Nostalgic Cartoons

Remember Smurfs? Voltron? He-Man? Gummi Bears? Duck Tales? Take a stroll down memory lane here.

Long Live The Clam

A group of climate researchers from Bangor University, UK, were studying growth lines in clam shells as part of a project to understand how the climate has changed over the past one thousand years. While at it, they accidentally found this 405-year old (approx.) quahog clam (below). Once officially confirmed its age, it will take its predecessor's (220 years old) place in the Guinness Book of Records. Very sad to say that while the researchers were counting the growth rings (similar to the rings in a tree's trunk) to calculate its age, the clam died.

Photo and info from National Geographic News "Longest-Lived Animal Found - Clam, 405"

The Keris Is Mightier

Based on what I read from Star Online Nation's "Keris tradition to continue", I have the impression that UMNO Youth's Hishammuddin would not only want all non-UMNO members to get used to the Keris waving tradition, probably popularised by him anyway, but also sharing the blame to all parties about sensitive speech making. He mentioned in the article that the youth movement will continue to wave the sword as it is their tradition. Wonder why no one brought that up before the last incident, then.

Read the article and you be the judge. Cannot be commenting anymore, else it would be another reason to blame bloggers in twisting and turning the truth.

At Last, I've Been There...

Finally, Eye On Malaysia
Originally uploaded by IonBuck.

In the beginning, I told myself that I better let the biggest ferris wheel in Malaysia run for a few months before going on it and then I dragged, and dragged and totally forgot about it. All of a sudden, it popped up in my mind again and time was limited as its last operational day is 31 December 2007 (unless our Tourism Ministry decides to extend the timeline, but seems unlikely judging by the lukewarm response).

So I went with my friend two Saturdays ago for a ride and also for some photographic opportunity and here is one of them. What I realised when I came back and browsed at other people's photos of this subject was, I did not move around looking for a more attractive angle. Something I need to improve on! :(

The Petronas Twin Towers were too close to the wheel and the reflection was not the complete wheel. :(

Took the ride up, paid RM30 for two of us, shared the cabin with a foreign speaking couple who shamelessly did some hugging and kissing and some indiscreet caressing (so they thought) and realised the night scene was errr... not interesting. With the name "Eye On Malaysia" I would expect to see a lot of Kuala Lumpur but that was not the case. Things were made worse because it was still drizzling and the cabin was full of drops, plus some swaying, so I couldn't take any decent photos of the outside view. You will just have to trust me that the view from the top is nothing to shout about.

INSANE: Breaking the US$93 Barrier

No kidding. Crude oil prices just keep going higher and higher! It went as high as US$93.20 a barrel! A storm in Mexico caused it to shut off a fifth of its production plus the US dollar hitting an all time low were blamed for this.

Source: Bloomberg.com: Worldwide "Crude Oil Rises to Record Above $93 as Mexico Shuts Production"

Previous oil price tracking in this blog:

1. INSANE: Crude Oil Prices Higher Than All Time
   
2. INSANE: Oil Prices Break US$90
3. INSANE: Oil Prices Set Another Record High
4. INSANE: Oil Prices At All Time High

INSANE: Crude Oil Prices Higher Than All Time

It has hit US$92.22 a barrel! CNNMoney.com stated that this is due to supply and global security concerns, and possibly because of speculation. :(

Previous oil price watch:

1. INSANE: Oil Prices Break US$90
2. INSANE: Oil Prices Set Another Record High
3. INSANE: Oil Prices At All Time High
   

Con of Men #3: Bogus Monks

This is not new and I am sure a lot of us had encountered these bogus monks many times. I can't even keep count anymore. Some would come and offer some small tokens if you were to give any donations in terms of cash.

There was once at 1 Utama where I was sitting down outside a shop and this monk approached me... with a friendly smile. Can't remember what he was offering but I declined. He was a bit persistent but in the end, he gave up and he muttered something, the friendly smile turned into a snarl. Can you believe that? For once I felt good to have turned a "monk" away!

