Monday, December 21, 2009

Epilogue.. ?

I'm aware that this blog is growing mushrooms, lots of mushrooms to be exact.

I've decided to leave all the past behind and move on in life.

Therefore, this blog will remain inactive until maybe I feel like blogging in the future again.

*******

James Cameron : Avatar

In the end, Avatar is just another Deus Ex Machina movie.

The flora reminds me of those corals under the sea and those floating mountains are of those found in fantasy games.

Disappointing.

I am well aware that my statement of Avatar being disappointing is conflicting with the majority so i apologize beforehand first in case if you are offended. But then, everyone has their own point of views.. right?

Sunday, October 04, 2009

Of body tricks and drugs not to take while driving

Not too long ago during one of the cell groups I attend, there’s this sharing on Matthew 7: 7-12.

I find it meaningful and would like to share it here.

Ask, Seek, Knock

7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
(Taken from biblegateway.com)

In life, when we ask God for something. We usually get these 3 answers: Yes, no and wait.

Our father in heaven knows what is best for each and every one of us, just as the scriptures say:

9 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Should the answer be yes, Praise God; if the answer is wait, all we have to do is be patient.

And if the answer is no, we should see things on a broader way:

Sometimes, what we are asking might be stone and snake instead of bread and fish. So obviously the answer is no as our Father in heaven wants the best for each of us.

*******

I came across this article about body facts which might be useful to all of us:

1. If your throat tickles, scratch your ear!

“When the nerves in the ear are stimulated, it creates a reflex in the throat that can cause a muscle spasm,” says Scott Schaffer, M.D., president of an ear, nose, and throat specialty center in Gibbsboro, New Jersey. “This spasm relieves the tickle.”

2. Experience supersonic hearing!

If you're stuck chatting up a mumbler at a party, lean in with your right ear. It's better than your left at following the rapid rhythms of speech, according to researchers at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. If, on the other hand, you're trying to identify that song playing softly in the elevator, turn your left ear toward the sound. The left ear is better at picking up music tones.

3. Overcome your most primal urge!

Need to pee? No bathroom nearby? You are male? Then fantasize...
Thinking about sex preoccupies your brain, so you won't feel as much discomfort, says Larry Lipshultz, M.D., chief of male reproductive medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine.

4. Feel no pain!

German researchers have discovered that coughing during an injection can lessen the pain of the needle stick. According to Taras Usichenko, author of a study on the phenomenon, the trick causes a sudden, temporary rise in pressure in the chest and spinal canal, inhibiting the painconducting structures of the spinal cord.

5. Clear your stuffed nose!

The easiest, quickest, and cheapest way to relieve sinus pressure is to alternately thrust your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then press between your eyebrows with one finger. This causes the vomer bone, which runs through the nasal passages to the mouth, to rock back and forth, says Lisa DeStefano, D.O., an assistant professor at the Michigan State University College of osteopathic medicine. The motion loosens congestion; After 20 seconds, you'll feel your sinuses start to drain.

6. Fight fire without water!

Studies have shown that patients who sleep on their left sides are less likely to suffer from acid reflux. The esophagus and stomach connect at an angle.
When you sleep on your right, the stomach is higher than the esophagus, allowing food and stomach acid to slide up your throat. When you're on your left, the stomach is lower than the esophagus, so gravity's in your favor.

7. Cure your toothache without opening your mouth!

Just rub ice on the back of your hand, on the V-shaped webbed area between your thumb and index finger. A Canadian study found that this technique reduces toothache pain by as much as 50 percent compared with using no ice. The nerve pathways at the base of that V stimulate an area of the brain that blocks pain signals from the face and hands.

8. Make burns disappear!

When you accidentally singe your finger on the stove, clean the skin and apply light pressure with the finger pads of your unmarred hand. Ice will relieve your pain more quickly, Dr. DeStefano says, but since the natural method brings the burned skin back to a normal temperature, the skin is less likely to blister.

