Couplehood

Big Brother is Simulating YOU

The Register has recently reported that the US Department of Defense (bless their overspending heart) has invested in developing a "synthetic mirror of the real world".

An experiment in to Psychological Operations (PSYOPS), it will create billions of nodes simulating individuals in their respective environs, helping Big Brother predict how the teeming masses will react when he raises taxes, drop interest rates, legalizes marijuana, etc.

It's not difficult to imagine how they can populate that database with detailed human behavior. With people giving up their personal information on friendster, tagged, and facebook, and with hackers stealing and selling your credit card info, your personal habits can be tracked, analyzed, and simulated.

I'm sure this will be an interesting philosophical discussion of free will, but I'm not up to it. I'm thinking more along the lines of Hari Seldon's Psychohistory.

Big Brother's already watching. Soon, he will be predicting your next move.

 

Get Productive With Gmail (I Could Do This With The Wedding, Too)

I almost wanted to start off by saying that gmail was everyone's favorite email app, but sadly, there are people who don't love it that much. It's great and all, but surely, it's not without flaws: for one, I'm not all that in love with the conversation function.

Plus, It's just that it's too colorful for me.

Still, it's a simple, minimalist, and light: it doesn't feel clunky (like yahoo worse beta), and it's easy to run searches and sort through mail. And, it's free. Which is why I would think that it would be perfect for anyone to run a to-do list on it, and keep track of all the stuff in your life.

 I could really imagine using my gmail account to handle/juggle all the incoming RSVP mails I'll be getting from the wedding, only that most Singaporeans I know don't care to  répondez, s'il vous plaît.

 

Technorati Tags: adrian and angela, gadgets, google, preparation, wedding

BACN: Less Annoying, More Insidious

 And you thought spam was bad! Actually, spam's still horrible, but if techno-prophets are right, a more sneaky variant is emerging as a problem, something called "bacn", defined as "email you want, but not right now".

BACN is SPAM You Ask For
Isn't it a problem these days? You get loads of mails from this-and-that subscriptions, so-and-so restaurants, such-and-such "Latest News & Updates", ad nauseam. The thing is, these mails were requested by you (you undiscerning subscriber of newsletters), who now has to sift through tens of mails daily before you ever get to the ones that really matter.

BACN is Sentimental
Want to unsubscribe? I dare you to try. In the first place you rarely go as far as clicking on the mail, much less browse through long enough to make it to the end to find the "unsubscribe" link. And then, most of us feel too guilty to get rid of it anyway, and end up chucking it into a folder for later (or never), or we delete them years after we've had them occupying space in our inbox.

 Want to find out more ideas on how to get rid of Bacn? Join the discussion here.

Technorati Tags: funny, life, bacn

Reaching Out to the Hmong

A buddy of mine, Eugene Wee, has started a humanitarian mission to reach out to the Hmong in Petchaboon. He's an ex-SAF Regular who's taking indefinite leave of absence from the Rat Race to reach out the needy in the Thai "Alps".

So Compelling.

 I don't know if I can bear to show any more pictures of them. There are things I won't openly say here for the sake of the protection of some very dear people, but suffice to say, the Hmong are in my heart and prayers.

If you feel compelled to lend a helping hand, let me know, or go directly to Eugene's blog. There's lots of information there, including a way to donate to the effrot. Eugene's thinking of ways to expand the effort, and he's really dreaming big. He's starting with an aim to hit over S$23,000 to provide basic necessities to the Hmong.

You can also support in prayer for these people who have very little time left before they may never see another day again.

Every little bit counts.

Technorati Tags: life

A Moment: Where We Are Hitherto

I understand now that I am here today only because of where yesterday had brought me; it sure helps bring perspective to all the tough decisions, troubles, trials, happiness, joyfulness, bitterness, sweetness and everything.

Technorati Tags: adrian and angela, life

Gadget of the Moment: Spring Loaded Chopsticks

I don't post about gadgets daily, so I guess I'll just use "moment" to give the post category some degree of ambiguity. On to the gadget!

It's not so much a gadget as it is a hack, really. It's for those who are hopeless with holding chopsticks, or for those who hold them the wrong way, like this lad here:

 Remember, if you should ever want to survive the rise of the Chinese Empire, get right with the moves and hold it the right way; use the spring loaded chopsticks as trainers, or, use it for life.

Either way, when noodles finally become the world's official staple, you'll not stick out like a sore thumb.

 

Technorati Tags: funny, gadgets

When I Get Married, I'm Going to Have to Wake Up Early.

A Rare Sight.

I was just having this discussion with the wifey-to-be about how we were going to manage our mornings come January. Two sentences into the conversation and my heart sank to a 1 year low (don't ask).

"Um, I got to reach school by seven-ten, seven-fifteen latest." said she.

This means, casual reader, that yours truly will need to wake up at 6am LATEST to wash up, drink my milk power shake, brush my choppers, put on some clothes and get out of the house. All by 6:30am.

Waking up is the hardest part for me. I never seem to be able to rise without feeling like a grouch. I get better once I take the first sip of water (really, it's an amazing picker-upper), but I really, really hate those first few minutes. It gets progressively worse as I wake up earlier, of course.

Which is why something like this is timely. I think I'll try this out, though I think I have been trying out some of those tips already for the past few months. Zenhabits also has a few tips on how to form the habit, which I think are rather good too. I'll let you know if any of these work.

It's been increasingly difficult to form the "early riser" habit recently, but that's because I've been unable to fall asleep easily in bed for the past few weeks.

This only happens when I'm unsettled. And, I suspect my circadian rhythms are all messed up bad.

Man, I feel tired already.

Technorati Tags: adrian and angela, life

The Tao of Apple

I am one of the teeming millions who are enamored by the iPhone. 

Having played around with a fully functional (i.e. unlocked) one for about 30 seconds last Sunday (thanks Mr. Roy!), I am convinced that the only thing that the iPhone's got over the competition is the unbelievable beauty of looking and using it. The entire experience (yes, all 30 seconds of it) left me very taken with the device.

True, I think the the keyboard takes getting used to, but, like Mr. Mossberg said, it's mostly a non-issue.

As Robert Scoble pointed out, Apple often rises above the red oceans of its competitors by proving that a product can be successful just because it's got a breath-taking, thrilling interface and software - forget about all that hardware and features that just make the device bloaty and clunky. I guess users just want something that looks and works beautifully.

Even Nokia's playing catch up. So much for human technology.

A Moment: Brainstorming

I liked what one guy said about "going crazy and creative and realigning your life and systems to match the new ideas" - makes me feel doing some of that now.

Technorati Tags: life

50 Tips for Living Frugally: A Little Cheap-Skate-ly

I am constantly looking for ways to save money, especially after being near cleaned out from the wedding (and it's not even over yet!).

If the lifehack guru at zenhabits has anything to say about it, there are 50 ways to do it. There's even something for homemakers for managing the cleaning up of your house. Did I mention that I love this site?

Some tips that I think are really worth repeating here, for instant application:

1. Stop using credit cards
2. Stay home
3. Save money on food (by eating at home, less eating out)

Technorati Tags: adrian and angela, life, opinion