yandao.com - Memoirs of a player wannabe

NO! THE RUMOURS ARE WRONG, AGAIN! YANDAO.COM IS STILL ALIVE AND KICKING. =)

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..together pieces of er, information together to enable one to form something, as a whole.Cannot? Not satisfying? Okok. I show you kinky pics we took in the classroom, while the facilitator wasn’t looking…

We got on top of one another…

We positioned ourselves perfectly for…

We set things in motion…

Mmmm… Kids under 16, please, uhm, cover your eyes.

(as usual, click to see a larger version.)

Seriously – what did you expect? Descriptions of how to get it on? *raises eyebrow* Come on!

No, no, no. I’m an extremely innocent person, and I intend to keep it that way. Please, do your utmost best *not* to corrupt me in any way possible, (including allowing me to sit on your left side since your left leg is probably more sensitive than your right. Right?)

Personally, I’m a very descriptive person – in other words, I prefer to use words to make things happen. Written words, text, stories, analogies, puns, and the works. I do believe the part on my speech could pull it off, like when the audience somehow seemed to laugh non-stop, as depicated below. Wah piang eh, I think actually got people lau sai (Hokkien dialect slang for diarrhea) a little bit after the continuous er, 5 minutes laughter.

You see, I’ve even circled squared them for you (you click the picture right, it become BIG BIG, then you can see those faces which laugh until almost die. Even the other speakers also laugh until almost pengsan [another Hokkien slang for faint]):

Okay, back to my standardized Singapore-British B3-standard English, I should emphasize the point that Talk is NOT Cheap. No, really. Talk is something that everyone, well, can relate to, and in turn, can be used to get your point across.

Last week, I gave three talks – my “Got Virus?” talk, a small talk at Derek’s secondary school, and one at NAFA; covering a few slides for Pacesetter IG . Yes, the above was the one at NAFA where everyone almost laughed their heads off.

Oh, and yes, I’m their IT Co-ordinator. Not their lead makeup artist or something – you ask me to draw Chinese calligraphy still can, but you ask me draw on face, I think I’ll do a great job at China panda art

I believe, in all 3 talks, my point did get across, eventually – but that required the listener to think for themselves quite abit. I would consider myself not a very direct person: I.E, If I wanted your number, I would find an excuse that you’ll have to SMS me a virtual kiss which you owed me ten minutes ago while chatting on MSN . (right, Lafina darling?)

However, at times, disbelievers in my talks tend to turn to, er, other channels.. (which I am not at liberty to discuss)

Others however, just prefer the heck care look… Ahh well, you can’t please everyone.. Wanna make a visit to Bukit Brokeback, Wei How? =X

Edit: Name and photo censored. Due to the fact that we practise self-censorship.

Oh, and today I went over to talk to our friends over at the school’s Office of Information Services , and found out how they thought of the photo database. Not bad – but after some discussion, we realised that we could turn the idea into something more producitve, and I agreed on that point.

Bwahahah. RP-ster (derived from Friendster) in the near future?

Some people often comment that I think too much, be it professionally, socially, or well, er logically – as in thoughts. (and as a side note, I am *never* emotional, since Sophia states that emotional guys “Turn her off”. No really, I never want to be seen as a turn off, even though it’s the direct opposite of a “turn on”.)

Actually, the closer of my friends will definitely agree with the thinking too much part – as for then part about turning on, I will have to check with Lafina on my progress. I think its actually considerably amazing, actually. Well, she is.

Okay, I had intended to write this article, or rather, post for a few days, since like Sunday – but somehow I could never bring myself to do so. Excuses flooded my head – busy with powerpoint slides for talks, busy with gaming, busy with movies, blah and blah. Thus, I made Yandao.com a priority, the slot under my darling’s name, and decided to clear my 3 page long todo list so I could get to it.

See, this is called commitment. Good, right, me? (actually, the 67 readers who had voted in the previous post also had an impact on me)

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Almost everyone, at some point of time, has actually wondered what kind of friends they have, and do not have.More importantly, they tend to wonder which of their friends fall under where. Questions like “Can she be trusted?” and “Will he help me out in times of need?” are repeatedly asked to oneself. Then, answers based on premature assumptions are formed. (Still, no matter how much education and lectures we receive about assumptions, it can never be stuck to our heads – we make the same mistakes over, and over again.)

