Back to basics: Step 1
Arthur
JJC
Outgrowing 17
Dreamer
Poet
Lover
Atheist
Left-Handed Saggitarian
My passions: Step 2
Food
Company
Writing
Movies
Music
Debates
What i am: Step 3
Strengths:
Confident
Sensitive
Eloquent
Weaknesses:
Paranoid
Unorganized
Careless
Dreams of a globetrotter wannabe: Step 4
Paris
Shanghai
London
Gold Coast
Japan(Tokyo)
Rome
Taiwan
Hong Kong
New York
San Francisco
South Korea
Wishlist
My own domain
Scholarship
To publish a book
Want to know more about me?
Read my blog and you would start discovering fragments of me
P.S. All the works here posted belong to me unless stated otherwise. If you want to post them elsewhere, please seek prior permission from me before doing so. Thanks.
Layout: vehemency
Icon: reruntherace
Although the topic seems to be suggestive of a disseration or a General paper essay of sort but don't worry it's not. I got the topic from one of my GP papers though. I'm just gonna share my own personal experience about whether children are growing up too quickly. You see, i have an elder sister and she has a son who's about to attend K1 next year. If you do the maths, you would probaly figure out that he's four this year. Is he growing up too quickly? I think so. My sister sends him for tuition classes that are meant to prepare him for K1 and he has spelling tests every week. It's just 3 words per test but i think that can be a tat too much for a kid that's supposed to be enjoying his childhood. The worst thing is not the test but the expectations parents have of their children just like the expectations of her child. She wants him to get full marks for his spelling. Sure, you may say that it is natural for parents to expect their child to do well but i still think it's putting too much pressure on the kid.
Her reasoning for what she is doing is basically just to prepare him for the future and that if he dosen't start now, then when? It's a question that we often cite to try to get proscastinators to start early. True it may be, but for children, can this hold? I don't know. My mum dosen't agree with my sister's style of preparing my nephew for the future. Ironically, my mum did that same thing to me. I was bulldozed with spelling a year before i started K1 and a lot of homework when i was in primary school. My tutor basically drove me crazy and of course she drove me so crazy that i got her to quit. I did something. Lol. Shhh... =P. Ever since then, i haven't really taken up tuition because i think it's a waste of time. I think, personally, very few people need tuition and for the majority of the people, it's a matter of attitude not ability.
Are parents to blame then for trying to bulldoze their children with homework? I think they are not the only party that should be blamed although they are usually the first to be criticized. Why can't entrepreneurs be the one to blame? Why not the tuition centres and tutors? As much as they are concerned about their living and work in the education industry, it is them that create this supply. It is with this supply that parents are able to send their children to these school although the reverse also applies i.e. there was a demand thus a supply. But if the supply never arose in the first place, it may not even be a problem today. Of course, that's not being very rational in practical terms because if there's an opportunity, the natural response would be to grab it and make the best of it. But being opportunistic may just be being selfish because these people fail to consider the larger picture, which is the wider implications. BUT THE WORLD IS NOT ALTRUISTIC.
Labels: Children, Growing, Quickly
Carrot + Ginger + Apple - Boost and cleanse our system.
Apple + Cucumber + Celery - Prevent cancer, reduce cholesterol, and eliminate stomach upset and headache
Tomato + Carrot + Apple - Improve skin complexion and eliminate bad breath.
Bitter gou rd + Apple + Milk - Avoid bad breath and reduce internal body heat
Orange + Ginger + Cucumber - Improve Skin texture and moisture and reduce body heat
Pineapple + Apple + Watermelon - To dispel excess salts, nourishes the bladder and kidney.
Apple + Cucumber + Kiwi - To improve skin complexion
Pear & Banana - regulates sugar content.
Carrot + Apple + Pear + Mango - Clear body heat, counteracts toxicity, decreased blood pressure and fight oxidization
Honeydew + Grape + Watermelon + Milk - Rich in vitamin C + Vitamin B2 that increase cell activity and str engthen body immunity
Papaya + Pineapple + Milk - Rich in vitamin C, E, Iron. Improve skin complexion and metabolism
Banana + Pineapple + Milk - Rich in vitamin with nutritious and prevent constipation
Labels: Fruit Juices, Health Benefits
Groundbreaking research in Cancer. A possible alternative to curing cancer or reducing the growth of cancer cells WITHOUT chemotherapy devised by John Hopkins.
AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY (TRY THE KEY WORD) AND ELIMINATE CANCER, JOHN HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY .
1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.
2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.
3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.
4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.
5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.
6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastro-intestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.
7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.
8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.
9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.
10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.
11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply. CANCER CELLS FEED ON:
a.. Sugar, is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like Nutrasweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in colour. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt. ( THE WEST MADE US 2 CHANGE FROM SEA 2 WHITE IODISED SALT ).
b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro- intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soya milk cancer cells are being starved.
c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful,especially to people with cancer.
d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).
e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties. Water- best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.
12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrified and leads to more toxic buildup.
13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.
14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Florssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins,minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the body's own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.
15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, unforgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.
16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.
PLEASE READ ON :
1. No plastic containers in micro.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave. J
Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This info is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well.
Dioxin chemicals causes cancer, especially breast cancer.
Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies.
Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic.
Recently, Dr. Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Instead, he recommends using glass, such as CorningWare, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food.
You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons. Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.
Labels: Cancer, Chemotherapy, John Hopkins
This issue about Singlish being irrelevant and useless popped up in my mind today out of the blue. Our education system discourages the use of Singlish and promotes the use of English itself for a very practical reason, that being English is one of the most widely spoken languages. The same goes towards the increasing emphasis on the use of Chinese language with China rising.
But really, let us think about this. We have heard of various American slangs which are synonomous with our "Lah", "Leh", "Loh" in terms of function which is to achieve the desired impact through selective use of words.Why is it that we don't hear about the Americans trying to get rid of these slangs and replacing them with "proper" and "accurate" English? I would say it's because Americans are proud of it.
Language is an ever evolving entity, just like culture, which evolves with influence from external factors such as the country in question and it's historical background. It's just like how a fast-food restaurant won't have the same menu throughout all it's outlets in the world. Language is adapted and anything but static. This is however, not characteristic of the modern society that we live in today because modern English itself is a result of such evolution in English. We had Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English(The Language of Shakespeare) and now Modern English. In fact, even in Modern English, we have included words from those of French and Norman. Thus, we shouldn't see it as surprising that we have adopted modern english into Singlish.
Why is it that not many people understand Singlish as compared to it's counterparts such as American slangs? I personally feel it's probably a lack of exporting of our publications and the lack of influence of our language. This could partially be because we don't have a lot of established writers and probably also because what's written isn't interesting enough to attract international attraction.
This makes it almost impossible for us to have an identity associated to us in various forms such as language and various aspects because we simply just take what's pragmatic and of economic signifiance instead of trying to spread our beliefs and ideas. This would of course mean novelty is imperative for this to happen. Much of the problems associated to Singlish by academics probably wouldn't be a problem at all if we spread our influence and in fact would promote our identity. I think developing and promoting an identity is something that is coeval. When you promote an identity, you feel proud about it and devleop it in the process.
Why discourage Singlish?
Labels: Language, Singapore, Singlish
The Banana Test
There is a very, very tall coconut tree and there are 4 animals,
a Lion, a Chimpanzee, a Giraffe, and a Squirrel, who pass by.
They decide to compete to see who is the fastest to get a banana off the tree.
Who do you guess will win?
Your answer will reflect your personality.
So think carefully . . . Try and answer within 30 seconds !!!
Got your answer?
Now scroll down to see the analysis.
If your answer is:
Lion = you're a bit slow on the uptake.
Chimpanzee = you're a moron.
Giraffe = you're a complete idiot.
Squirrel = you're just hopelessly stupid
Read on.
A COCONUT TREE DOESN'T HAVE BANANAS.
Obviously you're stressed and overworked.
You should take some time off and relax!
Try again next year
PS. I hope that a laugh has helped to reduce some of those stress levels!
If you fell for the trick like i did, you are probably really careless like me as usual. LOL. Probably the kind that would make mistakes for MCQ questions if you are still a student.
The 70-year-old Chinese man who hand-carved over 6,000 stairs up a mountain for his 80-year-old wife has passed away in the cave which has been the couple's home for the last 50 years.Over 50 years ago, Liu Guojiang a 19 year-old boy, fell in love with a 29 year-old widowed mother named Xu Chaoqin..
