Uppss I forgot ...

Since coming back from an Easter break in Lubeck where we visited Oma, I've had a daily occurrence of forgetfulness.  Every day I forget to take something with me to work.  Should I be worried?

On Monday, I forgot to bring the chocolates and tea from Germany for my work colleagues.

On Tuesday, I did bring the chocolates and tea but forgot to take the unspent holiday money to redeposit it at the bank.

Today, Wednesday, I did remember to bring the money but forgot my lunch.

Now I am hungry, have to go to the bank, and buy some lunch.

What shall I forget next?

I am ...

... 27 years old today, being born on the 27th of March 1983 at Karen Grech Hospital, Malta.

Yes, it is my lucky birthday.

Did I every have any plans for this day? Well, you know, when you are a teen, you make a few plans or rather have a few dreams.  I said that at 27, I'd probably be old enough to be married, and maybe have a kid or two.  Wishful thinking.

I am not at that stage, but let's say, I am getting close.

First step: looking for a home for Baanisuu and myself.

Chile quake moves city more than 10 feet

When I read this article on CNN.com, I was really amazed!

Conception moved ... at least 10 feet to the west and the capital, Santiago, about 11 inches to the west-southwest

What is even astounding is the following:

NASA scientists have also credited the quake with shifting the Earth's axis enough to create shorter day ... 1.26 microseconds shorter

Not much, but still ... wow!!!

Avatar: What an Experience!

I finally watched it. Wow! Amazing! Brilliant!

I am sure a few people left the cinema soul searching, following what is seen as the destruction of an idyllic place, a heaven. Destruction, that is what our race is very good at, amongst other more positive things. And when phrases during the film ring some memory bells, such as: "Let's fight terror with terror", well you get an idea that this film is not only about tree hugging; it is also about respect of other people's lives and beliefs.

People are known to have left watching the film depressed and even suicidal, and no wonder. Pandora can be described as a place where all elements of nature live in balance. One can call it heaven, the heaven most of us believe we will end in, after living a hellish life.  If angels are Na'vis and heaven is Pandora, I guess there is something to look forward to.

If you still have not watched the film, make sure you watch it in 3D (only at Empire Cinemas, Bugibba).  Watching a spectacular 3D film such as Avatar in 2D greatly diminishes the viewer experience.

Off to a ski holiday

Today, I am off for a long-awaited ski holiday in the Austrian Alps, specifically the Arlber, partly sponsored by my aunt to reward my efforts in achieving my Masters degree last year.
I will be joined by my sister and my better half too.
It will be freezing up there, as seen by the following screen dump from http://www.lech-zuers.at



While there, I shall be hoping for a deal at Copenhagen...

I hope I will hear good news from there.

Until then! Auf wiedersehen!

Ordnance Survey maps to go free online

Ordnance Survey maps to go free online

This will include:

'all legislation, as well as road-traffic counts over the past eight years, property prices listed with the stamp-duty yield, motoring offences with types of offence and the numbers, by county, for the top six offences.'

Amazing!

I doubt we will every be there in secret society Malta. And yes, the UK has a Data Protection Act.

Article on The Guardian

Interesting ... softer food make you heavier

In a study published in 2003, a team led by Kyoko Oka at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, investigated the effect of food texture on weight gain. They fed one group of rats their usual hard food pellets, while a second group received a softer version. Both pellets had exactly the same calorie content and flavour. The only difference was that softer ones were easier to chew. After 22 weeks, the rats on the soft food diet were obese and had more abdominal fat. "Food texture might be as important a factor for preventing obesity as taste or food nutrients," Oka and his colleagues concluded.

...

A similar study in people had comparable results. Kentaro Murakami and Satoshi Sasaki, both at the University of Tokyo in Japan, surveyed 450 female students about their eating habits and then classified the food they ate according to how difficult it was to chew. They found that women who ate the hardest foods had significantly slimmer waistlines than those who ate the softest foods.

Source: New Scientist

Boing boing bing boing

No, it's not a bouncing ball

It's a Microsoft innovation called Bing. Not that I usually care about Microsoft and what it does, but by the looks of it, I think it can offer something for Google to worry about.

I like the welcome page, clean and sharp. It seems the wall paper changes each day.


Let's start and bing for Malta:

Results seem relevant and to the point, but looks a bit cluttered.


Anyway try it out. Competition does Google good.

[......AOTEAROA......] New comment on Australia and New Zealand.

WhiteShadow has left a new comment on the post "Australia and New Zealand":

to put it simple: wonderful

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Posted by WhiteShadow to ......AOTEAROA...... at February 24, 2009 6:40 AM

[......EAST AFRICA ......] New comment on East Africa in 2 months.

