The world's smartest mouse!

Read about this cute little mouse, Brain Storm, recently, in July/August Scientific American Mind magazine. I was curious about it so I went to YouTube to look for this video. Watch how the mouse goes through probably the most difficult course in the world. Simply amazing!

What kind of reader are you?

from Wikipedia

According to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, there are 4 kinds of readers:

1. Sponges, who absorbs all that they read and return it in nearly the same state, only a little dirtied. 
2. Sand-glasses, who retains nothing and are content to get through a book for the sake of getting through the time. 
3. Strain-bags, who retain merely the dregs of what they read. 
4. Mogul diamonds, equally rare and valuable, who profit by what they read, and enable others to profit by it also

What kind of reader I am? If a book is boring and I have nothing else to read, then I'll become a sand-glass, reading just to kill time. Don't remember being a strain bag. Not sure whether I've ever been a sponge. I did make my books dirty, though (especially lab manuals during undergrad). I hope I'm a mogul diamond!

Usually when I started reading a book, I'd try my best to finish it instead of giving it up half way even if it's boring. So far I've only abandoned 6 books because I really couldn't stand reading them anymore. I believe that no matter how terribly written, we can always learn something from a book (for example, learn how not to write terribly).

What kind of reader are you?

Feeding stray dogs

There are lots of stray dogs (mostly females) nearby my college. I think they were abandoned by their owners. My college is located at an industrial area, quite a distance from the surrounding residential areas. Probably this is the main reason that the dogs were abandoned here - they won't find their way back home easily.

One of my colleagues, Kok, is a dog lover. One day, while driving, she saw an injured dog lying beside the road. She stopped and gave it some dog food (she keeps dog food in her car, just in case). From then on, she'd bring it lunch everyday weekday. Every time the dog would wait for her beside the road. Gradually, more dogs joined. However, only that particular dog would wait for her during lunch; the rest just ran over only when she arrived.Since Kok is only feeding them on weekdays, she'd give them more food on Friday.

Ready for lunch!

They were eating very fast. Must be very hungry. I don't think they can get much food in an industrial area.

The white dog with black patches is the one who waits for Kok everyday. 

Pouring more dog food

A message from my colleague:

Please don't throw away your dog!

The Blade Runner - Oscar Pistorius

http://www.oscarpistorius.com

"The fastest man on no legs"

It is possible to run without legs!

Oscar Pistorius is a double-leg amputee. He was born without fibula, and his father had to make the difficult decision to have both his son's leg amputated below knees. However, Oscar didn't give up on sports. Throughout his teenage he tried water polo, tennis, rugby, even wrestling! However, after a serious rugby knee injury, his doctor advised him to stay on the tracks. That's how his running career began. He runs with the aid of Flex-Foot Cheetah, a carbon fiber artificial limbs, as shown below:

http://www.ossur.com

Oscar has won many gold medals in 100, 200, and 400 meters events during Paralympics, and broke his own records 30 times. In 2007, he joined his first running competition for able-bodied athletes. However, some people claimed that his artificial limbs were giving him advantage over those who have real legs. It was proven scientifically so he was banned from the competition and also the 2008 Olympics (even though the decision was reversed later). No matter how, it's amazing to learn that artificial legs are faster than the real ones!

http://www.oscarpistorius.com/

I think the Nike slogan fits him pretty well - JUST DO IT, no matter what!

His motto:

You're not disabled by the disabilities you have, 
you are able by the abilities you have.  

Light bulb that burns since 1901

Isn't it wonderful if you don't have to change the light bulbs at your house throughout your life?

At Fire Station No.6, California, a incandescent light bulb has been in use for more than a century. The firefighters there came and left, but the bulb still shines on. Besides a few blackouts and a removal from the previous fire station, the bulb is operating 24 hours nonstop at about 4 watts.

