.:: FabuLouS CrosSLoaD™ ::.

Basic Lithium Polymer (Li-Po) Battery Handling

2014-12-14T19:51:00.000+08:00

Li-Po Battery

I have been using Lithium Polymer a lot lately since I found new hobby, playing helicopter. They actually Lithium Hybrid Polymer, because if you open it, got a little liquid inside and they are not fully dry cell.

In the begining, a lot of my Li-Po battery expand like balloon. Quite frustrated. After looking here and there on the internet, I be able to extent my Li-Po battery life : ) . Knowledge is money... So, here I just want to share a few tips how to take care of your Li-Po battery. I hope it benefits you.

Basic Lithium Polimer (Li-Po) Battery Handling

1. Never overcharged a Li-Po Battery.
    Voltage when fully charge for 1 cell Li-Po is 4.2V, empty is 3.7V.
If you have 2S Li-Po = 2 cell, empty is 7.4V (3.7Vx2), fully charged is 8.4V
    If you have 3S Li-Po = 3 cell, empty is 11.1V (3.7x3), fully charged is 12.6V
    Same calculation for 4S, 5S, and so on...

2. Avoid using battery until below 20% of its capacity. That is approximately 3.8V.

3. Do no store in hot enviroment. Store in shaded dry cool place.

4. Avoid store Li-Po battery fully charged.
    Store Li-Po in 50% charged if you not using them for more than 1-2 week

5. Stored Li-Po battery can discharged itself, make sure you check
    them at least once a week to avoid power drained below 3.7V

6. Do not punch hole to Li-Po battery.

7. Never charging untended. Put battery on fire proof material away
    from other easy to burn material. Better using Li-Po Guard Bag.

8. Avoid drop a Li-Po battery on hard surface.

9. If you want to throw a way ballooned/damaged Li-Po, fully drain its
    power by hook-up to light bulb and wait until light go off and throw away.

That all that I think important to take care of your Li-Po batteries. If you think I miss out somehing, fell free to comment below. Thank you for visiting my blog : )

NATO phonetic alphabet, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta...

2012-10-19T22:23:00.000+08:00

Hi all,
Entering oil and gas business recently make me wonder why they call platform name with end A, B, C. They actually Alpha, Bravo, Charlie... and certain area that have 1 mother platform and 4 satellite platform, they add A, B, C, D, and E after each platform name. The mother platform, xxxxx Alpha. The satellite platform, xxxxx Bravo, xxxxx Charlie, xxxxx Delta, and xxxxx Echo.

I c, so what are the rest? So I try ask uncle google for it and found they actually NATO spelling alphabet.. lolcats! This exist because of radio conversation can be fuzzy and hard to hear each other especially on busy radio channel.

Character	Telephony
A	`ALPHA`
B	`BRAVO`
C	`CHARLIE`
D	`DELTA`
E	`ECHO`
F	`FOXTROT`
G	`GOLF`
H	`HOTEL`
I	`INDIA`
J	`JULIET`
K	`KILO`
L	`LIMA`
M	`MIKE`
N	`NOVEMBER`
O	`OSCAR`
P	`PAPA`
Q	`QUEBEC`
R	`ROMEO`
S	`SIERRA`
T	`TANGO`
U	`UNIFORM`
V	`VICTOR`
W	`WHISKEY`
X	`X-RAY`
Y	`YANKEE`
Z	`ZULU`

That is all. There is also phonetic alphabet for numbers but not significant different from normal pronunciation.
For further detail you can visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet

The Morse Code Table

2012-04-20T12:10:00.000+08:00


What Morse Code?

I watched a movie a few days ago and saw people using Morse code in that movie. Tu..tuuut.tuut.bla~bla~bla~... and the guy just said the translated massage on the spot. Wow, wtf!.

I heard about Morse code many times before that, but never really bother to know more about it. Well, we are not really using that Morse code in our hand phone, pda, text message isn’t.

But now, I'm just curious about it. So here, I want to share with my blog visitor about this Morse code and this is also for my future reference. ^.^". Inside the table below are the alphabet and its Morse code.

Alphabet	Morse
A	`.-`
B	`-...`
C	`-.-.`
D	`-..`
E	`.`
F	`..-.`
G	`--.`
H	`....`
I	`..`
J	`.---`
K	`-.-`
L	`.-..`
M	`--`

Alphabet	Morse
N	`-.`
O	`---`
P	`.--.`
Q	`--.-`
R	`.-.`
S	`...`
T	`-`
U	`..-`
V	`...-`
W	`.--`
X	`-..-`
Y	`-.--`
Z	`--..`

Table below are for numbers;

Numbers	Morse
0	`-----`
1	`.----`
2	`..---`
3	`...--`
4	`....-`
5	`.....`
6	`-....`
7	`--...`
8	`---..`
9	`----.`

Inside the table above is just to visualize the Morse Code. The truth to learn Morse Code is to remember it sounds. Below link are the Morse code sounds from A to Z. Each alphabet separated by 5 second silent.

Mouse code A to Z sounds.mp3 (Click here to download)

You can hear it while looking at table above. The dot (.) represent short "beep" sound and the dash (-) represent the longer "beep" sound.

