Life perspective

The secrets to resounding and compelling speeches?

icelava — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:10:04 GMT

BBC has written an interesting analysis on what makes US president John F Kennedy's inaugural speech such a memorable passage in history.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12215248

What are your own opinions? Do you agree?

Personal quote: Age

icelava — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 13:49:15 GMT

The only reason why people get offended by being referred as old is because they're not getting wiser with age.

Seriously. People. What's really up with you? What, just what, is the exact thing that upsets you so much when somebody innocently / unintentionally / inadvertently / even deliberately (circle appropriate choice) refers to your chronological seniority regardless of implicit or explicit manner. What in your entire life of upbringing and social education taught you that being "old" is a bad sinful shameful and criminal activity?

Understand this: there is absolutely nothing wrong about us growing older. We are in fact nearer to our grave with each brand new sunny day. And that is all natural. In fact, somebody growing younger would be undoubtedly out of this world and classified as "wrong" with all certainty. Nobody ever returns to his/her mother's womb and then proceeds to shrink and divide back into an egg/sperm pair. Nobody. That is not the purpose of our lives. Accept the truth right in front of you and stop denying yourselves the path of maturity towards wisdom and concern for things that truly matter in this world.

The sooner you realise the pursuit of "youth" is a fruitless activity illustrating your desire for your past naughty and foolish selves, the better. It is certainly not a desire to grow into a person of stature, spirit, wisdom, courage, knowledge, skills, and ultimately one who supports the next generation to greater heights. Focus on being a person others will look up to. Vainly attempting to look or act "young" earns you very little respect. Do not look backward! Only remember what has happened, learn as much as possible from those experiences, and spearhead forward to be a better person of the future.

And then you will see with extreme clarity, that age just becomes an absolute number with no relative value of "young" or "old". That simply becomes totally moot and an issue not worth pondering over.

To quote the comedian Bob Monkhouse: Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional.

Grow.

Now excuse me while I change into a new pair of Depend.

Personal quote: brand ownership

icelava — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 12:16:56 GMT

I think it is time to open a new sub-series: quoting myself.

Not that i think myself wise and great. But i make points that i do not wish to forget over time (yea i get senile pretty easily). Also, it will be fun to see how I change my perspective as I grow older.

So without further ado,

The brands and models of your tools don't make you cool. it is what you achieve with those tools that make you cool.

This surfaces from the sad fact that many people inflate their ego by flaunting their items of possession, thinking somehow mere ownership makes them cool, clever, or great. Here's news for you. They don't. Any idiot or mass murderer can own the very same items you do. It is the things you do and accomplish, that will ultimately make people notice and remember you.

Politically Correct: YOU ARE SO PLAIN WRONG, IDIOT

icelava — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:56:46 GMT

There are many ways to come into disagreement. For some reason, we humans are rarely able to accept that notion of others outright rejecting our ideas and directly claiming we are wrong. How can this possibly happen? I am always right! ;-)

More so to the manner and tone in which we challenge, rather than the technical challenge itself. There is just something not right about the human vibe that finds it difficult to swallow such direct confrontations.

How can we, as the initiators of such challenges, soften the "blow" and lead the "wrong doer" into a more calm and mature discussion that most adults are incapable of? Instead of exclaiming "you're wrong!" or even "I disagree", how about

I am unable to find myself practising that train of thought,

*lay out reasons*

Politically Correct: You are plain EVIL

icelava — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:52:15 GMT

How does one attempt to describe individuals who act on undisputed intent for wrongdoing and harm? Should we just lash out and label "wicked" or "evil" or "criminal" with verbal efficiency?

Why, just leave it to Jeff Atwood with his talent in prose to contruct a phrase that so easily deceives you:

"Morally Bankrupt"

Wow. Have I ever heard such a smirk and simultaneously elusive comment?

Looking for the praise that nobody gives

icelava — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 07:22:25 GMT

Let me begin with an anecdote concerning a moment during my first professional job.

As technical support and operations staff, our contact channels with customers are email and telephone. Due to the nature of our job, we managed to convince management that professional office wear was impractical and we were allowed to dress casually. Sometimes indecently, topless in the evening hours, but that is another story for another time. The point is our office quickly became a fashion walkway; we lavished in the freedom to express our true individual styles and made multiple turns for the photographers.

Needless to say, being the unique personality that I was/am, my dressing was sometimes "unusual".

And needless to say, not everybody shared a common sense of fashion.

Which was perfectly fine for me, I dress as I please. You dress as you please. I dress to please myself, not anybody else. If you do not like it, well, too bad for you. I do not really care.

And thus came this incident when a colleague commented negatively about my clothing that day. To which my repsonse was, "it's all right. your opinions don't matter." Now, take note that all these were just happening in jest; a simulated fight. There wasn't any true lashing. But the defining moment came with her next candid response going something like, "wow Aaron! You look so cool and stylish!"

"Your opinions still don't matter."