WhiteShadow has left a new comment on the post "East Africa in 2 months":

Jesus!!
Impressive!!
Wow!!
And so close to those animals!!

....i'm speachless...

give us more!

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Posted by WhiteShadow to ......EAST AFRICA ...... at January 22, 2009 4:15 AM

Antarctica is actually warming

One of the major issues claimed by skeptics against climate change is that Antarctica is actually cooling. How is this possible when the whole earth should be, according to scientists, warming?

Well an answer has actually been found that rebukes the whole idea. Check this out at The Guardian. A recent investigation into the issue has discovered that while some parts of the frozen continent have been getting slightly colder over the last few decades, the average temperature across the continent has been rising for at least the last 50 years.

How come?

The picture below explains it all:

The Western part of Antarctica (shown in red) has been warming at a rate of 0.17 degrees C every decade for the past 50 years. This outweighs the observed cooling in the Eastern part of Antarctica for a an average heating over the region of 0.12 degrees C per decade. This rate matches the heating rate of the southern hemisphere as a whole.

This was not understood before since there was not much data for the Western Antarctica and / or any date it was not yet analysed. Mainly, satellite data was used for this study. Furthermore, it should be noted that the cooling is caused by the ozone hole, a feature that is healing itself and will eventually close by mid-century. Hence, more accelerated warming is expected.

How to cool the planet

This, I think, really makes sense.

A seemingly simple way of keeping those temperatures cool, especially in view of climate change is:

(wait for it....)

...painting the urban areas white.

From our physics classes, we all learned on black-body radiation...the darker the body, the more heat is absorbed and the less is reflected. Hence, Hashem Akbari a scientist at the prestigious Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, came up with the idea of painting roads, pavements and building in light colours to reduce the urban heat island effect and hence save on electricity and pollution. In a few words, we need to increase our albedo.

Easy, simple and cost-effective.

Just some ratios:

Coloured paints have an albedo of 0.1-0.3;
White paints an albedo of 0.5-0.9;
Asphalt road surfaces have albedos as low as 0.05;
Concrete has an albedo of up to 0.3;
Tar and gravel just 0.1.

What does this mean? Take concrete. An albedo of 0.3 means that concrete absorbs 70% of the sun's radiation.

In California warehouses and commercial premises with flat roof have to have them painted white. This has been in force since 2005 (always avant-garde).

Now lets think locally. We should do this in Malta. Think of the picturesque villages in Italy and Greece that are all whitewashed saved for the colourful doors and windows. They did it for a reason!

Sources: The Guardian; New Scientist

Plans for 2009

The new year has started.

What were my expectation for 2008?

- Masters Graduation: - Done (with distinction :))

- Italy winning Euro 2008: - Not quite...

- Holidays:- City weekend breaks to Paris (for Valentines) and London (Unholy Trinity gig)

- also trip to Maremma (Tuscany) as part of my Masters

- Inter:- won Serie A, kicked Mancini out, brought Mourinho...so far so good

- A calmer year:- not quite, but having more time for myself and Baanisuu

- Started playing football again with Kirkop F.C.


So what about 2009?

- Supporting Baanisuu during her final year at University

- Baanisuu's Graduation (and commencement of Masters??)

- Swimming in summer (have not enjoyed a swimful summer for years)

- Hoping Inter will win the Serie A and reach at least the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League

- Skiing holiday (hopefully December 2009)

That is it, my list for 2009. Not too heavy as you can see and nothing that cannot be achieved.

Detroit 2009: Third-gen Prius arrives with 50 mpg combined rating

It is out, the Prius 2010. First looks show an improvement over the current one. Will wait for 3rd party reviews to judge.

Still with a glut in my throat

I've been longing to watch 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' since I saw billboards of the film in the London Tube stations back in September.

Last night, my wish was fulfilled, and I must say, I still have some of its scenes running through my mind.

Although is has some factual goofs (e.g. PoWs in camps were not allowed close to the fence, they would be shot immediately), the end is what I call a real climax. So much suspense, so much thrill. And as in all reviews I have read about the film, most people sat in silence for a few minutes after the credits started rolling.

It kept all four of us affected, as we drove home quietly for most of the journey.

You must see it!

Obama speaks on Climate Change.

Obama is the new president of the US. With the Yes We Can and Change campaigns, here is one of his latest interventions, one that he promised the American electorate on.

Sincerely, I hope that his pledges of support and money to the climate change cause are implemented and bring a significant energy shift.

