Zer0's Smartphone War

Long time no see fellas.  

The new iPhone shows up today and I also wants to share my excitement on Apple's new flagship phone.

The release of the new iPhone gives Apple fanbois something to woo about after being miniscule to their Android partners for quite a long time.

Android fans might be non stoppingly jerking at how lousy and un-innovative the new iPhone is, how small it is comparing to the bigger screen rivals.  But to be exact, the market norm is 4.3 inch.  The new iPhone is not that far off with much better PPI.  Only the Samsung bandwagon is Hummer to smartphones.

iPhone 5 comes at the right time since I'm in line for a phone upgrade.  My iPhone [Legacy] still packs a lot of punch but it's really time to see a new shine after a sentimental 4+ years with my old iPhone.  Pity this poor Intel engineers that cannot afford upgrading his phone.  I've been saving a cent a day for this you know...

P/S: If you hate me for lining up for the new iPhone, feel free to donate a Galaxy S3 to me.  I'll gladly accept and probably talks some good things about Android.

Spec wise, it's pretty much compared here.

So here's my insight about my thought and consideration on either 5 or S3.
1) Internal hardware

Hardware wise, both are neck to neck and possibly equally powerful, offers similar features e.g. LTE, 1080p 30fps camera, similar storage offerings etc.  Since no one knows the spec for the A6 processor yet and there's no head to head benchmark scores, I'm giving this a tie.

Apple: 5
Samsung: 5


2) Screen
Many people will close this as a 10-0 win for Samsung but wait.  Just wait. The S3 uses Pentile Matrix in their display which causes the color to be less natural but Samsung being a leader in display panels really did a good job making the drawbacks of Pentile almost un-noticeable.

iPhone 5 boast a more complex screen that is capable of full sRGB rendering and at the same time thinner.  

Despite all the technology the fruit company puts in, many people still prefers a bigger screen.  I'm rating this in relative to market's average 4.3 inch.  Samsung offering is out of this world and Apple is stepping up it's game.

Apple: 3
Samsung: 7

3) Operating System
iOS is a very good OS.  But a jailbroken iOS is even better.  Good news is Apple has a whole team optimizing the one OS for one phone while cherry picking the cool features from the jailbreak community.  Their Android partner were not so lucky.  Android is a much more customize-able OS with tons of eye candies which makes it fancier compared to simple icon oriented iOS.  

While Android vendors tried hard to include all the nooks and crannies in their own version of Android (most of them really comes from the jailbreak community anyway), they're often un-optimized and really hurt end user experience e.g. Lenovo K800... la la la.  So no matter how flowery Google makes their Android, it's often destroyed by OEM's poor optimization.  And in case you still don't know, Android is really a malware magnet.  And I don't see Google even try to fix this.  So, sorry greenies.   


Apple: 9
Samsung: 1 (1 is a consolation point for Google effort to improve Android)

4) Intuitivity
Give both devices to a newbie and you'll know who's the clear winner.  But as Android advances, it's trying to match iOS's simplicity while Apple is trying to slot in more features making it a bit complicated compared to the iOS [Legacy].  As a tech savvy, I find both easy enough to use but Apple's flavor is still easier to accustomed with.
Apple: 6
Samsung: 4

5) Apps
Apple app store, awesome as always.  Google Play Store, shitty as always.  This is main reason I'm staying away from Android and sticking to my iPhone [Legacy] for so many years.  

Yes, the Play Store is going to overtake the App Store in sheer number of apps alone but really tons to those that makes up the number are either rip offs of the original title (like bejeweled) and they're just purely junk apps.  Literally junk!  The worst of all, the app you purchased for $9.99 might not even work properly on your Android device.  

A quick example, Popcap's famous Plants vs Zombies.  The ratings in Apple's store is >95% positive but when it goes to land of Android, it's broken left and right and 33% rates the game lowest.  And don't forget, Google's Play Store apps is also much more susceptible to malware attacks.  And once in a while, a mature XXX apps will pop up in top free/paid apps.  Imagine a kid browsing the store and found this out.
Apple: 10
Samsung: 0 (Shut up! Play Store is really minus 20 marks)

So out of 50 points, Apple won my review round with 33-17.  I might write another round after I actually get either of these but for I am damn poor you may have to wait for the next rant just a tad longer.  

