Lazy...

I've been kind of lazy lately... didn't write any blog... don't feel like working... just want to be doing nothing all day...


If you are like me... also don't feel like working... take a look at this "Joovc Doovde Player" video... It's funny!!!


I have a bet with co-worker today to start reading Bible from beginning... reading one chapter a day...
This is my Nth times trying to read Bible from beginning... but in the past N-1 times... I always have trouble reading past 利未記 Leviticus.... oh well... I hope I can finish reading the whole Bible this time.... hee hee...

British Race Car made from plants

The British Race car "Eco One" was designed by Dr Kerry Kirwan, a researcher at Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), and built by student Ben Wood over two months at a cost of £20,000 (approx. Cdn $43,177).

This car has been built using plants:
- the tyres are made of potatoes
- the brake pads are from ground cashew shells.
- the body is created from hemp and rapeseed oil
- it runs on fuel made from fermented wheat and sugar beet

Eco One is 95% biodegradable or recyclable, although its steering-wheel, seat and electrics comprise conventional materials. All the plastic components are made from plants. The chassis has to be made from steel for strength, but steel is a very recyclable material.

Powered by the engine from a Triumph Daytona motor-cycle, Eco One is capable of 150mph and does 0-62mph in under four seconds.

It will be on display at the National Science Museum in London from August 28 to 30.


Source:
Gizmodo
Daily Mail

How high can hellium balloon goes?

Jean-Sébastien Busque launched a hellium balloon with a video camera, a still camera, gps and a ham radio. It worked! Balloon got up to 28km +/-. It traveled about 100km east from the launch site (100 km south east of Montréal, Canada).



Look at the photos... They are amazing!!



Too bad this hellium balloon can't carry humans.... Otherwise, it would be nice to ride on that!! I guess we need to wear astronaut suit as well...

Starbucks stores

Comedian/Filmmaker Mark Malkoff attempts to visit 171 Starbucks stores in Manhattan in one day. He must make a purchase at every store and consume part of the product.


I've tried to find out from Starbucks Site how many Starbucks stores in Toronto. So, I search using the following criteria:
- Search Radius = 20 km
- City = Toronto
- Province = Ontario
There are 106 stores found.
Since Canada is such a big place, I don't think anyone can visit all Starbucks store in Toronto in a day.... hee hee...

World's smallest works of art

The following pin-head sized replica of the Lloyd's of London building has been sold for £94,000 (approx. Cdn $201,104) at auction. The model, an exact scale version of the architecturally renowned steel-and-glass structure that opened in 1986, took four months to create using white gold and platinum.

The tiny sculpture of the Lloyd's of London building

This amazing piece of work was created by micro-sculptor Willard Wigan. All of his art works are so small that must be viewed through a microscope.

The Statue of Liberty in the eye of a needle

The Thinker on a pinhead

Bart & Homer Simpsons on a pinhead

Can you imagine these art works are created by a person with learning disabilities?

"I’ve got learning difficulties. I can’t read or write. When you’re a kid and you have that problem, and I’m talking about 1962, the teachers were very ignorant, they didn’t understand. They’d always find a way of making you feel small in front of the whole class..."

"I decided to make this little estate for ants and then I started making furniture, see-saws, swings and little apparatus. From there, I got obsessed, thinking about all the other little things that needed things making. I thought there was little people living in the skirting board and that the tooth fairy needed something, and this miniature world was born. It was escapism for me. I escaped from the misery of the academic life."

Willard's misfortune actually leads him to his success in microscopic arts.
People with disabilities can be very successful!!
Next time you see a person with disabilities... Don't make him/her feel small!! ;-)

Interview of Willard Wigan
Willard Wigan site

Honesty Test

What would you do if you found a cellphone on the floor? Keep it or find its owner?

Well... I would be a good girl and try to find its owner... (^o^)

Reporters from the magazine Reader's Digest planted 960 "lost" cell phones in 30 public places in 32 cities around the world to test people's reactions in a cell phone honesty test. They rang the phone as people walked past and watched to see if people would answer the phone, take the phone and attempt to call someone in the pre-programmed contacts later, or simply pocket it.

