sevven

Read

2012-01-27T22:23:00.000Z

When I first started on this post I was somewhere just past halfway through Inheritance. I finished the book last week on Thursday, finally. It took me a long time to finish Inheritance, though at 860 pages it was a brick.

Inheritance was supposed to be my twelfth book for 2011 but now it is my first for 2012. I was quite upset to miss my twelve books target, which means that I have to make up for it with thirteen books this year. Afi said that eleven books was all right because I have Omar to look after. True, between Omar, cooking and other housework I could usually manage only a few pages each day before bedtime.

Back to Inheritance, it was three long years since Brisingr so I was worried that I had forgotten about the most of the characters and events in the previous books. However, thankfully, they all came back as soon as I started reading the book. As usual, I couldn’t wait to find out how the story ends and didn’t mind spoilers so I read it up on Wikipedia. :P

Overall, I liked the book and think Paolini did manage to tie up all lose ends that matter. I really liked the character Roran, our dragon-rider hero Eragon’s ordinary (as in not a magician or having any special powers) cousin. The way Eragon defeats Galbatorix was cool. The romance between Eragon and Arya ends just the way it should be. However, I would love to read more about the mysterious herbalist Angela. Hopefully Paolini will write more about her.

I guess now I can finally read Harry Potter. :D

All my books are now somewhere between here and home so I will not be doing much reading till I finally get them. It’s not that I have a lot of time to read in the first place. Still, in the mean time, I have Evolution.

SOPA/PIPA

2012-01-19T10:08:00.000Z

Watch this Khan Academy video explaining SOPA/PIPA if you are wondering what they are all about, and why many websites went dark on 18 January. If you go, “Huh?” watch it anyway.

Super Tucano

2012-01-11T18:51:00.000Z

If everything goes well, which it seldom does, the Super Tucano will soon be one of the most exciting new aircraft bought by the US Air Force (USAF).

The USAF is planning to buy initially twenty Super Tucanos to fulfill the Light Air Support (LAS) requirement.

This is a non-developmental aircraft procured for conducting advanced flight training, surveillance, air interdiction, and close air support.

The LAS aircraft is a single-engine turboprop fixed-wing aircraft with tricycle, retractable landing gear, and tandem two-place pressurized cockpit with ejection seats, capable of operating from semi-prepared air fields.
US Department of Defense

Unlike the other robotic planes the USAF is buying or developing, like the F-35, the propeller-driven Super Tucano is reminiscent of the legendary P-51. The planes will be used in counter-insurgency operations — fighting armed rebels and terrorists — in countries like Afghanistan. The twenty Super Tucanos are in fact meant to be transferred to the Afghan Air Force.

Insurgents generally do not have sophisticated anti-aircraft weapons. When the threat of anti-aircraft fire is minimal, a propeller-driven aircraft like the Super Tucano is cheaper to use than a high performance jet like the F-16. The economical turboprop engine allows the aircraft to loiter over an area longer to provide support to soldiers on the ground. Its relatively slow speed also helps the pilot to see the ground better and target weapons more accurately without the use of sophisticated targeting systems.

The Super Tucano is produced by Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. However, for the USAF contract the planes will be built in Nevada and Florida in the United States. Armed Super Tucanos are already flown by the air forces of countries like Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador. In the Southeast Asian region, Indonesia has also ordered sixteen aircraft, due to be delivered soon.

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CREDIT: All pictures from Embraer.

Yesterday

2012-01-02T22:03:00.000Z

Afi and I were having lunch in the living room yesterday when we heard a bump followed by a cry. We raced into the bedroom. Omar fell off the bed. He is not comfortable in the Moses basket anymore so we have been letting him sleep on the bed, fenced with pillows. It was the first time he fell, and he was all right. After some consoling he went back to sleep.

Then, last night, Omar finished a whole banana, also for the first time. We plan to weigh him this Friday. He should be nearing 8kg now, full of character.

We have slowly started packing. So far we have packed three boxes full of books. Hopefully we have enough boxes for our stuff. Still, there will be a lot that we will simply give away or otherwise dispose of.

As we get closer to leaving, we cannot help talking about things we think we will miss. Little things like Kebab Kid and online shopping. We love shopping online, especially for grocery. I will definitely miss the latter. We will also miss not having to deal with flies, mosquitoes and cockroaches.

Still, overall, we cannot wait to go home.

Welcome, 2012.

Rolled Up Concrete

2011-12-29T20:38:00.002Z

Not exactly new, but I have just came across this, Concrete Cloth, via Think Defence. It is basically canvas infused with cement. The material is stored and transported conveniently in rolls. When needed, it is simply unrolled, cut, nailed or stapled into shape, and sprayed with water. The concrete hardens to 80 percent strength in twenty-four hours.

The material is particularly very useful when you want to build and reinforce very quickly, like in emergency or disaster situations. The video above shows in passing Concrete Cloth used to reinforce a slope. There are also shelters that can be put up by just two people in one hour.

Of course, given the source I got it from, the flexibility of Concrete Cloth opens up some interesting military applications too.

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LINK: Concrete Canvas on YouTube.

Ringgit

2011-12-22T22:53:00.000Z

I like the new designs for the ringgit launched today. I think they are cleaner and more modern looking. Only thing is the new coin designs remind me a bit of the embattled euro.

By the way, the Malaysian currency is called ringgit and the sign for the ringgit is RM. Therefore, RM28 reads “twenty eight ringgit”, not “R-M twenty eight”, “R-M twenty eight ringgit”, “Ringgit Malaysia twenty eight” or worst of all “Ringgit Malaysia twenty eight ringgit”.

Honey

2011-12-22T19:22:00.000Z

We thought of giving Omar honey but the labels all say “unsuitable for infants under 12 months”. Odd, I think, as it is tradition in many cultures to give newborns a taste of honey. So I did a quick Google search and found three reasons it is recommended to give honey to young babies.

The first is it may damage a baby’s emerging teeth. The second is to avoid the baby developing a sweet tooth. The third reason is the real big one: to avoid the risk of infant botulism, a form of food poisoning.

It was only in 1978 that honey became a forbidden food for infants. Two years earlier, a very rare syndrome called infant botulism had been diagnosed for the first time, after some sick babies in California were found to have traces of botulism spores in their stools. Then, in 1978, an epidemiological study was done by the California Department of Health Services, which tested more than 550 samples of food, drugs and miscellaneous environmental substances for botulism. They found botulism organisms in five samples of soil, one of dust from a vacuum cleaner and nine of honey. Immediately, honey became an official danger for infants, because it was the only variable in infant botulism that could be controlled. You can't put a label on soil saying “do not eat”; but with honey, you can.
Bee Wilson, Honey, I poison the kids, The Guardian, 25 August 2005

As I understand it, the risk of contracting infant botulism is very small. It is caused by toxins produced by the bacterium (plural bacteria) Clostridium botulinum commonly found in soil, as do many other dangerous microorganisms. By the way, the same bacterium produces the toxin used in Botox treatment. Millions of babies have been fed, or at least given taste of, honey over the ages with no ill effects.

Still, seeing the official warning on the labels does make you pause.

Knuffle Bunny

2011-12-20T23:11:00.001Z

We read that it is good to read to Omar from early on so we try to read to him everyday.

My favourite book to read to him so far is Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems.

Willems is an award-winning author and illustrator who used to work on Sesame Street.

Knuffle Bunny is about a girl who lost her favourite toy bunny while on a trip to the laundromat with her father. The story is engaging, funny and highly relatable. I also love the book’s illustrations, which feature cartoon characters drawn on photographs of an actual Brooklyn, NY neighbourhood.

There are two follow up titles to the book so far, both of which are on my wishlist.

Read: The Clone Redemption

2011-12-19T23:29:00.000Z

The Clone Redemption may be the last of the Clone series, and after seven books it has been quite a ride.

In the future, humanity has spread across the galaxy, occupying exactly 180 planets. To protect the peace, or rather to preserve its power, the Unified Authority (UA) government relies on clones as soldiers. Officers in the military are natural-borns while the enlisted men are all clones.

Protagonist Wayson Harris is a clone in the UA Marines. He is however not a standard-issue clone. He is the last of a special class of clones called Liberators deemed so dangerous they are outlawed. At the beginning of the series, Harris starts out assigned on a special mission to flush out a rebellion. Soon, he realizes that clones are really being used as pawns in various power struggles between personalities in both the government and the military. So though he retains an innate loyalty to the government he grows to hate the UA at the same time.

The turning point of the series is when a virtually unstoppable alien race invades. The Avatari manages to capture 178 out of 180 UA planets before the clones turn the tide around. Down to just two planets, the UA blames the clones for failing to defend the empire and decides that they are redundant. The clones are to used one last time as live targets.

Harris leads the clones to fight back. In The Clone Redemption, while holding off the UA on one side, the clones of the newly established Enlisted Men Empire have to race to evacuate whole planets as the Avatari returns. Now instead of capturing a planet, the Avatari raises the atmospheric temperature to 9,000 degrees killing and burning everyone and everything. As the situation grows desperate, Harris decides to invade Earth.

I really enjoyed the series from the beginning. Author Steven L Kent developed the characters in the books well, even secondary ones. Apart from our hero, I particularly love the SEAL clones, both feared and misunderstood by others, quietly ever ready to serve. I definitely look forward to any follow up to the series.

Yearbook

2011-12-16T20:13:00.000Z

Our 2011 yearbook arrived earlier than expected last Wednesday. It was waiting by the door when we arrived home. YAY!

Having expected the pictures to come out of print darker I adjusted most of them to make them lighter, but I still find the print a bit dark. Then, Afi found that I made one spelling mistake, AAARGH! I cannot believe I missed it; I went through each and every page before submitting them to print. It is just a small mistake, but a mistake nonetheless.

Still, overall we are very happy with the result.

Earlier in the day, we went out to town to try the scones at the Vaults & Garden Café. Someone recently told us that the scones there are better than the ones at The Rose, which in our opinion are the best in Oxford. The Vaults & Garden Café is located inside the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, which means that technically I have now visited the university church. I still hope to one day climb the tower, though. Back to scones, we still think that The Rose’s are number one. Next, before we leave for home we hope to drop by the Old Parsonage hotel to try the scones there too.

After that, we went to the Oxford University Press Bookshop on High Street. There was a 3-for-2 offer for select books, so Afi bought three picture books for Omar. She then asked me to pick three titles from the Very Short Introduction series. I wish we can buy the whole series, but for now I have three more books added to my reading pile.

Thought

2011-12-13T19:15:00.000Z

Here are a series of six videos by The Open University called 60-Second Adventures in Thought.

Of the six, I am most familiar with the Grandfather Paradox, which a common science fiction theme. I had never before came across the Chinese Room and the Infinite Hotel. I am not even sure that I get the latter.

Archilles and the Tortoise

The Grandfather Paradox

The Chinese Room

Hilbert’s Infinite Hotel

The Twin Paradox

Schrödinger’s Cat

You can find more similar short educational videos at The Open University’s YouTube channel. Have fun!

Reward Shop

2011-12-11T22:24:00.000Z

Last year we flew home on Etihad for Kakak’s wedding and earned some thousands of guest miles. We finally redeemed the miles recently.

We finished all our miles (almost) with the following four items: a Samsonite Sammies Dreams kids backpack, a Deuter Schmusebär kids backpack, a Joseph Joseph Nest of 8 preparation bowl set, and a Koziol Kasimir cheese grater.

The backpacks are for Omar, obviously, although it will be a while before he will actually use them. While we both love backpacks we will not otherwise buy a Samsonite or a Deuter for Omar to take to nursery. We showed them both to Omar and he seemed to prefer the blue Samsonite elephant bag.

Afi had been eyeing the Joseph Joseph bowl set for a while now and it was on our Amazon wishlist. We were only waiting for the price to come down this winter shopping season so she was really excited to see it offered.

Finally, the cheese grater. I don’t remember exactly how we got to picking the cheese grater. Perhaps it was just to finish what was left of the miles and the hedgehog-shaped cheese grater looked rather cute.

Photobook 100

2011-12-10T22:51:00.000Z

It is 10 December. Yes, I have finished the 100-page photobook and submitted it to print last night (9 December), YAY! If everything goes well we will receive it soon, currently estimated on 17 December.

