I Wonder...

It's that time of year...

2006-12-16T23:21:00.000+08:00

It's finally December, and in a week it'll be Christmas. Honestly, I've never looked forward to Christmas more than this year mainly because for the past 20 plus years of my life (excluding 2 of course) I'd be in the middle of a long holiday right about now, and Christmas would just simply be another day. But now that I'm slogging my butt off at work every week, Christmas is starting to appear oh so much more attractive. Add to that the all the Christmas related stuff that's going up in the office and it's kinda hard to ignore it. So, although it's a little early, I'd like to wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR. Hopefully, the new year brings good news for everyone.

I'm sure most of you will be having a nice dinner/lunch with your family and friends. And a common phrase we love to use when eating out with friends is to "Go Dutch". Such phrases kinda irk me a little cos what has paying for your meal gotta do with the Dutch? Especially when we are halfway around the world probably eating at some hawker centre. So, I googled this phrase and the following came up:

"Going Dutch"
Definition: To evenly split the cost of a group expense, like a meal.
Origin: The origin of the phrase is unknown, but there is one explanation. In the 17th century, the Dutch were hated commercial rivals of the British, and have been a verbal target for them since. Anyone who "went Dutch" may have been considered a tightwad. Not surprisingly, the Dutch don't seem to love this phrase.
Use it in a sentence: The last girl I went out with called me a superior patriarchal misogynist who didn't respect her independence just because I offered to pick up the tab. So last night I decided I'd play it safe and suggested to my date that we go Dutch. She called me a cheap bastard!

It seems that "going dutch" is actually quite a degradatory term in the past, and possibly in the present as well. So be sure not to suggest going dutch to any of your Dutch friends. In case you want to know more about the origins of some other phrases, you can look here.

For those of you who remembered/are using my Calendar program I developed last time, well I've made some updates. Why you ask? Well mostly cos although I've been quite busy with work, my work also entails that I go out of office to visit certain areas where there is no internet access. So to keep myself entertained, I sometimes do a little programming just to pass the time. Anyway, here are some screenshots of the updates.

As you can see, I didn't really do much. Just added an option to not clear the events at a fixed rate of 1 week but rather a choice of durations. Also, I've modified the Todo list editor so that you can change the colours and fonts of the text you enter, something I found particularly useful as my Todo list got longer and longer. The new Todo list editor is basically based upon an open-source html editor called Ekit, it's not perfect and has some bugs, but I'll probably iron them out soon (when I'm free...). For those of you who are HTML inclined, this means that you can decorate your Todo list in any manner you could decorate a basic HTML page.

Ok, I think I've rambled enough for a while. I'll end this post by once again wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. Have a nice holiday season.

Driving Entertainment

2006-10-23T21:43:00.000+08:00

Ever wondered how people going on long road trips entertain themselves? Well, here's a possibility...

Men vs Women

2006-09-27T00:04:00.000+08:00

Came across this interesting and funny story while I was surfing the web and thought that I'd share it with you all.

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I never quite figured out why the sexual urge of men and women differ so much. And I never have figured out the whole Venus and Mars thing. I have never figured out why men think with their head and women with their heart.

FOR EXAMPLE: One evening last week, my girlfriend and I were getting into bed.

Well, the passion starts to heat up, and she eventually says "I don't feel like it, I just want you to hold me."

I said "WHAT??!! What was that?!"

So she says the words that every boyfriend on the planet dreads to hear... "You're just not in touch with my emotional needs as a woman enough for me to satisfy your physical needs as a man." She responded to my puzzled look by saying, "Can't you just love me for who I am and not what I do for you in the bedroom?"

Realizing that nothing was going to happen that night, I went to sleep.

The very next day I opted to take the day off of work to spend time with her. We went out to a nice lunch and then went shopping at a big, big unnamed department store. I walked around with her while she tried on several different very expensive outfits. She couldn't decide which one to take so I told her we'd just buy them all. She wanted new shoes to compliment her new clothes, so I said lets get a pair for each outfit. We went onto the jewelry department where she picked out a pair of diamond earrings. Let me tell you...she was so excited. She must have thought I was
one wave short of a shipwreck. I started to think she was testing me because she asked for a tennis bracelet when she doesn't even know how to play tennis. I think I threw her for a loop when I said, "That's fine, honey."

She was almost nearing sexual satisfaction from all of the excitement. Smiling with excited anticipation she finally said, "I think this is all dear, let's go to the cashier."

I could hardly contain myself when I blurted out, "No honey, I don't feel like it."

Her face just went completely blank as her jaw dropped with a baffled WHAT?"

I then said "honey! I just want you to HOLD this stuff for a while. You're just not in touch with my financial needs as a man enough for me to satisfy your shopping needs as a woman." And just when she had this look like she was going to kill me, I added, "Why can't you just love me for who I am and not for the things I buy you?"

Apparently I'm not having sex tonight either.

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Work Work Work...

2006-09-16T15:04:00.000+08:00

Been a very very long time since I last put in a post but I've been getting progressively busier as well. Getting used to worklife isn't as easy as I thought, and the problem with work is that you are being assessed all the time.

Every report, email, excel spreadsheet you send out is scrutinised by whoever you send it to. Every word you say could be used against you, literally. At present though, I can use the reason of being a newbie to shield me from some minor mistakes, but honestly that reason won't last long, especially since it's nearly my 3rd month at work.

With all the work piling up, I think the worst mistake I could make would be to say "Oops, I forgot", which honestly, I constantly do. So I decided that I needed some form of organiser, some Todo list and calendar of events. The usual MS Outlook calendar was good for events but it couldn't be used for my personal Todo list. I wanted something I could refer to easily when at work, something like those windows desktop calendars, but not attached to the desktop only (so I can type stuff while looking at it). However, the problem was that my company's IT security policy prevented us from installing a multitude of programs on the laptops we were given, which meant that most of the suitable calendar/organiser programs I found online were "uninstallable". So I decided to make my own.

I took the screenshots today so you'll probably recognise the view on the first pic. Basically, (for those non-color-blind ones) the red shaded square always stays on the current date. The green border acts as a cursor for viewing/adding/editing events or a public holiday to that day (by right-clicking to bring up the menu in pic 3). And I think the yellow and cyan borders are explained in the 2nd picture of the calendar for October.

The calendar is basically just a perpetual calendar with some additional features built-in like Singapore public holiday calculation, week of the year indication, todo list and event list storage. There are still some bugs with the public holiday calculation though, and right now, it can still probably calculate public holidays with a +/- 1 day error (which is why I added the ability to add/remove public holidays) for the next 100 years or so.

Anyway, I am currently testing it out at work, but if anyone of you want to have a try (and help me test for bugs), just leave a comment, and I'll email it to you. Its very small (80Kb or so) but it does require the java runtime environment to work.

Well, that's all I have to say for now. Here's wishing everyone who's at work all the best! Take care everyone!

First 2 Weeks of Work

2006-07-19T19:05:00.000+08:00

Well, I've started work, and I must say that getting up early in the morning isn't as easy as it was. Haha. Think NTU should set the classes such that our final sem lessons all start at 0830. Then we'll all be used to waking up early.

An inspiring thing happened to me a few days back while I was going to work. I had just gotten out of the MRT station and was crossing the overhead bridge to go to the bus stop. It was crowded as usual and hence I couldn't walk very fast, but as I walked I noticed this lady walking a distance in front of who looked quite good from behind. So out of curiousity, I wanted to know how she looked from in front. Haha. Can't blame me for wanting to know... it kinda helps to brighten up the early morning ride.

So anyway, due to the crowd I couldn't walk in front of her till I crossed the bridge, but I did try. And as I did, I vaguely noticed a lady in pink beside me, but I didn't look at her (as I was trying to wiggle my way forward). When I finally got in front of the first lady I found that she was a "Bethoven" (translate to Chinese for the proper meaning). However, as I waited for the bus at the bus stop, the pink lady walked by and I would say that she was much more attractive.

Now in case you are wondering why I am described such an incident, the moral of the story is...
I suddenly realised that in life sometimes we are so focused in chasing after something that seems good from where we are (but may not be), that we forget to look around and enjoy what we have presently.
Just like how if I had looked around when I was stuck in the crowd, I could have noticed the pink girl earlier, not that it would have made much difference though...

Then the moment I came back to reality, I realised I missed my bus.

Ok, enough of the weird story. I have yet another decision to make now that I have started work and that is - What handphone to buy? My company doesn't allow camera handphones, which means I am stuck with using an old phone cos I can't use my beloved and newly bought Nokia 6230i... sob...

Anyway, after a long and hard look around, I've come down to 2 choices:
1) Motorola C168
2) Sony Ericsson J230i

Both of these phones cost around $110 or so and both have a in built radio. However, the SE one has a speakerphone while the Moto one doesn't. On the other hand, the Moto one has more space for SMSes and I think better build quality. So again I am stuck with a "difficult" choice. Any advice anyone? Suggestions on other phones are welcome too...

Down with the Flu Bug Again

2006-06-27T15:36:00.000+08:00

I've got a cold/flu again. Don't really know what's the difference between a cold and the flu with the exception that they are caused by different viruses and flus are usually more serious (i.e. with high fevers and prolonged coughing bouts).

I think I am quite succeptable to colds, but more so when I am stressed, or don't sleep enough. I guess the late nights of World Cup watching probably has taken its toll on my body. And I didn't even watch the 3am matches.

Anyway, I decided to read up a little on ways to prevent the cold/flu, cos it seems that each time I get it, the doctors just prescribe the same medicine (which doesn't seem to help much). So I decided that in this case, prevention is definitely better than the cure.

I came across a website that actually mentions some herbal remedies for the cold/flu. Maybe next time you guys can try it out and see if it works. I'm gonna try this one later.

Garlic:

Garlic is known to kill influenza virus in test tubes.3 It also stimulates the immune system and wards off complications such as bronchitis.

Garlic contains several helpful compounds, including allicin, one of the plant kingdom's most potent, broad-spectrum antibiotics. This herb's aromatic compounds are readily released from the lungs and respiratory tract, putting garlic's active ingredients right where they can be most effective against cold viruses.

Holistic practitioners often recommend taking several cloves of raw garlic per day during an infection. You can also take aged garlic extract, or consume products such as hot garlic bread or toast.

They forgot to add that it has the added positive side effect of warding of vampires, as well as anyone who wishes to have an extended conversation with you. Haha. Wishing all of you guys the best of health. Those of you still slacking, go find a job! Those of you who have found one, great! And to those of you starting work/at work, work hard, I'll be joining you soon.

The information extracted above can be found here.

The "Teens-Only" Ringtone

2006-06-20T11:02:00.000+08:00

Just read the Digital Life from the Straits Times today and found an interesting article about a ringtone that supposedly only teens can hear clearly. So I decided to check it out for myself.

It seems that once you get past 20, you lose some of your hearing abilities for high frequency sounds in the 18-20KHz range. Hence, teens should be able to hear this ringtone very clearly, while adults may not even notice it.

From the ones I downloaded and tried, some were clearly audible to me, while some weren't. Well I am no teenager, so I am not exactly the best candidate to decide. However, I think the volume of the recorded file also plays a part as some seem to be more quiet than others (or maybe I just couldn't hear it).

Anyway, for those of you who are teachers, or budding ones, this ringtone is meant to target you! So you'd better be prepared. For the rest, if you are interested you can find the ringtone here.

Google Earth

2006-06-13T20:28:00.000+08:00

It's been a long time since I last posted. Haha. After the exams I've been busy finishing up my FYP as well as taking some R&R.

Finally, my university life has come to an end. I won't deny that I will be missing uni life especially the holidays, but I am also partly looking forward to working. Lazing around at home all day just doesn't seem as fulfilling as it used to. Anyway I got a job and will be starting work on the 3rd of July. Seems so far now, and yet it isn't far enough to go on a long holiday. Hehehe.

In this post I want to talk about Google Earth. Its a facinating software that you guys should go look at if you haven't already. You can get it here.

The following are some screen shots I took. The first one should be familiar to most of you as its an overview of the tiny island nation we call home. The sad part is that the island of Bintan just south is already larger than we are...

The next screen shot shows the area I live in. If you've been here, you should recognise it. Otherwise, too bad. ;)

Anyway, the details are amazing. For cities in the US/UK, you can zoom to the levels you see in the movies, where cars, people and other small objects are visible. Unfortunately, for the rest of the globe's cities, you can only get medium level details like the one of my area.

But what I love most about it though is that I can use it for a virtual tour around the world's most famous locations, like the Great Wall of China, the Eiffel Tower, the Grand Canyon(in 3D no less) and a place I would love to visit - the Pyramids of Egypt.

So although I am unable to actually visit these places during this time, I think I am still partially satisfied with being able to see photographs of them. :) Plus, I think this software also makes for a great way to plan your next holiday!

All the Best!

2006-04-12T12:26:00.000+08:00

Now I know I haven't posted for a very very long time. But I've been really busy.

I won't be making a proper post anytime soon tho, cos its EXAM season again. This post is just to wish all those people around me who are having exams ALL THE BEST and GOOD LUCK!! Let's all put our pedals to the metal cos its our last exams! Wooohooo!!

Happy Chinese New Year

2006-01-29T20:17:00.000+08:00

This post is to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year!

May the coming year of the Dog bring health, wealth and happiness to everyone! Take care ok guys? And Jiayou, the last semester is here.

Busy busy January

2006-01-16T22:35:00.001+08:00

For those of you who do not know yet, my brother just got married on Sunday the 8th of January. And of course, being his brother, his wedding has made my life super busy for the whole of the 1st week of January and most of December.

Why was I so busy? Well, other than my FYP, I had to help with the repainting and remodelling of my brother's room, cleaning of the house, arrangement of the wedding dinner seating, some logistics, delivering of some of the wedding invitations, and loads of other little stuff, all for this...

Also, because my mom wanted the whole house nice and clean for the tea ceremony, we had the responsibility of turning the floor tiles from this:

into this:

Unfortunately, this seemingly simple feat couldn't be accomplished with a mop and some detergent. Instead, we had to use toothbrushes, a special acid-like chemical and lots of elbow grease to get the dirt and grime from between the tiles removed. So we were all "transformed" into Cinderalla-like cleaners squatting and scrubbing the tiles and the areas in between with our toothbrushes. Luckily the results were good and my mom is happy. I just hope that I won't have to do this again for a while to come...

The wedding went well overall (I'll put some of the photos up when I am free, probably never the way things are going), with a few minor hiccups, and a major weather problem (it basically rained the whole day over the whole island that Sunday). Now with the euphoria over and life getting back to normal, my bro and new sis-in-law are away on their honeymoon, while I am left wondering how life will be like with another person around the house. It's gonna be weird to start, and I definitely can't walk around the house improperly dressed anymore (not that I do that very often...)

Overall though, I think it'll be a good thing. I don't really know why, but I do like the feeling of having a bigger family. It kinda makes the house less empty feeling. Well, only time will tell. One thing I do know for sure is that I'm gonna get an extra Ang Bao this Chinese New Year. Haha!

A Short Review of my New Handphone

2005-12-26T23:14:00.000+08:00

In case any of you do not know yet, I've gotten my new handphone. I chose the Nokia 6230i, primarily cos the price of it fell to below that of the 3230. Haha. And after about 2 weeks of using it, I think I'll give a short review of how it is so far.

Ok, I'll start with the good points. Firstly, I must really say that the Nokia Series 40 OS has really improved since my last Nokia 6800 phone. There are the little, but special changes like auto-keylocking and customisable softkeys, (some of the stuff Siemens and Sony Ericsson had for years, but Nokia just refused to include in their phones till lately) which are thankfully all present in my phone.

Then there is the screen, which although is small, is really clear, bright and sharp. This has made playing games on it a joy so far, although some games should really be better played on a larger screen. The phone's earphones and speaker are also great, making the listening of radio and mp3's on it a joy. The camera is also nice and fast. Quality wise I think its quite good, but I not really a good judge since I didn't have any other camera phone before.

Anyway you guys be the judge. Here are some pics taken with my phone.

The Christmas Tree at Taka:

The Bridge outside Suntec City during Christmas:

RX's Dream Car - The Mazda RX (taken while in a moving car...):

A rainy evening in the car:

Edwin is late again...

Cat at work:

Now on to the bugs and bad points. So far, I have found a bug in the software when it comes to assigning the ringtone to the "General" profile. When you assign a ringtone to it, after turning the phone off and on again, the assigned ringtone is reset to the original one (a bug that I think our favourite CatnRice wouldn't have missed if he was in the QC department of Nokia). Another bug with the software is the uploading of games and java applications to the phone, it sometimes says "Operation Failure" when there is no reason to fail, which is why I think I need to update the firmware. Also, the phone's battery life is really short, the maximum I have made it last so far is 3 days, where by the 3rd day's evening it is more or less on the last bar.

Well, other than that, I don't really have much complaints about the phone. So overall I think I will give it a 4 upon 5. Hopefully, the Nokia QC people would have spotted the bugs and made a bugfix so that when I do a firmware update, it'll solve all the bugs above.

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!!

2005-12-25T14:30:00.000+08:00

Here's a short post to wish everyone reading this a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May good things come your way in the coming year! Take care everyone and happy holidays!

Back but still Busy

2005-12-07T21:29:00.000+08:00

It's been a long time since I last posted. Nearly 2 months. Haha. Been really busy and at times lazy. When I felt like posting, I just didn't have the time, and when I had the time, I just felt too lazy to post. Haha. I guess its human nature (or maybe its just me...)

Anyway my exams officially ended on the 25th of November, but my full-time FYP officially started on the 28th of November. So basically I've been going to school from Mondays to Fridays, 9:30 am to 5:30 pm, rain or shine to do my FYP. Almost like work, with meetings and discussions dragging to lunch hour and past "knock-off" time, stress of trying to get things to work, but somehow they just refuse to and such. But strangely I quite enjoy it. Partly cos most of the time there's this lame cat beside me that I can disturb, partly cos this is much much better compared to when I was having exams.

I good thing about my project is that I am currently investigating the extraction data from blogs, which basically means I get to visit blogs the whole day officially! Haha. Ain't that great? The bad part? Well, I was tasked to investigate Chinese blogs, so I'm getting a big headache just trying to read the contents with my almost-5-years-never-use-super-rusty mandarin standard. But the most interesting development that came from this is that I now have 8 new blogs! Haha. Why? Cos I had to investigate how far users of the blogs can customise their blogs, and the best way was to become a user of course. So here are the links to the 8 new blogs named...drum roll please...AppleMangoes!

1) MSN Spaces
2) BlogBus
3) blogcn
4) YourBlog
5) donews
6) Moblog
7) TianyaBlog
8) yculBlog

Yup, each one of them has the same title. I was kinda lazy to think of so many user names so I chose the easiest and most-unlikely-to-have-duplicate name - applemangoes. And thus, as part of my FYP, I have expanded the influence of applemangoes to the Mainland. Muahahahaha! Unfortunately that was only the begining of my "new" FYP and so I'm still quite busy now, which means that proper posting on those blogs will have to wait for a long long while.

On a lighter note, I am searching for a new handphone and I have come down to 2 candidates the Nokia 3230 and the Nokia 6230i. Both cost about the same and both have nearly the same features except that the 3230 is a Symbian phone (read as unstable but more functional), while the 6230i is your standard Nokia OS (read as stable but boring and OLD). Any suggestions anyone??

Going on a Long Hiatus

2005-10-15T11:17:00.000+08:00

I've been really busy lately due to all the approaching assignment deadlines and stuff, and with the impending exams coming along, I am only going to get busier. So I am making this post to announce that I will be taking a long break from posting till my exams are almost over (somewhere around the end of November). Hopefully, I will get through my papers and assignments alright and be back after the exams all happy and chirpy.

In the meantime, here's something I found quite funny and, I hope, will brighten up your day a little.

All the best to everyone for their assignments, exams and everything you may be doing. And in case you are still really bored, you could probably go read about Mike the Headless Chicken...

About Children's Day and Squids

2005-10-01T10:34:00.000+08:00

Today is children's day and I would like to wish all children out there, big and small, a Happy Children's Day. Haha. I remember when I was young, how I loved children's day. You have a celebration at school, you get little gifts from the teachers and best of all, it was a holiday. Haha. Yeah! Unfortunately, the "children" classification ended the minute I left Primary school, which is quite sad since I still felt as much of a child in Sec 1, and part of Sec 2 even, as I did in Pri 5 and 6.

Anyway, do you remember ever hearing stories or watching tv shows about the ships of ancient explorers being attacked by giant squids that would wrap their tentacles around the ship and rip it apart? Well, when I was young I remembered watching lots of cartoons and stuff where there'll sometimes be a giant squid "guest starring" inside to destroy the ship of the hero. And to be honest, it really made me afraid of going out to sea for a while.

Well, it seemed to be a fad of that time, cos nowadays you seldom see TV shows with giant squids in them anymore. So much so that I thought that giant squids were only part of fiction. But apparantly they aren't, and for the first time, Japanese scientists have actually captured one live, on film that is.

Previously, all evidence of this elusive creature came from stories of sailors and dead specimens washed up on remote shores. But there was nothing else known about these creatures. How they live, feed and reproduce, were all a mystery. The main reason why these giant squids are so elusive is the immense depth in the seas that they live in, which is believed to be around 1000 meters. And scientists have come up with some weird ways to film them including attaching cameras to sperm whales and even laying a "sex trap" using pureed squid genitals. The Japanese scientists however, used a more common approach - a bait bag filled with mashed shrimp.

Now, with this footage one mystery seems to be solved - the squids are active predators. The squid captured on film was a 8 metre specimen, which is about the length of a bus. It showed how the squid "attacks", how it moved and how it propelled itself. The deep-sea pictures suggest that the squid is not the "sluggish, neutrally buoyant" creature that it has traditionally been deemed to be, but an active predator that attacks its prey horizontally.

Well, I wonder whether we would ever catch a live specimen. I think that would be quite sight to behold. Imagine the Underwater World in Sentosa with a giant squid. Haha. I think it'd probably cover up quite a large part of the tunnel.

Paris - Japanese zoologists have made the first recording of a live giant squid, one of the strangest and most elusive creatures in the world.

The size of a bus, with vast eyes and a querulous beak, Architeuthis has long nourished myth and literature.

Until now, the only evidence of giant squids was extraordinarily rare - from dead squids that washed up on remote shores or got snagged on a long-line fish hook or from ships' crews who spotted the deep-sea denizen as it made a sortie near the surface.

Click here for the full article.

Farewell to my Nokia 6800

2005-09-25T23:15:00.000+08:00

I did something quite major this afternoon - I sold off my handphone, a Nokia 6800. It was a good phone that never once (ok maybe not never but at least very very seldom) let me down and honestly, I kinda miss it now that I've sold it off. So in memory of my sturdy and faithful Nokia 6800, I am making this post.

Why did I sell it off? Well, cos it was getting old. Although it was still working fine (most of the time) and looked quite new, I was getting a little bugged by its limitations. Its screen resolution was too low, the phone had no built in camera and other little stuff. Basically, I wanted to upgrade my handphone. But if I bought a new phone, my current phone would definitely fall into disuse and become no more than another dust collecting item in my already crowded room. It had to go.

So why do I miss it? Well, probably cos I don't have a new phone yet and I currently have to struggle with an aging Nokia 3310. Another reason was that I didn't expect to be able to sell it so soon. I thought that no one would want to buy my old 6800, but unexpectedly, I got 10 offers in just 1 week, and they were good offers. So I sold it, much much sooner than I expected. I guess on the bright side, my 6800 is now in the hands of a new owner who would hopefully treasure it and use it, instead of having it lying around in my room just collecting dust, so I guess it's the right decision.

Well, to end of this post here's a picture of my old, sturdy and faithful 6800 together with all its accessories. May it stay in good working condition for a long time to come...

Back from a Long Break

2005-09-25T09:54:00.000+08:00

I'm back from an unofficial 2 week break in posting. Haha. Was really busy during the 1 week term break catching up on my homework as well as other personal stuff. Then last week there was a quiz on Cryptography, which made all of us super nervous and high strung. I guess we just aren't used to having a test in the middle of the semester as we usually get our coursework marks from our lab reports.

Anyway, I don't have time to make a full post today cos I have an A.I. Lab to do that has to be handed in on Friday. So I shall be posting some stuff that hopefully will be of use to those people who are currently in my course, and to whoever has programming troubles. ;)

Click here to get a little help on Java Programming.
And for some free Java development environments I recommend Eclipse or JDeveloper.

Click here to get a little help on C# Programming.
And for C# IDEs, I'm just gonna put down what our Programming Languages lecturer gave: CSharpDeveloper.

Click here if you are stressed and need a little comedy to destress (Warning: this one will take a long time to load, but I can guarantee you that its worth it!)

Ok then. All the best to all those doing their FYPs and other projects! Have a nice Sunday!

Zero Point Energy from Magnets?

2005-09-10T10:59:00.000+08:00

Woohoo! The 1 week break is finally here. Haha. Got lots to do but I don't plan on starting to do anything yet - at least for today. Seriously need some R&R cos I just realised I haven't actually had a serious day of total rest since December last year. And I think last night was a good start - I played DOTA with Tweety until around 4 am. Haha. But before that I had to finish up some FYP stuff. Well, work before pleasure. :)

Anyway today's article is about a possible new source of energy. With the rising oil prices and seemingly limited supply, the world is actually now searching for a viable source of clean and long-lasting energy. One of the options is cold fusion, but up till now, no one has been able to create a working, sustainable demonstration of that.

Now a new option has come up - Zero Point Energy (ZPE). What ZPE is, in simple terms, it the energy resulting from the "infinitesimal motion of molecules even when seemingly at rest." This ZPE is actually a theory in Quantum Physics and while nothing says we cannot produce energy from it, no one has been able to do so... yet.

