A fort(itude)night later
It's been like, what, 2 weeks, since I last wrote here. For a day's stuff, I can write enough material to qualify it for a 30min speech. So, you can imagine how much I am going to ramble after 2 weeks of hiatus. But, no. I'm not going to write too much; I'll just keep it terse and highlight salient events.
For a start, I finally completed reading Nelson Mandela's biography. Yah! I've conquered the 500 odd page behemoth in 2 days - 1, if you just counted the actual hours I spent reading - and contrary to my previous notion that it will "drain half my lifeforce", I felt a sense of achievement and inspiration. The former because I overcame a pretty daunting task; the latter because I was - and still am - awed by Mandela's path of struggle. What impressed me most is his way of dealing with opponents - to be able treat them with respect and magnanimity. I doubt any of Singapore leaders are capable of this quality. Anyway, I think there's finally some headway for my part of the report now.
As I was reading the biography, I noticed certain striking similarities between Singapore's government and South Africa's government in the 60s. Though not congruent, a parallel can be easily drawn. For instance, where South Africa's government used the media as propoganda means, Singapore did the same, with not 1 but 2 state-controlled media entities. Where South Africa's legacy aparthied aimed to segegrate the whites and blacks, the same is carried out in Singapore too, albeit, on a smaller scale and restricted to primary schools. We fondly name ours as "primary school streaming". And much like the aparthied, which has been scrapped and abolished, the education ministry recently has decided to do away with the primary school streaming too. There are a lot more similarities but I think you get my drift.
A turn for more mundane stuff. Last Wednesday, Dear and I went to the GV Gold Class theatre. Tickets are priced at 25 bucks for weekdays and 30 a head on weekends. Exorbitant, isn't it? But we didn't pay, as my 4th aunt had some vouchers and she passed them to me. Effectively, a free show.
I wouldn't say paying 25 bucks was all that worthwhile. Sure, the seats are paired and are all auto-recliners, blankets are provided and there is a small table for us to put out drinks and snacks. Hedonic pleasures aside, the utilitarian aspects were below par. First of all, I believe there is no surround sound, for all I could hear was the sound coming from the front. Even if there is, then they must have botched it up. Secondly, the theatre screen seemed smaller. I guess the best part is that there are no noisy/wailing kids or teenagers whose handphones seemed to ring at the most inappropriate times. Thank God (and economics) for the concepts known as price elasticity and purchasing power.
We watched Miami Vice, which was just another undercover cop-thief action flick. Nothing spectular, nothing unexpected, nothing surprising. The only parts that annoyed me were the sex scenes, though. There were a couple of them, all of which depicted the leads in various positions of foreplay. To me, these scenes served no value when it comes to the advancing the plotline and can be removed to include better plot elements. The only purpose of those scenes, it seems, was to further enhance the element of "vice".
What has been the most distressing for the fortnight was my computer problems. I had finally decided to get a new harddisk drive and duly bought a 320GB SATA3.0 Seagate Barracuda. Installing it was no big deal. In fact, I discovered that SATA drives are better, as the cables are much thinner and more compact. As I opened the CPU unit, I saw a huge number of dust bunnies. I went on a witchhunt and systematically and wiped the dust off wherever I could. I then embarked on a journey to reduce the influx of dust.
The approach was two-pronged. First, I would limit the intake of air to only the fans; holes around the casing will be sealed with masking tape. Secondly, I would use some form of filter to reduce the dust intake. To compensate for the reduction of air intake due to the restrictions posed by the filters, I would install better output fans and intake fans. A side objective was to improve and monitor system health, so I would improve airflow within the case and to install some heat monitors too.
Of all the above, I have only accomplished the filter part. Currently, I'm using a piece of Scotch-brite (non-abrasive type) as a filter. My original intention was to use those filters used in vacuum cleaners but they are kinda steep. For the improvement of airflow, I folded the IDE cables and use cable ties to keep them bundled up. This was when my problem really started.
After putting the IDE cables back, the system refuse to start. Everything was in place but it just wouldn't start. The normal bootup beep was missing, meaning the BIOS did not even start. For 2 hours, I tried to revive it in vain. I conceded dispair and decided to bring the computer to some technician the next day.
The next day when I woke up, I decided to give it another shot. I took out the RAM module and turn on the power. Usually, it would give a series of long beeps, indicating a RAM error and I hoped for that. At the very least, it would mean the motherboard was still working. With trepidation, I pressed the "on" button. The error beeps never sounded so welcomed. Renewed with hope, I re-inserted the RAM module and voila! Problem solved. Phew... That was really a close one. Logn story short, everything worked and that's why I am able to blog now.
