Archives for June 2009

System.Xml.XmlException: hexadecimal value 0×00 invalid character

I got the following error message when trying to validate an XML file against an XSD file using .NET:
Unhandled Exception: System.Xml.XmlException: ‘.’, hexadecimal value 0×00, is an invalid character. Line 2, position 1.
It turned out that my XSD file was encoded using UCS-2 Little Endian. So I used Notepad++ to convert it to UTF-8 and […]

24 June 2009 | .NET | 1 Comment

Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

It’s hard not to be emotionally involved with Tess. She’s a nice girl – kind-hearted, responsible, industrious. But fate is just too cruel to her. On the other hand, Tess is also rather naïve. At every turn of event, you want to say, “no, Tess, no!” But this is Hardy’s novel and so Tess has […]

23 June 2009 | Book review | 1 Comment

Silas Marner by George Eliot

First, just so you could say, “yeah, I know” if anyone ever mentions that George Eliot is a woman, is that the author’s real name is Mary Ann Evans. Silas Marner, the hero of the story, is this dude who has withdrawn from society because he was accused of a crime he didn’t commit. (Aside: […]

22 June 2009 | Book review | 1 Comment

Books, the ultimate luxury

In my next post I’ll be doing a very short review of Silas Marner by George Eliot. But before that I’d like to talk about why I’m reading a book published in 1861.
Books in Malaysia are expensive. That’s my #1 peeve. (My #2 peeve is that cars in Malaysia are expensive. Can’t think of a […]

22 June 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Hazardous Occupation

There are occupations that are obviously hazardous, such as toxic waste handling, skyscraper construction, and firefighting. I know of one occupation, however, which looks perfectly safe, but is in fact very high-risk: the guy at the departure gate of the airport who has to ask the ladies, “excuse me ma’am, have you filled in the […]

19 June 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

idea rumah