That's all I know for now. Of course there is a lot more Morse code such as code for pro-sign, punctuation mark and so on. Above is just the basic part of Morse code. hehe. Thank you for visiting my blog. <(^.^)/

How to Make Invisible Folder

2012-04-07T14:49:00.001+08:00

How to make invisible folder. Well, just in cast to light hide something like your cat picture, porn video or whatever. See step below;

1. Go to your desktop, right click > New > Shortcut.

2. Click Browse..

3. Choose folder you want to make shortcut/hide it on desktop. After that click OK.

4. Click Next

5. Delete the name suggestion.

6. Press and hold "Alt" key and press 255. After that click Finish.

7. Folder with invisible name should appear on your desktop like below;

8. Right Click on that folder and click Properties.

9. On Shortcut tab, click Change Icon...

10. Search for invisible/transparent icon. Click OK.

11. Click Apply and then Click OK.

12. Now you have invisible shortcut/folder on your desktop.

13. You also can make invisible folder anywhere inside your computer. It it really there??

14. Yup, its there~

15. Thank you for reading. Mariska Hargitay~

ProTypers Really Paying for Your Work!

2012-04-03T00:57:00.000+08:00

Hello All

Today I want to share with you about this online typing job.

After you signup here, you can start working immediately.

The minimum to get payment from them is USD3.00

They process payment on Monday every week so you don't need to request payment.

(Right click on image below, Open in new tab)

If you found this usefull and want to try out, click here to join. This is my referral link.

Yup they also have affiliate thing.

Thank you for visiting my blog! : )

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2012-03-27T00:35:00.001+08:00

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2011-04-17T15:30:00.001+08:00

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2010-07-31T12:14:00.003+08:00

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2010-04-08T18:47:00.001+08:00

Time boss xde kat opis

Bile boss pangil

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Bile boss suh kije lebih mase (Over Time)

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2010-04-06T01:56:00.002+08:00

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C☮mpilati☮n ☮f ÅSÇII C☮de (ASCII Table)

2010-01-13T13:04:00.007+08:00

What is ASCII? The ASCII stands for "The American Standard Code for Information Interchange". ASCII is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text. Most modern character-encoding schemes, which support many more characters than did the original, are based on ASCII.

So how to type this characters? Press and hold "alt" key and then type the numbers using the right side of the keyboard [Num Pad] then let go of the "alt" key and the character will appear. Table 1 & table 2 are the example you can try. "The code below tested on my windows 7 x64 ye, windows lain xtau jadi ke x."

ASCII Code

☺	"Alt" + 1	V	86	½	171
☻	2	W	87	¼	172
♥	3	X	88	¡	173
♦	4	Y	89	«	174
♣	5	Z	90	»	175
♠	6	[	91	░	176
•	7	\	92	▒	177
◘	8	]	93	▓	178
○	9	^	94	│	179
◙	10	_	95	┤	180
♂	11	`	96	╡	181
♀	12	a	97	╢	182
♪	13	b	98	╖	183
♫	14	c	99	╕	184
☼	15	d	100	╣	185
►	16	e	101	║	186
◄	17	f	102	╗	187
↕	18	g	103	╝	188
‼	19	h	104	╜	189
¶	20	i	105	╛	190
§	21	j	106	┐	191
▬	22	k	107	└	192
↨	23	l	108	┴	193
↑	24	m	109	┬	194
↓	25	n	110	├	195
→	26	o	111	─	196
←	27	p	112	┼	197
∟	28	q	113	╞	198
↔	29	r	114	╟	199
▲	30	s	115	╚	200
▼	31	t	116	╔	201
	32[Space]	u	117	╩	202
!	33	v	118	╦	203
"	34	w	119	╠	204
#	35	x	120	═	205
$	36	y	121	╬	206
%	37	z	122	╧	207
&	38	{	123	╨	208
'	39	\|	124	╤	209
(	40	}	125	╥	210
)	41	~	126	╙	211
*	42	⌂	127	╘	212
+	43	Ç	128	╒	213
,	44	ü	129	╓	214
-	45	é	130	╫	215
.	46	â	131	╪	216
/	47	ä	132	┘	217
0	48	à	133	┌	218
1	49	å	134	█	219
2	50	ç	135	▄	220
3	51	ê	136	▌	221
4	52	ë	137	▐	222
5	53	è	138	▀	223
6	54	ï	139	α	224
7	55	î	140	ß	225
8	56	ì	141	Γ	226
9	57	Ä	142	π	227
:	58	Å	143	Σ	228
;	59	É	144	σ	229
<	60	æ	145	µ	230
=	61	Æ	146	τ	231
>	62	ô	147	Φ	232
?	63	ö	148	Θ	233
@	64	ò	149	Ω	234
A	65	û	150	δ	235
B	66	ù	151	∞	236
C	67	ÿ	152	φ	237
D	68	Ö	153	ε	238
E	69	Ü	154	∩	239
F	70	¢	155	≡	240
G	71	£	156	±	241
H	72	¥	157	≥	242
I	73	₧	158	≤	243
J	74	ƒ	159	⌠	244
K	75	á	160	⌡	245
L	76	í	161	÷	246
M	77	ó	162	≈	247
N	78	ú	163	°	248
O	79	ñ	164	∙	249
P	80	Ñ	165	·	250
Q	81	ª	166	√	251
R	82	º	167	ⁿ	252
S	83	¿	168	²	253
T	84	⌐	169	■	254
U	85	¬	170		255[space]

[Table 1]

