Writing Cheques

A cheque is a written instruction by a person (the drawer) to their bank (or other financial institution) (the drawee) to pay cash to another person (the payee). It must not be subject to any conditions. While cheques are not commonly used these days, many drawers still enjoy the delay in its clearance if they consider the payee suspicious.

There are several markings made on a cheque, which essentially answer the following questions:

1. Should the cheque be cashable by any bearer of the cheque, or only by the payee named on it?
2. Should the cheque be able to be redeemable in cash at the bank counter, or should it be credited to a bank account?
3. Does the payee want to make the cheque payable to another person?
4. Should 3. be allowed to happen?

1. Bearer and Order cheques

• If a cheque is payable to bearer, the person who presents it to the bank counter can cash it for themself, regardless of who is named payee on it. A bearer cheque will have the words "or bearer" or no such additional words printed on it, such that, if the payee is named A.B., the instruction reads "Pay A.B. or bearer", "Pay cash or bearer" or "Pay cash".
• If a cheque is payable to order, only the payee has rights to cash the cheque. An order cheque will have the words "or order" or "to the order of" printed on it, such that the instruction reads "Pay A.B. or order" or "Pay to the order of A.B.".
• A bearer cheque can be made payable to order by crossing out the words "or bearer", such that it reads "Pay A.B.". An order cheque can be made payable to bearer by not stating a name or making it payable to either "cash" or a fictitious person (e.g. "I love you"). The instruction for the 2nd case would read "Pay cash or order".

2. Cheque crossings
A cheque is crossed when two parallel lines are drawn along the cheque's face. Doing this means that the cheque cannot be redeemed in cash at the bank counter, and so must be credited to a bank account. If the cheque is not crossed, it becomes redeemable in cash.

3. Indorsements
For a cheque payable to order, the payee (acting as transferor) indorses the cheque when they write instructions on the cheque to make it payable to another person (the transferee). If the transferee is named X.Y., it would read "Pay X.Y. {signed} A.B.". Since a cheque payable to bearer can be cashed by anyone, there is no need for any indorsement for them.

4. /NOT NEGOTIABLE/
A bearer cheque is crossed 'not negotiable' when the words "NOT NEGOTIABLE" are written between the parallel lines. Most importantly, this means that the payee will not be able to indorse the cheque. However, this also means that, if the bearer stole the cheque from another person, they do not have ownership rights to the cash. Both of these cases mean that:

• The bank is not obliged to cash the cheque for the bearer.
• If the bank cashes the cheque, the drawer suffers a loss and they can sue the bank for related damages.

Also...
"Cash" is not a true entity, but rather it signifies that the cheque should be payable to bearer. It may be baffling, but solace can be taken in the instruction's making grammatical sense.

It is interesting to note that any marking made reduces the rights of other persons to cash the cheque. For example, if "or bearer" is crossed out in a bearer cheque, it becomes payable only to the named payee, while a similar marking over "or order" in an order cheque keeps it an order cheque payable only to the named payee. When a marking is made (presumably in pen), the only way to void it is for the drawer to cross it out and sign it off. These schemes support the nemo dat rule:

Latin: nemo dat quod non habet
English: no person can pass a better title than they possess

The Origin of (Warcraft) Species

No fantasy universe is complete without an evolutionary history of all of its living (and unliving) races. In the case of Warcraft, this is not at all uninteresting. All deviations from common ancestors can be explained in one word: corruption.

I will give a brief account of the player races of Azeroth in three logical sections, grouped according to three unique circumstances. These are:

1. The Seed Races, as created by the Titans;
2. Aliens, which more or less were introduced into the Azerothian environment;
3. The long-eared and bovine races, whose ultimate origins are not recorded by any surviving written sources.

The Seed Races

When the Lord God made the universe, there were no plants on the earth and no seeds had sprouted, because he had not sent any rain, and there was no one to cultivate the land...

Then the Lord God took some soil from the ground and formed a man out of it; he breathed life-giving breath into its nostrils and the man began to live.

Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the East, and there he put the man he had formed. He made all kinds of beautiful trees grow there and produce good fruit.

Genesis 2:7-9, GNT

Azeroth as it (mostly) is today started with the Ordering thereof. During this period, the Titans began shaping the natural features of a then chaotic world. At the same time, they created three so-called "Seed Races" from living stone, to inhabit the world: earthen, vrykul and giant. As they were made of stone, they were (in the Warcraft meaning of the word) immortal. In shaping Azeroth, the Titans encountered the Old Gods, who were innately evil and symbiotically attached to this world. In destroying the Old Gods, the Titans would also destroy Azeroth, so they were forced to imprison them deep below the surface.


