which animal are you?

which animal are you?

You Were An Owl

You are stealthy and secretive - no one knows the true you. You are a seeker of freedom, and you are comfortable with your dark side.

What Animal Were You In a Past Life?

Who can evade his capture?

http://www.nozomionline.com/media/avoider.html

Don't let him capture your mouse!

From the Missus

Tales from the EarthSea

Tales from the EarthSea

Studio Ghibli's latest offering: Tales From The EarthSea
Download the trailer here:
http://s21.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0A0T7FTIS2P3E2PUZNDQ0BK975

The music is super nice! Now I can't wait to watch it. Anybody wanna watch? Hee.

Coming out 7/7/2006 (in Japan I think)

Travel Insurance Info

UTHi!!

Shirley here.. first time to post. Not sure how to send the info to the person... haha.. dun even know who to send to. So i'll jus post here. :)

Full Name : Lim Shea Li Shirley
NRIC : S83******
DOB : ****

Contact : 9*******
Address: *******

Email : springclassics@hotmail.com

Place(s) : Krabi (?? Everyone is the same for this right? or put Bangkok?)
Departure date : 14 May 2006
Return date : 18 May 2006

Hope that's enough. Anything contact me directly at the number above.. hehe... easier lah. :P

Editor: Please look at the comments for more info. I just omit some stuff for privacy sake.

Travel Insurance

Hi. Boys and Girls ... I need the info as follows:

• Full Name :
• NRIC :
• DOB :
• Contact :
• Address:
• Email :

its for the insurance man.
:)

And also for the trip:

• Place(s) :
• Departure date :
• Return date :

Just leave ur details inside the Comments. I will consolidate. Huifang get Shirley's details k?

Cheers to my Krabi Kakis !

Homo Sapiens VS Cockroaches

Homo Sapiens VS Cockroaches


Mini Documentary at night: Homo Sapiens VS cockroaches

Growl. That was the sound of the female homo sapien's stomach. It was way pass midnight and was time for her nightly forage into the dense jungle stocked with edibles known as: The Kitchen.

As she gingerly took out the remnants of a tub of yogurt, ready to devour it, out of her eye, she spots a sluggish cockroach across the floor. The homo sapien, can be said to be one of the most cunning animals ever to lived on Earth.

Previously, she had let the cockroach go off on its own business without ever harming it, but seeing that its storage of food maybe threatened by it, a form plans in her head.

Nonchalently, she starts to head off towards the dining room, heading towards her tools of destruction. Newspaper. Rolled.
Insecticide. Checked.

By then, the cockroach had sensed the human sensing its presence and has gone into hiding in the shadows.

The human continues to check out the cockroach to and fro. Unknown to the cockroach, her powerful sense of vision can still detect the cockroach in the shadows regardless of how camouflaged the cockroach is.

Slowly, steadily, stalking the prey, the human inches her way nearer and nearer. She gets ready the insecticide.

Psssssst!!
The cockroach scrambles out into the open in panick.
WHAM! One cold blow to the cockroach has flinged it into the air landing smack right in the middle of The Kitchen. On further observations, the abdomen has split with some innards spilling out. Victim is still fresh, twitching about.

Using her analyzing skills, she links the cat not eating the roach to a foul taste. Hence, it is decided to leave the roach as rich pickings for tiny scavengers called Black Ants.

Flick! Flicker, flicker!
The smart roach, sense imminent danger from the toxic fumes, started to panicked, moving its way zig zaggedly, in a blurred manner.

"Ahuh! Easy pickings" thinks the homo sapien. Patiently, she watches as the newcomer scrambles up the kitchen table, went up the sugar and salt containers, trying to fly but cannot succeed, finally scrambled down the pole near the toilet. Once it reaches near the wall, WHAM!

This time, the impact is even greater. On landing, the wings seperated from the cockroach. The cockroach lay there in its pool of greenish ooze.