Unless a ground up fixing of all the insecurity of Android platform and back to the drawing board redesign of the Play store, I am not going to show any love to the green robot.

So.... Android fans, bash now!

Zer0's Zeitgeist

WARNING! VIEWERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

It will be up to you to believe what is written here.  

It took me 5 years after the release of Zeitgeist The Movie to finally get to watch this great piece of documentary.

The part 1 of the documentary, The Greatest Story ever told documents about the one thing human believe without the backup of science; religion.

Before I go into the depth, here's a thing to ponder.  First, if a man passed from this world, how would the Gods (I mean all of Them from different religions) know who to pick to return to their side?  And where do converts go? Secondly, we all know in religion teachings that good people goes to heaven, bad people goes to hell.  What if a bad person converts at the last second of his life to a religion that believe in reincarnation?  Does this means he gets to reincarnate into this world, continues to do evil and at the same time escapes returning to the Almighty thus escape eternal punishment?

...

In Zeitgeist, it is believed that all religions originated from Egypt.  In fact, they all resembles the oldest deities of Egypt religion, Horus (3000BC).  

Here are some fun facts about Horus.

- Born on December 25th of virgin Isis-Meri.

- Birth of Horus is accompanied by a star in the east.

- Upon his birth, he was adored by 3 kings.

- He was a teacher at the age of 12.

- He was baptized by Anup and began his ministry.

- He has 12 disciples, travelling while performing miracles such as healing the sick and walking on water.

- He was betrayed by Typhon, crucified, buried for 3 days and resurrected.

Sounds familiar?  Indeed they are.  In fact too similar with what our modern Christianity believe in the figure of Jesus Christ.  More here.  But Jesus Christ is not the only God almighty that resembles the attributes of Horus.  

Attis of Phrygia (1200BC), Krishna of India (900BC), Dionysus of Greece (500BC), Mithra of Persia (1200BC) and many more saviors from different periods from around the world share this attributes.  

As the matter of fact, based on the inscription about 3500 years ago on the walls of the Temple of Luxor in Egypt are the image of annunciation, the miracle conception, the birth and the adoration of Horus.

...

Astrologically, the birth of the savior on December 25th can be explained.  The star in the east is Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky which on the period of winter solstice aligns with the 3 stars of Orion's belt thus the 3 kings.  The 3 kings and the star in the east all point to the exact location of the sunrise on December 25th, thus the birth of Christ, the sun.

And at the same time during the winter solstice, where the sun is at the lowest point at the noon sky.  The sun will then stops moving for 3 days, resides in the vicinity of the southern cross, Crux.  

And on December 25th, the sun moves 1 degree up north.

So guess what this translates to?  The sun died on the cross, dead for 3 days and resurrected.  

But then, you may ask why the resurrection of sun is not celebrated on December 25th itself?  No, the resurrection of the sun is only celebrated until the spring equinox where the day is officially longer than the night.  And the day we celebrate the resurrection of the sun - Easter.

...

And then there is the cross of the zodiac.

The cross of the zodiac is not just an artistic expression to track the sun's movement.  It was also a Pagan spiritual symbol.  

Ever wonder why the images of Jesus Christ is always shown with His head on the cross?  Try superimposing the 2 image of Jesus Christ and the cross of zodiac together.  You'll realize that Jesus is really the sun.  The "Sun of God", the "Light of the World" and the "Risen Savior".

Verses from the Holy Bible:

"As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world" -John 9:5

Then, there is the Precession of  the Equinoxes.  The theory is that approximately every 2150 years, the sunrise of the spring equinox would occur at a different sign of zodiac.  The constellation is practically going backwards thus the precession.  The amount of time that it takes for the precession to complete all 12 zodiac signs is approximately 26,000 years with each constellation having roughly 2150 years, thus an aeon or age.  And when the cycle completes, the Great Year arrives.

From 4300BC to 2150BC, it was the Age of Taurus, the Bull. From 2150BC to 1AD, it was the Age of Aries, the Ram. From 1AD to 2150AD it is the Age of Pisces, the Two Fish (today) and from 2150AD to 4300AD (coming soon), it will be the Age of Aquarius.

For all the Bible readers out there, I'm pretty sure you remember symbolic references to the 3 ages; Taurus, Aries and Pieces while the Bible also foreshadow the coming age of Aquarius.

