what tian has learned

2010-04-12T08:41:00.001-07:00

We have moved to:

http://tiangotlost.blogspot.com/

Kill the Dwarf, Twice

2010-02-27T14:57:00.003-07:00

In most American cities, there are always two distinctively different shopping malls. One is for White customers and the other for Blacks.

Similar to shopping malls, movies are also made especially catering to the taste of different ethnicity. (I for one never understood why Tyler Perry is so popular among the Black community.)

In 2007, Frank Oz directed an English comedy film called Death at a Funeral.

The same plot is then used in two additional movies:

Dwarf had a homosexual fling with deceased arrives at funeral to blackmail rest of the family, he gets accidental killed and dumped in casket, and problem solved.

Daddy Cool (Indian version) was made in 2009

Death at a Funeral (Black version) made in 2010:

where Peter Dinklage plays the same dwarf in both Black and White versions.

FarmVille Crop Chart Updated up to Level 36

2010-02-15T12:44:00.002-07:00

I have updated my FarmVille Crop Chart with crops accessible up to level 36. The optimal crops separated by harvest time are:

Blackberries

Ghost Chili

Sugar Cane

Green Tea

Onion

Coffee

Peas

Broccoli

Red Wheat

Water Melon

I'm with Coco

2010-01-13T11:22:00.001-07:00

http://www.yesbutnobutyes.com/archives/2010/01/im_with_coco.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conan_o%27brien#O.27Brien.2FJay_Leno_controversy

Ann Taylor LOFT

2009-12-22T21:24:00.003-07:00

Today I had the pleasure of visiting Ann Taylor LOFT in Chandler Fashion Square, while my significant other had to do gift returns.

(Here is a hint for everyone: it is a very bad idea to give and ask for clothing during holiday season, unless you can be as explicit as possible, like I wanted these Kuhl Hi-Low Cord Pants in 36x32" size and steel color from REI for US$60, which I got.)

As a guy at a woman's clothing store, the only thing I can do to kill time is to take photos of ridiculous looking over-priced clothing, and mock them here.

The Donkey Kong, extra useless pieces of fabric sewn on are homage to classic video game, where a large gorilla throws wooden barrels down the ramps.

The Neck Tumor, to create an illusion that goiter can be beautiful too, with right amount of fabric ball.

For the office and other business occasions.

The Crystal Meth, the best way to hide your drug evidence is in plain sight.

The Cinnabon, show your love for the stable food court snack at any American shopping mall, and hide your overgrown belly underneath it.

The Salmon, "take me down to the river, put me back in the water..."

FarmVille Crop Net Profit per Hour Chart

2009-12-22T20:27:00.002-07:00

Let's say you are playing FarmVille and you can't decide which crop to plant for the next harvest, or whether the crop you are about to plant is worthy the investment?

Worry no more, I have a chart for you.

This chart breaks down all crops available up to level 30 in terms of net profit per hour for each plot.

For example, you need a crop that harvests in one day, but you have got the following to choose:

Soybeans
Poinsettia (seasonal)
Red Tulips
Peppers
Sunflowers
Grapes

If you hate Soybeans because they remind you of yuppie vegetarians nagging you about carbon footprint, forget that then. Poinsettia is only seasonal, plus their pay out is only 126 coins per plot but you have to buy them at 45, that is not very good return on your money. Red Tulips and Peppers only have 8 coins per plot difference in return between the two. This is not a co-op, you will need money to make money. So, your best bet would be either Sunflowers or Grapes. Although Sunflowers may look to be a better choice because you will get 315 coins per plot, but you will have to invest 135 coin to start, the net profit after plow fee, you are only netting 165 per plot.