The "matrix" of nucleotide building blocks in DNA.

However, the Old Gods were able to propagate the Curse of Flesh, a "matrix destabilisation". In effect, it softened many of the Seed Races, shortening their lifespans dramatically and rendering them mortal. In creating the earthen, the Titans went through three iterations. The Series One experiments were a failure, not only because the resulting form was well short of ideal, it also succumbed to the Curse. This species is currently known as the troggs. The Series Two experiments produced the intended form (that of the dwarves), but the results were still susceptible. The Titans succeeded with their goals with Series Three, giving birth to earthen proper. The earthen were able to withstand the Curse, and stay stone-like to the present.

There was only one iteration of the vrykul, which succumbed to the Curse. They survive to this day.

At some time after the Pantheon (the ruling council of the Titans) left Azeroth, Vrykul mothers gave birth to children who were noticeably smaller and physically weaker than normal. King Ymiron (vrykul society's head of state) ordered them culled, but many mothers opted to abandon them instead. These children were shipped off to the Eastern Kingdoms (they were inhabiting Northrend), where they developed as humans.

Throughout Warcraft history, the Burning Legion (a demonic nation) have been trying to conquer Azeroth. In their third bid, their Supreme Commander Kil'jaeden converted the orc warlock Ner'zhul into the Lich King and tasked him with concocting a Plague of Undeath to (among others) be spread among the citizens of Lordaeron. Ner'zhul was successful, and was able to task Kel'thuzad with transporting it to the Eastern Kingdoms. There, Kel'thuzad formed the Cult of the Damned out of oppressed Lordaeron citizens and tasked them with propagating the Plague. It would kill the infected after a typical three days, then raise them as undead beings. These would do the bidding of the Lich King, as they had lost their free will in the raising process. The playable Forsaken undead regained their free will after a Nathrezim (dreadlord) raid on Lordaeron, which somewhat waned the hold of the Lich King over many of the undead.

The giants were created by the Aesir (storm giant) Titans to help with shaping Azeroth during the Ordering and when the Titans left. The direct creations were the mountain and sea giants, who were respectively tasked with shaping mountains and seas. From the mountain giants developed the frost giants. The giants have mostly resisted the effects from the Curse of Flesh, though Archavon the Stone Watcher reports having felt a soft face on himself.

The origins of the mechagnomes are currently unknown, though most have felt the destabilising effects of the Curse. These mechagnomes developed into the current gnomes. However, Gearmaster Mechazod found a way to cure affected gnomes of this Curse, effectively returning them to their robotic selves. Most gnomes would refuse this cure.

The Aliens

The eredar race originally lived on the planet Argus. However, Sargeras, a formerly Vanir (earth giant) Titan, was seeing a folly in the Pantheon's ways and started forming the Burning Legion to reverse their work. He offered the three eredar leaders (Archimonde, Kil'jaeden and Velen) great power in exchange for their loyalty. The former two accepted, and as a result much of eredar society transformed into the man'ari eredar, who joined the Burning Legion. Archie and KJ became high-ranking officers in it.

Velen, being a prophet, foresaw horrid visions of the Legion's actions, and as a result was inclined against joining. Naturally, for conflict-of-interest reasons, Velen and the uncorrupted eredar under his care were forced to flee Argus and was chased throughout the Twisting Nether, hopping worlds until they managed to find the secluded Draenor. There, they developed into the draenei and coexisted with the native orcs.

The Legion eventually found the draenei in Draenor. They introduced warlock magic to the orcs after appealing to them and their leader the then-shaman Ner'zhul. Orcs originally have brown skin, but exposure to such demonic magics will turn it green. This will occur even in orcs that do not practice such magic but are in regular proximity to practitioners.

The Mag'har section of orc society remained untouched by corrupting fel energy. They lived in Garadar, which was originally intended as isolation from the red pox outbreak pre-dating the arrival of the Legion. Nonetheless, it also isolated these orcs from practising warlocks, and their skin remains brown to the present.

The draenei fled again from Draenor, though some opted to stay behind. These draenei were particularly susceptible to demonic corruption, and many degenerated into the Broken and Lost Ones.

Some orcs have also been drinking the corrupting blood of the pit lord Magtheridon. over time, this turns them into the current fel orcs, characterised by great physical strength, red skin and all manner of protrusions.

