Welcome to Jason's Website!
Flash Player 8 required.Right now you are viewing this plain ugly text version
Newsflash:
- Moved to a new domain!
- Dragon Play beta coming soon!
~Home~
About this site
Welcome! This my (jsonchiu) personal website. You can find out more about myself in the "About Me" section.Here, you can find some games, puzzles, useful flash tools, and more! If you have any questions, please feel
free to email me. My email can be found in the "contact" section.
Have a nice day
Updates
August 27th
Yay! We finally got our own domain name! I just got it set up.Hopefully you will expect more speed and less down time!
August 26th
New theme! Also, made the website a little bit longer so thatit is easier to read my blog. Hope you like it!
Wednesday May 2nd
A new theme! What do ya think?Sunday April 15th
I moved the entire puzzle section into a database,and added a search function! There are currently 17 puzzles,
and I plan to add more later...
Friday, April 6th
Website complete! Finally I got blogger working...It was a whole lot of work...
~About Me~
About Myself
Greetings!I'm Jsonchiu, and of course, I'm the maker of this site.
I'm a part time flash developer, and I'm 13 years old.
My main interest is on computer programming as you probably noticed.
However, I'm not really into website designing,
and my designs are still amateuristic.
Anyways, hope you enjoy this website!
Biography
- Birth year: 1994- Born in: Taiwan, Now lives in: Canada
- Currrently in: Grade 8
- Favourite subject: Math
- Hobbies: programming, graphics designing, golf
Interests
I might want to say that I'm kinda different from others.I mean, oddly enough, my favourite subject is math, and I'm really into it.
It's not just about grades; it extends far beyond that.
I like more about abstract stuff, and subjects on "infinite sequence..."
Also, computer programming is a relatively big part of my life too.
I started last year on some university level textbooks...
on turbo pascal (the outdated language for DOS).
Then, I spent a year mastering flash. After that,
I started learning C# and database programming.
It's relatively straight forward.
As for now, I'm more into low level coding, functional programming,
and discrete math. Meh they are very dry areas.
However, learning them will help dramatically in programming.
Another of my interest is on graphics designing as you can see
some of my work in the portfolio. I don't have photoshop, and frankly,
I'm not a professional. However, computer graphics just grabs my attention somehow
~Puzzles~
Algebra
______________________________________________________Q: When x = 1, what will the below equation equal to?
(x² - 1)/(x - 1)
A: Don't tell me 0/0 or unsolvable. It actually has an answer.
You see, of course if we put 1 into it, it won't make sense, but if we get closer and closer, we would get a real answer.
For example, lets try 1.1. 0.21/0.1 = 2.1, close?
How about 1.001? 0.002001/0.001 = 2.001
Think the answer is 2? It might be, but it could be 1.9992340913...
Now, have you forgotten this? 1 + r + r^2 + .... + r^n = (1 - r^(n+1))/(1 - r)
Well, multiply by (-1) and you get (r^(n+1) - 1)/(r - 1) without changing values.
Now, lets apply this to the case.
(1² - 1)/(1 - 1) = 1 + 1 = 2
Neat eh?
______________________________________________________
Q: ax² + bx + c = 0, Solve for x in terms of a, b, and c
A: x = [-b ±√(b² - 4ac)] / 2a
This is the quadratic fomula.
Here is how to derive it:
here is our original equation
ax² + bx + c = 0
move c to right side of the "="
ax² + bx = -c
divide both sides by a
x² + x(b/a) = -c / a
complete the square - by forming x² + 2xy + y²
x² + 2 * x * (b/2a) + b²/4a² = (b² - 4ac) / 4a²
[x + (b/2a)]² = (b² - 4ac) / 4a²
take the square root of both sides
x + b/2a = ±√(b² - 4ac) / 2a
we got the answer!
x = [-b ±√(b²; - 4ac)] / 2a
______________________________________________________
Q: A clever Usul figured out a great way to catch fish in the Underwater Fishing
Cavern. (However, in the spirit of fairness, we won't reveal her secret!) The
first day she went fishing, she caught exactly 31416 pounds of fish!
Even though she had more fish than she knew what to do with, she decided to go
fishing again the next day. And she caught exactly 40% of what she caught the
day before. Which was still a lot of fish.
She continued fishing every day. And every day she caught exactly 40% of what
she caught the previous day.
If she continued fishing every day for twenty years, how many pounds of fish,
total, would she catch? Please round to the nearest pound.
A: Infinite geometric series should be put into use here.
(0.4^0)31416 + (0.4^1)31416 + ... + (0.4^7300)31416
= 31416 (0.4^0 + 0.4^1 + ... + 0.4^7300)
= 31416 * [(1 - 0.4^7300) / (1 - 0.4)]
~ 31416 * 1/0.6
~ 31416 * 1.6666...
