Sunday, July 31, 2005

Better than sex

Felt a little bored today, so I went to Sloganizer and generated slogans with "Quentin's Blog" for, hmm, 20 minutes(?). Quentin's Blog, better than sex came out twice. I agree - that is, I would agree, if I've actually had sex before.

"Quentin's Blog, the secret of women" also came out twice. Yeah right. If only that was true.

Friday, July 29, 2005

Microsoft gives hackers "Genuine Advantage". Analysts confounded.

Microsoft recently started checking computers for valid product keys before allowing users to use Windows Update. This effort to get users to buy original Windows XP is called "Genuine Advantage"... it was cracked in less than 24 hours.
Before pressing 'Custom' or 'Express' buttons paste this text to the address bar and press enter:

javascript:void(window.g_sDisableWGACheck='all')

It turns off the trigger for the key check.

I exist to be clicked.

Incidentally, I am amazed at how easily this crack works. Just wonderful, it is.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

An RPG-esque puzzle game?

Grow RPG

Play it! Play it!

For a "walkthrough" and spoil-age, highlight below.
house, tree, castle, water, tower, rock, chest, stairs

Monday, July 25, 2005

I don't like China

People who know me will know that I don't like China. I give you: an example of why I dislike China.

China is prepared to use nuclear weapons against the US if it is attacked by Washington during a confrontation over Taiwan, a Chinese general said on Thursday.

“If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons,” said General Zhu Chenghu.


Let's look at that for a moment. This bloody dickhead, a freaking general no less, says he's gonna use nuclear weapons in a war, before the war even starts? If this is not a sign of aggression and arrogance, I don't know what is. Does he even understand the effects of dropping a nuclear weapon on a populated area? He might as well say he'd send a god-damned demon horde there to kill their men, rape their women, and pour salt on their fields; the end result might not even be as bad.

Following that, Beijing plays down this general's threats, distancing itself from this general's comments. What does this show? The guy has no respect for authority, appearing to speak on behalf of his government without any support from them. (I know I too have no respect for authority, but I definitely would not speak on behalf of someone else without his/her support, and anyway, I am not the subject here.)

I myself am Chinese, so this is not racism. Rather, I find there's a trend of people from China being arrogant, and generally unlikeable - like this guy. Certainly not all Chinese nationals are like this, and I have known a few personally who are rather decent individuals by most standards, but China really should try to portray a more friendly image to the world, and not have its officials going around throwing threats at other people.

Saturday, July 23, 2005

And now... for something completely different!

(\_/)
(O.o)
(> <)

This is Rabbit. Copy Rabbit to your blog and help Rabbit to world dominance.

Friday, July 22, 2005

I suck at this game

I've been playing this quite a bit in the last few days and I keep losing. The AI is kicking my ass most of the time, at scissors, paper, stone (rock, paper, scissors - whatever) no less. This is amazingly hard considering the game is supposed to be luck-based. Still, the idea is basic and this game is a very good time-waster.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Settlers? Hmm...

Israeli police block Gaza march
Israeli police and soldiers have stopped thousands of Jewish protesters from marching to the main Jewish settlement of Gush Katif in Gaza.
[...]
The marchers, many of them Orthodox Jews, had planned to reinforce Jewish settlers in Gush Katif who have so far resisted government offers of compensation to move to Israel or the West Bank.

Protest leaders have vowed to wait until police give way, even as they put coils of razor wire around the protesters' camp in Kfar Maimon.
[...]

Main point of this post is not to comment on this news, but because everytime I hear the word 'settlers' used in this context, I think of Civ. I get the impression of Israel spamming settlers across the region to create towns and cities, all the while pissing off their neighbour leaders. Although now that I think about it, this might not be too far from reality. I know too little news about the Israeli situation to really get a clear picture though.

Just saw more news while writing: Protest march on Gaza called off

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

whew..

Haven't updated for quite some time because last week I was rushing the e-marketing plan part of the E-Commerce Project.

Today the first part of ECP is finally history with the presentation of the plan. For a while at least things are gonna be chill once again and things are starting to be looking up. Just 2 days ago a guy from the client company finally replied to an email message I sent to them, but since they replied to THAT specific message, I am now obligated to buy them cookies. Why? Because I put the subject of the email as this: "SP project, please read and reply ASAP and I will buy you cookies".

-_-"

Today I also saw the prettiest girl I've seen in a long time on the MRT. I then saw her again when I was waiting for the bus at the interchange. I swear, her eyes are HUGE, easily among the more beautiful things I've seen in my lifetime. Man... I need to get a life.

