Anatomy of laptop

The cleaning work was once interrupted by the battery issue (I hadn't even started yet though :P) Yesterday I bought another set of batteries,and this time the batteries can be packed into the cleaner.

This time they can be packed into it.

Pray to Jusus and Budha make myself calm down, a big work is going to start~~~!! 1.Battery, HD and cables Before every thing goes start, check the laptop's battery, HD and cables (power cable, head phone, mouse, etc) has been removed. Also make sure to touch some metal things (such as door knob) frequently during the whole process lest static charge should ruin the laptop.

	Seagate 30G harddisk...
	...and its other side.

2. Top cover First of all, I have to remove 2 screws on the rear side of the top cover (otherwise I can't remove the cover). Then start to pry the top cover from right, middle, to left with flat-blade driver carefully.

	Pry from the right...
	...to the middle...
	...then to the left.
	Pry up!
	This side as well.
	Top cover front side.
	Top cover back side.

3. Speakers

Under the top cover

There are two small black speakers on both side. Here we can see the speakers are covered with dust.

Dirty speaker...

It looks much different after cleaning with vacuum cleaner.

Much better after cleaning. :)

4. Keyboard Removing the 4 screws beyond keyboard, I can flip the keyboard toward me and then find its cable. Unlike normal keyboard and cable, this one is so thin that any strain would damage it. (I personally would call it plastic sheet rather than cable). The cable is fixtated with a knotch underneath the main cover. Carefully lift up the knotch, the cable will (literally) “pop out”.

	Flip the keyboard.
	What a thin cable...
	Keyboard removed.

5.Speakers and Switch board Unfortunately the speakers on my laptop can't be removed as their cables seems to have been stuck onto the hooks by glue (or that sort of things). Deliberately pull them out will split them into segments and the speakers will never work again. Although leaving them will make my work a bit harder, here I just keep them intact.

These cables (and thus speakers) can't be removed.

Unplug 2 cables on switch board carefully (again, they're really thin and delicate), the switch board can be lifted and its cable can be found underneath. Unplug it and the switch board can be removed.

	Switch board front side.
	Switch board back side.

6.Monitor The monitor is fixed on right and left stand, each of which have 3 screws. Note that there is a land wire on one of the left screws.

	LCD screws (left).
	LCD screw (right).

Here the monitor cable is a big problem as the cable is thicker than the ditch which the cable is in, and also the cable slot is too close to remove the cable from it. Of course it can't be pulled out forcefully, hence this is a bit tricky and need some technique to make it “slide” out of there.

	Taking out this wire can be a bit tricky.
	LCD cable.
	LCD cable.

7.DVD-ROM drive Actually at the point I remove the keyboard, I'd been able to take DVD drive out. There are 2 screws in the hole denoted with the red circle. Unscrew them, stretch finger into the hole and push toward the right, the DVD drive will pop out from the bay. Watch out that the edge of the hole is somewhat sharp and don't get injured.

	Can you see where the DVD is?
	Put finger into the hole and push DVD drive out.
	DVD drive for laptop. Much different from those for desktops.

8. Main cover By main cover I mean the part on which I put my hand and arm. Touch pad is also on it. Here I have to remove nearly 20 screws from the main cover and also the bottom of the laptop.

So many screws...

Since I've removed those screws, I can now remove the main cover, right? But wait then. Lift the cover slowly, we can notice that there's a cable connecting to underneath.

	The white cable is connected to the touchpad and the power signal lights.
	Touchpad cable.
	Another viewpoint.

This is similar with keyboard's cable, except that this one is much narrower than the previous one. Again, lift the knotch, release the cable and finally the main cover is removed and we can see the mainboard, heatsink module, heaps of chips and others.

	Another thin plastic layer.
	Finally reach the motherboard.
	The other side of the main cover.
	VGA chip "ATi IGP320M"

Now we can see how dirty in this laptop is. (compare with cpu fan, these can still be called “clean” though...)

	The bottom of the speaker.
	Floppy drive bay (there's no floppy drive on this laptop, by the way).
	HD drive bay.
	Battery bay. It's amazing that never short even like this...
	Thermal pad.

9.Heatsink module The heatsink module (including cpu fan) is fixated with 3 tiny screws. Unplug the fan cable before removing the module.

	CPU fan. Made in Taiwan.
	Fan module (front).
	Fan module (rear).

Also the cpu fan is fixated with another 4 tiny screws. Unscrew them and see how it is inside...

	Erh! What a filthy...!
	Oh! Yuck!!
	...No wonder there's no airflow.

Errr~~~ it's yuck isn't it! What I can say other than dirty is still dirty. And this is where those cleaning kit is really needed.

	Dirt on the qtip...
	...and dirt in the dust bag of vacuum cleaner.
	After cleaning.
	After cleaning.

The cpu is AMD Atholon XP-M, and like other Thoroughbred-B core, there's no heat-spreader on it. Clean the surface of the cpu and heatsink carefully with lint-free paper (with isopropanol on it) and spread a thin layer of thermal compound on it with a plastic card.

Athlon XP-M with thin and smooth layer thermal compound.

10. Reassemble Lastly, reassemble all parts and reboot it to check if anything goes wrong. Fortunately nothing wrong and the temperature also decreases significantly even if cpu is full loaded. The airflow is also much stronger than before. That's all of it (well, not exactly). It's somewhat a big work, but I suppose it worths the effort. “Sam~~~! Dinner.” Marivic is calling me. Meal after an exhausting big work ...it must be particularly yummy~~~

Let's start working !! ...or can we?

After dinner and shower, I prepared all gadgets I need and was going to take my laptop apart. These are what I need. Basicly they are Phillips drivers (magnetified head prefered) No. 0 and No. 1, flat-blade driver, cotton tips (aka Q-tips), thermal compound (silver contained), mini-vacuum cleaner, some light-coloured towels (in my case, white), toilet paper (or any other lint-free paper would work. Not shown in this picture), clean phone card (or other plastic card. Not shown in the picture) and 99% isopropanol (also not shown). The mini-vacuum cleaner is driven by 4 batteries. Put batteries into it and found ...Eh?? The batteries don't fit into the space!? I never realise before that these rechargeable batteries were bigger than the normal ones...-.-;; As I really need this vacuum cleaner in this work, I have to get extra “normal size” batteries before I carry on... The big work is literally “going to start” ...in the near future. :P

