Thinking Anew

SNOMED CT... the way forward?

2008-10-28T09:52:00.007-07:00

I'm glad my home country has decided to adopt SNOMED CT as the standard medical terminology to be used in electronic health records (EHR) [source]. Now all that learning won't be for nothing! ;)

Hopefully with worldwide adoption, SNOMED will finally be available without charge. Perhaps some day we would be able to import the extensive vocabulary into Freebase, DBPedia and/or Wikipedia.

If you're looking for a good browser for SNOMED, I would highly recommend SNOB. It's available freely and a server-based version is currently in development. SNOB allows you to browse, create subsets and displays crossmaps with other vocabulary.

I also highly recommend that you license the use of the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) in your systems if you qualify. The project was started by the National Library Museum (NLM) in 1986 and provides a centrally-managed methathesaurus plus a whole bunch of other tools including a web services API.

Blog Title Needs to Change

2008-09-20T14:27:00.004-07:00

It's unfortunate that someone decided to name their production on lesbian relationships, "I Can't Think Straight". The subject matter of this film goes against my moral standings. Hence I have decided to rename my blog. I shall now call it, "Thinking Anew".

Making My Living

2008-09-14T18:22:00.004-07:00

This photo would probably be condemned for poor technical quality, but I liked it anyway. It captures two generations of Cambodian working hard to earn their living. This picture was taken on our minivan, on the way to Tonle Sap.

Going Home

2008-09-10T18:55:00.002-07:00

I took this picture whilst touring the floating village on Tonlé Sap late in the evening. I have to assume that she was heading for home. Always a good feeling.

Simplexity

2008-09-09T18:27:00.003-07:00

I attended a seminar given by my centre's director yesterday, during which he spoke about a book he was currently reading - Simplexity. The book is supposedly about how to make complex things simple. It's next on my list of books to buy!

This picture I feel merges complexity (in the fabric designs) and the simplicity of the lady's lifestyle in a remote village. This photo was also taken during my trip to Thailand last year. The cultural village is found near the city of Chiang Rai.

Mindfulness

2008-09-08T18:06:00.004-07:00

One of the core components of Buddhist teaching is the Noble Eightfold Path. One of the guiding principles to enlightenment is Right Mindfulness, and it is about calming oneself and being aware of one's thoughts, actions or motivations. Allow me to extend this and apply it to my own beliefs, that mindfulness includes an awareness of the presence of the Almighty and His creation. For a long time now, I occasionally find myself asking this question, and awe at God's divinity.

I took this picture when visiting Chiang Mai, Thailand with my wife and her family in August last year.

My Prayer for You

2008-09-06T10:30:00.002-07:00

I took this photo while visiting a temple in Tokyo, Japan. If my memory hasn't failed me, devotees would write their prayers on paper and tie them along these poles in hope that they will be answered.

So my friend, I am not near you during this hour of need. But I pray, that your burden be eased and joy will once again enter your life.

Don't Take Everything

2008-09-05T17:33:00.006-07:00

An important lesson I learnt from master photographer Jeffrey Wong! This picture was taken in the famed Chatuchak market in Bangkok, Thailand. I was taking many pictures including this one, when my friend Jef walked over and gave me an important lessong I will always remember, "Don't take everything."

Some of the many pitfalls of digital photography includes complacency and the unseeing eye. When the price of storage is generously low, and the room for error unfathomable, our ability to selectively capture beauty diminishes.

Have you ever?

2008-09-03T18:45:00.002-07:00

Just thought for a moment... "I exist."

Cold Creations

2008-09-03T17:33:00.004-07:00

This ice structure was sculptured by Mother Nature. One of those days I was grateful that I lugged my camera up the mountain.

The River of Dreams

2008-09-01T11:12:00.004-07:00

While in Siem Reap, you have to take a boat trip on Tonlé Sap. It's a beautiful lake south of the city and leads southeast to the city of Phnom Penh then on to the Mekong River. We knew about the trip late in the afternoon, but were still able to find a boatman and his son to take us out to the lake.

Island of Dreams

2008-08-30T19:17:00.002-07:00

Sibu Island Resort (SIR) was the favourite island I loved to visit for my annual retreats. It is one of the few beach resorts lying on a cluster of island known as Pulau Sibu. SIR was the only resort on one of the islands and it's my pauper's Club Med. I enjoyed walking down to the semi-private beach where I once tried to rip apart a coconut as if I was an Orang Utan. I spent many good times and cherish memories with friends and my wife.

The small little island is where we would go to snorkel. I remember during one of my visits, the boatman left us about 50 metres from shore as it was high tide and he didn't want to risk his boat running aground on the corals. We swam against the outgoing currents to reach the shore. It was then that we met a guy from East Malaysia, and he caught a really large squid that day. He took it back and had the chef make a tasty grilled-squid dinner. He was really kind and shared with us his feast.

I wish I could turn back time... so much has changed. Pain and suffering had crept in.

Anyway, since it is also the National Day weekend for Malaysians, I dedicate these fond memories to my friends across the causeway (some in Singapore). Merdeka!

Lonely Boy

2008-08-29T18:33:00.003-07:00

This picture was taken outside of where we stayed during our trip to Siem Reap. We just had our dinner and were on our way back to the guesthouse when I saw this guy sitting on the roof of the opposite building; watching and waiting as Mother Earth drew her curtains.

I used this picture a lot whenever I felt lonely, but perhaps it is more deserving. There's a time to "act" and left for the day. When evening comes, we go into silent contemplation and reflection. That's what it should portray!

Why does dawn symbolise hope while dusk is often associated with despair? I have always enjoyed sunsets, they remind me of rest that I desire.

Sunset in Kaslo

2008-08-26T18:35:00.003-07:00

Lakewood Inn is perhaps the most memorable stop we made on our nine day journey. First, we got lost. Yes, for the first time in the entire trip, my Garmin 60CSx failed me. But not that the GPS wasn't any good. It is still the best navigation device I have used so far. The problem was with the maps. Lakewood Inn was so remote that even the townsfolk in Kaslo did not know of its existence.

Fortunately, a quarter solved our problems. We called and our host gave us general directions on how to get to the inn. And so we backtracked and headed down a steep winding dirt track that eventually brought us to our destination. Phew.

It's the kind of lakeside resort that gives you the creeps (Crystal Lake feeling), but yet had so much peace and tranquility suitable for a restful vacation. There was no communication with the outside world except at the owner's home.

If you are in need for a real vacation, I would strongly recommend Lakewood Inn.

Dawn Breaks Over Medicine Lake

2008-08-25T20:28:00.003-07:00

This picture was taken during my road trip in 2006. We woke up early during our two days stay in Jasper to try and catch sunrise in the mountains. Here as dawn breaks over the mountains, a strong warm beam casts its light on the trees growing along the banks of Medicine Lake.

The Last Beacon

2008-08-24T20:07:00.004-07:00

This picture was taken at Porteau Cove on our way to Whistler. A spider had spun a fine web just next to the lamp, giving the feeling of age and abandonment. The lone lamp with the blue sea as a back drop acts like a beacon, hence I entitled this picture "The Last Beacon".

Thing of the Past?

2008-08-23T21:03:00.005-07:00

This picture was taken at protest march staged by Dr Chee Soon Juan and his supporters, during the International Monetary Fund/World Bank Annual Meeting 2006 that was held in Singapore. These "protesters" were recently charged for their willful disobedience of Singapore's strict laws against public assemblies. In the coming days, we may see some amendments to these rules after a rousing National Day Rally speech by Prime Minster Lee Hsien Loong.

Disclaimer: I took this photo as a record of events that I believe belongs to Singapore's history. It does not support any political parties/agendas or represent my political views.

Keeping It Clean

2008-08-22T17:50:00.005-07:00

This is one of my favourites, even though some might disagree with the framing, blur and noise. Here it reminds me of the people who have taken the less glamorous vocation of cleaning the streets, and how they have kept Singapore "Clean and Green".

Lonely Hope

2008-08-21T18:21:00.004-07:00

Yellow is frequently used to symbolise hope and gray is commonly associated with stormy periods. It reminds me of how I often felt and sometimes still do, and I had a Barry Manilow song to help me get through.

Fill My Cup

2008-08-20T17:42:00.003-07:00

This was another picture taken in Chinatown, Singapore. We were at a Hindu temple taking snapshots of worshiper on the sunny weekend. There was this cute little boy running around drinking goat's milk. Before this photo was taken, he was busy posing for us photographers wannabes. Later, her ran to this lady (I assume that's his grandma) and asked for more milk.

The caption for this photo inspired me to find an old hymn on Imeem, and here's what I found...

Yellow Meat Guarantee

2008-08-19T18:19:00.003-07:00

A taste of home. I didn't realise I had this picture in my stash. This was taken for my Street Photography course assignment. A group of us spent the afternoon and evening in Singapore's Chinatown taking pictures. Funny... I wonder what other meat colours can you find in durians. Pink?

A Helping Hand

2008-08-18T18:32:00.002-07:00

I took this photo from a coach shuttling us from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, our next and final destination. We were passing one of the rural villages along the banks of the Tonlé Sap when I saw these two ladies packing their personal belongings atop a minivan. The misty effect is not the result of any camera tricks but because the photo was shot through a glass window.

