of 2004 and 2005

So long 2004! Hello TwentyOh5!

of 13th root

A genius. I gave up trying to do it. Even using computer couldn't churn out 100 digits.



"Alexis Lemaire is surely the most amazing calculating prodigy of the past, present and future. His first world record was the calculation of the 13th root of a 100-digit number, in 13.55 s. If the time is certainly not the fastest possible, there were so many coincidence that only something surnatural could explain them.

Alexis Lemaire has created a scientific/surnatural explanation of these coincidences, which is certainly the most amazing human discovery in History

this explanation has leaded to other surnatural facts, described scientifically.

The ultimate category is the 13th root of a 200-digit number, his favorite calculation. The record in 13.55 s is the last official record for this category, and therefore no official record has broken it.



On December 17th, 2004, he broke the unofficial record 11.8 s (November 23rd, 2004) by 3.625 s, And proved that he is every time 3 times faster than his challenger Gert Mittring"

[13throot.com]

Some properties of 13th roots

The first property of the 13th root is that the last digit of the 13th root is always the same as the last digit of the power. Therefore the calculating prodigies have just to copy the last digit to find the easiest part of the answer.



In the case of the 13th root of a 100-digit number there are 7992563 possibilities, the range is 41246264-49238826



There are in this case only 8 digits in the answer, this is an easy calculation.

of 1 becomes 2 and 2 becomes to 1 again

So long Mediaworks.

The two media giants in Singapore to merge their TV and free newspaper operations.



Under the merger terms outlined by SPH and MediaCorp on Sept 17, Streats will merge with rival Today, as SPH takes a 40 per cent stake in MediaCorp Press for $19.16 million. The rest of the company will be owned by MediaCorp.



In the case of the TV merger, SPH MediaWorks, which operates the Chinese-language Channel U and English-language Channel i, will team up with MediaCorp TV's Channels 5, 8 and TVMobile. The joint venture will be known as MediaCorp TV Holdings, and for $10 million, SPH will get a 20 per cent stake in it, while MediaCorp keeps the rest.



SPH will lay off 132 staff and MediaCorp will release 72 staff from across the group.



Article on TodayOnline dated 8th December 2004 by Val Chua

Article on Asia News Network

of another pee2pee

Exeem. The latest hype?



"After the demise of Suprnova, hype has risen over Exeem, the supposed heir apparent to the popular BitTorrent index..."



[more]

of appointments and CMI

Why are appointments scheduled close to one another, when you know "cannot make it" one. This was the question I was asking while waiting for my appointment at the hospital today.



My appointment was scheduled at 11:20am. I was advised to arrive 1/2 hour earlier because I had to take an X-Ray before seeing the specialist.



Because I wasn't working, I decided to go early to test what sort of system the hospital is using for early birds.



I arrived at 9:47am. The receptionist gave me my queue number. "1120", it says on the chit. How coincidental, it's the time of my appointment.

At the bottom of the chit it says

"PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT WE SEE PATIENTS

BY APPOINTMENTS ONLY

HAVE A NICE DAY

QUEUE NUMBER MAY NOT BE IN SEQUENCE"

The entire X-Ray procedure including waiting time took about 45 minutes.



After taking the X-Ray, I waited for my turn to see the specialist.



It didn't take me long to confirm that the queue number is the time of my appointment.



Feeling bored, I observed...

Queue No 0948 was served at 10:30pm (42 minutes). 1040 was served at 12:00pm (1 hour 20 minutes). 1041 at 12:20pm (1 hour 29 minutes). 1110 at 12:45pm (1 hour 35 minutes).



When it was my turn, I entered the room at 12:50pm...1 hour 30 minutes later than scehduled.



Officially, I left the hospital at 1pm. That's 3.35 hours spent at the hospital...on my own free will.



Lessons learnt:

1. There is no mechanism to entertain patients that come early.

2. "PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT WE SEE PATIENTS BY APPOINTMENTS ONLY" is true.