ASCII Code

-backspace-	0008	²	0178
-tab-	0009	³	0179
-enter-	0010	´	0180
-enter-	0013	µ	0181
-paste-	0022	¶	0182
-redo-	0026	·	0183
-space-	0032	¸	0184
!	0033	¹	0185
"	0034	º	0186
#	0035	»	0187
$	0036	¼	0188
%	0037	½	0189
&	0038	¾	0190
'	0039	¿	0191
(	0040	À	0192
)	0041	Á	0193
*	0042	Â	0194
+	0043	Ã	0195
,	0044	Ä	0196
-	0045	Å	0197
.	0046	Æ	0198
/	0047	Ç	0199
0 → 9	0048 → 0057	È	0200
:	0058	É	0201
;	0059	Ê	0202
<	0060	Ë	0203
=	0061	Ì	0204
>	0062	Í	0205
?	0063	Î	0206
@	0064	Ï	0207
A→ Z	0065 → 0090	Ð	0208
[	0091	Ñ	0209
\	0092	Ò	0210
]	0093	Ó	0211
^	0094	Ô	0212
_	0095	Õ	0213
`	0096	Ö	0214
a → z	0097 → 0122	×	0215
{	0123	Ø	0216
\|	0124	Ù	0217
}	0125	Ú	0218
~	0126	Û	0219
‚	0130	Ü	0220
ƒ	0131	Ý	0221
„	0132	Þ	0222
…	0133	ß	0223
†	0134	à	0224
‡	0135	á	0225
ˆ	0136	â	0226
‰	0137	ã	0227
‹	0139	ä	0228
Œ	0140	å	0229
Ž	0142	æ	0230
‘	0145	ç	0231
’	0146	è	0232
“	0147	é	0233
”	0148	ê	0234
•	0149	ë	0235
–	0150	ì	0236
—	0151	í	0237
˜	0152	î	0238
™	0153	ï	0239
š	0154	ð	0240
›	0155	ñ	0241
œ	0156	ò	0242
ž	0158	ó	0243
Ÿ	0159	ô	0244
-space-	0160	õ	0245
¡	0161	ö	0246
¢	0162	÷	0247
£	0163	ø	0248
¤	0164	ù	0249
¥	0165	ú	0250
¦	0166	û	0251
§	0167	ü	0252
¨	0168	ý	0253
©	0169	þ	0254
ª	0170	ÿ	0255
«	0171
¬	0172
	0173
®	0174
¯	0175
°	0176
±	0177

[Table 2]

ENJOY!

[ ワンピース ] One Piece Movie : Strong World

2009-12-01T23:46:00.004+08:00

Well,...this is my favorite anime. Seriously can't wait to watch it!! Arrghhh!!! Aarrgghhh again...

One Piece Movie 10 : Strong World

Movie Director : Munehisa Sakai

Story Writer : Eiichiro Oda

RELEASE DATE : 12 DECEMBER 2009 [japan] Arghhgg!

Genre : Animation | Fantasy | Romance | Adventure | Action

Language/ Country : Japanese/Japan

Overall Anime Plot :

A boy named Monkey D. Luffy, inspired by his childhood hero "Red-Haired" Shanks, sets out on a journey to find One Piece, the legendary treasure of the King of the Pirates, Gol D Roger. To accomplish this, he must reach the end of the most deadly and dangerous ocean: The Grand Line.

Luffy captains the Straw Hat Pirates first through the sea of East Blue and then through the Grand Line. He follows the path of the deceased King of the Pirates, Gol D. Roger, from island to island on his way to the great treasure One Piece. On his way his crew grows to have a firstmate - swordsman "Pirate Hunter" Roronoa Zoro, a navigator - "Cat Thief" Nami, a sniper-"Sogeking" Usopp, a cook- "Black Leg" Sanji, a doctor- Tony Tony Chopper, an archaeologist- Nico Robin, a shipwright- "Cyborg" Franky, and a musician- "Dead Bones" Brook.

During the course of the story, the crew contends with both other less moral pirate crews and the Marines. The latter are the subordinates of the corrupt World Government, who apparently seek justice by ending the Golden Age of Pirates. Many background story elements involve the delicate balance of power between the World Government and the world's most powerful pirate crews, especially the Yonkou, the four most powerful pirates in the world.

MuVie TraiLer :

The girl who silenced the world for 5 minutes

2009-11-30T20:48:00.003+08:00

Please, LOVE our planet and its habitat
STOP POLLUTION, WAR

The Romans Numerals

2009-11-29T01:35:00.007+08:00

We usually see this number in appendix or at the introduction of many books. Sometimes we got confuse about what this word represent. So, lets execute this confuse.

History of Roman Numerals
Roman numerals, as the name suggests, originated in ancient Rome. No one is sure when roman numerals were first used, but they far predate the middle ages. Theories abound as to the origins of this counting system, but it is commonly believed to have started with the ancient Etruscans. The symbol for one in the roman numeral system probably represented a single tally mark of the kind people would notch into wood or dirt to keep track of items or events they were counting.

How to Translate Roman Numerals
If smaller numbers follow larger numbers, the numbers are added. If a smaller number precedes a larger number, the smaller number is subtracted from the larger. For example, if you want to say 1,100 in Roman Numerals, you would say M for 1000 and then put a C after it for 100; in other words 1,100=MC in Roman Numerals.