A New Chapter on Climate Change @ Yahoo! Video

Cycling morning

I have been feeling the need to cycle a bit around since my last cycle trip with a MIRM mate in Maremma Italy. I decided to combine it with a noble act, i.e. waste disposal at a Civic Amenity Sites. These sites accept all kinds of waste from the usual paper/plastic/glass/metal to electronic and hazardous waste.

For no reason at all, I have been collecting endless amounts of old PC motherboards, CD-ROM drives, graphic cards etc. I had lots to throw away. I packed all the stuff in Baanisuu's backpack. This included 2 power supplies, 2 motherboards, 2 hard disks, a discman, a joystick, some RAM, a CD-ROM, an old car stereo and an old phone. I straped the backpack to my back and off I went.

I set off from my home in Safi and cycled all the way to the Hal Far Civic Amenity Site. It was pleasant, at times bumby and noisy (hunting season you know). I could not notice the smell of carob, the pleasent colour of green and also a particular and long crawling species that I am sorry I did not have a camera to take a picture of.

Anyway, it took me one hour in total to disposte of the waste and arrive back home. I used the cycle lanes on the urban roads. They are not bad but a little akward with lots of breaches.

Nonetheless, it was some good exercise on the thighs for sure and some long-awaited fresh air.

Eating fast makes you fat

While reading this article on the BBC website, a number of people whose eating habits I know came to my mind. The study by Osaka University scientists found that fast-eating men were 84% more likely to be overweight. Women were just over twice as likely. Also those, who, in addition to wolfing down their meals, tended to eat until they felt full, were more than three times more likely to be overweight.

In other words, if you eat slowly, savor your food and enjoy the company, you will probably eat less and live a healthier life.

Let's go Indian!

Indian food is an occasional must. Both Baanisuu and I adore it, the spices, the thickness, the bread, the rice. It's a Sunday morning and just thinking of it wets my appetite.

Anyway, so yesterday (Saturday) we decided to indulge ourselves in our favourite cuisine. I came up with the brilliant idea to go to a new place called Ganeesha at Xemxija. I got to know of the place the day before during some work related travelling. I saw a sign by the road of this new place and thought we could try it out.

Anyway, so after around 40 minutes to reach Xemxija, we started following these signs but got to a dead end. We drove around every street of Xemxija without success. That's strange. We ended up asking a local who pointed us to the corner we just drove around but remarked...'if it's open!'.

So we drove back around this corner and finally found it. But it was closed! We were going to try a new Indian restaurant that was not yet open! We should be invited to the opening night for our dedication.

Anyway, so we ended up applying Plan B, i.e. dining at the Star of India (also at Xemxija). We can safely say that this is our favourite Indian place. It is actually the first Indian restaurant we ate at, four years ago, to celebrate Baanisuu's birthday. And as with most first timers, it remains special.

Our second visit (we rarely revisit restaurants, if though they may be favourites) was no exception. As starters, we had vegetable pakoras and onion bhaji. For the main course, our choices fell on Pulao rice, garlic Nan bread, Chicken Chettinad and Jeera Ghost. Yes, the Jeera Ghost. I learned the hard way that Ghost means lamb in Indian. I made a complete fool of myself by telling the waiter "...and I would like to order Lamb Ghost." It is like saying: "I would like to order fish huta (fish in Maltese) or meat carne (meat in Italian)".

Apart from that, the food was excellent, the setting quiet, uncrowded and with a beautiful view of St. Paul's Bay. It is highly recommended and also well priced. The meal cost us Eur19 (Lm8) each, including a bottle of sparkling water.

Panasonic Lumix TZ5

I have recently decided to go for a new digital camera. My current one is a Nikon 3100 that I purchased almost 5 years ago from Liverpool. It has served me well, taking so many memorable pictures of student days, travels, Baanisuu and other events. But, the time is up for it and hence my search for a new one.

My eyes almost immediately fell on the Lumix TZ5. I still wanted to go for a compact camera, since I do not considered myself a pro or semi-pro. Plus, I'd rather have a camera that can fit in my jeans pocket. What struck me of the TZ5 is its optical range (280mm or 10x) and its wide angle (28mm) lens. It comes with a lithium ion battery pack which is what I was after after a not-so-happy relationship with rechargeable AA batteries. I had a look at several reviews which gave it quite a positive ratings:

Digital Camera HQ

Image Resource

DPReview

It also is capable of shooting HD video with sound (My Nikon shot videos without sound).

One of the downsides seems to be pictures taken indoors and at low light. As for the dimensions, it it a typical point and click measuring 104x 62 x 35 millimetres. Here below are some pictures of it. I quite like the blue one.



In terms of price, I found the item on eBay for Eur 260 (Lm111) including shipping costs, a 4GB SD memory card and other 7 goodies. What do you think?