Politics and Religion
Religion is a fraternity of politics which is engineered by politicians to control people’s behaviors and minds. — Adrian Hoe 2010.
This is why “Religion” has initial “R” which comes after “P”.
Good-bye 2009!
The year 2009 is not my favorite year. Despite of some happy moments, 2009 is a year of sorrow and suffering, at least for me. I have recorded enough all the happenings in 2009 and let the memory be the past. So, good-bye 2009!
Well, I have only one New Year resolution for 2010, to fully implement my MIS (Medical Information System) at client’s site before 2010 ends. Simple as that.
I got an iPhone
If you have followed my blog, you must be aware of how I criticized about iPhone and Apple’s aggressive strategy with mobile carriers in my article, “iPhone is in Malaysia!” I have also been going around telling customers and friends that iPhone is not as useful as it seems and is more a toy to attract young generation.
Well, I admit that I was wrong. I am developing a cloud/web-based MIS (Medical Information System) which enables patient to be able to view certain information and interact with the clinic/doctor from anywhere. Likewise, it also provides doctors greater mobility and still are able to care for their patients while they are away.
After reading articles (on Apple’s website) how iPhones help hospitals in the U.S. to provide better healthcare at lower cost, I decided to build the MIS with iPhone support. I based my decision on these reasons:
- Ease of use. I have been toying/using around with an iPod Touch for a few months and I find that it is easy to navigate/use. iPod Touch is essentially an iPhone without the phone. You get what I mean.
- Beautiful UI. Apple is well known for its brilliant UI (User Interface) in Mac OS X and iPhone OS. Nothing else comes closer to it.
- Security. All applications must be approved by Apple and be signed with license keys issued by Apple. Apple’s iTunes Store is the only place to download applications. I can be rest assured to have less (or none) headache about spooky applications from unreliable sources. Of course, there are jail broken iPhones which do not play by the rules but I am not too worried about that.
So, I went ahead ordering one last week. Last night, I went to Maxis center to collect my 32GB Black iPhone. It is such a beauty.
Give me a couple of weeks mingling with it and I promise you I will write about my experience.
Dropbox – The magical USB drive
Dropbox, the magical USB drive, let’s you transfer files among computers without the need of a physical USB drive or DVD or emailing. Dropbox on Mac is the latest and coolest file sharing technology made available today.
I have been using Apple’s iDisk to sync and share files among my computers, iPod Touch (iPhone) and as well as clients and co-workers. Two days ago, I discovered Dropbox and I now find it easier to use than iDisk and it is faster! It is free for a 2GB storage or upgrade with a small monthly fee.
One cool feature of Dropbox is that when someone drops you a file in your folder, Dropbox notifies you using Growl. iDisk lacks this notification feature and usually the file arrives silently unless the sender texts or emails you.
Dropbox can work offline. Dropbox on Mac will sync your files and folders to your local hard disks and allows you to access later even when offline. The sync is done automatically.
I used to copy some files on my USB drive and take them to my clients. Now I no longer need to bring anything. Just use my client’s Internet browser to access my Dropbox and viola! The files will be transfered to my client’s Mac.
Of course, there are many ways to use Dropbox for your productivity. For example, taking your lecture notes to the lecture hall without carrying anything at all, not even USB pen drive. There are some other ways of using Dropbox, read here. But that’s not all. Please tell me if you find any other use of it.
Sign up here for extra 250MB of disk space!
Nightlighting
Recently, I have been reading a little about women’s health while working on a software project. It is astonishing to know most of the facts about women and women-related illnesses. When reading about menstruation, I learned some terms such as menarche which means woman’s first menstruation, dysmenorrhea which is a medical condition characterized by severe uterine pain during menstruation.
Heredity, diet and health condition can affect a young woman’s menarche. This is something most parents with growing young daughters have overlook. Diet plays a very important part in young women especially teenage girls. Many teenage girls despite of having their menarche years earlier, neglects or intentionally limit their dietary intakes for body slimming purposes. This ignorance can seriously affect their reproductive system.
One most interesting fact I learned about menstruation is the term “Nightlighting”.