9. Stop the world from spinning!

One too many drinks left you dizzy? Put your hand on something stable. The part of your ear responsible for balance, the cupula, floats in a fluid of the same density as blood.
“As alcohol dilutes blood in the cupula, the cupula becomes less dense and rises,” says Dr. Schaffer. This confuses your brain. The tactile input from a stable object gives the brain a second opinion, and you feel more in balance. Because the nerves in the hand are so sensitive, this works better than the conventional foot-on-the-floor wisdom.

10. Unstitch your side!

If you're like most people, when you run, you exhale as your right foot hits the ground.
This puts downward pressure on your liver (which lives on your right side), which then tugs at the diaphragm and creates a side stitch, according to The Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Men. The fix: Exhale as your left foot strikes the ground.

11. Stanch blood with a single finger!

Pinching your nose and leaning back is a great way to stop a nosebleed if you don't mind choking on your own O positive. A more civil approach: Put some cotton on your upper gums just behind that small dent below your nose and press against it, hard.
“Most bleeds come from the front of the septum, the cartilage wall that divides the nose,” says Peter Desmarais, M.D., an ear, nose, and throat specialist at Entabeni Hospital, in Durban, South Africa. “Pressing here helps stop them.”

12. Make your heart stand still!

Trying to quell first date jitters? Blow on your thumb. The vagus nerve, which governs heart rate, can be controlled through breathing, says Ben Abo, an emergency medical services specialist at the University of Pittsburgh. It'll get your heart rate back to normal.

13. Thaw your brain!

Too much ice-cream too fast will freeze the brains of lesser men. As for you, press your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, covering as much as you can. “Since the nerves in the roof of your mouth get extremely cold, your body thinks your brain is freezing, too,” says Abo. “In compensating, it overheats, causing an ice-cream headache.” The more pressure you apply to the roof of your mouth, the faster your headache will subside.

14. Prevent nearsightedness!

Poor distance vision is rarely caused by genetics, says Anne Barber, O.D., an optometrist in Tacoma, Washington. “It's usually caused by nearpoint stress.” In other words, staring at your computer screen for too long. So flex your way to 20/20 vision. Every few hours during the day, close your eyes, tense your body, take a deep breath, and, after a few seconds, release your breath and muscles at the same time. Tightening and releasing muscles such as the biceps and glutes can trick involuntary muscles like
the eyes into relaxing as well.

15. Wake the dead!

If your hand falls asleep while you're driving or sitting in an odd position, rock your head from side to side. It'll painlessly banish your pins and needles in less than a minute, says Dr. DeStefano. A tingly hand or arm is often the result of compression in the bundle of nerves in your neck; Loosening your neck muscles releases the pressure. Compressed nerves lower in the body govern the feet, so don't let your sleeping dogs lie. Stand up and walk around.

16. Impress your friends!

Next time you're at a party, try this trick: Have a person hold one arm straight out to the side, palm down, and instruct him to maintain this position. Then place two fingers on his wrist and push down. He'll resist. Now have him put one foot on a surface that's a half inch higher (a few magazines) and repeat. This time his arm will cave like the French. By misaligning his hips, you've offset his spine, says Rachel Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., co-owner of Results Fitness, in Santa Clarita, California. Your brain senses that the spine is vulnerable, so it shuts down the body's ability to resist.

17. Breathe underwater!

If you're dying to retrieve that quarter from the bottom of the pool, take several short breaths first essentially, hyperventilate. When you're underwater, it's not a lack of oxygen that makes you desperate for a breath; It’s the buildup of carbon dioxide, which makes your blood acidic, which signals your brain that somethin' ain't right. “When you hyperventilate, the influx of oxygen lowers blood acidity,” says Jonathan Armbruster, Ph.D., an associate professor of biology at Auburn University. “This tricks your brain into thinking it has more oxygen.” It'll buy you up to 10 seconds.

18. Read minds!

Your own! “If you're giving a speech the next day, review it before falling asleep,” says Candi Heimgartner, an instructor of biological sciences at the University of Idaho. Since most memory consolidation happens during sleep, anything you read right before bed is more likely to be encoded as long-term memory.

Note: Some of them actually work, not sure about the rest though.