The long-eared and bovine races

The Zandalari trolls existed since the beginning of the world, though their creation is unknown. As troll society expanded, trolls started inhabiting different climates, eventually adapting to their respective environments. The ice trolls living in Northrend developed pale blue skin and hardy hair. The sand trolls living in Tanaris developed golden-yellow, coarse skin. The skin of forest trolls living in Lordaeron is able to support plant life. The skin of jungle trolls (of which the playable Darkspear trolls are part) is covered with nice, soft fur (they would be very nice to hug!) which produces a purple appearance.

At the centre of pre-Sundering Azeroth lay a huge inland ocean called the Well of Eternity. It radiated arcane energy from the Twisting Nether and nourished all natural life. The night elves had developed on its shores, and there is a controversial theory that the Well's energies caused them to mutate from trolls. Nevertheless, the high elves are those night elves who utilised the Well's power in arcane magic. Abuse of such led to the Great Sundering, which tore the single continent into Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms and destroyed the Well of Eternity. Arcane magic being addictive, the high elves developed peach-coloured skin. The playable blood elves are those high elves that, instead of fighting the addiction, chose to continue gorging themselves with arcane, demonic and holy satisfaction.

Some high elves were thrusted deep into the ocean during the Great Sundering. While some drowned, Queen Azshara secured an agreement with the Old Gods which allowed many to survive without air. These high elves became the naga.

The tauren and taunka are ancient races existing before recorded history. They are believed to have been created by the Earth Mother. However, there are theories equating the Earth Mother to the night elf god Elune, Therazane the Stonemother, Alexstrasza the Life-Binder (leading the Dragon Aspects), the Vanir Titan Eonar the Lifebinder and the Titans in general.

Succeeding at finding an ice block

FailBot has its uses for troubleshooting a raid wipe. However, due of the wording of its /ra output ("{Player} fails at {boss action}."), I do suspect that this AddOn was devised under a sadistic mentality. However, don't fret, as this series of guides will give help avoid these embarrassments!

Sapphiron's Frost Breath AoEs the entire area for an enormous amount of damage. If you are not careful, you can easily end up a frozen corpse lying on the floor of his cold, cold lair. There are only two ways to avoid this demise:

1. Be frozen in an ice block by Sapphiron's Icebolt.
2. Hide behind someone frozen by Icebolt, breaking line-of-sight of the epicentre.

When doing this encounter, it is a good idea to zoom the camera out, so as to get a wide view of the area. To increase the maximum range of the camera, execute the following slash commands:

/console cameraDistanceMax X
/console cameraDistanceMaxFactor Y

where X and Y are arbitrary numbers. The valid range for X is 0-50 and its default value is 15. The valid range for Y is 0-3.4 and its default value is 1.

You can tell when Frost Breath will soon be cast when Sapphiron flies up into the air (an action conveniently accompanied with a raid warning). When this happens, all players should gather in a common area (though still keeping 10 yds of distance from each other, since Icebolt also AoEs). This will ensure that everyone does not need to run too far to reach an ice block. Also keep in mind the various Chills that may be up; it is a good idea to stay away from these.

With luck, Sapphiron will distribute three ice blocks evenly over the congregation; otherwise, they should still be in technical reach. He will fire them off in succession, so it is best to wait until the second one occurs before running for one. Avoid Chill areas, since they will slow movement speed by half if afflicted.

Once behind an ice block, it is a good idea to check your line-of-sight (or lack thereof). You can do this by attempting to cast a ranged ability at Sapphiron. If you are positioned correctly, you will get an error saying that you are out of line-of-sight; otherwise, adjust your position accordingly. Just wait until the flash of blue, and you will have successfully weathered a frost wyrm's icy breath!

My Computer and I: Errors #134

Computers are only as good as people make them. Since human beings are prone to mistakes, the computer systems they build will likewise contain faults.



My desktop is a 3-year-old Dell Dimension 8400. It was high-end at the time it was bought, but regardless is starting to show its age. I have upgraded some of its parts since then to keep playing World of Warcraft bearable, but of course it will need to be replaced eventually.

I have had my share of computer problems with my current computer (not suggesting that Dell is necessarily a poor computer assembler, mind you). Other than high school computing studies, I have had no formal training in maintaining a computer, so I usually need to end up experimenting when something goes wrong. This regular will document my adventures in rectifying problems my Dimension 8400 experiences. Without further ado...

The Problem:
World of Warcraft would crash due to an Error #134.

Here is an extract from one of the many crash logs that WoW's diagnostic spat out:

World of WarCraft (build 9056)
Exe: C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\WoW.exe
Time: Oct 23, 2008 8:46:14.671 PM
User: XXXXXXXX
Computer: XXXXXXXX
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This application has encountered a critical error:

ERROR #134 (0x85100086) Fatal Condition
Program: C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\WoW.exe

Failed to read file DUNGEONS\TEXTURES\WALLS\BM_HFIRE_SEWER01.blp.