Grapes, 85 coins to invest, 270 coins in return, net profit 170 per plot, and that gives you a 7.4 coins per hour per plot return. (*one day in FarmVille is only 23 hours, not 24)

Here are the best crops in each harvesting time period:

4 hrs = Blackberries
6 hrs = Ghost Chili
8 hrs = Tomato
10 hrs = Green Tea
12 hrs = Carrots
16 hrs = Coffee
1 day = Grapes
2 days = Cabbage
3 days = Red Wheat
4 days = Watermelon

Ringtone / FarmVille Theme Song

2009-11-20T14:56:00.002-07:00

Who likes FarmVille?

Apparently many people. As of Nov. 2009, there are 63.7 million active users playing this real time simulation game.

I am one of them.

That is why I made this little ringtone to both annoy all the haters and inspire fellow farmers...

farmville.mp3

Fridge-Raider Strikes Again!

2009-11-12T14:11:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was turkey pesto wrap, today it is chicken pot pie!

Someone Stole Carol's Lunch

2009-11-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

Ringtone / Sinnerman by Nina Simone

2009-11-08T13:28:00.002-07:00

For a while now I have always used default ringtones in my Blackberry 8120, which is supplied by my work. The problem is when someone else in the office has same ringtone set on their phone, thus confusion ensues.

That is why I have created my own custom ringer:

sinnerman.mp3

The original song was by Nina Simone, where it has appeared in several films and product commercials. Most recognizable ones are The Thomas Crown Affair in 1999 and recently in HTC's "You" campaign commercial. I used Audacity trimmed down a remix version of the song by Felix da Housecat.

Feel free to use the song, and let me know you think or what is your current ringtone.

Patrick & Mikki's Trashy Neighbor

2009-09-27T16:53:00.004-07:00

For the longest time I have always thought the family that lives across the street from me were trashy.

According to local neighborhood gossip, for one, both husband and wife were drug addicts. Matter of fact, they met in a rehab center. Secondly, to supplement her drug habit, the wife used to be a prostitute. Last but not the least, the wife would have screaming matches with her one of her teenage daughters so loud that police were often needed to intervene.

That is nothing compared to my friend Patrick and Mikki's neighbor in Kent, WA. When I was visiting them in first week of August, I did not have an opportunity to fully appreciate just how trashy their neighbors were, so Patrick has forward me the following photo essay.

-----

So I have these special neighbors, and I try to explain their trashiness to friends and family on occasion but I just never feel like I am doing justice to the reality of their horribleness.

It all began when Mikki and I were looking at this house to rent. Wonderful house, wonderful cul-de-sac, wonderful landlord. On my first meeting with the landlord she mentioned that she didn't really know the people across the street on the non cul-de-sac side of things but she thought the woman was pregnant. Yay for us, a pregnant neighbor... Visions of built in grounds for association, shared babysitting, baby socializing, etc filled my head.

Then I met the neighbor woman; 8 months pregnant, ~35 years old with the look of a 55+ year old, barefoot in torn up booty shorts and a neon orange bikini top 2 sizes too large allowing 90+% of one boob to sag threateningly out the side, chain smoking cigarettes on her front lawn, sporting very impressive looking bilateral needle track scars from wrist to elbow and screaming bloody murder at someone inside the house. The gist of the argument was lost to the strings of haplessly combined profanity without actual content.

Later on at our house warming party we met her neighbor from the other side who asked in that "polite but fishing for true feelings" manner "have you met this family yet?" According to this neighbor (yes, hearsay) the house is a narcotics trafficking den and the woman in question runs a daytime business in which various streams of gentlemen callers visit the house for 15-60 minutes or so on a regular basis while the boyfriend is away at work. This neighbor believes there may be some ambiguous paternity involved.

So much for our hopes of neighborly baby socializing. Now, while the prostitution and drug claims are at that point just unsubstantiated gossip from another neighbor, certain independent confirmations have been forthcoming.....beginning of course with the bikini, smoking, screaming, needle track encounter. That and the several occasions of police officers showing up at their house at random hours and on 2 occasions inquiring of us whether we know anything about the occupants of that house or have seen "anything you'd like to comment on."