The most honest city in the survey turned out to be the smallest city in the group, Slovenia's capital Ljubljana, where 29 of 30 cell phones were returned.

Toronto came second with 28 of 30 phones returned, followed by Seoul, South Korea, and Stockholm in Sweden.

Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur didn't do so well, tying for worst performance with only 13 of the 30 "lost" phones returned in each city.

Reader's Digest spokesman William Adler said while the study was not scientific, the results were interesting and indicated that people were more honest than preliminary interviews suggested. Many people predicted in preliminary interviews that return rates would be in the single digits but the average return rate on the "lost" phones was 68 percent. "People didn't expect a lot of good Samaritans," he told Reuters.

The survey found that parents with children were keen to show the right behavior and women were slightly more likely to return phones than men.


Source:
Reader's Digest
Reuters

Dog and Cat with a heart

A male chihuahua named "Heart-kun" has been born on May 18, 2007 with a perfect heart shaped marking on his back. Shop owner Emiko Sakurada said that this is the first time a puppy with these marks had been born out of a 1,000 that she has bred.


He is soooooo cute!!

Heart-kun:


Follow Heart-kun, here's a news clip on a cat with a heart-shaped mark as well.


I've tried to find more info about this heart-shaped marking cat, but...

Source:
Fox News

Ramen Baths

The Yunessan spa in Japan's hot spring town of Hakone has been offering a lot of amazing baths, such as a wine bath, a coffee bath, a shake bath, curry bath, and green tea spa, etc. Wow!! Now, it also offers noodle baths!!

Because of health regulations, the spa does not use edible noodles. But, the bath water contains pork broth supplied by a nearby noodle shop. Spa officials say taking a dip in the noodle bath is good for health as ingredients in the broth such as pepper collagen help improve the bather's metabolism and cleanse the skin.

A ticket that allows access to all baths costs about 3,500 yen (approx. Cdn $30).


It would be nice to try... I wonder what it feels like inside the noodle bath... hee hee...

Why can't we have something similar in Canada or HK? Congee bath... Wonton noodle bath... Shark fin soup bath... Abalone bath... hahahahaha....

video: Reuters

World's smallest humanoid robot in production

Japanese toymaker Tomy is showing off the 'Omnibot17u i-SOBOT' robot today in Tokyo. It is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's smallest humanoid robot in production. The 16.5 cm tall robot, powered by Sanyo Electric's eneloop nickel-metal hydride rechargeable batteries, is able to talk about 180 vocabularies and has about 200 different types of action patterns. The robot will go on sale in Japan for a price of 29,800 yen (about Cdn $258).

Wow!! The world's smallest humanoid robot!!
With a single charge, I wonder how long will the batteries last.
$258 is a bit too expensive. I guess I would buy it if it is under $100. (^0~)

video: Reuters

1:1 scale Gundam RX78

The Fujikyu Highland amusement park has a new Gundam attraction featuring a life-size, 1:1 scale version of RX-78-2 Gundam. Wow!! This attraction is openning on July 21st. This Gundam is 18 meters long and is the world's first 1:1 scale Gundam. Amazing!!
I wish that I am living in Japan now so that I can go... ( ﾟ ヮﾟ)
Why can't we have this in Canada?? woo woo woo.... (T_T)





Source:
Official Site of Gundam Crisis
Robot Watch
Anime News Network

Funny Story

I found a very funny story in the news today:
A German woman mistook a stuffed toy, inside a parked van, as a masked crook and called the police.
I am sure that the polices were laughing their heads off when they found that the crook was actually a toy beaver.... hahahaha.... I know I would if I am one of the police officers there....
I guess it's time for that woman to get a new pair of glasses.... hahahahaha...

...
Armed officers arrived in three cars and surrounded the van. What they found was a large toy beaver, strapped into the passenger seat.

