Sunday, May 31, 2009
10 amazing bicycles (bikes of the future)
Bicycles of the future?These bikes have one amazing design.See the pictures:
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Flexibility Women (8 amazing photos)
The contortionists have unusual natural flexibility, which is then enhanced through gymnastic training.It is amazing the flexibility that they have.See the 8 photos:
Friday, May 29, 2009
Sri Lanka.. UK's Biggest Enemy
From The Times - May 29, 2009
Times photographs expose Sri Lanka’s lie on civilian deaths at beach(s0 they say)
link to the original article-http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6383477.ece
This is the latest allegation used by UK media against the Sri Lankan government(SLG), with whom they are engaged in a fierce media war at the moment.
The way they behave and the amount of resources and power they use against SLG, makes one wonder, whether UK consider Sri Lanka as their biggest enemy in the world at this moment !. They carry out their attacks against SLG with such vengeance and arrogance.
In this offence against SLG, Times plays a major role as the front line brigade. This fact is so obvious for anybody who is following UK media, with regard to the Sri Lankan conflict.
Most of the times, knowingly they used fabricated reports and digital media, which were spread across the globe by late LTTE or pro-late LTTE propaganda machines. Also they kept there eyes and ears closed to the news which were in favour of SLG. Many a times there stories back fired and they were left in open naked, owing to false facts and figures they relied upon. But when it comes to bias reporting the UK media has no shame..
Have a look at their latest find. Just read the topic. They are so sure that SLG has lied about the civilian deaths and here they are proving it with their own little investigation. They have exposed everything ! Read their own words....
"An investigation by The Times into Sri Lanka’s civilian casualties, which was conducted in a week-long visit to Sri Lanka — has found evidence of a civilian death toll of 20,000, almost three times that cited previously. The majority perished under government guns."
For the sake of all of us, they have reached a nice round figure of 20,000 as civilian casualties. How convenient is that !.
And they give a breakdown of casualties as shown below, according to the injuries and worked out how many were killed by each party.
*January 2% gunshot wounds ( Caused by late LTTE) 80% shelling (Caused by SLG)
*February 15% gunshots 64% shelling
And then it goes on and on ........ what a laugh !
They have counted only the deaths caused by firearms. What about the innocents who were hacked to death and burnt alive in NFZ when they tried to escape? (Refer to my post "Define Human" http://harshajayman.blogspot.com/2009/03/definehuman.html)
How practical is this approach? And where did these data come from. Any reliable source? They must have had separate units of audit and census staff in the battle field. Intentions are clear. Any fool who comes up with some numbers, as long as they embarrass the SLG, they will use it. May be the direct orders from David Miliband.
Times photographs expose Sri Lanka’s lie on civilian deaths at beach(s0 they say)
link to the original article-http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6383477.ece
This is the latest allegation used by UK media against the Sri Lankan government(SLG), with whom they are engaged in a fierce media war at the moment.
The way they behave and the amount of resources and power they use against SLG, makes one wonder, whether UK consider Sri Lanka as their biggest enemy in the world at this moment !. They carry out their attacks against SLG with such vengeance and arrogance.
In this offence against SLG, Times plays a major role as the front line brigade. This fact is so obvious for anybody who is following UK media, with regard to the Sri Lankan conflict.
Most of the times, knowingly they used fabricated reports and digital media, which were spread across the globe by late LTTE or pro-late LTTE propaganda machines. Also they kept there eyes and ears closed to the news which were in favour of SLG. Many a times there stories back fired and they were left in open naked, owing to false facts and figures they relied upon. But when it comes to bias reporting the UK media has no shame..
Have a look at their latest find. Just read the topic. They are so sure that SLG has lied about the civilian deaths and here they are proving it with their own little investigation. They have exposed everything ! Read their own words....
"An investigation by The Times into Sri Lanka’s civilian casualties, which was conducted in a week-long visit to Sri Lanka — has found evidence of a civilian death toll of 20,000, almost three times that cited previously. The majority perished under government guns."
For the sake of all of us, they have reached a nice round figure of 20,000 as civilian casualties. How convenient is that !.
And they give a breakdown of casualties as shown below, according to the injuries and worked out how many were killed by each party.
*January 2% gunshot wounds ( Caused by late LTTE) 80% shelling (Caused by SLG)
*February 15% gunshots 64% shelling
And then it goes on and on ........ what a laugh !
They have counted only the deaths caused by firearms. What about the innocents who were hacked to death and burnt alive in NFZ when they tried to escape? (Refer to my post "Define Human" http://harshajayman.blogspot.com/2009/03/definehuman.html)
How practical is this approach? And where did these data come from. Any reliable source? They must have had separate units of audit and census staff in the battle field. Intentions are clear. Any fool who comes up with some numbers, as long as they embarrass the SLG, they will use it. May be the direct orders from David Miliband.
And then they have these photos which they have captured during Ban ki Moon's recent visit to Sri Lanka. Very keenly they have got these photographs analyzed by some "military experts".
According to them, Figure 2 shows a place where the slain late LTTE members were buried. Figure 1 is showing the "mass civilian grave yards". Just by looking at those photos their "experts" have assessed the number of people died and most hilariously, who has killed them.
The slide show (click to watch) has 13 photographs and they clearly show how the late LTTE has kept the civilians as a human shield. Also they show late LTTE gun points, heavy artillery, vehicles and their command posts placed in NFZ. They were very careful not to mention any of these in their article. That's the motto. No matter what, don't blame the LTTE ! ( How ever, I later found out that these were briefly mentioned within a millisecond during the narration in the video footage)
So, armoured with these mere speculations they are yet again pointing the finger at SLG. Job well done, Miliband will say! Why are they so geared up to do this? Is it jealousy, that we as a nation did something that they couldn't even dream of doing or is it just fear, that they will loose there "Democratic big brother" status over the small nations?
The trend in the world, with regard to the conflict in Sri Lanka, is changing. It is changing in favour of Sri Lanka. The nations who frontiered together with UK and US are changing their stances now. Some willingly and others not so willingly, either support the SLG or rolling into a neutral position.