3. "QUEUE NUMBER MAY NOT BE IN SEQUENCE" is BS. All are in sequence.

of good sign and bad

Straits Times article dated 25th Dec 2004.

Just when it's up...

of before and after

CRISP released satellite images of the impact of the Tsunami.

Khao Lak, Thailand

Another before and after downloaded from the net.

Kalutara, Sri Lanka

More satellite images. [digitalglobe]

of money and money

Amazon.com is raising funds for Tsunami relief. It has already collected $4M odd and it is rising fast.



At 10:53 30th Dec 2004

Total Collected: $4,143,375.90

# of Payments: 69259



At 10:54 30th Dec 2004

Total Collected: $4,145,530.90

# of Payments: 69282



At 10:55 30th Dec 2004

Total Collected: $4,147,890.90

# of Payments: 69328



At 10:56 30th Dec 2004

Total Collected: $4,151,710.90

# of Payments: 69388



At 10:57 30th Dec 2004

Total Collected: $4,154,800.90

# of Payments: 69428



At 10:58 30th Dec 2004

Total Collected: $4,157,110.90

# of Payments: 69463



After 10 minutes

Total Collected: $4,172,715.60

# of Payments: 69701



The funds are rising at about $2000-$3000 per minute. Wonder at this rate, how much can it hit. Hope the more the merrier.

of chilli

Finally our plant is growing chilli...after few unsuccessfull tries.

of terminate again and again and again...

*LancerLady holding up a StanChart letter addressed to her*



"What now!", she said.



Opening the letter, she found a statement of her already terminated account.



Think it was the 3rd of 4th time she has called/written in to terminate her account.

...And they keep sending all these statements. Not to mention the pamphlets attached with it. Waste of paper. Waste waste waste!

of mother and son

Rambungan, Sampadi

"You wiped away many tears,

And even calmed many fears.



You have kissed all sorts of parts,

You even somehow healed broken hearts.



You gave your love without a second thought,

You gave lectures when my mistakes you caught.



But you also gave hugs for no reason at all,

You held me tight whenever a tear would fall.



You gave me the courage to walk alone,

You gave me the love of a real home.



You endured many things just for my sake,

Your love was genuine so much love would be hard to fake.



You are truly a gift from God above,

Only He could’ve made you with that much love"

of $100, $2000 and casino

In today's papers on casino.



STI HEADLINES: To get into a casino, pay $100 a day or $2,000 a year

(By Glenys Sim and Kelvin Wong)



"SINGAPOREANS and permanent residents will have to pay $100 a day or $2,000 a year to get into the casino if one is built here.



The Trade and Industry Ministry yesterday said that the entrance fees were a signal that gambling was not a way to make a living.



The measure is among the 'social safeguards' spelt out for investors interested in developing an integrated resort on Sentosa or in Marina Bay.



To protect the young, the age bar has been set at 21, and to stop Singaporeans from gambling away their future earnings, casino operators cannot extend credit to them unless they are 'premium players' who can put at least $100,000 up front..."



[more]





S$2000.00 a year = S$166.6666666666 per month = S$41.6666666666 per week



If there's free meals, I sign up straight away.



Families Against The Casino Threat In Singapore [facts]

of murder or suicide?

Someone emailed this story to me



"For those of you who were unable to attend the awards dinner during the annual [American Academy of Forensic Sciences] meeting in San Diego, you missed a tall tale on complex forensics presented by AAFS President Don Harper Mills in his opening remarks. The following is a recount of Dr. Mills' story:

On March 23 the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus and concluded that he died from a gunshot wound of the head caused by a shotgun. Investigation to that point had revealed that the decedent had jumped from the top of a ten story building with the intent to commit suicide. (He left a note indicating his despondency.) As he passed the 9th floor on the way down, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast through a window, killing him instantly. Neither the shooter nor the decedent was aware that a safety net had been erected at the 8th floor level to protect some window washers, and that the decedent would not have been able to complete his intent to commit suicide because of this.