Computer maintainance

It's been more than 1 year since I came to NZ. During this time (especially in summer) my laptop had rebooted (automatically) or even crashed (BSOD) several times. I reckon it's due to overheat. As I'm also running grid (UD and Folding@Home), the temperature of the CPU usually goes up to 76 degree or more! (good in winter though). I usually could hear the fan's violent noise yet couldn't feel the airflow. Apparantly dust must had stuck in the laptop and I'd been considering to clean the heatsink and cpu fan when I was free. But as all of us know – warranty avoided if any of electrical facility taken apart, I could do nothing but just clean the keyboard, monitor and airduct – of course these didn't work too much. Normally I'd take desktop computer apart and clean it annually; however laptop can't do that regularlly and easily. It's time consuming – laptop is so well-packed that taking apart it is not as easy as desktop. Take heatsink and cpu for example. On desktop computer, I just have to open the case, unplug any cable I can see, take motherboard out from the case and then clean the heatsink and cpu. After that, just put it back and connect all cables. That's it! Easy. In some case I even can remove heatsink right after open the case. On my laptop, however, I'd have to pry the top cover then remove speaker, keyboard (and of course also their extremely thin and delicate cables) carefully, followed by separating its monitor (I'm not joking), DVD, HD, main cover and heaps of screws, then finally heatsink module (how many steps it's been?) I wouldn't have any replacement if anything went wrong as all part in laptop are different from those in desktop ones. And also I can't get any warranty from factory (you know why don't you). That is, I'd have to buy another new laptop! And... it also seens that no company or factory provide the service of cleaning for customers' computer. Or, they'd ask for extra-pay as it's not included in their warranty. Normally it's a big money if the service is not incluced in the warranty. Besides, even if they'd fix for me, I wouldn't have computer to use in the meantime. So, again, it's better to get another new one. Fortunately (or should I say unfortunately?), my laptop's warranty has finished months ago, so I wouldn't have to care about those “paper-words”. Now I can do what I want to :P . You might say it'd be broken if I make any mistake, but actually the chance would be higher if I leave it and keep overheating. I hate it happens in the following 3-4 years so I have to do it now! So! I'm going to have a big work on it recently.

Input strange words in EndNote

Several weeks ago I was asked to tell a librarian how to keyin those strange words into EndNote (if I found how to do that), and finally I find the way today. Following is how I do that. My working environment is EndNote6.0.2 on M$ WinblowsXP. This is the journal article I'd like to build in my EndNote. Here I'd call the strange O with two dots on it "mouse head". How to keyin the two red-squared strange letters? Normally we can't keyin those strange characters through keyborad. Otherwise it'd end up like this... "Character Map" is what I'm going to use. Normally this small program should have been installed in any versions of M$ Winblows. Launch it by [Start]->[All Programs]->[Accessories]->[System Tools]->[Character Map]; alternatively, it can also be launched by typing "charmap" in the [Start]->[Run] dialog. It looks like the mouse head is on the lower left corner, but it's just too small to see. Try to click on it then Bingo, it's exactly the mouse head. Click on [Select]->[copy]... PS: Note that the keystroke (which means how you should type on your keyboard if you really want to) is also shown. In this case, hold [Alt] key on, type 0246 (the number key on the right hand side of you keyboard; not the ones in front of the alphabet keys), then release the [Alt] key. ...and then paste in EndNote (you know how to do this, don't you?) Finally the mouse head appears in my EndNote! The second strange character (the odd "i") can also be typed into EndNote in the same way. Make sure you delete the previous character (in this case, the mouse head) before choose the second one; otherwise you'd choose both two characters rather than the second one (as you see in the picture, mouse head and odd "i"). So far so good. So we can keyin any strange item that can be found in the Character Map within this way, isn't it? Unfortunately not. Keep reading. The word "alpha" is quite common in our daily use. Let's try if we can type the simble alpha into EndNote. Here we exactly can find it on the Character Map. However, no keystroke is shown. Does it make any difference? As usual, [Select]->[Copy] and then paste into a new EndNote document and then... Alas!! It just shows up a question mark rather than a simbolic alpha! Why is that? ...Actually it's understandable - it's a matter of computer code. Click on the "Advanced View" check box, we can notice that the character set is Unicode. Those ASCII style softwares (i.e. those can just handle pure text file) such as notepad and sadly, Endnote can't handle this kind of code. Otherwise other unicode-supporting softwares like M$ Word, OpenOffice can show this simbolic alpha without any problem. To know which characters can be pasted into EndNote (or other ASCII text editors), switch the character set into "Windows: Western". Those listed in the table are are what we can use.

Student ID card

Yesterday was strike day and thus I couldn't sort out my invoicement thing. "Today shoudln't be any problem with it", I thought this morning. And I was right. Received the invoicement, paid the fee and took the photo, I finally got my student ID card and accomplished the enrolment. Now there're two more things left - insurance (yes, this again) and the Immigration thing. As I just purchased the insurace just one year, the Gateway would like me to elongate it to the whole duration (i.e. 3 years). I'll do that next week. The biggest problem is, needless to say, the Immigration. Hope the Immigration won't make any mistake on my VISA or passport...

And here are some more news about the strike

Strike action pointless, university boss says (on NZ Herald) Money saved during strikes might fund scholarships (on Waikato Times) Angry students call for compo (on Waikato Times) Striking uni staff stage silent protests during lectures (on Waikato Times) More university strikes planned (on Waikato Times) University staff walk off job (on Waikato Times)

Nationwide Strike - the 2nd time

Basically there's nothing much new on today's strike, except that the protest lasted longer than the first time, and the staff also kept yelling their slogans out: " What do we want! " " Raise our pay!! " " Where do we want! " " In New Zealand!! " " When do we want! " " Now!! " ...and due to the activity, I exactly couldn't sort out my invoicement thing (I'm not surprised though).

Stupid Sam !! It's Khaled Rabiahl !!

I've got some friends from Mid-East nations. Not knowing why, I usually make mistake with their names. The recent mistake, however, could be the most serious one. I wrote about Waleed (a friend from Oman) in my diary on July 22. I was also keen to know where another Omani was and asked Waleed last week if he'd seen the "another Omani friend - Khaled". Waleed said no. I was wondering why on earth Waleed had never seen Khaled while I'd seen him several times. Today we finally got the reason - I made a mistake: that's Rabiahl but not Khaled (the former is the "another friend" from Oman while the latter is from Saudi Arabia) No wonder Waleed said he'd never seen Khaled for a long time. I wrote Waleed and "Rabiahl" in my diary whereas asked Waleed about "Khaled"... That's really a stupid mistake...