Mark Goldes, however, thinks he may have done it. His method of obtaining ZPE is by the use of magnets. Capturing ZPE using magnets seems possible due to the Casimir Effect that magnets produce.. However, his experiment isn't exactly stable yet and his team still isn't sure about what's happening, so Goldes isn't releasing any details yet. But they are "seeing more energy output than input".

Goldes hopes he can have an experiment that another lab can inspect and replicate by the end of the year as well as a small prototype generator that can power kitchen appliances by next year. So hopefully, if this technology is viable, we'll see it on the market soon, and hopefully this will cut the world's dependence on fossil fuels.

Well, I am still a little skeptical about this as cheap and clean energy doesn't seem possible. However, there are many mysteries in our world that we haven't solved, so this might actually be possible and may lead to a new "industrial revolution" that's environmentally friendly for a change.

Also, Goldes is a respected researcher who has produced a technology called the UltraConductor (think of a material with superconductor properties at room temperatures), so it's kind of hard to pass him off as just another mad scientist clamouring for fame. All the same, if it can come true, I'll definitely be very happy cos at the very least, I can save a little on the almost $50 per week I spend on petrol...

The nation's energy industry is struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina. Gas prices are soaring as a result of the catastrophic storm. America's reliance on overseas oil increases every year.

And from his office in the North Bay city of Sebastopol, Mark Goldes envisions a day -- perhaps not so far off -- when none of this will be a problem.

Goldes, 73, is chief executive of a small company called Magnetic Power Inc., which has spent years researching ways to, yes, generate power using magnets.

Click here for the full article.

Comex 2005

2005-09-02T01:30:00.000+08:00

No time to do a proper post today (or more correctly yesterday) cos went with Tweety to go see the Comex 2005 exhibition at Suntec. It wasn't really that crowded, but there were enough people there to make the place a little more squeezy then I would like it to be.

Bargains wise I would say that there isn't much there that is really that cheap. Dell is one exception though. It really seems like its out to kill the competition with its PC and laptop prices, most of which are around $200 to $300 cheaper than the competition! There are tonnes of mp3 players and cameras as well but I din really take note of them, cos I don't intend on buying them.

Anyway, I would advise anyone to go take a look if you wanna know more. Lots of stuff (and people) to look at as well as a few small and hidden bargains can be found. But unless you know what you want, you will most likely get lost in the tonnes of "promotions" going on. BTW, if anyone wants the pricelist of a product, tell me k? I think I just about took every pricelist there is to take over there. You can also go here to check out the bargains.

About Changing Rooms

2005-08-27T11:23:00.001+08:00

Yay! The weekend is here again. But unfortunately I think this weekend is gonna be a busy one with all the tutorials and lab reports piling up. Well, that's not gonna stop me from having some fun by possibly going out to do some shopping or at least playing some computer games. Haha.

If you intend to go out shopping with a girl, or if you are a girl, you might find today's article helpful in making your shopping trip a little more enjoyable. A study has shown that during shopping "a woman's perception of her body is influenced by the position and size of shop mirrors, as well as the size and color of shop changing rooms."

According to the study, women feel that mirrors reflect not only their present self, but what they looked like in the past and as a sign of their future image. This can be overwhelming to some women who therefore shun mirrors. Some shops also use "skinny mirrors" for the same reason.

As for changing rooms, small and cramped ones tend to encourage women to compare themselves with other women there, making them notice their "flaws". Changing rooms that require the shopper to leave the changing room in order to show her outfit to their shopping companions, were also found undesirable as these required the woman to show her outfit, along with any unflattering body parts, to other shoppers as well.

So guys, if you are going shopping with a girl, try to avoid shops with lots of mirrors, unless you are shopping for clothes of course. And when shopping for clothes, try to find shops with larger changing rooms (quite hard in S'pore...), or at least with an area allowing someone to view the outfit without the girl having to walk out into the main shopping area. Conversely, if you are a guy shopping with a girl and you want to go home to catch a soccer match, you might want to try to do the opposite. ;)

A new study gives valuable insight into the minds of female shopaholics.

While shopping, a woman's perception of her body is influenced by the position and size of shop mirrors, as well as the size and color of shop changing rooms.

So says Rachel Colls, a geographer at the University of Liverpool in England.

Previous studies investigating women's relationships with their bodies found that diets and shopping for clothes can negatively affect a women's emotional health.

Click here for the full article.

Controlling the Speed of Light

2005-08-25T10:02:00.000+08:00

It's Thursday again, and another week of school is about to end. It seems to me that time in school seems to be passing faster than I would like it to, which is not good news. There just seems to be so much to do and so little time. If only we could slow down time or pause it for a while, wouldn't that be good? Haha.

Well, scientists haven't found a way to slow down time but they have found ways to slow down (even stopping) and even speed up light. Now, Einstein's special theory of relativity states that nothing in the universe can travel faster than the speed of light, so how can light travel faster than it already does?

This supposed paradox can explained "because a pulse of light is actually made up of many separate frequency components, each of which moves at their own velocities." So what appears to be the speed of a light pulse is actually the combined speed of its components. So, by "tweaking the relationship between phase velocities, it’s possible to adjust the group velocity and create the illusion that parts of the pulse are traveling faster than the speed of light."

Although there isn't much practical use for speeding up light at this point in time, there is a use for slowing down light. This is because in the current optical telcommunications industry, light pulses from optical communications fibres travel too fast and have to be converted to much slower electrical signals before it can be processed. However, with the ability to slow light, it would possibly allow the light signals to be processed directly.

Well, I don't know how all this would affect us in the near future, but I hope that if the telecoms industry finds a cheaper and faster way to send and receive data, then it would lead to cheaper and faster broadband internet access for everyone. Haha.

Researchers in Switzerland have succeeded in breaking the cosmic speed limit by getting light to go faster than, well, light.

Or is it all an illusion?

Scientists have recently succeeded in doing all sorts of fancy things with light, including slowing it down and even stopping it all together. Now a team at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland is controlling the speed of light using simple off-the-shelf optical fibers, without the aid of special media such as cold gases or crystalline solids like in other experiments.

Click here for the full article.

Getting up after a Fall

2005-08-20T18:25:00.000+08:00

Well, it's finally the weekend again. Hurray! It's been quite a busy week for me most cos of my FYP, tutorials and now my Lab assignments. I think my A.I. lab is one of the most time consuming as it really requires lots of thinking and preparation, unlike the usual lab assignments where we can just follow the steps laid out by the lab manual. Well, I guess I'll have to start re-adjusting myself soon, cos the semester seems to be getting busier by the day... :(

Anyway, today's article is about a robot named R Daneel. Yup another robot also developed by the Japanese. However, what's so special about this robot is how it handles getting back on its feet after falling down. Normally, when a robot makes any moves, it is controlled all the time through a predefined trajectory. But this robot is different "it is designed to embrace a lack of constant control"

There's a 13MB video for download, which shows you just how the robot gets up. Honestly, its very much like how you and me get up sometimes when we are lying flat on our back. And that's just what the robot is supposed to do. It was designed based on human body dynamics and understanding of how we, as humans, do the things we do.

The scientist who developed R Daneel with his colleagues at University of Tokyo believes that this framework of blending of control and flexibility could be used to handle "All kinds of tasks - particularly dynamics-based ones - can be addressed with our framework. We are currently looking at jumping, rolling, walking, trotting, swinging, reaching and grasping."

Well, if you guys/gals have time, go take a look at the video. It's really quite interesting how much the robot's action resembles a human getting up. Honestly, I think this could be an important development in humanoid robotics, and it may become the basis for all robotic movement in the future. Hopefully, with this framework, we'll be able to build a robot that can move just like a human in the next 5 years
or so.

A humanoid robot with an exceptionally nimble knack for getting back on its feet after a fall has been developed by researchers in Japan.

Named R Daneel, the robot kicks up its legs and rolls back onto its shoulders to gain the momentum it needs to rock up onto its feet and into a crouching position. This might be fairly easy for a human to do, but for the 60-kilogram bot, it requires a relaxed attitude to body control.

Click here for the full article.

The Bermuda Triangle

2005-08-12T23:00:00.000+08:00

Yeah! It's finally Friday again. Been quite busy lately cos I've been trying to catch up with my work and FYP. As for my subject dilemma, I decided to go along with my academic councillor's advice to go with the subject I like more, cos according to him, that's what many Singaporean students lack, an interest in the subjects they are taking. So at the end I kept to my current combination with A.I.

Anyway today's article is about a long forgotten mystery that has yet to be solved - the Bermuda Triangle. Although we don't hear much about it nowadays, the Bermuda Triangle is still an area filled with mysterious occurances and events. One of the more recent events concerns a mysterious crashing of a six-seat Piper Lance II aircraft only 25 minutes after take off.

People who have claimed to survive a Bermuda Triangle event have claimed many strange happenings, including the failure of electronic equipment, the sudden appearance of an all engulfing thick fog and even time distortion. But what causes these effects and events is still a mystery to modern science.

One man, who is one of the few known persons to survive a Bermuda Triangle experience, Bruce Gernon, has come up with a theory about the area. According to him, the think fog that surrounds the plane is not actually normal fog, but some form of Electronic Fog, that was somehow attracted and attached to the body of the plane, just like how lightning is attracted to high points. This would explain why pilots who have survived the experience claim that they were flying through thick fog that seemed to totally surround them for miles, and yet air traffic controllers would claim that the area they were in was having clear weather.

Gernon has also come up with a scale from 1 to 5 to describe such events, but I'll leave it to you to go read it up. Scientists however, do not recognise Gernon's theory, but they do recognise the "existence of magnetic anomalies in the Caribbean and elsewhere on the planet". Gernon feels however that his theory may still prove true in the future, just like how "science couldn’t explain the phenomena of electricity until the late 18th century".

Well, the Bermuda Triangle to me has always proven to be a nice mystery to read about. There have also been many theories put forward, like alien spaceships, portals and even Atlantis being the source of disruption. However, this theory has a more practical and factual base, which makes it all the more believeable. All the same, I hope that in the near future, the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle will be solved. And I think I won't be surprised if Gernon's theory isn't that far off from the truth.

Thirty years ago, it was the most discussed mystery of the day, a region where at any moment a mysterious fog might cling to a vessel like tight clothing, where the navigational instruments might fail, where ships, planes, and people simply vanished, where the occupants of an aircraft might experience a time distortion.

Although you may not hear much about the Bermuda Triangle these days, mysterious events still transpire in the infamous region. Take this case:

It should have been an uneventful trip, a short flight from the Freeport International Airport in the Bahamas to West Palm Beach. The six-seat Piper Lance II took off at 5:35 a.m. on July 29, 2002. Within a few minutes, the craft reached 4,700 feet and the pilot switched radio contact from Freeport to the Miami air traffic control.

Click here for the full article.

Happy Birthday Singapore!!

2005-08-09T09:16:00.000+08:00

Today is Singapore's 40th Birthday, so I would like to wish Singapore a Happy Birthday and I hope all Singaporeans will enjoy this holiday. I also hope that Singapore will grow from strength to strength, and become more posperous!

Artificial Intelligence or Advanced Computer Networks?

2005-08-03T23:56:00.000+08:00

I'm still working on the dilemma of which P.E. to take. The interesting and supposedly more useful-in-the-working-world A.I., that is unfortunately also more difficult. Or the relatively boring and supposedly not as useful-in-the-working-world Advanced Computer Networks, that is seemingly much simpler.

Well, I went to check out the A.I. course website and its exam papers and I must say they do seem challenging. It has quite a bit of the dreaded SC109 inside, which is scary. However, this FAQ (you may need an NTU account to view it...) kinda made me feel better. Unforunately, it wasn't enough 100% convinced me to take up A.I. but the final question and answer of the FAQ was in a sense quite "interesting" (and LAME in a way...) and I quote,

Q: One last question...
A: 42 is the answer.

So in the end, after spending a couple of hours looking through the A.I. stuff, I still haven't decided whether to drop it. Well, I have 1 day plus more...

Possible 10th Planet Discovered

2005-08-01T21:59:00.000+08:00

It's the start of a new week and I'm still not used to going to school. Unfortunately, as much as I wish I could stay at home and rot, I can't. Plus I still have to do my Final Year Project (F.Y.P.) and tutorials. Sigh... I really miss working in that way, at the very least you can always relax when you reach home, and you are earning $$ as well. Which is also why I still wonder why working people say studying is better...maybe it's cos of the long holidays?

Well, today's topic is about Astronomy, the finding of a new possible planet to be exact. Scientists have found a larger than Pluto (the 9th planet from the Sun) sized planet about 3 times as far away as Pluto is at present. It also has a similar surface covered by methane ice like Pluto.

The planet has been designated 2003 UB313, cos it was actually discovered in October 2003, but it was not until January this year that Mike Brown, the Caltech astronomer who announced the discovery, realised that it had potential to be a planet. UB313 also has a 560-year orbit that is tilted 44° from the orbital plane of the Earth and most other planets. A nice little Java 3D applet can be found here that shows all the planets and their orbits with UB313.

However, the discovery of UB313 has also brought up an old debate of what should be defined as a planet. In fact some astronomers claim that even Pluto shouldn't be considered a planet at all. The International Astronomical Union has so far avoided a formal definition but UB313 may force them to create one, either to accept or reject it as a planet.

Well, I hope that UB313 will be classified a planet and that more planets will be found. That would certainly prove exciting for the astronomical arena. However, what I really wish for is the day when we can all go for a holiday on another planet, and hopefully it'll be within our lifetimes...

Astronomers have found a tenth planet, larger than Pluto and nearly three times farther from the Sun as Pluto is today.

Temporarily designated 2003 UB313, the new planet is the most distant object yet seen in the solar system, 97 times farther from the Sun than the Earth is. It also is the largest body yet found orbiting in the Kuiper belt, the group of icy bodies including Pluto which orbit beyond Neptune.

Like Pluto, 2003 UB313 is covered by methane ice, and at its present distance is chilled to just 30°C above absolute zero, says Mike Brown, the Caltech astronomer who announced the discovery on Friday. The sleep-deprived father of a three-week-old daughter, Brown said the discovery was "almost as exciting as having a new baby".

Click here for the full article.

The Future of Andriods

2005-07-30T10:39:00.000+08:00

Woohoo! It's the weekend again. The first weekend since school started and I'm really thankful it has arrived. Although my first week at school wasn't actually busy, I think I found it quite depressing cos I just couldn't get myself into the study mood (help!). Also, I'm still deciding whether I should take a certain module on Artificial Intelligence. It's interesting to me, but the exam is open book, which sounds scary to me. Oh well, I guess I'll think about it over the weekend.

Today's article also has something to do with A.I. as well as robotics. Now for those of you who have watched Steven Speilberg's movie A.I. you'd probably know what andriods are, or at least the predicted future of andriod development. Well, the Japanese have developed a new "female" andriod called Repliee Q1 that is the most human looking robot to date.

Now this Repliee Q1 has flexible silicone for skin, can flutter her eyelids, responds to touch and even appears to breathe. Repliee Q1's designer, Professor Ishiguro, believes that although the current model is still far from being able to fool anyone that it is a human, one day will come when "robots could fool us into believing they are human".

Well, from the picture that came with the article, that day seems to be coming near. The "female" robot looks almost real, although since it's only a picture I can't say much about its motion. But I really wonder when the day would come when you'd walk up to a "chio" receptionist at a company's front desk and ask her a bunch of questions only to realise much later that she's an andriod...

Japanese scientists have unveiled the most human-looking robot yet devised - a "female" android called Repliee Q1.

She has flexible silicone for skin rather than hard plastic, and a number of sensors and motors to allow her to turn and react in a human-like manner.

She can flutter her eyelids and move her hands like a human. She even appears to breathe.

Click here for the full article.

How to Woo a Good Girl

2005-07-27T21:54:00.000+08:00

I just got back from an outing with my buddies. Been a long time since I had a full day of nothing to do except play. Haha. And play we did, but only 2 hours of pool. Short but still quite satisfying nonetheless. I think I need to go out more often to play. Staying at home after more or less working my whole June holidays away isn't actually giving me any more "utility", to use an Economics term.

Anyway, for those guys out there who are still single, there has been an experiment carried out that shows that to woo a girl you should give her expensive, but essentially "worthless" gifts. Why? Well, according to the study, if a male gives a female cheap gifts, she will assume he is not serious about her. And if the male gives her expensive and valuable gifts (e.g. diamonds) some females might take the chance to be a "gold-digger".

So the correct strategy is for the guy to give her gifts like an expensive meal or an expensive theatre ticket, gifts with no intrinsic value. By doing so, uninterested females would have little incentive to accept, gaining no return on what could be just a simple waste of an evening. While an interested one would go as she would see the "value" in the company of a person she likes.

Apparently this strategy works well for both sexes as the female can gauge how "serious" the male is about the relationship, while the male can avoid getting cheated. Of course, the occassional expensive and valuable gift for the girl still must be given, but the trick is not to give it at the start.

Well, so now you guys know what to give a girl whom you are interested in for your first date. Maybe a dinner at some expensive restaurant (no not McDonalds), followed up by a nice theatre show at the Esplanade (actually a movie would do too, given that current movie ticket prices are almost comparable to some theatre tickets...) and maybe a bouquet of flowers to go along. Sounds good right?

Men who spend big money wining and dining their dates are not frittering away hard-earned cash. According to a pair of UK researchers, they are merely employing the best strategy for getting the girl without being taken for granted.

Using mathematical modelling, Peter Sozou and Robert Seymour at University College London, UK, found that wooing girls with costly, but essentially worthless gifts – such as theatre tickets or expensive dinners out – is a winning courtship strategy for both sexes.

Females can assess how serious or committed a male plans to be and males can ensure they are not just seducing ‘gold-diggers’ – girls who take valuable presents with no intention of accepting subsequent dates.

Click here for the full article.

Why you shouldn't give a Cat a Sweet

2005-07-25T21:58:00.000+08:00

It seems like forever since I last made a post, when actually it has only been about 2+ weeks. Well, I've gotten kinda lazy so I'm not going to make a long post. Haha. Plus today was the first day of school and I'm getting withdrawal effects from not having had a proper "slack and do nothing" holiday.

Anyway, to re-kick-start things, I'm going to talk about cats. Well, scientists have found that apparently cats can't taste sweet things. This is due to a problem with one of the genes that codes for part of the sweet taste receptor that has left cats unable to detect sweet-tasting compounds like sugars and carbohydrates.

Scientists speculate that since the defective genes are present in all modern cats as well as a distant relative, the hyena, the mutated gene must have occurred somewhere in the past among their common ancestor. However, this ancestor must have also been a very successful hunter to have survived and bred.

In addition to losing their taste for sweet foods, cats also have deficiency of sucrase (the enzyme that digests sucrose, in case you forgot your secondary Bio). This results in the cats being unable to digest sucrose very well and causes them to get violently ill.

So if you are sadistic enough, you can go try feeding a cat a bowl of water with surcose mixed inside. Unfortunately, I think the Big Mutant Cat (that likes Rice) I know has mutated to have normal sweet taste buds and sucrase levels, so I can't use him...

As cat owners know, their feline friend would much rather chase and eat a live mouse than snack on the chocolate equivalent, and now researchers have discovered the reason – cats are simply unable to taste sweet things.

An examination of feline genetics has shown a significant defect in one of the genes that codes for part of the sweet taste receptor. This “huge deletion” of 247 base pairs in the gene that codes for the T1R2 protein – one of two proteins that make up the sweet taste receptor in mammals – has left cats unable to detect sweet-tasting compounds like sugars and carbohydrates.

Click here for the full article.

Not posting for a while

2005-07-06T23:32:00.000+08:00

Sorry guys, been quite busy of late. Also, if you haven't already guessed, I don't have internet access in my office... yet. You see my extension was a little out of the ordinary and hence they are having some trouble arranging the stuff for me. SO I have no internet account and no "personal" laptop. :(

Anyway, cos I don't have an internet access, it has made posting from my office impossible. It has also made my programming life next quite difficult cos I constantly have to flip through books if I have any problems or rely on the ever crummy "help" files provided by the IDEs. So I've been bringing quite a bit of stuff home to do so that I can program while checking for information online, which also explains why I haven't had time to post from home. It's funny how the internet has become so much part of our lives that I sometimes feel lost when I can't connect to it.

Well, I guess I'll have to go try to get myself an internet access account. The alternative would be quite unthinkable, but I guess I'll probably have to go borrow or buy a few more story books to read should I get bored at work. With regards to posting I'll try to put in a post soon, if everything goes well, else it'll just have to wait till the weekend...

Taiwan Trip Pictures

2005-07-02T14:28:00.000+08:00

It's been quite a while since I made a post. Been super busy since I got back from my trip on Monday cos I had to rush my research project, full time.

These past few days has made me realise that work kinda has a way of making you feel tired and depressed even after a wonderful trip abroad. I think it was halfway through last Wednesday when I started to wonder whether I had gone to Taiwan in the first place, or was it just a dream.

Next week I'm gonna go back to work at my IA company again, cos the extension has been approved. Kinda regret asking for an extension. Haha. Oh well...

Anyway, on to the pictures. Now I'm not going to make a few posts on what happened over the 5 days I was there cos I think it'll turn out quite boring if you hear it from me. If you want that you can always visit some of my friend's blogs. I'll just put up a few nice (or at least what I consider nice) and interesting pictures of the sights I saw there. You guys can go figure out the rest. ;)

Ok here are some pics from day 1.

From left to right:
1) Slightly rainy morning at Changi
2) Delicious breakfast (cos we were hungry) on our SIA Flight
3) Our room (notice the sleezy lighting on the right...made it seems so...)
4) Ximen Ding (the Orchard road of Taipei)
5) A typical Taipei street

On day 2 we all went for a 1 day tour of Taipei, starting at the large Chiang Kai Shek (CKS) memorial hall, then on to Yue liu and Jiu fen. Then we went on to visit some tourism product selling areas before going to the Miramar shopping centre and then to Shilin night market (resembles Chinatown on CNY eve). Then we ended the day with a hot, but relaxing dip in one of the hot springs in Beitou.

From left to right:
1) CKS memorial hall
2) Panoramic picture of Yue Liu (a nice natural geography area filled with rocks)
3) Panoramic picture of Jiu Fen (a mountainous area)
4) Miramar Ferris wheel (a large ferris wheel at a shopping centre)
5) Panoramic View from the ferris wheel
6) Hot Spring visit (the water there was hot...)

On day 3 we were left to our own devices. So following our plan, we visited a number of places using our MRT pass.

From left to right:
1) Longshan Temple
2) Taipei 101 building (the current world's tallest building)
3) Panoramic view from the 89th storey of the 101 building
4) Wufenpu (the clothes bazaar there. Lots and lots of clothes. Girls could probably spend a whole day there...)
5) Guanghua Market (the Sim Lim Square of Taipei. Not a very nice pic, but its interesting cos the whole place is built under an expressway bridge)

On day 4 we did a little touring of the museums of Taipei as well as the East Coast Park equivalent called DanShui. All this was done again using the Taipei MRT service, which, from what I saw, shows how much more courteous the Taipei people are compared to Singaporeans.

From left to right:
1) Taiwan Museum
2) National Treasures Museum (under renovation, unfortunately... and no pictures inside too...:( )
3) Danshui river and mountain in the background
4) Danshui sunset (minus the sun which was hiding behind the clouds...)
5) All the nice Taipei people who automatically keep right while going up the escalator, no matter how crowded it is.

On the last day, we didn't do much. Made some last minute purchases before rushing to the airport to catch our flight back home.

From left to right:
1) The Boeing 777 we took home.
2) A nice evening sun over somewhere in West Malaysia as we were nearing home sweet home...

Well, that's all the pictures I have time to upload and show you guys. If you want more you can always gimme your email and I'll send the whole 100+ MB of stuff over. It includes some nice short movies of the more animated sights and sounds of Taipei. :)

I'll probably start posting proper again once I get back to work at my IA company, but I'm not sure if I'll still get a nice internet connection. So we'll see when the time comes. You guys have a nice weekend!

Blogging from Changi

2005-06-23T07:52:00.000+08:00

Good morning everyone! I am now at Changi Airport about to board the plane to Taipei! Yeah! Woohoo! You guys have a nice weekend in Singapore. ;)

"Teleporting" over the Internet

2005-06-22T09:22:00.000+08:00

Yay! It's finally Wednesday! TGIW. Anyway, I'll be going on a 5-day trip to Taipei, Taiwan starting tomorrow, so it is unlikely that I'll be posting anytime soon. I'm really looking forward to it cos I haven't had a break from work and research since January, so I hope to get some nice R&R over there.

Anyway, today's article is on teleportation again. This time however, it's not really the teleporting of someone or something, but the "teleportation" of information and data to create that object.

When long range telecommunications started, everyone was very happy just to be able to hear the voice of a loved one in another country. Then, the digital age arrived, and people started to want to do video conferencing, to see the person live. Now, scientists want to take it a step further, to not only bring video to the person, but an 3D physical model, that moves.

The plan is to use nanotechnology to create minute robots called nano dust. This nano dust can basically be "told" what to form up into. So what probably would happen is that the user would don a special suit that allows the cameras to track his movements and shape. The cameras' data are then processed by a PC and sent over the internet to the receiver's PC which would then tell the nano devices to create an exact physical replica of the sender. Basically, a live 3D moving model that you can touch.

Well, this certainly sound good. I mean I can already start imagining the possibilities of this technology. Imagine movies that you can literally walk into, TV show characters that come to life in your living room, PC games that you can really interact with - a game of Counter-Strike would never be the same again! Haha. Anyway the technology is still years down the road, but I really hope it becomes reality before I get too old to play with them...

Computer scientists in the US are developing a system which would allow people to "teleport" a solid 3D recreation of themselves over the internet.

Professors Todd Mowry and Seth Goldstein of Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania think that, within a human generation, we might be able to replicate three-dimensional objects out of a mass of material made up of small synthetic "atoms".

