December 01, 2006
If you're one of those common Filipino folks like me who have to take a bus on a regular basis, then you might have noticed a sign like this on some of your rides:
For the longest time, I had no idea what "No ticket, no pay" actually meant. It just sounds wrong. I mean, shouldn't it be the other way around? The direction of the implication is wrong. It should be "No pay, no ticket", or in other words, "Passengers must pay in order to get a ticket". I've always assumed that this was another one of those signs with funny bastardized English that tourists love to snicker at and take pictures of. (To be fair though, the English signs in the Philippines are much better compared to the ones you find in non-English-speaking countries.) I imagine that it all started with one bus company and the others just followed suit.
In a moment of inspiration, while I was buying food for take-out at Jollibee, I finally figured it out. One of the signs by the cashier went something like "Do not pay unless you are given a receipt". Then it struck me: the bus ticket is actually a receipt.
The sign "No ticket, no pay" isn't telling the passenger that you can't get a ticket to ride unless you pay. What it actually means is that you don't have to pay if the conductor doesn't give you a ticket/receipt. The sign is standing up for your rights as a passenger and as a consumer!
(Please don't tell me that I'm the only one who doesn't know about this.)
For the longest time, I had no idea what "No ticket, no pay" actually meant. It just sounds wrong. I mean, shouldn't it be the other way around? The direction of the implication is wrong. It should be "No pay, no ticket", or in other words, "Passengers must pay in order to get a ticket". I've always assumed that this was another one of those signs with funny bastardized English that tourists love to snicker at and take pictures of. (To be fair though, the English signs in the Philippines are much better compared to the ones you find in non-English-speaking countries.) I imagine that it all started with one bus company and the others just followed suit.In a moment of inspiration, while I was buying food for take-out at Jollibee, I finally figured it out. One of the signs by the cashier went something like "Do not pay unless you are given a receipt". Then it struck me: the bus ticket is actually a receipt.
The sign "No ticket, no pay" isn't telling the passenger that you can't get a ticket to ride unless you pay. What it actually means is that you don't have to pay if the conductor doesn't give you a ticket/receipt. The sign is standing up for your rights as a passenger and as a consumer!
(Please don't tell me that I'm the only one who doesn't know about this.)
November 12, 2006
Newsflash: Robot thinks people taste like bacon.The article's over a month old, but interesting nonetheless. It is definitely no coincidence that bacon just so happens to be my all-time favorite food. Does that mean I have good taste?
Soylent green, anyone?
P.S. That has got to be the most delicious, most mouth-watering photo of bacon that I have ever seen. Click on the image to behold bacon in all its glory.
November 06, 2006
Every great ACM problem consists of three acts.The first act is called "The Deception". The judge shows you an ordinary problem, but of course... it probably isn't.
The second act is called "The Dilemma". The judge makes his ordinary problem turn into something extraordinary.
Now if you're looking for the special case... you won't find it, that's why there's a third act called, "The Despair"; this is the part with the twists and turns, where submissions hang in the balance, and the final test case is something shocking you've never considered before.
(Original lines from The Prestige. Spoiler warning!)
November 05, 2006
After five days of continuous Wget-ing, I have finally managed to download the entire Mozart collection: 2578 songs, 7.3 GB, and 7.5 days worth of music. That is sick. That's two DVDs worth of music from a single person.
Who wants a copy?
Who wants a copy?
Labels: classical music, Mozart, music, WTF
Ever wondered why your shoelaces get undone all the time? Find it annoying to have to stop and kneel down in public just to redo your shoelaces? You're probably tying a "granny knot".
I had been experiencing slipping shoelaces with my black leather shoes ever since I bought them. I've only had this problem with this particular pair because it has particularly slippery shoelaces when compared to the other pairs I own. But the weird thing is, only the shoelaces on the right shoe get undone all the time. The shoelaces on the left are perfect and have never come undone. What's more, my left foot's noticeably larger than my right, so it makes even less sense! I have been tying my shoelaces the same way ever since I was little, so you can probably imagine that this predicament of mine was driving me nuts.
After coming across Ian's Shoelace Site (everything you need to know about shoelaces, including 17 different knots!), I diagnosed myself as having a "granny knot" problem (I tie a standard knot, by the way). Spot the difference below. How on earth could I have gotten it all wrong? Sheesh. I'll make sure to buy blue and yellow shoelaces next weekend.
A correct/balanced standard knot
A "granny knot"
I had been experiencing slipping shoelaces with my black leather shoes ever since I bought them. I've only had this problem with this particular pair because it has particularly slippery shoelaces when compared to the other pairs I own. But the weird thing is, only the shoelaces on the right shoe get undone all the time. The shoelaces on the left are perfect and have never come undone. What's more, my left foot's noticeably larger than my right, so it makes even less sense! I have been tying my shoelaces the same way ever since I was little, so you can probably imagine that this predicament of mine was driving me nuts.