Insurance twice in a day

As I was told by the International Centre this morning that I had to apply for insurance before paying tuition fee, I went to the Medical&Health (20 min bus and 10 min walk...) and bought insurance for 1 year (3/8/2005 till 7/8/2006). Having received the receipt, I went back to the campus and was going to pay the fee. Unfortunately, the staff at the GATEWAY told me that my insurance should cover the whole academic year which is till 31/8/2006; that is, I can't pay the fee until I elongated my insurance 3 more weeks. Hence, I went back to the Medical&Health again and buy another 3 more weeks of insurance... I'll have to go to the GATEWAY again. Hope it'll be all right then. Ah!...I forgot there's another strike tomorrow...

Bird + Cage + Cat = Cage + Cat?

This morning the Turners found that their pet bird was gone. The cage was empty and nobody knew what had happened. This hadn't been the first time. In January their another pet bird was gone as well. That time we doubted that one of our cats might had eaten it as Charlie used to be jumping on the cage. Could it be the same case this time...?

Approval letter of PhD study

Just now I got the approval letter from Waikato University through email, and hopefully I'll receive the original letter tomorrow. Now then I'll have to consider my VISA thing as the Immigration has been marked as a trouble maker by many (including me). So far everything is basically under my control. But I'm not sure if there'll be any trouble in the Immigration. Since my enrolment will be from Sep/1/2005 and there're some more time for me to "struggle" the Immigration thing (1 month should be enough! ...I hope), I still hope that any strange problem (like the X-Ray issues happened last year) would not happen any more.

Return back the stuff

As I've known what's the problem with the USB2 pcmcia card, I returned the USB2 card and the AC adapter back to Dick'n'Smith today. The reason? Too expensive. The USB2 card (NZ$57) and the AC adapter (NZ$39) would have cost me nearly NZ$ 100, which is 3 times as expensive as in TW!! I'd rather ask someone in TW send one to NZ (it'd still be much cheaper even the shipment is included). IT products in NZ are really extremely expensive...

The last try...

Having tried any thing I can do (including different cards, drivers, BIOS, patches, whatsoever) and realized none of them work, I decided to return the pcmcia USB2 card back to Dick'n'Smith. ...but before that, there's one more (and really the last) test I'd try - voltage. So far I've realized that data can be written into yet can't be read out from my MO drive. That is, voltage shouldn't be the problem (because normally writing data in requires more voltage than does reading out.) Thus I really don't think this would work. But anyway, I just give it a go as otherwise I can do nothing on it. The voltage the pcmcia card requires is 5V, which is somewhat unusual. What I could find in Dick'n'Smith and other shops were 4.5V or 5.5V AC adapters. I shouldn't use those voltages don't match the usb2 card as it would work improperly or even damage the card. Finally I found a 5V one (actually it's multivoltage). It cost NZ$39...my two green notes... After home, I set the voltage into 5V, plugged into the slot, powered on my laptop, moved the pointer, dragged a big file and then ... Eh ? ... It WORKED !!?? Cracking me!! It transfered (both writing in and reading out) the data withoug any freeze! Although it's good of it to work without any problem any more, I still can't take it now! How come is that?!

Struggling with USB2 pcmcia card

So far I've tried a bunch of possible ways to resolve the pcmcia problem. None of them make thing better. > Try each port on the pcmcia card => still freeze when transfering data > Install the USB2 card driver in the bundled CD rather than the window's default one => freeze > windowsUpdate WinXP sp1 and some patches again => still freeze > Install sp2 (this is not my idea anyway; it's PB's engineer's) => still freeze (see, I know that). By the way, I'd updated EndNote 6 to 6.02 previously so that it could be compatible with WinXP sp2. > Try to find if there's any new driver, patch, document, support or even FAQ on Compaq's website => nothing much > Normally updating BIOS is not advisable as it may more or less accompany with risk. However I noticed that an old version of BIOS on Compaq's website had fixed the pcmcia bug (by old I mean compare with the newest one KAM 1.60. My KAM 1.49 in my laptop is even older than the fixed version though) and decided to give it a go. The old BIOS was hidden in the website so that I could hardly notice the fix note. However, even though now I can write data into MO disks successfully (congratulations!) after update my BIOS to KAM1.52, it still freeze when copying data out of the MO disks. Well, at least it's a big improvement isn't it. > Keep looking around Compaq.com and google if there's any information or even a small hint about my presario => still nothing much. > A crazy feeling came up to my mind when I was almost running out of my idea about those devices. I hope I'm wrong but now I'm doubting the most impossible part - the chipset built in my laptop. Sometimes there's chance that chipsets could go wrong when they're produced by manufacturers. (I still remember the famous chipset-bugs "FDIV Bug" and "F00F Bug" of Intel which happened around 10 years ago.) I'm picking that this time the pcmcia controller chipset can be the case. I find my chipset's model is O2Micro OZ6912. Try to search on google to see if there is any information about the chipset and guess what, BINGO: PC Card Controller patch for the OZ6912 (on DELL) The unofficial Dell Inspiron Notebook/O2Micro PCMCIA Cardbus Controller Fix Page ...and bunch of discussion around USB2/O2Micro pcmcia on everythinusb.com It looks like I've got some more works to do around the patch and bios, and apparently I'm not the only "victim" of USB2...I should have got Firewire interface rather than USB2 at first. I reckon if I'm willing to change my laptop, that'd be because of this.

Some striking news online

The strike activity is not merely at Waikato University; it actually is a nationwide deal... University strike to cause huge disruption (on NZ Herald) University staff strike but classes go ahead (on NZ Herald) Hard times loom at Massey (on Waikato Times) Universities disrupted by strike (on Waikato Times) Otago escapes strike after cutting pay deal (on Waikato Times) University staff start two weeks of industrial action (on Waikato Times) Massey student numbers falling (on Waikato Times) Varsity picket makes striking impression (on Waikato Times) Massey staff to take part in strike (on Waikato Times)

Welcome back to NZ, Waleed !!

Many students in LI finished their course would go to the university or move to other countries. A few of them, however, would come back after couples of weeks or months after that. Waleed, a friend of mine from Oman, is a good example of that. Actually I'd seen him on the bus several days ago, but unfortunately he didn't notice me (and also I wasn't quite sure if it really was Waleed as he'd gone back to Oman months ago). Today I met him in the computer lab and, needless to say, we both were very happy with our reunion. Now I know that he's going to study in NZ and is studying in CAEL course at this moment. Hopefully he'll study at the University of Waikato as well. All in all, it's really good to see old friend after sometime. ...By the way, do you know where Rabiahl is, Waleed??