In a twist worthy of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, friends and relatives criticized the relationship because of the age difference and the fact that Xu already had children.
At that time, it was unacceptable and immoral for a young man to love an older woman.. To avoid the market gossip and the scorn of their communities, the couple decided to elope and lived in a cave in Jiangjin County in Southern ChongQing Municipality.
In the beginning, life was harsh as hey had nothing, no electricity or even food. They had to eat grass and roots they found in the mountain, and Liu made a kerosene lamp that they used to light up their lives. Xu felt that she had tied Liu down and repeatedly asked him, 'Are you regretful?
Liu always replied, 'As long as we are industrious, life will improve.'In the second year of living in the mountain, Liu began and continued for over 50 years, to hand-carve the steps so that his wife could get down the mountain easily.
Half a century later in 2001, a group of adventurers were exploring the forest and were surprised to find the elderly couple and the over 6,000 hand-carved steps. Liu MingSheng, one of their seven children said, 'My parents loved each other so much, they have lived in seclusion for over 50 years and never been apart a single day. He hand carved more than 6,000 steps over the years for my mother's convenience, although she doesn't go down the mountain that much.'
The couple had lived in peace for over 50 years until last week. Liu, now 72 years, returned from his daily farm work and collapsed. Xu sat and prayed with her husband as he passed away in her arms. So in love with Xu, was Liu, that no one was able to release the grip he had on his wife's hand even after he had passed away.
'You promised me you'll take care of me, you'll always be with me until the day I died, now you left before me, how am I going to live without you?' Xu spent days softly repeating this sentence and touching her husband's black coffin with tears rolling down her cheeks.
In 2006, their story became one of the top 10 love stories from China , collected by the Chinese Women Weekly. The local government has decided to preserve the love ladder and the place they lived as a museum, so this love story can live forever.
There is a website created to feature one video weekly on Jeff Ma, Blackjack and how to cheat at it. It's not that i am trying to promote gambling here but it's always interesting to find out more. :D.
Jeff Ma used to give lessons on Card Counting and Black Jack Seminars but not anymore. Anyhow, this website still gives you an insight into cheating at Blackjack. The basis for cheating at Blackjack is actually the probability of High Cards(10,J,Q,K,A) or Low Cards(2,3,4,5,6) that will be drawn. When you see a high card, you -1 to the card count and when there's a low card, you add one to the card count. There are of course neutral cards(7,8,9) which are assigned a value of 0. Card counting is basically a lot of memory work and math. When the card count is high, it means the deck is hot because it would mean that there are a lot of low cards that had been dealt out and the likelihood of you getting high cards are higher and vice versa. When the card count is high, it is in favour of the players while if it is low, it is in favour of the dealer.
To cheat at Blackjack, you would probably need a few teammates and of course the Gorilla players. Gorilla players are the people who are signalled to go into the table to place big bets by their teammates who have been keeping track of the card count at the tables in the casino. The teammates usually signal the gorilla player into the table through hand actions such as placing both hands behind the chair or raising your arms etc. There are also usually code words to signal the card count at a particular table. You can devise your own. For the MIT team, Cheque=+21, Sweet=+16, Egg=+12.
To decide what you should do when given a certain card combination against the dealer's one, there is actually a table that you can memorise to decide if you should Stay, Hit, Double Down or Split. The last step to gambling or cheating would be how much you should bet. There is actually a formula too to decide how much you should bet. To decide how much you should bet, you need to divide your running count by the number of decks left(they usually have more than 1 decks at the table in casinos) which gives you your true count. You then have to subtract your true count by the offset(Gambler disadvantage determined by the House) then multiply what you get by your betting unit(the dollar value of your minimum bet) There you go.
To find out more, you can go to this website:
http://www.doubleplaytv.com/jeffma/
The MIT team actually has a website where you can find out more information if you want private mentoring sessions or seminars on Blackjack. Seminars can cost up to about $900 while private mentoring sessions go as high as $7000(But just think about how much you can earn). If you prefer to learn on your own, there are also box sets(~$135) and manuals($60) that you can purchase on the website. There are also Blackjack supplies you can buy such as the deck holder, felt and the cards of course.
