The Circle

Music Review: "Dearly Beloved"

2009-04-09T19:16:00.012+08:00

Try the following (do it slowly):

Play the video and tune your volume up a little.
Relax your muscle and clear your mind.
Focus on the music and instrument played.
Close your eyes, and slowly imagine...
If you're those who live a fast-pace life, take this moment, at least, to slow down a little...
Think of the people around you,... those you love,... and those who love you,... and most importantly those you've lost...

I did that. It reminds me of the people around me and ultimately my life. It's OK if it gets a little emotional, you're not alone.

This music has definitely lived up to its name, "Dearly Beloved", it's a theme soundtrack taken from a PlayStation 2 game called "Kingdom Hearts". Although I didn't play this game (my brother did) but I find this music exceptionally beautiful. I never get tired of listening to it repeatedly.

The music is so smooth, calm, and peaceful that it could put you to sleep too.

I find this guy in this video plays the music particularly well, although the music was intended to be played slower.

Why Earth Hour?

2009-03-27T03:32:00.012+08:00

I got to know this event called 'Earth Hour' only few weeks ago. It's an event where people around the world switch off their lights for 1 hour on the same day and time. Apparently, this event has been there for a few years, and only this year has Malaysia joined in.

I thought, a few days ago, that this was ridiculous. How can switching off our lights for 1 hour do any difference to our earth? Will they even notice if I don't do it? How could such a useless event (that's what I thought) be so famous? Why is there such an event in the first place?

I've got an email from Nuffnang saying that their home page will not be running for one hour on that day. After that I told myself I must find the answer to 'Why Earth Hour'.

A quick googling has brought me to Yahoo! Answer where there are bunch of people seeking the same answer. Some say they're 'Anti-Earth-Hour' and will be having big party at home while all their lights and electrical appliances are on. Some even said, in a local news company, that this event is just for publicity.

Apparently, Earth Hour is not an event for us to see how much electricity we've saved. It's an event aimed to create awareness among the citizens of every nation. The Earth Hour day is said to be a global election day where people vote for 'Earth' (by switching off lights for 1 hour) or vote for 'Global Warming' (by leaving their lights on).

According to Earth Hour Official Site, our votes will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009. It's good to know that our vote does have an impact towards the Kyoto Protocol, which has the power to influence government policies.

I'd definitely vote earth! Although I don't have the power to influence my conservative-thinking parents to do so, I will switch off the lights, my computer and air-con of my own room; I will answered as many questions as possible in Yahoo! Answer regarding this topic, and will tell my friends (though not many) about it if they're interested. I think I've done a pretty good job already! Ya?

This event has done its purpose even before it's even started. I'm eagerly looking forward to the day my car will no longer rely on burning fuel. Hey, maybe we can have No Driving Day in Malaysia next?!

Adobe Flash ShockWave File (.swf) hosting

2009-03-13T18:04:00.012+08:00

Finally I've found this site, ImageShack, that support swf file hosting. I've tried Photobucket but they only support this file type if you're a Pro member.

For testing purpose, I've uploaded a swf file below to ImageShack and successfully embeded it here.

Program descriptions:
This simple program accepts a 12-digit Malaysian IC number and, if correct, will display some related information. It was written entirely in ActionScript with more than 350 lines of code. It traces back to the day you were born (e.g. Monday). It calculates your exact age and matches your IC with a list of states and countries. It also has strict validation for the first 6 digits of IC, for example, 29th of Feb in a non leap year is invalid.

Er...

2008-12-07T02:24:00.000+08:00

OK!...then?...