If you look at the live telecast of the Soyuz carrying Malaysia’s first person in space docking with the ISS on 12th October, there are a few things I observed:
- there’s no video of the docking in progress; but looking at the videos of docking to ISS of the Soyuz crafts carrying previous space tourists Anousheh Ansari (September 2006) and Charles Simonyi (April 2007), there should be
- the same female interpreter is on duty (translating Russian to English)
- Simonyi and Dr Mus had their first videoconference in the same room. Simonyi stood to the right of the camera - there was a pole which he could hold on to: hence looked very comfortable while talking. Dr Mus, in contrast, apparently did not have anything to hold on to, and looked awkward bobbing up and down, struggling to keep still, while talking.
- Ansari’s first videoconference was apparently in a different room than Simonyi and Dr Mus’s. She stood in the middle, and had something to hold on to.
Further on the halo phenomenon yesterday, there’s a video of it posted on youtube which purportedly shows a white blob moving around the sun.
Perhaps this is just a a joke, but isn’t that so obvious?! The white blob moves in perfect sync with the camera. If it’s a real UFO, the camera should be struggling to trail the white blob.
However, when this was reported on in Daily Express 12th October 2007 by special writer Kan Yaw Chong, it gets rather more serious:
“What was even more captivating about the phenomena and which could not be seen by the naked eye was captured by Sabah Publishing House Managing Director Datuk Clement Yeh on his Nokia E61i at around that time in Tanjung Aru.
Clement did not want to hurt his eyes and started clicking away the halo on his handphone camera placed on his outstretched palm. As it turned out, he not only captured the halo on camera but also a mysterious white speck.
“It was only on reviewing the images later that I noticed this white speck or dot. Even then, I did not think much of it as it could easily be a speck of dust on the camera lens.
“I then decided to zoom in on the speck and noticed that it was not stationary but seemed to have been in motion in a linear fashion suggesting that whatever it is, it had obviously been moving at high speed.”
A professional photographer, he does not think it is a reflection on his phone lens since it was not stationary.
At this point in time, nobody is able to explain what it is but we provide these images that Clement took for the public to decide or even speculate.”
I was mystified too when I first read it this morning, but after seeing this video footage - I think the following are made very clear already:
- the SPH MD could not make a conclusion because he only saw static pics: he did not take videos
- I was surprised that as a “professional photographer”, the SPD MD seemed not to realise that even though he does not think “the white object is a reflection on his phone lens since it was not stationary,” his hand must have been in various configurations / positions as he took the photos, hence the various locations of the white speck.
Who doesn’t know Saloma’s Hari Raya song? However, what some might now is that there is an older version of the same song recorded in the 1950s.
I don’t think you’ll hear the older version that often, partly because its lyrics has references to playing firecrackers - tolerated then, but banned now.
Dam Dam Dum, Bunyi Mercun, Kanak kanak Segera Berduyun
Dam Dam Dum, Mercun Berdentum, Semaraklah Hari Raya ini Tahun
The later version’s lyrics are different in several places - and no reference to firecrackers.
Here they are side by side - check out the difference in lyrics.
Note: if you have never registered with imeem.com before, you will be prompted to do so (free) while playing a song.
iConnectHere is a company offering Voice Over IP (VoIP) services, specifically Internet Phone Service.
VoIP technology is maturing, and providers like IConnectHereare lining up to take advantage of its capabilities. VoIP devices come in two: purely software, like what Skype is offering, and all-in-one phone-router-modem devices.
They claim to offer the lowest cost call rates, high quality Broadband Phone services and great customer service.
They one of the founders and innovators of internet telephony, as they have been a VoIP player for more than 10 years.
There have been many Hari Raya songs written, but after so many years, I still hear the following songs year in and year out.
They are what I call total classics, everybody knows them, they still sound good, and pretenders will have a very hard time replacing them.
Note: if you have never registered with imeem.com before, you will be prompted to do so (free) while playing a song. No need to do this actually. But strangely, if I access a playlist directly from imeem.com, I am prompted to do so.