Lots of thanks to Arshad for helping us snap our family picture for the cover yesterday morning. That was the last picture to go into the photobook.

We can now return to our regular broadcast.
:D

Geometry

2011-12-06T18:46:00.001Z

Hi! Can you believe I am still now working on the photobook? The deadline is looming, AAARGH!

In the meantime, how about some cool art works by Liam Brazier. I really like the style and could definitely picture them on my wall.

Man Up

Cave Man

Odyssey

Dark Lord

Bounty Hunter

__________
via Flylyf

Read: Neverwhere

2011-11-29T13:51:00.000Z

Between Omar and the still unfinished 100-page photobook, I finally finished reading Neverwhere yesterday. It was by far my favourite Gaiman novel yet. The book is fully of delightful weirdness set in a hidden underground world below the city of London. Gaiman is the king of weird. In a way, Neverwhere was like Stardust in being an adventure, except that our accidental hero Richard Mayhew didn’t set out looking for one like Tristran Thorn did.

Highly recommended.

Guns for World Peace

2011-11-28T17:39:00.000Z

I got this from The Firearm Blog, a presentation by General Peter van Uhm, Chief of the Netherlands Defense Staff at TEDxAmsterdam.

Peter van Uhm, Chief of Defence The Netherlands, has an outstanding track record in his field since joining the army in the early ’70s. However, most people will know him from his personal tragedy. On 18 April 2008, one day after Van Uhm was appointed Chief Defence Staff, his son First Lieutenant Dennis van Uhm was killed in a roadside bombing in Uruzgan. Van Uhm’s incredibly dignified and human response has astounded many.
TEDxAmsterdam

Barefoot

2011-11-27T22:34:00.000Z

We both mentioned Barefoot Books before. Apparently, its “studio” here at Summertown is the company’s foothold in the UK. We finally bought some of their products recently, online, armed with a thirty percent discount code.

We bought four books, three jigsaw puzzles, and an alphabet flash card set for Omar. It will be quite sometime before he will appreciate most of products, but we simply couldn’t help ourselves. We were particularly excited about the Barefoot Books World Atlas and Landmarks of the World puzzle, which features the Petronas Twin Towers.

When we received our order (YAY!) one item, the abovementioned Landmarks of the World puzzle was missing. I misunderstood the confusing shipment invoice which stated that it was being sent separately. Afi also noticed that One Moose, Twenty Mice had a torn page.

I called their customer service number to ask about both. The person on the line said that she will look into the missing item and arrange a replacement for the book. I followed up the phone call with an email for good measure. The puzzle arrived the next day. (YAY! ×2) Then, a reply email arrived asking me to confirm the shipping address for the replacement book. I gave it, and the book arrived soon after. (YAY! ×3) They asked that we give away the damaged book to charity.

That was supposed to be the end of it. But, last Wednesday by chance we bumped into a delivery courier when we were returning from town who were going to buzz our apartment. We were not expecting any delivery so it was quite a surprise. The package turned out to be another copy of One Moose, Twenty Mice! I emailed Barefoot Books straightaway about the extra copy but apparently their Director of Operations will only be back in the office on Monday, tomorrow, for a decision.

:P

Sophie

2011-11-20T21:39:00.000Z

I saw Sophie a few months ago at a shop. I really liked it. Afi wasn’t impressed, but I thought the rubber giraffe was cute. Besides, Omar was then too young to appreciate it.

Now, however, Omar is at that phase when he wants to chew everything he can get his little hands on. Then, I came across Sophie again online. After thinking about it overnight, I bought it via Amazon.

Sophie arrived on Friday morning. I ripped it out of its packaging and gave it to Omar straight away. Then, I took that picture above.

As usual, I googled Sophie up before I bought it. Apparently it is quite a famous toy. Watch out for the Malaysian connection in the video above!

Museum Boat

2011-11-19T22:29:00.000Z

I find it unbelievable so many people still say that the two Scorpène class submarines of the Royal Malaysian Navy (TLDM) cannot dive. And now, the same idiots are making a big fuss about the former training submarine Ouessant as well.

The deal to buy the two Scorpène submarines, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman and KD Tun Razak, has always included the Ouessant. Everyone who has followed the development of TLDM over the years knows this. Since Malaysia had never before operated a submarine, Ouessant was used to train our sailors before the newer boats were completed. As reported by Jane’s Navy International in July 2009:

The 1970s-vintage Ouessant , which had been retired by the French Navy in 2001, was reactivated by DCNS under contract to NAVFCO (part of the defence training and facilitation group Défense Conseil International) to support the at-sea training of the RMN’s first submariners.

The boat was recommissioned in November 2005 and has subsequently spent more than 9,000 hours submerged, with NAVFCO providing training for 174 Malaysian personnel: three crews plus instructors, support engineers and staff officers. DCNS provided maintenance support during the four-year training programme, including 12 minor maintenance periods, spares provisioning, and configuration control and obsolescence management.

Admiral Claude Dufourd, NAVFCO’s Malaysia training programme manager, told Jane’s that Ouessant will now be transferred to Malaysia to be used as a museum.

There could be a nominal sum involved, but most reports mention that Ouessant was given to the Malaysian government for free. It is not uncommon at all that countries give away old warships. To commission the boat into TLDM service would be too expensive. However, given its significant role in the creation of our submarine force, it is only fitting that the Ouessant is turned into a museum.

Censorship

2011-11-16T19:55:00.001Z

The US government wants to censor the Internet. Before you ask what it has to do with the rest of us not in the United States, consider that US laws have the habit of being exported or copied by other countries, for example via trade agreements.

Already we have heard many times politicians and ministers in Malaysia talking about the “need” to police the Internet to preserve social order. The Americans are doing it to protect the interest of the entertainment industry, which argues that the free Internet is depriving them of millions in lost revenue, because they do not get paid when people sample or share copyrighted songs or videos. Still, once the United States start to censor the Internet, for whatever reason, it will be easier for other governments to do it too.

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SOURCE: American Censorship Day.

Melancholy

2011-11-15T20:13:00.001Z

We are counting days to go home. It feels like only yesterday when I first arrived with Mak and Abah and time just flies by that our journey in Oxford is coming to an end soon.

Having spent twenty percent of my life here, it is just natural to feel a bit melancholic about leaving Oxford. Oxford has witnessed almost six years of my ups and downs.

Since a few months ago, every other day I’d tell Sayang the things I’m going to miss about Oxford. I’ll miss the famous scones at The Rose. I’ll miss Kebab Kid, Costa Coffee, Covered Market, Barefoot Books, Pret A Manger, Blackwell’s, and the list goes on and on. I'll miss attending those brilliant seminars and lectures. I’ll miss listening to inspiring talks by great people.

However, I have come to realise that my Oxford journey is just a temporary phase. What’s more important now is to finish my thesis, settle down and continue serving the society. Talking about my thesis, I’m tempted to buy this t-shirt. It reminds me of Dr UmiM, who bought three of them for herself, Dr Faez and Dr Lin at a time they were so much absorbed with their theses.

Godspeed.

Blackwell

2011-11-14T22:52:00.000Z

Afi had wanted to take me and Omar to Blackwell’s for a while to look at their children’s books collection. We finally went there last Saturday.

Blackwell’s is a well-known seller of academic books closely associated with the city and university, and the shop at Broad Street here was its first to open back in 1879. We arrived at about 1530 and the sun was already low. Afterall, sunset was at about 1620. A shop assistant helped us with the disabled access door and elevator to push Omar in on his pushchair.

It was busy inside the shop. There were a few families with young children too, and we had to do quite a bit of manoeuvring between bookshelves, children on the floor reading and other pushchairs. We looked at some picture books for Omar. There quite a few that we really liked but in the end we selected three with three-for-two offer.

We bought Otto the Book Bear by Katie Cleminson, Miki and the Moon Blossom by Stephen Mackey, and Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems for Omar. They are all beautifully illustrated. However, my favourite of the three is definitely Knuffle Bunny, which is really funny. Afi also wanted to buy How to Solve It by George Polya, so to make it an even three I picked up The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, and The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett.

The new books add to the stack of books I have to read, hopefully by the end of the year. I am currently reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, though stalled at the moment as I work on the 100-page photobook. After that, I will read The Clone Redemption by Steven L Kent, Habibi by Craig Thompson, and Inheritance by Christopher Paolini. Habibi is my first ever graphic novel so I am really excited about it. On the other hand, Inheritance is released three long years after Brisingr that I have forgotten most of the story. I suppose this is one of those times when Wikipedia comes in handy.

All I need to do now is find the time to read them all.

Finder

2011-11-12T00:44:00.000Z

We all know how annoyingly frustrating it is to misplace stuff around the house — keys, glasses, mobile phones. At least you can ring up your mobile phone, so long as the battery is not dead. Often when we misplace something Afi would wish that we could “miss-call” them.

So here’s an interesting concept called Finder by designers Chu Wang, Qiujin Kou, Qian Yin & Yonghua Zhang.

You paste stickers with RFID tags on your stuff and register it on the smart phone-like finder device. Next time when you misplace your stuff you can call them up on the device and it will point them out for you. Cool, huh?

The idea is not totally original, though. RFID tags are common enough nowadays that it is only a matter of time somebody finds a way of applying it in everything. There are already various forms of key finders out there in the market too. I also remember clearly reading about something similar in Cory Doctorow’s Makers, where a character spends whole days tagging the entire content of his apartment.

I wonder if and when the product will finally make it to the market. Also, it would be great if they can integrate the finder function into smart phones, for example, instead of having another standalone device to misplace. Afterall, all you need is an RFID scanner. Well, maybe they’ll have it on iPhone 6.

:P
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SOURCE: Yanko via My Modern Met.

Passport

2011-11-10T16:54:00.000Z

Your Malaysian passport needs to be valid for six more months in order to travel out of the country. I thought everybody knew that. The requirement is printed inside the back cover of the passport, and I remember reading about it several times elsewhere before too, perhaps on airline booking invoices.

So I was surprised when a friend was denied from boarding a flight recently because she had less than six months left on her passport. Maybe it was an oversight on her part.

For that matter, the are several other details printed at the back of the passport, one of which is you cannot send your passport by mail from one place to another. After all, your passport is a form of personal identification just like your national identity card. I assume everybody knows about that too.

More Lego

2011-11-01T22:46:00.001Z

Lego has released item 4184 The Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow’s favourite ship from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. It comes with six minifigures including of course Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, and Davy Jones.

Sailing ships are my favourite Lego models, though I have never owned any. :( While the 804-piece Lego is interesting simply for being The Black Pearl, it is not that impressive. The model ship does not look as menacing as the ship in the movies, and the all black colour scheme while true to form gets a little boring.

More interesting is the 1097-piece Queen Anne’s Revenge, item 4195, from the latest Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. This earlier release is a bigger model than The Black Pearl and comes with seven minifigures, which again include a Jack Sparrow. I particularly love the blood red sails.

Movies tie-in aside, item 10210 Imperial Flagship is the best. It is not only bigger with 1,664 pieces and nine minifigures, but also has a lot more detail. The full-featured gun deck has four cannons. There is even a full-featured galley, or kitchen for us landlubbers.

__________
All pictures from Lego.

100 Pages

2011-10-30T15:14:00.000Z

I have a new assignment. We recently bought a voucher to buy a 100-page photobook at a 70 percent discount. I was hesitant at first, a 100-page photobook is a lot of pictures, but then Afi reminded me that we have so many pictures of Omar filling up our hard drives. So now I have a 100-page photobook to complete by 10 December.

View of Oxford City from the top of Carfax Tower.

This would be our fourth photobook. Our first two photobooks are of our wedding and 2010 yearbook. We love them so much that we tell everybody about them. So when Mak came to the UK last summer she asked me to make her a photobook of her pictures here. The cover of that photobook is the picture above.

When it arrived, I was not happy with the quality of the print. Many of the pages have a yellowish tinge and some photos are wrongly cropped or positioned. I wrote to PhotoBox to complain. A few days later I received a reply that they were reprinting the order at no extra charge. The biggest, most delightful, surprise was that they sent the new photobook directly to Malaysia. My parents told me that it is perfect.

Read: Safehold #5

2011-10-28T22:36:00.000+01:00

I finished reading How Firm A Foundation (HFAF) last Monday, all 564 pages of it, excluding appendices. Wow, I cannot wait for the next book!

