"What about those holes?" by Dave Snowden

"You couldn't place my team into a "category", but it had coherence. Was it in the people, the process, the links or the holes? No it was an emergent property of social interaction over time, it could not be categorised."

Social interaction over time... love this phrase!

Interesting Article about Internet Security

"Oh shit," he mumbled. "I just broke the Internet."

Hm... that was easy!?

About Procrastinating...

"Procrastination carries a financial penalty, endangers health, harms relationships and ends careers."

Can't agree more...

Media Players

Video

I was having a hard time trying to play a DVD movie on my laptop... problem being I don't have the installer disc for the DVD playing software, hence no CODEC (that's why my Windows Media Player and Real Player won't work too...)

After a few rounds on Google, I ended up downloading this neat player... VLC Player from VideoLAN... Light weight and comes with all the codec you want... the UI wasn't the greatest... but you won't be spending a lot time with the UI really... it's a "video" player!!!

In less than 5 mins, I am having fun with my videos :)

Audio

I was using Real Player for my music... but then the basic player does not give you an equaliser and it does not minimize the way I like it to be... that sucks... and I don't like the Windows Media Player either... so, I downloaded the Winamp player...

Nice player with lots of codec and cool skin... and I like the way how you can minimize the player into a nice looking sleek black horizontal bar... cool!

Next thing I did was to download Monkey's Audio for my "lossless" .ape music files :)

I am happy!

Weekend in Kuala Lumpur

Friday Night

Checked in at the hotel after a long ride from Kelana Jaya... the bus... the LRT... and then the Monorail... took me like an hour... good experience...

So I took the streets... bumped into a local market which remarkably is still open at 10:45pm!!! People in KL does not sleep or what!?

I wasn't feeling all that comfortable with eating at the open-air "restoran"... so I walked for another 10 min until I found a street full of clubs and bars. Sat down at one of the food joints and had... hm... fried noodles and fried chicken... wasn't bad actually... especially the chicken... quite juicy... and the young coconut did its job well in cooling me down :)

Went straight back to the hotel and slept like a pig!

Saturday

Completely ignored the alarm :) Man, that was a good night sleep!

Went to the KLCC where the Petronas Towers (yes, the Twins) is at... it is just another shopping mall... Reminds me of the Taipei 101 though... lots of shop and I was having fun at the food court with my "laksa" :)

Headed to the KLCC Aquaria, nothing special except I saw this humungous fish (the biggest in fresh water).... it's 5 feet long at least!!! Enough to feed a family for a week~

Took a cab down to the China Town... one thing about the cab drivers here in KL... they tend to charge you an arm and a leg if you do not bargain... and then at night, they tend to recommend you places to go for massages... ok, so "Petaling" street (aka China Town) is like the Ladies' Street in Mong Kok. Pirated movies, fake handbags and cheap T-shirts... kind of disappointed... and I took off after flipping through the pirated DVD catalog for a while, the guy was yelling "Go! Go! Go!"... Went to this place for "Fok Kin Noodles" which is not bad at all! Especially with the pork rind... Pork fat rules!!!

Got some roasted chestnuts and "dragon-eye" on my way back, calling it a night!

Sunday

KL Tower... the forth tallest tower in the world... but then... I am from Toronto which owns the record in CN Tower... so... had an interesting Indian lunch though... Mutton curry! I like :)

Zoo Negara is the national zoo in Malaysia about 20 mins from KL. Looks old and the facilities are modest. But then, you get the chance to be "real close" to the "non-attacking animals". How often do you get a chance to feed an elephant? Spent 3 hours there and legs were sored...

Took a cab back to Kelana Jaya and it was even cheaper than my ride from the zoo back to KL!

So much for a weekend!

Nice Quote

"Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."

Mark Twain

Gotta use this quote with caution... not to be confused with "if you don't care, it doesn't matter"...

Google Lively

An online platform where you can create your own avatar (not much choices so far) and a customizable chat room.

More like a simplified version of Second Life.