I had possibly voiced out a perspective that is seemingly unhuman, for it stunned her for awhile. Her sequence of actions, while in jest, clearly exposes the area of weakness where humans are incredibly vulnerable. Still do not know what I am driving here? Let us then take a diversion to learn a lesson from Phil Factor's advice on How to Insult People in Forums.

In that post, he recommends, instead of primitive direct insults, "techniques" of carefully worded sentences that look like complimentary affection when they are maximised to inflict damage only visible to all spectators other than the target it was intended for. For certain, it is more fun. But it only works because the pediatrician he worked with taught him

"Nobody is immune from politeness and flattery", he told me. "In fact, there seems to be no upper-limit to the amount of flattery that a person can absorb. If you can compliment and encourage the person that you must instruct, then any reproach is accepted more readily. There are ways of phrasing a painful truth about a person’s skills or conduct that will deflect hurt feelings, and therefore be accepted more readily. All you get by haranguing people for their foolishness is resentful resistance."

So the word is out: people are more than willing to scoop up praises regardless of their origin. Like money. But I have some news. That statement is a backward assumption. The proof? Yours truly. I am immune.

Early on into my working life, I had already developed the anti-thesis of the "thick skin" and utterly dislike praises directed at me. I simply do not, cannot, respond emotionally in a positive way to doses of "good job!" "well done!" "you're good!" "fantastic!" "excellent!" tossed my way. My ego remains status quo. Why? What exactly is going on in my mind?

"How can you call this a good job? It sucked."

No matter how highly others think of me, I am in a constant state of self disparage. For whatever I have accomplished, it was never the vision I was dreaming of. A vision that could be achieved but did not come to realisation due to a variety of reasons both within and without my control. It puzzles me, in fact, on how others do not recognise that the gap between the potential and the actual results are quite far apart. It simply ain't good enough.

Ever heard the phrase "Flattery will get you nowhere" ?

Actually, whether it is a praise or criticism isn't the truly frustrating part. What annoys me is the absence of any qualitative or quantitative explanation why a person feels something was done well or poorly. A terse, short assertion with zero assessment and analytical content is essentially noisy utterance carrying no value.

I do not care whether you liked it or not. Just tell me something to help me improve my craft/activity.

Is that too much to ask for? Why do people like to give commentary that has no actionable content? It is that diffcult to provide assements like

"That is an excellent idea. By breaking out of the loop early with this condition check, the rest of the redundant logic need not be executed anymore, and that saved us up to 80% processing time. Now, if we can refactor this work logic into its own class, the condition check won't even be necessary , shrinking our code and making it more maintainable."

When will those days come?

Politically Correct: You Are WRONG

icelava — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 06:12:11 GMT

Today I begin reading this rather interesting perspective of learning to apply lessons from Hollywood filming onto IT projects - Hollywood Secrets of Project Management Success. As much as I initially yell out, "filming and software development are, like, extremely different y'know!" I believe it prudent for one to maintain an open mind to allow one's self to look at problem areas from new angles, thus my intrigue in finding out just how much parallelism author James Persse has discovered in his research.

But this post is not about the subject matter of the book.

This post is going to be a new "series" in my journal, inspired so by this passage in the Introduction section.

... They fail to use the PMBOK from an organizational standpoint. Management seems to assume that practicing the PMBOK falls into the personal purview of each project manager. That, of course, is a backward assumption.

Wow. I don't know. But I just could not help feeling the splendid manner in which James Persse so eloquently communicated that most management are undisputed idiots and morons. :-)

Supreme. "Backward assumption" is my new phraseology from now on. And an eternal embarkment to being ever more politically correct and profound than practically necessary.

This is why I never fancy or desire to be famous

icelava — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 20:06:57 GMT

Jeff Prosise laments about the thick vegetation of "fan mail" they must chop through each day. Which is a pretty obvious and expected phenomenon, actually. Except to those who are actually asking the questions - since they are the ones who possess the mentality that authors and technical industry personas somehow owe them with personal obligation to conduct private tuition and coaching on a one-to-one basis.

It just amazes me how many people can even think it acceptable behaviour to disturb them with matters beyond the scope of their own published works. These people are busy. Yes, just like everyone else. If matters brought to them are not specific to their line of work (nope, asking them to school ignorants in programming is not their profession) or level of interest, then it is a tremendously time-wasting affair for them. Please spare a thought of consideration for them.

Would you ask Michael Jordan to teach you basketball, or Tiger Woods to coach you in golf? Or ask the President of United States how to lead and organise your new club? I fear there are some who unabashedly do.

Misconception of queue jumping?

icelava — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 06:18:34 GMT

Ever since scrapping my bike, I have reverted back to the drudgery of public transport. It helps from time to time to remember the pain that caused me to acquire my own vehicle.

Today, as I board the bus in queue and attempted to acknowledge myself as a customer rather than a hitchhiker by tapping my EZ-link card, a man from behind challenges my speed by quickly extending his card before mine. Y'know, like how all those kung fu flicks illustrate an intercepting pair of chopsticks to steal another's reach for a fishball or meatball. Duel ensues.

