A Nice Fact

[Original Post at my Blogs | My Blogs]

Changi airport is one of the top-class airports globally, as evidence from a series of high-profile awards.

Therefore, it must mean something when its website offers a version in Indonesian, apart from English, Mandarin, and Japanese.

Notice from the picture below, the language selections in top-right of the webpage, and the content in Indonesian language.

Obviously, there are many possible explanations for the inclusion of this language. For a simpleton like me, I can only think that (based on the economic logic) Indonesians must be making up a significant portion of the human traffic in this world-class airport.

Thumbs up for Incheon Intl. Airport, Big Boo for Google's Language Auto-Detection

[My return flight will be departing in about 1.5 hours. Not surprisingly, there're some time to spend on, and here're the outcome...]

:)
There's a free wifi in the airport. It's one of the few airports with such a service. Most airports I've visited provides only paid wifi.


X(
Google's language auto-detect sucks.

Oh well, to clarify (now I'm a bit calmer), the idea is good. But, the execution is not perfect.

See the following screenshot. The blogger.com by default displays Korean characters. There's absolutely no clue for a layman on how to change the displayed language to English.


After a-couple-of-second's screaming within my head, I somehow became curious enough to click the top-right drop-down box. Luckily, it was what I looked for.

Btw., notice how the Flash ads are still in English?

New Lodging

Been in Austin, Texas, USA, since the evening of Thu 13-Nov-2008. The purpose? To attend Sun HPC Consortium and SC'08.

After staying at the Hilton Airport Hotel, earlier today I had to move to AT&T Education and Conference Center which is owned by the University of Texas at Austin.

One thing I immediately noticed at this AT&T center is its phone+network+TV setup.

The phone is IP-phone (Cisco 7941), the same as what our school (back in Singapore) are using.

The network + TV is exactly the same as the Mio Plan + Mio TV setup, which I happen to use at home. Both the router and the IP-based TV box are located in my room.

The router (2WIRE) looks exactly the same as mine, though it may be slightly bigger, and perhaps, of a different model.

The IP-based TV box looks exactly the same, though this one has an additional USB port at the front. Oh, and the brand is Motorola, while mine doesn't seem to carry a (recognizable) brand. And oh (again), the TV remote control is exactly the same too.

The internet seems to be free since I was not asked whether to pay for a 24-hr internet access (like what some other hotels do). Well, I'm just too lazy to find it out now. So, just plug-in the LAN cable, and everything is set to go.

The internet speed is pretty good too. I tested downloading a kernel-source rpm from an OpenSUSE repository in Germany, and got a reasonable speed (350+ KB/s). The speed was noticable faster when downloading from servers located in USA. Fetching a 170+ MB file (Sun Studio Express 11/08) took less than three (??) minutes to complete (about 4 MB/s).

Well, perhaps this relatively high internet speed is the good thing of staying in a university-owned or AT&T-sponsored accomodation (or whichever it is)...

[Note: “Sun Studio software [is FREE and] delivers a high-performance, optimizing C, C++, and Fortran developer toolchain for Solaris, OpenSolaris, and Linux operating systems, including support for multicore x86- and SPARC-based systems. The toolchain includes parallelizing compilers, code-level and memory debuggers, performance and thread analysis tools, OpenMP support as well as optimized math libraries. With a next-generation NetBeans-based IDE, development of multicore applications has never been easier.”]

[Note: “Sun Studio Express releases contain the latest features and enhancements under development. Express builds are fully-functional; the focus is on new features being introduced into the Sun Studio product”. I am personally enthutiastic with the latest Express version due to the inclusion of a new MPI performance analyizer tool.]

Door to Door: an Unpleasant Experience

I've just recovered from a sickness; my brain hasn't been fully functional. So do excuse me if I looked/sounded a bit peking (e as in the, i as in king. It's a Pontianak Malay's word for crazy). Ah, yes! A rather long winding way to just say that I want to rant.

So, here's the situation. Normally, I'd take a bus to a particular destination, and the overall trip takes about 1 hour. Overall means walk to lift, go down and walk to bus stop (10 mins), wait for a bus (5-15 mins), time spent on a bus (30-35 mins), alight and walk to the destination (10 mins).

Yesterday I needed to arrive at the same destination before 10am. Since I was still in the recovery mood, I stepped out from my house at about 9:15am. “Ah, I'll be late if I take a bus” was what I thought. So, I duly decided to take a taxi, hoping to reach my destination before or exactly at 10am despite a higher expense. Which is a fair expectation, isn't? Afterall, taxies are supposed to be more mobile and deliver faster than busses.

Nope! Big no no! Not at all! No, no, and no! Have I said no?!?!?!?

First, I waited for a taxi at the entrance of my house complex. See, it took 5 mins to walk from the house's entrance to the lift, go down, and then walk to the entrance of the complex. After failing to get a taxi for about 10 mins, I took a 5-min walk to a taxi stand in a plaza and reached there at 9:30am. Yes, a plaza (BPP — Bukit Panjang Plaza). Actually it's very close to the bus stop I usually used, but still I decided to take a taxi in a (soon-to-be-proved) vain hope to arrive a.s.a.p.