A police spokesman said he struggled to see how the toy, which has two oversized front teeth, could have been mistaken for a person.
...
(To see full story: Reuters)

Vitamin C is useless for preventing or treating colds

According to the research done by the Australian National University and the University of Helsinki in Finland, vitamin C will not ward off common cold or shorten its length or severity for an average persons. Only individuals under extreme physical stress, such as athletes and soldiers, will benefit from Vitamin C by reducing their risk of catching a cold.

These findings are based on a review of 30 published studies involving 11,350 people who took at least 200 milligrams of vitamin C each day. The details of the study appears in the latest issue of the Cochrane Library, published by the Cochrane Collaboration, an organization that evaluates medical research.

Generally, the protection offered by the vitamin C supplements is so slight it is not worth the effort or expense, the researchers say.

Actually, I am not surprised about this. My family doctor has told me multiple times that vitamin C is useless against cold. However, when I have a cold, I still want to do something to eliminate it. Taking vitamin C pills may not work, but at least I am doing something. It just makes me feel better. I guess vitamin C has a psychological effect on cold:
taking vitamin C pill -> thinking vitamin C will get rid of the cold -> mentally happier -> body recovers faster -> body's immune system fights off cold virus -> cold gone -> body is healthy again


Source:
Scientific America
CBS News
Scotsman.com News

Bugs

Today is another debugging & fixing problems day at work...
As usual... I am debugging problems caused by other people and fixing other people's problem...
As usual... All problems are urgent and must be fixed by end of day...
Why?? Why me?? Those are not my bugs!! I wasn't even consulted when others added those things in the codes...
If more knowledgeable means fixing more bugs, may be I should consider being less knowledgeable.... Every time people ask me something.... I'll just reply "I don't know".... hahahahaha.....

Home Fitness

I thought I've fully recovered from my cold, but I am not feeling so well today. I guess the virus is still inside my body. (T_T) The battle is not over yet... Oh well... I guess I should get more rests and sleep early tonight...

Since I need to get more rests, I shouldn't be doing exercises in the Gym. May be I should do some home fitness exercises?? hee hee... (^_^)

Real Transformers

The Japanese has actually invented real Transformers... Well... a much smaller and dumber version of Transformers...
Anyway, Sam Witwicky is right in the Transformers movie! "Super advanced robots must be from Japan."



Source: Gizmodo

Transformers Movie

I've watched the Transformers Movie yesterday. It's excellent!! I think this is the best movie of the year... I am not a Transformers fans. Actually, I prefer Japanese robots anime, but this movie is a must see... incredible special effects... humorous... excellent computer graphics... I would give this movie 5 stars!!

The plot is simple:
The battle between the Autobots (good guys) and the Decepticons (bad guys) has destroyed their planet. Their origin "Allspark Cube" has fallen into earth many years ago. So, the Autobots and the Decepticons come to earth to look for it. Earth is now the new battle ground. Humans need to help Autobots to fight against Decepticons in order to ensure their survivals.

The plot is almost flawless. However, I do have one question:
The "Allspark Cube" created good robots (Autobots) and bad robots (Decepticons) in the original planet. Why does it only create bad robots on earth? After the video cam turns into robots, it tries to shoot people with machine guns and rockets. After the car turns into robots, it tries to kill the driver and passengers. How come there is no good robot created on earth?


Transformers Movie Web Site

Transformers @ ebay

eBay has a lot of Transformers Movie Props for bid. If you are a crazy Transformers fans, you might want to own those items...


Remember the Antique Glasses encoded with the location of the cube?
Current bid of that antique glasses & case is US $3,050.01. You might find more secrets from this pair of glasses... σ(ﾟｰ^*)

Remember the Allspark Cube which can turn all electronic devices into robots?
Current bid of that cube is US $40,800.00. You can take that home and see whether it can turn all of your electronic devices into robots or not... hahahahaha.... ( ﾟ ヮﾟ)

You can even buy Bumblebee on ebay. Of course, it is the old Bumblebee, not the transformed new Bumblebee. (>_<) Current big of Bumblebee '77 Chevy Camaro is US $30,100.00.


