Flu Season

I've been having a mild flu since last week, and with the arrival of the monsoon season it's not getting any better! Thought of getting vaccinated but apparently there are many undocumented side effects (increased risk of cancer anyone?) and it's only temporary. The central air-conditioning at my office isn't helping either!

The worst flu "tag-along" symptom is the cough. I haven't had a cough for years but it decided to say hi to my lungs on the way out, and last night I woke up twice due to an annoying bout of cough. *Hack! Hack!*

Blame the Pothole.. or the A**hole?

Well, I don't really consider him to be an a*hole, but it just rhymes with pothole. Just in case the link disappears (emphasis is mine):

Pothole that cost a life

By TEH ENG HOCK

JOHOR: It cost a life to get a pothole patched up. 

Tan Cheng Ming, 20, was riding pillion on a motorcycle last Friday at 4am when the machine hit a pothole that was about as wide as a manhole and 5cm deep. 

The impact caused Cheng Ming to be thrown off the motorcycle, and he sustained head injuries upon landing. He was rushed to the Sultan Ismail Hospital but died there. 

His friend, Tam Tok Wei, 20, who was driving, escaped with minor injuries while the motorcycle was barely damaged except for some scratches and a bent front wheel. 

Cheng Ming's father, Robin Tan, said the Johor Baru City Council (MBJB) patched up the pothole in Jalan Daya, Taman Daya, about two days after the accident. 

"When there is a loss of life, only then will they act. We have to bring this up to the authorities, because we don't want others to lose their loved ones, too. 

"The street lights along that road are also not so bright as they are shaded by trees, so the rider might not have seen the pothole at night," Tan told The Star. 

The 53-year-old taxi driver said that with the exception of highways, many roads in Johor Baru are riddled with potholes. 

Tan said they had started planning for Cheng Ming's 21st birthday celebration next month when the accident occurred. 

"Twenty years of love, and just like that, because of other people's mistake, my son paid with his life," he said.

As I said, I don't really consider him an a*hole, but he died from a head injury. Isn't that what helmets are supposed to protect from? There are only 2 possibilities - helmets are overrated, or that (*gasp!*) he wasn't wearing one!

If he wasn't wearing a simple helmet that would protect him from a simple fall from the bike, does he deserve half the blame? I haven't been involved in a motorbike accident (hopefully never) so I can't comment on how well a helmet will work.

At any rate, condolences to the family for losing a son. Always a hard thing.

Biohazard

Not the kind of truck you wanna drive behind... Who knows if Nemesis is hiding inside, ready to pounce?

School's Out, so Driving is Fun!

They really should just ban schools. I'm trying to savour this whole week as the traffic jam has been cut by 70%. I didn't know school-going children is contributing so much to global warming!

Contents of a Hacks Cough Candy

Those black Hacks candy are so old-school, it's hard not to love them! I have a few lying around so I decided to check out the ingredients listed on the wrapper (all in Malay):

• Glukosa
• Sukrosa
• Mentol
• Minyak Kayu Putih
• Minyak Adas Manis
• Pati Marrub-Marrub
• Cecair Tolu
• Sebatian Tinktur Benzoin
• Pati Tussilag-Tussilag
• Pewarna yang dibenarkan (Karamel cecair BE45, Pes Hitam H9669)

I've never seen any candy with so many medicinal herbs! At least, that's what I assume from the weird names (tolu, tussilag, marrub...). But in the end, those herbs are worthless because they only form 0.52% of the candy. The contents based on percentage:

• Glukosa - 63.7%
  
• Sukrosa - 35.78%
  
• Mentol - 0.18%
  
• Minyak Kayu Putih - 0.15%
  
• Minyak Adas Manis - 0.11%
  
• Pati Marrub-Marrub - 0.03%
  
• Cecair Tolu - 0.02%
  
• Sebatian Tinktur Benzoin - 0.02%
  
• Pati Tussilag-Tussilag - 0.008%
  
• Pewarna yang dibenarkan (Karamel cecair BE45, Pes Hitam H9669)

Pati Tussilag-Tussilag must be a super-rare herb! Probably need to hike 40 days and 40 nights to find the plant, plus a sacrificial lamb or two before bringing it back to be formulated in Hacks candy.

Jokes aside, I'm concerned about "Sebatian Tinktur Benzoin". Isn't benzoin some kind of alcohol? And not the overpriced ones they charge at bars either.

Cheated! Part 2

Lacking anything interesting to blog, let me just extend my criticism of Hotlink's SMS Super Savers.

The question that begs to be answered is, "Who sends 400 SMSes in a day?" More specifically, between 1am - 7pm (the only time it is active). In fact, I think most people never send messages while they are asleep from 1am to whatever time they wake up.

Take the average case of someone who wakes up at 7am (me!). That means I have 12 hours to send 400 SMS. A quick calculation* reveals that I need to send 33.33 SMSes every hour, or basically once every 2 minutes. Can YOU type a full SMS every two minutes, for 12 hours non-stop?

Even if I were to stay up from 1am and SMS non-stop, that would require me to send 22.22 SMSes every hour.

So the question is, who would benefit from this? I'll tell you who - SPAMMERS! By unfallible logic, we can deduce that Hotlink supports spammers as they are the only ones who can actually send out that many SMSes per day.

Shame on you, Hotlink.

* On a sad note, I now use Windows Calculator even for the most rudimentary of divisions.

Trying Hard Not to End Up on WTF

I'm trying to solve a tricky programming problem involving timers, knobs, and acceleration. I can't think of an elegant way yet. I can only hope I don't end up as a Worse Than Failure article.

On a side note I really loved their recent article about The Cool Cam. It's one of the few articles with a happy ending. More importantly it goes to show that bosses must trust their developers sometimes. I'm printing it out and sticking it on my wall!