Category Archives: Daily Scribble

My random thoughts of the day.

Daily Scribble

Wii

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I finally got a Wii, 3 years later to the party. I didn’t buy it, I inherited it from my cousin who moved back to Hong Kong. Although the console is free, but it does not come with any controllers. So I have to spent some money to buy a few controllers. $15 a Wii remote with nunchuk from eBay, much cheaper than buying from Future Shop.

Believe it or not, I never own any gaming console. I never have a Red-white Nintendo, no a Sega, not Playstation, no XBox. I am used to playing games on my computer. Wii is the first console I have and I did not even buy it. The feeling of playing games on TV is quite different. I feel I have less piracy because anyone walk by can see my screen. Playing games on the couch is actually not as comfortable as sitting on office chair in front of the computer. The couch is designed for sitting lay back, passively receive the content from the TV. Playing Wii requires active interaction and naturally draw your body closer to the TV, which is not the most comfortable position.

I have been debating whether or not soft mod my Wii for a few days. On one hand, I don’t want to go over the trouble of soft mod the Wii and risk bricking it. On the other hand, I would never spend $50 on a game. At last I swallow my pride as an engineer, paid $40 and let someone soft mod it for me. Soft mod is a must for Wii to play download games. So far I have downloaded a dozen of games, I have spent a bit more some time playing Super Mario and the Gundam Wii game which I think eventually I may finish them. For the other games, I opened each one of them and lost interested pretty soon. I found playing Video game is just a waste of time in general, especially some games won’t foster any collective memory.

Other than playing downloaded games, the bonus of soft mod my Wii is the Home Brew Channel. (Read more at Wiibrew) I can run all soft of applications and thinker with my Wii. I installed Google Earth for Wii, a VNC client to copy my desktop from my TV over the Wii using the Wii remote as a mouse. The gold mine is really tons of ancient gaming console emulator. I can downloaded ROMs of old games from Snesorama and ROM Nation. I have played old games with emulator on my computer, but it’s different. You gotta play console games on a TV. I found I enjoy playing those ancient games more than the new Wii games. I feel like the Wii emulators finally filling the hole in my heart that I did not own any console game in childhood.

Daily Scribble

Free money

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I just got $90 from BCLC (British Columbia Lottery Corperation) totally risk free. BCLC is the government charted lottery company in BC. They just started a new online casino business. In order to attract customers, they give out $100 token any new registered customer who deposit $100 into the account. As an engineer who had learn probability, I know those are free money at once. I can easily cash out the $100 by playing sicbo (big-small), betting on big and small at the same time. I lost a few games to triples, but since I only bet a small mount each time, I still have $90 out of the $100 after all the tokens are converted to cash.

I wonder how much money BCLC loss by luring customer this way. BC has 4.5 million population, times $100 per person, that comes to $4.5 billion. According to BCLC’s balance sheet, it only has $3.1 billion of net asset. If everyone in BC did exactly what I did, take the money and never come back again, we can bankrupt BCLC! Maybe anti-gambling organization should mobilize everyone get their $100 free money. What’s a better way to fight against gambling by bankrupting the casino?

On top of that, I suspect how many customers will BCLC get for their online casino. Gambling in a real casino, at least you can feel the physical atmosphere of a casino. Gambling in an online casino, it’s like just playing a crappy video game with poor graphics. Your money only shows up as a number on screen and all you can do is just making a few mouse clicks. What’s the fun of that? Since the odd is against gamblers, you already lost the moment you bet. Why would anyone want to lose money by clicking the mouse? I can click the mouse for a lot less money. Any reasonable mind would not find any amusement from gambling in online casino.

Daily Scribble

IPSC training

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There are many competition events in shooting sports. The Olympics Games has .22 rifle and .22 handgun, trap and skeet shotguns. The marksman in Olympics shoots from static position on paper target or flying clays, which is very different from real-life combat scenario. In contrary, the IPSC (International Practical Shooting Confederation) is an very dynamic shooting sport that provides good training on marksmanship and shooting skills. The competitors has to compete on courses or stages featuring different combat scenario including draw the firearm, fire from different positions, moving, reload and avoid shooting no-shoot target. The competitors are ranked based on their speed and accuracy.

I just completed the IPSC black badge training course. But I am not yet black badge certified. I have to shoot a qualifier match to obtain my class classification and provincial ranking first. My instructor Murray Gardner is 8 times national companion and he is really good. The 3 days training course emphasis on safety and we also have a fun time. The IPSC rules are very strict, any unsafe handling of the firearm is a disqualification and you are out of the competition right away. We were given exercises that breaks down all the actions in combat shooting into movements and drills to train us how to shoot safely and effectively.

