Two Dogs Dining

 This is hilarious!!!

3 Dimensional Printer

This is definitely the most revolutionary product I have ever seen - a 3 Dimensional Printer. Most printers will print things in two dimensions. A 3 dimensional printer will take that into the third dimension and make it into something you can hold in your hand.  It is sure to alter the way you think. The parameters of possibility have just overstepped the mark. 

   

3D printing is a form of additive manufacturing technology where a three dimensional object is created by laying down successive layers of material. It is generally faster, more affordable and easier to use than other additive manufacturing technologies. 3D printers offer product developers the ability to print parts and assemblies made of several materials with different mechanical and physical properties in a single build process. Advanced 3D printing technologies yield models that can serve as product prototypes.

Things you can make with a 3D Printer

Chinese Magic

We are all familiar with Magic from the west and the form of magic from th likes of magicians (sometimes called illusionists) like Houdini, David Copperfield and many others. We often refer to magic as 'the hand is faster than the eye'. In reality the hand is not really faster than the eye. The skilled magician draws the audience attention to where he wants it at a specific instant. The success of magic lies in the ability to create illusions that have the appearance of reality.

Chinese magicians ares really a class of it's own. In this magic show performance which was part of the Lunar New Year Show 2011, you see this incredible feat of commanding gold fish in a tank to swim in formation. Later a painting of gold fish is transform to live ones. You watch before your very eyes the fishes swimming from the painting into a fish tank and come alive. This is done without the usual suspicious props. It's miraculous!

Stranded tsunami dog rescued in Japan

Another story that will touch your heart. A canine survivor of the Japan Tsunami. A dog stranded at sea for three weeks being rescued by Japanese coast guard and American rescue team. The dog was found about a mile off shore among a huge pile of floating debris in the north of Japan, Katsunuma prefacture.

Japan Tsunami Dog

The recent tsunami on March 11, 2011 in Japan claimed the lives of thousands of people. Animals were not spared. A news team found a wet, muddied and seemingly shivering dog in the Arahama area of Sendai, Japan. The dog ran toward the cameraman to investigate when they approach. After that he returned to an injured fellow canine, lying among the debris caused by the earthquake and tsunami. It's another amazing animal story. We have all heard stories of dogs coming to the aid of humans in distress. Here we have a dog standing guard over his injured pal. This act of empathy by one dog to another of their own kind is really touching.




Translation:
We are in Arahama area. Looks like there is a dog. There is a dog. He looks tired and dirty. He must have been caught in the tsunami. He looks very dirty.

He has a collar. He must be someone's pet. He has a silver collar. He is shaking. He seems very afraid.

Oh, there is another dog. I wonder if he is dead.

Where?

Right there. There is another dog right next to the one sitting down. He is not moving. I wonder. I wonder if he is alright.

The dog is protecting him.

Yes. He is protecting the dog. That is why he did not want us to approach them. He was trying to keep us at bay.

I can't watch this. This is a very difficult to watch.

Oh. Look. He is moving. He is alive. I am so happy to see that he is alive.

Yes! Yes! He is alive.

He looks to be weakened. We need to them to be rescued soon. We really want them rescued soon.

Oh good. He's getting up.

It is amazing how they survived the tremendous earthquake and tsunami. It's just amazing that they survived through this all.

According to the Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support Facebook page, both dogs were rescued and are doing well.

Monkeys business

          

I spotted a family of Macaques Monkeys at Hua Guan Avenue recently. As monkeys do, family members preening each other. Besides the business of preening each other adults mate rather freely.  I recall from my visits to Botanic Garden as a child witnessing with some degree of embarassment the mating of these primates. They are totally uninhibited nor disturbed by the presence of other monkey families or humans in the park.

There are a few popular places that Singaporean Chinese visited during Chinese New Year in the 50's and 60's; Botanic Gardens is one of them. You can buy peanuts form hawkers at the entrance to feed the monkeys. As the years goes by the monkey population increased and became aggressive. In the 70's they had to be culled after a number of reported attacks on visitors, reducing the population to a very small number.

In the year 1971 two monkeys were found dying on the roadside outside the Botanic Gardens in Tyersall Avenue. The monkey are believe to have been fed with poisoned bananas. This was most likely the work of an individual with a grudge against the animal because the authorities would not have used poison to eliminate them. I remember news reports of pallet gun being used.

Credit: National Archive of Singapore - PICAS

Kung Fu bear

We've seen the cartoon movie Kung Fu Panda. Now in real life an incredible Kung Fu bear named Kumo (Cloud) from a Japanese Zoo. Cute. Enjoy! Jacky Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen watch out!

The most amazing Teh Tarik!

