Rolly-Polly Bas Kilang

On the way back from lunch last saturday (29/4/2006), me and my housemate, Leng Chye saw this weird Bas Kilang (Factory Bus, bus that ferries factory workers to and fro home/workplace in Malaysia, distinct by their ugly blue colour. My buddy Shawn, actually once owned a Datsun that had the exact same colour and we used to fondly call it Bas Kilang too but that's another story all together). Anyway, we were on the LDP heading towards Cyberjaya nearing the tollhouse. What made this specific bus so weird was that when we first saw it, the back of it was leaning dangerously towards the left. So we thought suspension failure or tyre burst but then, before our very own eyes, the thing started slowly to shfit and lean towards the right as it went along. Then it shift left again... WOW!!! Like that also can!! We overtook the fella at the tollhouse. Then i told my housemate who was driving to stop after the toll and let the bus overtake us again. I would try to take videos of the rolling on my Nokia 6600. Below are the results. Unfortunately, it wasnt that clear (lousy camera phone + lousy cameraman combo). Enjoy the commentating by my housemate though. (if you don understand Hokkien, sorry la. You missed out on the best dialect in the world:P) I was too busy making sure my hand wasnt shaking:)) We were having such a great laugh that we actually missed the turning back home and had to U-turn but it was worth it!!

Video 1


Video 2


Video 3


Video 4


Video 5

New BMW 3-Series Coupe

Latest 3-Series Coupe from BMW. In the looks department, nothing special really. But interestingly, BMW will have its first ever twin-turboed petrol engine in a production car through this series. The 335i will have a 3.0 litre straight-six twin-turbo engine, which produces 306bhp. Price? Only 33.4k sterling pounds;)

Cool British Judge [update:code broken]

Judge Peter Smith gave Da Vinci Code's author, Dan Brown a taste of his own medicine. Apparently in his ruling, Judge Smith italicized some words and when Brown's lawyer joined them together, they form "smithcodeJaeiextostpsacgreamqwfkadpmqz". The words "Smith Code" were all from the first paragraph. How's that for a judge! Full news from Yahoo!. By the way, I've put in my own hidden (obvious) code above, in case you didnt notice:P

[update] the code has been broken. Apparent those jumbled-up words stand for "Jackie Fisher who are you Dreadnought.", a tribute to the British Admiral who modernized England's navy. More info at Yahoo!. I'm sure my own one was solved even quicker. Here's the ironic thing though, just like in real life, a lot of people would be able to decipher the code i put in but how many people really understand the meaning and implications of it:)

Pandora: Intelligent Online Radio Stations

Recommended by coolcat, Pandora is a cool spun-off from the Music Genome Project. The Music Genome Project is an effort to analyze songs right down to their rhythms, instruments, arrangements, lyrics etc to form a huge database of song analysis. Pandora, using the database, will ask you what artist/song you like and from there will start playing songs that it thinks you like. Cool!

Some F1 Clips

Gilles Villeneuve's mighty duel with René Arnoux in the last few laps of French GP 1979


Major crash in Belgian GP 1998


And Finally, you better see it for yourself:P


The evolution of Formula1 in 3 videos:P

The Alfa Romeo Radio Advert That Got Banned

Learning italian, Lessone 33:

Pervert: Alonso Alonso
Enemy: Raikonen Raikonen (2006) Alonso Alonso (2007)
Friend: Schumacher Schumacher (2006) Raikonen Raikonen (2007)
Car: Alfa Romeo, Alfa Romeo


Alfa Romeo, Driven by genuine italian passion. Auto Italia, members of the Sime Darby Group.

(you can only understand this if you listen to radio pretty often and you like F1)

Joga Bonito

Eric cantona is Da Man!!! Feed your World Cup passion:)

Football Revolution is here


Football: Play like a child


Fooball: Play with your heart


Fooball: A Noble Art


Football: 1-1-8

Ronaldinho Playing Ping Pong with the Goal Post

Simply Amazing!

Top 10 Windows XP Tricks

Taken from TechWeb:

Despite all the hoopla about the introduction of Windows Vista, the truth of the matter is that the new OS isn't due for at least another seven to nine months — and it will probably be even longer before most of us start adopting it. Meanwhile, we've still got to deal with Win XP.

