After completing the very first Core Lesson of the very first chapter of the very first level, I actually find it fun. Maybe it's because I've already taken French level 1 in school, but some of the words used in there were never taught in school - Rosetta Stone use a different syllabus after all.
Anyway, I just wanted to learn some French without affecting my GPA and do it at my own pace. The Core lessons in this software that I have seen so far are the longest and they only take about half an hour. Pretty easy.
In this first Core lesson, I practice pronouncing simple words like "Ils nagent", "une filles boivent", "l'homme mange" and etc. They have a voice recognition software that seems to compare what I say to the recording they have (made by a native speaker) and tells me when I'm wrong.
Surprisingly, though the letter "r" is pronounced from the back of the throat like a gargle in the French language (instead of the rolling of the tongue used in English), the software accepts the English pronunciation of "r". My French teacher also told us to stick with the English "r". The closest I can get it is to sound like the English "h", so the English "r" is definitely closer. Maybe the French have fleshy throats or something.
Also in the first lesson are simple exercises in which the software plays a recording of a line like "Une fille court" (sometimes without subtitles) and gives me 4 different pictures. I'm supposed to click on the matching one.
The final exercise was the hardest. Hard is a relative term though. They gave me a picture and expected me to say the right words for describing it.
In the end, it was quite easy, though I seem to be unable to pronounce "garcon" and "fille" perfectly. I've tried like 50 over times and they only recognize my "garcon" about 5 times. My pronunciation of "fille" was never perfect throughout but always close (and hence acceptable). I'm not sure what is wrong. Maybe my mic suck.
These two screenshots are in the second lesson, which is on Pronunciation. In the upper screenshot, I'd pronounced "nage" perfectly as indicated by the green dot. In the second screenshot, I'm tested on the pronunciation of "ecrit" syllable by syllable.I have to say that the Space Game on Newgrounds is actually pretty good. It's a strategy game in which you have to mine for minerals while warding off pirate attacks. It is simple: build miners and turrets while maintaining a sufficient supply of electricity to all these machines from your solar station(s).
Basically there are 2 resources - energy and minerals. Minerals work the same way as money while energy must be generated and supplied constantly. There are a few types of turrets and several types of enemy ships. Each turret is suited for different ships.
There are rapid-fire turrets, slow-firing turrets and missile turrets. Ships can come in swarms, kamikaze or have heavy shields. All machines can be upgraded to suit your needs.
Those DotA tournaments on GarenaTV are actually quite interesting. With some good commentary, they would be pretty epic, but right now what they have will do.
The first difference between competition and casual is that in the former, the game begins differently. Each team is given a short period of time to pick 5 heroes that would be banned from the game. Each team would pick one alternately till 10 are chosen. Next each team would choose their heroes, 1 by 1, alternating between the two teams till either time is up or both are done.
If you join late, the game would still start from the beginning but is in fast forward till you reach the current situation. If you're unfortunate enough, it would also stop halfway to buffer game data. I've been through a few unpleasant experiences whereby I had to close it because it never stopped buffering. I probably got disconnected due to a bad connection (European connections are always bad).
Okay, so I'm getting bored of L4D because none of my friends, other than 1, plays it on Garena. It's more fun to play with pubs than AI, but only to a degree. I really need to play on legit servers so that there are more new maps available.
On Garena, it is always the same 4 campaigns over and over again, albeit at different difficulties. But it gets boring because I know what to look for all the time now, and the auto-shotgun is like the "I-WIN" button for me. I simply cannot die when I have this weapon unless some f*g shoots me on Expert mode.
I think after playing so much L4D, I'm probably going to have the same problems as many other players - when we hear a car alarm, we go "Oh shit! Hordes incoming!".
Anyway, I'm going to have to buy an original copy of L4D right after exams. Probably like the time I bought Half Life 2 - immediately after the last paper I went straight to Jurong Point and bought a copy right there and then. But that would depend if I still like the game this much after so long.
The only problem with L4D, and it gets more serious every day it's not solved, is that Valve isn't producing any new campaigns. It is as if they were depending on the player base to make new maps when they made the game. Design 4 campaigns long enough for the players to use the map-making tools to create new maps.
Sure there are new maps out there for download but on Garena they are almost non-existent. I'm hoping more legit servers have new maps available and the players would choose them. It gets boring after a while with just 20 maps.
Here's an interesting piece of news: the Church of Scientology blames Pearl Harbour and 9/11 on psychiatry. I don't know why they're going all out to discredit this pseudo-science with false information; it just makes them look even less believable than the very thing that they seem to hate so much.
And their nonsense about Anonymous is just that - pure nonsense. Anons are just all talk and no action, people who try to act like internet tough guys but actually mostly just typical teenage basement dwellers. Some are actually smarter, especially the undergrads, but these only make up a tiny sliver in the huge pie chart of Anonymous.
I wonder how much electricity I consume for turning on the aircon for a night. I don't turn it really high at night when I sleep, just 25 degrees at 2/5 fan speed, but I do turn it on for very long. About 12-15 hours long.