Another USB2 adapter

PB made some suggestions after I showed them the freezing problem among USB2 in front of them this afternoon, including drivers, drives, disks, and WinXP. Of course I'd tried all of them before. I was somewhat annoyed about what they said "USB2 doesn't work properly on WinXP unless it's upgraded to sp2" when they knew mine was WinXP sp1. How far can I believe these words since I never heard of it on any document, and also the manual of the USB2 didn't say anything about sp2? I might give sp2 a go if I have a chance in the future (though I don't like sp2 and also I'm quite sure it won't work on my problem), but at this moment I just returned the adapter back and got my refund since I'd rather find another adapter at other shop (the STLab card was the only one they had). The fourth shop was Dick'n'Smith, quite a big shop. Here I found another USB2 adapter easily. In case the freeze happens after home, I tested the connection in front of the staff. Oh yeah, it's NEC chipset and this time it didn't freeze after connection. We then tried to transfer some big files between my laptop and MO. Unfortunately the good luck didn't last too long - still freezed up in a few minutes. Hmm, it's odd... The staff doubted that it's my MO's problem, thus they connected the MO onto their desktop show machine. Again, it didn't freeze their system, so my MO drive and disk shouldn't be broken. But wait...the transfering speed was rediculously slow. How come it said "transfer time 120 minutes remained when it's just only a ~100MB file? ...Because the staff plugged the cable onto USB2 USB port by mistake... Anyway, we couldn't see any problem on my devices after the transfering test on their desktop through USB2 without any problem (both writing into and reading out from the MO). Now he thought it might be the pcmcia card's fault (again?). However, somehow the staff got another one, printed receipt out, handed me both the adapter and the receipt and then said, "bring both the adapter and receipt back and you may get refund if it still doesn't work at home". ...I hadn't paid for it yet... Not to mension he got emparrassed when I told him the fact and paid the money (wow, NZ$57...) Or should I have kept it secret? (He must had been working too hard today.) As with the new pcmcia adapter, the hardware problem still couldn't get improvement. Geeze... what else could go wrong?

The strike day ...

I have to say I'm somewhat disappointed surprised that the whole day is amazingly peaceful (well, at least much more than I'd expected previously). As usual the city bus drove toward the campus this morning. However, the bus driver honked when the bus was just turning into Gate 1."That is somewhat unusal," I thought. Looking outside, there were many staff standing at Gate 1 and holding yellow boards with slogan "HONK IF YOU SUPPORT US" on it. Ah huh! no wonder~~ Walking around the university, it could be observed that the whole campus was unusually quite, except Gate 8 and library. There were another group of staff (with slogan and boards, of course) at Gate 8 just like those at Gate 1. In front of the library, there're still another group of staff gathering there. Some of them provided leaflets and others holding slogan boards and yet others "announcing" their purpose and idea with microphone. Similar slogans could be seen everywhere. As the leaflet said "most of the facilities and services would not be available or operated by skeleton staff", I went up to the International Centre our of curiosity and see what it would look like. Nothing much. As far as I saw, the International Centre staff were working as usual. "So, not all of 'em went striking, right?" I thought. Then I realized I was wrong. There was no working staff in the library. It looks like even the LAIN building is empty as well. Literally skelton. Anyway, it doesn't matter to students as they're still allowed to enter the library. Hence I found a seat in the skelton building, sit down and started my self-study. However, about half a hour after that, we heard some yells of slogan from outside. A big march of staff started moving (probably toward the vice-chancelor's office). Nothing happened after the march. It looked like every staff returned back to their own positions and as if nothing had happened. Almost all the slogan boards had also gone before I came home. So, what the earth had happened today??? It looks like a ceremony to me more than a strike...

USB2 blue... :(

As I'd picked, the USB2 adapter is still not available. How come is that?! The RecycledTechnology's staff phoned some other stores if they'd got some stock with them, and finally there're some at PB Technology, which is on Anglesea street and two blocks away from LI. Anyway, the one I got from the PB Tech is provided by STLab, 4 ports and VIA(!) Chipset (not NEC chip?!): My Compaq Presario 2166ae can detect it without any error. The M$winXP can recognize it correctly as an USB2 card without extra driver installation (I've seen several cases that some "USB2" cards are in fact merely USB cards which means FAKE). It was fine until I connected my MO onto the adapter and the whole system soon freezed up! There's no BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) and even 3-keys-hot-reboot didn't work. In case it's caused by the MO 1.3GB disk, I tried other 650MB and 230MB MO disks and even my thumb drive but still no lucks, so my drives and disks shouldn't be the source of the problem. How come it freezed as soon as I connected them on then? "Something to do with its driver?" I thoght. Disabled the device, I tried the driver CD and replaced the default one in the windows. Still freeze. There's no resource conflict on my system. The problem wasn't even improved after updating the USB2 patch and driver for WinXP on M$'s website. The website of both PB Technology and STLab are totally worthless as there're no useful information but price and features around this product. The latter even doesn't provide the driver and manual (there's no link for downloading). It seems I'll have to rush back to the store and see what's wrong with this adapter.

Strike on news

I just found that the on-going strike had been reported on some news websites: Disruption looms in uni strike (on Waikato Times) Universities to be hit by strike (on NZ Herald) ...It looks like it's not just the matter of the Waikato University but of other universities...

Big strike to held tomorrow !?

This morning I noticed that there was an unusal leaflet on the door of a building. Looking (and walking) around the campus, I also noticed that the same leaflet had been stuck everywhere. It is about the strike of the University of Waikato which was going to be held by all staff tomorrow. According to it, the staff were going to protest againt their vice chancellor over the issue of salary - their salary in NZ were less than in other countries whereas the chancellor had been refusing to raise it. All staff are going to attend the strike. That is, subsequently, those lectures, tutorials, classes, and facilities (e.g. library service) would not be held or available as well. Not only the staff in the campus, but also major staff of LI are also going to strike tomorrow. Since there's a leaflet of it on the door of a student advisor's office, it looks like even student advisors are going to follow the crowd. That's a big deal! What the earth will happen tomorrow? Peaceful protest? Throwing eggs or even rocks? Well, time will tell anyway... ######################################### By the way, somehow the ordered USB2 adapter is still not availabe today. The staff of RecycledTechnology said it shall be arrived the next morning. Now I'm a bit annoyed and getting doubt if they really can get one for me.

Nowhere stocks USB2 adapter?

It's really annoying that you can't get what you need when you need it. I looked around SmartPC and Millenium for USB2 pcmcia card, but none of them have the product. Then I asked RecycledTechnology, the third computer shop I tried, if they had stock. Unfortunately, the answer was still disappointing - not at this moment. However, they said they'd order one for me and, hopefully, it'd be available by tomorrow afternoon. Hence I ordered it. By the way, it's NZ$ 45 (GST not included...), more expensive than in TW.

