Meet Emily

Here is Emily, a 3D girl by image metrics. Still looks fake if you look long and close enough but real enough to be posted here. ;)



Via BlenderNation.

Senior Citizen Program and Anti-ISA

While getting my parents registered for the Mesra Usia Emas program (a program for Selangor senior citizens 60 years and above which initially offers RM2,500 upon demise of the individual but will hopefully offer more in the future like medical benefits, according to a rep) at a local DAP centre, I got me eyes set on an anti-ISA badge there. :)

Naughty Christmas

Did you have a naughty Christmas? I had to post this here the moment I saw it at Super Punch. :D

Cheers! Another year to get older!

... And wiser! :)

Pandas @ Taiwan

I have been slow to blog about this as various medias have already reported the arrival of Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan at Taiwan. The two pandas' names when combined to Tuan Yuan means unite - which reminds me of the reunion dinner every Chinese New Year Eve. :)

Good news as this may seem, I do have some reservations of China using pandas, such innocent creatures these cute animals are, for diplomatic purposes. Imagine if humans were sent around this way... how would the humans feel? Well, I suppose sacrifice the minority for the good of the world would be a reason... :(

Polycarbonate Danger!!!

Update 25 December 2008: Health Ministry says polycarbonate bottles are safe based on research. Also read about how the poor in Indonesia purify their drinking water here.

I remember plenty of warnings from friends, the net and e-mails not to store and drink water from those 1.5 litres (used to be just 1.25L until our appetite became larger :p). I mean, it is so common here in Malaysia - and I suppose in many other countries - to clean the bottle after finishing the carbonated drinks or mineral water that came in the bottles and then use them to store our normal drinking water. So convenient, so easy, so disposable.

Then, the warnings came NOT to use them, especially those with low numbers (numbers inside the recycle logo). The ones we often use comes with the number "1". I never believed those warnings so I continued to use them. *SHY*

Today, the Star Online proved that water bottles or containers with higher numbers are not safe... well, at least those marked with PC (polycarbonate) or with the number "7". Excerpts:

He said that such bottles can be identified by a number seven inside a triangle with the letters PC next to it.

“The bottles are being sold everywhere and people think they are safe as they can withstand high temperature liquids.

“But researchers have found out that BPA can leach into the bottle’s contents through normal wear and tear, exposure to heat and cleaning agents,” he said.

Mohamed Idris claimed that a study conducted by the University of Missouri found that the chemical can even leach into liquids at room temperature.

“This finding is alarming and I urge the Education Ministry and parents to ban the use of the bottles in schools and for the people to restrain from using polycarbonate or any other plastic bottles,” he said.

He said that steel or glass bottles are preferred and cost about the same as the polycarbonate bottle at around RM12.

Joy To Myanmar Children

Remember e-mails that say every time you forward that particular e-mail, Microsoft or whatever company will track it and donate x amount of money to certain charities? I really don't know how true those can be but I would just delete them. This Christmas, there is something reliable with similar in concept from Nokia:
I believe this one, since it is in Nokia's website. Just go to the website http://www.nokia.com/sa1/seasonGreetingsweb/, click on "Send a UNICEF E-card" and just fill up the blanks. Nokia will donate something to UNICEF in aid of Myanmar's children in education. Joyous Christmas and Happy New Year to the children and generous Nokia and helpful UNICEF.

Via Symbian Freak.

Kuala Lumpur International Airport Low Cost Carrier Terminal

Update 31 January 2009: Looks like the Negeri Sembilan LCCT is a no go. Instead Malaysia Airports will be building a permanent one at KLIA... more confusion!

Check out the official name of our Low Cost Carrier Terminal above which is normally shortened to just LCCT. Last night, I have the joy of experiencing the just opened extended arrival hall. The walk from the aircraft to this extended arrival terminal is a true representative of the official long name of the LCCT. It took what felt like an eternity to reach this new terminal, especially carrying my boss' 8kg of nuts which he asked me to bring back and pass to his son. After that, we had to take this escalator up to the immigration and then take an escalator down to visit the duty free shop and collect check-in baggage. Once out of the airport, another long walk to catch the cab. You pay less, you walk more, alright?

And then, just now I read that this extended arrival hall costs RM160 million. AND before that, I read that the Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar said that a new LCCT is being built in Nilai by the private sector Sime Darby to replace the current one (which was only opened a few short years ago). What a lot of unused airports around. First there was the old Subang one which part of it is now getting used again and then the current LCCT which will be replaced. So the Menteri Besar said the new one was fully funded by the private sector but what about the old one that has just been extended? Hmmm... I really can't digest this. Maybe I had been carrying too many nuts last night. No, boss, if you are reading this, I did not eat any of your nuts.