One uniquely Singapore past time is that of enjoying a nice cup of Teh Tarik at our neighborhood sarabat stall with friends at night. Of course some of us prefer ours with ginger juice - Teh Halia (ginger tea). Our fascination with the Indian tea brewer doing the "Teh Tarik" would have faded over time, but you have to watch this Teh Tarik from Thailand. Amazing feat!

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Teh tarik (literally "pulled tea" or 拉茶 in Mandarin) is a hot tea beverage which can be commonly found in restaurants, outdoor stalls and kopi tiams in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. Its name is derived from the pouring process of "pulling" the drink during preparation. It is made from black tea and condensed milk.

Chatuchak (or Jatujak; Thai: จตุจักร) weekend market in Bangkok is the largest market in Thailand. Frequently called J.J., it covers over 35 acres (1.13 km²) and contains upwards of 5,000 stalls. It is estimated that the market receives between 200,000 visitors each day.^[1] Most stalls only open on Saturdays and Sundays. The market offers a wide variety of products including household items, clothing, Thai handicrafts, religious artifacts, collectibles, foods, and live animals.

Old Gramophone at Sungei Road

I spent last Sunday afternoon at Sungei Road thieves/flea market. Every visit to Sungei Road is always fascinating browsing through the many old, odd, quirky and at times offbeat merchandise that could have come from somebody's discarded rubbish after a spring cleaning.

Photo credit: Wikipidia

On this occasion I striked out a conversation with a Mr Koh Ah Koon who sort of specialise in sound systems like gramophones, turntables, amplifiers and speakers besides other odds and ends. Mr Koh was an event organiser. Not the type that does conventions and exhibitions but "pasar malam" (night market) or what is sometimes referred to as trades fairs. Due to intense competition in the trade fair organising business he started to deal in secondhand goods.

Among the items on sales at his stall was an old gramophone. It was a familiar one because my family had an identical one when I was a child.  This was an early 1930s portable wind-up phonograph from His Master's Voice. The familiar trade mark of the picture of a Jack Russel Terrier listening intently to the sound coming out of the horn of the gramophone goes way back then. EMI and RCA used to own the trade mark. It is now the trade mark of HMV.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

An item like that attracts a lot of attention without fail. And to add to the excitement of the moment was the sound of an old familiar Cantonese song from a 78 rpm record being played. The casing had some dents, but other than that it works fine. A short while after I took this video clip a Eurasian looking gentlemen bought it. He seemed to be a regular and a familiar figure with the stall holders. As soon as he appeared a number of stall holders greeted him and started chattering.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia;
The phonograph, record player, or gramophone is a device that was mostly commonly used from the late 1870s through the 1980s for playing sound recordings. Usage of these terms is not uniform across the English-speaking world (see below). In more modern usage, this device is often called a turntable, record player, or record changer. When used in conjunction with a mixer as part of a DJ set up, they are often called decks.

Singapore Wonder Girls - "Nobody but you"

I was at the SAFRA AGM 2010 on Sunday 31 October 2010 at SAFRA Mt Faber. In the entertainment segment after the meeting a cute version of  the Korean Wonder Girls song "Nobody but you" was presented in Mandarin/Hokkien dialect by Singapore's Wonder Girls "BIG" - Big, Intelligent and Glamorous. Pay attention to the chorus - everybody mei you (mandarin=do not have) bak chew (Hokkien=eyes).



For those of you who likes this catchy tune, here's a pretty cools cover version done by a Vietnamese boy living in Singapore. Enjoy : )

Doggie Parkour - "Barkour"

In the recent President's Star Charity, Mediacorp celebrities like Gurmit Singh (picture), Daren Tan, Adam Chen and Paul Foster showed off their gravity-defying stunts of leaps and  vaults along with Parkour performance team Ashton Movements. So what is "Parkour"?

From howstuffworks.com

Parkour is an international discipline, sport and hobby that is best described as the art of forward motion in spite of obstacles, or to put it simply: the art of movement. Parkour's chief aim is never to move backward but instead to overcome obstacles fluidly, with strength, originality and speed. The number of possible movements is endless, but here are the basics:

