Help me solve this puzzle...

Well, if you have the time, maybe you could help me unravel the 'puzzle' that in a way created some mess in my experimental results. Though I've managed to use another method to bypass this puzzling scenario, I'm still pondering over how this could occur.

Suppose you know a starting date for an event, the duration of the event, the time now (i.e. current time) and you wanted to find the remaining time for the event... I generated some messages during the execution of the codes and this is an extracted part which is puzzling...
Starting Date: S = 1/2/2006 7:24:12 AM
Time Now: T = 1/2/2006 8:20:30 AM
Duration: 66.10 mins = 66.10/(24.0*60.0) days
Remaining Time: 9.78 mins

The puzzle is: How do you get 9.78 mins?

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If you use Excel and plug in the formula:
remaining time = (Starting Date + Duration (in days) - Time Now) * 24.0 * 60.0 [mins]
You should get approx. 9.8 mins
However, ASAP gives me 9.78 mins instead. It may seem like a very small difference (oh, what's the big deal?), but it created a hell of a problem and messed up my results. TMD.
[I suspect truncation errors... but then, how to chk?]

Everyone is familiar with ASAP... but what about ASAP^2?
ASAP^2 = 'settle' AutoSched AP (ASAP) * As Soon As Possible (ASAP)...
Both ASAP are equally sickening...

Pirates of the Carribean...

A little note:
A life busy filled with tons of work is extremely boring to blog about... that's why the lack of entries for quite a long time.
Chou Xian said that he wanted to come over to my place to keep me company last Sat (he's too free while I'm too busy) and he did... but it's the sleeping partner's occasional snores that kept me company. I should have expected it since he was just back from the shitty 16km road march that morning. The tiresome us (he's physically tired while I'm mentally tired) only decided to catch the Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest after dinner. We thought Golden Village Yishun is "ulu" enough and there should still be tics... but we were utterly wrong (only 1st row seats left for all shows before 11.10pm). In the end, we decided to try the "ulu-est" place in the north (Eng Wah - Sun Plaza) and true enough, there were still tons of tics with good seats... ah xi didn't join us because she don't like to watch movies in these "or-bit" cinemas while xiao pong, once again, become our light bulb... haha ;p To me, it just doesn't matter where the cinema is so long as I get to watch my movie along with a pack of popcorns... this movie is really good, you shld catch it.

***

This is a 3D papercraft from The Disney Experience.
Nice?
Xiao Dumbo is making one for Chou Hippo right now...
and Dumbo hopes that it won't turn out shitty looking. ;)

Ugly NDP Commemorative Watch

In my opinion, this is a very ugly watch.

Print a tiny "NDP" on it and you call it a NDP commemorative watch - and only god knows which year it is commemorating. If that's the case, I can easily create my own commemorative theme (for my k750i), wallpaper, etc... And it's not even for the celebration of 25 years of independence (it's our 41st birthday btw)... and yet the unpopular-to-me brand name is so much larger as the NDP word - I wonder why would anyone be interested in getting one of this watch?!? 25 Hours need to employ much better designers... just my two cents worth of advice! But even then, sad to say, I still prefer other brands.

I just hate dealing with admin & finance staff

I just hate having to deal with the administrative & finance staff over here... Somehow there will be a number of bad eggs that are super f***ed up and it is these people who screwed up both the image and the efficiency of the whole system here.

Today, I had the "suay" privilege of encountering NOT one, but two of such gone-cases. First, they claimed that they have not received any authorization notification from KP to tell them that I'll be collecting his transcripts on his behalf even though KP told me he did that at least two weeks back. I wasn't cc... no defence... NEVER MIND.

Then I asked: Isn't it sufficient that I had KP's graduating certificate and payment receipt with me (both originals btw)?... blah blah blah (and I explain)"... but these two KIASI staff refused to accede (in the first place, I have the impression that they don't even bother abt what I say...). FINE... I know there's no point going up against a wall trying to convince two crappy law-by-law practitioners.

Ask yourself, which is easier: (i) Duplicate an authorization letter, or (ii) Duplicate his original graduating certificate and receipt? Tell me!!! Urgghhh, if I have the authorization to collect the cert, why can't I collect the transcripts????

The best part comes thereafter... I was about to leave when one cockanaden told me: "You go back first, ask your friend to write you or send us an authorization letter... anyway, the transcripts are not ready yet, need three working days." This is the part which made me fuming mad.
"What do you mean by NOT READY? It has already been more than five working days and you are telling me that it's still not ready." Then she quickly check... "Oh, it's ready but we can't give you..." (D.L.)

Talk about world-class/efficiency/flexibility... my FOOT!

Wayne Rooney is Po (Teletubby) Look-alike?

This is so hilarious (found in i-weekly magazine)...
i-weekly was doing a bit of soccer stars and showbiz celebrity comparison... it says:
"As for the bad-tempered Wayne Rooney...... after think here think there (after pondering), he has a closest resemblance to the "strange strange" (怪怪) Teletubby
(loosely translated from the chinese text)

hahaha... jialat, I couldn't stop laughing everytime I catch a glimpse of this pic.

(luckily I didn't flip to this page on the MRT, else everyone in the same compartment would think that I'm insane (cos I kept laughing).

Mr... Mrs... Miss... which one?

Do you known any straight guy with English/Christian name ending with 'line'??? Tell me! To the best of my knowledge, all names ending with 'line' belong to gals/ladies. My name it's not like those Roop Lakhsmi Narayan Misra kind of ambiguous addressee’s name which you will probably have a hard time guessing the person’s sex. Mine is common and doesn't even require any bit of deciphering... and I could still have people replying to my email addressing me as: "Dear Mr. ***line ***"... wah kao, if you can't get it right, omit the salutation for goodness sake.