Of Codes, Dreams and Dan Brown

Okay, it's been a while since my last post. But I have a very good reason for the delay. It was The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown that caused the delay. I know, I know. I'm sooooo behind times if I'd just read the book. So sue me! But whatever it is, I have to say that this book is great! I got me the book on loan and finished it in just a couple of days. I actually watched the movie first before reading the book, and I'm glad I didn't read the book earlier. Don't get me wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but I liked the book much better. The movie wasn't as complicated as I had thought it would be, but there were still questions unanswered. But all those questions were answered after reading the book. I was so impressed with the book that I went out and got myself the Dan Brown boxed set of his four best-sellers. And that's why I've been a little on the quiet side in updating my blog.

Anyway, after I got the boxed set, I tried to read the books in writing order. So I started with Digital Fortress first, before moving on to Deception Point. But after reading Da Vinci Code and Digital Fortress, I noticed a recurring theme in both those books. Never mind the fact that both stories revolve around the protagonist running around trying to solve clues. But what I noticed about these two books is that they both have incidences where the hero(ine) was awakened from sleep with the ringing of the phone. Makes you wonder whether Brown has got issues relating to dreams being interrupted by the phone. At least, it made me wonder so.

Back to Digital Fortress, I'm quite impressed with Brown's rendition on the whole PKI algorithm issue. I'm sure he's had countless hours of consultation to grasp the whole idea of encryption and algorithms from the security point of view. What especially intrigued me was the idea of the revolving cleartext. It opens up a whole universe of security issues if anyone had actually managed to write an algorithm to employ the revolving cleartext as a shifting algorithm to come up with a new PKI standard: an unbreakable algorithm! And the whole idea of using mutational strings as the backbone of the algorithm is so logical, that it might just work. But I would tabik spring to the one who can make this possible, coz I get dizzy just thinking about the magnitude of the programming involved.

Right now, I'm in the midst of reading Deception Point. Actually, to say that I'm in the midst of reading it wouldn't be too precise. I just got started on the book yesterday, so it really means I've just started reading the first few pages. So we'll just have to wait and see what will happen in this book. Tungguuuu....

Melayu mudah lupa

It's been a couple of days since my "sleep like a log" incident. You'd think I'd learn my lesson by now. But did I? Heavens, no! Last night, again I find myself glued to my laptop, cruising from one site to another. What has changed? Nothing. Not a single thing. But wait! Something HAS changed... But what is it, I wonder...

Looking back at the time when I first got Streamyx (which at this juncture in time, feels like a millenia ago), I realised that my access spEed is MUCH faster now. Bewildered, I checked my network configuration to see if anything has been modified. Everything seems like it was before. So why is it that my lag time has been cut considerably short? I asked my buddy who put his server at my place what might have been the reason that my access speed is faster. His explaination was simple: before, my ADSL modem connected directly to my laptop did the dialing up for me. Hence, it took quite a chunk of my resources and this inescapably took a toll on my speed. But now, since the ADSL modem is attached to his server and my laptop is just a "passenger" instead of the "driver", I'm gaining speed like I've never had before!

So what has this unexpected but welcomed turn of events has got to do with the title of this post? Well, this incident shows that sometimes, we're easily sidetracked by unforeseen occurences. In this case, the unexpected speed that I gained has made me again, sacrifice my much needed sommeil réparateur in lieu of a better surfing experience. A simple thing like speed overcomes the biological need for slumber. How stupid is that!

In any case, this morning isn't too bad. I woke up earlier than my usual time, not feeling the least bit disoriented (for now) and by 7.30, I was already munching away on 3 pieces of karipap and a pulut panggang. Ever since I've made it a habit to have my dinner at 6 pm, my mornings greet me with the growlings of Beethoven's 5th symphony playing away in my tummy, demanding that it be fed. Oh well, since breakfast IS the most important meal of the day, I guess it's no harm to stuff myself silly so early in the morning, right?

Bleary eyed and spinning sights

i need more sleep...

that's the conclusion that i've arrived to, after almost 2 weeks with streamyx. 2 days ago my buddy came over to put up his server at my house. he also set up wireless access, so now i can bring my laptop anywhere in the house and still get access to the net. so that night was almost an all-nighter for me, surfing to my heart's content. in the morning, not surprisingly, i woke up late. woke up with a start at 6.45, arrived at the office at 7.59. another 2 minutes and i'd have my first red mark on my punchcard for this month.

the whole morning, i was staring at the same page in my word document. for a good part of four hours, i didn't make any progress in my work. i kept reading what i've written b4, and nothing makes sense. finally i gave up and went to the surau and slept. my head feels like it's been replaced with a ton of concrete, and whenever i get up from my seat, i feel like i'm the centre of the universe and everything else is spinning around me. so much so that whenever i get up, i have to momentarily stand motionless until all the spinning stops b4 i can take my 1st step.


by the time it was time to go home, i drove groggily to the mamak restaurant in precinct 9 to have my dinner. after dinner, went straight back home. arrived at 6.45, and i immediately fell asleep. i woke up and looked at my watch... 7.15... ok, so i slept for half an hour. but something was not right. got out of bed to get my mobile. one look at the screen, and i realised i'd slept 12 1/2 hours!!! it was actually 7.15 in the MORNING! this is gonna be a loooong day....

Wired but unwired

Get ready for the musings of an old man...

I finally got Streamyx installed last week. Now I'm finding that it's detrimental to my health. Been getting only 2-3 hours' sleep each night, and I go the office groggy and disoriented. Got the 1Mb line, but it feels like it's just a BIT faster than my normal dial-up. I guess I need to tweak the settings b4 I'm satisfied with the speed.

A frind of mine wants to host his webserver atmy house since his new house isn't covered by Streamyx yet. He's offering to pay for my electricity bill as well as setting up WiFi in my house, besides teaching me a thing or two about website hosting. Seems like a great idea to learn new things for free. Just hope he'll be satisfied with the connection speed.

I've been on the Internet for over 12 years now. A lot have changed, most noticably the access speed. Besides that, researching things is a WHOLE lot easier now. Why, you can get information about almost everything thru the Net. Still, some say the Net's been nothing but trouble. I guess it all depends on how you look at things. Me? Like McDonald's tagline.... "I'm lovin' it!"