[SPOILER ALERT]

Unlike in previous books, there weren’t as many sea battles in HFAF. Having established its dominance at sea following the Battle of the Markovian Sea in A Mighty Fortress (AMF), there aren’t any fleet left on Safehold to challenge the Imperial Charisian Navy. Still, newly-appointed High Admiral Sir Domynyk Staynair, Baron of Rock Point, sends Admiral Dunkyn Yairley to destroy major Desnairian naval and shipbuilding facilities in the port city of Iythria.

That operation marks the introduction of another Charisian innovation, the high-angle gun or howitzer, used to pound the port’s heavily fortified fortresses. The evolution of weapons and technology in general is one element of the Safehold series I am very excited about. Apart from the high angle guns, other new technologies introduced in HFAF include the revolver and the upcoming steam engine. It remains to be seen how long the Empire of Charis can rely on technological superior to offset the Church of God Awaiting’s superior numbers, while the rest of Safehold will undoubtedly catch up.

When it has been handed humiliating defeat after humiliating defeat in open warfare against Charis it is perhaps not surprising to find the Church, particularly the Inquisition and Grand Inquisitor Zhaspahr Clyntahn, resorting to terrorism to hit back at the heretics. The death of Prince Nahrmahn and Earl of Gray Harbor deal a severe blow to the court of Emperor Cayleb and Empress Sharleyan Ahrmark, but the Inner Circle continues to grow. The most significant new addition is Father Paityr Wylsynn, the Intendant of Charis, who brings with him disturbing new clues about the defences of the Temple of God and the promised return of the Archangels.

Perhaps my favourite character in the series is now-Lieutenant Hektor Aplyn-Ahrmark, Duke of Darcos. The emperor’s adopted son has quite a few adventures in HFAF, including leading a covert mission behind enemy lines to extract Prince Daivyn and Princess Irys Daykyn of Corisande out of Delferahk.

As the title suggests, HFAF has both sides of the war consolidating their positions in preparation for the next stage (or book). Perhaps next the Empire of Charis will finally take the war to the mainland. Perhaps not. Again, I cannot wait to find out.

London Trip

2011-10-21T22:57:00.000+01:00

After several aborted attempts, we finally managed to have Omar weighed last week. He was 6.58kg, at fifteen weeks. “Textbook,” commented the health visitor. Though we knew that he was gaining weight and growing well, we were very happy to actually see it ourselves on the scale.

Then on Sunday, all three of us hopped on a train to London. The objectives of the trip were to register Omar at the high commission and apply him a Malaysian passport. We decided that it would be best to settle the affairs now before Omar grows heavier, the weather gets colder, and Afi becomes more inundated with work. Since we expected a lot of jumping on and off different modes of public transport, we took Omar in a baby carrier instead of the Xplory.

The train to London was jam-packed. It was not an express, running from Hereford. We only managed to find seats at Reading. Once arriving at Paddington station, we sat down for a drink before finding a bus to our hotel at Euston. We tried to feed Omar at the station, thinking that he might be hungry, but he was more interested in checking out the new surrounding.

Next morning we went straight to the high commission at Belgrave Square. The service was quick, especially since we already had all the documents and copies and Omar’s photos ready. By 1100 we were all done. The pickup was at 1530, so with plenty of time to kill we went to MSD for some authentic Malaysian food. Afi had her favourite ikan patin dish while I chose the sambal ikan keli. We also had the beef rendang. The food was heavenly. We also bought fried noodles and nasi lemak to go.

It was a surprise to see a familiar name signing Omar’s birth registration. It was my old classmate Mahathir, whom I had not met for almost sixteen years! It was nice to meet him after all these years. Small world.

We went straight to Paddington station afterwards—mission accomplished—and then home to Oxford. Omar behaved really well throughout the trip, as always. Now he has his very own passport, YAY!

:D

Xplory

2011-10-14T21:35:00.000+01:00

The first time we went to a mother and baby products shop, I was looking at prams and pushchairs—the only things I found immediately interesting—when Afi told me not to bother because she already had a specific make and model in mind she wanted that they didn’t have in the shop.

:(

That pushchair she had in mind was the Stokke Xplory. Stokke is a Norwegian company specialising in products for children, mainly nursery furniture. It is known for its convertible nursery bed and highchair that are designed to grow with the child. The Xplory pushchair was introduced in 2003.

At Heathrow Terminal 4, with iZiSleep car seat

As I started reading up about the pushchair, I started to like it too. A lot. It has a sleek, modern design and is fully adjustable. The Xplory is really a travel system with a removable seat that can be swapped with an infant car seat. The basic seat can be fixed either rear- or forward-facing, reclines, and is height-adjustable. Most other good pushchairs are also reversible and recline, but the height-adjustability feature really sets the Xplory apart. It allows the child to be sat higher and closer to the parent. The stroller also has adjustable handle and foot rest. We also like the design of the large rear wheels, which are positioned widely apart without a crossbar we could accidentally kick or step on.

Afternoon walk at Summertown House

We finally bought our purple Xplory during the last Christmas sale season when we found a great deal online, while also bearing in mind the impending VAT increase from 17.5 percent to 20 percent. The bundle included the Xplory pushchair, carry cot, and car seat. They arrived on 19 January.

The Xplory is in fact the very first thing we bought for Omar. It is also by far our most expensive purchase. We are very happy with it. It is very well made. The high seating position means Omar can sit on the same level as us at the dinner table at home as well as at restaurants without having to use a highchair. The only downside is the Xplory’s bulk and weight, about 10kg, which we can live with. Pushing it doesn’t feel heavy at all. We'll definitely have to bear it in mind when we want to buy a car later, though. In the near future, however, we are thinking of investing in the PramPack for when we fly home. There is a great review of it here.

;)

73

2011-10-09T22:12:00.000+01:00

I saw our apartment on Street View. It’s no big deal, I know, but unlike the last time I looked I could really see our apartment in view, with us staying there.

Let’s start with the satellite view of the area (do click on the pictures for full size). Our place is on Apsley Road/Banbury Road in Summertown, which lies just to the north of the city of Oxford. It is a very nice and convenient place to live. Oxford city is less than 20 minutes away by bus. The Summertown shops are just a fifteen minutes’ walk away with banks and shops like Boots, Cargo, Co-op, Costa, MBE, M&S and Tesco. Afi is excited about a new bookshop that has just opened, Barefoot Books.

Summertown House is a University of Oxford graduate accommodation. There are three apartment blocks in the complex with one, the unrefurbished East Block, available to families with children. We love it especially during the warmer days in summer to hear children playing on the grounds. Recently, Summertown House has turned into a small Malay kampung. There are now seven units in the East Block alone occupied by Malaysian couples or families, including us.

The building on the left in the third picture above is North Block. The one of the right is East Block. As evident in the picture, the refurbished North Block is a better, more modern-looking building. It is also much nicer to live in. We used to stay in a studio on the first floor. Studios can be identified in the picture by the lack of a balcony. The best thing about living in a refurbished block was central gas heating. Heating and hot water were already included in the rent, so we could turn the heat up and stay comfortable all year long.

Last February, we moved into a two-bedroom apartment just on the other side in East Block. We would rather not move out of the studio, but it was meant for singles in the first place, and as her pregnancy progressed along (Omar was on the way!) Afi grew more and more uncomfortable on the tiny single bed. It is the first apartment from the left on the first floor in the picture. I know that it is our apartment from the white lace living room curtains, our clothes on the airer, and Afi’s University of Surrey sticker on the window.

Apartments in the unrefurbished East Block are cheaper than the refurbished ones in North and West Blocks. However, they are also very poorly insulated and fitted with ancient electric heaters. Since the heaters are electric, the more you use them, the more you have to pay in electricity bill. With ever rising energy prices, that could amount to a lot of money. Thankfully, our apartment is carpeted; some of the others are not. As the temperature drops our main concern is making sure Omar is as comfortable as possible.

Nappies

2011-10-05T22:34:00.000+01:00

One consequence of being a parent is one gets very intimately acquainted with the nappy (or if you prefer, diaper).

Before Omar was born, we considered using reusable nappies. They are both cheaper in the long run while at the same time more environmentally friendly. The first problem with that, however, was we do not have our own washing machine we could use every day to clean the nappies. Then, even if we were to wash them by hand, drying them in time would be another problem. So, until we return home to Malaysia, disposables became the natural choice.

We tried several brands of nappies, from well-known major brands to cheaper store brands, before we finally settled on just4bums from Kiddicare.

A box of size 2 nappies contains 240 pieces

The nappies themselves are great. A box contains a month’s supply, which is wonderful because we rely on public transport. The list price is £50 per box, but so far we have been paying only £19.99. Orders are delivered by courier the next day. There is even a free reminder service in case you forget to re-order, but we don’t use it. Kiddicare also offers to refund the nappies we do not use.

Omar turned 3 months yesterday, and coincidentally last night too we graduated him from size 2 (for 3-6kg babies) to size 3 (4-9kg). We don’t know how much nappies cost in Malaysia (I heard it’s a lot) but we are considering buying a few months’ worth to bring home when we return.

:P

Naval Strike Missile

2011-10-02T22:47:00.000+01:00

This video was featured recently on websites and online forums all over the Internet including Danger Room. It shows a test-firing of a new anti-ship missile in California.

The missile is called NSM, which stands for Naval Strike Missile. It is developed by a Norwegian company called Kongsberg Defence Systems.

Like just about everything else today, the NSM is claimed to be a stealthy missile, which means that it is designed to be very difficult to detect. It can fly over land and water and hit a target 100 nautical miles away (about 180km). Since the missile can be used to destroy both sea and land targets, calling it an anti-ship missile isn’t very accurate at all, isn’t it? In fact, Kongsberg is calling it a “long range precision strike missile”.

It was reported that the NSM might be selected to equip warships of the Royal Malaysian Navy (TLDM). With the exception of the four Italian-made Laksamana class corvettes, TLDM has traditionally armed its warships with the Exocet missile from France. The latest version of the Exocet, the MM40 Block 3, has similar capabilities as the NSM. However, NSM is a more compact missile half the weight of the MM40 Block 3.

NSM also relies on a fully passive guidance system, making it even harder to detect. A passive system is one that does not transmit any signal (like radar) that can warn the target of the incoming missile. NSM detects, identifies, and homes in on its target using an imaging infra-red seeker, which is basically a very fancy camera. Other missiles, including the MM40 Block 3, use active radar guidance.

We will see if NSM does indeed enter service with TLDM. No contracts or official announcements have been made. There is already a long list of outstanding defence programs to be funded. It is not like the Malaysian government has a lot of cash lying around too at the moment.

Surprise Arrival

2011-09-29T22:46:00.000+01:00

Meet Leo.

I was in the living room with Omar this morning when the intercom buzzed: a delivery. I wondered if we were expecting any deliveries today. When I opened the door, a lady handed me a package from Mamas & Papas, addressed to me. Inside, was this cute toy lion.

It was a surprise present from Afi. No wonder she asked me the days before when we browsed the catalogue which one I liked. Nobody had ever given me a soft toy before.

I like it very much, and of course am sharing it with Omar.

:)

Delivery

2011-09-26T21:22:00.000+01:00

My copy of How Firm a Foundation (HFAF) arrived today, finally, after a bit of a twist last week.

I received this email from Amazon last Wednesday:

...
We regret to inform you that the following items have been delayed as we are still awaiting stock from our suppliers :

David Weber "How Firm a Foundation (Safehold)"
Estimated arrival date: October 07 2011 - October 15 2011

...
Please consider the following similar items, which may be available sooner:

- You can purchase a different version of the original item:

"How Firm a Foundation (Safehold)" [audioCD]
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1427212392/ref=fxm_em_sub_o

Differences between your original item and our recommendations are typically minor but some things, such as the item's cost, may be different.

I had had HFAF on pre-order since 31 August. The book was released on 13 September. Amazon had originally quoted 20 September as the dispatch date so I had fully expected to receive it last week. Then, on 21 September, came the above-quoted email.

I was shocked. How could they? A quick check on Amazon's website that day saw the book sold for £14.94, available for dispatch in one to two weeks! Interestingly, HFAF was on sale, with 48-hour dispatch, on TBD for the very same price. As Izzatina pointed out, Amazon has since 4 July agreed to buy* The Book Depository (TBD). I pre-ordered HFAF on 31 August for £12.72.

