repeat the process again with a smaller window, and that file can't be opened directly. Well the quicker way around this are with these three methods: Method 1: Open up the window that prompts you to select the file. Then switch to file window (use Alt+Tab to do it quickly), select the file to upload, and drag the file icon to that file selection window mentioned earlier. If that window is not visible (most likely because the window is maximized or overlapping), first drag it to the taskbar to the program you are opening/uploading with, then drag to the empty text field at the bottom with "File Name:" next to it. Select "OK" or hit Enter/Return key and you are done. Method 2: Hold Shift while right-clicking on the file you want to copy. Select the "Copy as path" option somewhere in the middle in the menu that appe

Improved features between Windows 7 and Windows 8

With Windows 8 releasing in less than a week, I feel that it would be appropriate to write this. Ever since the first preview of it ("Developer Preview") people have been kind of vocal about it mainly because of the start screen and the missing start button. People hating Windows 8 at this time is nothing new: people hated Windows 95 when it came out because of the completely revamped UI over previous versions (Windows 3.1), developers hated Windows 2000 for it not having DOS, people hated Windows XP for its "Fisher Price" interface that they either switch to the classic UI or stick to earlier versions (Windows 98, 2000) during its first years. If it weren't for the huge time gap between XP and Vista, Vista wouldn't be hated as much, though Windows 7 might have been hated too if Vista wasn't released first (technically, they are both the same). Most people don't look past the new interface, but the Windows 8 start screen really is the new desktop

624th post: September 2012 update to my blog stories

Image
So much has happened since the last update that I have to split into multiple sections to make things clearer. Story 1 (An Original Story By Me)  3 years since publishing Part 15 as the original ending, I did feel that the ending did see kind of abrupt. After watching the 2011 K-On! movie (which came out on Blu-Ray in mid-2012), I felt that I needed to insert something that is to do with graduation and yet feel the impact of it. All the newer stories I had written would not fit it well either because it's too early in the story's timeline to put that in, or the graduation idea was already used, which wasn't as impaction as what I am planning here. This story fits with that idea well, but the problem is that, with a 3 year gap between Part 15 and Part 16 , my memories about the characters and setting might have become rusty. Story 2 (Alternate Dimension)   I mentioned something about "affecting the entire population" (everyone) being turned into schoolgir

621st post: Perception of Windows 8 before RTM

Image
Windows 8 (Consumer Preview) start menu screen For those who have been follow me on twitter since at least for a few months, you would have saw me talking about Windows 8. More recently, I mentioned how frequent the blue screen of death (BSoD) appears on my Vista Laptop lately, and, indirectly, how long it takes to boot up with junk that has been accumulated over the years. To have a BSoD appearing this frequent on an OS newer than Windows 98/ME means that the problem is serious, but not helpful as to saying how to fix it. I really wanted to reinstall the OS, but no, the manufacturer did not provide the OS installation disc that lets me do that. I'm using this Win8 upgrade to let me do that. (I have another laptop with Win7, but let's not talk about that now.) Parent's Reaction Had multiboot on the WinXP PC with Win8 RC and set the latter as the default operating system. This PC itself was bought recently, as used, to replace an older PC that is no longer function

616th post: Watch that meter reading

Ever wonder why your electricity bill is high, but yet can't pint point to where the energy drainer appliance is at? Well, look at the meter reader for the electricity outside. Depending on the place, it may be inside a box or mounted on the wall next to the main entrance, and the meter itself might be grouped together with that for other units. For analog reader, look at the spinning disc below the counter and determine how long it takes to go around in a full circle (there's a black making to help you see), so the quicker it's spinning, the more electricity is consumed. For digital readers, that disc is not there, so you need a stopwatch to measure how long it takes for the counter to go up (which is time consuming) by one count. In both cases, a quicker time means more electricity is being used. With the above, first measure under normal usage. Then measure again after turning off appliances that are in standby mode or not in use, including radios and clocks that r

614th post: No longer mining bitcoins

I have mine Bitcoins before since at least 1 or 2 years ago in hopes to generate Bitcoins for myself and then convert them to real money. It started at US$1 per bitcoin, but, since I last checked, it's hovering at US$0.1 per bitcoin. During the time I used it, it was just solo mining. It was either be one among whoever else is mining at the same time to get 50 bitcoins per block solved. Problem with this? More people are jumping on the bitcoin mining bandwagon with PCs that are more powerful than mine, which translates to them having more chances of getting that 50 bitcoins. ( See how bitcoin works ) The configurations of this are quite similar to people who use powerful custom-made PCs that are usually seen only for being able to play the latest 3D-games in high resolution. What kind of games? The ones that has a PS3/Xbox360 version of the same game. Next, it was mining in a pool. Similar to solo mining, but that entity is represented by many other people mining under the same

613rd post: How important English is while travelling?

There are many languages spoken around the world. However, if you are travelling around the world,  English is the most language to learn if you avoid the situation of finding yourself unable to communicate with others, or, worse, face a dangerous situation, but you don't understand the important instructions that are being given. So, here are a list of languages that are spoken in random countries. Not saying the names, but you could probably tell from the languages spoken. (Note: This is not the list of official languages. More of languages visitors would come across there from the most frequent. If not listed, it may appear, but hardly come across any.) English, French English, French, Spanish Portuguese, Spanish Spanish German, French, Italian Hindi, English, Tamil Malay, Chinese, English Arabic, English English, Chinese, Malay, Tamil Korean, Chinese, English Chinese, English Chinese, Portuguese Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean Thai, English, Malay, Burmese

611st post: Unsaid Public Transport Benefits

Image
What you are likely to already know is that public transport is a cheap way of getting around, and even more practical for a built up area. However, it also has benefits that aren't mentioned directly. fewer fatal accidents from loss of control, drink driving, other road users trains don't need much space for high speed travel. don't need to waste time just to find parking. Depending on security systems in place and design, reduced likelihood of being robbed or hijacked while traveling. Especially when there are a lot of people around. Since you aren't using your ride, which itself can cost quite a lot, the loss is minimal. There are negative things too, but when you prioritize the environment, they don't seem that important.

609th post: When not to round off numbers

You come across a number that looks something like 27634279.3478295 and wonder how to round that off. Most people would just simply say 30 million or 25 million. Sometimes, however, knowing what the exact number can be important. Makes a difference when over/under estimation is involved, but when it comes to just talking to people about how big the number is, saying this can be quite a mouthful. Anyway, I'm here to talk about rounding off numbers that you would come across for money. Before I go on, note that some countries uses "." or a space to separate 3 digits of whole numbers, and "," for decimals. For countries like India , the first group contains 3 digits, but subsequent groups contain only 2 digits. Situations where you are more likely to come across more than 2 decimal places for money (or, depending on currency, trailing digits that are more than the lowest denomination) when calculating taxes or dealing with foreign currency. Here's an exa