~ 52360 pounds
______________________________________________________
Q: Try to find the error in this prove for "2 = 1"
let a and b be any integer
that a = b
a = b
a² = ab
a² - b² = ab - b²
(a - b)(a + b) = b(a - b)
a + b = b
b + b = b
2b = b
2 = 1
A: There is a "divided by zero" error.
When it was getting from 4th line to 5th line,
(a - b)(a + b) = b(a - b)
a + b = b
(a - b) was divided from both side, however, because (a - b) is zero, dividing by it doesn't make sense. Hence, the prove does not work.
______________________________________________________
Logic
______________________________________________________Q: What is it that's greater than God; the dead eat it; and if the living eat it, they die?
A: The answer is "nothing"
______________________________________________________
Q: Two camels were facing in opposite directions. One was facing due east and the other was facing due west. How can they manage to see each other without walking, turning around, or even moving their heads? There aren't any reflections either.
A: They were facing each other.
______________________________________________________
Q: Hassan once met three boys and told them about his mule. "What color is he?" asked one. "Well," replied Hassan, "let's play a little guessing game. I will tell you that he is either brown, black, or gray. Why don't you try to make some guesses, and when we have enough, I'll tell you some things about the guesses, and we'll then see if you can deduce his color."
"I'll guess that he is not black," said one.
"I'll guess that he is either brown or gray," said another.
"I'll guess that he is brown," said the third.
"Hold it!" said hassan. "We have enough guesses. It so happens that at least one of you guessed right and at least one of you guessed wrong"
What color is Hassan's mule?
A: If the mule was black, all of the guesses would have been wrong; if the mule was brown, all of the guesses would have been correct. Therefore, the mule must be gray, and hence the first two guesses are correct and the third one is wrong
______________________________________________________
Matrix
______________________________________________________Q: Lets have an easy one first. Complete a 3x3 matrix consists of all numbers from 1 to 9 where every row, column, and diagonal have the sum of 15.
A: There are 8 answers, which are just rotating and mirroring this one:
4 9 2
3 5 7
8 1 6
The middle one must be 5. Think about it, it couldn't be 6 or larger because there would be no place for 9, and it couldn't be 4 or smaller either, because there would be no place for 1. Hence it must be 5. Then, 9 cannot be in one of the corners because then, this would happen:
9 x x
x 5 ?
x ? 1
The places marked with "x" must be 1 ~ 4. Since 1 is already used, there are only 3 numbers left. How can you fill 4 spaces with only 3 numbers? So, this is what we have:
x 9 x
x 5 x
x 1 x
The row with the 9 must have 2 numbers add up to 6. What can that be? Of course only 4 and 2.
4 9 2
x 5 x
x 1 x
Now, it's very easy, just fill in the spaces.
4 9 2
3 5 7
8 1 6
______________________________________________________
Q: Complete a 4x4 matrix where the sum of each row, column, and diagonal is equal to 34
A: There are over 760 answers. Just use a calculator to check over your answer.
Here's mine:
16 02 03 13
09 07 06 08
05 11 10 12
02 14 15 01
______________________________________________________
Word Arithmetics
______________________________________________________Q: ABC x 123 = DEFGHI
A: There's only 1 answer: 852 x 123 = 104796
I don't know why or how to solve it. I did it on my word arithmetics solver
______________________________________________________
Q: ABCDE x 4 = EDCBA
A: 21978 x 4 = 87912
This one is quite simple.
First, A and E can only be 2 and 8, because 8 x 4 = 32 and 2 x 4 = 8.
Then, B must be 1, because we cannot have carries here.
We now have 21CD8 x 4 = 8DC12. Now, 8 x 4 = 32, carries 3,
so we need to solve D x 4 + 3 = 10z + 1.
D x 4 will equal 10(z - 1) + 8, so which number will satisfy that? Of course 7.
2 cannot be used because it's already assigned to A.
It's now 21C78 x 4 = 87C12. 7 * 4 + 3 = 31, so we carry 3 again.
Now, it becomes this: 4C + 3 = 10z + C; 3C + 3 = 10z; 3(C + 1) = 10z;
z can only be 3, 6, or 9. If z = 6, then 3(C+1) = 60. C+1 = 20, too big.
That means z has to be smaller.
If z = 3, then 3(C+1)=30, C+1 = 10; C=9, bingo!
So, at last, 21978 x 4 = 87912.
______________________________________________________
Q: BAD x OGOD = XXXXXXX
A: This one is not too hard. I made it up myself.
