Friday, July 22, 2005

True

True

Look at me
with a naked eye
and understand me

Walk with me
under a sunset sky
and embrace me

Dine with me
on a random day
and know me

Cry with me
with tears of dismay
and feel me

Swim with me
across the sea
and cleanse me

Colour with me
my life in grey
and love me

Stay with me
in my heart always
and hold on to me

Be true to me
and I shall stay
dont lie to me

and I shall be true to you always...

(Thank you Rafiki for showing me so much)

My Fathers Daughter

My Fathers Daughter

I never understood why man have so much ideals in life, the one that struck me the most is the "worlds greatest father", a man made award through my eyes. A father is a man that has made the vow to take care of you, and knows his responsibilities as a father, and a husband. In my view, a great father is not one who spends time with his family, work for a living, provide for a household, etc., but a man who realises that he is a father and takes great pride in being one. Spending time with family is a good thing, but loving that time spent makes it a great thing.

I never realised how hard it is to love your father while working with him, especially when he is a stubborn, fussy, short-tempered man, who now is your boss. I find it so easy to get carried away with work, that we tend to forget what we do and why we are doing it. We dont work with passion nor understanding of what we really are doing, yet still dream endlessly of a life long fortune. By doing this we stray away from our true indentity, and what we are to others.

A great father is a man, despite all the work and conflicts, knows that he may be a boss, but he is still a father, and she may be an employee, but still his daughter. I may disappoint you daddy, but know that I try. Despite all the reasoning, I am my fathers daughter.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Electronic Newspaper

Electronic Newspaper

I always thought that fiction will always stay fiction, and imagination was just what we want in life. After watching Harry Potter, where we see people move in a picture, reports updating itself on a piece of paper, I never really thought that this could one day be real. Yes, let me introduce you to the electronic newspaper. I discovered this today when one of my workmates was telling us how in the future we would be so advanced in technology yet still living with traditional styles.

An electronic newspaper is a self-contained, reusable, and refreshable version of a traditional newspaper that acquires and holds information electronically. (The electronic newspaper should not be confused with newspapers that offer an online version at a Web site.) The near-future technology - researchers expect to have the product available as soon as 2003 - will use e-paper (electronic paper) as the major component. Information to be displayed will be downloaded through a wireless Internet connection. A number of versions of the future technology are in development, although there are two frontrunners: Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) is working on a newspaper that would consist of a single sheet of their e-paper (called Gyricon), while Lucent, in partnership with a company called E Ink, is working on a multi-page device (also called E Ink).

The Gyricon version consists of a single sheet of transparent plastic, containing millions of tiny bichromal (two color) beads in oil-filled pockets. Text and images are displayed through rotation of the beads that occurs in response to electrical impulses: a full rotation displays as black or white, and a partial rotation displays as gray shades. Nick Sheridon, a senior research fellow at PARC, has been working towards a viable electronic newspaper for over twenty years. Sheridon sees Xerox's device as consisting of a sheet of Gyricon wound around a spring mechanism in a lightweight cylinder. The user would pull the page out of a slit in the cylinder; in the process, the page would pass over a printer-like device which had downloaded data from the Internet through a wireless connection. To access another page, the reader would return the sheet to the cylinder, select the page, and draw the sheet from the scroll. The device could be carried like an umbrella, and would fit in a large purse or a briefcase. Sheridon projects that a Gyricon-based electronic newspaper could be available within three years. Currently, Gyricon uses 50-micron beads for a resolution of 200 dpi (dots per inch); the use of 30-micron beads will increase resolution to 300 dpi, slightly better than that of traditional newspapers.

Lucent's E Ink device uses electronic ink and combines thin, plastic, flexible transistors with polymer LEDs (light-emitting diodes) to create what are called smart pixels. The process involved - which is not dissimilar to traditional printing processes - uses silicon rubber stamps to actually print tiny computer circuits onto the surface. E Ink uses electronic ink for display: millions of tiny capsules filled with light and dark dyes that change color - charged dye particles move either up or down within the capsules - when exposed to an electric charge. According to Paul Drzaic, the director of display technologies, prototypes of the device have been running on watch batteries. Although the technology has been used for retail signs, Lucent says that an E Ink-based electronic newspaper is still at least 10 years away, because electronic ink has not been sufficiently developed to make complex displays practical.

IBM is also working on an electronic ink-based device. IBM's electronic newspaper is in a book-like format, and is constructed of 16 pages of flexible, fiberglass-reinforced paper, each about 8.5" by 11." The lightweight pages are bound by a rigid metallic bar, and covered with a clear, protective cover sheet. Charged dye particles move either up or down within the capsules - causing light or dark areas to appear in the display - when exposed to an electric charge . The whole device could be rolled or folded similarly to a traditional newspaper. Like the E Ink-based electronic newspaper, IBM's version is several years away.

I never thought there would come a point where the Harry Potter movie becomes more realistic. Looks like it is. It's almost like watching CNN, because you can get the breaking news constantly. I will try and upload some pictures of it. It is very cool. Funny part is, the more advanced we get, we tend to be following the traditional footsteps.