There are other items on eBay as well... such as Mojo’s Dog Collar (the ugly shiny blue collar), the little girl's Tooth Fairy Bag, Maggie’s ID Card, Autobots' licence plates, etc...

Actually, this is for charity cause. All proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Fisher House™ Foundation.

Something intesting about Transformers fans

A man in Ohio has legally changed his name to Optimus Prime.
(Click here to see what he looks like.)

A man in Seattle has legally changed his middle name to Megatron. He used to be known as Jason Michael Burrows, but on July 2, Jason went to the courthouse and stood before the judge, who "ordered and decreed" he change his name to honor his childhood hero, Megatron. So, His name is now Jason Megatron Burrows.
(Click here to see what he looks like.)

Would you change your name to be the same as a comic action hero?
I wouldn't.
May be I just don't have a hero that I like THAT much...

Humanoid robot Wakamaru

Isn't this robot cute and adorable? I love its smile...
Can you imagine this robot being the office's receptionist?

Well... This 1-meter-tall yellow humanoid robot is called Wakamaru, developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. Wakamaru can identify visitors, conduct a simple conversation and move by itself to take visitors along preset routes to rooms or other destinations while singing a song. Do you want one in your office?

A Japanese company, People Staff, is recruiting 10 of these Wakamaru receptionist robots to work at businesses and institutions in central Japan. The rental fee starts at Cdn $1,027 per day and costs about Cdn $25,667 for a year's service, which is about the same level of expenses necessary for a human worker.

It's kind of ironic. The company is called PEOPLE Staff, but it is employing ROBOT staffs.


Source:
Gizmodo
The Japan Times

The Most Expensive House For Sale In US

A Beverly Hills mansion has been advertised for sale at $165m, making it the most expensive residential property listing in the US. This mansion has 29 bedrooms, 3 swimming pools, tennis courts, a movie theater and a nightclub. It also comes with 6.5 acres of land that include four houses, an apartment and a cottage for the security staff.

Wow! US $165 million... When will I have that much money to buy such a house?
Time to go to sleep and dream about that...

Amazing Lego Arts

Flickr user Udronotto has created realistic 3D versions of fine arts and scenes of classic movies using LEGO.

Lego Nighthawks

Nighthawks (orig)

Lego Last Supper

The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci


Lego Graduates

The Graduate (movie)



To view all of Udronotto's creation, go here.

Source: Gizmodo

YouTube video embarrasses Google

Jimmy Ruska, a 21-year-old American, has posted a video on YouTube explaining how to use Google’s search engine to download music and ebooks for free. The video shows users how to do an "index of" search and how to direct Google's search engine to locate files from unprotected computer systems, such as university systems. “A lot of students use the web-space given to them by their university to share music with their friends,” said Ruska.

Ruska's formula also worked at Yahoo and other search engines as well. According to Ruska, music files could be downloaded this way far more quickly than from peer-to-peer file-sharing networks.

The video is potentially embarrassing for Google, which owns the YouTube video-sharing website. In order to prevent illegal music download, Google has long since disabled functions that were previously used to search for MP3 music files.


I couldn't find that video in youtube. Youtube might have removed it. However, I found it at another web site: King Nutter

Jimmy Ruska actually created a web site to help people download mp3, ringtone, and pdf from Google:
http://www.jimmyr.com/mp3.php


Jimmy's "index of" trick:
(For example: you want to search for a mp3 song called "No one knows".)

