Stop Global Warming and Save Our Rainforests

This is really a cool video and to the point, revealing the ugly picture that seems imminent if global warming continues:

via TreeHugger.

While we are at it, a video about saving rainforests:

Driving Tests in Whatever Cars

That's not going to be the case if our lawmakers have anything to do with it. This morning, I heard over the news that our government... or SOME PEOPLE... are considering to convert all the cars used for driving exams to automatic transmission ones. At that time, my thoughts was "WTF?" How are anyone going to know how to drive manual transmission cars when we suffer some major Dark Angel kind of post-apocalyptic situation in the not too distant future? Then, I forgot about it and went about trying to work on a Monday.

Work's over and off I went. I turned on the radio and there you go, news about this driving exams thing again, only this time, it was information overload. The transport people are opening up their minds. They are taking in suggestions on how to implement this and one of them suggestions is those that passed their tests using automatic transmission vehicles WILL ONLY BE ALLOWED TO DRIVE automatic transmission vehicles. At that point, I became quite a dangerous driver on the road because I almost rolled on the floor laughing.

INGENIOUS!

I should really post something really serious after this one.

Teaching of Science and Maths in Whatever Languages

Looks like another "glorious" Monday with an early phone call from an ex-boss (still within the same company but I don't report to him anymore. However, he likes to keep his evil presence felt... sheeesh!!!). That (though seemingly unrelated), plus reading a news article of an opposition leader calling for Science and Mathematics to be taught in languages according to the schools (national, Chinese and Tamil) got me thinking... oh yeah! Thinking on a Monday morning is a very big deal!

When Science and Maths were made compulsory to be taught in English in all Malaysian schools, it was met with quite some strong resistance and few years on, it still is made as a subject for debate by both ruling government and opposition. However, I would like to share my personal experience during my school days.

I did my primary and secondary years in national schools, meaning the majority of subjects were taught in Bahasa Malaysia or Bahasa Melayu (depends on whichever timeline we are in), so when I moved to A-Levels in a private college, I really had some big issues on catching up with the terms used in my subjects - and I'm a science student. My subjects were Maths, Advanced Maths, Chemistry and Physics. Chemicals and physics terms had significantly different names and mathematic questions required multiple re-reading.

I was lucky that I managed to get through all those hurdles quite quickly because my England was not so bad. But I do wonder now, what would the others that are moving in this direction or even, those that have left school for work while learning Science and Maths in non-English languages, will face when almost all matters in the private sector are in English? If I'm not wrong, local universities also teach their science subjects in English, so this sudden change might cause quite some confusion. This plus the fact that most of us national school leavers only have English as a single subject...

I don't know. Maybe I'm just rambling and my opinion here might just be clashing with the majority of the public, but this is what I am wondering on this Monday morning.

INSANE: Swim with a iPhone?

Assuming this is real, here's a man taking a video with his new iPhone around a swimming pool area and some how dropped it into the water, picked it up again and it was still recording.

via Engadget.

Previously, we dreamed of swimming with a Nokia here.

What's New in Firefox 3.5

Update 30 June 2009: Mozilla Firefox 3.5 is now available for download at its main page here.

Some interesting features coming our way in Firefox 3.5:

Some of the new features are speed - at least twice as fast as Firefox 3.0 (hope it does Google Reader as good as Google Chrome!), more advanced private browsing (Internet Explorer 8 has something like this) and history control, open recently closed windows (Google Chrome has something like this) and some cool Open Video thing that I've no idea about.

via Mozilla Links.

Albino Green Sea Turtles

Green sea turtles are classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Photo above from National Geographic week in photos website. According to the Lady Elliot website, albino green sea turtles only happen once in every 100,000 births. Pictured in photos below is the turtle named Elliot discovered by John Meech of the Quuensland Parks and Wildlife from Mon Repos. Looks like Elliot's got beautiful blue eyes.

via National Geographic Week In Photos and Lady Elliot Eco Island Resort.

Krispy Kreme @ Berjaya Times Square

Yesterday was quite productive, actually. Did quite a few things. From some personal stuffs then proceeded to HP service centre to Transformers 2 and finally, went for some Krispy Kreme takeaway. I love donuts but I tell you, it's a very sweet affair. I did not like the New York Cheese (bottom photo). I had expected some salty cheesy tastes but there was none of that. Hershey's Dark Chocolate (also bottom photo) was ok but I liked the Original Glazed donuts the best. Love biting and chewing into them. The extremely high sugar level is a different thing all together, though...

Logo off the packing box

Off the shelves!

Original Glazed Donut

Left: Hershey's Dark Chocolate; Right: New York Cheese

Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen @ Malaysia's Fallen IMAX

Update 29 June 2009: You can get more info about the fallen IMAX in Malaysia at fellow blogger's My Musings blog here and here.

Right after getting my DVD drive repaired, I headed straight for Berjaya Times Square to catch the 2pm Transformers 2 on the 5-storey high "IMAX" screen. I called it "IMAX" and not IMAX because I no longer find any signs of IMAX. It's now called Cosmo's World Theme Park Theatre. I was a bit disappointed and was sceptical on how the movie might look on such a big screen when it's in the normal cinema format. I was also hoping to catch the IMAX version where there was supposed to be additional scenes.

