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Showing posts from August, 2006

Canon Rock

T he New York Times reveals the identity of "funtwo" , the guy playing Pachelbel's Canon in that video above. Somewhere in the middle - around 3:30 or so - the playing gets really, really impressive.

Linksfest: The Naked and the Dead

China stops the practice of having strippers at a funeral . Ah, traditional Asian values. Beautiful people are more likely to give birth to girls , apparently. Kobayashi breaks another eating record. 58 brats ! Obliterating the 2nd-placed guy (45 brats) and the world record (the dimunitive Sonya Thomas had held that with 34.5 brats). The guy's so far ahead of his competition it's like watching Tiger Woods in his prime. Knee Defender to counter those annoying people who recline their airplane seats too much.

Student-led initiatives

W ent to Confluence over the weekend - very impressed by the fact that this major conference was organised through sheer willpower of the students. (Plus I got lots of free stationery and other swag...) Then, helping out my alma mater, I was an expert reviewer for the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations held here this year in Singapore, and that was another major conference run entirely by college students. Which got me to thinking: I do like seeing things done through the pure energy of students. Among all the things being in the US taught me, one was just to think big: why shouldn't a student paper scoop the New York Times , why shouldn't a student-run conference invite major dignitaries?

Egg McBook

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O ne thing any Macbook user knows is that these babies get HOT. Was reminded of that by the new firmware upgrade for the fan which hopefully will cool things down. (Can't say I've encountered the fan noise problem that some have mentioned.) In the meantime, here's a funny pic of how the Macbooks are hot enough to cook an egg on :

Apology banner

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P assed by this on the way to work - someone had gone to the trouble of making an elaborate banner to apologise to his girlfriend for an unnamed transgression. Man, and I'd just read in the papers about some guy who was standing around Scotts Road crying and holding a sign of apology. What's with the public wailing and gnashing of teeth and wearing of sackcloth?

Suan Lum Night Bazaar ferris wheel

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W ell, some of you asked for photos of Bangkok - I can't say I have that many (I actually did work there - not much time to see the sights!), but here's one of the ferris wheel at Suan Lum Night Bazaar. Bangkok trip photos

Random Mac question

How do you rotate the thumbnails of pictures in Finder? Also - is there a good way to batch-rename files? Google throws up a variety of solutions, but what do people like? Otherwise - very pleased with my purchase thus far.

Bangkok Chile (Slight Return)

H aven't had the chance to post in ages - and in fact this will only be a slight return - Bangkok photos up soon, but here's quick Bangkok impressions that I had jotted down on my laptop a week ago and hadn't had time to post - the sea of yellow was really apparent: it's the 60th year of King Bhumipol's ascension, plus the King was undergoing surgery when I was there, and the Thais were all showing their support. Even at the wholesale Bo Be clothes market, down below my hotel. it seemed like the only things on sale were yellow shirts. I wish I knew some basic Thai - yesterday, at Suan Lum market, I walked around with a Malaysian conference participant, and realised they immediately spoke to him in English, but quite happily tried to chat with me in Thai. At the very least, it would be nice to know what the price they were quoting me in Thai would be! As it stood, I picked up a fake Andy Warhol-style Marilyn Monroe print to hang, and a used copy of the Rolling Stone