Philip Khor

It is almost a month since Windows 7 was officially released. Leaked copies of the final version has been out for over 2 months. So, how was my experience?

5 major points I’d like to make.

1. Conflicts with some programs. I had an old version of Kaspersky. It caused my installation to be extremely buggy and unusable. Credit to them though for releasing a fix within days.

2. ReadyBoost (as described earlier elsewhere) is a godsent! You’ll notice signficicant boost in general performance by plugging in a Thumb drive and dedicating it for cache disk duties. The responsiveness is just breathtaking.

3. This is truly a multitasker. Past versions prior to Win 7 had terrible multitasking performances. Run an antivirus scan and your PC is basically useless. The code has been optimised and the core handles all your requests in small threads (pretty much like Mac OS X since its inception in 7 years ago!). Microsoft has finally caught up!

4. Everything works out of the box. With a Win XP installation, you won’t have Network connection or audio for example. You need the CD to get started. Win 7 includes basic drivers to save you the headache (at least for my setup!)

5. Try this. Open all 6 programs in Microsoft Office 2003 in one go. Chances are, you’ll take 4-5 seconds. On Win 7, it takes half the time! The programs are ready to use as soon as you click on the icons.

My first test went well. I needed a miracle, and I think I got it (gotta wait til mid Dec to find out). Here is an article related to my studies which is interesting to read:

http://www.ceaconline.org/pdf... [link]

In today’s fast paced world, change is imminent. In order to gain an advantage, you gotta “change” the Players, Added Value, Rules, Tactics and Scope of the Game.

Another article worth a look is the Holy Bible translated in Lolcat language! [link here and here]

I think its an internet phenomena / meme. If you go to Youtube, you can find cats do all sorts of crazy stuff, including playing an organ! They’re so “cute and adorable” thats why any cat related jokes are damn viral!

I’m using Google Desktop and Google Chrome now. Chrome has seen much improvements. And speed wise, its the best. Every tab is a different process. This means multi-core systems will see significant boost in speed! Give Chrome a try [link]

It is a beautiful Wednesday!

Here it is, my moment of Zen :)

Whoa. What a night with Vinod, the rubber guy.

The man has a vision to help Malaysia regain its glory, starting with the youth. He’s the guy who started Rakan Muda, but when he stepped down, it turned Political, some dude who used it as a platform to get into BN. He doesn’t want to be a political party, but if either BN or the opposition makes good plans, he will support it, and more importantly, critisize bad decisions by the MPs!

Here’s Anwar’s Charge

I had a talk with my dad and he has interacted with Malays in his twenties and thirties. It is VERY VERY common for anal intercourse among single and lonely guys back then. Everyone was pretty poor, few were rich.

“Takde lubang, cam mane?”

Now we have four figure monthly allowance WHILE STUDYING in expensive unis costing 5-figures annually.. Of course “Ada Duit Dapat Amoi” right?

On another topic, i would like to post out this question. Are you secure with what you are?

Most people like to be reaffirmed that they’re good. Rub their shoulders and they’ll do anything for you (favour lah). As children, yes I can understand the need to tell you what’s right / wrong, what you could do better. But past your teenage years, do we still need positive reaffirmation?

Lets say your friend tells you something negative about your character, or the girl you like for example. Do you take it to heart? Why? Would you be disappointed or angered? Do you feel a need to confront, or would you ignore, or avoid this issue / comment?

July 2009 Phailed Mix is out. I’m uploading to the server now! It will be in the Stream Pad soon.

.

I would like to plug Cynthia Tan’s [FB] choir -

Dithyrambic Singers

on their release of their new 12-track album

Which I witness its live recording earlier this year at Sentul.

The one I’m excited about is Locus Iste. You just have to listen to the first line, right off the bat, and you’ll be tickled! Most of the tracks dances across various sub-genre and culture. Even the random noises / sounds in a “skit-liked” piece really was a well organised distortion, as I like to refer it to as :)

One trivia fun fact / sidenote: I am sure she won’t like 90% of July’s phailed mix. haha.. :P

Thought for the day: “Listen first, then talk”.

