Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by Parrot

Been away for over a year

Parrot — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 16:41:29 +0800

Been living under a literal rock since I last posted May 2017. So, what's happened since then? I assume BN is still in power and is sending the country to hell?

I'm frustrated at Kopitiam

Parrot — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 10:40:37 +0800

Every single time I come back there, it's like the community is even more bitter and dogmatic than they were a few months earlier. Always decimating the same cynical narrative day in, day out, being incapable of furthering civil discussions, and at worse, resort to name calling, and the predictable soapboxxing, trollposts and echo-chambering. What's worse is that this behavior has also seeped into the Real World Issues subforum, making it harder to engage there as well.

But I barely talk to a lot of people IRL as it is because most of them are either too busy earning a living, are too foreign, too dense or too insular to be relatable. Niche threads on LYN that I may be interested in are either nearly dead or already dead, leaving Kopitiam the only avenue left to talk with like-minded people. I'm not financially sound enough to uproot myself either, so I'm kinda boxed in socially.

Got any suggestions on what I could do?

Harry S. Plinkett has something to say

Parrot — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 06:14:01 +0800

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miVRaoR_8xQ#t=1h31m07s

That is all.

Abandoned (?) car at the workplace

Parrot — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 22:42:23 +0800

I've recently happened across what seemed to be an abandoned sedan at a shopoffice area. I found out it was slanting funny and realized upon closer inspection that it was left jacked up using a carjack. Apparently someone decided to switch over one of the wheels (probably to steal it), replacing one with a sports rim with a stock one that wasn't properly screwed in (the nuts meant for fastening the wheel are missing). One of the doors was also tampered with, suggesting an attempted break-in. The wheel was left loose and I couldn't properly place the wheel back because the car was left hanging too low and I didn't have a spanner or a sturdy metal rod to lift it up.

The road tax hasn't expired yet (but it will in a few months), but it has built-up grim from about a couple of weeks or so of being parked there. I'm tempted to report this to JPJ because it's taking up a public parking space (it's in pay parking area no less, so it's easy to tell the parking officials haven't checked on the car for a while either).

I need suggestions on how to deal with this situation.

In need of Wacom pen nib replacements

Parrot — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 12:21:13 +0800

I just lost a set of three spare Wacom Bamboo pen nibs from god knows when, with only a worn on left on the pen itself. I need to know where I can acquire new ones, or if I can get them delivered to my workplace rather than needing to go to KL to get it myself (I have reasons not to be able to go there in the immediate future).

EDIT: Since the Wacom e-store has always had their nibs "sold out", what are the prospects of ordering these things from Amazon?

"Sayangi Selangor Yakini BN" SMS'

Parrot — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 12:18:49 +0800

I feel the need to post about this because I've been bothered by these bullshit political SMS' for a few weeks now. The latest one came about 25 minutes ago from +601116259269:

QUOTE

Ceramah Umum.Jom Tolak Pakatan.30 Jan(Rabu)9pm.Hasan Ali,Ezam Md Nor,Kalai Vabar di Pusat Aktiviti Belia 4B Sksyn 5, BB Bangi. Semua dijemput hadir. TK

Earlier "Yakini BN" SMS' also originate from similar 111/169 numbers. Got messages from +601116399111 (n/year eve at I-City,S.Alam with Karnival Sayangi Selangor), +601116399112 (Diversion from the January 12 rally/Himpunan Rakyat bersama Perdana Menteri pd 12 Jan(Sabtu) di Dataran TESCO Bandar Rinching Semenyih), +60169101359 (Sukalah anda dgn program rakyat BN ini? (BR1M2.0)) and +60169098395 (Isu mana anda mahu kerajaan negeri atasi?).

Also, I got a well-printed letter from some BN campaigner asking me to support BN. It's printed in expensive paper and is IN COLOUR.

Why does the SPR find the need to abuse my personal information for this? Can I just tell them to stop?