[Read the news here]

Nobody knows for sure why this bulb is able to last for so long. One thing I'm very sure is that a long long time ago, things were made to last. The refrigerator at my dad's house is older than me and is still working, without the need to refill its gas; the iron my dad got from his dad is still as hot as ever.

Nowadays things don't last that long anymore. I wonder what will I be able to pass on to my children/grandchildren?

Pretty vs. Awful books

Discovered 2 totally contrasting book blogs recently:

A Pretty Book vs. Awful Library Books

Both are started by book lovers, but with different motives.

One is about beautiful books found all around the world and from different historical periods.
Another is about very very old books that need to be weeded from the library.

Both discuss about old books.
One is about those that should be kept.
Another is about those that should be discarded.

Both are enlightening!

If you love books, go and have a look... :-)

Have a nice weekend!

Global treasure hunt - Geocaching

Do you have a GPS or a GPS-enabled smartphone? If yes, then you can join this global treasure hunt!

How does it work?

1. Join the club (free or premium membership)
2. Get the GPS coordinate of a cache from an area you've selected
3. Turn on your GPS and look for the cache!

Maybe you are thinking, with a GPS you'll be able to find the cache easily. Not really. A GPS device is not 100% accurate. It doesn't give you the exact location. Furthermore, many creative cache owners are hiding their caches in places that will surprise you!

What is a cache? It can be anything - a plastic container, a rock, a key chain, etc. You hunt for the cache, or provide the cache yourself and let others look for it.

Some examples:

http://www.stpfriends.org/STP_Geocaches.html

A magnetized mint container 

http://www.stpfriends.org/STP_Geocaches.html

A tiny cache disguised as an olive

A very creative way to hide your cache...

http://awfullibrarybooks.net/

 In a very old library book! (There's even a note attached to the cache asking the discoverer not to remove the little container!) Is this vandalism? 

Antibiotics

Was having a terrible sore throat + low grade fever starting from Monday afternoon (must be caused by the haze & fried tempeh + peanuts!). Went to the doctor's and she gave me paracetamol, ibuprofen & antibiotics. Didn't wanna take the antibiotics, but according to her my symptoms were very likely caused by bacteria rather than viruses (I didn't have muscle ache, a common symptoms of viral infection). It's a 5-day course of erythromycin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic.

When it comes to antibiotics, I always have reservations. I don't like to take them, because I don't want to be part of the selecting forces for resistant bacteria. In addition, taking broad-spectrum antibiotic such as erythromycin also kills other beneficial bacteria in the body. I feel guilty to disrupt the ecological balance of my internal flora.

Yesterday I went to pasar malam (night market in Malay) and bought orange + lemon juice. Halfway through drinking, I could feel my sore throat subsiding. Walking at pasar malam also helped me to sweat so my fever was gone too. However, even though I'm feeling much better now I still need to finish all the antibiotics.

I wonder how long it'll take for my good bacterial colonies in the body to recover after this antibiotic ravage. Sorry my dear good bugs, I didn't mean to kill you...

A little red chair

 Now you can sit down and wait for your bottle to be filled to the brim! 

A friendly reminder: Don't doze off while waiting!

[Thanks Dr.M for sponsoring the little red chair] 

Forensic Science + Art = Frank Bender

Picture from here

Frank Bender has an unusual job - he's a forensic sculptor who reconstruct the faces of the dead and fugitives. He has helped the U.S police in solving many murder cases. By looking at the skulls, he was able to reconstruct the faces and personalities of the dead.

 In addition, he also has a intuition which enabled him to predict the personality of the victims or murderers. One of the famous murder cases he has helped to solve is that of John Emil List, the most wanted man in the U.S. List killed his entire family, which included his wife, mother and 3 children in 1971 and was a fugitive for 18 years. Bender, given List's photographs and those of his parents, predicted how List would look like after 18 years and made a bust, which was broadcasted on TV.