For a start, I finally completed reading Nelson Mandela's biography. Yah! I've conquered the 500 odd page behemoth in 2 days - 1, if you just counted the actual hours I spent reading - and contrary to my previous notion that it will "drain half my lifeforce", I felt a sense of achievement and inspiration. The former because I overcame a pretty daunting task; the latter because I was - and still am - awed by Mandela's path of struggle. What impressed me most is his way of dealing with opponents - to be able treat them with respect and magnanimity. I doubt any of Singapore leaders are capable of this quality. Anyway, I think there's finally some headway for my part of the report now.
As I was reading the biography, I noticed certain striking similarities between Singapore's government and South Africa's government in the 60s. Though not congruent, a parallel can be easily drawn. For instance, where South Africa's government used the media as propoganda means, Singapore did the same, with not 1 but 2 state-controlled media entities. Where South Africa's legacy aparthied aimed to segegrate the whites and blacks, the same is carried out in Singapore too, albeit, on a smaller scale and restricted to primary schools. We fondly name ours as "primary school streaming". And much like the aparthied, which has been scrapped and abolished, the education ministry recently has decided to do away with the primary school streaming too. There are a lot more similarities but I think you get my drift.
A turn for more mundane stuff. Last Wednesday, Dear and I went to the GV Gold Class theatre. Tickets are priced at 25 bucks for weekdays and 30 a head on weekends. Exorbitant, isn't it? But we didn't pay, as my 4th aunt had some vouchers and she passed them to me. Effectively, a free show.
I wouldn't say paying 25 bucks was all that worthwhile. Sure, the seats are paired and are all auto-recliners, blankets are provided and there is a small table for us to put out drinks and snacks. Hedonic pleasures aside, the utilitarian aspects were below par. First of all, I believe there is no surround sound, for all I could hear was the sound coming from the front. Even if there is, then they must have botched it up. Secondly, the theatre screen seemed smaller. I guess the best part is that there are no noisy/wailing kids or teenagers whose handphones seemed to ring at the most inappropriate times. Thank God (and economics) for the concepts known as price elasticity and purchasing power.
We watched Miami Vice, which was just another undercover cop-thief action flick. Nothing spectular, nothing unexpected, nothing surprising. The only parts that annoyed me were the sex scenes, though. There were a couple of them, all of which depicted the leads in various positions of foreplay. To me, these scenes served no value when it comes to the advancing the plotline and can be removed to include better plot elements. The only purpose of those scenes, it seems, was to further enhance the element of "vice".
What has been the most distressing for the fortnight was my computer problems. I had finally decided to get a new harddisk drive and duly bought a 320GB SATA3.0 Seagate Barracuda. Installing it was no big deal. In fact, I discovered that SATA drives are better, as the cables are much thinner and more compact. As I opened the CPU unit, I saw a huge number of dust bunnies. I went on a witchhunt and systematically and wiped the dust off wherever I could. I then embarked on a journey to reduce the influx of dust.
The approach was two-pronged. First, I would limit the intake of air to only the fans; holes around the casing will be sealed with masking tape. Secondly, I would use some form of filter to reduce the dust intake. To compensate for the reduction of air intake due to the restrictions posed by the filters, I would install better output fans and intake fans. A side objective was to improve and monitor system health, so I would improve airflow within the case and to install some heat monitors too.
Of all the above, I have only accomplished the filter part. Currently, I'm using a piece of Scotch-brite (non-abrasive type) as a filter. My original intention was to use those filters used in vacuum cleaners but they are kinda steep. For the improvement of airflow, I folded the IDE cables and use cable ties to keep them bundled up. This was when my problem really started.
After putting the IDE cables back, the system refuse to start. Everything was in place but it just wouldn't start. The normal bootup beep was missing, meaning the BIOS did not even start. For 2 hours, I tried to revive it in vain. I conceded dispair and decided to bring the computer to some technician the next day.
The next day when I woke up, I decided to give it another shot. I took out the RAM module and turn on the power. Usually, it would give a series of long beeps, indicating a RAM error and I hoped for that. At the very least, it would mean the motherboard was still working. With trepidation, I pressed the "on" button. The error beeps never sounded so welcomed. Renewed with hope, I re-inserted the RAM module and voila! Problem solved. Phew... That was really a close one. Logn story short, everything worked and that's why I am able to blog now.
posted by hg @ 22:33
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