Ahem, decide for yourselves guys. Maybe it’s the Social Development Unit at work here, or maybe not. Maybe they forgot that we’re more of 70% guys instead of at least 50-50. But in the meantime, have a laugh.
The pictures I’m about to post is related to Sagan’s Cosmos Episode 6: Travelers’ Tales which I watched today. Before any snide remarks of slowness are uttered, let it be known that we here in ESP are conferred an ungodly schedule. Anyways, the episode first gave a narrative of the historical context of exploration by humanity. Then, it was an intriguing yet electrifying tale of the exploration of the outer reaches of the Solar System by the Voyagers 1 and 2. Even after having read the chronicle and pored over images from the archives of the Voyager missions, I was still astounded. When told from the mission staff’s perspective (Sagan participated in practically all the major space missions of his time) on how discoveries were made from those very photos, the photos just took on a whole new perspective. Technological obseleteness aside, it is amazing how it could still instill a sense of awe even today. This series is definitely living up to its reputation IMO.
In his Cosmos update, Sagan indicated how he was excited over the Cassini mission destined for Saturn. Sadly, he died even before the Cassini-Huygens mission was launched. He would have been tremendously excited to see the images from Saturn and especially Titan. His conjecture on the existance of vast methane oceans on Titan may have been incorrect, but Titan is still no less intriguing with the possibilities of methane lakes on Titan as shown in the picture below.
This image of Titan’s surface was actually generated by radar, as Titan was opaque at visible wavelengths due to a smog consisting of organic molecules present in its atmosphere.
Jupiter is the King of Planets, but in an odd twist Saturn wears the crown jewels of the Solar System. If the Voyager pictures of Saturn were not majestic enough, Cassini certainly made an effort to try harder.
Behold, the wonders of the planet Saturn.
Original picture
Exaggerated Color Contrast picture
See that tiny white dot on the upper right? That’s us! Planet Earth and its Moon as seen in a magnified and monochrome view at upper left.
Simply beautiful, isn’t it? 
P.S.: All images courtesy of saturn.jpl.nasa.gov, found from reading SciAm Blogs highlights of the meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) titled "News From the Planets Meeting" published today.
Yes, I finally did it. Took me long enough, no? Well, at least I came up with something. See, I had to wait till the haze lifted before attampting a photoshoot of my own. It finally happened last Sunday. So, I combined my printing trip, getting some exercise and snapping a few photos all in one go. Unfortunately, due to time constraints I didn’t stay too long in places to make sure all of the photos came out ok. Plus, I’m not renowned for photography, hence the poor quality.
On with the notable ones.
Where shall I start from? Umm, let’s start with…
…some greenery
This is the garden behind the Central Library. Probably the nicest garden in NUS. Central Library is to the right, not shown in the picture. The book collection in there is awesome! Will try and show how big the section is some other time.
My second home, Engineering Faculty
There is more to the Faculty of Engineering (FoE) than just these buildings, but this is the most photogenic one.
Tropical garden in a concrete jungle?
That is the outdoor spaces for the FoE Cafe.
My lab’s entrance
Relax, we don’t study in there. The doors to our lab is to the right (the back door to the lab is directly to the right of the partition, the front entrance to the right foreground in this photo). We’re so new that much of our facilities are not ready yet. Our lab contining the high end imaging systems (inclusive of a SEM and a few other microscopes) and nanofabrication equipment will be one floor below this level, with the office spaces being on this floor. Our own residence college, if it gets built will only be ready in 2010! 
The Simulations and Electronics Laboratory, E3A
A computer lab, lecture room, tutorial room, conference room, student study room all rolled up into one. Except for its remoteness, it’s a nice place to be. There is another lab, but we do not have unsupervised access to it like the Simulations Lab due to the placement of certain equipment over there. But it’s quite similar to this lab we have here. 
Another view from the back door
The two laser printers under the window towards the back = free printing! How nice!
The view outside the window
The building you see is the University Cultural Centre (UCC). That’s where events like the Freshmen Inauguration Ceremony (FIC) was held, the Lee Kuan Yew Distinguished Visitor lecture series (latest one was Prof. Wu Tai Tsun, Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics & Professor of Physics, Harvard University on the topic of PARTICLE PHYSICS AND THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER) and guest performances like the one by The Chapel Choir of Girton College, Cambridge University in late Aug. Further behind the UCC is the SingTel HQ building, the one looking like a bundle of cables sticking out of the ground.