Cameras would capture the movement of an object or person and then this data would be fed to the atoms, which would then assemble themselves to make up an exact likeness of the object.

Click here for the full article.

11 Steps to a Better Brain

2005-06-21T09:52:00.000+08:00

It's going to be another long day for me. But, it's Tuesday, and in less than 48 hours, I'll be in an SIA jet on my way to the wonderous land of Taiwan. Woohoo! Yeah! Haha. I will probably post some pics when I get back, so look out for them!

Anyway today's topic is quite interesting. It's about how to improve your brain power and I think it's good for everyone of every age. This article is very long and quite useful, so I won't venture to try to summarise it. Instead, I will post an excerpt of each method and you can go read it in its full glory if you want, something I think you should.

So here's the 11 methods:

1)Smart drugs
AROUND the age of 40, honest folks may already admit to noticing changes in their mental abilities. This is the beginning of a gradual decline that in all too many of us will culminate in full-blown dementia. If it were possible somehow to reverse it, slow it or mask it, wouldn't you?

A few drugs that might do the job, known as "cognitive enhancement", are already on the market, and a few dozen others are on the way. Perhaps the best-known is modafinil. Licensed to treat narcolepsy, the condition that causes people to suddenly fall asleep, it has notable effects in healthy people too. Modafinil can keep a person awake and alert for 90 hours straight, with none of the jitteriness and bad concentration that amphetamines or even coffee seem to produce.

2)Food for thought
YOUR brain is the greediest organ in your body, with some quite specific dietary requirements. So it is hardly surprising that what you eat can affect how you think. If you believe the dietary supplement industry, you could become the next Einstein just by popping the right combination of pills. Look closer, however, and it isn't that simple. The savvy consumer should take talk of brain-boosting diets with a pinch of low-sodium salt. But if it is possible to eat your way to genius, it must surely be worth a try.

First, go to the top of the class by eating breakfast. The brain is best fuelled by a steady supply of glucose, and many studies have shown that skipping breakfast reduces people's performance at school and at work.

3)The Mozart effect
A DECADE ago Frances Rauscher, a psychologist now at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, and her colleagues made waves with the discovery that listening to Mozart improved people's mathematical and spatial reasoning. Even rats ran mazes faster and more accurately after hearing Mozart than after white noise or music by the minimalist composer Philip Glass. Last year, Rauscher reported that, for rats at least, a Mozart piano sonata seems to stimulate activity in three genes involved in nerve-cell signalling in the brain.

4)Bionic brains

5)Gainful employment
UNTIL recently, a person's IQ - a measure of all kinds of mental problem-solving abilities, including spatial skills, memory and verbal reasoning - was thought to be a fixed commodity largely determined by genetics. But recent hints suggest that a very basic brain function called working memory might underlie our general intelligence, opening up the intriguing possibility that if you improve your working memory, you could boost your IQ too.

Working memory is the brain's short-term information storage system. It's a workbench for solving mental problems. For example if you calculate 73 - 6 + 7, your working memory will store the intermediate steps necessary to work out the answer. And the amount of information that the working memory can hold is strongly related to general intelligence.

(Probably also explains why we forget almost everything about our previous semester's work...)

6)Memory marvels
AN AUDITORIUM is filled with 600 people. As they file out, they each tell you their name. An hour later, you are asked to recall them all. Can you do it? Most of us would balk at the idea. But in truth we're probably all up to the task. It just needs a little technique and dedication.

7)Sleep on it
SKIMPING on sleep does awful things to your brain. Planning, problem-solving, learning, concentration,working memory and alertness all take a hit. IQ scores tumble. "If you have been awake for 21 hours straight, your abilities are equivalent to someone who is legally drunk," says Sean Drummond from the University of California, San Diego. And you don't need to pull an all-nighter to suffer the effects: two or three late nights and early mornings on the trot have the same effect.

8)Body and mind
IT'S a dream come true for those who hate studying. Simply walking sedately for half an hour three times a week can improve abilities such as learning, concentration and abstract reasoning by 15 per cent. The effects are particularly noticeable in older people. Senior citizens who walk regularly perform better on memory tests than their sedentary peers. What's more, over several years their scores on a variety of cognitive tests show far less decline than those of non-walkers. Every extra mile a week has measurable benefits.

9)Nuns on a run
THE convent of the School Sisters of Notre Dame on Good Counsel Hill in Mankato, Minnesota, might seem an unusual place for a pioneering brain-science experiment. But a study of its 75 to 107-year-old inhabitants is revealing more about keeping the brain alive and healthy than perhaps any other to date. The "Nun study" is a unique collaboration between 678 Catholic sisters recruited in 1991 and Alzheimer's expert David Snowdon of the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging and the University of Kentucky in Lexington.

The sisters' miraculous longevity - the group boasts seven centenarians and many others well on their way - is surely in no small part attributable to their impeccable lifestyle. They do not drink or smoke, they live quietly and communally, they are spiritual and calm and they eat healthily and in moderation. Nevertheless, small differences between individual nuns could reveal the key to a healthy mind in later life.

10)Attention seeking
PAYING attention is a complex mental process, an interplay of zooming in on detail and stepping back to survey the big picture. So unfortunately there is no single remedy to enhance your concentration. But there are a few ways to improve it.

The first is to raise your arousal levels. The brain's attentional state is controlled by the neurotransmitters dopamine and noradrenalin. Dopamine encourages a persistent, goal-centred state of mind whereas noradrenalin produces an outward-looking, vigilant state. So not surprisingly, anything that raises dopamine levels can boost your powers of concentration.

11)Positive feedback
IT SOUNDS a bit New Age, but there is a mysterious method of thought control you can learn that seems to boost brain power. No one quite knows how it works, and it is hard to describe exactly how to do it: it's not relaxation or concentration as such, more a state of mind. It's called neurofeedback. And it is slowly gaining scientific credibility.

In summary

Hopefully this will help us all in our final year of University. For those already at work, I hope this post will help you get a promotion or a fat bonus at the end of the year. Haha.

Click here for the full article.

The Living Dead

2005-06-20T09:25:00.000+08:00

It's another early Monday morning. However, unlike previous Mondays of the past 5 plus months, I'm not at work, I'm in school. However, I'll be here full time, not unlike work, from 9:30am till 9:30pm. So I'm preparing for a long day ahead.

Now let's get to the main topic - the living dead. For those who have watched the movie "Resident Evil" and it's sequel, you'd probably know what I'm talking about. Although such stories have mostly dwelled in the realms of fiction and urban legends, there are some scientifically recorded cases of the dead rising.

For example, "there were incidents registered in medical practice, when beheaded bodies of executed people would raise to their feet and even make a few steps. One of such incidents occurred in the beginning of the 15th century in Germany, during a public execution of a sea pirate, known as Steterbreker."

Although some of these could be explained by post mortem muscle spasms, or a delayed reaction from the physical body resulting from the last signal sent by the brain, there are still more bizzare cases.

Scientists are now looking into this weird phenomenon and hopefully they will find an explanation for it. Even better, they might find a way to duplicate it, to revive people who may be classified as clinically dead now, but may not be. But at the end of the day, I hope no mad scientist decides to bring the Resident Evil story to life, cos that would certainly spoil everyone's day...

Humans believe in the possibility to bring the dead back from their graves, although the eerie perspective evokes nothing but fear

According to classic science, it is absolutely impossible for a dead person to return to the world of the living. It is generally believed that a human being will not be able to resurrect if he or she remains in the state of clinical death for more than three or five minutes, or dies from severe physical injuries.

The destruction or decomposition of the human body ceases all vital processes, which distinguish the living matter from what is usually referred to as remnants. The latter, scientists say, cannot move, see, hear, produce any sounds or perform any other functions of a living body.

Click here for the full article.

Last Day of my Internship

2005-06-17T08:26:00.000+08:00

Well, the day has finally arrived. It's the final day of my IA, well at least the official final day. Although it's going to be a busy one, I thought that I should take some time to write a post, to commemorate this day, to remember it so that a few months or years down the road, I can look back on this post to bring back the memories of the wonderful experiences I had here. At the same time I thought that it'd be appropriate to do some acknowledgements to the people at my company...

I think my company supervisor has been the best supervisor I could ever have hoped to get for my internship. He's understanding, friendly and even helped me plan for my future, my working future that is. Haha. So I want to thank him again for all he has done.

Yup, of course I must thank my fellow colleagues here in my division. Although I didn't really have much of an opportunity to interact with them cos they were always super busy, they were always friendly and helpful whenever I approached them for help.

Last but not least, I also want to thank the HR department here. Why? Cos they've been a great help on matters outside my project work. I know that it has been a hectic 5+ months for them as well as us. :)

I guess the people I am really going to miss most are my fellow interns here, especially those in the same building as me. Having lunch with them everyday and pulling all the weird stunts we did has made us relatively good friends. I guess the feeling now is somewhat like how I felt about my NS friends when I ORD'ed - you know that you'd miss them, but you'd probably never have a gathering with them, for a long while at least...

Well, that's about all the time I have to post. You guys/gals have a nice Last Day of IA! Have to leave for farewell party preparations at 9:30 and I still have to do clearance before then. I also have to do a presentation today, so wish me luck! ;)

Last Week of Internship

2005-06-13T08:19:00.000+08:00

It's finally the last week of my industrial attachment. Although I've been waiting for this time for the past 5 plus months, I'm kinda having mixed feelings about it now. On one hand, I really wish I could go back home and enjoy my holidays (or what's left of my holidays) and yet on the other hand I think I am going to miss this place, and this working lifestyle. I guess we humans are all like that, we seldom treasure what we have, until it's about to go, or is gone.

So I am going to treasure this last week of internship and make the best of it. But, this doesn't mean I am going to play though, cos I still have lots to do. It's really going to be a busy week ahead cos I have to finish up my project (whatever is left of it that is) and I have to prepare for the farewell party that, according to company policy, is to be organised by the interns for the interns. It's quite weird that I am actually busier now that my IA is about to end and my projects are more or less completed, but it's unfortunately true and I am going to strive to make this last week as fulfilling as possible.

So this post is also here to announce that I'll be taking a break from posting to tie up whatever loose ends leftover from my internship as well as get the farewell party stuff organised. Hope you guys/gals won't mind and all the best for your last week of IA (if you are on IA) and/or anything else you may do! :)

No Post Today

2005-06-10T08:19:00.000+08:00

Not posting a proper post today cos I've gotta rush some stuff. My supervisor will be going overseas next week so I will have to try to finish up my work, or at least most of it, by today...

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Breathing Underwater

2005-06-09T08:26:00.000+08:00

Yesterday night I finally went to watch Star Wars Episode 3: The Revenge of the Sith, and I think its a great show, worth every cent of the ticket price I paid. Personally, if you don't get the story, I think you can watch it just for all the action scenes, and if you know the Star Wars story, you'll get the chance to find out how Darth Vader came about as well. So although the dialog between the characters is not that good, and the way the scenes jump from one to the other made the movie a little more confusing, I think that overall, this movie is one of the better one's I've watched recently.

Anyway, if you have watched Star Wars you'd probably have seen the breathing apparatus that the Jedi Knights used to breathe under water. Well, coincidentally I saw this article today on the development of a new invention that allows people to breathe underwater without the cumbersome air tanks.

The inventor of this is Alan Izhar-Bodner, an Israeli inventor. Basically the system uses the "Henry Law" which "states that the amount of gas that can be dissolved in a liquid is proportional to the pressure on the liquid." Hence, if you reduce the pressure of any liquid, it will release the gas that is dissolved inside. This is apparently what the apparatus does. It supposedly takes in some sea water, passes it through a centrifuge to lower the pressure in the water and extracts the released air, that's it.

Currently, the invention has only just been patented, but I am sure it will become commercialised soon. The military would probably be the first to use this, if they don't already have something like this, but I think regular people like you and me will probably get our chance a few years later. Just enough time for me to get a diving license.

The device is also quite big, nothing like the pencil-like breathing stick that the Jedi Knights use in the movie. But, miniaturisation is always the future of most technology, just look at the history of computers. So hopefully, 10 years down the road, I'll be able to go for a dive with my family in a public pool, by just sticking a silver cylinder across my mouth...

Alan Izhar-Bodner, an Israeli inventor, has developed a way for divers to breathe underwater without cumbersome oxygen tanks. His apparatus makes use of the air that is dissolved in water, just like fish do.

The system uses the "Henry Law" which states that the amount of gas that can be dissolved in a liquid is proportional to the pressure on the liquid. Raise the pressure - more gas can be dissolved in the liquid. Decrease the pressure - gas dissolved in the liquid releases the gas. This is exactly what happens when you open a can of soda; carbon dioxide gas is dissolved in the liquid and is under pressure in the can. Open the can, releasing the pressure, and the gas fizzes out.

Bodner's system apparently uses a centrifuge to lower pressure in part of a small amount of seawater taken into the system; dissolved gas is extracted.

Click here for the full article.

Busy week...

2005-06-08T08:30:00.000+08:00

It's a rainy Wednesday morning, and it's going to be a busy day for me as I have to try to finish my integration of my project by this week. Hopefully I can do it in time. Wish me luck!

Anyway, I didn't have time to look around for any interesting articles today, but I did receive something interesting in my email a few days back. I don't know if you remember the movie "Batman Returns", the batman movie with Catwoman and the Penguin. Well, here's a poster from the movie.

What I received in my email immediately brought to mind the above mentioned movie, but with a lame twist. I received a promotional flyer for a movie, one that had this picture inside...

The sight of this title conjured up many lame scenes in my mind, but I shan't discuss them. It's weird that the Batman movie poster had a cat inside, while the Cat Returns movie poster had a boy (or is it a girl) inside. Makes me wonder what the movie is about. Anyone wanna watch it?

Life Spans

2005-06-07T08:29:00.000+08:00

This seems like a particularly slow week so far for me. I guess it's because I'm still trying to finish up my projects. Now I'm in the integration phase, and because I'm integrating my program with someone else's program, it is really taking a long time.

Anyway, today I am going to discuss the topic of life spans. I decided to look this up cos one of my IA friends asked a simple question over lunch the other day - "How long can an ant live?" And I realised that I didn't know the answer. Despite being such a pest in our daily lives, it never occured to me to check out how long each ant could live. Whether it was possible to wait and let the ants live out their lives, without having to prematurely end it by emptying a can of insecticide.

I also checked out the life spans of other common insects/animals, since I realised I didn't know how long a fly or a mosquitoe was supposed to live either. Anyway here's the list of life expectancies:

1) Ant:
Worker - 6 months
Queen - 3 years
2) Bee:
Worker - 1 year
Queen - 5 years
3) Canary - 20 years
4) Cat:
Normal - 25 years
Mutant & Lame - ???
5) Chicken - 15 years
6) Cow - 22 years
7) Crow - 20 years
8) Dog - 22 years
9) Elephant - 70 years
10) Fly - 1 month
11) Lizard(common house) - 7 years
12) Mosquito:
Male - 15 days
Female - 51 days
13) Mouse - 4 years
14) Mynah - 8 years
15) Pig(wild) - 25 years
16) Pigeon - 26 years
17) Rabbit - 9 years
18) Sheep - 15 years
19) Tiger - 22 years
20) Zebra - 17 years

If you want to find out about the life spans of other creatures click here or here.

Stressed? Try using a Blindfold

2005-06-06T08:15:00.000+08:00

It's another Monday morning, and the beginning of a new week again. This will be the second last week of my attachment, provided I don't extend it. I still have lots of stuff to do, both work related and project related, but somehow I just don't really feel like doing anything. I guess it's just like the army, the ORD mood has set in. Haha. Yet at the same time, I feel stressed, cos I still have work to do. It's quite contradicting, and very confusing too, but I know that I should start working, no matter how much the "pig" in me wants to adopt a horizontal position...

Well, if you are stressed like me, or when you get stressed in the future, you might want to try this new treatment for stress using blindfolds (or mindfolds as they are called). The treatment involves putting on a pair of black plastic goggles over your eyes and leaving it on for 72 hours (3 days). During this time you'll still be required to do your everyday stuff like eating, bathing, changing etc, without aid, well mostly without aid.

Supposedly, this treatment "aims to open the inner eye by boosting serotonin levels and activating the dream part of the brain, encouraging visions". By inducing such visions or hallucinations, the participant will hopefully feel less stressed, and after wearing the goggles for 3 days, he or she will also hopefully see the world differently.

This is called the Darkness Visible course and is run by the The Sacred Trust Shamanic group. This course is actually helps to fulfil one of the primary aims of becoming a shaman's - to see the world 'as a sea of energy'. And according to the author of the article, it definitely changed her view of the world. It made her notice details she never saw like "the tiniest hair on the outside of a leaf" and notice how brilliant sunlight actually was and how it makes the surroundings glow with radiance.

Well, I doubt I could afford to go to the UK for the actual course, but I'm thinking of trying to do this for a day, just 24 hours would probably do. I doubt I would be doing much with the blindfold on other than sleeping, but I still think it would really be a great experience. Haha. Unfortunately, I think this idea won't go down too well with my mom - she'd probably scream at me and ask if I was crazy. Ah well... guess I'll just have to find some other way to destress, like disturbing some giant mutant cat who likes rice.

Dorothy Thompson, the leading anti-fascist campaigner in Thirties America, had a good line about darkness: 'Fear grows in darkness; if you think there's a bogeyman around, turn on the light.'

People are negative about the dark - we'd rather have sunshine than gloom. Unless, that is, you're interested in the latest way to escape the stressful world of constant information, noise and traffic - the 'go, go, go' of modern life. If you are, then spending three days 'blind' - wearing a mask - could have its attractions.

Instead of yoga retreats, extreme sports holidays or pricey spa breaks, the latest advice for the fast-living executive is to try to block out the seeing world. Young professionals are signing up for retreats where participants are blindfolded in order to induce hallucinations.

Click here for the full article.

Virtual Universe Created

2005-06-04T11:16:00.000+08:00

It's a bright and sunny Saturday morning. I woke up late as usual, enjoying the simple pleasure of feeling the late morning sun on my face as I woke up. Haha. So shiok.

Anyway, today I won't be discussing an article, but rather a video. It's a news clip about scientists creating a virtual universe in a supercomputer. This virtual universe is called the "Millenium Simulation" (I guess they might be Star Wars fans).

Anyway, this simulation is part of a study to simulate how the universe was created, how it evolves and how it will end. It has taken 5 years to develop and is the most accurate model of the universe to date. The supercomputer had to calculate the movements of over 10 billion particles over the equivalent of 13 billion years of time.

I wonder whether they actually simulated life within the virtual universe. Maybe, without knowing about it, they actually did, and dozens of little virtual races of beings have already lived out their existence in the simulation. Makes you wonder whether we are all just part of a simulation, just like in the Matrix, or just part of some experiment by some higher beings...

Click here for the video. The video is on the bottom right corner titled "Virtual Universe created by supercomputers". Source: BBC News

Disposible Electronics?

2005-06-03T08:20:00.000+08:00

Hurray! It's Friday again. Can't really explain why, but I'm just really tired this morning. Maybe it's because I didn't sleep well last night, or maybe it's because of the mental and emotional drain caused by my busy Wednesday, or maybe it's a combination of both. Well, I'd probably be sleeping early tonight anyway. :) Also, the PC Show 2005 is on at Singapore Expo! Anyone want to go? If you are going tell me what offers are available k? Haha. I'm too lazy to go down.

Today's article is also related to electronics - a new form of transparent material that can be used to build flexible thin-film transistors. According to the researchers, this material wouldn't be used as a replacement for conventional silicon-based computer products, but probably to develop new products. These include "foldable electronic devices, improved flat-panel displays, or game players that no one has thought of yet."

Technology and materials to build thin-film transistors have been under research for quite a while. The idea has always been to find ways to make electronics more flexible, thinner, lighter and cheaper to make. There have also been many polymers that have been developed for this purpose, typically carbon based. Such polymers, however, were just too soft, so soft that they could be cut using a pair of scissors.

However, this new material is inorganic. It's made of a mix of zinc and tin, and is hard (as in it doesn't get scratched easily), yet flexible. The best thing of all, it is totally transparent. What this means is that you could practically build a totally see through yet flexible display, or even magazines that could just be made up of a single sheet of such a material.

There's more good news. The researchers predict that the material could be developed for a commercial use in less than 3 years. Also, the material can be manufactured at temperatures not far above room temperature, which is much lower compared to the usual 700 to 1100 degrees required for conventional integrated ciruits. This means that it could possibly be much cheaper to build electronics made from such a material, bringing the possibility of disposible, or recyclable electronics.

Well, I am definitely looking forward to this. I mean I can totally think of a dozen things I would like to have a flexible display in. The first would probably be my handphone. Imagine having a handphone that is only the size of the keypad. Then with a press of a button, the folded display opens up and you have a screen much larger than any phone today. Now wouldn't that be nice?

A new material designed for producing bendable transistors is practically invisible and simple to produce. It could lead to a new class of throwaway electronic devices, its inventors say.

The "thin-film" material is not expected to replace existing silicon-based computer products. But it could be used for foldable electronic devices, improved flat-panel displays, or game players that no one has thought of yet. An entire windshield could be turned into a see-through electronic setup with built-in visual displays.

The research was led by John Wager, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Oregon State University.

Click here for the full article.

Why you should avoid buying online...

2005-06-02T08:33:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was a quite a busy day. It wasn't as busy as I expected though cos my presentation time as pushed back, really back, to around 6 pm, which means I could have gone back to NTU to take my own sweet time to register my subjects. Well, on the bright side, I managed to get all the subjects I wanted. I think I really have to praise the people involved in the STARS planner as it really made registration a pleasure compared with the previous system.

Today's article is also related to an online system, the online purchasing system. If you have ever bought anything online, or even shopped online, then you'd probably interacted with that online system. Now, most of us would probably think that online merchants will tend to give us lower prices, as their overheads are lower. But is this true?

Well, the fact of the matter is that it is totally false. Online merchants have every right to charge any price they wish, and worst of all, they have technology to help them. While prices in actual stores are fixed by the price tag, electronic price tags can be changed easily, very easily. So easily that many "reputable" online shops have decided to implement a system that displayes different prices to different customers, based on their shopping history or what sites they've recently visited. They call this "price customization."

Some examples of this "price customization" system in use include a photography website that charges different prices for cameras and related equipment depending on whether the customer has recently visited popular price comparison websites. A more famous example concerns the online giant Amazon.com, where one buyer found that after deleting the electronic tags on his computer that identified him as a regular customer, the price of a DVD changed from $26.24 to $22.74.

The worst part of it all - it's legal.

Willi Stabenau, an online shopper, said he shops online frequently but always remembers: "They're after your money, and you want to spend as little as possible."

"People are fooling themselves if they believe otherwise," Stabenau said.

This is all part of a survey conducted in the USA, which found that more than two-thirds of people in America didn't that know it was legal to charge different prices and thought that online merchants always provided the lowest prices.

So I guess that probably is another blow to the rise of online shopping. Personally, I still prefer the good old shop where I can walk up and touch the stuff I want to buy, ask the salesperson for his/her opinion, and then walk out of shop with the product and a guarantee card in hand. And I don't know about you, but I think I will be avoiding buying online for a long time to come...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Most American consumers don't realize Internet merchants and even traditional retailers sometimes charge different prices to different customers for the same products, according to a new survey.

The study, "Open to Exploitation,'' found nearly two-thirds of adult Internet users believed incorrectly it was illegal to charge different people different prices, a practice retailers call "price customization.'' More than two-thirds of people surveyed also said they believed online travel sites are required by law to offer the lowest airline prices possible.

The study, expected to be released Wednesday by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, is the latest to cast doubt on the notion of sophisticated consumers in the digital age.

Click here for the full article.

It's gonna be a busy day...

2005-06-01T08:45:00.000+08:00

I'm not going to post on a topic today, and if you've read my entries for the past 2 days you'd know why. Anyway, to all my friends who, like me, are registering for subjects today, ALL THE BEST! May you all get the subjects you desire. :)

Hopefully everthing goes well for me today, and hopefully the subjects I picked will be good choices for the semester ahead plus serve me well in my future. In case you guys are wondering, I should be picking the following electives:

1) Real-Time Systems
2) Artificial Intelligence
3) Programming Languages
4) Cryptography and Network Security
5) Principles of Economics

Ok, got to get back to preparing for my presentations. Wish me luck! Haha.

Flower Power

2005-05-31T09:03:00.000+08:00

Today's going to be a busy day for me. First, I have to try to finish up my project. Then, I have to prepare a presentation for tomorrow's project competition, and lastly, I'll have to plan my timetable, with multiple backups just in case the worst happens. I guess I'll probably try to apply from my office tomorrow, then call someone in who's going down to NTU to help me apply if the proxy server causes any problems. I think that's my best option now, baring any miracles like the judges suddenly deciding to change the date/time of the competition...*starts praying*

Anyway, I'm sure all of us could do with a little perk me up and a little happy stuff once in a while. So, what should you give someone to make him or her happy? Well, apparently flowers do a good job, at least statistically, and assume of course that smiling implies that you are happy.

Studies done by scientists from the Rutgers University have found that flowers make people happier. Actually the study was testing out a theory that more flowers managed to survive on Earth compared to other plant species because humans are so attached to them, but the happiness factor was also part of this.

The scientists basically did 3 studies. In the first, they gave flowers to 147 women and all of them smiled. When they tried the same with candles, 23% didn't smile, and when the gift was fruits, 10% didn't smile.

The second study consisted of both men and women in an elevator totalling 122. These men and women were given either flowers, a pen, or nothing. The result was, "those who got flowers smiled more, talked more, and -- here it gets interesting -- stood closer together."

The final study tested this theory on older people. 113 men and women from a retirement home were sent flowers and a notebook. All of them got at least 1 bouquet, while some got another bouquet when others received their first. And of course the result was, the earlier and more flowers a person got, the happier he or she was.

