My way or the highway

why is it that every time i decide to start writing it's raining horses outside (and yes! i left the windows open again)? must be something to do with my depressive gene ... maybe everytime it starts raining i get depressive and feel the need to write?
anyways, the post title says it all :) I realised last night that the two great women that contributed to me being a whole, extraordinary, funny, smart and MODEST person today (that is, my mother and my grandmother) also contributed to two of my major flaws (by some - greatest goods by me). My mother spoiled me rotten ... even though sometimes she tried to hide the spoiling. And my grandmother always allowed me to do whatever i wanted, whether it was climbing trees (and falling from them or being stuck HIGH up there) or not eating (i had - and still have - a awful dislike for boiled eggs ... in those times boiled eggs is what little kids got for breakfast, among other things - like cheese). This led to me being what i am today and to the title of this post.
So, here's to my grandmother and mom!

Moving to Antarctica

That's it!!! I am moving to Antarctica!!! Or to any other continent where it does not rain!!! This is the first day I left the windows to my room WIDE open such that fresh air enters my room. And of course, it's raining cats and dogs and horses!!! So when i'll get home the carpet that is right beside the window will be SOAKED! SOAKED!!!!!!

To write or not to write

One of the things that really bugs me about research is that at some point you get to writing. Yes!! The horrifyin' friggin' thing I think most computer scientists just lurrrrve. I personally hate it. It's not like writing in your blog, you cannot be funny or ironic. You cannot be mean to other people's work. You must be polite and condenscending. You cannot say "try but fails" .. you must say "attempt". That's when you're writing a research paper. It's even nicer when you have to write a documentation about your program/product. "The list of steps necessary for installing this or that is" AND SO ON.... and on .. and on.. And then you have windows or linux .. and different commands for them: since i use linux, it's almost obvious that any other student who will be using my program in his/her homework will use windows... AAA
Writer's block.

Edited later: 3 new articles from Joel
about mapreduce, functors
How dell does business
Private offices vs open space for programmers

Ha ha

Yes .. it's friday. .. 16:46 ... mmmm... weekend ... mmm
Deci se apropie momentul in care trebuie sa-mi strang lucrurile si sa o intind frumusel de aici.
Mi-am pregatit pentru weekend un paper si o carte de rasfoit. Nu mi-as fi pregatit nimic daca n-ar f i venit seful acu vro ora sa imi dea paperul si sa imi zica sa caut cartea la biblioteca. Dilema: daca mi-a zis sa caut cartea la biblioteca, asta inseamna ca trebuie sa o imprumut? Si sa o citesc? sau doar sa o las acolo frumos sa stea si sa se umple de praf (dar eu sa stiu sa o gasesc)? Dupa o scurta evaluare a situatiei m-am hotarat sa ma duc sa o iau. Si sa o si citesc. Uf. cand m-am intors am constatat ca ar mai fi trebuit sa iau o carte :D Mi-am notat numarul si gata. Si am printat un nou paper la imprimanta de jos. Hotarata ca atunci cand ma duc la toaleta sa ma duc sa iau si paperul. ... :)) Fatalitate. Acum mi-am adus aminte de papaerul meu. Sper ca nu moare de singuratate sau de frig acolo jos. Toate cele 15 pagini cred ca isi pot tine de cald. Este clar ca intru in indobitocirea de weekend.
Diseara tre sa ma duc la "Graduation dinner" adik cei din NUS climbing team (din care fac/o sa fac si eu parte) le zic la revedere studentilor care au terminat. Adik asa cum am terminat si eu acu' un an aproape si o sa mai termin o data in 4 ani. Care este :)) Localul este Brewerktz (au berarie proprie) o alegere putin ciudata avand in vedere ca eu stiam ca aici lumea nu prea bea. NU e adevarat!!!! Nici nu e ca acasa intr-adevar, dar cei pe care ii cunosc eu chiar beau. Alcool that is. Nu stiu .. poate sunt singaporezi get beget si nu first or second generation din china. Trebuie sa analizez problema.
Gata 16.55. Nu zic la revedere si nici weekend placut ca ORICUM NU CITESTE NIMENI!!! HA!

