Google has proven itself again. I was surprised to see that the amount of data they have mined and putting into useful information. I was talking to Wingz about his SEO and how easy to search for his content.

Social Circle - recommended search result by Google

It was not until I realized that Google are working on this feature that will and be very scary about. If you have account with Google, your profile by itself will not be eligible to be featured in Google search results. Unless you put enough information then any keywords or specific matters will link back to you.

Definition - Social Circle and Content

It will be something like Facebook, with the exception it’s going to be quasi-public. There will be borderline privacy as it will be hard to differentiate it. In the interest of all, I realized Google will also recommend those links that originally in your social networks. From Buzz, Gtalk and even Gmail contacts? Interesting.

Sample - My Profile

So once you have created and updated your profile in Google with sufficient input, then you can set whether these information will be available on the Internet. If it is, anyone can Google for Dale Tan. With the profile information that one provided, it is available depending on the settings. Something like this. Below.

Sample Profile

In summary, the largest ever Yellow / White Pages.

Popularity: 8% [?]

When Everything Fails Google Profile, Google Social Circle

After Andy left the optical stores, I have no other place to turn to. In between getting a designer label frames and a good lens, I procrastinate. Mainly it was due to lack of funding and secondly, I still can survive with the current spectacles I am wearing.

Carl Zeiss (from http://rojaks.blogspot.com)

As time goes by, the coating wears off and eventually it was a pain to drive at night. The glare caused irritations on my right eyes. Finally after 3 years or so, I decided to source for a new place to get my glasses done. In between recommendation, I went to the few optical stores. It is kind of weird in Malaysia that most of the optical stores doesn’t have an optometrist to get the readings.

After I get my prescriptions from a few, I settled down with one I am comfortable with. Instead of looking at the frames, the first thing I was looking at were the lens. Compared to my knowledge many years back, the were huge range of different branded spectacle lenses. Not just Hoya. There are also Essilor, AO, Norville, Nikon, Pentax, Rodenstock, Sola and Zeiss and much more. I was told that Hoya no longer having the most market share. Which I used to be told of every time I asked my friend, Tony what lens should I look out for.

Nikon Lite SEECOAT

Wingz got his new prescription glasses earlier this year with Zeis. He added that it comes along with 1 year warranty. Proof of warranty? The warranty card. Even my Nikon SeeCoat comes with a warranty card. Guess it means nothing because according to the few sites I visited, it was said that the lifespan of a glasses is between 12-18 months. Trying to source about the warranty and how it applies, I realized that the Nikon prescription lens in Malaysia are under Essilor Malaysia. This blog author highly recommended Essilor lens 2 years back.

Essilor has many brands for various needs. For example:

* Airwear which provides light, thin and high impact-resistance lenses
* Transitions which provides photochromic lenses (clear indoors and at night but darken outdoors)
* Varilux which provides progressive lenses (I still don’t need it yet :p)
* Crizal, a type of coating innovated by Essilor, which provides no-glare, scratch-resistance and dirt-resistance properties. Crizal is generally available on Airwear, Transitions and Varilux lenses.

Personally, I have satisfying experiences with Airwear and Transitions lenses. As mentioned, these lenses are applied with Crizal coating too.

Essilor Airwear

Essilor AirwearWhen I was wearing Nike Flexon rimless prescription frame, I needed a pair of lenses which must be lightweight, thin and durable. Airwear meets all the requirements, and at the same time the polycarbonate material provides impressive impact-resistance properties.

I was given a piece of Essilor Airwear lens, and a piece of brand X polycarbonate lens, together with a hammer (yes, it was a real hammer). With just an easy smash, the brand X polycarbonate lens was broken. However, to my surprise, I couldn’t break the Airwear lens at all, yes, not at all. After a few smashes, there were scratches on the Airwear lens, but it didn’t break!

Because of the Crizal coating, Airwear lenses are very easy to clean too. Even with smudges, the smooth lens surface makes it extremely easy for cleaning. After years, the lens surface is still as smooth as it was.

Essilor Transitions

Essilor TransitionsThe disadvantage of wearing prescription frame is that those cool sunglasses are always practically unreachable by me, unless I wear contact lenses. Besides, I don’t like the design of prescription frame with clip-on sunglasses too.

So, the best choice for me is a pair of prescription lenses which is transparent in indoors or at night, and darkens its tint when exposed to UV. And yes, I’m also a happy user of the Transitions photochromic lenses.

