Jul 4, 2008
Which tree are you?
Dec 23 to Jan 01 - Apple Tree
Jan 01 to Jan 11 - Fir Tree
Jan 12 to Jan 24 - Elm Tree
Jan 25 to Feb 03 - Cypress Tree
Feb 04 to Feb 08 - Poplar Tree
Feb 09 to Feb 18 - Cedar Tree
Feb 19 to Feb 28 - Pine Tree
Mar 01 to Mar 10 - Weeping Willow Tree
Mar 11 to Mar 20 - Lime Tree
Mar 21 (only) - Oak Tree
Mar 22 to Mar 31 - Hazelnut Tree
Apr 01 to Apr 10 - Rowan Tree
Apr 11 to Apr 20 - Maple Tree
Apr 21 to Apr 30 - Walnut Tree
May 01 to May 14 - Poplar Tree
May 15 to Ma y 24 - Chestnut Tree
May 25 to Jun 03 - Ash Tree
Jun 04 to Jun 13 - Hornbeam Tree
Jun 14 to Jun 23 - Fig Tree
Jun 24 (only) - Birch Tree
Jun 25 to Jul 04 - Apple Tree
Jul 05 to Jul 14 - Fir Tree
Jul 15 to Jul 25 - Elm Tree
Jul 26 to Aug 04 - Cypress Tree
Aug 05 to Aug 13 - Poplar Tree
Aug 14 to Aug 23 - Cedar Tree
Aug 24 to Sep 02 - Pine Tree
Sep 03 to Sep 12 - Weeping Willow Tree
Sep 13 to Sep 22 - Lime Tree
Sep 23 (only) - Olive Tree
Sep 24 to Oct 03 - Hazelnut Tree
Oct 04 to Oct 13 - Rowan Tree
Oct 14 to Oct 23 - Maple Tree
Oct 24 to Nov 11 - Walnut Tree
Nov 12 to Nov 21 - Chestnut Tree
Nov 22 to Dec 01 - Ash Tree
Dec 02 to Dec 11 - Hornbeam Tree
Dec 12 to Dec 21 - Fig Tree
Dec 22 (only) - Beech Tree
TREES (in alphabetical order)
Apple Tree (Love) -- quiet and shy at times, lots of charm,appeal, and attraction, pleasant attitude, flirtatious smile, adventurous, sensitive, loyal in love, wants to love and be loved, faithful and tender partner, very generous, many talents, loves children, needs affectionate partner.
Ash Tree (Ambition) -- extremely attractive, vivacious, impulsive, demanding, does not care for criticism, ambitious, intelligent, talented, likes to play with fate, can be very egotistic, reliable, restless lover, sometimes money rules over the heart, demands attention, needs love and much emotional support.
Beech Tree (Creative) -- has good taste, concerned about its looks, materialistic, good organization of life and career, economical, good leader, takes no unnecessary risks, reasonable, splendid lifetime companion, keen on keeping fit (diets, sports, etc.).
Birch Tree (Inspiration) -- vivacious, attractive, elegant, friendly, unpretentious, modest, does not like any thing in excess, abhors the vulgar, loves life in nature and in calm, not very passionate, full of imagination, little ambition, creates a calm and content atmosphere.
Cedar Tree (Confidence) -- of rare strength, knows how to adapt, likes unexpected presents, of good health, not in the least shy, tends to look down on others, self-confident, a great speaker, determined, often impatient, likes to impress others, has many talents, industrious, healthy optimism, waits for the one true love, able to make quick decisions..
Chestnut Tree (Honesty) -- of unusual stature, impressive, well-developed sense of justice, fun to be round, a planner, born diplomat, can be irritated easily, sensitive of others feelings, hard worker, sometimes acts superior, feels not understood at times, fiercely family oriented, very loyal in love, physically fit.
Cypress Tree (Faithfulness) -- strong, muscular, adaptable, takes what life has to give but doesn't necessarily like it, strives to be content, optimistic, wants to be financially independent, wants love and affection, hates loneliness, passionate lover which cannot be satisfied, faithful, quick-tempered at times, can be unruly and careless, loves to gain knowledge, needs to be needed.
Elm Tree (Noble-mindedness) -- pleasant shape, tasteful clothes, modest demands, tends not to forgive mistakes, cheerful, likes to lead but not to obey, honest and faithful partner, likes making decisions for others, noble-minded, generous, good sense of humor, practical.
Fig Tree (Sensibility) -- very strong minded, a bit self-willed, honest, loyal, independent, hates contradiction or arguments, hard worker when wants to be, loves life and friends, enjoys children and animals, few sexual relationships, great sense of humor, has artistic talent and great intelligence.