Some more examples:
    .:: VIII = 5+3 = 8
    .:: IX = 10-1 = 9
    .:: XL = 50-10 = 40
    .:: XC = 100-10 = 90
    .:: MCMLXXXIV = 1000+(1000-100)+50+30+(5-1) = 1984

Example

Roman Numeral Table
1	I	14	XIV	27	XXVII	150	CL
2	II	15	XV	28	XXVIII	200	CC
3	III	16	XVI	29	XXIX	300	CCC
4	IV	17	XVII	30	XXX	400	CD
5	V	18	XVIII	31	XXXI	500	D
6	VI	19	XIX	40	XL	600	DC
7	VII	20	XX	50	L	700	DCC
8	VIII	21	XXI	60	LX	800	DCCC
9	IX	22	XXII	70	LXX	900	CM
10	X	23	XXIII	80	LXXX	1000	M
11	XI	24	XXIV	90	XC	1600	MDC
12	XII	25	XXV	100	C	1700	MDCC
13	XIII	26	XXVI	101	CI	1900	MCM

Paid to Click Latest

2009-11-27T22:31:00.003+08:00

DonkeyMails never miss to pay me! Thanks DonkeyMails

SeLaMaT HaRi RaYe AiDiLAdHa

2009-11-27T01:13:00.002+08:00

Buat semua pengunjung blog saya yg beragama Islam,

Saye Radhio San ingin mengucapkan SeLaMaT HaRi RaYe AiDiLAdHa kepada semua pengunjung blog saya.

Paid to Click Latest

2009-11-15T12:41:00.005+08:00

What is this?? Click here to find out.

S0m3 W3ird Bu1ld1n9

2009-11-05T21:53:00.004+08:00

Dubai Spinning Building

I want this house too~

Bus Station at Pacific View Mall

Habitat 67

Lunar Colony

The Walt Disney Concert Hall

Mikimoto & Company jewellery shop

solar furnace at Odeillo

The Urban Cactus

"Crooked House" Located in the Rezydent shopping center in downtown Sopot, Poland

Wozoco's Apartments

headquarters of China Central Television (CCTV)

Who dares enter my house (^_^)

Longaberger headquarters Newark Ohio

Need a bucket? Just come over

Not yet construct building

Tabung Haji Building, Kuala Lumpur

Upside-down museum,orlando florida

The Dancing House

Unique piano house in An Hui Province, China

Kansas City Library

The Robot Building, in the Sathorn business district of Bangkok

The Blue Building [Netherlands]

The Astra House in Hamburg,Germany

The Football House, located in Blantyre, Malawi

Sam Kee Building: six feet deep, world's thinnest in Canada

Opss..sorry...wrong image..

Secret Hand phone Code

2009-11-05T00:59:00.000+08:00

*#30# : Show “private number’ contacting you
*#73# : Reset Hand Phone timer
*#7780# : Restore phone settings
*#2820# : Display Bluetooth IP address [for phone with Bluetooth only lol]
xx# : Easy access to your phone book name/number.. [ example ? 88#]
*3370# : on Enhanced Full Rate [EFR] Codec [not work with Symbian phone]
#3370# : off Enhanced Full Rate [EFR]
*#4270# : on/off Half Rate Codec
*#0000# : Display your phone information. If *#0000# did not work, try *#9999#.
                 If it still not work, throw ur phone into the sea.hehe
*#06# : Display International Mobile Equipment Identity [IMEI] number
*#21# : “All Call” used
*#2640# : Show safety phone code used
*#43# : Check status “Call Waiting”
*#61# : Check calling number diverted when you not answering call
*#62# : Check calling number diverted while hp roaming
*#67# : Check calling number diverted while hp busy
**21*number# : one divert “All Call”
**61*number# : on divert “No Reply”
**67* : on divert “On Busy”
*#67705646# : Change operator logo for Nokia 3310 and Nokia 3330
*#746025625# : Show SIM Clock status.
*#7760# : Display phone reset code
*#92702689# : Display
                        1)Serial Number
                        2) Date
                        3)Purchase Date
                        4) Date of last repair
                        5) Transfer user data

Some Tips to Optimizing Sleep. Haha

2009-11-01T14:12:00.002+08:00

USE A SLEEP MASK

Sleeping in darkness improves sleep quality. But darkness isn’t always achievable. Use it when you feel like you need a sleep quality boost, or when your sleep too far overlaps daytime.

WAKE UP AT THE SAME TIME EVERY MORNING

Keep wake-up times consistent and sleep quality will improve dramatically, giving you more energy and decreased sleep need. Your body has an internal 24-hour clock which controls your circadian rhythm. Sleep quality is optimized during a very specific window of your circadian rhythm. If you learn to sleep exactly within that window you will enjoy the best sleep of your life. That is, you want to perfectly hit the “circadian low-point”, which is the time when your body is programmed to sleep. Keep wake-up times consistent. Even on weekends. Your sleep quality will skyrocket.

TRY FREE-RUNNING SLEEP
Free-running sleep means:
1. Go to sleep when tired.
2. Wake up without an alarm.
Early studies on circadian rhythm showed that our internal clocks run on a 25-hour period when isolated from external stimuli like daylight and timekeeping. External cues like sunlight reset our circadian rhythm and match it with the 24 hour day. These cues are called zeitgebers. (Other zeitgebers are food, exercise, and social interaction). Even with a 25h internal clock, humans have slept with the 24h day before alarm clocks were invented. Artificial light prolongs the internal clock. To wake up without an alarm clock, don’t expose yourself to too much artificial light at night. That will shift your internal clock forward. Many insomniacs have circadian rhythms that run on 26 or 27 hour periods. It is difficult to entrain a 27-hour internal clock with a 24-hour external clock. Solution: free-running sleep with 27-hour days. Go to bed when you’re tired, wake up naturally. Obviously hard to manage if you’re not self-employed or on vacation. Studies show that free-running sleepers experience a 10-15% boost in creativity compared to those who use an alarm clock. Health-wise, free-running sleep is the optimal sleep schedule. It can be synced with the 24h day, but with artificial lights (like computer monitors) it might run out of sync, which is OK too.