Compare the bust with List (how closely they resemble each other!):

Besides receding headlines and a sagging face, based on psychology, Bender also predicted that List would wear a pair of thick black glasses, which according to Bender, it's a symbol of intellectual that List would need to hide his past. One of List's neighbor saw the bust in TV and reported police (List has already changed his name and found a new career). Finally, after 18 years, List was arrested on 1989. He was sentenced for life and passed away at the age of 82 in 2008.

[This was just one case that he helped to solve. Others could be found here.]

A book about Bender's life and career, written by Ted Botha:

Unfortunately, Bender won't be able to continue his job anymore. He was diagnosed with  stage 4 lung cancer. This was very likely caused by the two-year exposure to asbestos while Bender was serving in the navy. His wife passed away from the same disease recently. Now what worries Bender is his daughter, who has to be face the death of both parents. Besides than this, he is not afraid of death itself.

Quoted in abcNews - "My whole life has been a constant field trip, a balance of art and science," he said. "I am always learning something through my work."

A monkey took picture of herself!

It's not easy to take pictures of wild animals. They don't stand still and say CHEESE to you. Usually they disappear before you ever press the shutter.You need a really good camera (+a very very long lens) to capture them.

However, last week in Indonesia a very smart crested black macaque stole the camera of David Slater, an award-winning photographer, and took pictures of herself. Read the news here. Mr. Slater left his camera unattended for a while, and then came the smart and curious female from her group. She was attracted by her own reflection on the lens and somehow she pressed the shutter.

And voila! The first ever self-portraits of a wild animal! And these pictures are perfect!

Say CHEESE!

The monkey also snapped David Slater & one of her mates with perfect angle!

Just wondering... how about the copyright of these photos? Do they belong to the monkey or Mr. Slater?

Non blinking chocolate ad

How long can you stop blinking?
My eyes feel painful while watching this...



Chocolate ruins everything, even a world-record-to-be! :-)

Durian!!!

It's the durian season again!

Had durian with 2 church members...

Creamy durian

These are extracted from 3 durians

The aftermath

According to my dad, I didn't like durian when I was still a little kid, probably because of the smell. He had to forced it into my mouth (I have no memory of that incident). He rarely forced me to do anything, but I guess durian tastes too good that he wants me to eat it. Every parent wants the best for their children, right? Even durian! Since then I fell in love with the fruit. Until now I still don't prefer strong smelling fruit, such as jackfruit and breadfruit, but durian is an exception!

My version of the Fall of Adam & Eve [without theological proof]:

I don't believe that the forbidden fruit is apple. The tree of the knowledge of good evil in the Garden of Eden should be a durian tree. I think before the Fall durian was not spiky and could be open easily. Eve must have succumbed to the smell and taste of durian, which is definitely more tempting than apple! That's why durian became spiky and formidable afterward because God wants us to remember and be careful. :-P

I am a referee!

A student called and asked me to be her referee.

This was my first time. For years I had been asking others to be my referees - before I started A Level, undergrad and graduate studies; when I was writing my CV to apply for my current job; when I was applying my teaching permit. I have never thought about being a referee myself.

It's probably not a big deal for you. But for me, it's a really breakthrough - now I can recommend others for their studies and jobs. I just can't believe it!

Thanks anyway, my students, for asking me to be your referee. I shall gladly recommend you! :-)

Vanity Barcodes

Creativity can be found anywhere, even in a barcode! Why must a barcode be rectangular and monotonous? Vanity Barcodes provide barcodes that come in a variety of shapes, depending on the products you are selling.

Book

Bird

Bread

School Bus (?)

Pie

The Babysitting Dog

One of the pictures of the day (18 January 2011) of The Telegraph. From the webpage...

"This golden retriever was spotted babysitting three other dogs outside a store in Hong Kong. The well trained pooch sat outside the shop while its owner browsed, holding onto the leads of three other dogs."

Does it babysit human children?

A Collection of Love Thoughts

A wedding gift from my English professor...