The website for purchasing these is:
http://www.blackjackinstitute.com/store/index.php
Labels: Blackjack, Card, Cheating, Counting
I was reading this article not too long ago and i got a shock. Very soon, we would not be debating about whether we should legalise prostitution and sex tourism in some countries but whether we should legalise the sale of your heart and soul with the number of people putting up themselves and their connections for sales. This woman, Trabosh, isn't the first of her kind and in fact has several predecessors which have tried selling friends, job and body space.
Trabosh is a 42 year old single mother and works in the real estate market. She has been single for eight years and has been trying to sell her four-bedroom home in South Florida over the past year. She has tried anything and almost everything from eBay to Craigslist but to no avail. Despite being a licensed real estate agent, she hasn't been in the line for quite a while and is struggling with trying to sell her home. She allegedly claims that her attempt to sell her body as well was not a sales gimmick but because she really dreamt of being a fairytale princess. Fairytale princess? Perhaps she should be more practical and grow up. Maybe that explains why she is even divorced in the first place.
If you do buy what she says and commit to the deal, you would have to pay a whopping fee of $500,000 for shipping her which is not subsumed under the transaction for the house which cost about $340,000. Is a human worth that much? Is love worth that much? Perhaps. But it just dosen't come with any gurantee, does it? For all you know, she might just possess all the characteristics you hate and have one hell of a devil-may-care attitude which might just drive you up the wall. She wants to be a princess. Princesses are hard to fix, remember?
One of her daughters have expressed embarassment at her mom's act. I think i would be embarassed too if she was my mother. Don't you agree?
As much as websites like eBay ban the sale of human body and parts, perhaps something should be done about these... The world is just getting more ridiculous by the day as we start trading ourselves. Isn't the colossal amount of goods we trade in the world market enough? Obviously no. Just think about the recent organ sale in Singapore and the increasing number of people participating in organ trade and now, the human heart and soul. What's next? I can't imagine.
Labels: Body, Heart, Sale, Soul
Ah Beng bought a new mobile. He sent a message to everyone from his Phone Book & said, "My Mobile No. Has changed. Earlier it was Nokia 3310. Now it is 6610"
Ah Beng : I am a Proud, coz my son is in Medical College. Friend: Really, what is he studying. Ah Beng: No, he is not studying, they are Studying him.
Ah Beng : Doctor, in my dreams, I play football every night. DR: Take this tablet, you will be ok. Ah Beng : Can I take tomorrow, tonight is final game.
Ah Beng : If I die, will u remarry? Wife: No! I'll stay with my sister. But if I die will u remarry? Ah Beng : No, I'll also stay with your sister.
Ah Beng : People consider me as a "GOD" Wife: How do you know?? Ah Beng : When I went to the Park today, everybody said, Oh GOD! U have come again.
Ah Beng complained to the police: "Sir, all items are missing, except the TV in my house." Police: "How the thief did not take TV?" Ah Beng : "I was watching TV news..."
Ah Beng comes back 2 his car & find a note saying "Parking Fine" He Writes a note and sticks it to a pole "Thanks for complement."
How do you recognize Ah Beng in School? He is the one who erases the notes from the book when the teacher erases the board.
Once Ah Beng was walking he had a glove on one hand and not on other. So the man asked him why he did so. He replied that the weather forecast announced that on one hand it would be cold and on the otherhand it would be hot.
Ah Beng in a bar and his cellular phone rings. He picks it up and Says "Hello, how did you know I was here?"
Ah Beng : Why are all these people running? Man - This is a race, the winner will get the cup.Ah Beng - If only the winner will get the cup, why others running?
Teacher: "I killed a person" convert this sentence into future tens Ah Beng : The future tense is "u will go to jail"
Ah Beng told his servant: "Go and water the plants!" Servant: "It's already raining." Ah Beng : "So what? Take an umbrella and go."
A man asked Ah Beng why Ahmad Badawi goes walking in the Evening and not in the morning, Ah Beng replied Ahmad Badawi is PM not AM
I got to know this website through my chemistry teacher who told us about this website which is basically an online periodic table. It offers rather interesting information about the elements ranging from their biological roles to the person who discovered them and how the name came about. You can also find out the percentage at which they are found in in our body, in nature and also where are the places that they occur naturally at. It also has pictures of the compounds. Ever wondered how elements such as Francium and Strontium look like? Go check it out. :). It's all in one. A pretty convenient source of information if you want to find out more about elements if you happen to be studying chemistry.
