PE1 Penang Trip

One whole year........and for 3 days, were were together again as if time had not passed.....
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we had been so deprived of good home food for 12 months solid (except Ming Han and me over in Singapore) that it was befitting that we spent 3 days doing nothing but stuff our faces with 5 or 6 meals minimum a day.

in full concentration.....

I will start with details of all the food we ate over 3 days....
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............. it was orgasmiscally, fantasbicually, amazingbbqwalawishnessy good.

there, 4 words, some you would not find in the Oxford, to describe EVERYTHING that added an extra kilo or so to us.

and did i mention that we were very very very happy. Yes, we did nothing much apart from 4 hours on the beach and a visit to Kek Lok Si and eating, but being Malaysian, eating alone, on a roughly 3 hour interval is an activity on its own.

It encompasses every feeling one enjoys when doing an activity of sort on a holiday. It was orgasmic (for couples on a honeymoon *wink*), it was exhilarating (spicy assam laksa can do this...no joke), we got high (on satay).............we even flirted with danger (some of us had to take extreme measures...largely with the aid of liberal amounts of ENO and digestion tablets).

All in all, a complete vacation. Oh, we even had karaoke sessions and i've picked up on some japanese hip hop stuff.

Yeah, yeah, i know i did mention i am 100% anti hip-hop and rap, but COME ON!. 10 teens bawling at the top of their lungs to some song in a language you pretend to know when watching anime and being sung be a person whose name you can't even pronounce (in my case that is).................even ELVIS would join in....and he's the king of rock n roll.


And i must admit, i do really like that song "Kau Ilhamku" by Manbai.


There is nothing to blog about the food here.....i simply cannot explain or even try to describe the feelings on gets from eating simple, really good, malaysian fare.........what i can describe however, is the terror you get when you're hanging on for dear life on one of these:

Killer Banana

I have never been on a banana boat and when Hehn suggested we try, i was under the impression it was going to be like eating one of those cheap, margerine tasting choc wafers that come in those red packets with chinese writing on them.......making you wonder if it were painted lead instead of chocolate on them.......well.....feels bland.


I WAS WRONG......

Here's a tip, if you want to have a fun ride, sit on the front or the middle like Hehn and the rest. Don;t be a dumbass and volunteer to sit a tthe rear, cos when you go over every damn wave, the whole rear behaves like a badly trained horse. It tries to kill you.

It felt as if you were in control until the whole boat moves into the wake of the speedboat in front, that when it tries to shake you off. Jing and I were tossed off, the only difference, she having sense, let go immedaitely while i stupidly hung on and was dragged for what seemed like 5 minutes. The result was a torn bicep muscle, product of my laziness to build my upper body............................................
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.............................resulting in what now looks like Keira Knightley's chest and arms.....flat as an ironing board.....not even male boobs, the only difference being, I do not look anemic.

The killer banana was towed a total of 4 times up an down the beach and on the third pass, the speedboat chap made a sharp turn, flipping the boat and tossing all of us in jelly fish infested water. It was one too many flips for me and i was dragged like a drowned cat onto a jetski and taken to shore:

i seriously need to work on my biceps

We did however get a 007 shot, us all emerging confidently from the water:



....and then the rest is all about eating, except for one more interesting thing:

We went to Kek Lok Si, that really old buddhist temple in Penang....i think its a world heritage site...anyway, the have this really huge statue of Guan Yin, the Goddess Of Mercy on top:


and the temple was building a shelter for it.....a huge pagoda of sorts:



and it was going to be lines with these tiles:


so, for a small fee, we got a tile and wrote our names on it, my name in:

yes...i can write my name in tamil...

and so, there will be a tile on top of a huge statue of Guan Yin at a world heritage site, bearing the names of PE1 A Level students.

And now, pictures:

1)TV Serial Promos




2)Gravity Defying Shots






Cheers Mates!

Matrix

Clive Owen as James Bond?