Fir Tree (Mysterious) -- extraordinary taste, handles stress well, loves anything beautiful, stubborn, tends to care for those close to them, hard to trust others, yet a social butterfly, likes idleness and laziness after long demanding hours at work, rather modest, talented, unselfish, many friends, very reliable.
Hazelnut Tree (Extraordinary) -- charming, sense of humor, very demanding but can also be very understanding, knows how to make a lasting impression, active fighter for social causes and politics, popular, quite moody, sexually oriented, honest, a perfectionist, has a precise sense of judgment and expects complete fairness.
Hornbeam Tree (Good Taste) -- of cool beauty, cares for its looks and condition, good taste, is not egoistic, makes life as comfortable as possible, leads a reasonable and disciplined life, looks for kindness and acknowledgment in an emotional partner, dreams of unusual lovers, is seldom happy with its feelings, mistrusts most people, is never sure of its decisions, very conscientious.
Lime Tree (Doubt) -- intelligent, hard working, accepts what life dishes out, but not before trying to change bad circumstances into good ones, hates fighting and stress, enjoys getaway vacations, may appear tough, but is actually soft and relenting, always willing to make sacrifices for family and friends, has many talents but not always enough time to use them, can become a complainer, great leadership qualities, is jealous at times but extremely loyal.
Maple Tree (Independence of Mind) -- no ordinary person, full of imagination and originality, shy and reserved, ambitious, proud, self-confident, hungers for new experiences, sometimes nervous, has many complexities, good memory, learns easily, complicated love life, wants to impress.
Oak Tree (Brave) -- robust nature, courageous, strong, unrelenting, independent, sensible, does not like change, keeps its feet on the ground, person of action.
Olive Tree (Wisdom) -- loves sun, warmth and kind feelings, reasonable, balanced, avoids aggression and violen ce, tolerant, cheerful, calm, well-developed sense of justice, sensitive, expressive, well-empathetic, free of jealousy, loves to read and the company of sophisticated people.
Pine Tree (Peacemaker) -- loves agreeable company, craves peace and harmony, loves to help others, active imagination, likes towrite poetry, not fashion conscious, great compassion, friendly to all, falls strongly in love but will leave if betrayed orlied to, emotionally soft, low self esteem, needs affection and reassurance.
Poplar Tree (Uncertainty) -- looks very decorative, talented, not very self-confident, extremely courageous if necessary, needs goodwill and pleasant surroundings, very choosy, often lonely, great animosity, great artistic nature, good organizer, tends to lean toward philosophy, reliable in any situation, takes partnership seriously.
Rowan Tree (Sensitivity) -- full of charm, cheerful, gifted without egoism, likes to draw attention, loves life, motion, unrest, and even complications, is both dependent and independent, good taste, artistic, passionate, emotional, good company, does not forgive.
Walnut Tree (Passion) -- unrelenting, strange and full of contrasts, often egotistic, aggressive, noble, broad horizon, unexpected reactions, spontaneous, unlimited ambition, no flexibility, difficult and uncommon partner, not always liked but often admired, ingenious strategist, very jealous and passionate, no compromise.
Weeping Willow (Melancholy) - likes to be stress free, loves family life, full of hopes and dreams, attractive, very empathetic, loves anything beautiful, musically inclined, loves to travel to exotic places, restless, capricious, hon est, can be influenced but is not easy to live with when pressured, sometimes demanding, good intuition, suffers in love until they find that one loyal, steadfast partner; loves to make others laugh.
"When you REALLY want something, sometimes you have to swim a little deeper....You can't give up just because things don't come easy...You have to overcome the obstacles and face your fears...But in the end, it's all worth while! Life is full of ups and downs, but if you believe in yourself you will always come through with flying colors. Value friendship, love, and faith. Never underestimate yourself. If you follow this advice you can never go wrong!"
Jun 7, 2008
Eight Ways To Kill Your HDD
Eight Ways To Kill Your HDD
Overclocking
Overclocking the system per se does not impose a direct threat to the HDD, however, things change once the PCI frequency goes beyond 38 MHz. Some older drives like the IBM Deskstar5 series would simply corrupt all data, some others like the Western Digitals were running fine up to 42 MHz PCI frequency without problems. The same was true for the older Samsung drives, however, those drives had pitiful performance anyway so we won't talk about them. Factors that influence the stability of the drive at higher IDE frequencies are amongst other things the quality and, as silly as it may appear, the installation of the UATA cables used.
