Vocab: Barber Chair (In Logging)

Posted on April 20, 2017 by timlyg

When tree falls, after cutting, trunk splits into many parts and risk hitting the lumberjack.

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How to Deal with Viral Fads

Posted on April 12, 2017 by timlyg

Never follow the emotional roller coaster ride.

Use that info for some other gain if possible - e.g. United Airlines' abuse of an airline passenger in order to make more room than their capacity recently caused one of the most viral uproar I've ever seen in social media. How one can take this news? Gossip - No. Sell UA's stock and then buy it back from the bottom the next day - very quickly.

As to better alternatives for UA:
- postpone flight until the next one's available. (passengers must sacrifice or everyone loses)
-  avoid selecting passengers on urgent errands
- Better incentives (free ride one full year)
- Let staffs suffer without seating

And there are many more solutions I'm sure.

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There is a way to tell - Do you truly believe in the doctrine of Predestination - Total Depravity

Posted on April 6, 2017 by timlyg

I've noticed many in the Reformed Churches profess the doctrine of Predestination. However, they behave as those who have no life, as if they were Elects on papers, on some sort of contracts, but not in spirit.

The Litmus Test: Presuppositional Apologetics.

I believe I can write a longer paper on this, but it is not necessary.

The key points:

  1. How much DID we DENY God's Existence?
  2. Are we going to admit we once hated God?
  3. Now, when we say "All is by the Grace of God!" do we say it because it's the best answer we were told or do we truly recognize the depth of our sin, e.g. God haters, God deniers & NOT oblivious of God?
Posted in Theologization | Leave a comment

A Way to Do Student Database between Access & MySQL

Posted on April 4, 2017 by timlyg

For NYGC, this would be a good upgrade.

http://dba.stackexchange.com/questions/135361/remotely-connect-to-mysql-from-ms-access

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Chess End Game I played to be analyzed

Posted on April 2, 2017 by timlyg

PGN format. Though I won, but the end game looks tricky.

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2017.04.02"]
[White "hisuphi"]
[Black "checkychess"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "1915"]
[BlackElo "1920"]
[TimeControl "60"]
[Termination "checkychess won by checkmate"]
[CurrentPosition "2r1r1k1/5ppp/5b2/2p5/P2p1P2/1P4qb/2PQB3/1N1RRK2 w - - 7 27"]

1.e4 {[%clk 0:01:00]} e6 {[%clk 0:01:00]} 2.Nf3 {[%clk 0:00:59]} d5 {[%clk 0:00:59]} 3.exd5 {[%clk 0:00:59]} exd5 {[%clk 0:00:59]} 4.Nc3 {[%clk 0:00:59]} Nf6 {[%clk 0:00:59]} 5.d4 {[%clk 0:00:58]} Be7 {[%clk 0:00:59]} 6.Bd3 {[%clk 0:00:58]} O-O {[%clk 0:00:59]} 7.h3 {[%clk 0:00:57]} b6 {[%clk 0:00:58]} 8.Bg5 {[%clk 0:00:57]} Bb7 {[%clk 0:00:58]} 9.Qd2 {[%clk 0:00:55]} a6 {[%clk 0:00:57]} 10.Ne5 {[%clk 0:00:54]} Re8 {[%clk 0:00:57]} 11.O-O {[%clk 0:00:52]} Nbd7 {[%clk 0:00:57]} 12.Rfe1 {[%clk 0:00:51]} c5 {[%clk 0:00:55]} 13.Nxd7 {[%clk 0:00:48]} Qxd7 {[%clk 0:00:52]} 14.Bxf6 {[%clk 0:00:45]} Bxf6 {[%clk 0:00:51]} 15.dxc5 {[%clk 0:00:45]} bxc5 {[%clk 0:00:50]} 16.Be2 {[%clk 0:00:41]} Rac8 {[%clk 0:00:50]} 17.Rad1 {[%clk 0:00:40]} d4 {[%clk 0:00:49]} 18.Nb1 {[%clk 0:00:38]} Qa4 {[%clk 0:00:43]} 19.a3 {[%clk 0:00:36]} Bd5 {[%clk 0:00:40]} 20.b3 {[%clk 0:00:34]} Qc6 {[%clk 0:00:39]} 21.a4 {[%clk 0:00:33]} Bxg2 {[%clk 0:00:38]} 22.Bxa6 {[%clk 0:00:29]} Bxh3 {[%clk 0:00:32]} 23.f4 {[%clk 0:00:25]} Qf3 {[%clk 0:00:29]} 24.Bf1 {[%clk 0:00:19]} Bg4 {[%clk 0:00:21]} 25.Be2 {[%clk 0:00:16]} Qg3+ {[%clk 0:00:20]} 26.Kf1 {[%clk 0:00:15]} Bh3# {[%clk 0:00:18]}  0-1

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How to Make VCDs

Posted on March 25, 2017 by timlyg

The Americans are not familiar with this: Video CD. When I first got to U.S., I asked around, nobody in the IT business knew what was a VCD...all they could relate was DVD, which was a new thing at the time, so new that I didn't know about it and actually thought that DVD was the name Americans call VCD.