These are the advantages of Transitions that have won my loyalty for 2 pairs of Transitions:

* very sensitive, and fast in reacting to even a small change in sunlight condition
* doesn’t turn yellowish over time; still remains as true clear transparent at indoor even after 2 years of usage

Sensitivity to light is a very important evaluation factor for photochromic lenses. I’ve seen friends paying the same price (comparing to Transitions) for other brands of photochromic lenses, and yet not as sensitive to UV density.

So now, regardless of the lighting situation, I don’t even need to bother about it, as the variable tint of my Transitions works very well. I no longer strain my eyes when posing for outdoor photos too!

I’ve introduced Transitions to 3 friends (including blogger Jason Lioh), and all are very satisfied with it.

I guess what’s different back then and today is most of the expensive lens comes with warranty. Even Carl Zeiss have their own websites to keep track of the prescribed lens they made here. Anyone with the warranty card can register here. I told Wingz and he kind of boastful about it.

I found one website which is very useful to get more understanding about the lens available in the market. In the end I find it too technical and they don’t have complete lens inside. I can’t even find Zeis Clarity 1.6 AS Lotutec. Guess there are too much types of lens available in the market.

Once decided the lens, it is time to choose the frame. I opt for the cheap frames. To me, I find it about the same. There’s not much different between a designer label frame with the good one without designer label. It just a name stick on the frame. That’s all. The optician recommended me a frame similar to the Tag Heuer Reflex. He said that the frames came from Korea and have the same features what Tag Heuer is having. I tried both and it is almost identical, which is very hard to differentiate. The good thing about the Korea-made was it cost only 40% of what the price tag shown on Tag Heuer.

I save the frame for the next time. Opt for something conventional.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Thoughts, Rants and Musings, When Everything Fails Essilor, Hoya, Nikon See Coat, Prescription Eyewear, Zeiss

After I finished the book, “Outliers” I decided to finish up the “The Tipping Point – How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference”.

The Tipping Point

Likewise with his writings, the author Malcolm Gladwell dwells in the singularity of the issue. He examines the culture of the Hush Puppies from a small to international brand that making millions dollar annually. He wrote that the culture was epidemic. Starting from small numbers of urbanites until it catches on fire into the runway. It seems as the culture took off at the certain tipping point.

So, clearly his book was mentioning the small little things that sometimes we did not pay attention to. From that small things it turn out to be the tipping point once it reached its critical mass. Sounds like physics.

After reading this ‘Tipping Point’ I felt that the idea and the basic drive for this book it splendidly good. No doubt that Malcolm is a good writer. He prose and eloquently good with his writing skills which I came to envy about. Nonetheless, the book was considered information overloaded where by I don’t get how he trying to jive the entire several ideas and laws together. Maybe it’s not him, it’s just me.

But above all, I like the part where he shared about the tipping point to make it an epidemic hooha. It just gives me the right idea. That’s all.

Popularity: 10% [?]

When Everything Fails book, Malcolm Gladwell

The last time I visited an optician was 3 years ago. The best time to visit is annually for regular checkup. So the best time for me to check my eyesight was yesterday. I went to visit several optical stores. Those with optometrist for their expertise advise.

To find out, I realize there were more types of glasses available

In the past, the only material that was used for the manufacturing of lenses is Crown glass. But now in days many different types of lens materials are used, like CR-39 Plastic, polycarbonate, mid-index plastic, spectra-light and 1.6 index plastic, 1.66 index plastic. Almost all plastics and polycarbonate are lighter in weight as compared to crown glass.

For start, there were 1.5 and 1.6 index plastic. I was told that 1.5 were thicker and uglier. So usually going for 1.6 index is much thinner and looks good on the person. I’m not sure of the 1.66 index plastic but I’m sure it is going to be expensive right?

Since I heard there were Carl Zeiss lens available for eyeglasses in contrary of the older times when we using Hoya, I decided to check out the prices given that I might be able to afford it. Before I dwell into the pricing matters, I learned a lot from the optometrist as well as the salesperon on the consideration when choosing lenses.

