National Treasure: Book of Secrets

The original show, National Treasure, is about a hidden treasure with clues leading to clues leading to clues. The sequel to it, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, follows a similar concept, yet, somehow, I keep feeling that the first movie was better.

Why is that? I had thought that there would be a look more puzzles and riddles to solve before they find the treasure in the sequel, yet I was wrong. There wasn't much problem solving, instead, time was spent on a meaningless car chase, and the eventual dungeon crawl inside Mount Rushmore.

If you like puzzle-solving movies, you would be better off watching the first movie, National Treasure, or try The Da Vinci Code (don't think too much about the religious implications).

Official site for National Treasure: Book of Secrets
National Treasure (first movie) at Internet Movie Database

Impatience

What causes impatience? Why is it that some people cannot wait for results? Why are some people always rushing to make sure things get done?

I think it has to do with confidence. Self-confidence. When you have self-confidence, you are sure about the outcome, and you are able to wait for the results to happen. But when you are not sure of yourself, not sure of your own abilities, that is when you worry if you have done enough, and therefore grow impatient while waiting for the results.

And so those people unsure of themselves will always be in a rush doing things, trying to do more so that they don't fail. They think that the more they do, the less chance they have of failing.

Sometimes, it is not how much you do, but how well you do it.

My advice to those who rush? Take your time, learn patience. Your impatience only shows your lack of self-confidence.

7 random facts

Well, I have been tagged by wujimon, so guess I shall write something about myself, even though I have been writing about myself all along in this blog!

1. I originally started out with only one blog (this one), but ever since I decided to write about fishing and taiji, I decided to separate them into separate blogs so as to keep the themes of my blogs focused. Okay, at least the themes for the taiji and fishing blogs are focused... this blog is for my random thoughts.

2. I used to love eating fish, until I was about 3 years old... since then, I HATED eating fish. But ever since I met my wife, she has been slowly getting me to eat fish, and I have started to eat a bit again... My mum cannot believe it when I told her I am picking up fishing, since I hated fish and would not go anywhere near them in the past.

3. I speak Japanese relatively well, and have gotten JLPT 1, because I lived in Japan for a few years. That was also when I picked up Japanese calligraphy and iaido.

4. I started out with learning wushu (Chinese martial arts) in 1995, switched to taiji in 1996 (learning Chen style taiji), but stopped after a year and it was only in 2005 when I found my current teacher and started picking up taiji again.

5. I love old DOS games, which is why I keep blogging about them. I played Dune 2 on my computer for hours on end, until the monitor burnt out.

6. I like programming, and used to write simple programs just to pass time. Besides using programming languages like C, Java and Basic, I also did scripting in Perl, and also written MUD programs for Forgotten Kingdoms MUD.

7. I support open source, and started using Linux back in 2000, when I got a new laptop and tried installing Debian Linux on it. I then switched to TurboLinux, which had better support for Japanese (I was in Japan then), and subsequently switched to Fedora.

Now for tagging... who to tag?

I don't really have people to tag, and don't like chain mails and such, but just this once, I will tag someone.

Emanrohe, please write 7 random things about yourself!

Ultra high speed broadband

All of Singapore is going to have the infrastructure for ultra high speed broadband by 2015. By 2012, at least 50% will be completed. It is slated to bring broadband speed to 1 gigabit per second... compared to the 100 Mbps now, that's 10 times more.

But does that translate into faster surfing speeds? Will data be transferred faster?

Well... even if the network infrastructure is fast, you still need to think about the processing speeds of the computers being connected to that network. So if you are trying to access data from a slow computer, it will still take time before that information gets to you, even if you have HUGE bandwidth. In fact, what happens in such a case is unused bandwidth. It is like building a 10-lane expressway, when only 5 lanes will be used.

So while it may sound nice and cool, and seems like we are at staying ahead of the information highway, developing infrastructure is one thing. Making sure that you have the processing power to exploit that bandwidth is another thing that must not be overlooked.

And of course, what is all the bandwidth going to be used for?

Back in the days when bandwidth is scarce, people are innovative. They have to think hard to try and pack as much information as possible into as small a package as possible. Now, people think less about how to save bandwidth (since there is so much of it).

But is increasing bandwidth the way to go? Or should we be looking at developing the information to use that bandwidth?

Pearl Harbor

Today is the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which took place in 1941 on 8 Dec (Japanese time, but was 7 Dec in local Hawaiian time). So this is the 66th anniversary. The survivors of the attack still alive are all old now. But they still gather to commemorate the event and remember their fallen comrades.