Incorrect Orientation of UATA Cables
Before the days of Ultra DMA 33, IDE cables were available in about any form and shape and length. Some ultra-long cables were up to 24 and 27" long and meant to be used in full tower, others had the middle connectors in all kinds of positions. UDMA/33 brought on some more stringent limitations on the cable length and positioning of the middle connector and while the specs still left open the question of which connector had to be used for master or slaves, certain high-speed drives like the WesternDigital WDC22500, WDC24300 or WDC26400 would either not run or else suffer from extremely compromised longevity when hooked up to the center connector as single drive on that particular channel. This phenomenon was as puzzling (after all, there should not be any difference since the same wires are used) as it was consistent between users and chipsets. The main reason why the phenomenon was so counterintuitive was that with shorter cable length, most drives would function better on any overclocked system, so why was it necessary to add trace length and move the drive to the very end of the IDE cable?
The explanation is actually very straightforward and leads directly into the definitions of the current UATA cables. All high-speed data transfer cables need termination at the end of any signal path. In the easiest case, termination is just a resistor to ground that absorbs voltage amplitudes also known as signals. If such a termination is missing at the end of the cable, the signal will bounce back and eventually interfere with any forward-moving signal at any point in between. Any drive, though, will act as a terminator but it should be clear that termination is effective only if it is at the end of the cable and not somewhere in between. The proof was in the pudding, that is, by cutting off the tail of the IDE cable, the same drive would suddenly work on the same middle connector that did not function before. At the time, we thought of it as black magic but I still have my 4" home-made, single drive IDE cables that are working flawlessly.
Ultra ATA cables
Aside from signal reflection, another major problem of the 40 wire cables was the electrical cross-talk between data and command lines. Deterioration of signal integrity because of cross talk increases dramatically with cable length, which is the reason for the twisted pair specifications of CAT-5 Ethernet cables, just to give one example. Electrical cross-talk can successfully be eliminated by inserting shields between the individual data wires and this is exactly the reason why Ultra ATA/66 and higher are using 80 wires since 40 of these wires are tied to ground and act as shields between the signal wires.
In addition, UATA/66 cables always have one connector that, by definition, has to be connected to the mainboard, one connector on the far end that is the master or single drive and one connector that is for the slave device in the middle of the chain. The ratio between the cable segments is one of the factors but the real issue is the fact that only on the blue connector are the shield wires connected to ground. After reading the above, there should be no question regarding the rationale behind this arrangement.
Rounded Cables
Some companies have gotten really cute with the design of what has become known as rounded cables. Depending on the manufacturer, the ribbons are sliced into single or multiple strands and then bundled tightly. In most cases, there should be no problems, however, there have been numerous suspicions on many bulletin boards about rounded cables causing higher coaster rates while burning CDs. Likewise, users of rounded cables appear to suffer from abnormally high failure rates of HDDs. Again, this could be pure coincidence but it is food for thought, at least.
Removable Drive Racks
Aside from the speculations about rounded cables, there are some hard data on removable drive racks. Removable drive racks are casings that can be inserted into a 5.25 drive bay and which hold a HDD inside a casing that can slide in and out the drive bay to lock into a connector in the back of the device. Even though this kind of gizmo does not allow hot swapping of HDDs, it allows removal of a drive at the turn of a key or so the manufacturers claim.
We tested several of these devices with the IBM 60GXP and the unfortunate result was that not a single drive survived in the removable rack for more than a few hours. Symptoms usually started with lagging of the system to go to the Windows splash screen after the POST. This lag continued to get progressively worse over several reboots until the drive finally was no longer recognized at all.
Interestingly, if the drive was removed from the removable racks during the initial stages of errors and hooked up to a standard UATA cable, full functionality was restored immediately. Whenever we waited until the drive was no longer recognized, switching back could not resolve the problems anymore.
A repetition of the above background appears like carrying owls to Athens but imagine an additional interface with rerouting of the signals from the original cable to a snap-in connector and from there through an additional cable inside the "coffin" to the drive. In short, adding three additional interfaces does not appear a good idea. Per se, though, the concept is great, though, only, don't use it with anything faster than a UATA/66 drive.
TRAS Violation: The Creeping Corruption of a HDD
One of the most common reasons for HDD failure is what is called tRAS violation. tRAS is the minimum bank open time of the DRAM, that is, we are talking about system memory here. Many mainboard manufacturer still include Ultra and Turbo settings in their CMOS setup options that are only workable at 100 MHz memory bus settings, a.k.a PC1600 mode. One setting that has absolutely no impact on performance is the minimum bank open time or tRAS, while the same setting can have catastrophic consequences for data integrity including HDD addressing schemes if the latency is set too short. In theory, tRAS can be as short as tRCD + CAS delay, however, in reality, the minimum bank open time is dictated by the RAS Pulse Width, that is the time required to reach a voltage differential between memory bitlines and reference lines to safely identify a 0 or 1 logical state.
