Archive for the ‘Pop Culture/Media’ Category
Mar 29, 2018
The Real Shape of the Globe
The Real Shape Of The Globe

The Real Shape Of The Globe

The Real Shape of The Globe
By Chongchen Saelee

Most depictions of the globe is an oversimplification, a mapping projection made by cartographers so it is easier to read and navigate.

But the actual physical earth is not a perfect sphere. If anything was a perfect sphere, it would be the Earth’s atmoshphere. Everything else is irregular. So to map the physical land to a perfect sphere is inaccurate.

So if you were to fly a literal straight path from point-to-point, there would be no curve like how some animations depict it. You would actually travel faster and shorter distances.

Mar 12, 2018
How To Fix Windows 7 PowerDVD 17 Error: CL RC Engine3 Dummy Winidow: PowerDVD.exe – No Disk

How To Fix
PowerDVD 17 Error Message
CL RC Engine3 Dummy Winidow: PowerDVD.exe – No Disk
“There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk into drive D:”

By Chongchen Saelee

UPDATE: April 27, 2018 – It seems all I had to do was click the “Reset to Defaults” button at the bottom of the AutoPlay window, which grays out all the options to “Choose a Default” and no more problem pop-ups now when I eject a Blu-ray from PowerDVD. Of course, this is only a Windows 7 problem.

Symptom: Occurs on some Blu-ray discs upon ejection. Sometimes might even freeze Windows or lock the BD-Rom Drive

PowerDVD 17 Error Message CL RC Engine3 Dummy Winidow: PowerDVD.exe - No Disk "There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk into drive D:"

PowerDVD 17 Error Message
CL RC Engine3 Dummy Winidow: PowerDVD.exe – No Disk
“There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk into drive D:”

Solution: Apparently, for Windows 7 anyway, there was no option during installation to prevent PowerDVD from setting the Windows Autoplay hardware associations, despite providing a file format associations page. The Windows Autoplay associations deal with hardware rather than software and seems to be automatically set by Windows (you might notice the Autoplay pop-up whenever you put in a new disc of USB with media files on it). To prevent the error from happening, you must disable Windows Autoplay for any devices that were set to call PowerDVD, in this case for the Blu-rays (or any other media).

For Windows 7:
1. Go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > AutoPlay
2. Under the Media pane, for every media option that lists “Play {media} using PowerDVD 17” change it to “Take no action”.
3. Click Save.

Change Windows 7 Autoplay settings to fix PowerDVD 17 error

Change Windows 7 Autoplay settings to fix PowerDVD 17 error

Now when you eject a Blu-ray disc through PowerDVD, it won’t give the error message.

If you’re still getting the error message, it might be due to something else. Good luck!

Apr 18, 2017
What Happens To 8 Year Old Deodorant? It’s Gross!!!

I noticed something was amiss with dust-covered stick of anti-perspirant deodorant on my bathroom counter top and it turns out it expired in May 2009! Look at what happens after 8 years to it! It’s gross!!!

Dec 11, 2016
Stories From 2525: Eating At Simm’s Burgers

Stories From 2525: Eating At Simm’s Burgers
By Chongchen Saelee

Promptly at 3:34pm each workday, I take my 30 minute break for lunch. I take a brisk stroll through the empty metropolitan streets just a couple of blocks away from The Cube, where I work. The streets are empty because most citizens are locked in their cages at home piloting their drones. And those personal drones scatter throughout the city like giant pests. I’m headed for Simm’s Burgers for lunch. Thank god Simm’s doesn’t allow drones.

Simm’s is an old-fashion food vendor. Back in the day, they called their type of service “fast food”. I don’t know why, the automation food preparation system behind the kitchen viewing glass seems to move quite slow. On average, I receive my meal in an agonizing 30 seconds or longer. It irks me to have to come up with some kind of conversation in those 30 seconds to spare with the zit-faced kid at the front counter. (more…)

Nov 18, 2016
A Contract With God Trilogy (1978-1995) By Will Eisner Review

A Contract With God Trilogy
Published from 1978 to 1995
Books by Will Eisner

Review by Chongchen Saelee

Man, first off, what a depressing overall story. Will Eisner’s epic story revolves around the tenants of a neighborhood on Dropsie Avenue, somewhere in New York area. It starts out with the day to day living and MISERY of early inhabitants in early 1900s. Everyone seems to be miserable or suffering because of an economic depression.

