Tue: May 20 2008

"wanted: software junkie to fix computer"
0 comments, it seems

Afterthought to title: Request not fulfilled by me.

Today is one of those days where I am caught between revision and inevitable procrastination. [Rant] Computer Graphics and Artificial Intelligence are fine subjects of study, except when you get tired of all the geometry and clustering algorithms. Thankfully, they do not compare at all to my torturous Compiler Design module, the exam of which I spent 2.5 hours struggling with yesterday.

So, a few months away from leaving the academic world, I was interested to come across a list of ‘dirty little secrets’ in IT (TechRepublic), seeing that it happens to be a likely career path for me. And guess what. One of the list items already applies to me:

6.) Your nontechnical co-workers will use you as personal tech support for their home PCs

Your co-workers (in addition to your friends, family, and neighbors) will view you as their personal tech support department for their home PCs and home networks. They will e-mail you, call you, and/or stop by your office to talk about how to deal with the virus that took over their home PC or the wireless router that stopped working after the last power outage and to ask you how to put their photos and videos on the Web so their grandparents in Iowa can view them. […]

Strange how, after maybe 7 years of having somewhat diverse (if simplified) academic skills at school, even at the final rung of A Levels before finding yourself climbing a new ladder called ‘higher education’, you spend 3 years doing a degree focused on one field and suddenly you are expected to be an expert in it, and to know little else. I’m sure everyone has felt irked at being shoved into a jar with a single label slapped on.

For me this was not so much an annoyance as it was a confirmation of my incompetence: friends and acquantainces asking me for help with viruses, reformatting, wireless routers, laptop recommendations, PC crashes, Windows XP tweaks, slow performance, hacking. Dear friends, if you have asked me for one of the above and I helplessly shook my head and referred you to the uni’s IT Services, it is not because I found myself doing a Computer Science degree completely by mistake - it is because they don’t teach us this stuff, and my interests in computers do not necessarily cover these things.

I have several non-IT guy friends (somehow, not girl friends) who can tell you more than I can about good figures to look for in a leaflet of the latest laptops. I learnt from them about what Alt-F4 and Shift-Del does. I am stuck in Windows XP, even though I may dream of Macs or someday getting a dual-boot Win/Linux system on my laptop. I cannot hack, build a computer, code in C (bombed that module) or even frickin’ create a Firefox plugin. What can I do, you ask? I can create websites (to some dubious level). I can tell you the significance of 1890 to the US Census Bureau. I can sort of write regular expressions. And I can explain why 1 + 1 = 10.

* * *

Anyway, that’s another post of slacking and low self-esteem under my belt. So anyway, the last two weeks I have become a software junkie, spending much time on DonationCoder.com and Wakoopa. Everytime I get vaguely interested by some handy little application or powerful piece of software (tending towards freeware though), I must go check it out. My Firefox bookmarks have been padded up significantly lately with such items.

Some premature (as in newly downloaded, and not comprehensively tested) recommendations for those of you like-minded freeware enthusiasts :

• Find And Run Robot (FARR) : [Storytime] For some reason I can’t get myself into Launchy. It’s cute and stuff, but for some reason it runs a little too slow for me, and I don’t find the configuration that intuitive. So for a Start Menu alternative, I’ve been happy with 8start for the past year. [The App] Discovered FARR recently though, and am liking the customization options a lot, and although it’s a little strange going back to typing things to get things running, it’s strangely satisfying to see what you want turn up in the list, knowing that it may have taken 5 seconds longer (insert generous plus-minus symbol) going through Programs from the Start Menu, or typing in the folder path on Windows Explorer.

• Screenshot Captor : [Storytime] The past few years I’ve alternated between various screen capturing programs and the simple Print Screen + MS Paint option. I can’t remember the names of any of those old programs but I do remember that none of them were flexible enough for my liking, and that the better ones were usually shareware. A couple weeks ago I discovered Cropper, which lets you select a region on your screen to capture, nice and simple, except for some reason I could not get regions bigger than 1172 x 692 pixels. So [The App] when I chanced upon Screenshot Captor, I did not turn away with the thought, “Ah, got one already”, and am glad I didn’t. I like the image browser and love the different options available for taking screenshots and after. Haven’t yet played with the editing tools though.