Infinite Chains

2008-08-17T10:37:00.003-07:00

In one of the rooms on the ground floor of Tuol Sleng, shackles used to chain prisoners are hung in rows that provides a grim remembrance of how many victims were tortured and kill on this compound.

Finding Myself in Vancouver

2008-08-16T21:37:00.002-07:00

Here's one more from the Granville Island photoshoot. It was one of the reasons why I wanted to move out of my comfort zones.

Trapped

2008-08-15T19:09:00.005-07:00

Today's my friend and colleague's last day at iCapture, so I thought I post something different and dedicate it to our friendship. This series of photograph was taken at Granville Island, a TFCD shoot with Sally. There were three photographers that day: Byron, my sister and I.

The Room

2008-08-14T20:35:00.002-07:00

This is one of the rooms used to imprison the innocent. The chains shackled the detainees in the cramp makeshift walls. The size of this cell was already considered a luxury.

Green Pastures

2008-08-13T17:49:00.003-07:00

These photos were taken as a record of prisoners who were imprisoned, tortured and killed. This is one of many boards that captures the images of these men, women and children who were murdered by pure insanity.

You will find many close up photos of these victims here. Looking at them brings me tremendous sadness as I recall the many stories of pain that hung on the top floor of this savage building that used to be a school.

Till today, I remember the story about a woman engineer who answered Pol Pot's call to rebuild the Angkor empire. She was trained in developing irrigation systems and quickly left her village so that she could help develop water systems that could help bring back the golden era where padi fields were bountiful. Little did she know that she would be sent to her death.

Can such cruelty and injustice exist?

Sadly and painfully... yes.

The Bed

2008-08-12T18:25:00.005-07:00

A bed is always considered a place to rest, a place of comfort. But in Tuol Sleng, this was exactly the opposite. The picture hanging on the wall was taken shortly after Vietnamese troops liberated the city. The bed and instruments of torture were used for the most unthinkable reasons.

The Burning Bush

2008-08-11T19:16:00.004-07:00

The tree, evening glow and streaming clouds gave an impression of a fiery forest. The picture was taken in Kaslo, BC.

Determination or Desperation?

2008-08-10T17:08:00.009-07:00

This picture was taken at protest march staged by Dr Chee Soon Juan and his supporters, during the International Monetary Fund/World Bank Annual Meeting 2006 that was held in Singapore.

Disclaimer: I took this photo as a record of events that I believe belongs to Singapore's history. It does not support any political parties/agendas or represent my political views.

Despair

2008-08-09T09:25:00.002-07:00

This picture is self-describing. The pile of bones and rags were left there deliberately as a testimony to the horrible crimes committed.

Learning

2008-08-08T20:38:00.002-07:00

This being an auspicious day (888), I shall post a more palatable snapshot of Cambodia.

We visited Siem Reap after spending 2 days in Phnom Penh, during which, we visited the famous temples of the great Angkor empire. Despite my fear of heights, I decided to join my friends in scaling to the top of Angkor Wat, and I was really glad I did. I found this scene of a professional photographer (inferred from the D2X strap and her request for a signed model release) conversing with two monks. I assumed she was on a photo assignment.

What makes this my favourite photo taken during my trip to Cambodia, was the humility to learn portrayed in this setting. Let me attempt not to sound too prejudice... the couple appeared to be from a first world country, while the monks were obviously from a much poorer and less developed nation. Even so, the lady photographer found it necessary be seated at a lower position as she listened attentively to her "teachers". Remarkable!

Blood Memories

2008-08-07T18:06:00.010-07:00

When we arrived at Choeung Ek, many little kids came to greet us with offers to pose in front of our cameras. You would hear their pleading voices saying, "Kamera, kamera, one, two, three smile." And, "1 dollar, 1 dollar". We had learnt that these kids were often victims of syndicates exploiting the little ones to beg for the tourist dollars. And I guess that's why I was very reluctant to take up any of their offers. Besides, if you obliged one kid, a flock soon follows.

In the middle of the Killing Fields site stands a structure known as the Stupa. Interestingly, this is what a stupa is supposed to be:

A stupa (from Sanskrit and Pāli: m., स्तूप, stūpa, literally meaning "heap") is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics--once thought to be places of Buddhist worship--typically, the remains of a Buddha or saint. [source]

But for this great monument, skulls, bone fragments, clothes, sandals etc., are placed on wooden shelves as a testimony to the horrible crimes that happened on this bloodied soil. At the entrance of the stupa, there's a small urn for placing joss sticks offered for the dead.

Being there, and even now, it all seemed so surreal. How could men be so capable of such atrocities? Men, women and children brutally beaten to death and thrown into pits to die. But sadly, it is real.

Peek in the Past, Look to the Future

2008-08-06T17:53:00.003-07:00

Perhaps some of you might recall that I was using this title as my MSN Personal Message together with this photo as an icon. This picture was also taken from within the minivan that was bringing us to Choeung Ek.

The full caption I had in mind actually consists of three parts, but for brevity I decided on only using the first and last phrases. Here's what the picture attempts to portray:

1. Peek in the Past - I was seated in the middle on the first row, and had a perfect view of the road ahead. It was hot and sunny that day, so whilst we sat in the van, we had the curtains blocking out most of the sunshine, hence giving this high contrast view through the windshield. The vehicle had just turned from a well-paved asphalt road, onto a dirt track as we made our way to the Killing Fields. There were no road dividers, and you can see oncoming motorbikes and bicycles sharing the narrow path. Looking out, you can also see zinc-roofed timber houses that were a stark contrast from the brick an mortar buildings in the heart of Phnom Penh.

2. Dwell in the Present - The three of us were shaded in the comfort of the minivan and kept cool with modern day innovations such as the air-conditioner!

3. Look to the Future - It was a long journey and we were anxious to arrive at our destination. The narrowing perspective of the road also gives a feeling of the "light at the end of the tunnel".

Exposing My Toast

2008-08-06T15:13:00.009-07:00

A special request from stan, here are the codes...

Python script to query Freebase [download]:

from django.utils import simplejson
from freebase.api import HTTPMetawebSession, MetawebError

mss = HTTPMetawebSession('www.freebase.com')

print 'Content-Type: application/x-suggestions+json; charset=UTF-8'

form = cgi.FieldStorage()
queryString = form['q'].value

try:
 results = mss.search(queryString, 'false', '10', '0', 'html')
 suggestions = [queryString]
 terms = []
 for result in results:
     terms.append(result.name)
 suggestions.append(terms)
 print simplejson.dumps(suggestions)
except Exception:
 print "<An error occured.>"

Additions to freebase-python API (session.py) [download]:

def search(self, _query, _strict, _limit, _start, _escape):
 """search Freebase"""
 service = '/api/service/search'

 self.log.info('%s: %s',
               service,
               Delayed(logformat, _query))

 r = self._httpreq_json(service, form=dict(query=_query,strict=_strict,limit=_limit,start=_start,escape=_escape))

 return self._mqlresult(r)

Please feel free to point out any areas that I can improve. I'm still trying to resolve the issue whereby the suggestions do not return quickly enough.

Note: The text is truncated at the end. I will post a link to the source codes later. My apologies. [Updated] Download links now available.

Pagoda of Enlightenment (Wat Phnom)

2008-08-05T17:45:00.007-07:00

This majestic Wat (pagoda) was one of the first landmarks we visited when we arrived in Phnom Penh. The weather was hot, humid and we had just settled in. Hardly a good start to our adventure.

Before visiting the temple, we each had a USD1 meal that included a plate of "nasi goreng" (Cambodian-style) and a huge fresh coconut. After lunch, we walked up the stairs to visit the temples that were built atop the same hill. Whilst taking pictures and enduring the warm afternoon, an english-speaking local guide walked over and offered to show us around. We knew what this meant: a huge tip was to follow.

Strangely, my worldly-wise friend decided to take up his offer and hence, we spent most of the afternoon walking around, appreciating the architecture and listening not so attentively to the stories the guide was sharing with us. I was preoccupied with snapping pictures and was hardly paying any attention to him. Although I did learnt that head of a Buddha statue was buried under the concrete dome. The statue head was recovered by Lady Penh who later erected the hilltop temple to house it. The capital city was also named in her honour.

After our mini-tour, he brought us to a nearby drink stall to cool down from the heat. There the killer question came - how much? It didn't turn out too expensive, only USD10. Seven dollars for his time, and 1 dollar for each can of coke we drank. I just didn't like the feeling of being suckered.

But while we were seated chatting with him. He suddenly told us about how he planned to live his life. It had all the hallmarks of a practising buddhist and I deeply admired his simplicity. He was a tourguide by profession. He had been doing outbound tours previously, be recently changed to inbound tours such as the one we just had. And when he has earned enough, he wanted to travel the world. After he is satisfied, he planned to return and settled down - wife, kids etc. Then he would school his kids and watch them grow up. Then when he's old, children are all grown up, he'll daily sit out in his backyard and await his death.

That short time we had conversing about his life made every cent count.