Well, it seems that flowers do make the best gifts. So next time you can't think of a gift for anyone, just give them flowers. I think this is especially true for girls. As for the guys, I don't think those I know would really like getting a bouquet of flowers as a present (correct me if I'm wrong). Maybe that's the difference between Asian and Western cultures? Also please don't give me flowers, I don't really like them, and neither would I like to carry them around... ;)

Flowers make people happy. And while that might seem obvious, there hasn't been much research to prove the point until now.

A trio of new studies by Rutgers University scientists supports the notion pretty strongly, and the experts go on to speculate that flowers have flourished on this planet, with their beauty evolving in recent millennia, partly because humans are so attached to them.

Click here for the full article.

Karma?

2005-05-30T22:01:00.000+08:00

Today was a quick Monday cos I spent the day mostly out of the office and on sort of an excursion. My IA company brought us out to see some production lines. For what, you can ask me in person. Haha. :P However, I was given some bad (or good, depending on how you see it) news while I was out. The news was that my project had been selected for the company's project competition. Sounds good right? Well, "selected" is actually a nice way to put it, cos the judges basically just accepted all the entries.

Anyway, the real bad news is that I have to do a presentation for my projects on Wednesday, the 1st of June, in the afternoon. And for all of you who aren't in Computer Engineering like me, the problem with this is that the 1st of June is subject registration day. The time for the presentations? Well, if you're guessing it's more bad news, then you're right. The time is from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm (). Considering the time for my registration is from 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm, I think you'll understand why I say that it's bad news. The part that is eating me now is that initially, it was supposed to be from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm, which would have been just nice. Why did it change?

Although it is possible to apply from my office, I really don't know if I can trust the proxy server there to not c*ck up my registration. I also don't really know if the internet access would be fast enough for me to get the subjects I want.

So, right now as I see it, I basically have 3 choices. One, go to school for the subject registration at 2:30 pm, pray that I can get my desired choices by latest 2:45 pm, take a freak'in expensive taxi back to my office and do my presentation. Two, do the registration from my office and pray that the proxy server doesn't block my registration, considering it as sending some illegal information, and then rush to the location for my presentation. Or three, skip the project competition altogether, take a half day off, and do my subject registration in school, taking however long I wish to.

At this point in time, I'm really wondering whether I did something wrong these past few weeks (or months) and so the bad karma is finding its way back to haunt me. I mean, I'm the ONLY Computer Engineering intern in my company, and out of the 30 days in June, the 2 days just had to coincide. Sigh...

Could someone give me some advice/suggestions? Sorry, not really in the mood to do a proper post. Sorry about the whining too...

The Future War-machine?

2005-05-28T10:55:00.000+08:00

It's a bright and sunny Saturday morning, and I got to wake up late! I think that working has made me enjoy the simple pleasures in life just a little more. I mean stuff like being able to wake up a late in the morning, watching TV, and even just being able to laze around in the afternoon and play computer games.

When I was in secondary school and junior college, I used to love to play this game called Mechwarrior. It was a great game until a certain "mega software company" bought over the license and made it into a not so nice game. All the same the idea of sitting in a 70-ton mech and squashing puny troops around me gave me some form of sadistic pleasure. Luckily, it all existed only in the gaming arena, until now that is.

A company in Japan has developed a 3.4 metre tall, 1-ton bipedal exoskeleton. They call it the Land Walker. Not much of a name, and not really as imposing as the mechs in the game, but it's a start. Unfortunately, the Land Walker holds true to its name and "walks" at a pace of 1.5 kmh. Now considering we guys are expected to run our 2.4 km run in about 12 mins, I'd say that the machine is excruciatingly slow.

How does it look like, well take a look.

It definitely does look a lot like the light-mechs in the mechwarrior game, and it does come mounted with a gun (that shoots squishy rubber balls), so it would definitely prove to be an imposing foe to face on the battle field. All it needs now is funding and time, so that it can move faster and carry better weapons.

Hopefully, this machine won't only be used for war, but for protection. Imagine fire-fighters equipped with such a machine, or policemen in such an exoskeleton guarding buildings, or even construction workers using these to move beams around, the possible uses of such a machine are endless.

Most importantly, I think such a machine would currently come in useful in places like Iraq where the troops are being killed everyday. Although I don't really support the war in Iraq, I do pity the troops there and I hope that they can get better protection soon...

Japanese machinery and robotics manufacturer Sakakibara-Kikai has released the first genuine bi-pedal exoskeleton – a landmark event and one which is certain to attract a lot of attention for the company.

Mechanatrons and BattleMechs have long been the subject of scifi books, comics and movies with the promise of cyborg technology popularised by the smash sixties television series “The Six Million Dollar Man.”

We’ve previously seen some celebrated exoskeletons in films such as Alien (Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley takes out the Queen alien in an exoskeleton), Star Wars (the AT-ST Imperial Scout Walker) and RoboCop (the ED209), but until now, the nearest thing we’ve seen in the metal was the 3.5 metre superhero exoskeleton Enryu from Tmsuk in Japan.

Click here for the full article.

No cure for the common cold, yet...

2005-05-27T08:26:00.000+08:00

Hurray! It's Friday again. I'm surprised I actually survived the week. I think I would consider this week quite eventful. One of the more significant "events" was my IA supervisor asking me to extend my IA, voluntarily. Personally, I wouldn't mind doing so, but the problem is lies with my FYP, cos I'm not sure when FYP is supposed to start. Sigh... To extend or not to extend. That is the question...

Anyway, today's article brings good some news - researchers have actually found a compound that might cure the common cold. The common cold virus has baffled researchers for decades because they mutate each season. As Carol Post of Purdue University put it, "The common cold virus can hide in a crowd because it always looks like someone else – it's the bug of a hundred faces."

However, although the surface features of the virus may change, there is one characteristic that doesn't - the way they reproduce. To reproduce, these sneaky bugs all open up their shell to release their RNA into a cell. So the target of this new research is on how to prevent that very "opening" of the shell, in other words, how to lock their door and throw away the key.

This "lock" was found in something called antiviral WIN compounds, however, such compounds have undesirable side effects. Since you can't die from the common cold (well not easily anyway), the cure for it must be free from side effects. But research on WIN compounds is still going on and so far it has proven promising.

Scientists have found that due to the WIN compound's flexible structure, they can "wiggle" their way into little holes or pockets in the protein of the virus and make the viral shell rigid. This would then prevent the shell from opening, and thus prevent the virus from reproducing.

Well, if they can get rid of the side-effects, we may no longer be troubled by runny/blocked noses for much longer. Haha. And hopefully, these compounds can also be used on other viruses like AIDS or Bird Flu or SARS or other deadly viruses. Wouldn't that be nice...

Don't throw your chicken soup out just yet, but new research has uncovered how a class of compounds can shut down reproduction in cold-causing viruses by wiggling inside and altering their behavior.

The breakthrough may point the way toward future drug development aimed at averting colds.

One reason a cure for the common cold remains elusive is that the offending viruses are shape-shifters -- they mutate from one cold season to the next. You may succeed in beating one version, but then you’re unprepared for the next incarnation.

Click here for the full article.

Build your own Lightning Detector

2005-05-26T08:29:00.000+08:00

Today's Class 95's the Morning Express' FD's Birthday! So although I doubt he'll ever read my blog, I would like to wish him a Happy Birthday and thanks for all the entertainment he provided me in the mornings. Today is also the day when the Dow Jones Industrial Average was first published as a stock market index in 1896 and when the European Community first adopted the European Flag in 1986.

Today is also another rainy day for me. It's quite scary how the quickly the weather changes nowadays, which is also prime conditions to get sick, so all of you guys better take care k?

Anyway, with all the thunderstorms going around nowadays, and with the phobia my friend is having, I started to wonder if there was anyway to tell how close a lightning storm was to me.

After searching a little, I found something called Lightning Detectors. Lightning detectors are small electronic devices that beep, flash or do something to inform you how close the storm is to you. Now you can always go buy one, but it'll cost you about $130 to $140. So why not build one yourself? It'll be a nice little fun activity for you and your friends or family - provided you are like me and find wire-wrapping and soldering fun in a weird way.

So how do you go about doing it, well first you'll need the standard electronics hobbyist's tools:

1) A Soldering Iron
2) A Wire Wrapper
3) A Breadboard (for testing purposes)
4) A DC power source (batteries or an AC adaptor will do fine)
5) Wire-cutters
6) Pliers
7) Gloves (not really necessary)
8) Whatever else you think you need (eg a cup of coffee, the latest copy of FHM...)

Ok now on to the serious part - the circuit diagram:

Now if you can get all the parts in the circuit diagram, plus a few more "optional parts" you'll be able to make something like this:

Now ain't that cute? The lightning detector will emit a crackling sound whenever lightning strikes as well as flash the LED light. In addition the little meter will indicate how close the last lightning strike was to your position. With this detector, you can be your own CAT status monitor. Haha. So who wants to build one? Maybe we can make a trip down to Sim Lim Tower to check out the parts. ;)

Alternatively, you could just carry a portable radio with you and seek cover whenever you hear a crakle in the music...

Click here for the full instructions on how to build your own lightning detector.

Wormhole Theory may not hold

2005-05-25T08:27:00.000+08:00

Yay! It's Wednesday! Unfortunately it's a rainy Wednesday. Almost couldn't wake up this morning. Just wanted to cover myself with my blanket and sleep for another hour, but I couldn't of course. So I had to get up and brave the cold heavy rain to come to work. Sigh... I can't wait for the holidays. I need to sleep...

Don't you ever wish you could time travel? Go back or forwards in time so that you can skip a particularly unhappy time, or change something you did wrong? I know I do, especially now, when I wish I could just travel backwards in time a little, so that I can go back to bed. Unfortunately, the bad news is that one of the most popular theories for time travel, the use of Wormholes, may not be possible.

Wormholes are hypothetical tunnels that are essentially shortcuts through space and time. But it's unknown whether such tunnels are actually possible. Some claim that Black holes in space are actually openings of wormholes, but even the properties of black holes are still not known. A common way to visualise wormholes is to mark 2 holes on the 2 opposite ends of a sheet of paper. These holes represent 2 distant places in the Universe. Now if you bend the paper such that the 2 points meet, you will have a shortcut via the holes in the paper. So the wormhole basically bends space and time and creates a shortcut. To help you guys visualise further, here's a picture of a 2D analogy of a wormhole I got from Wikipedia.

Now the theory for using wormholes for time travel goes like this. If you can build a wormhole that is big enough for a person to pass through, then you could pass through space and time. The type of wormholes that are desirable to would be time-travellers are called "semi-classical" wormholes. Such wormholes only show weak deviations from the laws of classical physics, and supposedly allow the creators to control exactly where and when they want to travel to. Wormholes totally governed by the laws of Quantum physics, on the other hand, would just transport people to any time and place.

Some recent research is showing that such "semi-classical" wormholes may be fundamentally flawed. The problem is that building such a wormhole requires a form of matter called "exotic matter", which is repelled by gravity and has negative energy. The research shows that even if such exotic matter existed, and you manage to combine it to build a wormhole, the wormhole would be too unstable. Basically, it would be impossible to build such a "semi-classical" wormhole that would be of any use. The good news is that some scientists do see problems with the conclusions in the research, which means that it still may be possible to build such wormholes.

Well, I certainly look forward to the day when wormholes are a reality, even if its just for travelling through space. Cos I think travelling through time is a little too much to hope for just yet, plus I think that we aren't ready for all the potential time paradoxes that could occur when time travel becomes a reality. But who knows, maybe it already is a reality, and our future selves have already visited us a couple of times...

For budding time travellers, the future (or should that be the past?) is starting to look bleak.

Hypothetical tunnels called wormholes once looked like the best bet for constructing a real time machine.

These cosmic shortcuts, which link one point in the Universe to another, are favoured by science fiction writers as a means both of explaining time travel and of circumventing the limitations imposed by the speed of light.

Click here for the full article.

Just a little on Judaism

2005-05-24T18:45:00.000+08:00

Today I'm posting late cos I just handed in my IA report about 2 hours ago. That really took a load off my mind. Although, I think I over-typed my report as it totalled about 120 pages, with appendices. The raw content itself was a very nice round number of 80 pages. Basically, I typed too much, but I was too lazy to summarise it further as I had already cut nearly 30 pages from it. Well, I just hope that my IA prof will read it...

Anyway, today's Tuesday again. So I will go into another religion - Judaism. This will also be the last religion I'll be looking into cos I can't think of any more religions to look into. But if you have one that you'd like me to post about, just leave me a comment ok? As usual, I'll start with a disclaimer that I'm typing this post based only on what little I understand about Judaism. So if I make any mistakes, please correct me. Thanks.

On to Judaism. Judaism is the religion and culture of the Jewish people and one of the first recorded monotheistic faiths. It forms the historical foundation of religions like Chirstainity and Islam, which are currently the major shaping forces in the world. It is also one of the oldest religions today - over 4000 years old.

The Torah is part of the Hebrew Bible and it specifies a number of laws that are to be followed by the Jews and the source of all the basic Biblical commandments. It is believed that each person is created in the image of the one God and therefore all people are created equal. Judaism also believes that people have freewill and are responsible for the choices they make.

The Jews believe that the land of Israel is part of the covenant made between God and the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. They also believe that the Messiah will be a person (not a god), from the family of King David, who will lead the world to unity and peace. Most importantly, Jews do not believe that Jesus was the Messiah.

Now who exactly is a Jew? Unlike other religions, you can't exactly become a Jew as easily as just saying that you wish to believe in Judaism. In fact, the question of what exactly being a Jew entails is still under serious debate. But, basically to become a Jew, you must first accept the teachings of the Torah. Next you must be immersed in the ritual bath, and finally (for men only) you must be circumcised. But if you are born of a Jewish mother, you can skip all that as you are automatically a Jew.

As for Jewish holidays, the holiest day of the Jewish year is Yom Kippur, literally "Day of Atonement". This falls on different days of the Gregorian calendar each year but generally occurs within the September to October months. In addition there are a number of other holidays like Sukkot, Israel's Independence day and Israels' Memorial day.

Well, that's all I have on Judaism. Personally, I think that for such an old religion, Judaism is still rather traditional, and doesn't seem to have changed much. Also, it appears to be one of the more restrictive religions as well. Anyway if you want to know more you can click here, here or here.

The Late Post

2005-05-24T11:52:00.000+08:00

Today I won't be making a proper post since it's so late and I'm quite tired cos I've spent most of my weekend either touching up my report or going out. Anyway, like my friend RX who baked nice cookies, I also did something interesting today - I put lights back into my PC fan.

Ok, I know that's nothing fabulous and certainly not comparable to RX's cookies. But hey, the casing fan at the side of my PC used to look like this...

Then after about a year of nearly continuous operation, the four beautiful blue LEDs blew, and the fan became something like this, only much more dusty.

I left it in that state for the past few months since I was busy with my work and stuff. But now that my IA report is done, I just couldn't bear leaving it in that sorry state. So I took a trip down to Sim Lim Square (SLS) with the intention to buy 4 blue LEDs. However, I found that blue LEDs cost a whopping $2 each (I wonder why...), which means I'd be better off buying a new fan if I wanted to get them. So instead, I settled for cheap green LEDs that cost $0.20 each. Haha. And now the fan looks like this.

Not too bad right? It actually looks more yellow than it does in the photo and not as nice as the original, but I don't really care, as long as it still lights up my PC. :) Although I think that this is the most "beng" thing I've done in a while.

Ok that's all from me for now. Good night everyone!

The real life Indiana Jones

2005-05-21T10:36:00.000+08:00

Yay, its a long weekend. I know some of my friends who are busy finishing up their reports and rushing to hand them in today or on Tuesday. So all the best to you guys and "May the inspiration be with you." Sorry, I know that's a little lame but I just couldn't resist the temptation with all the Star Wars hype going around.

Now Star Wars was one of the most popular trilogies of its time, but another famous trilogy of movies was the Indiana Jones movies. In case that name doesn't ring a bell, you can click here. And, if after visiting the link, you still can't remember the Indiana Jones movies, than I guess it means that either you are not from my time, or you watched very few movies back then.

Anyway, unlike most other movies, Indiana Jones is actually based on a real person. The stories are fictional, but there is really such an archeologist named Dr Jones, only his full name is Dr Vendyl Jones. The movie character played by Harrison Ford had the name Dr Endy Jones, which is basically Vendyl minus the "V" and the "l".

The real Dr Jones, like in the first movie 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', has been searching for the Ark of the Covenant for most of his life. But unlike the movie, he still hasn't found it yet. However, he believes that he will find it soon.

The Ark is the storage place of the Ten Comandments, but it was hidden a long time ago just before the destruction of the First Temple. Hence, the Ark and its contents are definitely an important item in both history and religion, and Dr Jones believes that discovery of the lost ark will “flip the whole world right-side-up.”

According to him, the Ark is located somewhere in Israel, in tunnel network that has an entrance near the ancient Old City of Jerusalem and he has now also been given the blessings of both known and secret Kabbalists to finally uncover the lost ark. Now after decades of searching, Dr Jones believes he will be able to uncover the Ark by Tisha B'Av (Aug. 14), "a day of repeated tragedy in Jewish history. Most notably, it is the anniversary of the destruction of both the First and Second Holy Temples." Why he chose such a date is beyond me.

Dr Jones has also been known to be quite the prophet and had previously predicted in 1959, the famous 6-day Arab-Israeli War that happend in 1967. And he now believes that believes that "the Jewish prophecies regarding the greatly anticipated redemption are occuring in front of our eyes", and the discovery of the Ark would definitely be an important part of it.

As to whether all these are true, we'll just have to wait and see. But one thing's for sure, if Dr Jones does find the Lost Ark of the Covenant, it will definitely have a great impact upon our world. Although I wonder if the impact of its discovery would be good or bad given our current world situation...

An unnamed Kabbalist has granted blessing to famed archeologist Dr. Vendyl Jones to uncover the Holy Ark of the Covenant. Jones plans to excavate the Lost Ark by the Tisha B’Av Fast this summer.

The famed archaeologist, the inspiration for the “Indiana Jones” movie series, has spent most of his life searching for the Ark of the Covenant. The ark was the resting place of the Ten Commandments, given to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai, and was hidden just before the destruction of the First Temple.

The Talmud says the Ark is hidden in a secret passage under the Temple Mount. Jones says that the tunnel actually continues 18 miles southward, and that the Ark was brought through the tunnel to its current resting place in the Judean Desert.

Click here for the full article.

Why Red could really be a Lucky Colour

2005-05-20T08:30:00.000+08:00

Arrived just on time today (I normally arrive early) cos I missed my station while on the train. Guess I was just too tired or spaced out that I didn't hear the station name announcement. So instead of getting off at my usual station, I got off at one station later, where there is another bus that I can take to work.

Unfortunately, this bus is one of those buses that takes very long to arrive, even during peak hours. Personally, I think if our transport operators want to raise their prices, they'd better buck up and improve their service. I think having to wait more than 15 mins for a bus to arrive during peak hours is just too long. In fact I think 10 mins should be the maximum wait for any bus during peak hours. And in case you are wondering, the bus was a red coloured bus *hint*hint*. However, having the same coloured busses as the colour I'm discussing today is as far as the similarity goes for that particular transport operator and today's article.

Today's article is about research that shows that atheletes wearing Red may actually have an advantage over atheletes wearing other colours (usually blue). Scientists examined one-on-one sports during the Olympics and found statistically that there were more Red-clad winners.

The theory is that wearing the colour red triggers some subconscious reaction in the non-red-wearing contender that puts him at a disadvantage. This correlates with other studies "that suggest red correlates to male dominance and testosterone levels in animals." And in humans, "anger is associated with reddening of the skin due to increased blood flow, whereas fear is associated with increased pallor in similarly threatening situations." However, scientists say that this colour factor may only play a part if the competitors are evenly matched.

So if this theory is true, then I guess Red may really be a lucky colour, in sports at least. So next time you are going to take part in a competition, remember to wear red, cos even if it doesn't reallt improve your luck, you'll at least be on the side with the statistically higher probability of winning.

A new study of Olympic athletes finds that those wearing red have an advantage over blue-suited competitors.

The reason may have to do with hard-wired perceptions in the human brain that date back to more animalistic times, researchers say.

In the study, scientists examined one-on-one sports in the 2004 Olympics in which competitors were randomly assigned red or blue outfits or protective gear. The events: boxing, tae kwon do, Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling.

Click here for the full article.

The Oigin of Sex

2005-05-19T08:18:00.000+08:00

While I was reading through some articles yesterday, I came across one titled "The Origin of Sex: Cosmic Solution to Ancient Mystery". As a full-blooded, able-bodied and healthy male, I just couldn't resist the temptation to click on this article. No, it's not about something dirty, but literally the origin of sex, or more accurately the reason why we have sex to reproduce.

Now apparently this is a mystery that even scientists don't have an exact answer to. It may seem natural to all of us that we should reproduce sexually after we grow and get married. Even the animals do it. It has been that way for as long as anyone can remember, so surely it has been that way for all time. However, scientists say that logically, life should have evolved without sexual reproduction (i.e. through asexual reproduction) and it would have managed fine.

"Sex should have never happened", is something biologists often say. On early Earth, all primitive organisms reproduced asexually. In fact, some organisms still do the same today. Potatoes give an eye to produce a new potato and sponges produce the next generation via buds. This is a simple yet powerful way to ensure the survival of a species. No need for a partner and all the intricacies of courtship, no dilution of the genetic code, no random chance involved in the traits passed down - the next generation is a perfect clone.

So why did life change to reproduce sexually? Well, biologists theorise that, ironically, sex could have resulted from stress, environmental stress that is. They did an experiment with computer involving digitally simulated asexual organisms. Then they created stress in the digital environment, simulating events like an asteriod impact or high levels of radiation. The result? They found that when stressed under such conditions, these digital organisms had a "flurry of mutations", which sent them down the path of sexual reproduction. This is because asexual reproducers cannot handle a large number of mutations in a short time, they are the so called "evolutionary slow train". Sexual reproduction, however, "allows plants and animals to evolve quickly, because the gene pool mixes and the fitter survive."

If this theory is true, then, in a sense, we are all mutants. And the reason why we evolved to the way we are today is more or less because of pure chance. However, as the experiment was conducted using a simulation, we can never be sure. And experimentation on real life organisms would never work as it would just simply take too long.

So I guess we may never know for sure the true orign of sex or why sex exists. But, hey, I'm not complaining. The world is definitely a much more interesting and beautiful place because there exists another gender of humans for us guys to look at. ;)

Comets and asteroids have been blamed for a lot of things before. Shaping Earth. Jumpstarting life. Wiping out dinosaurs. Even possibly altering human evolution.

But never sex.

Roughly 1 billion years after the first organisms romped in the hay, the origin of sex remains one of biology's greatest mysteries. Scientists can't say exactly why we do it, or what triggered those initial terrestrial flirtations. Before sex, life seemed to manage fine by employing asexual reproduction -- the cloning of offspring without the help of a partner.

Now a new study out of Caltech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has used digital organisms to simulate life before sex and yielded a possible mechanism for instigating Earth's first courtship.

Click here for the full article.

A Battery that could last 12 Years!

2005-05-18T08:16:00.000+08:00

Yay! TGIW. I think due to all the report typing and report checking, time at work seems to pass much faster. I actually got up this morning thinking it was Tuesday, but was then reminded by my watch that it is Wednesday, which is a good thing cos I can't wait for the weekend. ;)

Today's article is on a battery that has the potential to last 12 years. Now, if you have tonnes of stuff at home that run on batteries, I guess you'd love this. To me, this would be the dream battery. Why? Cos there are some things in my home that can only run on batteries and they run out of juice quite often. For example, just this morning, my electric toothbrush (yes I'm one of those lazy people that lets technology do the work for me) ran out of batteries while I was halfway through brushing my teeth. It just went Brrrrrr.....Brr.....br.....*silence*. So I ended up using my electric toothbrush like a normal toothbrush, which was a bad idea considering the head of the brush is much smaller than the normal ones.

Unfortunately for me, I found out that this battery is developed for devices that "don't consume much power", which effectively means I won't be replacing my toothbrush batteries with these anytime soon. But, I think things like the alarm sensors and remote controllers around the house could use this.

As I was reading the article, I found something about this battery I don't really like - its "based on the radioactive decay of nuclear material", in this case a radioactive gas, Tritium. However, this is the reason for its longevity as it depends on the constant decay of the radioactive material stored inside. This technology is called betavoltaics.

What happens inside the battery is that as the radioactive gas decays, it emits electrons. These electons are captured by a silcon wafer and is "similar to the mechanics of converting sunlight into electricity in a solar panel." This basically generates the current in the battery. So basically, the current depends on how fast the gas decays and how many particles it emits.

Plans are for this battery to be put into surgical implants, spaceships, deep-sea vehicles and other low powered devices whose batteries may be difficult or impossible to change. Also, according to researchers, "It is safe and can be implanted in the body. The energetic particles emitted by tritium do not penetrate inside the skin." Supposedly, these particles can be stopped by even a sheet of paper, so I guess my early worry about the "radioactive source" was unfounded.

Anyway, if their prototype proves successful, we could be seeing such batteries in the market in less than 5 years as the technology required to manufacture these batteries already exist. Hopefully, the researchers can also find a way to make these batteries even more powerful, then maybe such batteries could power stuff like my handphone, toothbrush, laptop and a myraid of other battery operated stuff. I mean, can you imagine how convenient it would be to have a handphone that never needs recharging?

A new type of battery based on the radioactive decay of nuclear material is 10 times more powerful than similar prototypes and should last a decade or more without a charge, scientists announced this week.

The longevity would make the battery ideal for use in pacemakers or other surgically implanted devices, developers say, or it might power spacecraft or deep-sea probes.