Moving on…
The University Hall
This is the main administration building. I always thought the structure at the apex was the Office of the President. I was proven wrong as you shall see later on.
The Centenary Landmark
NUSians should recognise this picture (come on, it’s on the cover of the NUS Bulletin Book!).
The Description
The North Atlantic Salmon Mural…
This is essentially the NUS President Prof. Shih’s vision for NUS students as alluded to in the FIC. That’s the fishes (nope, we don’t have real salmon in the pool but some other fishes more suited for the tropical climate)
…and that’s where they must ascend
I think that’s the car park level they’re trying to get to for spawning. 
The Description
In the University Hall…
The frames without potraits
I don’t know where the pictures of the chancellors went to…
Not a bad quote
The Vista
And now I bring you an exclusive picture from a place rarely visited by us mere mortals. This is The Vista, the top floor of the University Hall which gave inspiration to this post’s title. As you can see in the distance, it turns out the structure at the top is actually a meeting room. The Office of the President is on my left when I took this picture. Nope, I didn’t have to break into University Hall just to take this picture. BTW, this whole area is so reminiscent of the office spaces in F.E.A.R.!!!
That’s all I have of the University Hall. Next,
Faculty of Science, Department of Physics Landmark
To be frank, I thought it symbolised a torch at first! Practically, it isn’t that far off anyway. Fire has particles, which are waves themselves right?
And finally,
‘Home Sweet Home’
That’s the Prince George’s Park Residence, a massive 30 block complex where I stay.
All photos taken by yours truly.
P.S.: Because a University 2 square kilometres is quite large to be covered sufficiently in 3 hours (not including the other campuses around Singapore), I did not include many other places like Halls and Faculties here in the blog. So guys, please don’t feel slighted if your home faculty and accomodations are not covered in this rather brief sneak peek at our ‘beloved’ Uni. 
Owie, this time you’re going to really curse me. Last time, I posted a roughly 2 hour documentary. This time, I’m giving you, my readers a 13 hour documentary series!
After searching for this for the past year I found it at an entirely unexpected place. It is truly a pleasant surprise.
From the blog of a fellow coursemate, I bring you Cosmos: A Personal Voyage!
Courtesy Wikipedia.org
THE Cosmos series! The Holy Grail of science documentaries! Well, not quite but it’s close enough. It is a 13 episode series of a journey into the Universe, as narrated by the famous Carl Sagan himself. To see what’s so great about the series and the narrator himself, you’ll just have to see it. Describing the wonders of the series using words alone will not do justice to it.
Here’s,
Episode 1: The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean
For the rest of the 13 episodes, please go to the Carl Sagan’s Cosmos Series.
Enjoy!
P.S. Somebody stop me before I blog again!!!
Yet again, the ‘axis of evil’ has triumphed over the Bush Administration.
At 0936 this morning, North Korea has conducted a successful underground nuclear weapons test before announcing it to the world. The rest of the world got nothing more than 20 minutes advance notice (the DPRK informed the PRC, which subsequently sent out the word). And so, the nuclear club may have just admitted its 8th member.
Question, did the US intelligence agencies failed yet again? I think it’s an affirmative. They didn’t raise any flags and then they can’t even give definite confirmation after the testing occurred. Pathetic. Sources say it might be a ‘fizzle’ event (meaning the nuclear bomb failed to achieve the maximum predicted yield due to problems like impurities in bomb material or poor bomb design) due to its relatively low yield estimated at 0.5 to 2 kilotons TNT. For comparison, Hiroshima was about 12.5 ktons and the first Indian nuclear test was roughly 20 ktons. It is plausible, or it could mean that Dear Leader wants to save his preciousss nuclear stockpile for better use (like making more bombs for leveraging more concessions from the outside world).
Now that the DPRK is ‘officially’ nuclear, what are the implications?