Another physical milestone

2008-08-04T18:18:00.007-07:00

... and a picture to celebrate the breath-taking moment (something we lacked at that point in time).

Here's an earlier photo of Cypress Lake at an elevation of 802 metres.

Rift

2008-08-04T16:43:00.004-07:00

I took this picture in 2006, whilst travelling with two friends in Cambodia. We were on our way to the Choeung Ek, better known as the Killing Fields. It was a really hot day, but I guess these Cambodian kids were used to it. I wasn't too sure what was going on, but I snap this shot from the minivan.

Thoughts about this photograph came only after I returned home to Singapore and worked on processing my huge stash of images from my trip. This picture signifies many conflicts we know of; we turn our backs to each other and cross murky barriers. Sometimes we use tools that lead to bloodshed. Aren't there better ways to resolve our differences?

Blueberry Picking

2008-07-28T20:58:00.006-07:00

Spent a half a day touring Pitt Meadows, and here are some pictures to share. Hope they'll get you salivating!

Okay nothing to drool about. It took a bit of courage for me to be near bees. One actually landed on my hair and I quickly swiped it off. Lucky for me, that did not agitate it enough to release pheromones and marked me a target. I have never liked being near bees even though I love honey - absolutely no correlation. When I was in primary school - when Fuzziebrain was a small young boy - I witness a classmate getting stung and crying real badly. That was after another classmate threw a stone at the nest. Boys will be boys, ya?

So you'll never catch me trying this silly stunt. Anyway, we paid $2 each to enter the Dr Bee carnival, so I thought I better make picture sense. This needed a little more courage to walk up close to get a better shot of Dr Bee growing his Bee Beard. Took him quite a while to thicken his beard. He had placed a queen bee in a bottle and attached it round his neck like a necklace. His helper then threw the bees on to his chest, and they gradually coaxed the bees to cluster around the trapped queen. Lots of bees buzzing around me, but I'm glad I got this shot.

Dr Bee closeup! Checkout the flapping wings!

Now for the more interesting part of the day. We spent a few hours at a blueberry farm. 5 of us trawling rows of blueberry shrubs and picking every large bluish fruit and putting them in our plastic bags and pails. And while we picked, we ate.

In all, we collected 11 pounds of blueberry and a small bag of strawberries, which the farm owner gave it to us for free. We paid $1.50 per pound. But it was worth it. Not so much about the fruits, but the time spent with my family.

Freshly toasted!

2008-07-25T21:47:00.003-07:00

I have made a small but significant change to the Freebase Search Plugin I was working on a while ago. I have moved the suggest script over to Google App Engine and should perform a little faster and will be more reliable in the long term (as long as Google does not start charging me exorbitant fees to run the script). It is my first foray into the world of Python, so please forgive me for any petty bugs that might exist in the code.

The script uses the Freebase Python Client API with some modifications. I added an additional method that utilises the Freebase search API. I'll be happy to share with anyone interested in the changes I have made. Just drop me a comment.

Meanwhile, try out the plugin and let me know what you think. Better still, contribute to the social knowledge base and make this an even more useful tool for everyone.

Freebase

2008-05-12T21:52:00.004-07:00

To help promote awareness and use of Freebase, I have made a search plugin for use with Firefox. You can install it from this link [Updated] link.

For those of you who have not been introduced to Freebase, you may find this FAQ really useful. But in a nutshell, Freebase is a public collaboration to build a structured knowledge base akin to Wikipedia. Other similar projects include DBPedia and OpenCyc. You can find my profile here.

O Twine me...

2008-05-02T20:53:00.003-07:00

My application to participate in the Twine beta was approved recently. There are introductions written about Twine [1] so I won't spend time trying to explain what it is. But the feedbacks that I've read recently have been mostly unfavourable [2, 3].

I'm not a fan of too many wannabes, but I think Twine has much to offer (I might be biased). Through the contributions from like-minded Semweb enthusiasts, I have learnt a bit more about the Semantic Web and many related topics. There are other topics that I have subscribed to, e.g. Adobe Flex , Artificial intelligence, Intelligent Agents and many more that you can subscribe to and share your knowledge. I have started two twines on Game theory and Data Privacy, and you are most welcome to join me if you are already a beta participant.

As a Twine member, I am given the opportunity to invite more users to the community. After a first round of offer to friends and colleagues, I still have quite a number of invites on hand. If you are keen to explore Twine, please leave a comment on my blog and I will get in touch with you as soon as possible. I will try my best to give out as many as I can, but please understand that I have only a limited number of invitations to send.

Accepted...

2008-04-27T18:07:00.002-07:00

Woohoo... I recently received notification that one of my photos was accepted for publication in Schmap. It isn't as exciting as to have your paper well-received by a esteemed research journal, but satisfying all the same. This picture was taken in Christopher Columbus Park, Boston, while Dr K and myself were walking the Freedom Trail.

A Summary of Web Things

2008-03-31T20:52:00.013-07:00

I have always been fascinated by new technology, and I was very happy to have had the opportunity to participate in the Web 2.0 initiative at Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP), School of Information Technology (SIT). In preparation for the Workplan 2007/2008, staff from all ranks were encouraged to brainstorm and share ideas in bringing Web 2.0 technologies to SIT; through teaching, working and project development for the school's industrial partners. This was very much in the spirit of the collaborative web. So kudos to the management for its staff engagement focus.

So allow me to take stock of my Web 2.0 journey in NYP. A picture paints a thousand words, so I have illustrated a summary of what communities I have joined and contributed:

The Web 2.0 technologies and communities have been grouped in eight different categories. Some of them have been described in my earlier post. This is not an exhaustive list of communities out there. The check marks indicate sites that I have a user account or technologies that I have used. I am also currently actively contributing content/data to some of these.

So what's next? R/WW seems to have the answer... do they? You decide.

| View | Upload your own

For me, the next Internet Age will definitely see the importance of sharing data in a form palatable for machine consumption, collaborating and publishing ontologies that make sense and relations of linked data; and agents that can make assertions and decisions on behalf of humans.

It hasn't been easy

2008-03-22T16:05:00.006-07:00

These past few weeks have been the hardest. First I found out that one of my best friends is gravely ill. Then Cocoa left us this morning. It was totally unexpected. Only yesterday did we all go out for a stroll, basking in the little sun we have had, and showering in what we thought was snow.

I took this picture of her at the end of our walk, and that's how she'll be remembered.

Windows 2008, here I come!

2008-03-07T17:38:00.002-08:00

This is way cool. Easycgi has migrated my website from a Windows Server 2003 platform to a 2008 version with IIS 7.0. All that was done within 24 hours of my request. Now that is service!

Maybe this weekend I should get started on the new OS and to explore its features, even though I only have a year to do so. I just completed one course on server virtualization with 3 more to go. If you're interested in learning more about the latest server OS, there are a few courses and books that are currently offered free on Microsoft Learning.

Post conference blues

2008-03-05T21:16:00.003-08:00

Not that I missed the conference much... but I'm having a really lousy throat made worse after I walked 3km yesterday. Funny, sometimes the best way to get around town is on foot!

The Launch wasn't all that great. The location was a little too small for comfort. The halls were okay, but the common areas and partner exhibition areas were too tight. It was really hard getting around and even worse trying to get my lunch.

The sandwich I had was pretty okay. Cold turkey hams, lettuce, mayonnaise, honey mustard and buns. I couldn't ask for much since this was a no-cost event and marketing budgets seem to be tighter these days. But I had a good time eating my bun on the balcony. You couldn't do this in Singapore without feeling the discomforts of heat and humidity. The air is fresh as Westin Bayshore was located along the harbour front.

I was most disappointed by the complimentary copies of Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 and Windows Server 2008. The licenses issued were only good for a year after your first installation. That makes me worry about using it at all. But you know what, I'll probably find sometime to evaluate the new server software. After all, I really need to have a server or 64-bit OS to fully utilize the excess RAM I have in my computer now.

But more importantly, what did I learn?

A few more tips and tricks about using Visual Studio 2008.
That Windows Hyper-V is actually running on SUSE.
Different methods for virtualisation.
Identifying the User Group leaders in Vancouver and meeting them face-to-face.
Not all MS experts can answer what Microsoft is doing for the Semantic Web (I mean, I couldn't find one. The chump just shrugged and said, "Don't know."). My English must have sucked. Too much powder. Duh.
SQL Server 2008 is still not ready, and so is Hyper-V.
SP1 will make Vista closer to what consumers want in an operating system.
A lady photographer (I can't remember her name) was commissioned by Microsoft to take pictures of IT heroes from 18 different countries.

Nevertheless, I am grateful to Microsoft for organizing the event. A little more knowledge is always good. Thanks for the freebies and lunch. But I really hope you guys can think of other ways to make software more affordable. And please, give us a feature to deactivate our copy of Windows so that we can do a re-installation without needing to call your hotline and feel like a pirate.

It's been a while

2008-03-03T20:49:00.004-08:00

I just came across an interesting site with a very different perspective on the Web 2.0: The Drama 2.0 Show. Isn't it good to read the alternative opinion on your pet subjects?