As the movie started, I noticed the graininess of it as a result of being projected on such a large screen but as the action started, I got used to it and ignored that part of the problem. Phew! What more to ask for right? Quite comfy seats, nice sound system and, according to the banner on the left, watch Megan Fox... ahem, I mean Transformers, life size for the price of a normal ticket.

Now, lets talk a bit about some highlights of the movie but before that, I have to do this: SPOILERS AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN RISKS!

As much as I hope, this movie will never be anything like the very first cartoons but I liked that there were a few mentions of things that I can relate to the first generation Transformers such as The Matrix, Devastator that is a combination of construction vehicles, Arcee, and more interaction between a disappointed Megatron and a cowardly Starscream.

This movie tells the tale of the Decepticons' attempts to revive The Fallen and use Earth as a Energon source. After a shard of the All Spark transferred a whole lot of info including the location of a Energon generating machine into Sam Witwicky's brain, the action kicks into high gear - Decepticons want him while the Autobots and humans try to stop them.

We were reminded of the greedy nature of humans and our tendency to go to war in Optimus Prime's own words. The Autobots were asked to leave Earth because some high ranking Americans thought the Decepticons were still terrorising Earth because of them and also accusations that the Autobots were not sharing their weapon technology.

Some where at the beginning of the movie, I was surprised to see Optimus Prime kill off a Decepticon in such a cold blooded (in this case, maybe lubricant) point-blank way. He even asked if the dude had any last words. Cruel, cruel, cruel! This Prime is certainly more violent than the one I knew. Not long after, we were reminded of the good side of Optimus Prime when he sacrificed his life trying to protect Sam.

It was also interesting to see that humans managed to take down the mighty Devastator while the giant dude was high up on the pyramid. The bigger they are, they higher they fall, I suppose. ;)

Oh, I would like to mention that I found it strange Bumblebee could not talk again. I remembered that he gained back his voice at the end of the first movie.

HP Service Centre

Got my laptop's DVD drive replaced today at HP because it was not burning discs properly - errors during verification. The reason I'm blogging about this is to let whoever that is reading this know that I'm quite pleased with HP's service centre at Bukit Damansara. The staffs were able to replace my drive on the spot (in this case, they have the spare parts... otherwise, I'd have to come back). It took about 30 minutes for that to happen - diagnostics, testing, etc. At least I did not have to come back a second time. I'd have to take leave to come back!

Canon also did the same for my A400 and you can read about it here.

It's a shame that HP does not provide house calls like Dell. That way, it would be ideal and saves us consumers a lot of hassles.

Blardy Irritating Drivers

The drive home from work was uneventful until I encountered two blardy irritating drivers.

ONE: This fella turned on his/her highlights and was behind me for ages while waiting for the traffic light to turn green!

TWO: After gladly leaving that crazy fella behind, I came to another traffic light when this bugger jumped queue and went straight in front of me:

#$%@#$%#^%#$@%%^(&(%*!#(@$&%$*%!%@#$*%T^&!(#$*(!@*#!!!!! CURSES! CURSES! CURSES!

Swim with a Nokia?

Nowadays, with plenty of waterproof and shockproof cameras to choose from, I was beginning to wonder when will handphones go that direction. My thoughts were answered by Nokia! Seems like their 3720 will be waterproof... or at least, dust and water resistant, according to some IP54 certification.

Imagine, if there is a waterproof phone... while you were enjoying soaking in clear ocean water, someone calls about some mundane work matters... WTF!!!

via Mobile Cowboys via Phone Arena

Update 10 July 2009: Nokia's confirmed the 3720. However, luck is on the side of the busy executives. It's only splash and dust proof, NOT waterproof. Phew!

Advantage of an evening flight

Sky #7 - Another Flight, Another Sky
Originally uploaded by IonBuck.

Caught this while sitting at the window sit and having my Canon A400 handy, on my way to Ho Chi Minh from Kuala Lumpur. It's really great to have a camera in hand at all times!

Malaysia's GDP Revised to around -4% and -5% from -1% and 1%

Update 23 June 2009: World Bank said that our real GDP (whatever "real" means) this year is expected to fall by 4.4% before recovering to 2.2% next year and 5.3% in 2011.

Looks like our government could not hide it any longer - finally revising our Gross Domestic Product to between -4% and -5% from the previous range of -1% to 1%. Meanwhile, our country's Industrial Production Index for April 2009 contracted, though better than estimates, by as much as 11.4%.

All these in the midst of rising Influenza A (H1N1) infections and confusing on-off talks between opposition and ruling government of a unity government.

Still Around

Don't think I've done this before - not blogging for over a week! Need not worry, though. I shall return sooner than you think. Meanwhile, you can check out my Twitter for some quick updates. :D

Remnants of Today's Lunch

Burp!
Originally uploaded by IonBuck.

Had a great lunch with family today. :)