2012: What Now?

My blogging has become very sporadic. In 2011, I made 5 blog posts total. 2 of which were merely photos, 1 was a reflection of the past year, 1 was a random idea and 1 was just a blurb about how things were supposed to change — and didn't.  Hell, even this post - the mandatory New Year post is a week late. It seems my life is simply too mundane - too difficult for me to find things to blog about that's unique. I've been setting standards that are probably too high. Why should I talk about iOS vs Android? What about the last 3 movies I actually went to the cinema to watch? What about my last few new gadgets? It might be time to throw caution to the wind and simply blog about everything. Who cares if I start blogging about things that don't matter?

But first, I've got to reflect on the previous year:

• I bought a car, it's not strictly speaking the first car I've owned, but it's the first one which I've bought in Australia. It doesn't look like much, but it fits 4 people and runs well.
• I need to work harder on those exams. The single remaining paper remains elusive. Perhaps - it's time to try something new.
• I've returned to buying Apple products. In addition to the iPad I bought in 2010, I now own a Mac Mini and an iPhone 4S. There's a tale to be told behind the acquisitions, especially why I decided to abandon my Android phone.
• My motivation to play video games is drying up. However, I'm not sure I'm the cause. I've played many games in StarCraft II, gone through Deus Ex: Human Revolution, finished Portal 2's single player and co-op campaigns. I'm begining to think it's not my interest in games that's waning; it's that most games are no longer worth my interest, and my ever decreasing free time (despite not having a social life) is making my standards possibly higher.
• I've finally acquired some new cubes from V-Cube - I haven't learned how to solve the newer sizes and the new quirks I have to deal with, but it's going to happen one day.
• I'm quitting Magic... again. Maybe. I started again during the year for a short while, but I realized the expense was just too high - hell, I even went as far as to build a deck for Grand Prix Brisbane. That's a tale for another day.

There's probably a lot more I haven't mentioned. It's not coming to mind at the moment.

Theory of Roundabouts - Part 1

It's been quite a while since I last wrote a blog post - so let's start off with a post about something that comes up in everyday life - roundabouts. Why roundabouts? As you may or may not know, I moved to the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia last year. Queensland loves its roundabouts - there are roundabouts everywhere. There is a roundabout wherever in other places would simply be a 4-way junction.

What does this mean for us? It means that you run into roundabouts all the time - and roundabouts are useful because they slow down traffic. I walk to work everyday - so having cars move slower because of a roundabout is fantastic for me. It means I can cross roads with a little more safety than usually.

Now, being a statistician, there's always the tendency to look at things with a little more analysis than usual. For example, here's a 4-way roundabout, not unlike the one near the office I work at.

Now - there are interesting observations we can make from something as simple as this - the path I labeled number 1 actually leads to an outdoor car park for the office workers and park visitors that are nearby.

Why is this important information? It means cars won't be coming from that direction very often until it comes time for people to leave the office. It also means very few cars will be going into that exit since it doesn't really lead anywhere.

Let's go on to the other paths. Path no. 2 leads towards a main highway, path no. 3 leads towards another main road, and path no. 4 leads to a shopping centre.

Why is this useful information? It tells you which trajectories of the roundabout are the most likely. The most likely paths given the source of the car:

Unfortunately, I am too sleepy to continue for now... more on how to use this information in Part 2!

Photos: Apple Remote

Recently, I bought an Apple Remote - it looked so nice, small and simple. It's also surprisingly not as flat as some photos would suggest.

The black 4-way button is actually a slightly bumped up - and the button in the middle of the ring and the Menu button is actually curve inwards. This makes it a lot easier to know whether or not you are pressing the correct button.

The back holds the battery cover, which appears to require a coin to turn.

As for a quick review, the signal is received very easily, it feels thin, and cold if you kept your air conditioning on for too long (since it's made out of metal). Whether it's worth it or not - depends on you. I've got plenty of uses for a remote control for my computer's media - do you?

Revamping ALL The Things!

While the Twitter update posts are here to stay (for now), I've neatened them up for now - no longer are they just for very week, most of them are for longer periods of time so that they hold more stuff to read rather than one line short tweets. I've also updated WordPress... again - no surprise there. What has changed, however, is the mobile theme. It is now catered towards newer iOS and Android browsers rather than older mobile ones - not like I have any visitors on those old mobile browsers anyway.

While I can't say there'll be a new blog post on any kind of schedule while my brain is still permanently in some kind of transition - I think it's time for a new interest or two to start leeching its way back onto my blog.

Photos: Event Decks - Into the Breach

Ever since I started playing Magic I've always been fascinated by preconstructed decks - now Wizards of the Coast has a new series of preconstructed decks which are a little more competitive in nature called Event Decks. They cost more - but they also need less extra cards to improve them compared to the Intro Packs that are around now. I thought I'd share a few photos of this awesome set which looks great.

Skin oils are visible on the box - which is responsible for some of the streaking you see.

The deck box is cardboard - so it won't last you as long as your Ultra-Pro ones, but it's still pretty darn good.

The product contains the main deck in one pack, the sideboard in another pack, an Into the Breach folded insert, a standard Magic 2011 introduction insert and a cardboard divider so that you can separate your sideboard from your main deck. I'm not sure if the deck box will still fit your deck with proper deck protectors - I believe it'll be a snug fit if your deck protectors are thick ones similar to Ultra PRO ones.