The word “menstruation” is etymologically related to “moon”. The terms “menstruation” and “menses” are derived from the Latin mensis (month), which in turn relates to the Greek mene (moon) and to the roots of the English words month and moon—reflecting the fact that the moon also takes close to 28 days to revolve around the Earth (actually 27.32 days). The synodical lunar month, the period between two new moons (or full moons), is 29.53 days long. — Wikipedia
In some traditional societies without nightlighting believe that women ovulate in full moon and menstruate in new moon. There are studies in both humans and animals where artificial lighting at night does alter the menstruation cycle. While none of the studies have suggested the lunar phase affects the ovulation cycle, bright light exposure in the morning stimulates more regular cycles.
Research also suggested that sensitivity of women’s cycles to nightlighting is related to nutritional deficiencies of certain minerals and vitamins. Again, balanced and healthy diet is utmost important to women’s health.
问心无愧
在这短短几星期之内，所发生的一却事情，都不是局外人所能理解的，包括当事人在内。这些变化有如风云难测。被人冠上莫须有的罪名，再加上这些人和周围的人的一极化思想，要做到问心无愧，谈何容易。
接下来的，不会只是一场暴风骤雨这么简单。现在最重要的是把手上的软件工程开发出来，抢先把一却安顿下来再说。
Automated backup
Since August 18, my software development work has been picking up its pace and I have checked in more works more often, at least five times on single productive day. Ever since, I have been manually backing up Subversion directory using tar. My project server is fornax.
Fornax is a 6-year old PC running Ubuntu. It wasn’t working properly due to the cooling fan in its power supply unit. Until about two weeks ago, I replaced the old fan. I am not very confident about the replacement because it is a third party part and the replacement isn’t as good as expected, but it works. I have to shut it down every night before going to bed.
So, the last thing before I go to bed is to backup the svn directory and then shutdown the server. I am quite fed up with this extra manual works. Last night, before going to bed, I decided to automate this process. And I did it this morning.
I wrote a simple bash shell script to do the backup. I cron it so that the process will start automatically at 2300 hours and then shutdown.
#!/bin/bash
BACKUPFILE=/tmp/backups/svn-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz
rm /tmp/backups/svn-*.gz
tar -cj /svn > $BACKUPFILE
for COMPUTER in host1 host2
do
scp $BACKUPFILE user@$COMPUTER:Desktop/
done
/sbin/shutdown -h +5
UPDATE (05/10/2009): I setup a password-less ssh login so that no password is required for scp (secured copy). Now, after the backup, the backup file will be copied automatically to two other computers for safe keeping.
95 RON sucks!
The new petrol, 95 RON, which was introduced on September 1 really sucks! Not powerful, not quieter and not economical at all. I still prefer 97 RON.
Making my dad proud
Perhaps this is the most difficult post ever for me to write. A mixture of emotion makes it even harder to start and it is impossible to write this post without shedding tears and touching emotion.
Night watch
Last night I was on duty to watch over my father at Hospital Pantai. Before my shift began, LA and I went downtown for a quick dinner and also to buy some satay for my dad upon his request. We were back to the hospital about 9-ish. Since my dad was very hungry, they did not take his glucose level. He finished his satay aout 9:30P.M.
About 30 minutes to midnight, the nurse came in to give dad some medication and his nebulizer. I told the nurse about the glucose level and she took the reading after everything was settled. I reminded the nurse to take note that the glucose level was taken post-supper. Then we tucked my dad to bed.
Half an hour later, he said he wanted to pass motion. I called the nurse to get help. Then there was some commotion. Two nurses and I helped my dad to get up the bed to sit on the commode. While waiting, the nurses changed the bed linen. Unfortunately, nothing had been passed out. Dad actually fell asleep around midnight.
Around 1:45A.M. this morning, he woke up again. He wanted to pee and to have some water. Then he went back to sleep. He was sleeping quite soundly that I could hear him snoring.
He woke up again at 3A.M. complaining his back was itching. He told me to rub some Betamethasone cream. He went back to sleep only this time he was sleeping sounder. Unfortunately, he was disturbed by the nurse again 5A.M. in the morning. The nurse took his blood pressure and glucose level reading. His glucose level was 6.5 compared to 13.5 at 11:30P.M. After the nurse gave him medication and empty his urine bag, he went back to sleep.
