Posted on 27 May 2008 @ 09:53 in Gadgets
So there I was, happily tapping away on my AlphaSmart Neo late last night (or early this morning) when a message appeared on the screen. No, no alien had invaded my Neo. It was just the low battery warning.
Let’s see, I’d installed the batteries on 1 September 2007, in preparation for my trip to China later that same month. So, the batteries have been in use for a total of 269 days. I used it between 2 and 3 hours everyday, leaning more to 3 hours, so I’d put 2/3rds of those days, approximately 180 days, at 3-hour usage, and the remaining 89 days at 2.5-hour usage.
That’s a total of 762.5 hours of battery life on one set of 3 AAs over 269 days.
Pretty impressive. And this is just one reason why I love AlphaSmart products.
|
Posted on 26 May 2008 @ 14:24 in Personal
As I start to write this, it’s about 22 minutes to the 2nd week since the earthquake that devastated the Sichuan province in China. I haven’t written much about it beyond two posts which included a link to a “cute” video of the pandas cubs being carried to safety.
There’s nothing “cute” about what happened 2 weeks ago but there have been some trully heart-warming stories about the courage and resilience of the Chinese, their immense will to live, and the love between the Chinese people. The latest such story tells of an 80-year-old paralysed man who was pulled out of the rubble 11 days after the quake; he’d been kept alive by his wife who brought him food until he was found and freed on Friday, 23 May 2008.
Although I’ve not written much about it here, I’ve written lots elsewhere - in emails to friends, and particularly on the Pandas Unlimited discussion forum at the Flickr site, especially on the “Wolong Earthquake Pictures” thread that I started. At some point, I need to gather together my thoughts about all this and write them down in one place. I need to do it not just because China was where it happened (my Chinese blood runs strong in me), but because the Wolong Panda Centre, which I consider my second home, is located very near the epicentre and suffered much damage.
But this post is not about what happened in China and Wolong. That will come later. This post, as the subject above shows, is about what I’ve been up to, work-wise.
I have revamped and upgraded the website for the Persatuan SLE Malaysia (PSLEM) to the WordPress platform. WordPress is better known as a blogging engine, but increasingly, its developers have improved its features and a lot of people are using it to power regular websites. Now, add to those websites the PSLEM website, located at www.lupusmalaysia.org.
I’m the volunteer web-person, and probably the right person to manage it, since I am a lupoid (person with SLE or lupus) and understand the condition from a very involved angle.
I’m quite proud of the revamp and upgrade. It’s going to be so much easier to manage the updates from now on, including the Chinese section!
Apart from the PSLEM website, I have other things on my plate that are keeping me busy.
Meanwhile, it’s four minutes to 2 weeks since the event that changed China.
|
Posted on 21 May 2008 @ 10:53 in News, Stress Busters
Video: Panda Cubs Rescued After Quake
Shot on a handphone / cell / mobile camera!!
|
Posted on 13 May 2008 @ 02:17 in Stress Busters
First, Myanmar.
Now, China.
What’s worse is the China calamity is happening in the giant panda country of Wolong. My adopted panda is there. I wonder how she is. There’s been no news from Wolong. Communications lines are down. Landslides have blocked the road to Wolong.
At times like this, I have only one recourse. Trust in God. He’s in charge. What’s happened has happened. Just trust Him. Keep the faith. If I don’t, I will go mad.
Update at 2:50 a.m.
Anita in Shanghai has been chatting with the vet in Bifengxia, a sister centre to Wolong, and learned that someone got through from Wolong to say that no buildings collapsed there, and that there’s nothing very much wrong there (her words).
Thank You, Lord! Now I will sleep easier tonight, altho I might have panda eyes in the morning.
|
Posted on 11 May 2008 @ 15:14 in Stress Busters
A friend in Shanghai told me Feng Yi*, my adopted panda, was on TV recently.
Why was she on TV? Well, she’s one of eight cubs from the Wolong Giant Panda Conservation and Breeding Centre to be selected to go to Beijing for the Olympics. No, not as a participant - the last time I checked, the Olympics hadn’t added a new category called “cuteness overload” - but as part of China’s efforts to showcase the country’s success at rescuing the giant panda population from the brink of extinction.
The eight cubs will be going to Beijing at the end of this month where they will stay at the Beijing Zoo through to the Olympics in August. There, they will be entertaining the numerous international visitors who will be in Beijing for the Games. What sort of entertainment will the cubs be expected to put on? They will be eating, sleeping, and playing with one another - nothing extra or strenuous that they don’t already know how to do, but such basic activities when carried out by giant panda cubs have immense entertainment value that must be experienced first-hand to be fully appreciated!
Ever since I heard she was on TV, I’ve tuned in more often to Astro 509, which is CCTV 9, a news channel from mainland China included in the Astro News package.
In addition to appearing on TV - I expect there’ll be more appearances closer to the time they move to Beijing - the Olympic pandas have their own blog written by their keepers. Lots of updates and pictures there, including one of Feng Yi bullying Huan Huan. Unfortunately, the blog is in Chinese, but just enjoy the cute pictures, anyway!
Olympic Pandas Blog
*Feng Yi is her officially given name, which I’m beginning to use, altho she has another name, Yoong Ping, which I’d given her as part of my adoption “right”.
|
Posted on 3 May 2008 @ 00:16 in Health, Rant, Tech Stuff
First off, I just wanna say I MISS MY WIN DESKTOP. It went belly-up a week or so ago, and I’ve been using my MacBook plugged into the external 17″ monitor.
Yes, I have both Windows and Apple machines at home. It’s always been that way ever since I started using computers. At college in San Diego, I had a DOS laptop (yes, in those days, it was DOS, pre-Windows), but the department used Macs. Then, when I came home and started at my second job, we had dinosaur Macs but later persuaded the department head that we needed proper PCs. Then I started hanging out with a group of Mac users, and decided to get me an Apple G4 PowerBook. It was mostly a fun machine while I continued using a Win desktop for serious work. I later replaced the PowerBook with a MacBook, mainly because it can run both Mac and Win OSs.
And I’d been toying with the idea of going 100% Mac, especially since I can use Win on it, too (some necessary apps still require the Win environment). The desktop was getting old, and I thought it was time to make the change.
So for the past week, I’ve been on a Mac environment. It’s quite fun actually but hell on my eyes. The 17″ monitor’s display is not proportionate to the Mac’s 13.3″ display. 1280 x 800 on the Mac became 1280 x 10something … oh, I forget. I’m currently not using the 17″ at the desk, but the “native” Mac on my lap. And suddenly I realised I’d been abusing my eyes with a disproportioned display all week. Not that I didn’t know - my eyes have been feeling tired more than usual, and one night, I even had shimmering images in front of both eyes.
Still thinking of a change to Mac? For the sake of my eyes, I don’t think so.
It is time for a computer upgrade, but not in the direction of a Mac. Instead, I’m staying with Windows. A completely new CPU with the latest components.
I’m planning to sell my MacBook (anyone local who’s interested, please email me chincm[AT]gmail dot com). And getting the new ASUS eeePC (see previous post), a 9″, < 2-pound ultraportable. Cuz I still need a mobile machine when I’m out and about.
|