So today I am home sick from work with a cold Mikki was generous enough to give to both Jonathan and I this week, and our landlord just finished putting a waterproof sealant on our back yard fence after having done our beautiful deck yesterday. I decided to go outside and have a look at our newly sealed deck. Lo and behold our lovely neighbor woman is sitting in one of her fashionable ensembles on her front lawn underneath the mailbox with a lap full of mail and a mouth full of the glass pipe she is frantically sucking on and blowing large billowing clouds of pretty white smoke from. Now I did not ask her what was in this pipe but I am not putting my money on anything aromatherapy related.

At this point I ran into the house to get my camera and long lens, as I am sorely disappointed that I did not begin chronicling this walking tragedy during the chain smoking while pregnant phase of things. Alas by the time I returned the pipe had been retired from sight and did not make another appearance. The new activity was the opening a various envelopes each followed by alternating sobbing or muttered statements of "motherfucker, where is it." Meaning to be apparent forthcomingly. Having missed out on my intended photographic goal I was forced to settle for what I could get and I must admit, the photo I took does not perfectly capture the vacant glassy eyed expression, open mouthed drooling or full body trembling. I was also forced to put down the camera at this time and take up a less conspicuous presence on my deck due to the following interaction which began immediately after getting my representative photo.

In this story I will refer to the neighbor woman in question as "Crystal", her baby-daddy as "Cletus" and the fleeing gentleman caller in head to toe gangster style attire as "John". These monikers strike me as fitting plus I can't think of any friends I will offend by using their names and I have not actually bothered to learn the real names of my neighbors anyways.

Front door slams open

"Fuck this shit! I'm fucking out, I don't gotta take this fucking bullshit!" Exclaims John with exaggerated gesturing, stomping across the lawn and peeling out in his Cadillac with bumper sticker "Gangster fo Life"

Patrick quickly places camera on deck and retreats to observe from position of cover.

Cletus comes storming across lawn towards a now slightly less blurry eyed looking Crystal.

"Fuck you you fucking whore" Cletus squeals with glee, "Just because he fucking pays fo some of yo skanky ass fuckin pussy don't mean he gets to fuckin hang around all fucking day eating our fucking food and watching our fuckinig tv you nasty ass skank, why the fuck do you think I didn't even bother bringing the fucking groceries in from the car yet......at least now we can eat our own fucking food."

"Fuck you, you fat ugly fuck. At least I make any money you worthless fat fucking loser." Retorts Crystal. "Where's the fucking unemployment check you worthless piece of shit? This is the second fucking week your broke ass hasn't gotten a fucking dime."

"You're fucking one to talk you fucking skanky ass crack whore.....you didn't get any fucking money today either because you just always let that piece of shit pay for it with ice." John remarks.

Crystal makes some deep guttural noises and retires to the house taking time to kick the car, punch Cletus and pull her sagging shorts back up over the top of her even more sagging buttocks.

Cletus makes several more remarks regarding whore, bitch, cunt, skank, hoochie, used up trash bag and then proceeds to the trunk of the car.

"That's fine," he calls to the now shut front door, "I'll just bring all the fucking food in all by myself but I'll be fucked if you're eating any of it. Maybe HE can fucking come by later with a hamburger for you next time he's got a fucking hard on."

At this point the coast is clear again for me to sneak up the camera and get a couple photos of Cletus for good measure and equal coverage.

So my birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks......would anyone like to buy me a nice camo wildlife photographic blind as a present. It will be well used. Perhaps I can keep a running blog on this and someday option the story as a movie script. I am kind of wondering at what point I have enough to perhaps make a call to Children's Services or the like. I really wish I had gotten that photo of her smoking the pipe.

Presented below are the unfortunately few photographs I was able to obtain without risk of being further involved in this little scenario that I would otherwise have enjoyed.

1) Crystal having freshly retired the "ice pipe" sobs audibly while searching for the golden unemployment check.

2) Maybe what you seek is in the mail cleverly hiding from you in the box.....

