roytang / weblog

Archive for October, 2004

This internet shop is using Windows 98, apparently. And it looks like Firefox’s icon doesn’t show properly in 98?

Oh, and Yahoo has a new front page.

Posted by Roy in Tech | 1 Comment

Well, not really, seeing as how there aren’t really any mountains anywhere near here. I’m in Daet, Camarines Norte, if that means anything to you. It’s great to be back here — apparently the last time I was here was in 1996.

Some things have changed, but mostly things are still the same. There’s some sort of minimall now, and a Shakey’s, and a Jollibee. And there’s internet! I’m posting right now from a dingy internet cafe near my grandmother’s house. The mouse is horrible, and I had to put up with using IE for a while. I got fed up quickly though, and just went ahead and downloaded and installed Firefox on two of their machines. Hehe, I’ll leave them open when I leave, hopefully I can convert someone.

I’m actually here out of necessity - work necessity that is. I forgot to pass a couple of fspecs before I had to run for the bus yesterday, so I whipped up some quick specs here and sent em over to China. That’s the beauty of the internet age, I guess. I can pick up my work whenever I want, and be working with people from 3 different countries while waking up late in some desolate corner of a third-world country.

I like it here in Daet, despite the lack of some modern conveniences. (The toilet here does not flush…I have to get a bucket of water and flush stuff myself.) Ironically, I was just lying around sleeping and reading the Cryptonomicon the whole morning. Ironic, because when I was a kid, I seem to recall that I didn’t particularly like coming here, ‘coz I’d be all bored out of my wits. This time though, I actually did come here to bum around.

Posted by Roy in Daily Life, Work | No Comments

I need to escape from this madness, this constant flow of unfinished tasks. I am leaving for the land of my ancestors, returning to my roots, seeking the tranquility that has eluded me these weeks past. For seven long years have I not ventured there, and yet now I find myself seeking its warm comforts. What will I find when I return to those shores? Will it be the same simple, quite town I once knew? Or has it changed and grown, to become a bustling metropolis? Will this short rest bring me answers, to the questions that plague my heart and mind?

(I’m going to Bicol for a few days. Cheers.)

Posted by Roy in Daily Life | No Comments

http://www.grandtheftendo.com/ Nuff said.

Man…I want to do a project like that.

Posted by Roy in Games | No Comments

Okay, so I didn’t perform very well at the recent company bowling tournament. It’s quite embarassing, considering both my parents are pretty decent bowlers. Which is why, I vow revenge! This I declare, with my nice guy pose, I will practice, and I will win next year!

The embarassing thing is that by the last day my right hand was tired from all that ball-swinging. When I told my mom about it, I found out she actually used a ball one pound heavier than the one I was using! Okay, that does it. I vow revenge!

Posted by Roy in Daily Life | No Comments

Joel Spolsky, of Joel on Software, is collecting nominations for the best software related essays of 2004. A lot of them are interesting reads.

Reading these essays make me realize that, well, I like being a coder, a programmer and a developer. (These are different things, figure it out :D)

Posted by Roy in Software Developer | No Comments

1. Never Outshine the Master
2. Never Put Too Much Trust in Friends, Learn How to Use Enemies
3. Conceal Your Intentions
4. Always Say Less Than Necessary
5. So Much Depends On Reputation — Guard It With Your Life
6. Court Attention At All Costs
7. Get Others To Do The Work For You, But Always Take The Credit
8. Make Other People Come To You — Use Bait If Necessary
9. Win Through Your Actions, Never Through An Argument
10. Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and the Unlucky
11. Learn to Keep People Dependent on You
12. Use Selective Honesty and Generosity to Disarm Your Victim
13. When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest, Never Their Mercy or Gratitude
14. Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy
15. Crush Your Enemy Totally
16. Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor
17. Keep Others in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability
18. Do Not Build Fortresses to Protect Yourself — Isolation is Dangerous
19. Know who you are Dealing With — Do Not Offend the Wrong Person
20. Do Not Commit to Anyone
21. Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker — Seem Dumber Than Your Mark
22. Use the Surrender Tactic — Turn Weakness Into Power
23. Concentrate Your Forces
24. Play the Perfect Courtier
25. Re-Create Yourself
26. Keep Your Hands Clean
27. Play on People’s Need to Believe to Create a Cultlike Following
28. Enter Action with Boldness
29. Plan All the Way to the End
30. Make Your Accomplishments Seem Effortless
31. Control The Options: Get Others to Play With the Cards You Deal
32. Play to People’s Fantasies
33. Discover Each Man’s Thumbscrew
34. Be Royal In Your Own Fashion: Act Like a King and be Treated Like One
35. Master the Art of Timing
36. Disdain Things You Cannot Have: Ignoring Them is the Best Revenge
37. Create Compelling Spectacles
38. Think as You Like but Behave Like Others
39. Stir Up Waters to Catch Fish
40. Despise the Free Lunch
41. Avoid Stepping Into a Great Man’s Shoes
42. Strike the Sheperd and the Sheep Will Scatter
43. Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others
44. Disarm and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect
45. Preach the Need for Change, But Never Reform too Much at Once
46. Never Appear too Perfect
47. Do Not Go Past the Mark You Aimed For; In Victory, Learn When to Stop
48. Assume Formlessness

From a book by a guy named Robert Greene. I sense an urge to get in touch with my Machiavellian side.

Posted by Roy in Geeky | No Comments

I was bored. And I was going through the Sinfest archives. But then I thought, why should I bother going through these comics manually over the net? I’m a programmer, I’ll make a SinfestDownloader!

I’ve left it running for about 4 hours now. There’s a lot of Sinfest strips…around 40MB worth have already been downloaded!

I wonder if this violates any sort of copyright? …

Update: Done in a little over 4.5 hrs. Sinfest weighs in at a bit more than 1700 strips, and roughy 50MB of space. I wonder if I should try for Penny-Arcade?

Posted by Roy in Pop Culture, Software Developer | 2 Comments

In case you haven’t heard, Firefox, the little browser that could, is scheduled for the official 1.0 release on Nov. 9. There’s a large promotion campaign going on over at SpreadFirefox.com, including a campaign to gather donations for a large ad of some sort on the New York Times. I’m still using 0.9, despite the availability of 1.0PR, but I’ll surely get the official 1.0 come November 9.

BTW, there are some cool Firefox wallpapers available.

Posted by Roy in Tech | No Comments

There’s a new, official Windows XP Theme out. Supposedly meant for Tablet PCs, it works for regular desktops too. Cool.

Posted by Roy in Tech | No Comments