Website: www.webelements.com
Labels: Chemistry, Periodic Table
Labels: China, Comics, Earthquake
It's youth day. What better way to celebrate your youth than to compose your very own song? I happened to stumble across this website about a week ago which allows you to compose your very own musical piece and it's user-friendly. No worries if you are new to music.
Firstly, you have to choose from three types of accompaniment namely two violin, four piece and metronome. An accompaniment is basically your background music. This saves you the trouble of having to compose the accompaniment yourself and allows you to focus on the main melody of the piece. For those of you who don't know what a metronome is, it is a sort of a device that gives off a beep or a tick tock sound at a regular interval. It's largely used for guiding people when they play an instrument so that they don't play the song off-beat. I don't know why it's available as an accompaniment though. It's kind of weird but you never know what you can make out of it.
Creating the melody is simply as easy as moving your mouse on the screen. The screen is basically divided into two parts. Those on the left side of the screen are notes that are not pitch adjusted(not that sweet) while those on the right side are pitch adjusted notes(sweeter in nature). You will get what i mean when you try it out yourself.
The upper part of the screen contains the higher pitch notes while the lower part of the screen contains the lower pitch notes. Depending on what kind of a note you want, you just have to move your mouse correspondingly to that location.The more often you move your cursor around, the more notes you would be playing.
For the melody, you get to choose from 4 different instruments namely two violins, viola and cello. You can use the keyboard to switch between the different instruments.
1-Violin 1
2-Violin 2
3-Viola
4-Cello
C-Clear
P-Pause
The music is recorded through a running loop playback which you will be able to see at the top of the screen. So, you don't have to worry about how to play two instruments at that very same second. :). Once you are done, all you have to do is to click on the save button at the bottom and key in your name and give a title to your own masterpiece.
You can also listen to variations created by others. There is this option, Browse Variations, at the bottom of the screen that allows you to do this.
I created my own piece too. It's titled "Walking in the dark" by Arthur. You will be able to listen to it under "Browse Variations"
Here's the website:
http://contrapunctus.thirdangle.org/
Labels: Composition, Music
I wasn't able to post the 5.12 Earthquake comics strip yesterday because i was out for the whole day so i would be posting two today instead. Comics 5 is not that clear... I apologise for that. Did my best to make it as clear as possible.
Labels: China, Comics, Earthquake
Labels: New Layout
Labels: China, Comics, Earthquake
1. Marriages are made in heaven. But so again, are thunder and lightning.
2. If you want your spouse to listen and pay strict attention to every word you say, talk in your sleep.
3. Marriage is grand --and divorce is at least 100 grand!
4. Married life is very frustrating. In the first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens. In the second year, the woman speaks and the man listens. In the third year, they both speak and the neighbors listen.
5. When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you can be sure of one thing: Either the car is new or the wife is.
6. Marriage is when a man and woman become as one; the trouble starts when they try to decide which one.
7. Before marriage, a man will lie awake all night thinking about something she said. After marriage, he will fall asleep before she finishes.
8. Every man wants a wife who is beautiful, understanding, economical, and a good cook. But the law allows only one wife.
9. Every woman wants a man who is handsome, understanding, economical and a considerate lover, but again, the law allows only one husband.
10. Man is incomplete until he marries. After that, he is finished.
11. A long married couple came upon a wishing well. The wife leaned over, made a wish and threw in a penny. The husband decided to make a wish too. But he leaned over too much, fell into the well, and drowned. The wife was stunned for a moment but then smiled, 'It really works!'
Labels: Marriage
Labels: China, Comics, Earthquake
21 is based on a real life story and features a group of students from MIT who collaborates with their maths professor to cheat at the classic game of Blackjack, thus the title 21. The students cheat in the game of blackjack by counting cards and using a slightly complex system of signals to communicate with each other in the casino to prevent themselves from getting caught counting cards. The whole story revolves around Ben Campbell, played by Jim Sturgess, who is a genius at maths aspiring to attend the Harvard School of Medicine.
Life is cruel and Ben has to pay $300 000 to go to Medical School but Ben can't afford it because his father died when he was young and his mum can't afford to pay for his education. Ben is then tempted by the alluring reward of winning at the casino when a group of students who were already in this business, led by their math professor, approached him. Following that, an interesting twist of events ensue in Sin City, Vegas as Ben takes up the offer.