The first book, “A Contract With God”, focuses on tenants and their lifestyles. Needless to say, most if not all end in very depressing ways. (more…)

Nov 17, 2016
Neuromancer (1984) By William Gibson Review

Neuromancer
Author: William Gibson
Published in 1984

Review By Chongchen Saelee

“Neuromancer” is the chosen template for modern sci-fi stories since it’s publication. It seems every modern sci-fi story from The Matrix, Ghost in the Shell, Akira, etc, all borrow heavily from Neuromancer. If not the exact storyline, they borrow the speculative Asian culture imagery. But masquerading around as a futuristic caper story, Neuromancer is actually more like a crime noir story, since main plot device involves protagonist Henry Dorsett Case’s lost love Linda Lee. It bookends the whole story, although executed kinda sloppily.

Overall plot revolves around “cowboy” or what we call these days “hacker” Henry Dorsett Case, a 24-year-old thin druggy white guy. He lives a dangerous lifestyle in a dangerous futuristic world that resembles modern Tokyo. Case makes a living hacking into computer systems and otherwise cyber espionage. He spends that money on drugs and prostitutes. Of course future drugs don’t just come in the form of chemical substances, for those with man-machine interface built into their heads, they can get high off of “microsoft” which is essentially programs that scramble their brains temporarily. Mind-blowing, right? (more…)

Oct 21, 2016
Celebrating 33 Years of Madness!!!

I’m an old man… or am I? Let’s dance!!!

Sep 24, 2016
Homeade Tuna Sandwich Vs. Subway Tuna Sandwich Costs

By Chongchen Saelee

Homeade Tuna Salad Sandwich

Ingredients purchased from Walmart

Subway Tuna Sandwich footlong as of 9/24/2016 is $6.95

Cheese Bread 4 rolls $3.00
Each roll is approx 6 inches x 2 equiv of footlong = $1.50

Helmann’s mayonnaise 15 oz jar $2.98

Great Value mild cheddar slices $2.22

Mushrooms $1.38

Celery heart $2.18

Great Value Light Chunk Tuna 4-pack, 5 oz each, $2.96

Cucumber $0.58

Tomato x 3 = $1.88
So one tomato = approx $0.63

Red Onion $0.81

So approx 20 oz of tuna including all ingredients looks to serve about 5 six-inch equiv sandwiches.

Sub-total $17.49

$17.49 / 5 = $3.49 per six inch

$3.49 * 2 = $7 footlong WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY

Time wasted grocery shopping and prepping about 1 to 2 hours.

Subway sandwich is only 5 minute drive and would include olives, spinach, vinegrette, pickled peppers, provolone and american cheese, 5 herb toasted bun, and can be made in less than 15 minutes

However, making it yourself allows you to add as much tuna per sandwich as want. In this case, I put almost same amount that would go into a Subway footlong into a 6-inch cheese bread roll. So maybe there’s more value in that.

Then again, as for time management, now I have enough pre-made tuna salad I can eat for next few days without having to drive to Subway. It evens out time and money.

Sep 17, 2016
How To Maximize Your Fiverr Revenue

How To Maximize Your Fiverr Revenue (As a Seller)
By Chongchen Saelee

1. Book as many Gigs as you can in advance. But make sure you have sufficient time to deliver quality work in a reasonable amount of time. So you have to set the delivery times on your Packages and any custom orders accordingly.

2. Level Up. You need to Level Up so you can charge more for each Gig. Fiverr takes a good 20% from whatever revenue you bring in, so you’ll need to have ability to charge more if you want certain amount of income. And the only way to charge more is to level up. That means delivering the best quality product you can, delivering on time, and being respectful and courteous like a professional.

3. Keep repeat customers coming back. Your returning customers may pay you more or tip you and you should always welcome their patronage. So treat them right.

4. Know when to pick your fights. For the most part, you should be able to tell which buyers are spam, trolls or scammers. Fiverr usually detects spam quickly and removes those users. But in the case some buyer makes it through undetected, you need to know when to keep interacting with that person (or bot) and when to let the negotiations fall through. You don’t want to put all that work in only to have the buyer not pay you in the end and the best way is to detect scammy behavior beforehand. As some true Fiverr professionals have suggested, you can let some potentially bad Gigs drop because better ones will come later (and hopefully pay more).

5. Respond to Buyer Requests. You get about 10 responses to Buyer Requests every day. So make sure you use them all. You have to know how to use all Fiverr resources to your advantage.

Mar 20, 2016
Batman V Superman Dawn of Justice Early Review! Warning: Spoilers!!!

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Early Review

Warning! Contains spoilers!

By Chongchen Saelee

Don’t get me wrong, I went into Batman V Superman blindly with low expectations and I think it was super. I thought “Man of Steel” was satisfactory, but it wasn’t anything that was epic or memorable, other than the fact it was the biggest and most interesting interpretation of the Superman lore to date. Given time, even these darker more realistic phases will pass, and descendants of comic book movie fans will see it as a sign of the times. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a thrilling piece of entertainment for now. (more…)