- That’s CSMA / CD in Networking Fundamentals!

If you ask me to vomit out all that I learnt from this subject called “Internet Commerce” over the past 14 weeks, I could put everything I “think” I learnt in one sheet of A4 paper. Yes, this is how little we’ve learnt.

I think they purposely put RC Ho to teach us because on the surface, this is not a very important subject. It is just there to add credit points for us to graduate. But don’t get me wrong, I’ve learnt the MOST in this class in terms of social skills, organisational skills, man management, psychology, public relations, communication and presentation skills. Yupp.

Its not in the course objectives. Its a by-product of a well crafted syllabus. Kudos Taylors Business School admins.

Its kinda like the “unintentional safety” that most intermediate pool players execute once in a while.

I really thank RC Ho for all he hath done. We need more lecturers like him to really shape us for the working world. Lousy lecturers impart facts. Traditional lecturers impart knowledge. RC imparts wisdom.

The people at Twitter sent me an email confirming my suspecion as to why I was suspended. Yes, my philipkhor.com was serving malware last month and I twitted my site. Nevertheless, when restored I’ll redirect traffic to my new @philipkhor account. [check Social media links]

This morning, my trap worked. I had pocket 5s and flopped a set. On-the-gun, I checked and there was a bet, raise and re-reraise. Turn card, I all-in and yes this time it worked. I’m now at 30k chips.

After today I would have 2 subjects left in college. Once completed, I can reward my dad with a well deserved retirement… like he’s been working to kill time and fight boredom, yes… but partly also to fund my Toto addiction (as some close friends may know!) hahaha…

Lets see Melvyn can remember our appointment to go gym at 9.30am. I highly doubt it, but he’ll surprise me! Oh, I’ll be going to Singapore next Thursday. Woooot~!

It has been a great 4 years in Subang, helped by great college friends such as Lukas, Melvyn and Kathryn. Church helps too with the likes of Yang Wei, Mark and Patrick. “As we go on, we remember, all the times we, had together. And as our lives change, from whatever, we will still be, friends forever.” [youtube | lyrics]. Check out Obama Swats a fly [Youtube] and I’m a Boss [YouTube] & Microsoft is getting desperate [Digg]

I woke up today to a pleasant surprise. A girl from church commented about my post and included this:

: X

AFAIK, that’s the emoticon for a kiss right? WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO… I’m over the world.

Hmm, or maybe I could inteprete it wrongly. I always get wrong signals from girls. Maybe she’s sealing her mouth so tight cuz she’s disgusted at me. Or indirectly telling me, ÿou’re rubbish; thus I have nothing to say”.

Bah, I better not over-analyse. Takes too much time and as we know, time is money.

No surprise there – Barca won. But for the bookies, it wasn’t such a happy ending because the odds were even ball. By 15 May 2009, Manchester United will mathematically be the champions of England for a second successive season.

It tickles me to see great teams such as Chelsea blaming the ref for results and decisions that don’t go their way. Chelsea claims 4 penalties, despite having Barca playing with 10 men for 20+ minutes! If you’re a true winner, you would win it by a margin, no matter how close your teams are. Lets say: 3-1?

Point is, everything is a dice roll. Poker is definately depending on your luck; but the element of skill comes when you manage to disguise your hand and give your opponents the impression your hand is weak. It is not how many pots you win, it is how MUCH you win from each pot.

