One child policy

I think of the best things for this blog when I'm at work... is it because I'm reading the newspapers then?

Today's article was about compensation. China has a one child policy because there are too many people residing in the country. Each family is only allowed to have one child.

When Christchurch was hit with an earthquake which killed at least 60 over people, some of the dead were part of China's one child policy. Their parents are now demanding for compensation...

How do you compensate for a lost child?
Where would you start to seek compensation when the earthquake was an act of nature?
Do people have access to the compensation department of nature?

How much would you ask for? That's the thing I'm confused about. Claims are for future income because these kids under the one child policy are their parent's only hope in taking care of them when they are old. What about when these kids get married and start their own family? Don't they now have new responsibilities up until their own kid is old enough to take care of them? Vicious cycle... I wonder if they'll win the suit...

Moving Earth

The Earth has shifted on its axis!!!
Can you believe that an earthquake would be able to do that?!
I guess if you seriously think about it, it would, wouldn't it?

With the earthquake, the land mass has shifted and now Japan is a little closer to the US.
This has started me thinking of the fact that land masses don't move all the time.
Aren't all islands floating islands?
The giant oceans don't have the power to move countries.
I don't believe the islands are stuck to the center of the Earth, right?
If you dive into the sea, at some point in time, you'll be able to hit the end of the island, right?
So why is it that land masses move only when earthquakes happen?

Not only that, this particular earthquake has shortened time.
How interesting is that?!
I wonder if the same thing happened during the Boxing Day earthquake in 2004.
Nothing was mentioned about Sumatra moving from its position or shortening time...

Staying away

Day two of watching episode after episode.
I should really get an exercise bike or a treadmill.
It's better than being a couch potato for 10 hours, isn't it?

The Great Queen Seondeok

Weekends are great for watching drama serials. I've bought a couple of Korean period ones and haven't gotten around to watching them. After watching Dong Yi, I think the period dramas have more substance. This weekend, I'll start with The Great Queen Seondeok. It's 80 episodes long but each episode is only about 45 minutes. Shorter than their normal one hour per episode.

The first few episodes look promising with me liking the evilest person, Mi-shil, a female. Her facial expressions are just classic, bordering on going insane. She's very sweet looking and I read that she's a very experienced actress and it really shows. Everyone else are just amateurs.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking that I should watch the first ten, the middle ten and the last ten episodes. 80 to 30! I'm sure all the actors, actresses, producers, director, cameramen, stunt people and everyone else who was involved in the making of this epic will curse me if I do *grin*

Japan's 8.9

Number 3 or 4?! Just a day after China?!

Where were you when the earthquake hit some 200kms off the coast of Japan's main island of Honshu? I was at work, watching everyone with eyes peeled to the breaking news on the telly unable to stop my goosebumps.

Seeing that Japan is located along the ring of fire and that earthquakes happen more often than not, this particular quake was taken likely at first. But images kept coming and it was soon declared a national disaster. What more the threat of a tsunami was fast approaching! A magnitude of 8.9 was confirmed, just 0.2 points shy of the 2004 quake which hit off the coast of Sumatra causing a massive tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people from around the world.

Today's earthquake brought on a 10 meters high tsunami crashing into the town of Sendai, closest to the epicenter of the quake. Mud, debris, overturned cars, boats, ships, damaged houses, buildings and people. More pictures will be available in the days to come and this won't be the end of it. Where next? :(

China's 5.8

Is this number 2 or 3? Will it ever stop?
Truth be known, I didn't know that China was in the ring of fire until the Sichuan one happened in 2008

Brotzeit

Running out of things to eat, the hubs and I ended up at this German bar in Vivo City. We've eaten here once before... actually twice before. The first time was after our Germany vacation and we were looking for some yummy sausages and more importantly for me, wien schnitzel. The place didn't disappoint then... but tonight it did. Sausages were still yummy the second time we ate here... I guess by and by they've decided to focus more on their beer than food.

On a separate note, I need to go to Wien to try their schnitzel... I wonder if it's the same as in Germany *grin*

Dong Yi - Part 2

I don't believe this, but I'm still in the middle of watching this drama serial!
The reason why I finish a drama really quickly is because I sometimes fast forward certain parts of the drama.
I haven't been able to do that here because every part is important!
It's going to take me longer than usual to finish this drama which is a good thing, as I won't have to look for another one to watch after this *grin*

Computer Fairs

There's going to be an IT fair this weekend... actually starting on Thursday. Every time the hubs tries to venture into the hall, he turns right around and walks out... we don't really need that new printer, computer, hard drive, camera or shopping trolley!

Throngs of people venture into the exhibition halls all the four days and almost everyone walks out with something. After all, they've been shoved around, shoved around many, many people and queued for hours... they can't leave empty handed.

Joyous is the sound of the ringing tills for the exhibitors *chuckle* but since we don't have tills anymore, the laser or dot matrix printing sound of the credit card machines will have to do!

Radio tunes

It's the 90s weekend on the radio this weekend and it's bringing back heaps of memories.
The kind of music my friends and I used to dance to while frequenting night clubs during our uni years.
Good times, good times!

Grow faster hair!