Sorry to dull the mood, but no fight happened. I was too busy reading my book and listening to my MP3 music. Those are more important items in life that need attention. Still, I was dumbfounded by that very action. What was that man exactly trying to achieve?

Was I too slow? But there was another person right ahead of myself.
Did he have some knowledge that tapping his card first would somehow teleport him in front of me? Thereby guaranteeing a seat over me? But that would telefrag the person ahead. Giblets sure did not happen.
I checked my fingers and verified I was not wearing my Precious ring of invisibility today. I have not succumbed to the fad of toe rings either. So surely he could have seen that I was in front of him. Was he blind? But my curvy butt was not jabbed by any walking stick.
Or did I simply forget to reflip my collsion detection switch on? And he simply slipped due to lack of reactive force from an obstacle object (my body)? Unfortunately I have not located that swtich yet, otherwise I'd be staying near a bank.

I am just bewildered. I cannot make any sense for any possible motivation. Maybe he was just senile or insane. I wished he'd periodically yell some random incorrigibles to prove my theory. The lab test was not conclusive, however.

If that had been a plain normal person, then it probably just means he was plain inconsiderate. Which, for anybody living long enough in Singapore, does not come as a surprise. Why are Singaporeans simply so discourteous, rude, uncaring, or annoying? This has bothered me for decades, and as far as I know, it bothers alot of foreigners who come for gracious societies.

You know, cultures that teach one to be nice to each other.

Somehow, it escapes us. Back when I was a kid. Up to now in my adulthood. It is by and large still the same. This is only but one incident out of many. When will we grow up?

How collaboration helps your brain

icelava — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:15:44 GMT

My attention was caught by this article How Marriage Helps Your Brain from a recent MSN Health newsletter. Not that I was interested in marriage itself; who really wants to divide income and expenses into half, and listen to the your other half nag daily about important things in life when all you wanna do is dodge responsibilities and enjoy a game and a bottle of beer. Just kidding. What sparkled me was the word "brain".

In summary, the author Thomas Cook proposes that spouses learn topics and skills together. The idea is that having an additional person constantly remind and motivate what you have learnt is key to keeping your knowledge and memory fresh on the matter.

Hmmmm, while I absolutely agree with what he is stating, I wonder if he realises that this kind of collaborative and collective learning actually has nothing to do with marriage? This can happen with relationships with any other individual or group. Why do you think Pair Programming is so powerful? Why do you think a software development team where everybody has a constant thirst for knowledge and regularly communicate and share their findings are so much more effective and efficient than teams who merely do their work in isolation and don't discuss?

It is all about collaborating, discussing with the ones around you. Knowledge sharing and exchange. This is why so many teams fail to attain a level of growth that is necessary to survive in this technological world - they have no desire to seek new knowledge and share. This has nothing to do with whether the person is your spouse or not. It is what you inter-exchange with your loved ones, friends, and colleagues.

Please restrict learning for exams only

icelava — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 15:05:31 GMT

Sometimes I just feel like I am out of touch with the rest of the world.

(ok, the truth is I am out of touch with common life, but that's not the focus of this post)

What I am really most confused with is, the near-guaranteed singular form of response whenever people see me reading a technical (computer) book.

Are you studying for exam?

This happens even with family and friends who have witnessed, for years, my habit of carrying some form of book or documents or even my laptop so that I can maximise my knowledge-suckling throughput.

Is it just me? Or is IT the only industry with its professionals perpetually pouring their heads into books year after year? Or do other fields have so little to learn it can all be done so during office hours? I seriously find that hard to believe, that other professions have it that easy. Yet, the concept of picking up a book related to work during night time or weekends is so utterly alien to them, they simply cannot understand that, perhaps, a person may possess the desire to acquire more knowledge. That has nothing to do with an exam.

I don't know how many times I have had to explain to them that I am just trying to learn new things. Or sometimes refreshing past memories. In fact, I hate taking exams; a poor reflection of what is the true attitude and mentality of developers you'd want to hire. Surely I can't be that big of a masochist to take on so many certifications annually. That also leaves me wondering, how exactly do professionals in other fields keep current in their jobs? Do they already possess all the knowledge necessary to carry out their work? Excellently? Are their practices and standards stagnated and never changing?

I really do not know. Perhaps I should be looking for a new profession, one where only exams will be the occassion when I am forced to read work-related books. And then I can go,

You studying for exam too?

Realising your career choice

icelava — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:53:56 GMT

Recently my cousin indicated he has more or less reached the "peak" of his first job. As in, the cruelly disillusioning realities of unreasonable demands inherent to real-world jobs. Forever insatiable for the energies of naive young people joining the workforce (especially since the seasoned seniors know how to dodge with agility), it has sapped him enough to fully understand the true significance of the "work/life balance" theory.