The answer is: 239 * 4649 = 1111111
Because X can only be from 1 to 9, and all of them are fractors of 1111111, it's best to fractorize 1111111 first as it doesn't seem to have too many fractors. After fractorizing, we get 239 * 4649 = 1111111, and in pure coincidence, it's the correct answer!
______________________________________________________
Q: FBI x HA = GCHA
A: Well, you just have to guess some of the numbers...
There are 40 answers believe it or not:
127 x 50 = 6350
129 x 50 = 6450
137 x 50 = 6850
149 x 25 = 3725
167 x 50 = 8350
169 x 50 = 8450
173 x 50 = 8650
176 x 20 = 3520
176 x 28 = 4928
186 x 20 = 3720
187 x 50 = 9350
189 x 25 = 4725
193 x 25 = 4825
196 x 40 = 7840
201 x 34 = 6834
201 x 38 = 7638
201 x 39 = 7839
201 x 43 = 8643
201 x 48 = 9648
251 x 36 = 9036
261 x 30 = 7830
291 x 30 = 8730
301 x 26 = 7826
301 x 29 = 8729
341 x 20 = 6820
349 x 25 = 8725
356 x 20 = 7120
361 x 25 = 9025
376 x 12 = 4512
376 x 24 = 9024
381 x 20 = 7620
391 x 20 = 7820
416 x 20 = 8320
431 x 20 = 8620
436 x 20 = 8720
456 x 20 = 9120
476 x 20 = 9520
481 x 20 = 9620
486 x 20 = 9720
______________________________________________________
Q: ABC + DEF = GHIJ
A: Think it's hard? Well, you are correct... it's hard because there are way too many answers... 96 answers if you want to know...
246 + 789 = 1035
249 + 786 = 1035
264 + 789 = 1053
269 + 784 = 1053
284 + 769 = 1053
286 + 749 = 1035
289 + 746 = 1035
289 + 764 = 1053
324 + 765 = 1089
325 + 764 = 1089
342 + 756 = 1098
346 + 752 = 1098
347 + 859 = 1206
349 + 857 = 1206
352 + 746 = 1098
356 + 742 = 1098
357 + 849 = 1206
359 + 847 = 1206
364 + 725 = 1089
365 + 724 = 1089
423 + 675 = 1098
425 + 673 = 1098
426 + 879 = 1305
429 + 876 = 1305
432 + 657 = 1089
437 + 589 = 1026
437 + 652 = 1089
439 + 587 = 1026
452 + 637 = 1089
457 + 632 = 1089
473 + 589 = 1062
473 + 625 = 1098
475 + 623 = 1098
476 + 829 = 1305
479 + 583 = 1062
479 + 826 = 1305
483 + 579 = 1062
487 + 539 = 1026
489 + 537 = 1026
489 + 573 = 1062
537 + 489 = 1026
539 + 487 = 1026
573 + 489 = 1062
579 + 483 = 1062
583 + 479 = 1062
587 + 439 = 1026
589 + 437 = 1026
589 + 473 = 1062
623 + 475 = 1098
624 + 879 = 1503
625 + 473 = 1098
629 + 874 = 1503
632 + 457 = 1089
637 + 452 = 1089
652 + 437 = 1089
657 + 432 = 1089
673 + 425 = 1098
674 + 829 = 1503
675 + 423 = 1098
679 + 824 = 1503
724 + 365 = 1089
725 + 364 = 1089
742 + 356 = 1098
743 + 859 = 1602
746 + 289 = 1035
746 + 352 = 1098
749 + 286 = 1035
749 + 853 = 1602
752 + 346 = 1098
753 + 849 = 1602
756 + 342 = 1098
759 + 843 = 1602
764 + 289 = 1053
764 + 325 = 1089
765 + 324 = 1089
769 + 284 = 1053
784 + 269 = 1053
786 + 249 = 1035
789 + 246 = 1035
789 + 264 = 1053
824 + 679 = 1503
826 + 479 = 1305
829 + 476 = 1305
829 + 674 = 1503
843 + 759 = 1602
847 + 359 = 1206
849 + 357 = 1206
849 + 753 = 1602
853 + 749 = 1602
857 + 349 = 1206
859 + 347 = 1206
859 + 743 = 1602
874 + 629 = 1503
876 + 429 = 1305
879 + 426 = 1305
879 + 624 = 1503
______________________________________________________
Q: If these conditions were met:
FBI x HA = GCHA
GEIB + DCJE = DCIEH
What will this equation equal to?
HCCB x (DDDE + DGGG)
A: As listed in another question, there are 40 answers to FBI x HA = GCHA, however, only one of them meets the second condition.
