for curious artists and scientistspolymathprogrammer.com/issues/singularity201110.pdfthis means...

for curious artists

and scientists

On changing bad habits:

“Don’t do it alone.”

James Norris

October 2011

Singularity • October 2011 2

The suggested way to enjoy this magazine is

to have it as a PDF file on your desktop or

laptop computer, and then read it with a PDF

reader. I recommend using the Adobe Reader

to do so. Also, tea (to drink, not splash it on

your computer screen. Why would you do

that?!?).

If you read this magazine directly with a

browser, then clicking on any links in the

magazine will bring you to the link page. And

basically close the magazine. Which isn't fun

when you want to come back to the

magazine.

Speaking of links, they will be in blue and

underlined, like so (<-- don't click, that's not a

link!). In cases where the background colour

isn't cooperative, the links will be in a lighter

shade of blue, like so (you're not supposed to

see that clearly. Unless you're Superman. In

which case, OMG Krispy Kryptonite, I've got

Superman reading Singularity! *jumps

around room*).

If you're reading this on a mobile device or

tablet, let me know (yes, that's a real email

link) how I can make it better for you to enjoy

the magazine.

In miscellaneous information, the title text

"Singularity" is set in the font Perpetua. I

found out about the font when I read the

copyright page of a book. Yes, the physical

kind. And now, I'll leave you to your reading...

mailto:[email protected]


From the editor Sometime last month, the Mid-Autumn Festival happened. While I didn't

celebrate that, I did partake in a traditional dish that is only prepared during

that festival. Mooncakes.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is on the 15th of the 8th lunar calendar month.

The 7th lunar calendar month is the Ghost Month, where (supposedly)

ghosts from you-know-where are allowed to roam in the mortal world.

While it's not really considered "unlucky", it's inauspicious to do anything

you want to accomplish with great success during that month. (I'm getting

to the point now...) So sales of mooncakes only start on the 1st of the 8th

lunar month. Although enterprising sellers are now selling mooncakes

earlier, but no earlier than 16th of the 7th lunar month. Because the 15th of

the 7th lunar month is considered the day when ghosts are the strongest

(and thus most inauspicious for mortals).

Sales of mooncakes stop on the 16th of the 8th lunar month, because 15th

is the day you're supposed to enjoy mooncakes and tea and admire the full

moon.

Also, there's an important announcement. See page 26.

Vincent Tan


BarcampSG7

I attended the 7th Barcamp held in Singapore. A

barcamp is an unconventional conference where

attendees may submit topics for presentation.

Attendees whose topics are highly voted get to

present. This means there are no pre-arranged

speakers.

Click on the picture to the right for a video on it.

Or on the link here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXj9P4qle00


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BarCamp


There was a talk

on foldable

bikes, but I

missed that one.


Some of the talks were packed.


This talk was presented by Peter Schoppert.


Now for ebooks, Peter was referring to the ePub format, and not

books in electronic form (such as PDFs). In particular, he's talking

about books read on e-readers such as the Amazon Kindle, Nook and

even mobile devices.

The ePub format is basically a combination of technologies. XHTML

for content, CSS for styling, and JavaScript for some interactivity. You

don't need to know the actual technologies involved. Just know that

because the content is in XHTML format, the content flows around any

textual container easily.

This means whatever device you're using to read the content, the text

automatically flows nicely to fit your screen. Compare this with a PDF

(such as this magazine you're reading), where the text and layout is

fixed.

In terms of publishing, the major publishing houses have some

problems. The major one is on ownership. You buy a physical book,

and it's yours. You can give it to a family member, lend it to a friend, or

even just throw it away. For ebooks, the publishing houses want to

control your ownership. Because after you buy the ebook, it's

extremely easy to just copy and paste and give the copies to anyone.

The physical book has a limit, that of itself. The electronic book can be

copied infinitely.

This is why the publishers (Apple iTunes, Amazon Kindle) have

authentications that tie the bought ebook to an account you own. This

means you can't give or lend the ebook to anyone else. Unless you give

your account away. You also can't mix accounts. You can buy books

from a small bookstore, or a large chain, or from the Internet (Amazon

for example), and they're still yours. But ebooks bought for a particular

e-reader have to be read on that e-reader, using the account your have

with the e-reader's publisher.

Another problem is with authority. Generally speaking, a physical book

carries with it the weight of the publishing house behind it. A publisher

has vetted the book and deemed it "worthy" of publishing it. An ebook

can be published by anyone, and thus only have the credibility of the

author behind it. Although you can now self-publish and have a

physical copy of your book, so even physical books need to go through

that credibility test.

The crux of the matter seems to be with trust and credibility. This has

moved from the publisher to the author. Think on this question:

Do you trust a publishing house or

an author more?

When you're considering buying a book (physical or electronic), do you

now want to know who wrote the book, or who published the book?


The next talk I attended

was about personal

growth, presented by

James Norris.


Here's an advice from James.

When you're changing a bad

habit, don't do it alone.

Get someone who's also doing it (exercising together,

quitting smoking together). Or have someone actively

supporting you.


Here's one way to interpret the chart. It means 40%

of the time, you can intentionally be happy.