Japan and South Korea might follow suit by the end of the year (Japan has the capability to go nuclear in a matter of months and South Korea has experience dabbling with this back in the 70’s), with Taiwan playing copycat with the claim that it’s being bullied by a major power. Then it’s going to be a real headache because China will never allow Taiwan to go nuclear. If Taiwan crosses the nuclear Rubicon, then the US and China would also resume testing as a result of heightened tensions. Before long, every member of the nuclear club will be in an arms race. Burma, Indonesia and Vietnam may be far away, but they could potentially end up in a arms race too although it’ll take some time before the arms race mania reaches them. However, it is still considered unlikely that anyone will go nuclear in this high-stakes poker game. But don’t forget, it’s hard to say.
In the meantime, the generals in the East Asian region are going to go giddy with joy. Their defense pending is sure to go up now that a nuisance is now nuclear capable. It is also probably safe to say that a ballistic missile shield quest is also underway, before the DPRK can mate a nuclear warhead to an ICBM. That means, Lockheed Martin stocks are detinitely going to go up. More Patriot PAC-3 systems sold = more $$$ to be earned.
Now that the North Koreans has done it, what about their technical counterparts in Iran? It’s a sobering thought, considering how interlinked regional geopolitics are today. If the conditions are right, this might just strike a match in the Middle East tinderbox. If this helps the Iranians go nuclear, then you’ll have to consider the possibility that ever major Arab power in the region will want to join the party. What happens when Israel loses its biggest tactical advantage over its neighbors, will be for you to imagine.
Information sourced from CNN.com, Global Security.org, MSNBC.com, Newsweek.com, Time.com, Wikipedia
It’s a Marine officer’s letter home to family and friends, but the letter was just too good not to be sent out. Time got the letter, and published it after receiving permission from him. Here are my favourite highlights from the edited letter.
Most Surreal Moment — Watching Marines arrive at my detention facility and unload a truck load of flex-cuffed midgets. 26 to be exact. We had put the word out earlier in the day to the Marines in Fallujah that we were looking for Bad Guy X, who was described as a midget. Little did I know that Fallujah was home to a small community of midgets, who banded together for support since they were considered as social outcasts. The Marines were anxious to get back to the midget colony to bring in the rest of the midget suspects, but I called off the search, figuring Bad Guy X was long gone on his short legs after seeing his companions rounded up by the giant infidels.
Can a midget insurgent really get that far just on short legs? That takes a long stretch of imagination. But considering the weight those giant infidels have, he might just get a decent head start.
Most Profound Man in Iraq — an unidentified farmer in a fairly remote area who, after being asked by Reconnaissance Marines if he had seen any foreign fighters in the area replied "Yes, you."
Cliché, but man, that should still make it into Time’s Quote of the Year.
Worst City in al-Anbar Province — Ramadi, hands down. The provincial capital of 400,000 people. Lots and lots of insurgents killed in there since we arrived in February. Every day is a nasty gun battle. They blast us with giant bombs in the road, snipers, mortars and small arms. We blast them with tanks, attack helicopters, artillery, our snipers (much better than theirs), and every weapon that an infantryman can carry. Every day. Incredibly, I rarely see Ramadi in the news. We have as many attacks out here in the west as Baghdad. Yet, Baghdad has 7 million people, we have just 1.2 million. Per capita, al-Anbar province is the most violent place in Iraq by several orders of magnitude. I suppose it was no accident that the Marines were assigned this area in 2003.
Ever heard of a kid’s game called tit-for-tat? I guess even big kids play it too.
Biggest Surprise — Iraqi Police. . . .Greatest Vindication — Stocking up on outrageous quantities of Diet Coke from the chow hall in spite of the derision from my men on such hoarding, then having a 122mm rocket blast apart the giant shipping container that held all of the soda for the chow hall. Yep, you can’t buy experience.
Tall-tale from Iraq - Mentos with Diet Coke? Big deal. Have you seen what the insurgents can do with our Diet Coke? It’ll literally blow you away!
Coolest Insurgent Act — Stealing almost $7 million from the main bank in Ramadi in broad daylight, then, upon exiting, waving to the Marines in the combat outpost right next to the bank, who had no clue of what was going on. The Marines waved back. Too cool.
That’s just…cool. The look on the Marine’s faces after they found out must be worth at least 1/7th of the loot.
Worst Smell — Porta-johns in 120 degree heat — and that’s 120 degrees outside of the porta-john.
Loo cum sauna. The wonders of American technology never cease to amaze. Best of all, they even solved the problem of hoarders.