UK, on the other hand is still continuing with their onslaught.Refusing to change and refusing to accept the facts. The fact that they couldn't intimidate us via Miliband convoy, has insulted their arrogance very badly.(Poor Miliband, didn't he get some good treat from Gotabhaya!) That's why this has become so personal and that's why it is difficult for them to change. But they will change!. When they get isolated and cornered, they will change.
Until then the UK media will keep on entertaining us with their jokes and bailas. Read them and spice them up a little with your comments.Enjoy their jokes but break their theories. Write back fight back. It will make a difference!
Till next time.....
Do what you can to help them
Lets walk an extra mile to make their dreams come true.
Lets give a hand to the children of our fallen soldiers.
They made the ultimate sacrifice for us. Lets do our part now.
Go to this website and sponsor a child of a fallen soldier.
You may be already late. The response is overwhelming. Almost all of the selected children were already sponsored
How to sponsor the education of a child of a fallen/disabled soldier
1. You now have the opportunity to show your appreciation to our heroes
by sponsoring a child of a fallen/disabled soldier through the Seva
Vanitha scholarship program.
2. Your contribution will go directly into the child's account (no
involvement of 3rd parties)
3. Stipulated monthly amount is US$10 (Rs750-1000) . You can contribute
more if you like.
4.. Duration of the scholarship can be decided by you.
5. Seva Vanitha will provide you with the child's details. Process is
very transparent, you will be able to verify all the details yourself.
Please visit
application form and a detailed description of the procedure.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The New New Email
Real-time email and search
Google Wave: Re-inventing e-mail.
People behind Google Maps are doing it. Application is open source.
Google Wave: Re-inventing e-mail.
People behind Google Maps are doing it. Application is open source.
He proposed this thing called “hosted conversations” (this is what we call waves now). He listed them in a big series of benefits over existing systems. The thing that caught me was with these hosted conversations, you could do both email type conversations and instant messaging type conversations, in the same tool.
A core part of the product is the “liveness.” And you can see what people are doing all the time. Waves become active and unread and pop-up in your search panel all the time, and you need to learn when that’s useful for people and when it’s not, and how to present information to them in a way that’s useful and so they know what’s important and what to deal with
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
A Good Friend's Wedding
Yay, it's weekend again. This means that I do not no need to work on my research for the next 2 days :D We attended a friend's wedding dinner on that night. Anyway, this is going to be a relatively short post since I don't have the mood for blogging, probably too much stress from work, and that altered my mood :O lol.
Anyway, here is the story.
Caption: arrived at the restaurant
At first, we thought we will be late. My dad's friend informed us by asking us to reach to the restaurant at 8:00 PM sharp and I think we reached there at 8:15 PM, lol. Damn, does this mean that we have missed the first dish? :( lol
Caption: dad's friend and my dad
When we reached to the restaurant, we saw him standing at the front of the entrance, giving us a very thankful smile. I think he is really happy to see us attending his wedding dinner :)
Caption: Liz at the staircase near the wedding ballroom of the restaurant
Surprisingly, the environment of the restaurant has changed significantly when compared to the first time visiting the restaurant for dinner. They include decorations everywhere to make it looks more like a wedding hall, but to me, it is still a restaurant afterall, lol.
Caption: the ladies taking picture with the bride
The first thing that we do when reaches the first floor of the restaurant is to sneak into the so called 'private room' for the bride. As usual, I am the camera-man whilst the ladies will stand beside the bride for picture shooting. The bride may look ill to you, but to the fact that she just gave birth to a baby boy in less than 3 weeks! So that is the main reason for looking so pale.
Caption: Enoch, the baby boy
Enoch is so cute! Poor Enoch for surrounded by at least 8 people in that room on that night. Let see, Enoch don't look alike both his mom and dad, he looks very different. Frankly speaking, he looks much cuter than his dad :O Lol.
Caption: the first table (groom and bride, and their family members)
Caption: the couple's friends
Glad we are not the last one to attend the wedding. There were at least 5 tables of people (approximately 50 people) not arrived yet. While waiting for other people, I start taking pictures everywhere. The number of people is not alot really, but I can predict those who have attended the dinner are the groom's best friends.
Caption: parent's friends
It has been a while since parents have been so happy chatting with their old friends. I am really glad their friends have really entertain both my parents well on that night.
Caption: the first dish
Okie, this is extremely important :O that is, the food lol. The first dish is the 'donno-what' four season dish. It consist of 4 different types of foods in a plate. Tastes really good. This is also the reason for not able to capture the foods in the dish entirely since I am busy eating, lol. Liz should be blamed for not reminding me, lol, just kidding.
.jpg)
Caption: the second dish
.jpg)
Caption: shark-fin soup
Yummy! The second dish is the shark-fin soup! It tastes really good.
.jpg)
Caption: the third dish
The third dish is the steamed fish. I think it don't look like a fish at all. The taste of this dish is just acceptable, which means they could have improved their method of steaming a fish. Plus, they splitted the fish into 2, making it looks bigger. Afterall, the portion of the fish is still little for 10 people, lol.
Caption: the groom singing
Out from no where, I heard some weird voice. Its from the groom. He was singing! 'We' (most of us who attended the wedding dinner on that night) could reluctantly accept his singing style on that night, where he received ample of critisizes from his friends lol. Sorry mate, looks like singing is not suitable for you, lol.
.jpg)
Caption: the forth dish
The taste of the prawn dish is special. The combination of sweet and sour juices, with garlic, ginger and onion, and maiyonnaise tastes really well, especially for people who really enjoy eating garlic, ginger and onion like me :)
.jpg)
Caption: the fifth dish
I would like to critisize a little on this chicken dish, because we did not eat the chicken entirely due to the level of rawness. Basically, the entire chicken is raw (raw is a level where the red blood around the chicken is still visible), lol. Yucks!
.jpg)
Caption: the sixth dish
This is basically a vegetarian dish. One of the aunty sitting on the same table as me is a vegetarian. So we just taste a little on this dish, and the remaining portion goes to her.
