May 2004 Archives

Even as I type, the Triton Extreme is sitting in the boot of my car, waiting to be placed on its new keyboard stand. I'm clearing out the junk in my room to make way for it. There's a spot between my bed and window where I think it'll be just dandy.

Before I left the shop this evening, I tested my new toy with everything I could think of. According to one of the assistants, it worked with the iPod (Yes!!). It also read my Compact Flash card. I made sure my headphones worked with it.

[Rave! Rave! It even has separate Bösendorfer and Steinway sounds in its Keyboards category!! Swoon.]

The only, only thing I forgot to get?

The pedal.

A belated pic of me at the Grand Canyon!

Photo taken by a kind gentleman called Steve, who lives near a very serene region in England called Heathrow Airport.

BTW if you think the rocks behind me are within reach, think again.

They're half a mile away.

ps. Anyone know of a great web-based photo management system? It should be fairly user-friendly, sort pics out by categories or date, convert pics to thumbnails (my server has Image Magick) and preferably have different access levels for outsiders and close friends/family. Of course, I could just use MT3.0, can't I? :)

To those who are curious about upgrading to MT3.0, don't do it yet. That's what I think, at least.

Apart from optional comment registration through Typekey and a tweaked up, more accessible user interface, there really aren't any significant changes. Well actually the main thing that's changed is the platform, but to me (and other equally impatient and demanding users) there may be some way to go before we get all the features we want. Check out this informative post by a beta tester.

As for the hallowed MT-Blacklist, Jay Allen has promised a MT3.0 version for it. Until then, continue to post comments here but don't expect it to show until I 'approve' them. Sorry guys.

Also to those who are curious as to how they are able to install more authors or blogs than the licence allows: For the same reason you can also install the same software on multiple computers when you're only allowed to do it on one.

It's a system of trust, period. There is no spyware residing on your server that alerts Sixapart of unlicensed activities. I'm strictly keeping to my personal limit of three active blogs and one active author out of respect for the Trotts, until it is time to upgrade.

Actually, that's what we should be doing for anyone who produces great software, music, books or shows.

Okay folks, I've upgraded to MT3.0!

It would've gone faster had I not accidentally uploaded the FULL version instead of the UPGRADE - I was also going to install a brand new system onto my friend's server and got the two mixed up. (Blame it on the jet lag!)

I must say the interface looks prettier. Hmm let's see if I get hit by any bugs in the next few days.

*thwack*

[Those posting comments may not be able to view them straight away. Don't keep on re-submitting them. It seems I have to approve each comment now. However I won't be forcing you guys to register with Typekey unless my content spamming gets out of hand.]

Since I can't sleep, I've decided to try upgrading this blog to Movable Type 3.0 (the free version).

Lots of funny things may be happening, so please forgive me if you're unable to post any new comments or search the site. Or if it looks funny. Their new styles don't look very inspiring!

I tried to poop the party but my Las Vegas hotel's internet connection got cut off JUST as I was about to hit the submit button and announce to the whole world who won American Idol ;-) Ah, the benefits of being in the same time zone...

Oh well. Now I'm home and rested, let me say I am so glad Fantasia won. Ahem.

One thing I like about spending my birthday in the States, is that it takes nearly a day longer for me to get older. Which is why it isn't my birthday until tomorrow :)

I just flew in a helicopter to see the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon! The view was spectacular! Phweet!

[There is no way I can describe the experience without photographs. I took loads of them. Videos, too. However this hotel computer's CPU is bound, gagged and sealed underneath my table (don't ask why, it just is) and I don't think I can upload anything (although this is Las Vegas and you could do anything for the right price). Until I get home to upload my pics, just imagine a clear, deep blue sky, lots of desert rock, shrubbery, and suddenly a big lake right in the middle of it all... and then an unbelievably huge, rocky chasm.]

The next time you to go Vegas with some time (and lots of cash) to spare, I suggest you look up Sundance Helicopters. Priced at over US$300 a ride per person (meal included), it really isn't cheap, but another passenger told me there was another company that wanted to charge $500 per person! [If you book online, be careful - I had an error page after submitting my form, so I ended up calling them instead.]

