So when I got home a few days ago, I took out my cell phone to recharge it and it turns out I had forgotten to enable key lock. Actually, key lock was enabled, but did it somehow miracously. However, there was much already done underneath the key lock. The first page after I unlocked the keypad was: “Delete All? Yes/No” I was wo… How did I get to this page, and the Back button took me to my contacts list and etc. It turns out somehow I had pressed the correct sequence of keys where it was going to delete my entire contact list and the amazing thing is after that, it pressed the key sequence to lock the keypad instead of hitting yes. I’m just quite amazed at the probability of this happening.
Random Crap:
I got a $100 Visa Gift Card a few days ago and for some weird and freaky coincidence, the pin it used was exactly the same pin I use for all my bank account atm cards.
So ungsunghero and I were chatting about the abacus yesterday and we came upon the question if multiplication was possible on it. I have heard it was, and so was division, but ungsunghero wasn’t quite sure. After a little bit of searching, I found this site: The Abacus Handbook. It turns out that both multiplication and division is possible! Multiplication is nothing more than a series of additions. However, it is not very convenient to do 23 separate adds on the number 47 just to give us the answer to 23×47 ! Therefore, there are specific techniques for performing multiplication on the abacus frame. I’ve learned two different methods and know there are probably others as well – but I will teach only the method that was approved by the Japan Abacus Committee. I have found that this method is least prone to errors and is very simple once you learn the basic technique. You will need to know your multiplication table up to 9×9=81 and you should be all set. For me at least, division was a little intimidating. As it turns out Dave was right when he said, “Trust me. It’s not that hard!” As with multiplication you will need to know your multiplication tables up to 9 x 9 = 81. It might be helpful to think of division as being nothing more than a series of subtractions The techniques I use below are pretty much as they are described in “The Japanese Abacus – It’s Use and Theory” by Takashi Kojima.
Woman weds teen, spends honeymoon in jail – Under Georgia law, teenagers may marry as long as they are at least 16 and have the permission of a parent or guardian. Those restrictions are waived, however, when a female applicant is pregnant.
Prescription for heart disease: pat a dog – you don’t see researches saying the same for cats now, do you?
Mom Makes Teen Stand on Street With Sign – In fact, Henderson has seen a turnaround in her daughter’s behavior in the past week and a half. But the punishment prompted letters and calls to talk radio from people either praising the woman or blasting her for publicly humiliating her daughter. I personally praise both the mother and the child for doing this, but I can see why some are against the idea of public humiliation. I guess being from an Asian family, this would be consider little stuff.
Why I cut my tackle: rugby fan (from dsnuts) – A RUGBY fan who cut out his testicles with wire cutters to mark a Wales victory is at a loss to explain why he did it. A pretty disgusting article, but I thought I’d share.
Atari 800 XE Laptop (from /.) – Of all the portable videogame devices I’ve ever built over the years one system has always been my “Holy Grail” to make – my “dream portable” if you will. (Yes, even more so than my Neo Geo arcade machine) And now after a couple years of tinkering it is complete! After building my very first portable,-the Atari 2600 VCSp, back in 2000 (ever notice how awkward of a year that is to say?) I had a couple of “dream projects” to follow it up with. One was a Nintendo portable, which strangely took 4 years to manifest itself. The other was something I consider impossible at the time – an Atari 800 computer laptop. My ultimate dream portable! If you want to just see the photos, click here.
Inside Microsoft’s Xbox 360 (from /.) – A great anantech article disassembling the Xbox 360 piece by piece. I love these type of articles. Maybe I’m just a geek.
Ants eat away woman’s eye in hospital – On Monday, the patient’s family saw a gaping hole with swarming ants in it when they lifted the bandage on her left eye. Yet another gross article, but sharing is caring!
More Than Meets the Eye: Star Wars Transformers (from fuzzywuzzy) – The power of the Force meets the power of the Allspark with a new assortment of Star Wars vehicles from Hasbro that are actually robots in disguise. Star Wars Transformers combine the classic characters and vehicles from a galaxy far, far away and transforms them into mighty mechs with seamless Star Wars alt-modes. This first wave of unique crossover toys includes four ‘bots, with a mix of good and evil to wage shapeshifting battles among your other Star Wars or Transformer toys. Each figure also comes with a miniature pilot.
Popular Science – Best Of What’s New 2005 (from /.) – check out the best gadgets of 2005!
Is a Hybrid Worth It? (from /.) – basically does an in-depth analysis if it’s worth in for monetary reasons to buy a hybrid (where you upfront the extra cost, but save over time by paying for less gasoline). Has a lot of pretty charts and graphs. My opinion was that you would not make back the few extra thousand dollars in 1 life-time of a car, but environmental reasons is the main reason why you should get a hybrid or another ULEV (ultra low emission vehicle).
Kazakhstan threatens “Borat” with court – Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry threatened legal action on Monday against comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, who wins laughs by portraying the central Asian state as a country populated by drunks who enjoy cow-punching as a sport. Baron Cohen, who portrays a spoof Kazakh television presenter Borat in his “Da Ali G Show”, has won fame ridiculing Kazakhstan, the world’s ninth largest country yet still little known to many in the West. Found a short clip from that MTV Europe Awards show: Gorillaz: Feel Good Inc. live I couldn’t tell if the characters on stage were holograms or dolls or just a projection…
Bottler offers salmon-flavoured drink – The salmon-flavoured soda will be offered as part of a $13 “regional holiday pack” that also includes other unusual sodas such as turkey & gravy, corn on the cob, broccoli casserole and pecan pie. Who else wants to barf after reading those soda flavors?
Transvestites Hoodwink Tourists With Kiss – Members of a transvestite gang have confessed to concealing strong sedative pills under their tongues and spitting them down the throats of their victims while kissing, causing them to pass out so they can be easily robbed, police said. The confession came from three attractive transvestites arrested last week in Bangkok for stealing more than $7,300 in cash and valuables from a Bangladeshi businessman, said police Lt. Col. Akachai Chaicharoen. What would you feel worse about? Losing $7,300 or kissing a guy? *shivers*
Supercharged college P2P network closes – A file-swapping network that let college students download movies and music at blazing speeds on the Internet2 research network has closed its doors, the latest casualty of entertainment industry legal pressure. The i2Hub network emerged in early 2004, taking advantage of the supercharged network that connects college campuses to let students trade files at speeds far faster than is possible on the ordinary Internet. i2Hub – You Shalt Be Remembered! *SALUTE*