3) Following the, unfortunately photographically undocumented, interactions between Crystal, John, and Cletus Cletus empties the trunk of precious groceries in preparation of rejoining his honey-bunny within the residence.

4) Cletus makes his farewell and I acknowledge thanks for the opportunity to be sick today and bear witness to such glory.

PART 2

Correction......per the officer I just spoke with, Cletus is actually the woman's 18 YEAR OLD SON (I never can keep all the relationships over there straight). Also per the officer his father was one of her former "John's" and still lives there on occasion. I think that "John" from this story is perhaps the John-father of her new baby as she left with him on foot with him carrying the baby following Altercation Part II.

So while writing the first part of this note and submitting it, John showed up again. Crystal came out of the house and handed him the baby, then proceeding to call someone to scream obscenities without much discernible meaning while John held the infant. Cletus (now identified as Crystal's 18 year old son) exited the house again and screamed at her to get the fuck back in the house and shut the fuck up, but not before kicking John the fuck off their goddamn porch. To appreciate the true richness of the quality of humanity expressed here it is necessary to go back and re-read part one and now part 2, having been given the knowledge that Crystal is Cletus' mother and Celtus is Crystal's son.

Crystal - "Fuck you you fucking lowlife" and gets up to storm off.
Cletus - "where the fuck do you think you are going with the fucking baby you whore?" gets up to block her path at this point in the neighbors driveway.

John I have to say did a very good job of just standing quietly out of the way holding the baby. In this entire interaction I cannot specifically fault John for anything aside from his terribly poor choice of company.

Crystal to Cletus: "you better get the fuck out of my fucking way or I will fucking break you."

At this point dialogue ceases. Cletus steps in Crystal's way. Crystal punches Cletus (her son) in the face. Cletus grabs Crystal's (his mother's) wrists to hold her punches at bay. Crystal kicks Cletus....again....son.....

squarely in the crotch. Cletus throws Crystal to the pavement and stands on her hair. Crystal wrenches out of the hair hold and exits stage right with John following. John dutifully stood aside to observe the above interactions and act as baby-holder.

On the one hand, they are doing all of this in front of the 2 month old baby. On the other hand the baby is probably so incredibly drug damaged at birth that it will never fully comprehend the family it was born into. Either way I don't really see any silver lining to this shit stain on the breadth of human potential.

I have shared the photos I was able to take with the responding officer. He thanks me for the photos and will mention them in his report but since I did not photograph the actual drug use or physical harm being caused to the child he cannot make arrests from my contribution. Both mother and son deny any physical altercation and without one of them making a claim of domestic abuse he does not have that legal mandate or right to make arrests. This is his 3rd time visiting them this month he reports. He is tired of coming. He suggests that if I can obtain a photo of mom holding the baby while smoking crack, or some such other evidence he would be absolutely elated to come with "a bus and put every last occupant of that house on it."

And now for your continued entertainment.....

5) John, having returned from his brief sojourn, exits the house with baby......screams of impending excitement are heard emanating from within the lair.

6) Crystal begins her phone rant.....baby squeals in excitement.

7) WASSSSSSSSSSSSUP!!!!!!!!

8) But John I'm not sure I WANT to sell my baby for an ounce of blow!!!!

9) But momma....I done told you this is the neighbor's driveway and the neighbor's Plymouth.....we aint supposed to fist fight here no more.

10) whateva boy.....I do what I wants!!!

But momma you knows how it embarrasses me so when you makes my butt crack hang all out.

11) Peekaboo baby!!!!!! Where's your mommy. Peekaboo.......MOMMY FUCKING SEES YOU BITCH!!!!!!!! And as soon as your brother lets go Mommy's gonna FUCKING CUT YOU.

2x Telephoto Lens from Digital Concepts is Horrible

2009-08-15T19:14:00.006-07:00

If you are ever tempted to purchase a 2x Telephoto lens as an add-on to Canon Powershot S5 IS, then don't get the one from Digital Concepts. Better yet, save up money and get one from Canon.