BMW made a series of short fims starring Clive Owen as a driver for hire...kind of along the lines the Jason Stratham in The Transporter....
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Only that its Clive Owen , NOT Jason Statham vs some mad anemic killer woman and its in a BMW not a knuckle headed Audi.

Anyway, u will see why i maintina Owen is a better actor but not cut out for Bond as he's .....well......waaay to cool for the Bond role.

Despite being shot at from a copter...he's waay too suave and calm....the reason I like the more emotional Craig. And, i cannot imagine Owen with a gun and beating up people...just not his style. He's not as thuggish as Craig, despite being a BETTER actor.

neways, enjoy mates!

Matrix

James Bond: Quantum of Solace - Official trailer HD

The new Bond movie trailer is out!!!!!
Now i officially retract my original opinion that Clive Owen would have made a better bond. Clive Owen has the presence of Bond, the classiness of Bond and the determined look of Bond....but
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Daniel Craig looks waaaaay better in a suit and has a sharper look about him.

I still maintain that acting wise, Clive Owen is superior, but he has a sluggish and almost mundane look about him in comparison to the alert sharp look of Craig.

I guess its like comparing a Rolls Royce Phantom and a Maybach 62.

Like Clive Owen, the Maybach is a much superior luxury vehicle, with a more powerful engine, and more whizz bangs in its interior than the Rolls....


....but unlike the Rolls, it looks rather mundane and discrete, does not look as expensive as the Rolls despite it being almost 100,000 quid more expensive.

So....despite being superior, Owen just is not cut out as Bond as Craig is....in the same way i would rather buy a Rolls Royce Phantom than a Maybach if i had 300,000 quid to burn and the Rolls is cheaper by the way.

That and the fact that Owen and guns and busting baddies ruthlessly just does not go well together...Craig is waaay better at that as seen in his role as a hitman in Road to Predition...making him a better Bond.

So, i admit, i made a mistake by saying Owen would have made a better Bond, cause the Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale movies make Craig look like the BEST Bond ever.

Cheers Mates and enjoy the trailer!!!


Matrix

Malaysian Bus Drivers have Good Taste in Music

I do not drive, a fact i have been harping about a lot these days. That being said, i do use the bus services a lot, my only complain being its not as organised as Singapore's nor is it easy to know which bus to take to get to somewhere. What i normally do is just flag down a bus i think is going in the same direction as I am, and just ask the conductor if its the correct bus. And did i mention is dirt cheap?

A 7km journey to Masjid Jamek and the Pudu Raya area where my old school is only costs RM1.00 if u take one of those old-ramshackle-red-looks-like-its-about-to-fall-apart Selangor busses and RM1.50 if you take Metrobus.

.....and did i mention you get great entertainment, especially if your bus driver happens to be a middle aged malay chap...cos believe it or not, they have great taste in old school rock.

And some....do not...

So, here' the BUSBOARD TOP 10!!! (excuse the apparent lameness....billboard does sound much nicer..ao anyway..)

10) We will Rock You --- Queen

9 ) Paradise City ---- Guns N Roses

8 ) Girls Just Wanna Have Fun -- Cindy Lauper

7) I Love Rock N Roll -- Joan Jett (in my highest opinion, one of the most honest female rockers)

6) Help! -- The Beatles

5) Mr Brightside -- The Killers (i am surprised the bus driver actually played this)

4) Knockin on Heaven's Door -- Guns N Roses

3) Stairway to Heaven -- Led Zeppelin

2) Freebird -- Lynyrd Skynyrd
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and....

NUMBER 1:

Bittersweet Symphony -- The Verve



truth be told, they play awful music too...... no ranks for these though....if it stinks..it stinks, period.


- the stuff 50 cent raps

- ...for that matter..ANY rapper.....with the exception from Mike Shinoda's rap in Linkin Park and the rap stuff Rage Against The Machine do....


for example, stuff like "Guerilla Radio" and "Wake" by them.....lovely guitar work.

