AirAsia should be allowed to operate at KKIA Terminal 2

My wife and I travelled to Kuching for a short trip today. AirAsia is the obvious choice as right now it is not peak season and you can get very good deal from the low cost carrier.

On board AirAsia's Airbus

Terminal 2 of Kota Kinabalu International Airport is quite modest in comparison to Terminal 1 - without aerobridge, lacking the luxury amenities but the basic ones are all there.

Aircrafts taking off and landing at KKIA use the same strip of land at the airport. The difference is the entry/exit point. T1 is more equipped and handles more carriers, and understandably charges more in airport tax.

AirAsia said the airport tax at T1 is RM65 and I agree, for a traveling family of 6 this would be quite costly when compared to the off-peak ticket prices to selected destinations which can be as low as RM19 - RM99.

On the one hand, AirAsia has every right to shift its operations elsewhere cheaper. On the other hand it owes Sabah (at least) socially because Sabah did help him when he started up the company and no one was willing to finance him.

Terminal 2 seen from the ascending plane.

Most important is affordability

Quarters who supported Malaysia Airport's insistence that AirAsia must move to T1 contended that AirAsia should absorb some of the higher cost of operating from the terminal. But I believe consumers too, have the right to have access to more favourable traveling costs. If cheaper tickets can only be made possible at T2, then retain it. Let AirAsia operate from there.

Many travelers are willing to fly without all the frills available on more costly ones like MAS, SIA, etc., and pay cheaper fares. Don't take that away from them!

Went cruising on the SuperStar Aquarius

Long weekend seems like a good time to try out the Star Cruises. And the Chinese New Year Holiday is a perfect time because starting yesterday, for the next one week, the cruise operator is offering 2-day-1-night cruises to the high seas.

The SuperStar Aquarius of Genting Hong Kong is now in Kota Kinabalu

If you like the experience, you can then go for the longer 4-day 3-night journey later. For us, other than the motion sickness that is bound to be experienced by everyone, we have no issue with the sailing facility.

Gone fishing!

We enjoyed the view and the kids liked the pool.

Swimming pools for children and adult are located at different ends of the ship. Not a good news for parents who wants to take a dip with the kids. But it's not a big issue.

Gaya Island seen on the way back to Kota Kinabalu.

For the package we paid for, we got to enjoy complimentary show at Stardust Longue, unlimited meal at Mariners Restaurant, swimming pool, cabin/room with balcony at Deck 8, etc.

Pictures from the show/performance will be uploaded later. The lighting conditions were too much for my phone camera.

Sustainable Supertree Grove at Gardens by the Bay

Located within Garden by The Bay, the Supertree Grove houses unique trees of up to 16 storeys in height. There are 11 Supertrees embedded with sustainable functions and cycles in energy and water throughout the garden.

You can walk along the 128-meter long skyway (bridge) that is suspended at 22 metres high. During a DukwTour (a war-time boat ride) along the Marina Barrage, we were told by the Captain that the Supertrees are powered by solar photovoltaic cells installed on their flat tops.

Panoramic view from the Observation Deck of Marina Bay Sands

If you are not a hotel guest, you can opt to view from here. You can go to the Supertrees for a fee.

Beside the Supertrees are the two conservatories: The Cloud Forest and the Flower Dome

 View from Skypark^TM  at 57th floor

Chill out on a cafe on top of the highest Supertree (about 50 m high)

View from our hotel room at 27th floor

128-metre suspended skyway connects two Supertrees

Take a walk here if you happen to be staying at Marina Bay Sands hotel.

Still in a Holiday mode, so, pardon the exasperated number of pictures. Happy new year & happy Holiday!

White tigers at Singapore Zoo

Your Singapore trip is not complete without a visit to the national zoo. So, last week we took sometime to spend a day at the popular tourist attraction in Singapore. According to estimate, over 1.6 million people visit the zoo each year.