The Outstanding Young Person of Sabah (TOYPS) 2007 Awards ceremony gala dinner organised by Junior Chamber International (JCI) Kota Kinabalu was held on 10th September.
The winners according to the 6 categories are as follows. May we all be inspired by these role models.
Business, economic or entrepreneurial accomplishment. Honouree: Raymond Chan, executive chairman of the Ramajuta Group, perhaps best known as developer of 1-Borneo.
Academic leadership and accomplishment. Honouree: none.
Winner of the certificate of merit: Melissa Sia, student who was Sabah’s top student for SPM 2006: she scored 16 1As. This means that there’s no actual winner of this category?
Cultural achievement. Honouree: Roger Wang, Musician.
Winner of the certificate of merit: Amber Chia, brand ambassador.
Contribution to children, world peace, or human rights. Honouree: Josephine Wan-Wen Hadikusomo, President of The Society for Caring Youths (CARYS), Kota Kinabalu.
Humanitarian and voluntary services. Honouree: Adrian Lasimbang, social worker. Winner of the certificate of merit: Dr Felix Chong, medical practitioner.
Personal improvement and accomplishment. Honouree: Alex Lim Keng Liat, sportsman. Winner of the certificate of merit: Rufina Tan, sportswoman.
My Streamyx connection was strangely intermittent (DSL light keeps blinking) a few days ago, then one night it just decided to quit. I thought it was “normal”, since Swordie mentioned that the guys at TM are doing an upgrade for a whopping 8 days starting 2nd October. However, checking further it seems that that only affects users in Cheras. And that announcement is only available for viewing in google cache, and not TMNet’s actual website - but that’s another story lah.
Back to the my problem, the connection was still KO the next day, but I was thinking this would be a good time to take a holiday from the Net at least for a night (read: rediscover what it’s like to sleep a full 8 hours), so I didn’t bother calling 1300889515 just yet.
Anyway I thought the problem might be in the splitter or the RJ-11 socket of the square thingy where the indoor phone line terminates (what do you actually call this thing?), because voice was not OK if I connect to the splitter and OK if connect direct; and for both, Streamyx’s dead. And I’ve been using the splitter for at least 3 years, and the RJ-11 socket for about 10: the pins looked a bit rusty.
Then early this evening, looking closer at the RJ-11 socket’s pins, I noticed one of them a little out of alignment. So, simply using a small slotted screwdriver I lifted up the stray pin into alignment, and voila!
Therefore, I was wondering, if I *did* call Streamyx support, how many round trips of “makan angin” would be in store for me? Because, reading thru quite a few newspaper hotline letters, forum threads and blog entries on grouses with Streamyx support, I have never read this simple solution being suggested.
Car Guy Garage Inc is a company specialising in … car garages. They have more car garage-related items and paraphernalia than you can ever imagine. Looking at some of the products, it think they will make your garage the prettiest room in your house.
As garages usually are associated with the words dirty, dull and dark, and even perhaps dungeon; these guys offer garage lighting too. As well as offering a variety of lights for different applications, they suggest that the switches be grouped, so that you can choose to only light certain parts of the garage, or all of it.
Have you been forwarded a videoclip about 2 minutes long entitled “The Translator” by Catherine Tate, playing a character named Helen Marsh, in which she “attempts” to translate, from English into several languages, including Italian, Spanish, Swedish and some unnamed countries (but obviously Chinese and African).
When I got it for the first time, I didn’t bother to dig further. But after a few times gettting it again, I got curious, so checking out the comedienne revealed the following:
- She’s Catherine Tate, 39 of London
- The show is called “The Catherine Tate Show”
- Shown on BBC 2.
- Gets more than 4 million viewers per episode: the most popular BBC 2 channel.
- The show has been around since 2004.
- “The Translator” is from an episode in the 3rd season (2006) which ran between October and November 2006.
It’s quite funny, but I have a feeling many people would think the opposite.
