Back from Thailand. Pretty packed holiday and activity-filled! Did a lot of walkin too=P

But definitely had a lot of opportunities to shoot away..=)

Here are some of the photos....using flickr this time.

These photos are taken with a Canon D300. Lens: 18-200 Nikkor VR2.

Once again, I've compressed the photos to about 1mb each,for uploading purposes.

Played with the shutter for this. Opened it long enough to isolate the group---cuz they were not moving as much relative to the others.
































Kinda like this scene cuz it shows bangkok in a photo----tons of new buildings springing up from all the broken down alleys and shophouses. Was walking back to the hotel when I came across this broken down building with the high rise at the background. Moved a bit to get the shot.

And the happy pple under the building=)





Busy bangkok street. beware the FRIDAY JAM!















Really fast tuktuk.









vespa=P





































Really cute kid who posed for us!:)










Multi coloured hats!



















Really really love this photo. Was queuing up at the customs when i took this shot. SADLY, i was only allowed one shot before the immigration officer came over and told me NO CAMERA. I went oh, snapped one more and kept my cam. Anyway, this was taken around sunrise at the Bangkok airport with 2 passengers waiting and talkin behind the frosted glass with the sun rising in the background.

The next few photos were taken at the boarding area. The lighting was really good. It was like shooting with studio lights. that plus the architecture was realli nice.

(decided to backdate this post)

Some random thots tonight...tho I should sleep soon for GP posting tmr....

Shant talk about all tts in my head, but i think ill leave some words here for awhile and maybe delete this post later.

A few months ago, there was this article online talking abt medical students wearing labcoats to foodcourts. I guess most of us would be familiar with that issue---the flaming, the accusations and the mudslinging. I won't cover the issues nor narrate the proceedings. But i wonder why noone actually just took a step back and thot tt it takes 2 hands to clap. Why are we so defensive as to clear our name/our reputation? Interesting how soo many people took part in the forum, accusing each other and hiding behind the powerful tool of "us", "the people", "the community", "the public", "the stomp community", "medical professionals", "educated people". Who are these people? The all so ominous "them". I hate it when people say I heard from "people" that you did etc etc" Who are the "people"? Take a stand and make YOUR opinion.

More importantly, why didnt some of us just think objectively? We are medical students, and we "know better" (which sooo many random "homeguy289" or "u0XXXXXX" matric number user ids have commented), and that our labcoats are not harmful, but instead of "rubbing it in", why dont we take that point further and think----No matter how hard we educate the public about the so-called sparkling cleaniliness of our labcoats, there will always be at least one person at the food court who wont be educated about it. There will always be someone who will think that they are harmful...and there's nothing wrong about that (tell me that there is noone in our medicine faculty that goes home and washes his labcoat with bleach?). So why couldnt we take tt conscious simple step of taking off the labcoat when we go to the food court. Instead of standing up and fight, why didnt we back off? It was and is a simple issue of misunderstanding.

Sure, the words were hurtful, accusing and at times infuriating, but if we just concentrate on the words and not on the content, then it'll just end up as a tit for tat (which was what most of the comments were about, misconstruing words and attacking each other with subtle, hurtful, proud condescending tones). In fact, like it or not, it is a rule for us to take off our labcoats, and also not to wear scrubs out of hospital compounds. I think most of us would comply to it, but please do forgive us if we forget.

Initially, when i heard abt this article, i thot maybe it was at some poor sod who had a long day and was rushing to buy his food and had the whole world crash on him instead. But after reading the comments, it was obvious that it wasnt a minority. It wasnt just abt the poor sod who forgot to take off his coat, it was a majority who felt strongy against not being able to wear labcoats out (evidenced from the online comments and from talking to others). We even had random matric numbers specifically demanding from our dean as to why we couldn't just wear our labcoats out now that he publicly announced that our labcoats aren't harmful. Seriously. You're missing the point.

To put it crudely...."This issue isnt about you, it's about how the public perceives us and our labcoats...and like it or not, we have a duty to the public. The issue at hand isn't about your inconvenience, neither is it about public safety (cause it has been addressed that there is none), the issue is HOW TO PREVENT SUCH MISUNDERSTANDINGS FROM HAPPENING AGAIN..such that these ugly scenarios will not happen again"

There are 2 ways to solve this....1) educate the public and 2) dont wear our labcoats and remove the possibility of misunderstandings.

It's obvious which one can be controlled. As to the random matric numbers selfishly accusing the dean for so cruelly inconveniencing your life by making us remove our coats outside....we wear these coats for only 3-4 years, the dean and the staff has been bringing up students, who wore these coats, for decades, and just because we missed the point, I am pretty sure the pple who came up with this decision did think abt it. Think a bit harder next time and I am pretty sure we'll see that there's always another side to things than just inconveniencing ourselves.