We learnt during the tram ride that this zoo houses the largest captive colony of orangutan in the world. Our Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation centre in Sandakan may be bigger in terms of number of animal as well as land area but our orangutans are not keep in captivity.

This zoo is very well-kept and is easy to get around.

Note: All pictures were captured with smartphone cam, so, pardon the quality.


Wud be good for safari ride but this one is just for show. Not for rent.



You can purchase your entrance ticket to include tram ride. It helps a lot






On another day, you'll see these orangutan doing their 'Tarzan' swing



You can get pretty close to the giraffes






Inuka the polar bear during a show



Feeding the white tigers is one of the highlights at Singapore Zoo









Quite a crowd at the Splash Safari Show

Happy Holiday from RWS

If 2013 has been good to you, you should take sometime and break free from what you have been doing all year long. Take sometime to relax and enjoy away from your office.

Few wishes for this year's Holiday:-


Going up in the sky



Dip a leg and hand into the Lake of Dreams and realise my dreams



Ride the reindeer


Happy Holiday everyone!
From Resort World Sentosa, Singapore

RM1,000 note. Can you still find this one today?

Tanjung Aru Beach 3 - Kota Kinabalu

Tanjung Aru, Beach 3

HAPPY WEEKEND. HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL ONE!

Note: Beach 3 in Tanjung Aru is located beside Beach 2 (or Prince Phillip Beach), the venue for this year's Malaysia Day celebration. It extends towards Kota Kinabalu International Airport and you can hear roars from departing/incoming air planes at frequent rate.

Compared to Beach 1 (the main beach) and Beach 2, this one is less maintained and lack amnesties such as food stall, restaurants, etc. Nonetheless, scenery from here is nothing short of beautiful.

The green mechanics.
KK

Count how many horses

Feeling sleepy after a heavy meal? Try counting the horses.

I got this from moillusion.com and although this is not really an optical illusion but it's great to keep you awake, occupied and perhaps distract you a bit from feeling bored. Especially if you are in the office or attending a lengthy seminar.

So, how many horses can you see? The site gave a rounded figure of 20.

Longest word in the world (in any language)

Why not start your Monday by reading the world's longest word?

The other day we were at one of KPJ's hospital by chance and I chanced upon a pamphlet showing a long word - Oesophagogastroduodenoscopy. The A to Z alphabet has 26 letters in total.

27 letters in a word, long enough for you?

Oesophagogastroduodenoscopy or simply pronounced OGD is a clinical procedure to look into the esophagus, stomach and duodenum to find the cause of:

• Upper abdominal pain
• Indigestion and heartburn
• Nausea and vomiting
• Swallowing problem
• Bleeding from the upper gastrointestinal tract
• Inflammation, ulcers and tumors of the esophagus,

among others. I learnt something there.


27 is long but what about the longest one?

Google around further and you will find that the longest word in the English language is a 189,819-letter, chemical name of a protein known as titin.

Here is a video grab of a man trying to pronounce it loudly and according to the video clip, it took him more than 3 hours to complete the task.

Video source

The word is “Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl …. isoleucine”, but seriously, don't waste your time reading (or pronouncing) it. We are not even sure if it is a word.

You might also be interested in what are the other long words at wikipedia.

Cheers!

Laughter is the best medicine - really?

Done laughing?

Maybe you should move onto more serious stuff - Learn Chinese in 5 minutes. It's a surefire way to learn Chinese language and it's true, you can quote me.

Again, start your Monday with laughter.

Payback time for teachers?

What would you do when one day you caught your once fierce teacher speeding?

I think I'll do this:

LOL, teachers, it's weekend. Smile please!

Source: shared from fb.

English is fun: The family of Four

The English language can 'kill'. Let me explain:-

                                 Have a fun Monday, and the rest of the week!



Source: unknown, this was dug up from my old mailbox.

Why do we see only one side of the moon

Do you enjoy the sight of full moon? Then you may want to read on.