Here is an article from NSTOnline about how these "monks" have become a problem, partly due to the public's encouragement through their innocence and also greed for divine favours. The Metta Lodge Buddhist Centre is doing rounds in Johor to educate the public on what real monks do: no money and material possessions. Only donations in the form of everyday necessities such as food, clothing, etc. Real monks only make their rounds in the morning.

Other cons highlighted in this blog:

1. The Con of Men
   
2. Con of Men #2 - The Motorcycle Beggar
   

A Bit About Cholestrol

Read a bit more about cholestrol from NSTOnline. Some interesting stuff includes:

Cholesterol in itself is not harmful, but too much blood cholesterol is unhealthy.

When cholesterol levels are very high, it may appear as yellow nodules beneath the skin of the elbows, knees or under the eyes.

There are also some causes and preventive measures.

Genting Founder Dead

Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, 90, the founder of the Genting Highlands resort died at 11:20am today. Rest of the story here and here.

Bikini Origins

Check out the origins of the bikini swimsuit at srslycool website here. Photo showing women in what appear to be bikinis exercising at a Roman heritage site:

Con of Men #2: The Motorcycle Beggar

'Beggars' like this cause people to no longer trust the real ones. From Star Online Nation "Beggar rides motorcycle on his rounds":

Even beggars have to change with the times. China Press reported that a man in his 30s used a motorcycle to get around.

It reported the so-called “beggar” rode his motorcycle and tried his fortune door-to-door at high-end residential areas in Bukit Mertajam, Penang.

A housewife known only as Huang said the man would only stretch out his hands for alms at houses where luxury cars are parked at the porch.

According to the daily, he would demand between RM10 and RM20 during his stop at each house.

The man, who spoke in Hokkien, would trick his victim into believing that he had failed to land jobs after just recovering from a serious illness.

He also cheated unsuspecting residents that he was jobless and had young children at home to look after.

Previous Con of Men here.

Space Participant Misses Teh Tarik and Roti Canai

Our very own angkasawan, or to the rest of the world (probably with the exception of Russia) space participant, misses our teh tarik and roti canai during his short stint in space. He said that in a very short conversation with a group of Malaysia Amateur Radio Transmitter Society (MARTS) members.

Source: Star Online Nation " 'Superman' misses teh tarik and roti canai"
Previous posts here and here.

Handphone Hunt #5 - Nokia 6120 Classic

3 November 2007 Update: A comprehensive review of this phone by phoneArena.com available here.
It is here! I just saw a full page advertisement in the papers just now. It is priced at RM1,099. Should drop another RM100 or so in another few months, I guess? :P The phone's got 3G and HSDPA (3.5G, it seems), 2 megapixel camera with LED flash! YES! LED flash! If I get it, I will have a torch light at all times! It also runs on Symbian S60 which will allow a whole load of software to be available for this phone... interesting!

It does, however, looks like it lacks in the design department. The silver one looks a tad nicer than the black one. Hang on... I took notice of yet another upcoming phone. The Sony Ericsson K770i... hmmm... need to learn more about that, too. :D

Photo from Nokia Malaysia website.

Previous Handphone Hunt posts:

1. Handphone Hunt #1
2. Handphone Hunt #2 - Nokia N73
   
3. Handphone Hunt #3 - Sony Ericsson K800i/K810i
4. Handphone Hunt #4 - Sony Ericsson K530i
   

INSANE: Oil Prices Break US$90

Never before it is this high... topped out at US$90.02 per barrel!

From CNNMoney.com
Previous insane oil prices posts here and here.

Spider-Man Will Return

No dates on when it will be released but director Sam Raimi confirmed that there will be a fourth movie, which he will leave to others to write and direct. Phew!