They were recently critical of Data Portability, and how it's a useless endeavour by a bunch of techno-elites. To be fair, the Internet that is now so much a part of our lives, was only possible because of these tech geniuses. So cut them some slack ya?

However, I cannot disagree with them that the ability to move around one's personal data has a general following. The demand for human consumption of portability is pale, and the usefulness in LinkedData remains a necessity for software agents and data integration. Basically... no one cares.

One of other poser requires deeper thoughts: just how can I prevent others from adding links to me without my consent? How much entropy exists in such data links? And how much cost is paid for in reduced privacy? I am particularly interested in quantifying the level of privacy available in a set of published data. If you have any good resources to get me started, I'll be most grateful if you could point me the direction.

Btw, it seems there will be a Singapore launch event for Microsoft Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008. Thanks to Mokkie for sharing the information. You can register here here.

Microsoft Launch Party

2008-01-15T17:22:00.001-08:00

Yeah! I finally get the chance to attend the launch events for Microsoft's 2008 products. These include Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008. In case you haven't already registered, here's the website for the launch events held worldwide. Strangely, Singapore does not appear on the list. This reminds me of how Oracle stopped holding developer events in Singapore after 2000. For Singaporeans, the nearest venue you can attend the conference is in Kuala Lumpur. That shouldn't be too expensive.

Busy Busy Busy

2008-01-11T22:52:00.001-08:00

That's what it has been for me this past week. To kick off my week, I had a fantastic haircut and now I am feeling so much better without long trains behind my ears and on my neck. I guess the only time that I deliberately wanted to keep my hair long was back in 1993 - pre-enlistment times. Ya know... would you?

Anyway, I have been busy trying to grapple with some new stuff, geeky stuff. Ya, and I had fun. So here's a gist of what I have been toying around with the whole week:

Longwell - a software written by the good people at MIT for browsing RDF data.
Freebase - a collaborative effort to compile knowledge similar to Wikipedia, but with greater structure.
Freebase-suggest - is an AJAX library for auto-completion using the Freebase dataset.

And for this weekend, I need to work on a PHP-based search engine for an intranet portal. Remnants of a past project that urgently needs some upgrade. So that will occupy my weekends. And yes, I need to work on my website too. I spent some lunch time today brushing up on my CSS, at the same time, working out a skeletal view of my website. And I should think it will be ready in a few weeks time. It better!

Train rides have been rather fruitful for me this past week. Last Friday, I picked up two books from Chapters: Dangerous Ground and First Team: Fires of War. Both authored by Larry Bond. I have a few other novels published by him, and I really enjoyed reading them. I guess I really like fictitious full-blown war scenarios such as Red Phoenix and Vortex. Larry also co-authored Red Storm Rising with Tom Clancy. If I remember correctly, I read this novel over 3 times. The other books that I have are Cauldron, Day of Wrath and The Enemy Within. Only when composing this post did I find out that Larry has his own series called "First Team". Well it seems I bought the 3rd part of the series and might have to source the other 2 and the 4th to be published soon. If you have read Red Storm Rising and you haven't read Larry's books, then I'd suggest that you start. ;)

Amazon.com Widgets

Reconciliation and God's Gifts

2008-01-01T11:32:00.000-08:00

Each year, there was always some saying or teaching from Father Scott at St. Clare's that I would remember for a long time. In 2006, when I visited Canada during Fall, I remembered his sermon and key message: "What would Jesus do?"

In his New Year Eve's Mass yesterday, he ended the service talking about the show Evan Almighty. Evan asked for God to change him, but God gave him opportunities to change instead. The underlying message is that God doesn't always answer our prayers in the way we want it.

A while ago, I asked for God for the gift of reconciliation. And instead of answering my prayer in the way I expected Him to, He brought me reconciliation with someone I haven't spoked to for a decade. That cheered my heart so much, and I move to the new year with greater hope and happiness.

Goodbye 2007, Hello 2008

2007-12-31T17:11:00.000-08:00

A year of change indeed! I shall end the year's post with pictures of Adrian Junior!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2007-12-27T14:10:00.001-08:00

The first thing I would like to do is to wish readers a Merry Christmas (I know it's a bit late) and a Happy New Year! I've been delayed in updating my blog because I was busy with many things at home.

(1) I have been fixing up the furniture we bought from Ikea. We managed to get a steal on some shelves. So that's a lot of screwing and knocking for the past week. Well... just as soon as I clear up the rubbish from the garage, I'd really like to get a snapshot cos I'm really proud of what I accomplished. Ya ya... I know... EGO!

(2) My computer that accompanied me from Singapore, died last Saturday. I had to salvage the situation by purchasing a new system since I couldn't really figure out what's wrong. The motherboard seemed to be frying every single graphics card fitted on it. So I'm now posting from my Windows Vista (yes I happen to like the UI), running on my dream machine - a Quad-core!!! I'll be installing a Linux 64-bit OS this week, as soon as I can complete all the necessary software installation for daily use. I still need to finish up my SimpleViewer album editor application and my website. :(

(3) I spent several nights rushing on a Christmas card application for my friends. I will write more on it in a separate post. But here's the output:

Since I started hosting with Easy CGI, this is the first time that I've really used the ASP.NET support. And thankfully, I could accomplish the task just before Christmas... PST!

(4) And finally, we were celebrating Christmas at home by roasting a 6kg turkey. Yummy. We were led by our chief cook SF. Who also managed a nice marble cake for breakfast everyday!

We're just so glad that we had a our first White Christmas. It started snowing on Christmas morning, and it hasn't stopped. Apparently, it'll probably snow for the rest of this year.

With the snow comes the need to shovel the pavements and driveway. So I donned my favourite aviator's cap and set out to plough the snow. SF says I looked like a

Making it easier to change your hosts file on Vista

2007-12-14T22:22:00.001-08:00

I many people are having problems editing their hosts file on Microsoft Vista. So I have written a simple application that helps you launch a notepad with the necessary elevated rights to edit your hosts file. Please download the installer from here. Or if you prefer, you may wish to inspect the source code and build the binaries yourself.

It isn't rocket science. The console application simply forks a process to execute notepad with elevated rights to edit your hosts file. This issue arises because of the new security features built into Vista (User Access Control or UAC). There is a manifest file that specifies that the application requires administrative rights.

Hope it's useful to you.

No updates?

2007-12-12T20:37:00.000-08:00

Not that. My shipment finally arrived from Singapore. Did you know? You can track ship movements at this website. All I needed was the name of the ship. Anyway, I had nothing better to do, and decided to plot its path using Google Maps! It was a manual effort to keep the path updated. Perhaps next time I should write some code to make it more useful. ;)

Anyway, I'm just glad that most of our life has arrived in Canada. And I'm finally more calm and adjusted... I think. I have been busy writing a little C# program to help me create online photo albums using SimpleViewer. Right now it's 70% completed. And I should be hosting it online on my website really soon. But because of this little distraction, it seems my website will not have a new look come Saturday. Too much stuff to settle at home.

After I'm done with the program, I should be blogging a little more on some tips and tricks that I came across whilst developing programs. These are common problems and solutions, and are probably usable in other projects. So in the spirit of knowledge sharing (and for me to remember what I've learnt), I should put them up on my blog.

"It's not like you died or something."

2007-12-05T20:05:00.000-08:00

I remember a dear friend saying that to me be just before I left Singapore. And perhaps many friends don't understand why I take my goodbyes so seriously. And here's one I missed. I remember seeing him in church a few weeks before I left Singapore. But it didn't occur to me to bid farewell.

This morning, I woke to a heavy heart when I received news that Bro C has passed on. I never had the opportunity to know him well. But like Bro J's passing, it hits home, somehow. It's too late to say goodbye now, and to think the last thing I did for him was sending a goose on Superpoke.

And that's why I made it a point to say a good farewell to everyone who mattered to me. As it is written in the Gospel (Matthew 23:42), "Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come." We really do not know when's the last time we will meet. It's not ours to know.

But I shouldn't be sad. In fact, I think I should be uplifted and inspired with his life story. Reading through the wall posts on his Facebook profile, I deeply admire the kind of person that he was. It's not how you died, but how you lived.

Till we meet again my friend.

World AIDS Day 2007

2007-12-01T19:30:00.001-08:00

"The agony of this disease is punishment enough."

A long time

2007-11-27T18:14:00.000-08:00

Oh well, it seems like my blog updates are loosing momentum. Not that I'm too busy, but because I'm too lazy. Sidetrack... a while ago, I received an email newsletter with a very interesting topic on "What If You Wrote A Blog Post, And No One Read It?". That set me pondering over what I write and who wants to read them. Right now, I'm just rattling for fun and just to keep some memories of my time in Canada. So I do hope you enjoy catching up on what I'm doing and the little techie stuff that I put up just to remind myself of little tweaks and solutions.

So what's been going on for me over these past few days? To kick off, SF made a nice orange cake for me to cut on 20th November.

She's cute in every way.

And skilled in culinary arts (she made dao sa piah that was delicious).

On Sunday morning, it was strangely warm enough for SF to say, "Let's go out for a walk!" And so we did. Along the way, we snap a few photos including the woods that's just around the corner. We also took photos of this humongous detached house just up the slope where we live. If you're interested, it's on sale (at the time when the picture was taken)!

