Similarities Between Bioshock Infinite And Iron Man 3

• Clean slate
• The Patriot

Spectroscope

I bought a cheap spectroscope from Amazon. I kept delaying posting pictures, wanting to take better ones. In the end, I dropped it and now its spectra are skewed, so I'm posting the pictures I have, or I may never post anything.

I got a spectroscope because I'm interested in the properties of light, like: what's the difference between a yellow flower, and a picture of that flower on your computer? Why are the primary colours of light and paint different?

With a spectroscope, you can see the differences in "white" light. Sunlight is a continuous spectrum, and artificial lighting attempts to mimic that by mixing at least 5 colours. Electrical displays use RGB, but they're wider than I expected. It would be interesting to compare LED lit and CCFL lit LCD screens.

Previously, I had tried making my own spectroscope using a CD and cardboard tube:

Sunlight

Fluorescent light

LED screen

I would like to improve my spectroscope by making the slit width adjustable, maybe by using sharp metal edges and a screw mechanism.

Bioshock Infinite

Some thoughts after I finished the game. I won't post any spoilers.

This is one of the few PC games I've finished recently, so it must be quite good. (I didn't finish the original Bioshock) Things I liked:

• Interesting plot. If people are debating what really happened, that's a good sign.
• Immersive environment

Things I didn't like:

• The save system (or lack of it), as mentioned by everyone. There were many things I wanted to try out in the game, but couldn't for lack of save points. Tips: if you try and exit the game, it'll tell you when you last saved before exiting. Some doors save whenever you go past them, in either direction, so you can use them as a physical save point.
• Lack of destructible environments. I played my first run at very low graphics settings, but even on medium, there are very few things you can destroy. It feels odd. Counter-Strike had destroyable chickens even while it was still in beta. The birds in Columbia are hardier and bulletproof.
• Perhaps partially due to this, the game feels very scripted. This is particularly so when they ask you to "Press F to pick up the piece of paper". "Press F to pass the paper to character".
• The facial expressions are severely limited, like everyone's been botoxed. At the start of the game, the kids playing and the couples having some alone time look like they're wearing masks. Elizabeth has slightly more expressions, but I think the expressions are comparable to Half Life 2's. They certainly aren't 9 years ahead. I wonder if this is because they're on the verge of the uncanny valley, and making things more realistic would make them worse. Maybe we'll only emerge on the other side when technology advances.

Playing through a second time, I'm noticing a lot more new things.

Influence Of Cameras On Drawing

I was wondering if the advent of the camera influenced drawing. It seems most drawings today are "perspective", meaning they're how you see things, but it wasn't always this way. There were 2 things that made me think this:
1. It is suspected that the Dutch painter, Johannes Vermeer, used a camera obscura in his work. e.g. see http://www.grand-illusions.com/articles/mystery_in_the_mirror/ or search for johannes vermeer camera obscura. My thinking is: why are they specifically pointing out this artist? It must be because his work is different from others of his time. Today, a lot of drawings are done like this, but nobody notices it, so it looks like the invention of the camera and the change of drawing style occurred around the same time.
2. Old paintings drawn with the wrong perspective. e.g. I know a table is rectangular, so I'm drawing a rectangular table regardless of its orientation. Some examples at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspective_%28graphical%29

However, looking at the Wikipedia article, it looks like people figured out perspective in 1400-1500, which is earlier than Vermeer's work. So I don't think the camera had that much of an impact.

Amazon And International Shipping

Just some of my recent experiences with Amazon, focusing on their International Shipping.

The first thing you need to know is that there are 3 types of things on Amazon:
1. Things sold by Amazon

2. Things sold by others but fulfilled by Amazon

3. Things sold by others

This is important if you're using a forwarding service like HopShopGo, because the first 2 types of things might arrive together, but things sold by others will always arrive separately. This means they'll be packaged separately (extra packaging) and their weights will probably be rounded up separately (i.e. if you buy 2 0.2kg packages and they're rounded up to 0.5kg each, you'll be charged 2x0.5kg = 1kg, instead of 2x0.2kg = 0.5kg rounded up). It's usually much cheaper to buy from Amazon or fulfilled by Amazon.

International Shipping

I found out it's MUCH cheaper to ask Amazon to ship, than to use a forwarding service. I calculated the shipping for my recent purchase to be less than 1/3 of what a shipping company would have charged. There are 2 reasons:

1. Amazon's "shipping weight" is usually lower than the volumetric weight of things.
2. The "shipping weight" is rounded up per order, not per shipment.

