Month: January 2011

The Miseducation of the Doodle

Sunni Brown on doodling at [A List Apart](https://alistapart.com/article/the-miseducation-of-the-doodle):

Doodling may be better described as ‘markings to help a person think.’ Most people believe that doodling requires the intellectual mind to shutdown, but this is one misrepresentation that needs correcting. There is no such thing as a mindless doodle. The act of doodling is the mind’s attempt to engage before succumbing to mindlessness.

She goes on to explain why one should engage in “strategic doodling” at work, and introduces a basic doodle vocabulary for people who think they can’t draw. Excellent stuff.

MY FACIAL IMAGE IS TOO BIG

Got this from the Immigration Checkpoints Authority today.

>Dear SOON YIN JIE,
>
>Thank you for using iC Online.
>
>We wish to inform you that your registration is pending due to the following reason(s) :
>
>1. THE FACIAL IMAGE IS TOO BIG
>2. THE PHOTOGRAPH SUBMITTED IS NOT ACCEPTABLE
>
>Please adjust and resubmit your photograph showing more of the shoulder (as in current iC) so as to enable us to process the application. Thank you
>
>Please resubmit the relevant image file(s) using the following iC Online’s URL:
>
>For any clarification, please contact us at 63916361/63916410. Thank You.
>
>
>Yours sincerely,
>iC Online Administrator
>IC Section
>Citizen Services Centre
>Immigration & Checkpoints Authority

So my facial image is too big, and they want me to “show more shoulder” before my photo will be “acceptable”? Awesome. This was my reply.

>Dear IC ONLINE ADMINISTRATOR,
>
>Thank you for your email.
>
>I wish to inform you that your email is annoying due to the following reason(s):
>
>1. YOUR CAPS LOCK KEY IS STUCK.
>
>Please adjust and resubmit your point-form paras showing fewer capital letters (as in the rest of your text) so as to enable us to read it without imagining you shouting. Thank you
>
>For any clarification, please search for “email etiquette” online. Thank You.
>
>Yours sincerely,
>A Citizen

Old counters

I received an email from Facebook a couple of weeks ago, telling me to update my Facebook apps ([Bond Counter](http://apps.facebook.com/bondcounter) and [NS Counter](http://apps.facebook.com/nscounter)) because they called some functions which would be deprecated.

I haven’t been keeping track of developments in the Facebook API, but looking through the changes, I realise Facebook is no longer allowing apps to put themselves on user profiles as little boxes. This move makes sense given the new profile, but renders my apps slightly useless, because they were intended to show off your counters to the world.

I put off making any changes until today, which is apparently the deadline for any changes, because (a) there are too many other more interesting things to work on right now, and (b) I _really_ don’t like looking at my old code. I was even tempted to just pull the plug on the two apps, but then I saw that each still has “monthly users” (20 for Bond Counter, 150 for NS Counter), whatever that means.

So now the two apps are severely crippled — you can see your bond/NS counter from your own app page, and you can still compare counters with friends, but that’s about it. I don’t have the time to figure out how to do an application tab, which is apparently the wall box replacement, but this is good enough for anyone who really still uses these apps.

I also realise now I didn’t write about my bond having ended in August! Well, it did, and I no longer need Bond Counter. Making this little app, and seeing it spread, was really one of the highlights of my indentured service, though.