Many at times, I have actually thought to myself – out of the several hundreds people whom I actually know and talk to occasionally in school, who, can I call up in the middle of the night at 3AM and ask out for a cup of hot milk tea at the nearby coffeeshop? Strangely, immediate names come to mind, and when the time actually came, I was pleasantly surprised that my, er, subconscious recommendations are actually rather accurate – when they do show up, of course.

Maybe it’s because of this, that some people label me as connected – not because I have that *MANY* friends, but rather, for the friends I have made so far from all different aspects of life, work, and play. That, I really appreciate out of those who were and are very good companions. I could rattle off names, but it wouldn’t really be fair to the others whom I didn’t. So, no.

But putting the more in depth categories aside, what really constitutes a friend? And differentiates that from a contact, or an acquaintance? (greym0nk was asking me a similar question the other day, I gave a quite flimsy reply because I was VERY stoned).

From my definition, this is how I would differentiate them – the way you do might differ. (But also note that I’m a very selectively organized person, I am not contended calling everyone I know a friend)

Contact – Purely superficial friendship, the parties in it act as if they *are* friends, but actually, we just need to use each other in some ways or another.

Acquaintance – Yet-to-be-friends, as I prefer to call it. We know each other, talk to each other, but aren’t really willing to compromise. As long as the goals each other has does not mess with the other, it’s okay to do it. Otherwise, we’ll just ignore each other for a while

Friend – Someone who is willing to try to see eye-to-eye with you. So much that you’re willing to do the same back. True, this person can really be of help to you at times, but instead of a sense of repayment being felt, gratitude is felt instead. You don’t just feel like giving back, rather, you do something MORE than that. You know you can depend on assistance to the fullest extent with such people, and that you will give it your best shot when they need your help, too.

I have loads of acquaintances, and contacts, but alot less friends. I suppose it would be somewhat similar for almost everyone else, unless they’re an extremely influential person who can others to kneel down and worship – that one is different story. We’ll talk about it sometime later.

Still, as with any of my posts, I do conduct a little research, and thus, I came out with this – 11 types of good friends a GUY should have. Gals, too bad. You’ll probably have to refer to that magazine in your shelves somewhere. Print copy works, too.

Out of those 11 types stated at that website, I actually found it mildy amusing that I’ve like 9 out of the 11 types, as good friends who I can really rely on, and hope to continue to be able to do so

How about you? When are you going to start looking out for yourself?

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Hmm.. When Kelvin goes missing for several days, it probably means that he’s really caught up, or lazy. But for this time, ONLY, I’ll admit that I’m both this week:

It all started off when Derrick, NOT Derek, from my IG’s Committee ascended upon the oversized Oreo, er, cake. It looked somewhat the size of 2 pieces of cheesecakes, but since it came from the Cafe Galilee in the school’s library, I guess we couldn’t complain. (Plus, that lady who’s always at the cashier stand knows me by now, and makes me special drinks for certain special orders…)

Then came Sophia’s 2 friends on Sunday who claimed to be able to transform me into a roller-blading-genius in 30 minutes or less.

An hour after they said that, I ended up with 2 and a half giant blisters on my calf, while the others who learnt along were enjoying the sweet taste of success. Argh. I should just stick to my geeky computer stuff. (as commented by my darling, too, besides SOP.)

Naturally, they started fighting. Over some really small objects – but I guess it must have some sentimental value for them to tug so much. (though the word “tug” can be used in a kinky way, yes. Google it.)

Oh, and of course she won. Otherwise she wouldn’t be posing for this photo already. Imagine a tiny voice saying “YEAH!”.

Zhenxiu ’s niece First Month celebrations took up half of today. But I do think it was quite worth getting her reaction when I told her I was the guy behind Yandao.com (refer to the photo on the right). She was like “WOW. OMG! He’s so… WOW!” (insert additional BHB self-praise here.)

But frankly. Cute, right?

Oh, and yes. In around 10 hours or so – I’ll be giving my “Got Virus?” Lunchtime Talk! WOOHOO. Those who can make it, PLEASE turn up. Ok? Treat it as a request from me, then maybe I will update more features to mess with the school – besides the revamped Yandao.com RP Photo Database which looks like the official Team Assignment.

Yes, I know. Got silent ringtone from long, long ago. But I don’t really read the papers, nor do I watch the news, nor the occasional printout of interesting crap happening out there. So you can’t really blame me for being slow – and besides, loads of us *still* don’t know about this, what…

For those, who like me, have had no idea what this is, basically a ringtone whereby we, er, teens, can hear, but adults cannot hear.