And so he too wants to believe in that popular myth that the grass is greener on the other side, and is ready to join billions around the world in that rarely-ending cycle of job switching. The problem is, he does not know what he wants to do next.

My cousin's predicament is a very common one. The nature of his job had him dealing with a broad range of sectors, but he himself not being in any industry, leaves him a specialist of none. Nor any that was really to his specific liking. There are a great number of work positions that truly make good use of the generalist, but unfortunately does not carve a very tangible career path. Not to say that is a bad thing, for I am still amazed how some individuals are able to switch jobs that span vastly-unrelated industries with such ease. Adaptability is one of the key strengths of humankind.

Nonetheless, my advice to him was actually a very simple question.

In what way do you wish to impact and bring value to other people's lives?

Part of the problem that I have observed in most people, regarding their lack of affinity to a particular profession, is that they are simply trying to satisfy their own needs and wants. And it gets even simpler at times. "I want enough money to party and shop and enjoy life with my friends", "I want to live in a condo/landed property", "pay the bills". And whatever self-centred else.

Those certainly are not wicked thoughts per se. (although too much selfish actions can lead to hurting other people, which sadly happens alot) Ultimately we do live a large part of our lives to meet our own desires. The thing to note here is such life goals do not formulate a concrete plan on how to go about achieving them. There are unlimited number of ways in life to carry out to reach the same end game. So in this kind of pursuit, there isn't much guidance on what type of work (let's just leave the topic of investment/gambling out of scope here...) one should delve in and get good enough at it to reach the higher stages as time goes by. The intrinsic motivation simply isn't there.

What I have discovered for myself, as well as confirmed it with most of the strongest personalities of the world, is that it becomes exceedingly easy to identify the line of jobs and career to pursue if I put not myself as a target, but instead identifying an area in the lives of other people which could really do with some improvement. The reality of "some" equates to a tremendous lot, thus fueling enough opportunities to last the whole of my life.

I love computers, and I am inspired by how technology with each passing generation continues to improve our daily lives into ever higher levels of productivity and bonding us all over the world closer and closer. The "magic" that makes all these possible, on top of the hardware infrastructure, is software. Software runs the lives of the modern world, direct or indirect. Software keeps bringing in new abstractions of ideas and efficient ways to organise and use information. Software assists us with the nitty gritty calculations and thus empowers us to make decisions and act with more effectiveness. Software, for a very very long time to come, will be a key component critical to evolving how people think and live.

That is the power I see, and that is the power I wish to attain. The power to write software to help them make their lives and work just that bit easier. The path is long, and I had long decided when I was young that computing technologies is my way of life and choice of career. This seeds my choices in how I grow my life, and I am not easily swayed from this journey.

And so, I continue to preach that one can attain a clear vision of the future if they would just let go of their ownselves, and look at their fellow beings with earnst yearning to make their lives better. And recognise what it is that needs to be better.

Lady? Girl? You are but a _woman_ to me

icelava — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 17:28:24 GMT

One of the things about society's general perception about women that repeatedly disturbs me is how a fair number of women somehow tend not to like to be called exactly what they are - women.

In any conversation throughout the day, it is nearly a betting success that anybody will address a particular grown female as either a 'girl', or if way too mature to fit that assumably accurate description, then be entitled 'lady'. This has been going on for generations that it just becomes so natural to assign such designations, Terms that even when by loose logic (let's not even bother to ventured into the point of technicality) would actually fail.

Refer to the definition of 'girl', and realise that a female fully grown as an adult will possess traits that an immature female lacks. Conversely, a grown female will lose certain properties that would otherwise lead others to classify her a child. The reason for the existence of these two differentiating terms are extremely clear. Yet many still continue to mix them up synonymously and failing to realise that by labelling a woman as a girl, they are implicitly suggesting the subject of their talk does not qualify for the respect of a peer adult. An adult who can think, comprehend, relate, make decisions way better than that of a developing person. And rightfully suggested in dictionary.com's usage note - as the terming of boy vs man has significant differences, girl vs woman has the same amount.

I probably cannot illustrate this better than a friend back in the polytechnic days who saw an incredibly attractive female school mate and breathlessly went, "That's not a girl..... that's a WOMAN!"

There is without a doubt the ascension to the category of Woman imbues a great degree of quality that is sexy, beautiful, attractive. Nope I do not mean just the bodily curves; that is just a portion of a bigger formula.

Moving to the other far end of the spectrum, it would seem any woman by virtue of their feminity is instantly deserving of the title 'lady'. When looking up what it means to be a lady, I get the impression a lady is one who has made her mark on the surrounding people with her high-quality morals and lifestyle practices. One who draws the adoration of the masses by her elegance, the beauty of her ways. A lady is classified by the way she acts, and not by a categorisation of gender.

This is perhaps most clear in the time when my friend was reading the newspapers and condeming the kidnapping and abusing acts of a 'lady'. Hmmmm, based on all that was described, I found absolutely zero evidence that would move me to regard such a woman as a lady. My correction towards my friend was swift, "that does not sound like what a lady would do....."