Copyrighted by TheGreenMechanics

Actually it's not just 'half' or one side of the moon. A little googling and you'd find that due to slight changes called libration, we can see slightly more than half of the moon over the time of its orbit. Look at the two shots below (I took them in Penampang Sabah, Malaysia) on two different times and they will give you some idea.

End of year shot of the full moon

Full moon shot taken in Penampang, Sabah

So, why only one side?

The time taken for the Moon to spin on its axis is almost exactly the same as the time it takes to orbit the Earth. Hence, the Moon always keeps the same side pointing our way.

According to Sciencefocus, this is not a coincidence as over many years, the Earth’s gravity has forced the Moon to spin synchronously with its orbit. However, things are a bit more complicated than that. Viewed from Earth, the Moon appears to rock slowly backwards and forwards so that we see a slightly different face throughout the lunar month.

There are two main reasons for this.

• First, the Moon’s orbit around Earth is elliptical not circular so its rotation is sometimes ahead, and sometimes behind, its orbital motion. 
• Second, the Moon’s rotation axis is not at right angles to its orbit around the Earth so we can sometimes see ‘over’ or ‘under’ its poles. 

Over time this means we actually get to see about 59% of the Moon’s surface. I have illustrated that in my two shots above. I have quite a collection of moon shots, I would probably share them here in future.


Facts source: Sciencefocus
Note: The pictures are my own.

Wonderful English from around the world!

It's Monday morning, so, let's have something to make us all smile. If you've seen or read it somewhere before, just treat this as coffee break jokes alright. (Warning: authenticity of these captions is un-confirmed)

I can't imagine what the British will have to say about them.


Here we go:

In a Bangkok Temple:
IT IS FORBIDDEN TO ENTER A WOMAN, EVEN A FOREIGNER, IF DRESSED AS A MAN.


Cocktail lounge, Norway:
LADIES ARE REQUESTED NOT TO HAVE CHILDREN IN THE BAR.

Doctor's office, Rome:
SPECIALIST IN WOMEN AND OTHER DISEASES.


Dry cleaners, Bangkok:
DROP YOUR TROUSERS HERE FOR THE BEST RESULTS.


In a Nairobi restaurant:
CUSTOMERS WHO FIND OUR WAITRESSES RUDE, OUGHT TO SEE THE MANAGER.

On the main road to Mombasa, leaving Nairobi:
TAKE NOTICE: WHEN THIS SIGN IS UNDER WATER, THIS ROAD IS IMPASSABLE.


On a poster at Kencom:
ARE YOU AN ADULT THAT CANNOT READ? IF SO WE CAN HELP.

In a City restaurant:
OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK AND WEEKENDS.


In a Cemetery:
PERSONS ARE PROHIBITED FROM PICKING FLOWERS, FROM ANY BUT THEIR OWN GRAVES.


Tokyo hotel's rules and regulations:
GUESTS ARE REQUESTED NOT TO SMOKE, OR DO OTHER DISGUSTING BEHAVIOURS IN BED.


On the menu of a Swiss Restaurant:
OUR WINES LEAVE YOU NOTHING TO HOPE FOR.

In a Tokyo Bar:
SPECIAL COCKTAILS FOR THE LADIES WITH NUTS.


Hotel, Yugoslavia:
THE FLATTENING OF UNDERWEAR WITH PLEASURE, IS THE JOB OF THE CHAMBERMAID.


Hotel, Japan:
YOU ARE INVITED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE CHAMBERMAID.


In the lobby of a Moscow Hotel, across from a Russian Orthodox Monastery:
YOU ARE WELCOME TO VISIT THE CEMETERY, WHERE FAMOUS RUSSIAN AND SOVIET COMPOSERS, ARTISTS AND WRITERS ARE BURIED DAILY, EXCEPT THURSDAY.


A sign posted in Germany's Black Forest:
IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN ON OUR BLACK FOREST CAMPING SITE, THAT PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT SEX, FOR INSTANCE, MEN AND WOMEN, LIVE TOGETHER IN ONE TENT, UNLESS THEY ARE MARRIED WITH EACH OTHER FOR THIS PURPOSE.