.jpg)
Caption: anchovies fried rice
I don't feel the fried rice is special, especially tasting some over-frying taste. Besides salty, it is just a simple fried rice. I am not being choosy, but the taste of this dish is really simple. I think the taste could have been improved by adding more garlic. Anyway, I won't comment much since I'm not an expert in cooking :)
Caption: the pouring champagne session
Caption: The groom and bride, and their family members on stage
Before the last dish, the groom and bride were invited to the stage for the 'pouring champagne session'. Then, his and her family members were asked to join them at the stage. This is also the moment when everyone will yell 'Yum Sing', a very exciting session in all wedding dinners.
.jpg)
Caption: the dessert
Before the wedding dinner ends, we were served with red bean soup and some pancake as dessert. Too sweet! Diabetes! I hope you understand what I mean by that term, lol. Overall, I would only rate the food as moderate (5/10). The next few post will be my uncle's wedding dinner that I have recently attended.
Anyway, here is the story.
Caption: arrived at the restaurant
At first, we thought we will be late. My dad's friend informed us by asking us to reach to the restaurant at 8:00 PM sharp and I think we reached there at 8:15 PM, lol. Damn, does this mean that we have missed the first dish? :( lol
Caption: dad's friend and my dad
When we reached to the restaurant, we saw him standing at the front of the entrance, giving us a very thankful smile. I think he is really happy to see us attending his wedding dinner :)
Caption: Liz at the staircase near the wedding ballroom of the restaurant
Surprisingly, the environment of the restaurant has changed significantly when compared to the first time visiting the restaurant for dinner. They include decorations everywhere to make it looks more like a wedding hall, but to me, it is still a restaurant afterall, lol.
Caption: the ladies taking picture with the bride
The first thing that we do when reaches the first floor of the restaurant is to sneak into the so called 'private room' for the bride. As usual, I am the camera-man whilst the ladies will stand beside the bride for picture shooting. The bride may look ill to you, but to the fact that she just gave birth to a baby boy in less than 3 weeks! So that is the main reason for looking so pale.
Caption: Enoch, the baby boy
Enoch is so cute! Poor Enoch for surrounded by at least 8 people in that room on that night. Let see, Enoch don't look alike both his mom and dad, he looks very different. Frankly speaking, he looks much cuter than his dad :O Lol.
Caption: the first table (groom and bride, and their family members)
Caption: the couple's friends
Glad we are not the last one to attend the wedding. There were at least 5 tables of people (approximately 50 people) not arrived yet. While waiting for other people, I start taking pictures everywhere. The number of people is not alot really, but I can predict those who have attended the dinner are the groom's best friends.
Caption: parent's friends
It has been a while since parents have been so happy chatting with their old friends. I am really glad their friends have really entertain both my parents well on that night.
Caption: the first dish
Okie, this is extremely important :O that is, the food lol. The first dish is the 'donno-what' four season dish. It consist of 4 different types of foods in a plate. Tastes really good. This is also the reason for not able to capture the foods in the dish entirely since I am busy eating, lol. Liz should be blamed for not reminding me, lol, just kidding.
.jpg)
Caption: the second dish
.jpg)
Caption: shark-fin soup
Yummy! The second dish is the shark-fin soup! It tastes really good.
.jpg)
Caption: the third dish
The third dish is the steamed fish. I think it don't look like a fish at all. The taste of this dish is just acceptable, which means they could have improved their method of steaming a fish. Plus, they splitted the fish into 2, making it looks bigger. Afterall, the portion of the fish is still little for 10 people, lol.
Caption: the groom singing
Out from no where, I heard some weird voice. Its from the groom. He was singing! 'We' (most of us who attended the wedding dinner on that night) could reluctantly accept his singing style on that night, where he received ample of critisizes from his friends lol. Sorry mate, looks like singing is not suitable for you, lol.
.jpg)
Caption: the forth dish
The taste of the prawn dish is special. The combination of sweet and sour juices, with garlic, ginger and onion, and maiyonnaise tastes really well, especially for people who really enjoy eating garlic, ginger and onion like me :)
.jpg)
Caption: the fifth dish
I would like to critisize a little on this chicken dish, because we did not eat the chicken entirely due to the level of rawness. Basically, the entire chicken is raw (raw is a level where the red blood around the chicken is still visible), lol. Yucks!
.jpg)
Caption: the sixth dish
This is basically a vegetarian dish. One of the aunty sitting on the same table as me is a vegetarian. So we just taste a little on this dish, and the remaining portion goes to her.
.jpg)
Caption: anchovies fried rice
I don't feel the fried rice is special, especially tasting some over-frying taste. Besides salty, it is just a simple fried rice. I am not being choosy, but the taste of this dish is really simple. I think the taste could have been improved by adding more garlic. Anyway, I won't comment much since I'm not an expert in cooking :)
Caption: the pouring champagne session
Caption: The groom and bride, and their family members on stage
Before the last dish, the groom and bride were invited to the stage for the 'pouring champagne session'. Then, his and her family members were asked to join them at the stage. This is also the moment when everyone will yell 'Yum Sing', a very exciting session in all wedding dinners.
.jpg)
Caption: the dessert
Before the wedding dinner ends, we were served with red bean soup and some pancake as dessert. Too sweet! Diabetes! I hope you understand what I mean by that term, lol. Overall, I would only rate the food as moderate (5/10). The next few post will be my uncle's wedding dinner that I have recently attended.
Monday, May 25, 2009
New Technologies Revealed
T3 revealed some really cool technologies again. This time, it will definitely interest most of you out there!
Caption: new concept of iPhone
First, sorry for people who just bought an iPhone recently since Apple have just revealed their future concept of the iPhone. Although Apple has not revealed the publishing date for this phone, but T3 strongly believe this is going to be the next iphone in the market, probably in the next few months from now (previously, in a conference, Steve Jobs did mentioned to produce an iPhone once a year). To me, it looks extremely stylish compared to the first two versions of the iphone. Yes?