In order to make the waiting easier, we've decided to assemble the greatest tips in the history of

Windows XP. Here you'll find the tips that give you the most bang for your buck; that are most useful in terms of security, functionality, and PC performance; and that are just plain cool.

One final thought: As you parse our Top 10, consider the following: With any luck, this time next year we'll all be reading Windows Vista tips stories.

And now let's start the countdown.

Tip 10: Halt background services to improve performance.

This tip is one of our favorites because it always works. Running in the background of Windows are scores of services, small processes used by Windows and many Windows applications. The thing is, you don't need all these services — especially for applications you never use — and many of them actually slow your PC down.

Win XP power users have long known that you can easily eke a little extra performance out of your PC by disabling services that are completely unnecessary or that don't need to be running all the time. Here's how it works.

1. Click Start > Run, type services.msc and click OK. This will bring up the Services management console. Click on the Extended tab at the bottom of this window; each background service running on your PC is listed here. Windows includes a fairly detailed description of each service; simply drag the Description column wider to read more of each description, or click on a service to see its full description in the left pane.

2. Double-click a service to bring up a window with several options. In the Startup Type area, you can set the service to run automatically in the background at all times so it's ready whenever it's needed, or you can tell it to run manually, which means you'll have to go into this Services management console and re-enable it if an application needs it.

You can also completely disable the service. In general, you want to disable services tied to applications and/or features you don't use or rarely use. You can find a great list of appropriate services to disable at the Elder Geek's Services Guide For Windows XP.

If you're logged onto the computer as the administrator, you can also pause the service (click the Pause button in the Service Status area just below the Startup Type area), then see how the computer behaves. Danger signs include crashes or other erratic behaviors in your applications, such as running slowly or getting stuck on a query prompt. Click Resume to start up the service again.

Tip 9: Increase available disk space by scaling back System Restore.

It's not perfect, but Windows System Restore is a useful first step in recovering your PC or drive from a major system error. However, it can consume more than 10 percent of your total hard drive space.

If you find yourself desperate for an extra few gigabytes — particularly on secondary storage drives — there's an easy way to reclaim data space by simply limiting the number of System Restore points Windows XP establishes. This one's a snap and there's no tangible increase of risk, which is why we love it.

1. Right-click on My Computer and select Properties > System Restore.

2. If you have just one hard drive, skip to step 3. Otherwise, select the drive on which you want to gain storage space and click the Settings button.

3. Adjust the slider to the left to use less disk space, and Win XP will reduce the number of System Restore points by the appropriate amount.

Tip 8: Scrub your hard drive clean.

Windows Support Tools, provided free by Microsoft, are a suite of some 20+ separate applications that are extremely handy for a number of uses. Ordinary PC users probably won't use many of these apps — they're mostly used by IT pros to troubleshoot and analyze Windows XP. But even if you're not an expert, don't be afraid of using the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility, which will help you remove all leftover files from a failed uninstall of a Windows Installer application.

Download Windows Support Tools from Microsoft's Download Center. (If you're curious about the other apps in the suite, check out the help file included in the Windows Support Tools Program group.)

To run the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility, go to the command prompt (select Start > Run) and type msicuu.exe. You'll see a list of all applications with uninstall data. Select the ones you want to get rid of and click the Remove button. Obviously, you want to use caution here — don't clear the install data for an application unless you're absolutely sure you won't ever need it.

Tip 7: Run two displays on the same PC.

This tip is for the worker bee. Adding a second display to your PC won't quite double your productivity, but it will make your computing life easier. Walk around a cube farm these days, and you'll likely see at least a few power users doubling up.

Thankfully, Windows XP makes it extremely easy.

1. Plug the second display into your computer. (Many video cards today have a second Video Out port; if not, you'll have to install a second video card.)

2. Right-click on your desktop and click Properties to bring up the Display Properties window. Click on the Settings tab.