I learnt a lot from my IPSC instructor. I have been shooting for 3 years and I was holding the gun the wrong way all along! Once I correct my grip, I can see improvement on my accuracy. IPSC is all about speed and accuracy, and out of the two, accuracy is more important. No matter how fast you can pull the trigger, it is useless if you can’t hit the target. You are just wasting ammunition. My accuracy is OK but my time is pretty slow. I scored 44 out of 60 points with 50% of shots hitting the A zone in the target. It took me 2.5 seconds to draw the gun and fire the first shoot, 4.8 seconds to reload and over 15 seconds to fire 6 rounds on 3 targets, reload, and fire another 6 rounds. The world companion can finish the same sequence in less 4 seconds and the instructor can get it less than 5 seconds. Slow is not a problem for IPSC beginners, your will speed up the more you practice those movements. The key is to practice so much that you don’t have to think about how to draw or how to reload, your hands should know where to move from subconcious level. I can practice those movements at home with unloaded firearm to build up my muscle memory, it only takes 15 minutes a day.

I will probably start off at class D in the bottom and my goal is slowly move my way up to class A. Above class A is Master and Grand Master and that is probably out of my reach. There is a long road ahead of me in IPSC. Skiing is my sport in Winters and IPSC is my sport in Summers.

Daily Scribble

Chess Game Analysis #2

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This week my rating in chess.com is still fluctuating around 800-900 level, but I stop dipping down to the 700 level. I can easily beat any 500-600 level players and stand a good chance playing against 900-1000 level players if I did not make any blunders. In number of times, I have material lead in mid game but lost a major piece making a obviously stupid move.

I found studying the chess game of Grant Master Kasparov really improve my chess skill. It is an eye opening observing how the grand master plays. I learn a few things in due process. The number one lesson I had learn is when I have material advantage, I should patiently exchange pieces one at a time, don’t rush for checking that will not force a mate or it will end up destroying my formation. Advance the pieces by marching them slowly, make sure every piece is protected by another piece with the chain of defense starts at the King protecting the pawn. Beginner usually thinks an attack is an attack on a piece, but I start thinking attack in terms attacking empty squares to limit how the opponent can move his piece.

I played against a stronger player in this game and I won. Comparing this game to the last game I analyzed, I can see my improvement.

[pgn]
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2010.08.14”]
[White “hevangel”]
[Black “ali79”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “832”]
[BlackElo “912”]
[TimeControl “10|0”]
[Termination “hevangel won by checkmate”]
1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 f6 3.Nf3 Qb6 4.d4 Qb4 5.a3 Qa5 6.Bd2 Qb6 7.b4 g5 8.Be3 g4 9.Na4 Qc7 10.Nd2 d6
11.Be2 h5 12.f3 b5 13.Nc3 Bh6 14.Bxh6 Rxh6 15.fxg4 hxg4 16.Bxg4 Bxg4 17.Qxg4 Rh8 18.O-O-O Kd8 19.Nb3 Qb7 20.e5 Qa6
21.Kb2 Nh6 22.Qh5 fxe5 23.dxe5 Qc8 24.exd6 Nd7 25.Rhe1 exd6 26.Rxd6 Qc7 27.Rxh6 Nf6 28.Qh4 Rf8 29.Rxf6 Kd7 30.Ref1 Rfe8
31.Rf7+ Re7 32.Rxe7+ Kd6 33.Rxc7 Kxc7 34.Rf7+ Kb6 35.Nc5 a6 36.Qh7 Ra7 37.Rxa7 a5 38.Qb7# 1-0
[/pgn]

1.e4 c6
I always use king-pawn opening. I will master this opening before I try other opening style. Black response with Caro-Kann defense.

2.Nc3 f6
I protect my prawn with queen-side knight. The standard response should be march queen-pawn. He advance the king-bishop-pawn for no reason.

3.Nf3 Qb6
I mobilize the other knight. Black move the queen to add my king-bishop-pawn. After many losses, I think I finally learn how to deal with queen’s attack by setting up traps.

4.d4 Qb4
Advance the queen-pawn to block black queen’s attack and black queen move again to skewer my knight.

5.a3 Qa5
I can’t move the bishop to block the skewer yet or I will leave the b2-pawn defenseless. I need to chase the queen away with the a2-pawn. Queen moves but stay in the diagonal.