Forwarding companies better think of something if they want to stay in business.

Not everything can be shipped internationally. To search for things that can, there are 2 ways:
1. Search, then filter, on the left.

2. Use the Amazonglobal website. Search for "global" on Amazon and there will be a banner to it. Warning: this website isn't very good, if you click around, you'll go back to the normal Amazon.

Sometimes even if you follow these steps, you'll still get a message saying your product can't be shipped globally. What's wrong? The confusing thing about Amazon is an item can have several sellers, and it's not obvious. In the picture for things sold by others above, the red circle on the right is one of the places where you can see all the sellers for an item. One of the sellers might offer international shipping while Amazon doesn't. Warning: sellers have their own international shipping rates, and I haven't seen any reasonable ones yet.

Which delivery companies does Amazon use for international shipping? It seems to be a mix. My Amazonbasics item was delivered by UPS, while my other shipments were delivered by i-parcel. Once in the destination country. i-parcel seems to send things out by normal parcel post.

Things I would like to know:

• How to search for things Fulfilled by Amazon
• How to find out what category an item is in

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Instamorph: Magnetic Knife Rack

Using 2 magnetic bars (meant for whiteboards), stuck to my dish rack using Instamorph. I could have stuck them to the wall using tape or glue, but I didn't want it to be permanent.

I tried using 1 bar at first, but it wasn't strong enough. I love how professional it looks. Instamorph was particularly suitable here because it's 1) non-toxic 2) removable.

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Instamorph: Brush Hook

I've got this exfoliating brush. It's quite good quality, but inconvenient to store because it has no hook, so you can't hang it.

I made a hook for it, now I can hang it anywhere. The hook tip reaches a bit too low and pushes into my hand. It's also probably thicker than necessary. This picture was taken before it cooled.

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Razer Vespula

I got a Razer Vespula as a present!

Long ago, there was this mousepad called Everglide that sold for $20-30. At that time, I thought it was quite expensive, but finally bought one when I found one cheap. It was great. There's a dearth of hard mousepads now; only gaming companies seem to be making them and I could only find Razer ones in stores. $30 seems a bargain for a hard mousepad!

Mousepads and wrist rests are 2 things that you think, "I can use almost any everyday object as one, what's the point of paying for one?" I used to think like that, until I got my Everglide, and found out good mousepads really make a difference.

I like the Vespula because it's double-sided and has a wrist rest.

The smoother side has a meter icon.

The rougher side has a... handbrake icon? Actually, both sides feel very slick to my mouse. I think the rougher side could be slower.

A word on the feet of the mousepad, which no one has mentioned. The wrist rest is permanently attached to a rubber mat, slightly smaller than the pad. When the mousepad is on the rubber mat, the mat is in contact with the lower, unused mousing surface. This means the whole pad is supported and won't flex/sag. You can also use the mousepad without the mat. In this case, the pad is only supported by the green rubber feet. The mousepad doesn't seem that stiff, so I think it'll flex so that the middle also touches the table.

Nothing to say about the wrist rest. It feels just like any other wrist rest.

Instamorph: Tap Knob

One of the knobs on my tap broke, so I used Instamorph to make a new one. This is it before it's fully cool.

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Instamorph: Toothbrush Holders

I really like this one because I use it every day, it works very well, and it's a great improvement. Previously we just left the brushes in the dish below. It's almost impossible to find holders for specific toothbrushes.

One of the clips broke off, but I stuck it back using the flame from a matchstick.

All Instamorph posts

Instamorph Contents Post

I'm making this post a list of all posts about Instamorph, so they're easier to find.

19 Jan 13 First post, iPhone dock
20 Apr 13 Toothbrush holders
20 Apr 13 Tap knob
23 Apr 13 Brush hook
23 Apr 13 Magnetic knife rack

Extracting Text In Excel

Excel is actually pretty good at managing text. Suppose you have a string of text containing markers (Name: etc.) you want to divide:

Into:

First use the function FIND to locate the markers in the string of text.

Then use the function MID to pull out text between those locations. You need to account for the length of the markers.

This is great because it doesn't depend on how long the text string is or if there are spaces, etc. For the last string you can use the function RIGHT, for the last few characters, or first use LEN to get the length of the string.