Ordinarily, a person who starts into motion the events with a suicide intent ultimately commits suicide even though the mechanism might be not what he intended. That he was shot on the way to certain death nine stories below probably would not change his mode of death from suicide to homicide, but the fact that his suicide intent would not have been achieved under any circumstance caused the medical examiner to feel that he had homicide on his hands.



Further investigation led to the discovery that the room on the 9th floor from whence the shotgun blast emanated was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. He was threatening her with the shotgun because of an interspousal spat and became so upset that he could not hold the shotgun straight. Therefore, when he pulled the trigger, he completely missed his wife, and the pellets went through the window, striking the decedent.



When one intends to kill subject A, but kills subject B in the attempt, one is guilty of the murder of subject B. The old man was confronted with this conclusion, but both he and his wife were adamant in stating that neither knew that the shotgun was loaded. It was the longtime habit of the old man to threaten his wife with an unloaded shotgun. He had no intent to murder her; therefore, the killing of the decedent appeared then to be accident. That is, the gun had been accidentally loaded.



But further investigation turned up a witness that their son was seen loading the shotgun approximately six weeks prior to the fatal accident. That investigation showed that the mother (the old lady) had cut off her son's financial support, and her son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that the father would shoot his mother. The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus.



Further investigation revealed that the son became increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to get his mother murdered. This led him to jump off the ten story building on March 23, only to be killed by a shotgun blast through a 9th story window.



The medical examiner closed the case as a suicide."



After reading it, I searched and came across this site. [link]



... cheh!

of another torrent article

[article]

of quake and sadness

Condolences to the families affacted by the Tsunami.



USGS Preliminary Earthquake Report [link]



Magnitude: 9.0

3.27N 95.82E (Off West Coast of Northern Sumatra)

Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 07:58:53 AM local time



5th largest earthquake since 1900 [link]



Pundit Guy is hosting some videos until it was hit by bandwidth issue.

Here's another alternative site hosting them, Cheese and Crackers

NOAA animation of Indonesia tsunami [Animation]

of home sweet home

We are finally back. It was a good break.

of presents and presents

Presents for 3 generations

2 grandparents, 11 adults and 8 kids.

of 24|12|04

750->pk|

of presents and flight

Will be temporarily out of action for 6 days. 6 days without internet.



Wishing all a Merry Christmas.

of what 'bout lancerlad?

One of Lancerlad's frequent taglines.

I was holding a stack of papers.
Lancerlad wanted to take it.
"Daddy need to use", I said to him, indicating to him not to take it.
"What 'bout Lancerlad?", Lancerlad said with a pitiful face.

of coasters to you and coasters to us

LancerLady: I open sister's present huh?



*LancerLady tearing the wrapper and opening the present*



LancerLady: Look!



That was what we gave Sis.

of Halo too

In the morning when dropping LancerLady off at work, she told me that my Christmas present is under the tree. Hmm...what could it be.

Came back home, looked at the almost empty bottom of the Christmas Tree (almost all the presents are either packed or at Sis' place).

"Which one?" I shouted. "Lancerlad you take this present and ask Mummy if it is Daddy's?"

Lancerlad came back and nods his head.

LancerLady said I've got 2 presents.

Opened the presents at the dining table. Halo 2! ... and the second present? 2 CDs (Simply Red and EBTG)

of shoes and polish

This is the state of me shoes. Haven't been polishing it for months. White patches starting to appear.

With the help of the bird shoe polish...

...it looks slightly better now.

of who gila?

I was asking Granduncle for Disembarkation/Embarkation cards. He travels across the causeway frequently and has stacks of the cards stashed in his cupboard.

He went into the room and came out holding 20 of them. Sorry didn't tell you in the first place, but I only wanted 8.

I showed the thick stack of cards I was holding to LancerLady. "Gila!", she said.

"Who gila? Who gila?", Lancerlad interrupted.

of Joi

My colleagues have been playing Joi Chua's album (蔡淳佳-日出) a number of times.

The more I listen, the more it sounds nice (Considering I hardly listen to Chinese music)

Below lists the songs that are nice...like every song in the album.