Debug Details:

[2] err=0 text=SFileReadFile - DUNGEONS\TEXTURES\WALLS\BM_HFIRE_SEWER01.blp - Data\expansion.MPQ
[1] err=0 text=LoadSectorTable failed
[0] err=5 text=Win32 Read - Data\expansion.MPQ
Storm Error Msg:Reached the end of the file.

Background Information:

• The variant of the Error #134 I experienced involved the system's reading a game file but failing. Unfortunately, this is still rather vague, so I had a difficult time troubleshooting it (it took a good year to resolve it).
• WoW is memory-intensive compared to other computer games in the market. A memory upgrade would likely be more cost-effective than a video card upgrade.
• Data would exist in the hard disk, hard disk controller, chipset (made up of the northbridge, southbridge and internal bus), RAM, memory controller, memory bus and graphics bus before reaching either the CPU or video card for processing. A fault in any of these components would corrupt the data in it and hence cause this error.
• I essentially needed to find out which of the said components was acting up and deal with it accordingly.

The Circumstances:

• The problem only really manifested itself after I installed the Burning Crusade expansion.
• Restarting the computer would lessen its frequency.
• A different file would fail to be read each time.
• Dalaran was a nightmare. I would crash every five minutes within its walls. I ended up binding my Hearthstone elsewhere and missed out on running Violet Hold in the meantime.

The Experience:

• Deleting the WTF, WDB and Interface folders: I will be frank; this did not work.
• Running Blizzard Repair: Unfortunately, this did not work either. However, I ran this utility multiple times and noted that the utility would find something to fix each and every time. Interestingly, this note was not needed to solve the problem.
• Updating the video card driver: This caused WoW to crash sooner. It also made the UI overlay blink at random times. I ended up rolling it back to the original (3-year-old) driver.
• Testing the RAM by running Windows Memory Diagnostic: WMD would test the memory modules to find any physical defects. The entire memory space passed, though borderline modules would act up only when working under a heavy load (like serving models and textures to WoW). WMD did not perform any stress testing, and WoW still kept on crashing.
• Testing the hard drive: To do this, I essentially copied the client onto a USB hard drive and ran it from there. The idea was: a) if WoW did not crash, it was the hard drive's (or possibly the controller's or bus') fault; or b) if WoW kept on crashing, the hard drive was fine). WoW crashed yet again.
• Replacing memory modules: By this stage, I was desperate and relying heavily on the results of the hard drive isolation test above. I was also determined to not miss out on the full Wrath of the Lich King expansion experience. I waltzed over to the nearby computer shop, bought a matched pair of 1GB 800MHz DDR2 memory modules (unfortunately they did not stock any 533MHz ones) and replaced the oldest matched pair on the motherboard (the factory-default 256MB 400MHz ones). To my amazement, WoW did not crash as often as it used to!

Implications:

• The factory-default RAM modules were borderline faulty! Naughty Dell; I never suspected until I started playing WoW.
• Random files would fail to be read because different files would be stored in the faulty cell(s) in different times.
• Restarting the computer empties the RAM (which is good if there is lots of junk in there).
• Dalaran is probably the poorest-designed capital city in WoW to date. Not only does it have multiple levels (note the Sewers), it is also quite cramped and would concentrate so many players in its small area.

Sir, there's a ghoul in my spreadsheet.

Gristlegut tries so hard to feed all his ghouls, but some of them end up being neglected. This poor soul soulless being, in its quest for BRAINS, ends up stumbling upon the tasty cells of a living being spreadsheet. The uni student working on this for their matrices assignment will be very frustrated indeed.

Random Ramblings to 19 June 2009

Body Mass Index (BMI)
A ratio which quickly indicates body mass. It is calculated by dividing the mass of the body (in kilograms) by the square of the height of it (in metres). A body's mass is considered normal under the BMI if it falls between 18.5 and 25; any less and it is considered underweight, while any more is considered either overweight or obese.

Foreign Currency Conversion Fee/International Service Assessment
The fee charged to credit card issuers by MasterCard and Visa respectively when a credit card transaction uses the global payments system to convert currency. For both companies, it is equal to 1% of the value of the transaction. Of course, the credit card issuer can pass this fee on (and add up to 2 extra percentage points onto it) to the cardholder.

Icosahedron
A solid figure with exactly 20 faces. In particular, a regular icosahedron is an icosahedron with faces of equilateral triangles. It belongs to a family of solids called the Platonic solids. A d20 die is in the shape of a regular icosahedron.


