20100729 Huawei E1552 on Ubuntu Lucid

Created a udev rules file at /etc/udev/rules.d/60-huawei-usb-3g-modem.rules with the following contents:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb",
ATTR{idVendor}=="12d1",
ATTR{idProduct}=="1446",
RUN+="/lib/udev/modem-modeswitch -v 0x%s{idVendor} -p 0x%s{idProduct} -t option-zerocd"

And restarted udev.

$ sudo service udev restart

Plugged the modem in and configure it in "System > Preferences > Network Connections > Mobile Broadband". The settings for all Malaysian mobile ISPs should already be available by default. Pick your poison.

20100714 A homeopathic standard to ensure its safety and efficacy? You must be joking

The Star reports that apparently the Ministry of Health has developed "a standard for homeopathic medical studies to serve as a guideline to ensure its practice is safe and effective". One wonders just how exactly such a thing to be achieved since, well… it doesn't work!

The short article is full of such gems as:

The ministry's resolve in enhancing the quality of homeopathic medical studies has been proven when the Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences started to offer a degree in homeopathy in 2009

Liow also said that homeopathic medicine should be registered under the Control of Drugs and Cosmetic Regulations 1984

*sigh* At least the ministry is utilising its resources to ensure that we Malaysians get the highest quality of woo…

Are there no MDs in the Ministry of Health? Do they know that a homeopathic preparation is likely to not even contain a single molecule of its "active" ingredient (i.e. it's water)? In the UK for example, doctors are actually calling for a ban on NHS funding for homeopathic treatments because there are no scientific evidence that it works. The level of awareness of what homeopathy is here appallingly low.

I'll let James Randi explain:

Also, xkcd:

20100704 Today is a great day

… All the teams that I did not want to win the World Cup have been knocked out of the competition. The last team to go home was Argentina and they got their asses handed to them 4-0 by the Germans. It is fitting considering that "Schadenfreude" is a German word

Goodbye, Italy, England, Portugal, Brazil, and, Argentina! May you fail again as spectacularly the next time.

20100622 Pioneer One review

Update 20100702: Looks like they've managed to get over US$20,000 in donations. We have some science fiction to look forward to then.

I watched the pilot for the "made for torrent" scifi drama Pioneer One. It's quite short at just over 35 minutes, and it's available for free/percuma/gratis under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share-Alike license. You can either watch it via streaming above, or download it from their website. If you like it, do consider donating to them so that more episodes can be made. As of the time I'm writing they've managed to get just over US$10,000 from donations.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

20100615 Three strikes for Malaysia?

Malaysiakini has an exclusive interview with Ismail Sabri, minister of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism, about his proposed amendments to the Copyright Act to include harsher punishments for those caught infringing, including cutting off their internet access (article is behind a paywall). Also,

… anyone caught downloading illegally could face a minimum fine of RM250,000 under the Copyright Act.

The article is vague on the details of the proposed amendments but it does say that it may "follow the South Korean model". I did some googling and found that apparently they are the first country to have the now infamous "three strikes" laws against file-sharing. No further details on how infringements will be identified and whose responsibility that will be.

Earlier this year there was news that they were considering criminalising the possession of even a single pirated DVD (the Bernama link there is dead though). So that's probably going to be in there as well. I am not a lawyer but I think under current laws (PDF. Quote below found on page 35) the possession of pirated material for private use is not an offence:

Section 41. Offences.

1. Any person who during the subsistence of copyright in a work or performers' right -
1. makes for sale or hire any infringing copy;
2. sells, lets for hire or by way of trade, exposes or offers for sale or hire any infringing copy;
3. distributes infringing copies;
4. possesses, otherwise than for his private and domestic use, any infringing copy;
5. by way of trade, exhibits in public any infringing copy;
6. imports into Malaysia, otherwise than for his private and domestic use, an infringing copy;

…


2. For the purposes of paragraphs (a) to (f) of subsection (1), any person who has in his possession, custody or control three or more infringing copies of a work or recording in the same form shall, unless the contrary is proved, be presumed to be in possession of or to import such copies otherwise than for private or domestic use.

Interesting, no? As for why these amendments are being put into place:

In just 10 years revenue has plummeted six-fold, with record companies reporting total earnings of RM57 million in 2008, a paltry sum compared to RM315 million in 1997.