The problem was, it took another 35 mins to finally board to a taxi (i.e. 10:05am). And this was after compulsively pressing the call button many many times. And mind you, there're other travelers waiting there as well. Of course, once boarding to the taxi, it took only 15 mins to reach my destination. The cost? SGD 8.8, nearly 7x the cost of taking a bus (SGD 1.29).

Now, I deliberately leave this till the end: I arrive at my destination at almost 10:30am. This was even later than had I decided to take a bus. Madness! How can it be?! Taxies are supposed to be superior in their delivery time, provided we're willing to pay! But how is it that the total, door-to-door time from my house's door to the destination's door (i.e. the meeting room) was the same?!?!? And yet, I still paid 7x of the cost of busses!!!!

Grrmph $%^#&@%&$@&(*&(#@$@@#

Photos from Aachen 2008 (3): a Visual Guide to the Cathedral

[Original Post at my Blogs | My Blogs]

One of the recommended place to visit. It's located in the central area and though I passed through this building every day, only on the second last day (around 17:00) that I managed to enter it.

[Note: this blog includes only pictures essential for my story telling. More pictures can be found here.]


The Big Picture (plus Extremely Important Piece of Information)
Before we start with the visual guide, let's have a look at the Cathedral's schematic diagram:

As you admire the diagram, be informed that this diagram is the result of:

1. ultra-precision high-end scannings using a highly-sophisticated parallel dual-optical device with an 81-megapixel resolution, 120-degree vision, and a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio.
   The scanned raw images are then feed into...
   
2. a novel yet efficient integrated post processor which is capable of uncompromising noise separation, dispersed clustering, fuzzy regression analysis, high-degree meta-cognitive, adaptive dynamic inference, etc.
   This will produce an in-memory abstract schematic diagram which will be...
   
3. projected as a persistent concrete schematic diagram using the provably high-tech plotting device which has a strongly optimum degree of freedom and is controlled through a network of multi-billion nano components.

The Exterior
Let us now start the virtual visual tour by firstly examining the four exterior sides:





The entrance is located at the left-side of the diagram.


The Interior: Palatine Chapel
As shown by the annotated diagram below, on the lower left of the Palatine Chapel (i.e. the circular area in the center) are two staffs selling photographing tickets. Since a chapel is used to holds masses, attendances are expected and hence, the chairs :). The next picture shows the view to the x-y-z direction.



In the location marked by x, there is Pala d'Oro (the golden altar) and Shrine of Mary (above the altar). The Shrine of Mary is said to store a number of relics. There is also a statue of Mary in location y. The location marked by z is the Gothic choir hall which is surrounded with colorful glass windows. Only guided tours are allowed to enter this choir hall. In the middle of the choir hall hangs a sun-shaped ornament with an illustration of Mother Mary and baby Jesus. The last picture shows area w.

The ceiling of the chapel is painted with an illustration of verses from the book of Revelation (I think).



The 8-side interior walls have carvings of Latin phrases. Unfortunately I took pictures of 7 sides only. As I recalled, I started shooting from the x direction followed by the other sides in a clock-wise direction (as per my mighty diagram).









Related Sites
1. Aachen Cathedral, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aachen_Cathedral
2. Aachen Cathedral (Kaiserdom), http://www.sacred-destinations.com/germany/aachen-cathedral.htm
3. Sacred Destination Travels Blog: Aachen, http://sacred-destinations.blogspot.com/2008/01/aachen.html

Photos from Aachen 2008 (2)

[Original Post at my Blogs | My Blogs]

The weather in Aachen is unpredictable, according to the locals. And so, even though it was already in the spring, I was still fortunate enough to see a little bit of snow. It may not be like in Antarctic, but still it's refreshing for someone like me who's been staying only in tropical countries with two seasons (i.e. rainy and summer).

What else can we see? Well, here're two pictures taken within 5 minutes. While not immediately apparent, they're two different phenomena. Really, you just have to trust me!


Such views are common. The white trails may be due to the cold temperature, and the extreme frequency is probably due to Aachen being located at the border of three countries: Belgium, Germany, and Holland.

The church of St. Nicholas is located at one of the alleys in the central area:

Photos from Aachen 2008 (1)

[Original Post at my Blogs | My Blogs]


Frankfurt Train Station
The train station is just the opposite of the airport; both are connected through an overhead linkway. From the Frankfurt Intl. airport, travelers can easily continue their journey to other cities by trains.

The City
Buildings with middle-age architecture and streets made from stone can be found at various places in the central area. Most of the middle-age buildings I encountered are Catholic churches. Some of the photos below show the St. Elizabeth church.

The famous university, RWTH Aachen, occupies quite a portion of the city. In fact, it is as if the whole campus is a town. Further details on total campus area or portion of the city occupied may be found on the wikipedia or other sources in the Internet.