CAFFEINE NAP

Caffeine takes 30 minutes after ingestion to enter your bloodstream and have an effect on your concentration. Chug some caffeine before a nap. You will wake up naturally 20-30m later once the caffeine kicks in. Wake up with a huge boost of energy and perhaps a mild euphoria. Set an alarm as backup. Limit the nap to 25 minutes so that you don’t enter deep sleep. It sounds weird, but gives it a try. Haha

CONTROL YOUR CORTISOL
Levels of cortisol, the “stress hormone,” spike in the morning and decrease throughout the day. Cortisol levels should be as low as possible when you go to bed. High cortisol levels during sleep drastically decrease slow-wave sleep (SWS) amount, meaning you won’t wake up refreshed.
Facilitate the natural decrease in cortisol levels by…
1. Eating breakfast in the morning
2. Eating low glycemic index meals instead of high GI meals.
3. Don’t go 5 hours without food.
4. Don’t skip meals, but don’t eat heavy meals either.
Follow these rules and cortisol will decrease, your sleep quality will improve, daily energy will improve, sleep need will reduce.

EAT BREAKFAST
Eat breakfast within 1 hour of waking up. This does 2 things.
1. It regulates your hormonal rhythms (e.g. cortisol rhythm).
2. It acts as a zeitgeber. Just like sunlight, it will reset your body clock. Ensures that your sleep schedule is properly synced with your body clock. It will give you more energy throughout the day and better sleep the following night.

THE 28 HOUR DAY
For some reason, it appears that it is easier for humans to push our body clocks forward. It only takes 1 day of sleeping in to push our clocks forward by 3 hours, but it takes 3 days of waking up early to reset it to normal. This is why some have adopted the 28-hour day. Why 28? It syncs with the 168-hour week. Six 28-hour days instead of seven 24-hour days. Good for those who want to be awake in the evening and night during weekends (for going out).

GIVE YOUR SLEEP SCHEDULE 10 DAYS TO ‘CLICK’
The sleep hacks so far have required adapting to new sleep schedules. When you first adopt a new sleep habit, like waking up at 6am every morning, you will struggle and feel tired. But keep it up for a while. It sometimes takes 7-10 days for a new schedule to “click”. One older study followed six 8-hour sleepers for over a year. Once every 5 weeks the subjects reduced their sleep by 30m. Started at 8 hours, then 7.5, 7.0, 6.5, etc… All subjects reported that every time they reduced sleep by 30m the first 7-10 days were difficult. But after 7-10 days their energy levels “clicked.” Programming new sleep habits can be difficult. Go gradually if possible and give each incremental change a few days to click.

REDUCE YOUR SLEEP NEED
The same study from above showed that it might be possible to train ourselves to need less sleep. The six 8-hour sleepers continued to reduce sleep by 30m increments until they were sleeping as low as 4.5-hours a night (wtf!). The subjects experienced severe fatigue below the 6.0-hour mark, but I guess their suffering was in the name of science… After the study was over, the researchers caught up with the subjects the following year. It turned out that all subjects were naturally, by choice, sleeping 1-2 hours below their pre-study baseline – i.e. they were sleeping 6-7 hours instead of 8. Is this evidence that by gradually reducing our sleep need and giving our bodies time to adapt we can make a permanent change in our sleep need? Perhaps.

MASTER THE ART OF NAPPING
I’m a religious napper. I rarely go a day without one. NASA states that "an afternoon nap increases productivity by 35% and decision making ability by up to 50%". Hopefully you’re convinced… Besides, who doesn’t enjoy a nap? |^_^)/ Adult humans are naturally biphasic. We’re neurologically wired for the afternoon nap. The “afternoon dip” occurs between the 6th and 8th hour after waking up – that’s 1pm-3pm if you rise at 7am. Naps naturally (i.e. without an alarm) last for 20-60m, sometimes up to 90 but rarely longer. If a nap lasts longer than 90m it can mean two things:
1. You are sleep deprived.
2. Your nap occurred much later than 3pm.

SLEEP IN COMPLETE DARKNESS

The tiniest amount of light can disrupt circadian rhythm and your pineal gland’s production of melatonin and serotonin. LEDs from alarm clocks and computers, although dim, actually do have a measurable effect on sleep quality. Darker sleep increases melatonin which increases sleep quality and promotes good health. Turn off or cover all LEDs. If you wake up to go to the bathroom, turning the light on will immediately cease all production of melatonin. Don’t drink water to the point where you have to wake up at night. It seems like a small detail, but the pineal gland really is that sensitive.

SLEEP IN THE COLD
Temperature is closely linked with circadian rhythm. Core body temperature drops around bed time. Sleep in a cool room so as to not counteract your circadian rhythm. Cool temperature will give you higher quality sleep. If possible, keep the room as cool as possible without making it uncomfortably cold. Too cold and you’ll wake up in the middle of the night. Our bodies were designed to sleep optimally at cooler temperatures.

USE NOISE CANCELLING HEADPHONES

Certain models of in-ear headphones are designed to isolate outside noise by 35dB. Best used for airplane rides, studying, or while meditating to meditation CDs (outside traffic nearly ruins the experience of meditation…) In-ear headphones have become my favorite napping gadget. In-ear headphones fit in your ear canal like ear plugs, hence the noise isolation. The right models are curiously comfortable.