Source: IMDb.com "Spider-Man To Return for a "Different" Fourth Film"

INSANE: Sigma DP1

This is not any normal "compact" camera! It has the same 14 megapixel sensor as the Sigma SD14 DSLR inside. This means clear, low noise DSLR quality images in a "compact" camera. Not so compact, actually. It measures (in mm) 113.3 (W) x 59.5 (H) x 50.3 (D) and weighs in at 240g. Its lens is single focal at 28mm (35mm equivalent). And its price? US$800! :O

Truly for enthusiasts only!

Photo taken from PopPhoto.com "Editor's Choice 2007: Digital Compacts"
Official website: http://www.sigma-dp1.com/

Turn Turtle, NOT!

It used to mean death when a turtle turns belly-up but according to LiveScience, some turtle species have evolved their shells to allow them to turn back to the right side. The photo below shows one in action. :D

More Apologies Means More Pay?

Have a read at CNNMoney.com's article "Want a higher paycheck? Say you're sorry" where a company did a survey and found that people that apologise often tend to have higher salaries! Take that!

USB Batteries!

The USB port has my respect! You can plug in a reading lamp, a fan, a laptop cooler, and don't know what else but if you can think of any, don't be afraid to put it in the comments. Now, there are rechargeable AA USB batteries! Check out the photo! And the rest from engadget here.

Watterson Reviews Schulz

Check out the review by Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) about the biography of Charles Schulz (Peanuts) here. The book is called Schulz and Peanuts. Also a bit about the mysterious and very low profile Bill Watterson here.

Via Amazon Bookstore's Blog.

Ingenuity? A Firm That Manages Loans Between Friends and Families!

Imagine my surprise when I read about this from Star Online. It is called Virgin Money USA and it is opening amidst difficult times where borrowers are having a hard time getting loans from banks due to the recent US subprime loan crisis.

Hence, Virgin will help arrange among the borrowers' friends and family members for the loans and from what I understand from the news articles (errr... I am really not into this business thing), will make the loan like a real loan thing, going through Virgin Money USA. Therefore, there should not be any hard feelings later on...

Successful or not... this Richard Branson has balls and innovation!

Sources:
Star Online Business "Virgin starts firm to manage loans between friends"
Reuters "UPDATE 1-Virgin opens US arm managing loans between friends"

Singapore Airlines First To Receive World's Largest Plane

World's largest airline in terms of revenue, Singapore Airlines just received the world's first commercially available Airbus A380, currently the world's largest passenger plane. Check out the video from National Geographic News here.

INSANE: Oil Prices Set Another Record High

Woah! Another high, high record! It almost hit US$88 with 3 cents to spare. From Reuters:

Investors have cited rising tensions between Turkey and Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq, sturdy world energy demand growth, tight inventories in consumer nations heading into winter and unprecedented weakness in the U.S. dollar.

Even higher chances of fuel price increasing now...

Previously, on The Lost and Directionless Blog: INSANE: Oil Prices At All Time High

INSANE: Oil Prices At All Time High

Crude oil rose above US$85 a barrel on concern Turkish forces may pursue Kurdish militants in Iraq. Read more about it at Bloomberg.com: Worldwide.

The "Which day is the beginning of the week for you?" Poll Results

My first poll "Which day is the beginning of the week for you?" has closed and with 6 voters, the results are as follow:None of the voters chose Sunday. I personally wouldn't either! Sundays are sad! Knowing that you need to work the following day brings not much happiness! :( 3 voters chose Monday as the first day of the week, while 1 each chose Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

I guess I can reckon with Friday as it always brings joy knowing day off is near (for those that work 5 days a week, of course) but Tuesday and Wednesday?!?! :O

Run For A Cause - The Terry Fox Run 2007

The Terry Fox Run 2007 is near. It is an annual event for the last 15 years and, this year, will be held on 4 November 2007, 9 am @ The Lake Gardens, Kuala Lumpur. More details here. Check out last year's event here. Learn more about the Terry Fox Foundation.