Biggest Hassle — High-ranking visitors. More disruptive to work than a rocket attack. VIPs demand briefs and "battlefield" tours (we take them to quiet sections of Fallujah, which is plenty scary for them). Our briefs and commentary seem to have no affect on their preconceived notions of what’s going on in Iraq. Their trips allow them to say that they’ve been to Fallujah, which gives them an unfortunate degree of credibility in perpetuating their fantasies about the insurgency here. Biggest Outrage — Practically anything said by talking heads on TV about the war in Iraq, not that I get to watch much TV. Their thoughts are consistently both grossly simplistic and politically slanted. Biggest Offender: Bill O’Reilly.
Maths lesson from Iraq: Very Important People = Very Idiotic People = Chicken.
Best Chuck Norris Moment — 13 May. Bad Guys arrived at the government center in a small town to kidnap the mayor, since they have a problem with any form of government that does not include regular beheadings and women wearing burqahs. There were seven of them. As they brought the mayor out to put him in a pick-up truck to take him off to be beheaded (on video, as usual), one of the Bad Guys put down his machinegun so that he could tie the mayor’s hands. The mayor took the opportunity to pick up the machinegun and drill five of the Bad Guys. The other two ran away. One of the dead Bad Guys was on our top twenty wanted list. Like they say, you can’t fight City Hall.
Malaysian City Halls better learn a thing or two from this no-nonsense guy. That’ll solve most of the litter, illegal advertising, errant driving and related urban problems we have in no time. Hell, just machinegun the top offenders every once in a while and that’s it.
That’s most of the best parts I can find. If you want a dose of dreariness and miserable reality of Al-Anbar, Iraq you can go here.
In the midst of the annual announcements for the esteemed Nobel Prize recipients from various fields, some of you may or may not have heard of the less coveted but quite public Ig Nobel Prize.
If venue serves as benchmark of prestigiousness,…
Courtesy nobelprize.org
While the Nobel Prize is given to "who have completed outstanding research, invented ground-breaking techniques or equipment or made an outstanding contribution to society in physics, chemistry, literature, peace and medicine or physiology" (Wikipedia- Nobel Prize), the Ig Nobel prize are awarded, to also quote from Wikipedia: for ten achievements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think." (Wikipedia- Ig Nobel Prize)
…is Ig Nobel as eminient as Nobel?
Courtesy improbable.com
An example of genuine scientific achievement given credit includes a finding that a black hole fulfils the technical requirements of accommodating Hell. Of course, we still wouldn’t know if you would literally go straight to Hell when you die by being killed as you approach a singularity.
In case you think it’s just a crackpot event, not quite. It’s been gaining quite a following since its inception. In fact, the renowned journal Nature hails it as "arguably the highlight of the scientific calendar."
Anyways, on with this year’s roll call of honours. Presented at Harvard University’s resplendent Sanders Theatre (its new venue instead of MIT) this year’s Ig Nobel Prizes are nothing ‘unusual’. Let’s see the 5 most interesting ones (out of 10 ranked based on how ‘ig’ it is personally).
No. 5
NUTRITION: Wasmia Al-Houty of Kuwait University and Faten Al-Mussalam of the Kuwait Environment Public Authority, for showing that dung beetles are finicky eaters.
Um, looks like there’s some shit that are better than others after all. But sorry, all shit is not yummy to me.
REFERENCE: "Dung Preference of the Dung Beetle Scarabaeus cristatus Fab (Coleoptera-Scarabaeidae) from Kuwait," Wasmia Al-Houty and Faten Al-Musalam, Journal of Arid Environments, vol. 35, no. 3, 1997, pp. 511-6.
No.4
ORNITHOLOGY: Ivan R. Schwab, of the University of California Davis, and the late Philip R.A. May of the University of California Los Angeles, for exploring and explaining why woodpeckers don’t get headaches.
Being bird-brained isn’t so bad after all. Plus, they get to see more than us!
REFERENCE: "Cure for a Headache," Ivan R Schwab, British Journal of Ophthalmology, vol. 86, 2002, p. 843.
REFERENCE: "Woodpeckers and Head Injury," Philip R.A. May, Joaquin M. Fuster, Paul Newman and Ada Hirschman, Lancet, vol. 307, no. 7957, February 28, 1976, pp. 454-5.
