Kenny's Cafe Corner
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
To Be Unpretentious
A lot of my fellow schoolmates have recently re-connected via the magic of Facebook lately. Now while there have been suggestions to meet in person but mostly this re-union of sorts is more of a virtual happening because a lot of us are living and working far apart geographically. Of course, I also suspect that some of us just aren't too enthusiastic about actually meeting in the first place. Time has made acquaintances out of us all...
So what sort of 're-connection' are we talking about here? Mostly comments flying back and forth...reminiscing about the good old times (though I didn't see them as such great times anyway).
A common thread of these comments is concerned about how 'legendary' or infamous this person or that person was, back in school days. And this made me stop and think, was I exceptional and outstanding? Answer: not really.
Does this bother me at all? Answer: no, not really.
While I understand that society feeds on larger than life personalities and gossip is so easy, I am fine with not craving such regards among men. I'm pretty sure some people do remember me and could even call out my full name, correctly pronounced, one day out of the blue in public. And that is enough satisfaction for me!
I'm sure we are all special in our own right and that's why I will be content living a life of quiet greatness instead of loud celebrityhood.
Perhaps achieving success in life shouldn't be measured simply by only a few standards. The myth is that this must be achieved as soon as possible, get rich quick! That way you can have more years in your life to savor your success. Often, people who achieve such wealth and success early don't live long though. Witness the sad lives of child stars such as Michael Jackson.
Perhaps this is like gold mining in the olden days.
The old fashioned method of extracting gold ore from the dirt is to sway and swerve a panful of water and dirt...to get to the good stuff!
Patience is needed to live life...
I see a lot in me and will continue to pan at my character until I see gold. So dishearten not all you common folks out there! You can achieve greatness too! Just takes time and not necessarily the glare of fame.
A lot of my fellow schoolmates have recently re-connected via the magic of Facebook lately. Now while there have been suggestions to meet in person but mostly this re-union of sorts is more of a virtual happening because a lot of us are living and working far apart geographically. Of course, I also suspect that some of us just aren't too enthusiastic about actually meeting in the first place. Time has made acquaintances out of us all...
So what sort of 're-connection' are we talking about here? Mostly comments flying back and forth...reminiscing about the good old times (though I didn't see them as such great times anyway).
A common thread of these comments is concerned about how 'legendary' or infamous this person or that person was, back in school days. And this made me stop and think, was I exceptional and outstanding? Answer: not really.
Does this bother me at all? Answer: no, not really.
While I understand that society feeds on larger than life personalities and gossip is so easy, I am fine with not craving such regards among men. I'm pretty sure some people do remember me and could even call out my full name, correctly pronounced, one day out of the blue in public. And that is enough satisfaction for me!
I'm sure we are all special in our own right and that's why I will be content living a life of quiet greatness instead of loud celebrityhood.
Perhaps achieving success in life shouldn't be measured simply by only a few standards. The myth is that this must be achieved as soon as possible, get rich quick! That way you can have more years in your life to savor your success. Often, people who achieve such wealth and success early don't live long though. Witness the sad lives of child stars such as Michael Jackson.
Perhaps this is like gold mining in the olden days.
The old fashioned method of extracting gold ore from the dirt is to sway and swerve a panful of water and dirt...to get to the good stuff!
Patience is needed to live life...
I see a lot in me and will continue to pan at my character until I see gold. So dishearten not all you common folks out there! You can achieve greatness too! Just takes time and not necessarily the glare of fame.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Wade Robson Project
Wade Robson is a dance child prodigy grown up to be a choreographer. He is heavily influenced by Michael Jackson's moves.
I first heard of his name as one of the many genius choreographers in my favorite show 'So You Think You Can Dance?' He even has his own dance competition show called the Wade Robson Project.
The following is a medley of clips from that show. Check out his tribute to MJ!
Wade Robson is a dance child prodigy grown up to be a choreographer. He is heavily influenced by Michael Jackson's moves.
I first heard of his name as one of the many genius choreographers in my favorite show 'So You Think You Can Dance?' He even has his own dance competition show called the Wade Robson Project.
The following is a medley of clips from that show. Check out his tribute to MJ!
Steve Martin Does Billie Jean
Unless you've been locked in cryogenesis lately then you've heard of Michael Jackson's death on 25th June 2009, Thursday.
Thank you Michael for giving us so much entertainment!
Anyway, here's Steve Martin doing a parody of Billie Jean.
Unless you've been locked in cryogenesis lately then you've heard of Michael Jackson's death on 25th June 2009, Thursday.
Thank you Michael for giving us so much entertainment!
Anyway, here's Steve Martin doing a parody of Billie Jean.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
The Pop Psychology of Incompetence
This presentation given by Ron Burk is especially interesting to programmers. It asks the question: how do you know you're a competent programmer?
This presentation given by Ron Burk is especially interesting to programmers. It asks the question: how do you know you're a competent programmer?
Friday, May 15, 2009
8 Cool Tips for Google Chrome
Ok, I was skeptical of the stability of Google's browser since it's still in Beta but after a few months of using it, I'm convinced this browser is quite cool.
Now don't get me wrong, I still think it is an immature product with quite a lot to iron out, but if you are accessing any AJAX heavy website such as any of the Google web apps (eg. GMail or the new Yahoo Mail) then you should check out this little browser. It runs Javascript fast!
That said, here are 8 more features that you might miss out the first time around when toying around with this browser.
Ok, I was skeptical of the stability of Google's browser since it's still in Beta but after a few months of using it, I'm convinced this browser is quite cool.