At 7A.M. another nurse came in trying to wake him up for a morning wash, I told the nurse to allow him to sleep. The nurse told me that there would be no student nurses today because of the Merdeka holiday. I replied without hesitation, “Then the nurse can do it. That’s what the nurses are for.” The nurse wasn’t quite happy getting a whack (literally) from me. She stood there for a while then took off.
As there were college students came to do their internship with me before, I really dislike the idea that businesses and company take advantage on interns as a damn cheap labor to do all sort of donkey jobs. I can imagine how these in-house nurses take advantages on training nurses and get them to do all sort of donkey jobs the in-house nurses won’t like to do. I think that nurse deserves a whack from me.
He woke up at 8A.M. to wash, took his breakfast and medication and watch the live telecast of Merdeka celebration on TV.
Mom, Mee and BS came so I went home at 9A.M. Before I went home, a nurse came to assist my dad to the washroom for passing motion and then gave him a morning bath.
Protected: Conclusion statement
思退
思退
三一
复步
而以
后观
行变
沉墨羽
Strikeout the word “Bumiputera” for unity
The Najib’s new administration has just merely passed the first 100 day and he has already shown his dedication to unite the people of Malaysia. New economic policies such as the 30% compulsory “Bumiputera” stakes in IPO (Initial Public Offerings) has been abolished. This is going to stimulate, for sure, more foreign investments into the country. Good for economic growth.
As far as “Unity” or “One Malaysia” is concerned, the word “Bumiputera”, should be strikeout and will never exist in the dictionary of the Malay language. Literally translated, it means prince of the land. The ethnics Chinese and Indians, although they are the lawful citizens of Malaysia, they are not the prince of the land.
Let all be referred to as “Rakyat Malaysia” (Malaysia citizens). For example, there should never be “Bumiputera” and “Non-Bumiputera” pricing in housing properties sales. But when election comes, they call all “Rakyat Malaysia” to vote.
How can the country unite whilst the people are divided into “Bumiputera” and “Non-Bumiputera”? I wish Mr. Najib, the new prime minister, will critically consider to abolish the word “Bumiputera” if he is really serious about uniting the people of Malaysia.
Ahmad is Buiputera Rakyat Malaysia. Sivakumar is non-Bumiputera Rakyat Malaysia. I am non-Bumiputera Rakyat Malaysia.
So why divide citizens of Malaysia into Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera?
Irresponsible doctor on-call
Last night, I was experiencing pounding pain on my left eye which was radiating to the back and into my brain that caused headache.
I called ISEC emergency number and spoke to a nurse on duty. She advised me to go to A&E of a nearby hospital to have my eye checked. One of the factor could be infection.
LA took me to Pantai Hospital. After the medical officer had examined my eye, he rang the opthalmologist on-call, Dr. Lim.
From their phone conversation, we could tell that he was reluctant to come. After many times of persuasion and insistance by the medical officer, he finally agreed to come. But we were told that we would have to wait. What an arrogant bastard!
A doctor on-call is a doctor on night duty. He has to respond to emergency cases at night regardless of the parient’s condition. This doctor’s attitude was really irritating. WTF! After some thoughts, I decided to go home without seeing him. I did not want this irresponsible doctor to earn my money. Furthermore, my pain had subsided due to the paracetamol I took before we left home.
Backup your Mac with AppleScript
All programmers are lazy. They want to automate tasks as much as they can. Because of this uniquely great habit, they have developed countless of useful software.
Ok. I am lazy. I have been using rsync to sync folders I am working on between my Macs. I have been using command line scripts in Terminal for almost two years and finally I have gotten lazy over the task.
The thing is, I need to execute the scripts in Terminal every time I want to synch my folders. Of course, I could simply use cron to automate the tasks at specific time but I ran the risk to cause havoc between the folders on different Macs. It is best not to cron the task.