Hotel, Zurich:
BECAUSE OF THE IMPROPRIETY OF ENTERTAINING GUESTS OF THE OPPOSITE SEX IN THE BEDROOM, IT IS SUGGESTED THAT THE LOBBY BE USED FOR THIS PURPOSE.


Advertisement for donkey rides, Thailand:
WOULD YOU LIKE TO RIDE ON YOUR OWN ASS?


Airline ticket office, Copenhagen:
WE TAKE YOUR BAGS AND SEND THEM IN ALL DIRECTIONS.


A Laundry in Rome:
LADIES, LEAVE YOUR CLOTHES HERE AND THEN SPEND THE AFTERNOON HAVING A GOOD TIME.


And finally the all time classic:

Seen in an Abu Dhabi Souk shop window:
IF THE FRONT IS CLOSED PLEASE ENTER THROUGH MY BACKSIDE.


PRICELESS!

Is the brain of a genius heavier than those of average brains?

Scientists say if you ask 'heavy', yes it is possible.

But if you ask if geniuses have bigger brains than everyone else, it's probably a No. They say brain size does not seem to matter that much. Wait. If you find this to be puzzling, that's because we - and the high IQ scientists - know very little about human brain, and other things in this world.

Image credit: BrainWorld

So, are their brains heavier?

ScienceFocus says they probably are. But size alone cannot explain why some of us are regarded as geniuses. Some large-brained animals such as dolphins and whales are very intelligent, but so are crows with their tiny brains.

The brains of geniuses such as Albert Einstein have been measured, but no relationship with size or weight was found. One study revealed that Einstein had more glial cells than average. These support and protect neurons, suggesting that his brain demanded more energy.

Other studies show that geniuses have more long-range neural connections that reach from one area of the brain to the other. Yet no single feature explains their exceptional abilities. Persistence, hard work and determination may be just as important, and they do not require an especially heavy brain.

Try typing the title of this posting in Google and you will be presented with a lot of insights and opinions as well as academic discussions which point to the summary you read in this page.


TheGreenMechanicss two cents: Genius or average, you have your purpose in life. We shouldn't worry too much about little known facts such as this one. Besides, a day's worry won't add another day to your age. Just be thankful and do what you do best!

TGIF - Hospital Bill

It's weekend, so, let's share what people stuffed in my mailbox. Hopefully a laugh a day will keep the doctor away!

Here we go, and you don't have to be Catholic to appreciate this one:-

A man suffered a serious heart attack while shopping in a store. The store clerks called 911 when they saw him collapse to the floor. The paramedics rushed the man to the nearest hospital where he had emergency open heart bypass surgery...

He awakened from the surgery to find himself in the care of nuns at the Catholic Hospital. A nun was seated next to his bed holding a clipboard loaded with several forms, and a pen. She asked him how he was going to pay for his treatment.

"Do you have health insurance?" she asked.
"No health insurance." he replied in a raspy voice,

The nun asked, "Do you have money in the bank?"
He replied, "No money in the bank."

"Do you have a relative who could help you with the payments?" 
asked the irritated nun.
He said, "I only have a spinster sister, and she is a nun."

The nun became agitated and announced loudly,
"Nuns are not spinsters! Nuns are married to God."

The patient replied, "Perfect. Send the bill to my brother-in-law."

JUST CAN'T HELP LOVING THIS ONE!!

Can you tell what this is?

No? Move closer to your screen.

Still looking? Stand up, move away from your computer, 1 or 2 metres away. You can stand further if that makes it easy to recognise the picture.

Okay, sit down and get on with the job. Hope that've moved a muscle or two and made you feel better.

Good day!

Credit: I got this from xlupa.com but I suppose the originator of this image is the one on the watermark (in blue).

How fast would you have to run to "walk on water"

I attended a World Water Day recently, but this has nothing to do with conserving water or anything about food security. This is purely for light moment/s.