Caption: volume slider
This phone is a slimmed-down version than the first two versions, though is still looks like a basic mobile, but I think it offered EDGE network speeds as current 3G hardware. However, T3 suggest an OLED screen for the push battery life through the 12 hour mark. T3 also believe that there is a good chance to have the Wi-Fi N and wireless media synchronising included in this new iphone, while flash memory capacities would range from 8GB to 16GB.
Caption: the iPhone camera
Okay, T3 suggest the new concept of iphone has (1) a subtle hold button (2) the size of the iphone should be very similar to the current iPod Nano. This means to easier fit into our pocket? Yay. (3) The current iPhone version has only 2 mega pixel camera, and this one should incorporate OS 3.0 should has at least a 3.2 mega pixel (4) it has a side-mounted volume blender, in curvy shape, and incorporated with bluetooth A2DP technology to allow us to attach earphones and microphones wirelessly (5) due to the smaller screen size, there will only be 3 column for the menu icons, but the screen will rotate automatically to make it easier to use.
Caption: the stylish button
The only problem that the current iPhone (that I heard) was the camera (not a good quality camera) and the static screen (the touch screen is based on finger static, suppose to be good, but NOT for female with long fingers). I wonder if Apple has resolve the 2 major problems?
Caption: mosaic telly OLED concept
The second gadget that I wanted to share is the latest OLED display. As mentioned in some previous post (click HERE), OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. The "organic" in OLED refers to organic material. Carbon is the organic material. Examples of carbon-based substances include sugar, wood and the majority of plastics. The "LED" stands for "Light Emitting Diode". It describes the process of converting electric energy into light. There are two types of OLEDs small molecule OLED and polymer OLED. Sony uses the small molecule type because it has a longer lifespan.
Caption: SmartScreen technology
This is how OLED screen works. It is blazingly fast in response times, wide viewing angles, exceptional color reproduction, outstanding Contrast levels, and high Brightness, producing extremely bright and brilliant pictures and low in power consumption! Very beneficial isn't it? The nature of its technology lends itself to extremely thin and lightweight designs along with the ability to use it in a variety of different applications. OLED is the holy grail of TV Display technologies!
Caption: edge-to-edge screen
Caption: freedom from power cables
The concept of the mosaic telly offered a large display screen. It utilises the wireless power supply, allowing complete freedom to position the screens anywhere without cables / wires. Another special aspect of this screen is the edge-to-edge picture that pushes the image to every edge of the screen since this gadget uses the SmartScreen technology that would allow us to build a display of any size, shape and orientation. It means we can purchase 4 different of the screen, forming them together to produce a cinema-like display at home! It definitely looks cool!
Caption: the OLED wireless remote control
Finally, the OLED touchscreen remote control is a slim device. It has its electronics round edge, so it is translucent.
Caption: new concept of iPhone
First, sorry for people who just bought an iPhone recently since Apple have just revealed their future concept of the iPhone. Although Apple has not revealed the publishing date for this phone, but T3 strongly believe this is going to be the next iphone in the market, probably in the next few months from now (previously, in a conference, Steve Jobs did mentioned to produce an iPhone once a year). To me, it looks extremely stylish compared to the first two versions of the iphone. Yes?
Caption: volume slider
This phone is a slimmed-down version than the first two versions, though is still looks like a basic mobile, but I think it offered EDGE network speeds as current 3G hardware. However, T3 suggest an OLED screen for the push battery life through the 12 hour mark. T3 also believe that there is a good chance to have the Wi-Fi N and wireless media synchronising included in this new iphone, while flash memory capacities would range from 8GB to 16GB.
Caption: the iPhone camera
Okay, T3 suggest the new concept of iphone has (1) a subtle hold button (2) the size of the iphone should be very similar to the current iPod Nano. This means to easier fit into our pocket? Yay. (3) The current iPhone version has only 2 mega pixel camera, and this one should incorporate OS 3.0 should has at least a 3.2 mega pixel (4) it has a side-mounted volume blender, in curvy shape, and incorporated with bluetooth A2DP technology to allow us to attach earphones and microphones wirelessly (5) due to the smaller screen size, there will only be 3 column for the menu icons, but the screen will rotate automatically to make it easier to use.
Caption: the stylish button
The only problem that the current iPhone (that I heard) was the camera (not a good quality camera) and the static screen (the touch screen is based on finger static, suppose to be good, but NOT for female with long fingers). I wonder if Apple has resolve the 2 major problems?
Caption: mosaic telly OLED concept
The second gadget that I wanted to share is the latest OLED display. As mentioned in some previous post (click HERE), OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. The "organic" in OLED refers to organic material. Carbon is the organic material. Examples of carbon-based substances include sugar, wood and the majority of plastics. The "LED" stands for "Light Emitting Diode". It describes the process of converting electric energy into light. There are two types of OLEDs small molecule OLED and polymer OLED. Sony uses the small molecule type because it has a longer lifespan.
Caption: SmartScreen technology
This is how OLED screen works. It is blazingly fast in response times, wide viewing angles, exceptional color reproduction, outstanding Contrast levels, and high Brightness, producing extremely bright and brilliant pictures and low in power consumption! Very beneficial isn't it? The nature of its technology lends itself to extremely thin and lightweight designs along with the ability to use it in a variety of different applications. OLED is the holy grail of TV Display technologies!
Caption: edge-to-edge screen
Caption: freedom from power cables
The concept of the mosaic telly offered a large display screen. It utilises the wireless power supply, allowing complete freedom to position the screens anywhere without cables / wires. Another special aspect of this screen is the edge-to-edge picture that pushes the image to every edge of the screen since this gadget uses the SmartScreen technology that would allow us to build a display of any size, shape and orientation. It means we can purchase 4 different of the screen, forming them together to produce a cinema-like display at home! It definitely looks cool!
Caption: the OLED wireless remote control
Finally, the OLED touchscreen remote control is a slim device. It has its electronics round edge, so it is translucent.
South Korea Mobile
Charging your mobile phone bill
New York Times: All things mobile in South Korea.
New York Times: All things mobile in South Korea.