Who is Terry Fox? Taken from the official website:

Terry Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and raised in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, a community near Vancouver on Canada's west coast. An active teenager involved in many sports, Terry was only 18 years old when he was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) and forced to have his right leg amputated 15 centimetres (six inches) above the knee in 1977.

While in hospital, Terry was so overcome by the suffering of other cancer patients, many of them young children, that he decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.

He would call his journey the Marathon of Hope.

After 18 months and running over 5,000 kilometres (3,107 miles) to prepare, Terry started his run in St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980 with little fanfare. Although it was difficult to garner attention in the beginning, enthusiasm soon grew, and the money collected along his route began to mount. He ran 42 kilometres (26 miles) a day through Canada's Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario.

It was a journey that Canadians never forgot.

However, on September 1st, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 miles), Terry was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario because cancer had appeared in his lungs. An entire nation was stunned and saddened. Terry passed away on June 28, 1981 at age 22.

The heroic Canadian was gone, but his legacy was just beginning.

To date, more than $400 million has been raised worldwide for cancer research in Terry's name through the annual Terry Fox Run, held across Canada and around the world.

T-shirts, food, drinks, etc. will be sold during this event in Malaysia and all proceeds will go to a local cancer research organization. This year, the proceeds will go to the Cancer Research Initiatives Foundation.

So do stop by if you have the time! I do not have the stamina to run, so a couple of friends and I walked last year. A bit shy to admit, but yeah, did just that. :P If all goes well, I shall be there this year as well. :D

All New Title

After almost a year of blogging (with a less than two months to spare), I have no choice but to admit my blog is directionless... and lost... which brings me to name it this way. :(

Nevertheless, I will still stuff anything that comes my way in here... a lost and directionless blog by a lost and directionless human!

*GASP!*

From flickr: point

point
Originally uploaded by zus-punt.

You there! Wassup?

From flickr: Sunrise with Ducks II

Sunrise with Ducks II
Originally uploaded by peter bowers.

From single colour tone to multi-colours! Here's to a good morning in another few hours! :P

From flickr: Moody Scotland.

Moody Scotland.
Originally uploaded by kenHen.

Panaromic view of Scotland with a single colour tone?

Red 2G Poison

With immediate effect, our government has banned the food colouring called Red 2G. It is used to enhance and/or retain food colour. According to health minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, "the colouring Red 2G can metabolise to aniline and experiments showed that it can destroy the genetic material in cells and cause cancer."

The substance exceeded European safety levels and was banned by the EU since 27 July 2007. Not sure why it took over 2 months for it to be banned here. Also not sure why the minister said food, which contained the chemical and was still in the market was allowed to be sold based on certain conditions. Could I have misunderstood the meaning of the word "ban" all these years?

More info at Star Online Nation "Immediate ban on Red 2G food colouring".

From flickr: eden hall tree

eden hall tree
Originally uploaded by surplusparts.

Irresistible fall colours! Saw this via Flickr Blog.

Oops... an error occurred

Horrors! Over the months since my burger loving 67 friend andrewk introduced Google Reader to me, I have difficulty passing my day without it! Briefly, Google Reader is a RSS reader that lets you subscribe to feeds/information sources and scan through them quickly, without the need to actually visit each and every website individually. Confused? No problem. Check out the video that Google Reader likes to promote to beginners right at the bottom.

Ahem! Back to the purpose of this post. Whenever you screen through your feeds, Google Reader will automatically mark is as read so that you won't be reading the same feed twice. However, since last night, I had this problem where after reading through the feeds, and I refresh the page, all of them came back again! Until just now! HORRORS, right?
So I went and Google the error message (see screencap above) and came to the Google Groups/Google Reader Help section and found that it was the fault of Google Gears (allows you to sync and read RSS feeds offline) and Mozilla Firefox (a web browser just like Internet Explorer). For some reason, someone from Google by the name Graham said it had been solved but I am still facing the same problem. Sad.

