Connection to Singapore sites down

All connection to SG-related domains seem to be dead for the past 24 hours if not more. I thought it was a problem with one site, but seems to affect all .sg related.

London Underground/Oyster - RIP OFF!

London Underground/Oyster recently introduced this new ruling to remind all users to touch in/touch out of the gates at the gantry to ensure that they are paying the correct fare. I thought it was a good strategy to catch people who has been dodging fares until I became a victim of their system myself over the weekend which is aimed at protecting their maximum profits with little or no concern for the millions of passengers like me.

The story goes that the gantry at Oxford Circus was apparently faulty on 26 Nov and it did not register my Oyster card when I touched in and I ended up paying a maximum fine of £4 for nothing (See screenshot). I went to argue at the tube counter today but I was not sure if it was the stupidity of the staff over at the counter or they simply did not see a point to entertain an Asian like me. After trying to explain my situation for 10 min and thoroughly annoying the long queue that was fast snaking behind me, I simply gave up with a Oyster card registration form that has a Helpdesk number to call. And you probably guessed it, it is not a Free number! I swear I am going to avoid the tube at all costs in future and going back to my faithful bike and reliable pair of legs instead.

Mating Cuttlefish

My dive buddy just came back from her trip to Malapascua Island, north of Cebu, and hugely famed for its thresher sharks. Although she only did manage to have a 2 sec glimpse of the elusive, she did manage to capture this video of mating cuttlefish which is pretty amazing itself.

You can see that the female was trying to push her eggs into the cavities while the male tries to fertilize them with his sperm. That's when the other jealous male comes into the picture trying to establish his presence and take the female to himself.

Help to stop high sea bottom trawling

Scientists world wide support a UN moratorium on high seas bottom trawling as a stop gap measure allowing time to do the research needed to ensure sustainable fishing. And thanks in part to thousands of letters from Ocean Defenders, many governments now also support the moratorium.

Do you part and send this video to your friends!

Email to a Friend

'Only 50 years left' for sea fish

A major report highlighting the depletion of current fish stock seems to be as bad news as the global warming news that was first reported at the beginning of this week. It again goes to show the extent our damage to this fragile earth without much consideration of the future. I am not against humans to eat fish, but feel that the way we can harvesting the catch is simply non-sustainable. Demand for seafood grows everyday and fisherman are more than happy to continue to feed this demand by looking for more supply, somewhere, somehow...I think we can all do a part by actively making sure that the produce that we buy from our fishmonger/supermarkets have their supplies come from responsible fisheries. At the end of the day, what will the oceans become if there are no longer any fish in it?

Iceland Breaks Whale-Hunt Ban, Kills Fin Whale

Breaking news of today showed how a nation can be ridiculous enough to say that whales are no longer in danger of extinction and managed to convinced itself that it can start to hunt it for "studies". I am seriously convinced to advocate people whom I know to not visit the country and boycott their products.

Weddings = Sharks fins?

Our friends from Deep Blue Scuba recently sent this to their members. I think what they are doing is fantastic, as we all should, to have some responsibility towards the fearsome creatures of the sea, and not just keen to get more people to pick up scuba diving.










(Extract)
" The industry certifies more and more divers with each diving season but the sharks in our seas become fewer and fewer with passing days. Why does this happen?

Let’s observe what happens around us. We keep receiving promotions from major credit card companies promoting Sharks Fins Restaurants. We keep seeing programmes on TV promoting “exquisite” cuisines with shark fin as ingredient. Here we are as divers, on one hand, saying NO to sharks Fins, and yet at the same time, on the other hand, we are amongst the culprits—the consumers driving the sharks to the brink of extinction. On average, 80 sharks are killed for ONE Chinese wedding dinner. 80 sharks just for the sake of following tradition and custom. How many Chinese weddings dinners are there every week in Singapore?

( I attended 4 this year alone )
Times that number by 80 and you get the number of sharks dying every week. Think then about the dinners in Malaysia, in Hong Kong, in Taiwan, in China. Do your part, Say NO to Shark Fins before the family of 5 blacktips at Renggis are gone too."