REFERENCE: "Woodpeckers and Head Injury," Philip R.A. May, Joaquin M. Fuster, Paul Newman and Ada Hirschman, Lancet, vol. 307, no. 7973, June 19, 1976, pp. 1347-8.
No.3
MATHEMATICS: Nic Svenson and Piers Barnes of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organization, for calculating the number of photographs you must take to (almost) ensure that nobody in a group photo will have their eyes closed.
Photographers, now you have a way to calculate how many photos you’ll need to take for group photos (and saving those poor people from having to be reflashed more than strictly necessary!).
REFERENCE: "Blink-Free Photos, Guaranteed," Velocity, June 2006,
No.2
PEACE: Howard Stapleton of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, for inventing an electromechanical teenager repellent — a device that makes annoying noise designed to be audible to teenagers but not to adults; and for later using that same technology to make telephone ringtones that are audible to teenagers but not to their teachers.
We’ll be able to use the latter application immediately, but the former will have to wait for its turn 3-4 decades down the road for us to use. Technology is for both the young and the old after all.
REFERENCE: "Psychoacoustics of a Chilling Sound," D. Lynn Halpern, Randolph Blake and James Hillenbrand, Perception and Psychophysics, vol. 39,1986, pp. 77-80.
No.1
MEDICINE: Francis M. Fesmire of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, for his medical case report "Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage"; and Majed Odeh, Harry Bassan, and Arie Oliven of Bnai Zion Medical Center, Haifa, Israel, for their subsequent medical case report also titled "Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage."
Incidentally, another award related to faeces, this time about its source. The study recommended that "this manoeuvre should be considered in cases of intractable hiccups before proceeding with pharmacological agents" but honestly, would you really prefer the massage over drugs? Personally, I think I’ll just sit it out.
REFERENCE: "Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage," Francis M. Fesmire, Annals of Emergency Medicine, vol. 17, no. 8, August 1988 p. 872.
REFERENCE: "Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage,"
Majed Odeh, Harry Bassan, and Arie Oliven, Journal of Internal Medicine, vol. 227, no. 2, February 1990, pp. 145-6. They are at the Department of Internal Medicine, Bnai Zion Medical Center, Haifa, Israel.
REFERENCE: "Hiccups and Digital Rectal Massage," M. Odeh and A. Oliven, Archives of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery, vol. 119, 1993, p. 1383.
That ends this post. For the complete list of winners and previous year’s ones go here. CNN has their own piece on Ig Nobel Prize 2006. You can go there and see how scientists both love and hate it.
Updated: 2200 GMT+0800, October 8, 2006
Finally, the long-awaited The Times Higher Education Supplement University rankings 2006 have been released. However, only the Top 100 Universities of the World list has been released, so we can’t do any detailed analysis into the individual strengths of our respective universities.
In summary, the new criteria they added into the rankings process are for researchers to rank their preferred universities to conduct research. As for who’s first, Harvard University remains King! Of course, given that their endowment of USD 26 billion (£13.8 billion) exceeds total annual funding for all British universities; it’s easy for them to maintain an overwhelming lead in terms of facilities. Surprisingly, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) dropped from second place down to fourth place! I suspect it’s due to their specialised nature into technology.
Still in the lead
Courtesy libraries.mit.edu
Towering high at No.2…
Courtesy Wikipedia.org
…and basking in the limelight at 3rd
Courtesy Wikipedia.org
That means, second place now goes to the University of Cambridge! Followed by the University of Oxford! Plus, the gap between No.1 and No.2 is closing. Next year’s rankings might even be more exciting as the top 2 duel it out. Of course, what about Imperial College London? IC peeps, you’ll be proud to know that it is now 9th. That means UK’s top 3 are all in top 10. To round up the rest of the top 10 are all US institutions, namely Yale University (also tied at 4th); Stanford University; California Institute of Technology (CalTech); down to University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) at 8th and lastly Princeton University at 10th.
Solid 4th…
Courtesy web.mit.edu
…with its ‘arch-enemy’ catching up
Courtesy caltech.edu
In a place to be proud of
Courtesy Wikipedia.org
NUSians will be happy to know that it has risen to 19th from 22nd which tied with University of Tokyo. That means that NUS is now 2nd in Asia! However, considering Australasia, University of Melbourne has switched places with NUS, leaving Australia National University at the top of Australian institutions at 16th. That leaves NUS still at 3rd in Australasia. Never mind, we shall improve further on it! I bet NUS can still move up the rankings, just that it needs time.