3. See the grayed-out box to the right of the black box? That's your second monitor. Click on it and then click the check box next to "Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor" to enable it. From here you can adjust the resolution of the secondary display. The goal here is to have a desktop that spans both of your displays, so if your second screen is physically located to the left of your primary one, drag and drop the #2 monitor to the left of the #1 display.

Tip 6: Force unresponsive applications to close at shutdown.

When it comes to balky PCs, few things annoy us more than the moment when we try to shut down Windows and it tells us it can't because some crashed application isn't responding, and that we have to do it ourselves by clicking the End Now button.

This registry hack changes that. Here's how it works.

1. Launch RegEdit (select Start > Run, type regedit and click OK) and browse to HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

2. Find the string called AutoEndTasks. Right-click it, select Modify from the pop-up menu, and change the data value from 0 to 1. (If you can't find this string, create it by selecting Edit > New > String Value and set the data value to 1.)

3. Close RegEdit and reboot.

Tip 5: Automatically optimize your hard drive.

One of the keys to system performance is an optimized hard drive. Typically, you optimize your hard drive using Windows' Defrag utility. But there's a great registry hack that will force Win XP to automatically optimize the location of files when your PC is idle. Here's how it works.

1. Open RegEdit and browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersionOptimalLayout

2. Find the string called EnableAutoLayout, and change its data value to 1. (If this string doesn't exist, create it and set the value to 1.)

3. Exit RegEdit and reboot your PC. Done!

Tip 4: Set a custom resolution.

Notice a trend in the second half of this story? If you answered, "They're all registry hacks," you are correct. Windows XP's registry loads an amazing amount of flexibility and customization in a fairly low-risk package.

Tip number 4 on our list is another one of our favorite registry hacks. Windows XP allows you to specify a large number of set screen resolutions based on what types of images your display can accept. However, in a few rare instances, you may want to specify a non-standard resolution for a clearer or more accurate picture. This tip allows you to do just that. It's one of those tips that doesn't seem all that handy — until you desperately need it. Plus, it's just plain cool. If you have a wonky projector or TV screen you want to use with a laptop or PC, you might want to give this a try.

Here's how it works:

1. Open RegEdit and browse to HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\VIDEO{the address of your primary video card...it often begins with "23A77BF7"}\0000\

2. The Default Settings.XResolution data value is the horizontal resolution, and the Default Settings.YResolution data value is the vertical. Double-click the Default Settings.XResolution data entry, select the Decimal radio button, and in the Value Data field, enter your desired horizontal resolution. Then do the same with Default Settings.YResolution to change the vertical resolution.

3. Exit RegEdit and reboot your PC.

If you're scared of tweaking your registry on this one, a handy app called PowerStrip ($29.95, available for a free try-before-you-buy download), allows you similar resolution-changing functionality.

Tip 3: Stay on top of registry changes.

Given the power and flexibility of Windows XP's registry (and the large number of registry hacks in this Top 10), it's no surprise that the number 3 XP tip involves keeping track of any and all changes made to your registry.

But given the prevalence of spyware, rootkits, and other malware these days, knowing what you've done to your registry is a secondary concern to knowing what other applications are doing to it.

For peace of mind — and occasionally, for curiosity's sake — we consider SysInternal's Regmon an essential piece of our OS. It's a freeware application that allows you to browse through all the keys in the registry, filtering in a variety of ways to pinpoint specific registry changes.

For example, you can quickly filter for certain applications. If you're having trouble with Windows Media Player, you click on the Options menu, then Filter. At the menu, type wmplayer into the Include field. When you see the resulting list, you can double-click any entry to open up its registry value.

Because you can search and filter, Regmon is also an excellent method for tracking down hard-to-find registry items.

Tip 2: Recover lost data.

Everyone has accidentally deleted files from their hard drive, and very few feelings are as low as the moment right after you nuke 300 irreplaceable photographs of your kids/dogs/life. Actually, one feeling is worse than that: accidentally quick-formatting your entire drive.

Even if you regularly back up your drives, mistakes happen. That's why this tip is paramount. It's also really simple. There's an excellent downloadable data recovery app for XP called Zero Assumption Recovery that can help. Don't waste another minute — download and install it now.