Lets say we have a problem

2x + 3y =14

5x + y  = 20

Average people follow instructions

The refer to a Math book, study the method, and apply it into a problem

y = 20 – 5x

2x + 3 (20  – 5x) = 14

2x – 15x + 60 = 14

13x = 46

x = 46/13

y = 20 – 5 (46/13)

Smart people use better methods to effectively solve this problem. Now, I’m no math genius, but AFAIK, simultaneous equations can be solved using a Formula x = b^2-4ac [bla bla bla]

So one shot, use calculator / MS excel, kaw tim, found answers for X and Y

Geniuses are people who come out with new methods of solving problems

You may think that existing methods are good enough for our needs. People studying University level Applied Mathematics would think it is insufficient for complex models. So they learn more advanced shit for curves and other 3-dimension equations, for example. At this level, they are forced to think of problem solving methods. We need a starting point, yes, so we refer to existing work. At some point, they would have to deduce their own methods and formulae to use.

Same with business. There are 3 ways to approach a problem.

A conventional way; an unconventional way; and a breakthrough innovative way.

They say that, “There is a solution to every problem”. Whenever we are faced with an impossible task, it is easier to give up rather than to look for a solution. In assignments, we can be feeling totally lost and confused on how to approach the task. Our mind goes *blank* and we start to panic.

Being a good team-player and leader involves the need to be calm and collected during this phase. We need to get over the initial fear of not being able to accomplish. We also need to put ideas on the table, so that our team mates can work on and improve the methods. In a good effective team, other members will debate and disagree (if necessary) on the ideas put on the table. As an individual idea contributor, you must be man enough to accept the fact that you’re NOT always right, and other peoples ideas might be better and more effective than yours. However, you can fight back and explain why your idea is better.

The above just happened in our Student Council “pre-meeting meeting”, I noticed some people were very good at debating and giving objections to ideas. I love people who presents a different point of view. But this particular person keeps throwing problems-after-problems when someone comes up with their ideas. On his own idea, he would protect it like mad, and follow-through kaw-kaw.

This person will be someone top, maybe Director of a Company, yes because of his ability to see problems and rectify it.

But to be of someone of Steve Job’s stature, you need to be open to crazy shit, putting aside perceived “practicality” and budget constrains. Come up with a big idea; let the angel investors come up with the fundings.

GREAT ideas don’t come overnight. Lets say you receive funding from a sponsor to come up with a cure for H1N1. You got a lab and equipment, you got a big intelligent team. The objective is to improve on Tamiflu to specifically target this strain of flu. You are given 72 hours, maximum 6 days to come up with results.

An average team of Scientists / Biologist will come up with some shit similar to the existing flu medicine. Improve this and there a bit, add a little salt and pepper [in Hokkien, they say : keh yam keh tau yeu] and come up with FluAway(tm).

Smart people will take ideas from other Scientists and work out new ways to make it more effective. They call it collaboration. I call it plagiarism.

Geniuses will tell the client: EH, sorry boss. I cannot deliver within your timeframe. But as soon as I come up with something, guarantee I give the rights to you cuz you funded us.

Bottom line is, as cliche (Gail for you Arsenal fans) as it sounds, we need think out of the box. Be an innovator and trendsetter, not a laggard, not a follower. IN a related issue, do not compromise your values, ethics and standards no matter what the rewards are.

God bless your weekend :) Be fruitful, cheerful and productive!

“My Ferrari costs more than your little S-Class.” – K-Fed, Lose Control

“Its the small things in life that gives you the fuel you need to go on with life”

- Hock Khoon, 2003

Below are some of the junk I still keep with me. It reminds me of the good times and really gives me a reason to live. ok, I won’t be THAT depressed without it, but still.. these things encourage people.

“”Its GOOD to encourage one another”

- Jesus [citation required]

Here’s a girl’s take on Formula 1 (back in 2002):

Anyway, food for thought. If my memory serves me right, Hakkinen & Schumacher were leading with 80+ points, right? (And the rest with 60+). If Schumacher was winning & he was a person with low self esteem, why didn’t he purposely crash onto Hakkinen. That would assure him that he would win (they would have crashed and thus 0 marks to both of them).

Whoa. How insightful. How profound.