And oh, I must say this... it snowed, yesterday! Okay, I'm getting excited over nothing. But seriously, I wonder how I'm going to cope walking the steep slopes covered in snow. It's a matter of time before I find out. This morning, whilst on the West Coast Express (that's how I get to work), I noticed the mountains on the north-side of Vancouver was now covered in snow. It must have been a harsh winter night.

SF took a video of the snowfall, so if you're keen to watch it, please drop me an email/comment. I have it on YouTube.

Visual Studio Express 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5 now ready for download

2007-11-19T11:02:00.001-08:00

I have been anxiously waiting for it's release since the announcement this month. I'm glad the wait is over, and Visual Studio Express 2008 was made available way ahead of schedule.

Download now:
1. Visual Studio Express 2008
2. .NET Framework 3.5 (Final)

All I need now is for my web-hosting provider Easy CGI to provide the necessary framework support. Yay!

Taxiway lights

2007-11-18T21:56:00.000-08:00

So besides making tables and cupboards, we bought for the house, a set of 10 solar-powered landscape lights to brighten the driveways and walkways.

Nice ya?

Anyway, after beautifying the house, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice evening BBQ. The resident Bak Gua (肉干) chef:

We froze our butts off trying to BBQ at near zero degrees. But we couldn't help but fully utilise the fine sunny weather we had today! See how delicious our pork patties turned out?

Mmm...

It's been a week...

2007-11-18T21:48:00.000-08:00

Since I last posted... and a month since I arrived in Canada. Not that I was busy, but really because I was lazy. I had quite a lot happening this week, but didn't have the energy to write my blog. Work, commuting, constructing furnitures, cleaning up dishes and reading up on Drupal... quite a bit of energy sucked out this short work week.

Over the long holiday last weekend, we went for another two Geocaches in Coquitlam. We found both caches successfully but couldn't sign the second as it was soaked (see inset).

And... on Thursday, we had a birthday celebration! We had DQ's Reese cake, and it was... EXCELLENT!

No prizes for guessing who the Birthday kid was!

And, this being a very distorted society, Man must have the strength to slaughter cows and ICE CREAM cakes. So who's the garang hero to part the cake? ME! Notice how the fun became real effort. Next time I need to use an ice pick.

An eventful Saturday... finally!

2007-11-11T00:04:00.001-08:00

Given an extra holiday this weekend, we decided to make a fresh trip to Brackendale [map]. We had hoped for a better chance at catching the bald eagles feeding and taking shelter at the Eagle Run. But one of the locals told me that their numbers peaked to about 300 only in December. And that's when we plan to make a second attempt this year. So here's a little photolog of our short day trip.

Photo (1): SF gets trapped by Cocoa at a camping site in Garibaldi Provincial Park.

Photos (2 & 3): Seagulls in flight. They were hunting for salmons swimming in the cold rushing waters below.

Photo (4): And this is my well-rewarded picture after countless attempt at snipping photos of a bald eagle perched on a tree across the stream.

Photo (5 & 6): We made a stop to view Shannon Falls.

Photo (7): We made a planned stop at Porteau Cove [map] - a divers' haunt as there is a ship wrecked for their leisure. But we were here to hunt terrestrial treasures. This would be my first Geocache find upon returning to Canada this year. More to come I hope!

Photo (8): I made the find, hooray! But the cache was very well-sealed.

Photo (9): And as usual, you can see the "gian" look!

Photo(10): The last picture I would like to share was taken at a uptown district pier in North Vancouver. It's entitled "Going Home".

Getting JBoss Seam to redirect SSL requests for development environments

2007-11-08T12:41:00.001-08:00

Add the navigation namespace and schema location to components.xml.
Add the tag to configure HTTP and HTTPS ports.

Example: <navigation:pages port="8080" port="8443">

2007-11-07T23:00:00.001-08:00

There, I finally found the time (and courage) to take a photo of our feeble Halloween decorations. What I couldn't include was the hideous laughter that we played to scare the kiddos.

We got a treat for Sunday morning.

I finally got to taste what Krispy Kreme is all about (after hearing so many people talk about it). We ate it cold at first, but soon discovered the side of the box said, "Microwave for 8 seconds." Damn! It tastes so ordinary cold, but when warmed just a little it was heavenly. But KK is just a little too far for us to buy a box. So we just might try it with Tim Hortons' doughnuts instead.

On Saturday, we met up with some relatives to eat at downtown Vancouver. It was a perfect opportunity to bring SF out and at the same time, utilize my 28-Day WCE pass. We ate at the famous (okay, I'm assuming) Prima Taste restaurant.

We had a nice plate of satay (really succulent meat) and a big glass of Chendol, although I regretted not getting the Sago Gula Melaka instead.

Well if you are visiting Vancouver soon. You might want to just give it a try. It isn't too bad, but I think nothing beats the real thing. But just try lah, for the experience. ;)
[Google Map Link]

What else... oh, I met up with the NUS Alumni champion in BC. Nice man! Which reminds me, I was planning to write to him... okay, good night then.

Today's prayer: Lord make me an incense.

Halloween

2007-11-01T18:36:00.000-07:00

And as my SIL pointed out... time flies. It's been a year since my first Halloween. This year, we put in more effort to decorate the doorway. Plus! We set up a speaker to blast an evil laughter each time the kiddos came to knock on our door (insert e[v]il.bunny laughter).

That's SF trying to smoke a hunchback kid. No sweets! Trick can?

Too lazy to write today, so I'll leave you with a picture of a cold foggy morning.

Back to more RDF...

It's almost Halloween

2007-10-30T22:38:00.000-07:00

And it seems our room is getting creepier. A few days ago, I woke up in fright - as if someone was pressing me down on the bed. My sister suggested it might have been due to the stress of moving... maybe. I guess I have to take her psychoanalysis very seriously. But yes, it has been a stressful two weeks before and now after the move. Will it get better soon? By God's grace yes.

Anyway, some friends have been asking me on Facebook (what's that? You ought to jump off the 6th floor)... what is this new toy? Well... some of you know what a gadget geek I can be, and how hopelessly lost I am without a GPS. My Garmin 10X finally arrived with Fedex Ground shipping on Monday. And now, after installing the North American maps, I don't feel so lost. Especially when it comes to finding places to fill my hungry tummy.

Affordable meals are such rare commodities, for example, SUBWAY!!!

We spend a good evening trying to put up some scary shit for Halloween tomorrow (or today if you live in Singapore). You'll be amazed at how much a dollar store can bring fun. Anyway, I'll have a line-up of pictures for tomorrow to show. So stay tuned!

It's turning colder now, and while I listen and pray with the song "Brother Sun Sister Moon", I think about what life is in simplicity. A joy so hard to find that perhaps needs a lifetime to find. Alas, it is almost midnight. But before I put my head to rest, to the friends I love and cherish so much, I want to wish you Jesus. :)

It's the weekend!

2007-10-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of the Airbus A380 in our living room. It's a 1:200 scale model of the mammoth plane that I bought on my way to Candyland. At first, I was rather disappointed that the model wasn't made of die-cast material, and almost wanted it refunded or exchanged for die-cast models instead. But... it ain't so bad after all. It's made of solid wood with optional landing wheels that you can choose not to attach. And did I mention? The turbines actually turn. The only thing I don't like about it is the flimsy wings made of plastic. The vertical fins at the wing tips are extremely fragile. I chose to angle the aircraft in mild ascent and banking right.

Here's another little collection I'm making. The Royal Canadian Mint has issued series of quarters (25 cents) to commemorate the Winter Olympics to be held in Vancouver in 2010. So far I've got the "Biathlon" only. Many more to keep an eye for.

We went for our grocery shopping spree today! And look at the pile of junk we loaded in the CRV. SF's going to have a good week searching out her different recipe books and websites.

The early morning weather also permitted a long distance snapshot of Mount Baker, USA.

And it was really difficult after a night of fun and games at home. That's us in the living area, squinting at little characters running around tennis courts avoiding tennis balls and chasing pineapples.

And yes, I took an updated picture of the house today. Still looks very much the same, with the maple leaves turning red already. The past few days we had temperatures associated with winter... will the season come early again like it did last year?

Ok... FB's going to sleep soon... ciao.

It's almost a week!

2007-10-25T21:53:00.000-07:00

First, a big thank you to all my dear friends who went down to send us off last week. The wife and I are now safe and sound in Coquitlam, enjoying the cold mountainous air! As I'm typing this, the temperature outside is 4 deg Celsius. That's really strange considering that it has been rather sunny today.

I haven't been out to take much photos recently since it has been raining practically everyday. Some have requested to know where we're living... so here's the pretty little picture I took almost a year ago. It still looks very much the same though.

Photo Moment (1) The house.

The flight was okay. In fact, I think I'm getting really used to flying long distances like that. So if any of you wish to sponsor me a return ticket to Singapore, please feel free to do so. I know how much you guys want me back in Motherland to make your life so very miserable. We flew for almost 6 hours before arriving in Korea, and remain in transit for another hour. We managed to catch good tail winds of nearly 300 km/h, thus arriving ahead of schedule with only 10 hours of flight time.