Time to consider USB2

I didn't notice that my laptop comes with USB but not USB2 when I puechased it. Actually it'd been too late when I recognized the fact as I came to NZ soon after I bought the laptop in TW. I can't replace it with another model in NZ, can I? Normally usb works fine to me for normal use, as the data in my thumb drive (Transcend 128MB USB2) is not that big and the waiting time is still bearable. However, it takes rediculously long time when it comes to backup my big bunch of data into 1.3 GB removable media (Fujitsu GigaMO 1300U2). Who can stand waiting for more than half a hour (or sometimes 1 hour) for backing data up (especially I'll use it more frequently in the near future)? It seems I really have to take it seriously to get a USB2 adapter for my laptop. Therefore, I make up my mind to get one in the town tomorrow, without knowing that some big problems shall come after that.

AMD vs Intel

Those who realize my habit of assembling computers should know that I prefer using AMD for CPU than Intel. Actually, except my first computer, I have been using AMD CPUs only. There're some reasons on this. Performance, price, brand-preference(?), and the most important, the history of cpu manufacturers. Those who have been handling computer hardware for decades must also have heard the history of the relationship between AMD and Intel. At the age of 8086, AMD and Intel were still business mates - until 80286 era. After that Intel has been abusing her patents as well as filthy business policies and thus had made AMD almost ruined. Although business competition is itself an extremely cruel deal, what Intel has been taking are such obnoxious that I (at least myself) wouldn't buy Intel's CPU products. Ok, I admit that it's out of sympathic to AMD. But I reckon everyone should admits that if there wasn't AMD, there wouldn't have good and cheap CPUs in our market. Anybody still remembers how expensive CPUs were before AMD started to compete against Intel? Take Pentium 200 for example, at least NZ$ 800... Below are some news of "AMD vs Intel". Your Processor, Your Compiler, and You: The Case of the Secret CPUID String AMD alleges Intel compilers create crash code for its chips AMD Full Complaint PDF AMD Files Antitrust Complaint Against Intel In U.S. Federal District Court AMD Japan Files Claim for Damages Arising from Violations of Japan’s Antimonopoly Act Against Intel K.K. in Tokyo High Court and Tokyo District Court AMD Responds to Intel’s “Acceptance” of The Fair Trade Commission Of Japan’s Ruling that Intel Violated Antimonopoly Act AMD Supports Fair Trade Commission Of Japan’s (JFTC) Decision To Stop Illegal Business Practices By Intel

EndNote tutorial

On Monday, professor forwarded me a mail of EndNote tutorial held today in the computer lab. As it's been 3-4 years since I used EndNote last time, I attended it as a revision. The tutor is Cheryl, a librarian specializes(?) in scientific area. The version of the software is ver8. Obviously it has upgraded times from which I used to use (ver.5) during my Master study in Taiwan. However, I can't see too many changes on the interface. The tutorial includes: building personal library, typing references (such as authors, articles, dates, etc), importing and inserting citations, and so on. Although these're totally nothing new to me, the tutorial was still a good revision. After that, I asked Cheryl a small question about authers' name - how to type those authers' name with strange characters (like French or German or whatever). Unfortunately she had no idea as well, and I was asked to let her know through mail if I found the way to do this. So, how should I solve this...?

Find it.

The news about Maori & Taiwan.

Maori & Taiwan

This morning I was told by Andrew that there was a radio (or text?) news reporting about the first Maori. According to the news, a recent science research based on DNA technology discovered that the first Maori in NZ might come from Taiwan centuries ago. In fact, Carol once told me that someone supposed the ancient Maori might come from one of the Asian countries as Maori cultures are similar to some Asian countries in some ways (although no one exactly knows which country they came from). Now this discovery might provide some clues over the myth. I can't find the complete news report on any media at the moment; maybe I'll find it tomorrow. ...Wait. Does it mean...Maori are one of we Taiwanese' ancestors ?!

Wise Up Week

All right. So the orientation week (aka Wise Up Week) is this week, but it's not everyday for everyone. To all international students, the seminars on Thursday is compulsory and it seems I also have to attend the orientation of the School of Science and Engineering on 18 July (i.e. next Monday!?). There're also some other tutorials in the library on Tuesday and Thursday. These could also be useful for me.

When is Wise Up Week then?

As I'm applying PhD registration, I'm waiting my conditional offer at the moment (another 3 weeks...). and thus I wouldn't have got any enrolment documents (except the formal offer for Post. Diploma received before, but I've given it up). On the other hand, there'll be an whole-week (and compulsory) orientation for each of new student next week. Although I haven't enrolled as an administered student, it must be a good idea to join the event and get familiar with the campus. The problem is...when is the orientation?? According to the offer (again, for Diploma but not for PhD), it looks like to be from the 11th of July; that is tomorrow. Whereas I just read on Waikato Uni.'s website right now and it says it's from 14th to 18th !? So when on earth is it then? It looks like I'll have to ask staff in International Centre earlier tomorrow morning.

Auckland zoo

Hilary has been asking her parents for going to the Auckland zoo for long time, and today her dream finally comes true. Ducks. Chicken on the road...? Look! Two chicks!! Oh oh, they're following us. Lovely and colorful birds. Snapshot of "rainbow" bird. Lovely fish. Baby penguin. Peacock and kangaroo walabee. Giant turtle! (frontview) Giant turtle! (sideview) Baby turtle...Hey! Are you all right? Baby turtle...finally it gets up.

Confirmation

All right. Since the assistant told me that she'd got my documents for PhD studying and had been under the process of registration, I'm sure I've finished my first step. Phew~~finally I can sleep earlier..(I really can't stand going to sleep after 2 or 3 o'clock everyday...)

Finally send documents out

I went to the International Centre right after getting off the bus this morning. Normally I would hand my documents to an assistant of the Centre as I'd talked with her for many times, but unfortunately, all the staff are joining conference today and thus she as well is not available until tomorrow. Hence I could just hand my application form, statement and the most important – research proposal – to receptionist. I'll come here tomorrow and make sure if the assistant get my stuff.