• FreeCommander : [Storytime] Back when I was using LiteStep and avoiding Windows Explorer, I used Turbo Navigator (TN) for my file managing. I did like TN very much, but I did miss some features - particularly thumbnail browsing, for when I’m organising newly added photos or generally looking at folders of images. I came across Directory Opus, which I had a little crush on until I realised it wasn’t freeware. [The App] And now for a few days I’ve been impressed with FreeCommander, with its awesome little tricks accessible via buttons and toolbars. Some alternatives? (Simplehelp)

• Ditto : Unlike the previous three applications, I did not get Ditto after some dissatisfaction with an existing piece of software doing the same thing. Yes, I have been Ctrl-C-ing and Ctrl-V-ing for years, unaware of the ease with which I could copy loads of different things before having to paste a single one of them into my browser, text editor, or image editor. I’m still getting the hang of it, but I certainly feel more secure with my clipboard nowadays with Ditto running in the background.

And some that I’ve been using for about two weeks:

• Instant Boss : A little app where you specify how long you mean to work, how long you mean to take breaks, and let it pop out at you to remind you that your break has been long enough thank you, or (more pleasantly) that you have been working so hard it’s time to take 3 minutes off. Requires self-discipline in the first place, but handy if you want to stick to a schedule of some sort over the next 2 hours.

• KeyNote, and The Guide : If you like keeping bits and pieces of things in text files via Notepad, The Guide can help you putting several of these tidbits into the same file but organised with tree structures. And if you have even more (text) information to file away and there’s just too many parent nodes in your tree to keep track of, KeyNote allows you to use tree structures as well, with extra organisation into notes/tabs. Some alternatives? (DonationCoder)

• RescueTime : This is a tracker sitting on your system tray, and RescueTime.com is where all the tagging happens. As for its use? This is explained better on the website, and with a screenshot I took when I first used it, after the first hour:

Disclaimer: I recommend these only because I have enjoyed or had a good experience using them myself personally. For the task that each burdens itself with, there are certainly alternatives (free or not) out there, probably better ones too (depending on your criteria). Yay, I get no blame now if you experience bad things with the above apps. I will feel a little bad though.

Oh and I can’t help it. A couple more recommendations:

• Kongregate.com, discovered two months ago, sadly abandoned as of late because my RescueTime goal reminds me me I cannot spend more than 0.5 hours (hah) on games per day. Flash games galore, some good, some bad, community-based, will be pure evil to you if you are partial towards games and have exams/projects coming up soon. Be warned.

• The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx (1993). I have finished this book about a week ago, but so ingrained into my head are the characters that I am still thinking about them. Beautiful yet subtle detail on its characters, settings, and scenes. From the blurb on the back: “an irrestible comedy of human life and possibility”. Purchased after reading the equally rich in detail (but less cheerful) Postcards (1992), and delighted to find that I had unknowingly picked up works of the same author behind the original Brokeback Mountain short story.

And now back to the world of applying memorized definitions and practised formulae to paper in proving my intelligence. Good luck to all of you doing the same thing.

 
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Sat: Apr 19 2008

"I rarely write book reviews, but…"
4 comments, it seems

Afterthought: Partial review, as I have only just started the book… more like book discussion.

I picked up “Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman’s Guide to Why Feminism Matters” (Jessica Valenti) on my occasional (ahem) online book-buying spree. The last book on feminism I read was… well, I haven’t finished it. The past few months I’ve been reading “The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women” (Naomi Wolf) on and off.

The latter book is very… intense in its content. I never had to read books that contain reference lists until coming to university, and even then that was only in my third year, in my History of Computing course.^[1] So, when diving into the pages of The Beauty Myth, I really had no idea what I was in for. I was swayed^[2] by the theories, claims and conclusions. This is a well-known book, and I admire it, though according to its current Wiki entry it seems that perhaps The Beauty Myth could be both a “sloppily researched” but “vivid and impassioned” polemic. Whatever the accuracy of the facts in this book, the two things I got from it were: (1) many, many theories regarding women’s obsession with ‘beauty’, and (2) an awareness that there was a lot of literature out there about feminism and gender studies. Call me naive, but my world opened up.