Like not all men are gentlemen, not all women are ladies. Only an elite few behave with enough majesty and righteousness to be truly deserving of such titles. They have done their bit to earn the respect.

I will not call you a girl, for you have my respect and expectation due to an adult.

I will not freely call you a lady, for you need to work to receive my salute.

Huh? You're trying to insult me?? Resisted.

icelava — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 08:17:40 GMT

For those who don't know my entertainment preferences, I love to play World of Warcraft. Before I even get to the meat of the topic, allow me to explain a facet of the game dynamics. Wait, don't walk out of the door yet; it is relevant.

This game is a role-playing game (RPG), where the player controls a character and carry out game activities that yield experience that results in leveling - a character event that results in gaining stronger attributes, thereby the ability to perform better. Characters start and level 1 and are currently maxed at level 60.

The difference between each level is minor, but since there are 59 levels to attain, the gap can become overwhelmingly significant. In fact, for characters that are 10 levels above one's own, their levels cannot be determined and are only marked as a skull to one's perspective. In other words, inevitable death follows if you are foolish enough to challenge them.

Of more importance to this topic here is the issue of spellcasting. This being a fantasy game features a huge array of magical effects and other abilities. Most of them are to inflict damage or affect the target in some detrimental way in order for a player to ultimately kill them.

Recalling the concept of levels, the higher the level a target character has over the player's character, the more chance s/he has to Resist the cast applied by the player. In other words, the player is simply too weak and cannot cast something significant enough to damage or affect the target. Think like a little girl trying to beat on a bodybuilder's muscular arm. Negligible. So try as a player might with his current abilities, but until he improves himself and level up to gain considerable power, he is going achieve as much as shooting paper bullets against a tank gets.

Got the concept? Great.

Turn around and observe real life now. The relationships and conversations we have with other people. Quite often we see how people argue and quarrel, and witness logic thrown out of the window only to be replaced by sheer intent to verbal assault and hurt the ego of the other party. Aggressive behaviour only begets aggressive behaviour which seldom sees an end to the cycle. I do not have to explain much on this; you have seen it and know it - people tend to be susceptible to insults and react with "accordance".

They are affected tremendously, which shows up all too evidently in counter attacks, losing sight of what is the important issue at hand, and also losing control over themselves.

And by doing so proves both are at the same level.

Imagine then, if one is able to see the true value of such low-level exchange (what is actually, none), and knows how to focus on items that matter. He does not allow such worthless comments affect him and thus is not easily provoked into anger. Calm and control continues to rest in his hand. His vision unclouded by irrational emotions.

This is the mark of a high-level being.

He wears the shining armour able to withstand the blows of the weak, knows what carries significant weight, and therefore directs his energies to where matters most. The low-level players who only know how to deliver cheap insults that ultimately add up to zero or negative ideas are swiftly redirected to the Junk Mail folder where they belong, ignored. Until they learn to upgrade their ideas will they then stand a chance of being listened to, worthy of attention.

In this essence, the question to you is: are you a high level character or a low level one? Are you able to Resist insults or get easily troubled in the heart by them?

Integrity of the Warrior

icelava — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 07:40:16 GMT

I recently began reading Tim O'Leary's Warriors, Workers, Whiners, & Weasels: Understanding and Using The Four Personality Types To Your Advantage out of sheer curiosity when made available in Books 24x7.

Even before laying eyes on the text I knew I was a combination of Warrior-Worker-Whiner traits, so it would be interesting to know more about Warrior properties and lose some of the whining for the past.

Thanks to short crisp, hard-hitting messages and not beating around the bush, the author has seen me through to chapter five which begins to catalogue the "toolbox" of a warrior. The very first tool:

Integrity

Tim O'Leary says everything is for naught, no matter how capable you are, when people doubt your word and distrust you. He laments today's fabric of society is not one based on trust, respect, or honour. Nowadays the vast number of systems put into place to ensure people will remain honest is just saddening - just think about all the legal terms and agreements you have had to deal with in just your own personal life. The natural assumption is people lack whatever sense of integrity and seek every opportunity to exploit a loophole.

This reminds me of an incident back in 1998, when I was buying new hardware components for a PC I would use while studying in Australia the coming year. After assembling the PC and enjoying the then-spanking performance, I double checked my expenses and realised I had spent less than my actual procurement. Tracing through the receipts I found I was not charged for video card, which was probably some S$400.

I returned to the store to make payment.

I was then labelled a stupid idiot by a friend.

So this era's society is bred upon the skill to promptly identify loopholes created by others and take full advantage for one's own gain, and laugh with joyful glee at their mistakes thereafter. If you do not do so, you are scorned at, a shameful outcast and a failure of humanity.

(ok, so that was a joke)

But the sigh-inducing expression is unavoidable. People appear to have lost heck alot of justice and righteousness as to what exactly they can claim as their own or cannot. It so seems as long as "it won't get me into trouble" or "I won't get caught", the auto-permissability of the act follows.