Sunday, July 10, 2005

Something Awful's life review

Something Awful recently posted a life review, it's an interesting read.
While I can only comment on the portions which are complete, I'd have to say that I recommend life. It's not quite as good as Batman Begins, but if you've already seen that I'd suggest giving it a chance.

Link. BTW, Batman Begins is totally awesome.

Friday, July 08, 2005

Thanks!

This is a thanks once again to my friends who celebrated my birthday today and bought me some new clothes :D.

In other news, Wei Yong is damn good with his cake aiming.

Google site ranking methods revealed

See this.
Google recently filed a US patent which reveals a great deal of how they rank your web site. Some of it you could never have guessed at...

How many years did you register your domain name for?
If it was only one then Google could hold that against you.

Why?

Because the majority of Spam websites only register a domain name for one year. A domain name registered for a longer period implies that the owner is more likely to be legitimate and serious about their web site.

This is just one of the unusual factors possibly considered by Google when indexing and ranking a website. Factors you could never even have guessed at in some cases.

How do I know this?

Google recently made public, March 31 2005, the contents of their filing of United States Patent Application 20050071741.

In which many of the search giant’s secret ranking criteria is revealed and it makes very interesting reading. You must read this if you are serious about ranking well in Google. The days of Spamming Google are drawing to a close. With this patent they reveal just how hard they're coming down on Spam sites. You Do Not want to get caught out.

Listed below you will find the hard facts, I recommend that you bookmark this page now. You will need to reference it each time you optimize a new site.

• Links.

It's common knowledge that Google relies heavily on inbound relevant links to rank a site. Now they explain exactly how it works.

As well as the number, quality and anchor text factors of a link. Google seems to also consider historical factors. Apparently the Google 'sandbox' or aging delay begins count down the minute links to a new site are discovered.

Google records the discovery of a link, link changes over time, the speed at which a site gains links and the link life span.

With this in mind, fast link acquisition may be a strong indicator of potential search engine Spam.

Gone are the days of pages and pages full of links. You must grow your links slowly to stay below the radar and be careful who you exchange links with. That means no more buying hundreds of links at once or other underhand tactics.
...


Truly interesting, and Google's the only search engine I care much for anyway.

How to give your project marker a virtual blowjob

If you read the title and are thinking that this entry has something to do with sex, please stop reading; the following is not for you. If you're still curious about the title, be my guest, and read on. You will learn more soon enough.

In the four semesters I have been in Singapore Poly, I have had considerably above average results, especially for modules with programming/scripting related projects: getting Distinctions for 4 out of 5 such modules. This semester, there is at least one module I am certain of getting a Distinction for, and for everyone else, that's SAD (pun definitely intended).

Although I'd like to think so, surely this result is not because I am t3h 1337. Below are several points I suspect are very important if one is to get a good result for one such project.

  1. Never settle for just enough. The guideline should be satisfaction. "Enough" is a vague concept, and "just enough" is almost always not enough.

  2. Think simple. Your goal should be to make a project that works and meets the requirements. If it works well, the rest will fall into place without any effort.

  3. Put yourself in the user's shoes. Think of what features the user might want to actually use. Keep only those that do not require a ridiculous amount of effort to add (see point 2). Put all that in.


You are now equipped to compete with all but the best of the best. If you do your project following the above points, my guess is that your marker will be so impressed with your work, he/she would get an orgasm from the excitement of seeing your project.

There.

That wasn't too difficult was it? There wasn't even any real blowing involved :).

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Boiiiing...

Added the link to Boing Boing at the side. If you don't know about it, it's a truly wonderful site. Go see.

Oh.. and see this toon where Bob gets the bum eyes. iClick

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

I love the silence

Every once in a while, before I go to sleep at night, I lie on my bed with the lights off and do nothing, except thinking. Really to call it thinking is rather pushing it as I don't do any deep thought. My mind kind of thinks of random stuff, lingering on seperate bubbles of thought, memories, ideas, whatever, for short moments. Dwelling in the space of my mind, I seldom ever get any fruit from this thinking, although I often get a cornucopia (hey, I learnt this word from FHM :D) of feelings and sensations, from sadness, regret, and fear, to elation, yearning, peacefulness, and even on rare occasions erotic sensations (hehe).

This afternoon, I realised that the area in my school known to my peers as 'daidee place' was a really nice place not just for lying down (which I often did on the benches here when I had nothing else to do) but also for just thinking, in a similar manner to what I wrote above. The place was bright, but not glaringly so, and also pleasantly quiet at certain times of the day.

Only in the silence can I do this kind of thinking, and I love the silence for this.