Source: Star Online "Extended arrival hall at LCCT opens" and "Proposed LCCT to be privately funded"

Oh, by the way, I bought a 350ml bottle of Spritzer for RM4 during flight and finished it in less than 5 small gulps (approx.).

From flickr: 石竹

石竹
Originally uploaded by Tugen.Wang.

What a great idea from Tugen.Wang! Combining one of my favourite childhood cartoons and one of my favourite cutesy animals - an Autobot Transformer Panda!

Via Super Punch.

HAH! All you evil pixel peepers, take this!

That's right! For those evil ones that like to zoom in photographs at 100% and look at pixels, What The Duck's got something in store for ya!

Christian The Lion From Harrods

An article in Star Online (which was talking about the possibility of our local aphrodisiac going on sale in Harrods) first brought my attention to Christian the Lion but the link provided didn't seem to work. I did a quick search with "Harrods Lion" in Youtube and a list of videos came up. Selected the first one and what a touching story it is. Who said lions are totally wild? You be the judge:

Cool 12 Days of Christmas Indian Version

A friend shared this with me and I find it cool! Must share with whoever you are that's reading this. :)

Too Tasty

I'm sure the advertise wanted me to interpret this differently but my first thought was that after one taste, I would return this bottle of wine. :P

Handphone Hunt #6 - Nokia E71

After more than a year since my last handphone lust, I have sort of up the ante and now am wishing for a Nokia E71. Went to a stall to actually hand hold one but ended up holding a dummy, but I was told it is very close to the real thing. So close that the fingerprint issue on the chrome body is such a reality! Besides that, I read in reviews that the LED flash will not function as a flashlight. Urgh! But I read the stripped down model that is the E63 (not in retail yet) could do it.

This E71 looks much cooler than the E61 and E61i in the sense that it is not so wide. The E71 is mainly for the business people on the go, which I am not. I prefer to sit and rot a bit, but still I like the phone's many features:

1. HSDPA and 3G (really a fan of these two supposedly fast wireless connection to the internet but they are still way too expensive)!
2. Wifi! Surf at home or at a cafe with wifi!
   
3. 3.2MP autofocus camera, though the quality of any camera on phones is a big, big suspect.
   
4. A tiny little QWERTY keyboard! If my fingers were any bigger, I might be pressing two buttons at one go, though.
5. Infrared so that I can transfer over contacts from my ancient classic phone.
6. Bluetooth! Sync with the computer!
   

Things that are nice on the phone which I don't really care for: Microsoft Exchange, GPS, non-flashlight LED, mobile VPN, video and music players, blah, blah.

Oh yeah, the stall that I went to said it costs RM1,699 while the recommended retail price is RM1,799. Kinda steep for me so I will just keep wishing for it. Andrewk said he will go buy 4D when I finally buy a new phone. ;)

Meanwhile, do check out the touchscreen Nokia 5800, too - the one you saw in The Dark Knight that was equipped with sonar capabilities.

Note: Photo from Nokia Malaysia's website. Darn it, I did not notice the hand tool on the qwerty keyboard when I ripped that screen but am too lazy to correct that now.

Datuk Low Siew Moi

On what my office calls B.O.S.S. (Birthday of Sultan of Selangor) day, Low Siew Moi, the acting general manager of the Selangor State Development Corporation or PKNS, was awarded datukship. Normally it would not interest me in anyway because we Malaysians have too many of them. Some really good ones and some huh? who? why that dirty #&@#$ ones.

However, she is of particular importance because her appointment as acting general manager sparked controversy amongst locals (in the minority, I hope). It had also been used as a platform for criticisms by some politicians. Tsk, tsk, tsk!

Quiet Airports

I've always been 'envious' of other major cities' airports compared to our own Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) because these airports were very, very, very busy. 'Envious' because in awe on the amount of people moving in and out of those countries but I actually like KLIA's rather quiet and slow pace. Shorter queues, less human frictions. :P

So, imagine my surprise when I read this! A country like Japan with more than one airport that struggle to get airlines to fly there. The latest would be their upcoming Ibaraki Airport (in March 2010) which have yet to have any airlines agreeing to fly there. Interestingly, officials are in talks with low cost carriers and one of them is our very own AirAsia X. Maybe, very soon anyone can fly to Japan but the grass may not be greener on the other side after all.

My Mouse Is One In A Billion!

Another something from Engadget. Today, it serves the news that Logitech shipped its one billionth mouse and I've got one some months ago. I am a contributor, too, Logitech. The back of my mouse indicates patent pending and made in China. :)
Besides that, check out the P4, Logitech's first mouse. Click on Engadget's link above.

Malaysians Get A Mention on Engadget

Engadget's sarcasm hits the right notes most of the time, and for its latest article on the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 2, the technology website had a go at Malaysian kids that like to boast about how they broke the Vista SP1 and XP SP3 release schedules to the world. :)

From Pixdaus: Panda Greetings!

Hi!