Ethics, Dilemma and Working Tomorrow

While I struggle to get myself to bed because I have to work tomorrow, someone some where is facing a dilemma about downloading a pirated e-book where the physical hardcopy is no longer published.

Good night!

You're Tongued!

Took this while observing hamsters for sale in Carrefour Mid Valley. It was really fun especially when I saw them scrambling to run on the wheel thing. Then I saw this one busy licking on this part of the glass. Was so tempted to get a couple but knowing I am not good with pets... sigh...

Black Friday?

What is Black Friday? This was all over the internet and after awhile, my normal non-curious self got a little too curious and went to define: black friday. The results were totally different from what it appeared to be - all were in the negative sense. On various webpages, there were advertisements on discounts and more discounts on this Black Friday. After awhile, my don't-give-a-damn self got the better of me and I forgot all about it until I came to this page that defines the true meaning of the current Friday:

The day after Thanksgiving in the United States. Retailers generally see an upward spike in sales and consider this to be the start of the holiday shopping season. It's common for retailers to offer special promotions and to open early to draw in customers.

and...

The idea behind the term "Black Friday" is that this is the day in which retail stores have enough sales to put them "in the black" - an accounting expression that alludes to the practice of recording losses in red and profits in black.

We Want to Ban Plastic Bags!

The government is thinking of doing it. The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry is studying this possibility to be implemented in supermarkets and wet markets. Great for the environment. China already did it.

Source: Star Online "Govt may ban use of plastic bags"

Rainbow on the way home...

Saw a rainbow on the way home. Messed around with Gimp to try to bring out the rainbow and ended up with this:

From The Lost and Directionless Blog

Negative Digital Camera Outlook in 2009 and Beyond...

Definitely heard enough about the world economy plunging into a huge crisis but so far, I have not heard of anyone talking about digital camera sales going down. PhotographyBLOG has a link to this Reuters article where Canon painted a slightly gloomy picture (would it be more suitable if I said Canon shot a slightly gloomy photo?) of the digital camera market in the near future, blaming on the terrible world economic crisis we are all facing now.

Maybe then we will get cheaper cameras... hmm?

INSANE Rumours - Death of Bruce Wayne!

Update 29 November 2008: Phew! Rumour is rumour and it cannot be trusted. IMDb just posted an updated article here confirming that Batman/Bruce Wayne lives and will return. Phew, phew, phew!

I take it IMDb's entertainment news are rather trustworthy so their info about the possibility of killing off Bruce Wayne in DC's upcoming Batman comic this Thursday is more attention grabbing than anything! I still find it hard to swallow that an iconic hero like Batman, especially with the recent mega success in the cinemas will be killed off. NOOOooooo...

INSANE: Thumbdrive Prices

I was totally heartbroken today when I saw that the price of thumbdrives have dropped by 50% since I last bought my 8GB thumbdrive. I had mine about half a year ago for RM98 and today I saw the same 8GB below RM50. You can have a 4GB one for RM26. GASP!

Too bad this doesn't happen to laptops and digital cameras! Price slashed by half in 6 months! It would be a miracle! :'(

From Pixdaus: Upside Down Panda

Am sick but went to work anyway and I guess tomorrow will be the same. Whatever it is, this photo sure cheered me up! :P

Working Cops

My colleague and I got lost while looking for a customer a couple of days ago and we stopped by a petrol station to ask for directions. While we got out of the car, we saw a couple of kids - a boy and a girl - probably underage, hanging around on their motorcycle just outside the toilet. Did not really think much of it until a couple of policemen drove past and stopped their car to question the couple.

They actually did an extensive check. They checked their IDs, searched through the couple's bags, recorded something on their clipboard and don't know what else as when we left, they were still at it. I am not too sure about how proper it is about checking citizens' bags but at least to me, these policemen appeared to be performing their duty.

Phew!