Aspheric Lenses

Here’s the summary from what I googled earlier:-

When choosing lenses, one should consider that:

• Each lens material has its own unique optical properties. Depending on prescription and intended use, certain materials perform better than others.
• Aspheric lenses provide superior peripheral vision for those with stronger prescriptions and also produce thinner edges than spherical lenses.
• Highly impact resistant materials such as polycarbonate and “Trivex” are required for children’s lenses as well as for all sport and other safety applications.
• Lens edge thickness depends on prescription, frame size and shape, center thickness and on the index of refraction of the material. Currently, there are eight possible choices of index of refraction ranging from 1.49 to 1.74. As this number increases, lenses become thinner for a given prescription in a given frame. Some of the manufacturers that make higher index, thin lenses are: “Seiko”; “Essilor”; “Hoya”; “Nikon” and “Optima”.
• Ultraviolet protection is recommended for all lenses that are used outdoors and for use with computer monitors.
• Sun lenses, whether prescription or non prescription must filter out at least eighty to ninety percent of visible light and must filter out all ultraviolet light. Polarized lenses offer the additional feature of blocking light reflected from horizontal surfaces and are a must for all water activities.
• “Transitions lenses” darken only with direct exposure to sunlight and do not work effectively behind the windshield of a vehicle.
• Fashion tints can be selected for appearance or to soften light in certain lighting conditions. They do not meet the standards required for sun wear.
• Scratch resistant coatings are necessary and should not be considered an option. Extra hard coatings such as “Essilor’s” “TD2” offer enhanced scratch resistance.
• Anti reflective treatments increase light transmission, reduce glare and reflections and greatly improve the appearance of lenses. The very thinnest lenses require this treatment, while it is optional on the others. Basic, low end treatments perform poorly. The best anti reflective treatments combine superior scratch resistance with hydrophobic and anti static properties, and are chemically bonded to the lens. Some key brands are: “Crizal Avance with Scotchguard”; “Hoya Super High Vision” and “Teflon”.
• Bifocal and trifocal lenses are made in many widths and depths to accommodate a variety of needs. Blended bifocal lenses are also available, but are generally not recommended.
• Specialty, occupational multifocal lenses can help with tasks that require intermediate or near vision in areas above eye level.
• There are over one hundred progressive lens designs made by numerous manufacturers including Varilux Lenses and Hoya Lenses. Early designs caused distorted vision for some wearers. Some of the “low end” lenses on the market today still cause this problem. Today’s premium lenses are more costly, but provide far superior visual performance. These modern progressive lenses include designs that maximize distance, intermediate or near visual acuity. Choices include many that have been created to work well with today’s shallower frames. Some of the available premium progressive lenses are made by: “Essilor”; “Varilux Lenses”; “Hoya”, “Seiko”; “Shamir” and “Zeiss”.
• Computer lenses perform best with anti reflective lenses. Light tints can also help to further reduce glare. Special progressive and bifocal designs that maximize intermediate and near vision are offered for those who can no longer focus well at these distances.

I was being recommended Nikon SEECOAT. It was said better. Aspheric glasses going to cost me RM550. Other is around RM420 to RM510. Carl Zeiss is double the amount. RM1080. >.<

Aspheric Comparison

Popularity: 48% [?]

When Everything Fails Aspheric Lenses, eyeglasses, Nikon, Optometry, SEECOAT

I laughed myself when I thought about escaping from KL. I recalled back then someone called in back in middle of 2009. I think. I can’t remember though but she called me up, sobbing saying she wanted some $$$ from me. She wanted to run away. She wanted to escape from KL. The place she was heartbroken. I listened and assure her that it is just an impulse. It won’t help to soothe the ache. When she return to KL, eventually she still has to face it after all.

But now, it was I who wanted to escape the KL city.

Everyone whom been to Bali tells me it was great experience and enjoyable. This making me envy and yearn to go to Bali at least for once in my lifetime. Yet, what to do in Bali? I need to do some research still. Meh~

Popularity: 24% [?]

When Everything Fails Bali, holiday, Indonesia, Malaysia Airlines System, Malaysia Airlines Travel, mas

lin-k-cum
Spelled Pronunciation [lin-k-c-um]

–noun
1. any conception existing in the mind as a result of mental understanding, awareness, or activity.
2. a thought, conception, or notion: That is an excellent idea.
3. an impression: He gave me a general idea of how he plans to run the department.
4. an opinion, view, or belief: His ideas on raising children are certainly strange.
5. a plan of action; an intention: the idea of becoming an engineer.
6. a groundless supposition; fantasy.
7. Philosophy.
a. a concept developed by the mind.
b. a conception of what is desirable or ought to be; ideal.
c. (initial capital letter) Platonism. Also called form. an archetype or pattern of which the individual objects in any natural class are imperfect copies and from which they derive their being.
d. Kantianism. idea of pure reason.

Before the Chinese New Year, Wingz was asking me to help out with a chinese poem. I been thinking yet couldn’t derive any. Today at office, on my first day of work I have linkcum. It begins with ‘hoi kong dai kat” as in good luck with the commencement of work.