- and by the way......

I THINK THE MUSIC HITZ.FM AIRS IS CRAP.......most of the time.

I mean, come on, what is so nice about hip hop and rap????? The music mixing is lousy.....they all sound the same most of the time and there is NO or hardly any guitar work!

*expletives fly*

If you want good music on the go, i highly recommend you get your ass onto Bittorrent and download and burn whatever you want. Or listen to Lite.fm



Cheers!

Matrix

Going Nuclear and the Thorium Reactor and of Biofuels

I guess its high time for a technical and nerdy post. No worries though, will present it here in the most non-scientific way as can be possible done for the benefit of non physics students.

With global oil prices hitting $142 per barrel this week and locally at RM2.70 per litre making the possibility of poor souls as myself with no driving licence driving anytime soon , very very remote, its high time alternative fuel sources get pushed into the lime light.

I'll start of with the controversial one first- going Nuclear.

To be blunt, Nuclear fuel is clean. Period. The only short term waste is water and a bit of steam. the long term waste is another matter altogether. Spent fuel rods containing uranium which takes 10,000 plus years to decay to safe levels added with a bit of hype surrounding Chernobyl and Three Mile Island reactor meltdowns makes it difficult, politically for deals like the current hot India-US civillian nuke deal to fall through.

But all thsi is known, i'll get to the point.

The key to safe and CLEAN nuke plants is now an element called Thorium. Its a lighter element that Uranuim-238 and has some really fab properties.

In conventional nuke plants, U-238 is refined to U-235 before being used, the reason for this being u-235 is more unstable than U-238, making a long fission chain reaction possible. The actual whole story is much more complicated, would love to explain more, but that would make this whole already boring post a tad bit more boring.

To skip all this, Thorium can be used to fuel future reactors. Its attractive points?

1) waste produced from burning thorium in a reactor is dramatically less radioactive than uranium

2) thorium reactor waste would only stay radioactive for 500 years, less than uranium's 10,000 plus years

3) Thorium fuel process can literally EAT up old plutonium waste, enabling the continued usage of old nuke power stations and using that waste to fuel the thorium powered plants!

4) So thorium might just be able to kill two birds with one stone. Not only does a thorium-fuelled reactor produce significantly less high-level waste, but it can also dispose of the decommissioned nuclear weapons and highly radioactive waste from nuclear reactors using more conventional fuels. Oh yes, it can also generate electricity.


To be frank, research into thorium nuke power is still ongoing and the above facts have only been tested in a lab. There are a few problems that hampers widespread thrium usage at the moment,

Want more? Read the whole article here:

Thorium Nuclear Fuel Source

Country	Th Reserves (tonnes)		Th Reserve Base (tonnes)
Australia	300,000		340,000
India	290,000		300,000
Norway	170,000		180,000
United States	160,000		300,000
Canada	100,000		100,000
South Africa	35,000		39,000
Brazil	16,000		18,000
Malaysia	4,500		4,500
Other Countries	95,000		100,000
World Total	1,200,000		1,400,000

Am guessing if we decide to go Nuke anytime soon, we can use Thorium.


On Biofuels

I'll just talk about biodiesel. Loads of people have been talking about going hydrogen, going electric, solar etc.

These are all very fine, but we're neglecting one point here. Infrastructure demands.

Hydrogen vehicles means new cars. New EXPENSIVE cars. New HEAVY EXPENSIVE cars...with serious issues about efficiency.

I do realise i'm being a bit close minded here. We can have other means of transport for the future, other than cars, but for the sake of blogging and arguments, i'll set a few boundary conditions:

1) We still need cars

2) Petrol stations mus remain as their existance makes the transition to biodiesel much simpler than hydrogen....simply scrub out the old tanks and fill em with the stuff.

3) Existing diesel engines can be used and will be used.