I either use Internet Explorer to read or I disable Google Gears on my Firefox. No choice. I had to disable it on my Firefox. :(

All about RSS feeds as promised:

Malaysia's Astronaut on CNN Front Page

Our country's first astronaut got to appear as the main news on CNN.com/Technology website! We should feel kind of proud even though Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar is just kind of hitching a ride and doing some research... at least not making roti canai in zero gravity as was first planned. He is still bringing a lot of Malaysian food to treat the International Space Station fellows, though. Gosh!

Previous post about the astronaut here. The CNN article here.

From flickr: Strike A Pose..

Strike A Pose..
Originally uploaded by impian.

"I know it is only Tuesday, but bring it on!" :P

My First Poll

My very first poll... something that I am very curious about for a very long time... is Sunday or Monday the official beginning of the week? Would like to see your vote on this (on the right side of this page). You are also welcome to put in any comments here.

For the fun of it, and also from my 67 friends' points of view, any day can be the beginning of the week, as long as that brings joy and happiness! :D

From flickr: Food Fight!

Food Fight!
Originally uploaded by Tad 20D.

Competition among different species just like us humans?

My First Scrabble

Here it is... the results of my first completed scrabble game. Played it on Facebook's Scrabulous app with my 67 buddies and I came out last. :( An exciting but difficult game, nonetheless!

From flickr: [Shibuya]Jaywalking Army

[Shibuya]Jaywalking Army
Originally uploaded by akumach.

More umbrellas from akumach!

[Shibuya]Leader of the Pack

[Shibuya]Leader of the Pack
Originally uploaded by akumach.

An interesting shot and the horizontal crossing lines vs the people with umbrellas really make the photo stand out.

From flickr: Esca-troncs

Esca-troncs
Originally uploaded by mmarsupilami.

Hmmm... looks like not good for the environment but nice photo nonetheless.

From flickr: I thought my face was going to melt off.

I thought my face was going to melt off.
Originally uploaded by pixietart.

HOT! Intense! Flaming!

From flickr: Smack

Smack
Originally uploaded by Pinch My Salt.

Smack or slurp? Cute little thing.

// onceUponA_timeIn_Bologna THerewAS_aGirL wHoWAlk_tHeSKy WatERing_thEStreets

// onceUponA_timeIn_Bologna THerewAS_aGirL wHoWAlk_tHeSKy WatERing_thEStreets
Originally uploaded by //bwr.

WOAH! Flying lady!

The Dell Experience (cont'd, cont'd)

I really hope this is the last time I need to blog about this! The previous times are here and here. Today, Dell sent yet another technician (different from the one that called me yesterday) but I was impressed with this one. He disassembled very quickly and had this know-what-he-is-doing thing. Replaced the motherboard, replaced the heat sink and replaced the sound card (!!!).

He then reassembled the whole laptop back quickly as well. Unlike the previous two, he did not need to look here and there to see if he missed anything. CONFIDENCE!

At last, Dell redeemed itself... I hope... so far things tested out fine... keeping my fingers crossed. Unfortunately, I am quite sure that the 'new' motherboard in this laptop is really a refurbished one... but as long as it works fine... I do need to consider extending the warranty, though.

More Donuts!

Previously, when the Pavillion opened last week... or was it the week before last? Anyway, I had no intention of going there until my burger loving friend andrewk shared out this J Co Donuts and Coffee (from Indonesia). Looks delicious enough... so fellow 67s and friends, when shall we throng the place?
Apparently, our favourite Big Apple Donuts was based on their concept! Oh no! What happened to originality??? Check out the photo below at those yummy donuts!
Photo and news source: masak-masak

The Dell Experience (cont'd)

Dell's supposedly senior technician called me today but I realised he was the first guy that came and changed my motherboard. Told him I am not free today so we rescheduled the appointment for tomorrow.

Previously The Dell Experience here.

Project 365! DAY 38

Project 365! DAY 38
Originally uploaded by boadiceafairy.