Last work on the initial PhD proposal

I've been working on my research proposal for weeks. To apply for studying PhD course, I have to submit research proposal with application form. However, I couldn't send them out these days as my supervisor told me that my topic was not big enough for a PhD thesis, and thus I had been working on searching some more journal articles and figuring out some ideas. Discussing with and also asking advice from professor (a very busy gentle man) these days, I finally finished my draft last night and approached the professor for correcting it this afternoon. Of course as usual, I asked some questions about research skill, and I was surprised that the old professor could use not only thumb drive but Endnote – reference managing software. Professor asked me if I knew this software, and actually I used to use that for sorting references of my Master thesis 3-4 years ago. As far as I know, nobody in my department (even staff) but me knew Endnote and used it on research that days. Although I didn't show on my face, I was quite amazed that even such an old professor in front of me knew this tool. In addition to the questions, some new ideas came to my mind and I might add them into my research project in future. Professor also showed me a manuka honey impregnated pad. It is a coffee-coloured pad without any smell (according my amazing nose). According to him, it will suck up large amount of exudate without losing its antibacterial function. Actually I had been imaging that there would be medicinal smell (such as providon iodine or hydrogen peroxide) on the pad as it would be used as a medicinal dressing. Anyway I got the revised proposal from professor tonight and also corrected mistakes. Finally I can send these documents out to the International Centre tomorrow!

Katherine's got a broken(?) leg

It was in resource centre this afternoon. When I was working on my research proposal, I looked toward the resource centre through the window. "Hey, isn't this Katherine? Long time no see!" I thought. I waved my hand, and niticeing I was there, she also waved hand to me. However, what caught my eyes was not here waving hand but her leg. According to her, the leg had been damaged during her dancing, and she needs some assistances such as sticks and helper these days. It seems that Menaka as well had had the same experience before. "Now I'm much closing Arizio". Katherine said. Well, at least you haven't got wooden legs with you, Katherine. Any way, hope you get better soon.

This naughty puss

Sometimes what you see is not exactly what it is... It looks like just a normal bun news paper... Eh...? What's this? Hey! What are you doing there Charlie!?

Finally NZ as well...

Following the fraud crisis in the US last week, it also happened in NZ yesterday (from NZ Herald). According to the news, it is announced that (only) MasterCard and VISA are attacked; however I wonder if other bank services (cashpoint, eftpos, blah blah blah) would also be affected since there's no so-called "international" on Internet...

It's really a big deal

All credit card holders should aware that up to 40m credit cards are hacked. Although the fraud happened in the US, breaking out in the number of victims in other nations must merely be a matter of time.

The UMF of Manuka honey

Searching for some information about Manuka honey on Internet, I found some articles: "Harnessing honey's healing power"(BBC News), "Doctors turning sweet on healing with honey"(CNN News), "Honey may take the sting out of the NHS superbugs"(The Daily Mail), and "Raising spirits"(The Guardian) accidently. According to them, the exact component of the UMF is still unknown. I really wonder what the factor exactly is. (But I also wonder how long it would take to unveil the mystery...)

Stupid...

"Microsoft censors Chinese blogs" on BBC News

Dragon Boat Festival

In Taiwan and China, today is Dragon Boat Festival. Actually I'd have forgotten the festival if uncle Yeh hadn't brought those glutinous rice dumplings. So, finally I can eat them today (it doesn't mean that I can't eat them the other days though). At first I expected that these should taste light light and mild (as uncle Yeh is a vegetarian), but alas actually they're quite spicy. T_T By the way, today is also Philipines Independence Day. To celebrate the independency, Charito and Hilary (and Yuuki !?) joined a party this afternoon. However, they came home quite early because of Hilary's cold. At night Hilary's cold looks getting serious; she shouldn't have gone out for the party as long as she'd got sick.

Finally Yuuki comes out to the city, but...

I never know that he doesn't know how to borrow book from a library! Actually I've told him to borrow some story books from city library right after he came to New Zealand, and now I know that what he said - he'd borrowed some books from the library – is a lie! He even doesn't know how much he should “pay” for borrowing a book. What? Does this mean what he said he knew how to borrow a book in a library is also a lie? Now I find I can't believe him at all. He's really driving me nuts! It's not all. He's also forgotten his library card's password, thus he couldn't see any information of him on the library's website. Oh, dear...what a nuisance!! By the way, we also went to the new Warehouse before having our dinner at Burger King. It is now a two-floor building, but basically the products are the same as before. As with the prices...they're not much cheaper than the old Warehouse (as far as I observed).

The new Warehouse

will be opened tomorrow. According to the Bonanza, there might be some big bargains from tomorrow to Sunday. Hm, I might be looking for a new watch then (as my old one seems to be dying). "The Warehouse! The Warehouse! Where Everyone gets a Bargain!" ...so, what should the K-mart do??

Finally find the old friend !

I tried to telephoned Robert, one of my old friends in Taiwan. Actually I wasn't too sure if I could contact with him before I telephoned to his house. Fortunately I did this time. As I've thought, he's finished his army duty for about 2 weeks. According to him, he's going to take Chinese medicine exam and currently is preparing for that. We talked about many topics, such as our graduate research, our teachers, some of our friends and so on. Unfortunately, the battery of my phone got flat and I had to cut it off. Make sure that he's using Email, we cheered each other,"Have a good sleep!"(It's 10:30 pm in NZ) "Have a good dinner!" (It's 6:30 pm in TW). Yahoooo !! Nice talk with you again, Robert!

Blender 2.37 released just now.

Blender hasn't been updated since 2.36 for over 5 months. According to the release news, it looks like some interesting functions such as softbody and transformation tools are added. Now I wonder when the new version of YafRay, POVRay and Terragen will be released...

Suzana's missing report

CAEL Lv 7 students have to accomplish their research report by next Tuesday; however, somehow Suzana's report files always disappear. At first she thought it's her diskette's problem and changed another new one. Unfortunately, it still kept happening. Actually, today would have been the 3th (or 4th?) time. Not to mension she's getting mad. She didn't know what to do and even thought that shd'd like to buy other diskettes in the campus (mind you, today's windy, rainy and freezing). To know what on earth happen to her report, I asked her to show me what she had done and what had showed up on the monitor before the report disappeared. Finally, we got the reason - the diskette had been full! No wonder... Gave her another new (and emply, of course) diskette and made sure her reports no longer disappeared, she finally calmed down. I had a feeling after that. IT class might sometimes be essential to IELTS or research class for someone. In Suzana's case, even a simple matter such as a filled diskette might drive those who are not computer-savvy nuts. Actually, I've ever seen a guy majoring in information management compressed BMP files (a common yet uncompressed graphics format) into ZIP format rather than into JPG, GIF or PNG format...I still remember how he wondered why he couldn't pack a simple PowerPoint file and 4-5 "compressed" graphic files into a diskette. Of course this "zip and jpg/gif/png" problem is a silly story to most of us, yet these cases point out that actually many people still don't know how to use computer properly. In Suzana's case, how could she hand out her report if her files keep disappearing? That is, no matter how well her report is written, it'd be in vain if everything's gone. I wonder if it's necessary for LI to add some basic computer courses in their class...