[Note: Photos of the Town Hall and the Cathedral will be on a separate post]

Aachen: Miscellaneous Events

[Original Post at my Blogs | My Blogs]

As I'm spending my last night in Aachen, here're my two last-minute tidbits from today:

1. Aachen Cathedral
   Visitors are free to go inside the church. However, one has to pay for two Euros in order to take pictures — tripods are not allowed but flash is. After paying, one will get a ticket that is valid on the next visit.
   
   
   Hm, now I'm wondering if the "next visit" actually means "subsequent visits". If it does, then I need to preserve my ticket in case of a tiny possibility to revisit this city in the future. Yeah, I do have a bit of "mental dagang" (i.e. an extremely calculating mentality).


2. Diet cookies
   In a shop selling chocolate cookies, I picked a box of a chocolate cookies (how obvious). When I was about to pay, the lady shopkeeper pointed to the word "Diät" on the box and said something like "this is for diet". I was quite puzzled at first and had to ask whether the "diet" means "for those who want to lose weight"! Which apparently does!! Which then made me to quickly replace with another brand, plus a couple of other choices, and then left (after paying, of course).
   
   Later on, I made this guess on why the diet-cookies reminder: it is because of my excellent physique — I who am not in the slightest need of losing weight! Whether this turns to be true or not, a danke to the shopkeeper is in order. Otherwise I may be getting slimmer after consuming those diet cookies.

They're all the same

[Original Post at my Blogs | My Blogs]

Q: What's the difference between 3 and 7?
A: As one of my lecturer said from UI, it depends on the context!

For sure, they're mathematically different, strictly speaking. But in the context of temperature, they're the same; for me, of course. It's just like how certain things work: when things go beyond or below a certain threshold, things do not matters anymore.

So, any difference between 3 and 7?
Same lah (seɪm lɑh -- Singlish), same lah (sɑmə lɑh -- Pontianak-style Indonesian which is very much Malay), sama lah (sɑmɑ lɑh -- Indonesian), sami mawon (sɑmĭ mɑwŏn -- Java).

The Nth day in Aachen

[Original Post at my Blogs | My Blogs]

Here's a recap of my experience with the local weather:

1. Monday morning: 3 degree C


2. Tuesday morning: 1 degree C, and snow everywhere


3. Wednesday morning: -1 degree C (or was it -4?), no snow


4. Thursday morning: 3 degree C, windy

So, my first snow & below-zero-degree experiences.

First day in Aachen

[Original Post at my Blogs | My Blogs]

Started my travel by heading to Changi airport (SIN) on Sat 01/Mar/2008 21:30 SGT. The flight departed on Sun 02/Mar/2008 00:00. Incidentally, I met with my professor from Fasilkom UI, Dr Stef, who'll be a visiting professor in Lisbon and Dresden for the next 3 months.

After a roughly 12-hour flight, arrived at Frankfurt on Sunday 02/Mar/2008 06:30 CET. Continued my journey by train to Cologne/Köln (about 1 hour) during which I met another Indonesian working in a German education foundation. From Cologne, I had to rush for the next train to Aachen which arrived 5 minute after. Finally, arrived at Aachen after another hour of travel; check in to hotel around 11:00.

After settling down, went for lunch and then tried to make our way to RWTH. During the way, took some pictures of the city and also a visit to the town hall. Heading back to hotel around 16:30.

The weather is windy, temperature is about 2-11 C. And the wind is really strong; one can clearly see the cloud move very fast, unlike in Indonesia or Singapore. With such strong wind, it's no wonder to see wind turbines being used to generate power; something which is not feasible in Singapore (or SE-Asia?) -- at least, as was told by a from-aeroplane-to-hardisk engineer.

Away (Again)!

In less than 6 hours I'll start my journey back to my hometown to celebrate the Lunar New Year. So what I'm doing in this hour? As usual, last minute express packing and making sure not to oversleep.

And who says coffee is needed to stay awake? The COW codes I've been porting is giving me all sort of trouble when linking Fortran objects (using Pathscale). And I have zero knowledge on Fortran! Okay, maybe 0.00000000001 since I managed to solve a compilation problem by commenting out two lines of "implicit none".

Come think about it: my cohorts who still stay in the IT field are "moving forward" with all sort of MVC or RDBMS mappers or whatever frameworks. Not to mention those who've attained "enlightenment". I, on the other hand, am "going backward" to Fortran.

Learning Mandarin

[Original Post at my Blogs | My Blogs]

It is tough to learn a new language as an adult, eventhough the new language is supposed to be similar with one I've known. But a kick in the back is always the best source of motivation, just like a blue knight/wizard learns a new technique after being attacked by the technique.

And so, apart from witnessing how impressive Beijing & Guangzhou are, having to guess the meaning of (nearly) all the conversations which occurred within last week, I've learned "si_1 thong_3" (system), "mu_4 lu_4" (directory), "kuo_2 chi_1" (international), "kuo_2 chia_1" (national), "chi_1 chang_3 fei_1 / chi_1 chang_3 / fei_1 chi_1 chang_3" (airport). As you've probably noticed, those words are not spelled in proper hanyu pinyin and I may have confused the 2nd and the 3rd tone.

Nevertheless, a start is a start is a start.