21 runs for approximately 2 hours and is a rather interesting movie in my opinion. It gives a rather interesting insight into gambling, given the perspective that it was filmed from. The interesting plot line and unexpected twist of fate makes the movie rather enjoyable.
More information can be found on the official website:
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/21/index.html
Rating: 3.5/5
Labels: China, Comics, Earthquake
I have been a great fan of the Diablo series and in fact, almost all the games by Blizzard. Diablo is one of the three prime evils, the other two being his brothers Baal and Mephisto. The main storyline for Diablo 1 and 2 basically circulates trying to destroy these evils and it seems that Diablo has been resurrected once more in Diablo 3, although we don't know by who. There has been a progressive increase in the number of playable characters from 3 in Diablo to 7 in Diablo 2(inclusive of expansion set) whilei Diablo 3 offers 5 playable characters.
It seems that Diablo 3 would promise more interesting characters with one of the new charcters, Witch Doctor, which was announced as one of the playable characters. Along with Witch Doctor will be Barbarian, an all time-favourite in Diablo 2, retaining some of his original skills in addition to his new skill set. The question in all our minds now is who will be the 3 other characters because there would only be 5 playable characters(That's excluding any expansion sets, if any) It is highly speculated that the Witch Doctor would be replacing Necromancer since their skills are rather similar in nature. Would Amazon, Paladin and Sorceress who have appeared in both Diablo 1 and 2, although under different titles, appear in Diablo 3 or would they be replaced?
Other questions revolving round Diablo 3 would be when it would be released and whether it would be like WOW(Pay to Play) and whether that would deter some players from playing Diablo 3. Last but not least, the release date of Diablo 3 seems to be the burning question of all who are interested in purchasing Diablo 3.
New features include:
-New Characters
-New locations to explore
-New monsters
More information can be found on: http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/index.xml
A feed is also available for updates on Diablo there.
Labels: Blizzard, Diablo 3, Games, RPG
The 5.12 Earthquake also known as the Sichuan Earthquake(2008) is something that has been widely reported in the news. We've heard enough about the death counts. This contains some heart-warming comics potraying heroic virtues embedded within most of us. It is drawn by a resident living in Beijing,China.
This is an email i just received today morning and there's a message attached to the email along with 10 comics strips. I will be posting one here each day and the message below is unaltered to maintain it's authencity. Some stories are truly heart-warming. The hero in us awakens in the wake of disasters. Everyone has a hero inside of us, fast asleep. Perhaps, it's time we wake up and be a hero in our own right. The world is in need of heroes. We need heroes.
"Hello. This is Coco Wang. As you know the breaking news of 5.12 Earthquake in China, almost all the TV channels in China are broadcasting 24 hours non-stop of every development and stories of all the rescue operations in all damaged locations.
I don't know how much information the BBC or any UK media received from us, I imagine the UK audiences were presented with the major developments of the incident, but you are probably unaware of many important and inside details which are only known to people inside China. The amount of incredibly moving stories of victims, rescuers, and volunteers is simply shocking at the moment. I have been collecting newspapers of all the stories, and telling them in the form of comic strips. I hope these stories could show the UK readers the love, warmth and courage of the Chinese people, also the sad and cruel reality of the horrible 5.12 Earthquake.
I am back home in Beijing now. Thousands of heart-breaking stories are happening 24 hours non-stop everyday, some are so sad that you can hardly bear, some are incredibly moving that you just can't stop crying... I wanted to go to the front to help with all those people, some of my friends have already gone there, but I heard that the traffic needed to be kept totally clear for rescue transportation at the moment, people like me without knowledge of first-aid and experience of rescue operations going there now would cause choas and trouble... but I can't just sit at home and do nothing, I have been crying my eyes out in the past three days, I have never felt more proud of my country and people... their love, courage and kindness rock me to my core! I have decided to tell these touching stories by drawing comics. I am going to send you comic strips almost everyday from now on, I hope you could know something about the earthquake in China, although you don't have to do anything, but I hope you could feel our love and hope.
Thank you all so much.
Coco Wang "
The first comics strip in the series of 10
Labels: China, Comics, Earthquake