I keep this palm-sized box in my office drawer. Once in a while I'd open it and read a few love thoughts. Actually I'd already read all of them not long after my wedding. But I never get bored reading these loving words again and again. (Who'll ever get bored of reading loving words? We all wanna be surrounded by them!)

Some shorter ones...

The longer ones...

Love these loving words!

aNobii

from http://www.areastartups.com/company/anobii

aNobii = book worm in Latin

If you scrolled to the bottom of this blog, you'll find a bookshelf displaying books that I'm reading currently. That's one of the services of aNobii, a social networking site for bookworms. I subscribed to it many years ago, while I was still an undergrad. Compared with LibraryThing, Shelfari, and Goodreads, aNobii is much simpler and has fewer users. However, it's the first ever social networking site for bookworms I've subscribed to, so I don't feel like changing for another one. Cataloging books by keying in their ISBN's one by one is a tedious process, so after doing for more than 300 books I don't wanna repeat the process again.

Whenever I started reading a book, I'd add it in my online bookshelf. You can also write a review for a book you are reading or join any groups for more discussions with other bookworms. There are 2 options when you wanna add someone into your "Contacts" - you can add him/her as a friend (if it's someone you know personally), or a neighbor (if you only know that person through aNobii). After adding, you'll be able to see book updates from your friends or neighbors.

What I like about aNobii is that it allows you to "show off" [:-P] the books you are reading in your blog. You can choose to display the books you are currently reading, or those you've finished, or any books  randomly.

If you've decided to join aNobii, don't forget to add me as you friend/neighbor! :-)

鞠躬尽瘁 Jū Gōng Jìn Cuì

鞠躬尽瘁，死而后已。[jū gōng jìn cuì，sǐ ér hòu yǐ]
- to bend one's back to the task till death.

Discovered these abandoned mail boxes at a post office nearby my college. For unknown reason, immediately the 4 words Chinese idiom 鞠躬尽瘁[jū gōng jìn cuì] popped up in my mind [Chinese love to say things in 4 words!]. It was originally said by Zhuge Liang, a very smart and famous Shu Han chancellor during the Three Kingdoms Period (Shu Han was one of the competing states), to Liu Bei, the founding emperor of Shu Han, while planning to expand the kingdom. Zhuge Liang reassured Liu Bei that no matter what happened, he'd serve the country till his death. Click here to read more about the background of the idiom (it's in Chinese).

I think these mail boxes must have been left there for a long time. I wonder why there were removed at the first place; some of them are still in good condition. Vandalized? Too old? Redundancy (because of the emergence of email & SMS)? Anyway, they've served us well, now it's their time to rest. I think they need a proper burial. Is there any way to recycle these mail boxes?

Street Art: Soviet Army Monument Transformed into Superheroes

Whoever did this is really... what should I say? - creative? brave? defiant?

It happened during June 2011 in Sofia, Bulgaria. A street artist transformed a group of Soviet Red Army soldiers who led an advance on Nazi-allied Bulgaria during World War II into a bunch of U.S comic characters. There is a caption beneath the art which says, "Abreast with the Times". [Read the news here and the blog article here]

A closer look at the transformed monument...

There were Superman, Santa Claus, McDonald, the Joker, Robin and other U.S comic characters. The Russian embassy was not amused. According to the news article, "The Russian embassy is again compelled to highlight an outrageous act of vandalism against the Soviet army monument in Sofia." It cost USD 720 to clean up the paint. About 1700 people protested against it in Facebook but to no avail.

What was the artist trying to imply through this vandalism? Socialism vs. democracy? Serious/classical art vs. pop culture? Just plain sarcasm? It's amusing and thought-provoking...

Thai Pantene Commercial

The story about a deaf girl who's keen to learn violin & succeeded!



Nice hair flying around... :-)

Canon in D Major - nice music too...

The creativity of Thai commercials never ceases to amaze me!