My journey began this morning when I was picked up in a limo. Along the way more people came on board and we chatted to each other on the way to the helipad. I had a great conversation with an Aussie and a Londoner (who supports London football clubs in general). However the Aussie deliberately ignored us when we started talking about rugby :-B

Then they put us into groups, balancing us out according to our weight, we suspected. The others were asked to give their height and weight when they made their advance bookings. However they didn't ask me - they probably thought, "Oh, she's Singaporean - probably short and small." I shared the 'copter with two fun young couples from the North of England (they had Yorkshire accents methinks). Loads more tourists poured in from other vehicles. Almost everyone was from England!

We glided past the Hoover Dam, the helicopter deliberately tilting to both sides so we could all see it. Then we landed at a spot with a great view of the chasm below. We took photos and had brunch in a Survivor-like shelter.

Then it was time to go back! The other passengers asked me if I'd like to switch places so I could sit in front this time, which was really nice of them. No worries about motion sickness, we didn't have any as the weather was good. All in all it was an exhilarating experience. I'd certainly do it again if I went with friends or family.

Grr! Buying tickets to Vegas shows is a pain.

Some sites don't think there are any other countries in their dropdown menu except for USA, Canada and Mexico. Another site actually remembered to include Japan. (Go, Asia! Go!)

I also felt mighty uncomfortable after hitting the submit button and ending up with an error page.

I also do not like the fact that I am forced to enter a US number where the fields prevent me from keying in extra digits. My telephone number will therefore be incorrect.

Slightly troublesome are page which disappear once you try to go 'back' to change something. Another site had the 'submit' button on the left, and 'reset' on the right - I nearly got them mixed up.

Oh, and these people drive on the wrong side of the road, too :-P

The last few days have been amazing, I want to stay here for a few more months!

The first thing I did was pay respects to my great-grandparents, who are buried in Forest Lawn which is considered prime property for the dearly deceased. I laid flowers on both stones and attended a couple of museum talks. I watched the unveiling of The Last Supper in stained glass. The creepy part of the story was that the section with Judas Iscariot in it, broke 5 times before it was successfully completed.

The next day, I popped over to USC for a campus tour as well as to meet the good people at Annenberg for a talk. Did you know that the rivalry between UCLA and USC is so great, that people from UCLA even rented a helicopter so they could drop paint on top of USC's mascot, Tommy Trojan (who is a warrior statue with a great body)? His sword was also broken off and attached to inappropriate places.

And of course this being America, there were shopping malls galore. I just survived Ontario Mills Mall, which is huge, but not as big as Malls of America and Bluewater (in the UK), both of which I wasn't even able to cover on foot by the end of the day. I barely made it at Ontario.

Now when I shop, my thought cycle goes like this:

1. That's a nice looking ______ (insert item name here. Recent examples include a torchlight that uses kinetic energy not batteries, an ionizing hair dryer, spy cameras, various books and clothing items). It looks pretty useful.
2. Hang on - can I find it in Singapore? Is it much cheaper here? (quite unlikely)
3. OK, even if I can't find it in Singapore or if it's cheap, do I really need this thing? How many times am I going to use it?
4. How am I going to carry this thingummyjig in my dinky little trolley bag?
5. Etc etc

This thought process has saved me a lot of money. But before you shopaholics moan and groan and say 'Ohhhh nooo, that's the PURPOSE of going to wonderfully huge shopping malls in America where you can buy lots of cool things!!" let me assure you that I did my part to help the Californian economy: Health supplements, specialised music studio/production books, a few items with my name on it (yes it's VANS, egotistical little me).

Universal Studios was great as well. I hadn't been there in a decade or so. It's an interesting story: I was dropped off at the front entrance, and saw so many queues I didn't know where to start. I was also a bit stunned when I saw the price of a regular ticket. I griped silently to myself (and God, who usually listens to all my complaints and hasn't hit me with a thunderbolt - yet).

I wandered to the middle of all the queues and something just prompted me to stand in one particular line. They were all about the same length.