You might also find these nuclear batteries running sensors and other small devices in your home in a few years. Such devices "don't consume much power," said University of Rochester electrical engineer Philippe Fauchet, "and yet having to replace the battery every so often is a real pain in the neck."

Click here for the full article.

Touching on Taoism

2005-05-17T08:28:00.000+08:00

Somehow, I felt that my Monday passed very quickly, a very rare occurance. Anyway today's my girlfriend's birthday. So I would like to wish her a very Happy Birthday! May all your wishes come true dear!

Since it's Tuesday again, it means that I'll be looking into another religion. And as requested by the one and only (currently very stressed out) smiles, I'm going to take a look at Taoism.

Taoism is said to originate in China around the 5th century BC. The Founder of Taoism was Lao-Tze. He was born in 604BC in the state Chu, and was the state Historian. Lao-Tze later wrote the book Tao Te Ching, that he presented to the Emperor Ching, who "decreed that Lao-Tze’s work on Tao should be respected as a canonical book." This book would later become the foundation of Taoism.

Now to understand Taoism, we must first understand what Tao is. Tao, or the Way, is the source, truth, or creative principle behind all the appearances of life. It exists in everything and everywhere and for all time. One site explains Tao in this way.

Lao-Tze says: Tao is one. It was in the beginning. It will remain for ever. It is Impersonal, eternal, immutable, omnipresent, bodiless, immaterial. It cannot be perceived by the senses. It is nameless. It is indescribable.
It is the first cause from which all substances take their origin and all phenomena flow. The great Tao is all-pervading. All things depend on it for life. It is the mother of all phenomena, of heaven and earth. It existed before the Personal God. It is the father of God. It is the producer of God. It is the originator of heaven and earth. It is the mother of all things.

While another site puts it this way:

The Way begat One (the lifeforce), which in turn begat Two (Yin and Yang), finally producing the entirety of the world as we know it (the 10,000 things) through the harmony of the Wuxing. The Way is therefore circular, acting upon itself to renew the cycle of life and death in harmony with nature.

Taoism, in its true sense, is more of a philosophy, much like Hinduism, however some might say it is both a religion and a philosophy. The gods that exist in Taoist temples stem from the mythological element of Taoism, stories of practitioners of Tao that have achieved immortality. Taoism was one of the 3 great religions of China - the other 2 being Buddhism and Confucianism.

Taoism places emphasis upon individual freedom and spontaneity, non-interventionist government and social primitivism and ideas of self-transformation. It also emphasises on controling ones desire.

One's mental activities should be stilled or allowed to dissipate until one finds a deeper source for guiding one's interaction with the universe. Desire hinders one's ability to understand The Way, and tempering desire breeds contentment. Taoists believe that when one desire is satisfied, another, more ambitious desire will simply spring up to replace it. In essence, most Taoists feel that life should be appreciated as it is, rather than forced to be something it is not. Ideally, one should not desire anything, not even non-desire.

There are many other philosophies and principles to Tao, but I think they are better understood if you go read about them yourself. Cos honestly, I find them quite confusing and deep, yet seemingly contradictory.

Taoism is also seen as the root of many Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) terms and practices. Taoism is the origniator of the term Qi or Chi (air, breath, internal energy) that flows within the body. This also led to the development of Taiqi or Tai Chi. Ideas like the "five main organs and orifices of the body correspond to the five parts of the sky: water, fire, wood, metal and earth" also stem from Taoism. Zen is also said to have its roots in Taoism.

Well, that's all I'll be typing on Taoism. Personally, I find it all a little confusing, but that is to be expected since it is a philosophy, and it just wouldn't be much of a philosophy if it wasn't confusing now would it?

Anyway, just for fun you might want to take a look at this quiz to see how much of a Taoist at heart you are. And if you want to read up more on Taoism, you can click here, here or here.

More Proof that the Chinese Discovered America?

2005-05-16T20:39:00.000+08:00

It was a busy Monday for me as I had to rush my report to submit to my supervisor. My report was actually almost complete, but the majority of my time was taken up by the tedious (and personally my most hated part of report writing) process of formatting the report and doing up the contents page. Well, I'm glad that's over. Now, barring any major changes my sup may suggest, all I have to do is to touch up the report, correct any grammatical/spelling errors and see what else can be improved. :) Hopefully I can find a free colour printer in my office too, that'd be just perfect!

Back to the topic. A few months back during the Chinese New Year, I posted an article about a theory that China discovered America back in 1421 before Columbus. If you can't remember click here for a quick refresher. This controversial theory has ruffled quite a few feathers among historians, however, there are still many supporters of this theory, and it seems more and more evidence is coming up to prove that this theory is correct.

This time the evidence comes in the form of maps. Very old maps - supposedly 4200 years old. These maps depict a land with "giant redwood trees, the Grand Canyon and show America as a land 3,300 miles wide." Not only that, they supposedly are world maps that show Africa and Australia as well. So if these maps are real, and can be proven to belong to the Chinese, then the theory might become fact, and the whole world would have to change the history text books.

According to one of the owners of the maps, Ms Charlotte Harris Rees, the maps "have been in the office of Dr. John Hebert, chief of geography and maps at the library (of Congress), for the last two years". However, the weird thing here is that the director for collections and services for the library said "she was unaware of any such maps in its posession." And the spokeswoman for the library said that "the Harris' maps have not been authenticated by the library."

Is this a sign of an impending cover-up? Or is it just a case of miscommunication? Whatever it is, personally I think it would truely be great to find out the truth behind this mystery. To find out whether the Chinese (or even someone else) did indeed discover America long before Columbus, or is the theory just an elaborate fairy tale...

ADELANTO -- For more than a decade, seven fragile map books sat under Hendon Harris' bed battling dust and darkness.

Two years ago they were exhumed and could possibly prove the Chinese discovered the American land mass 4,200 years ago.

"These maps were under my bed for 10-plus years, because we really didn't know what we had," said Hendon Harris, an Adelanto developer who owns several apartment buildings and is a prime sponsor of the Adelanto Boys and Girls Club. He's also building a strip of stores off Bellflower Street and Bartlett Avenue.

Click here for the full article.

The Bee Boogie

2005-05-14T23:22:00.000+08:00

It's a late Saturday night for me again, so I'm going to make this short as I really need some sleep. Never really realised how mentally draining typing a report in addition to doing work can be. Haha. Well, my misery should be over soon, once I hand in the report that is...

Anyway, on to the focus of today's post. If you have ever seen a bee hive or watched a documentary on bees, you maybe would've seen some of the bees dancing. If you haven't click here to visit a site with a little java applet bee hive.

Now the bee's dance was discovered by the zoologist Karl von Frisch and he theorised that the dance was "a code that shows the distance and direction of newly-discovered food". He even got a Nobel prize in 1973 for this discovery. However, this theory did not go without dispute as there were many critics who claimed that bees still did not fly directly to the food source after "seeing" the dance.

Surprisingly, this dispute lasted very long, and only recently did researchers prove that Karl was right all along. How did they do it? Well, they did it by tagging the bees with little radar transponder. Then the bees were put back into the hive and left to observe a dance by a scout bee. These tagged bees were then tracked as they made their way to the food source.

The result? Well according to researchers, after a few looping flights to get their bearings, "they (the bees) fly pretty much as the waggle dance predicts". So I guess that's another mystery (or dispute) solved in science. And in case you were wondering, most bees have a relatively short life span of 1 to 4 months, only the queen bee lives longer - 2 to 5 years. These are all female bees. The males incidentally live for only 40 to 50 days, quite sad huh...

One of the most enduring disputes in the world of dance has been solved by scientists in research published today.

Long before Strictly Dance Fever, bees apparently strutted their stuff to tell other hive members the whereabouts of nectar and pollen.

The "waggle dance", a code that shows the distance and direction of newly-discovered food, was first described by the zoologist Karl von Frisch. After some dispute, this discovery would earn him a Nobel prize in 1973.

Click here for the full article.

A new Silent Gun

2005-05-13T08:28:00.000+08:00

Yay! It's Friday again. Although it's Friday the 13th, which is supposed to be a bad luck day, I don't really mind cos in my book, Fridays are always good! Haha. Also the number 13 is a good number for the Chinese (or at least the Cantonese), but 14 is a bad number. Anyway, I won't be going into the origins of Friday the 13th cos I think its more of a superstition than anything. Plus, the exact origins of such a day are normally not clear and, more likely than not, lost in history. But if you want to find out more about it, you can click here or here.

Instead I'll go into something more factual, shorter and (in my opinion) more interesting. It's the development of a new type of gun. Now, I am not saying that it is good news, cos this gun is potentially more deadly than convential guns, however, the idea for it is surprisingly simple, which makes it interesting.

Normal guns rely on the explosive power of gunpowder to propel the bullet out from the gun barrel. I'm sure those of you who have fired a gun firing will know how loud, smoky and smelly it is. This new gun aims to counter all that, by changing the propulsion system for the bullet. Specifics of how it works are not available as the gun is currently under commercial secrecy, but basically the gun uses a circular chamber to spin ball bearings to a very high speed before releasing them out through the barrel when the trigger is pressed.

This new gun is called DREAD and was invented by Charles St George, a veteran of the US firearms industry. He claims "a fully developed DREAD gun would be quieter than a conventional gun, less prone to malfunction, and could contain more ammunition". The most lethal thing about this gun is that it doesn't fire one bullet at a time, but releases a volley of about a handful of bullets. Promotional material for DREAD states: "Due to its extraordinary high rate of fire capability, it delivers its bullets 8.5 millimetres apart, thereby delivering more mass to the target than any other weapon."

Well, I am not pro-war, and neither do I support the manufacture of more lethal weapons. However, I think that it's better to have knowledge of where weapons are headed rather than remain ignorant. Cos at the end of the day, whether you read about them or not, the weapons are still getting manufactured and will still be developed. For those of you who don't really like guns, take heart that the world is still quite humane as there are many non-lethal weapons being developed, especially for police use. You can read more about non-lethal weapons here.

A gun that spits out ball bearings after spinning them to extreme speeds is being developed by a US inventor. The novel design has already caught the imagination of some defence industry experts.

The weapon, called DREAD, was invented by Charles St George, a veteran of the US firearms industry who founded the company Leader Propulsion Systems to promote the idea. He claims a major US defence company has shown an interested in developing it further and has produced a promotional video showing a prototype in action, which can be seen here (Quicktime). He says a new prototype will be developed in August 2005.

The gun consists of a mounted circular chamber that spins the metal ball bearings to high speed. A release mechanism on one side spits the balls out one behind the other, a handful at a time.

Click here for the full article.

Bigfoot. Sasquatch. Yeti. The Abominable Snowman.

2005-05-12T15:09:00.000+08:00

One of the most famous and also the most elusive creatures known to cryptozoologists is Bigfoot. It has been a mystery that has facinated people mostly in America, but also all around the world. Could a ape-like man species be living in the forest of North America? How could they elude detection by humans for so long?

Well, unfortunately till this day, Bigfoot remains what it has always been, a mystery. Although thousands of skeptics have come up to "prove" that the numerous Bigfoot videos and photos are fake, not many have managed to make their arguments convincing enough to discredit the "evidence" of Bigfoot's existence.

The most famous of these videos was the Patterson movie, taken in 1967 of the creature walking. This video was widely played up by the media, and then widely discredited by the same media. However, the fact is, up till this day, the video hasn't been proven to be a hoax, but neither has it been proven to be real.

Now, a new video of what seems to be Bigfoot in action has appeared. This time the video was shot by a ferry operator at a river side in northern Manitoba. Unfortunately, it's very blur and most people will find it hard to see any details of the creature. But what is clear is that it is walking upright, and it is not a bear.

Well, this video has aired on Fox news in America, but for those of you like me who do not have cable tv, there's still the internet version of the video, which you can download from the link at the end of this post. I've personally seen the video, and to be honest, it's really blur, definitely not clear enough to make any conclusions about Bigfoot's existence. But I won't deny that it does look like a typical image of what we'd expect Bigfoot to be. All I can say is go see the video and judge for yourself.

An expedition to confirm the latest ‘Bigfoot’ sighting was announced last night on ‘A Current Affair’ by host Tim Green.

“The hunt is on for ‘Bigfoot’ and ‘A Current Affair’ is leading the way,” says Green on last night’s broadcast. “We are sending an expedition to Manitoba to track Bigfoot.”

After ‘A Current Affair’ unleashed videotape across America of the latest sighting of the infamous Bigfoot, the scientific, zoological and journalistic communities have united in the excitement of discovery -- and now in an expedition to confirm the existence of this entity.

Click here for the full article.

Going with the Flow

2005-05-12T08:20:00.000+08:00

Seeing as to how 2 of my friends have done this quiz, and they all claim that it's accurate, I just had to try it. So here are my results:

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to obedience and warmth.

In love, you feel the most alive when your lover is creative and never lets you feel bored.

You'd like to your lover to think you are loyal and faithful... that you'll never change.

You would be forced to break up with someone who was ruthless, cold-blooded, and sarcastic.

Your ideal relationship is lasting. You want a relationship that looks to the future... one you can grow with.

Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment.

You think of marriage as something precious. You'll treasure marriage and treat it as sacred.

In this moment, you think of love as commitment. Love only works when both people are totally devoted.

It's actually surprisingly quite accurate. I really wonder how these people can come up with such quizes. I have something to do this morning so I'll probably make a full post on something later. Sorry guys!

The Seven Wonders

2005-05-11T21:03:00.000+08:00

Before I begin this post, I would like to issue a warning, the following 6 paragraphs are part whining, part story-telling and part bo-liao morals, about my IA professor's visit today. So you can choose to skip it if you are more interested in the Seven Wonders.

Today my IA Professor came to my company for a visit, for the first time, so I really had no idea what to expect/prepare. I think if he could read my thoughts then, he'd probably see "???" and "!!!" and "-_-'" inside. Why? Cos I was blur and surprised by certain things he asked, shocked by certain things he did, and told me certain things that I only could react to with this -_-" expression (but not on the outside of course).

My IA Prof was supposed to come see me at 1530, but the first shocking thing he did in the morning was to send me an email saying "I may arrive earlier at about...*insert drumroll*...1130." Yup, he's so good to me. Actually he did send this email very early, around 0830, but the I only checked my email at 10! So it's partly my fault. Moral of the story: Check your school email frequently, especially near to or on important dates.

So, of course, I rushed to prepare for his impending arrival, which (surprise surprise), was an extra half hour early at 11! (!!!) So in total he was 5.5 hours early. Luckily, I had done a little preparation before hand so at least I was half ready. Moral of the story: Always start preparation for big days early.

So he came to my office and had a litte chit chat with my company supervisor, which gave me a little more time to type frantically away on my keyboard to get my stuff together. Then he came and saw my programs. It was more or less going along quite well until he started asking questions, to which I could only come up with a "???" look. Luckily, my IA supervisor came to my rescue a number of times with answers like "these things are outside of his project boundaries" or "those are actually classified" (Whew! I really need to give him a good farewell present to thank him). Moral of the story: It's always good to have someone more knowledgeable around.

The best part of all came when I was doing a clumsy demonstration my program halfway. My IA Prof said, "Actually, you don't have to show me so much, I only need to see your program run a bit, some source code, and the rest I can read from your report." (-_-") If he had mentioned that earlier, I'd probably have been much more relaxed. But on the flip side it was my fault for not asking him what he wanted to see, show I just prepared to show him everything. Moral of the story: Ask more questions to save more time.

So basically, that's more or less how it ended. I was really left wondering what's the impression he got, but all I know is that I tried my best. My fate now rests on the report...sigh...I hate typing reports...

Ok, on to the main topic. Yup, I was thinking, my blog is titled "I Wonder..." and yet I haven't done a post on some of the most famous 7 wonders of the world, or more correctly, the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Now I'm sure many of you have heard of them being mentioned, but how many of you can actually name all the 7 wonders off the top of your head. I know I couldn't, so I went to search for the list, and so I present to you the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World in chronological order:

1) The Great Pyramid of Giza

2) The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

3) The Statue of Zeus at Olympia

4) The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

5) The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

6) The Colossus of Rhodes

7) The Lighthouse of Alexandria

I think this post is long enough so I'll stop here and leave it to you to find out more, if you want. Click on the individual names for explanations of each of the wonders or here for the source site.

A bit on Buddhism

2005-05-10T08:22:00.000+08:00

I had a relatively good sleep last night, although for some weird reason I woke up early (around 6 am) this morning and then had a weird half-awake dream. Guess I need to reset my internal clock.

It's Tuesday again, so it's once again time for me to look into another religion. Today's post shall be on Buddhism. To start off, I think we should look into the question of, "What is a Buddha?" In Buddhism, Buddha is not a single person, but a type of person, of which many have existed throughout time.

A Buddha is any being who has become awakened to the ultimate truth of life, one who perceives the true entity of all phenomena, and who leads others to attain the same enlightenment. In India the word buddha was originally a common noun meaning "awakened one," but in Buddhism it is used to mean one who has become awakened to the ultimate truth of life.

The origins of modern Buddhism can be traced back to around the 6th century BC, when a prince was born named Siddhārtha Gautama. He lived a life of luxury and was spared of all of life's hardships. However, the story goes that one day, while he was out on his chariot, he came across what has come to be known as the "Four Passing Sights - an old crippled man, a sick man, a decaying corpse, and finally a wandering holy man." This led him to the realisation that such suffering can occur to anyone, not only once, but "repeated for life after life in succession for uncounted aeons." Hence, he decided to leave his material life and search for the way to enlightenment.

The story goes on to say how his travels led him to the way to attain enlightenment, the principles by which anyone can become a Buddha, called Buddhadharma, or simply the Dharma. It is said that Siddhārtha Gautama attained enlightenment after meditating under a large tree (now called the Bodhi tree) for 6 years and became known as Shakyamuni Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha then started to teach the Dharma to his followers, which essentially started the Buddhism religion. Although there is no evidence that there was ever a Buddha, there is strong evidence that there was a person like Siddhārtha Gautama, who lived at about the same time and place.

Buddhism is thus a religion and a philosophy based on the teachings of Buddha. Essentially, Buddhists try to perform good and wholesome actions, and try to purify and train the mind, so as to awaken the himself/herself to the realization of true reality and the achievement of Nirvana. One thing different about Buddhism from other religions is that it doesn't have a Creator of sorts.

While Buddhism does not deny the existence of supernatural beings (indeed, many are discussed in Buddhist scripture), it does not ascribe power for creation, salvation or judgement to them. Like humans, they are regarded as having the power to affect worldly events, and so some Buddhist schools associate with them via ritual.

There are many principles behind Buddhism. This includes the Four Noble Truths, which teaches people the reason why life is dissatisfactory, and how to escape it.

1) Dukkha: All worldly life is unsatisfactory, disjointed, containing suffering.
2) Samudaya: There is a cause of suffering, which is attachment or desire (tanha) rooted in ignorance.
3) Nirodha: There is an end of suffering, which is Nirvana.
4) Marga: There is a path that leads out of suffering, known as the Noble Eightfold Path.

And the Five Percepts, which can be considered something like resolutions. The Five Percepts are undertaken by the Buddhist himself/herself to aid in the attainment of enlightenment. These are not given in the form of commands but rather as promises to oneself.

1) I undertake the precept to refrain from harming living creatures (killing).
2) I undertake the precept to refrain from taking that which is not freely given (stealing).
3) I undertake the precept to refrain from sexual misconduct.
4) I undertake the precept to refrain from incorrect speech (lying, harsh language, slander, idle chit-chat).
5) I undertake the precept to refrain from intoxicants which lead to loss of mindfulness.

So, basically, Buddhism teaches self control, but it does not state any prohibitations in essence. This is why in some schools, Buddhism is called the Middle Way, the way of life that follows neither extremes - too much or too little.

Buddhism (and Hinduism) also brought about the concept of Karma (or Kamma), which is a sum of all that an individual has once done and is currently doing. This has an effect on all that is currently occuring and all that is going to happen, thus, in effect eliminating random chance. According to Buddhism, while it is impossible to escape your karma caused by previous thoughts, words and actions, it is possible to escape the suffering that comes from it by becoming enlightened, through practising the Dharma.

Well, I guess this post is long enough, so I'll stop here. Personally, I am sort-of a buddhist, but I honestly, there's a lot of information I didn't know about Buddhism before reading up on this. Just goes to show that it is always possible to learn something new everyday. Come to think of it, maybe I should pick up meditation one day as well, cos at the very least, I think it will help me sleep better.

Click here or here for more information on Buddhism.

Too tired...

2005-05-09T08:18:00.000+08:00

Sorry guys. I'm too tired today to post or to even read an article to post. Had a long day yesterday running around with my mom cos it was mother's day. That plus the late night on Saturday, has really worn me out.

Anyway I will leave you guys with a some links to entertain yourself if you are bored. ;)

A short advertisement on the Power of the Orange side, proving once and for all that even the Dark side's greatest Lord Vader cannot win the Orange side.

A game called The Mystery of Time and Space (MOTAS). One of those flash games where you go clicking all around the room to find stuff to get out of the room.

Ok you guys have fun. I've gotta go make a cup of tea to perk me up. If I feel bettter later maybe I will make a proper post. :)

Pimples

2005-05-07T23:45:00.000+08:00

Well, I just showered after coming home from school at 11 pm today. At least today I managed to accomplish something for my research project, so although I stayed back late, I think it was worthwhile.

Due to the stress of typing my report and doing my projects, plus all the late nights and heaty foods, I'm starting to get a few pimples. Yup, the dreaded pimples. Actually, I don't really bother much about pimples. I'd normally wait till they are "ripe", then squeeze all the juice out of them. However, just now while looking into the mirror at my pimples, I wondered if there was a simpler, less painful and yet still FOC (or at least cheap) way of getting rid of pimples.

Well, I'm sure you all guys/gals know the answer is yes! And I'm sure you'll all have some remedies of your own, but I think no one would mind trying out a few more remedies, right? As long as (of course) they work. Anyway here's a list of some home made pimple creames I got from cosmeticsdiary.com.

1. camphor lotion--1/2 tsp , tomato juice--1/2 tsp , honey--1 tsp
Mix all the ingredients well and apply the paste on the face. Leave it on for 15 minutes. Then wash off with luke warm water followed by a cold water, rinse. Also good for removing scars caused by pimples.

2. Take an egg and crack it over the sink and let the white of the egg go into a bowl; use the white to dab on your pimple. Leave on overnight or for 20 minutes.

3. 1 tsp. Groundnut oil mixed with an equal amt. of lime juice may be applied daily to prevent formation of blackheads, pimples etc.

4. Get some rosewater in bowl. Add equal amount of cucumber paste on it. Stir it properly and have a pack of it for 20 minutes. It will also help in controlling acne.

5. The juice of one fresh lime + some boiled whole milk + a tsp. of glycerine is an excellent home remedy for pimples, blackheads and many skin disorders.

Now for the lazy people like me, who don't want to go mixing up their own pimple cream, there are also some simpler ways listed on the site. These simpler methods can also be used at work, or as an additional measure to the "creams" listed above.

1. Put toothpaste on your pimples before you go to bed, should help reduce swelling overnight. Make sure it is the paste not the gel. One of the most popular home remedies for acne and pimples. Calamine lotion will have the same drying effect.

2. Garlic Juice with 3 parts water is an excellent cleansing agent. Raw garlic applied ( rubbed) on the face can make persistent pimples disappear without a scar with repeated applications. The external use of garlic helps to clear the skin of spots, pimples & boils.

3. Wash your face twice a day in warm salty water. This should leave your face oil free without aggravating the acne. A simple pimples home remedy.

4. Extract juice of one lemon and mix with equal quantity of rose water. Apply this mixture on the face and let it stay for about half an hour. Wash the face with fresh water. About 15 days application helps cure pimples and reduces blemishes and scars.

5. Wipe your face with a cold wet rag everyday before setting out for the day. Wipe it again went you get in and once more before bed. Your pores will stay closed.

Ok, I'm too sleepy to type more. Plus I think a good night's rest is the cure to anything, well almost anything. Anyway, click here for more home made remedies.

A W-LAN using your skin?

2005-05-06T08:28:00.000+08:00

Yeah! It's Friday again. No outing today, but I'm glad enough the week is over, although I'm not exactly looking forward to next week. I think I'll be quite busy over the weekend too, cos I still have to finish up my IA report. My first draft is out, but I can't say I'm pleased with it, seems kinda incoherent at times. But, I submitted it to my supervisor for a 1st draft vetting, just in case I've accidentally leaked out some secrets without knowing. In any case, I guess I'll still have to lug my laptop home later, which isn't exactly that light.

Now if you are like me, and wish you had a way to carry a computer around without actually carrying a laptop, personal computing devices might be the key. The problem now is that not many of such devices are cheap, and the number of wires required to connect them up makes them cumbersome. However, if the technology in today's article comes true, we may be seeing the last of wires on any personal device. There's even the possibility of being able to exchange information in your personal computing device just by shaking hands with another person.

Unbelievable? Well, its true. NTT Labs, the research and development wing of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, has developed a system called RedTactont "that uses the naturally-occurring electrical fields of human skin to transmit data" and are planning to conduct field trials soon. Essentially, what this technology does is make the skin a sort of Wireless Local Area Network (W-LAN) for personal devices. How fast is it? Well, its a whopping 10 Mega bits per second (Mbps). Considering that your average office wireless network is running on a 802.11b 11 Mbps connection, a 1 Mbps slower connection doesn't seem that bad now does it?

The system works by using ultra sensitive Electro-Optic sensors to measure changes in the human body's natural electric field, converting them into electrical signals. This technology is safe because "no current flows into the body" and is surprisingly reliable as the signal is "invulnerable to rain, cold, heat, static electricity, or electrical storms". However, it is affected sometimes by electromagnetic waves of a certain frequency.