Recently I was browsing through Amazon.com and looking for telephoto lens for my Canon Powershot S5 IS. One particular from Digital Concepts was for sale via D B Roth for $24.99 plus shipping cost. Meanwhile, Canon TC-DC58B lens is $103.96.

After I received the lens from D. B. Roth, the test shot result with new lens was horrible.

In this shot above, without using the new lens, fiber from background's fabric is uniform and in focus through out the photo.

With the new lens addition, only center part of the photo is in focus and outer area is very blurry. It gets worse as further away from the center.

Update: The quality of this lens is so bad that the seller, D B Roth, has refund my money in full without even wanting it back!

from: DB Roth (dbroth.cs@gmail.com)
to: Tian
date: Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 1:45 PM
subjectRe: Return Request / Amazon Order # 002-4431303-xxxxxxx

Dear Customer,

We are sorry to hear about this issue. Please discard of the item as we have now issued a full refund back to your account.

Kind regards

Michael
DB ROTH

Pillows at Steinmart

2009-07-25T10:46:00.001-07:00

Cylindrical & spherical pillows at Steinmart.

Sunset Point Glory Holes' Glory

2009-07-07T19:36:00.003-07:00

Several years ago, the Latvian told me about Sunset Point rest area on interstate highway 17 between Flagstaff and Phoenix.

Despite its porno-esque name, it does offer a nice scenic view. It has been open since 1970, and on April 25th, 2009, Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) reopened it to public after one year and $5.2 millions worth of renovation.

So, why so much work needed to be done at this location?

Apparently Sunset Point rest area is a notorious meet-up site for homosexual men to engage anonymous sexual activities. The problem is so bad that all toilet stall's dividers had glory holes drilled through them.

Two images below were taken on Sept. 21st, 2007, just before the renovation started.

Whenever ADOT repair crew put a patch on one glory hole, gay men would drill another, as if these were homosexuals from Army Corp of Engineers.

The newly renovated restroom design has lowered toilet dividers to approximately 4.5 feet high, therefore defecator's head & upper body is exposed. Instead of sheet metal dividers, the new ones are made of solid concrete that is 6 inches thick.

Even with these two counter measures to prevent gay men from having anonymous suckie-suckie in the restrooms, some are starting to bluntly trolling in the rest area's parking lot.

I present you Homo-Rolla (Photos taken on Jun. 27th, 2009):

After a long drive to get there, legs are not the only things he will be stretching.

As he slowly passes by each cargo trucks, he would peek in and to see if anyone is interested for a homo-rolla-ride.

Fireworks at Gallup, NM

2009-06-28T14:45:00.003-07:00

It has been five years since I last drove to Gallup, NM to purchase fireworks. The Latvian and I left Phoenix, Arizona bright and early to make this 10-hour round trip pilgrimage to New Mexico. It was during the same trip five years ago that inspired me to start HanziSmatter.com.

We stopped in Bubba's Fireworks stand, which is a giant tent located in a dirt lot just north of King Dragon Chinese Buffet on Highway 491.

What is interesting about fireworks is that all of them are made in China. Even the patriotic American tanks in Stars and Stripes:

And World War III may start right here on the folding tables between China and US:

Some of the packaging are just mundane, like this Widow Maker:

Excalibur:

and National Treasure:

some are humorous and sliding towards the offensive side:

Can You Handle It? shows a large Black woman with her hair in curlers jumping out of a burning building while three firemen with looks of horror on their faces trying to catch her.

One Bad Mother-in-Law illustrates the harmonious family of a stereotypical White trailer trash.

500 Gram exploits urban blacks on low-rider bicycles displaying their assault rifles. The front man appears to have strong resemblance of Easy-E from N.W.A., Niggaz With Attitude.

Hustler, Warning: shoots flaming balls. Get it? Flaming balls.