So I had the choice of either waiting for potentially two to three more weeks for my copy, or cancel the Amazon order and buy from TBD instead for £2.22 extra to get the book sooner. I chose to wait. There was no rush.

Two days later on 23 September, Amazon emailed me that the book has been dispatched.

:-/

Today, HFAF is sold for £14.78 on Amazon, and £15.41 on TBD.

__________
*The deal has yet to be approved by the UK Office of Fair Trading.

Gnomar O Gnomeo

2011-09-21T22:13:00.001+01:00

We bought Omar a couple of beanies last month to keep his head warm during the coming winter, and tried the red one on him when we got home. It instantly reminded us of our favourite movie at the cinema this year!

Betting on Food

2011-09-19T21:11:00.000+01:00

As usual, click on picture for full size.

Source: World Development Movement (via David Ruccio)

Just as currency speculation is often blamed to be inject volatility into the foreign exchange market, speculation in the commodities market (in this case food crops) also contribute to global food price inflation.

Pre-Order

2011-09-18T22:24:00.000+01:00

I am in between books at the moment. I have two books on pre-order from Amazon. The first book is How Firm A Foundation (HFAF) by David Weber, the fifth book in the Safehold science fiction series. The second is Christopher Paolini’s long awaited Inheritence. HFAF has already been released in the US, and according to Amazon’s estimate I should receive my copy in the next week, YAY! Inheritence, however, will only be released in November.

While I have bought my books almost exclusively from The Book Depository (TBD) over the past year, I am buying these two books from Amazon because of its pre-order price guarantee. Basically, it means that if the price they charge drops between the date of my order till the release date, I will pay the lower price. I am not aware if TBD offers a similar deal.

Amazon used to also offer a so-called 30-day price guarantee, whereby they will refund you the difference if the price drops within 30 days after you bought a product. Not anymore. Generally, TBD offers a lower price than Amazon for released books, even if the difference is only 1p, but I want to get these two books as soon as I can.

Outside of the UK and USA however, where Amazon also offers free shipping, TBD’s worldwide free delivery is really hard to beat.

Magazines

2011-09-16T22:04:00.001+01:00

There is one magazine I have been reading regularly for years: UK-based military aviation magazine Air Forces Monthly (AFM). I cannot remember where or when I saw it the first time. I held it in reserve at a bookstore in KL, which for the last few years actually became the only reason I had to dreadfully drive into the city centre every month.

AFM sells for RM31.50 in KL, adding up to RM378 for the twelve issues in one year. It is expensive, especially considering the magazine sells for £4.30 in the UK. When I came here I took up a one-year subscription for £41, which translates roughly to only RM205 with a RM5/£ exchange rate. I have decided that I will continue with the subscription when we return home to Malaysia. At the moment that costs £51 or RM255, which is still RM123 cheaper to the RM378 I paid previously.

I know, I should have made a direct subscription ages ago or at least when I started working. It would had saved me a lot of money. I might had also been able to enjoy the magazine earlier every month. In Malaysia, the September issue for example will only be seen at the newsstands during the third week of the month at the earliest. I was told that the magazine is shipped first to Singapore before being distributed to Malaysia. Here in the UK, subscribers receive the October issue on the first week of September.

Afi, on the other hand, is hooked on pregnancy and parenting magazine Mother & Baby. I cannot deny that I find the magazine really interesting and useful as well. We are thinking of continuing to subscribe to the magazine when we return to Malaysia too.

Read: Stardust

2011-09-13T18:05:00.000+01:00

I loved the movie; I saw it when it came out at the cinema and many times more on television. It was cute and funny, with Robert De Niro in drag. The movie didn’t win an Oscar, a BAFTA, or any of the big mainstream awards but it did win a Hugo.

The book is quite something else. Neil Gaiman wrote Stardust as a “fairy tale for adults”. So the book is decidedly darker and, well, more adult. As always, the book is more complicated than the movie. Tristan of the movie is really Tristran in the book, and there is no Captain Shakespeare. The book also ends differently than the movie. Overall, the book is much richer, and requires quite an imagination to visualize. I love it. I love them both. Thinking back, I don’t think I would have enjoyed the movie as much had they tried to make it closer to the book.

Collage

2011-09-06T22:05:00.000+01:00

All right, I can’t help myself. :D

We received an offer for a free collage poster print. So I made one of Omar’s faces. They are from when he was six weeks old. Apparently, Afi never saw the pictures before I showed her the finished collage. We are taking so many pictures of him they are fast filling up my hard drive.

Do click on the picture to see in full size.

Read: Fuzzy Nation

2011-09-05T23:32:00.001+01:00

I had been excited about Fuzzy Nation (FN) ever since author John Scalzi first blurbed about it on his blog. He is one of the most funny authors around. Who else writes about aliens passing gas?

Anyway, FN is a remake of an earlier novel I had never even heard of before called Little Fuzzy (LF) by H Beam Piper. Movies get remade all the time, but not novels. I suppose it helped that LF has fallen into public domain, so there wasn’t much legal hoops to jump over the rights issue. According the Scalzi, he only wrote FN for fun before showing it to his agent. The rest, as they say, is history.

The book, or rather both books, are about a mining prospector named Jack Halloway who discovers a super-cute intelligent species—the Fuzzies—right after stumbling into a huge deposit of a highly valuable mineral on a faraway planet. Thus a moral dilemma. The mineral find means Halloway stands to become so rich that he and his descendants will never have to work again. Discovering the Fuzzies, however, if proven sentient means the planet cannot be mined.

At the outset it is a gone conclusion that the Fuzzies will win in the end. The smart thing about FN, however is that Halloway, a disbarred lawyer, doesn’t just suddenly grow a conscience and do the right thing. The bad guy in the novel is ZaraCorp, a mega mining corporation which, sans Fuzzies, practically owns the planet. The climax of the story is a courtroom drama, which is rare in science fiction.

The original Little Fuzzy is available as a free download, among others at Project Gutenberg. I have downloaded it, hoping to get around to reading it later.

__________
LINKS:
Review of Fuzzy Nation at SF Reviews.net
Cory Doctorow’s review of Fuzzy Nation at Boing Boing

Raya

2011-08-31T23:07:00.000+01:00

There are three of us this year!

We made rendang daging, ayam masak merah, and sambal tumis udang, which we ate with nasi himpit.

This time around the Oxford Malay(sian) community organized our own Eid prayer and Raya gathering right here at Summertown House, which was great as we didn’t have to worry about transport. The original plan was to pray at 0900, but we ended up praying at close to 1000 instead.

The sermons that followed were short too, which again was great because long sermons only make people uncomfortable and wander or doze off. Ustaz Khairi told us that the Prophet’s tradition was to have only one sermon following the Eid prayer, but he decided to give two in keeping with the common practice in Malaysia.

After makan-makan was a photography session. I tried not to eat too much. There were many photos taken. I hope we get copies.

Then, we did some visiting and had friends visit us till evening. We were all really tired when we went to bed at the end of the day, and look forward to celebrating Raya in Malaysia next year.

Selamat Hari Raya!

OMG×2!

2011-08-27T00:50:00.000+01:00

I received the latest email newsletter from Lego earlier on Friday that they are releasing a new Lego Star Wars Super Star Destroyer—the Executor! To jog your memory, the Executor is the massive 19-kilometre long ship that crashes into and destroys the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi.

Item 10221 has more than 3,000 pieces, measures more than 1.2 metres long, and weighs about 3.5kg. It goes with saying, I want one. Of course, it is not in the same scale as the recent Millennium Falcon. If it is, the Super Star Destroyer Lego will be over 270 metres long!

Looking at Lego’s current line of Star Wars Exclusives, there are two more items that I really like. The first is the Tantative IV, the ship that carries Princess Leia at the beginning of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. That’s item 10198.

The second is item 10195, which consists of a Republic Dropship and an AT-OT Walker from Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

But then, I want all of them, of course.

Read: Dreadnaught

2011-08-24T23:07:00.003+01:00

Dreadnaught is a follow-up to six-book The Lost Fleet (TLF) series that ended with Victorious last year.

TLF is set against the backdrop of a war between two space-faring human civilizations—the Alliance and the Syndicate Worlds that has lasted for a hundred years. Captain John Geary succeeds in bringing home the battered Alliance fleet from deep inside Syndic space, leaving behind the Syndic fleet effectively decimated. The return of the fleet, however, is not wholly welcomed by the Alliance government. Now that the Syndic threat is behind them, the powerful fleet is viewed with suspicion by the civilian authority, especially with Geary’s immense popularity. In Dreadnaught, the fleet is ordered to go to the other side of Syndic space to gather further information about an enigmatic alien race it encountered earlier.

What I like best about TLF is the detailed battle scenes, which no doubt benefited from author John G Hemry’s experience as a US Navy officer. They are also very realistic: Logistics and energy management is always a factor. A message from a ship two light minutes away takes two minutes to arrive. In short, the battle scenes are nothing like what you see in Star Wars or Star Trek. Throughout the series, the characters spend a lot of time discussing their problems and options. A common complain about TLF, however, is the author’s tendency to recapitulate, which he explains as to help new readers of the series.

The next book in the new The Lost Fleet - Beyond the Frontier series has already been announced for a May, 2012 release and I am definitely looking forward to it.

I Want One

2011-08-18T22:03:00.002+01:00

Lego recently released its latest edition of the Millennium Falcon, item no. 7965. Fully playable, it comes complete with six figurines of Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Obi-Wan, and... Darth Vader?

At over 38cm wide and 10cm tall, this 1,254-piece Lego is nowhere as complicated as the epic 5,195-piece ultimate collector’s item 10179 released in 2007. I saw the latter offered at Amazon UK for a jaw-dropping £1,400! Item 7965 sells at £133.

Astonish Me

2011-08-17T16:46:00.000+01:00

In conjunction with its 50^th anniversary, WWF (that’s the World Wide Fund for Nature) UK has released a short film directed by writer Stephen Poliakoff and director Charles Sturridge, starring Bill Nighy and Gemma Arterton, titled Astonish Me.

Click to see full-size, in HD.

Read: American Gods

2011-08-13T18:30:00.000+01:00

I discovered Neil Gaiman quite late a few years ago. American Gods (AG) was only my second book by him. The first was The Graveyard Book (TGB) back in 2009. Unlike TGB, which was written, or at least marketed, for children AG was definitely meant for adult consumption. Both, however, are fantasy works with a rather dark theme that qualifies them as horror. And for that AG won the 2001 Bram Stoker Award, among others.

A man called Shadow was released from prison two days early when his wife died in a car accident. Nowhere to go, he accepted an offer to work as a bodyguard to a strange con-man called Wednesday.

It turned out that Wednesday was really Odin, or rather an incarnation of the Norse god of old in America. The premise of AG was that people’s beliefs and superstitions manifest into beings supernatural powers. As people migrated to America from all over the world, they brought along their beliefs, and hence their gods. However, as their believers dwindled in number, so to the power of the gods.

Wednesday was working on a big plan rallying the ancient gods to prepare for a war against the gods of new. Along the way, Shadow met Wednesday's unusual friends—tired old gods and other mythical beings—while at the same time pursued by the other side. He was also visited from time to time by his wife Laura, who was neither quite dead nor alive.

The copy that I bought was labelled “author’s preferred text”. It was published as Gaiman originally wrote it, which was 12,000 words longer than the “original” multiple award-winning 2001 release. I enjoyed every word of the book. It was claimed somewhere that AG was Gaiman’s best novel yet. I haven’t read enough of his work to say anything to that effect, but I could definitely believe it is so.

The First Time

2011-08-10T19:17:00.002+01:00

One of my favourite songs, best known as sung by the great Roberta Flack.

The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and the stars were the gifts you gave
To the dark and the empty skies

The first time ever I kissed your mouth
I felt the earth move in my hands
Like the trembling heart of a captive bird
That was there at my command my love

The first time ever I lay with you
I felt your heart so close to mine
And I knew our joy would fill the Earth
And last till the end of time
The first time ever I saw your face

Just because.