Lamentations.

Disaster Recovery for the individual

icelava — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 16:56:34 GMT

"Disaster Recovery"

the term all too familiar to most of us working in the IT industry, yet cannot even count beyond the fingers of one hand companies that implement (and exercise) a plan that actually works.

How much more so at the individual level?

Just how paranoid and pessimistic are you? And I am not talking about buying insurance policies here. Scott Hanselman lists down a list of preparations to be "ready" for this year.

Naming lesson for parents-to-be

icelava — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 15:58:58 GMT

Take it from me, do not name your children with the first few letters coming from either end of the alphabetical spectrum. e.g. Aaron (hey, that's me!)

Those names were perfectly fine when listed in a class register or Yellow Pages back in the analogue days of old. But in today's world of digital phonebooks, that greatly increases their chances of appearing first or last in somebody's contact list. Given the mass population who do not own a clamshell mobile phone and also do not have the sensible habit of lock their keypads, the ratio of void calls or empty SMSes to actual valid ones - I can tell you with extravagant first hand experience - is an unholy high.

What bites me is how efficient these mobile phones can be - sending messages at a rate much faster than I can delete them off my phone. True testament to technological advances. Wait..... I'd consider it advanced when my phone can intelligently recognise textless SMS and route them to the Junk folder and auto purge every 30 days.

I guess I am the only person on the planet who inserts "AAA" and "ZZZ" entries in my phonebook (when using candybars).

So, please, spare your future children those injections of annoyance and give them names that force others to irritatingly scroll to the middle of the list.

Online jolt cola

icelava — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 15:51:31 GMT

One of the blogs I love to read is that of J. Ambrose Little's. This wisened chap ocassionally departs from technical matters and shares the immense depths of his philosophy and morality, never failing to leave with my brain jolted awake and aware of issues so pervasive yet so invisible in life.

Have a taste of how he captures and dissects the topic of relativism vs exclusivism into a atonishingly case of argument that few would ever fall into such an angle of perception.

LINK: for some strange reason, clicking the link above will not have the browser obtain the correct HTML content - it will turn up with a blank <body>. We cannot determine what is causing this, which happens on both Firefox and IE. Until then, it is manually browsable. Copy and paste the URL below.

http://www.dotnettemplar.net/ACaseForExclusivism.aspx

Knowledge in the world

icelava — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 08:11:37 GMT

A friend has been kind enough to lend me his copy of The Design of Everyday Things, a book I have been longing to read for its reputation for one of the most lauded books in object designs for human use. I am still not done reading, yet, and probably wouldn't want to (and don't need to) write a review for it.

What I do wish to jot down here is to proclaim this incredible sense of harmony I have over what Donald Norman writes about human thinking and perception of objects. Especially with Chapter Three - Knowledge in the Head and in the World.

In that chapter, Donald states the volatility of human memory, and how knowledge we keep in our head fades without the discipline of repitition and practice. Therefore, anything that requires great amounts of information stored in our memory to operate it, will tend to be forgotten and thus unusable. It is therefore, as though this is some obscure arcane concept, easier to operate things that by nature of design remind us what to do with them.

So we don't have to remember much. And he describes this as "knowledge stored in the world". Constant. Persistent.

And this is where it struck me. This is exactly how I think and work.

Let me put it down on record: I have very poor memory. Information and details can evaporate within seconds. What I do retain in my brain are blurry images that won't serve well in recalling stuff offhand. That's why I tend not to get into long verbal discussions or debates that involve a substantial amount of deep technical information or numerical figures - I won't be able to query the data out of my bloodied database in an uncorrupted state. Heck, I can't even remember most road/restaurant names in Singapore.

What's a poor sod like me to do? I keep tabs.

Since I cannot pull good information directly out of my mind, I then have to store the alternative form - a redirector. Meaning I remember just enough to know where to look should I need to retrieve the knowledge once again. Or a road sign pointing in a general direction, if you will.

They come in many forms:

email archives
digital or paper notes
books
SDK documentation (e.g. MSDN Library)
search engines (e.g. Google groups)
community sites (articles or forums)
newsgroups
weblogs
and even now, this very personal forums to record down how I worked on a particular issue or solved a problem.

So my knowledge is stored in the world. But since it is stored outside my mind, is it still considered mine? Well I cannot ascertain for sure. What I do know is I have way too many interests (and responsibilities) in too many things/aspects and that guarantees a certain level of deterrioration each time I context switch between subject matters. There is really no good possible way for me to really remember all within, so I have to offload the burden on my brain to persistent storage in worldly objects and devices.