Weird humour. And Pihilip?? Hmmm… Interesting ;)

The dog, Brian from Family Guy?

Half-Malaysian , Guy Sebastian, Australian Idol?

Art-sy card

(the receipt at the back is for my Aztech Wireless DSL modem)

Chimpanzee card

Goodbye is hard indeed

From my brother Alex.

Since I’ve started gymming, I’m not THAT big anymore.

Although technically speaking, I’m still having BMI of about 32! (omg)

Fruits & Vase

Fishing, another artsy one

Blue is nice. Can’t go wrong with naked animals ;)

This is from Azman, the Royal Brunei Airlines pilot!

Ah… why don’t my current friends give me cards har???

I realise we have Muslim friends on this blog, so, click the Read More at your own risk :)

Sorry lah, pork is in our culture!

Read the rest of this entry »

In my earlier post, I wrote:

Life is like a game of dice. 6 possibilities, everybody on earth has an equal chance. Breaking down the math, yes, there are various variables and environmental factors. Whatever your roll was, there are about a billion people just like you. Its what you do with your life and the ways you impacted this world that will be remembered by history.

Here’s a graphic on what I mean by the above.

Take some time to digest the above information. Ready?

I guess it is pretty self explanatory. However, the proportion of people for different cases and scenarios might not be the same. There are close to 2 billion people born poor; right off the bat. Only 1,000,000 are born to Royalty, Prime Ministers and prominent figures.

My model might be incomplete. If you got suggestions, I’m really open to it.

But my theory remains that, hey, we are just the same.

Pop trivia: Graphic design wise, what is so special about the above graphics? Hint: Something to do with Photoshop.

Failure before success

[edited 22/04/2009 with more Information]

During my meeting with Adeline Chong, we learnt from one another a lot of things. Among the things discussed was life, business, friendships, and the one that I’m excited about, failure (phailure, phailed, phail, you get the idea).

Abit about Adeline. During her Primary 6 exam (the trials), all students were mixed up sorted alphabetically across the 4 classes in our school (Red, Green, Blue, Yellow). Due to some administrative cock up, they (actually Mr. Tiwary, the Senior Assistant) decided to put Adeline in an all boys class. I’m guessing it was the 2nd class lah (in order), so I was there cuz my name is Philip (P) and she was at the last spot since its Adeline (A). <- ok, that was being TOO specific unnecessarily. Or unnecessarily too specific!

Adeline Wept.

Upon reflection, back then it wasn’t kewl to mix with guys. Don’t know why lah, but she didn’t feel comfortable having all that attention, I guess.

The Future Queen of Brunei, now Princess Sarah [wiki: Pengiran Anak Sarah | Crown Prince of Brunei] was her classmate (thus my schoolmate). My portfolio of friends from Brunei include, a lawyer, family doctor for the royal family, someone to take care of the nutritional needs of the country as well as to control epidemics, the ministers of foreign affairs and minister of defence (tactical), we’ve got a soldier (possibly an army general), more backup doctors and dentists, a couple of engineers (mechanical and the construction type), people in IT and Telecommunications, a professional vocalist, we’ve got all our bases covered. I find myself as the advisor to the Minister of Finance (also the Sultan) on how to manage people and money.

If Brunei were to start a war with Sarawak (oil or territorial issues), we got the backend support to get it done. OK, 25% of those mentioned are Malaysians lah, but still, product of the BEST school of that time, St. Andrew’s School.

It surprises me to see some contrasting fortunes for different personality types. I for one, was quite “promising” (hehe, self praise). I was top 10 throughout Primary School and within the top half in Secondary School. 2005 I flunked Engineering Diploma, 2006 my TER for an Aussie Matriculation was a pathetic 70+ where most friends get 85 and above, mostly in the 95 and above range. I flunked Finance (twice) and skipped a semester (thats about RM 11,000 + RM 5500). Hospital bills due to this failure (long story), also 5-figures.

