Scott Yang's Playground

Just came back from seeing my GP about my knee problem. My right knee hurts whenever it is bend and under pressure for a period of time, since I accidentally injured myself climbing down a ladder 3 months ago. Sitting down without being able to stretch my legs for half an hour really hurts. That [...]

I was planned to prepare the seminar that I am supposed to lead next Friday with MBF, but not surprisingly I got slack, procrastinated and played around with Orkut for the last hour or two, while trying to listening to PDJ’s talks on CD. I wrote about Orkut a few months ago, but just decided [...]

Another stupid script that I wrote as my latest attempt in procrastination. This Python script basically queries Bloglines for the number of unread items you have. A bit like notifiers that are already available on Windows and Mac, except on command line, where ever real man works :)

I was reading through Autumn 2004 edition of Salt magazine produced by AFES, and I spot an interesting quote on a movie review of Bruce Willis’ Tears of the Sun. The review is written by Ben Rae who is MTS at UWA. He says, Tears of the Sun is based on two ideas: 1. man’s [...]

It is only the first day of a working week, and I already felt to have another long weekend. An extra day of holiday yesterday was not particularly restful, and it was occupied by lots of gardening and helping out Vivian in sewing and cooking. I stayed late to solve some issues of bandersnatch on [...]

In my previous blog entry on Gmail, I commented that I would probably only use it to quickly find an old email, as IMAP server that I am currently using does not provide such capability (hint: an open-source IMAP extension that can perform indexing and full-text search would make my day). Another medium that I [...]

According to this news (or not so new according to some of the user comments) from Slashdot, Google is now offering Gmail beta testing accounts to active Blogger users. It effectively increases the user base of beta testing significantly towards those who are technical savvy, out-spoken and influential on the Internet, which characterise the majority [...]

I just remembered that I actually once had a blog site with Blogger, hosted on Blog*Spot, when I tested out some Blogger API stuff middle of last year. I went back there with my old Blogger login and password, and it is still there! I wonder whether Blogspot ever removes abandoned blogsites. Anyway, this time [...]

Following a suggestion by Tim yesterday, I tested drive the open sourced Mac OS X launcher application “QuickSilver” for a solid hour and half on my 900Mhz G3 iBook. I am instantly hooked, and have decided to ditch my licensed copy of Launchbar, as QS does everything I need from Launchbar and more. Launchbar has [...]

Yesterday afternoon at work I was stressed in trying to tune some SQL queries, as clients complained Firebird taking up all the CPU time after our software upgrades. At the end, I figured out the issue lies in how Firebird 1.0 and Firebird 1.5 prepare the plan for the exact same query. General performance wise, [...]

Here is my Blogger Code: B8< d++ t+ k s++ u- f i o+ x– e l- c- Does that mean I am 1337 or not?

L and I went out for lunch with J yesterday. I have known both of them for over 10 years – probably the first few people I know from Sydney. Three of us have been working in Alexandria for the last 18 months, but it was the first time a lunch together was organised. Call [...]

When one individual calls you with a wrong name, you might forgive, understand that it might be a mistake. When more than one individuals call you the wrong name every now and then, you would start wondering that maybe you have a common face. However, when multiple unrelated entities call you the same wrong name [...]

Wah lah. The money I paid for my 900Mhz G3 iBook less than a year ago can now buy me a 1.33Ghz 12″ Powerbook with 60Gb hard drive and AirportExtreme built in, according to the latest Apple Shop price update! And the entry level 12″ iBook now costs merely AUD$1,695, which also includes a 1Ghz [...]

I received a spam email this afternoon that boasts the following product: Become a legally ordained minister within 48 hours As a minister, you will be authorized to perform the rites and ceremonies of the church! Perform Weddings, Funerals, Perform Baptisms, Forgiveness of Sins, Visit Correctional Facilities Want to start your own church? Then there [...]