Our New Hero

2011-08-08T22:53:00.005+01:00

The expected delivery date was June 23. We were both so excited. So were Grandpa T and Grandmas J and K who arrived from Malaysia on June 21.

June 23 came and went, but nothing happened. An induction appointment was set for July 6. One week on, still nothing happened. The grandparents were getting restless. Meanwhile, Afi and I went out for a last Italian lunch and joked about a July 4 delivery.

We finally went to the hospital that very Sunday. The doctor decided that we might as well get on with an induction. The process began that evening at 7. Thirteen hours later, at (almost) 3 p.m. GMT on July 4, 2011, he was born.

We call him Omar.

Lancers

2011-07-14T22:49:00.001+01:00

There's a lot of catching up to do. Or not. :P

In the mean time, I saw this really cool photo on Danger Room yesterday, from the US Air Force website. The caption below, which explains everything, is the original. Do click on the picture to see it in its full glory.

A two-ship formation of B-1B Lancers assigned to the 28th Bomb Squadron, Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, release chaff and flares while maneuvering over New Mexico during a training mission Feb. 24, 2010. Dyess celebrates the 25th anniversary of the first B-1B bomber arriving at the base. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald)

Edited

2011-06-19T00:08:00.010+01:00

In my free time I help copy edit articles for our journal. I would have gladly done it for free. At least all along I thought I was doing it for free until recently I got paid, so, YAY!

Some of the articles I see are very well-written, others not so. It’s the not-so-well-written ones that I am writing about. I was told to ensure that the articles are in the proper format, as well as looking for grammatical errors. You would have thought that academics, who write all the time, write well. Apparently, they don’t.

There is a guide for style, based on the Chicago Manual of Style, which I presume is supplied to all the authors. Basically, it tells what font to use, how to format the headings, the format for citation, etc. None of the articles follow the guide perfectly, which is fine as that’s where I come in, but I sometimes wonder if some of the authors even know how to properly use a word processor. I have seen articles that doesn’t seem to have a system for organizing headings.

The author of this article I’m currently looking at seems to have a fetish for italicizing and quotation marks. Every other word is either italicized or in quotes. Some words are both italicized and put in quotation marks. Reading the article, I cannot help feeling that the author is being ironic and cynical. As much as we expect students to follow instructions, I find it extremely annoying that lecturers and professors fail to do the same.

The second part of the job is less annoying but much trickier, as my grammar is far from perfect. Often I am not sure whether to use the past tense or the present tense, so simply go by what I feel right. However, most of the grammatical mistakes are glaring, like a missing article or an incomplete sentence. Generally, I find that academics tend to write very long sentences that by the end of the sentence you forget what is written at the beginning. Haven’t they heard of sentence connectors?

The point of writing is to convey information. You want people to understand what you write. Therefore, as much as possible I think it is best to always try to write short sentences with simple words.

Read: Yukikaze

2011-06-06T22:09:00.004+01:00

I chanced upon Yukikaze by Chohei Kambayashi when browsing the Haikasoru website after reading The Lord of the Sands of Time. It’s supposed to be a classic, Yukikaze, and most importantly has a cool cover art. I was sold.

Some decades ago an alien force invaded Earth through a portal over Antarctica. Earth fought the aliens back and secured a foothold on the other side.

Thirty years on the war against the JAM, as the aliens are called, is at a stalemate. The Faery Air Force (FAF) is technologically far more advanced than any military forces on Earth. However, it has never been able to maintain any clear advantage over the JAM.

Strangely, after all the years no one knows who the JAM really are and even how they look like. There’s speculation that the JAM are really machines, and when fighting the FAF they are really fighting against the machines of the FAF. Hence the question of whether humans are really necessary, at least in the war agains the JAM.

Yukikaze is the nickname given to the mount of Lt Rei Fukai, the main character. It is a highly advanced tactical reconnaissance fighter known as the Super Sylph. Yukikaze is the only thing that Rei cares for and trusts. However, as its AI matures, it becomes evident that the plane has a mind of its own.

Afi bought me Yukikaze as a birthday present. She asked me to pick a book. I couldn’t think of any in particular that I wanted, so picked Yukikaze which was the next in my wishlist. I also didn’t know that there is an anime made out of the novel. The clips I see of it looks awesome, particularly the flight sequences. I’ll definitely go look for it when I get home.

I’m now reading Neil Gaiman’s American Gods.

Read: 1984

2011-05-31T17:12:00.002+01:00

I cannot remember when I first heard about 1984. It must be about the same time I first heard about George Orwell. For a long time, the book had been on my to-read list but I never got around to reading it. There’s always a new release that I’d read instead. So some time ago I thought that I should at least try to alternate my reading between new and old releases, hence 1984.

At the very least, 1984 gives us the term Big Brother. The government rules on fear and propaganda, in this case complete control of information, using a perpetual war as a tool. Whether there is actually a war going on, and against whom, does not matter except that the government says so. Every aspect of our lives is controlled by the government, even our thoughts. No one can be trusted. Parents cannot even trust their children.

It is, in a fashion, a really scary novel. At every word I cannot help wondering whether Big Brother already exists, now, in real life. I also wonder if governments and politicians around the world, whatever the label they wear, actually learn from Orwell as much as Machiavelli.

Still Here

2011-05-16T22:42:00.006+01:00

My Dell notebook charger died. I think one of the wires shorted. For a while, the notebook had had an intermittent problem detecting the power cable until it failed to detect it completely recently. I thought that there was a lose wire or something and was fiddling with the charger cable when suddenly there was a spark followed by smoke. Thankfully at the time I had already disconnected the cable from the notebook.

An original replacement from Dell was expensive, so I ordered a not-so-original one from Amazon instead. So far it is working just fine.

Anyway...

We went to Blenheim Palace on the first of May. It was my second time there; for Afi it was her gazillionth time. :D There was a jousting tournament show I wanted to see. Compared to the last time we were there, when we almost had the whole place just for ourselves, there were many people around. So that weekend, which was a long weekend with the royal wedding on Friday and a bank holiday on Monday, we rented a car and headed to Blenheim Palace with a few friends for a picnic in the sun.

Yes, thankfully there was plenty of sun that day.

It was also Afi’s birthday that week, and for the occasion I bought us matching watches. They’re not expensive designer watches, though. Rather, apparently US intelligence agencies consider wearing the classic Casio F-91W a tell-tale sign that you are an al-Qaeda member. Oh well, we’ll just remember not to wear them when we fly.

:P

April Walks

2011-04-22T17:34:00.000+01:00

Due to a multitude of reasons we don’t get to travel out of town much, which we don’t mind at all, as we’re not here for travelling and sightseeing. However, whenever time allows we do go out and take short walks around town. Sometimes, we also take pictures.

Beautiful Day

2011-04-07T18:52:00.001+01:00

It was a beautiful day today so I snapped some photos on my mobile this morning.

I love trees. Finally, Summertown House.

I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I did taking them. :)

One Year

2011-04-04T22:36:00.003+01:00

One year ago today, 4 April 2010, my dear beloved wife and I were married. We celebrated our first anniversary today, at home, just the two of us. I hope that we’ll celebrate many more anniversaries together.

Cheat

2011-04-01T22:29:00.004+01:00

We talked about buying a food processor many times before but for the most part they were just talk. Since we keep talking about cooking this and that, a food processor is just one of those things we would love to have. However, unless we move into a huge kitchen with a big island there is nowhere we can park one in the tiny kitchen of our flat. Besides, good food processors are expensive. And as much as we would love to own a food processor we don’t really need one anyway.

Then, we saw a very nice little gadget in one of those cooking shows on television. It is the Kenwood Mini Chopper. It was like love at first sight. The mini chopper is one gadget we immediately knew we’d actually use—a lot. Chopping is one of the most inconvenient steps when cooking. It takes time, and especially when it comes to onions, painful. So we immediately thought that the mini chopper is genius. At £20 it doesn’t cost a bomb too.

I really wished we had the mini chopper when I was making vadeh, though. It would have made things a lot easier and saved a lot of time. A few days later, Amazon alerted me that the mini chopper was selling at £15. Since I had £6 in Amazon gift certificate, I only had to pay £9 for the machine. YAY!

Our new mini chopper arrived last Friday and I’ve used it several times already myself. We simply love it.

Photobooks

2011-03-26T06:52:00.003Z

A few weeks ago, PhotoBox offered a 2-for-1 deal for hardcover photobooks in conjunction with Mother’s Day. I love photobooks. I think they are a much, much better way to keep and present your photos than traditional photo albums. It’s not that easy to find a photo album in shops nowadays anyway.

With digital cameras we take so many photos all the time but we never get around to printing them. My mother used to keep reminding me to print the photos of my IIUM graduation, my time in the United States, etc. but I never did until I lost them all when my hard drive died. It was a painful lesson. So I keep backup copies now. And I’ve discovered photobooks. I love photobooks. Did I say that already? I did!

So I spent the next few days in front of the computer creating our two photobooks. I’d already had for some time an idea for one photobook—our 2010 album. The hardest part was to pick which among the 1000+ photos we had taken last year to put in the photobook, and then arranging them nicely. It took longer than I expected, but in the end I really like what I had done, YAY! For the second photobook I decided to make another album of our wedding. As a matter of fact, we already have two awesome ‘official’ wedding albums from Shutterspeak, plus one photobook Afi made previously, but we thought why not one more. :D I did the second photobook over two days in time for the offer deadline, though later it turned out they extended the deadline for another week.

Apart from PhotoBox, an online photo printing company, there are two other companies I knew of that offer photobook printing service online: Snapfish and Jessops. Snapfish is similar to PhotoBox but owned by HP, while Jessops is a UK photographic equipment retailer. While researching for this entry, I found out that the CEWE photobook sold by Jessops is actually made by German company CEWE Color.

I prefer PhotoBox over the other two companies because it has the best design tool. You do everything online. There are templates you can choose and drop your photos into. I really like that PhotoBox allows you to resize and move your photos around, which Snapfish doesn’t. However, Jessops requires you to download and install a program on your computer, which I don’t like at all. I don’t need another software on my PC. Alternatively, you can let upload all your photos and have them design the photobook for you, but where’s the fun in that?

Our two photobooks arrived last Tuesday.

Turning Japanese

2011-03-21T21:50:00.001Z

The Lord of the Sands of Time by Issui Ogawa was in my Amazon wishlist for almost two years before I finally bought it from, er, The Book Depository in late February.

It is about an android soldier from the future sent to the past to help prepare and fight an alien invasion. The story is set mainly in third century Japan, where he joined forces with a pagan shaman queen for a final stand against the aliens. The book is awesome, though at 260 pages a bit short. The original work is in Japanese, translated into English.

Another thing I really like about the book is the cover design, which took me to Haikasoru and more (English-translated) Japanese SFF with awesome covers! Afi said that it’s shallow to buy a book based on its cover, but it’s worked well for me so far. I strongly believe that there’s a strong correlation between a good book and good cover design. Here are some titles I now have on my wishlist, along with their synopses I copy-pasted from the Haikasoru website:

The Next Continent by Issui Ogawa

The year is 2025 and Gotoba General Construction—a firm that has built structures to survive the Antarctic and the Sahara—has received its most daunting challenge yet. Sennosuke Touenji, the chairman of one of the world's largest leisure conglomerates, wants a moon base fit for civilian use, and he wants his granddaughter Taé to be his eyes and ears on the harsh lunar surface. Taé and Gotoba engineer Aomine head to the moon where adventure, trouble, and perhaps romance await.

Dragon Sword and Wind Child by Noriko Ogiwara

The God of Light and the Goddess of Darkness have waged a ruthless war across the land of Toyoashihara for generations. But for fifteen-year-old Saya, the war is far away—until the day she discovers that she is the reincarnation of the Water Maiden and a princess of the Children of the Dark.

Raised to love the Light and detest the Dark, Saya must come to terms with her heritage even as the Light and Dark both seek to claim her, for she is the only mortal who an awaken the legendary Dragon Sword, the weapon destined to bring an end to he war. Can Saya make the choice between the Light and Dark, or is she doomed—like all the Water Maidens who came before her...?

Yukikaze by Chohei Kambayashi

More than thirty years ago a hyper-dimensional passageway suddenly appeared... the first stage of an attempted invasion by an enigmatic alien host. Humanity managed to push the invaders back through the passageway to the strange planet nicknamed "Faery." Now, Second Lieutenant Rei Fukai carries out his missions in the skies over Faery. His only constant companion in this lonely task is his fighter plane, the sentient FFR-31 Super Sylph, call sign: YUKIKAZE.