After coming across Ian's Shoelace Site (everything you need to know about shoelaces, including 17 different knots!), I diagnosed myself as having a "granny knot" problem (I tie a standard knot, by the way). Spot the difference below. How on earth could I have gotten it all wrong? Sheesh. I'll make sure to buy blue and yellow shoelaces next weekend.
A correct/balanced standard knot
A "granny knot"
October 04, 2006
The entrepreneurial spirit is truly an amazing force. Manong (our resident packed lunch magnate) has a new racket: pirated DVDs. He's got the latest big-screen flicks, American TV series, Koreanovelas, and "8-in-1" value packs; 70 pesos for the movies and 100 pesos for everything else. Time will tell whether this new venture will become as much a hit as the packed lunches.
It's becoming a virtual Virra Mall in here. What's next, cheap cellphone casing? Fake Rolexes? Ukay ukay?
(BTW, I forgot to mention there are actually two "Manongs"... There's one for both HP floors: 7th and 14th. The one on the 7th is named "Boni"; not sure what the 14th floor Manong's real name is. They both sell lunch and merienda from the same source. I'm not sure if the one on the 14th sells DVDs as well.)
It's becoming a virtual Virra Mall in here. What's next, cheap cellphone casing? Fake Rolexes? Ukay ukay?
(BTW, I forgot to mention there are actually two "Manongs"... There's one for both HP floors: 7th and 14th. The one on the 7th is named "Boni"; not sure what the 14th floor Manong's real name is. They both sell lunch and merienda from the same source. I'm not sure if the one on the 14th sells DVDs as well.)
August 23, 2006
It's no longer August 22 in any part of the world. It's so nice to know that the Earth is still in one piece after some wacko scholars predicted the beginning of a nuclear war on my birthday. World peace? Best birthday gift ever. What more could a guy want?
On my way home today from HP in Ortigas (job offer), I rode the MRT, as usual. One of my fello standing passengers was this foreign lady (caucasian, most likely American) who had a male Filipino companion. As the train was passing over the bridge overlooking the Pasig River, she pointed out to the shanties by the river (which looked half-decent from afar) and remarked to her friend, "Wow, it sure must be nice to have a home by the riverside!"
Hmm...
Yeah, I guess it would be a nice place to live in, if you ignore the fact that your toilet would still be cleaner than the river even if you didn't flush for a week.
Hmm...
Yeah, I guess it would be a nice place to live in, if you ignore the fact that your toilet would still be cleaner than the river even if you didn't flush for a week.
Labels: WTF
August 19, 2006
Question: How do you declare a constant/finalized/unmodifiable C-style string in C/C++?
If you answered
then you are dead wrong. Just try adding
and get WTF'd. If you tried it out and got stumped by the result, you're not alone. I thought I was a C/C++ hotshot myself until I read about const-correctness. Digest the following, please:
Working in C/C++ can be such a pain at times. There's just too much mental wrestling involved. You would think that just by saying "const" that it'd be obvious to the compiler that you don't want it to be modifiable. The language doesn't make it easy to express what you want to express. Maybe that's why I'm trying to learn Ruby.
(Many thanks to Miguel who was WTF'd by "const char * const" and challenged me to find an explanation for it.)
If you answered
const char * s = "I AM CONSTANT";then you are dead wrong. Just try adding
s = "DEAD wrong i tell ya";and get WTF'd. If you tried it out and got stumped by the result, you're not alone. I thought I was a C/C++ hotshot myself until I read about const-correctness. Digest the following, please:
// changeable pointer to a constant string
const char * s1 = "i am a constant string";
s1 = "not really"; // legal - literal strings return a char *
s1[2] = '!'; // illegal - s1's contents are read-only
// constant pointer to a changeable string
char * const s2 = "Let's try this again";
s2 = "sure that works"; // illegal - s2 itself is read-only
s2[2] = '!'; // legal - DANGER! will crash program
// constant pointer to a constant string
const char * const s3 = "i am teh ultimate constant string!";
s3 = "yep"; // illegal - s3 itself is read-only
s3[2] = '!'; // illegal - s3's contents are read-onlyWorking in C/C++ can be such a pain at times. There's just too much mental wrestling involved. You would think that just by saying "const" that it'd be obvious to the compiler that you don't want it to be modifiable. The language doesn't make it easy to express what you want to express. Maybe that's why I'm trying to learn Ruby.
(Many thanks to Miguel who was WTF'd by "const char * const" and challenged me to find an explanation for it.)
Labels: C, C++, programming, WTF
August 15, 2006
It's just speculation, but I sure hope that the nuclear apocalypse could wait until after my 21st birthday. Crazy American (and Russian) prophets.
Seriously though, according to the Mayans (the true masters of the universe), the actual end of the world won't come until December 2012. It's either on the 21st or 23rd, depending on which Wikipedia article you want to believe. Until then, carpe diem!
Seriously though, according to the Mayans (the true masters of the universe), the actual end of the world won't come until December 2012. It's either on the 21st or 23rd, depending on which Wikipedia article you want to believe. Until then, carpe diem!