From the second condition, D must equal 1, and therefore G must equal 8 or 9.
Then, we know that G*** + 1C** = 1C***, C must be 0 because 1 is taken by D. That limits our selection to:
251 x 36 = 9036
361 x 25 = 9025
376 x 24 = 9024
Now, we know that I can only be 1 or 6, but because 1 is taken by D, it can only be 6, so we got our first condition solved; there's only 1 that I = 6.
376 x 24 = 9024
F = 3
B = 7
I = 6
H = 2
A = 4
G = 9
C = 0
Back to the second condition, it's now 9E67 + 10JE = 106E2. We can see that E must equal 5 because 7 + 5 = 12. Now, 9567 + 10J5 = 10652, J should be very obvious - 8.
HCCB x (DDDC + DGGG) = 2007 x (1110 + 1999) = 2007 x 3109 = 6239763, or IHFGBIF
______________________________________________________
Q: Lets have an easy one first... XYZ + YZ = XZC
A: It's very simple. Think about it, When would YZ + YZ = ZC?
24 + 24 = 48
25 + 25 = 50
37 + 37 = 74
49 + 49 = 98
That applies to every 100 digits, so.... there are 9 x 4 = 36 answers. You can easily find any of them.
______________________________________________________
Miscellaneous
______________________________________________________Q: What's 1 + 1?
A: There are way too many answers to this, just to name a few:
1. in binary, the answer is 10
2. in decimal system, the answer is 2
3. it equals a window! (don't you see?)
lol......
______________________________________________________
Q: Insert mathematical operations between numbers to satisfy this equation: 123456789=100
A: There are over 150 answers. Surprising, eh? Well, I'm not gonna list all the answers here, but here is a site that lists them:
http://www.jimloy.com/puzz/1234.htm
______________________________________________________
Blog
Saturday, September 13, 2008Random Rant - Part 2
MS DOS was selling well, and after a few versions, it sparked the development of Windows. Windows 1.0 ~ 9x was basically a complicated graphical user interface that wraps around MS DOS, whose code base has been developed on for years and years and has grown significantly (20mb, omg!). It had a major flaw however - the inability to multitask. So, when progressing to Windows 3.0, MS had to add so many libraries for GUI and also for multitasking. The problem is... it was getting bigger and bigger, although a revolutionary piece of software, was in danger of becoming a piece of bloatware.
It was aforementioned (in part 1) that Microsoft practices extreme programming. While the library grew bigger and bigger, the implementation bugs in Windows API also piled up, and programmers were exploiting those bugs! Then, as MS wanted to fix things, they had to add new functions to the API, which is basically a copy of the old function, but without the bug. Then we found new bugs on the new supposedly bug-free version too! Then thus we have so many versions of the same thing circling around each successing version of Windows. This is definitely not a good thing.
Windows XP attempted to solve the problem of having a bloated and fragile codebase by taking out old out-dated stuff and package them into compatibility modes. It sounded good, but unfortunately Microsoft did not have the guts to do it thoroughly. XP was still a big codebase, and the one after - Vista, was many times bigger.
To be continued in Part 3
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 10:41 AM 0 comments
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Ramdom Rant - Part 1
After using Vista for a few months, scrupulously getting the computer to work the way I wanted, I have come to the conclusion on the overall rating on various aspects such as usability, aesthetics, and many others.
Vista, among the lines of Microsoft products, is considered mediocre on its usability. Due to many intriguingly difficult problems presented during the development cycle of six years, including botching (well not exactly) the product in the middle and restart from scratch, Vista came out as a rushed, buggy piece of bloatware.
Now, you might ask, what happened? How could Microsoft have made that unprecedented, humongous, blatant, seemingly outrageous mistake? Then you are too naive on how companies work. That failure is definitely inevitable; it will happen at some point, due to the way Microsoft development process roll-out.
Microsoft practices something called "Extreme Programming," and that tradition came from when Gates dropped out of Harvard and began working on MS-DOS (well, he bought the copyright of the horrible OS called DOS, and began improving and re-branding it). When there is only a small number of people in the development team, extreme programming is a very useful technique. It is in which people dive straight into the work with only some rough ideas on where to start and where to go, and then expanding on it. The development process is fast and the cost were trivial, and it, however, paved the way for the future of Windows in an unexpected way.
To be continued in part 2
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 12:44 AM 0 comments
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Tower Defence Games
There are many of them out there. One of the more difficult and also well polished one is Xeno Tactic (I still don't understand how to play xeno tactic 2, but 1 is fairly easy with a good learning curve). It also has been around for a long time.
It is best to play it here.
I've manage to get quite far (level 86) in the last mission, and I think I can beat it soon.