MAINTAIN A POSITIVE ATTITUDE TOWARD LIFE
One study compared short sleepers to long sleepers. The study found “The short-sleepers tended to be efficient, energetic, and ambitious… The long-sleepers, as a group, showed more doubts about their career choices and life situations.” A positive attitude toward life, a certain drive and ambition, appears to improve sleep quality and reduce people’s sleep need. Another study showed that long sleepers had less energy and more examples of psychopathology. We can’t tell whether it’s the positive attitude toward life that causes more efficient sleep, or if naturally efficient sleep causes the positive attitude. But who cares? Because developing a positive attitude has its own inherent benefits. As a bonus, there’s a good chance it will give you more energy, more refreshing sleep, and a reduced need for sleep.

SET TWO ALARMS
So simple, yet so effective. Set one alarm with a pleasant, quiet buzzer within arm’s reach. Set a second alarm with a very obnoxious buzzer in a hard to reach place in the corner, on top of a shelf for 5 minutes after the first alarm. You wake up to the first alarm and hop out of bed to quickly turn off the second. The second alarm will punish you for pressing snooze on the first. Now that you’re up, the rest is easy. Go shower. Works well if you sleep with your spouse. First alarm won’t wake him/her up, and you have to get up immediately to turn off alarm #2.

CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD SLEEP
Here are two studies that show how mere belief can change sleep quality:
1. First study. When insomniacs in this study were told that they slept better/more than they did, they felt and performed better during the day when compared to insomniacs who were not told anything about their sleep quality yet who got the same amount of sleep.
2. Second study. Subjects were divided into 3 groups. Time cues and clocks were taken away. All groups went to sleep, and researchers woke everyone up after exactly 8 hours. Group 1 was told they slept 6 and were being sleep deprived for the study. Group 2 was told they slept 10 hours. Group 3 was told the truth. Group 1 complained of sleepiness, irritability and poor concentration. Group 2 complained of lethargy. Group 3 reported feeling fine.
Is sleep need just in our heads? Not quite. Sleep is a biological drive at its core. But psychology can influence the subjective quality of our sleep.

USE YOUR BRAIN’S INTERNAL ALARM CLOCK
Your brain has a built-in alarm clock. People knew this for years. When you’re stressed out about waking up in time for that important flight/meeting/exam early tomorrow morning… What do you do? You set 5 alarms just in case. Somehow you wake up 3 minutes before all of them… how did your brain do that? It has a built-in alarm.
Only recently has science discovered the biological basis of this alarm. The wake-up process occurs via increased blood flow to the brain, which is facilitated by the stress hormones ACTH and cortisol. By anticipating (or stressing over) a wake-up time we set our internal alarm clock. When the anticipated wake-up time arrives, the brain signals the pituary and adrenal glands to spike ACTH and cortisol. And you wake up.
So how do you use this to your advantage? If you want to learn to wake up easily, refreshed, with a jolt of energy and most importantly without an alarm clock, then it helps to psychologically pep yourself before you go to bed. Your brain will program itself to anticipate the scheduled wake-up time. The internal alarm clock will replace your external alarm clock.

FALL IN LOVE
Fall in love, hmmm…..
One study on high school students showed that honeymoon romantics…
1. Had more energy
2. Slept about 1 hour less than a control group
3. Reported greater subjective sleep quality

SET UP MORNING REWARDS

Help facilitate the cortisol wake-up mechanism.

Create a morning reward. Something to get you excited.

1. Set out ingredients for your favorite breakfast the night before. Get excited to get up and eat.

2. Set up your favorite coffee or tea.

3. Morning sex. Huh? Convince your partner to try it.

You’ll wake up easier than you have in years. Some of my morning rewards have been silly and trivial but they were enough to get me excited and wake up with a boost of cortisol. Pick rewards that work for you.

People Search: How to Quickly and Easily Find Someone You Lost Track Of

2009-10-17T23:03:00.002+08:00

People Search: How to Quickly and Easily Find Someone You Lost Track Of

Sometimes all we want is just to satisfy our curiosity about what happened to someone we've lost track of. Most of us have an old friend or acquaintance we still wonder about.

A Better Way to Find People

I suspect that's what makes people searching so hot. As many as half a million times a month, someone searches on Google alone, looking for a way to find a lost person. Whether it's someone from the past with whom we've lost touch, or someone we met last weekend and yearn to see again, were always searching for others.

Unfortunately, most general searches fail. Just like Googling failed for my sister-in-law. The information is out there, somewhere. But being forced to sift through so many unrelated results makes it nearly impossible. That's why I recommended she use a people search service - sometimes they're called Internet Detective services. They pull all the information spread across thousands of servers and combine it into people-specific search databases. Then when you drop in a name or an address or a phone number, whatever bit of information you have, you get instant gratification. Up pops the latest scoop about your person.

Thats totally unlike the cold mechanical response a Google or Yahoo gives:
Results 1 - 10 of about 55,100,000 for joe smith. (0.06 seconds)

You can almost hear the search engine yawn.

By the way - most searchers don't know this - search engine results don't actually extend beyond about a thousand entries. Even when the search engine results page says they found millions and millions of hits, they don't actually bother to dig it up and give you access to all of it. They're really just estimating from their own database tables. Even they know it's a waste of time.

Yawn, yawn, yawn

On the other hand, it's exciting when you do a person search on a dedicated database. You find what you're looking for in seconds. Plus, you not only get current information, often you get historical data too. You find not only where the person is now but also where they lived or worked before that and before that and before that.

You can sort of see your old friend's life laid bare. (Now what in heaven's name was George doing in Poughkeepsie, New York, in winter. He always hated the cold)

Sometime you find a person's life didn't turn out the way you'd have thought. That's when the Criminal Check part of the service can help you find out what prison they ended up in!

