The big guns…well…almost… for now…lol

I’ve always been a fan of gaming and graphics. Its been a while since I’ve been using my trusty xfx 8600gt. It was good, no complaints. Could play a variety of games including the more recent modern warfare 2 and also hawx. However it was starting to show its aging symptoms such as frequent overheating and a lack in performance when playing new generation games such as assassin’s creed II and NFS shift.

It was time I’d decided, time to once again…upgrade… little did I know that this upgrade would literally take my pc to a whole new level. Anyway, it all began with my regular surveys and reviews on graphic card. Being an nvidia user all the way, I though it was only wise to stick to it. But after comparing and reading more reviews as well as taking benchmark tests, ATI proved to be more of a better buy compared to Nvidia. In the end it was a battle between 2 cards, the xfx 9800gt and the xfx hd4850.

In other words, it was a battle between Nvidia’s Phsyx feature and ATI’s AA capabilities. In the end…went for the ATI. Thought would just give it a shot and see how much better…or worst… it might be when compared to nvidia. Bought it from a shop and damn,….the box looked gorgeous. Packing was good, and the card is huge!…well… it seems huge because my casing is a rather mid sized one. lol. As far as graphics go, the 4850 really did proved itself much more worthy than nvidia’s 9800gt. It’s no surprise though…with 800 stream processors packed in the ATI card, there is no defeating its 24x AA capability.

However my card’s performance was capped by both my motherboard and processor . Games still lagged a little and I couldn’t take it. I decided to upgrade my processor from a dual core to a quad core…being an amd fan. I decided to go the amd athlon II X4 635 processor. It was worth the buy, the game went smoothly. Now as for the motherboard, my mom wanted to give me dad a pc as a bday present. She insisted on building one. I managed to find a good MSI motherboard with AMD/ATI chipset. My previous motherboard was an asus with Nvidia chipset which didn’t really click along that well with the ATI card. So with the new motherboard, came a new ram. Since my old board was DDR2 and this new one is DDR3.

So, my entire system has been changed yet again and I don’t see any signs of stopping anytime soon! =) Here are some pics to indulge in =)

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A glossy box…the trademark of XFX’s packaging..

The big dog now…against the big dog then

Very well packaged and well designed

Neatly arranged to conceal the hidden power underneath

The sleeping dragon awakening

Awesome and effective heatsink design by XFX

Just to give you a perception of how big this card was

3 way crossfire capability…coming soon! ;)

Blood Donation Drive

On 24/8, the interact club of acs ipoh held a blood donation drive. It was only natural that the interact club was in charge of it as it has always been throughout the years. This was also something personal for me as i always wanted to donate blood and more importantly, this was my last round to plan and conduct a school activity on behalf of the interact club.

Preparations were made 1 day earlier. The location was the ever famous Horley Hall and the school cleaners were kind enough to sweep and mop the place on the 23rd. Before that, numerous phone calls and faxes were made between us and the hospital’s blood bank.

Finally the day arrived, 24th august.  We were reminded to take a good and heavy breakfast as the blood donation drive will commence between 9am to 1pm. In the midst of all the chaos that was going through my mind that morning, i forgot to even take a drink before i left for school.

It was to my relief that i found out that none of my board members ate due to the final preparation hassle. So after further cleaning of the hall, we all had our breakfasts at the school canteen around 8.30am. At about 8.45am, the ambulance arrived with all the necessary equipments and human resources.

We soon found ourselves in the middle of a coordinated mess when we were setting up the stretchers and the necessary equipments. As soon as that was done, we, the coordinators of the program decided to officially start the drive by being the first one to donate. Donating first means that we can also keep an eye on the situation later when all the other students come to donate.

So we all filled up our forms and then we were undergoing a basic physical checkup which included a blood pressure test, temperature test and weight test. After that, we were pricked on our fingers to determine our blood type and hemoglobin count.

After the all ok, we were given a booklet for further donation. Now i was finally on the stretcher. Having the basic fear of needles. I decided to just close my eyes and see what happens. i was injected with a surface anesthetic and it wasn’t one bit pain…surprising. My heart went chaotic when i saw the size of the needle that was gonna be used. I just made a brave face and before i knew it, the needle was in and I was donating blood.

I soon found myself laughing and talking along with my classmates beside me and also I was happy that all our hard work and planning paid of. Soon the blood bag was full and the needle was removed. I was asked to rest for a while and then i was back to normal and monitoring the rest of the situation with my friends.

The day went smooth and we managed to obtained around 70+ bags of blood. A successful program all together. Thanks to everyone who helped and more importantly to everyone who donated.

 

 

There’s always time for a picture before anything starts..