During this time, I got to watch:

License to Wed
Pirates... the third one I think
Simpsons... yucks!
Die Hard the fourth... yeah... kill'em all!
Evan Almight... hilarious. But so touching that I almost cried.

Photo Moment (2) The trip out of Inchon (Seoul Korea) was very bumpy all the way into Vancouver. As you can see, I could predict the weather!!!

Photo Moment (3) Checking out the neighbours! We had some problems with the kids next doors. They throw balls and firecrackers at our house. But... my sister managed to reason with them amicably, and it seems that they've wised up. I'm looking forward to Halloween next week so that we can take one more step closer.

Photo Moment (4) Also a year old photo... of our apple tree. It's blooming with fruits now, but seems diseased to me.

Okay, that's all folks - for now. There's probably more to say, but then, Blogs aren't always conducive for personal thoughts. As always, my email box is open. I won't be using Facebook too much now. So if you guys want to reach me, best do it through email.

I'll leave this one last photo that I really like very much. For those who really know Fuzziebrain, you might see why.

Photo Moment (6) How to describe this one? It's my favourite, and had a very poignant feeling when I took this picture.

Fuzziebrain signing off...

Teaching in Secondlife

2007-10-02T19:38:00.001-07:00

A buddy of mine just showed me the wonderful stuff he's doing on Secondlife. He conducted an online session for his students at SMU. Here are the screens he took earlier, enjoy!

Btw, he's a "she" in SL. Don't ask me why!

Straw poll: Would you learn more in a fun environment?

Web 2.0 Thrust - Looking backward

2007-09-09T16:37:00.000-07:00

It has been almost 6 months since we first started our discussion on Web 2.0 and what it meant for our workplace and how it can be integrated in both teaching and industrial projects. It is now time for some feedback and updates on how each individual staff has benefited from the programme. So here's a list of what I have done to make Web 2.0 a part of my daily life.

1. Blogger - I periodically updated the Web 2.0 blog at SIT. I also started my own blog, which you are reading right now, to: give anecdotes of my life, share tech tips and record my little tech achievements so as to recollect them later.

2. Flickr - I used this to share photos of NYPSA GiG's adventure activities and my trip to Boston for the 5th Bio-IT World Expo and Conference.

3. Panaramio - This website allows users to geotag and post their pictures online (similar to Flickr). I've put my pictures that had been previously tagged using WWMX tools. My albums cover my budget tour to Cambodia and 2400km roadtrip in Canada last year.

4. LinkedIn - I created a and am now actively promoting its use.

5. Google Maps - I used a customised Google Maps to guide visitors to the Bioinformatics Group laboratory at Block R. I was also happy to contribute ideas to my colleague and was happy that the student team he was leading eventually won the JavaJive competition this year.

6. MyDataBus - I still use this website to transfer large files between workstations at different geographical locations.

7. Nature Networks - I created a profile to network with other researchers worldwide. I am currently associated with the Bioinformatics and Semantic Web groups.

8. OpenID - I recently took interest in this SSO technology, which can be used together with Windows Cardspace. I created my own OpenID by signing up with Verisign PIP.

9. News feeds - I'm subscribed to news feeds from different sources e.g. Wired and Digg. I used Google Desktop and Windows Sidebars to constantly keep myself abreast of technology news and current affairs.

10. Digg - Contributed a vote recently on this article!

Learning:

Picked up materials to learn Atlas (Ajax for .NET)
Attended a seminar on DOJO.
Will be attending the Web 2.0 sharing by Oracle.

Usefulness of Blogs

2007-08-23T17:07:00.001-07:00

Blogs draw parallel to the personal diaries some of us keep. And recently, I realized the benefits of keeping my blog updated with technical workarounds that I have discovered and shared with you.

After reinstalling Microsoft Vista on my notebook just a few days earlier, I found to my dismay, that I had not backed up my hosts file. I had previously modified the file to point to a website I frequented but have had many DNS timeouts. If you use Vista, you can empathize the pain of modifying system files on this OS. Thankfully, I had blogged about this earlier and was able to rectify my problem.

Good reason to blog?

Feedburner becomes Freeburner?

2007-07-04T03:02:00.001-07:00

This is the best news I've heard today.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/03/google-makes-feedburner-services-free/

D'Fest II - Rise of the Cat Mountain King and Golden Phoenix

2007-06-30T04:17:00.001-07:00

A splendid meal of Mao Shan Wang and Jing Feng.

Surrounded by court ministers.

Simpsons nib the bug

2007-06-27T18:13:00.001-07:00

Stumbled on this article while scanning the web for a wristband mosquito repellent. HOMeR is a home-made solution to repelling mosquitoes. I have heard about the anti-mosquito property of lemongrass but so far, it hasn't been too successful for me. Perhaps because I'm not using them right. I tried soaking the grass stems in water and heating them as though the saps would diffuse into the supporting water body and evaporate. Duh!

But for me, my first objective is to use and effective method to eradicate them, not just ward them off. And so far, my electric lamp zapper seems to work pretty well. Oh, and by the way, I'm looking to purchase ovi-traps. Anyone knows where I can get one?

Durian Invasion

2007-06-26T06:10:00.001-07:00

Yeah! After months of waiting, the durian season is finally here again. Bought two "Ang Bak" and one "Jiu Ji" at 717 this evening and savoured this with my BH. Enjoy!

"Ang Bak"

"Jiu Ji"

Amazon Fair Price

2007-06-22T16:25:00.000-07:00

Singaporeans would know FairPrice (affectionately known as NTUC). That's our local grocery chain, and maybe even more. It's funny that Amazon has been driven to sell groceries online. Is there a market sufficiently large that warrants a horizontal expansion that is a little far fetch from books, electronics and the likes. But anyway, it's cool and I'm looking forward to similar new products from Amazon's competitors, e.g. Gigantic Google and Mammoth Microsoft. Yeah!

How to change your hosts file in Vista

2007-06-14T02:19:00.002-07:00

Secure, but good! If you ever wondered how to add manual entries to your hosts file, here's the solution.

I've been stumped for months and this certainly comes as a relief.

Update: I have written a tiny programme to make editing your hosts file a little more convenient. Here it is.

Data mining on the Grid

2007-06-13T16:27:00.000-07:00

This is neat. I just read about the production release of Weka4WS, a Grid-enabled data mining platform. For those of you who are familiar with Weka, it is a product out of the University of Waikato, New Zealand. It is a Java-based data mining platform with many commonly used machine learning and decision-making algorithms. If you would like more information about Weka, I would suggest you grab a copy of the book entitled "Data Mining: Practical Machine Learning Tools and Techniques, Second Edition (Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems).

Weka4WS uses the WSRF features of Globus toolkit 4.0.4. So, in order to install and use Weka4WS, you must first need to install the GT4 platform and this can be daunting for new users to the Grid. Good luck!

GSS - Google

2007-06-02T21:54:00.000-07:00

My absence from blogging is best explained with two reasons:
1. I have been away attending a course on Oracle 10g Spatial Fundamentals; and
2. Just plain lazy to write.

In a short span of two weeks, Google has been on a buying spree again. Panoramio and FeedBurner, both of which I have subscribed to, were recently acquired by the mother of all search engines. Does this bode well? For now I don't see how it will affect me much except for a single platform and account for managing all these web-based tools.

For now, I'm more interested in the developments at Google on mapping-related projects.

Idol is blind...

2007-05-17T06:04:00.001-07:00

But then, that's the game. It happens in the Singapore version, but surprisingly in the States too.

I have never been hooked to this programme till I heard her sing like an angel. True, she may not be the most attractive of contestants or the most charismatic, but I still think Melinda Doolittle sings the best and deserves the best chances in a singing career. All the best Melinda!

PS: Sorry, had to break away from my usual techno-crap to vent my frustrations. My idol audience stops here, in much disappointment. Maybe next year, but for now, Adiós!

Describing software development roles

2007-05-16T16:43:00.000-07:00

I was recently seeking a concise glossary that defines and details software development roles in the industry, and chanced upon a well-written article on Developer.com. If you were like me, a peon in this enchanted software development forest, then this article might enlighten you that very often you have more than one hat to wear!

Currently, I have acted in (or at least I think I did) the following capacities:

Developer
Functional Analyst
Lead Developer; and
Solutions Architect

Can always do with more experience! :)

Information Architecture

2007-05-15T16:50:00.001-07:00

Recently, I have been reading a few "green-coloured" O'Reily books. If you are familiar with the publisher, they colour-code the books they publish to indicate the book category. So a green-coloured book would often refer to some form of web technology.

I have been reading about Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, which is now into its third edition. It has been updated to include Web 2.0 technology (actually, I'll just say that it includes Web 2.0 lingo) such as Tags.

The two parts of the book are interesting, and covers a lot of basic principles relating to information structure. The take-home that I can remember clearly is that the magic number is 7. When presenting information, e.g. menu links, try best to limit the number of links to 7. Interestingly Bio-IT World, a publication for IT in the Life Sciences, publishes only 7 news articles links per page.