Has anybody ever seen this kind of funeral?

It happened in Taiwan yesterday (May 29). Gangster funeral (BBC News) Gangster funeral (Taipeitimes) Gangster's funeral...It sounds quite odd eh...

Anybody pick up the telephone, please~~~?

Suppose that one of my old friends - Guojun (I guess Robert might be his English name...well, I just guess from his Email) - must have finished from his military duty in Taiwan in the end of May, I tried to telephoned him today. We used to be working in the same laboratory when we're studying in graduate school, and we haven't contacted since my graduation, that is, more than 2.5 years. He's such a hard-working guy that I really admire him. He knows many techeniques; for instance, he taught me how to make a "paper-made micro spatula" and I still remember how convenient it was. We usually talk about our experiments and exchange experiences as well as results each other. Unfortunately, for some reasons he didn't have a good life during his grduate school days (neither did I though), and thus got stomach ulcer. Riiiiiiing~~~~ Riiiiiiiiiing~~~~... Nobody answers. I tried many times but it eventually comes out with either no-answer or engagement. I'm sure he hasn't moved as I just sent him card several months ago and he replied me. Mmm...It's odd. I'll try several days later.

Many staffs (and friends) left

I just couldn't believe my ears when Katherine told me that many staffs had left the LI. This afternoon I went to Katherine's office for sorting something out. On the monitor besides us, there was a mail-list with a familiar name on it - Claire Ngwira(?). Claire is my first teacher in the LI when I just came to New Zealand. She is so tall that it could be her trademark. I saw her several months ago but somehow she didn't show up recently. Actually I've wondered for a while why I haven't seen some teachers as well as staffs for a long time. "Is Claire still in this LI?" I asked Katherine. The answer was quite disappointing - she'd left. Not only Claire but many other staffs - Arizio, Colleen, Meg, Deb, Diane and Nancy - have also left. No wonder I coudn't find them either in the LI main building or in the LAIN building in the campus. (Well...actually Deb, as a photographer, showed up in LAIN building 2-3 weeks ago. Diane - now working as a writer - also came to the resource centre several months ago). I can see Katherine was also annoyed with the fact that many of her good friends had left.

Any body wanna eat the spread?

Well, this spread is not that special, except that it's been licked before breakfast by the naughty cat - Charlie (yes, this naughty baby again). Certainly I didn't eat that for breakfast as it made me sick. I know cats would eat everything such as fish, meat, pork, bones and etc., but I never imagined that they'd also eat spread!

The result of "the IELTS accident"

After lunch, Bill asked me if I could meet Mark after 16:00. I said yes. Somehow, Bill looked at me hesitately before asking me. I could see what that would be about. It was 10 to 16:00 when I arrived at LI and Mark was busy, so I had a short chat with Carol (Carol Tebutt, namely Carol the boss) who was in Christina's office (Carol was doing Christina's task because she'd got a broken arm and was unavailable for a while). It didn't last too long as Mark came to me. I was right - Mark was going to talk about the IELTS. At first he asked me as if I had a good weekend. I have to say it was not that good due to the big accident. Then we talked about what had happened last Saturday. Actually I realize that he wanted to help me but absolutely could do nothing about it, so I wasn't that agitated these days. "By the way, you have applied for the fast-result, haven't you?""Yes. So I'll get it this friday...!?" No sooner than finishing my words had I been stunned. Mark took out an envelope and placed it in front of me. It shouldn't be that fast...? "Riiiing~~~~!!" The telephone rang, and Mark picked it up. I thought it was Mark's official business, but soon I realized that I was wrong. "Oh, hi! Yes, he's arrived here right now. Yes, he looks okay. All right, call me 10 miniutes later." Obviously it's from Bill, and no wonder he looked at me in that way when he asked me at lunch time. With Mark's permission, I opened the envelope. Before I exactly saw the marks, my prediction came up to my mind again: speaking= 7, listening=6 or 6.5, reading=6.5 or 7, writing=?? (task1=??, task2=6 ); that is, "to pass or to fail" definitely depends on writing. After I exactly saw the score, I was stunned again. I got 6 in the writing, and also the other 3 parts went approximately the same way as I'd predicted. In other words, I get 6.5 for overall band !! How could it be since I'd failed task1!? According to Mark, I got 5 in task1 and 7 (!) in task2 which worth more than the forth. Now I'm sure I should have got 7 for overall if I hadn't gone to the toilet and had finished task1; but any way, I'm satisfied since I finally make it after 4 times of challenges. I would say thank you to those who have tought me and treated me kindly, including Arizio, Bill, Carol(s), Claire, Colleen, George, Katherine(s), Kylie(s), Mark and Meg. I would especially appreciate Katherine as I shouldn't have passed this time if there weren't her class as well as her advices on introduction and conclusion. (Yes, you're right, Ketherine. It really works well!)

Dialup => Broadband

Having had enough on the slow and automate-cut-off dial up line, the Turners decide to switch onto the broadband (256k). Compared with dial-up, this is much faster. Although it's still slower than the normal broadband (such as 512k/64k and upwards) and also there's packet flow limiting quota (1GB/month...that is, around 100MB for each person since all of us are using Internet), it's still better than nothing. At least we won't have to be annoyed by the automated turn-off and never-ending-redials.

Shockingly big mistake (accident) during the IELTS !!!!!