When You Choose a Personal Search Service, Here's What to Look For

If you decide to try out a personal search database, here are the things I've found important to consider during a review
1. Free versus Paid
I've been disappointed by the free services. Their main concern seems to be to try and get you to click on some of the pay-per-click ads they're displaying - so they can make a little money.
2. Speed
You want a service that responds quickly. Make sure you try it out. A fun test is to do a search on yourself. You get to check speed and accuracy!
3. Proprietary Database
If a service compiles their own database, they must be fairly successful. It's costly to build and maintain. Such well-funded providers are much more likely to stay around. From a usability standpoint, it's better too. You get a single interface that you can quickly learn.And I've never seen a free service that has its own database. Most of the free services I've checked out are really just link farms - they just point you at some public or government database.
4. Training and Support
Be sure you can easily learn to use any service you choose. Actually, you'll find the better services are intuitive - how to search will make sense as soon as you look at it. But better services will also provide extra, in-depth searching. If you ever need the extra, it might require you dig into it a bit before you can fully use it. Just make sure your service has easy, accessible ways to learn, like tutorials. And don't ignore support. Sooner or later you'll have questions or there will be something you need help to get resolved. It's best if they offer free, live support.

Final Word
Join the millions using the web to track down old friends and new friends. But make it easier on yourself by using a People Search service rather than a general search engine. Have fun finding out exactly what did become of your old friend (or even your old, not-so-friendly ex)

The Bermuda Triangle...InterestinG

2009-10-14T22:51:00.012+08:00

The Bermuda Triangle, also known as Limbo of the Lost, The Twilight Zone, Hoodoo Sea,
The Devil's Triangle, The vast three-sided segment of the Atlantic Ocean bordered
by Bermuda,Puerto Rico and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, did not receive its most famous
nickname until 1964,but reports of bizarre happenings there, or nearby, have been
recorded for centuries. In fact, many claim that Christopher Columbus bore witness to the
Bermuda Triangle's weirdness.

The Bermuda Triangle, is a region of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean in which a
number of aircraft and surface vessels have disappeared. Some people have claimed
that these disappearances fall beyond the boundaries of human error or acts of nature.
Some of these disappearances have been attributed to the paranormal, a suspension
of the laws of physics, or activity by extraterrestrial beings by popular culture.
Though a substantial documentation exists showing numerous incidents to have been
inaccurately reported or embellished by later authors, and numerous official agencies
have gone on record as stating the number and nature of disappearances to be
similar to any other area of ocean, many have remained
unexplained despite considerable investigation.

The area is one of the most heavily-sailed shipping lanes in the world, with ships
crossing through itdaily for ports in the Americas, Europe, and the Caribbean Islands.
Cruise ships are also plentiful, and pleasure craft regularly go back and forth between
Florida and the islands. It is also a heavily flown route for commercial and
private aircraft heading towards Florida, the Caribbean, and
South America from points north.

The Gulf Stream ocean current flows through the Triangle after leaving the Gulf of Mexico;
its current of five to six knots may have played a part in a number of disappearances.
Sudden storms can and do appear, and in the summer to late fall hurricanes
strike the area. The combination of heavy maritime traffic and tempestuous
weather makes it inevitable that vessels could founder in storms and be lost
without a trace especially before improved telecommunications, radar,
and satellite technology arrived late in the 20th century.

The Bermuda Triangle has a long history of weird happenings. Let's take a look at some of them.
1492 - Christopher Columbus reports strange lights and strange compass readings.
1609 - The Sea Venture wrecks during the first attempt to colonize Bermuda.
1814 - The USS Epervier and her crew disappear while carrying the peace treaty to
end the war between America and the North African Barbary States.

1855 - The schooner James B. Chester is found floating in the ocean. The crew is missing

but there is no sign of struggle, and the lifeboats are still in place.

1918 - One of the largest ships of the time the 19,000-ton Navy supply ship
USS Cyclops, and its crew of 300, vanishes without a trace.

1941 - The USS Proteus and the USS Nereus vanish, just as their sister ship

the USS Cyclops had previously done along the same route.

1945 - Flight 19, five USN Avenger aircraft disappear after reporting compass
malfunctions. A search-and-rescue plane sent to find them is never seen again.

1971 - Sting-27, a USAF Phantom jet, vanishes without a trace. Official reports indicate

it may have suffered an impact, but the details are never revealed.

1976 - The Sylvia L. Ossa, a 590-foot ore carrier with a crew of 37 disappears
140 miles from Bermuda.
1991 - The pilot of a Grumman Cougar jet makes a routine radio request to increase

altitude. During the ascent, the aircraft fades from radar and vanishes.

1999 - The cargo freighter Genesis radios a nearby vessel, indicating a problem with
the bilge pump.Despite extensive searches by the Coast Guard, the
ship and crew are never seen or heard from again.

Alien Beam Me Up LoL

The Bermuda Triangle is, reportedly, an area with one of the highest incidences of UFO
sightings.So, it's no wonder that alien abductions have been a popular explanation for
disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle. Some believe that aliens use the
Bermuda Triangle as a collection station of sorts.
When planes and ships disappear, it is because aliens have taken them away for
thorough examination. But abductions aren't the only theory
some also have theorized that the Bermuda Triangle is a sort of portal to other planets
or acts as a magnetic field that allows people (and their modes of transport)
to travel to other dimensions.

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009

2009-10-11T22:16:00.003+08:00

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

Oslo, October 9, 2009

What is DirectX ?