A model of a regular icosahedron made of toothpicks and Blu-Tack.

Pyrite
A mineral consisting of iron disulphide (FeS2). It has a lustrous brass-yellow colour and has been mistaken for gold (hence it it also known as fool's gold). Its molecules align to form an isometric crystal system. When struck against steel it creates sparks, hence its name's etymology of the Greek word for fire.

Res judicata
Translates to "something decided" from Latin. It is a principle in civil law stating that a single court case (in governments with a court system) may be heard and decided only once. It emphasises the finality in such litigation and avoids the problem of a defendant's being sued multiple times for the same matter. Criminal law has a similar principle of double jeopardy, where the defendant cannot be tried multiple times for the same crime.

Tragedy of the commons
A theory relating to resources that are freely available but can deplete (or "the commons", the British expression for open pastures). It states that such resources will continue to be exploited until it becomes fully depleted). It is a tragedy because the rational use of private cost-benefit analysis (where every individual has different of costs and benefits of using the resource) will produce such undesirable consequences. Hence support for the concepts of ownership and private property, in such a case cost-benefit analysis will be uniformly applied.

Random Ramblings

Small tidbits of information are always interesting. This regular feature will record much of the trivia I have presented to my guild in World of Warcraft. So far:

32-bit signed integer
A sequence of 32 binary digits which represents a positive or negative whole number. 31 of those digits determine the number, while one digit determines the sign (positive or negative status). A 32-bit signed integer can represent 2^31 = 2 147 483 648 unique positive values. The amount of currency a World of Warcraft character holds is stored on Blizzard's databases as a 32-bit signed integer, leading to the fabled currency limit of 214 748g 36s 48c.

Adverse opinion
An auditor is a person who provides a professional opinion on the quality of a business' financial statements. When they provide an adverse opinion on the financial statements (which is normally unheard of), they are saying that the financial statements are any combination of inaccurate and poorly prepared.

Black hole
All bits of matter are attracted to each other through gravity. The larger a mass is, the more gravity it will generate. A black hole is a mass generating gravity such that the escape velocity (the speed which exactly absorbs the opposing acceleration of the mass' gravity) is greater than the speed of light (299 792 458 m/s). Their namesake comes from the fact that not even light can escape the gravitational pull of a black hole, leading to their black colour.

Carbohydrate
An organic substance which stores energy for metabolism. They are made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, which, when a photosynthesising plant produces it, is come from carbon dioxide and water. Respiration breaks the carbohydrate down back to carbon dioxide and water, though some energy is released as well (which was formerly sunlight energy). Carbohydrates are composed of any number of saccharide units chained together. Monosaccharides (glucose, galactose, fructose, etc) are saccharide units in themselves, while disaccharides (sucrose, lactose, etc) are composed of two such units, and complex carbohydrates (starch, glycogen, etc) consist of many.

Diminishing marginal returns
A trend in the relationship between two values where the main value is (say X) increasing. At the same time, the other value (say Y) is also increasing, though its rate of increase is declining. It is possible for X to be large enough that Y can even be decreasing. In calculus terms, d2Y/dX2 is negative.

Fluorescent lamp
A light source that produces light through the fluorescence of phosphors on its discharge tube's surface. When it is operating, an electric current passes through the tube. Molecules of mercury (Hg) gas are excited by the current, which later release ultraviolet light. The phosphors then absorb this ultraviolet light, later releasing visible light. Fluorescent lighting is commonly used as backlighting for LCD monitors, explaining why many laptops are marked as containing mercury.

Induction motor
An electric motor which uses an alternating current to produce motion (namely in a rotating manner). A rotating magnetic field produced by the current pushes a set of magnets attached to a rotor. It is the foundation for all things that spin and use electrical energy to do so (fans are a notable example).

Natural law
Principles that arise from the workings of nature. As nature encompasses the entire universe, such principles are accepted to apply everywhere. Natural law is often used as a benchmark to judge the validity of positive law (law enforced by the authority of government) and is thought to inform a person's conscience.

Prisoner's dilemma
The problem that arises from the cooperation (or lack thereof) between two persons for a reward. If one person chooses to defect from the arrangement, that person will receive a higher reward than if they had cooperated, at the expense of the other person. However, if both defect from the arrangement, both will receive less reward each than if both had cooperated. Under these circumstances, both players are selfish, there is a limited amount of reward and defecting entails a certain cost (which the defecting person hopes that an increased reward from defecting will offset). The namesake arises from the classic scenario involving the silence/confession of two partners in crime.

Guildies, if there are any topic arisen you would like me to cover briefly here, just post a recommendation in the comments.