My personal favorites are fireworks shaped to be beer mugs and bottles to entice idiots to hold them in hands:

and same time the warning labels tells them not to:

And little suicide packs from boys and girls:

What Boys are Made of, with matching What Girls Want:

Even Britney Spears is endorsing them:

Nothing says Perfect Silence than after you have blown your ear drums:

HOWTO: Optimize The Daily Show Embedded Videos

2009-06-14T17:06:00.010-07:00

One thing I am annoyed about The Daily Show embedded video option is its restriction on video's size.

For example, Boing Boing recently posted about Jason Jones visiting the New York Times on their site using the default HTML code supplied by The Daily Show/Comedy Central.

The width of Boing Boing's main column is set to 500 pixels, however the video does not fully utilize this space, rather it leaves a rectangular void.

The problem is caused by the video's default width & height setting within its HTML code, which is set at 360x301 pixels.

Also, most of the HTML code supplied is irrelevant and has nothing do to with video's function.

To optimize this, only HTML code needed is within the embed tags.

By changing the values in width & height fields, video is able to fulfill maximum column width.

In this case, the video's size increased to 400x335 pixels from its original 360x301 pixels:

Mullet at Last Chance

2009-05-30T18:05:00.003-07:00

Last Chance is a dump store specializing in selling rejected merchandise from high-end retailers at much lower prices.

Of course with lowered prices, the clientele's fashion sense is also lowered.

Geese Trapping at Chaparral Park

2009-05-28T20:22:00.003-07:00

I volunteered yesterday (as well as last week at McCormick Ranch) to help Arizona Game and Fish Department and City of Scottsdale to trap Canada Geese at Chaparral Park.

This is part of urban avian study sponsored by State of Arizona including Arizona State University, Game & Fish Department, and City of Scottsdale. By learning about the movements and population growth of the urban geese, park staff will be able to determine the most effective way to manage their presence in Scottsdale parks. These geese were first trapped, neckbands and ankle bracelets with serial numbers attached, then released.

First we lured geese into traps (which I personally helped to build) with bread like what Mike Rabe of Game & Fish Dept. is doing here.

then volunteers would push them into one of the traps placed on grassy area

Once a group of geese are inside the trap, four panels are secured with plastic zip-ties. Each panel barricade is made from two pieces of 10 ft long 1/2" diameter electric conduits bent into 6.5 x 4 ft rectangular frame with fishing net lashed in between.

Some of the geese stayed on Chaparral Lake's island needed some encouragement from volunteers in kayaks.

Once the geese have been round-up, the banding process is fairly fast.

First, determine the goose's sex by squeezing its butt ("Is that a goose in your lap or are you just happy to see me?")

Second, attach neckband, ankle bracelet, and record tracking information,

Then let them go,

Some domestic geese were at a wrong place at a wrong time and they were released without any tags.

No animals were harmed during this and previous trapping.

Photo album links:
Geese round up at Chaparral Park (Flickr & Picasa)
Geese round up at McCormick Ranch (Flickr & Picasa)

He went to Jared and got disappointed

2009-05-11T09:42:00.005-07:00

Dear Jared, The Gallera of Jewelry,

My first visit to your store yesterday, May 10th 2009, at Casa Paloma Shopping Center in Chandler, AZ was absolutely disappointing.

I arrived at the store about 1:30pm with an ESQ watch that needed battery replacement. Although the store is practically empty (5 customers including myself), the sales representative did not want to replace the battery then. Instead he wanted me to leave the watch for two days or go else where.

And elsewhere I went.

Keep in mind; this is not the first watch I owned. In the past, I have observed repairmen replaced watch batteries within minutes, certainly not "two days"!

My recent experience lead me to think this particular sales representative did not care about his action and how it would affect Jared's reputation either, therefore why is he still employed?

I would suggest an addendum to your over-hyped jiggle of "he went to Jared":

"and got disappointed".

Sincerely,

Tian

Update: May 14, 2009 -

Watch case wrench = $7.50 (including shipping from Micro-tools)

Type 371 battery = $4.31 (including tax at local Walgreens)

Never have to deal with Jared, The Galleria of Jewelry = PRICELESS!