Usurper of the Sun by Housuke Nojiri

Aki Shiraishi is a high school student working in the astronomy club and one of the few witnesses to an amazing event--someone is building a tower on the planet Mercury. Soon, the enigmatic Builders have constructed a ring around the sun, and the ecology of Earth is threatened by its immense shadow. Aki is inspired to pursue a career in science, and the truth. She must determine the purpose of the ring and the plans of its creators, as the survival of both species—humanity and the alien Builders—hangs in the balance.

I am looking forward to reading each of them!

Beans

2011-03-16T23:13:00.004Z

Yes, we made some vadeh! Who would have guessed that we share the same favourite pasar malam delicacies? We both love vadeh and taufu fah. The problem is, of course, they are both not readily available around here. So the only viable—and fun—option is to try and make some ourselves.

To make vadeh we need dhal. I never knew that there are so many varieties of dhal. We bought some moong dhal previously, but apparently the proper variety for making vadeh is chana dhal. Yup. Thankfully, chana dhal is easy to find. I couldn’t believe vadeh is so easy to make.

Now, the taufu fah story is a different matter altogether. Looking at the recipes online, there is a hard way to make it—from scratch from soya beans—and a more manageable way using soya milk. Either way, what I need is a coagulant.

co•ag•u•lant (koʊˈægyələnt)
–noun
a substance that produces or aids coagulation.

co•ag•u•late (v. koʊˈægyəˌleɪt; adj. koʊˈægyəlɪt, -ˌleɪt)
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
to change from a fluid into a thickened mass; curdle; congeal: Let the pudding stand two hours until it coagulates.
Biology. (of blood) to form a clot.
Physical Chemistry. (of colloidal particles) to flocculate or cause to flocculate by adding an electrolyte to an electrostatic colloid.
–adjective
Obsolete. coagulated.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)

That is where the problem started. The best, traditional option is to use gypsum powder, particularly calcium sulphate. Supposedly, it can be found at Chinese/Oriental shops. I looked at all the Chinese shops I know of around Oxford but none of them have it. When I asked, the shop staff reacted like they had never even heard of it. Oxford is so kampung.

The other option is to use glucono delta-lactone (GDL), also known by its EU code E575. Calcium sulphate is a salt coagulant and virtually tasteless, and produces taufu fah (or generally tofu) that is brittle in nature. On the other hand, GDL is an acid coagulant that leaves a hint of sour to a silkier smooth product. Thanks to Wikipedia for all that!

Needless to say the taufu fah project has not taken off yet. Some recipes suggest using gelatine, but I think I’ll wait till I get my hands on some gypsum powder/calcium sulphate.

I am not giving up on this anytime soon.

2011

2011-02-20T20:46:00.003Z

It’s February 2011, which means I haven’t updated this blog for almost two months!

Let’s see...

We’ve moved to a new apartment just a few doors away from the previous one. What a difference a few doors make! Compared to the old studio, this 2-bedroom is bigger and has plenty of space for our expanding family. However, being in an old unrefurbished building it’s also very chilly with poor insulation and single glazed windows. We can barely feel the heat from the ancient electric storage heaters; the bedroom is freezing. In the words of the caretaker, “there are so many wrongs with the building.”

We moved in on January 28. Again, that’s already almost a month ago. We shivered ourselves to sleep the first night.

Forget spring; oh, please summer come soon!

Spoilers

2010-12-28T23:00:00.006Z

I’ve finished reading Out of the Dark (more than a week ago, actually)!

An alien race called the Shongairi invades Earth. Their initial strike alone totally eliminates all of our aircraft carriers and military bases, as well as many major cities. Instead of surrendering to the technologically superior Shongairi, the surviving humans stubbornly fight back. Eventually, the Shongairi decides to finish off all humans altogether by engineering a targeted bioweapon.

While gathering human specimens for their experiment, the aliens attack a remote human enclave in Romania. The village is protected by a band of resistance fighters led by an enigmatic leader who turns out to be none other than Vlad, the Dracula.

What a twist! The book begins as a straight forward science fiction with the alien invasion, à la Independence Day, but out of the blue towards the end we have vampires. Weber doesn’t even try to ‘scientifically’ explain the vampires. Vlad is the same blood sucking undead we all know so well.

It is the ultimate deus ex machina. With his small army of newly created vampires, Vlad exterminate the Shongairi invaders. My favourite line in the book is when Vlad confronts the Shongairi Fleet Commander:

“You call yourselves ‘predators.’” The human’s upper lip curled. “Trust me, Fleet Commander—your people know nothing about predators. But they will.”

It’s a nice touch that the Shongairi are canines so up against Vlad and his band it’s still sort of a story of werewolves versus vampires.

Aliens and vampires; I seriously hope Weber makes a series out of this.

__________
LINKS:
On The Bookshelf: Out of the Dark by David Weber (Spoilers!)
Review | Out of the Dark by David Weber (Tor)

Snow

2010-12-18T22:11:00.001Z

Today we had our heaviest snowfall yet this season and we were out! There were many cars stranded on the road. Thank God we were in an SUV.

Currently Reading

2010-12-16T18:31:00.001Z

I am reading Out of the Dark, the latest novel by David Weber. It is about invasion of Earth by aliens.

Some hundreds of years ago an alien survey mission visits Earth—though without actually landing on the planet—and observes a war between England and France. Repulsed by what they see, which they consider as mindless savagery, the aliens write us off as destined for self-destruction and leaves.

Fast forward to the present, an alien invasion force arrives. These are not the same aliens as before, but they belong to the same Galactic Hegemony: some kind of a United Nations of advanced races. Earth has been designated for colonization (thankfully they are not building an intergalactic superhighway). The aliens are surprised to find humans more advanced technologically than they expected. Apparently we progressed at a much faster rate than they have encountered in any other races. Usually, this would make Earth a protected planet, but the alien Fleet Commander decided to go ahead with the invasion nevertheless.

The first stage of the invasion goes on smoothly. They bombard the planet with kinetic energy weapons from space and destroy most of our major cities and practically all of our military forces. They think that we will then submit, which is the logical thing to do when you’re totally outclassed by a much superior race. To their bewilderment however, we fight back. The aliens have never fought anyone as advanced and as stubborn as us before. So while they have big spaceships that can travel across galaxies, they ground warfare capabilities are lagging.

I am enjoying the book so far. It’s classic military SF. But the reviews I read refer to a surprising twist with vampires at the end too. Now, that should be interesting! I can’t wait to see how that works out.

The Light

2010-11-30T21:18:00.000Z

This is my favourite verse from the Quran, although I do not quite understand what it means. The verse is very beautiful, and somehow every time I read it, I imagine the creation of the Universe.

ٱللَّهُ نُورُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ‌ۚ مَثَلُ نُورِهِۦ كَمِشۡكَوٰةٍ۬ فِيہَا مِصۡبَاحٌ‌ۖ ٱلۡمِصۡبَاحُ فِى زُجَاجَةٍ‌ۖ ٱلزُّجَاجَةُ كَأَنَّہَا كَوۡكَبٌ۬ دُرِّىٌّ۬ يُوقَدُ مِن شَجَرَةٍ۬ مُّبَـٰرَڪَةٍ۬ زَيۡتُونَةٍ۬ لَّا شَرۡقِيَّةٍ۬ وَلَا غَرۡبِيَّةٍ۬ يَكَادُ زَيۡتُہَا يُضِىٓءُ وَلَوۡ لَمۡ تَمۡسَسۡهُ نَارٌ۬‌ۚ نُّورٌ عَلَىٰ نُورٍ۬‌ۗ يَہۡدِى ٱللَّهُ لِنُورِهِۦ مَن يَشَآءُ‌ۚ وَيَضۡرِبُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلۡأَمۡثَـٰلَ لِلنَّاسِ‌ۗ وَٱللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَىۡءٍ عَلِيمٌ۬

Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The Parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star: Lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light! Allah doth guide whom He will to His Light: Allah doth set forth Parables for men: and Allah doth know all things.
(An-Nur 24:35, Yusuf Ali translation)

Three Strikes

2010-11-29T21:34:00.004Z

Published: Friday November 26, 2010 MYT 4:27:00 PM
New law to end illegal downloading of music and movies
By STEVEN PATRICK

KUALA LUMPUR: The free-and-easy days of illegal downloading of music and movies may soon be over. A proposed new law will enable Internet Service Providers (ISP) to suspend or terminate the Internet accounts of P2P (peer-to-peer) users.

This new law called the ISP Liability act, will be tabled in Parliament next month, according to Recording Industry Association of Malaysia (RIM) chairman Norman Halim.

RIM has been lobbying the Government for an ISP Liability act for the past 5 years as illegal online downloads have been cannibalising the legitimate sales of music, worldwide.

“The act makes the ISPs responsible for curbing online piracy. The ISPs will be fined if they don’t take action against illegal downloaders. The ISPs have the technology to track P2P users,” said Norman.

However, he said that the fine amount had yet to be determined.

ISPs will send two warning letters to illegal downloaders. Should the downloaders still persist, the Internet access will be suspended or even terminated.

“Other countries that have such an act have seen their respective music industries recover. One good example would be South Korea,” he said.

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/11/26/nation/20101126163537&sec=nation

Malaysia may soon be joining a growing list of countries with a “three strikes” law. It is quite disappointing that we have come to this, but hardly surprising given how eager the government wants to be seen as business-friendly and attract foreign investments. I wonder how much, if any at all, public consultation went into writing the proposed law, and very much doubt there will be much debate on it in the parliament. Perhaps it’s time we have our own Pirate Party.

They call it graduated response. ISPs are allowed (or required) to disconnect an account after being accused of illegal file-sharing three times, hence “three strikes”. The law is meant to help protect the rights of copyright holders and reduce internet piracy. It’s sold as a means to protect the livelihood of artists and musicians, but really the main beneficiaries are big record companies.

Proponents of the law believe that it will discourage illegal file-sharing and thereby allow poor sales of CDs and DVDs to recover. When enforced, the proposed ISP Liability Act may well provide some measure of deterrent against illegal file-sharing. It may or may not have any visible effect on sales of CDs and DVDs, but I have some concerns about the implementation.

It seems that RIM expects to pass at least some of the burden of enforcing copyright protection to ISPs. I don’t think our local ISPs, or any ISP for that matter, have the resources to do it. In any case, that additional responsibility—and costs—may mean higher charges to consumers.

A common complaint about the three strikes law is that it is a form of collective punishment. A family usually shares one internet connection. Just because one person in the household has been downloading copyrighted materials, the whole family will be punished. That means the parents will not be able to access work email and pay bills, and the children will not be able to go online and do their homework. You can say that parents should take greater responsibility for the actions of their children, but the problem is more serious to cafés and public libraries that offer free internet access on their premises. I guess we can soon kiss the free Wi-Fi hotspots goodbye.

Other questions include how much information ISPs will be required to pass along to the record companies, and how can consumers challenge a violation notice and suspension or termination of their account. It is interesting to know how our ISPs are reacting to this development.

Ultimately, I believe any attempts at policing the internet is futile. Short of becoming totally draconian, the law simply will not be able to keep up to the rapid development in technology. The newspaper article above seems to refer specifically to P2P, but P2P is not the only way files are shared. For that matter copyrighted materials are not the only things illegally shared via P2P. There are also cyberlockers, for example.

Perhaps more importantly, we have no idea how this little law will be abused in the future.

__________
LINK:
Six Ways File-Sharers Will Neutralize 3 Strikes

There and Back Again

2010-11-17T20:47:00.001Z

This is long overdue.

It’s so cold that I just want to crawl under the duvet and not come out—hibernate—till at least March. Outside the temperature is practically freezing, and the last few days were foggy. In true Malaysian fashion, Afi looked out the window on Sunday morning, saw the fog and said, “Ah, jerebu.” And now that it’s fall, the day is short; it’s already dark by 1700. Going out every morning I cannot help remembering my Form Five English teacher’s description of England as a “wet, dark and depressing place.”

