2008

Maybe things will turn out for the better this year. I still don't see any flying cars though :(.

Happy 2008 everyone!

Batch Download Scripts

Here's a pair of scripts I keep for batch downloading. The first is to download a list of stuff that is passed to it, called grab.sh:

#!/bin/bash

while read i; do wget -c --tries=0 $i; done

The next script called downloadlist.sh calls the first and sends an email when done:

#!/bin/bash

cat $1 | grab.sh
echo "Your downloads are done" | mail -s "Download notifier" myname@myemail.com

Just invoke it by passing it a file that contains a list of URLs to download, like so:

$ ./downloadlist.sh listofurls


It's brain-dead simple, but since I'm lousy at remembering stuff I am writing it here for my own reference.

Going Home From KL

Though this wasn't a pleasure trip, I did get to wander around KL for a bit. I am now waiting for the bus home amidst poisonous exhaust fumes.

In KL

I have arrived! A long day of walking awaits.

On The Road To Kuala Lumpur Part 4

The bus has crossed the KL city limits. I can see urban landscapes out the window. It shouldn't be long now till we get to the bus station.

On The Road To Kuala Lumpur Part 3

I am near Tanjung Malim in Perak. There are oil palm plantations all around. I can see huge raptors overhead. It's a pity I can't get a clear shot of them from inside the bus.

On The Road To Kuala Lumpur Part 2

We're going through mountains and clouds now, with trees on either side. Swallows dart overhead, catching insects for breakfast. I am surprised I still get internet access here.

On The Road To Kuala Lumpur Part 1

I'm on the bus to Kuala Lumpur again. I'm going there for some business which will hopefully be short, so I can enjoy the rest of the trip. I am typing this out on my cellphone and posting via GPRS. Thanks to modern tech I can fill the web with pointlessness even on the go.

Peter Jackson Will Be Executive Producer For Hobbit Movies

I think everyone knows this by now. The news hit the wire yesterday that Peter Jackson is set to be the executive producer for the Hobbit movie, and an unnecessary sequel to it that takes place before LOTR. No word yet on who will direct it though. Peter Jackson said he was "too busy" to direct it, so we'll see what happens.

Farewell Little Kitties

I don't think Minnie and Mungo are ever coming back. I fear they may also be deceased. The cats in our neighbourhood are disappearing one by one.

Farewell, Minnie and Mungo, wherever you are. Farewell, Riffraff. I'll miss you all.

Farewell My Little Friend

I found my little grey tabby cat dead in the drain today. It was heartbreaking to see him like that.

When he and his sisters were just little stray kittens outside my house, they would hide from me all the time. The little grey one was the one who was most adventurous, and thus he was the first to become close to us.

He used to wait for me to come home from work every day and then nuzzle my feet or hop onto the sofa and asked to be pet. I'm really going to miss him. The above picture was taken on the last day I saw him alive.

His name was Riffraff. He was a sweet, friendly and loyal little cat. I'll never forget him.

His sisters (Minnie and Mungo) are now missing. I fear they may be dead too.

Tripod

I went to PC Fair today and I was surprised by the number of people selling photography equipment. There were all sorts of cameras and accessories up for sale, so I got myself a Nikon tripod for 110 Malaysian Ringgit. It's not a bad deal.

Yet More Random Birds

While taking my regular strolls around the lake on campus, I've bumped into other birding enthusiasts from the Malaysian Nature Society and I plugged my blog to them (I hope you guys visit often).

The following pictures weren't taken all on the same day, but they were all taken at the same location; near the lakes on USM's main campus. Birds love to frolic there.

I saw a dollarbird (this was taken today)! This is only the second time I've spotted one.

The magpie robin was made famous amongst the masses in Malaysia recently when it was featured in a rather annoying advertisement about... uhm, petrol?

I have no idea what these two are, but they're pretty.

A white-breasted waterhen walks comically along a branch.

I think I'm going to call this fellow William. Because then I can shorten it to "Bill", since he's a stork-billed kingfisher and he has a huge bill, get it? Get it? Haw haw. Bill and I are on a first name basis now.

Installing Leopard

I spent the most of the morning installing Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) on the iMac. The installation was just pushing a few buttons and it took care of itself. The installer took forever to verify the DVD, but the install itself took only about 20 minutes.

The rest of the day was spent waiting for the updates to download. While waiting I tried to get used to the new UI, and to figure out what's changed. Overall, it looks shinier than Tiger, but the new folder icons are dreadful. They have this dim look to them that makes you think they're not really an active part of the user interface, which is a terrible UI design choice.

