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Showing posts from November, 2010

want an iPad?

A few days ago, a friend of mine sent me a text message and it became a thread like this. "Do you have an iPad?" "No. Why?" "Ok. I'll deliver it to you." "HAH??? What do you mean?" [no answer] And yesterday I got an iPad. Just like that ... No, I am not joking. This is not a hoax. This is a true story. And now, let me play with it ...

Creating Exams

Creating an exam is an art. Or is it scince? I would go for art. I am trying to create questions that can measure student's understanding. The questions are "simple", in a sense that if you know it you will be able to answer it quickly (of course) but it would take forever to guess it. But, this is the kind of "know/don't know" question. Black and white. Especially if it is done through multiple choice-type question. It's easy to mark, but it doesn't have the granularity that I need. I guess, essay questions are still needed. Okay, I'll throw in 4 essay questions. Good luck in your exam tomorrow ...

My uptime

Yesterday my uptime was 20 hours, meaning I slept only four hours (actually less). I woke up at 4AM, since we were planning to go to Jakarta by 6AM. Then I went to sleep the next day at 1 AM. Between that I drove from Bandung to Jakarta, had a meeting in the morning after arrived in Jakarta, a presentation in the afternoon until evening, a wedding invitation in the evening, and drove back to Bandung. What a busy day. So today, I was sleepy. But I had to wake up early because I had a soccer match at 8AM. So I woke up at 4AM (meaning I only slept 3 hours), did shalat Subuh (Fajr), slept for another 15 minutes or so, had breakfast, and off to the field at 7Am (must buy water in cup first). Then, we had a soccer match until 10AM. Arrived at home aroun 11-ish and had to do laundry (doing team jersey). Then, around noon went to a wedding invitation in Cimahi. So now ... I am tired :)

Does Scale Matter in Design?

In terms of design theory (is there such a thing), does scale change the design methodology? Architecture? Let me give you examples. If I want to design a 100-floor hotel, can I use the architecture of a 2-floor hotel and just stack it up 50 times? If I cannot, what makes it so (design-wise)? If I want to design a 256-bit counter, can I use an 8-bit counter and replicate it 64 times? (Don't I need an architectural change?) Is there architectural diference(s) for a software / application for 100 users and 1 million users? Can anybody point me to a good reference on the effect of scale in engineering design?

Still Need to Chop Trees

I am a computer nerd. I spent countless hours in a day in front of computers. But, for some reasons I still find it hard to read long documents on screen. I don't read eBooks, but I could spend hours and hours and hours reading blogs though :) I still prefer to print the documents, take them with me, read them in any place, scribble notes on them, and when I am ready to make changes then I work on the electronic version. Is there something wrong with me? And ... I am sorry universe, we still need to chop trees to cater for my paper need :((

Craving for more 7-like event(s)

After a week pushing myself to document ("draw") my days, it is now over. It was a tough committment. Capturing things and thinking of creative ideas were tough. But, strange thing is happening. I kinda want to do this again. Maybe I need a challenge? (As if I don't have too many to dos in my list.) I can do this on my own, but that's no fun :p

seven: day 7

This is the last day of 7-activity ... phew ... finally. Yay... I am able to "draw" 7 days of my life. Although the first day was more verbose, textual, than pictorial. But, that's ok, I guess. It's part of the learning process.

seven: day 6

seven: day 5

seven: day 4

seven: day 3

seven: day 2

seven-1: day one

Twas started at 1 AM. Yeah, I was all excited to participate with this seven that I thought I should get a head start. ha ha ha. That was a lie and you know it. But, really, I was up and I thought I capture some of the moment in that hour. Took my camera and shot some 1 o'clock artifacts. ... fast forward ... morning ... it was cloudy and gloomy . I hate every bit of it. But, this is weekend. I have a habbit to take photos in my surrounding area. There shouldn't be an exception to this. Here's one of the snapshots. There are a lot of flowers in our garden. I wanted to take photos but remembered that I have taken zillion photos of them and uploaded to by blog. Maybe my readers are bored already with those pictures. but, heck ... Then, I took my son for a driving lesson. In Indonesia, most cars use manual stick (although automatic gears are becoming popular). Not that easy teaching to balance between gas, clutch, and break pedals. [Took pictures ...] went back home and there&

seven-0: prolog

I wanted to participate in SEVEN , which is started today, but I could not draw. I could try, but I know it doesn't do justice. It will hurt your eyes :) ha ha ha. I am thinking of using photos, stretching the definition of "drawing" :) I hope they don't mind. In terms of which blog (site) to publish the content, I'll use this blog. Originally, I thought of using my other blog (rahard.wordpress.com), but I might want to write other things during the SEVEN. This blog is rarely updated. So, it is a perfect combination in a sense. So, here goes ...

Want some?

Noodle and meat balls ( mie baso ) is a (very) common Indonesian food. This one has fried tofu in it. I love my mie baso plain, but most people would put soya sauce and ... chilli sauce. Hot! Yummy.