K's Learning Diary

Brilliant simple trick, it's all in your head! The human mind is complex and wonderful but it can also deceit you and let you see what you want to believe but the truth :)

The Independent: "Martial arts epic The Grandmaster will open 2013's Berlin International Film Festival as its international premiere. Directed by Wong Kar Wai, president of this year’s festival jury, the film is set against the tumultuous backdrop of 1930s China." Unlike other popular Martial Arts films in recent years that have focused on story lines centered around individual historical figures such as Ip Man (Master of Bruce Lee), The Grandmasters sets the scenes against the backdrop of the post Qing dynasty China, depicting the dynamics among the different Kung Fu sects as they struggled to pass on their skills and traditions to the next generation. Civil wars and the Japanese invasion during the second world war has displaced many of the old families, disrupted the centuries old rules and traditions, many of the "old ways" and techniques were lost and forgotten. Director Wong spen t a number of years preparing for this film. Vis

Saw this on a friend's wall on facebook. Just imagine how many sleepless parents this will save if it actually works haha. Never thought this would be one of the things that I would learn this year. Well, life is quite unpredictable lol.  The clip is in Japanese, but it's quite easy to guess what's being said. Try this if you ever find a baby that would not stop crying. Would love to hear from you if this actually works!

The idea is quite intriguing, let's see what we can find:   Absorption cooling Absorptive refrigeration uses a source of heat to provide the energy needed to drive the cooling process. This heat source can be solar, kerosene-fueled flame, waste heat from factories or district heating systems...etc. Absorption refrigerators are a popular alternative to regular compressor refrigerators where electricity is unreliable, costly, or unavailable, where noise from the compressor is problematic, or where surplus heat is available. In a typical cooling system, a refrigerant with a very low boiling point is used. When this refrigerant evaporates (boils), it takes some heat away with it, providing the cooling effect. The main difference is the way the refrigerant is changed from a gas back into a liquid so that the cycle can repeat; an absorption refrigerator changes the gas back into a liquid using a different method that needs only heat, and has no moving parts.   *In my head: Ok

Mood Music Pretty sure this has been done already. Just like lighting and smells, music can do wonders in setting the mood of our surroundings, the ambiance. Scented candles are now common place, but perhaps it's not as common to find people talking about ambient musics.  I have always liked to work in a coffee shop. Not so much for the coffee, but the smell and for some reason, the background chattering noise helps me concentrate better. Other noises have more soothing effects, such as white noise generated by a waterfall. It would be cool to recreate some of those ambient noise and have them as products. I found some interesting ones randomly on Youtube. Hope you like them. Rain Ocean (one of my favorite )

As computing power become cheaper and more widely available, it has significantly improved efficiency and our work processes. High Performance Computers (HPCs or Supercomputers) are being used to model the real world with increasing realism and has enabled us to study and understand our physical world better.  With the new paradigm extension towards data supported predictive capabilities, computers are now able to go through large volumes of available data and help people make better decisions (traditionally it would be too time consuming or just impossible for humans to gather, absorb and analyze the huge amount of data we generate everyday). Many countries, including the UK are now realizing the importance/impact of HPC to our industries and the economy. EPCC is actually one of the leading HPC centres in the world. I was quite surprised it is actually so close to home. ------------------- EPCC Founded at The University of Edinburgh in 1990, EPCC is a leadi

Sometimes you just have no idea what will hit you on a typical peaceful, innocent Saturday morning. And by that I d on't mean getting hit by something physical like a meteorite whilst you are having tea, hopefully something surprising but less painful. I bumped into a colleague from my company on one of those mornings. Walking down the street, minding my own business. I have not seen this guy for almost 2 years. He helped me with the administrative works when I first arrived at the company, but I have not caught up with him ever since. I asked him how he was. I remembered he was doing some sort of online degree, so I asked how that went. "Oh, it's going great," he said. In fact, he was just about to complete the course and have his final exam in a couple of days. Then he said something unexpected. "I am thinking about leaving." "You mean your job?" I said, a little confused. "My wife and I would like to go abroad and study." &qu

This morning, while conversing with a friend, it dawned on me that so many brilliant English words and phrases are rarely used these days, and we don't pay much attention to them when they make a rare appearance. So I thought I should listen out for these hidden gems and see how many I can find this year. What is a Watershed ? According to  thefreedictionary.com : It is a ridge of high land dividing two areas that are drained by different river systems. Also called  divide ,  water parting .   So water on the other side of the two ridges does not fall into this river system. A Watershed Moment http://wiki.answers.com :  A critical turning point. A moment in time where everything changes. A point in time when nothing after will ever be the same as before. To call it a turning point technically is true, but it is an overly simplistic definition of the phrase. The figurative meaning comes from the literal meaning of a point where the water system is split into two distinct path

Have you ever found yourself grappling with a common issue: multiple iTunes backup files leading to scattered contact telephone numbers across different devices? It's a situation many of us encounter, and the question arises: Can you merge iTunes backup files? While a direct solution may not be readily available, there's a workaround – and it involves leveraging the power of iCloud . Utilizing iCloud for Seamless Contact Management : iCloud provides a solution by allowing you to back up your contacts online. The idea is to consolidate the contact information scattered across various iPhone backups into a unified and manageable repository on iCloud. Step-by-Step Guide : Here's a simple guide on how to streamline your contacts using iCloud: Activate iCloud Contacts: On your iPhone, navigate to: Settings > iCloud. Toggle the Contacts switch to turn it on. Merge Contacts: This action enables you to merge the contacts present on your phone with those already stored on iCloud.

I have decided to factory reset my iPhone 4 and get rid of all the junk accumulated over the years. Doing this for the first time, it took longer than I expected. I've decided to write this down incase this happens again. I tried two methods (mainly because the first easier option didn't go well for me) - long story. Warning: Try backingup your iphone with iTune before attempting any reset. Method 1 : First try reset the phone using: General→Reset Select the most applicable reset you want to do. (becareful of the "Erase All Content and Settings" option, which will wipe out all your data and settings!) more detailed instruction can be found here (click on image): So, I tried method 1 myself (I wanted the factory reset, so I used the "Erase All" option), and unfortunately for me, my iPhone got stuck at the reboot screen and would not go any further. what now? I thought. Well, if this happens to you, panic for 5 minutes and re