Another interesting article was about the principal who tried to convert his canteen into a muslim-friendly canteen. Sure, it was a wrong decision, made due to a misunderstanding, but it was with the best of intentions. And being typical singaporeans or maybe typical humans, we had to blow it out of proportion with numerous pple even accusing others of islamizing the world. Well, it's 4 am and i think if i start on this, i wont be able to wake by 7 so i wont say much.

In a nutshell, it was about a principal who thot tt there are 2 groups of pple---one who could only eat certain things, and another group who could eat everything. So why not cater to the smaller group and have everyone able to eat everything and mingle with everyone? If you ask me, that sounded like a very noble notion. But the problem was he forgot to think about the flipside of the issue---rights. The muslims didnt have to give up their rights by being in the common shared area (they are not forced into a certain diet or restricted in any way tt might affect their beliefs), and likewise, the other races, too, should not be forced to give up their rights by being in that common place.

Once again, it was a case of misunderstanding, when I am sure that he had the best of intentions. The fact of the matter is.....if we were tolerant and willing to sacrifice a bit, others would be able to benefit from our sacrifice..and who is to say that we too won't enjoy it? It IS a fact that if I go to banquet with a group of friends, our muslim friends will benefit. (please...this has nothing to do with Banquet "islamizing" the world. (seriously??.......)---which i think was a pretty smart business move). It IS a fact that if I go to an indian restaurant, everyone can eat everything without worry of things containing beef. And this goes for vegetarians and those with food allergies....or maybe as simple as someone who does not like a certain kind of food. Just unfortunate that this had to be about something sensitive like religion. Sadly, it is obvious that most of us are unwilling to make those sacrifices. I guess it's human psyche to hold onto our differences, such that we are different and unique (superiority feeling? dunno...). Sadly, most of us are unwilling to sacrifice just a bit, even if it's for the greater benefit of others.

Ok...shall stop here. Some random thots from the past cuz i came across some scribbles.

Good night.

Nobody wants to be a bad person.

3/09/2008 03:04:00 AM


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Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Sentosa outing=)

Well, as usual there is no such thing as free stuff....I think I will just go back to compressing my raw photos into super compressed ones and upload it onto blogger. These images are around 1MB=) If any of you want the original image, which is about 7-12.5MB in size, just drop me a msg? Otherwise i think these are pretty ok...=)

Here are some photos of Sentosa on Tuesday....pretty good weather=) considering the rain cleared for us...but the water was really cold!

(haha....these are the "vetted thru" set=P)






















Leaving in a few hours time to Bangkok! Armed with Lonely Planet's "Southeast asia on a shoestring--Big trips on small budgets"! Li got a whole set for freaking cheap....for around 10 bucks? courtesy of Ebay=)

Ok, have to finish my packing SOON! That and clean out Spiff's tank...poor guy, I totally neglected his cleanliness during the exam period=S Well, at least it's clean now...





I think Ill bring both my cameras to bangkok, my trusty hp and the D300. Realli weary abt bringing the slr=S

Enjoy the remaining hols everyone!=)

3/05/2008 09:40:00 PM


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Monday, March 03, 2008

Random photos..=)

Random photos from the past week=)

the following fotos were koped from huilin=)

Am quite happy=) cuz my radio is working really well after buying the connector from sim lim=D But it was like $2.50 for that small piece of metal (2cm only?) whao!....quite ex! even for sumthg gold plated?=S And, hdmi cables do come in 10m and 15 m lengths. Plus they have built in amplifiers that repeat the signal=) sadly they cost 200 plus dollars! whao...=S And anybody wanna buy ram? 29 bucks for 1gb:)

Anw, have fun with ur new SLR, yansheng!=) Welcome to the club=)

3/03/2008 11:29:00 PM


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Sunday, March 02, 2008

Sunday...=)

Met up to "discuss" about the Thailand trip which we'll be goin for in a few days time! but didnt get any discussing done. heh. Anw, lynette's dad cooks really good beehoon and prawns.=)

Some of the photos below were taken with the D300 and some with my rebirthed digicam.

Spent my whole day stoning in my room..that and rewiring & covering up some wires . What started out as a little room-improvement has become like an ongoing project to design a system of wires and relays to connect my whole room=) My only final project would be to build my CPU (cum server) to replace and compliment my laptop=) Everybody keeps asking what the hell do i wire up in my room? So I shall ramble a bit on my current (weird) hobby for now.

Actually more or less everything is what i want them to be and the wirings are also more or less where I want them to be. Plus they're also more or less the best that the tech scene has to offer? As in even if i do change the hardware, there will be little change in the cables/sockets.