1) Go to google.com

2) Type the following in search box and perform search.
intitle:"index.of" (mp3|mp4|avi) No.one.knows

3) If you don't want web pages, type the following in search box and perform search.
intitle:"index.of" (mp3|mp4|avi) No.one.knows -html -htm -php -asp -cf -jsp

4) If you want to search for pdf in university sites, type the following in search box and perform search.
site:.edu intitle:"index.of" pdf

5) If you want to search for calculus pdf in university sites, type the following in search box and perform search.
site:.edu filetype:pdf calculus


Create shortcut in Firefox to perform the above search:

1) Perform step #3 in "index of" trick.

2) Copy the result url
e.g. http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla....

3) Press "Ctrl-B" to display the bookmarks page

4) Add a bookmark by right click and select "New Bookmark..."
Name = directory index
Keyword = music
Location=(paste url from step #2; scroll to the word "No.one.knows" and replace it with "%s")

5) Click Ok in the New Bookmark window.

6) In Google search box, type the following and perform search.
music No.one.knows

7) You'll get same result as the result in step #3 of "index of" trick.

Transformed into Simpsons

This are my looks in the Simpsons' World... (^_^)V



I like the second one that I created. The first one looks like Bart wearing lipstick and hair wig. (O_O；)

In the Simpsons Movie web site, we can create our own Simpsons Avatar. (^_~)
http://www.simpsonsmovie.com

Amazing Pixel Dance

Samsung sponsored dancers pull off an amazing coordinated pixel dance in South Korea.



In case you are interested in the song list:

1st Song (00.11) - "Go west" by Lazybone(Korean band)Remake from "Village people" by Petshop boys - Go west)

2nd Song(01.01)"질풍가도(Zil-poong-ga-do)" from some animated movie openning.

3rd Song(02:30)"Kang-Kang" by LPG.(Korean).

4th Song(03:40)"Worldcup Song" by Clone.

5th Song(05:20)Modern Talking - Ready for the Victory

A woman without arms

Today, a co-worker forwarded an youtube URL to me. It's about a woman who was borned without arms & hands. She now uses her feet to do everything. I do mean EVERYTHING!!
She is really amazing! Not even normal people can so some of the stuff she does. She has a family and takes care of everything in the house. She even helps farming too. Wow!!

God created us for a purpose. I guess her purpose is to show everyone in the world that everything is possible if you work hard!!

Taste of Lawrence

I went to the "Taste of Lawrence Festival" last Sat.
It was located on Lawrence Ave. from East from Crockford Blvd to west of Warden Ave.
According to the news, it had a 60 meters long salad made with Ontario grown vegetables. That's basically the reason why I wanted to go and see. Unfortunately, that event was over when I went there in the afternoon.

The marketing of this event was done very poorly. The www.tasteoflawrence.com web site never mentioned anything about the salad event, which was supposed to be a big event. Other web sites (e.g. toronto.com) also didn't mention anything about the salad. The only information I found was a Toronto Star article, but that newspaper article didn't mention the time.

If the marketing was done better, I am sure that lots more people will attend this event. Almost all of the people I know weren't even aware of this event. Whoever organized this event should definitely improve their marketing next year!!

Japanese emoticons

I've been using vertical and horizontal emoticons for years. I just thought there are two different styles of emoticons.

vertical:
:) :D
horizontal:
(^o^) (T_T)

Today, I stumble across a web site (Hiroette.com) that talks about the difference between the two. The vertical ones are actually Western emoticons and the horizontal ones are Japanese emoticons.
Personally, I think the Japanese emoticons are more lively and cute while the Western emoticons is simpler.

Here is a list of different Japanese emoticons that I found from various web sites:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
happy

(^0^)
(^_^)
( ﾟ ヮﾟ)
＼（○＾ω＾○）／

yeah!

d=(^o^)=b
(b^_^)b
d-(^_^)-b
b(~_^)d

peace

(^_^)V

angry

(＃ﾟДﾟ)

wink

(^_-)
σ(ﾟｰ^*)
ヽ(*’-^*)。

sleeping

(-_-)zzz
(~o~)zzZ

crying

(T_T)

questions

(･_･?)

struggle

(>_<")

Thanks

ｍ（．＿．）ｍ

Sick

（┐・・┌）
(>o<)
{{(>_<)}}
(°.....°;)

Depress

。：゜(；´∩｀；)゜：。
(´･ω･`;)
（；・д・）

Shock

∑(O_O；)
Σ(゜д゜;)
(；゜゜）
(◎◎；)

Laughing Out Loud (LOL)

(＾▽＾)
（⌒▽⌒）

Surprise

（￣□￣；）
(@_@)

Punch!