So, I learned up AppleScript and after a ten-minute hack, I wrote a nice AppleScripts to do the job. It is quick and dirty.
set debug to false
with timeout of (30 * 60) seconds
tell application "Terminal"
set Window_Title to "Sync Documents"
set Rsync_Cmd to "rsync -acrtv --delete
/Users/username/Documents/
username@xxx:Documents"
set output_doc to do shell script Rsync_Cmd
choose from list paragraphs of output_doc with prompt
"Result:" with title Window_Title with empty
selection allowed
end tell
end timeout
Copy the script to ~/Library/Scripts/Applications/Finder and save it as “sync documents.scpt”. Then launch Script Editor to edit username to your login name and xxx to your Mac IP address or computer name. This script will sync your Documents folder under your user home directory. To execute this AppleScript, at Finder, click on the script icon on the menu bar and select the script to launch.
rsync uses ssh. If you have not setup a password-less ssh login, you will need ssh-askpass in /usr/libexec. Unfortunately, it does not ship with Mac OS X. You can get it at Joe Mocker’s weblog.
Miranda
Finally, I have got an idea what name to give to my iPod Touch. It was named “Adrian Hoe’s iPod Touch” to make things simple. The hardest part was to find a name which implies its usefulness.
I have several reasons to buy an iPod Touch but I am not going to talk about them here. One most ostensible use of it is that I am no longer required to lug my MacBook (code-named Uranus) everywhere I go. Since it replaces the function of Uranus when it is not with me, I name my iPod Touch, Miranda, one of the five moons of Uranus. Miranda is the inner most and smallest moon of Uranus and is also referred to Uranus V.
When data is lost
Almost all computer users have experienced data lost on their computers at least once in their life time. It is most frustrating when it happens while you are working on your project. You have so much data on your hard disk and worst, the project deadline is approaching. You suddenly plunge into despair. You lose your appetite and sleep. It is like the end of the world.
If you are running a business, your data lost can cause you a fortune. Data is the most valuable byproduct of any business. For example, customer database, sales and invoicing, stock inventory, etc.
There are numeral factors that can cause data lost. The most common are hard drive failure (electronic or mechanical), accidental deletion of file(s) or partition(s), accidental reformat of hard drive and OS failure. Fire and flood can also damage your hard disks. On advanced computing hardware, data lost can cause by the reasons mentioned earlier as well as RAID controller failure, rebuild RAID configuration failure, damaged or lost RAID configuration, corrupt or damaged partition table, etc. If you lose your data due to any of this or other reasons, you will need data recovery service.
If you are using a Mac, you need not to worry at all. The DataRecoveryGroup also provides Mac data recovery service to Mac users. They also provide server data recovery service to recover data from RAID disk arrays on servers.
Earth, I love you!
Responding to the Earth Hour initiative, I will go off-line for 48 hours from now ( midnight tonight). I will power off all electronic devices like cell phones, cordless phone, computers, servers, modem, router and network switch for 48 hours. The only communication (for emergency) I have is the land line phone at home. I will check my messages when I am back on line on Monday.
We will switch off all the lights for entire two nights, leaving only the refrigerator and at least 1 (and maximum 2) fan(s) on.
In fact, I have been doing this since 2007. As the matter of fact, this initiative is not started by the Australians (as I heard from TV advertisement). Read here and here.
Why only an hour? Make it the whole weekend for our Earth. This will further reduce energy consumption.
iPhone is in Malaysia!
The long awaited Apple iPhone 3G has finally arrived in Malaysia. Apple’s website announced its arrival today and Maxis has begun informing its customers via SMS a few days ago. I was in joy receiving the SMS and quickly went to Maxis website to check out the details.
The iPhone 3G that makes you drool...
I was truly disappointed after reading the details on Maxis’ website. The selling price is very high and apart of this, Maxis locks you in with either 24 months or 6 months contract. The worst thing is that if you breach the service contract or choose to opt out before the contract matured, there is a huge penalty awaiting you ahead.
We have paid so much for the iPhone with our own pocket, why is there still hefty monthly service fees and contract commitment?
Is that another dirty Apple’s trick?
Is Apple dirty?
I have been Apple Mac user since 2003 after ditching Microsoft Windows in 1998. Mac OS X is real UNIX operating system comparing to Linux which is UNIX-like. Thanks to Apple for spending quite a substantially huge amount of money to license the UNIX operating system. Ever since I had an iBook, I am getting more entangled with Mac. I shifted all my web browsing, emails, calendar, contact, photos, video, and even software development to Mac platform. Although I am still running Linux on Intel boxes and SPARC Solaris, I have become totally dependent and obsessed with Mac. I would crave for a Mac if I were to work on non-Mac.
Why?
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Recent Entries
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