Okay....some of the stuff that I've installed....I've installed analog cables, digital cables, telephone cables, ethernet cables, stereo cables, starhub cables, USB extensions, digital radio antennas, component cables, composite cables, S-video cables and other random wirings. That and tons of random power sockets all over my room...heh. (the hard part isnt connecting the random wires, but doing it in a way that they are all hidden and to ensure u dont overshoot the max length for quality, esp for digital cables...more importantly, sourcing for parts and good quality cables at low prices...im still not nuts enuf to go spending hundreds of dollars)This is on top of the standard stuff like webcam, external hard drives, scanner, printer, mic etc.

Sadly, I decided not to install HDMI=S If i did, that would make my system totally phowow...heh=S

Another one of my consideration was whether i shld install DVI capabilities, which is another digital cable, but it's realli limited and only mac laptops and certain custom-made laptops carry that output. Moreover, home theatre systems (esp bose!!)dont carry that in/output, so that digital option would be a white elephant investment. Besides the quality of component is comparable if not equal/better and much more well accepted=)

So back to HDMI, i am looking forward to mac to make the bold move to include HDMI into their arsenal of outputs=) just like how they were the first to include USB as custom features instead of the floppy disk, and then DVI....I am pretty sure they'll be the first to use HDMI. The nice thing abt HDMI is how this digital wire still has a LOT of reserve for future advancements and how it has taken off very well, with all the HDMI TVs/projectors and home theatres and all the random games like PS and Xbox (?) all having that output. As said, i wonder who was the brilliant person who designed the HDMI cable, but the usage of the HDMI cable for now is not to its full capabilities yet. Which means tt in the future, when the hardwares improve by leaps and bounds, the HDMI cable can still support it=)

Sadly, to get a HDMI cable custom made to a certain length, that would set me back by at least 100++ bucks ( I vaguely remember it costing 200+ dollars for a few metres) and another thing about digital cables is, unlike analog cables, it CANNOT be long because the signal and quality will drop=S So it's quite hard to design and interate such wires unless u have a LOT of money. Secondly, you can have HDMI capabilities, but in order for it to work, you need either:

Set 1----which allows you to watch HD TV like soccer matches and see sweat streaming down the dude's thumbsized face)

• A High definition Digital TV set up box with HDMI output and yes, the quite exorbitant monthly subscription rates.


• A HD TV/projector

Set 2---which allows you to watch HD movies)

• A High Definition Home Theatre system with HDMI output


• A HD TV/Projector


• And this is the clincher, you need to have HD discs to play! Otherwise your system will just be playing normal DVDs/CDs, of which component cables will be more than adequate to support. Sadly, not many movies, (and NONE in video EZY=(...) are in HD/bluray format. And the sadder thing is they are super expensive!=( So I will wait for the day that JB produce HD discs at a dollar each=P haha. (Qualifier! I DO NOT buy pirated VCDs from JB! Dont come smashing my door and raiding my room=P)

So, there, a "nutshell" of what I have been doing, and so....as of now, the laptop, desktop monitor, wireless keyboard & mouse, HD projector, home theatre system, radio, starhub cable, Ipod player, handphone, printer, scanner, webcammin stuff etc etc are all connected and I can play anything on whichever system=) . And not everything needs to be switched on for the other to work...for example, I can control my laptop's iTunes from my desktop's screen&wirelesskeyboard&mouse and play it over the Home theatre speakers...and I can change over to digital radio whenever i want to...and if i choose to switch off my laptop, I can connect my ipod to my HTS and it can play directly from there=)

Well, thats it=) And everything is hidden behind walls, under floorings, and ABOVE CEILINGS except for a 1 metre long plastic trunking to house a 1 metre long wire which I had no way of hiding=S.

Well, in the meantime Ill just prepare and design for how to integrate HDMI into my system just in case it becomes more rampant and cheaper=) But tt wldnt be anytime in the distant future.....heh.

Oh, for those who are interested.....Go and read up on Display Port (I think you can wiki it?)---it's the new thing for digital display. It is gonna be the next big contender against the HDMI. In summary HDMI was said to replace DVI, but now there's competition by Display Port--which came abt around 2006. Display Port and HDMI are about equal in quality, but cheaper and more scientifically aimed rather than commercially driven. Ie, it is backed more by the computer industry while HDMI is backed and tied to the consumer electronics. So we'll see how this goes in a few years time=)

That's the problem with digital.

3/02/2008 11:19:00 PM


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Saturday, March 01, 2008

Rockstar

~Nickelback~

3/01/2008 01:59:00 AM


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