At present, all the user needs to do is to place a small transceiver into a pocket. The transceiver can then communictate with other transceivers on the body, "for example, mediating transmission between an MP3 player and a headset". Scientists say that they will soon shrink the size of the device so that it can fit on a handphone or PDA.

What's even more amazing about this technology is that it is not only limited to communications within one body, but capable of transmission outside, through conductors. This means other potential uses for such technology like sharing of information just by touching a PC or another person, opening a locked door just by touching the door knob, and even communicating with multiple users at once, apparently without losing bandwidth, which "if true, the group hug could turn into a productivity tool as well as a motivational technique".

However, this technology will have a number of obstacles. The first being the obvious threat of competing short ranged wireless technology. The most major competitor at present is the famous Bluetooth technology, which is currently already in use and proven to work well in a multitude of electronic devices. This is a big challenge for an upcoming and unproven technology like RedTactont. Another barrier is the psychological one. As the long term effects of the technology on the human body is still not known, no one is actually sure that its really as safe as its supposed to be. Even if convinced of the device's safety, some people might worry about privacy or theft from accidental physical contact. However, researchers claim that it with proper security measures, this will not be a problem.

Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm certainly looking forward to this technology, if only just to be able to listen to my radio/mp3 without the challenge of untangling troublesome bundle of wire that's supposed to be the ear pieces.

This month, NTT Labs, the research and development wing of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, plans to start conducting field trials for a radical new "human area networking" technology called RedTactont that uses the naturally-occurring electrical fields of human skin to transmit data.

The slim, PCMCIA-based RedTacton transceiver combines a an optical receiver circuit equipped with a super-sensitive photonic electrical field sensor and a crystal to transmit data over the surface of human body at up to 10 megabits per second between wearable devices.

Linked only by touch, the transceivers can also connect to similar transceivers worn by other users or embedded in any objects in real space, such as turnstiles or consumer electronics. Promising better security and far less interference than short-range wireless technologies such as Bluetooth, ZigBee and Near-Field Communications, RedTacton will likely be targeted for use in applications such as wireless headphones, wearable medical devices, security applications, and point-of-sale interactions.

Click here for the full article.

Burps and Belches

2005-05-05T08:26:00.000+08:00

Today I shall go into a topic suggested to me by smiles - burping. ;) Burps or belches are basically the same thing, although some people say that a burp is a small belch or a belch is a large, resonating burp. Whatever it is, they both have the same cause.

Burps are usually caused by swallowed air. Everyone swallows a certain amount of air everyday, most people swallowing about a cupful of air. Your stomach cannot digest the air, so, if you remember your biology, there's only 2 ways it can get out - up or down. If the air goes back up through the esophagus and out through your mouth, its called a burp. If the air goes the other way, through the intestines, you get a fart, although most farts are usually do not result from swallowed air.

Where does all the air you swallow come from? Well, it comes from a variety of sources, including the following:

-Drinking soda pop and other carbonated drinks
-Swallowing too much saliva
-Swallowing too often
-Chewing gum
-Eating too quickly
-Eating too much
-Eating too much starchy foods (e.g. Rice, wheat, oats, etc.)

So, it seems that the banning of chewing gum in Singapore has another good side-effect.

Excessive burping or belching can also be a sign of a disease or indigestion. This is especially so when burping does not help relieve a bloated feeling in the stomach. In the case of a disease, there will usually be a bloated feeling accompanied by burping and farting caused by bacteria producing gasses in your stomach and intestines. In some cases, excessive burping is a sign of a problem with the muscle between your stomach and esophagus, or blockage in your intestines. Whatever the case, if you suspect you are burping too much, or it is causing you problems, go see a doctor.

Now if you want to avoid the embarassing situation where your burp in front of a bunch of people you aren't too familiar with, the simplest way is to avoid the causes of burping. This means avoiding carbonated drinks, eating slowly, not chewing gum, chewing food with your mouth closed, and so on. Being nervous also increases your chances of burping cos when you are nervous, you tend to swallow more often. So learn to relax, especially if you find youself swallowing too much saliva or sipping too often from your glass of water.

I guess in Singaporean culture, it isn't very polite to burp, especially if it is a very loud belch. So, I hope this post will help us all avoid the situation where you have the whole table staring at you after a particularly fulfilling meal, although if you and your friends enjoy a good burping competition now and then, burp away!

Click here for more on belching and here for more on intestinal gas.

Preserving the Ancient Terra Cotta Warriors

2005-05-04T08:21:00.000+08:00

Its finally Wednesday and I feel totally worn out. Maybe its because I slept too late on Monday and Tuesday night. Or maybe its because I got lazy over the weekend. Anyway I just hope the week will end soon, without me ending up in a horizontal position, snoring at my workplace...

Well, another thing that's getting worn out are the terra cotta warriors of ancient China. For those who have forgotten the history of ancient China, here's a short refresher. The terra cotta warriors were built by the first emperor of China, Emperor Chin Shih Huang, over 2000 years ago. Essentially, they were built for his tomb as guards and army for his afterlife. It is estimated that a total of 7000 individual terra cotta warriors were built, and every single warrior is modelled after a real person, making it distinct. Till now, about 1000 of these warriors have been unearthed, and put on display.

However, the problem is that these ancient statues weren't made for the 21st century air and are deteriorating fast. The exact cause of the deterioration is still unknown, though scientists speculate it could be air pollution produced by China's rapidly developing industries. Another possible cause is the breath of the millions of visitors that have seen the terra cotta warriors in the museum or even a combination of multiple factors.

The problem is that the unique clay used to make the statues has not been studied properly, and its properties are not very well understood, so scientists have no way of telling what chemicals it reacts to. So for now, the scientists are monitoring the statues in the museum in an effort to find the cause. Until then, they have advised the chinese government not to excavate any more of the terra cotta warriors. However, scientists are optimistic that a solution can be found, but it might take a while.

I've personally seen the terra cotta warriors once, long ago, in my primary school days. Although my memory is a little hazy, I do remember being awed by the sheer number and the detail put into making them. You could easily identify the footmen, the archers, the spearmen, and so on. There were even horses, carriages and other items. In short it is a marvel, something I doubt we could reproduce even in modern times, at least without considerable effort. So I certainly hope we can preserve these beautiful statues for generations to come.

One of the world's greatest archeological treasures is in serious trouble because of air pollution and scientists from Nevada are coming to the rescue.

The terra cotta warriors were built on orders from the first emperor of China but were buried for more than 2,000 years. Scientists from Nevada's Desert Research Institute have been asked to join an international team looking for ways to keep the warriors from wasting away.

The ruthless conqueror who became the first emperor of china wasn't a guy who thought small. Emperor Chin not only started the Great Wall of China, but also used hundreds of thousands of people to work on his tomb, including the meticulous creation of the terra cotta warriors -- more than 7,000 larger-than-life clay figures meant to protect the emperor from his enemies in the afterlife.

Click here for the full article.

A little on Hinduism

2005-05-03T08:18:00.000+08:00

Once again we are at a time where the transport operators want to raise their prices. This time however, it is weird that only one operator wishes to do this. Personally, I think that there are 2 possible reasons for this. A first possibility is that the gahment wishes to allow the transport operators to raise their prices, but are afraid that raising them all at once would be very unpopular, especially after the IR fiasco, so they decided to do it one at a time.

Another possibility is that the gahment wishes to win back the hearts of people by rejecting the transport operator's application, indicating that they DO listen to the people, which is why only one operator is requesting, no point getting both to ask if they're going to be rejected anyway...

Well I digress again, but I really do hope that if there is a raise in transport prices, the least the operator could do is raise their service standards. I don't mind paying more, as long as I get something better.

Ok, back to the main topic - Hinduism. This is the third religion in a continuation of my weekly quest to understand the major religions of the world. Again, I will start with a disclaimer: I do not claim to be an expert on Hinduism, and whatever I present in this post is based on what little I found out on this facinating religion. Should I make any mistakes, please feel free to correct me. Thank you.

Now surprisingly, Hinduism isn't really a religion by the western definition of the word. Although Hinduism is mostly based upon the same religious texts, the vedas, it is actually more correctly a group of religions, just like Christianity and Judaism are both based on the Old Testament but are considered different religions. It can also be thought of as a philosophy or a society based upon certain beliefs.

Generally, Hindus believe in one Supreme God, but there are also many other devas. In a sense, the many gods of Hinduism all belong to the same supreme being, only the supreme being is known by different names and forms. Hence, despite the worship of different idols, hindus basically are worshiping the one supreme being, the same single, all encompassing God. In a wider sense, Hinduism is also very tolerant of other religions as they deem that all religions worship the same God, just in different forms and known by different names. No single way of worship is better than another and all ways to worship God are accepted by God if performed with faith and devotion. Due to this, Hinduism does not seek to actively convert people to its faith as it deems all religions as equally worthy.

Food wise, Hindus are not restricted in most ways, although they are encouraged to be vegetarian as a sign of respect and consideration to the sacred animals that share our world. Cows and bulls are also considered sacred in Hinduism as they are considered the "providers of food", and not food itself. This probably stems from the ancient times where cows and bulls were essential to the production in farms, in addition to providing milk and leather.

Most hindus also have a dot marked on their forehead, the meaning of which I haven't learnt, even till now. The origins of this dot is unknown as Hinduism is a very ancient religion. However, some people say that this dot signifies the third eye, which ancient humans had. Another explaination is that there is a powerful virtual lotus of power locus on the forehead, and the dot is there to protect that point as well as an indication of their respect for their God. So basically, there is no definite reason, but it is definitely a mark of a hindu.

Reading more about Hinduism has definitely made me respect this ancient religion more. It seems that this religion is one of the most encompassing and yet one of the most tolerant. It is definitely a very complicated religion (or group of religions) which I doubt anyone could hope to understand in a single reading, so take your time to read the articles I've linked to.

Click here and here for more on Hinduism.

Sleep

2005-05-02T21:38:00.000+08:00

Over the past long weekend, other than typing my report, the next major thing I did was sleep. In fact, I think I slept more than anything else. Now, I know many people consider sleep a waste of time, in fact I do too, to a certain extent. However, the fact is we underestimate the importance of sleep. Sleep is actually an integral part of our lives, essential to our mental and physical wellbeing.

For most adults, we need at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep. Some people may need more, while others, less. However, what is important here is that we sleep our required amount of sleep each day. Sleeping less than this amount results in a "sleep-debt", which, like any debt, will have to be repaid some day. Some of us may say that we have gotten used to sleeping less, but in fact, you never do. We can get used to a sleep deprived lifestyle, however, "our judgment, reaction time, and other functions are still impaired". In fact, sleep-deprivation has been proven to result in people having worse reaction times than those intoxicated with alcohol.

What this means is that even though you have gotten used to sleeping 5 or 6 hours each night, your body still would prefer 7 to 8 hours of rest. And even though you feel like you are performing well without sufficient sleep, the fact is you could be performing better with a good night's rest. How to know if you have had enough sleep? Well, experts say that "if you feel drowsy during the day, even during boring activities, you haven’t had enough sleep", and if you fall to sleep within 5 minutes of lying down, it is a sign of severe sleep deprivation, or even a sleep disorder.

Sleep is very important in our lives. Through experiments, researchers have found that sleep is necessary for survival. In an experiment with rats (poor things...) that normally live for 2 or 3 years, it was found that when deprived of REM sleep, the rats lived for only 5 weeks, while those that were totally deprived of sleep, lived for only 3 weeks. Sufficient sleep is required for our nervous and immune systems to work properly. Experts believe that sleep allows our neurons (brain cells) to shut down and repair themselves, hence without sleep, our neurons get "so depleted in energy or so polluted with byproducts of normal cellular activities that they begin to malfunction".

Although now we all know the importance of getting enough sleep, I have to admit that it is not always possible to do so in a fast paced country like Singapore. So how do you guarantee that you at least make the most out of your sleep time? Well here's some tips from the site, which I hope can give us all the sleep we truely need.

Adapted from "When You Can't Sleep: The ABCs of ZZZs," by the National Sleep Foundation.

Set a schedule:
Go to bed at a set time each night and get up at the same time each morning. Disrupting this schedule may lead to insomnia. "Sleeping in" on weekends also makes it harder to wake up early on Monday morning because it re-sets your sleep cycles for a later awakening.

Exercise:
Try to exercise 20 to 30 minutes a day. Daily exercise often helps people sleep, although a workout soon before bedtime may interfere with sleep. For maximum benefit, try to get your exercise about 5 to 6 hours before going to bed.

Avoid caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol:
Avoid drinks that contain caffeine, which acts as a stimulant and keeps people awake. Sources of caffeine include coffee, chocolate, soft drinks, non-herbal teas, diet drugs, and some pain relievers. Smokers tend to sleep very lightly and often wake up in the early morning due to nicotine withdrawal. Alcohol robs people of deep sleep and REM sleep and keeps them in the lighter stages of sleep.

Relax before bed:
A warm bath, reading, or another relaxing routine can make it easier to fall sleep. You can train yourself to associate certain restful activities with sleep and make them part of your bedtime ritual.

Sleep until sunlight:
If possible, wake up with the sun, or use very bright lights in the morning. Sunlight helps the body’s internal biological clock reset itself each day. Sleep experts recommend exposure to an hour of morning sunlight for people having problems falling asleep.

Don’t lie in bed awake:
If you can’t get to sleep, don’t just lie in bed. Do something else, like reading, watching television, or listening to music, until you feel tired. The anxiety of being unable to fall asleep can actually contribute to insomnia.

Control your room temperature:
Maintain a comfortable temperature in the bedroom. Extreme temperatures may disrupt sleep or prevent you from falling asleep.

See a doctor if your sleeping problem continues:
If you have trouble falling asleep night after night, or if you always feel tired the next day, then you may have a sleep disorder and should see a physician. Your primary care physician may be able to help you; if not, you can probably find a sleep specialist at a major hospital near you. Most sleep disorders can be treated effectively, so you can finally get that good night’s sleep you need.

Click here for more information on sleep.

Plasma vs LCDs

2005-04-30T23:01:00.000+08:00

I've been using a normal CRT TV and Monitor all my life, and honestly, I find them great. No doubt the slim, sexy appeal of a plasma and LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) TV or monitor has enticed me once or twice, but their prices have often put me off. Now, however, their prices are coming down, though they are what I would call cheap yet. So while I am not going to rush out and buy one soon, I thought that it'd be good to understand how plasma and LCD displays actually work, and which is better for the future?

Now the basics of the modern display is the pixel, which is basically a dot on the screen. However, I think many of us know, that this dot is actually not a single dot but 3 dots - one Red, one Green and one Blue(RGB). All displays, excluding projection displays, work on this same principle of the pixel, its just how they produce the light to generate the pixel's 3 primary colours.

Let's start with plasma displays. Plasma displays do this using the same principle that is used in our common household flourescent lights - plasma (duh!). Plasma is "a gas made up of free-flowing ions (electrically charged atoms) and electrons (negatively charged particles)." When an electrical current passes through the plasma, the negative particles within it get attracted to the positive terminal and rush towards it and vice versa for the positve particles. This movement results in collisions, that excite the gas atoms in the plasma causing them to release photons.

Different gases give off different wavelengths of such photons, but mostly within the ultraviolet range. Hence, to convert them into visible light, the plasma display uses phosphors of different colours. These phosphors line the walls of the thousands of cells that contain the gas in a plasma display. So when the corresponding cell is supposed to be lighted up, a current is passed through that cell, giving off the desired colour.

Now on to LCDs. LCDs use a special form of nematic liquid crystal, called twisted nematics (TN). Such TN crystals are naturally twisted and can be untwisted to varying degrees depending on the current applied to them. This predictable property is thus used to control the light in an LCD. This is done by placing the TN crystals between 2 polarising filters placed at 90 degrees to each other. This means that if the TN crystals aren't present, no light could pass throught the 2 filters. However, with the TN crystals, light is forced to bend around them, resulting in the final light wave being bent 90 degrees from the angle it came in. Hence, light can pass through the 2 filters.

Current can be applied to the crystals when there is a need to reduce the amount of light passing through, thus controlling the shade or contrast of the LCD. Colour LCDs work on the same principle, only that 3 different coloured lights are required to be produced to give the basic RGB pixel.

So which is better? In terms of age, the plasma display has been around for a tad longer than the LCD, which translates to a cheaper price. However, in terms of technology, older seldom means better. So lets take a look at the pros and cons of LCDs and Plasmas.

PLASMA PROS
Available in 50" & 61" Screens or larger?
Prices Dropping Everyday
Faster response times
Better colours
Wider viewing angle
Did we Mention Larger Sizes?

PLASMA CONS
Very Few Produce True Blacks
Still Images can Burn on Screen
Color Accuracy
Life Expectancy Shorter then LCD
Extremely Fragile
Most screens look pixilated
Most 60" plus Screens Overpriced
Artifact shows up on weaker signals

LCD TV PROS
Higher Native Resolutions
Extremely Detailed Picture
Extremely Thin (less then 2.25")
Brighter then Most Plasma's
Measured True Contrast Ratio's Surpasses Plasma Exaggerated #'s
Light Weight Champions
Extremely Resistant to Shock
Can't Burn Images (Burn Proof)
No Glare in Direct Sunlight
Lower Power Consumption
Longer Life Span (60,000 Hours)
Pixels much Smaller Producing a much Sharper, Defined Picture
True Black Levels

LCD TV CONS
Some What Expensive
Largest Screen Available 40
Smaller viewing angle
Slow reponse time creates motion blur/artefacts

It seems LCDs are the winner now. However, new technology is always coming up. So I wouldn't put my money on an LCD just yet. In any case, my trusty old CRT is still working fine, and probably will for the next few years. Till then, I'll be watching and waiting, and hopefully I may get an 21" LCD monitor for $100 or less! Haha!

Click here for more on Plasma Displays, here for more on LCDs and here for a comparison, plus a little discussion.

I can read your mind...and you can read mine too!

2005-04-29T08:17:00.000+08:00

Good FRIDAY Morning everyone!!! Woohoo!!! It's Friday and it's gonna be a long weekend ahead. Hahaha. And to make it better I have a half day today cos my company is sending us for a "team-building" event at Sentosa for the whole afternoon! Yeah! The only problem is that it's a team building event for all the IA students, who happen to be scattered all over Singapore, working in different departments, and on different projects, so I really wonder how much of a "team" we really are... Well, no matter, a half day away from work is always good right?

Onwards to today's article, which also has something to do with interacting with people. It's about scientists saying that essentially, we are all mind readers, and we do it everyday, unconsicously. In fact the simple word for it is Empathy. How we generate feelings and thoughts of empathy has always troubled scientists, but now they are saying that we basically can "read" other people's minds and are hence able to feel empathy for the other person.

This idea originated in 1996 when 3 neuroscientists were probing the brain of a live monkey (something very cruel), when they found a cluster of brain cells that "fired not only when the monkey performed an action, but likewise when the monkey saw the same action performed by someone else". They called these cells "mirror neurons." When scientists performed the same experiments on humans, they found that these mirror neurons not only reacted to actions but to sensations and emotions as well.

These mirror neurons fit in with an explaination for the development Theory of Mind called the Simulation theory. Simulation theory basically states that we are all mind readers and place ourselves in another person’s "mental shoes," using our own mind as a model for theirs. This means that when we interact with others, we not only observe their actions "we create internal representations of their actions, sensations and emotions within ourselves, as if we are the ones that are moving, sensing and feeling." Hence making us, in a way, mind readers.

Although this theory might not be as fantastic as the mind readers of sci-fi and comics, but it does serve an important purpose - the treatment of autism. The main theory is that autistic people have damaged or impaired mirror neurons, and are thus unable to simulate the experiences of others, a sort of "mental blindness". Hence, if neuroscientists can one day learn to repair these neurons, autism could be cured. This would definitely be good news for countless parents around the world with autistic children, cos if you have ever met such children, you'd understand their parent's worry.

Empathy allows us to feel the emotions of others, to identify and understand their feelings and motives and see things from their perspective. How we generate empathy remains a subject of intense debate in cognitive science.

Some scientists now believe they may have finally discovered its root. We're all essentially mind readers, they say.

The idea has been slow to gain acceptance, but evidence is mounting.

In 1996, three neuroscientists were probing the brain of a macaque monkey when they stumbled across a curious cluster of cells in the premotor cortex, an area of the brain responsible for planning movements. The cluster of cells fired not only when the monkey performed an action, but likewise when the monkey saw the same action performed by someone else. The cells responded the same way whether the monkey reached out to grasp a peanut, or merely watched in envy as another monkey or a human did.

Click here for the full article.

The World's Smallest Motor

2005-04-28T13:55:00.000+08:00

For most of this morning I was shut out from the internet again. For some reason, the proxy server here seems to give quite a lot of problems. Having no internet connection seemed ok for a while, but when I started to do my programming, I realised that without the internet, I had no resources to help with my problems.

So, I had to return to the most reliable pencil and paper and try to solve the problem by drawing diagrams. But, I guess it wasn't so bad cos, on the bright side, I got to practise some of my drawing skills and I think I should be able to use the drawings in my report.

Well, anyway, today's article is a report on the development of the world's smallest motor. Here's a small gif animation of how it looks like.

The scientific name for this is a surface-tension-driven nanoelectromechanical relaxation oscillator. The motor works by shuffling atoms between two molten metal droplets, one bigger than the other, in a carbon nanotube. When the smaller droplet gets large enough and comes into contact with the larger one, the larger droplet rapidly takes back the atoms it had previously lost. This quick shift results in the power stroke of the motor.

The amount of energy produced by this motor is small (20 microwatts), but for its size that's very efficient. The motor is only 200 nanometers in size, which means about 100 could be fit side to side across the width of a strand of hair. Comparatively, "if it could be scaled up to the size of an automobile engine, it would be 100 million times more powerful than a Toyota Camry’s 225 horsepower V6 engine", the researchers say.

It seems that nanotech is really going places. Researchers say that such a motor could one day be used to power nanobots, allowing them to crawl, walk, swim or fly.

Hopefully, nanobots will become reality soon, as the potential medical benefits of such nanobots are tremendous. Viruses and bacteria could be easily eradicated by these nanobots once injected into the blood stream, cancer could be more accurately treated by delivering chemotherapy drugs directly to the tumor, there's even the possibility that such nanobots could help repair our bodies, keeping us in the pink of health always.

Scientists recently unveiled the tiniest electric motor ever built. You could stuff hundreds of them into the period at the end of this sentence.

One day a similar engine might power a tiny mechanical doctor that would travel through your body in the ultimate house call.

The motor works by shuffling atoms between two molten metal droplets in a carbon nanotube.

Click here for the full article.

Hiccups

2005-04-27T08:19:00.000+08:00

On Monday, one of my IA friends had a major bout of hiccups that lasted for about half an hour. We all had a good laugh about it as whenever he tried to speak, a hiccup would come and it would result in quite a loud guttural sound, that would resonate throughout the room for a while. Then one of my friends asked me this question, "What causes hiccups?" and that (as usual) got me wondering...

So today, I shall try to answer my friend's question and a little more. Hiccups are actually made by involuntary spasms of the diaphragm resulting in air being sucked into the lungs very quickly. This causes the a structure inside the throat (called the epiglottis) to slam shut, which gives hiccups their characteristic "hic" sound.

Ok, so now we know what causes the "hic" sound and what happens when you hiccup, but how about what exactly causes hiccups? Well, that's a very good question and apparently no one really knows. The diaphragm is controlled by nerves and a particular stimuli triggers the nerves to send the diaphragm into spasms, but what's the exact trigger we don't know. However, there are a number of actions or activities, particularly those that cause pressure on the diaphragm, that are known to result in hiccups in people from time to time. These include:

- Eating food too quickly
- Hot or spicy foods
- Indigestion
- Overconsumption of alcohol
- Overconsumption of food and/or drink
- Fizzy drinks
- Cigarette smoking
- Stress
- Bad odours
- Pregnancy

Now if you have a case of hiccups there are a number of ways to relieve yourself of it. Some of the methods work better on some people than others so try them all, if you can, and pick the best for you.

- Hold your breath (My personal favourite!!)
- Take deep breaths
- Breathe into a paper bag
- Eat a bit of fresh ginger
- Suck on a lemon
- Have a hot water and honey drink
- Eat a spoonful of sugar
- Drink a glass of water slowly
- Eat ice
- Gargle
- Sit down and lean forward over your knees
- Ask someone to give you a fright

Now, why hiccups occur? Well, scientists have also observed that babies in the womb start hiccuping after two month suggesting that it is a remnant of some primitive reflex, which occurs only when this brain circuit is accidentally triggered. Only one class of animals have the same action that actually serves a purpose - primitive air breathers that have gills in addition to lungs (eg frogs, tadpoles, lungfish). In their case, this hiccup action serves to push water over their gills while at the same time stopping water from entering their lungs by the closing the epiglottis. In evolutionary theory, most land animals evolved from sea creatures, but that happened around 370 million years ago. So why have we kept on hiccuping?

Scientists believe that "hiccupping before birth is just an early stage in the development of suckling, a little like learning to crawl before you can walk". So the hiccuping action was basically preserved to as it formed a building block for more complex motor patterns, such as suckling.

As normal as hiccups may seem, they are not always harmless and can be a sign of a disease. The advice is to seek medical help if your hiccups are chronic and persistent, lasting for more than 3 hours. Also if they affect your sleeping patterns, interfere with eating, occur with severe abdominal pain, or you spit up blood, you should immediately seek medical attention.

Click here for more information on hiccups and here for the article on "Why do we hiccup?"

The one on a little Christianity

2005-04-26T08:23:00.000+08:00

One week ago I made a post on Haram, or the Muslim term for prohibited, during which I realised how little I know about Islam. In fact, I realised I don't have much in-depth knowledge about all the religions, and that is something I think is very important in a multi-racial, multi-religious society like Singapore.

So today (as promised) I shall delve into Christianity. Before I begin, here's a little disclaimer: I do not know much about Christianity. This post does not, in any way, promote or degrade Christianity, but its just a little effort to understand this wonderful religion better. Hence if I make any mistakes feel free to correct me. ;)

Ok, as a start I shall go into something that (almost) all Christians say - Amen. The word Amen is said many times during a church service and after prayers, but what does it mean? What do you mean when you say "Amen" at the end of a prayer? Amen is derived from a Hebrew word pronounced the same way, that has actually been translated to English spelling. Common English translations of the word amen include: "Verily", "Truly", "So be it", and "Let it be". The Hebrew root word implies "firmness, solidity and sureness." while a modern day expression equal to this might be, "That's right." Hence, Amen is used to indicate agreement and acceptance of that which another has expressed and it is understood.

Now, last week I posted about the prohibitations of Islam with regards to meat, and after some research on Christianity, I found some similarities in their prohibitations. Apparently, pork is also considered unclean in the Bible, as well as a number of other meats.

"Do not eat anything that the Lord has declared unclean. You may eat these animals: cattle, sheep, goats, deer, wild sheep, wild goats, or antelopes - any animals that have divided hoofs and that also chew the cud. You may not eat camels, rabbits, or badgers. They must be considered unclean... Do not eat pigs... They must be considered unclean... Do not eat any of these animals or even touch their dead bodies. You may eat any kind of fish that has fins and scales... You may eat any clean bird. But these are the kinds of birds you are not to eat: eagles, owls, hawks, falcons; buzzards, vultures, crows; ostriches; seagulls, storks, herons, pelicans, cormorants; hoopoes; and bats." [Yes, bats are listed here as a type of bird!]
Deuteronomy 14:3-18 (also Leviticus 11:1-47)

So apparently, it is okay to eat meat, but not all types. But seeing most modern christians eat almost any form of meat, I think this is not a really well observed rule.

However, some christians are advocating a vegetarian diet for saying that based on compassion, it is a more suitable diet for all christians. We all know about the cruelty of the meat industry, how chickens are kept in small coops, how pigs have their throats slit and made to run till they bleed to death, and how certain birds are de-beaked and de-clawed all without the use of anesthetics. So on grounds of compassion, all humans should be vegetarian, not to mention the health reasons. In fact, in the beginning the Bible mentions this:

He created them male and female, blessed them, and said, "Have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth and bring it under their control. I am putting you in charge of the fish, the birds and all the wild animals. I have provided all kinds of grain and all kinds of fruit for you to eat; but for all the wild animals and for all the birds I have provided grass and leafy plants for food" - and it was done. God looked at everything he had made, and he was very pleased.
- Genesis 1:27-31

So it seems that God intended that humans (Adam and Eve) as well as the animals to be vegetarian. And that humans would live in harmony with the animals. Well, this is getting a little confusing, so should christians be allowed to eat meat or not? Well, I guess the answer is yes and no, which basically means its all up to you.

Personally I am not a christian, but I follow one basic rule on meat (or fish) - if the meat comes from an animal that is already dead/slaughtered before I ordered it (eg at the wet market or supermarket) then I will buy and eat it. What this means is that I will not buy live chickens and slaughter them, nor will I order live seafood and ask the chef to cook it for me. Basically, in my view, what's dead is already dead, whether you eat it or not, its dead. Of course it'd be great if all of us were vegetarian and hence no more cute furry animals had to be killed, but what are the chances of that? And as long as there is a demand for meat, the animals will be slaughtered, and so I would rather eat their meat than let the meat rot and let their death be in vain...

Click here for more information on Christianity and here for more on Amen.

Human Hibernation

2005-04-25T08:30:00.000+08:00

It's Monday again, and I'm suffering from the Monday blues again. I guess all of you guys are so I shall not whine anymore. So how did you guys spend your weekend? Mine was nothing special, went to school on Saturday, did housework on Sunday morning, went out with my girlfriend in the afternoon, went back home and slept at 12. Haha. When I put it that way, my weekend seems even shorter than it was.

Normally I don't post pictures from the articles that I discuss. However, today I'm in a picture posting mood. :D So here's the pic.

If you don't recognise the picture above, well, then I guess you haven't seen the movie "Austin Powers: the Spy Who Shagged Me". In that movie Austin Powers was put into suspended animation through Cryonics. Cryonics was once seen to be the only feasible way to keep people in suspended animation with any hope of reviving them. However, scientists have now discovered a simpler and cheaper method of doing this - by inducing hibernation in humans.

Many mammals like squirrels and bears hibernate during winter. During this time their cellular activities slow down and virtually stop, which reduces the need for oxygen and energy. However, humans and many other mammals, like mice, do not hibernate, or do they? Scientists in the article made mice go into an induced hibernation by letting them breathe air laced with hydrogen sulfide and later woke them up by letting them breathe normal air. In humans, hydrogen sulfide is used to "buffer our metabolic flexibility" allowing us to maintain our constant body temperature. Theoretically, in large doses, hydrogen sulfide is thought to bind to cells in place of oxygen causing the metabolism to "shut down", hence the induced hibernation.

Currently, there is no solid proof that humans are capable of hibernation, however, it is possible that all mammals can hibernate, it's just whether we forgot how to. If humans can hibernate though, there would be many potential uses of this new state. Sub-light space travel would require such a state to be possible in order to allow humans to survive the journey, people with incurable illnesses could be kept in a permanent hibernation state in hopes of a future cure, severe fevers could be stopped immediately and so on. The possiblities are nearly endless...

A new trick could one day put humans into a hibernation-like state without all the frigid antics of an Austin Powers movie or an Arthur C. Clarke story.

Using a natural chemical humans and other animals produce in their bodies, scientists have for the first time induced hibernation in mammals, putting mice into a state similar to suspended animation for up to six hours and then bringing them back to normal life.

The breakthrough suggests humans along with other mammals might harbor a mostly unused ability to hibernate on demand. Further research into the phenomenon could lead to medical advances, such as buying time for humans awaiting an organ transplant, scientists said.

Click here for the full article.

Power of the Mind?

2005-04-23T23:30:00.000+08:00

I just reached home from an afternoon and night at school doing my research project. I think I really need to go out more, but not to school. The good news of the day is that I managed to finish the code of the system in my research project that I've been trying to implement for past 2 weeks or so. The bad news is that I'm tired and I haven't had my shower, which means I'll probably sleep at 1 am or so (again).

Ok, onwards to the article. Really tired over here so pardon me if I make any mistakes. Well, today's article explores the world of the paranormal, the world of mind powers - levitation, mind-reading, remote viewing, telekenisis etc. The article not really a scientific one, but rather a more discussional piece on a movie named "What the Bleep Do We Know!?", complete with the author's own brand of sarcasm.

Well, nothing much to elaborate here. If you want to know more, go read the article. Its up to you to decide whether you want to believe in such mental powers or not, but in short, this article will give you a summary as to what people are claiming should be possible and, of course, the author's point of view...

Could it be that they're not all charlatans -- the Uri Gellers, the Amazing Kreskins, the "spoonbenders," paranormalists and mentalists? A 2004 movie still hot on the cult-house circuit and video-store shelves, "What the Bleep Do We Know!?" which canvasses all manner of New Age spiritualists, makes some startling claims about the unused potential of human gray matter.

"I believe it's endless," says "Bleep" co-director Betsy Chasse. "Anything we can dream up, we can do."

How endless?
Endless enough that New Jersey should take up Kreskin's offer to be the state's "watchdog," a role in which he'll suss out lying politicians through powers of cerebration?

Click here for the full article.

Girl with X-Ray Vision

2005-04-22T09:50:00.000+08:00

Forgot to mention that on Wednesday I also saw the famous patron of the Ministry of Sunrise (or MHA) aka hmmm... just realised I don't know how to spell her name... Haha nvm. Anyway I saw her at Taka as well, but with her boyfriend. So the moral of the story is... Go to Orchard (more specifically Taka) on Wednesdays for a more scenic shopping experience!

Now I am sure we've all watched Superman and know that he has the ability to see through things using his "X-Ray" vision. Well, there's this girl from Russia who claims to have the same ability, well almost. She claims to have to ability to see into people's bodies, to see their organs, their bones, their blood and diagnose diseases. So far, scientists from Russia, Europe, America and Japan have independently tested this girl on her ability and surprisingly, almost all of them (other than the American scientists) have confirmed, or at least not denied, her gift.

Now for a little backgound on this special girl. Her name is Natasha Demkina (Natasha seems to be a very common name for Russians), she's 17-years-old and comes from the city of Saransk, Russia. She is currently a student of the Semashko's Moscow Medical University and discovered her special ability one day when she "saw" the blood in her mother's blood running in the veins. To date, she has alread "X-rayed" thousands of people and most went away believers in her gift.

There are some of the remarkable things she has achieved in the tests conducted by the scientists, which usually consist of requiring Natasha to give an accurate diagnosis for each patient in a group. For example, she has successfully identified a patient with a prosthetic knee, a dog with a prosthetic leg implant and even another patient with a rare spinal curvature of which she made a drawing of that matched the patient's actual X-ray photo. All of this was done without prior knowledge of who the patients are going to be or what symptoms the patients have. In fact, she claims to be able to see diseases at such an early stage that doctors can't diagnose them yet, which unfortunately cannot be verified and only serves to degrade her reputation.

Whether or not this girl really has this ability or not may not be that significant on its own. However, if scientists discover that her gift is real, then they might just discover that all humans may have this ability as well, a hidden component of our vision, something that we've neglected for so long that its become dormant. And Oh, in case those of you with dirty minds are wondering, NO, she can't only see through peoples clothes and she can't see through walls...well not yet...

British and Japanese scientists acknowledged that the girl possesses an astounding ability to see people through

Pravda.Ru has already reported about 17-year-old Russian girl, Natasha Demkina, from the city of Saransk. The girl has become known for her astounding X-ray ability to see people through and diagnose diseases. Scientist became interested in the Russian girl's phenomenon: Natasha Demkina was invited to come to London and New York for scientific experiments. British researchers unanimously acknowledged Natasha's remarkable gift, whereas American scientists hesitated to come to such a conclusion. They did not like that fact that the girl successfully diagnosed diseases with only four patients out of seven. Natasha Demkina has recently passed a similar test in Tokyo, where Japanese scientists confirmed the gift of the Russian X-ray girl.

Natasha is currently a student of the Semashko's Moscow Medical University. Yoshio Machi, a professor of the Tokyo University, invited the girl to come to Tokyo to have her abilities tested again. Professor Machi is known in the world as a scientist, who studies unusual human abilities.

Click here for the full article.

New Matter Discovered

2005-04-21T08:22:00.000+08:00

I forgot to catch "Eye for a Guy 2" (EFAG2) last night, partly cos I was outside and reached home only just before the show started. Anyway, since we are on the topic of EFAG2, I read something about Denise Keller that could prove an interesting matter to someone we know. It was in yesterday's Today report that Denise likes guys with a sense of humor and likes cats! Yeah, so if the guy is a giant cat who has a (lame) sense of humor, he'd probably be her dream guy *hint*.

Another interesting thing that occured last night was that I saw Jeanette Aw up close (but unfortunately not personal) at Taka. In case you are wondering, I was there to meet a friend (Dexter for those who know him), but back to the Jeanette. It was actually by a stroke of luck that I saw her cos we were just riding the escalator up when we suddenly realised that the pretty lady in a pink T-shirt and jeans standing a few steps in front, chatting with her friend to her side and behind her, was Jeanette. Too bad I didn't get a good look, though overall, I think she looks as pretty as she does on TV (if not prettier), and she seemed slimmer and was actually taller than I expected.

Ok, I know, I digress. So on to today's article. Researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory have produced a new state of matter, what they call quark-gluon plasma (it's really amazing how they come up with these names). This state of matter, they claim, is the state at which all matter would look like possibly for a brief period after the "big-bang" creation of the Universe. Quarks and Gluons have been facinating scientists for quite a while as they basically make up all matter by being the constituent matter for protons and neutrons.

The quark-gluon plasma was created in the relatively new Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (another big name) aka atom smasher, by smashing two gold ions together at speeds very close to the speed of light. This new state is important as it will help scientists understand the forces that hold protons and neutrons together, which is a key area in nuclear physics. What's interesting is that the accumulated experiments done by scientists have shown that quarks and gluons, when liberated, are more work together in a more liquid-like manner than individualistic gas-like manner, which is different from what happens when atoms are broken up.

I don't really know what is the practical use of such knowledge. But I guess its always good to know more about what makes up matter’s structure, and who knows, we might find something good.

WASHINGTON: A team of researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory has produced a new state of matter - they call it quark-gluon plasma - which is a hot and dense liquid made of basic atomic particles.

The scientists claim in the early universe, possibly for a brief period after the "big-bang" creation of the universe, all matter would have looked like quark-gluon plasma.

"We have a new state of matter," announced Sam Aronson, associate laboratory director for High Energy and Nuclear Physics at the Laboratory. "We think we are looking at a phenomenon ... in the universe 13 billion years ago when free quarks and gluons ... cooled down to the particles that we know today," he added.

Click here for the full article.

First Nano-operated Robot

2005-04-20T08:20:00.000+08:00

Yeah, its finally Wednesday. Realised that this week seems to pass very very slowly. Maybe cos I've been doing too much, or maybe cos I haven't done enough. Haha. Dunno, getting a little crazy from the induced insomnia from work and my project work. I think I need a good, long night's sleep tonight (but who doesn't?).

Anyway, if the article I'm posting about is true, then I think we as Chinese, as Asians should be proud. Why? Cos China has (supposedly) built a prototype nano-robot that can "move atoms like people play chess or write on a tiny area that is as small as one-twentieth of the cross-section of a hair."

Why do I sound skeptical? Well, the lack of sleep is a possible reason, but more importantly, the article lacks any photos of this robot, there is no mention of a source, no quotes from scientists and no mention of any specifics. Of course, this could all be due to China's strict secrecy policy, but I would think such an accomplishment would, and should, be trumpeted. However, if this article is true, then I think we are on the verge of a technological revolution.

Nano-technology is the buzzword of our century as I mentioned in a previous post. And all the major powers of the world are rushing to build a nano-bot or nano-assembler that is capable of assembling items on the molecular level. Why? Cos if you can arrange the very atoms or molecules that make up a material, you can practically change all the properties of the material, and even make new materials or alloys that couldn't be made before. Monetary values of all precious metals, gems and such would fall, and whoever holds the most efficient nano-assembler(s) would, in theory, rule the world.

So, if China has successfully built this nano-robot, then I guess we can expect a much strong China in the very near future. However, I personally don't really trust this article, but I hope it is true, or at least that they are about to succeed. Hopefully confirmation of this will come soon, so that I can get a 10 carat diamond for my mom and my girlfriend without burning a hole in my pocket. :)

A nano-operated proto type robot has been successfully built in Shenyang, northeast of China.

The success has propelled China into a world leader in nano-operation technology.

Researchers at the Shenyang Automation Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, operate via a special microscope and computer screen the nano robot's hand, which is multi-million times smaller than a pinhead. The artificial hand can move atoms like people play chess or write on a tiny area that is as small as one-twentieth of the cross-section of a hair.

Click here for the full article.

Something about Haram

2005-04-19T08:21:00.000+08:00

In the big brouhaha about the 2 casi...er integrated resorts to open in Singapore by 2009, I noticed something that was highlighted - the fact that Islam treats gambling as a Haram (forbidden). Now, I've never heard that term before, which kinda made me curious. So in the interest of racial and religious harmony, and to further my quest to understand other religions, I went online to check it out.

Before I begin I would like to state that whatever I put in this post comes from my very shallow understanding of Islam (and Haram) through the sites I visited. So if I make any mistakes, please forgive my ignorance and correct me. Thank you.

Ok, back to haram. As far as I understand its part of the basic guiding principles of Islam, which are as follows:

Fardhu: that which is obligatory, like the daily prayers and fasting in Ramadhan;
Halal: that which is clearly permissible;
Haram: that which is clearly prohibited, like eating of pork;
Mubah: that which should be done in times of need, danger or emergency, such as the saving of lives by whatever means, mass donations or offering help for people of any race or religion afflicted by calamities;
Sunnat: that which is not obligatory to do but praise worthy to do, like the performance of the tarawih prayers during Ramadhan or blood donation; and
Makruh: that which is not haram, but good to avoid, like consuming too much sugar or salt or even smoking because of their obvious dangers to health.

So after finding out what is the meaning of haram, I set out to find what exactly is haram (or prohibited) in Islam, which includes the following:

1. The Pig
2. Blood of any animal
3. Carnivorous animals
4. Almost all reptiles and insects
5. The bodies of dead animals
6. Halal animals which are not slaughtered according to the Islamic Law.
7. Wine, Ethyl Alcohol, and Spirits
8. Gambling (which explains the casino view)

When I saw the list above, it brought to mind a question that I had about Islam, which I never asked any of my muslim friends before - why can't muslims eat pork? This is something, that as a Chinese, I've never been able to understand. So I read further into that and found some interesting snippets.

First and foremost, muslims don't eat pork because "in Islam, eating pork is sinful because God prohibits it. However, the Qur’an does not give the exact reason or reasons for the prohibition." This prohibitation is mentioned in the Qur'an in 4 chapters and, according to Muslim scholars, pork is bad for the soul. Coincidentally, the Old Testament of the Bible also has some verses that prohibit the consumption of pork. "The prohibition is mentioned in two books in the Old Testament, in Leviticus: Chapter 11, Verses 7 and 8 and in Deuteronomy: Chapter 14, Verse 8."

However, being more of a scientific person than a religious one, I read further to find the reason as to why people of the past could possibly have refrained from eating pork. Apparently the pig is a major carrier of many diseases and parasites. Eating of unclean pork can cause about 70 different types of diseases, although quite a number of those can be contracted through eating other meats as well. In addition, here's an interesting quote I found about pork.

Explaining that pork eating can transmit germs, Dr. Rizvi in his booklet on pork says, “In short, the pig, the supreme germ carrier, is the cause of many serious and fatal diseases, among them dysentery, trichinosis, tape worms, jaundice, pneumonia, suffocation, intestinal obstruction, acute pancreatitis, enlargement of the liver, diarrhea, high fever, hindering the growth development in children, typhoid, lameness, heart trouble, sterility and sudden death.”

Note the highlighted word. As this quote was taken from a non-scientific and non-medical website, I would not get too worried over what the good Dr. Rizvi has mentioned and still eat pork.

Other than the above 2 reasons, there are a few more reasons why the pig could have been less than a desirable food source. However, I don't think I have the time or space to go on, so I'll end it here. But, I must say that after reading up a little more about Islam, I have gained a new understanding of what being a muslim really means, and with that a new respect for muslims and Islam as a whole.

If you wish to know more about Islam or haram, you can visit this site or this site.

Who wants Luke Skywalker's arm?

2005-04-18T08:26:00.000+08:00

Woohoo! I can access Blogger from my office again. Yeah! No more posting late at night. Haha. It's Monday again, which is quite sad, but I guess this "gift" of being able to post from office has helped to brighten up my day a little. :) How did you guys spend your weekend? I, unfortunately, didn't manage to type much of my IA report. Instead I spent most of my weekend, or more correctly most of Sunday, sleeping and watching TV. Hai... I guess its the "weekend effect" - I just can't get myself to work on Sundays...

Now if you remember the Star Wars trilogy, you should remember the scene in "The Empire Strikes Back" where Darth Vader slices off Luke Skywalker's forearm in one quick, elegant stroke of his beautiful lightsaber, after (or was it before?) announcing that famous line "Luke, I am your father..." Well, luckily in the Star Wars universe, losing an arm wasn't much of a problem, as Luke soon got a replacement robotic arm that functioned totally like his orginal.

Well, Darpa, the Pentagon's blue-sky research division, has decided to speed up development of such an arm. The target is for a working prototype in 4 years or less. The exact description of what they want is a "neurally controlled artificial limb that will restore full motor and sensory capability to upper extremity amputee patients." But I'll just call it a LSA (Luke Skywalker's Arm), which I think is shorter and more descriptive.

The development of the LSA is not going to be easy. Darpa requires the LSA to have "enough finesse to pick up a raisin or to write in longhand...sensitive enough for the wearer to handle day-to-day tasks in the dark. And...strong enough to lift 60 pounds at a time." So basically, they are really pushing the limits as (even they admit) it's something that would require "breakthrough research" in multiple areas. But I guess, like what our SC104 mathematics lecturer said, "You'll only get as high a grade as you aim for, so aim higher." (or something like that...), so it's probably a good idea to have bigger dreams and greater ambitions, or we'll never improve...

Thought-controlled robotic limbs were only the beginning.

Scientists have had a string of remarkable successes lately, taking signals from the brains of monkeys and men, and using them to move mechanical arms.

Darpa, the Pentagon's blue-sky research division, now wants to ratchet that work up about ten notches, by developing a "neurally controlled artificial limb that will restore full motor and sensory capability to upper extremity amputee patients. This revolutionary prosthesis will be controlled, feel, look and perform like the native limb."

Click here for the full article.

Sunday is Rest-day

2005-04-17T22:29:00.000+08:00

Yup, I am announcing that from today onwards, until I change my mind (again) Sunday shall be my rest day from posting. ;) Think I need a day to sleep more and play some games. Haha. Plus I think I need to take my eyes of a PC monitor once a week, or I'll have to get spectacles soon...

Well, hope you guys had a restful and fruitful weekend! Take care and have a great week ahead! :)

Hate Bugs? Well, you'd better not travel back in Time.

2005-04-16T19:45:00.000+08:00

I'm in school making this post. Yup, taking a short break from my research project to do a little posting. Haven't actually started my IA report yet and, actually, I have no idea what to write in the report. Wonder why the school cannot live without reports. I mean, we are at the company for 5+ months and we show them our "completed" projects, so why do they still need a report? Ok ok, I know I'm whining again, but I just really don't like having to type reports...

Another thing I don't like is bugs, especially the big ones, like large cockroaches, giant bettles and such. Well, lucky for me and all those out there who don't like bugs, we don't live 300 million years ago. Why? Cos back then, 8-foot-long (2.4384 m) millipedes (called Arthropleura) were in control of the landscape. Scientists guessed the bug's size when they found fossilized tracks of such a creature in remote canyon in New Mexico.

These bugs existed in the Pennsylvanian period, which was before the dinosaurs. According to paleontologists guesses, these bugs were "probably out patrolling the forest floor eating smaller bugs - which were still pretty big by today's standards - and maybe eating small vertebrates". However, what killed them of was climate change. The air back then consisted of 30% oxygen, which is much more than the 21% now. So the Arthropleura probably died from "suffocation".

Well, whatever the reasons for its demise, I'm glad that giant bugs the size of humans (or larger) are no longer around. Otherwise, I think, our NS days would probably resemble a scene from the movie Starship Troopers...

Think mosquitoes and millipedes are nasty?

Then don't look too deeply into New Mexico's past.

Today, you can squish the tiny bugs, but 300 million years ago, 8-foot-long millipedes were in control of the landscape, and humans weren't even a gleam in evolution's eye.

New Mexico is now a world record holder of such "exquisitely grotesque creatures," as one worker at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science calls them. Evidence of the largest arthropleura - its technical name - ever found was recovered by the museum on Friday.

Click here for the full article.

I want that shoe!

2005-04-15T21:45:00.000+08:00

Woohoo! The weekend is here again. Finally I can get some rest and relaxation, something that I am seriously, seriously lacking. Unfortunately, I think I have to type my IA report over the weekend cos I'm planning (have to) to submit my first draft by the week after next (i.e. the 25th of Apr). I can't believe our IA is almost over. In some ways I'm looking forward to its end, cos I can rest, yet I know I would definitely miss the tutorial-free nights and totally free weekends.

Well, if you have been monitoring the news, or more correctly, advertisements, you'd know about the new adidas shoe is out. I think about a year back they announced its development. What's so special about this shoe? Well, it has a microchip inside. And its no puny one either - it's capable of 5 million calculations per second (sweet!).

Adidas developed this shoe with the runner in mind. Basically, what the microchip does is adjust the shock absorbing cylinder at the heel of the shoe. This adjustment is made by sensors that "monitors changes in weight, pace and surface type over 1000 times per second." From these measurements, the microchip calculates how much it should turn the mini-motor to tighten or loosen the cable connected to the shock absorbing cylinder, hence providing better protection for the runner.

To make things even better, adidas even put in a mini control panel at the insole of the shoe so that the wearer can adjust the softness or firmness of the heel. The bad news is, it costs a bomb (of course), it is currently a limited edition, and the thing runs on batteries (i.e. it'll run out of juice one day, and there's no mention on how to change the batteries).

So, simply put, this would be my dream shoe (and I seldom dream of shoes...), but I won't buy it for 2 reasons. The first is of course the prohibitive cost, while the second is that I know that I wouldn't be able to contain my curiousity for long, so I'll soon tear apart the shoe to see how the innards work (which is definitely not the best way to spend my hard earned $$). Yup, so I'd probably wait a few years (or decades) till I can buy it at some $ale! Yes I admit I'm CheapSkate, but if you aren't a cheapskate go buy one, and I'll help you do the honours by tearing it apart.

No quote today cos the adidas site is made using flash. However, I'll post this cool pic. And oh, in case you are wondering, the shoe is called the Adidas_1. Guess the Adidas engineers won this round of the "Name the Shoe" game.

Click here to go to the Adidas site.

Another Reason Not to get caught in the Rain

2005-04-14T19:33:00.000+08:00

Its been raining quite a bit lately, and while I don't really mind the cool weather it brings along, I don't really like getting wet. Now I’m sure all your moms would have told you not to get caught in the rain as you could catch a cold. Well, if the research in this article proves true, you could catch more than just a simple cold when you get caught in the rain.

Tiny particles, what microbiologists call nanobacteria, have been linked to a series of painful and sometimes fatal illnesses. Nanobacteria are 100 times smaller than typical bacteria and have been found in kidney stones, arterial plaques and ovarian cancers. However, the cause-and-effect link between these bacteria and the diseases has not been properly established or proven, and microbiologists aren’t sure how these bacteria infect humans.

These nanobacteria are hard to kill as they can withstand all the typical conditions that would kill normal bacteria. Hence, some microbiologists claim that they aren’t living organisms, but some form of unknown crystals or another form of the newly discovered micro-organism Archea. Such nanobacteria have been observed to build shells of calcium phosphate around themselves and have been found in some of the calcium deposits that cause kidney stones, ovarian cancer and calcification of arteries. This is worrying as such nanobacteria could be the cause for countless other calcification-related diseases, and yet there is no proper knowledge yet on how to kill these organisms or how infectious they are.

The theory is that such nanobacteria can be transported through the atmosphere and “hitch a ride” on clouds to travel across the world. However, researchers say that when brought back to ground level (due to gravity) in their dry, inactive form, such bacteria should cause little harm. But those returning in rain drops, after having been incorporated for some time in long-lived clouds, could pose a bigger problem as they stand a higher chance of being revitalised.

Well, whatever it is, knowing such micro-organisms exist in our atmosphere and in our rain just lends more weight to our mother’s argument to not play, or get caught in the rain. Guess mom does know best!

Tiny particles linked to a number of painful and sometimes deadly diseases may spread across the globe by hitching a ride in clouds, claim researchers in a recent issue of the Journal of Proteome Research.

The particles, known as nanobacteria, are 100 times smaller than typical bacteria and have been found in kidney stones, arterial plaques and ovarian cancers.

But scientists have yet to agree whether the particles actually cause the diseases or how they infect humans. Also unknown is whether the particles are life forms or an unknown type of crystal -- a rift that has sparked one of the biggest controversies in modern microbiology.

Click here for the full article.

Who wants to live Forever?

2005-04-13T23:37:00.000+08:00

If you ever had thoughts about living forever, or at least up to 1000 years, then all you need is to wait another 25 years, so say scientists. Yup, apparently scientists are on track to finding the cure for aging.

This Sci-Fi sounding dream could possibly be accomplished by modifying our genomes to include genetic material that would enable us to break down the junk proteins that our cells amass over time and which they can’t digest on their own. These junk proteins or toxins are the basis as to what causes aging. Other targets to achieve immortality include replacing cells that are lost, stopping cells that multiply as in cancer, preventing mutations in chromosomes and mitochondria, the cells’ power plants, and, getting rid of “extracellular protein crosslinks” which cause hardening of the arteries. Once all of these are achieved, humans could live forever, barring accidents of course.

The problem here is again a moral - Would you want to live forever? Would you still be human if you live forever? The second question is especially perplexing. Humans are, by definition, mortals - i.e. we will die one day. So, if you become immortal, what are you?

As for the whether you'd want to live forever, well, its up to you (provided our beloved gahment doesn't make it compulsory). Personally, I really wonder whether I would want to live so long. The thought of working my a*s off for the next 40+ years is already daunting enough. Can you visualise having to work for the next 400 years? I know I wouldn't want that. But the idea of it is tempting. Imagine being able to see all the scientific discoveries (space travel, life on Mars, time travel even) and all the cultural changes (a world government?). In any case, we'll all have at least 25 years to ponder.

Time may indeed be on your side. If you can just last another quarter century.

By then, people will start lives that could last 1,000 years or more. Our human genomes will be modified to include the genetic material of microorganisms that live in the soil, enabling us to break down the junk proteins that our cells amass over time and which they can’t digest on their own. People will have the option of looking and feeling the way they did at 20 for the rest of their lives, or opt for an older look if they get bored. Of course, everyone will be required to go in for age rejuvenation therapy once every decade or so, but that will be a small price to pay for near-immortality.

This may sound like science fiction, but Aubrey de Grey thinks this could be our reality in as little as 25 years. Other scientists caution that it is far from clear whether and for how long science can stall the inevitable.

Click here for the full article and here for another similar, but more interesting article.

Bayes' Theorem used to Prove God Exists...

2005-04-12T20:32:00.000+08:00

As a start, I shall announce that this post is not a religious one, so please read it with a light heart. It is not a post to promote or discredit any religion. It's just a post about some risk assessor in Ohio, who decided to "prove" the existence of God or a Supreme Being, using probability - Bayes's Theory to be exact. And the result? He found that there's a 67% chance that God exists.

How'd he get that figure? Well, he started with a 50-50 chance and then factored in evidence for and against the notion of an omnipotent power (such as natural good and evil). From there, its just a simple case of mathematics. However, the evidence used wasn't exactly very "solid" or scientific, but hey, we aren't discussing something exactly scientific here either.

I'm sure that most of us believe in (a form of) God, so it wouldn't really be necessary to do this. But for those of you who aren't really convinced, and are mathematically inclined, you might want to try finding the odds out yourself. It just goes to show that our secondary school mathematics isn't just for handling the GCE O-Levels.

Here's some good news for the supreme being - a scientist has calculated that there is a 67 percent chance that God exists.

I bet God's grateful for that. In fact, a spokesman for God confirmed that He was gratified that he can continue to call himself "I Am," as he says in the Old Testament of the Bible - although if the scientist is correct, God may have to call himself "I Probably Am."

Maybe not.

The God odds come from a book by Dr. Stephen Unwin, a risk assessor in Ohio who graduated from Manchester University in England. He used a 200-year-old formula to calculate the possibility - now a probability - of a supreme being. The formula, called "Bayes' Theory," is usually used to calculate the likelihood of events such as nuclear power failure by balancing various factors that could affect a situation.

Click here for the full article.

Metallic Glass

2005-04-11T22:00:00.000+08:00

Finally I get to post...I'm wondering whether its my office proxy server that's causing the problem, or is it really Blogger's problem. Anyway, here's the post I typed this morning but was unable to publish.

This morning my bus was slightly late, which resulted in the bus getting very crowded. I'm mentioning this not to gripe about SBS again, but to praise the bus driver. He's one of the few bus drivers who bother to wish people "Good Morning" when you get on the bus. However, what made me notice him even more was the fact that he actually stopped the bus, opened the door, stood up and said, "I'm sorry, the bus is too crowded. Please wait for the next bus." to a potential passenger who wanted to board the bus at a further bus stop. So kudos to the bus driver of bus number 145, which stopped at Redhill MRT station at around 8:03AM.

For those of you who remember the movie "Terminator 2", you'd probably rememeber the T2000 (the evil robot), that was made up of liquid metal. Well, scientists have started to develop a smiliar material which they call metallic glass. So what's so special about this "new" metal? Its three times stronger than the best industrial steel and 10 times springier, the only problem - its brittle.

If you still remember your secondary school chemistry, you'd remember that metals have their molecules locked in a orderly manner, like a cystal. Glass on the other hand does not have this orderly internal "formation" of molecules, rather it has a liquid like arrangement, where all the molecules lie in a random order. Which is also why some people term glass as a super-cooled liquid. So, if you haven't guessed it already, metallic glass is a metal molecules made to "harden" in a glass like arrangement.

This metallic glass was initailly made by pouring molten metal onto a cold, rapidly rotating copper cylinder, making sheets of "superfrozen" amorphous metal. However, this allowed for the production of sheets only a few nanometres thick. Current techniques require the mixing of other materials with large molecules into the metal. These large molecules dramatically slow down the crystalisation process in the metal, thus allowing the creation of sheets of metallic glass alloy that are thicker.

Well, the future of this metallic glass seems bright, with many organisations like medical equipment makers, the US Defence Department and Samsung expressing interest. So, in the near future, we might be surrounded by "terminator" metal products.

IN THE movie Terminator 2, the villain is a robot made of liquid metal. He morphs from human form to helicopter and back again with ease, moulds himself into any shape without breaking, and can even flow under doorways.

Now a similar-sounding futuristic material is about to turn up everywhere. It is called metallic glass. In the past year, researchers have made metallic glass three times stronger than the best industrial steel and 10 times springier. Almost a match for the Terminator, in other words.

Metallic glass sounds like an oxymoron, and in a way it is. It describes a metal alloy with a chaotic structure. While metal atoms normally arrange themselves in ordered arrays, or crystals, the atoms in a metallic glass are a disordered jumble, rather like the atoms in a liquid or a glass. And although strictly speaking a metallic glass isn't a liquid, because the atoms are fixed in place, one company is already marketing the stuff as "liquid metal".

Click here for the full article.

Sleep Paralysis

2005-04-09T18:50:00.000+08:00

Sleep paralysis is something we all wouldn't want to experience, but I think some of us may have. A more local and familiar term for this would probably be "getting pressed by a ghost" or Bei Gui Ya, in pingying (btw can somebody tell me how to put Chinese characters in here??). Well, other than the supernatural explanation for this, there is a scientific one, which would definitely make the experience much less frightful than it is.

Sleep paralysis, as it turns out, is a natural state of the body. When we are in our REM sleep cycle, we dream, and to prevent us from acting out our dreams, our brain naturally shuts down certain neurons in the spinal cord. What this results in is a semi-paralysis, where we have absolutely no control over our bodies other than our those parts that are directly connected to our brains (ie. the eyes, mouth, etc).

So, if we are abruptly wakened during our REM sleep, whether due to external or some internal stimilus, our brains are sometimes unable to de-activate the induced paralysis in time, resulting in the sensation of sleep paralysis, where we are unable to move our bodies, even though we are "awake". And because we were dreaming during the REM cycle, sometimes these dreams "continue" into our semi-awake brains, resulting in possible hallucinations or sensations.

How to avoid such experiences? Well, for starters we can avoid the possibility of external stimuli being the cause by trying to keep our rooms as quiet as possible and as tidy as possible (we all know how loud something sounds when it falls and hits the floor). Also, try to avoid internal stimuli, which may be caused by fear (eg. after seeing a very scary movie) or stress or grief or other strong emotions that may carry into your dreaming state. So try to avoid getting yourself into situations where you'll experience such emotions (like watching a very scary movie in the first place), especially near bed time.

You forget how powerful words can be until you wake up one night completely paralysed, unable to control your lungs, and overwhelmingly incapable of calling for help. When I was 16 years old and only mildly under the romantic influence of science fiction shows like The X-Files, and alien abduction movies like Fire In the Sky, I woke up in the middle of the night convinced that I was under the influence of some alien force.

In my bedroom, on my back and under my covers, completely unable to twitch a single muscle, I awoke convinced that I was somehow suffering from a serious illness. But when I tried calling out to my mother, who slept light and would hear my practiced call, I wasn’t able to take the prescribed deep pre-yelling breath. I wasn’t able to even vocalise the tiniest peep.

I knew I wasn’t asleep, and I became vaguely aware that something didn’t ‘feel right’ about my room. That’s when I saw the shapes: At both corners of the far end of my bed, against a blank white wall, there were two fuzzy dark shadows where I was sure there shouldn’t have been any. Maybe one was a sweater, hanging on top of my desk chair, I thought. But no, I could see my desk chair in the corner. I tried yelling for my mom again, and failed.

Click here for the full article.

Got Milk?

2005-04-08T08:45:00.000+08:00

Last evening I got caught in the rain on the way back to school for my research project. That makes it the 5th day in a row that I've had to walk under the rain. And, as usual, the rain started when I stepped out from under the shelter of my block and stopped when I got under shelter at school. I'm sensing a pattern here...

Anyway, more than a week ago, my friend Snowywolf (thank you for giving me a topic) brought up this topic about milking cows. So, I spent quite a number of hours searching online for "Who was the First to milk a Cow?" Unfortunately, I have failed. It seems that no one really knows who was the first human to milk a cow. However, I did manage to find some interesting information about milk that I thought I should share. At the same time, this post would conclude my "official" search for the answer to the question posed by Snowywolf (although, I might continue some clandestine investigations ;) when I have time of course...)

One major reason why no one has found the answer to the questions is because milk was discovered very very long ago - approximately 10,000 BC. That's about 12,000 years ago, and they probably didn't have much in terms of writing back then. The era then was known as the agricultural revolution, when humans started to settle down from their hunter-gatherer roaming ways. The word milk itself is of ancient origin. "It can be traced back to our Indo-European ancestors, who used a verb something like *melf- for wiping' or stroking'".

Milk is one of mankind's most ancient foods, and is mentioned 47 times in the Old Testament of The Bible, which also proves its importance. However, the first animal to be milked probably wasn't the cow, but some smaller animal like the sheep or goat or lamb. The earliest evidence of domestication of cows dates back 7000 to 8000 years ago in South-Western Asia, while the keeping of sheep and goats date back to the started of the agricultural revolution.

Humans have also tried to (and gotten) milk most of the animals we have domesticated as well, except for the pig (we are a curious species aren't we?). The oldest known record of animals being kept in herds and milked is a series of cave painting that date back to 5000BC. The Sumerians and Egyptians also have records of drinking milk and even have some recepies on how to prepare some milk products (like yogurt).

The people of the classical world were known to have treated fresh milk as a delicacy, only made available to the rich and royalty, mainly because of the difficulty in keeping the milk from going bad (which would take only a few hours). However, this changed in the modern world with the advent of refrigeration and milk processing techniques like Pasteurization, which allowed milk to be stored for longer periods. So treasure the milk you drink, its a delicacy...

As for cows, archeologist therorise that the Neolithic farmers probably brought their herds along as they colonised new land, hence spreading cows and spreading the idea of milk as a food source. The majority of dairy cows in America, however, came from a much more recent time - the time of Christopher Columbus. When he discovered (or rediscoverd) America, he did not bring along any cows and the lack of milk was said to have contributed to the high death rate, particularly of the young cabin boys. Hence, it became English law that each ship destined for The New World had to carry one cow for every five passengers on board, and the cows where then sold when the ship arrived in America.

Ok, that concludes my post about milk, and although I didn't manage to answer Snowywolf's question, I hope that this post will suffice for now... (Can?? OK?? Pass??) ;)

The history of milk is a complicated and interesting topic. Generally, the emergence of milk as a food traces back to the agricultural revolution, 10,000BC. Prehistoric hunter-gatherers captured animals but did not domesticate them. Once people had the wherewithall to settle down, they domesticated animals and learned to utilize their byproducts. Dairy foods (milk, cheese, yogurt) flourished. Pasteurization [1861] played a significant role in the history milk production.

Click here for the full article.

Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus (VRE)

2005-04-07T08:28:00.000+08:00

On the way to work today, I saw the rising Sun. Although, that's nothing special in general, but this morning it felt like I haven't seen the morning Sun in quite a while, and it felt good. I guess I never really realised how much the Sun brightens up the day...

Anyway today's post is on something that has gotten me very irritated with the Singapore healthcare system, and specifically the Singapore General Hospital (SGH). Its about the recent cases of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus (VRE). I'm sure those of you who have been watching the news would have noticed the 50+ cases of VRE identified at SGH.

Now to appreciate the situation better, I went to check up on VRE, to see if we should get worried. So what is VRE? Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus is a mutant strain of Enterococcus that originally developed in individuals who were exposed to the antibiotic. Vancomycin is a powerful antibiotic that is often the antibiotic of last resort, and is generally limited to use against bacteria that are already resistant to penicillin and other antibiotics. VRE does not pose a threat to healthy people. However, it does pose a threat to those with weak immue systems, like the young, the old and the very ill.

The catch here is that healthy people can become carriers for the disease, with no symptoms whatsoever. Once you become a carrier, you can stay infected anywhere from a few days, to years and even for life (chronic carrier). If you become a chronic carrier, VRE will become a timebomb living within your body, just waiting for your immune system to get weak. Also, a carrier could pass VRE to other people with weak immune systems in the general public, people who are living outside the hospital, people who have chronic diseases.

Another danger of VRE is its ability to pass its antibiotic resistant genes to other, more dangerous bacteria like staph and strep. These 2 bacteria can cause serious infections even in healthy individuals and, once resistant to Vancomycin there's few antibiotics that can be used to treat the infection other than a few new (and very expensive) antibiotics.

Why am I so concerned about this? Well, for one its because SGH and the Ministry of Health seem to want to downplay the seriousness of this. Secondly, my girlfriend is working in SGH in a ward with infected patients, and thirdly, (for those of you who know) my mom isn't exactly the healthiest person on Earth.

Why am I so irritated? Cos SGH identified VRE cases quite a while ago (I personally suspect much earlier than the publicly announced March), and yet hospital administration let it spread. The worse thing is that is has been allowed to spread between wards (about 8 I think). Now, how can a "world-class" hospital with experience in handling SARS let a bacteria such as VRE run amok in its wards, and yet still allow new patient admissions and visitors to these very same wards. I don't know about you, but I would consider such actions very irresponsible.

Whoever it was that let the media know about VRE has done a very good thing. Why? Cos now SGH is forced to do tests on all its patients - something it has refused to do previously. Without the media, I think that SGH would have simply kept to its irresponsible ways and continue to allow VRE to spread, hoping that it would somehow die down on its own.

So for those of you who have any trip planned to SGH, please try to postphone it, even though the chances of catching VRE is (supposedly) low. But if it can't be avoided, like my mom's doctor appointments, do take the following precautions:

Fastidious hygiene is the best way to avoid ingesting VRE and becoming a carrier. VRE is a robust bacteria and has been found on hospital personnel's hands after five seconds of hand washing. It is recommended that you wash your hands for twenty seconds with an antibacterial soap every time before you eat. (Note that this means right before you eat. If you are eating in a restaurant and have been handling the menu, you could have picked up VRE. Wash your hands thoroughly before you pick up that piece of bread.)

Note that the most likely place to pick up VRE is probably the door handle of the rest room. Consider using the towel you dried your hands with as a protective shield when you open the door.

Avoid hospitals, as this is the only documented source of VRE in the U.S. If you do go to a hospital to visit someone, maintain fastidious hygiene throughout your visit. Avoid eating while at the hospital, and especially avoid eating hospital food.

In general, avoid taking antibiotics. You don't want to become a breeding ground for an antibiotic-resistant infection.

Click here for more on VRE.

Want a USB drive cum MP3 player cum GhostRadar?

2005-04-06T08:26:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I was caught in the rain yet again. It started to rain at my office when I left and rained all the way back to my home. I think I should go buy 4D or Toto today, cos there's a Chinese (or Cantonese) saying that water implies wealth or something like that. Oh well...

I really have to take my hat off to the Japanese for their unbelievable creativity. I think that Japan has to be the country with the most "cute" or weird trinkets being sold in the world. Today's article is about a Japanese company, which, to sell its data storage drives (or USB thumb drives), have come up with a variety of models. They started with the Sushi Drive and Rubber Duck drive that are shaped as they are named of course. Now, they've come up with a USB drive that functions as a MP3 Player and a Ghost Radar.

Whether the ghost radar really works is questionable, but it definitely is a novelty, and a good way to scare some of your friends. In theory the radar works by detecting unusual magnetic waves and also reacts to body heat and perspiration detected by a sensor where users place their thumbs. In response to any "detection" the unit will beep and flash red lights.

Currently, it's only on sale in Japan, and it is going to be sold in the US. But I wonder if we can ever see it in Singapore, with all the constantly updated laws implemented by our beloved gahment...

TOKYO — The Japanese company that launched popular computer data storage units shaped like rubber ducks and sushi started selling a new product Friday — a ghost detector.

SolidAlliance Corp.'s portable GhostRadar beeps and flashes red lights in response to unusual magnetic waves. It also reacts to body heat and perspiration detected by a sensor where users place their thumbs.

The gadgets went on sale Friday in Japan and the first shipments to the United States are on their way, said SolidAlliance Vice President Yuichiro Saito.

Click here for the full article.

Did Uranus cause the recent Sea Quakes?

2005-04-05T08:17:00.000+08:00

Here's an interesting theory - Uranus, the 7th planet from the sun, and about 3 billion kilometers from Earth, is causing the recent quakes of Sumatra. Seems a little far fetched, well, I have to say that I agree, but its an alternative viewpoint all the same, and may well be the truth.

Anyway, Uranus is supposedly closer to Earth than it normally is (2.59 billion km instead of the usual 3.14 billion km) as its orbit is elliptical. Hence, according to the report, its strong magnetic field is sucking out Earth's tectonic plates, thus causing the strong quakes we've been seeing so far. The bad news is that Uranus is plotted to stay in this "near-Earth" orbit till about 2012, so (if the theory holds true), be prepared for more uncanny Uranus induced natural disasters.

While the fact that Uranus' magnetic field is very strong (it has rings and at least 18 moons) whether it can affect Earth, especially through the great distance and through countless objects in space (including several large planets), is suspect. However, in Space many things that seem impossible could become possible, so this theory could still be true. But, in my opinion, the chances of this being the true cause is as good as my theory that (lately) Cat's lame limping leg caused unsual vibrations in the Earth's crust that resonated all the way from Singapore to Sumatra causing that already stressed fault line to slip, resulting in the sea quakes! :P

Uranus may be responsible for recent devastating Asian sea quakes because the mystery-shrouded "planet of calamity" is unusually close to the Earth, tabloid newspaper readers in Germany were warned on Wednesday.

Under the front-page headline "Uncanny Uranus", the report in theBild newspaper cited an array of experts, ranging from Nasa scientists to TV astrologers, saying the seventh planet from the sun possesses a "quadripolar" magnetic field that acts as "a giant cosmic vacuum cleaner".

This heavenly Hoover is literally sucking the Earth's tectonic plates out of their beddings, according to Bild, Europe's largest daily newspaper with more than five million readers.

Click here for the full article.

Déjà vu revisited...

2005-04-04T21:51:00.000+08:00

Today I was not in my office for most of the day, in fact I reached my office only at 3pm, so I had to rush a bit of work. The main reason for my absence was a feedback session held at the Science Park branch of my company for all the IA students to give ideas on how the IA programme can be improved. The programme actually ended at about 1:30pm, but we took a bus back (to save $$), which, unfortunately, did not stop in front of our office. So, I had to walk in the rain (yes it was raining again) all the way back to my office. Seems like I've got a great affinity for rain lately...

Ok, back to the article. More than a month ago I posted an article on déjà vu. Well, here's a continuation of sorts. Actually its more of an in-depth explanation of the theories researchers have put forward to explain déjà vu, and there are quite a few. The problem is that the brain is such a complex organ that we haven't even begun to understand how it works.

The most popular theory now is that delayed neurological transmission is responsible. Basically, this theory states that déjà vu is the result of a split second delay between the signals travelling into the processing centres, kind of like how a computer program gives weird outputs if the hardware isn't connected properly.

Another theory is claims that déjà vu is a result of insufficient attention. In this case, the supposed cause of déjà vu is the result of the person seeing something, but not noticing it at that point in time (eg. when you see something through your peripheral vision). But this image is subconsicously recorded in your mind, so when you see a similar image later (possibly when you actually focus on the object), you get a sense of déjà vu.

Well, there are a couple of other theories mentioned inside the article, so if you are interested to know more you can read up. One interesting point that was mentioned was that déjà vu experiences tend to occur when a person is tired or stressed. So, if you are having déjà vu frequently, it could mean that it's time to take a nap. ;)

You're driving down the bustling main street of a picturesque little town you have never visited before. The traffic light turns red, you stop, and an old lady steps into the crosswalk from the left. All of a sudden you are overcome with a feeling that you have been here before--in the same car, at the same crosswalk, with the same woman stepping off the curb in the same way. Yet by the time she reaches your front bumper, you realize the scene no longer matches quite so well with what you thought you were recalling. And you do know you have not been here previously. The familiarity is broken.

Various studies indicate that 50 to 90 percent of us can recall having had at least one such déjà vu incident in our lives. We experience a vague sense of having encountered a situation before, identical in every detail, even though we can't say when the first event took place. Usually the sensation lasts only a few seconds. Teens and young adults stumble on the dreamlike state more often than older adults, yet people of all ages experience déjà vu, especially when they are either fatigued or overly aware because of stress. A few people sense the inverse of déjà vu, called jamais vu. When they encounter a familiar person or place, they nonetheless insist they have never seen the individual or scene before.

Click here for the full article.

Fire in the Hole!

2005-04-03T22:40:00.000+08:00

Today was a tiring day, mostly cos I slept late last night (~3am) and woke up early this morning (~7am). Plus, I spent the whole day out, half of which was spent on a failed expedition to see the tree-top bridge at Macritchie reservior. Heaven wasn't exactly on our side. Why? Cos it rained when we started our trek into the jungle, and stopped when we decided to abandon our quest. Haha. I guess we weren't fated to see the treetop bridge, but it was an adventure nonetheless...

Anyway, robotics have always been a pet interest of mine and so today I'll be posting about a robot. Its not one of those Sony dancing robots but a defence robot, and a gun totting one at that. In fact, this one carries a mobile grenade launcher (WhooHooo! Gimme its remote control!). Basically, its nothing new. Its nothing like the Terminator robots, but just a tracked "buggy" with a gun mounted on top. In fact an earlier version that carries a machine gun has been deployed in Iraq already. However, what's so special is its targetting and the accuracy of its shots, plus the fact that its more "expendable" than a human being.

Well, I hope that one day soon, wars could be fought using robots controlled by humans far away, so that less lives would be lost. Of course having no wars would be the best, but I guess that's too big a step for most of humankind to take right now...

Those of you who found the idea of gun-toting robots a little creepy should probably click away right now. Because the Army has just finished testing out a unmanned ground vehicle, or UGV, that obliterates its foes with electrically-fired grenades.

The robot is the same modified Talon UGV that's now on its way to Iraq, to watch the back of Stryker armored vehicles on patrol. But instead of carrying a M249 machine gun, like the Iraq-bound robo-grunt, this Talon has been armed by Metal Storm Limited -- the Australian firm famous for its million-round-a-minute gun.

Click here for the full article.