Humans Decoded Mammoth DNA

Looks like super powerful computers are really bringing science of the past way forward. The latest news would be this one from National Geographic News. Scientists have decoded the entire DNA strain of the mammoth - extinct, huge, hairy mammals that resembles the elephants that we know. The scientists are also talking about the possibility (though still a little far fetched at the moment) of cloning mammals by using an elephant's egg through some complex genetic manipulations.

Maybe in another century or two, we might be thinking of cloning elephants, too, if poaching continues to threaten them.

INSANE: Megapixel Race Infecting Mobile Phone Cameras

Looks like Sony is at it again. They started this year's megapixel race for compact digital cameras and now the company is doing it again by announcing its 12.25 megapixel CMOS sensor for mobile phone cameras! GASP! On the bright side, the press release also included a 28mm (35mm equivalent) wide angle lens module.

Don't think I've seen any mobile phones with this wide an angle lens yet. :)

Photography Blog's got the press release. There's a 100% crop of the image taken with the 12.25 megapixel sensor here. Looks kinda ok... could this be a miracle?

Switch

Nothing much happened this weekend, it's just passed midnight and it's officially Monday now. Time to sleep, then, forcibly wake up in a few hours, drag myself out of bed, do the morning rituals and get to work. Great. Have a great week and here's something yellow asking for a switch. It would have been much cooler if the YCF's around. :P
Good night!

Real Democracy

A Star Online article that I have missed but buddy andrewk managed to share had a really big, BIG headline that read "Penang to create opposition leader position". The state's Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said that the move was long overdue - in fact, 50 years overdue. The existence of this position will give the opposition (now Barisan Nasional) a place to voice their own views and most importantly, keep the current state government sharp. Totally acceptable. ;)

Little Japanese Sex

I have read that Japan is one of the countries where its citizens have sex least frequently. I think it might be the annual Durex survey. Here is another survey that further confirms it. A total of 647 men and 821 women were surveyed. A big percentage of the men felt too tired after work while the women can't be bothered with sex! :O

Dark Side of Road Users

This article that appeared in The Sun may not be a major headline but it was really scary. First of all, it confirmed my fear that Malaysian drivers are getting more and more reckless and impatient. Second, the fact that about A HUNDRED road users got irritated enough at an extremely inconsiderate motorist that went weaving around in a bumper-to-bumper jam 3am in the morning to bash him and his passengers up, painted a gloomy picture of lawlessness. It is depressing to learn what it took to blow the top off of not 1 or 2 but a 100 people. We live in dangerous times.

Backing Censorship

Looks like our country's sometimes over, sometimes relaxed but never lacking censorship of sex and violent scenes in the official media is not unfounded after all, according to this news article "Study links teen pregnancy to sexy TV shows" from Reuters. Click on the link for more details but a quick summary: A study has shown that early exposure to TV shows with excessive sex and violent scenes contributed to early teenage pregnancy and acts of violence in children.

No wonder our government also censor extreme news of corruption and wrong doing that could be true and not to mention bad politics... it is for our own good.

From Pixdaus: Baby Horse from Conception to Birth

We have seen quite a lot of human births so how about one of a horse?

Sleepy Cat

Was walking around a shopping mall yesterday and noticed this cat sleeping very peacefully on top of sacks of coals (I think). Luckily I had my newly acquired but ancient 3.2 megapixels Canon compact (still too lazy to post more about this camera :P) with me and took a couple of shots. This one is a frontal view while you can see another view here on my flickr without that string blocking.

Chicken Rice and More

My family and I have been patronising this chicken rice stall for almost a year now.
It's one of the stalls at SS2's famous food court called "Selera Malam". In fact, it is stall number 27.
The chicken, both roasted and steamed available, is tasty and the price is very reasonable by PJ/KL standards. However, we have a thing for steamed chicken, so we did not order the roasted one.
Besides that, check out the "char siew" (barbecued pork) and "siew yuk" (roasted pork):
Unlike typical sweet, thinly sliced and nothing else "char siew", this has better aroma and taste barbecued. Meanwhile, the "siew yuk" is crispy and comes in bigger chunks than your normal chicken rice stall. Here is another shot of the "siew yuk" to end this post. :P