First time ever that a Google product does not impress me in some way...

Green Ideas

I think it has a lot to do with our attitude towards saving our environment. Take it seriously and practice the green way like there is no tomorrow.

Perhaps, start with something easy!

Eat Less Processed Food

• less packaging
• less chemical
• more healthy
  

Eat Local

• less transportation

Eat Seasonal

• less greenhouse (those temperature monitored)

Eat Organic

• less chemical

Eat Less Meat

• livestock are responsible for 18% of GHG emissions; a larger share than transport, according to the UN Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Use white vinegar and baking soda for domestic cleaning tasks than their chemical counterparts

Walk More!

Outdoor Exercises

• less time on treadmills in an air-conditioned gym with lots of TVs and lights on

Turn off idle appliances

Drink Tap Water!

• Hong Kong enjoys one of the safest water supplies in the world.
• Just make sure the plumbing system at your building is properly maintained.
• If you must, get one of the domestic filter like Brita, just remember to change the filters as advised.
  

Use Less Cosmetics Products

Re-Use that nice microwave-safe plastic box from your take-out lunch or dinner leftover

Better yet, pack your own lunch and minimize waste by consuming the leftover in the fridge before they turn bad.

Perhaps we can achieve power saving through new technologies, from domestic to industrial:

• Save 70% on Electricity and See the Results with SmartUSB-programmable Power Strip
• The SkyMine Process - Mineralization of CO2 as Carbonate Compounds

Have a Greener Life!

Charles.

Personal View - MS vs Other Technologies

I was having this conversation with a colleague (Anthony) and came up with this analogy:

"it's like you can kill someone with a piece of rock (MS), they are everywhere but not very effective...

Or you can hire a blacksmith (expert in other technologies) to make you a super sharp sword and cut whoever you are after (the problem and requirement) in half...

Better yet, with a blacksmith, you can add spikes and a chain later on (more flexible enhancements)... or if you prefer, you can spend time perfecting your skills at stone crafting..."

Blog it for a good laugh :)

Documentary - Super Size Me (2004)

This one is a classic. As quoted:

"Super Size Me" is one man's journey into the world of weight gain, health problems and fast food.

More like a real-life experiment. Morgan Spurlock put himself on a strict McDonald's diet by having 3 meals a day for 30 days, all at McDonald's, in order to determine the real-life effect and relationship between high-calorie processed fast food and his own health.

The result was so SCARY!

He gained approximately 30 pounds, increased his body fat content by 7%, and I am not even going to mention his blood test results... The side-effects that he showed in this documentary includes shortness of breath, fluctuating moods, addictions and nausea, etc.

I have heard about this documentary for a long time, and finally have a chance to see it. I was never really a big fan of fast food as I do prefer fresh ingredients, I enjoy cooking and I do not like my food too salty or too sweet. But I do crave for French Fries and ketchup once in a while, a Sausage & Egg McMuffin and an icy Coke won't hurt my feelings.

Now, I totally STAY AWAY from it!

I even go the extra mile in asking all my friends to quit it as I would ask them to quit smoking. It's nothing but a delicious poison! Not that it will kill you, but if you do not do, say, thrice as much exercise to cope with the excess calories (only 1 aspect of the side effect), you put yourself into serious risk of, say for example, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, and obesity. This is how serious it is!!!

This documentary is available online here. Highly Recommended!

Quick Dinner - Stir Fried Udon

Got home way past dinner time... wanted to have something tasty yet quick...

Filled my non-stick wok with water... cranked the heat up...

While it was heating up, I ran my carrot through the shredder, chopped up some cabbage, minced a glove of garlic and took my leftover grounded chicken out from the fridge.

Water was boiling. I dumped 2 packs of cheap instant udon (Japanese noodles, the white thick ones) in, waited till they were loose, poured all into a strainer.

Medium fire, a little bit of oil (I like grapeseed oil), dumped all the garlic, veggie and leftover in.