Each month last year, four million South Koreans bought music, videos, ring tones, online game subscriptions and articles from newspaper archives and other online items and charged them to their mobile phone bills, without going through any bank or credit card. The amount totaled 1.7 trillion won, or $1.4 billion at current exchange rates, last year. South Koreans have done this since 2000.
Looking around in Awareness
Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness. James Thurber
Like many children with autism, Pamela has a hard time knowing where to direct her attention because her brain has a hard time filtering out the insignificant. Back in 1995, she started complaining about bees whenever we did table-work in the kitchen, located next to the front door of our apartment. After careful investigation, I realized that the fluorescent lights in the hallway outside of our apartment were on the blink!
All sorts of sounds bothered her and even terrified her: the car wash, escalators, elevators, vacuum cleaners, etc. Rather than studying the novel sound to look around in awareness and determine if she had any reason to fear, Pamela would flip out! Two rounds of auditory integration training helped somewhat but did not completely eliminate her biggest fears: elevators and popping balloons. Thanks to Toy Story 2, Pamela conquered her elevator phobia at the library in 2004 and even went to a very loud Christian rock concert in 2008. While her sound-based fright is nothing like it once was, she is still learning to overcome her phobias.
Because she is growing more comfortable in her own skin, Pamela is better able to look around in awareness and control her immediate impulse to wig out at something frightening, scary, or just plain annoying. The other day, we were driving around in our commuter car that has power nothing (I mean it, it does not even have a radio!!!!). Pamela suddenly pointed to the AC--the one luxury no car in Carolina can do without--and told me to turn it off! Because she acted calm and neutral, I obeyed her unusual command. Then, she placed her hands in front of the AC vents, so I said, "The AC is off." I suspected something was bothering her so I listened very carefully and noticed one of the windows was slightly rolled down. So, I nonchalantly rolled my window up, and nothing changed. Pamela saw what I did and she rolled hers up and the sound disappeared.This vignette may seem like nothing, but, to a parent of an autistic person, this was big. While I did not even notice the noise, Pamela was having difficulty filtering out the wind blowing through a slightly cracked window. My brain filters out more noise than hers (perhaps because I grew up with six rowdy siblings), which is one dynamic function of the pre-frontal cortex. Her cortico-limbic network grew wary, while mine was oblivious. Clearly, her attention-filtering algorithms, a dynamic function of the brain, work differently from mine. Of course, Steve reacts to weird car sounds just like Pamela does.
Rather than impulsively react, Pamela studied her surroundings to find a possible source of the novel sound. She decided that investigating that noise was important and she tested out the AC theory by telling me what to do. Her pre-frontal cortex seemed to managing her uncertainty well because she inhibited impulsively reacting and choose to think through what might be happening, which is a second dynamic function of the brain.
When the sound did not go away, Pamela checked out her environment further and referenced my actions. Because she has learned to trust my actions from previous experiences dealing with scary sounds, she stayed calm and continued to think about the meaning of my actions, a third dynamic function of the brain. She understood my window theory and, when my actions made no difference, she tried it with her window and solved the problem.
Chapter 1 of The RDI Book covers five dynamic functions of the brain, the three mentioned in the previous paragraphs and two blogged recently. Pamela has been confronting her fears lately--of her own free will and on her own terms--in ways that relate to the three dynamic functions of the brain mentioned in the book. She is teaching herself to filter out irrelevant information, study the situation, and develop meaning based responses when it comes to her dislike of getting her clothes wet and her mild fear of popping balloons. It all started about a month ago when she became interested in filling balloons with water and dashing them on the brick patio. At first, I had to tie them for her but she can now do it herself.
One day, Pamela could not pop a water balloon no matter how hard she threw it. I said, "What about jumping on it?" Without thinking she stomped on it and the balloon popped, splashing water on her pants. She stood there stunned for a few seconds and then she LAUGHED. Pamela did not even run into the house to change her clothes! Friday a week ago, Steve, Pamela, and I went to the bank on a very rainy day. The rain had stopped and I noticed as we were in the parking lot that Pamela walked in the puddles and carefully splashed water. Last spring, I remember having to be careful where I parked the car because she would take circuitous routes to avoid all puddles!
The new twist is filling air balloons. Twice last week, Pamela handed me an air balloon (that she had tied herself) and asked me to pop it. She squealed and left the room BUT she was smiling, not cringing. Yesterday at the mall, four little girls were carrying BIG balloons filled with air. Pamela squealed a bit at the sight of four ready-to-pop-at-any-moment beasts but had a wide, curious smile on her face. Pamela even drew a face in a pink balloon and named it Wormy!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Reading...Reading...Reading
I started to love reading seriously a few years back...I mean 5 or 6 years ago. My reading subject will most of the time for Political Science books and not forget the Mills and Boon novels..love it so much
Since reading has notthing do with numbers, guess what; I really enjoy it very much...huhuhu
So for anyone who shared the same reading interest with do not be hesitate to share with me Your latest reading.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Nokia Ovi Maps
News from Where 2.0 conference
Nokia: Ovi Maps API
Nokia: Ovi Maps API
With the introduction of the Ovi Maps Player API developers can bring Ovi Maps to their websites, complete with cutting edge features such as 3D view, satellite and terrain views and customizable visuals. The Ovi Maps Player can also be mashed up with content from other services, such as the terrific content from the Associated Press.
Receipe: Hot and Sour Soup
I totally lost my appetite in the past few days, so I don't even feel like eating for lunch although I am feeling extremely hungry. On that night, we went for buffet dinner in a restaurant. I was surprised when the hot and sour soup 'opened' my appetite to eat again! Impressive! So, I looked for a friend for receipe. I remember she boiled this soup for me before and it tastes really well.
Caption: hot and sour coup
Ingredient list: 1 piece of tofu, an ounces or two pork tenderloin, some bamboo shoots, some black fungus (slice 3-4 chinese mushrooms into small pieces), some dried lily buds or lotus petals.
You only need to spend approximately 45 minutes to boil this soup.
