There were two total lunar eclipses in 2011, the first on 15th June. The best view was definitely the one in December which justifies the need to get those duracell procell 9Vs ready to power those cams to capture the moment.

From Kota Kinabalu

What you could see if you were on the moon during the eclipse [from a painting by Lucien Rudaux]

Lunar eclipse from moon

This seems to be the best viewing of a total lunar eclipse from Sabah since the one on 16th July 2000.

The one on 24th March 1978 was very special, it passed almost directly over Sabah.

There will be no more total lunar eclipse until April 2014, and even then it won’t make for good viewing from Sabah. The next total lunar eclipse that looks good from Sabah seems to be on 31st January 2018.

Popularity: 1% [?]

The white water flows rather fast, and looks rather tempting.

But look everywhere in or around it, there’s nobody having a picnic near it, let alone bathing in the river.

Right next to the river stands the answer:

Such a pity, such a waste. I wonder whether it will ever be safe to dive in or to have motorhome insurance if one decides to bring one’s mobile home anywhere near it.

You’ll have to go over the polluted river when you visit Poring Hot Springs, Ranau, Sabah.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Here are some photos of birthday cakes for my son over the years.

Full Moon

[forgot to take photo of 1st birthday cake]

2nd birthday

3rd birthday

4th birthday, cake 1

4th birthday, cake 2

5th birthday, cake 1

5th birthday, cake 2

6th birthday

7th birthday, cake 1

7th birthday, cake 2

8th birthday, cake 1

8th birthday, cake 2

I think this is one way to mark his life’s milestones even before he can say ordis!

Popularity: 1% [?]

He wrote probably the most beautiful love song to have ever come out of Sabah – Sinar Matamu (1979?), which was hugely popular and endlessly copied then, down to every clash of the cymbals.

The original version, vocalist: Rudy Ahmad

The updated version

Apart from that he also wrote perennial karaoke favourites Bertunang, the hard-driving Siapa Gerangan and Ibu.

Bertunang (original version)

Siapa Gerangan (updated version)

Sandakan-born and bred Rashid started on music at 5 and despite formal music training, was proficient with guitars, drums, keyboards, accordion and trombone.

Of course his greatest talent was in songwriting – his songs became well-known nationwide.

He founded and was leader of D’Atomic Power (later known as simply Atomic Power), which, at one time, was one of the top groups in the country.

He passed away 27th October 2011 in Negri Sembilan at the age of 59.

RIP

Popularity: 1% [?]

Dubbed “The world’s toughest mountain race”, runners run up and down the mountain, a total distance of 21 km. Starting 2012, runners will follow a new route which is longer by 2km and the event will be known as Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon: Adventure Series.

Record: Marco De Gasperi (Italy), 2010: 2:33.56. Time to summit: 1:35.29

2011 (22-23 October)
Men’s Open
1 Kílian Jornet Burgada (Spain), 23: 2:37.04
Note: prizemoney: USD4,500. He’d won the Climbathon twice before in 2007 and 2009.

2 Marco De Gasperi (Italy), 2:37:48
Note: De Gasperi first to reach the summit, clocking 1:37.49

3 Luis Alberto Hernando (Spain), 2:42.36

Best local performance: Safrey Sumping who finished 6th. He finished 5th in 2010.

Women’s Open
1 Danny Kuilin Gongot (Sabah/Malaysia), 44: 3:41.29
Note: this is her 4th win, after 1997, 1998 and 2003. She finished 5th in 2010. No Malaysian woman had won the race since 2003. Having trained for just 2 weeks, she was second to summit in 2:20.17 behind Brandy Erholtz (USA) who clocked 2:11.19. For the win, she received USD4,500. And of course she wore the RM8 Adidas Kampung.

2 Anna Frost (New Zealand): 3:50.38
Note: Frost also placed second in 2010

3 Brandy Erholtz (USA): 3:52.21s

I guess it’s safe to say that you’d never see these guys and gals dress plus size.

2010
Men’s Open
1 Marco De Gasperi (Italy), 2:33:56 (summit: 1:35.29)

2 Sudip Kulung (Nepal), 2:46.14 (summit: 1:48.04)

3 Tofol Castaner (Spain), 2:58.09 (summit: 1:50:20)

Best local performance: Safrey Sumping (5th): 3:02.47 (summit: 1:59.24)

Popularity: 1% [?]

Considered major music charts for singles: either the US Billboard Hot 100 or the UK Singles Chart.

