Should I quit and study PhD?

After I graduated in 2008, I was invited to attend a talk by my school on taking a PhD with them... back then the money they offered was S$2000 to S$2500 per month. Now it is up to S$3000 a month...

It is quite a paycut still, and I have to pay off my bloody apartment. I suppose that I can probably supplement the income by working as a lab minion for one of the profs or teach...but I was thinking of doing the PhD overseas in the first place. Like in Germany, which strangely does not have Englisch-taught courses in my field...

Maybe I should take a parttime PHD, as a distraction, because CoH is dying and anyway the only people I really like in the game I can communicate offline with them or play during weekends (though once school starts, it's bye bye CoH).

for once it pays to have bad eyesight.

[image source: sankakucomplex]

take off your pants (just kidding) spectacles and take a look between the lines. I wanted to censor  in case she is not decent but apparently my eyesight is not that bad enough. sigh.

If you still cannot see, enlarge the image. 

Something interesting is happening in Gotham Singapore City

I was trolling on EDMW as usual, when I saw an intriguing post. The TS suggested that one should try googling this...

2 sqrt(-abs(abs(x)-1)*abs(3-abs(x))/((abs(x)-1)*(3-abs(x))))(1+abs(abs(x)-3)/(abs(x)-3))sqrt(1-(x/7)^2)+(5+0.97(abs(x-.5)+abs(x+.5))-3(abs(x-.75)+abs(x+.75)))(1+abs(1-abs(x))/(1-abs(x))),-3sqrt(1-(x/7)^2)sqrt(abs(abs(x)-4)/(abs(x)-4)),abs(x/2)-0.0913722(x^2)-3+sqrt(1-(abs(abs(x)-2)-1)^2),(2.71052+(1.5-.5abs(x))-1.35526sqrt(4-(abs(x)-1)^2))sqrt(abs(abs(x)-1)/(abs(x)-1))+0.9

Natürlich I did, and got this.

Google seriously has a bone to pick with me. Bloody hell. Everytime.

But anyway try it. I was pretty amazed. It was a Big Bang Theory (the show, not the actual) kind of thing.

Updated!!!

Google has its panties in a tight wad. I was trying to show *censored* the graph, and discovered a new error thrown by Google, ""x" (and any subsequent words) was ignored because we limit queries to 32 words."

Oh too bad.

For all of you who were curious what the above formula is about, it is actually the Batman Formula. If you ran the search on the above formula, you would get a Google graph of something like this:

Geek Love - B1 and the harsh reality

Should have known I couldn't enjoy Geek Love with B1. Despite my misgivings (I thought that the same jokers who came up with that horribly addicting "Jersey Shore" *though I seem to be free from their clutches since that disastrous Season 4 which sent me to zzz* would be exploiting the geeks. We are not marginalized, just that our hobbies are much more interesting than picking up lame shallow people at bars in a bid for free sex), the first two episodes were sweet and funny.

So I rewatched it with B1, in between making my Cinnamon buns *love*. First he pointed out that episode 1 and 2 were actually filmed at the same event, which I did not notice. So he was BSing me all this while on his "not being very observant"...

Then he asked "do geeks really like dating other geeks?"

What an offensive question, seeing that he is one and I am another. He said I wasn't geeky enough (well if he got me my elusive Linux Penguin). Just tomboy. Whatever...

"Geeks are like other men, they all like hot girls, but since hot girls don't like them unless they have a lot of $$$, so they would have better chances with gleichgesinnte girls, because they would understand their needs and hobbies." I replied dourly, glaring at him as he hogged the soup bowl (we were having dinner at the time).

He evil-stared me when I said I thought the geek in the Tardis shirt (he reminded me of young Stalin, but I would love to lawnmow his ugly beard) was very cute <-my type~! and couldn't understand why Kelly preferred the kindisch Ironman Sal. I mean yeah, he was at the Harry Potter event too, but Junge Stalin is so much more handsome and if you remove the Ironman outfit, Sal just looks like a teenager. I was very annoyed when Sal chose Mary over Kelly (I could relate to Kelly *she read while waiting for her date* and also to the poor Wookie guy). 