The importance of ISO

Well well ... the time has come for all good men to realize the importance of ISO. Why?! Well ... it's really kind of simple. I decided that Sunday morning would be the best time for us to go to Chinatown and make some fabulous pictures of asian goings. Like you know, temples and stuff, an empty stall ... wonderful, beautiful and close to my heart things. We left home at 7, arrived around 7:30 in Chinatown, found some wonderful subjects... we even went to a fruit and fish market in the basement of Chinatown complex! And when we got home ... surprise surprise! I discovered that the last time i took some pictures of the flowers around the apartment, i set (and forgot to change) the iso to 1000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The results are shown below. Moral: the iso just caused me another trip to chinatown ... on Wednesday morning! Alas!

Test posting from MacOs Tiger

Just to see if this works

Fifth rule

As the days go by this blog is turning more and more into a blog about silly computer issues/stupid research issues. I guess this is what it really boils down to in the end.
However, I have a draft for the fifth rule. It is the fifth rule only in sequence, because in importance I think it is the most important one. And the rule is ... well ... this is why this is a draft :)

WinFS

Funniest thing I ever read today: "In spite of what may be stated in this content, "WinFS" is not a feature that will come with the Longhorn operating system. However, "WinFS" will be available on the Windows platform at some future date, which is why this article continues to be provided for your information." http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwinfs/html/winfs03112004.asp.

Internet Explorer tabs

Why, oh why doesn't Internet Explorer 6 have tabs? You know, the "Open link in new tab" option? Everyday I find it more and more annoying that this feature is missing from IE. Sure, you're going to say ... it's in IE7... but i want it in MY IE. NOW!
Signed
The research student with 25 IE pages opened in the taskbar.

Generics

This blog comes probably a little late, since i've been a little (if not entirely) away from this world. This is to salute the initiatives of introducing type-safe constructions (i.e generic) into programming languages like Java or C# (one thing that puzzles me though is how long will it take until these 2 prog. languages will merge? and if they do, what will the new language be called? Microsun? JavaPound? JPound? ). The introduction of the generic structures allows for type-safe structures and also for code reusability. So, hooray for generics! For more information on generics, check out these sites: C# and Java.

PS1. I wonder if the partial concept is also in java (this will be my next blog)
PS2. Check out the new article from Joel .

Buridan's ass

"A hungry, thirsty donkey is sitting exactly between two piles of hay with a bucket of water next to each pile, but there is nothing to determine him to go to one side rather than the other. So he sits there and dies." Yes ... l'embarasse du choix... The problem, however, does not lie in the choice problem with which the ass is faced, but rather in the simple question: why does the ass not drink if it's thirsty or eat if it's hungry? From whatever bucket or hay stack?
The answer is even simpler: because the ass wants to die. If the ass would want to live, instinct would take over the mind and the ass would eventually eat/drink, probably from the first stack/bucket he sees.
So, when faced with two possibilites from which you most positively cannot choose, the answer is simple (but still has 2 possiblities :)) ) : a. Either go for a third choice or b. choose the one on the right.

Why do little girls wear make up?

And walk around the house dressed in their mom's dresses and wearing incredibly big for their feet high heel shoes?

Pick thy roommates

So ok, you've packed your bags, you went to the airport, shed some tears (if there was anybody there to say good-bye and good riddens), got on the plane and flew to wherever you decided to pursue your graduate programme. Out of all the unknown or unsettled matters, one is especially important: where are you going to live? And more importantly, with whom? Now there are many alternatives to living quarters, but two stand out: either you live in the school dorms or you rent an apartment.(Psssst! If you are one of those rich guys that can afford to live by themselves, this post is NOT for you!!).
The school dorms are pretty ok, but sometimes an off-campus apartment is cheaper and nicer. If you have decided on that, one half of your task is over. What you have to do now is decide about your roommates. The basic question that arises now is this: friends or strangers? If you go with point A of the choice, it is very important that you MAKE SURE YOU HAVE LIVED WITH THOSE PEOPLE BEFORE!!! Having lunch with them everyday, sharing your secrets, talking (and agreeing) about life principles, sharing jokes and office gossip, going shopping aso is not enough! This is because in all these activities you get to see only what that/those person/persons want you to see: their outside image. You can really get to know them either by: a. going through serious or life&death situations with them or by b. seeing them in their most private moments (i.e in their den - living quarters). If you have the bad luck to have chosen friends as roommates and to see afterwards the cruel blunt truth, do not despair! There are other suckers like you! The best thing you can do (if you cannot move out) is to do the best damage control you can for your friendship. Do not let it sink (even though if you take a real deep look at it, it's really not worth it) because if you do, you apartment life will turn into a real shit :). Oh! And if your roommates were the only friends you made in that foreign country ... MAKE NEW ONES!
As days go by, I am starting to think that the best roommates are strangers. You do not know what to expect, but you have no expectations either.