2009-10-10T11:45:00.028+08:00

Introduction

DirectX is an interface designed to make certain programming tasks much easier, for both the game developer and the rest of us who just want to sit down and play. Microsoft needed to introduce a common standard which all games and multimedia applications could follow a common interface between the OS and whatever hardware is installed in the PC, if you like. This common interface is DirectX. Before we can explain what DirectX is and how it works though, we need to know a little history of DirectX.

DirectX history
Any game needs to perform certain tasks again and again. It needs to watch for your input from mouse, joystick or keyboard, and it needs to be able to display screen images and play sounds or music.

Imagine how incredibly complex this was for programmers developing on the early pre-Windows PC architecture, then. Each programmer needed to develop their own way of reading the keyboard or detecting whether a joystick was even attached, let alone being used to play the game. Specific routines were needed even to display the simplest of images on the screen or play a simple sound.

Essentially, the game programmers were talking directly to your PC’s hardware at a fundamental level. When Microsoft introduced Windows, it was imperative for the stability and success of the PC platform that things were made easier for both the developer and the player. After all, who would bother writing games for a machine when they had to reinvent the wheel every time they began work on a new game? Microsoft’s idea was simple stop programmers talking directly to the hardware, and build a common toolkit which they could use instead. DirectX was born.

How it works
At the most basic level, DirectX is an interface between the hardware in your PC and Windows itself, part of the Windows API or Application Programming Interface. When a game developer wants to play a sound file, it’s simply a case of using the correct library function. When the game runs, this calls the DirectX API, which in turn plays the sound file. The developer doesn’t need to know what type of sound card he’s dealing with, what it’s capable of, or how to talk to it. Microsoft has provided DirectX, and the sound card manufacturer has provided a DirectX-capable driver. He asks for the sound to be played, and it is – whichever machine it runs on.

From our point of view as gamers, DirectX also makes things incredibly easy – at least in theory. You install a new sound card in place of your old one, and it comes with a DirectX driver. Next time you play your favorites game you can still hear sounds and music, and you haven’t had to make any complex configuration changes.

Originally, DirectX began life as a simple toolkit. Early hardware was limited and only the most basic graphical functions were required. As hardware and software has evolved in complexity, so has DirectX. It’s now much more than a graphical toolkit, and the term has come to encompass a massive selection of routines which deal with all sorts of hardware communication. For example, the DirectInput routines candeal with all sorts of input devices, from simple two-button mice to complex flight joysticks. Other parts include DirectSound for audio devices and DirectPlay provides a toolkit for online or multiplayer gaming.

Major Components
The following are the major components (with their related function) that make up DirectX:

DirectDraw - 2D Graphics
Direct3D - 3D Graphics
DirectSound - 2D Sound
DirectSound3D - 3D Sound
DirectMusic - Music
DirectPlay - Network/Multiplayer
DirectInput - Input Devices

DirectX versions
The current version of DirectX at time of writing is DirectX 11 that is available on windows 7. Windows Vista currently uses DirectX 10 and DirectX 9 runs on all versions of Windows from Windows 98 up to and including Windows Server 2003 along with every revision in between. If you have a machine with Windows 95 installed, you’re stuck with the older and less capable 8.0a. Windows NT 4 also requires a specific version in this case, its DirectX 3.0a.

In all but the rarest cases, all versions of DirectX are backwardly compatible. Games which say they require DirectX 7 will happily run with more recent versions, but not with older copies. Many current titles explicitly state that they require DirectX 9, and won’t run without the latest version installed. This is because they make use of new features introduced with this version, although it has been known for lazy developers to specify the very latest version as a requirement when the game in question doesn’t use any of the new enhancements.

Generally speaking though, if a title is version locked like this, you will need to upgrade before you can play. Improvements to the core DirectX code mean you may even see improvements in many titles when you upgrade to the latest build of DirectX. Downloading and installing DirectX need not be complex, either.

Upgrading DirectX
All available versions of Windows come with DirectX in one form or another as a core system component which cannot be removed, so you should always have at least a basic implementation of the system installed on your PC. However, many new games require the very latest version before they work properly, or even at all.

Generally, the best place to install the latest version of DirectX from is the dedicated section of the Microsoft Web site, which is found at www.microsoft.com/windows/directx. You can download either a simple installer which will in turn download the components your system requires as it installs, or download the complete distribution package in one go for later offline installation.

Another good source for DirectX is games themselves. If a game requires a specific version, it’ll be on the installation CD and may even be installed automatically by the game’s installer itself. You won’t find it on magazine cover discs though, thanks to Microsoft’s licensing terms.

Diagnosing problems
Diagnosing problems with a DirectX installation can be problematic, especially if you don’t know which one of the many components is causing your newly purchased game to fall over. Thankfully, Microsoft provides a useful utility called the DirectX Diagnostic Tool, although this isn’t made obvious. You won’t find this tool in the Start Menu with any version of Windows, and each tends to install it in a different place.

The easiest way to use it is to open the Start Menu’s Run dialog or press “window key + R”, type in dxdiag and then click OK. When the application first loads, it takes a few seconds to interrogate your DirectX installation and find any problems. First, the DirectX Files tab displays version information on each one of the files your installation uses. The Notes section at the bottom is worth checking, as missing or corrupted files will be flagged here.

The tabs marked Display, Sound, Music, Input and Network all relate to specific areas of DirectX, and all but the Input tab provide tools to test the correct functioning on your hardware. Finally, the More Help tab provides a useful way to start the DirectX Troubleshooter, Microsoft’s simple linear problem solving tool for many common DirectX issues.

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2009-09-19T11:06:00.013+08:00

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