Excerpt from NY Times : In that old battle of the wills between young people and their keepers, the young have found a new weapon that could change the balance of power on the cellphone front: a ring tone that many adults cannot hear.

Yes, that means, in class can use to replace the “Silent” mode without anyone knowing. Anyone of authority, that is.

It should sound something like this (this is just a sample):

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

It’s supposed to sound like a VERY high pitched sound! Like EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Edit: Salihin couldn’t hear it from his speakers. He used earphones then can hear..?

The REAL “Silent” Ringtone can be obtained from HERE (Right click it > Save Target As or Save Link As).

Play it with your favourite music player (Winamp, Windows Media Player, Foobar, iTunes, etc) and ask your mum or dad whether they can hear or not… (You might wish to laugh at them, together with your brother/sister, when you realise they cannot hear)

Then, try copying that to your handphone and set it as your ringtone! Heh.

Officially denotes the state whereby everyone knows. Literally. Now, take it that way.

With the above in consideration, how long would YOU wait – to get to be with your girlfriend/boyfriend, officially? 

 

Every other time when the moon decides to turn itself a deep shade of red (errr, similar to the one on Yandao.com), one somehow meets someone so similar to him/herself. I guess this year, the moon decided to look crimson again – as if once in earlier this year wasn't good enough. 

I got to come across her by pure accident, probably through another friend, many of whom told close to everyone they knew, that I could fix the "viruses". The usual get-to-know process, what do the ang moh's call it, again? I remember there was some slang they used for giving a "rundown" – Argh, short-term memory. (Though I do have long term memory, too.) As usual, she added me to MSN, so we started talking about "viruses" – literally.

At some point of time or another, and probably with a catalyst individual, we became friends – rather than just spyware-fixing-"clients". Added into Friendster, talked to almost everyday, asked out for drinks – the usual treatment to all my friends. But then strangely some of them, like Don, question why I am always so "on". Put it this way, I find motivation in everything. Even if it's dull enough, I'll dig some silly point to motivate myself.

Unless I can't even see where I'm going – like yesterday, lah.

Somewhere along the usual 7 chat windows which I have open at all times, (of which 2 I close constantly due to them being very resource demanding, thus, I just keep pointing them to Google keywords – ask Dexter, I think he actually learnt some stuff from those words I gave him. Though I didn't really teach him anything.), I mantain my usual tone, and exchange electronic chat messages with her.

Strange. Before I can even complete my sentences, she already read through the meanings, and sent a responce. In fact, much faster than what I could reply back. The "XXXXX is typing" message flashed every few seconds after I was typing each line, and well, she completed almost every sentence. After a while, I realised I could do the same to her sentences too. The whole conversation ended up very… "selfly", if that's even a word. 

The thing is – her responces were exactly what I was wanting to write. Scary. Very scary, I can assure you. It's like talking to yourself – you know what you're going to reply yourself. Sheesh.

Frankly, I do wish that I could post some logs here, to illustrate the point of how fluent the mind-guessing game, throughout the whole chat. It's exactly like I can read her, and she can read me back, but no, anonymity is emphasied here. (I don't really want her good friends coming after me with a cleaver or something for comparisons.) 

Still, words are, after all just words (and I do think Beatrice would agree with this point). So, at one point of time or another, we actually covered the point on behaviours. Almost every other line of self-description, sounded just like what I would describe myself. Talk about randomness in humans, hur?

Oh, and yes, one self-description was that of implying the unique "player " characteristics found in the selected few, who even have the capabilities to do so, which of course, exclude physical appearences (if you're handsome/hot enough, you don't qualify as one – unless you forego that positive "ability" in the game). She messes with people too, and she dares to admit. Ahhh.

And, my definition of player is very stringent. Hence, the title of this blog, though I tend to be straying away as what koonchin pointed out in my tagbox several days back. Yes, the good old days. Though I still prefer the status quo now

I can hear my heart pounding in my left ears.

and also the "thud" which follows every footstep.

My head feels heavier than my body.

I feel worst than drunk. Everything I see seems so damned blur:

I check my phone: 7 Missed Calls, 5 Unread Message, and then I see a message from her, and I feel the pain even deeper, I find it really difficult to believe its unintentional.

When will she ever learn to notice things? And even she if she did, would she understand them or at least try to? The more of her messages I see, the more of her words I hear, the more painful I feel – or is it the blurness causing all these?

