Year: 2005

Cute bike –> https://stephenhucker.com/blog/wp-content/bike.swf
In korea it is very crowded, so space is at a premium 🙂

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How much RAM is enough? the more the merrier.

Two weeks ago I upgraded my RAM from 1GB to 2GB.
Cost? Around 104,000 won (@US $104)
Was it worth it? The answer is yes,
Before when I was swapping between large applications the system would hang for a second or two. That is now gone.
I can have Photoshop CS2, Dreamweaver, Word, and Opera open and swap between them with ease.
So it looks like 2GB is the perfect amount of memory for a heavy user. I wonder how Windows Vista will handle 2GB ?
It is a 64 bit operating system designed to run on modern hardware so it should use if well, but it is a hudge beast. Only time will tell.

The Melbourne Age had an article on online photo printing services. I think I will use one of these to print my digital photos and send them to mum.

1. AgfaPhoto (www.agfaphoto.com.au)

Print quality: Acceptable

Cost per print: 45c (plus $3 delivery)

Delivery time: Five working days

Two methods of uploading files are offered, either directly through an online form or indirectly via downloadable “client” software. We chose the former method. The three images were uploaded smoothly, however, when it came to choosing the method of delivery (pick-up from a retail store or by post) it became very confusing. It took a phone call to Agfa’s head office in Victoria to sort out, where we struck a very helpful if slightly confused tech (“How did you get my number?”). After that it was plan sailing.

2. Fujicolour (www.fujicolor.com.au)

Print quality: Good

Cost per print: 49c (plus $2.50 delivery)

Delivery time: Four working days

“Get real photos by simply uploading your digital images,” promised the Fuji site, however, the uploading process was anything but simple. Cumbersome and problematic would be nearer the truth. Halfway through uploading our files the site simply froze and when we initially returned was unavailable. Finally, after waiting about an hour we were able to get back into the site and this time the process was painless.

3. Megapixels (www.megapixels.com.au)

Print quality: Outstanding

Cost per print: 19c (plus $3.95 delivery)

Delivery time: Three working days

As well as uploading files via its website, Mexapixels allows you to email your images and even to post your memory card, which is returned along with your prints. We chose to upload our files, a process that was pleasantly glitch-free. One gripe, however, was that the “free” trial print of five images came with a hefty postage cost of $3.95. Call us old-fashioned, but $3.95 isn’t free!

This week at School

Tuesday was practise day for exams. The Korean government loves comparing schools. They do this by making the students do multiple choice tests (A to E answers).
Unlike Australia where education is state based, in Korea it is based on your local board of education.
So the Ulsan Board of Education makes the test which all Ulsan schools then have to take.

So on Tuesday we had a a practise test for the real test on Thursday!
So two tests in one week 🙁

Friday was Sports Day! … well it was going to be, but it rained 🙁
So we wimped out! It is now set for next Tuesday.
But unlike Australia there is virtually no track and field events. No high jump, long jump, shot put, javelin, etc.
A full report will be forcoming with pictures and videos.

collecting waste paper


Pressian has an article on old people collecting wastepaper to earn even a tiny income. one old man earns almost 10 000 won a day by collecting paper. As the price for waste paper is 50 won a kilo, it means he collects about 200 kilos a day

Makes me wonder how little people earn for recycling bottles, etc
It’s hard work. I often see old people (60+) pulling big carts full of cardboard. At my house around 12:20 am an old man comes around collecting cardboard, bottles, etc every night.

The Inquirer wrote
SINCE WE wrote a yarn about how opening OpenOffice was slower than a Lada full of elephants going uphill, we have had a few tips from our readers as to how to speed it up.

The changes are not difficult and do seem to have an effect. We can’t be certain how much this will affect the functionality but we pass these ideas on.

Both changes involve going into the Tools and then options management sections. In the memory dialogue box, increase graphics cache to 64MB and memory per object to 8MB. It will take Open Office a few openings before this helps.