Here are a few tips I've found.
Maze: a good maze is crucial to the game, especially to avoid being overwhelmed in the very beginning as mission 6 crawlers start with quite a high health. Also, do not build any sam turrets or walls in the beginning, as you need the money for vulcans.
You will also need to have a double-ended maze to make the aliens go around in circles (selling 1 wall to open 1 end, and then block the other end with 1 wall). A good thing to do is to group old aliens with new ones especially when you get to 50's and it is especially important to keep bosses in the middle of the group, or else your sams will abandon the big blob and shoot only at the boss.
SAM Turrets: some people underestimate the full potential of these as they only do 256 damage at max, and a measly 8 damage unupgraded. However, no other turret (not even plasma or sonic) can match its damage when a group of 20+ monsters are crammed up in little space. You should have 2-3 when you get to level 50, and add more to keep income coming (4 to get to 70, and add a 5th one before 90).
DCA's: the whole game is about anti-air. Ground units will die eventually using the blocking method, but airs will just soar right through all your defences, and that is a huge limitation in the game. Maximize your air defence and save your lives until level 100 (you must lose a few lives in 93 and a lot in 100).
Plasma Turrets: when fully upgraded (BFG Tower), they are excellent boss killers. Get 1 BFG before level 32, and another one before level 48. That will take care of all bosses before level 60 in a fairly short time. They are also quite good against air. However, don't get more than 2, because, after the 60's, you will have like 40 bunched up, and plasma is no use against ground at that point.
Freeze turrets: they are crucial on the later levels where air units are just almost unbeatable (begin around level 40). Build them around DCA's and fully upgrade them to zero tower, or else they are no use. They can also freeze ground units, saving money on turning them.
Guide to DCA (and Zero Tower) building:
Level 7: 1 DCA (accompanied by 1 or 2 volcans in case of lopsided defence)
Level 14: 2 DCA2
Level 21: 2 DCA4 or 1 DCA5+1 DCA2
Level 28: 2 DCA5
Level 35: 1 THW + 1 DCA5 + 1 DCA3
Level 42: 2 THW + 1 DCA5
Level 49: (this is 2 air-boss) 3 THW + 2 Zero Tower
Level 51: (the 7-level pattern restarts) 4 THW + 2 Zero Tower
Level 58: (this is 2 air-boss) 5 THW + 3 Zero Tower
Level 65: 8 THW + 3 Zero Tower
Level 72: 11 THW + 5 Zero Tower
Level 79: 14 THW + 5 Zero Tower
Level 86: 17 THW + 6 Zero Tower
You should kill every single air unit up to this point and not lose any groundies, after level 88, sell all your SAM Turrets (you should have 4 or 5) and buy 3 more THW
Level 93: 20 THW + 6 Zero Tower (can lose 2-4 if 1 less)
Level 100: (ideally) 37 THW + 14 Zero Tower (you will lose 12+ here, with only 20 THW)
After all air passed, sell all DCA and buy 6 SAM Tower and 6 BFG.
When only the 2-million health slug boss is left, change everything to BFG.
PS: don't spend an unhealthy amount of time playing this game... just saying
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 7:10 AM 0 comments
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Stupid Gr 8 Advisor
Well, I can't really take it anymore...
She (you know who I direct to)'s been very very annoying lately.
Last night, just because some people are 5 minutes late, she spazz out, and then she said she would gate people for 3 weeks if 1 grade 8 activity is missed. Oh yeah, she really want people to be punctual, but she is LATE for 20 minutes (again) this morning and (again) afternoon and made us missed quite a few buses.
Talking about buses...
In downtown, Victoria, there is a place where you can catch 3 buses (14, 27, 28) at once back to the school, but then she forces us to wait for the freaking slow 14 for whatever reason (yeah, "bad downtown area, which is BS, 'cause she can't listen to what I was talking 'bout).
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 1:32 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Firefox3 RC1
It's coming in 1 week or 2.
And after that, there will be RC2, and then the golden release!
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 7:35 PM 0 comments
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Shutting down computers
run -> command.com
shutdown -i
And then type in comment, timeout, etc.
You can shut down ANYBODY in the local network
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 8:58 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
HCE Class
Yeah, so we went to this teachingsexualhealth.ca website.
This is in the front page:
Lol.....
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 12:54 PM 1 comments
Monday, April 21, 2008
M$ Frontpage 2000
I to this day, still do not understand why the school teaches how to make website with it.
Frontpage provides horrible, non-standard compliant HTML code.
Its themes are really horrible too; crappy gif graphic and looser design.
It is based on IE5 and thus does NOT properly display CSS2.1 in the WYSIWYG editor.