When you run into trouble, here's what to do:

1. The moment you delete your data, stop using your hard drive. Don't save or install any new applications — they'll be written over your recently departed data.

2. Run Zero Assumption Recovery. You already had it installed, right?

3. Select the hard drive you want to scan. Wait for the scan to finish. (This can take between one and two hours -- part of Zero Assumption Recovery's effectiveness is its thoroughness.)

4. With any luck, you'll see a list of your missing folders and files. The freeware version of Zero Assumption Recovery allows you to recover up to four folders per scan. If you pay $100 for the full version, you get full recovery.

Note: You can also use Zero Assumption Recovery to recover deleted photos from your camera's memory card.

Tip 1: Automatically log when and why shutdowns have occurred.

Love it or hate it, Windows XP is undeniably more stable than its predecessors. But it still crashes, and it still has occasional trouble shutting down. This registry hack logs all shutdown errors, telling you when, where, and why strange and annoying things have happened.

Some folks have the luxury of packing their buggy PC off to a help desk. But if you like to get your hands dirty, consider this essential tweakage.

Here's how to set up logging for unexpected system shutdowns:

1. Open RegEdit and browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersionReliability

2. Set the ShutDownReasonUI data value to 1. (If this string doesn't exist, create it and set the value to 1.)

3. Exit RegEdit and reboot your PC.

To examine the log you've created, open up the Event Viewer, which you'll find by selecting Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer. Click on the System subheading and you'll see a massive list of system events. Errors will be marked with a red X or a yellow exclamation mark. Double-click on the error and you'll see details that may help you unravel the mystery.

Schumacher claims the last record!

He has most number of GP wins, most number of championship wins, most number of fastest laps and most number of laps leading a race. He has now claimed the final record. Michael Schumacher's 66th pole (more to come as well) at Imola has moved him ahead of the late and mercurial Aryton Senna in the area of record pole positions. Incidentally, Senna's last pole was also at Imola in 1994 where he was tragically killed in a high-speed accident while leadng the race, being pursuit closely by a young Schumacher (in his 2nd year in F1 then). Wow, 12 years and the link between Schumacher, Imola and Senna seems to be complete now.

Thanks Liverpool!!

Yes!! Looks like we really owe Liverpool one. They've accomplished the mammoth task of defeating Chelsea 2-1 in the FA Cup semifinals, preventing them from getting the double again. Yes!!

Liverpool, please do the whole world a favour

Old Trafford, Liverpool, Chelsea, 22/4/2006 4.00pm (GMT), FA Cup semi-final 2006. Liverpool (though I'm not your fan), please do the whole world a good by not letting Chelsea get their Premiership-FA Cup double. Thanks! We all owe you one if you do that:P

Small Tip When Driving in KL

Just realised this. If you're driving in KL and not sure where your destination is really located, following the signboards around here will:
1. Lead you to roads with the most tolls
2. Lead you to roads with the least petrol stations along the way

So, if you're traveling to places you've neve been to. Consult these sites first ya:
1. Pagenation Malaysia
2. Malaxi
3. Map.com.my

Narrow Escape

Just wanna warn all those who are/will be heading down south from KL. The stretch between Seremban and Alor Gajah is undergoing massive construction to build 2 more lanes (1 on each side). I just went down this friday (21/4/2006) to meet my parents. Some stretches are being tarred again but PLUS isnt doing a good job. The new tar is darker, there's no light and the white lines werent drawn yet. So when you're driving at night (as I did), be extra cautious are there are also more trailers, buses, lorries at night too. I made the mistake of overtaking a trailer during one of these stretches (I know, cari pasal). While overtaking, my car actually veered right dramatically forcing me to correct my steering quickly or else the whole car would have been pulled to the right. I think this is because the roads are not tarred totally, leaving small ridges at both sides of the rode. I think while overtaking, my car's right front tire bit into the side ridge (probably because i stayed too far right too) causing the very dramatic reaction. When it happened, I thought to myself: "Not bad ah, my reflexes and car control isnt too shabby". It was only after I passed the trailer then I realised what could have happened if I over-corrected or something. Could have sent my car underneath the trailer. So, be careful, y'all!