Announcement

Since we finally managed to have our network installed, and it seems to be working pretty fine, I will soon start the blogs on photography as well. Cheers!

Candidate rule

I am posting this as a candidate rule because unfortunately I tested it only once. So: If you plan on pursuing a graduate programme, NEVER EVER engage in life threatening activities just before you leave your country to go to your new university. This is what I did, and I am actually proud of it, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone (I'll publish the story as soon as I can translate it into English).

Third rule

Ok, so we've been through the first and the second rule. Now the third rule (remember, these rules are numbered by their discovery process and not their importance - this could be the most important one yet! ) is this: ALWAYS put your supervisor on the cc of every email that you send to any of the school's officialities, secretaries aso. If you do not do this, you could end up like me - The saga started when I realised that in order to apply for my student pass I need to complete a form that is downloadable from a web site to which (guesss what!?) I need an account. Account that is made for me by a faculty secretary. Just that, well ... all my friends got and I didn't. So I decided to write to the respective faculty secretary. When she didn't answer to my THIRD email I thought that it would be a good idea to put my supervisor on cc. And finally!!! She answered! Saying that I am late in completing the form!!! A couple of more intelectually challenged answers to my email from the same faculty member and I am now just one click, two ie crashes and one annoying ms office assistant problem away from getting my student pass!! And I got a Joel on Software (www.joelonsoftware.com) newsletter also today! Life doesn't suck after all. I think.

Second rule

The second most important rule in order for one to complete a phd programme is this: DO NOT PANIC and DO NOT, whatever you do, LOOSE YOUR SELF ESTEEM. No, you are not an idiot because they think that you should take a "foundation in computer systems" course, a course which will most probably contain all the silly and useless things that you found out about in your first 5 years in college!! You are not a moron because you think that you will not be able to cope with all the coursework (3 graduate courses in the first semester, 4 in the second, 3 in the third, complete with one qualifier exam and one thesis proposal, with a special offer - on the house - a graduate research paper). Because you will cope. I'm sure of that. Hell, if other people did it, why can't you?! I mean ... there must have been at least a small grain of insanity when you signed up in the first place, so use that, stop complaining, forget about your life, your photographing plans, your climbing trips or whatever used to get you ticking ... and ... my friend ... STUDY!!! RESEARCH!!! And NEVER EVER think about the uselessness of the phd degree itself. Now go and get drunk. :)

First rule

The first rule of a graduate researcher that wants to have a quite, relaxed, mediocre research life is this: NEVER EVER tell your supervisor that you finished what you had to do BEFORE your supervisor asks you about it. Because if you do tell him/her that you finished ... well ... your supervisor will not say "Good on you, take the rest of the week off!" but will definetly give you something new and exciting to do :).

1984.

winston smith. brain washing. terror and dictatorship. new language to prevent thought subtleties, also literature.this would be, in very few words, the impresion i got from reading that novel. But the most terrifying thought thatcame to me while reading it was the fact that the world pictured there is not utopic, but very very possible. And theeast european communist countries are living proof of it. Whether or not whatever happened there was a poor socialist experiment, historywill tell. But what remains sure is that the communist countries had everything: a new language to portray theparty's needs, a centenial plan to be completed (whether it refered to weapons or shue laces), food and clothes rations, and last but not least the dreaded secred police. The secret police was infiltrated on every street and every block of flats (everybodyknows the communist blocks of flats that housed over a hundred people in spaces that would fulfill the needs of fifty), the agentshad to write weekly reports about what their neighbours had been doing ... and the list could go on forever. This is only a very small pictureof the world of 1984 and that of the communist countries. The resemblance between the two is striking but that is not the issue right now. In the world of 2005, even though Big Brother is just a television show, and even though there is no evident secret police and the party terror is missing, the system remains the same. People are traped in their everyday routine, are constrained by the necesity (or obsession for not so few) of making money, are tv brain washed and alone. And of course, cronically bored. People do not live. Their society sucks. Their life sucks. And when you meet somebody that seems to be really living, he's definetly on drugs :)). Winston Smith's world is realeased in a new version in 2005.