In general, it sucks. Period.
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 7:54 PM 0 comments
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Snowing in April?
I am surprised too.
Here, in Victoria, B.C.?
I mean, it hardly even snows throughout the winter!
Ugh stupid global warming + extreme climates.
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 9:52 AM 0 comments
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Some boarder suspended
One of our fellow gr8 boarders got suspended for a few days.
Not much to say.
Reasons:
- theft
- major late homework in various subjects
- skipping classes (fake sickness and then lie to nurse)
- more
He will be coming back next Monday
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 3:14 PM 0 comments
Friday, April 11, 2008
Fibonacci Numbers
You know the sequence:
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, ...
Where each number is the sum of the 2 previous ones and the first 2 numbers are 1's.
So, I was curious if there is a formula for finding the nth Fibonacci number...
Here is what I found.
There is 1 rule that will guide you through the process (contact me if you want the prove)
if F(n) = a * F(n-1) + b * F(n-2)
and that c and d are 2 solutions to the quadratic equation x^2 = ax + b
then for any integer n, F(n) = r * c^n + s * d^n where r,s are real numbers
Applied to this case
(1 + √5)/2 and (1 - √5)/2 are solutions for x^2 = x + 1
so we have
F(n) = r * ((1 + √5)/2)^ n + s * ((1 + √5)/2)^n
since f(1) = f(2) = 1
r * (1 + √5)/2 + s * (1 -√5) / 2 = r * (3 + √5)/2 + s * (3 - √5)/2 = 1
r + s = 0 //subtract f(1) from f(2)
s = -r
r * (1 + √5)/2 - r * (1 - √5) / 2 = 1
r * (1 + √5 - 1 + √5)/2 = 1
r * √5 = 1
r = 1 / √5
Thus, the formula is:
F(n) = (1/√5)((1+√5)/2)^n - (1/√5)((1-√5)/2)^n
or to simplify things...
F(n) = (1/√5)(φ^n) - (1/√5)((1-φ)^n)
Where φ = Golden Ratio = (1+√5)/2
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 6:14 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Smoking marijuana? Wtf?
So this is what happened.
During Monday after school, all the sudden, MY floor smelled like pod.
It was really shocking. We had a house meeting and we plan to expel the person that did it.
I mean, seriously, smoke marijuana IN the boarding house? WTF???
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 9:09 PM 1 comments
Some BS Technology Class
So, it was the so called "Media Awareness" website we go to.
Then, we played the whatever stupid game in there.
It tells you not to give out personal information in the internet.
Whilst this is true, it's perfectly fine to give out your name; there is probably about a few million people in the world with the exact same full name as you, thus untrackable.
AND if you are really concerned about privacy, give false information!
Scam sites won't attract too many users if they have a ton of security check to make sure the information is real; they must allow some fake users if they are to scam anybody in general.
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 3:18 PM 0 comments
Monday, April 7, 2008
Back to school
So, alright I'm back.
But, after getting used to the new laptop, the old school computers are like so slow for me.
Single core? That's just... pathetic (at least compared to those cheap quad core desktops...)
I hope the school upgrades the computers... it's just a little bit slow...
Also, I can't stand Office 2000... it's missing some features and obviously not forward compatible.
At least upgrade to 2003 for the
The good thing - I got Firefox 3.0! It's awesome with the new features.
Be sure to check it out!
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 6:42 PM 0 comments
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Apple Inc suing over New York City??
http://www.macobserver.com/article/2008/04/05.1.shtml
http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_NYC_Not_Entitled_To_An_Apple_Apple_Says_15989.html
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/its-like-comparing-apples-to-apples/?hp
It seems like Steve Jobs are in the way of New York City's efforts to go green as they have some far fetched dispute over the seemingly completely different apple logos.
From the GreeNYC site, their logos looks quite different from Apples. There is an infinity symbol in it, and there isn't a bite. Also, Apple Inc's apple is a solid gray while GreeNYC's is hollow.
I don't really know what Apple is doing now... I mean suing for this little thing? And the chances of success? Zero. NYC might even bite back since it already has long term claims on apple (since like 1920).
Hmmm....
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 8:55 PM 0 comments
Friday, April 4, 2008
Selling class notes illegal?
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/04/prof-sues-note.html
Apparently from the above article, a professor in University of Florida is suing the company Einstein Notes for "repackaging notes as 'studykits' and then profiting from the other lazy students that don't go to classes" without permission. Some students in the class are "payed" for taking notes and thus the professor states it's a "illegal distribution of copyrighted material" and thus is "infringement of copyright laws"
Unlike previous cases, this professor actually copyrighted his lectures, and he recorded every one of them. So, it's much more viable for a law suit. BUT, lots of possibilities could open up if this law suit against Einstein Notes is successful. Companies like Cliff Notes have been in the business of providing commentaries and summaries of novels, which are supposed to be copyrighted - what if they get sued?