So simply thought of the phrase below:-

hoy kong dai kat,
nei pang yau ngo hou wan kat,
mm zi nei duck mm duck,
chut chut yap yap nei yau luck !

translation
commence the work with luck,
your friend, me is very idiotic,
I don’t know you can or not,
out out in in you got luck

As I shared with Sasha, she told me… who I come out the poem for? A simple pointer send me some linkcum.

I then thought of this poem

kam nin nin lou foo,
juek san sam, juek san foo,
ching chun mei lai pei fu what gor tau foo,
dai kar hoi hoi sum sum, everyone wan dar foo

translation
this year, year of Tiger,
Wear new clothes, wear new pants,
young and pretty, skin smoother than tofu,
everybody happy joyful, everyone wonderful

Popularity: 13% [?]

When Everything Fails Chinese New Year, Laugh, Poem

When the other day I had a Samsung Omnia II with me, I was curious about this phone. What was the fuss about it. So I took a look and decided to snap some photos.

In comparison with iPhone, Omnia II feels much more plastic. I don’t know why. Perhaps it was lighter? Anyway, they got whatever iPhone has and what makes it even better is that they have the 5MP , 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, dual-LED flash, Geo-tagging, face and smile detection, mobile blogging. They even allow you to have 3G video call.
Read more…

Popularity: 9% [?]

When Everything Fails Gadgets, Mobile Phone, Samsung Omnia II

For everyone here on the web space, let us ushering the year of tiger with great happiness and prosperities.

Those whom drive back to hometown or “balik kampung”, safe journey!

Those whom stayed back in KL, enjoyed the moment of serenity and tranquility of the peaceful city.

Like the roaring tiger!

Tigers are stripe in orange,
so are mandarin orange,
Exception of the lucky stripe,
Sweet as it when its ripe.

Goes the ox come the tiger,
along with wealth so you hold,
good fortune shall not slip your finger,
healthy body even if you’re old.

frostier.net here would like to wish,
to all his readers a sincere wish,
from the heart it comes the little song,
that you shall be “huatttt ah” all year long.

Gong Xi Fa Chai

&

HHhhuuuuuuuaaaaaattttttttt ah!

Popularity: 15% [?]

When Everything Fails Chinese New Year, Festival, holiday

Couple weeks back I had the opportunity to hang out with the guys and drink beers. Well, it was impromptu decision made by few ex-colleagues. We all roped in to the Curve for a quick dinner before going over to the Library for a drink. Library was having a promotion, buy 1 pint and get 1/2 pint free. Sounds like a bargain. Oh and by the way, I bumped into my friends there too drinking (which I think everyone likes to go there recently)

Coming back to the story about the man and his refrigerator, one of them commented how fortunate he was that he bought himself a refrigerator. It was a bargain that he manage to get it below the market price. Almost half. He got it for around RM1-2k where as the price tag for it in the major electrical stores was above RM4k. I know because I went for survey before.

From what he said, he sounds like he was proud to own this beautifully designed refrigerator. It was a side-by-side refrigerator. A Korea brand. Stylish. Well, this friend of ours decided to convince us that he made a nice purchase of the refrigerator. He showed us the photo he taken with his camera phone while compliment on the beauty and the smart decision he had made.

As if he is really using it because according to the other guy, he told us that the entire house was empty with the exception of his room. His bedroom. It was only the refrigerator lying in the kitchen doing nothing. I personally thought at least with the huge fridge, he could keep and store the food for weeks. Sounds good.

And the answer I got from them? No. He did not even powered it up. He had no actual use of it. Seriously, I was flabbergasted. Why would you get a bargain for a nice refrigerator when you don’t even powered it up and use it?

Another friend chipped in that maybe he had certain fetishes with the refrigerator and every time he come home, he wanted to just either one, hug the fridge. Two, hid himself inside the fridge. Three, open up the fridge and talk to listen to the echo. Well, we manage to come up with a lot of hypothesis. Theory and assumption. Our friend did not commented much except it was a good buy.

Sounds like he just got himself a trophy wife – the refrigerator.

Popularity: 25% [?]

When Everything Fails Home Appliance, Homeware, Lifestyle

There was a very gracious lady who was mailing an old family Bible to her brother in another part of the country.

‘Is there anything breakable in here?’ asked the postal clerk.