Also, the new firewall befuddles me. It has three settings:

1. Allow all incoming connections
   
2. Allow only essential services
   
3. Set access for specific services and applications

The second option used to be called "Block all incoming connections", but it doesn't really do that, so Apple changed the description to "allow only essential services", which is not helpful either. What's essential? What isn't? They say the old IPFW firewall is still around, so I'll enable that instead of the application-level firewall they have now.

Apart from those issues, I think I like the new changes to the UI. The new dock is very pretty, as is the "stacking effect" when multiple documents spring up from a single dock slot. Spaces (multiple virtual desktops) are a welcome addition to the UI, as Mac OS X boldly takes users to where Unix desktops have been since the 1980's. The Quick Look feature is kind of neat (in a flashy way), as it lets you preview the contents of any particular file. I haven't taken a look at Time Machine (a file snapshot and archiving tool) yet, but it may come in handy for some of the things I need to do at work.

More Random Birds

I couldn't go to work today because I had a terrible migraine. Therefore, I didn't get a chance to try out Leopard or write about it. In the meantime, enjoy these bird photos. I picked out the ones where I could get the closest to the birds for a shot. These are probably my best bird shots with the Sony H2 since I purchased it.

It's relatively easy to get a closeup of the black-crowned night-heron. There are lots of them on campus, and they sometimes venture to branches of mangrove trees near the shore of the lake.

Swallows are also remarkably easy to photograph. They seem unperturbed by approaching photographers as they sit perched. It's as if they want to tell me "I don't care how close you get because I'm too fast for you, puny human".

Pigeons aren't all that remarkable or difficult to photograph, but I kind of like this shot.

A sandpiper looking for food in the morning. This was a rather lucky shot, as the sandpiper will flee when people get too close.

The stork-billed kingfisher and I get along very well nowadays. I can get as close as I want to him and he doesn't care.

It Arrives Tuesday

After a few weeks of anticipation, a very nice, shiny new iMac with a 24" screen and a 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme arrived at my workplace. It comes pre-installed with Tiger, but I got a Leopard DVD together with it so I'll be trying that out tomorrow.

I can understand why Apple fans love their machines so much. It's so shiny.

Egrets

These photos were taken at Gurney Drive, Penang. I'm guessing they are great white egrets. In the last photo, a few sandpipers can be seen hanging out with the egrets.

Botanical Garden

The Botanical Garden in Penang was where my parents always used to take me when I was a little kid. I used to call it "monkey garden" because of the abundance of monkeys roaming about and stealing food from tourists. It's been so long ago since I went there that I don't remember what it looked like then. Today, I visited the place again and I found that didn't recognise the place at all. There were a few monkeys, but there weren't any birds I could see. It's a very nice place though, as there are plenty of trees and plants.

Brahminy Kites

There's an old war museum in Batu Maung, situated on a hill where many raptors flock (the bird kind, not the kind that terrifies Randall Munroe in his nightmares).

A brahminy kite sits high upon a branch on a hill.

Another brahminy kite (I think) soaring high above us.

This is as close as I have ever gotten to birds of prey. I should really get an add-on lens for my camera for better zoom.

Fishing Village

Today, my mom and I took a drive to Batu Maung where we stopped by the fishing village there for some sightseeing. The village, known as Kampung Teluk Tempoyak, is a place where people eat grilled fish by the sea. We didn't eat anything, but I did get some terrific photos.

A serene view of the village, with a few fishing boats anchored near the shore.

That's not a real giant clam.

A crab!

Here he is again, scuttling along on a rock.

I Spotted Some New Ones

I have been fortunate these few days to have spotted a variety of birds I hadn't seen before (or perhaps I had, but never paid too much attention to them).

A grey wagtail shakes its booty on a bright morning. This was taken behind my workplace.

A pair of pink-necked pigeons perch on a treeptop, amongst juvenile glossy starlings. The male is on the far right, whereas the one on the far left is a female.

Many scaly-breasted munias can be found in the grassy fields on campus.

A migrant brown shrike sits in a small tree.

I love this tiny bird. It's a male scarlet-backed flowerpecker, and it has a funky red band along its back.

This is a greater racket-tailed drongo.

Greater coucals can be found in secondary forests and shrubbery.

Thank you Choo Eng for helping me identify the shrike and the drongo, and Annette for help with identifying the wagtail.

The Third Species

Today, I found the common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) hunting for food by the lake (Tasik Aman in USM). Despite its name, the common kingfisher is hardly common on campus. It took weeks of searching to find this critter, and here it is.

There may be more species kingfishers waiting to be found yet. I'm really happy I found this one today.