I really really shouldn't have done that!! Before the test, I was quite confident that I could pass IELTS (Band 6.5) this time. Actually in several self-practice of reading task, I was able to find out the answers of 2 out of 3 tasks' question within 15 minutes. This is my best record. I was sure that the abilities teachers had taught (and trained) me would help me make it. The first test is, as usual, speaking. The examiner was Ellizabeth. Actually I had known her before that, but had never spoken with her. The questions were not that difficult this time (compared with those of my last exam). After the speaking test, although I personally felt that there're some vulnerebilities in my answers, I estimated that it should be 6 or more. The listening part is my Achilles heel. Although I didn't do too bad in my self-test, I still had to be careful on it. Task1, task2, and task3. Not too bad. However, I got stuck in task4. I couldn't see what and where the tapescript was talking about even though I'd skimmed the whole questions before the tapescript started, thus I could just guess and fill in the gaps. I guessed it'd be 6. The reading test has always been a big puzzle game. The heading and True/False/NotGiven questions are usually time consuming (especially T/F/NG one). Some questions were even asking about the structures of aeroplane and I once thought I'd just guess. Fortunately I got some time after answering (and guessing) the whole questions, so I just looked at those strange "structure" questions and tried if I could dig out some answers of them. Indeed, I found some, and thus corrected the answers. No sooner than I just finished correcting the last word had the examiner told us stop writing! Whew... Maybe 6.5 or 7, I suppose. The last part - writing test - was where I had the most confidence of the four parts, and I knew I shouldn't miss it. I tried to calm myself down (I had been in "high tension" due to rescuing the last reading questions at the moment) and also keep myself aware of the following writing tasks. Mark (one of the examiners) said we could go to the toilet if we want (certainly he'd follow us). Unfortunately, I was the one that would like to go to the toilet. I knew I shouldn't waste too much time on it, so I raised my hand and dashed to the toilet with Mark after reading the writing questions. Somehow, I felt I had stayed in the toilet for quite a long time, and I wasn't quite sure how long I had spent on it. So when I finished task2, I asked Mark "do I still have to finish my writing by 16:03? Or do I get extra time on my writing?" Mark didn't say anything but just show me the timer which showed "10:26". What came to my mind was that "I have spent 10 minutes and 26 secends in the toilet, so I have that more time than the others". I didn't (also couldn't) think too much about Mark's meaning because I was totally thinking about the content of my writing task1 at that point, So I wrote the task with the normal (or maybe somewhat slow) speed. Then you may imagine what happen next. Just as I had wrote the 2nd (or 3rd) line on the 2nd page, the timer alarmed and Mark took our answer sheets away, including mine! At first I didn't realize what on earth happened and even thought that Mark might had forgotten how many minutes I still have. Mark told me that I had EXACTLY THE SAME TIME as the other candidates and the "10:26" meant the time we (including me) still had. I was so shocked and stunned for a while at the seat. I was thinking, "why is that !? Is that mean I have to take another IELTS exam 3 months later? What should I do?" Knowing what had happened to me, Mark explained and analyzed the situation: "You still have the chance. The writing test actually largely depends on task2". I certainly know that (because task2 worths twice as much as task1 does). That is, if I did well in task2, I still have a chance to get 6 for the writing even though I didn't finish task1; otherwise there's no chance if I didn't do well in task2 even though I had finished task1. "Did you finish task2?" I did. I wrote 1.5 pages so I suppose there're about 300 words. "How far have you gone in task1?" 1 page and 2-3 lines. But I was just finish writing the topic sentence of the 2nd part of the graph. Roughly 120 words. I was sure that I'd been doing well on the structure, vacab and variation, but I didn't know how it would be assessed if the task wasn't completed, so I guess...3 or 4? "Do you think you've done well in task2?" Could be. I was quite sure I could get 6 in task2 (at least from vacabulary, variation and structure's viewpoint). However, as long as I didn't have the time of checking my grammar, I wasn't really sure if I could approach 7. In other words, "to pass the IELTS or not" really depends on how I did well in task2, and the probability of the result...I suppose 50 and 50? "Then don't worry too much.Don't think too much during the weekend." I would. "But you can do nothing about it now, except waiting." ...I have to say it's true. So, I came home with regretful mind. As I had applied the fast-result, I'll get my mark on the next Friday. ...I really really shouldn't have been to the toilet and also shouldn't have misunderstood what Mark meant !! Otherwise I am quite sure I can get 7 for overall !!! How shocking !!!! What an idiot I am !!!!!

IELTS

Today is IELTS day. Hope I'll pass it this time. Wish me luck!

The new comer and his first day in NZ.

All right. From now on, we've got one more member in the Turner's. As usual, I was waiting the Turner's in the Kmart from 16:00. Finally they showed up with the new comer - Yuuki - at nearly 16:45 (again, as usual). They had been in K-mart and bought a Chitel card (international telephone card) for Yuuki. He comes from Japan and is going to stay in New Zealand for 1 year. As he's been 18 years old, I suppose he's a junior high school (or high school) student. And actually, he said he'd graduate from his high school the next year. That means he should more or less be able to speak English; although there might be some problem with getting accustomed to NZers' special accent at first (I hope I'm right). Having a short introduction (really short; only 2-3 sentences), we went to the central library to apply for Yuuki's library card. After that, we had a dinner at KFC. Unfortunately, there was an argument just when we were walking out the KFC after the meal (mind you, I heard F-word). Not to mention, he was so tired (long time flying and also the jetlag) that he hit the sack right after arriving at home.

Happy "Black Friday" !!

I didn't notice that today is Friday the 13th. Many people believe that it's a bad day, but I don't. In fact, nothing bad has happened by far today. By the way, I'm a bit wondering why "the bus accident" (see my May 10th's diary) happened on Tuesday but not today.

A new comer.

Marivic told me that there will be another homestay student from Japan, and he'll arrive here on this Friday. That means, we'll have one more member from Friday. England + Phillipine + Taiwan + Japan + Animal (?). Mmm...what an international family.

Not a good start of the day.

It has been common knowledge to foreigners that NZ is a safe country. Unfortunately, now I know that it might be not. This morning I got on the bus (7:20 am) to school as usual. The bus stopped at a bus stop, had picked up the customers of the stop and was going to move away (at this point I was reading my book). Suddenly there was a big bang from the other side of the bus. BANG! BANG!! Someone was hitting the window pane violently from the outside. Nobody knew what on earth happened. The third time was so violent that the windowpane was broken! Some glass fragments spreaded out toward us and, needless to say, all of us cried out, "WHAAAAAaaaaaa!!" Lest there should be more trouble with us, the driver accelerated the bus away from the crazy guy. Even at the next bus stop, the driver noticed that the guy was coming toward us and thus just told those new customers, "just get on the bus and don't pay the busfare now please! Hurry up! There's a crazy man following us." Also those who had sit near the broken window warned the new customers not to get too close to the window (and the seats since there'd been some fragments on the seats). Having moved about 2-3 bus stops and also assured that the man didn't follow up, the driver told the customers that they could pay the bus fare now. Whew... Arrive at the transport centre, the driver told a "worker" (or administrater? or might be his boss??) what had happened to us, and the "worker" telephoned somebody else (might be police or the bus company) about the accident. We could see from outside that the window pane was badly dented. I'm not sure what happened after that. What I'm sure now is that NZ is not necessarily as safe as what I've thought.

Opera 8 downloads over 2 million

Just 2 weeks after Opera 8 was released, its download number has exceeded 2 million by now. Rock! Keep going Opera. BTW, according to the "swim" page and Opera CEO Chat, it looks like that Jon (the CEO of Opera) isn't going to take the transatlantic swim into action (at least not in the near future). Well, it's somewhat a pity since I'd been enjoying his journey...