[WTA] Cancelling online purchase

Parrot — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 05:04:25 +0800

About a month ago, I learned that an online store seemingly had stock for a series of books that were supposed to be out of print months ago. Having only experienced purchasing books from Amazon and reading positive testimonies of the site I was to be dealing with (which were unfortunately several years out of date), I settled on a plan to purchase the series in batches of only two for each of the next three months (in order to save shipping cost and dodge import duties). For my first purchase, I prioritised on a book (Book A) that is available immediately but was only stocked in limited quantities (i.e. 1 or 2 left), and selected another specific book in the series (Book B) that would be available in a few weeks to have shipped alongside Book A.

After more than three weeks of waiting, however, the site informed me Friday that Book B has in fact been out of print after a check with the supplier, leaving only Book A left in the order. At the same time, I found that four other books in the series have also just been marked as being out of print, ruining my plans to acquire the entire series from the website. While I was provided a refund for the site's failure to obtain Book B, I felt cheated that the site misinformed me about the availability of the books and misled me to believe that I could still purchase the entire series.

While Book A is still available, I'm contemplating cancelling the purchase altogether and demand a refund. The website's help files mentions the possibility of cancelling an order via e-mail for a partial or full refund at any moment if Paypal is used to pay (which I have). At the moment, my order's status is simply indicated as "Payment Finalized".

I need to know if I have a case since I was misinformed due to outdated and inconsistent information. I have until Monday to decide.

I suspect my HDD is dying

Parrot — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 03:39:48 +0800

This has been a minor but long running issue, but recent incidences where I've begun to find somewhat commonly accessed files being "corrupted" reveals increasingly severe sector damages on my 4 year old HDD. Chkdsk confirms my suspicion, so I'm in the process of extensively backing up everything before I look for a replacement HDD. A Chkdsk log on one of the partitions, cut off at the end, can be found here.

I need to know if my backup measure is effective enough. I'm currently dumping everything into a slave HDD.

Freeze and stuttering audio while under heavy load

Parrot — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 00:45:45 +0800

Basically my computer has been experiencing system instabilities while under moderate load, freezing (with drawn-out, stuttering audio as well as the occasional glitchy streaks of blue dots on the screen) while any programs that utillises heavy graphics (games; flash/java programs, 3D modelling software) is running, or simply black screening and BSOD-ing while performing basic heavy loads in Windows (such as opening large sessions in Firefox).

For a long time I've suspected hardware damage as a result of prolonged heat damage, although the extent of the damage is not yet known (It is possible the processors, graphics card or motherboard may be damaged). The computer's Quad 2 Core processors have been operating at 40-60 C on idle for much of the time I've monitored and even higher (with a recorded high of 90 C in 2009) while under load; recently it's been hovering within the 50-60 C range on idle, which is unusually high. The GPU on the other hand has been operating at around 40-50 on idle and >60 while under load; a few commentators have pointed out that the GPU's temperature is supposed to be higher than the processors'.

The following remedies had been attempted the past 3 days:

* Had the ventilation system cleared of accumulated dust.
* Had the thermal pasting reapplied.
* Had the PSU and frontal fan replaced because their fans no longer spin smoothly or fail to spin altogether, which led to recent overheating. Forked out M$265 for the replacements.
* Followed suggestions given by other troubleshooting forums pertaining this problem:
** Had two clean wipes and clean installations of the graphics card driver.
** Examined the RAM cards using Window's Memory Diagnostic, with no errors detected. memtest86+ was also suggested, but I couldn't be arsed to rearrange the boot sequence.
** Conducted manual file fixes based on files mentioned at the BSODs (for nvlddmkm.sys only; fixes for dxgkrnl.sys and dxgmms1.sys have not been attempted).
** Had the motherboard's integrated soundcard driver updated.
** Attempted DirectX update. No updates were needed.

While the computer no longer overheats as a result of the new PSU and fan, none of these solutions have specifically resolved the processors' heat problems, or the freezes in graphic intensive programs and black screens/BSODs while under heavy load.

The computer is a custom-build unit with a Coolermaster 450W PSU supposedly operating with ventilation that consists of two independent fans affixed to the front (which failed) and back and the PSU's and CPU chipset's fans (the chipset uses a stock fan). As of right now, I don't have a detail list of specifications, but the PC does have the following:

* Gigabyte EP45-UD3R motherboard
* Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 processors
* 4 GB of DDR2 RAM
* Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+ GC
* Windows 7 Ultimate (x64)

I need advise on what best to do next.