Arrival of the ambulance

 

All the necessary equipments

Setting up…

A helping hand from everyone

all the part time nurses of the day

well..it doesnt hurt to help now does it?…

bringing in more equipment

now that’s a girl’s job

singing up…

there’s always time for a picture in between all the mess :D

Arrival of the hospital staff

blood pressure test

everyone had to go through it

blood type test and hemoglobin count test

donating time

injection of anesthetic without face

injection of anesthetic with face..lol

A much more relaxed face…

The “ i’m high” face

it was pretty ok…

the pleasure of donating blood

that’s a lot of blood guys..i think

see…it doesn’t hurt.. you can still give a pose for a photo :D

Common yet uncommon..

Plane liveries don’t really catch our eye. Its not something that makes us awe, maybe because of its plain and simple appearance. Its also cheaper to keep things simple and amount of colours to a minimum. After all, a plane does require a few hundred litres of paint to be painted fully although the paint coating is less than 3 millimeters thick.

But there are some planes out there that makes you say wow because of their paintwork. These liveries range from cartoon characters being painted to the plane to special themes or events. here are some famous ones that are bound to make you admire they’re paintwork…

Japan Airlines’ (JAL) Disney's livery… to promote Disneyland in Tokyo, Japan.

Another Disney themed JAL plane. Both are 747-400s.

An Alaskan airline 737-800 with yet another Disney livery.

Another Alaskan airline 737-800, but this time, themed with the “make a wish” theme which includes the famous blue genie from the cartoon Aladdin.

Western Pacific’s Boeing 737-400 with the Simpson's livery.

A McDonnell Douglas MD-83 with the official FIFA 2010 livery.

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER with the Freedom Of Space livery. Short name, Heliconia. Regarded as one of the most beautiful plane out there.

A Malaysian Airline Boeing 747-400 with the hibiscus livery.

A continental Boeing 777-200ER with the Peter Max livery. This livery is meant to commemorate Peter Max for his iconic style during the 60s.

An Etihad Airways Airbus A340-600 with the 2009 F1 Abu Dhabi theme.

An Air Asia Airbus A340-300 with its Oakland Raiders theme.

So there you have it. Beautiful aren’t they?

How to avoid ghosts in hotel rooms

Ever had those pesky calls at night when your sleeping in a hotel?... You wake up and answer only to hear no one on the line or maybe a mysterious eerie voice asking you to get your ass out? If your one of them, read this to avoid those friendly people of the dead from disturbing you in any hotel ever again! This was from an email, caught my attention so i decided to share it..

For single hotels, there is at least one permanent room which should be left vacant at all times. No matter how full the hotel is, they are not to sell that room(s) to any guest. It is said that the special room is 'reserved' for those 'special visitors'. So, if you plan to stay in some hotel, always book in advance. Try to avoid walk-ins. If the receptionist tells you there's no more room available, do not insist to get one anymore or try to bribe them to give you a room. If you do that, most of the time the room you have will be that 'special room'.

Sometimes those 'special visitors' might go to other rooms also, so here's some tips on how to protect yourself.
Before entering your room, always knock on the door first, even if you know the room is vacant. After you enter the room, if you feel very cold suddenly and have'chicken spore', leave the room quietly immediately and go to the reception to request to change room. Most of the time, the receptionist will understand what's happening.

After you enter the room, immediately switch on all of the lights, and open the curtain to let the sunlight in.Before you go to bed,arrange your shoes so that one of them is upside down.. Some say this represents yin and yang to protect you while you're asleep. Always leave at least a lamp on while you're sleeping, preferably the toilet lamp..
If you' re staying alone and they have give you a twin bed, do not sleep with the other bed vacant, try to put your things, like luggage, on the other bed before you sleep.. or you might find one white sexy beeyatch to get laid with...but not in a nice way.

Here's another tip. When you enter your hotel room,look for the Bible. Most hotels place the Bible inside a drawer, however, if upon entering, you see the Bible on the table, DON'T STAY IN THAT ROOM. It means 'special visitors' are there.If you see the Bible opened up on the table, LEAVE THAT ROOM IMMEDIATELY and request for a change of room! It means the 'special visitor' is really creating trouble in that room!

Now for those of you who prefer cinemas instead of hotels, here are some advise for you movie junkies as well...

Do not attend the first screening of any movies in the cinema. By the first screening, I mean the first time the movie is shown in that particular cinema. What's the reason? The first screening is meant for the 'special visitors'. However, if you insist on going, then sit somewhere in the middle. The first and last rows are reserved for 'them'. Be warned....

Well my dear readers, so now you know how to defend yourselves in hotels and cinemas, that is, if you think you have not wasted 5 precious minuted of your life reading this =).

Back To The Future

It doesn't really end up as a priority in anyone’s life, but yet, we often sit down, gaze upon the heavens above and ask ourselves, is time travel really possible? Can i make a time machine and go back to see my great grandfather or go forward to see my great grandson?Well, the answer is..YES. But for now, you can only travel to the future. Dont be jumping with joy just yet, you aint going nowhere anytime soon.

Before 1905 there wasn't much to say about time. In the 17th century Newton defined time as something that continues, no matter what, without any link with reality and according to its own nature. Everybody believed that time had its influence on the environment, but if you believed that the environment had its influence on time, you really had to be mad! That changed in 1905 with Einstein's special relativity theory, in which he showed that time can be influenced. But this doesn't mean time can be changed in such a way that you can travel to the future or the past.

Einstein, based on a few experiments, showed us that time can actually slow down or speed up based on 2 factors, gravity and speed of light. The more closer you place a clock to the earth’s center, the faster time runs. This has been demonstrated by noting that atomic clocks at differing altitudes (and thus different gravitational potential) will eventually show different times. The effects detected in such experiments are extremely small, with differences being measured in nanoseconds.

Another theory states that, time slows down as an object accelerates. Time will stand completely still if an object were to travel at the speed of light. Take for example, an express bus moving along the freeway at 100 km/h. If you were to stand stationary, you will see the bus move across you at 100 km/h. However, if you were travelling at 100km/h beside the bus, the bus would appear stationary. Thus is you were to move at 101km/h, you will slowly but surely overtake time (the bus) itself.

Time is space is called spacetime. This spacetime is usually distorted by matter. It curves around matter thus taking a longer route.

In the picture above, time is represent by the grid and the matter is represented by earth. As matter distorts time from its path, it curves, thus slowing down the speed by increasing its travelling distance from one point to another. To put things in perspective, here’s another example. If you are travelling a total distance of 200km on A STRAIGHT ROAD, you are guaranteed to reach faster than taking a windy road towards your destination. This is because the straight road has less distance compared to the windy road even though both the roads have a same displacement of 200 km.

Here’s a 2d picture of how time bends with the presence of matter nearby in space. Now, if we were travelling using the displacement of time, and not the distance, we would have overtaken time and thus, travelled to the future. Another good example of distance vs. displament can be shown by an ordinary 15 cm plastic ruler. Take the ruler, and bend to a “n”. Notice that to travel using the distance, it would be a full 15cm. But if you take the displacement route to get from one point to the other , the distance is only about 7-8cm. This is the theory Einstein had put forward and it has been proven over and over again by both mathematicians and physicist.

In fact, Cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev holds the world record for TIME TRAVEL. He traveled 0.02 seconds into the futureThere's no time-traveling phone booths. What Avdeyev did to travel in time is to orbit the Earth 11,968 times over the course of 748 days in the Mir space station. By the time his stint in space was over, he had experienced 0.2 seconds less than the rest of the world did.This made him 0.2 seconds younger than he would have been if he had never gone into space. To put it in another way, he traveled 0.02 seconds into the future.

There you go, not the ideal thing but hey, its travelling through time man!

Hot, hotter, hottest..

 

How many times have u gone… “Oh @*%$..i ate a chili!!'” Its weird that many of us know that its hot without knowing the reason for it to be so… Well, chilies have a little secret weapon in them called capsaisin. It is an irritant for mammals including humans and it produces a burning sensation when in contact with tissue. Now i’m assuming your next question would be… why do chilies vary in hotness?… Well its simple really… the answer is simply because, chilies have a variety of species just like any other plants.

How are the hottest chilis determined? Believe it or not, the most common test involves human taste-testers. In the “Scoville Organoleptic Test”, chili extract is diluted in sugar water until the heat of its spice is no longer detectable to a panel of tasters. The resulting heat rating, measured in Scoville heat units, is a measure of how much the chili had to be diluted. “The hottest chiles, such as habaneros, have a rating of 300,000 or more, indicating that their extract has to be diluted 300,000-fold before the capsaicin present is undetectable.”

For normal human beings like me and you (i hope)… the normal bird-eye chili or “cili padi” is enough to send you spinning through space and back, the ranking of the bird eye chili in the Scoville scale is just a mere 50,000–100,000. It sounds alot but in fact its nothing compared to its other species. The most plain chili would be the bell pepper or known to most of us as… capsicum.

Now for those slighty weird ones out there, there is something that may satisfy your hunger for stomach ulcers and gastritis. Bhut Jolokia or Ghost Chili is commonly regarded as the world’s hottest chili pepper. Measuring at not 100 or 200 thousand units… but an ass-whooping 855,000–1,075,000 units. Now thats one way of commiting suicide. Also, in some places, bhut jolokia is also known as naga jolokia. Its origin is from northeast india.

So the next time you curse over those dreaded chilies that make it in your mouth… spare a thought on how it works and be thankful all you normal people that the pepper in your mouth is no ghost chili =)

 

BELL PEPPERS For weenies only
	BIRD EYE PEPPERS / CILI PADI Enough to send most of us   flying  without wings
Bhut jolokia/ Naga jolokia… Not something you should try before signing up for life insurance