"Trying to walk on water, kids?"

So, how fast would you have to run to run on water? Science Focus gives us some insight:

To avoid sinking, you need to generate thrust equal to your weight. You generate this by pushing water down and backwards with each step. For a size 9 shoe, you can’t push more than around 3.5 litres of water at a time or you would sink too far and friction with the water would slow you down too much. So that 3.5Kg of water has to be pushed back fast enough to offset your weight.

If you weigh 75kg, you’ll need to push it back at around 11m/s. Since the water moves back as you push it, you need to go twice as fast as that or you would stand still. So that’s a running speed of almost 80km/hr, which would be quite impossible even in a calculation that ignores things like fluid drag.

So, if you can finish a 100m track within 10 seconds, you are running at 10m/s and you are very close, but not quite. I think Usain Bolt won't be able to accomplish that (running on water) either.

Calculation source: Science Focus

Previous article: No Plastic Bottle at World Water Day

How to Copyright "Kopitiam"

Ever wondered how to copyright kopitiam so that no one else would ever use it except you? Easy. Go and file your suit in Indonesia.

Image credit: shahalam.com

Ok, that was sweeping. But at least others won't be using the term in any business venture there. The Chinese word kopitiam is kedai kopi in Malay or coffee shop as what we would understand it all the world over.

So, if you can copyright kopitiam then there's no stopping you from asking people to stop using 'bread' as in iBread, Nasi Kandar, or 'cloud' as in iCloud. I will name my coffee shop Kota Kinabalu Nasi Kandar and claimed intellectual property rights over that very words.

I remember when cloud computing was making its way into the IT world, IT giant Apple was said to buy iCloud domain from a Sweden company for $4.5mil, although the company declined to confirm the accuracy of the price.

I am now thinking about patenting 'anything' and call it iAnything so that the next time I see you using that word I could file a suit for $4.5mil. Of course you can do anything to you like with it, continue using it and I would not be able to anything to get anything from it.

If you are in Malaysia and Singapore though, try copyrighting Kedai Kopi instead, as patenting kopitiam does not work there. If you are in New York, try visiting Malaysia Kopitiam there.

For the info-hungry, here is the original report of the enlightening event:

Indonesian restaurateur wins "kopitiam" copyright

The star Online. Feb 27, 2012

JAKARTA: The Indonesian courts have ruled in favour of a local restaurateur who claimed intellectual property rights over the word "kopitiam" - a Chinese word which means coffee shop.

The Jakarta Post ran a story today that in 2010, Abdul Alek Soelystio, the owner of Jakarta-based "Kopitiam", had sued "Kok Tong Kopitiam" in the Medan Administrative Court for using the word and won the case.

Abdul claimed he had registered intellectual property rights to "kopitiam" in 1996. Unhappy with the outcome, "Kok Tong Kopitiam" owner Paimin Halim appealed to the Supreme Court, but the lower court's decision was merely upheld.The report said, Abdul took out an advertisement in a national newspaper on Feb 6 this year warning other restaurateurs to immediately drop "kopitiam" from their brand identities.

Abdul's lawyers said that whoever used kopitiam could be charged with piracy.

The Intellectual Property Law provides for up to seven years' imprisonment for those convicted of intellectual piracy, although in practice violators are seldom sentenced to more than several months.Indonesia Kopitiam Association chairman Mulyadi Praminta described the rulings in favour of Abdul as ridiculous.

"There was a similar case in Singapore. A company tried to copyright kopitiam as its own, but the government there rejected the request. It is shocking that we have a contradictory situation here," he remarked.Mulyadi felt that the government should support the restaurant industry instead of providing special treatment to certain parties.

"The local industry deserves support from the government. We hire many people, we use local products, including coffee beans," he added.

Meanwhile Bondan Winarno, Indonesia's most famous gastronome and owner of the "Kopitiam Oey" chain, asserted over the weekend that no one should be allowed to copyright the word.