Now don't get me wrong, I still think it is an immature product with quite a lot to iron out, but if you are accessing any AJAX heavy website such as any of the Google web apps (eg. GMail or the new Yahoo Mail) then you should check out this little browser. It runs Javascript fast!
That said, here are 8 more features that you might miss out the first time around when toying around with this browser.
Screencast of Wolfram Alpha Demo
What is Wolfram Alpha? Some people have been calling it the Google killer. I have no opinion about that but the way it computes the data you queried is incredible!
Click on the link above to see a demo of how it amazingly interprets the context of your questions and spits out computed answers!
Google is impressive because of its speed and accuracy at which it returns the results. Wolfram Alpha is impressive because of its advanced ability to interpret a question, do computation on the data returned and present it quite well.
I especially like how almost all its result screens display some form of graphical representation be it graphs, maps or diagrams. I have yet seen any photographs though. It would be nice to see photographic results in the form of an encyclopaedic entry. Yes, I know we already have Wikipaedia or Brittanica for that but can't it be integrated with Wolfram Alpha?
This technology seems to me the logical progression of so-called 'Search' technology. While Google is so good at speedy retrieval of data and simple data processing, Wolfram Alpha seems to be at making sense of all that data and presenting it well.
I sure hope the creators of Wolfram Alpha implement some form of advanced saving or download feature. I'm sure researchers using this powerful tool will want to be able to save what they see in various formats ie. HTML, XML, plain ASCII/unicode text, PDF, Open Document formats etc.
I think Isaac Asimov's MultiVAC is already here! In his short story The Last Question Asimov tells of the ultimate computer/oracle. Humankind can ask it any question and answers will be returned. Not only that, this ultimate computer can evolve! Go read it here, I highly recommended it!
So here's my prediction, the Internet and all its related enhancements in the future will serve as the ultimate store of humankind's knowledge. An AI will emerge with the soul of the new machine that will be able to think so well for humans that it will play a crucial role in how human biology and culture advances.
The danger here is that humans will stop to think and let computers do all the thinking for them. However, I take the more optimistic approach and think that humans will be consolidated with these creations. The future humans will be cyborg. Like it or not, we seem to be headed towards an integration of brains, muscles (wet-ware) and artificial enhancements (software and hardware, not necessarily inorganic).
Already, our children are better informed and smarter than the children of the past... Trends like these will continue into our glorious future.
What is Wolfram Alpha? Some people have been calling it the Google killer. I have no opinion about that but the way it computes the data you queried is incredible!
Click on the link above to see a demo of how it amazingly interprets the context of your questions and spits out computed answers!
Google is impressive because of its speed and accuracy at which it returns the results. Wolfram Alpha is impressive because of its advanced ability to interpret a question, do computation on the data returned and present it quite well.
I especially like how almost all its result screens display some form of graphical representation be it graphs, maps or diagrams. I have yet seen any photographs though. It would be nice to see photographic results in the form of an encyclopaedic entry. Yes, I know we already have Wikipaedia or Brittanica for that but can't it be integrated with Wolfram Alpha?
This technology seems to me the logical progression of so-called 'Search' technology. While Google is so good at speedy retrieval of data and simple data processing, Wolfram Alpha seems to be at making sense of all that data and presenting it well.
I sure hope the creators of Wolfram Alpha implement some form of advanced saving or download feature. I'm sure researchers using this powerful tool will want to be able to save what they see in various formats ie. HTML, XML, plain ASCII/unicode text, PDF, Open Document formats etc.
I think Isaac Asimov's MultiVAC is already here! In his short story The Last Question Asimov tells of the ultimate computer/oracle. Humankind can ask it any question and answers will be returned. Not only that, this ultimate computer can evolve! Go read it here, I highly recommended it!
So here's my prediction, the Internet and all its related enhancements in the future will serve as the ultimate store of humankind's knowledge. An AI will emerge with the soul of the new machine that will be able to think so well for humans that it will play a crucial role in how human biology and culture advances.
The danger here is that humans will stop to think and let computers do all the thinking for them. However, I take the more optimistic approach and think that humans will be consolidated with these creations. The future humans will be cyborg. Like it or not, we seem to be headed towards an integration of brains, muscles (wet-ware) and artificial enhancements (software and hardware, not necessarily inorganic).
Already, our children are better informed and smarter than the children of the past... Trends like these will continue into our glorious future.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Basking Sharks are Mega Sharks
Check out this WIRED article about Basking sharks. They're huge and more than a little creepy. That mouth looks like a man can easily swim into it and the outline of that dorsal fin looks exactly like a submarine conning tower!
The fact that these sharks only eat plankton and therefore harmless to humans mean they're gentle giants though...fascinating!
Check out this WIRED article about Basking sharks. They're huge and more than a little creepy. That mouth looks like a man can easily swim into it and the outline of that dorsal fin looks exactly like a submarine conning tower!
The fact that these sharks only eat plankton and therefore harmless to humans mean they're gentle giants though...fascinating!
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Quiz brought to you by
Tripbase - Vacation Ideas
Monday, April 27, 2009
Bang! Heroes Online Game
Warning: The above links to quite an addictive platform game featuring caricatured cowboys and hip spaghetti western music.
It's quite a large download but worth it. Just don't play this when you want to get productive! :-)
Warning: The above links to quite an addictive platform game featuring caricatured cowboys and hip spaghetti western music.
It's quite a large download but worth it. Just don't play this when you want to get productive! :-)