So, after having experienced the epiphanic (maybe) whirlwind of The Beauty Myth, I thought I should perhaps start over and get a grip on what feminism is - and who, where, why and how. The Beauty Myth made me feel like there was lots of stuff out there I should be reading - it really does cover a lot of ground, and is almost saturated with information, but in a good way. And so, somehow, I came across Full Frontal Feminism. Which is a lie. It had actually been on my wishlist for months before I started reading The Beauty Myth. But really, looking at the Amazon.co.uk reviews during my aforementioned shopping spree, I thought, ‘Why not?’. An average rating of 4.5 stars from 4 reviews, and perhaps the re-introduction I was looking for.

Here’s a lesson: don’t depend on one website for reviews, even if it just means going to the Amazon.com counterpart. That should have been obvious, and I would have thought twice about buying - there are 45 reviews and an average rating of 4 stars, but there are also two interesting 1-star reviews (currently - by them and her) on the main product page.

For my part, I was initially put down by certain aspects of the book, but after recognising such weaknesses, the book became easier to read. I think from the outset I was put off by what has been described in some reviews as “accessible” language. It strikes me more as condescending. If an argument is well thought-out, I don’t need slang or swear words to be convinced by it. You don’t need to write as if you’re actually speaking to me:

“And I promise this is the only time I’ll be quoting the frigging dictionary.”

I wasn’t expecting an academic book, but I do want to be treated as a reader - someone with a natural curiosity for things, who likes to look things up and find out more. So when you tell me something that may be a common myth or urban legend:

“actually, [burning bras] never happened - total myth”

… or inform me that, actually, you may shy away from being called a ‘feminist’ but may be one of many women who believe in ‘feminist’ values:

“recent polls show that most women support feminist goals”

… then appreciate the fact that your throwaway sentences might have some interest or value to me - especially when I have not heard about them. Burning bras never happened? Wow, that’s new to me, give me a reference. Some recent study reveals a new aspect about women? That’s interesting, tell me who did the study. I want to know. This book has been described as obviously targeted for younger women who haven’t read much feminist literature. Assume they also believe in popular myths and stereotypes, assume that they might be suspicious about feminist propaganda. Shouldn’t such a book make sure to put such readers at ease?

This is the first chapter, and, as one reviewer put it, I found myself “longing for something a little meatier”.

That was yesterday, and now knowing such faults of this book (reading any of the one-star or more balanced Amazon reviews will also point to other faults, that I don’t feel at a position to judge, such as “brattiness”, “shock value”, or not being in-depth enough), I find the book a little less annoying, although I still wish that, in some places, the writing did not give off such damned “I’m down with you, let’s talk” vibes.

Its very premise is noble: a lot of young women nowadays do not identify as ‘feminists’, even though they might well be feminists, due to stereotypes surrounding feminism (“I’m not a feminist, but…”), or because of a lack of knowledge in current issues surrounding women. Hence this book seeks to ‘convert’ them. I’ve gotten past the first chapter, and because I’m not reading up on this stuff everyday, it’s nice to be reminded of why I call myself a feminist and why I should be interested in feminist issues.

Also, a flip through the book tells me that, unless I read through all the feministing.com archives, unless I educate myself through the always-questionable Wikipedia, unless someone hands me a better-written introduction to feminism right now, I have no other handy read-it-on-the-bus-or-on-the-toilet book that would enlighten me on past and current feminist issues (as long as I keep an open mind). I would be missing out if I gave away this book today. Until I read enough of the book to make a better judgement on its quality, the book stays.

So for those of you who hesitate to call yourselves feminists, Jessica Valenti points out that the “frigging” dictionary definition doesn’t cover man-hating, and to dispel the stereotypes:

Most young women are feminists, but we’re too afraid to say it - or even to recognize it. And why not? Feminists are supposed to be ugly. And fat. And hairy! Is it fucked up that people are so concerned about dumb, superficial stuff like this? Of course. Is there anything wrong with being ugly, fat, or hairy? Of course not.

(I would like to think that only younger women would need something like that to persuade them, but The Beauty Myth tells me that women of all ages are affected by superficiality. Sigh.)

One of my pet peeves with young women nowadays is how they themselves promote the double standards surrounding ’sluts’ and ‘players’. If I may suggest another book - “Promiscuities: A Secret History of Female Desire”, another Naomi Wolf work - less-celebrated than The Beauty Myth and, I seem to remember, criticised for being more memoir than academic, but with a chapter called “Sluts” that stayed with me. What makes someone a slut? What makes someone not a slut?