Alison Moira Clarkson (born 6 March 1970 in Kensington, London), a.k.a Betty Boo is of mixed Dusun and Scottish descent, resulting in what has been described as “an unusual, striking Emma Peel-like look.” She shot to stardom in 1990 with 2 songs that reached the UK Singles Chart’s top 10: “Doin’ The Do”, which reached no.7 and “Where Are You Baby?”, which reached no.3. Both songs are in her debut album Boomania released in September of the same year, which peaked at no.4 in the UK Albums Chart.

The music video for Where Are You Baby?

One might add that she could very well be the first person with Dusun blood that has had her music album scanned with a Honeywell Barcode Scanner!

Earlier, in September 1988, Tanita Tikaram, the daughter of a Malaysian mother Fatimah Rohani and an Indo-Fijian father Pramod Tikaram released her debut album Ancient Heart. It reached no.3 in the UK album charts and no. 59 in the US. Her single “Good Tradition” peaked at no. 10 in the UK Singles Chart in August 1988.

Honourable mention:

Aishah, then lead singer of Fan Club (New Zealand based band) apparently cracked the US Billboard Hot 100 in the late 1980s or early 1990s with Don’t Let Me Fall Alone

Popularity: 1% [?]

The last few nights have proven to be excellent for skywatching, to the point that it made me consider purchasing a telescope.

On the late evening of the 13th, it was the spectacular sight of Jupiter “dancing” with the moon.

During the early evening of the 14th, I was doing a night run when I noticed fellow joggers talking about and pointing at the moon. Turning around, I was greeted by a truly mesmerising sight of a moon rise right above Mount Kinabalu. I didn’t have a camera with me, and the only photo on the Net that I could find that looked almost like what I saw was by Dolly MJ:

Original photo

During the early evening of the 15th, the full moon looked even bigger, and looking at it through binoculars I could see clearly its heavily cratered surface.

Certainly one could very well be so preoccupied with looking upwards that when one’s gaze finally lowers, systèmes GPS might be needed to find one’s way back.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Between 1-8 October 2011.

While browsing for rfid blocking wallets, I spotted the following shop name in Ximenting, Taipei. If you don’t get it, look up the word at urbandictionary dot com.

The following was spotted at Feng Jia Night Market, Taichung. This road’s name can be (mis)pronounced in quite a few ways.

The following was spotted at Dream Mall, Kaohsiung, the largest shopping mall in Taiwan and the largest in East Asia. With a total retail floor area of 400,000 sq m, it’s still smaller than Malaysia’s Berjaya Times Square (700K sq m). 1Borneo is at 140K sq m.

The following can either mean “cycling lane” or “only to be used by males possessing extraordinarily long genitalia”

The following was spotted at an RnR stop along the Taichung – Kaohsiung highway. I suppose it means that you’re allowed to beat the life out of the handbasin for adults?

Popularity: 1% [?]

Photo taken 5th October 2011 during our recent trip to Taiwan.

Some members of our group brought Kadazan costumes with them – this photo was taken before a performance by some members of the Amis people, the largest of the 13 indigenous groups of Taiwan.

Some of their dance moves do look like sumazau and they have their own version of the magunatip. Seeing them in person made me download videos about them.

How Kadazans and Amis are related: according to the mainstream “out of Taiwan” model, pre-Austronesian people migrated from continental Asia to Taiwan between 10,000 and 6,000 BC. A large-scale migration out of Taiwan then began around 5000-2500 BC. Their descendants then settled in Sabah.

Popularity: 1% [?]

On 27th September 2011 it was reported in the local press that Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) is targeting its System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) to at most 540 minutes for 2011.

So far they’re on track, with 381 minutes as of 11th September 2011.

In 2010, it was 687 minutes i.e. each person personally experienced more than 11 hours of electrical power interruption.

In 2009, it was a staggering 2,867 minutes for Sabah, and 72 minutes for Peninsular Malaysia.

In fact, it was much worse in previous years:

Compare that to South Johor‘s 111 minutes in 2010. Under the Iskandar Malaysia 10 (IM10) plan, it aims to reduce the number to less than 10 minutes by 2015.

That’s world class indeed; hopefully it’s equally stable too, so that one can find samsung mobile batteries at the source and be sure that it doesn’t break down too often.

Apparently, according to IEEE Standard 1366-1998 the median value for North American utilities is approx 90 minutes.

Popularity: 1% [?]