(>_<)○------(^o^)○

Panic

＼(>o<)／Gyaaaaaaa！

Words

~~~ヾ(＾∇＾)Good morning ♪
( ﾟ▽ﾟ)/ Good evening
(^-^*)/ Hello!
( ^_^)／ Hi！
＼(＾▽＾*)Welcoooome(*＾▽＾)／
(ヾ(´･ω･｀)See you later
(*≧▽≦)Nice to meet you ♪
☆彡(ノ^^)ノCongratulationsヘ(^^ヘ)☆彡
☆彡(ﾉ^^)ﾉ☆彡ﾍ(^^ﾍ)☆彡(ﾉ^^)ﾉ☆彡 Congratulations!!
(*^^)/｡･:*:･ﾟ'★,｡･:*:･ﾟ'☆ Congratulations!!
(*ﾟ▽ﾟ)/ﾟ･:*【祝】*:･ﾟ＼(ﾟ▽ﾟ*)
(*'∇')/ﾟ･:*【祝】*:･ﾟ＼('∇'*)
(*＾◇^)/ﾟ・:*【祝】*:・ﾟ＼(^◇^*)
(￣～￣;）Hmmmmmmmm・・・
(＞。≪)Ouch
(ﾟｰﾟ)(｡_｡)Yup yup
No(･_･ 三･_･)no
┐('～`；)┌ Don't know

Dancing

ヘ(^_^ヘ)(ノ^_^)ノ
o(^^o)(o^^)o
〜(^∇^〜）（〜^∇^)〜
┌(・。・)┘♪└(・。・)┐♪┌(・。・)┘
♪┌(★o☆)┘♪└(★o★)┐♪┌(☆o★)┘ ♪
☆＼(^０^＼) ♪(／^-^)／☆♪ ☆⌒

Love

(*ﾟ.ﾟ)(ﾟ.ﾟ*)

Thinking

（‐”‐；）
(?(｡_。).｡o0O?？
｢(ｰﾍー;)
(・・*)。。oＯ(想像中)

Bomb

(^-^)/(((((((((●〜*

Pig

（＾(●●)＾）
( ´(00)`)

Fish

<*)) >>=<

Cat

(=^･ｪ･^=)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Johnny's Hamburgers

I finally went to Johnny's Hamburgers for lunch today. This place was recommended by a friend a while ago.

Johnny's Hamburgers is located at the south-east corner of Sheppard and Victoria Park. I've passed by this interaction many times, but the small orange building never caught my attention. Driving into the parking lot is also a bit tricky, because you can only enter when you are driving north on Victoria Park.

Johnny’s Hamburgers is not a place where you'll find smiling waitress and comfortable seats. It's basically a take-out joint. There are no tables inside, only a few wooden picnic tables outside. But who cares about that... What matters is the food!!

The price is cheap at this place. I've ordered a cheese hamburger for $3. You can pick different toppings (e.g. onions, pickles, tomatoes, etc.) to put inside your burger. The tomatoes are actually very red and not watery. In addition, you can get fried onions too. I like onions but only the cooked ones. Most burger places only offer raw onions. This place actually offers fried onions. Wow!

My cheese hamburger tastes great! Unlike MacDonald's cheeseburger, which will blow away by wind, this cheese hamburger is fairly heavy. The patty is flavourful and juicy. The cheese slice is thick. The bun is fresh. I am full after eating that burger. I'll definitely come back for more!!


Johnny’s Hamburgers
2595 Victoria Park Ave., 416-491-7222.