Few readings (Dozens of articles on the net if you do a google search on sharks fin):
http://smallurl.co.uk/?408
http://smallurl.co.uk/?409
http://smallurl.co.uk/?410
http://www.sharktrust.org/

New photos

Added links to the pictures I took during recent trips to Romania and Bahamas.

The joy of going "tube-less"

Gone are the days when I stand on one of the platforms cursing and swearing at another delay in the tube frequencies. Over the past month, I have been cycling to work with the bike that I have inherited from my girlfriend (It's a ladies bike, but she felt it was too high after buying from a colleague). It's quite a refreshing change especially after my company just moved from a building directly above Chancery Lane tube station to somewhere in the middle of Fleet Street, and also in the middle of 4 different tube stations, all about the same walking distance. To take the bus in the morning hour rush is pure suicidal. And I reckon the time to walk from one of the tube stations to my office probably takes half the time I require to get to work on my new found transport. Last weekend, I ordered a GPS gadget from eBay hoping that I can use it for my coming trip to the Caribbean. Unfortunately, I was too optimistic thinking that my winning item will arrive in time. BUT luckily, this wonderful colleague of mine lent me his GPS gadget for this trip and here I have, just like a school kid, having my first go at it by plotting my route back home this evening. It was pretty accurate, except on 2 occasions where it indicated that I "dived" into the Thames, and cycled straight into Big Ben.

An Inconvenient Truth - Why are we still avoiding this issue

Last night, I caught this film with a like-minded friend in a theatre off SOHO. To summarize briefly, it part documentary and part Al Gore presentation style which shows him on embarking on a very different journey after the his presidential loss to Bush in 2000. I think it's a tremendous effort by him to raise the awareness of how the health of planet Earth is increasingly deteriorating. I am still very much disturbed by many of my peers who seem to hold little or no responsibilities to making sure that we do our little bit of what we can to help the cause. Maybe that is why Al Gore is right to say that maybe the biggest push factor to make people aware of the damage that we have caused to the environment is by going through the political path. I still want the economies to prosper, but I am sure there are other ways to help to push economies without doing more harm to our already fragile environment. I strongly believe that is something that can be achieved, and if the world stands together for a cause, similar to how the world stood together to fight SARs, I don't see why it is not possible. The papers this week highlighted the amount of money spend by the world in the arms race, wouldn't it be more sensible to put that amount to help find ways tot combat global warming with minimal impact to economies?

I see myself to be very much a environmental-aware person, doing my every little bit to help - e.g. instilling 'strange' habits at home such as recycling bins, filling cold water from initial showers to flush toilets, switching all electrical appliances off if not in use rather than on standby, keeping the number of lights turned on to a minimal, cycling to work, switching off monitors in offices, etc, - and I do make a point to 'preach' to my friends about my ideologies at times, to a point as to not upset them. But if we can all do something that helps a bit, it may come a day when our children will not have to ask the question "Dad, why didn't you do anything about it...?"

Visit http://www.climatecrisis.net/ and see how you can do your part.

The DVD is due to be launched on 21 Nov, and my friend who watched the movie with me suggested that it will be a great Xmas present to raise awareness - I can't agree more.

I am also keen to know how you are helping the environment in your everyday life.

Busy bee Pollinating

Picture 065
Originally uploaded by skinnydiver.

Pink Gerbera

Picture 030
Originally uploaded by skinnydiver.

Love the colours of this pink gerbera, with the fine stigmas in the center. Taken using new F30.

British Motorshow

Back from the British Motorshow, quite enjoyable - definitely better than the one I went in SG.
Some pics taken with my K750 as I am currently without a camera.

Enjoy!

Nike+IPod Sports Kit

As an update to an earlier post that I had regarding this pair of latest, coolest gadget to lay your hands on during the summer heat, the kit really does seem to work besides just looking cool! At least the reviewers did feel that they were "motivated" to run harder and more often. The fact that it works without having to buy the actual pair of Nikes makes it even more attractive. But before you run out and get yourself one, you might want to know that this is basically a disposable product; the non-rechargeable, non-replaceable battery will supposedly crap out after about 1,000 miles or a year of regular use (and that's assuming you remember to reach into your stinky shoes and turn off the transmitter after each run).

Hmmm...I have suddenly lost all my interests in it.

Cook breakfast with your MacBook

We all know how HOT the new MacBooks run these days with the latest Intel Duo chipsets. So instead of scalding your thighs, you might want to use the extra heat to warm your coffee or make fry an egg.

Watch my sunflower bloom

We had this brilliant sunflow with a single giant bloom and after 2 weeks, you could see the petals dropping off. After waiting for several weeks for the bulb to drop off, but to no avail, I figured the giant bulb must be taking away the nutrients and preventing the smaller ones to bloom, so I took a huge scissors and *snip* the huge bulb with dried petals off. And I am finally seeing the fruits of my labour. See how many of them are blooming now! Geez, guess my fingers are quite "green" after all! ;)

Lunch @ mybar, Chelsea

ADIDAS FRESCO, COLOGNE

Still on the world cup trail, the ceiling of Hauptbahnhof train stain in Cologne, Germany, sits a work of art reminiscent of the sistine chapel. Michaelangelo would be proud of.

What a Save!

If you are currently in Germany, you may be driving under the world's biggest set of balls. Adidas have graced an overpass at Munich airport with this brilliant ad for the world cup soccer featuring goalkeeper, Oliver Kahn. The campaign needed to be as large as the current wave of soccer fever sweeping the country. Very nice!

Coffee Could Help Keep Diabetes Away

Drinking lots of coffee cut women's risk of developing diabetes in an 11-year study, researchers report. But it was the antioxidants, not caffeine, in the brew that probably did the trick.

Link

How Two Russian Journalists Cooked an Egg with their Mobile Phones

Vladimir Lagovski and Andrei Moiseynko from Komsomolskaya Pravda Newspaper
in Moscow decided to learn first-hand how harmful cell phones are. There is
no magic in cooking with your cell phone. The secret is in the radio waves
that the cell phone radiates.

The journalists created a simple microwave structure as shown in the
picture. They called from one cell phone to the other and left both phones
on talking mode. They placed a tape recorder next to phones to imitate
sounds of speaking so the phones would stay on.

After, 15 minutes: The egg became slightly warm.

25 minutes: The egg became very warm.

40 minutes: The egg became very hot.

65 minutes: The egg was cooked. (As you can see.)

Conclusion ..1: Cooking eggs with mobile phones is possible but very
expensive ($4.55 or 123 Rubles)

Conclusion ..2: All this talk of danger is exaggerated; even if your brain
gets cooked, it would take a couple hours of talking on a cell phone.

Conclusion ..3: We dont recommend carrying cell phone in your pants.

Bush to protect sea near Hawaii *eyes-wide-open*

You might not believe what you read from the headlines, same for me, but apparently George Bush has finally done the best thing for marine life in his 6 years tenure to date with this decision.

Link

The Perils of PC Posture

If you spend as much time as me in front of the PC, this useful article by Deborah Rothberg of eWEEK might help. I certainly know I fall into the group of people who constantly slouch in front of the screen. The lousy chairs I have at work and home definitely doesn't help in my cause to improve my posture, although I think I am trying ...=P

iPod Nike Shoe Video

Surely you have heard of the latest gadget for iPod from Nike. It looks really cool, especially which the ability to 'power up' at the last lap, as well as able to view your run profile. Note sure if it works with non-Nike shoes though.

Ultimate DIY Party Automation System

2 guys over at MIT created the utimate elaborate DORM-transform-into-party-mode system with the push of RED button, WICKED! The system turns an ordinary dorm room into a party, featuring blacklights, sound-activated strobe, fog machine, laser light shows, pumping dance music, trippy visualizations on an LCD display as well as an LCD projector, a spinning closet disco ball, glowing fluorescent lights, and more!

Top 10 Strangest Gadgets of the future

The editors of TechEBlog published this list of top 10 strangest gadgets of the future. My favourite has to be the gaming urinal, taking the idea from my 'shoot & goal' experience of a urinal in Salzburg. Although I bet there will be long queues to the toilets if they are indeed implemented in airports.

Are you a GRUP

Sunday Times published this interesting article about 30/40-somethings living their life similar to the youths half their age. The actual papers even have pictures of the dress sense of the GRUPs...definitely worth a read!

Sipadan Dive Trip

Went for a 4 day trip to Sipadan during my recent trip back home. Wasn't the best of trips, missing out on the hammerheads and barracudas, but overall still a wonderful break and always good to be back down blowing bubbles...Happy diving people!

New Macbooks - Black!

Latest Macbooks, meant to replace the existing product line of iBooks and Powerbooks, with a brand new flavour - BLACK. Absolutely sexy in my opinion, although I should not be surprised if we think back at the iPods that was launched with the U2 edition black as well.
Well, this is certainly tempting for me, although the prices on the US site is the most appealing. Have to make sure I can get one from there in the summer soon...

Upates: Eggs -> Chicks

As expected, the eggs hatched to 2 tiny chicks when we got back from our 2 weeks trip. Mother pigeon has been extremely protective since especially when I try to feed her with bread as she will interpret that gesture by flapping her wings hard to push my hands aside. This picture was only taken after I kinda "chased" the mon away to see the babies.

Actually I do not know if they are male or female. Any of you can provide a hint? Please don't ask me to carry them up to check for any potential "organs" too. ;-)

Name the pigeons!

Several weeks back, I discovered that one of my balcony was starting to have dry twigs accumulating and predicted that there is probably a bird building a nest. And about a week back, there was this big fat pigeon who finally showed up and took declared the nest as her property. Few days back, I noticed that she had laid an egg, and thought I should be nice to feed her with some of my bread for breakfast everyday. 2 days later, out came the second egg! She is still eating the baguette that I have for breakfast everyday although my girlfriend mentioned that I shouldn't be feeding her else she might get used to the feeding and lose her instinct to find food on her own.

But anyways, we are extremely excited about the 2 eggs and can't wait to see them hatch soon. I found that it should take them about 17-19 days to hatch and hopefully, can be back in time from my trip home to see them hatch.

Maybe some of you can suggest some names for them!

Changing face of Malaysian's politics

Read this article on BBC. Interesting yet intriguing to know that our closest neighbour is intent on changing.

Climate change - Do you worry?

Watched a BBC programme highlighting how the climate has changed over the past 150 years after the mini ice age that humans experienced during the mid 19th century. It was very interesting as the programme take viewers from the perspective of explorer Paul Rose views on how man has affected the climate since the industrial revolution in the late 1800s. One of the key evidence came from people who are living in Greenland, whereby majority of the country is covered by ice. Viewers were drawn to the fact that a giant fjord has moved 15km out towards the sea over the past 4 years! And the result was more icebergs breaking into the sea. More evidences were shown with the very distinct changes in the Antarctic continent, where many parts that used to be solid ice couple of years back has now become part of the sea, and the map has to be redrawn to show the latest accurate map. We all seem to take it for granted that life is always so short and we should live it to the fullest, and that usually means earning enough to buy the biggest gas-guzzling car that you can afford or take multiple trips overseas on plane. Guess I kinda fall into this category as well and feel thoroughly shamed of myself after the programme. Personally I have been advocating to all my friends and family about not eating sharks fin, even to strangers whom I feel I should educate them about the mammals' slow reproduction system and how tasteless it is when people are just tasting the chicken stock in fact! I certainly feel I have gained more knowledge about how fragile the world is and coming from Singapore, I certainly do not wish to see the country completely washed up by the rising sea levels in 50 years time. I suddenly feel a great sense of responsibility to educate my family and friends on what I have learnt and I am sure there are many of you out there who share the same as me. Our efforts may not be big, but it sure helps to have 1 more person to help in the cause.

Just downloaded the distributed computing project similar to SETI or FightAids@home, whereby the software uses the unused computing power of your PC to try to simulate the weather changes in the future. I hope you share my same thoughts and remember, we are all part of this world, and we all share a same level of responsibility towards it. The next time you turn on your air condition unit, think about how you much energy you can save if you were to use a fan instead.

BBC Climate Change project to download

Simpsons in real!

If you love the Simpsons like me, you will find the following clip extremely familiar and cute.

How to peel cooked potato skin in one step!

This is applying science at its best in our everyday life. AWESOME!!!
Similar to the "how to fold your t-shirts in 3 steps", this video shows how to peel a potato from its skin in one easy step! I find it so amazing that I have to share with my friends around the world, and I bet there is going to be a sudden spike in potato sales in the next couple of days.

Ipod Hi-Fi - reviewed

Had a play with the Ipod Hifi when I wondered into the flagship Regent's Street store in London. The folks have set up a demo set complete with black Ipod Video and was "showing off" the powess of the speakers. First impression - looks great if you are a minimalist, as there is just one power cable coming out from the back of the speakers that connect to the AC, with the Ipod sitting nicely on top. There are 2 flush button controls in front of the Ipod stand that says "+" and "-". Touching either gently increases or lowers the volume with such ease that you are not even sure if you are actually pressing on it. A green light at the bottom of the speaker shows that the volume has been adjusted as you do it, which is quite neat too.

Now to the real thing - sound. Bass was fantastic for a speaker of this size and vocals were crisp and clear. With the fast track, it sounded that it was able to handle pretty much what the Ipod was throwing at it and was quickly impressed. Taking 2 steps back and you will start to hear the flaws, sound stage is almost non-existent, guess this is a problem if you try to align all your speakers side by side to each other in a box twice the size of your shoe boxes. So was it really as good as what Steve professes it to be? In my opinion, at a price of £249(basically in the same pricing area as Bose), I think I will rather search for an alternative.

Stealth sharks to patrol the high seas

An article from New Scientist is suggesting that engineers and scientists are working to implant chips into sharks so that they can be controlled remotely by humans to navigate the seas for military purposes.

"Imagine getting inside the mind of a shark: swimming silently through the ocean, sensing faint electrical fields, homing in on the trace of a scent." That's what the Pentagon wants to do, says New Scientist. By remotely guiding the sharks' movements using a newly designed neural implant, the military hope to transform the animals into stealth spies."

Completely insane!

Skiing in Zell am See, part 2

Trying to get back to finishing the more exciting bits of the trip, but haven't be able to sit down and write something proper. Haven't help that I did not pen down the trip details immediately after the holiday and details have just been forgotten so easily.

Anyways, for beginners like me, Zell am See is definitely recommended. Go during beginning of Feb and avoid the high season but yet making sure you have the best snow around. Good thing about skiing in Austria is that you do not have to rub your shoulders around with the French, as the majority of the holiday makers comes from across the border Germany or Holland. Picking up few commonly used German phrases are always helpful, although the people there are really friendly as well. We took up a beginners course which charged EUR125 each for 3 days or more. Since we were there only for 4 ski days, we made full use of it and thought it was quite good value as well. Our rental of the skis, boots and poles were slightly more ex, as we took the convenience to rent from the ski shop located in the resort. We have been told that you can get better values if you search around the town below the resort if you want, but I really suggest going with the convenience unless absolutely desperate. The other major cost consideration is the ski pass. Obviously you can get better deals if you buy multiple days, so the trick is to make sure you get your basics right as soon as you can, and get the practice group to go up the mountains rather than the nursery slopes, which is really a bore after the first 2 days. The view from the top of the mountains is pure amazing, especially since I come from a place whereby our highest "mountain" is only called a hill! Once you get the hang on the slopes and the ski basics, you will certainly enjoy the skiing much more. I thought I did as I was really pushing myself hard by going on 1 leg, doing parallel turns, doing mini hops and even attempted a black slope on my last run, which took me almost an hour to get to the bottom of the mountain, causing my gf to be fuming as she literally waited an hour and half for me, not knowing what happened to me. Thinking back, I have to say my heart still race looking down at the slopes, but given another chance, pretty sure I will do it again. Till my next trip(if ever), shall let you know more of my adventures.

Hopefully the planned dive trip to Sipadan during April will be realized as I thoroughly missed diving...the sun, sand, sea, bubbles, fish, whales................

Ipod Hi-Fi

Watched Steve Jobs pitching to the press and community about the latest and HOTTEST product from Apple. Ipod Hi-Fi, looks pretty amazing from the video. Typical to Apple products, clean styling and totally cable-less. Two 80mm wide-range drivers serve as the main speakers and a 130mm woofer completes the tech specs. Completely sealed and tuned for acoustic perfection, it does look very good from the outside. A universal Ipod port can be found at the top of the speaker that allows all generations of Ipods to sit and played from. Obviously it serves as a charging mechanism as well if your Ipod goes low on juice. Steve Jobs mentioned how crazy an audiophile he is himself, short of revealing the cost of his home setup(he just said its quite a lot!), and he has actually been using this system for the past month and having to give away his old setup!!! Boy, I wish I was his neighbour and pick up his pieces, but this new toy certainly tinkers my curiosity and will be keen to pop down to the Apple stores over the weekend to test drive. Stay tuned for my field report.

Ski trip to Zell am See, Austria

Just uploaded the few digital photos I took during our recent ski trip to the Zell am see area. First time but absolutely enjoyed it thoroughly. It was also the first time I experienced mucus freezing in my nose during the mornings! We rented a car from the Salzburg airport, which was much cheaper as compared to taking the airport shuttle to and fro to our resort, as well as the daily commute from the resort to the ski slopes. Furthermore, it is always much more fun to get in a car and explore the different parts of the towns easily(although its not particularly eco-friendly). We took the chance to have a quick tour of Salzburg and even though it was the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mozart, the place was unusually sparse. Not as many tourists as we have expected, and nothing spectacular sightings as well. Tried to look around for some Austrian delicacies, but seems like they do not have much that they call their own. You can tell that they get alot of influences from Germany and Italy, which was a pity.

We stayed at Club La Costa Alpine Center, midway between the towns Zell am See and Saalfelden, about an hour and half drive from Salzburg, across scenic ravines and valleys, with snow capped mountains on both ends. Road conditions can be quite scary though as the road is only wide enough for 2 cars side by side on some stretches. Fun part again was making sure we did not end up in Munich as part of the roads stretched into Germany before winding back into Austria again. After our not so perfect combi of navigator and driver during our last trip to Algarve, we did much better this time round and JM was top notch in directing me to the right place.

Resort was fantastic too, with even a indoor swimming pool, unfortunately we did not have our swimming attire with us. Staff was extremely friendly and helpful and the tv channels even have live cams of the 3 ski slopes around the area 24hrs so that you can see how is the condition at the top of the mountains. Room was big and spacious and comes with kitchenette and even dish washer! Our roof had this little window that stares straight into the night sky and was so amazing looking through it at night, although 80% if it was filled with snow :)

Part 2 to continue...

A case of trying to be too smart?

Saw this article from The Register, has to list as one the best for the day to liven up your day. I cannot imagine the expression on the guys face when he did the search to find out the results returned to him. Maybe Sony should advise ebuyer on how they should help their users who purchase their laptops that always start with VGN.

Link

Valentines day - How much is it worth?

To spend V day in London having a meal outside is quite a spend. Easily £30 per head for a normal restaurant, so I figured its probably best to go to our nearby Sainsbury outlet and spend £5 on the groceries and wine and make it even more special. Might not have the ambience of a candlelight dinner, but I think its has more meaning to cook something for your special half rather than to say that you just spent xxx amount bringing her somewhere.

Recipes included ginger and garlic stuffed poussin(british styled spring chicken) with cheddar melted greens. Desert was Hot Chocolate Pudding based on a Nigel Slater recipe, which did not turn out as well as it should - Think I left it in the oven too long. And not forgetting the value for money Cava Brut champagne from M&S.

So what did you do for your special someone?

Whale meat made into dog food???

I have to apologise for not been updating my site for more than 2 months! You will see more constant stream of updates from today onwards. Starting with this ridiculous report of the Japanese(I thought Japs are nice pple???).

Here we are trying to protect the whale population, and our nice neighbours over the other side of the globe are using their meat for their pets?? I am absolutely disgusted!

Link