The Most Creative Thing that have come out from the Chinese So Far

This "song" has been around for quite some time. Recently heard it on radio again. So thought wanna share with some of you who may not have heard it (very unlikely). It's basically a song that consists of portions from other songs and somehow it sounds right. It's the most creative, IMHO, that have come out from the Chinese so far:P Though as usual, once a good idea is known, everyone starts to copy it and turn it into a bad idea:P

The song can be found "here". Thanks to Baidu:P

刺激2005 (Excitement 2005) <- (Kinky title though. Made the mistake of asking a girl what the two words mean. I dont think that was such a good idea after i found out what it mean)

歌手：赵英俊　专辑：无敌翻唱版

还记得吗(最熟悉的陌生人)
我们在机场的车站(你的背包)
你找个借口让我接受(爱不爱我)
直到视线变得模糊(至少还有你)
整夜都闭不了眼睛(听海)
你与我之间有谁(情人)
一九九五年(你的背包)
比以往时候来的更晚一些(2002年的第一场雪)
静静看你走一点都不像我(开始懂了)
盼不到我爱的人(爱我的人和我爱的人)
风再大又怎样(流星雨)
我要带你飞到天上去(小薇)
为你付出那种伤心你永远不了解(痴心绝对)
感觉有那么甜我那么依恋(断点)
相信那一天抵过永远(江南)
只是他们还不够单纯(月亮可以代表我的心)
手牵手一步两步三步四步望着天(星晴)
你却把别人拥在怀里(太委屈)
无论情节浪漫或多离奇(彩虹)
我的爱就有意义(勇气)
我唯一爱的就是你(爱的就是你)

让我们忘了那片海(那片海)
只要你过得比我好(只要你过得比我好)

Can't wait for the F1 season to continue again!

This weekend will a weekend of great anticipation as the F1 circus moves back to Europe after the 3 fly-by races in Bahrain, Malaysia and Australia. Three weeks of off-screen inaction is a bit too long for me. But finally F1 is back in action and this time it will be at Ferrari's spiritual homeground, San Marino GP's Imola track, where Ferrari's history has been so deeply ingrained into. Ferrari's factory is just round the corner and they have traditionally done well here. So here goes nothing!

EPL at its Best .. concluded by some desperate football rantings!

Those who saw the Tottenham Hotspurs-Man United match will not forget it in a huff. Though MU won 2-1 ultimately, it was no stroll in the park though the first half begged to differ. In a titanic season-nearing match, a 4th vs 2nd tussle sure isnt for the weak-hearted. From start to finish, it was 90 minutes of end-to-end stuff. With so much at stake (Spurs having Arsenal breathing down their neck chasing the 4th Champions' League spot and Man U trying to delay Chelski's inevitable back-to-back victory), there was much to cheer about in this epic battle. Spurs vs MU matches seemed to always show the best and worst of EPL. Who could forget a certain match where Spurs raced to a 3-0 lead in the first half, only to lose 3-5 in the 2nd, inspired by a certain Golden Balls. There is without a doubt that if someone who has never watched an EPL match suddenly decides to do so, he/she should watch a Spurs-ManU match.

Though Spurs offered great fight, Man U oldest (Van Der Sar) and youngest (Rooney) resuscitate their fading EPL challenge if only for 2 more weeks. Spurs started the stronger, creating several chances within the first 5 minutes. However, thanks to Van Der Sar who made 2 point-blank saves, MU survived the initial onslaught and slowly started to impose themselves. The first goal's built-up was excellent with Van Nistlerooy carrying the ball forward on the left touchline, sent a delicate pass which left the defender for dead, bringing Ronaldo (the Portugese, not the fat Brazilian) into play. With Ronaldo pushing the ball forward to the far post, all seemed lost until he pulled the ball back across the goal mouth, eluding Spurs' keeper and defender into the path of precocious Rooney, who gladly tapped the ball into goal. What a move! 2nd goal was caused by a mini Korean war as Spurs's Lee Young-Pyo and MU's Park Ji-Sung showed that there is really something wrong with Asians (Koreans specifically:P i don really mean this) playing in EPL. A cross to the right corner of the Spurs' half sent Lee and Park chasing after the ball. Lee reached there first and tried to clear but the ball richocheted off Park and was bouncing dangerously about. Lee immediately chased the ball, Park looked like giving up but realising he was on the bigscreen in the stadium, decided to give chase as well (I kid you not, the guy froze for about 1.5 sec before kicking back into action, or may be it's just a Korean thingy). For some unfathomable reason, Lee, though reached the ball first, decided to bring the ball into the 6-yard box rather than catapult the ball towards the far end, only to realise horror of all horrors, Wayne Rooney was lurking nearby. His in-experience was clearly exposed when Park came back to steal the ball from behind to pass to Rooney who again had the simplest job of choosing where to put the ball into the net. 0-2 at half-time.