----------

from: jaredcr@jewels.com
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Mon, May 11, 2009 at 9:51 AM
subjectRe: RQST00002019411 ; Jared.com - Contact Customer Relations

Thank you for visiting our Jared Galleria of Jewelry web site. Your message has been received and will be forwarded to our Customer Relations Representatives for response. We look forward to assisting you with your request.

You can simply reply to this Email, and your reply will automatically be associated with this request, RQST00002019411.

Sincerely,

Jared Galleria of Jewelry
Customer Relations

----------

from: jaredcr@jewels.com
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Mon, May 11, 2009 at 3:52 PM
subjectRe: RQST00002019411

Your customer service representative is: Elizabeth Whitehair
Summary: WATCH BATTERY

Dear Tian,

I would like to thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding your need for a battery replacement. Our goal is to exceed our customers' expectations, and I appreciate the opportunity to respond when there is a concern.

A copy of your complaint will be forwarded on to the Store Management as well as the District Manager for this particular location. I apologize for the inconvenience that you experienced and hope that you will allow us to provide you the service you deserve in the future.

If there is anything else I can do for you, please feel free to contact me via email.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Whitehair
Customer Relations

As Advertised at Target

2009-05-10T12:01:00.003-07:00

New and exciting savings at Target for this week only!

Save $0.09 on IAMS adult cat food, regular priced at $14.09!

Come on, Target!

We would expect this kind of shit from Wal-Mart. $0.09 off from $14.09 is not even 1% saving. Why do you even bother to waste money by price out ads and shelf labels?

Chop Fooey

2009-04-25T23:10:00.005-07:00

Mental Floss magazine, May-June 2009 issue, Page 19

This really makes me want to find out where Pu Pu Platter comes from and what is that "pow" in Kung Pow Chicken...

Ghost Character U+38F8

2009-04-15T23:33:00.006-07:00

John D. Cook at The Endeavour wrote a piece about how to shorten URL by using unicode. In one particular example, the unicode happened to be 38F8 and this is what appeared:

http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=38F8

Although Unihan.org has catalogged this character into its database, there aren't additional linguistic information.

Characters likes these are known as "ghost characters", where they only exist basing on unicode algrithm but not used in linguistic sense.

Matter of fact, Unihan Grid Index has many of these:

http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=3403

http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=351B

http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=360F

http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=208D5

Friendface

2009-04-11T11:55:00.004-07:00

I used this clip to test Flickr's video upload feature, where users can upload videos size up to 150 MB and 90 seconds in length. It was intro to Channel 4's The IT Crowd (season 3, episode 5) mocking the popular social networking site, Facebook.

Since the show's broadcast is only limited to UK, full episodes are not available on its website (unless users use an UK proxy). Channel4 did post bits and pieces of its show in YouTube.

The best resource I have found to download episodes is to use Vuze & PeerGuardian. PeerGuardian is especially useful for protecting users' privacy when downloading.

LG W1952TQ Monitor Drivers

2009-04-10T19:29:00.004-07:00

I recently purchased a LG W1952TQ monitor to replace my aging 17" ViewSonic. This monitor was on sale at Fry's Electronics for $149.99, while Amazon.com was selling it for $189.89 and $159.99 at Newegg.com.

Although the monitor did come with a CD, I was surprised to find the actual driver files themselves are not available for download from LG's website. Unless the user would also install LG's forteManager 3.xx, which is just another bloatware.

lg_w1952tq.zip

In the linked zip file above, it contains three essential driver files for W1952TQ:

W9152.CAT
W1952.ICM
W1952.INF

Remember kids, a bloatware-free PC is a happy PC.

Iron Man vs. Bruce Lee

2009-03-25T18:54:00.005-07:00

Regardless of who wins, one thing is for sure: French-Canadian filmmaker Patrick Boivin, the man behind this short clip, sure knows how to make an excellent stop motion animation!