	Cat Leap This move consists of running and leaping from a take off point. Before leaping, the traceur spots where his hands will grab hold of the wall. He launches from the take-off point at a 45-degree angle. As he approaches, he moves his body into landing position that appears as if he's almost sitting in mid air. With legs bent to absorb shock, the traceur makes impact and grabs hold of the ledge while his feet grip the wall. From there, the traceur bends his knees for the power to push up and climb over the ledge.
	Roll Landing from a jump, when the traceur is traveling forward, he lands and bends his knees to absorb the impact. As he does this, he uses the forward momentum to go into a roll over his shoulder to transfer the shock of the landing. He places his hands on one side of his head to ensure minimal impact between his shoulder and the ground and, in the meantime, protects his head. The momentum of the jump enables him to land, roll and continue moving so that he is back on in his feet and in a running position. He does all of this in one fluid movement.
	Precision Jump The traceur balances on the edge of a wall, rail or roof, and spots his landing point. After sizing up the distance, he leans toward his landing point while bending the knees. As he jumps, his arms go up and he straightens his body. As he approaches the landing point, the traceur brings his legs forward to make contact while his descending arms provide necessary counterbalance. Upon landing, he bends his knees to slow down and makes a precise jump from point to point.
	Kong Vault Traceurs use this move to propel themselves over a wall when running toward it. The traceur jumps with a good amount of space between him and the wall, and stretches toward it, planting his hands. By this time, he has made his legs parallel to the ground. As his legs catch up with the rest of his body, he uses his arms to catapult him forward. Before landing, the traceur makes sure his posture is correct and spots where he'll finish the move with either a roll (if executing from height) or will carry on running (if the move is executed at a low level).
	Speed Vault This move allows traceurs to launch over a wall without compromising speed. As the traceur approaches the wall, he lays one hand down and leans sideways as he jumps. His hand briefly touches the wall to keep himself stable, he completes the jump and continues running without any break in momentum.

 

Whilst Parkour is a human endeavour., train a dog in Parkour and you have "Barkour" haha. Most of us would be familiar with Dog Agility - doggie obstacle course. But compared to Parkour, Agility would be child's play. Parkour is an extreme sports that is physically demanding as you can see.

TreT, a 33 pound, 4 year old American Staffordshire Terrier wonder dog from Ukraine is a hit at YouTube doing the doggie version of Parkour, attracting over 480,000 views.

Singapore Flash Flood 2010 Song

"The Wave Song" Lyric credits to MrBrown Production. Music from K'NAAN - Wavin' Flag. Enjoy..

Brazilian Baby Dances Samba

Now you know when it comes to doing the Samba nobody does it better than the Brazilians; Samba the Rio De Janeiro style. The little toddler still in disposable diapers is already dancing like a pro. Pure natural and unadulterated : ) Excellent musicality, perfect rhythm and great styling lol.

Extraordinary Shanghai

Something quite extraordinary about Shanghai is that a vast majority of people speak rather loudly. In fact you may say they do not speak but they shout. You can be walking in the street and suddenly there is shouting going on. At first I thought there was a squabble but after awhile I realised that this is a very Shanghainese thing; it's normal to speak loudly.

And then once in awhile you'll come across a real quarrel which is almost a daily feature you'll find on the streets. At least it's true for the duration of my stay. This loud verbal combat can be really dramatic. Enjoy the following video clips : )

Little Drummer Boy 3 year old Howard Wong

Wow, Unbelievable! Awesome, Wonderful, Wonder Kid, Genius, Incredible, Inspirational! Top Kid! Child Prodigy, Howard Rocks!!!

Howard Wong a three year old boy on the drum. Brilliant!!! The boy's drumming is fantastic and the expression on his face is magic! Natural, totally relax and enjoying himself.




Jam with his daddy's band 美好特质，感动

Britain's Got Talent

80 year old Janey Cutler from Glasgow audition in Britain's Got Talent singing the song "No Regrets". Judges Simon Cowell Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan. Her hand may be shaking but certainly not her voice, powerful, the right pitch and correct timing. Amazing!

Janey Cutler - Britain's Got Talent 2010 - Auditions Week 4 @ Yahoo! Video

Gordon Brown calls Labour supporter a 'bigoted woman'

Today let me just sidetrack a little. British Prime Minister Gordan Brown is in deep shit for calling a Labour supporter a "bigot". He is going to loose a lot of votes.  Brown is History.

I must say I have never heard the word "bigot" being used among my Singaporean friends. Neither have I used it before. The word we might use which is closest in meaning that I can think of would be "Obstinate". Probably because of our limited vocabulary. Come to think about it, an ex-colleague of mine many years ago is a perfect example of a "bigot" - obstinacy, irrationality, and animosity toward those of differing opinion. He must alway be "right". In fact I nickname people like that "Porcupine" LOL.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A bigot is a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices. The correct use of the term requires the elements of obstinacy, irrationality, and animosity toward those of differing opinion. The term is also used to refer to persons hostile to people of differing race, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, religion etc.
The origin of the word bigot and bigoterie in English dates back to at least 1598, via Middle French, and started with the sense of "religious hypocrite". Forms of bigotry may have a related ideology or world views.