Travel lessons 2005

icelava — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 00:00:38 GMT

Notes taken during my trip to USA

Look LEFT before crossing the road. Looking right first will very likely get you killed. Preferrably, look both ways. Or hold the hand of a native.
I typically don't like to be described as "short" - that is only one dimension. I have been described as "small" or "petite" which more accurately considers our 3D world. But here, a new definition of "pocket-size Aaron" becomes the trend. Alone, the word "compact" takes on whole new personal meaning.
With relation to the above, I finally understand as well what real supersizes are. James Shaw swore the burger I ordered for the first night's dinner was bigger than my head. I could have sworn myself the large packets of nachos or potato chips they sell in supermarkets weigh heavier than me. It becomes exceedingly easy to guess how some of people can be three or four times my width.
Beer is the late-night milk here. Or at least with the larger group of ASPInsiders who wish not to remain sober to avoid any programming chores. They would probably drink beer for breakfast if made available. Howdy Australia!

Be seeing you later, my friends

icelava — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 11:59:20 GMT

Given my low ability to readily consume and retain general news information, I hardly give newspapers a thorough read or pay much attention to television broadcasts. And so came this exact day I decided to give a read did I find a curious large photo of my friend Chrissie pasted on the front page of The Sunday Times.

Making to the front page has to be something big. And in this case, the least desired reason ever - Along with her husband Chris (who I knew as well), and their unborn child, perished in a car crash.

So the first hand experience with the expression of disbelief "WHAT THE.....?!?" is finally fully understood. I didn't even get this deep with the times I crashed my bike. Being tuned and disciplined to react to situations in a calm, logical manner, these outright feelings of confusion, grief, frustration, sorrow sent my mind into an unfamiliar (and unpleasant indeed) turmoil that just sucked the zest and energy to do whatever I planned to do for today.

I completely know what I struggle with is minor with what their families must go through. (And I pray God give them the strength necessary to push through these moments and live on with mightier hearts.) But in vain attempt to cope with these alien scenario, I just get reminded more strongly of my past ties with Chrissie and Chris. Yes, I have skated with them. So at least one part of the article is highly accurate. And this is perhaps what gets me - it is not so much the fact of death but the rememberance of our relationships, the things we've done together - and they cannot be repeated anymore.

At least, so I keep telling myself, in this world.

For this incident brings right out to my face an issue of life I have been procrastinating to write about previously:

Everybody has a marker.

Call me a fatalist if you want. I believe nobody has the capability to run away from God once the marker has been crossed. B it plane, tank, in the bed, the Unsinkable Titanic, motorcycle, scooterboard, space shuttle, the impregnable Death Star, underground bunker, skyscraper Twin Towers, beach hut, whatever. No matter what location and what activity you're in. Don't get me wrong - I don't mean to say God made us robots, programmed to follow a sequence of events completely controlled by Him. We're made with His reflection and thus have the same free will to conduct our own course of actions. But when your time is up, it's up. And nobody is too young die.

This is the basis of my argument to anybody who questions, in phobic tones, of my insanity to ride a motorbike. You really don't have to fear for your life that much, that often. People may not take huge note of these, but I have read simply too many cases of the supposedly safest activities resulting in fatal disasters. You know, like strolling on the side walk, or attending a wedding. To all those who ignorantly advise me drive a car instead, simply because it is "safer", this is my question to you

What makes you think you can survive your drive back home later? How are you so sure you will get to reach your bed tonight?

Do not think for a single moment your safety is guaranteed by your actions. You think are doing something to make yourself so safe, that is when you have boarded the Titanic like those arrogant fools who believed even God Himself cannot sink. Recognise that we are at the mercy of the Lord.

I seriously do not know whether it is "fair" to have Chrissie's and Chris' lives "completed" prematurely. Add the fact their child didn't even get to begin one. I honestly have also figured my own life will be a short one (due to health reasons) and I have long been expecting myself to expire ahead of my friends. But time and again it's been clear this decision is not for me to make. Unless such situation whereby I am put in decisive position to sacrifice myself to save another, i don't know...

For I am not God; not omniscient. And therefore do not have the "analytical statistics and reports" on my desk to make an informed and calculated decision. I can only trust God has concluded they have done enough , and shall be freed of the worries of this wretched world. The rest of us, however, must continue to uphold the responsibilities given to us and live on righteously. Even with times when I had bad crashes with my bike, presenting perfect opportunities for nearby vehicles to run me over, I still stand up and walk away. It is not time yet.

John 14:2-4:
In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.

Here's voting to Lord Jesus for a rad skate park as well.

Chrissie and Chris, I will see you later once Jesus drives His fancy van to pick me up.

Everything by 10-points

icelava — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 12:56:18 GMT

Figured I should once and for all put down in writing my preference for the 10-point (or Star, if you like) rating system when reviewing, saving myself repeatable explanations for the rest of my life.

There are many ways to rate things in life, and by all means nobody really has to follow and adhere to that of another's. Remember that.