Seriously, how many of you guys from the School of Infocomm & Technology actually want to be a posterboy, or postergirl?

Yea, so you get your face stuck up everywhere. Maybe 2 storey high banners. Maybe lift posters. Maybe even in leaflets. BUT then again, who even bothers looking at those banners, nor lift posters, and how many people actually use leaflets as rough paper for scribbling some “come me on” message – you know, those kinds that read something like “Mmmm. Shall we meet at the corner?”. Yea, those kinds – and frankly, it must suck should that ever happen.

No, no, no. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy the publicity, fame (if you would consider the name “yandao.com” well-known), attention, fun, and most importantly, the people I got to know since this website was seriously spread. But at least it’s something I’d be very proud of, even after knowing that though the minority would probably diss and impersonate my girlfriend in tagboxes.

Come on, I offer you a service, you take it. Don’t like it, then don’t use it. I don’t really need to know you, then.

Okay, back to the point: So, why would anyone want to be a postergirl/posterboy for some school funded advertisment?

If you wanted to be subtly-negatively famous, you could learn from our old friend, Tammy from the other polytechnic and spread around lewd videos of sexual intercourse, but then again, I think our school has more than stuff going on than that, lah. Remember the guy and gal stuck inside the cubicle of W3 male toilet and everyone was surrounding it? No? Go ask your friends, I think they know.

Personally, I think they’re silly. Right, dar?

Then again, if you don’t really have the looks, or the guts, or the reputation, you could attempt to be like a very specific, er, girl that Sophia, ZhenXiu and I saw today. She knew she got voted in for the postergirl/posterboy interview today by half her class, cos they hated her (or maybe she didn’t know), but she still thought herself damn cute, and went along. I do think that was one of the cases whereby the interview lasted less than 2 minutes – up to the point where the judges for the interview made contestants smile.

Jialat. She smile already I think… I’m full already. Better not, lah. Wait wait. Kelvin is supposed to give constructive critism, but then again, I’m shag. (I think we shall go with the British definition , for today.) And thus, I need loads of rest, sleep, and much more.

Oh, and yah, I think the judges got the interview lines from some Mr Singh-ka-poh or Miss Uni-versh TV Programme, but I shall not comment on that. How often than not do you have to select someone who smiles great for a poster? And judges, if you’re reading this – thumbs up for not laughing like mad when you asked specific people those questions. I know its damn itchy inside such that you want to laugh. =X

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Hmm.. After that, we proceeded to have our crazy little pasar malam (Roadside Night Market) dinner – by packing up small packets of snacks and food, and bringing them to McDonalds’ table to eat.. Oops =X

Oh, and yes, I think the school finally recognized the significance of “wired”, my IRC nickname for several years…

Try to spot it in the pic. Heh.

..and that comes together with complete immunity from almost all thumbdrive viruses, which includes, but are not limited to mth.exe, sxs.exe, svohost.exe, and the whole chunk. Basically, this tool prevents Autorun.inf from being made, unlike what the techs at the school released a patch to, wait ar, let me quote: "We have pushed out a Registration Key to all laptop to stop the auto-run when thumb drive plugged in. You need to reboot your laptop to make the key effective.  We are working on the fixes of this virus."

Damn, it looks like they started "work" before me. But then again its not how fast they start, but how fast they finish, and whether it even works.  I got slightly puzzled, when Ivan Wee, the technician who sent out that bulletin, made several attempts to contact me to meet up, but ended up not answering calls nor SMS'es. Maybe the school communications infrastructure really is that bad. Or maybe I'm not "qualified" enough to speak to the Office of Information Services (OIS – the people who make sure the school's high-tech chim chim structure run the way they want to). 

Either way, I don't really care. They can't be bothered, neither can I. I've made all effort, they rejected it. Now, this reminds me of the way Microsoft turns down hackers when they inform them of flaws. Then right, the whole world kena virus , and people were dissing Microsoft! Deja Vu? Heh.

Then again, maybe they don't take suggestions from a guy who wakes up at 12noon every weekend, gets a idea about how to stop a major virus spread, and codes something in below 4 hours. Maybe they prefer those who take 3 to 4 weeks, and come with loads of paperwork – but then, I think we all know paperwork is more bullshit. =P

Hence, I hereby present everyone, yes, including NON-RP students…

DOWNLOAD IT HERE  

Wait. Before you download it – let me explain what it DOES, and DOES NOT. 