	Personal Rating:5ipods

02 陪我看日出 [listen]

03 突发奇想

04 与生俱来

06 雨天

07 爱上你的时候

08 好女人

10 你的未来

11 我想快乐些

12 蝴蝶

13 看见

of limpehshootjitliaphorliseeeee

This is one power catchphrase...coined by Mr Miyagi. [link]

of $200 and a wig

Didn't know wigs cost so much. What are they made of actually?

of software and sex

"Software is like sex. It's better when it's free"

-- Linus Torvalds

of handphones new and old

Still looking out for a handphone to replace the sl55.



I like

I don't like clamshell handphones

I like 6610i and 6230 ...

... but I cannot have them because they've got the freaking camera

Eliminating those with camera, that leaves with 2 contenders:

Think for the time being, I'll wait...

of quad and quark

Are these allowed on our roads? Reveiled at Paris Motor Show 04 (25.09-10.10).

"Blending hi-tech and off-road style, the Quark is

powered by four electric engines, one in each wheel.

The Quark demonstrates the level of performance

offered by current fuel cell technology, with a range

extended to 80 miles, in a compact unit with a length

of 2380m and a width of 1500mm."

-www.cardesignnews.com-

of 21|12|04

250->pk|

of pee2pee

Ta ta BitTorrent. [link][link]

And I thought I wanted to try it one of these days to see what's so great about it.

Too bad!

of half-horse and half-man

Segway, people that brought us the 2-wheeled Human Transporter. Here's a cool concept. [Video]

Works the same as its 2-wheeled sibling: lean forward to go forward, lean back to go back. Have they decided that 4-wheels are better?

Of first-timers??

My first time blogging. Still not sure how this works though.

of mails and long distance

Finally sent X'mas cards to Grandpa in Bangkok and Aunt in Canada...after how many donkey years! ... and yes I know, sending them now when Christmas is just days away? duh? But better late than never. Rite?

of lord and lady

Created account for Lady. Wow it works. That's easy.

Now Lady contributing to this blog

of 19|12|04

zoo|music housekeeping|.f

###Oops forgot to take photo of Lancerkid in X'mas hat. Tomorrow he turns 6m###

of micro and mini

USB storage from Iomega. It's called Micro Mini. Micro isn't small enough?

Dimensions: 17.5mm x 38.1mm x 9.1mm

Best of all, this small thingy can hold 1GB of data!

of jabs and swelling

Lancerkid had a swelling around the jab area. Looks red and feels hard.
He looks cranky ... poor thing.

of 18|12|04

hdd housekeeping|mp3|.f|mingw|st bernardette|gwc|3gu radio

of clocks

Some cool stuff {requires flash}

[swf][swf][swf][swf]

of sti

Now it requires users to sign in...troublesome [sti]

of sharity

Donated. 3rd year in a row. [bb]

of photos, photos and more photos

Signed up for an account at webshots. [webshots]

of x'mas hats and trees

Bought Lancerlad and Lancerkid X'mas hats. Lancerlad tried it and he looked cute with it. When we got back home, Lancerkid was already sleeping. Will try the hat on him tomorrow.
###Remember to take photos with X'mas tree. Lancerkid's first X'mas.###

of jabs and jabs

Brought Lancerkid to the doctor for jab. Some 6-in-1 thing. DPT + polio + hepB.
More and more jabs combined to one. Wonder will we see a 12-in-1 jab?

of bikes and stunts

These people are nuts...I take my hat off these guys. [insanevideos]

of internal affairs 1,2,3

Finally finished watching all 3 episodes of Internal Affairs. Good movie.

of ronin

Learnt that ronin means some samurai thingy. [wikipedia]

of keyboards, drums, strings ... and one man

Cool. Go McRorie! [video]

of house and sex

*fell off chair laughing* [video]

of box, ninja and frustration

Driving me mad. Still stuck at the Pyramids in Ninja Gaiden. [gamespot]

of officially blogging

Official opening ceremony of LancerLord.

of measles and fake

Roseola, that's what it's medically called. Lancerlad's face start to show the spots today.