Lyrics

Some lyrics make your head think. But then again, sometimes they express what you cannot express, and in a musical way too -- so that the turmoil of your thoughts are sweetened by the lovely melodies. Here is one such song -- "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me", by Dusty Springfield.

You don't have to say you love me, just be close at hand
You don't have to stay forever, I will understand
Believe me, believe me, I can't help but love you
But believe me, I'll never tie you down

^{source: JacqueDee63.com}

A MIDI file is available on the original page from which the lyrics were copied (and unceremoniously dumped on my page above!).


Another song is "Give It Up" by KC & The Sunshine Band:

Everybody wants you
Everybody wants your love
I just want to make you mine

Nanananananow
Baby, give it up, give it up
Baby, give it up

^{Source: The Lyrics Vault}

More MIDI's and more lyrics are available at JacqueDee63.com -- especially good if you're into songs from the swinging sixties. Personally, I'd download Mr. Tambourine Man as my ringtone than some new-fangled hip-hop beeps. :) But then again, that's just me. A lesser man might like to listen to this song instead.

Zooomr: Catching Up With Flickr

Dear Reader,

Today I ran across a piece of news¹ in CNet News which talked about Zooomr, a photo sharing site, undergoing a revamp in order to offer its users the feature of selling their photos online.

A subsequent search on Google News revealed that the genius behind Zooomr is an 18 year old programming genius, Kris Tate.² The site was originally meant for personal friends of Tate but the blogosphere picked up on the service. The sudden spike in users brought down the servers. A subsequent cash injection from investor Ron Conway of USD$50,000 gave Tate the funds needed to convert the project into an entrepreneurial effort.³

Zooomr has a CEO, Thomas Hawk, who together with Kris Tate are aiming to turn the site into a stock photo enterprise. They estimate the world stock photography business to be valued at USD$2bil per annum.⁴ The plus point is that users can leave the transaction to be conducted automatically by Zooomr while snagging 90% of the profits.

Advantages

It may be prudent to note at this point some attractive features of Zooomr. This is a simple list:

1. Tag Map
   This application, basically an integration of Google Maps with Hello Bots, enables users browse a world map and check out photos from different regions and from different people. [link]



2. Zooomrtations
   This feature allows sounds to be attached to photographs. [link]



3. Multiple language
   Well, I don't know how else to express it, but the bar at the bottom allows for selection of the following languages:
   
   • Dansk
   • Deutsch
   • English (UK)
   • Español
   • Français
   • Italiano
   • Nederlands
   • Polski
   • Português (BR)
   • Slovenčina
   • Suomi
   • Svenska
   • Türkçe
   • Монгол
   • 中文 (簡體)
   • 中文 (繁體)
   • 日本語
   
   



4. Lightbox!
   This cool feature is derived from a certain Javascript project. Quite interesting to see it integrated into such a gallery, effectively rendering it Web 2.0/AJAX cool. [link]

Who knows, I may even try signing up for an account in due course. :)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Notes

1. S. Shankland, Zooomr reverts while debugging upgrade, CNet News, 19th March 2007, accessed at http://news.com.com/2061-12572_3-6168529.html

2. D. Waters, Web 2.0 Wonders: Zooomr's Kris Tate, BBC News, 28th March 2007, accessed at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6502611.stm
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.

Funny Sleeping Pills

pop a pill:
and hope it will
calm you down
and make you still.

soon comes slumber!
swift descending!
the brain blacks out--
the mind still thinking.

sleeping, dreaming
waking, doing
which is which?
how came the switch?

your eyelids open
to see the sunrise
and along with it
a small surprise

whilst sleeping well
the night before
you wreaked all hell
with a mighty snore.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Comment:

1. Ambien, Lunesta -- Heard of them?
   If your answer is no, then you should start paying attention. These are sleeping pills normally prescribed by pharmacists. The US Food and Drug Administration has identified 13 sleeping pills that cause strange behavior.
   



2. Strange? How strange?
   Pretty strange, in fact. You might be curious. So, read this quote:
   
   

   The agency's review was prompted, in part, by queries to it from The New York Times last year, after some users of the most widely prescribed drug, Ambien, started complaining online and to their doctors about unusual reactions ranging from fairly benign sleepwalking episodes to hallucinations, violent outbursts, nocturnal binge eating and — most troubling of all — driving while asleep.
   
   Night eaters said they woke up to find Tostitos and Snickers wrappers in their beds, missing food, kitchen counters covered with flour from baking sprees, and even lighted stoves. Sleep-drivers reported frightening episodes in which they recalled going to bed, but woke up to find they had been arrested roadside in their underwear or nightclothes.
   