Here's something to consider: maybe the record industry is making less money because they are putting out crappy music (I know the article is talking about movies, but the same principles apply I think).

20100228 Fuck off, Paul Masefield

Aaron Ramsey just suffered a horrible injury to his ankle, much like what happened to Eduardo a couple of years ago. Paul Masefield though, said that while it was a bad tackle, there was no "malice" in it, and proceeded to blame Ramsey for being "too fast" What the fuck!

I have a theory, totally not based on experimental data, just general man-on-the-street observations. This is the third time our players got their leg broken after suffering a bad tackle in a game: Eduardo, Diaby, and now, Ramsey. Our list of injured players also seem to be overly long. It seems ridiculous to assume that Arsenal's reputedly excellent network of scouts to somehow miss all these players injury-proneness.

I've often heard it said that Arsenal don't like it when their opposition plays rough, and I believe that the saying has subconsciously (maybe), influenced referees and players. I believe that match officials are more lenient when fouls are committed against our players, and I believe that other teams know they can get away with more when playing Arsenal.

The end result of all this rough play: more wear and tear on our players. It may not show up immediately in dramatic fashion like the injuries to Eduardo, Diaby, and Ramsey but the stress builds up and results in "regular" and "mundane" injuries which we pass off as our players being injury-prone.

20100207 MAG: the first week

I have been playing MAG for just over a week now. I couldn't make up my mind about which PMC to join but I settled on Raven GmbH primarily because there seemed to be more of them at the forums I hang out on. Yeah, yeah I succumbed to peer pressure. But really, teamwork is essential in this game. More often than not when joining a game solo, I tend to get put in a squad with a quiet squad leader who doesn't talk or set FRAGOs, or worse: a squad that totally ignores the leader. So yes, I picked a PMC that guarantees me easy 8-man squads.

Well, over the week that we've played we have slowly improved. In the beginning it was hard to win a match as Raven but over the last couple of days we've managed to own Acquisition matches. We still have problems with Sabotage and Domination game modes.

I do have some issues with the clan list interface though. It needs to be sorted by who's online. At the moment I'm not sure how it is done but it's all over the place. Hunting through the clan list looking for who's online is a pain.

20100114 Thoughts on MAG open beta

MAG had an open beta-test from the 4th until the 10th. It is supposedly an MMOFPS with huge maps supporting up to 256 players at a time. I participated in the open beta and the first thing that I noticed is that the graphics and sound effects seem to not be up to par with the likes of Modern Warfare 2. I think this is mainly because you have to download the client for the open beta and file sizes needed to be kept low. But, the effect was that the game did not feel as polished as others I could name. Hopefully they ratchet up the audio and graphics quality in the final release.

You have some objectives which you have to defend or capture to win the game. Squad leaders (or is it platoon leaders? I never played as squad leader) can give the order to take or capture an objective, destroy enemy assets, or repair yours. As with any multi-player game, the experience varies but by far I had the most fun when I got into squads that actually work together and use their headsets to actually communicate rather than just to talk trash.

I loved playing Domination. This is the 256-player mode where everything is just plain chaotic. People shoot at you from everywhere, and you've got to defend/destroy bunkers and SAM sites and gates and towers and APCs. It's just plain crazy. And I loved it.

I haven't quite made up my mind which faction I'll join though. I played the beta primarily as RAVEN, but I think I like the menu colour scheme of S.V.E.R. better. Thoughts?

20100104 My political compass, January 2010

I thought it'd be a good idea to take the Political Compass test again just to see how I've changed since last year. I managed to misplace the previous result, but I seem to remember it showed me being slightly left-er on the economic scale, and slightly more libertarian, socially.

20091223 Catching up — Modern Warfare 2 is awesome, Avatar is awesome

Wow, I really haven't posted in a long time!

Modern Warfare 2 is mostly to be blamed for that — I really got sucked into the online multiplayer. I'm still not much good at it but a shotgun makes up for a lot of skill :p. That took about a month.

Also, last week I went to see Avatar in 3D and it blew my mind. It was simply amazing how much detail was in every frame. I probably could spend hours just watching the office workers do office-y things. It is just that beautiful. Seriously this movie is a must-watch in 3D. It's probably even better on IMAX 3D, but since the nearest IMAX screen is in Bangkok (I hear the one in KL has shut down which is just sad) it's unlikely that I'll ever get a chance to see it.