Usually I don't use it, especially in Nov-Jan when it is very windy here, but in what is summer in Singapore, it is a necessity. The only saving grace is that it cool down my room for the rest of the next day if I keep my doors and windows closed and it is cloudy/rainy that day. And yes it would be cooler inside than out.
Still, I have no idea how much I'm spending on this alone.
I do know that I'm spending about a hundred bucks just on computer electricity, because on the month I was gone, staying in the campus hostel for over 5 weeks, my home utility bills dropped about that amount. Water can't take up that much since I only shower (baths take way too much time). Gas costs me only a minute amount because I don't cook with my stove frequently. It is mainly electricity and I turn on my laptop 24/7.
Well sometimes I do switch it to Energy Saver mode, especially if I have little to download. But if I'm in need of several huge files ASAP, or if I need to scan my computer for virus or errors or even defragment, I leave it on at full power every night.
Which means it is always a good idea for me to maintain my room's temperature as low as possible. Which means keeping my windows and doors closed to retain the cold air even when I'm not around is not useless.
All electronic devices should be kept as cold as possible without the use of lab/dangerous equipment. I remember the first time I visited a huge server room some years ago, and it had several huge air conditioners constantly maintaining the room's temperature at (I'm guessing) 17-21 degrees. It feels even colder than it should because there is a constant cold breeze instead of just stagnant air. However, the servers indeed require such heavy-duty machines because when I stand near to any of the servers, I could feel warm air blowing at me.
Anyway, I find it pretty hard to keep my laptop cold because, I swear, the keyboard's heat actually stings my fingers that handle the WASD keys when I play L4D unless I keep my fan blowing at it at full speed.
Yesterday I was playing L4D on the Commentary mode, in which the game designers talked about how they created the game and how it evolved to what it is now. Basically it is the same as playing the No Mercy campaign except that there are regularly-placed points where each designer's commentary can be played.
And halfway through the game started get choppy, jumpy, whatever you call it. It was especially obvious because the commentary I was listening to kept pausing together with the game. Then I realized my left hand was feeling uncomfortably hot.
The computer was overheating...
So I turned my fan towards it and switched it to the max. It never gave me any problems for the rest of the night.
I wonder if people would go to an university for its free electricity. I haven't visited any library outside in a long time so I don't know if they provide as many electrical sockets as NTU's. And they don't check anyone's identity when they enter, so anyone can use them.
I imagine that any nerd who wants to play on his laptops all day using free electricity can just enter the campus and plug in. Of course the network would be somewhat congested, but solo gaming would be fine.
Or people can just bring their batteries here to charge. If I can just get a rechargable battery with an enormous capacity large enough to make it worth my trip to the campus, I'd go to school everyday even after graduation. Or I'll just cycle.
Don't forget, I spend about a hundred dollars on electricity per month, so if this works, it'd save me quite a bit of money. Now I just need that huge battery...
When one argues online, it is always beneficial to use proper English. Perfect grammar, flawless spelling and better still, proper usage of idioms and proverbs will make one sound incredibly smart - and therefore, right.
For all online debaters, I recommend following this advise because it just makes your arguments sound more convincing, so much so that you would sound believable even if you do not state your sources. For all they know, you might have pulled those numbers out of your ass, but your impeccable command of English would stop that train of thought right before they remember that.
This advise is also especially important for internet trolls. When you are going to type something inflammatory like, " If everyone was smart, the whole world would be atheist," type the words out without errors or shortforms. You will sound educated and intellectual, increasing the impact of your words with the shock that a smart person would say such a thing.
It would also prevent the troll from sounding exactly like a typical online troll. The best troll is one whom no one notices until the end when there is a flame war and someone traces the origin back to that person.
As a straight guy in my twenties, I'd say that the best thing about taking photos incessantly during outings is that in about every one out of every 1000 photos I'd catch a shot of a girl where I'm not supposed to see. Not that they're anything to fap to, but they'd turn any guy on.
No they're never deliberately taken. In fact, I let everyone check my photos whenever they ask for my camera. The thing is, sometimes there are things too small to be visible in the tiny screen of my digital camera but magnified to the size of my monitor, everything is visible.
I'm not sorry. It is not like I'm recording amateur porn or something. One must note that such occurences are incredibly rare (girls in SG don't seem to like skirts or loose shirts) and girls who are actually beautiful are even harder to find. Catching a glimpse of the bra of a fugly chick is not exactly something I'd want to do at all.
I'm not sick nor perverted; I just like to have girls in my photos whenever I can, and if you're wearing a skirt without keeping in mind the necessary precautions, accidents are bound to happen. Even if I didn't take the photo, I could still see whatever you're supposed to keep hidden. Since these photos are never uploaded to anyone or anywhere (if I really have to upload them to FB I edit them beforehand), then there is little difference between the two.
Still, there have been once or twice when I go "FUCK YEAH!!!"
Yep, I'm not sorry.
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