Smelled good... the udon went in next... stirred... and the special sauce!

Not so special though... BBQ EEL SAUCE (less than HKD 20 a bottle in the supermarket)... perfect for stir-fry and microwave reheating of BBQ Pork (fork-grill, aka cha-siu).

Added that in and... DONE!

Less than 15 mins! Smells good and taste good!

You just don't have to sacrifice taste for time... and it takes care of my leftover too!

Rack of Lamb

When it comes to FOOD, I am very serious.

I was hungry after a long day, and it happened that I got this amazing rack of lamb lying around in my fridge feeling lonely... hm... great!

So I turned the knob of my oven to 205/400 degree C/F and while it was heating up, I roughly chopped up some carrots (I like it skin on) and celery into small chunks (the lamb takes roughly 30 mins... bit size cooks faster...), rubbed them with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, and a sprig of thyme, dumped it all in my oven-safe pan and popped it into the oven.

I needed to season the lamb a bit... perhaps a little more than the usual salt and pepper... so I made a rub (I think it can be used as a marinade too):

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• pinch of coriander seed
• pinch of fennel seed
• good pinch of freshly grounded black pepper
• good pinch of sea salt (or kosher)
• capers, chopped, roughly the same amount as the garlic
• 1 teaspoon of whole-grain mustard
• 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of black olive paste (I can eat the whole jar like ice cream)

Dumped all into my "Flavour Shaker", a few good shakes later, and I was giving my rack of lamb a massage and aroma therapy.

When the oven was hot enough, I just put my rack of lamb (now to the sauna) on top of the veggie...

Waited 15 mins...

Turned the knob to 180/350 degree C/F...

Another 15 mins... (medium, I like pink inside)

Done!

I also popped my leftover baguette into the oven in the last 5 minutes (sprinkled with a few drops of water...)

With the leftover prosciutto, balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, a grapefruit (any kind of fruit in the summer is the best dessert), I was having a 3-course gourmet meal in less than 1 hour!

Oh... and I got this Pinot Noir from New Zealand... those bottled not with corks but screwcaps... perfect!

What a night~

SharePoint 2003 Site Migration

Another trick that I learn...

Most of the time, simply "Save as Template" (including content) the whole site or specific document library/ list and choose that saved template when you create a new site/ list/ document library will do just fine.

But I have had problems/ errors with "Save as Template" because of FrontPage modified (non-standard) aspx pages... This is the workaround:

1. In FrontPage, Tools -> Server -> Backup
2. Save your Source site as an .fwp file
3. At your "desired" location, create your Destination Site
4. Give it a title... URL...
5. When SharePoint asks you to choose a Template, close IE
6. In FrontPage, open the Destination site you just created
7. Tools -> Server -> Restore
8. Almost Done... now you have to manually add the permission back in IE :)

Alternatively, you can try using Tools -> Packages -> Import/ Export though I haven't tried it myself...

Have fun!

FireFox 3

Downloaded FF3 last night and enjoying it :)

I can say that I made history with FF for the following:

• Most attempts to access a site in 24 hours
• Most failed attempts to download a 7.1 Mb browser
• Most number of user to witness a site update
• along with... Most Downloads in 24 hours!!!
  

Some interesting add-ons:
G-Space
CoolIris Previews
Del.icio.us
ScreenGrab!

Not bad! Not bad!

Some Nice Quotes

William Shakespeare: Be great in act, as you have been in thought.

Clam: Hm… Just do it!?

Mahatma Gandhi: Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

Clam: So I guess I am not happy…

Plato: Never discourage anyone... who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.

Clam: Hey Boss! Read this!

Albert Einstein: Imagination is more important than knowledge...

Clam: How about Knowledge Management vs Imagination Management?

Albert Einstein: Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

Clam: I am with you, Al…

SharePoint 2003 Sample Codes

Learned a few tricks last year while customizing SharePoint 2003 with javascript, FrontPage and Data View Webpart...