I've been keeping this a-bit-shorter-than-shoulder length hair for slightly more than a year now and I'm already tired of it. There are only so many styles you can do with short hair, can't even tie it properly, so I've decided to grow it again. Long, long, long...

Going to have to wait awhile as I think my hair takes a long while to grow. It's now at the irritable length of just at my shoulder, which means that on some days, it'll not curl the way that I want it to.

Chile's 6.8

About a month ago, an earthquake struck off the coast of Chile. Is this the start of some series of earthquakes around the world? You don't expect the Earth's plates to move and not cause a chain reaction, right? Let's just hope that if anything were to happen, it will be on a smaller scale and not the other way. I don't want to have to think about the fact that the Earth is breaking up...

English

Is the English language really all that difficult to master? As the years go by, I am finding it so, especially when you're multilingual. I've noticed that people tend to spell the way words are pronounced. But the English language is not about that, which makes me a little envious of them little spelling bees who find it so easy to spell words they might not know the meaning of, while under pressure.

Take the word 'than' for instance. I've seen it being spelt 'then' when people really mean 'than' or the word 'this' when they mean 'these' or 'of' when they mean 'off' or 'to' when they mean 'too'.

As everyone relies on the spell check and don't pay attention to the word itself, these kind of slips happen. I used to have a good giggle at lost-in-translation websites, but I've come to realise that I get a giggle out of these kind of mis-spells too.

Gibberish

Sometimes I wonder what nonsense I'm penning. Some entries are great to read, especially when they have significant meaning or a world event. But some... I'm so close to rewriting them! But I guess I won't, it'll just remind me that sometimes, my mind is not in sync with my fingers and out comes the gibberish :)

Old medicine vs new medicine

Well, as predicted the diarrhea has started. Tried to subdue it with some dhamotil and smecta but it didn't seem to work this time around. So I went to see a new doctor today and he's decided that I needed to have some modern medicine to cleanse my system. I don't think it's working because it hasn't helped. Thought it would be pretty instant as it was the only medicine he gave... my usual doctor provides me with 3 different kinds!

I have a feeling that my body's allergic to it even! Guess I'm not taking it anymore...

Diarrhea and solid food

When you have diarrhea, everyone tells you to stock up on liquids, eat soupy dishes or congee. Yes, after having to run to the toilet every 3-4 hours or so, you get pretty dehydrated, so plenty of liquids it is.

Water, water is liquid, right? If you're stocking up on water, shouldn't you be eating solid stuff? I hate extreme diarrhea, the fact that nothing gets processed properly in my body and comes out as liquid. Well, it looks like this week's going to be a week of delicate eating.

Chendol

Why is it so difficult to find yummy Chendol here? Do I really have to make it myself?!

Chendol is a Malaysian dessert made primarily of ice. Toppings include green coloured rice flour which look like short rats tails, red beans, a good dollop of coconut milk and the most important ingredient of all, melted palm sugar. I could eat any dessert with palm sugar... it has just the oddest yummy taste!

Anyways, I had that last night for dessert and I'm so looking forward to the diarrhea which I can predict would come, if not today, tomorrow... such is the weakness of my tummy and my greediness for yummy roadside desserts in Malaysia.

Sudoku

I know I've written a short post on this about a week back, but I can't get over how great this game is. I play it on the train while on my way to work, while waiting in queue for my lunch... it's such a waiting-time filler!

Ever since the hubs got his android phone, he has introduced me to this game called Daily Sudoku which is also available on the iPhone. Amazing, amazing and highly entertaining game which allows me to wile the hours away. Do I sound nerdy?

Anyways, with some practice, I should be able to narrow the nightmare level to less than 10 minutes? At the moment, spending more than a half hour on one game is just not on! :D

Meanwhile, I don't think I'll be able to play the game with a pen on paper anymore. I need the colours, highlights, the ease of placing pencil marks quickly and having the program take care of everything for me.

JPEG

It's used all the time for compressed picture files. But have you ever wondered what jpeg actually means? No? Not interested? Well, I chanced upon it, ergo I'm having it etched here :P

In the computer world, all files have a three letter extension, a dot something. Everyone knows that .doc is for word documents, .xls is for excel files and .exe files are sometimes very, very dangerous. Yes, you need them to run some scripts, but like all scripts, it's very easy to hide a devious script that will create havoc on your computer.

.jpg or short for a JPEG file means Joint Photographic Experts Group
Hmm... now that I know what jpeg means, it doesn't really make sense, or does it? Saving a picture file as a jpeg file will compress the file at the same time. If you're talking about compressed files, bitmaps and gif files can't even compare to how amazing a jpeg file is.

Dong Yi

I've started watching this Korean drama and it's really gripping! Set in the olden day era where Kings still have concubines, and it's riddled with heaps of funny scenes and plots, some elaborate, some not so elaborate.

Dong Yi, an extremely clever and observant girl, blessed throughout her life. Even after having lost her father and brother at a young age, to a trap set by the baddies, she manages to overcome everything that's thrown at her with a smile plastered on her face and become the love of the King's life. That's just the gist of it! The drama is 60 episodes long and each episode is an hour long. These are the kind of dramas you want to watch when you can't sleep on a plane that's flying halfway around the world *grin*