The Human had won over the Roaches.

enneagram test

enneagram test

Courtesy of Silmoon:

The Quick and Painless ENNEAGRAM Test

I find it holds true for me. Below are my results:

the Adventurer

"I am happy and open to new things"

Adventurers are energetic, lively, and optimistic. They want to contribute to the world.

How to Get Along with Me

* Give me companionship, affection, and freedom.
* Engage with me in stimulating conversation and laughter.
* Appreciate my grand visions and listen to my stories.
* Don't try to change my style. Accept me the way I am.
* Be responsible for youself. I dislike clingy or needy people.
* Don't tell me what to do.

What I Like About Being a Seven

* being optimistic and not letting life's troubles get me down
* being spontaneous and free-spirited
* being outspoken and outrageous. It's part of the fun.
* being generous and trying to make the world a better place
* having the guts to take risks and to try exciting adventures
* having such varied interests and abilities

What's Hard About Being a Seven

* not having enough time to do all the things I want
* not completing things I start
* not being able to profit from the benefits that come from specializing; not making a commitment to a career
* having a tendency to be ungrounded; getting lost in plans or fantasies
* feeling confined when I'm in a one-to-one relationship

Sevens as Children Often

* are action oriented and adventuresome
* drum up excitement
* prefer being with other children to being alone
* finesse their way around adults
* dream of the freedom they'll have when they grow up

Sevens as Parents

* are often enthusiastic and generous
* want their children to be exposed to many adventures in life
* may be too busy with their own activities to be attentive

You're a Dim Bulb (And I mean that in the best possible way)

You're a Dim Bulb (And I mean that in the best possible way)
Email This Entry

Interesting short article about human brain by Carl Zimmer:

I have a fondness for collecting brain lore--memes about the wonders of the human brain that race around the world for decades. The classic of brain lore is the "ten-percent myth." As I wrote here, people often claim we only use ten percent of our brain, implying that we'd be supergeniuses if we could just switch on the rest. But that's just based on a misinterpretation of some studies in the 1930s. Actually, the energy consumed by the cortex is only enough to power one percent of its neurons at any time.

In a press release descibing the work of Stanford bioengineer Kwabena Boahen, I stumbled on another meme:

According to Boahen, the brain is capable of performing 10 quadrillion (that's 10 to the 16th) "calculations," or synaptic events, per second using only 10 watts of power. At this rate, he says, a computer as powerful as the human brain would require 1 gigawatt of power.

I searched for the origin of this meme, and discovered Paul Valery, an early 20th century poet and essayist. He declared:


The ultimate "computer," our own brain, uses only ten watts of power -- one-tenth the energy consumed by a hundred-watt bulb.

It's a claim that falls in that gray zone, the intersection of cool and crazy. So to see if it was actually true, I asked Bill Leonard, an expert on the evolution of human brains at Northwestern University. He responded thusly:

This is really interesting. The 10 watt estimate looks pretty close to being correct -- perhaps a bit on a the low side, but certainly in the ballpark.

In terms of calories, here is how the 10 watts translate:

10 watts = 10 joules/sec = 207 kcal/day for the brain

At 200-210 kcals, this is enough energy to support a brain of about 1000 grams, at the low end of the modern human range.

For an average size human brain -- 1300 -1400 grams -- the costs would be a bit higher -- between 250-300 kcal/day. However, this would only up the "wattage" to about 15.

So there you go. One urban myth survives the cold scrutiny of reason! Pass it on in the full confidence that it's true (not to mention amazing).

Some places i wanna go

Some places i wanna go

BKK:

I am thinking of paying a trip down to Siriraj hospital museum. :D anybody up for it? I think it won't take up much of the whole day right?

Excerpt from a forum:

on Friday, I went to Siriraj hospital museum ALONE. It's freaking scary in their anatomical museum! I wanted my bf to go with me, but he's not interested in museums, so I made the trip down myself. I almost wanted to run out of that museum, but I forced myself to stay calm and examine the exhibits. It contains different preserved body parts, lots of dead babies (unsuitable to view if you're pregnant), and 2 preserved human bodies. There was no one in that museum except myself! Inside is a smaller room with lots of human skeletons. There're a row of hanging human skeletons at the back with the picture of their deceased owners, I quickly walked past, and dare not really stare hard at the exhibits in case they move or something! Moreover, hospitals are known to be unclean. Aaaahhh! Go if you like such creepy stuff!