If you choose to be happy, then 40% of the time, you

will be happy. Missing the bus, having a rude

customer snap at you, the rain bringing your spirits

down just take up 10%.

And don't worry about that 50% genetic thing. It's

unlikely you're geared to be genetically unhappy 50%

of the time. Even then, you still control 40% of your

thoughts, choices and actions, so take control!


Or don't be a zombie... :)


The next talk was about ADHD, or attention deficit

hyperactivity disorder.

I don't really have anything to say on this, but I did have

lunch with the presenter. Tamas mentioned that because

ADHD have similar symptoms with depression, doctors

have been known to prescribe depression medication to

treat ADHD. It's like treating a fever with only cold baths

without understanding (and treating) why the person is

having the fever.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_deficit_hyperactivity_disorder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_deficit_hyperactivity_disorder


A book Tamas referred to. The first 20 or so pages contain a

summary of the whole book. You don't really expect someone

with attention problems to sit through the entire book, right?


The next talk is by Vinnie Lauria, on using your users, in the sense of

web applications and online communities.


The gist of the talk was to allow your users to tell you

what they want, and how to let them help you. Vinnie

ran an online forum, and a Brazilian member wanted a

Portuguese translation of the forum. Vinnie and his

team created a framework (or API if you're a technical

person), which allowed translations to be made. The

forum eventually got translated to many other

languages, all translated by the forum members.


I also caught this interesting scene...

September 12 was the Mid-Autumn Festival. One of

the main highlights of this festival is eating

mooncakes. It is typically baked with a soft crust, with

lotus seed paste as the filling. You can also find

mooncakes with zero, one, two or four egg yolks.

A word of caution. Eating half a mooncake to one

whole mooncake is very filling, because it's a thick

pastry food. It's like a slice of thick cheesecake, but

oilier.


When I was young, we used to make lanterns in school.

They're basically made up pliable wire and covered in

cellophane paper (or whatever thin paper as decoration, and

to let the light shine through).

The key was to get long pieces of wire and bend them to

form the frame. Don't cut them at the corners, just continue

to bend them. This way, you don't waste the wire, and you

don't get (too many) sharp corners. 2 words: duct tape.

At the bottom of the frame, create a candle holder part,

using a piece of wire and curling it to form a cylindrical

holder. Make sure the bottom of the cylinder is covered (say

with a bit of wire sticking across it) so the candle won't slip

through.

Cover the 4 sides of the frame with cellophane paper. You

can get creative and do paper cut-outs and cover with those.

Attach the frame to a stick or something you can hold on to

with string.

Stick a candle into the candle holder, light it up, and walk

around with your very own lantern.

I think due to the fire hazard a lantern of this sort presents,

it's no longer popular to make them. Now they sell plastic

lanterns, with electric bulbs for light. They even produce

music when you switch them on.

And my drawing of the paper lantern framework on the left

is terrible...


Magazine Announcement Singularity will be taking a short break for 2 issues. This means there won't be issues

for November 2011 and December 2011. The reason is that I'm hip-deep in a software

project. In case you're unfamiliar with software developers, coding can take an

immense amount of brain computing power and time. And not just normal kinds of

time, it's preferably long(-ish) uninterrupted periods of time.

So instead of creating half-hearted issues for November and December, as well as half

-hearted attempts at coding, I decided to just concentrate on the software project.

Don't worry. Singularity will be back for the January 2012 issue. There will still be the

monthly email updates (for subscribers) and ad-hoc Facebook updates, but there

won't be published issues for 2 months.

I want you to know I didn't make the decision lightly, and

you're an awesome reader. I can make videos and post

short updates because they're sort of one-off (and

without deadlines).

Publishing an issue takes a concerted effort, and I feel I

don't have that in me for the next few weeks or so.

On the upside, the January 2012 issue will have lots of

stuff in it! Most probably videos I made or short articles.

If you want to get updates on the videos, go to

Singularity's Facebook page, or if you want to follow me

in general, go to my YouTube channel.

Click the picture below to watch the "update" video.

Or click the link here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh_swKsmAJE


http://www.facebook.com/SingularityMag


http://www.youtube.com/orcasquall



This is the video announcement of last month's issue. I

had an interview with Teresa Deak, who was introduced

to me by David Doolin. David's a Singularity reader and

he was interviewed in the August 2011 issue.

If there's someone you want to read an interview of, let

me know and I'll get in contact with the person.

Click on the picture on the left to view the video. Or click

the link here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hC88ey7hV4




f We have a Facebook page!

If you have a Facebook account, you can "Like" the page, then

follow interesting news and articles that may not have made it into

the magazine, and join other Singularity readers in a discussion.

You can also share your comments about any of the magazine

articles, and even interesting links of your own.

Click on the square on the left or here to start!




Tell your friends about Singularity.

http://polymathprogrammer.com/singularity/

Talk with me on Twitter!

Vincent

A publication of

Polymath Programmer

You’re given the right to distribute the

magazine electronically provided you don’t

change any of the content or charge for it.

http://polymathprogrammer.com/singularity/

http://twitter.com/orcasquall

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