4) People just love driving


Righto, that being said, a renewable fuel source is biodiesel. Ranging from the stuff that needs to be treated and refined from palm oil to the stuff that can be poured into a gas tank the minute its extracted (from some seeds...names i;ve forgotten)

But this poses one problem. Agricultural land is limited. And we need food. That being said, to produce enough fuel (am talking about millions of barrels of diesel per day, you would need to practically reduce your grown food industry by hell a lot.

The point of this whole debate?

Its a round about way of simply making a point. Every alternative fuel source has tradeoffs and benefits. For hydrogen and electric power, its the expense consumers have to support, new infrastructural needs and simply the loss of that feel good engine noise.

For biodiesel, we have to starve to drive.

Having highlighted this, i shall come to the ultimate point.

JUNK YOUR DAMN CAR AND TAKE THE BLOODY BUS......or rather the tram.....

Cause you see, trams like the ones in Melb and San francisco and in increasing number of european cities are cheap to install and run. You simply need over head power lines, and tracks that can be easily imbedded in roads. Simply get rid of all busses and replace the bus lines with tram lines.

Power the trams with electricity from Thorium power plants.


This post is not the whole story, nor are the suggestions and opinions mentioned here, the final words.

Go Googling for more info on how to tackle tranportation probs. Its bloody interesting and occasionally u stumble across good stuff.


Cheers from,

Matrix

What is the deal with Low Fat?????

Right,

I LOVE ICE CREAM,

.....and butter, and milk, and any other confection that i can get my hands on. My roomie and I have survived on nothing but jars and jars of this stuff for weeks (breakfast and the occasional lunch):



Ok, lets face it people. When we eat confection, its for personal enjoyment. We simply melt into that feel good feelings that overwhelm ourselves with every bite (sound a bit like a cadbury ad here).

I honestly do not see the point of going low fat, or low sugar or whatever new low thing that has hit the local candy shops. Its downright criminal. You're going to eat something that's so obviously had zero nutritional value, why lie to yourself and pretend its healthy by making it low in something?

that being said, i am so tempted to launch a hate campaign against the following products:


What is th deal with this????? Its much more expensive that Coke Original and it tastes like crap. I mean, you buy a damn coke and you expect it to be healthy???

The chaps at coca-cola got it right with vanilla coke. I am one of those folks who love that stuff. You pay more for it...cos they give you damn vanilla!!!

This on the other hand....this low sugar rip off.......

I do know i have supporters out there, enlightened souls who share my views on Coke Zero. I bought a coke and took it into the labs the other day with a few friends of mine. There was this phycisist in the lift we took and the conversation went along these line:

Friend One: Bro, why not try Coke Zero....?


Me : Dude, you're talking to a full cream milk guzzling machine. Now why on earth would i feel guilty from drinking coke and try to hide that by drinking that zero stuff?

Friend One: I dunno, cos its healthier?


Me : Since when is Coke healthy? I mean, i buy the stuff to enjoy myself, why
deny myself the full package, sugar and all...for an additional 20 cents?


Physicist : *wide grin*


SEE! SEE! Physicists support me!!!!!!





Curse the dude who came up with this stuff. Come on people, milk is good as it is....why on earth do u want to reduce its fat content? Its already naturally balanced and is a healthy source of calcium. Its as criminal as this:


Bloody idiots think they can replicate mother's milk. Same case as with natural milk. Don't bloody tamper with it and make it low fat, high calcium and such. I mean, come on, it tastes better full fat and it makes a perfect cuppa.

You want to be healthy?

Stop using bloody condensed milk in your coffee or ideal milk. Instead use good old fashioned cold FULL FAT, CREAM milk! And may i add, its cheaper than the low fat stuff....and tastes much better.


Same case with these:

the utmost cardinal sin has got to be done by folk who substitute this:

with this crap:

I mean, yeah, margarine is crap. Its unhealthy for god's sake (its saturated not unsaturated lipids) and it tastes worse. I absolutely hate it when people use it in cakes instead of good old butter.