Their parasitical museum is also damn gross with jars of preserved dead worms found in human bodies like hook worms, whip worms, pin worms, round worms, tape worms. Yucks! I lost my appetite after viewing all these gross worms! Lots of worms, different sizes! Yucks!

I'm also thinking of going to RCA Plaza for the go-kart. According to the same person who wrote the above excerpt, she made 10 rounds in 10 mins. Dunno whether is it cos the tracks super short or what... but can go take a look right?

Also she recommended checking out the clubs near RCA like Route66.

Food:

Someone recommended buying Bologna pork with chilli. It's a round ham with chilli slices embedded in it. Yum! Much better than the paprika ham in sg (no kick that one) Even the non-chilli fan also recommend it. :)
Can buy at Siam Paragon or at Villa Market.

She also recommended ChokChai Farm Milk. Yummy! I will sure want to buy my Meiji Pandan flavoured milk too (not available in sg)

Anybody wanna add to the itenary of going where?
(Sorry ladies, I like kinda spoil sport hor, din want to shop the whole day :p I'm sure we can shop 1 whole day and reserve the next day to view some places of interest otherwise no point going to other countries for the sake of shopping right?)

Maybe we can take Yunxi's suggestion of going to the zoo too hee

I went to Dusit zoo on Saturday, surprisingly, I like it! I thought it's gonna be smelly and there'll be nothing much to see, and I wanted to go there to for boat paddling. But instead, the animals came out with quite funny antics. The orang utan knows how to beg for food, and hid when I was trying to take his picture. We saw a pair of monkeys grooming each other, checking each other eyes, noses, and teeth. Even the hippos were quite active and the baby hippo looks quite cute! We didn't have time to paddle boat since we arrived late.

What do all of you think? Others don't go is ok, but i wanna see my parasites and dead bodies! hahaha

Cafe Mutiny!

Cafe Mutiny!

Let's Strike! Protest! Riot! Havoc!

Krabi Trip

Activities we can do at Krabi

Provided the weather permits.

Sport activities

CANOEING
There are various establishments particularly on Ao Phra Nang and Railey beaches where you can hire canoes, either by hour or by day. A few charter companies in the area also offer canoeing expeditions along the coast or around the islands in the area.

SNORKELING, SCUBA DIVING and FISHING TRIPS are organized from most beaches, some offering canoeing in two-person kayaks, sailing and windsurfing. If some sport is not offered at your beach, you can easily take one of the regular long-tail boats to the next beach and probably find it there.

ROCK CLIMBING
This is a popular pastime in Krabi and the limestone cliffs in the area seem to have been created by nature for this very purpose. World renowned for the spectacular views and accessibility the cliffs of Krabi see flocks of tourists and avid climbers annually. One of the more popular, particularly with inexperienced climbers is the climb to see the Princess Lagoon and the scintillating views across the karst landscape both inland and out to sea that lies next to Railey Beach. There are fixed ropes to assist you at the steeper points, but most of it is a forest hike. Access is at the south end of either Railey East or Phra Nang beach.

Nightlife

Rocking at the Reggae Bar

The Reggae Bar on Phi Phi Island is the biggest, noisiest and probably the most fun. Measuring 25 metres by 75 metres, the bar is more of an entertainment complex.

as the smaller bars on the island close, the crowd moves into the Reggae. Spirited dancing and partying carries on through the night.

There are a few bars concentrated at the northern end of Ao Nang (just at the point where the road heads inland). Laid back and easy going with bottled beer and cocktails the order of the day. Most have outside drinking areas on the street - big comfy bamboo and cushioned chairs, music playing (loud but too intrusive). The @rt bar was our preferred choice (good cocktails) but the Reggae Bar across the road was always busy too.
There is the occasional rave organised, but this tends to be away from the main centre on a secluded beach and entails a boat trip.