In front of me was a Hispanic family - a mother, daughter and grandmother. Nothing too unusual.

Suddenly the mother turned to me and says, "Excuse me, are you by yourself?" (or something to that effect)

Wondering if she was suddenly going to make friends with me, I said yes. She showed me a small paper slip.

"I have this coupon [she pronounced it as 'kew-pon'], it says buy one ticket, get the second one free... Would you like to share it with me?"

I said sure! So instead of getting ripped off US$50 each for a day ticket, we paid only $25 each. Her mother and daughter had a discount kew-pon too, but because there were three of them, she needed another person to split the costs with.

"I'm so glad I stood in your queue!" I exclaimed. The woman grinned.

Within minutes of entering the world of Make-believe, I came across a youth choir singing a very, very familiar tune: For The Beauty of The Earth, which was exactly the song I played for Brenda and YK's wedding march. I felt happy, and that my life was meaningful again :)

Early this morning, I will leave for Las Vegas. It's been a lovely summer spell here, and it feels a little too short now.

Greetings from Los Angeles. A few good things worthy of mention during my journey here:

Friendly airport staff (SG). I was greeted by the friendliest female security guard (who was incidentally of Amazonian proportions) and another ever-smiling official who inspected my check-in baggage.

The new Singapore Airlines carriers. I flew straight from Singapore to LA in just less than 16 hours. The economy seats are now more spacious, and come with the usual personal TV screen for watching shows and playing games. My arm rest also had a three-pin multiplug power adapter and internet port!!! :-D

Luxurious dining. Also to be commended was our gourmet meal of beef in red wine sauce with spinach and mashed potatoes, specially concocted by Gordon Ramsay. Mmm!

The only thing I didn't enjoy about the flight was the horrible turbulence. Now I've travelled by air all my life but this was pretty bad weather we were flying into, somewhere in the middle of the journey. I had that roller-coaster 'falling' feeling for perhaps 20 minutes as the plane dipped and swayed, and I even felt nauseus, which usually NEVER happens to me.

Decent treatment at LA airport. Contrary to what the Straits Times reported recently, there weren't any odious LA airport officials to grapple with. Almost everyone in my queue passed through smoothly save for a pair of attractive-looking Asian ladies who endured a long Q&A session with a stern-faced official who looked Hispanic.

I ended up having a friendly chat with a younger Hispanic official who asked me a few simple questions and wished me good luck with the casinos in Vegas! Customs let me through, but I had prepared for a rummage, having ziplocked all the contents of my suitcase just to be safe.

[Interestingly, almost everyone at Immigration was Asian / Hispanic. Hmm!]

Funky relatives.I was picked up at the airport by my grand aunt the doctor and my grand uncle who runs a small studio in Hollywood. We had dinner at a Cantonese restaurant in Chinatown, took a drive through the Mexican zone, and then to their home.

They drive the new Toyota Prius*, a car I'm considering switching to myself. It is so high-tech that it comes with a computer touchscreen which can display the components of the car being used in real time. It is amazingly quiet as it is powered by batteries, only switching to gasoline at higher speeds. It is also very intelligent. There isn't a need for a key slot, as it can detect the key in the driver's pocket as he opens the car door. You can even control your garage gate with the Prius (note: before selling your car, delete all settings!).

They also showed me some devices which reduce the harmful effect of cellphone transmissions. One small device, stuck to the cellphone, absorbs radiation (tests were conducted at a conference they attended, which showed that less radiation was produced). Another device transmits what the person at the other end of the line says, into an FM frequency for the driver to tune in and listen to. He then replies to the other person through his cellphone's microphone. I guess it works the same way as my Belkin FM transmitter for the iPod.

For the environmentally conscious: I'm told a new ruling in California gives cars carrying two or more passengers the right to travel in the fast lane (extreme left) on highways. A lone woman driver contested the law when she was fined, saying she was pregnant and therefore there were two persons in the car. She won on the premise that an unborn child is considered a human being. I can imagine a lot of female drivers now telling police officers they're newly pregnant... Unless someone else can now contest the law and say that only foetuses aged xx weeks and above are considered human beings.