Easy-peasy? Not quite, Jose:P True to the English spirit, Spurs came roaring back in the 2nd half and caused United plenty of headaches. Rio Ferdinand's nonchalant but suicidal clearances didnt help Van Der Sar either, who can be seen wasnt very impressed by his teammate's kamikaze tendencies. Jermain Jenas pulled a goal back from a corner that should not been awarded in the first place and guaranteed a heart-pumping finish. Ultimately, United just barely hung on to their lead and lived to fight another day. Great stuff!

Notable Notes:

Jermaine De Foe: He really does look like a darker (to use a politcally correct term) version of Michael Owen. Short, fast and small-sized, the resemblance is uncanny. However, there is without a doubt that, if you're bringing a team to World Cup, you would rather bring a semi-fit Owen than a match-fit De Foe. Owen has the clinical finishing that Jermaine clearly lacks. Two open goal opportunities, two embarrassing misses summed it all up nicely.

Man United Oldest-Youngest: As mentioned earlier, both Van Der Sar (age 35) and Rooney (age 20) played big parts in this match. Van Der Sar's amazing reflexes justified whatever money United paid for him but nothing beats the excitement that Rooney generates whenever he touches the ball. How this fella handles all the pressure and expectation is quite beyond me really.

Van Nistlerooy: Really worried about his future in United. Van Nistlerooy looked like a man fighting for his life at a club where he has given so much (150 goals in 200+ matches is quite an amazing record). However, all does really look bad for him. The old Van the Man would have scored after successfully beating the offside trap but for some reason, with only keeper to beat, he pulled the ball to the left, giving the defender a chance to challenge for the ball and clear. Really looked like a man who has lost his confidence badly with Saha pushing so strongly behind him. Hope that he and Alex Ferguson can just put their differences aside and concentrate on football. Ferguson's black face when Van Nistlerooy again hit the post sadly suggested otherwise. I think they might just waiting to see how Van Nistlerooy's performance goes in the World Cup before deciding the price to let him go. What a pity!

To round off such an extremely long post, I'm glad that Man United are back in style again. Though Chelsea may be the better team over 38 matches, no other team (other than perhaps Arsenal) can generate such a buzz around them when they play. 10 wins and a draw. To reduce an 18-point deficit with style. There can only be one United. I'm also glad that Chelsea's success has weed out all the band-wagon United fans who just know how to support the winning team (prawn-sandwich fans as Roy Keane used to call em). It's just like those whose football knowledge is only limited to Brazil and World Cup. Honestly, it's just too predictable whenever you ask these clueless folks football questions. Which is the best team in EPL? CHELSEA!!!! When was the last time they won the league before 2005? Huh??!! Who do you support in World Cup? BRAZIL!!!! When was the last time they won when it was held in Europe? Huh??!! Well, I'm hoping that this time, it'll be a Holland-Spain-Portugal-England semifinal with Holland finally beating Spain 3-2 in the finals.

A fine day for all TTies

In case you think otherwise, this entry has nothing to do with porn at all but rather with to do with the iconic Audi TT, which Jeremy Clarkson has labeled its owner TTies. The new one is out after so many years (still remember MI2, the car scene between a certain Mr Tom and Miss Thandie). Got these pics from Top Gear's site.

The shoulder profiles look a bit like the new Merc CL coupes.

The very-original Audi front grill.

A 2-door version of the Mercedes CLS?