Bondan, the association's spokesman, asserted that kopitiam offered a local option that could rival international coffee shops in Indonesia. "Kopitiam is not our creation. The name does not belong to us, but to generations before us. It is not a brand but a signature of culinary culture as well as social assimilation," he emphasised. BERNAMA

Oscar Awards 2011 for Football cheats

The 84th edition of the annual Academy Awards just one week away, it is time to share the final projections or rather nominate probable candidates for best actors. I am a football fan though, so, my interest  and this entry would be skewed to football acts. If you follow the sport on a regular basis you'd roughly know who are these football Oscar front-runners.

It is not fun to watch football with some cheap cheats added in, especially if you are a strong supporter of a particular team and you feel the team's hard done by. Not fun at all. The act of diving should  not be permitted at all and be dealt with properly; take the following examples:

• more frequent yellow-carding; make it mandatory
• football clubs owners to act hard on such players - wage-cut, etc
• shame them by showing their dark art to the paying spectators during pre-matches

Without further ado, let's meet the 2011 candidates:

Hamit Altintop

Euro qualification match with Croatia, November 2011. The midfielder latched on to a promising pass in the box, but after seeing the ball go loose took to the ground in utter desperation. It was so bad that none of his team-mates appealed and not even the opposition could be bothered to complain about his blatant act of cheating.

Not only did he fail to fool referee Felix Brych, but the slow motion replays made Altintop look silly for attempting such a stunt.

Diving Altintop. Credit: dailymail.co.uk

Dani Alves

During Champions League semifinal, April 27, 2011. The Barcelona defender acrobatically spun to ground, clutching his right calf muscle, after he and Real Madrid's Pepe went for a loose ball with raised legs. Like the Zapruder film of U.S. President John F. Kennedy's assassination, the slow-mo was scrutinized across the football world for clues: Did Pepe actually touch Alves? No way!

Alves and Pepe in action: Click to see the frame-by-frame post-mortem

Gervasio Nunez

Europa League group stage, Oct. 20, 2011. Pushed on the shoulder by Fulham's Mousa Dembele, the Argentine midfielder for Polish side Wisla Krakow pretended he had been thumped in the face and collapsed. Referee Martin Hansson bought it, Dembele trudged off, Wisla turned its one-man advantage into a 1-0 win. "Of course, we will never complain after a red card,'' said Fulham manager Martin Jol before going on to complain. "It was a push on the shoulder, after being kicked,'' he said. "You shouldn't raise your hand. He (Dembele) pushed him on the shoulder and you shouldn't do that. The referee gave us a red card, but we felt hard done by.''

Peter Wisgerhof

Johan Cruyff Shield, July 30, 2011. In this match between the Dutch Cup winners and Dutch league champions, the captain of FC Twente looked like a mountain goat skipping over a rock or a frog on takeoff as he jumped into the air and rolled onto the ground after a tickle of a tackle from Ajax defender Daley Blind. To his credit, Wisgerhof later laughed at himself. "The worst dive of the match was definitely mine,'' Dutch websites quoted him as saying. "I felt something, but fell much later. Why didn't I get a yellow card? I quickly told the ref I'm a defender and don't even know how to fall."

All of them are great candidates but The Associated Press' John Leicester says that Oscar Award should go to Bryan Carrasco. I totally agree with him.

OSCAR Award Recipient: Bryan Carrasco

South American Under-20 Championship, Feb. 12, 2011. Such ingenuity by Bryan Carrasco! The Chilean midfielder plumbed new depths by grabbing an opponent's arm and whacking himself in the face with it, and then collapsing. You'll not tire of the video, with hilarity from commentators Nicolas Nardini and Jorge Nazar

AND for Carrasco's ingenuity, here is the movie that shows why he deserve it:

It is a short 1-minute clip, so it's worth the wait. You are going to love this one!

[Disclaimer: These picks are taken from an article by John Leicester, an international sports columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at jleicester(at)ap.org or follow him at twitter.com/johnleicester]