While accesing the internet here, I found to my delight that my funky grand aunt and uncle use Mozilla! Woo-hoo!

It's time for a shower and a small 'doze' of Melatonin... goodnight!

* Apparently it is pronounced 'Pree-us' not 'Pry-us' as I usually call it.

For ease of reference, I'm putting up some resource links on California / LA / Vegas as I find them.

Lonely Planet - Los Angeles
Lonely Planet - Las Vegas
Currency exchange rates (US$ to S$)

If you have any other good links please post them here. Thanks!

Note to those who subscribe to mailing lists: Don't even THINK of using an autoresponder for your emails while you're away, if you're subscribed to a newslist. I just realised, to my horror, that I was inadvertently responding to every mail sent to the Tears for Fears mailing group (which is international and probably has hundreds of readers).

While only a few emails were sent, I was still highly embarassed. I sent them an email titled ' A thousand apologies', and promptly deactivated my autoresponder. Eep!

OK people. I am going to be extremely busy tonight and tomorrow, so I may not be able to reply to emails or text messages. Thanks for your well wishes - I'll catch up with some of you in June when I get back from the States.

Until you hear from me (in Los Angeles, I hope), ta ta!

The headlines everywhere are going: Well done, Arsenal! I suppose everyone's had their say about it... But after reading this article I thought something was funny. The men won one Cup this year and everyone's ga-ga over them - but what about the Arsenal Women's team?

...After the men it was the turn of Arsenal Ladies, who showed off their Women's Premier League crown and FA Cup trophy too.

Surely the lasses deserve more than one measely sentence in recognition of their Cup double? I suppose the movie Bend It Like Beckham did have a point.

The weather is hotttt in sunny California. I have been warned of temperatures that even Singaporeans would melt under.

While having lunch today I thought of some new items for my packing list, which was residing as a Word document on my PC. I keyed the new entries into my Nokia phone.

When I got home, I beamed the file to my PC via Bluetooth. It was sent as a text file to my computer, which I can now copy and paste into my existing Word document.

*smirk*

And that's all I really wanted to say.

[Actually, there's more. After sending the text file to my PC, I collated my packing lists into one file, then beamed it back to my phone. I received the file via a text message, which has now been saved back into my Menu > Notes section.]

Good news: Movable Type 3.0 is out. Bad news: if you run more than three blogs with one account, or have more than one author per blog, you have to pay for the upgrade to continue what you're doing. View the new price list.

As others have already noted, upgrading to MT3.0 could ironically limit your options.

Nothing good is free - for long, I suppose. To their credit, the folks at SixApart have put in a lot of time, expertise and effort by creating this wonderful tool in the first place. But perhaps the revenue from Typepad isn't enough for them anymore.

They should remember that Movable Type's success, however, was based on the fact that it was free, customisable, and one of the most powerful blogging tools in its time. And in this day and age, price is a major factor - especially if there isn't much to distinguish one product from other free ones in the market.

I suppose most people running a personal website would probably be fine with the MT3.0 free licence which limits use of MT3.0 to one author and three blogs. One thing I don't understand though is the big jump from zero to US$69.95 (normal price US$99.95) for the next tier of personal use.

I'm wondering what community weblogs are going to do about it, too. I doubt most are going to upgrade - especially the nonprofit organisations.

I myself may tarry a little before I make the leap to MT3.0. If time permits I might set up a (free) test blog - for myself of course, seeing how only one author is allowed now, y'know :-P

With the recent re-launch of a new standards-compliant Blogger, and the growing popularity of other weblog software like Textpattern and Wordpress, I think the folks at SixApart have given themselves a run for their money.

[Clarification: Having donated previously to Movable Type, I don't mind paying for software that does everything I want. However, if I have to pay for a tweaked-up version of what I'm getting now, then it isn't worth the upgrade.]

Looking at reports on Sonia Gandhi's victory, a few thoughts came to mind:

India is the world's largest democracy, with 675 million voters - twice the population of the USA. Yet it managed a 56% turnout.

