Justin

Unchanging Mind

2008-05-14T03:34:00.001+08:00

Referring to this excerpt from BBC News article on 13 May regarding the relief measures in Burma for the Cyclone Nargis:

Vice-Admiral Soe Thein said [the country] was grateful for the aid shipment from the United States that arrived on Monday but insisted that "skilful humanitarian workers are not necessary".

Oh...really? That makes me wonder if we have more than enough skilful aid workers. =)

Before and After Marriage

2008-05-12T02:21:00.001+08:00

Before marriage: read top down

After marriage: read bottom up

He: Yes. At last. It was so hard to wait.
She: Do you want me to leave?
He: No! Don't even think about it.
She: Do you love me?
He: Of course! Over and over!
She: Have you ever cheated on me?
He: No! Why are you even asking?
She: Will you kiss me?
He: Every chance I get.
She: Will you hit me?
He: Are you crazy! I'm not that kind of person!
She: Can I trust you?
He: Yes.
She: Darling!

Did you just smile? Would you wonder why?

Live QnA Redesign

2008-05-11T17:06:00.001+08:00

Microsoft has redesigned the Live QnA page. The new page is apparently more appealing to the eyes.

It also features a tag cloud to browse the questions (and the answers).

I hope Microsoft will move to standardize its web service pages. So far the UI has been very unattractive and not intuitive and is not consistent across all products.

Semester 2 concluding

2008-05-11T02:53:00.001+08:00

This is what usually happens in PGP at the end of semester 2 every year. =D

Burma before and after cyclone

2008-05-08T02:42:00.004+08:00

Before the cyclone (15 Apr 2008):

After the cyclone (5 May 2008):

It can be clearly seen how much of the region is under flood water. What a disaster!

Google Earth Image and Animation for Cyclone Nargis

2008-05-07T23:35:00.003+08:00

Google Earth has released two KML layers for the Cyclone Nargis. One is to show the cyclone path and the other is showing the flood water as detected by the satellite. In the picture below, the red areas are all flood water. As you can also see, the cyclone reached category 4 before hitting the Ayeyarwaddy Delta region.

You can download the cyclone path animation kml here and the flood water layer kml here. The US Naval Research also released the cyclone life cycle kml file.

Original Google Earth blog posts: post1 and post2.

Official Google Blog about helping the victims in Burma.

Alternatively, you can view the images at Google Map at this link.

US Navy to Help Burma

2008-05-07T13:33:00.001+08:00

According to Xinhua news, US Navy stationed at Thailand is now awaiting Burma's response to initiate the relief efforts in the cyclone-hit areas. I sincerely hope that the Burmese government will give their consent to the US Navy to get to the areas inside Burma. It's not time to care about their politics and it's more important that aids arrive before more people pass away from the shortage of food, clean water and medical supplies.

Google Cares About Burmese Cyclone Victims

2008-05-07T13:26:00.003+08:00

Google.com is now launching a donation drive to help the cyclone victims in Burma. As a person from Burma, I'm really glad that Google is helping my country.

If you would like to participate, you can either go to Google homepage or this direct page and donate using Google Checkout.

Thanks Google!

No Visa Process for Fans Going to Moscow

2008-05-06T19:11:00.001+08:00

Just saw this piece of good news for the soccer fans going to Moscow for the UEFA Champion League final on 21 May. It says "all ticket holders", so I suppose anyone holding a valid ticket and a passport. But, I can't help myself wondering what would happen if someone gets there with a ticket and a Burmese passport.

This reminds me of another incident at Google Summer of Code 2008. My Operating System lecturer let us know that there were opportunities for us to apply for the program. Hopeful, I was eager to read the FAQ and in a moment all the hopes were shattered by the following paragraph. Oh...sh*t...

United States First Lady's Speech for Burma Cyclone

2008-05-06T13:39:00.001+08:00

This is the First Lady's speech on recent cyclone Nargis that ripped off Yangon.

First Lady urges Myanmar to accept assistance

Google Soccer Live Results

2008-05-06T00:19:00.003+08:00

Google Search is now starting to show the not-so-live soccer results from the English Premier League and other major European tournaments. A search for Chelsea give me the result as shown in the screenshot below:

By the time when I did the search, the game was already 54 minutes but Google could only show result until 50 minutes. (A better update can be found at livescore.) And, Google's engineers do not seem to respect (do they even know?) the Home Away conventions in showing the results. It should have been Newcastle 0 - 0 Chelsea. Also, Google doesn't recognize "manutd" for Manchester United; only "manchester united" or "man utd" works.

By the way, I'm waiting for the time the score for Newcastle to turn into a natural number while Chelsea's remains zero. :D

Nargis, the Cyclone

2008-05-05T02:20:00.001+08:00

The cyclone hit the former Burmese capital Rangoon and caused a tremendous amount of devastation. The wind speed was 120mph, and in the wake of the cyclone, the Yangon International Airport was shut down, redirecting the landing aircrafts to Mandalay; electricity was cut off in most parts of the city; MRTV transmission was disrupted; roads were blocked by rooted trees; shattered pieces of glass from broken windows were everywhere; some cars were flattened by fallen trees; communications—telephone and Internet—were disrupted until the time of writing.

The government has issued state of emergency in five states of Burma. Since the communications were all cut off, any clear picture of the situation and a clearer account of what happened are not yet available; there could have been casualties and deaths but the exact count is not known.

This cyclone is the worst disaster Yangon has ever seen in my life or even in my parents' life. Never was there any such devastating tropical cyclone in Yangon, at least in my memory.

Keep up with the latest news at Google News and latest blog posts.

Updates

Videos
Some videos from YouTube

BBC News coverage hosted at YouTube (no embed link).