Now, on to the more serious matter: It is therefore not easy to find a software that deals with VCD conversion. VCD uses mpeg1 (not mpg2) video format. The video file extension is .DAT. There are several folders on the VCD but that is just how VCD's content is structured, nothing important. After many trials and errors, this is the best procedure I've found so far:

Note: I've tried VCDGear & VCDEasy. Neither works properly. VCDGear couldn't read mpeg1 (some claims that it's due to the fact that there's distinction between mpeg-1 & mpeg-1/VCD formats). VCDEasy is useless in the latest Windows version as it somehow requires old version of WMP media player. As for free video conversion, Handbrake is very cool which supports many video formats, however, the only freeware to support mpeg-1 is ANC (Any Video Converter). I've converted an MOV file to a mpeg-1 video file.

Then, I use Blaze Media Pro to burn the mpeg-1 file onto CD as VCD. Done.
(PS. it turns out Blaze has a 15 day trial period, so I guess I'll just have to either buy it or crack it). Finding a freeware is so hard for this.

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CCCNY Directory Database

Posted on March 21, 2017 by timlyg

An interesting attempt. Turning the tedious directory work in Excel & Word into Access GUI.

Cool trick: Round-up / Ceiling of a positive double:
In VB.NET, using the fact that int() = floor()
-Int(-a/b)

It would appear that some MS Word pages do not follow the same line number limit as the rest of the pages. There's a math (or here) to make it work:
Word uses points. 72 points = 1 inch. Single line spacing is 120% of font size. This may be kind of tricky (footer/header margins are not accounted for in the article, which I think they should). For some reason the margins left about 9.3" of writing space per page, taking away 1.6" which I have no clue how it came about. Or I may pursue a different approach programmatically.

There was a problem in my code:

I keep getting Run-time error '462':
The remote server machine does not exist or is unavailable. Debug targets
ObjWord.Selection .Paragraphs.TabStops
.Add Position:=InchesToPoints(1.5), Alignment:=wdAlignTabLeft
Solution: ObjWord.InchesToPoints(1.5)

So far so good, if the spacing calculation for getting every page to start with a new contact is still a problem, then perhaps it's better to program a page break into it.

Posted in Projects, Theologization | Leave a comment

Radical vs. Liberal Muslims

Posted on March 12, 2017 by timlyg

Listening to the International Panel talk at the 2017 Ligonier Conference, the host mentioned 80% of Muslims are non-muslims who do not care about the Quran. Only the small percentage, the radicals are true Muslims.

I'm not sure of the host's intention - diminishing Dr. Tong's claim that Indonesia as most Muslim populous country as greatest challenge to Christian ministry? I hope I'm wrong.

I used to think that way too, that these "moderate" Muslims knows nothing about their religion other than being born in a "Muslim" family. I guess I used to think that way more whenever I hear someone try to introduce me a preacher in the Muslim world, like it's a big deal. Hence, when I came to think of it, nominal Muslims aren't really Muslims, so these so called brave missionaries aren't really facing the fatal challenges of the Muslim world...merely a cheap cop out of the greatness of their ministries.

But if I were to think deeper...it depends on who we meet. I've actually also met non-radical Muslims who are deep into the Quran. These are medical doctors, great family background, etc. Thus, it is narrow minded to be constraint by this false dichotomy of the Muslim world. It is true that there are plenty of liberal Muslims who don't know about the Quran one bit, but the other group is not just one radical group.

However, the "good" Muslims generally stay away from preachers...hence, if one does not engage in a wider social life, I think that's an ignorance that will lead to pride. Although, I do still believe that many missionaries today do not preach to these "good" Muslims out of fear, not to mention the radicals. Of course, Dr. Tong being an exception.

Posted in Faults, Theologization | Leave a comment

2017 Ligonier Conference

Posted on March 11, 2017 by timlyg

I was excited when I learned that Stephen Tong was invited to guest speak at the conference.

Although, I am beginning to feel that there was a kind of narrow mindedness in the organization of the conference, based on Dr. Tong's schedule. It appears that his appearance scheduled for the conference is constructed in such a way that he's just representing the "international" preacher. "International" in the Ameristian sense: Where everything is about America while the other countries are merely following the American faith. They think that they have the best preachers in the world, that they have the largest churches, etc.

I wish I'm wrong. But no matter what, I would definitely like to get my hands on the video recordings, chiefly of Pak Tong's speech. The only unfortunate thing for me not being there physically was that I cannot look around at the audience to examine their reactions during the conference.

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Ligonier Class: Church History III: The Reformation

Posted on March 10, 2017 by timlyg

Lesson 1: Introduction

The Holy Roman Empire centered in Germany and Austria became more German and Austrian such that nation states rose. Nothing holy, nor Roman, nor like an empire.

Europe began to be centralized in the 16th century, politically. However, the notion of a Christian empire was diminishing. The Roman Catholic Church was selling indulgences roughly 50 years before Luther's protest. Indulgences work even for the dead - a good marketing scheme. "As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs." - Tetzel

Indulgence satisfies and replaces pious works required in penance, which is a sacrament comprising 3 parts:
1. Contrition over Attrition (feeling guilty only when caught - sorrow for sin out of fear of damnation).
2. Oral confession to a priest in private.
3. Do prayers or giving to the poor (perhaps to the church).

Centralization of power results in absolutism - such as seen in France, which led to the French Revolution.

Reformation failed as opposed by the government: France
Reformation not supported by government but succeeded: Netherlands, Scotland.
Reformation supported by government: England, Scandinavia.

Posted in Projects, Theologization | 19 Comments