The main reason why tRAS violation does commonly lead to HDD corruption may relate to the translation of the physical memory space into virtual memory sub-spaces by the operating system and finally writing the data back to the storage media but it is not entirely clear what is going on there. A fact is, though, that a tRAS value of 5 is adequate for PC1600 or 100 MHz operation. At 133 Mz or PC2100, tRAS should never undercut 6T, likewise, at PC2700, the value should be increased to 7T where applicable. In terms of performance, tRAS settings hardly make any difference. We challenged some performance gurus at AMD on this matter and they reported a drop in Quake frame rates from 792 fps to 790 fps when increasing tRAS from 5T to 6T.
Tipping Over of Cases
By far the most common damage to drives occurs through mechanical interference. The level of stress depends on the operational state of the drive, that is a drive that is not powered up will withstand some 300 G over 2 msec whereas in a drive that is up and running, 30 G suffice to cause errors and bad sectors. 30 G sounds rather high but any case tipping over and falling on a non-carpeted floor will easily exceed this value. The typical consequence is that the next bootup will terminate with the well known Chrrr, chrrr, chrrr ..... where the splash screen used to be.
Vibrations, Mortal Enemies of HDDs
Less dramatic but likewise common is the drumming on a somewhat fragile desk or bouncing of objects like bouncing balls of computer cases or simply hitting the case with the vacuum cleaner. This kind of scenario can cause vibrations that are the worst possible scenario for any HDD. If a drive can sustain a shock of 30-50G, the tolerance towards vibrations is usually only 1% of the shock tolerance. Typical values are in the order of 0.5-0.7G. It is happening every day. Transporting systems back and forth to LAN parties falls into the same category, in cases like that I always remove the HDD and transport it separately.
Power Outages In The Midst Of Defragmentation
A relatively rare cause of HDD failure is a power outage in the middle of a defragmentation but I have seen it happen and even though the damage is non-permanent in most cases, it may require a low level format which results in complete loss of all data.
HDTach and Similar Benchmark Programs
As nice as these programs are, repetitive use of HDTach and similar utilities add excessive stress to the drive. Even though failure may not occur immediately after benchmarking the drive they can weaken the drive and all it will take is another straw to break the camel's back. All those are factors that should be taken into account when yet another drive gets corrupted or dies. Sometimes it is just not the drive but a user pattern.
Jun 5, 2008
Petrol price up by 78 sen - and will be reviewed monthly
PUTRAJAYA: The Government announced yesterday an increase in petrol and diesel prices, stating that it can no longer continue to subsidise fuel.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the new prices were still at a 30-sen per litre discount from market prices.
In other words, if the market price is RM3 per litre, Malaysians will be charged RM2.70 at the pump. He said the price would be adjusted monthly based on the global oil price.
“Malaysians still pay lower than the market prices as far as petrol is concerned,” he told a packed press conference when announcing the restructuring of the subsidy package.
Abdullah said that although the restructuring would result in consumers having to pay more, prices were still lower compared with Singapore and Thailand.
He said the Government would save RM13.7bil through the restructuring.
From the savings, he said RM4bil would go to the National Food Supply Guarantee Policy, RM1.5bil for subsidising cooking oil and RM400mil to subsidise rice imports to make the price uniform in peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.
The Government would also spend RM200mil on flour subsidy, RM100mil on bread subsidy and RM7.5bil was meant for contributions to the subsidies for petrol, diesel and gas.
On top of that, Abdullah said, the Government would have to fork out RM5bil to pay to owners of cars and motorcycles eligible for rebates introduced under the restructuring of subsidy package.
“Our effort is certainly not an attempt to be popular but we try our best to help the people. We cannot satisfy everyone,” he said.
Abdullah said demand for public transport would go up with the rise in fuel prices and the Government was currently addressing the need to improve services.
He reiterated that the public should make changes to their lifestyle, saying they must ensure there was no wastage in resources such as water, energy and food.
He said if certain adjustments were made, the public would not be “too badly affected by price increases”.
He said the hike in fuel prices would cause a projected increase in inflation of around 4% to 5%. It would also have an impact on the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth but was confident that it could be maintained at 5% this year.
Abdullah said the Cabinet committee on anti-inflation had to come up with a system to ease the public’s burden from higher fuel prices.
“What is important is that we want to ensure the restructuring will encompass a mechanism that will protect and benefit those in the lower and middle income group.
“We are truly committed in ensuring these groups will not be burdened by the increase in petrol and food prices,” he said.
Asked if the subsidy restructuring would result in Malaysians going to the streets to demonstrate their unhappiness, Abdullah was confident the people would not resort to that.