The Wrap Up


Let me get one thing straight here. Its not all about low fat and low sugar and such. Its all about control. You want to indulge yourself, go ahead with the full sugar and fat stuff. The important thing here is not to overeat the stuff.

There'e no point in purchasing low fat/low sugar/low whatever stuff on health grounds if it only means you're going to consume lots of it. Do enjoy, and go the full 9 yards, but control it.


AND FOR GOD'S SAKE DON'T SUB BUTTER FOR MARGERINE. I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU IF YOU DO.


Cheers !

matrix

I do not understand Mediocrity

I get this line a lot lately.

"All i want is a stable job and a steady income....oh, and a nice car"

Well, I may piss off a lot of people with this retort.....

"For you that is, you mediocre ******"

Mediocrity is by far( in my highest opinion ) a disease of the human race. This mentality of doing "just enough" or "cukup makan" is disgusting and should be stamped out once and for all........and so must all the monkeys in Parliament, ...but that is another story.

Please do not get me wrong here.

Having enough to get by and having enough to survive is not a crime. Quite frankly, the economy functions to allocate resources in such a way that in the end, not everyone gets into the top bracket.

No, I am not talking nor promoting elitism in any way. What i want to nail is the MENTALITY of a lot of people these days whom are just satisfied with attaining the bare minimum.

"Oh, as long as i pass university and get my degree and get a job, i've done it"

"I want a 9 to 5 job, steady pay, bonuses and a good pension plan"

May i ask these questions?

Why not just pass out of university, but FLY out with a First Class Honours Degree with an overseas attachment plus a portfolio of university projects and be head-hunted by Goldman Sachs (if you're from Business) or Norman Foster (if you're an architect) or be assigned to the latest AI hydrogen powered fighter jet project over at Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works?

And after that, why not take the experience you have gained to start up you're own rival company to Goldman Sachs and Lockheed Martin?

And after that, why not buy up the rest of the oil reserves in the world, close down all those oil reserves and promote usage of an alternative fuel/ energy source produced by a company you started 2 years ago, which will be used to power vehicles designed and mass produced by another company you started 5 years ago, vehicles not only technologically superior to the computer on the latest Evo 9, but with the price tag of a 1940s VW Beetle?

And when you're 100 and you look back on all those companies you started, you cannot help but wonder....."what if i had merged all those into the next Tata Industries?......oh never mind, will leave a memo for my latest recruit from MIT, now finishing up at Harvard to do it.

It sounds far fetching, but why not aim high? Why be satisfied with the bare minimum?

Do you honestly think the technological achievements of the past century was by people satisfied with a 9 to 5 job?

For those reading this post on your brand new PCs, obviously containing at least a 80Gb SATA hard drive, do you honestly think you could enjoy that hard drive had it not been for the discovery of Giant Magnetoresistance by Peter Gundberg back in 1988?

Or maybe the chaps at home relaxing and watching a boring EURO 2008 match on the telly, do you think it would be possible without the satellites up there?

Those people never wanted anything but the best and they went out for the best. 100% commitment and effort, not a half hearted attempt at life and then justify the current status of affairs with the lame line:

"Its enough and i'm happy"

The human race is doomed the day mediocracy takes over. Its the day human innovation, grit, wit, ingenuity and the thirst for a better life ALWAYS ends and so begins our extinction.

Not from our destruction of the earth, not from a form of T-Virus accidentally released by the Umbrella Corporation (watch Resident Evil for an explanation),

but from our laziness and unwillingness to push ourselves to continue to be ingenious and to always look for something better.

For me, mediocracy is not a luxury i want. I have no intentions of working at a desk from 9 to 5, running someone else's company, making a few million. Money and comfort is not an issue here. Its how far i can push myself to, what and where i could be in the next one year, in the next one decade, in the next 50 years....

IT IS ALWAYS ABOUT WHERE AND HOW FAR YOU CAN GO.

And then where else to after that.


Cheers ,

Matrix