Also, not all types of feminists promote sex or ‘promiscuity’. Valenti is not one of them, so if you are, the feminism you embrace may not be the same as that advocated by this book. But to readers in general, it is good to remember that feminism, like many religions or idealogies, are split into different schools of thought. So I’m going to agree with Valenti here, taken slightly out of context:

If we don’t approve of the porn culture that tells us our only value is in our ability to be sexy, we’re prudes. If we accept it and embrace it, we’re sluts. There’s no middle ground to be seen.

The book ‘review’ was officially over a couple of paragraphs ago, but I couldn’t resist imparting to you the above quotes.

To anyone considering getting this book - think about what you’re expecting from it, then read reviews, remembering to read in between the lines. Though if you’re like me, and once in a while splurges on something they’re not that sure about, I would forgive you for making the same mistake.

My last message to anyone who might be a feminist and wants a little push - get reading (not this book necessarily, just information and news in general), and join us. To the established feminists in the audience, forgive my foolishness in my choice of reading, and please enlighten me to the better stuff out there.

*

1 - Computer scientists don’t often have such books in their reading lists, it seems.
2 - I am easily swayed. I have watched “An Inconvenient Truth” and “A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash“, and both times was convinced that the world was going to end soon.

 
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Sun: Sep 16 2007

"books i couldn’t finish"
6 comments, it seems

Some of them, anyway.

From my LibraryThing library, I gathered some of my own notes on reasons for not finishing particular works.

• The Piano Tuner, Daniel Mason
  “because i didn’t like the direction the story was taking…”
  
  I confess that I have somewhat of a personal problem with stories of good men being unfaithful. I had the exact same problem with ‘Man and Wife‘, Tony Parsons. I finished that one but was very unhappy with it. No, it’s not really a fair reason for abandoning what might probably be a good story. This one was quite well-written, as far as I got, but Edgar’s thoughts seemed to be straying and I didn’t like that…
• Library: An Unquiet History, Matthew Battles
  “something distracted me and i haven’t resumed it for a year now =S”
  
  Once in a while I attempt non-fiction, for which I tend to have a short attention span. This one, about libraries and their not so dull lives, interested me but once the flow of regular reading sessions was cut short, I gave it little time. I do plan to pick it up again though.
• The Subtle Knife, Philip Pullman (from the ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy)
  “because i’d forgotten too much of the first book! =S”
  
  I read this a few years after ‘Northern Lights‘ (or ‘Golden Compass’ in the U.S.) so by this time I’d forgotten many details from the first book. I think I was almost halfway through when I encountered a character I didn’t remember at all, and decided to quit the book until I’d reread the first one, which I didn’t have in my possession. Recently, I borrowed ‘Northern Lights’ from a friend and I intend to finish it before the movie comes out. This is an amazing series, by the way (says the girl who didn’t even get to the third book). Pick it up when you can.
• Sophie’s World, Jostein Gaarder
  “the philosophy lessons are starting to annoy me. where’s the STORY dammit?!”
  
  I bought this on the strength of ‘The Solitaire Mystery‘. I loved that book, and I’d heard so much praise about this one that buying it from a discount pile was a no-brainer. But it was a different book from ‘The Solitaire Mystery’. Apart from the obvious, I also felt the writing (the translated writing?) was a tad annoying, though maybe it has to do with it being an adoloscent’s point of view. And finally, because I was tired of the philosophy essays, I abandoned the book. The essays were very good in summarising philosophical theories and concepts for the non-philosopher, but ultimately I felt that they belonged in a book of their own (and I would read it with a kinder mind if that were the case).
• Made in America, Bill Bryson
  “got distracted at some point and haven’t touched it for maybe 2 years now”
  
  Same as ‘Library: An Unquiet History’. If I stop the flow of a non-fiction book, I tend to lose it. This was my second Bill Bryson book, the first being the travel-focused book ‘Neither Here Nor There‘. It’s a different kind of book, but by no means a lesser one.
• Malina, Penny Perrick
  “got bored”
  
  The descriptions of places and characters’ backgrounds were nicely written, I thought, and sufficiently conjured up visions in one’s head. I lost interest though, because it took too long getting to the story.
• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind: Volume 1, Hayao Miyazaki
  “disappeared under a pile of junk and haven’t retrieved since”
  
  ‘Nuff said. It didn’t really charm me either, though I liked the heroine.