B1 pointed out that while Mary was fleshy, she was slimmer than Kelly and knew how to dress, which proved my earlier statement. He liked her punky hair style and red lipstick too. Maybe it was the Ironman panties she wore...

I totally dig Ironman Sal's date with Mary, I thought that it was my kind of date. Arcade and yum yum and maybe a movie. If only he went and caught her a Rilakkuma at a UFO machine, it would be the ultimate date.

Just to prove what a realist B1 is sometimes, he didn't even finish watching episode two but started cleaning up the dishes when he found out who were the eventual "Perfect Match" couples. Why? Because the women were not hot enough to hold his attention. *Annoyed*

My obsession with the German Language

Well, I have become somewhat obsessed with learning the German language. I pick up a new obsession to distract myself from whatever else that is not going well for me. Perhaps it is because I am ashamed that I am taking way too long to learn a language, and I am not getting any younger.

I have increased my immersion in the language by watching SesamStrasse (bloody Ernie has gone to speaking Greek to me, this has not happened since I was 7 years old), I also write a German blog and emails to German-speaking friends. However I am not very sure whether whatever I am writing is grammatically correct even though I have also started reading German Grammatik.

So as of today, I have become a English teacher on livemocha.com. The website allows you to teach others your native languages (the irony that English is now my "native" language instead of Mandarin is not lost on me) so that you can earn points to learn new languages. The idea is absolutely brilliant.

My aim is to gain 300 points as a Language teacher so that I can learn the beginner level in ALL languages for free. I have 236 points after 18 contributions.

TGIF Specials 18: Why does No One love a NERD?

[source: flashasylum]

So ironic. Part of my COH nick is mentioned. Well, I am a female nerd and proud of it. So suck it, bitches!!!

one of the 1337

My colleague queued up for the release new StarCraft II game on 27th July 2010.

As one of the hardcore 1337, this is what he received (with a tee):

Why (Computer) Geeks Rock in Bed?

Jawdropped when I read this at Geekologie.com. I think no.10 is very cute and true. I am a great fan of geeks as well, primarily pc geeks since I am/becoming a huge one already, in more ways than one. Haha.

1. we're more curious than the rest of the population.

2. We're hackers by trade, so we are open to trying new things.

3. We produce things for ordinary users, so we're more attuned to producing an orgasm in our partner then the rest of the population.

4. We use technology to help get you in the mood even before you arrive.

5. We're more likely to mute our telephone, and turn down the volume on the computer so incoming IM's don't make a sound. We're also used to not answering the telephone, instead preferring asynchronous means of communications.

6. We watch a lot of porn, so we know a lot of positions. This means we're open to trying them all.

7. Geeks multitask. So we pleasure multiple erogenous zones in our partners... kissing, fucking, tweaking and rubbing all at the same time.

8. We are more available. We can fix your vibrator when we're not. Other people are not gonna steal us. We're smart, and increasingly, we're rich.

9. We're sensitive to your needs. We learn this by spending way too much time with Google Analytics, Nagios, server load times and I/O rates.

10. Finally, we're geeks. Girls prefer jocks. So we will go out of our way to be special to you.

[Original source: askmygirlfriend.com]

CHUCK - Experience the Power of Sound

I came across this CHUCK when trying to Google one of my fave shows, Chuck.

I thought it is interesting: (grabbed the background -as below- from its site)

ChucK is a new (and developing) audio programming language for real-time synthesis, composition, performance, and now, analysis - fully supported on MacOS X, Windows, and Linux. ChucK presents a new time-based, concurrent programming model that's highly precise and expressive (we call this strongly-timed), as well as dynamic control rates, and the ability to add and modify code on-the-fly. In addition, ChucK supports MIDI, OSC, HID device, and multi-channel audio. It's fun and easy to learn, and offers composers, researchers, and performers a powerful programming tool for building and experimenting with complex audio synthesis/analysis programs, and real-time interactive control.

Youda Sushi Chef

Sending a snowflake to girlfriend in Singapore

Perhaps the heat has totally gotten to me, but I was impressed by this how-to display of geek love, from a forum I read.