The other is to go to Java options and disable them. Apparently in the time it takes Open Office to open Java, you can go and make a cup off coffee, go to the loo, read the online newspaper on your thin and light and return to your desktop.

Details:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=120

Just finnished installing Ubunto Linux 5.10 on my PC.
It is pretty good, I like it.
Since I am a heavy Windows user I will not abandon Windows XP. I have to use it for work, for games, and for cool windows only apps like Feeddemon (RSS reader), Google Earth, etc

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=68905&highlight=vmware+tools

To install the VMWare tools:
Code:
su
apt-get install linux-tree
apt-get install build-essential
apt-get install gcc-3.4
cd /usr/src
tar jxvf linux-source-2.6.12.tar.bz2
ln -s linux-source-2.6.12 linux
rmmod pcnet32
export CC=/usr/bin/gcc-3.4
Now you should be able to untar the VMWare tools to a directory and run the setup script successfully.

It’s Big

Size does matter, 19″ inches of pure ….. monitor madness
I got my monitor yesterday and the difference from an old 17″ monitor is huge.

Most 19″ and 17″ monitors run at a resolution of 1280×1024 which is a hudge workspace.

The only problems so far, the monitor by default is very bright.
When I play movies I think I notice more pixilization.

But for games, web surfing and everyday work it is a sound investment.

I also purchased Feeddemon last night. I used my Korean Visa cards with zero problems to purchase it using esellerate credit card software. It took about a minute to check my card was valid and it then gave me a serial number for the software.

Feed Demon is an RSS reader for Windows. It integrates with an online RSS readers as well as the Macintosh. So you can go from your Pc to a Mac and back to the web and they are all syncronished automatically.
COST: US$ 29
By purchasing Feeddemon I also got a 2 year subscription to their Basic business service which is $19.95 a year. So I have already saved $10

On May 14, 2005, Stephen Revere said this about the Alien Registration system

Korea’s Immigration Bureau adopted an excellent system to assist foreigners about three years ago. Prior to the implementation of this system it was very difficult, if not impossible, for foreign residents in Korea to properly fill out a document or register online because of the different registration numbering systems for Korean residents and resident aliens. The Immigration Bureau, to their credit, went to great lengths to resolve this problem by conducting a complete overhaul of the registration number system for foreigners residing in Korea.
The current alien registration system is now similar to that for Korean residents. Most importantly there are the same number of digits, allowing it to be inputted into the space allotted for Korean citizen numbers on forms or websites. The first set of numbers denoting date of birth, is followed by a second set of numbers that begins with a 5 (denoting a foreigner) and then a 1 in the case of males, and a 2 in the case of females. For example, the number 800101-5200000 would refer to a foreign female born on January 1, 1980.

Fortunally things have improved a lot in recent years. One example is I was able to get a KTF phone by giving my Alien Registration Card number and my Australian credit card (Mastercard) without the help of a Korean.
The KTF phone is my second phone. The first one was legally owned by my Korean friend even through I was the one that used it. At the time (October 2003) they (LG Telecom) wouldn’t let me have a phone in my name.

Last week some people from Nonghyup came to school.
Nonghyup is a co-operative bank. It is acttually a agriculutural co-operative. Each branch is actually an independent entity. But they co operate for the common good.
Anyway I got a Visa card from them which was very interesting. Two weeks before when I was sending some money back to Australia at the same branch one of the staff members here told me that I had very little chance of getting a credit card.
THe card I got as you can see from the picture is issued to teachers or staff who work for the Ulsan board of education.

Yesterday on Saturday I tried to use my credit card online to purchase a new computer monitor. But the web site would not accept my Alien Registration number.
Everyone in Korea has a National ID. Foreigners have an Alien ID.
Unfortunally and I am not sure who is to blame here, business or government or all of them, when you purchase anything online or register on a web site you have to enter your ID number.
So Korea being the ‘most wired nation’ and aspiring to be “an international business hub” easily accepts my ID card number on web sites ?

NOPE – bloody useless!

So no ID number means you can’t join sites, you can’t purchase stuff online.