The later sections aren't as interesting and covers mostly processes, methodologies and software tools. I'm skimming through these pages for now. I am seriously considering purchasing a copy (I borrowed this copy from the library) for reference. That's how impressed I am with this book!

A proposal to reduce mosquito breeding sites

2007-05-10T08:38:00.000-07:00

I sent this to NEA not too long ago. Just an idea...

Dear Sir/Madam,

While it is a good idea to "cover bamboo pole holders when not in use", I would like to propose a possible solution to prevent water from accumulating in bamboo pole holders.

During house-to-house inspection in mosquito breeding zones, perhaps NEA can request residents to allow EHOs to drill holes at the neck of pole holders to prevent water from accumulating.

I hope this might prove feasible and do more to reduce mosquito breeding sites.

Putting dollars in education

2007-05-09T04:25:00.001-07:00

I sat through a most interesting talk on Academic Entrepreneurship today. Dr. Harold J. Raveché, President of Stevens Institute of Technology shared with an audience of academics, scientists and businessmen, on the issues in developing an innovative knowledge-based economy. Here are some take-homes that are still fresh in my memory:

You can have all the necessary prescription (e.g. science parks, thrusts ), for developing a knowledge economy, but you will just be like the rest.
Engaging foreign ideas and talents will not guarantee success. Develop home-grown technologies, products and businesses.
There must be a proper framework to reward and support academic innovation and entrepreneurship.

Listening to his insightful sharing, I remembered my ideas for infusing Web 2.0 culture in students, and hopefully, stimulate technopreneurship. My "genius" plan would be to:

Introduce Web 2.0 technology.
Demonstrate using case studies, how these technological components were used to build new business models.
Student project to innovate their own "mashed-up" projects.
If one of the goals is to nuture entrepreneurship, the projects could be more competitive, and students will have to market and justify business needs.

Maybe this pedagogy isn't totally new, but I that's what I'll do. As you might have read, I'm so utterly impressed with the Google culture and spirit of innovation!

Sweet!

2007-05-06T09:43:00.001-07:00

Maung Maung has posted his demo codes for his Windows Workflow Foundation session during LOVE 2007. Cool! His talk was very concise and provided a very good introduction to WF. I can't wait to get started on the demos. And oh, he provided additional learning links, so do check them out.

While on the topic of workflows, I'd like to highlight that this year's Grid Asia event will feature a tutorial on Taverna. There's also a tutorial on OWL that you can attend together with Taverna.

Time to go home

2007-05-02T18:29:00.001-07:00

Time passes very quickly.

3 days has gone by and tomorrow, we'll be heading back to Singapore. But before that, I treated myself to a sumptuous meal of lobsters, scallops, shrimps and a nice cup of clam chowder. Purportedly the best seafood in Boston, you might want to dine at Legal Sea Foods if you're visiting.

This trip has been very fruitful... why?

1. I see a future for Bioinformatics, specifically in the areas of Discovery Informatics. Biological data is going to increase exponentially with new sequencing techniques and the availability of miniaturized lab-on-chips that promise to digitize wetlab results.

2. I have met many wonderful people in the Bioinformatics industry, and was amongst the industry greats. Today, we had the pleasure of hearing from Sean Eddy accredited for his work in HMMER and PFAM. He enlightened us with a sharing about open access history and Ben Franklin.

3. We won the best poster award. That really came as a surprise for me. Never happened before.

I will have much to share with my colleagues when I get home. It has been exciting being in the heart of technology, and reminds me of why it is important to be here. There's just so much to learn.

Stepped foot on MIT

2007-05-01T20:22:00.000-07:00

What a way to end my day! :)

After attending the conference today, we visited MIT on the pretext of attending the Cambridge Semantic Web Gathering. Here's a picture of me in front of the Whitehead Institute.

Anyway, the "user group" meeting was very informative and we got to hear about two interesting SW projects: (1) SPARQL and (2) SIMILE. And wow, I saw Tim Berners-Lee in person, though at that time I did not have a clue who he was. It's a pity I didn't get to shake his hand and asked him to autograph my palm!

It has been an exciting day for me today, not only because of the events cited above, but because much of today was spent on listening about how Web 2.0 and Semantic Web are relevant to the Life Sciences. Hopefully there's sufficient justification for me to work in this area.

LIVE from Boston!

2007-04-30T21:07:00.001-07:00

After 26 hours of travelling, I arrived here in Boston late last night. It has been rather exciting since this is my first visit to the United States of America. It looks pretty much like Vancouver but that is hardly surprising. The conference has officially started and today, I attended two workshop session on Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELN) and Clinical Research Information Exchange (CRIX). I was rather disappointed that the topic on Semantic Webs was changed to ELN, let's hope the schedule remains unchanged for the rest of the conference.

Anyway, I missed writing up on my attendance at the Community LOVE launch organised by the folks at SGDOTNET.

I came back late on Friday night after a shoot at Suntec City. So not surprisingly, I woke up late on Saturday morning and rushed down to NTUC building to attend the LOVE launch. I missed the opening keynote, and went straight to attend the session on developing Microsoft Gadgets.

Ever since landing myself with a copy of VISTA, I've been so hooked on using gadgets on my desktop. So much so, I had to install Google Sidebar just to get the same feature on my older XP boxes. The latter is sluggish and resource intensive... but no choice la, no gadget support for XP yet. I did hope that the session would include more samples on how to create more complex gadgets, e.g. those that interface with web services, rather than a simple "Helloworld" or "GoodbyeWorld" application. Perhaps next time?

The next session on CAML was greek to me. I've not been properly introduced to Microsoft's Sharepoint product offerings. But it has caught my eye. I will have to find some time to find out more and see what it offers.

Lunch was simple, but deeply appreciated. I was fortunate to find a seat near the window to savour my bee hoon and the magnificent view.

After lunch, it was workflows, yeah! It was a very informative session by Maung Maung, with much take home information to keep. Through his demos, he demonstrated the ease in creating both sequential workflows and state machines. Can't wait for him to post his sample codes online. At the end of the session, I had two burning questions: (1) Was there any support for WS-BPEL; and (2) Does Microsoft again only provides out-of-the-box support for transaction and persistence services using SQL server. The answer was yes to both questions. Microsoft will be posting a BPEL translator soon. For (2), you'll need to write your own implementation to work with other database software. Disappointing, but hey, I got a free t-shirt for my questions!

The last session I attended was on Office Business Applications (OBA). The speaker demonstrated the ability to extend, customise and integrate Office applications with external software components such as web services. But I liked what he said about the shrinking time-to-market phenomenon. With OBA, you can quickly create usable software that is familiar to users, and faster to build. He also stressed the shortage and need for OBA developers. Hmm...

The finale was exciting. And I have to raise my glass to the team and Microsoft for providing lucky draw gifts for everyone. I was however, disappointed at my luck with LUCKY draws. haha. I only got one gift, a book on ADO.NET. But I think this book may prove invaluable to me. After all, not too long ago, I was searching on topics regarding ADO.NET for implementation in my projects.

The team did a great job. Thanks!

Oracle Developer Day

2007-04-24T16:12:00.002-07:00

After a long absence, Oracle finally came back to Singapore to meet her developers and fans with an event yesterday. Unfortunately, I only had time to attend two session in the morning. Nevertheless, I still drew some benefits from my attendance. I learnt that:

Oracle's Linux distribution is free for production and development if you do not wish to get support.
Oracle XE was more than a database. It contained Oracle Application Express that allows you to quickly create small applications or share Microsoft Excel spreadsheets securely (kinda reminds me of Zoho's product offerings). But I'll definitely be looking at this product in the coming weeks.
Oracle Business Process Architect (BPA) is a new tool for business process owners to manage workflows. I wonder how much differences are there between this and the BPEL managment tool that integrates with JDeveloper or Eclipse.

New buzzwords I have learnt:

SDO, which stands for Service Data Objects. It's going to be an additional application interface layer over and on-top of Web Services, COM objects etc. for accessing data. Did I get it right?
SCA, which means Service Component Architecture. Hmm... SOA 2.0?
Fusion Middleware - a family of middleware products including application servers, development tools, business intelligence, user interaction, business process etc. Repackaging?
BAM, which means Business Activity Monitor. I'm not too interested in this one, since there's no real need for such information in Bioinformatics, or is there? Maybe I'll look at it, but not in the near future.

There is no end name-calling. ;)

On to SL... the virtual expo made Wired's headlines. The article focuses mainly on the poor performance of the SL engine, which I think many SL residents would agree. It was interesting that the system was only able to cope with 100 slersons (pronounced as slur-sens, a new term I coined for SL residents). So according to the article, 60 vendors would mean only 40 participants. Now that's bad. But I believe Linden Labs are trying to work on the lag issues and I'm looking forward to the new version due tonight.

Last night, I made L$8 and met with a colleague. Oh, I built my first structure in SL. It was a sign post that you can put in your garden. I put this in one of the "Singapore" lands, and hopefully it'll stay. Here's a picture of it:

In two Singapore SL lands I visited, there's a sandbox area that you too can get your hands dirty creating stuff in SL.

Some symbols of the Lion City. It always start with a "C"!

Fast and furious

2007-04-22T16:31:00.000-07:00

What a rush! In a blink of an eye, my weekend's over.