Needless to say, democracy in India is a huge, messy process. Votes from four seats are being recounted, but so far there's nothing 'Floridan' in nature. Ahem.

Vote counting is made easier by the fact that there are one million electronic voting booths, used for the first time in Indian elections. Some other countries have expressed interest in them:

"We are working on a model for European countries and also for the US," Mr Simha [a major booth manufacturer] told the BBC News Online."

Double ahem!

According to reports, the Indian poor had the power to vote out the ruling party which they felt had done little for them. To me, that shows less 'Big Money' intervention and special interests lobbying, and more of giving real power to the people.

And isn't that what democracy is all about?

Good for you, India!

ps. How many women Prime Ministers have India had already, eh?

*fists the air*

Yo people, wassup man!

Is it just me, or is the Singapore Idol online application page, just not lookin' groovy tonight?

It's like, broken! After checking the little box and hitting 'Continue', it kept on taking me to an error page.

And it ain't a browser problem dude, it was bad for both IE and Firefox. The worst performance, evah!

[All errors existed at time of writing.]

I just discovered that Yahoo allows users to import their favourite RSS feeds (beta), which will be displayed on their personalised homepage alongside the usual news headlines. Cool.

In other news, Reuters have just announced they are publishing their headlines into RSS format as well. View the full list here. Not just that - they are also syndicating news videos via RSS.

Google meanwhile are holding on to their Atoms (more about Atom here). And here's the latest version of Blogger. Its new templates look rather prett. More info over at Stopdesign.

[Update: Feedburner has a service that translates Atom into RSS.]

[Update 2: Introducing the GoogleBlog.]

After using Mozilla's mail program, Thunderbird, for half a year, I have been pretty much satisfied with its functionality.

Apart from one thing, which may not really be Mozilla's fault.

You see, I'm the sort of person who likes to sync up my phone with my mail program. That way, I get to update my To-do lists, Calendar and Contacts.

The Nokia PC Suite works well enough with Lotus Notes and Microsoft Outlook. But nothing else. Thunderbird doesn't have a Calendar or a To-do list anyway, and even if there are extensions we can install, I am not sure if they will be able to sync with my phone software.

So it looks like I may revert to using Outlook for now.

As of time of writing, this UK computer magazine poll indicates that Firefox is the second most-used web browser with a respectable 17% out of 537 votes (including one from myself).

Sleeping in the public library? Another New Yorker deals with high costs of living by staying in a 27-foot camper van.

Nullsoft have done a Netscape and skipped a version of Winamp. They explain (rather lamely) what happened to version 4. And I'm more than a little put off by the fact that there is now a 'Pro' version that will give you the added advantage of ripping music into *drum roll* MP3 format. Namely because:

1. I donated US$10 five years ago when Winamp was still shareware, and Nullsoft was a young company scraping for donations. But now they say it doesn't count. We have to 'register' (that is, 'pay') again for this Pro version. Thanks, guys, you've made schmucks of all your early supporters.
2. There already are other quality programs that rip MP3s for free. Why would we pay US$14.95 for this?

I was pleased to notice that Hardwarezone.com, Singapore's favourite aggregator of hardware reviews and prices, has XML feeds. They're first local publication/content provider I know of that's taken this step (please let me know of any others).

While surfing around for accessories and software enhancements for my iPod, I chanced upon a very handy tool for Christians: the BiblePod, built for third generation iPods and Minis.

It's available for both Mac and PC (2000/XP). The Mac interface looks much prettier than the PC version. Yes I know that's usually the case, but it's a big difference here.

Note: They use the King James Version. Parting thought: We already have AppleScript. Now, do we also have AppleScripture? :) Incidentally I had no idea there was such a thing as an XML Bible Markup Language. Impressive.

More seriously, I am looking for a way to publish my iTunes playlists / top rated songs on my own website. Ideally it should transmit information via XML which will then be displayed on a web page. Previously I managed to hook up my Winamp player to display the latest playlist tracks on this website. This time it's a different piece of software, and it should contain my ratings. Any ideas?

The American Idol competition is approaching the final stage and everyone is talking about their favourite singer. Who's yours?