‘Only the Ten Commandments. ‘ answered the lady.
*****

‘Somebody has said there are only two kinds of people in the world. There are those who wake up in the morning and say, ‘Good morning, Lord,’ and there are those who wake up in the morning and say, ‘Good Lord, it’s morning.’
*****

A minister parked his car in a no-parking zone in a large city because he was short of time and couldn’t find a space with a meter. Then he put a note under the windshield wiper that read: ‘I have circled the block 10 times. If I don’t park here, I’ll miss my appointment. Forgive us our trespasses.’

When he returned, he found a citation from a police officer along with this note
‘I’ve circled this block for 10 years. If I don’t give you a ticket I’ll lose my job. Lead us not into temptation.’
*****

There is the story of a pastor who got up one Sunday and announced to his congregation: ‘I have good news and bad news.
The good news is, we have enough money to pay for our new building program. The bad news is, it’s still out there in your pockets.’
*****

A Sunday School teacher began her lesson with a question, ‘Boys and girls, what do we know about God?’
A hand shot up in the air. ‘He is an artist!’ said the kindergarten boy.
‘Really? How do you know?’ the teacher asked. ‘You know
- Our Father, who does art in Heaven… ‘
*****

A minister waited in line to have his car filled with gas just before a long holiday weekend. The attendant worked quickly, but there were many cars ahead of him.
Finally, the attendant motioned him toward a vacant pump. ‘Reverend,’ said the young man, ‘I’m so sorry about the delay..
It seems as if everyone waits until the last minute to get ready for a long trip.’

The minister chuckled, ‘I know what you mean. It’s the same in my business.’
*****

A father was approached by his small son who told him proudly, ‘I know what the Bible means!’
His father smiled and replied, ‘What do you mean, you ‘know’ what the Bible means?’
The son replied, ‘I do know!’
‘Okay,’ said his father. ‘What does the Bible mean?’
‘That’s easy, Daddy.’ the young boy replied excitedly,
‘It stands for ‘Basic Information Before Leaving Earth.”
*****

Sunday after church, a Mom asked her very young daughter what the lesson was about. The daughter answered, ‘Don’t be scared, you’ll get your quilt.’
Needless to say, the Mom was perplexed.
Later in the day, the pastor stopped by for tea and the Mom asked him what that morning’s Sunday school lesson was about.
He said ‘Be not afraid, thy comforter is coming.’
*****

VATICAN HUMOR
After getting all of Pope Benedict’s luggage loaded into the limo, (and he doesn’t travel light), the driver notices the Pope is still standing on the curb. ‘Excuse me, Your Holiness,’ says the driver, ‘Would you please take your seat so we can leave?’
‘Well, to tell you the truth,’ says the Pope, ‘they never let me drive at the Vatican when I was a cardinal, and I’d really like to drive today.’
‘I’m sorry, Your Holiness, but I cannot let you do that. I’d lose my job! What if something should happen?’ protests the driver, wishing he’d never gone to work that morning. ‘Who’s going to tell?’ says the Pope with a smile?
Reluctantly, the driver gets in the back as the Pope climbs in behind the wheel. The driver quickly regrets his decision when, after exiting the airport, the Pontiff floors it, accelerating the limo to 205 kph.
(Remember, the Pope is German.)

‘Please slow down, Your Holiness!’ pleads the worried driver, but the Pope keeps the pedal to the metal until they hear sirens.
‘Oh, dear God, I’m going to lose my license — and my job!’ moans the driver.
The Pope pulls over and rolls down the window as the cop approaches, but the cop takes one look at him, goes back to his motorcycle, and gets on the radio. ‘I need to talk to the Chief,’ he says to the dispatcher.

The Chief gets on the radio and the cop tells him that he’s stopped a limo going 205 kph. ‘So bust him,’ says the Chief.
‘I don’t think we want to do that, he’s really important,’ said the cop. The Chief exclaimed,’ All the more reason!’
‘No, I mean really important,’ said the cop with a bit of persistence.

The Chief then asked, ‘Who do you have there, the mayor?’
Cop: ‘Bigger.’
Chief: ‘ A senator?’
Cop: ‘Bigger.’
Chief: ‘The Prime Minister?’
Cop: ‘Bigger.’
Well,’ said the Chief, ‘Who is it?’
Cop: ‘I think it’s God!’
The Chief is even more puzzled and curious, ‘What makes you think it’s God?’

Cop: ‘His chauffeur is the Pope!’
*****

See, it is not that bad after all. Have a laugh and the world can be a better place.

Popularity: 31% [?]

When Everything Fails Funny, joke, Religion