Dress Code:
Shorts and T-shirts the norm
Nightlife Locations
Cat's Eye Bar
Ao Nang, Krabi Phone: (0) 7563 7710
260 Moo 2 Fax: (0) 7563 7720

Orchidae Beach Bar
Ao Nang, Krabi Phone: (0) 7564 4 3213
Klong Muang Beach 98 Moo 3 Fax:

Oscars
Krabi Town, Krabi Phone:
Soi 5 Maharat Road Fax:

The Safety Stop
Ao Nang, Krabi Phone: (0) 7563 7242
143 Moo 2 Fax: (0) 7563 7246

Viva Pizzeria Restaurant & Bar
Krabi Town, Krabi Phone: (0) 7563 0517
29 Prudsa Uthit Road Fax:


This is the nearest beach to our resort.
(I think we can ask the hotel ppl when the low tide is :) who knows maybe we can catch tiny crabs hahaha)

Hat Noppharat Thara

This beach is on the western side of the Krabi town. The park covers an extensive area of the main land and 80 islands including Phi Phi Islands.

20 km west of Krabi and 3 miles long, this beach is lined with a majestic Casuarina forest. The beach is a part of Koh Phi Phi National Marine Park. Just as in the case of Ao Nang , during low tides, it is possible to reach other islands in the bay on foot.

Extension of Stay in BBK

Please vote whether you would like to extand your in BBK for another day, that is to say we'll be returning on the 19 instead of the proposed 18 May.

Add your comments, votes, kinky ideas, whatever, in the 'comments' section.

Cheerios

Children Learn by Monkey See, Monkey Do. Chimps Don't.

By CARL ZIMMER
Published: December 13, 2005

I drove into New Haven on a recent morning with a burning question on my mind. How did my daughter do against the chimpanzees?

A month before, I had found a letter in the cubby of my daughter Charlotte at her preschool. It was from a graduate student at Yale asking for volunteers for a psychological study. The student, Derek Lyons, wanted to observe how 3- and 4-year-olds learn. I was curious, so I got in touch. Mr. Lyons explained how his study might shed light on human evolution.
Skip to next paragraph
Victoria Horner

Yoyo using a stick at the top and front of a black box, above, to retrieve candy inside after seeing a human do so. But seeing the same prize inside a clear box, top, Umugezi figured out the fastest way to the candy.

His study would build on a paper published in the July issue of the journal Animal Cognition by Victoria Horner and Andrew Whiten, two psychologists at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Dr. Horner and Dr. Whiten described the way they showed young chimps how to retrieve food from a box.

The box was painted black and had a door on one side and a bolt running across the top. The food was hidden in a tube behind the door. When they showed the chimpanzees how to retrieve the food, the researchers added some unnecessary steps. Before they opened the door, they pulled back the bolt and tapped the top of the box with a stick. Only after they had pushed the bolt back in place did they finally open the door and fish out the food.

Because the chimps could not see inside, they could not tell that the extra steps were unnecessary. As a result, when the chimps were given the box, two-thirds faithfully imitated the scientists to retrieve the food.

The team then used a box with transparent walls and found a strikingly different result. Those chimps could see that the scientists were wasting their time sliding the bolt and tapping the top. None followed suit. They all went straight for the door.

The researchers turned to humans. They showed the transparent box to 16 children from a Scottish nursery school. After putting a sticker in the box, they showed the children how to retrieve it. They included the unnecessary bolt pulling and box tapping.

The scientists placed the sticker back in the box and left the room, telling the children that they could do whatever they thought necessary to retrieve it.

The children could see just as easily as the chimps that it was pointless to slide open the bolt or tap on top of the box. Yet 80 percent did so anyway. "It seemed so spectacular to me," Mr. Lyons said. "It suggested something remarkable was going on."