War memorials are not about hatred. They are about honouring the dead, the people who fought for their countries, for their beliefs. People who answered the call when their countries needed them, and paid the ultimate price. We remember Pearl Harbor not for revenge, but so that the spirit of duty and loyalty will not be lost.


Read more about Pearl Harbor:
Pearl Harbor on National Geographic
A photo history of the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor at Wikipedia

JLPT

Today is the day for the annual JLPT, which is short for Japanese Language Proficiency Test.

I didn't realise how popular this test is in Singapore, until I went to pick up my sister (she was taking the test) from the test venue. There was probably a thousand people coming out of the exam halls... wow! Japanese must be a real popular language...

But then... JLPT level 3 doesn't really let you do much... if you really want to work using the language as a selling point, you need JLPT level 1... or at least level 2, if you are not going to be dealing extensively with people from Japan. And then, language proficiency is not everything. The most important part is not the language, but understanding the Japanese culture. And that requires not just living in Japan, but actually a lot of interaction with the Japanese.

The Mystery Squad

Just like Encyclopedia Brown and Chip Mitchell, the Myster Squad is a series of books that I used to read when I was a kid. The concept is the same. A group of kids have gotten their hands into some criminal case, and used the clues available to solve the case. The clues are presented to the reader, who is challenged to see if he can solve the case, with the solutions provided at the end of the book.

What I like about these mystery solving books is that they make the reader think. They give the clues in the story, but have a short pause to allow the reader to review the case, and see if he can join the dots to make out the picture. So these are actually great books for letting children work their brains, instead of doing sums after sums in their assessment books.

A list of the books in the series

Way of the Tiger

Today is gamebook day. The Way of the Tiger is yet another series that I used to enjoy, although it is a very short series, with only six books. In it, you are a ninja from the Way of the Tiger, with various skills that you can use to bring you through the series.

This series even inspired games on old computers like the ZX Spectrum and Commodore.

Cover art of the six books in the series

Lone Wolf

This is yet another series of gamebooks that I used to spend time with. One of the key features of the Lone Wolf series is that it doesn't require a set of dice to play. Instead, there is this page at the back of the book with a whole table of numbers, and you are just supposed to close your eyes and put a pencil on the page to get a number.

As the last surviving Kai lord, you are supposed to let the rest of the world know that disaster has struck, and at the same time, learn the skills to become a grandmaster Kai lord, so that you can help to rebuild the order.

Project Aon, the source for online downloads of the books
Ksatria, developers of the next Lone Wolf game
Lone Wolf module at Neverwinter Vault for Neverwinter Nights
Another Lone Wolf module for Neverwinter Nights

Fighting Fantasy

One of the first gamebooks that I owned was "The Warlock of Firetop Mountain" from the Fighting Fantasy series. This is a whole series of gamebooks, in which you role up a character, and play through the book using the rules. Each time you come to a decision point, you turn to a specific page to continue the story. And when combat comes, if you win (honesty comes into play here...) you continue the story from another page, if you lose, you get to turn to a page that tells of your untimely end.

Besides the fantasy setting, I got "Star Strider" too, set in a science fiction world. While the rules may be slightly different, they still follow the same concept of rolling up a character and flipping to pages based on decisions.

The beauty about gamebooks is that they allow me to play out my role-playing dreams without the need for a dungeon master. In a time when my fellow classmates were more worried about school results and spending much of their childhood studying for examinations, it was hard for me to find amongst my friends someone to play RPGs with. So gamebooks, and computer games, had to suffice.

Official site of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks

Chip Mitchell

This is a series of books written about this computer whiz kid known as Chip Mitchell, who has surprising knowledge on computers (for a kid) and uses that knowledge to help solve mysteries. Again, this was one of those series that kept me going to the library for more, and you may still be able to find it at the local library in the children's section. It doesn't seem to be very popular, though, not like Encyclopedia Brown.

The Chip Mitchell books by Fred DIgnazio, on Amazon.com

Encyclopedia Brown

One of those series that I loved reading back when I was young was this series of books about a boy called "Encyclopedia" Brown. He is actually a very well-read young boy, and uses his vast knowledge to spot loopholes in cases and solve them.

Each book in the series is actually a collection of short stories, and each short story is actually a mystery, a case waiting to be solved. There are clues within each story, and the reader is challenged to see if they can spot the loopholes in the case and thus solve the case. At the end of the book, the solutions to each mystery is provided, which the reader can reference to see if they got the clues right.

I would really recommend this series to children, since it not only trains them to think, they can get quite a fair amount of general knowledge just by reading this series, since "Encyclopedia" Brown touches on many topics. It sure brings back memories just thinking about the cases...

Encyclopedia Brown at Wikipedia
A story about Encyclopedia Brown