Thankfully, the weather was a little kinder when Abang was here and we drove out to see the funny ‘hanging stones’ at Wiltshire. They were in the middle of nowhere, despite the GPS. There was a slight drizzle when we arrived, but the sun did come before we left.

Earlier in October, we had a quick trip home for Kakak’s 10/10 wedding. We were in Malaysia for less than five days. It was a short and very tiring trip, but it’s always good to be home. The wedding went smoothly. But we didn’t even get to get over the jet lag from the journey to KL before jetting off back to the UK, that we both fell asleep before the plane lifted off the runway at KLIA. We then slept for two more days when we arrived at the apartment.

Kiki with Ice-Cream

2010-10-21T10:45:00.004+01:00

I like ice-cream, a lot, and often find it slightly annoying to observe adults eating ice-cream ever so cautiously... so afraid of gaining weight, etc. There is nothing like watching a child thoroughly enjoying his ice-cream.

YUMMY!

Chicken

2010-10-05T14:40:00.003+01:00

YUMMY!

We play badminton on Sundays.

Last Sunday, we went to Nando’s after badminton for lunch. Afi had a coupon that got us one whole chicken for free! So we paid only for the chips and drink. As can be seen in the picture collage above, Afi enjoyed the chicken very much. She says that the Nando’s here tastes better than in Malaysia. I really cannot tell the difference. :P

A Brazilian man at the table next to us asked me if the chicken was spicy. He said that he often ordered stuff “medium hot” at restaurants but found them to be (too) hot. I told him that in that case I really couldn’t say. We had a “hot” peri-peri chicken, and I didn’t think it was hot (pedas) at all. Spicy, yes, but not hot.

Later yesterday, while preparing dinner I cut a bit of nail off my left index finger. OUCH! That should remind me to be extra careful with the knife in the future.

[EWWW-PICTURE WARNING. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK. ;)]
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.
.
.
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The knife sliced right through.

Daring

2010-10-03T22:33:00.003+01:00

HMS Daring (D32) is the first new destroyer built in Britain since 1985. It is the first of a new class of destroyers called the Type 45. The UK Royal Navy (RN) is building six new Type 45 destroyers to replace the 25-year-old Type 42 destroyers. They are meant to replace the Type 42 destroyers. Fourteen Type 42 destroyers were built between 1970 and 1980 but only five remain. Two of the ships were lost in the Falklands War in 1982.

The Type 45 destroyers are the largest and most powerful destroyers ever built for the RN. They are anti-air warfare (AAW) destroyers. The job of an AAW destroyer is to protect the fleet against attacks from the air. For this role, Daring and its sister ships are equipped with the Sea Viper missile system. Sea Viper combines the SAMPSON multifunction radar with the SYLVER vertical launcher and Aster missile system from MBDA. Daring carries forty-eight Aster 15 and Aster 30 anti-air missiles. The Aster 30 missile can shoot down enemy aircraft 100km away. Targets can be detected from as far as 400km away by the S1850M long-range radar.

However, Daring only has a single 114mm main gun for shooting at surface targets. The original plans included eight Harpoon anti-ship missiles, but they are cancelled to reduce costs. There are also supposed to be two Phalanx close-in weapon systems (CIWS). The CIWS would have provided the destroyer with a last-ditch defence against missile attacks. Short-range aerial and surface targets are engaged using a 30mm gun mounted on either side of the destroyer.

Most modern warships now carry helicopters. Daring has a hangar and flight deck to operate one Merlin or Lynx helicopter. Both helicopter types can carry torpedoes to hunt submarines, while the Lynx can also fire the Sea Skua anti-ship missile. The large flight deck can also accommodate the Army Apache attack helicopter or Royal Air Force (RAF) Chinook heavy transport helicopter.

On top of all the above, Daring can also carry up to sixty troops, very likely Royal Marine commandos.

Type 45 Daring-class destroyer
Displacement	7,500 tonnes
Length	152.4m
Top speed	more than 27 knots (50kph)
Economical speed	18 knots (33kph)
Range	7,000nm (13,000km)
Endurance	45 days
Complement	190

__________
LINKS:
Channel 4: Building Britain’s Ultimate Warship [video]
Royal Navy: Type 45 Destroyers
Navy Matters: Type 45 (“D” Class) Destroyer

September Movie: The Town

2010-09-27T14:16:00.009+01:00

I just love a heist movie. The Town begins with four masked men robbing a bank in Cambridge, MA at gun point. Somebody triggers the silent alarm, so they take the bank manager along, just in case, before releasing her unharmed by the sea.

When they realize later that she lives near one of them, the leader of the gang decides to find out how much she knows. Eventually, he meets up with her and they develop a relationship.

Although the FBI is hot on their trail, the gang goes on to rob an armoured truck while dressed as Catholic nuns. The guards fight back and the police show up, but the gang manages to escape after a tight car chase scene along narrow streets of North End.

FBI Special Agent Adam Frawley: This is the not fucking around crew so get me something that looks like a print because this not fucking around thing is about to go both ways.
The Town (2010)

It pisses off the FBI special agent in charge. The members of the gang gets picked up for interrogation, but since there is really no evidence against them there’s nothing much that the FBI and police can do.

The leader of the gang wants to leave to Florida to start afresh, but the local crime boss is having none of it. For its final assignment, the gang is to rob Boston’s cathedral – Fenway Park!

The Florist: Do I hear you got a sweet new girlfriend? (Warner Bros. Pictures)

We went to the movie because Afi needed a little time off. So we bought the tickets after watching the trailer but without reading any of the reviews. We came out of the cinema really impressed. The Town is definitely one of the best movies we’ve seen this year. The movie felt authentic and efficient. There were plenty of bullets flying around but none of the over-the-top gasoline-fuelled explosions.

Ben Affleck both starred and directed the movie. I particularly like this quote of a review of The Town, or rather of Mr Affleck, I read on Rotten Tomatoes:

The rehabilitation of Ben Affleck is complete. His penance has been accepted. The star of Gigli, Daredevil and Pearl Harbor has now earned audiences’ respect again (to say nothing of finally being worthy of wife Jennifer Garner).
Brandon Fibbs

Raya

2010-09-21T16:56:00.003+01:00

Afi made nasi himpit, ayam percik and rendang daging for our first Raya feast. I didn’t help much with the cooking at all, they were all her.

We prayed at the mosque at Manzil Way. The sermons were short, unlike at home. Rather strangely, in the first rakaat we only performed the takbir three times instead of the usual seven. Then, in the second rakaat we performed the takbir three more times but before bending down for the rukuk.

Afterwards, we had a Raya gathering at Wolfson College, where as a newcomer I was asked to introduce myself, supposedly as part of the Oxford Malaysian tradition.

Selamat Hari Raya! I hope next year we will both celebrate it at home in Malaysia.

Cats

2010-09-16T20:38:00.003+01:00

The real masters of the world.

MEOWW!

__________
ADDENDUM: Humorous Duet for Two Cats

SFF

2010-09-15T16:49:00.005+01:00

I’ve known since all the way back in school that I’d love to read science fiction (SF), although back then I didn’t read much fiction at all, let alone SF. There were one or two SF paperbacks I found at the school library and there were it.

Still, if anybody were to ask me then what my favourite book was, my answer would be Juara Yang Tewas by Aripin Said. I read it sometime in primary school and it really captured my imagination. I still consider it one of my favourite books. Juara Yang Tewas, which tells of the legend of the dragons of Lake Chini, is fantasy rather than SF. So was Her Majesty’s Wizard by Christopher Stasheff, which I received as a present from the school in 1994. In that year’s speech day, the school decided to give a book each to everyone who scored straight As for PMR, and mine was Her Majesty’s Wizard. I remember feeling very disappointed at it and wanted to throw the book away because I was expecting a more ‘serious’ book. However, I read the book anyway and actually grew to like it.

Then, in second year at UIA I had Abang Aziz as a roommate. He had a bunch of old SF paperbacks on his shelf he let me borrow. That was how I came to read The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov.

The End of Eternity is perhaps Asimov’s best novel. It is a novel about time travel. Some centuries after the discovery of time travel, an organization called Eternity was established to smoothen out human development by maintaining a stable society. So they use time travel to go back in time eliminating disruptive social trends, preventing wars, and suppressing the development of dangerous and risky technologies like atomic energy and space travel. What they cannot explain, however, is finding Earth far out in the future a barren planet. Time travel in the end turns out not such a good idea after all.

What I really like best about Asimov is that he didn’t use big words and complex, long sentences to deliver his ideas. The time travel device, for example, is simply called the ‘kettle’. The End of Eternity led me to the Foundation series, which was totally another level of awesomeness.

__________
LINKS:
Time Control: Isaac Asimov’s The End of Eternity
The SF Site Featured Review: The End of Eternity

Selamat Hari Raya

2010-09-09T16:58:00.010+01:00

Sempena Hari yang mulia ini
kami memohon keampunan dan kemaafan
dari hujung rambut hingga hujung kaki
biarpun jauh di seberang lautan
minta kami jangan dilupakan.

Our first Raya together, and we got to spend it with just the two of us.

We thought about ordering personalized greeting cards from PhotoBox to send, even got the design all done, but decided in the end that they were expensive. :P

Syawal 1431/September 2010.
__________
COLLAGE: An afternoon at the Botanic Garden.

Book Trailers

2010-09-02T23:02:00.002+01:00

I’ve only recently discovered book trailers. They are just like movie trailers but for books. According to Wikipedia, they have been made since 2002! However, unlike movie trailers made from actual movie footage, book trailers aren’t as polished. Most are really corny, especially the live action ones. Some are actually fan-made. I saw quite a few trailers of books I’ve read that are downright terrible I’m thankful I never saw them before. I might not have read the books if I had seen the trailers.

The best ones are animated, like these two for Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book (narrated by Gaiman himself) and Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan.

Summer Rain

2010-08-29T18:41:00.006+01:00

When my mother-in-law found out that the government was offering H1N1 vaccination for free back in May, she arranged to have us all vaccinated. It’s supposed to protect us for a year. At the moment, though, I am having a cold. My body aches and my nose is running, but at least the sore throat is mostly gone.

Perhaps it’s the changing weather. The last few days have been cold and wet. When the sun does come out it’s windy. The September equinox is still almost a month away on September 23. Only then it’s officially fall, or autumn as they call it here.

I’ve been cooking quite a bit since I got here, almost as much as I did when I was in Boston. I love to cook, and the good thing is I like to eat my own cooking. Afi said that she’s tired of her own cooking, so I am more than happy to cook all the time. She thinks that it’s a good idea that we buy a book to record our cooking; sort of our own private recipe book.

There are two ingredients I love most whenever I cook – garlic and butter. I can never get enough of both. Afi has caught on with the butter, but not so much with the garlic. Garlic is quite expensive here – as most things are – so I have to cut down on the garlic as well.

Since I didn’t bring my old Columbia boots, which soles are already so worn off, Afi had been really anxious to buy me a new pair. She said that we should buy them now before they get more expensive when summer ends. So on Wednesday – when it rained the whole day! – we went to town and got me a pair of granite Merrell Enuma Mid Waterproof. I think they are awesome.

Woodstock, Part II

2010-08-22T23:05:00.003+01:00

The love of my life in action! ;)

Woodstock

2010-08-17T16:46:00.004+01:00

We went to Blenheim Palace last week, because Afi was worried that I haven’t done much sightseeing and touring since I got here, and took a lot of pictures! :D

Hurricanes

2010-08-10T17:07:00.012+01:00

Afi asked me the other day how hurricanes are named. I actually asked myself the same question some years ago during Katrina. In short, there is a list.

The period between June and November is official hurricane season in the North Atlantic. I don’t recall reading about any hurricanes yet this year, so I guess there isn’t one that’s particularly newsworthy.

Hurricanes in the North Atlantic are monitored and named by the US National Hurricane Center in Florida. When a rotating tropical storm (also called tropical cyclone) blows faster than 65 kph it is given a name, and when the wind reaches 119 kph it becomes a hurricane. Apparently, the term hurricane is used only for tropical cyclones in the Atlantic and East Pacific. In other parts of the world, the terms severe cyclone, severe cyclonic storm, and typhoons are used instead. Hence the word taufan in Malay is related to typhoon.