It was possible, however, that the results might come from a simple desire in the children just to play along. To see how deep this urge to overimitate went, Mr. Lyons came up with new experiments with the transparent box. He worked with a summer intern, Andrew Young, a senior at Carnegie Mellon, to build other puzzles using Tupperware, wire baskets and bits of wood. And Mr. Lyons planned out a much larger study, with 100 children.

I was intrigued. I signed up Charlotte, and she participated in the study twice, first at the school and later at Mr. Lyons's lab.

Charlotte didn't feel like talking about either experience beyond saying they were fun. As usual, she was more interested in talking about atoms and princesses.

Mr. Lyons was more eager to talk. He invited me to go over Charlotte's performance at the Yale Cognition and Development Lab, led by Mr. Lyons's adviser, Frank C. Keil.

Driving into New Haven for our meeting, I felt as if Charlotte had just taken some kind of interspecies SAT. It was silly, but I hoped that Charlotte would show the chimps that she could see cause and effect as well as they could. Score one for Homo sapiens.

At first, she did. Mr. Lyons loaded a movie on his computer in which Charlotte eagerly listened to him talk about the transparent plastic box.

He set it in front of her and asked her to retrieve the plastic turtle that he had just put inside. Rather than politely opening the front door, Charlotte grabbed the entire front side, ripped it open at its Velcro tabs and snatched the turtle. "I've got it!" she shouted.

A chimp couldn't have done better, I thought.

But at their second meeting, things changed. This time, Mr. Lyons had an undergraduate, Jennifer Barnes, show Charlotte how to open the box. Before she opened the front door, Ms. Barnes slid the bolt back across the top of the box and tapped on it needlessly. Charlotte imitated every irrelevant step. The box ripping had disappeared. I could almost hear the chimps hooting.

Ms. Barnes showed Charlotte four other puzzles, and time after time she overimitated. When the movies were over, I wasn't sure what to say. "So how did she do?" I asked awkwardly.

"She's pretty age-typical," Mr. Lyons said. Having watched 100 children, he agrees with Dr. Horner and Dr. Whiten that children really do overimitate. He has found that it is very hard to get children not to.

If they rush through opening a puzzle, they don't skip the extra steps. They just do them all faster. What makes the results even more intriguing is that the children understand the laws of physics well enough to solve the puzzles on their own. Charlotte's box ripping is proof of that.

Mr. Lyons sees his results as evidence that humans are hard-wired to learn by imitation, even when that is clearly not the best way to learn. If he is right, this represents a big evolutionary change from our ape ancestors. Other primates are bad at imitation. When they watch another primate doing something, they seem to focus on what its goals are and ignore its actions.

As human ancestors began to make complicated tools, figuring out goals might not have been good enough anymore. Hominids needed a way to register automatically what other hominids did, even if they didn't understand the intentions behind them. They needed to imitate.

Not long ago, many psychologists thought that imitation was a simple, primitive action compared with figuring out the intentions of others. But that is changing. "Maybe imitation is a lot more sophisticated than people thought," Mr. Lyons said.

We don't appreciate just how automatically we rely on imitation, because usually it serves us so well. "It is so adaptive that it almost never sticks out this way," he added. "You have to create very artificial circumstances to see it."

In a few years, I plan to explain this experience to Charlotte. I want her to know what I now know. That it's O.K. to lose to the chimps. In fact, it may be what makes us uniquely human.

小强的杀手

ah ma: ah ee ar, de kua, wan yiew thua ka zhua.
(grandma: ah ee, look, the wasp is pulling the cockroach!)
that's what my ah ma told my mother when she spotted the emerald cockroach wasp.

Read here to find out more.

Cockroach zombies on the move!!.
Click on Roach-o-rama. (btw u might want to take a look at Might of the snail shell shield too)
Remember to up the volume to hear clearer.