   ^{Source: IHT}




3. Sex while sleeping?
   Some people have reported having sex while sleeping. Strange, but it's true, and if you wish to wake up having had sex with certain furniture, go ahead. [link]



4. Further reading
   Here is a list, with entries in no particular order:
   
   
   
   • Dark Side of Sleeping Pills, an online e-book [link]
   
   
   • Consciousness and Sleep -- Lecture notes [link]
   
   
   • Sound and Relaxation Discussion [link]
   
   
   • Sleep @ Wikipedia [link]

Translating Chinese SMS to English

Here's a service that I hoped I could get here in Malaysia. I even mooted this idea to my close friends but of course, I got the response that it would need quite a bit of investment! Well, maybe in another lifetime. But, when I searched the net, I was surprised to find that M1 in Singapore already had this service.

Link: Singapore M1's Chinese SMS Translation Service [link]

I'm wondering if there are any similar services in Malaysia?

I also found a subscription based service (coupled with a J2ME application) called Transclick.

Link: TransClick [link]

Interestingly enough, here is a shareware program for bulk sending of SMS from your PC. It should be an offence in due course, of course, because its nature will be akin to spam. But for the curious amongst us, here is the link.

Link: BulkSMS [link]

You may find this worth reading as well. [link]

JobsDB Salary Survey 2006

My father was right. It did not matter how much I lied on my resume. My real resume was in my cells. Why should anybody invest all that money to train me when there were a thousand other applicants with a far cleaner profile? Of course, it's illegal to discriminate, 'genoism' it's called. But no one takes the law seriously. If you refuse to disclose, they can always take a sample from a door handle or a handshake, even the saliva on your application form. If in doubt, a legal drug test can just as easily become an illegal peek at your future in the company.

Source: Gattaca Quotes

Remember the movie Gattaca? Ethan Hawke played a genetically inferior man trying to get a dream job at a space station. Part of that drive could have been a better paying job. In short, the salary counts.

JobsDB.com, a local online employment agency portal, has recently posted the results of a survey on the salaries of Malaysians.

Here are the three top paying jobs.

1. Head of Finance
Minimum pay: RM10,000
Average pay: RM15,500
Maximum pay: RM21,000

2. Finance Director
Minimum pay: RM11,000
Average pay: RM14,000
Maximum pay: RM17,000

3. Financial Controller
Minimum pay: RM10,000
Average pay: RM13,500
Maximum pay: RM17,000

Click here to read the report. [link]

Malaysia -- a Clean Development Mechanism country

Malaysia is a signatory of the United Nations Climate Change Framework. Naturally, we Malaysians must realise that lower hazardous emissions should be a real goal. However, it is clear that our authorities are not doing enough, otherwise, lung cancer and vehicle smoke would not be synonymous in this country.

Climate change caused by various pollutants of the environment has begun to show up in the form of global warming. In this regard, Europe has begun taking the first step, with the initiation of various programs to weather-proof their countries. Although it is clear that we all live under the same sky, yet the effects of bad resource management will be clear locally. To this end, sustainable development represents a very real solution.

Here is your reading list for today (if you find this topic interesting):

• Climate Change and Foreign Policy, published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark [link]


• Clean Development Mechanism, at Wikipedia [link]

1914 Cable Machine Cost Only $10

Source: The Iron Barbell [link]

Old is still gold, or so I'm told,
And when I saw this, I was quite sold:
A marvellous charitable plan,
Affordable fitness for this humble man.
Think you twice before you decide,
That old is wrong and new is right.

...................................

A friend mentioned to me that his car was not functioning that well anymore, that it had trouble starting up. Definitely, it was a problem to do with the sensor or the starter. But he could not be sure. I told him that he should get the sensor and the starter both changed, but my friend thought that he had better sell the car, before it becomes any worse. His logic: Sell the car, and use the proceeds as downpayment for a new car. I felt that replacing something still usable is incurring unnecessary expenditure, but then again... We have that mindset about casting away our excess baggage.

Tonight was the celebration of Chap Goh Mei¹, where lovely lasses of all sizes and ages threw mandarin oranges into a pond, some of which carried a telephone number scrawled by marker pen. These naive young ladies harbour high hopes that hopefully, their Prince Charming would pick it up, and spark a romance to last the ages. Truthfully, though, throwing your telephone number to the world at large on the rind of a mandarin orange is a foolhardy move, when you consider the following: Who will pick up my orange? Which guy? That guy? No, maybe his kid brother? Oh wait, neither one of them picked up my orange. Who's picking up my orange now? The MPPJ worker who cleans the pond in Taman Jaya the very next day, that's who. And pretty soon, you will get a phone call from "Muthu" or "Kassim" who will be only too happy to converse with you in his native language (and I doubt it would be English).

....................................

Notes

1. Chap Goh Mei has a website! For this, you can probably thank MCA. [link]