A video from DVB Norway.

Photos
Some pictures hosted at DVB (use IE to view; I wasn't able to view them using Firefox).
A collection of pictures from various sources (AFP and Xinhua)

Publish Postashplayer" height="267" width="400">
Pretty comprehensive collection of photos at Flicker.

News
Death toll is now 241 according to the AFP news.

"According to the latest information we have, altogether 19 people were killed in Yangon division and then about 222 people killed in Ayeyawaddy division," an information ministry official told AFP.

Death toll has now increased to 351 according to the same AFP news.
Myanmar has rejected United Nation's offer for relief aid.

Death toll has increased tremendously to around 4000 according to Yahoo news.

Some Windows Fun Videos

2008-05-03T12:36:00.001+08:00

This first video, I got from Dr. Ronald Yap who wanted us to be happy watching some fun stuffs after his excruciating final exam.

This second video is unreal but it's fun to see how much people want or feel a need to bash Microsoft and Windows Vista. (On a side note, I can't agree with most of Vista bashing after getting to use it for 1+ year.)

Tree Man

2008-05-03T02:26:00.000+08:00

Just found this out while lazily browsing the web. Following it up gives me some more information: it's an extreme form of HPV infection (HPV is responsible for the well-known cervical cancer too); the outgrowths started growing since he was 15 years old; now the doctor from University of Maryland is hopeful that his disease can be cured (I do hope it will be cured); he has two kids but his wife has left him.

Imagine how life will be like for him.

Some more images from Google Image.

A video clip from YouTube.

A Reuters video clip hosted at HowStuffWorks.

He's not the very first one to be infected with HPV to show this kind of symptoms. This is another one.

While I have my full share of sympathy towards these people and hope for the best in medical advancements for a cure for them, from a Buddhist perspective, I get to think what they have done before to have their Karma badly affected.

New YouTube Player

2008-05-01T20:18:00.001+08:00

YouTube is introducing a new sleeker player as a beta version. One good thing about the new player is you can use the keyboard shortcuts: up and down for volume control; left and right for seek; and space for pause/play. One bad thing is that it doesn't remember the volume control setting: if you set the volume to about 70%, it will go back to 100% when you play a new video.

iGoogle Artist Themes

2008-05-01T20:10:00.002+08:00

Google introduced new artist themes for the iGoogle home page. You can browse through them at this page and when you like it, just click on the Make this my iGoogle theme. It's good to be able to see the various preview before applying a theme rather than to have to apply the theme to see how it looks.

Below is a promo video from Google channel on YouTube.

Windows XP SP3 Download

2008-04-30T16:48:00.001+08:00

Windows XP SP3 was released on 29 April to the public and is now available for download at the following link.

Windows XP SP3 English

Search Command for Office 2007

2008-04-29T02:24:00.002+08:00

The biggest complaint about the new Ribbon interface in Office 2007 is that it is no longer easy to find the features that you want; they are hidden under the tabs. While it has been a more intuitive interface for me, some people just don't like it for that reason.

Office Labs now has an add-in for Office 2007 that will add a Search Command tab in the Ribbon. You can search for the features inside the Search Command tab as long as you remember the name of the feature or if you have the vocabulary to describe what you want to do with your document. If the feature you search for is within the first 9 results, you don't even have to click on it; you just need to press the corresponding number key to activate the feature. A useful shortcut you would want to remember is Win + Y which will bring you to the search box of the Search Command tab.

You can get the add-in from office labs web site.

Ole Testimonial Tribute Match

2008-04-29T01:32:00.002+08:00

Just read about the Testimonial Tribute Match for Ole at the United home page. Ole had always been a great player for the United and particularly he was the one who scored the winning goal at that 1999 Champion League final to afford the legendary treble for the United.

Looking forward to seeing him on the pitch in red's shirt again...

Ole's farewell at Old Trafford against Sunderland with Roy Keane...

Careless Whisper (song)

2008-04-26T00:24:00.002+08:00

I just came across by old time favorite. I used to love this song very much but I forgot the title of the song. I just discovered it again and have all the more reason to share it with you, whoever you are.

Careless Whisper was once a world wide number one song by George Michael.

Hillary Celebrates Pennsylvania Win

2008-04-24T23:29:00.002+08:00

Mrs. Clinton is not back on the track to continue fighting her way to the White House after winning the Pennsylvania. She's still a little bit behind Obama nationally, but I keep believing that she will finally make it and she should.

Neither of the Democratic senators was able to solve the problem of division within the party. If supporters of either of them vote for the Republican candidate, I'm afraid John would probably get a free ride and unexpectedly (and unfortunately) become the "most voted" candidate in the election which is way too bad.

Hey There Delilah Spoof

2008-04-24T23:23:00.001+08:00

A spoof video of Hey There Delilah (information). That's just so funny. Look at his girlfriend's picture. :D

Leave Me Alone

2008-04-24T22:53:00.001+08:00

Take a look. It's fun to see the box turning itself off every time it is turned on. That's all it does: "Leave Me Alone" :D

Thingyan 2008 at LA, California

2008-04-16T20:11:00.001+08:00

Burmese celebrated Thingyan at LA like this:

I wish there was something like that in Singapore too. This is the third year I miss Thingyan and I very much hope to enjoy it some time soon. :-)

Hillary's Speech on Dr. M. L. King Jr.

2008-04-13T19:26:00.002+08:00

I just love this speech. Against all odds, I strongly believe in Mrs. Clinton and that she's the right person to go to the White House and bring about real positive changes in the United States.

United States has so much influence globally that we couldn't afford to ignore who's gonna be the next president of it.