Caution: Contains Viewing Material That May Not Be Suitable for Younger Cockroaches

Come on! Fight me! I'm a Huge Armour Fish

Come on! Fight me! I'm a Huge Armour Fish


This might still exists in our waters. (Not sure whether is it real or not but documentary looks very real - only watched last 10 mins of it :( happen to see the guy using bait to lure this baby)

Name: Dunkleosteus
Type: Placoderm fish
Size: 8 to 10m
Diet: Carnivore
Predators: Probably none
Lived: Late Devonian, 370-360 million years ago.

The Teeth -


It's looking at you!


Dunkleosteus looked like the violent brute it was: powerfully built and armour-plated round its head. It was streamlined and shark-like. Dunkleosteus lacked true teeth, instead it had two long bony blades that could snap and crush almost anything. Pigment cells suggest Dunkleosteus had dark colours on its back and was silvery on its belly.

This fish was anything but picky with its food. It ate fish, sharks and even its own kind. And it seems that Dunkleosteus suffered from indigestion as a result: its fossils are often associated with regurgitated, semi-digested remains of fish.

Dunkleosteus may have been one of the earliest animals to exist as male or female, meaning that pairs of fish had to mate physically.

watch the movie here.

And this, is the prey.


Name: Stethacanthus
Type: Cartiliginous fish
Size: 0.7-2m long
Diet: Carnivore
Predators: Dunkleosteus
Lived: Lived 370-345 million years ago, in the late Devonian and through the Carboniferous era.

And the teeth -


And the teeth -


Stethacanthus resembled modern sharks to an extent, except for its outrageous dorsal fin - the shape of an ironing board - that it seems was part of courtship display as it is found in the males only. The top of this fin was covered in rough, tooth-shaped scales that match a patch of skin on the Stethacanthus' snout. Was this supposed to mimic a huge mouth and make the creature appear more frightening?

Stethacanthus tended to patrol shallow coastal waters on the lookout for food. It ate small fish, crustaceans and cephalopods (eg goniatites).

There's evidence Stethacanthus may have been migratory, returning to particular places to mate and give birth. It could certainly swim quite fast, although not quickly enough to evade a hungry Dunkleosteus.

huge tadpole like armoured creature used as bait. Dunky over there came over to the cage n tried chomping on it whereby the bait fell to the ocean floor. Stethacanthus came over to inspect it, and both were chomped by Dunky. Wow! Dunky puke out all the armour plates and chain mesh that was wrapped around the bait. Nice.

Wanna know more? Watch arts central every wednesday 10pm.
(stupid arts central only view 1/2 hr each time)

Regarding Asia Hotel (BBK)

The form to Asia Hotel had been faxed(13/03/06) and Huifang had received an comfirmation email from them on the same day!

Hotel stay in BKK had been settled!

Cheers!!

Just to let you guys know that both payments had been made to La Playar.

Breakdown:
Deposit: 3500 THB (charged)
[3500THB = 148.62 SGD, Exchange rate used by bank: SDG1 = 23.55 THB]

2nd payment: 11200 THB (reflected and charged)
[11200THB = 475.58 SGD, Exchange rate used by bank: SDG1 = 23.55 THB]

Received the statements already.

Cheers

Hm, was thinking we guys should go workout in the gym

So that we will b in the best "Zhuang Tai" for the beach.

Do u wanna look like OR
HAHAHAH!

Krabi Trip Details

Krabi Trip Details

The tour will be from 14th May (sun) to 18th may (Thurs)
Ok since confirm number of ppl, each person will have to pay $312.

Details are below:

Tiger Airway $82.23SGD x 8 = 15709baht
Air Asia 1199baht x 8 = 9592 baht
Bus+train 10,004 baht
La Playar + van 14700 baht
Asia Hotel 1550 x 4 = 6200baht
van to airport 1150 baht

Total: 57355 baht
Each person: 7169 baht = $312 (we using 1 sgd to 23 baht cos credit card charge differently)

Just to let you know, we will pay the full amount for Asia hotel when we are there. The rest we'll be paying full. So the money transferred is excluding the Asia hotel stay.

Cheers!