Firstly, slice the tofu into smaller size, and slice the pork tenderloin before marinading it (I would suggest to marinade the pork for half an hour). To do this, you need 1 teaspoon of soy sauce, half a teaspoon of sesame oil, and 1 teaspoon of cornstarch. For two person, you need 6 cups of water. Pour them into a pot. Then, soak the sliced pork tenderloin and lily buds (or lotus petals, or both) into the water. You also need to add 1 can of Campbell's chicken broth's soup. Don't forget to include 1 teaspoon of salt, granulated sugar (add more if necessary) and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Okay, this is important. When boiling the soup for 10 minutes, add in 2 tablespoons of red rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons of white rice vinegar (red wine vinegar is fine), and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil. 5 minutes later (time elapsed: 15 minutes), add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch (please disolve the cornstarch in a 1/4 cup of water), along with a beaten egg, some finely chopped green onions. Add some white / brown pepper into the soup (make sure not more than 1 tablespoon) and some hot chili oil. She added: "However, the chili oil is optional". Remember to NOT boil the soup for more than 20 minutes.
Hot and sour soup is also very good at warming a person's body during the winter. Try it out and tell me how it tastes!
Caption: hot and sour coup
Ingredient list: 1 piece of tofu, an ounces or two pork tenderloin, some bamboo shoots, some black fungus (slice 3-4 chinese mushrooms into small pieces), some dried lily buds or lotus petals.
You only need to spend approximately 45 minutes to boil this soup.
Firstly, slice the tofu into smaller size, and slice the pork tenderloin before marinading it (I would suggest to marinade the pork for half an hour). To do this, you need 1 teaspoon of soy sauce, half a teaspoon of sesame oil, and 1 teaspoon of cornstarch. For two person, you need 6 cups of water. Pour them into a pot. Then, soak the sliced pork tenderloin and lily buds (or lotus petals, or both) into the water. You also need to add 1 can of Campbell's chicken broth's soup. Don't forget to include 1 teaspoon of salt, granulated sugar (add more if necessary) and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Okay, this is important. When boiling the soup for 10 minutes, add in 2 tablespoons of red rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons of white rice vinegar (red wine vinegar is fine), and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil. 5 minutes later (time elapsed: 15 minutes), add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch (please disolve the cornstarch in a 1/4 cup of water), along with a beaten egg, some finely chopped green onions. Add some white / brown pepper into the soup (make sure not more than 1 tablespoon) and some hot chili oil. She added: "However, the chili oil is optional". Remember to NOT boil the soup for more than 20 minutes.
Hot and sour soup is also very good at warming a person's body during the winter. Try it out and tell me how it tastes!
YES WE DID IT!
History was made. There was never a nation who could defeat terrorism completely with total annihilation. So many fights fought, battles won in the world. But not a single war was won by a one single nation before.
We Sri Lankans did it ! We've set the standards! We've set the examples !
In the future all over the world people will refer to Sri Lanka to study about warfare. Names of our great war thinking tanks, will be mentioned. Our great novel military strategies will be discussed and analyzed over and over. Bravery of our foot soldiers will be appraised.
Mahihinda Rajapaksha......
The man who made all the difference. Such a commitment. Such a passion for the motherland!. More than winning the war what amazes me is how this man stood his ground against all the pressure. That it self will make him the best.
We are a nation which was betrayed by our own leaders. All of our past leaders thought about the war. But nobody had guts to stand against the western world. They shivered and betrayed the nation, with the tail between their legs when ever US or UK come and shout at them. Such cowards and pimps ! Even now at this victorious movement I am sure that Ranil is on the phone with Norway to get advices to bring down Mahinda.
When Mahinda came to power and got his brothers around him people talked about the Rajapaksha Brothers Company.
UNP wanted Gotabhaya out of the scene.
Well look What they have done ? Look how right Mahinda was. Brothers are the safest possible people to keep around for a King considering the quality of politicians we have. They are not just brothers. They are capable brothers who prove the point with their success. Basil is currently doing an excellent job of lifting up the conditions in rural areas. I saw it with my own eyes last in April when I was in SL. Well I don't have to go into details about Gotabhaya. But I just like to remind everybody how he dealt with Milliband. Man has got a real Sri Lankan back bone !
For the sake of our country right people were at the right jobs at the right times. Mahinda was blessed with these Tri service commanders who believed in targets than money to be at his right hand . We all know the quality of most of our military commanders who were there in the past. Corruption was up to the nose with them. If we had people like that in the office the it would have been bit difficult for Mahinda.
And then these guys.... Our own flesh and blood !
Well what can I tell about them. No words to describe there bravery.
Now we all know how the western world fight wars. Send a search team, get the GPS position, blow'em with bombs and shells. The coward way of doing it! British teams in Afghanistan now have trained dogs with cameras on their heads instead of 8 men teams !
Our boys fought a brutal battle face to face with the enemy. As we all know the latter part of the war was fought completely with small arms with no artillery or air cover.
Numerous earth bunds, Km long open fields, Suicide attackes, bombs, shells, rains against all odds they won the war for us in the best possible way. They sacrificed there own lives limbs and eyes all for us, for our children for a better Sri Lanka.
I humbly bow my head to your my friends....
Together as a nation ..... Yes we did it!
Obama, Hilary, Brown, Miliband.... well we can understand your frustration. We as a small nation has achieved something extra ordinary which you can't even dream of achieving despite of having all the military power in the world.
Also it is pretty obvious why you are taking this issue so personally. It is not because you care about Tamil rights, no.... It is purely because you are furious that we are not intimidated by you anymore. Mahinda has shown the way for other small nations like us how to evade your arrogance. We have better friends now.
You always talk about terrorism and we have shown you how to deal with them. Stop your anger and enviousness against us and join us in the fight against terrorism.
After all thats what they say....If you can't beat them, join them.......
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Find and forget
Who wants to know or own my place under the sun ?
Where 2.0 conference presents leading trends about location aware tech.
Here are some interesting links spotted in my gReader about this topic:
* Yahoo Placemaker
* Google Maps API data
* Location data and privacy
* Day 1 and ignation
Where 2.0 conference presents leading trends about location aware tech.