In all the general rating schemes we regularly get exposed to, I find grading at a 10 point scale to be the best balance in granularity. Simply take a look at other common schemes:

percentage rating
5-point scale

Humans are terrible at accuracy, let's face it. That's we why are fascinated by dart throwers with consistent bullseye or archers able to strike down flamingoes a mile away. The same when it comes to figures on paper. Slicing the grade of an item, subjective, no less, into a hundred different levels brings about serious issues with accuracy. How does one truly justify something is not 1% higher or lower than it should be? Already at ten times less the granularity we are pounded by arguments and debates of wrong ratings, so I am very uninterested in dealing with ten times more the confrontations. Such precision measurements should best for things for technical in nature.

On the other side, most 5-point systems I see are a faux. How often do you read something that is truly great, but yet still not perfect enough to deserve that holy full 5 points? Often enough to be give 4.5 points of stars. Duh? Isn't that effectively a 10 point system? This just proves 5-points in a scale is lacking the needed granularity of differentiation.

But why the desire to complicate matters by introducing decimals? Not to say that I am so dumb decimal or fractional math is something I struggled with at school, but making/producing things more complicated than it should be is an unfortunate trait of humanity.

"You know a system is perfect not when you have nothing to add, but nothing to remove."

"I don't have time to write a short letter, so I am writing a long one to you."

Geniuses have demonstrated their superiority by introducing simple solutions to what otherwise the rest of us will formulate with clunky and meshy labyrinths.

Ok, back to the point - humans deal with integers faster. Period. Otherwise a rating of 4.689 should be deemed acceptable in the 5-point scale. Correct, that means I don't issue a 7.5 grade within my system. 6 or 7, nothing inbetween. The gap is wide enough: 7 > 6, but yet close enough to know it is not 8.

Do not undermine yourself

icelava — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 20:16:17 GMT

A common style of self-discouragement I witness in the Internet is the use of adjectives in nicknames that describe one's level (or more accurately, lack) of experience and knowledge. Prefixes/suffixes with "beginner", "newbie", "novice" abound and should be no strange phenomenon to anybody who frequent online communities.

While I believe everybody should be free to call themselves whatever they like, I regard this as an unhealthy mindset and attitude. When you (if you don't practise this, then congratulations) register an account with communities that require membership, your username/nickname is usually permanent. Remember that in the course of human life, everybody changes. Your experience is therefore an ever changing state. By identifying yourself to a lowly state, you convey this message:

I am a newbie and am intending to remain one forever.

Not just to others, but most significantly to yourself. You bind to the ground yourself subconsciously, believing you can never grow to a level of significance. You are crippled on Day One.

Of course, probably most communities and their related domains (e.g. hobbies and side interests) are not very important to you, so you may jolly well remain a greenhorn the rest of your life. That is ok. What does not bode well are communities of industry professionals. If that is to be your chosen career and profession, then how much it speaks on how far you want to go with your job.

PS - this is not endorsement for everybody to use monikers like "dotNetGURU" to mark their ambition. Although "Mr.President" might still sound fine. Oh wait a minute... that may make you look like an idiot....

Just how far would one go to spam?

icelava — Tue, 24 May 2005 03:57:23 GMT

Truly amazing.

HardwareZone Singapore PortaLite Classified Ad Reply Hi icelava,

You've received a reply from maryann_milan444@yahoo.com for your AD <Kingston 256MB PC2100 SODIMM>.

maryann_milan444@yahoo.com says:
------------------------------

HardwareZone Singapore PortaLite Classified Ad Reply

------
maryann_milan444@yahoo.com
Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire
West Africa.

My Dear,

Nice to meet you, I just want to use this opportunity and ask for a favor and to let you know that I am intrested to invest my fund in your country so if you wish to help me out then do reply me back through my private email address at ( maryann_milan444@yahoo.com) for me to give you more details regarding this opportunity.

Kind Regards
Princess Maryann Milan.
------------------------------------

The Great Singapore Power Save

icelava — Fri, 20 May 2005 18:26:45 GMT

I have a theory. Two actually. That the food distributed around the inhabitants of my island are really low-grade fuel. Or, the Singaporean gene has some serious deficiency when it comes to efficient energy absorption ratio from the digestive system.

How else can I explain then, that the daily people you encounter in your walk through life, when having identified the object obstructing their way is actually a human being (you), muster all their conscious effort to murmur under their breath a "...kyuse..." so soft that even a bat has to resort to purchasing a Korg amplifier to pick up the acoustic pattern?

Are Singaporeans low in energy? Have we learnt too much from Discovery and Animal Planet and make habits of restricting body movements and audible output (kids, don't even think it)?

Really, is there something sinfully embarassing or shameful in voicing out a firm, "Excuse me, I'd like to get by/cross over. Thank you!" Is making your presence known to a stranger party an unholy travesty of the Ninja Stealth Code? Or has the number of rage-stabbing incidents escalated in our land?

I say a new law be passed for all Singaporeans, male/female/both, upon reaching the age of 10, be required to enlist at the nearest kopitiam for vocal training and confidence. Until the residents a few floors above can hear with surround-sound clarity what drink each and every customer wants.