 
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Fri: Jul 20 2007

"My two cents"
4 comments, it seems

Surprise Me

So. Harry Potter. Book 7. Tomorrow! I have just begun a rereading of HBP to get up to speed with things to look out for and that sort of thing. To the non-Potterphiles, have you any idea much expectation lies on this last book? It is the ending, and it should, should contain (not all) the answers to many questions from all the other books in the series. Whose expectations do I speak of? Most of us I suspect are fans. Some others not so much, just readers who want to know what happens in the end. Should I even mention those who only watch the movies? Pah. Anyway.

With regards to what becomes of Harry and his peers, and where the last book takes us, I will again mention that I am fond of some theories I have read online, particularly those of Red Hen. I also read quite an interesting one that suggests HBP was mostly a dream of Harry’s, a distorted view of reality…

Not all theories have to hold, but I admit that the exposure to Red Hen has made me become jaded, cynical of Jo’s writing and storytelling capablities. Enchanted still, because she spins quite a story, quite a reading experience, but you become aware of her faults and the series’ inconsistences.

While we might not be able to help that we never found the two missing Gryffindor students in Harry’s year, my expectations of the series’ ending involve several twists and turns that I fear may not have been made room for. I fear that the ingenuity attributed to Jo will not reflect in the last book. I fear the theories I have read are just too clever for Harry Potter. Gasp! What blasphemy. I don’t mean to insult J K Rowling. I mean to say that I am sure she is a busy woman and that having to cope with writing the end to the Harry Potter series is difficult as it is, and her skillz just aren’t godly enough to fit in all my favourite theories into Book 7.

So this is what I am afraid of: that, after having read many wonderful plausible theories, some so convincing leaving me to believe in them as certain truths behind the canon of the series… I will pick up the Deathly Hallows and read an ending that does not match the genius of the said theories.

Well, “Rowling predicts that some of Harry’s fans will dislike Deathly Hallows,” says USA Today. So I’ll just have to deal. I don’t know. Maybe I just think too much.

King Weasley Doesn’t Make It

Okay, the movie. OotP. Heh. I was bound to make a remark about it, wasn’t I?

I have to say I actually liked it. =P In complete contrast to my attitude towards Book 7, I went to watch Movie 5 with no expectations, and for the better I think. The Harry Potter movies will never match up with the books, and thus have to be enjoyed separately.

Obviously a lot was cut out, and by ‘a lot’ I mean a lot! Weasley is our King, anyone? I think they kept only the scenes that were central to the plot… that said, if this were wholly true, Kreacher would not have made an appearance at all, since not a house-elf was seen in Movie 4 (despite Winky’s relative importance in the story).

Personally I suffered two disappointments in the movie, the first possibly a minor point, the second, one that I thought would be weighed in with planning for the sixth movie. Firstly, TONKS. Would a little more screen time hurt? She was a nice addition to the whole cast in the series and she’s going to be a miserable thing in Movie 6 to watch, so I wanted to enjoy her presence as much as possible in Movie 5. Meh. My second complaint is Ginny. She has quite a role in HBP, and I would have thought that her character in Movie 5 would be, you know, perked up a bit in preparation for the sixth movie. Yes, she did cast two powerful reductos, but where was the emergence of her personality, her sense of humour… heck, at the very least, where were her boyfriends?

The ‘WTF?!’ section: Voldemort in a suit. And the usage of ‘Levicorpus’ before encountering the Half-Blood Prince.

But yes, the good stuff. Umbridge was hatefully brilliant (nice kitties), and I rather liked Luna’s portrayal. She reminded me a little of Skins‘ Cass. Oh and the Room of Requirement (bigger than I’d expected, but still a delight), and the “I Love You” chocolates. Young Snape! (Poor soul.) Trelawney drama. Thestrals. Mr Weasley on the Underground! The fireplaces for the Floo Network in the Ministry of Magic. Neville towering over Harry.

Okay okay, too much? But I’m sure each fan had something to like in the movie. Let’s look on the positive side. We’ll look back on the movies in the years to come and muse, “They could have been a lot worse.”

For now, let’s agree that the books can entertain us far more, and hold our breaths in apprehension of whatever the Deathly Hallows are…

 
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