6.Bd2 Qb6
I move the bishop to protect the king and prepare for a discover attack. The black queen is being chased around. He is losing tempo keep moving the queens when I slowly develop to castle

7.b4 g5
b2-pawn is under attack, march it forward to get protection from the queen-rook-pawn. Black is developing on the right, I think he wants to mobilize his king-bishop.

8.Be3 g4
I move the bishop to prepare for another discover attack on the queen. Black falls for the trap and march the pawn to threaten my knight. A lone marching is useless.

9.Na4 Qc7
Computer analysis think I should move king-knight to h4, but instead I chase the queen away with the queen-knight.

10.Nd2 d6
I retreat the knight from the pawn. Black advance the queen-pawn and block the queen. Advancing the pawn to d5 is a better move.

11.Be2 h5
I move the bishop to attack the lone pawn. Black back it up with the rook pawn.

12.f3 b5
I throw in the king-bishop-pawn. Black march the queen-knight-pawn to threaten my knight.

13.Nc3 Bh6
I retreat the knight, black wants to exchange the dark-square bishop.

14.Bxh6 Rxh6
Since no piece can protect my bishop, I accept the exchange. Computer analyze suggest march the king-bishop-pawn to protect the bishop, but I am not very convinced. I expect him to develop the knight which will protect the g4 pawn, but he use the rook instead.

15.fxg4 hxg4
Since g4 pawn is under protected, I started the exchange.

16.Bxg4 Bxg4
Continue the exchange.

17.Qxg4 Rh8
I finish the exchange and my queen has an eye on the black knight. Black retreat the rook to protect the knight. It is better to use the king instead. Remember, the king should be at the end of the chain of defense.

18.O-O-O Kd8
I castle to the left and black move the king. I should have move the queen to g7 and take the rook. Black should move the knight to chase my queen instead.

19.Nb3 Qb7
I move the knight to build up the defense for my king. Black move the queen to the left, probably want to attack my king from the left.

20.e5 Qa6
I thought for quite some time to design which pawn to march. I guess I should just take the free knight (or rook) instead.

21.Kb2 Nh6
Move Knight to guard a4 square. King is protected by the two knights. Black finally chase my queen away.

22.Qh5 fxe5
I move my queen to pin his knight against the rook. Black takes my middle pawn

23.dxe5 Qc8
I retake his pawn. Black wants put his queen to use on the right side.

24.exd6 Nd7
I prepare for a discover check, black move a knight to block the way.

25.Rhe1 exd6
Exchange pawn

26.Rxd6 Qc7
Take the pawn with rook. Black queen try to chase my rook with the queen and let me take the unprotected knight.

27.Rxh6 Nf6
Prepare for the rook trade. Black keep chasing my queen with his knight.

28.Qh4 Rf8
I move queen to pin his knight against his king.

29.Rxf6 Kd7
I propose a rook trade. Black move the king

30.Ref1 Rfe8
The black queen is skewered, I should trade the queen instead.

31.Rf7+ Re7
I line up the rook, but I missed a force mate.

32.Rxe7+ Kd6
I took another rook. Black is pretty much done.

33.Rxc7 Kxc7 34.Rf7+ Kb6 35.Nc5 a6 36.Qh7 Ra7 37.Rxa7 a5 38.Qb7# 1-0
The rest of the game is just the painful dead of black. However I missed so many force mate opportunities. I need to work on learn how spot force mates.

Daily Scribble

WordPress 3.0

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I am using WordPress for my blog. WordPress just released 3.0 Last month. I have been putting the upgrade on hold for a while since I was too busy at work and at home. I finally have some time to backup the database, the blog installation directory and upgrade my WordPress installation.

It is a push-button upgrade. New version is downloaded and installed in my server without any trouble. Except the Easy Adsense plug-in seems keep corrupting my layout. Everything works fine after I disable that plug-in. WordPress 3.0 is not much difference from 2.9.x on the surface. The only new feature that I use is get the short link button. I am using a custom theme, so the new 2010 them with configurable header image and background is none of my concern. The new custom taxonomies feature is very powerful, especially creating page with different page types, but I don’t see any use in my blog. I have got around to setup the new custom menu feature. I am using pages as my menu and I am not planning for a change.

I upgraded my Atahualpa to the last version which works with WordPress 3.0. I spent a few minutes cleaning up how pictures is displayed in the sidebar. I setup different sidebars in the posts than the one used in the front pages. The major change is adding the series plug-in. This plug-in groups multiple posts into a series and insert series navigation links in the posts and in the sidebar. I uninstalled the twitter plug-in, since I don’t really use twitter.

I think my blog is up to date and pretty good for now. I don’t have plan for any major upgrade in near future.