At a respectable 19th
Courtesy nussu.org
For the rest of you at other institutions, I’ll give a basic rundown of the notable ones and of the ones most people will check for.
Duke University: 13th from 11th
Beijing University: 14th from 15th (the sole Top 15 University outside US or UK)
Cornell University: 15th from 14th
London School of Economics (LSE): 17th from 11th
University College London (UCL): 25th from 28th
University of Michigan: 29th from 36th
Carnegie Mellon University: 35th from 44th
Monash University: 38th from 33rd
King’s College London: 46th from 73rd
Brown University: 54th from 71st
Dartmouth University: 61st from 117th
Nanyang Technological University (NTU): 61st from 48th
Seoul National University (SNU): 63rd from 93rd
(this one’s slightly surprising given the Dr. Hwang fiasco)
University of Nottingham: 85th from 97th
University of Sheffield: 102nd from 143rd
Fudan University: 116th from 72nd
Purdue University: 127th from 61st
Chulalongkorn University: 161st from 121st
University of Durham: 132nd from 83rd
University of Newcastle upon Tyne: 133rd from 168th
As you can see, the top 25 contenders are more or less fixed (most of them are also at the top in the Newsweek Most Global Universities 2006, but there are still significant changes from the 26th position onwards. So, don’t use the entire list as a strict guide from the Top 50 onwards.
And to answer the question most people will be asking: Malaysia? Nowhere in sight.
Still missing
Courtesy blogimg.goo.ne.jp
If you want to check for other Universities, you can go here for the article first and then here for the list itself.
Update: For more information on Asian Universities (and our M’sian Universities) ranking in THES 2006, you could check out The Star’s article here and Lim Kit Siang’s blog UKM/UM spcific post here and a general posthere. Our MP was right. It’s pathetic. Now even UKM is higher than UM, but they’re both close to the cut-off point in making it into the main list.
List of Top 200 Universities of the World avaliable here.
Picture time again.
First up is Christmas shopping. This early? Yes, provided you’re the rich and powerful type. We’ll see what Neiman-Marcus, an upscale (duh) US retail departmental store has in store for those lucky few who’s up to their noses in greenbacks.
Guess what’s on top of the list.
Yeah, surprise surprise. Who could have guessed that it’s a trip on Virgin Galactic? Extras include a 4-day trip to Sir Richard Branson’s private island in the British Virgin Islands.
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
Price tag? A hefty USD1.7 million. That’s a bargain considering what Anousheh Ansari (yes, the sponsor of the USD10 million Ansari X-Prize, THAT Ansari) recently paid to go for a week long jaunt in the ISS. She paid USD20 million for a week by hitching a ride on the Soyuz taxi. But wait a minute. It’s USD1.7 million for far less than a day. Hmm, so called bargain huh? That’s up to you to decide and not for you to pay.
Need a new ride? If you’re going green, all you need is some green in your pocket. Oh, the car’s available in green too.
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
The catalogue reads :
"This two-seater features a zero-emission electric power system that can be supplemented with human pedal power, as desired. Weighing less than 600 pounds, Swiss and German engineers have designed it with lightweight aluminum alloys and reinforced floors. Its state-of-the-art, six-kilowatt hour, nickel-alloy batteries can be fully charged from a regular household outlet. Powered by a three-kilowatt electric motor, it can achieve speeds of up to 55 miles per hour with a range of up to 90 miles per charge. Our NM(R) exclusive edition features a British racing green exterior to balance its silver-gray interior, velour carpeting, and leather seats."
And before you ask, it’s USD40,000. Much much cheaper, but definitely far out of our range (hopefully, for now). Considering the money you have to fork out, you’ll definitely end up lighter too, notwithstanding the lightness of the car itself.
Not quite to your taste? Maybe looking something like a club membership? Yep, they have one for that too.
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
Oh yes, look tempting eh? Wait till you read the description.