It's Wednesday midnight, mid-week. Should we all get into the mood of luuuuuuuuuuuuuv?

Only 999

By 1 January 2008, the emergency numbers 991 (medical), 994 (fire) and 112 (mobile) will all be merged back to 999 (currently used for police). However, users dialing the older numbers will still be routed to 999.

The Star Online Nation "999 for all emergencies" article also stated that "...callers can expect their calls to be answered within 10 seconds or after four rings." That sounds great! Calls will be fully managed by TM (Telekom Malaysia) but judging from my Streamyx connection tonight, I remain skeptical.

Oh, Maybe No Toll Increase

Today Star Online reported that the deputy prime minister said the cabinet had not decided on whether to increase the toll rates. Hmmm... let's see.

Previous post about toll hike was yesterday here.

The Dell Experience

Let me tell you about my Dell experience. And as expected, it can't be good, unfortunately. It all began when the Wifi switch on my company laptop failed. Whenever I flicked the switch to off position, the wifi would intermittently turn on and off, and the on-screen display will also appear on and off. After keeping the switch at the 'on' position (which sort of eliminated that problem), I couldn't hold it anymore and called Dell.

I was impressed that the second day, a technician came and changed it. I was also amazed that he took the whole laptop apart and changed the motherboard just because of the Wifi switch. Anyway, all seemed fine until I went home and started playing this very old game (approximately 5 years or so old). It was smooth for the first... ummm... 5 seconds, perhaps, and then the laptop fine started to spin and sounded louder than usual. The whole game became jerky until it was unplayable. It was considered graphics intensive during its time but nowadays, any laptop with integrated Intel graphics would be able to play it. And mine is a nVidia 7400 Go.

Sigh... so the next day, I called Dell again. The following day, another technician came with cooling pads and a new fan with the believe that previously, the technician did not replace the pads which caused contact of the processors (Intel Core 2 Duo and nVidia) to the heat sink to fail. The technician could not scrape off the old thermal pads, so he stuck the new ones on top of the old ones (!!!). After assembling the laptop again, I held my breath and we tested. The system diagnostics were fine but the game was not.

He called some tech support and came back to uninstall and then reinstall the graphics drivers. Surprisingly, it worked fine... but after the tech left, the problem came back. For your info, I tried playing the game in air-conditioned and without air-cond environments. Previously, I never had this problem.

So, what do I do? I called Dell again (yesterday). This time, the support guy said he will send a senior tech and a new motherboard. He suggested that it would be best that I send it in but it was not possible as I need the laptop for work. To my disappointment, the senior tech did not show up today. I called again and the reason was Dell ordered a lot of parts (horrors!) and that caused the delay. The support assured me the senior tech will show up tomorrow.

We shall see...

The Ancient Atari

Wow, I had one of these, the Atari 2600! My first every owned IT-related stuff. I remembered playing Space Invaders, Pacman, Battlezone and Haunted Mansion on this. I used to have it plugged to a B&W TV, too! My mom bought this from a neighbour some 20 over years back. I still remembered having to buy new joysticks as these often broke quite easily. I must have been an Atari fan because after that, I bought the 3-in-1 Atari 520ST (PC DOS+ Apple OS + Atari OS in one, though I think it was really a con job because running DOS on it was really, really, really disappointingly slow, not so sure about the Apple OS).

Source: Retro Thing "The Atari 2600 celebrates 30 years of low-rez fun" via Engadget

More Toll Increase to Greet 2008

As promised by our government when they increased certain toll rates earlier this year, next year will see even more increases. Eight toll concessionaires will increase toll rates by up to 10%. Works Minister Datuk S. Samy Velu said that he will bring the matter up to the cabinet and probably find ways for the concessionaires and the government to bare bear (thanks, andrewk for pointing this out) part of the costs. Nothing is confirmed yet at this moment, though.

Source: Star Online Nation "New toll rates by eight concessionaires from Jan 1"