Hey kiddies. Remember this?

Parrot — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 22:03:04 +0800

[YOUTUBE]Ixtz8_1JXvc[/YOUTUBE]

English inside /k/ get worst everydays

Parrot — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:48:46 +0800

Why peoples speks bad England recent time? I is remember few years in past when it was a lot of peoples who making good commands of this language, make me learn better. Now quality get worst each week. I thinks English educate people brain draining to Mat Salleh country thats why, left with gomen educate people who only knowing speaks mother's tongue.

You is want Mat Salleh to making funs of your Engrish on Internets?

UMNO Titiwangsa requests YouTube video deleted

Parrot — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 01:39:30 +0800

Hey guise, I accessed an old link to Johari "UMNO Titiwangsa" Abdul Ghani's infamous "pengundi" video on JewTube, and found this:

Didn't know UMNO took JewTube seriously. Major butthurt?

A TM technician is in mah haus

Parrot — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 17:18:36 +0800

To put it simply, my Internet connection went haywire, and TM has managed to diligently dispatch a technician to mah home to look into the problem. Because my modem is an aftermarket hardware (as opposed to one provided by TM), they would like to charge me M$30 to configure the modem/Internet settings.

Is this supposed to be standard practice among TM technicians?

How hollowed out are the towns?

Parrot — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 04:44:04 +0800

Since all the kampung people has left, how empty are the streets in all major towns and cities (KL, Klang, Ipoh, Seremban, Georgetown...)?

Resolutions on an SXGA monitor

Parrot — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 21:02:47 +0800

I'm curious as to whether my present 17" SXGA (5:4) monitor can support anything beyond 1280x1024. Seems like it's unable to do so, even with intervention using the NVIDIA Control Panel, and it seems Wikipedia implies this is SXGA's maximum limit.

What's your comment?

Elephant digs for food

Parrot — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:45:58 +0800

[youtube]Pi1uQV4wJ0Q[/youtube]

Starting over with arts or architecture

Parrot — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 11:49:08 +0800

Having graduated with a degree in Computer Science at a time when the market was suffering a glut of IT graduates, I ended up with a dead-end office job unrelated with IT for several years. By the time opportunities in IT jobs are more abundant, I found myself unable to compete with fresh grads who are more up-to-date in the field, and I'm no longer motivated to update myself on something that undergoes rapid obsolescence.

I've thus come to the conclusion that a career in the IT is a big mistake for me.

This has left me to consider the prospects of starting over in a career line more compatible with what I was originally better at and more passionate with: Arts or architecture. Problem is, I have neither the experience nor qualifications to easily enter such a career, so I'm clearly in a dilemma.

What's your recommendation on this?

2010 Summer Youth Olympics thread

Parrot — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:28:49 +0800

[center][/center]

I'm sure you've heard of it before. S'pore is organising the first ever Youth Olympics, and nearly all countries in the world (including M'sia) are participating. It's not as big as the you-know-what, but it's something worth creating a thread about.

How is our team faring? How comprehensive is local media coverage of the event? Or do they think S'pore doesn't exist? Are you raging about how Kiasuland is hogging all the international limelight, again?

[addedon]August 17, 2010, 4:20 pm[/addedon]Wow, is there really a local media blackout on this event just because it's in Singapore?

Drastic performance drop after defragmentation

Parrot — Fri, 14 May 2010 18:07:52 +0800

Everything in my computer is now taking several times longer than usual to load (even Windows boot-ups), and I suspect it began after the partition housing this operating system (Windows XP) was fragmented using Windows' Disk Defragmenter early this week. I haven't tested the other Windows partition, but I will tonight.

Is there something I should know about Disk Defragmenter?

EDIT: I like to add that the slowdown affect loading times the say the least. I haven't been able to test performances in applications and games because some of them took way to long loading.

Hardware temperatures

Parrot — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 04:06:55 +0800

Do these stats seem a little high for a processor and a graphics card chip?

Those were the figures when I ran Just Cause 2.

These are taken as the computer is idling: