death by blogging

that's right.. people have actually died from blogging! i found this really scary article from the NY times.

Some of the blogging community are worried that blogging could be bad for your health. The constant need to publish new and exciting facts is putting stress on successful bloggers, and the recent deaths from heart attacks of three popular writers is causing something of a rethink in the industry. “I haven’t died yet,” Michael Arrington, founder and co-editor of TechCrunch, told The New York Times. “At some point, I’ll have a nervous breakdown and be admitted to hospital, or something else will happen. This is not sustainable.”


Arrington claimed that he has gained 30 pounds and developed a severe sleeping disorder over the past three years as a result of his job. Two other technology bloggers, Russell Shaw, 60, and Marc Orchant, 50, have died of heart failures. While blogging has not been directly linked to their deaths, the stress of churning out thousands of words a day may have been a factor. “There is no time ever, including when you’re sleeping, when you’re not worried about missing a story,” said Arrington. “Wouldn’t it be great if we said that no blogger or journalist could write a story between 8pm Pacific time and dawn? Then we could all take a break. But that’s never going to happen.”

scary..

how to know if someone likes you romantically

most of the time, i'm pretty much in the dark when it comes to someone liking me that way.. in fact, i'd be the last one to know and whenever someone tells me someone was crushing on me, i have a hard time believing them. so, here are a few tips from the book of knowledge, eHow's How To Do Just About Everything.

sometimes the direct approach is the best - just ask. but if that seems too bold, look for some of these telling signs.

Behaviour:

• pay attention to your conversations with the person in question. does this person show a special interest in talking with you and, once it's started, make an effort to keep the conversation going?
• does this person "accidentally" run into you in places where they know you will be?
• notice whether this person mentions future plans to spend time with you; "that band is coming here soon. we should really get tickets."
• notice if the person is making an effort to spend time alone together. canceling other plans in order to be with you longer, or finding excuses not to leave, could be a sign of romantic interest.
• has the person been calling for seemingly random reasons, such as, "i was wondering if you knew what that pizza place down the street is called', followed by, "are you hungry?"
• has the person taken a sudden interest in you life and hobbies? this is a sure sign that they are interested in something - and it's probably not your stamp collection.
• observe how the person acts around your friends - they might be extra friendly to your closest pals for a reason.

body language:

• sometimes seeing someone you have a crush on results in telltale physiological signs. does the person in question blush when you look at them? his/her sympathetic nervous system is probably going into overdrive. does he/she jumble their words when talking to you?
• see if the person mirrors your movements: when you lean back, they lean back; when you put your elbows on the table, they do the same.
• notice whether this person sits or stands in the open position - that is, facing you with arms uncrossed, or crossing her legs in your direction if the person is a woman.
• does he move closer to you and/or touch you subtly, such as patting your hand or touching your cheek? (that's kinda freaky..)
• look for other elements of body language, such as frequent eye contact, holding your gaze and looking down before looking away, energetic speech coupled with open hands, or flashing palms.
• does the person you're wondering about smile at you a lot?

think about these.. maybe you just realised someone secretly crushing on you. ':)
have a good weekend everyone!

Free-IQTest.net

Free-IQTest.net - IQ Test

it's 1.30am here and i was bored.. did this very short IQ test and scored 121. googled what the score meant.

• Over 140 - Genius or near genius

• 120 - 140 - Very superior intelligence

• 110 - 119 - Superior intelligence

• 90 - 109 - Normal or average intelligence

• 80 - 89 - Dullness

• 70 - 79 - Borderline deficiency

• Under 70 - Definite feeble-mindedness

cool. very superior intelligence.. i don't feel like one though..

then i found this which confirmed just that..

High IQ & Genius IQ

Genius IQ is generally considered to begin around 140 to 145, representing ~.25% of the population (1 in 400). Here's a rough guide:

• 115-124 - Above average (e.g., university students)
• 125-134 - Gifted (e.g., post-graduate students)
• 135-144 - Highly gifted (e.g., intellectuals)
• 145-154 - Genius (e.g., professors)
• 155-164 - Genius (e.g., Nobel Prize winners)
• 165-179 - High genius
• 180-200 - Highest genius
• >200 - "Unmeasurable genius"

so i guess, i'm at a level of what i should be.

7 things you shouldn't do after a meal

i'm back after a very short, 2 weeks of easter but even so, i had a very good easter break. went to keele to celebrate my sister's birthday then spent the rest of easter in london just hanging out till 8am almost everyday. it was awesome. anyway, i learned a few things while i was there and today's topic is one of them. enjoy!

1- Don’t smoke- Experts have proven that smoking a cigarette after meal is comparable to smoking 10 cigarettes.

2- Don’t eat fruits immediately - Immediately eating fruits after meals will cause stomach to be bloated with air. Therefore eat fruit 1-2 hr’s after a meal or 1hr before a meal.

3- Don’t drink tea - Tea leaf’s contain a high content of acid. This substance will cause the protein content in the food we consume to be hardened thus difficult to digest.

4- Don’t loosen your belt - Loosening your belt after a meal will easily cause the intestine to be twisted & blocked.

5- Don’t bath - Bathing will cause the increase of blood flow to the hands, legs & body thus the amount of blood around the stomach will therefore decrease. This will weaken the digestive system in our stomach.

6- Don’t walk about - People always say that after a meal walk a hundred steps and you will live till 99. In actual fact this is not true. Walking will cause the digestive system to be unable to absorb the nutrition from the food we intake.

7- Don’t sleep immediately - The food we intake will not be able to digest properly. Thus will lead to gastric & infection in our intestine.

to those who are still on a break, have a good one!

easter + PC + video games = FUN

easter break is finally here, although i'm a bit mad that it's only 2 weeks but i'll take what i can. oh heck.. i just checked the calender and i'm into my 5th day of easter. almost a week and after next week, it's back to dull classes taught by dull lecturers.. just a short post today, sharing what i've been up to and what i'll do so that my whole easter won't go to waste with me just being cooped up in my room in front of my PC.

just before the break started, i discovered a new interest - PC building! buying the necessary parts for a desktop and build it myself!

i've been dying for a new entertainment machine after my laptop of 3 years, finally decided to call it quits.i scowered through the interenet and asked people's opinion on what to buy. the new m15x from alienware caught my attention and i had to have it. i didn't care that it'll set me back more than 2 grand (pounds!). i looked super cool and it is the most powerful 15 inch laptop on the planet!


after a long and frustrating experience with the customer service for more than 3 weeks, i decided to take back my hard-earned cash and looked for something else..

i decided to go for a desktop, since it's much more powerful than any laptops for the same amount of cash. of course, i'd lose the portability, but i don't really carry my computers around with me anyway. and with the job i'll be having, i'll need to move my computer around every few months.

so then, i looked for an uber-cool PC. i stumbled on this on a magazine. it is the best gaming PC at the moment.
this is from commodore. after selecting the components that i want in it, it'll set me back about 2000 pounds too but 3x more powerful than the alienware.

i was really ready to buy but for some weird reason, the 'buy now' button wouldn't work. it kept bringing me to the homepage. so, i thought i'd try some other day.

on that very same day, i was browsing through youtube looking for videos on the commodore and a comment struck me. "pfft! expensive shit.. it's cheaper and much easier to build that gaming PC"

really? how easy is it?

so for a whole week, i watched videos on how to build a pc. and holy heck, it is easy. after i was somewhat confident with the steps, i dove in and bought the components from novatech. since i was just buying parts, it arrived the next day! it cost just over a thousand pounds but i had almost the same specs as the commodore! took me 4 hours to complete the build.. i have never been so nervous in my life as i was when turning it on for the first time..

i took a deep breath and switched it on..

nothing.. screen is blank

tried again..

nothing.. still blank.

oh crap...

then i realised i forgot the switch button on the casing itself. turned that on and it was alive!


isn't she pretty.. yes, it's a she and yes she does have a name.. tasha. ':) also, that 19-inch monitor is so awesome. very clear, very huge (for me).

btw, that is a dirty fishbowl. i'm taking care of the 2 goldfish inside it for a friend who's off to milan.

so for the rest of easter, i'm contiplating on cancelling my around-UK trip and just stay here to keep my PC company. ':)

proper post coming soon. have a good easter everyone!