Here are some interesting links spotted in my gReader about this topic:
* Yahoo Placemaker
* Google Maps API data
* Location data and privacy
* Day 1 and ignation
A busy day again
Been busy again, sigh! I think I have spend approximately one whole day, dealing with the template of the blog again. This time, I wanted something simple but nice. Therefore, I am quite satisfy with this template. Initially, I was planning to include something special into this blog, such as the shockwave / flash files to make this blog more interactive. Too bad, I have failed to do so :( Dealing with blog templates consume too much time. It is something very stressful. It is extremely annoying to sit in front of the computer to edit the HTML codings and uploading every image into Photobucket (Photobucket is an image hosting, video hosting, slideshow creation and photo sharing website, http://www.photobucket.com). Yet, the speed of the connection over here is terrific! Could you imagine to only upload 2 images within an hour? How would you feel? :(
Anyway, I have send another chapter to my supervisor for reviewing a week ago, and received a reply from him: "Dear Hung, your work is fairly comprehensive, though I would be inclined some sections ...." and therefore, I re-worked based on what he suggested, and resend the chapter to him again. This process has been simultaneously on-going for some time now :( Writting a PhD thesis is an extremely boring process. You have to sit down very quietly to read and write all the time *fatigue mind* Anyway, this is an extremely effective approach to deal with dissertation/thesis writting.
Caption: printed every chapter and edit it this way
It is weekend again. My brother-in-law took a day off from his company on that day and asked us to join him shopping. Coincidently, I am free on that day, so we went out together. As far as I concern, planning for a wedding is such a chaos. This may include wedding planner, wedding invitation, groom/brides outfits, wedding photographs, buying wedding ring etc. Firstly, we went to Midvalley (a hyper-shopping complex with 430 shops on five floors, located near Bangsar in Malaysia) to this jewel shop called "Wah Chan". They were having some big sale for up to 70% discount.
.jpg)
Caption: an extremely hectic day at Midvalley
.jpg)
Caption: Roy is measuring the size of his finger
Although the price is really attractive, but the shape of the rings are not really cool to me. I still think they should keep looking for rings in other jewel shops since they still have plenty of time till their wedding day. So we went to floor 2 of Midvalley to shop around. Surprisingly, they have this "Bridal fair" on that day, and will only last for 2 consecutive days. The bridal shops are selling their services at at a very significant discounted rate. A normal wedding package can be discounted for almost 50% from its actual price.
.jpg)
Caption: the entrance of the bridal fair (i)
.jpg)
Caption: the entrance of the bridal fair (ii)
As usual, a person's attention will usually "get hooked" by the first shop near the entrance. That is true. My sister and her husband went directly to the first bridal shop located near the entrance of the fair. What attracted us to the shop is the staffs attitude. They are extremely polite and friendly to their customers (probably this is very normal). My sister forces me to explain why I said they have selected the right bridal shop. My fault :( Well, I don't really know. Instinct? Anyway, I replied: "probably some girls working there are cute, lol?". I was just joking.
.jpg)
Caption: Bridal shop called "TOMS"
.jpg)
Caption: my sister was discussing with the manager in the shop
I don't usually promote something, unless that particular 'thing' deserves promoted. The TOMS bridal shop located at SS2 in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia offered very good services. Both their manager (Mr. Jimmy) and the make-up artist (Miss Quinnie) were both very capable and experience. I am not being judgemental but Miss Quinnie is seriously a very pleasant person. If you plan to get married soon, please look for Miss Quinnie at TOMS (the staff who always has a pleasant smile in her mouth). I think they were able to explain something extremely well. For instance, if you ask me to define an orange. A normal person will only tell you the orange is an orange-colored fruit in a round-form. Whilst an experienced person like Miss Quinnie will explain it more thoroughly, such as a round-shape fruit that is juicy, and at certain time, it is sour due to the nitric acid contained in the fruit. Do you see the differences between the two person?
.jpg)
Caption: lucky draw
.jpg)
Caption: prizes
Spending approximately 3 hours speaking to the staff, both of them finally signed up one wedding package (I do not know the actual amount they have paid since I do not really observe that). Finally we can leave home, yay, lol. Suddenly, Miss Quinnie suggests anyone who have paid a deposit of RM 500 may have a chance to win the lucky draw at 8:00 PM. But the contestants must stay at the hall at 8:00 PM sharp. So if you win a prize and you were not there to collect it, then their participation for that lucky draw is considered as forfeited. That sounds fair to me, but when I looked at the time. Eww, only 3:00 PM. How are we going to wait for the next 5 hours? :(
.jpg)
Caption: a free wedding biscuit
Anyway, we went home for 2 hours, and went back to Midvalley at 6:00 PM. Well, my sister was out of luck on that day. She did not win any prizes. Anyone who have signed up for a wedding package are entitled a free wedding biscuit. Not bad isn't it?
.jpg)
Caption: my sister and Roy at Poh Kong
Few days later, Roy asked us out again. I can see his intention is to get a wedding ring for my sister as soon as possible. Not bad. From my understanding, there are many guy friends out there who do not even bother to walk into the jewel shop with his gf. At least Roy is not such a person :)
Caption: the 2 wedding rings they bought
I will just jump to the conclusion. Roy bought a RM 1K wedding ring and a near to Rm 5K diamond ring for my sister. The 2 ring looks okay to me, acceptable :) I even tried on different ring myself and wonder, "when will it be my turn to buy a ring for my wife?". An immediate answer appeared in my mind, that is, "not soon at all", lol. Nevermind, not important since something is much more important than marriage for me. At the same time, my mom bought a gold necklace for my aunt for her wedding. She is having her wedding soon, in a week's time (I will post that very soon). I can't believe the price of gold increases significantly. For instance, a gold necklace worth RM 500 in the past 12 years can be sold for RM 1, 300 or more today. Girls, can you accept a silver ring for your wedding? This is highly beneficial for your husband okay? Lol.