In the Old Testament, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the 10 Commandments, he's very upset to see his people worshiping a golden bull and shattered the stone tablets.

The golden bull is Taurus the Bull and Moses represents the new Age of Aries the Ram.  This is why Jews, even until today still blow the Ram's horn.

Then comes Jesus Christ, who represents the Age of Pisces, the Two Fish.  The symbol of fish was abundant in the New Testament.  For example, in Matthew 14:17-21, Jesus feeds 5000 people with bread and "2 fish".

I believe you've seen this symbol representing Christianity.  It is the symbol of Ichthys.  It is a Pagan astrological symbol for the Sun's Kingdom (or God's Kingdom) in the Age of Pisces.  And Jesus' birth is essentially the start of this age.

At Luke 22:10 when Jesus is asked by Peter and John (His disciples) where the last passover would be, Jesus replies:

"Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where into he goeth" -Luke 22:10.

The man bearing a pitcher of water is Aquarius, the water bearer.  He represents the age after Pisces and when the sun (Jesus Christ) leaves the Age of Pisces, it will go into the house of Aquarius. 

Jesus also says:

"I will be with you even to the end of the world" -Matt 28:20.

There are several mis-translations in the bible such that the verse is translated to:

"I will be with you even to the end of the aeon (age)" -Matt 28:20.

This is true, even with the mis-translation as Jesus' solar Piscean personification will end when the sun enters the Age of Aquarius.  


...

Not just that, the story of Noah's Ark and the Great Flood is awfully similar to the Epic of Gilgamesh (2600BC), one of the earliest surviving literature.  When they say earliest, mean nothing solid and tangible before this can be proven true.  

What about the story Moses?  It is similar to the myth of Sargon of Akkad (2250BC).  Then it comes to the Ten Commandments which is believed to be an exact copy of the Spell 125 from the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

...

In summary, I am not questioning the existence of God and at the same time not indulging in Darwin's evolution theory.  But it is interesting to ponder the presence of early human existence going all the way back to the paleolithic era which doesn't add up to the teachings of religion.  It is interesting that fossils of beings (including dinosaurs) lived thousands or millions of years ago were uncovered from the very Earth itself.  But from the teachings of religions, there were no super-sized reptiles.  Adam and Eve when descended from the heavens were already civilized.  Where does the caveman fit in to the story?

So the more interesting question is, when the Age of Pisces is over as foretold in approximately 1 or 2 centuries in the future, will there be a new religion that fits the Age of Aquarius?

Zer0's Back!

Zer0's Back! And I hope I am here to stay.


I am back to blogging because of few reasons.
1) I like telling stories and I cannot tell grandfather stories though Facebook posts.
2) And I cannot tell grandfather story using 140 characters only.


So before I start talking nonsense, enjoy this new one from Taylor Swift.








Everybody's waiting 
Everybody's watching 
Even when you're sleeping 
Keep your ey-eyes open 


The tricky thing 
Is yesterday we were just children 
Playing soldiers 
Just pretending 
Dreaming dreams with happy endings 
In backyards, winning battles with our wooden swords 
But now we've stepped into a cruel world 
Where everybody stands and keeps score 


Keep your eyes open 


Everybody's waiting for you to breakdown 
Everybody's watching to see the fallout 
Even when you're sleeping, sleeping 
Keep your ey-eyes open 
Keep your ey-eyes open 
Keep your ey-eyes open 


So here you are, two steps ahead and staying on guard 
Every lesson forms a new scar 
They never thought you'd make it this far 
But turn around (turn around), oh they've surrounded you 
It's a showdown (showdown) and nobody comes to save you now 
But you've got something they don't 
Yeah you've got something they don't 
You've just gotta keep your eyes open 


Everybody's waiting for you to breakdown 
Everybody's watching to see the fallout 
Even when you're sleeping, sleeping 
Keep your ey-eyes open 
Keep your ey-eyes open 
Keep your ey-eyes 


Keep your feet ready 
Heartbeat steady 
Keep your eyes open 
Keep your aim locked 
The night goes dark 
Keep your eyes open 


Keep your eyes open 


Everybody's waiting for you to breakdown 
Everybody's watching to see the fallout 
Even when you're sleeping, sleeping 
Keep your ey-eyes open 
Keep your ey-eyes open 
Keep your ey-eyes open 
Keep your ey-eyes open 
Keep your ey-eyes open