Does:

• - End thumbdrive-virus related processes (RavMonE.exe, mth.exe, sxs.exe, SVOHOST.EXE, etc)
• - Removes the registry keys associated with those processes
• - Removes RavMonE.exe related variants from the selected drive
• - Prevents those variants from copying itself, EVER.

Does NOT:

• - Does not disable Autorun/Autoplay, rather, uses a workaround for it.
• - Does not remove the China/Ang Moh spyware already present in the system

So what is this, really?

It's basically what OIS wanted to achieve by disabling Autorun/Autoplay – to stop the spread, and from there, we can then work on removing, and containing, those existing spyware – without formatting.

If anyone uses this tool, and still wants to reformat, get my number from your friends – they probably have mine – and we shall talk about fixing it the proper way, without the lies and deception by certain people. Yes? 

Oh, and yes. Allow me to introduce yet something else related to the spyware stuff…

This, is the talk, which shows you how, NOT to format.

For RP students: How to sign up? Check your RP e-mail accounts 

People always complain about having too much work, and too little play, and then infer this to the adege about "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy".

True, I'm one of those who agree.

However, what happens if work becomes play, and vice-versa? – And there is no clear distinct line drawn? Some call this "job satisfaction". I, however, call it a vicious cycle.

Please, do allow me to explain.

I'm sure, all of you by now, be it through reputation, word of mouth, or friends, know some amount of my obsession for breaking into all things electronic – RP Photo Database, RP Webcam Database – are just more proof of this infatuation.

The other half, however, probably knows I'm the current president of Networking IG (an Interest Group in RP, think of it as a CCA). No, no, not social networking, not yet, at least (though I do have plans to create a Friendster-like RP site which hooks people up, so as to broaden social circles and stuff). And that "presidency" probably means loads more work to handle, and things to worry about.

Yes, it also means if something labelled as a screw-up occurs, fingers will start pointing, towards my direction, of course. So no, no messy situations will satisfy that criteria.

Apart from fumbling when I'm not supposed to, I have around 5 events to juggle. Think of them as balls being juggled by your favourite clown – Ronald McDonalds, Snappy, whoever. Any miscue, and not only does the first ball drop, but also all the other 4 balls – on MY head.

Then again comes the idea of outsourcing, probably an idea stolen from one of the motivational videos by Rich Schefren which I watched awhile back. That video specifically targetted people like me, who has some egoistic self which loves to do everything on his own. We belong to a group of entreprenuers who don't really trust the way others get things done, and strive for perfect. Then again, we also belong to the group who have their necks stuck in the most crap – killing ourselves.

Uh huh. And why would anyone with a mind do that =X

My play time – the time whereby I'm supposed to do something to keep myself happy – becomes part of my work too. Designing the IG's website becomes a hobby, and messing with the school's website management system keeps me amused at many points of times. Wait. What happened to the *real* play time? The time set for going out with friends, crapping together, playing multiplayer games and killing each other online?

How come there suddenly is such a big contrast between work and play now, though the lines were faded just a few moments ago?

That, truely, is a question worth some thought. 

This posts focuses on simple JavaScript passwords, not complex user authentication scripts. Yes, we could have endless discussions on those complex scripts, but for those slightly more technically-inclined readers out there, before you flame, I do believe there was once you were actually fumbling with such things to – I had my share, 6 years back.

Edit: The blog URL has removed its password protection already. You might wish to try another of your OWN friends' blog =x 

Okay. Let's get down to business.

Heh. For today's example, we shall "borrow" someone's blog for the experiment – http://materialistic-.blogspot.com/ . Let me assure you that I have absolutely no idea who that person is, nor what the blog is about, nor do I have any grudges whatsoever. It's just a random example – one of those which I was e-mailed to crack today – those who asked for assistance, you know who you are!

Disclaimer: This guide is exceptionally basic, due to the very fact that simplicity is good.

Step 1: Visit our target's blog, and notice what the password box reads.. Remember that, or write it down, or something.

Step 2: Run Notepad (Start > All Programs > Accessories > Notepad)

Step 3: Inside Notepad, File > Open

Step 4: Enter the URL of the blog into the "File name" field

Step 5: Press "Open", then Edit > Find. Fill it up accordingly as shown…

Step 6: Press "Find Next". And look what you've got here!

Hmm. Now, test the password out? *Grins widely* 

Please, if you have violent objections about this "cracking" method, do let me know in the comments page of this post!