Stuff you need:
Microscope slides (slide backing and top sheet)
Liquid Super Glue

Steps:
1. Levave all the above mentioned materials in the freezer for a few days. Everything has to be freezing cold so that the snowflake will not melt on contact.

2. Catch required snowflakes on the glass slide (works best with fat fluffy snow flakes as they have the largest crystals) .

3. Immediately dab a blob of superglue onto the snowflake. Cover with the slide top sheet. The superglue will be pressed flat. At this point, the snowflake should still be intact and encased within the wet superglue.

4. Leave slide in freezer for about 2 weeks till the superglue is fully dried.

It works because superglue hardens on contact with moisture. The cold superglue traps the snowflake without melting it (same idea as prehistoric mosquitoes trapped in amber ala Jurassic Park). The moisture of the snowflake will cause the superglue to slowly harden around it, capturing every last intricate detail of the snowflake. Once completely hardened, the snowflake is effectively captured for eternity, refrigeration not required.

What famished geeks do when they are hungry?

They zap a hotdog (at 219V AC) for supper. Within seconds. Check out the third pic where LED lights show the current flowing through the dog... nice. :d

Get it straight from English Russia just because something cool happens daily on 1/6 of the Earth surface.

Be Cheap, Be Creative 1 - Build your own Laser Tag

Wish one of the kiddos had done this at the Science Conference. The closest one I saw that is related to this was the velocity powered laser pointer.

Andrew Walbran (I seriously recommend you guys check out his website and other projects as well) has built his homemade laser tag. What you need appears to be a toy gun, laser diode, a PIC16F628A microcontroller and some misc. components.

Check out full details here, on creating your own Laser Tag.

Are We Geeks?

Excerpt from "Geeks", p. xxx by Jon Katz (Warning: terms used maybe archaic - book was printed in 2000)

People email me all the time asking if they are geeks.

In this culture, I figure people have the right to name themselves; if you feel like a geek, you are one. But there are some clues: You are online a good part of the time. You feel a personal connection with Technology, less its mechanics than its applications and consequences. You're a fan of The Simpsons and The Matrix. You saw Phantom Menace opening weekend despite th hype and despite Jar Jar. You are obsessive about pop culture, which is what you talk about with your friends or coworkers every Monday.

You don't like being told what to do, authority being a force you see as not generally on your side. Life began for you when you got out of high school, which, more likely than not, was a profoundly painful experience. You didn't go to the prom, or if you did, you certainly did not feel comfortable there. Maybe your parents helped you get through, maybe a teacher or a soulmate.

Now, you zone out on your work. You solve problems and puzzles. You love to create things just for the kick of it. Even though you're indispensable to the company that's hired you, it's almost impossible to imagine yourself running it. You may have power of your own now - a family, money - yet you see yourself as one who never quite fits in. In many ways, geekdom is a state of mind, a sense of yourself in relation to the world that's not easily rewritten.

Free Java Mobile Phone Games and Apps

Visit Mobile Rated (or its WAP version) to download free games or trials to your handphones.

Marmite - not just a food spread

Was checking out some interesting research sites, when I came across this project, Marmite, from Jason Hong in CMU.

"Marmite is an end-user programming system for the web that enables non-programmers to recreate some of the functionality of mashups without programming. Users construct a data-flow from a set of operators. Operators are GUI representations of web services or represent operations the local machine such as filtering or scraping information off of web pages.

Marmite is different from other mashup systems such as Yahoo Pipes!, Microsoft Popfly, and Intel MashMaker because:

• Marmite deals with both Web Services and screen-scraping methods of creating mashups.
• The state of the data is shown at each individual step.
• Fine-grain control and constant feedback between steps makes incremental programming possible (which shrinks the design/test/debug cycle).

Marmite is inspired by UNIX pipes and Apple Automator."

Wii Projects

Johnny Lee is very fascinated with Wii, well actually, the Wii remote. So far he has created the Low-Cost Multi-touch Whiteboard using the Wiimote and software (download here) and also built a multipoint grid software (a custom C# DirectX program) to work with the Wii remote (again) to track motion in 2D space.

Exposed early to D&D? And I don't mean Dinner & Dance