*******

Finally, visit this = link = on the 10 drugs not to use while driving a car. Enjoy :)

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Mini-update II

Sometimes, seeing the same title over and over again for beauty pageants might become boring so someone made a new title for them, a unique one:


Do you want that title? :)

*******

Dad took me to OneTJ yesterday to buy 2 x 2GB RAM for my laptop.

Upon purchasing, I have the doubts that the two pieces of ram might not be suitable for my laptop. (Not suitable will result in Blue Screen of Death aka BSOD)

So we told the worker over there that we wanted to try installing the ram right on the spot in case the ram is incompatible.

Then the worker called a technician to come over to install the new RAM. He managed to remove the old RAM but the moment he installed the new one… PAK! It’s like something just snapped. Both me and my dad look worried and interfered to ensure that no damage is done to the slot or to the RAM.

I decided to install the 2nd piece myself (which is under the keyboard) since I did install it for Kelvin many months back. Halfway through disassembling my laptop, I met Tony who came to collect information for his project/report.

After the installation, dad told me to boot up the laptop to ensure that the RAMs are working.

Good news is that all went well, nothing is damaged, at least it’s not visible to the naked eye.

Bad news is that my OS only detects 3.5GB of ram where it should have been 4GB.


This is the reason why I wanted new RAMs so badly, the price just keeps on increasing since the model is old and not mass-produced like before. Also, I'm going to format my laptop to Windows 7 and might need more RAM to optimize performance. (Just playing safe)

Time for a major cleanup, I’ve not formatted my laptop for more than a year. Lots of data and pictures to sort out, many to be thrown away. If one cannot let go of the old, how can one welcome the new?

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Text, text, text and more text

Week 5 is coming to an end soon.

Time flies, time really flies. It feels like I had been slacking these past 5 weeks, I haven’t accomplished anything significant yet.

*******

The flight

His request approved, the Fox News photographer quickly used a cell phone to call the local airport to charter a flight. He was told a twin engine plane would be waiting for him at the airport.

Arriving at the airfield, he spotted a plane warming up outside a hanger. He jumped in with his bag, slammed the door shut, and shouted, 'Let's go'.

The pilot taxied out, swung the plane into the wind and took off. Once in the air, the photographer instructed the pilot, 'Fly over the valley and make low passes so I can take pictures of the fires on the hillsides.'

'Why?' asked the pilot.

'Because I'm a photographer for Fox Cable News,' he responded. 'And I need to get some close up shots.'

The pilot was strangely silent for a moment, finally he stammered, 'So, what you're telling me, is . .. you're NOT my flight instructor?

*******

Celeb to Binbo Taro


This drama was introduced by Annie; it tells the story of a poor widowed father of 3 (Sato Taro) who is working hard to make ends meet while on the other side is an insanely rich girl (Mitazono Alice) who is able to spend lavishly. Fate entwines and both of them met each other when the girl is hiring a new driver for her limousine.

Trying to make the two of them staying together is like trying to make both north and south poles to merge together because one spends as much as she likes while the other save every single bit that he could to feed his family. The two of them are met with lots of obstacles in life and a conflict that is able to humble Alice to live the life of a commoner.

This story is something like Hana Yori Dango where there are those who are just so rich and those who are just so poor. The good thing about this story is there’s a twist in the finale - It shocked me when the finale preview shows that our hero died and Alice is pouring out her heart during his funeral.

*******

Proposal Daisakusen


This drama was introduced by Steven; It is about a young man who is unskilled in love. He took it for granted that he can propose to his childhood friend, Rei, anytime during the 14 years together. He was very wrong.

The story begins in a church where a young man (Iwase Ken) who watches hopelessly as the bride, his childhood friend and love (Yoshida Rei) about to get married to another man. After the wedding procedures, both the bride and the groom along with the guests entered the dining hall where a slide-show of Rei’s chronology took place.

While the slide-show displays pictures of their childhood times to high school. Ken sees Rei’s sad face and beats his chest in regret, wishing that he is able to change his past. Out of a sudden, a radiant light shone on him (Insert choir singing) and a fairy appears! This fairy introduces himself as a fairy living in this church.