"Founded in the 12th century, Castiglion Del Bosco ("Castle in the Woods") is nestled among the ruins of a medieval fortress on 4,500 rolling acres overlooking the timeless Val D’Orcia in Italy. There are 21 villas, 150 acres of vineyards, and a working winery famous for its Brunello di Montalcino wine. Each 3,000- to 6,000-square foot villa is being renovated and furnished to offer a host of luxury amenities, including a private heated swimming pool, a luxury vehicle for use during visits, and comprehensive daily hospitality and concierge services. The 120 available memberships include: Virtually unrestricted yearly time in the villas, unlimited use of all other amenities year-round, and a case of each year’s vintage. Each membership is active in perpetuity and can be handed down for future generations to enjoy."
Looks and sounds good? It’s probably going to cost you more than an arm and a leg (even with the kidneys and the liver thrown in too). For the exclusive membership, you’ll end up USD3.8 million less in your pocket.
That confirms it, if you wanna have Christmas you’ll have to make do with the pauper’s way.
If you still want to drool over the catalogue, head here. Sorry to disappoint you ladies, but jewellery and penthouses didn’t make it into the list (fashion, kinda and there’s something for the pets). For the guys, there’s the auction for the sports junkies and a 2007 BMW Individual M6 Convertible. The good news is they’re much cheaper than the million dollar items above. But nope, still not that affordable.
For those who are photography minded or just have an interest in the small world around you, the 2006 Nikon Small World Photo Competition results are out. Head here for a peek. Here’s a couple of samples:
Images courtesy of nikonsmallworld.com
Well, I have a Chem test tomorrow so what better to blog about something chemistry related while busting another urban myth? Of course, lead-lipsticks are not the same as organic chemistry, but who cares?
Previously, I used to get these stuffs through e-mail but that kinda came to an abrupt halt after I sent out an e-mail cautioning others of the need to stop ’spamming’ people with what I regard as ‘nonsense’. I think the e-mail got misconstrued as ‘DO NOT MAIL’ instead of ‘MAIL WITH CONSIDERATION’. That and the fact that we’re all in the University life stage means that I pretty much get 90% outside spam, 9% official correspondence and 1% personal correspondence. Oh well, at least I only get irritated at people I don’t know for spamming me. To clarify, those friendship e-mails and all are nice and comforting and etc etc etc, but adding misinformation to the list of e-mails to go through is tedious, with the time taken to discern fact from fiction. People, it takes only 5 minutes to Google and then check out the facts (doing that and then blogging it is obviously more time consuming). Anyway I digress.
Since I don’t get fed urban myths, I go through them when I can. This one caught my attention on the bulletin board. Let’s hear it.
This is how to test Lipstick for "Lead", lead is a chemical which causes cancer. Recently a brand called, "Red Earth" decreased their prices from HK$67 to HK$9.9. It contains lead.
Brands which contain Lead
1. Christian Dior 4
2. LANCOME 2
3. CLINIQUE 2
4. Y.S.L 5
5. ESTEE LAUDER 3
6. SHISEIDO 2
7. RED EARTH (Lip Gloss) 2
8. CHANEL (Lip Conditioner) 2
9. Market America-Motives lipstick 0
The higher the number of lead the higher the content which means a greater chance of causing Cancer. After doing this test, we found Y.S.L. lipstick to contain the most lead. It is not easy to "REMOVE" because of the lead. Watch out for those lipsticks which are suppose to stay longer
Here is the test you can do yourself:
1. Put some lipstick on your hand,
2. Use a 24k-14k Gold ring to scratch on the lipstick.
3. If the lipstick color changes to black then you know the lipstick contains lead.
Please send this information to all your girl friends.
Ladies, consider this. If lipsticks are truly death in a stick why haven’t anyone heard of somebody applying lipsticks and then dropping dead from Pb poisoning? Plus, Au is relatively inert so how is it going to react with Pb? You’ll need something more reactive like the X- halogens. Also, do note that the lipstick test is supposed to be done on YOUR HAND! IMHO, if it’s safe enough to put on your hand, you might as well just use the lipstick as usual. If it isn’t, see you in the afterlife. It’s obviously written by people who has minimal labwork experience if you ask me for designing such a reckless test, hence the experience of the author in Chemistry is questionable.
However, that in itself isn’t going to make the case in debunking the myth. Luckily for us, the kind souls at snopes.com did us a favor and went to check this, and other urban legends out. For a more in-depth investigation, go here.