I think it'll be a tie between Fantasia and La Toya.

More people I've spoken to, seem to prefer La Toya. But Fantasia has a more distinctive voice. Not everyone appreciates it. And I admit she comes across as a little arrogant, as though she knows she's already won.

However I don't mind singers like Macy Gray, and I simply lurrrve Erykah Badu. I can recognise their voices a mile away, as opposed to the more common thick, rich vocals you so often hear in Jazz and R&B music. So I have no objections to black female singers with edgy vocals. At all.

It also helps that Fantasia sang one of my favourite tunes, What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life? (listen to my favourite rendition by Bill Evans, on iTunes if you have it running). Paula Abdul wept. I nearly did, too.

I saw this book on the shelves last year, and nearly bought it then (if not for the fact that I was already in the midst of reading several other books simultaneously).

But bearing in mind the new-found time I'd be acquiring this month, I thought a little extra reading wouldn't hurt - eyeballs not included. The book is written by Tim Sanders, Yahoo's Chief Solutions Officer who says we should share our knowledge, network and compassion with the people we interact with. An excerpt:

At the office, our humanity can be defined as the ability to involve ourselves emotionally in the support of another person's growth. Whether we celebrate someone's accomplishments, or show true sympathy for someone's undoing, it's our warmth that separates us from the thinking machines.

It's got a wide mix of ratings at Amazon but on the whole, I dig what this guy is trying to say.

Did you know that the BBC has 43 different translations of its website? I was interested to see what it was like ploughing through the different versions in languages like Russian, Chinese, Arabic and Turkish.

One of the greatest variations to the visual layout is the Arabic version, which is positioned from right to left. I was impressed that there was an RSS feed - in Arabic.

Apart from visual and linguistic considerations, I noticed that content has also been repurposed to suit the readers from those languages / cultures / territorial domains. The Chinese version (at the time of writing) has more photographs of Asian faces, even if it is a story on computer viruses affecting the entire world. [Yes, despite my poor Mandarin I managed to understand that much :)]

The Arabic version had much more coverage on the Middle East, retaining the main story on George Bush. Likewise the Spanish front page catered to local interests, such as the story of Saint James no longer being portrayed as a Moor killer (article in English).

No surprises: BBCPolish is at present focussing on Poland's entry into the EU, with two out of nine smaller thumbnails displaying the EU flag, and another possibly linking to a third EU story (there's mention of Brussels).

Not all BBC sections (such as my favourite, Sport) have been translated, but it's a good start. The BBC also seems to be promoting its own agenda on some of its sites (such as the Russian one) for learning English. It's all rather fascinating.

I found myself in an industrial-like building - concrete floors and walls - with people who seemed like strangers yet were familiar. It was a setting I had dreamt of before, many years ago. Yet part of it felt new.

I wandered about, talking with these friends of mine. Exploring the corridors and stairways. It felt more and more like my old junior college. I noticed some rooms had pianos. The ones on the lower floors were in better condition. But they were already occupied or assigned to other people. My own classroom (as the settings became increasingly similar to my old school) however was upstairs.

Intermission: The appearance of someone new, yet strangely familiar and special. I started falling, all in the space of 10 seconds as it felt in my dream. Fade out...

I was in our classroom. We had a broken, dusty old piano. My classmates stood a distance from me, watching. Some of the keys were fine. Others were almost deliberately off-key. Still reeling with emotion, I placed my fingers on the keys and played a tune. The song was marred by the sudden jarring of discordant notes, but I didn't care. I played on. I felt happy, like I had somehow vindicated my de/repression through music.

For some reason this tune felt special to me, yet I have never associated it with a milestone in any part of my life. It popped out of nowhere, to say the least.

I am still deliberating over the significance of its title: Let's Wait Awhile.

I will be heading off to Los Angeles, California, on 18 May. I will then move to Las Vegas and return to Singapore at the end of May.

I have a few places in mind to visit - art museums like the Guggenheim, as well as Universal Studios. I might also make a campus visit to USC. Feel free to post other suggestions.