He offered to send Ken back in time to correct his past “Ask, and you shall receive!” as long as he says the magic words (Hallelujah Chance!) while doing a funny pose. Reluctantly he agreed and the fairy sends him back. He did what he could to make Rei smile and succeeded. He was taken back to the present when a group photo was taken. It’s the most obvious way since he got sent back to the past through each photo slides displayed.

The fairy told him that one event alone is not enough to change her heart and as each episode of this drama goes on, he is sent back in time again and again to correct his past. Most of the time he succeeded in making Rei smile before getting sent back into the present. The only thing he failed to change was the fact that Rei is still going to get married with the same man.

In the end, he gave up trying to change his past for the present. Instead, he chose to change the present for the future. After 15 years, he summoned all his courage and finally proposed to her in front of the groom and guests, the groom noticed the tears streaming down her cheeks and gave her the chance to seek what she has in mind before questioning himself “What am I doing?”
There we have the bride chasing over our protagonist and the finale ends. Disappointing isn’t it?


Proposal Daisakusen SP

If I had not known of this episode, it is the continuation of where Proposal Daisakusen ended with a cliffhanger. One year had passed by but Ken and Rei are still unable to take the step forward while on the other hand, the focus is on their friends, another couple about to get married in Hawaii - Tsurumi Hisashi and Oku Eri.

On the actual day, the bride went missing and only left a note saying “Doesn't know how Tsuru feels.” It is because she saw her groom-to-be flirting around with girls 1 week before their wedding. With regrets, Tsurumi and her parents apologized to all the guests because the wedding wasn’t a success and for them to come all the way to Hawaii.

Once again, the fairy appeared to him and gave him a chance to go back in time to warn his friend about what had happened on this very day. He went back in time trying to correct his past and to warn his friend. Jumping into conclusions can be very risky and damaging in most cases. The rest of the story is a very touching one; I wouldn’t say my time is wasted when I finished it.

*******

How nice would it be if we could go back in time, I for one has many things to correct, I live a life of regrets of the past. Whenever I reminisce into the past, there’s always a part of me who is unwilling to let it end like that.

Because of my indecisive personality in the past, I lost many chances, one by one. Some intentionally, some unintentionally. So now here I am, paying the price for it.

Even though I am able to let go most of them, there’s only one left that I am still unable to let go off. Maybe until the day that person found someone for herself then it’ll be the sign of courage to break the barrier and also the time for me to fade away from her life.

*******

This afternoon, a power trip happened in Swinburne. Everyone at the rear section of the library groaned in dismay as most of us never insert the laptop battery while using our laptops. As for me, I happen to finish watching “Proposal Daisakusen” the moment it tripped.

Kelvin: “You are lucky, after the credits showed up then only the power trip.” (In mandarin)

Swinburne got alot of problems hor?

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Short update

Names

James Bond has a special style of introducing himself by saying, 'Bond...', then followed by a charming smile & finally '...James Bond'. But recently James Bond doesn't use that style much. This is why -

James Bond was travelling on a plane, and a South Indian guy sat next to him. Being the gentleman, James Bond tries to strike up a conversation.

James Bond : "Hi. My name's Bond... James Bond."

The South Indian guy smiles back

South Indian Guy : "Hi I am Sai...
Venkata Sai...
Siva Venkata Sai...
Laxminarayana Siva Venkata Sai....
Srinivasulu Laxminarayana Siva Venkata Sai...
Rajasekhara Srinivasulu Laxminarayana Siva Venkata Sai.....
Sitaramanjaneyulu Rajasekhara Srinivasulu Laxminarayana Siva Venkata Sai....
Bommiraju Sitaramanjaneyulu Rajasekhara Srinivasulu Laxminarayana Siva Venkata Sai...."

James Bond faints!!!

*******



My 21st Birthday Present... :D

Few weeks back, I 'complained' that my previous mouse (Free from Dell) is beginning to show signs of failure, especially the right click where you have a 50% chance of hitting the button but not getting any response. It's troublesome, really.

But now my problem is solved... Thank you everyone ^ ^