Picasa Web Albums and Google Drive

A few observations on PWA and Drive:

1. PWA: If you hide locations from viewers of an album and allow downloads, downloaded files seem to be stripped of location data - good! This wasn't the case in 2010. Hopefully it stays this way.
2. Drive: There is no way to allow non-Drive users to download entire folders, which seems like a very basic omission. http://productforums.google.com/d/topic/drive/-OCAzt9B0v8/discussion
3. Drive: Right now there seems to be a problem preventing people from even sharing folders with non-Drive users (error 500) http://productforums.google.com/d/topic/drive/G55YW9qnn2A/discussion
4. Google Groups are a mess. The URL is productforums.google.com, what's the difference between Groups and Google+, I can't find a way to bookmark/save/favourite topics (hence my posting them here), what's the difference between starred and favourites?

Guide To Superstar Virgo

I just went on a cruise on the Superstar Virgo, so I'm writing a guide to the ship in case I visit again or someone else is looking for one. I didn't find any such guides online.

Layout

There are 13 stories; 4-13 are accessible. Move between stories using the lifts/stairs located at 3 locations: fore (front), mid and aft (rear). Here are the main attractions:

• Level 6 - 2 restaurants, Pavilion Restaurant and Bella Vista. The Pavilion Restaurant is located mid and Bella Vista is located aft. There doesn't seem to be a way to move between these 2 within level 6 itself, so you have to get to mid/aft on another level first, then go down.
• 7 - main level. Reception, casino, Lido theatre, emergency assembly points, and deck where you can go outside.
• 8 - some paid restaurants, shops and second story of Lido theatre.
• 10 - video games arcade, childcare centre
• 12 - main buffet restaurant, gym, pool, Galaxy Of The Stars (lounge with some slot/jackpot machines, bingo games and a stair down to view the bridge of the ship)

These are the stairs and lifts. There are 3 lifts at each location. The stairs are wide and easily accessible, not hidden behind doors, so we used them whenever we could.

The first thing you'll want to do on board the ship is look for this piece of paper, the "Star Navigator". It should be in your room, or you can get it from the reception. It tells you what time and where to eat, and what activities are scheduled.

Food

There is a main buffet restaurant on level 12. It's called Mediterranean, but it serves all kinds of food. There seem to be 4 sections: a vegetarian one and 3 others serving the same food. I never needed to register in this restaurant, just find a seat and start picking your food.

On the first night, they had a BBQ around the pool, which is just outside the restaurant. You can take your food and sit inside.

BBQ, sitting at the Taverna (level 13)

The food here was ok, but not fantastic. The best meal I had here was breakfast. I heard they have eggs cooked as you like them, but I didn't see that. Maybe I was too late.

Supper, first night

Lunch, second day

Supper, second night

Breakfast, last day

Sometimes they have special meals. For the second day dinner, they had Thai food, which was quite good.

The other 2 restaurants included in your fare are Pavilion Restaurant and Bella Vista. For these 2 restaurants you have to register with your card. I don't know if you can eat at both these restaurants in the same meal, but you can eat at either of these plus the Mediterranean buffet.

Bella Vista is a large (almost same seating capacity as the buffet) restaurant near the back of the ship serving Western and Chinese food. Through the huge windows you can see the wake of the ship.

Western food is done by set menu: choose an appetizer, main and dessert.

I don't know what their Chinese food is like, since they have separate seating for Chinese and Western and the queue for Chinese was longer.

In Pavilion Restaurant, you can't choose your dishes, but it's "ala carte buffet" style - you can order the dishes you like again.

Pavilion Restaurant, dinner

Breakfast

Shore Excursion

Our trip was to Redang island. The Virgo anchored quite far from the island, and we took a little boat to the island. It was a 30 minute ride. The boats hold about 100 people. I keep wondering if they were some of the lifeboats.

What's there to do on the island? Firstly, they have diving (scuba and snorkeling) packages you can buy. The beach and sea there is very nice and clean. There are some stalls selling drinks, coconuts, satay, a few hotels and a food court, and a gift shop. We didn't venture from the shore.

Places Of Interest

Bingo games, SGD$20 for 3 tickets. Buy the tickets before the games. See the Star Navigator for times and locations.

See the bridge of the ship, through a small staircase in Galaxy Of The Stars.

Catch a free performance in the Lido theatre. There was a magic show the first night.

They also had quite a lot of activities during the shore excursion so we couldn't go - such as teaching you to juggle, and screening the Disney movie Brave.