.jpg)
Caption: I tried on one wedding ring
.jpg)
Caption: sister has been trying on different wedding rings
.jpg)
Caption: gold necklace for my aunty's wedding
Caption: 3 carat diamond earring
Finally, before leaving the jewel shop, I saw this 3 carat diamond earring (1.5 carat each). If you look clearly to the image in the above, that 3 carat diamond earring cost RM 293, 000. WoW! Carat (or Karat in US) is a unit for measuring the weight of jewels. A friend told me a 5.5 carat diamond ring will usually cost USD 1 - 2 Million.
Anyway, I have send another chapter to my supervisor for reviewing a week ago, and received a reply from him: "Dear Hung, your work is fairly comprehensive, though I would be inclined some sections ...." and therefore, I re-worked based on what he suggested, and resend the chapter to him again. This process has been simultaneously on-going for some time now :( Writting a PhD thesis is an extremely boring process. You have to sit down very quietly to read and write all the time *fatigue mind* Anyway, this is an extremely effective approach to deal with dissertation/thesis writting.
Caption: printed every chapter and edit it this way
It is weekend again. My brother-in-law took a day off from his company on that day and asked us to join him shopping. Coincidently, I am free on that day, so we went out together. As far as I concern, planning for a wedding is such a chaos. This may include wedding planner, wedding invitation, groom/brides outfits, wedding photographs, buying wedding ring etc. Firstly, we went to Midvalley (a hyper-shopping complex with 430 shops on five floors, located near Bangsar in Malaysia) to this jewel shop called "Wah Chan". They were having some big sale for up to 70% discount.
.jpg)
Caption: an extremely hectic day at Midvalley
.jpg)
Caption: Roy is measuring the size of his finger
Although the price is really attractive, but the shape of the rings are not really cool to me. I still think they should keep looking for rings in other jewel shops since they still have plenty of time till their wedding day. So we went to floor 2 of Midvalley to shop around. Surprisingly, they have this "Bridal fair" on that day, and will only last for 2 consecutive days. The bridal shops are selling their services at at a very significant discounted rate. A normal wedding package can be discounted for almost 50% from its actual price.
.jpg)
Caption: the entrance of the bridal fair (i)
.jpg)
Caption: the entrance of the bridal fair (ii)
As usual, a person's attention will usually "get hooked" by the first shop near the entrance. That is true. My sister and her husband went directly to the first bridal shop located near the entrance of the fair. What attracted us to the shop is the staffs attitude. They are extremely polite and friendly to their customers (probably this is very normal). My sister forces me to explain why I said they have selected the right bridal shop. My fault :( Well, I don't really know. Instinct? Anyway, I replied: "probably some girls working there are cute, lol?". I was just joking.
.jpg)
Caption: Bridal shop called "TOMS"
.jpg)
Caption: my sister was discussing with the manager in the shop
I don't usually promote something, unless that particular 'thing' deserves promoted. The TOMS bridal shop located at SS2 in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia offered very good services. Both their manager (Mr. Jimmy) and the make-up artist (Miss Quinnie) were both very capable and experience. I am not being judgemental but Miss Quinnie is seriously a very pleasant person. If you plan to get married soon, please look for Miss Quinnie at TOMS (the staff who always has a pleasant smile in her mouth). I think they were able to explain something extremely well. For instance, if you ask me to define an orange. A normal person will only tell you the orange is an orange-colored fruit in a round-form. Whilst an experienced person like Miss Quinnie will explain it more thoroughly, such as a round-shape fruit that is juicy, and at certain time, it is sour due to the nitric acid contained in the fruit. Do you see the differences between the two person?
.jpg)
Caption: lucky draw
.jpg)
Caption: prizes
Spending approximately 3 hours speaking to the staff, both of them finally signed up one wedding package (I do not know the actual amount they have paid since I do not really observe that). Finally we can leave home, yay, lol. Suddenly, Miss Quinnie suggests anyone who have paid a deposit of RM 500 may have a chance to win the lucky draw at 8:00 PM. But the contestants must stay at the hall at 8:00 PM sharp. So if you win a prize and you were not there to collect it, then their participation for that lucky draw is considered as forfeited. That sounds fair to me, but when I looked at the time. Eww, only 3:00 PM. How are we going to wait for the next 5 hours? :(
.jpg)
Caption: a free wedding biscuit
Anyway, we went home for 2 hours, and went back to Midvalley at 6:00 PM. Well, my sister was out of luck on that day. She did not win any prizes. Anyone who have signed up for a wedding package are entitled a free wedding biscuit. Not bad isn't it?
.jpg)
Caption: my sister and Roy at Poh Kong
Few days later, Roy asked us out again. I can see his intention is to get a wedding ring for my sister as soon as possible. Not bad. From my understanding, there are many guy friends out there who do not even bother to walk into the jewel shop with his gf. At least Roy is not such a person :)
Caption: the 2 wedding rings they bought
I will just jump to the conclusion. Roy bought a RM 1K wedding ring and a near to Rm 5K diamond ring for my sister. The 2 ring looks okay to me, acceptable :) I even tried on different ring myself and wonder, "when will it be my turn to buy a ring for my wife?". An immediate answer appeared in my mind, that is, "not soon at all", lol. Nevermind, not important since something is much more important than marriage for me. At the same time, my mom bought a gold necklace for my aunt for her wedding. She is having her wedding soon, in a week's time (I will post that very soon). I can't believe the price of gold increases significantly. For instance, a gold necklace worth RM 500 in the past 12 years can be sold for RM 1, 300 or more today. Girls, can you accept a silver ring for your wedding? This is highly beneficial for your husband okay? Lol.
.jpg)
Caption: I tried on one wedding ring
.jpg)
Caption: sister has been trying on different wedding rings
.jpg)
Caption: gold necklace for my aunty's wedding
Caption: 3 carat diamond earring
Finally, before leaving the jewel shop, I saw this 3 carat diamond earring (1.5 carat each). If you look clearly to the image in the above, that 3 carat diamond earring cost RM 293, 000. WoW! Carat (or Karat in US) is a unit for measuring the weight of jewels. A friend told me a 5.5 carat diamond ring will usually cost USD 1 - 2 Million.
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