There are six lists of hurricane names used on a yearly rotation. Each list contains twenty-one names in alphabetical order. Used to be that only female names were used, because tropical storms and hurricanes start in the middle of the ocean and sailors are mostly horny men, but now there a male names as well ( YAY!). Sometimes, more than twenty one tropical storms earn names in a year so the subsequent ones are named after Greek letters, like in 2005 when there were tropical storms Alpha, Gamma, Delta and Zeta, and hurricanes Beta and Epsilon.

I remember hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Rita and Wilma from 2005. Who doesn’t remember Katrina? Hurricanes that are particularly strong and destructive get their names retired, so Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan and Wilma from the 2005 list will not be repeated in 2011.

The following is the list of names for 2010:

Alex
Bonnie
Colin
Danielle
Earl
Fiona
Gaston
Hermine
Igor
Julia
Karl
Lisa
Matthew
Nicole
Otto
Paula
Richard
Shary
Tomas
Virginie
Walter

Remember?

2010-07-28T22:26:00.002+01:00

Remember The Elephant Show? I somehow remembered the song today but didn’t remember what show it was from. And then there’s Google. :P

Skidamarink a dinky dink,
Skidamarink a doo,
I love you!

Two Books

2010-07-26T13:16:00.003+01:00

It took me a long time to finish reading The Malay Dilemma, finally. It’s not that the book was difficult to read at all. Instead, it was quite boring since having grown up in the Mahathir era the book – what’s in it – was everywhere in the public and official spaces. It’s boring to read stuff you already know. In the meantime, people will continue to argue about the book, just as people will continue to argue about the former prime minister’s policies and legacies. I’m just glad that I’ve finally read the book.

On the other hand, it took me only a few short days to finish reading The God Engines. The novella was sold as John Scalzi’s first attempt at fantasy – unlike anything he had written before – and the result was, WOW!

We have a spaceship, a warship by the name Righteous that runs on a god. The god sustains the ship, powering its weapons and takes it across the stars. It is a defeated god, dark and sinister. The gods are at war, and captain the Righteous, Ean Tephe, is given a mission to find a new planet to convert to give his God the edge above the rest.

Though set mostly on a “spaceship”, the book was all about religion, faith, and the ending was mind-blowing! Too bad The God Engines is only a novella.

RM211.77

2010-07-20T23:20:00.002+01:00

After about two and a half years, my contour bottle bank was finally full again so I had RM211.77 of change deposited into my savings account last week.

That’s RM25.56 more than the last time, YAY!

Herk on Fire

2010-07-07T14:48:00.004+01:00

A 36th Airlift Squadron C-130H Hercules from Yokota Air Base, Japan, deploys flares over Alaska as part of a training exercise during Red Flag Alaska 10-3, June 23. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson)

Cool photo. Do have a look at it in full size to appreciate its awesome coolness. :P

Now, a little background for the uninitiated:

The Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules is one of the most recognizable aircraft on the planet. It is primarily a transport aircraft, a classic that has been around for more than half a century. Variants of the C-130 are also used for aerial refuelling, maritime patrol, reconnaissance, surveillance, etc. Among the most interesting of these are the AC-130U gunship, which uses cannons to turn buildings into dust; and the WC-130J weather reconnaissance aircraft that routinely flies into hurricanes. In a series of tests in 1963, a C-130 even landed and took off from a US Navy aircraft carrier, the biggest and heaviest aircraft to have ever done so!

The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) has a handful of C-130s used as transport aircraft and aerial refuelling tankers. The aircraft are due for upgrades, which almost went underway until the government decided to use the money to buy the Airbus A400M instead.

Book Review: The Walls of the Universe

2010-07-01T20:28:00.010+01:00

As an exercise, I need to start writing better book reviews. :P

The Walls of the Universe is the second novel by Paul Melko. I haven’t read his first novel, Singularity’s Ring, but now I definitely want to. The book reads like one of the classic science fiction novels from the 1950s or 1960s with its simple language, fast pace and straight forward plot based on the multiverse (or parallel universes).

[SPOILER ALERT]

John Rayburn grows up in a farm in Ohio and dreams of going to college and study Physics, until one day he stumbles upon his analog, who calls himself John Prime. Prime comes from another universe, quite like John’s own “Universe 7533”, through use of a device strapped to his chest. With promises of adventures and riches from “interdimensional trade”, Prime lures John into trying out the device to travel to “Universe 7534” for a day.

In 7534, John discovers that he cannot go back to 7533. Prime has tricked him and stolen his life! After jumping through universe after universe, John finally settles in “Universe 7650”, where he resolves to study the device hoping to one day return to his universe and reclaim his life.

He enrols himself at a local university, where he reluctantly makes new friends Grace and Henry. After accidentally mentioning them the pinball machine, which does not exist in 7650, Grace and Henry pressure John into helping them build it. John agrees, originally only so he can gain access to the Physics lab, but the pinball machine turns out to be a huge hit.

The pinball venture attracts the attention of some highly secretive investors, who turn out to be exiles from another universe, the bad guys. Things quickly turn bad when they discover that John is in possession of a functioning transfer device. In desperation, John successfully builds a device that allows him to travel back to 7533 and enlist the help of Prime.

Blah-blah-blah...

The Walls of the Universe is a very easy and fun read, and definitely far from a hard science fiction novel. I read it in just two days. Not much is explained of the multiverse, how interdimensional travel works, etc. In the end, the book is a fine nod to the Golden Age of science fiction, full of optimism.

FTW

2010-06-28T18:04:00.010+01:00

For the Win, Cory Doctorow’s second young adult novel after Little Brother, is just as awesome as his first. More importantly, this is a book I would love to assign to my students. I would have finished the book in just a few short days if I weren’t distracted by other things.

Little Brother was all about technology – network, network security, encryption, surveillance – and how they work, and how and when they fail. It was also about knowing standing up for one’s right and liberty, particularly in the face of abuses of technology by authority. For the Win is also about standing up for one’s right, though in this case more specifically one’s right as a worker, even in the world of MMO games. The novel is all about economics – what money is, how markets work, etc. It even explains how financial derivatives work.

Again, I would really love to assign the book to my students. I bought my UK edition hardcover copy from The Book Depository, but the complete book can also be downloaded and read for free here.

My Favourite

2010-06-26T16:56:00.001+01:00

It’s been a while since I actually paid for music, but I bought this song the other day – You Are My Favourite by Sophie Madeleine of Rocky and Balls, for £2.

You Are My Favourite by Sophie Madeleine

:P

The official mashup music video is cool too.

I also bought their song I <3 U Online before, which was both funny and sweet. Of course, both songs are dedicated to my favourite person.

Four-Letter Words

2010-06-08T12:19:00.004+01:00

My wife, my love, my life
Whom I cannot bear being apart from
One second longer.

Cookies Made with Kisses

2010-05-31T18:29:00.006+01:00

My sister bakes cookies, and honest to God they’re awesome cookies! I love them. Well, for that matter I love most things that are sweet and are made with butter and lots and lots of chocolate. :D (I have no idea, actually, but am assuming that there is butter in cookies.) She made small batches of them the last two Rayas (if I’m not mistaken) and they were hits. She made them too for my wedding, and I heard that they were hits too. No surprise there, really.

And now she’s selling them. She’s actually set up a company – all legal and registered and everything – to sell them, plus some scarves or something I’m not very interested in. :P

So here’s the least I can do to help. If you’re interested in some awesome honest-to-God delicious homemade cookies (and those other stuff), please do have a look at KuKISS Orked Ungu Enterprise!

What We’re Good At?

2010-05-27T21:14:00.013+01:00

(Click for full size)

Look for our country, then the USA, then the UK, then any other country that you like.

[Source: Information is Beautiful via Comment Central]

Finally!

2010-05-26T16:02:00.000+01:00

I finished reading the last few pages of The Centauri Device yesterday morning before going to work. PHEWW! It was one slow, depressing book I am glad to get over with.

Then, last night I picked up The Lost Fleet: Victorious and basically couldn’t put it down until I finished the whole book at about 4.30 in the morning! Victorious is supposed to be the last of the (original) Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell a.k.a. John G Hemry, which is quite a downer because it’s such a wonderful series; fast paced and full of action. The good news, however, is Hemry wrote on his website that he’s got contracts for follow-on series. YAY!

I’m reading For the Win next, I think. The book arrived yesterday (May 25), after less than two weeks, which is simply wonderful. I don’t know how they do it – shipping books for free – but I definitely love it. The Book Depository is quickly becoming my new favorite online bookstore.

Story-telling

2010-05-22T00:27:00.009+01:00

A little late, but I think this one’s pretty cool/funny.

Campfire @ xkcd

The past month or so has been rather busy, but I do hope to find time to post more updates soon.

:P

Books to Read

2010-05-18T19:33:00.007+01:00

I bought some new books: A Mighty Fortress by David Weber, The God Engines by John Scalzi, and The Lost Fleet: Victorious by Jack Campbell. I’m so excited about all of them, particularly A Mighty Fortress, but God knows when I’ll actually get around to reading them. Instead of buying them from Amazon as usual, Afi introduced me to The Book Depository, which offers free shipping worldwide!

Oh, I also bought Cory Doctorow’s latest release, For the Win, to be delivered separately to Malaysia. As usual, you can also download the book for free.

PHEWW!

In the meantime, let’s hope that I won’t walk into a bookstore, for there are also The Windup Girl (by Paolo Bacigalupi, the latest Nebula Award winner for Best Novel) and Boneshaker (by Cherie Priest) I’ve been meaning to have a look at.

Not to forget the books I left at home! I have The Centauri Device with me, reading it ever so slowly. On the bedroom wall shelf, The Walls of the Universe and Anathem (still, from ages ago!) await. Until I left for the UK, I was also in the middle of reading The Malay Dilemma, finally.

Wonder which one of these books I’ll finish reading first. It’s already the middle of May and I haven’t finished even one book this year!

Summertown

2010-05-15T12:19:00.009+01:00

It’s cold!

It’s the middle of May, so I thought it’s supposed to be warm, with temperatures in the 20s. Instead, when we touched down at Heathrow on Monday it was 11°C. The sun rarely ever shows itself; it’s 11 degrees as I am typing this too, in the middle of noon.

Oxford reminds me Cambridge, MA, but with less people.

We saw Robin Hood yesterday. I expected better from Ridley Scott, but this one’s sadly a miss.

Occupied

2010-04-13T15:03:00.004+01:00

Don’t go away!
;-)

happy_together by molokolo at deviantART

Exam Tip #2

2010-04-01T06:52:00.002+01:00

I wanted to take the half day off to run some errands yesterday, but thought that since I have an exam today students might come looking for me. So I stayed in my office and did some marking instead. Nobody came, zero, and I thought based on the carry marks many students are having problems. We’ll see.

Quite many actually came to see me earlier this week and last week. Nobody came to ask me to clarify a concept or help solve an exercise problem, however. They all came just for some giveaway extra assignment, some consideration, to push up their carry marks. Nobody ever came to see me during the whole semester too; even after the disastrous mid-semester test.

[SIGH]

Okay, exam tip #2 is an obvious one: answer the question.

“Huh?”

It may come as a surprise, but many students did not do well in exams simply because they didn’t answer the question. I am not referring to the blank pages here – there are those too – but many wrote about B when the question asked about A.

Perhaps they didn’t read the question properly. Perhaps they did, but misunderstood the question entirely. Often I suspect it’s the latter, because most of the students now have poor command of the English language.

During last week’s exam I was asked several times to explain the meaning of three words: independent, dampen, and forthcoming. Perhaps we should allow dictionaries as we do calculators in the exam hall.

Sorry, no kitty today. :D

Exam Tip

2010-03-27T17:11:00.006Z

It’s the final examination period again.

Students always ask me for tips for the finals. Here’s one. Forget about targeting this or that chapter. You can try doing that, of course, but final exams are cumulative. Try reading the first page of the question paper for once. Yes, I mean the cover page with all the instructions nobody ever reads. You have no idea how many students lost so many marks simply from not following instructions.

Easy, huh?

Now, here’s a kitty:

Blue velvetgloss by ^impressionenmeer at deviantART

Let Me Explain

2010-03-21T16:28:00.011Z

Still more videos, from the album Bounce (2002). Please watch in order.
:D

Stand By Me

2010-03-19T12:28:00.003Z

by Oasis.