Format as Rich Text

<tr style="display:{$GroupStyle}">
<td width="100%" colspan="2" class="ms-vb">
<xsl:value-of select="@Summary" disable-output-escaping="yes"/>
</td>
</tr>

Bypass IE 7 Prompt for Window Close Confirmation

window.open('','_parent','');
window.close();

Redirect to Other URL after "Save and Close"

Locate this line:

</WebPartPages:WebPartZone>

Add this after:

<INPUT type=hidden name="NextUsing" id="NextUsing" value="http://xxx.htm">

Close Current Window/Tab and Go to Other URL after "Save and Close"

<script language='javascript'>

function ClickOnce()
{
SetAction();
if(!g_MSclicked)
{
if(frm.ValidateAndSubmit(true))
g_MSclicked = true;
}
else
{
if(confirm(L_ClickOnce1_text ))
frm.ValidateAndSubmit(true);
}

window.open('','_parent','');
window.close();

window.open("http://xxx.htm","_blank");
}

</script>

Pass URL Parameters into a Form

URL: http://xxx.aspx?RID=123&Ter=Asia
Pass "123" and "Asia" to fields "Reference" and "Territory" in a form

<script language="javascript" for="window" event="onload">

var elems = document.getElementsByTagName("INPUT");
var elems2 = document.getElementsByTagName("INPUT");
var RID="";
var Ter="";
var queryString = document.location.search.split("&");

for (var i=0;i<queryString.length;i++)
{
if ((queryString[i].split("=")[0]=="RID") || (queryString[i].split("=")[0]=="?RID"))
RID=queryString[i].split("=")[1];
}

for (var i=0;i<elems.length;i++)
{
if (elems[i].title=="Reference")
elems[i].value=RID;
}

for (var i=0;i<queryString.length;i++)
{
if ((queryString[i].split("=")[0]=="Ter") || (queryString[i].split("=")[0]=="&Ter"))
Ter=queryString[i].split("=")[1];
}

for (var i=0;i<elems2.length;i++)
{
if (elems2[i].title=="Territory")
elems2[i].value=Ter;
}

</script>

Mind Mapping

Pleasant Surprise...

It's really quite handy to create mind maps with free open source software... easier than I thought...

I was trying out some products (Personal Brain, XMind and FreeMind)... so far I am using Freemind with the maximum joy.

So, instead of dropping notes and thoughts on recycle paper (in "Kowloon King - Tsang Tsou-Choi" style), I can now enjoy brainstorming with a nice UI and not worrying about any conversion problem :) (paper -> pic by digital camera -> ocr)

I love technology! (and Java... both the language and the beans)

Funny Story

As quoted from "bonanova" at BrainDen.com:

A Freshman physics student prized his freedom of approach when he solved problems. So when his final exam asked him to find the height of a building using only a barometer, his answer was to throw the barometer from the roof of the building and time the sound of its hitting the pavement. From the speed of sound and the acceleration due to gravity [ignoring air resistance] he could compute the building's height.

When the prof gave him a failing grade, he appealed. Upon being given a 2nd chance, he said he would tie the barometer to a long string and measure the period of the pendulum that made - again, from the building's roof - and compute the length of the pendulum. Anticipating another failing grade, he gave an additional answer: measuring the length of the barometer, the length of the shadow it cast on the ground and the length of the shadow cast on the ground by the building would give the answer using proportions. He got another failing grade.

He finally appealed to the Dean of the school. In a meeting among the three principals, the Dean gave the student one more shot at giving the "right" answer: measuring the barometric pressure on the sidewalk and on the roof and converting the difference in pressure to inches of air. A really stupid way to use a barometer and one that would require unimaginable precision. Nevertheless that was the answer the prof wanted.

The student would have none of it. He approached the Dean and gave his final solution:

"I would take the barometer to the basement of the building and knock on the superintendent's door. When he answered, I would say to him: 'Sir, I have this beautiful barometer, which I will give to you if you will tell me the height of this building.'"

The Dean gave the student an A.