I was too tired to write yesterday, but I really wanted to share on my experience at the International Technology Expo 2007, held in Second Life! I arrived at the conference a little early but managed to pick up some freebies at the registration booth (checkout my ITE t-shirt and hat). From the registration booth, we had to travel down elevators and ride on special trains to bring us to the exhibition area. The rails for these trains are seen on the top right of this first snapshot.

Conference was well attended by some of the major vendors including Dell, Sun Microsystems and SAP. And me being me, I couldn't resist grabbing my self a Sun t-shirt. Some of the vendors offer information and downloads, and by "touching" these demo items, you will be forwarded to the information/download websites using your favourite web browser. Each booth will also be staffed by a sales/marketeer. You can ask and have your questions answered in real-time! I was particularly interested by the World Stock Exchange. Yes, you can trade SL company shares and hope to make Linden bucks.

The beautiful lady on the right, was describing details about WSE and she told me about how sometimes the market can be rather chaotic as traders generally do not put much effort into deciding their buys and sells. The I asked about Reuters and their SL activities, and whether any of these do help affect the market dynamics. She said that it might. But I think as this technology matures, this might just be another "real" market to speculate on. But hey, do that on your own risk ya? ;)

There are endless possibilities with SL. Some enterprising start-ups have been looking at bridging our RL communication with those of SL. And one such company is developing tools to send SMS via SL...

Well, you'll never know what you're going get next!

TGIF

2007-04-20T08:14:00.000-07:00

Yup, it's Friday again. And I haven't heard this phrase for a long time.

It's probably a good time to recollect the week that passed. I haven't been doing that. So let's backtrack on my learning journey this week.

I haven't had the chance to spend time to concentrate on my reading and self-learning. I have been so busy and caught up developing a proteomics tool for one of our collaborators, which thankfully, I could complete a working demo before our next meeting.

So since Monday, I have been taking time to develop new capabilities, and I have mentioned them before. I started with a few chapters on GIS this week and it has been insightful. So far, I've just been a user of location services. Only recently, I had the opportunity to spend my precious office hours understanding this art... or do you call this science?

I have been reading the book Geographic Information System and Science. It is an extremely palatable book, and I've learnt lots from it. If you're keen on GIS, and if you can get yourself a copy, I do encourage you to read this book. I'm midway through it, but I believe I would have had a broad overview of the field. Enough for me to begin my development work in this area of study.

Meanwhile, I've been busy reading it alongside my new favourite Google tool - Notebook. If you do not already know what it is, do check it out. Google Notebook allows you to clip text/information on web pages you visit. For me, I took it one step further, and used it as a learning companion. You can even export notes to Google Docs and later as Word, PDF or other formats. Cool ya?

For now, I need to retire to prepare for my early morning drive, 300+ km up north.

Getting MS SQL Server 2005 to work with JBoss

2007-04-18T16:46:00.000-07:00

I spend a good amount of time last night trying to get JBoss to connect with MS SQL Server 2005 as a datasource.

The first thing you should do is to download the required software. Assuming you already have JBoss and MS SQL Server 2005 (MSSQL2005) already installed, what you will need to download is the JDBC driver for MSSQL2005. After you have downloaded the JDBC driver package, extract the files within and look for the jar file that contains the JDBC implementation classes that you require. The filename is sqljdbc.jar and you should place this file in %JBOSS_HOME%\server\deploy\%SERVER_CONFIG%\lib.

Next, create a datasource configuration file for MSSQL2005. I used the sample file from %JBOSS_HOME%\doc\examples\jca\mssql-ds.xml as a base. This configuration file was originally written for MSSQL2000, so you may require some tweaking for this to work. This is what my mssql-ds.xml contains:


<datasources>
  <local-tx-datasource>
    <jndi-name>MSSQLDS</jndi-name>
    <connection-url>
     jdbc:sqlserver://localhost:4570;DatabaseName=testdb
   </connection-url>
    <driver-class>
     com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver
    </driver-class>
    <user-name>sa</user-name>
    <password>***</password>
        <metadata>
            <type-mapping>MS SQLSERVER2000</type-mapping>
        </metadata>
    </local-tx-datasource>
</datasources>

Take note of the regions marked blue. (1) The protocol should be "jdbc:sqlserver" and not "jdbc:microsoft:sqlserver" used in the example file. (2) Be very careful about which port number you use. It is not necessarily true that the MSSQL2005 would use the default number 1433. For security, it appears that MSSQL2005 would use a dynamic port. You can of course disable dynamic ports and set a static port number to listen to. Please check the MSSQL2005 documentation for more information how to do this. (3) The driver class is wrong. The original configuration file sets the driver class to com.microsoft.jdbc.sqlserver.SQLServerDriver.

Please note: You may also need to run the SQL Server Surface Area Configuration utility to enable MSSQL2005 to listen over TCP/IP.

Once the configuration file is completed, copy the file to %JBOSS_HOME%\server\deploy\%SERVER_CONFIG%\deploy, which would automatically register this datasource in the JNDI registry. Thereafter, you can obtain the datasource and connection, example:


    Context ctx = new InitialContext();
    DataSource ds = (DataSource) ctx.lookup ("java:MSSQLDS");
    Connection conn = ds.getConnection();

I hope this information will be useful for those trying to get MSSQL2005 to work JBoss. Happy Coding!

Fruitful weekend

2007-04-15T16:11:00.000-07:00

... or at least I'd like to think so.

I have been toying with the Linkedin services, and have found them extremely useful. I have managed to get in touch with some of my old friends whom I met during my active days in the Singapore Java Users Group. It is wonderful to know that some of them have progressed quite a bit since we last met. Hmm... but a little depressing that I am still very much a nobody. In any case, if you are looking to do some serious networking, Linkedin is a good start. My profile is now located on the right. If you are from Google, please feel free to add me to your connections. ;)

Over the weekend, I have managed to give limetree the required additions to the SC website. One of the features was to pull blog feeds and list them on the SC website. Initially, I wrote a ATOM parser for this purpose, but later found a ready library to parse both RSS and ATOM. This is useful because we have not identified specific blog providers and a decision of which standards to support (both of course!). Magpierss decides on the appropriate parser depending on the type of feed received. Now that's so cool. Made development work a lot shorter.

I got myself a backup drive yesterday. It's a Western Digital My Book Premium 500GB. I'll put a picture up later tonight. But this is a really cool-looking black box that is helping me to sort my gigabytes of data/photos/mp3s and later for backup. What I especially like about it is the auto-start and auto-shutdown features. The drive turns on and off whenever it is used and not used respectively. It connects to the PC using either USB 2.0 or Firewire 400. I would prefer the latter, but I will first need to move my Firewire card from my old PC to the current one. I walked around Sim Lim Square quite a bit (up and down, round and round) before finding stock at Videopro on level 4. I think it might be the last piece. I could not find it at Fuwell and Bell as they had no stocks. Btw, these are the only three shops I found selling this model at S$299.

Culture 2.0

2007-04-10T22:12:00.001-07:00

First special thanks to Ajay (IBM) for giving us a comprehensive sharing on what Web 2.0 is and what it offers. He reiterated the key components of Web 2.0:

Web as a platform; and
Enabling technologies.

So was anyone so impressed with Google that they wanted drop everything and join their team? I want. *lol*

But after more thought on the presentation today. I asked myself whether Web 2.0 could be classified as a culture? At least for our workplace, can we take down cold walls and inhibitions that prevent us from being a dynamic organisation, ready to innovate and do magic? Seriously, after seeing what comes out from America and other technology-driven countries, it challenges me to examine whether or not our environment is stifling for greater creativity? Where is the disruptive technology from Singapore?

So, for me, I will put in a third issue in Web 2.0: it is about culture. At the human level, we need to change the way we think, work and interact. Not the hows (technologies) but the whys (culture).

We need to:

Willingly share information and resources without any form of fear.
Instill a collaborative spirit, to excel both as an individual and as a team/organisation.
Be open and embrace cutting edge technology.
Foster enterprising spirit.
Be creative.
A warm working environment; and lastly
Enjoy our work.

How do we then foster this culture in those we teach? How do we create a platform/environment for students to learn, share and innovate freely, collaboratively and enjoyably?

Last words.... will IBM buy OpenLaszlo? *dang*

Fuzziebrain speaks...

Quote of the day

2007-04-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

This statement really blows my mind...

"The cure for all this talk is really a good dose of incompetent government... your asset values will disappear, your apartments will be worth a fraction of what it is, your jobs will be in peril, your security will be at risk and our women will become maids in other persons' countries - foreign workers."

Anyway, this has been a rather technological day for me. I've gotten around checking out some real cool Web 2.0 stuff, notably ZOHO. It has a full suite of office productivity applications and a cool API to work with it.

And I finally installed Google Desktops! Can't resist after being impressed by my month old Vista sidebar. Now if I can only get my feet wet and start writing some cool gadgets of my own. But I can't help being apprehensive about indexing my entire file and email systems.

I'm also getting started on GIS and spatial analysis. If anyone has any pointers, leads, tutorials etc. on this topic, please feel free to share with me ya? ;)