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 10:56 PM 0 comments
Thursday, April 3, 2008
The difference between FAT32 and NTFS
I have always wondered what's so different about NTFS file system. I mean, there is file encryption alright, but I don't really need it. It's unnecessary as I carry no sensitive data.
FAT32 is older, and thus has better backward compatibility, and thus I kept it for some time.
I finally found out the major difference - file size limit.
Oh yeah, you can have a 1000GB hard drive filled with files in FAT32 system.
However, there is one major limit. You CANNOT have a single file that is larger than 4GB.
I discovered this while *trying* to backup another hard drive and keep getting error in the same spot.
Right... so I point the backup to a NTFS drive and it worked.
Strange, right? But remember, FAT32 is more than 10 years old, and has limitations.
Unless you need backward compatibility, convert your drives to NTFS.
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 9:52 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Unreliable Softwares
Well, since the sturdy Partition Magic 8.0 doesn't work in Windows Vista, I got another software for managing and partitioning hard drives last year. It's called Paragon Partition Manager.
However, it seems less robust than Partition Magic. I've already had failures and fatal errors with it, including some bugs appearing when moving large amount of data (which is required for partitioning drives).
For example, one time, during the "quick data moving" stage, after moving a ton of data, it stopped, render the system unresponsive. Another time, during the same quick data moving stage, it stopped near the end stating "security error" leaving a few MB of files invisible.
Softwares that do these kind of risky job should be stable and robust itself, not introducing failures in critical areas, almost corrupting the hard drive in the process.
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 11:47 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Website Hits
So, you think if you stop updating the website/blog, nobody will visit, right??
Actually, I'm quite startled by the result myself.
I made a blog about a game in July 2006, and then I periodically post in it until April 2007. In total, 95 posts were made, and the blog got about 5000 hits. Then, I decided to stop posting, because I no longer played the game. I totally forgotten about the blog, until I visited it today.
Guess how many hits? 9036. I'm not kidding. The blog continued to get hits long after its last update. The number of hits per day increased in the past 4 months without any new posts!
And so... here is an advice if you are running any websites - never ever remove any page that has been exposed to the internet. Old information is useful information, and old pages get MORE views.
As for the number of hits to this site? About 2500 hits (since April 2007).
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 5:01 PM 0 comments
IE8 & FF3
Just recently, IE8 Beta 1 has been released. A rather quick progress I'd say, by Microsoft's standards. So, I and my friend downloaded it.
According to various sources, IE8 passes Acid2 test. However, really, it doesn't pass. Oh yeah, it rendered correctly, but there are some unnecessary scroll bars on the eyes.
And Acid3? Well, it did even worse than IE6 - a dismal 10/100.
Also, the interface looked almost exactly the same as IE7. In other words, rarely any updates.
As for FF3... I'm updating to the latest nightly builds everyday. They seem to do very well. FF3 passes Acid2, catching up to other browsers, and scored a 71/100 on Acid3. Also, there are lots of impressive UI (user interface) changes, such as when you type in the address bar, it will match any letters in the URL instead of just the first ones. Also, the new theme looks better than FF2 IMO. One thing: don't use nightly builds unless you can withstand crashes. The betas are more stable.
Safari and Opera betas scored 100/100 on Acid3, but they still have the performance issue on test26. Safari also hacked around some of the tests (like in test#71 about font rendering, they hard-coded the svg font used to make sure they antialias correctly) which kind of defeats the purpose of the test.
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 7:08 AM 1 comments
Monday, March 31, 2008
Some new stuff
Well, for the past 3 months, I've been working on a lot of things. Including some animations, some small games, and some web tools.
Anyways, I've cooked up a proxy for anybody that needs to get around school censoring system.
it's http://www.jjtchiu.com/go.php
I know it's not perfect, but it should work on 50%~60% of the websites.
I, however, will monitor the traffic. So don't go to illegal sites!
The next one is a new game. It's fairly small, but fun. It's called Nim.
Basically, there are some piles of stones. You can remove any number of stones from only 1 pile in each turn. The person that gets the last stone loses.
Play it here: http://jason.jjtchiu.com/flash/nim.html
See if you can beat the computer! Remember, if you make even ONE mistake, you will lose.
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 8:10 AM 0 comments
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Flash CS3
Just recently I got flash CS3. It has many exciting new features, but I'm having mixed feelings.