A playful boy (that we all know and love back in high school) ends up being a decently successful engineer. A good looking guy (said by many) became a pilot flying in Newcastle Upon Tyne somewhere in London. We’ve got lots of Aussie graduates from Monash, Perth and of course, the overhyped, overpriced Melbourne U. My IT partner for all the school IT projects didn’t persue this useless course (of IT) but went for something so canggih it blows my mind away. He’ll be the future tactician for the Brunei army.

God works in mysterious ways.

The failures. So far only a handful have shared their so-called “failures” with me. I wouldn’t call it a failure because it is just a stepping stone to success. Sounds cliche (Gail – for you Arsenal fans) but I really believe its true. God has a greater plan in store for you.

I’m speaking for myself here when I say that “everyone has a rough patch in their life, especially during tertiary education”. All the mixed emotions, hormonal and biological changes (sic boobs, man boobs included) as well as our surroundings.

According to the 5-minute presentation entitled “Do You Know”, back in 1900, they say a week’s worth of New York Times is more information that any living human being will encounter throughout his lifespan. They predict in 2009, about 4,000,000 Terabytes of unique information will be produced. Ok, so the number is skewed due to the huge Science and research databases, and all those Sarah Palin porn. But isn’t it amazing?

Everyone deserves a second chance. Being a high flier in Kindergarden and Primary School does not guarantee future success. I feel I’m lucky considering that I hit my peak in the critical stages of my life. Its like going 3-0 down on halftime to win it on penalties in the end. That’s how I feel my life is. Its all about finishing strong in life.

Aim high. Don’t settle for mediocrisy. It may sound way off but my financial goals in life is to earn 5-figures off the bat, millionaire in 24 months and billionaire in 8 years. I won’t settle for a 12 hour 6 day week stressful job paying rm 6 an hour plus benefits (once u break it down) and having to put up with shitty bosses. Heck no.

I feel that in life, we are limited by the limits we were implanted with by the rich and successful. If everyone’s a boss, who will be the employees? Who will be the garbage collectors and waiter / waitresses of the society? Who will fix our Astro, and clean up our sewerage and be our doorman and drivers and amahs?

We were born naked and equal. So too will we die naked and equal.

Life is like a game of dice. 6 possibilities, everybody on earth has an equal chance. Breaking down the math, yes, there are various variables and environmental factors. Whatever your roll was, there are about a billion people just like you. Its what you do with your life and the ways you impacted this world that will be remembered by history.

Bottom line

1. If you’ve experience a huge failure in life, pick your self up. Give yourself time and never ever give up.

2. If you’re still high flying, and everything is rosey for you, thank God for it. I believe you will be successful. But prepare yourself for failure. You can never be too prepared for that.

3. Outward appearance does not truly reflect how a person is currently feeling; the problems he is facing. In the words of The Killers – “Are we human, or are we dancers?”

4. Remove negative feelings. Go jogging, dancing or gymming. And don’t forget to reward yourself with Haagen Daaz or Carl’s Jr once a while. Open up to the world and embrace the fallen nature due to our forefathers. No one is perfect. Acknowledge that we have fallen. Acknowledge that we make mistakes. Acknowledge that we are not always right.

5. Never give up. Never lose hope. Encourage, don’t pull people down with your negativity.

Orinigally posted by Phailed Pippo
20-April-2009

Ok, here’s a sensitive issue so if you disagree, please comment.

Taken from an old lowyat.net post:

[intro giving background of MLM]
These information are meant for you to know and warn your family members and loved ones before they become victims.

“People got victimised by scams because they don’t know about it and they don’t know about it because those who knew about it did not share it”

Here are some hot scams(new scams no.16 down below) in Malaysia, briefly, (I will elaborate more if you contribute):

Read the rest of this entry »

The quote of the day (that I liked) was by the job hunter dude. “A university degree buys you a poker chip to play in the game!”