(some source from CIO.com)

Monday, July 11, 2005

Irony

Irony

I find it ironic...

that a celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become well known, then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized.

that a person will take a year to write a novel when he can easily buy one for a few dollars.

that one is a vegetarian not because he loves animals, but because he hates plants.

that Sir Winston Churchill prepares his impromtu remarks.

that John Grisham loves being a writer but cant stand the paper work.

that as a child, the library card takes you to exotic, faraway places. When you’re grown up, your credit card does it.

that the cure for writers cramp is writers block.

that when your cat has fallen asleep on your lap and looks utterly content and adorable, you will suddenly have to go to the bathroom.

that when a restaurant gets too crowded nobody goes there.

that there is a fish that walks on land-mudskipper.

that on a cold day when it is raining people feel depressed but when it gets cold enough to snow they cheer up again.


What do you find ironic in life? Feel free to express them...

contributed with the help of Rafiki

Saturday, July 09, 2005

Once upon a time, son

Once upon a time, son

Once upon a time, son,
they used to laugh with their hearts
and laugh with their eyes:
but now they only laugh with their teeth,
while their ice-block cold eyes
search behind my shadow.

There was a time indeed
they used to shake hands with their hearts:
but that's gone, son
Now they shake hands without hearts
while their left hands search
my empty pockets.

"Feel at home"!"Come again";
they say, and when I come
again and feel
at home, once, twice,
there will be no thrice-
for then I find the doors shut on me.

So I have learned many things, son.
I have learned to wear many faces
like dresses-homeface,
officeface, streetface, hostface,
cocktailface, with all their comforting smiles
like a fixed potrait smile.

And have learned too
to laugh with only my teeth
and shake hands without my heart
I have also learned to say, "good bye",
When I mean "good-riddance";
to say "glad to meet you",
without being glad; and to say "it's been
nice talking to you",after being bored.

But believe me, son.

I want to be what I used to be
When I was like you. I want
to unlearn ll these muting things.
Most of all, I want to relearn
how to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror
shows only my teeth like a snakes bare fangs!

So show me, son,
how to laugh; show me how
I used to laugh and smile
Once upon a time when I was like you.

written by Gabriel Okara, 1921

This poem is one of my favourite poems as it reflects what we are today. In reality most of us wear masks, and that should not be the way to laugh nd smile. Learn to laugh and smile and take of that mask...

Cheers!

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Legal Work

Legal work

I started work yesterday, hoping to take away the holiday boredom. Sadly to say, work is worse than bumming at home. Im working with an IT company, that is teaching me how to handle legal work to prepare me as a law student. Law is a fun subject, and can be a little too much to handle at times. This is not true in reality.

I was given this legal case the company is involved in, and asked to read the details of the defendant's (the company I work for) case. All I did yesterday was read. This was a little too easy. What do you want me to do? I had thought it be a little more difficult. Guess not...

I was told, that today I would be dealing with the lawyer involved. I have to call her and get her advise on some of the matters. Finally some real work... At least I hope so.

This is all I have to say about my first day of work. Got to run now... late for work!

Friday, July 01, 2005

Time spent with dad

Time spent with dad

It has only been 9 days since exams got over, and I feel extremely bored. In the past 9 days, I have indulged in a few tubs of ice cream all by myself, arranged my books about 75 times , played about 576 tunes on my guitar, slept for more than 12 hours a day, watched 24 episodes of "The OC", made 7 power point presentations for fun, watched all the movies that I missed during exams ( A series of unfortunate events, hitch, the English patient, be cool, etc...), caught the primere of "War of the Worlds" on the first day of release not to mention excellent seats from advanced bookings, played "Cat Woman" at a movie character walkabout, ate waffles with my cousins, browsed through the classifieds, and spent quite a bit of time with my dear dad.

I never realized how much fun time spent with dad could be. When I was doing my A-levels, I pretty much crowded my life style with books, college, hanging with friends, getting my car fixed, etc... I was always out of the house. The only time I did see my dad would be in the morning, when he would be drinking his black coffee in front of the TV watching market shares on CNBC, or during lunch when we would have a quiet lunch, just the two of us. Those little moments was enough for me to call time spent with dad. However in this past 9 days, I spent more time than I usually did with him. He isnt well, and has been instructed to take strict leave for about 3 weeks. He sits mostly in front of the tv either watching a movie, wimbeldon, news, or searching for his missing DVDs.

We went down to Hartamas Shopping Centre and did a bit of shopping. Shopping with dad meant gadget shopping. All electronic goods, plasma screen TVs, Hi-fi systems, notebooks, hand phones, digital video cameras, kitchen goods(where we bought a toaster), etc... As a bonus, we hit times bookstore, where I had dad searching for the newspaper and after he found that the newspapers were sold out, he tried desperately to pull me out of the literature section where I was totally lost in the books. The only way to pull me out of the section was to get me a few books which he did. I have something to read now, Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence. *Sigh*
there is nothing better than burying yourself in a book, except ice cream off course.

We had spent a whole 2 hours in the mall. Yesterday, I drove him to bangsar where we bought dinner, and 11 DVD's to keep dad occupied. The roads were a little jammed, as I squeezed the steering wheel tighter, knowing that this is one one the few times where dad has sat in a car which I was driving. All the anxiety, not wanting to make a mistake. I had to live up to his standards, his expectations, and that meant good driving, skilled. In the end, he never commented, so I take it that either it wasnt bad driving, or he just couldnt be bothered on how I drove. Perhaps something else was playing in his mind.

There is so many things I want to talk to dad about. My view of the world, how things work, my hopes, dreams and maybe even my love life. 3 weeks may seem like a short time, but I'll use every minute I have. Besides, I will be working with dad handling legal matters ( at least learning about it) starting next week for about 3 months. So looks like I do have more time. Ah, skip it, I just love spending time with my dad!