For one thing, ActionScript 3.0 is... urm... really different. I liked the way AS2 was - fast development, and easy to write. But then... when it comes to AS3.0, everything changed. So different,
The movieclip hierarchy is now a completely different package. For example, instead of createEmptyMovieClip(), you call "var my_mc = new MovieClip();" and then "myParent.addChild(my_mc);"
Event handling is also different. The ECMAScript-style "my_btn.onrelease = function()" is obsolete in AS3.0. You now have to create a function "function my_btn_release()" and then "my_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, my_btn_release);" It's cumbersome and time consuming.
Also, lots of freedom and advantage of AS2 is now gone. Variable typing is necessary, and it is also necessary that no variable referenced is undefined.
The only major improvement is... performance, sometimes by 5 folds or even 10 folds. I consider it really good, but seriously, flash applets rarely need such high performance. I mean, it certainly opens up possibilities for things such as 3D rendering and bitmap manipulation. However, for most needs, AS2 will be faster to develope for small program complexities. *hope it doesn't become deprecated in the future*
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 7:54 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Flash is slow, notoriously slow
I implemented merge sort in flash, and then compare it to others.
Action: sorting 5000 random numbers in an array
Merge sort - 3.4 seconds
Flash's built-in sort - 0.15 second
Bubble sort - 38.5 seconds (yeah, don't use bubble sort! It's way too slow!)
Merge sort is one of the fastest (others are quicksort, heap sort, ...etc) sorting algorithms (speed = n log n), and yet, compared to the built-in sorting method, it is 20 times slower.
Also, Flash is bad at math.
It takes about a minute to render an image of the Mandelbrot set in Flash.
I use almost the same method, but coded in Paint.NET's codelab, it produces an image 100 times the size, 10000 times more detail, lots of coloring calculation, and with half the time.
Recently, working on a flash 3D engine project, Flash slows down just by doing a few (maybe 20~30) trigonometry calculations (sin/cos only).
It's a real frustration.
*hopes to upgrade to Flash CS3 soon*
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 5:50 PM 3 comments
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Age of Wars
http://www.maxgames.com/play/age-of-war.html
Very nicely done game indeed.
At the beginning, it might be hard, but it isn't really.
The last level can be won by only ion-rays.
A guide to beat impossible:
1. wait for enemy to line up and then use special
2. build an egg-automatic
3. keep sending in club-mans so that the enemy doesn't hit base
4. build more egg-automatics as soon as you have enough money (be sure to leave enough for club-mans)
5. DO NOT evolve until the first tank appears. Keep sending in club-mans as fast as you can
6. when the first tank appears evolve to future age and buy
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 7:05 PM 0 comments
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Grade 10 Math
Just a week ago, I got accepted into the grade 10 math program (I'm currently in grade 8). As a result, I get to go to senior school for specific math sessions and miss a few middle school classes. Recently I just had my first unit test, and it went pretty well. There's nothing too difficult, and provides sufficient challenge and interest for me. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with the arrangement.
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 9:08 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Mean Chefs...
Seriously, one of the obese chefs in the cafeteria was really mean on student cards. If we forget them, we cannot enter studentID number, and we must go back to boarding house and get a permission slip from a houseparent. His agitation peaked when the internet connection broke; he was shouting in really high voices and he looked like a cartoon character.
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 6:11 PM 3 comments
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Exams & Homework
Sometimes they are a bit overwhelming, especially if you are a boarding student, which have a very strict timetable. Especially when reportcards are due... all the sudden it's a boom, and then, the next day, there's literally no homework because of long weekend.
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 9:10 PM 0 comments
Saturday, October 27, 2007
School Computer Hacked?!
I think the school got a trojan infected in their systems.
I just login, and then I started playing games, and then all the sudden, a "run" window pops up and somebody is trying to run the winlogin.exe! (obviously you know what that is) Then, the computer beside me is trying to run "cmd.exe" which is command prompt!~ No wonder the anti-virus keeps poping up every time you download something or install something... !!!
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 12:40 PM 5 comments
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
2 = 1 paradox
Try to find the error in this prove for "2 = 1"
let a and b be any integer
that a = b
a = b
a² = ab
a² - b² = ab - b²
(a - b)(a + b) = b(a - b)
a + b = b
b + b = b
2b = b
2 = 1
Hehehehehe... (!)
Answer can be found in the puzzle section.
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 4:50 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
&#$%? Flash Cookie!
The security policy is really really strict. Seriously, you can't even let 1 cookie visible to other people/account/website through security settings! Now this is quite a bit of problem because my 2.1mb linerider track is now sitting there as orphaned garbage - because the swf has moved a domain, nothing could be read.
- posted by :: Jsonchiu :: at 7:40 AM 0 comments
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