Sel and Joel decided to wake up early for mass at St Paul's cathedral so I get to sleep in late at Sel's house. So when I got up at around 9 something I went to find Joanne and knocked on the wrong room. Sel's housemate who came back early morning didn't know I was bunking over so it was not a pleasant surprise.
Showered and went to Fay's place which was about 5 minutes down the road. Got lost on the way but thank God for free internet and Google Earth. Then I traveled with Fay down to South Kensington and met Sel and Joel at a coffee shop. Hot coffee and cold mornings make a very good combination. Thanks Fay!
Tickets to the Cocoon. Although it's free, they still require you to "purchase" tickets.
The Cocoon at the Charles Darwin Center is a place where specimens are stored. Here you'll learn how they name species, preserve them and catalog them for the benefit of future researchers. Sometimes they will send out these specimens for other scientists to study.
Giant mosquito model will suck your blood dry.
I was actually more intrigued by their interactive displays. Most are touch based and doesn't seem to be using a camera to detect where your hand is. So I concluded that the surface that they are projecting on must be touch sensitive. The whole exhibition is highly interactive and it encourages a lot of hands on which really helps the learning process, especially with younger visitors.
A turtle's backbone is fused with its shell so you can never see a turtle without its shell. Damn cartoons.
I didn't manage to cover the whole Natural History Museum. There simply wasn't enough time. I would probably need 2 days just to see everything there. We did go through some of the mammals section and also the large hall where the blue whale and its skeleton are displayed.
If you take a blue whale out of the sea, it will be crushed to death by its own weight due to the lack of buoyancy.
Sel suggested we go over to the Museum in Docklands to learn about the history of London. And since she had tickets entrance would be free. The museum is near Canary Wharf tube station.
The Museum of Docklands is actually housed in an old warehouse building that was once used to store goods carried by ships from all over the world. The multiple gates on each floor speeds up the process of unloading the ships' cargos.
London came into existence when the Romans set up a settlement by River Thames. It was known as Londinium during that time. Eventually London grew as its port became increasingly busy with ships coming in from all over the world. But London's history wasn't all smooth sailing. There was the Great Plague, the Great Fire of London, and then there were the World War bombings. Life was pretty hard during those times.
Slaves used to work in lucrative sugar cane plantations to produce sugar. On the left side of the wall are names of the ships that carried slaves. Yes, the slave trade was huge.
Overall the museum was a great eye opener. This is one museum not to be missed if you want to know how London came about. There are a lot of things to see. And I found out plenty that I didn't know about London. Especially the slave trade, and how people coped during the World War. We are indeed lucky to be living in a relatively peaceful world now.
Glass buildings around Docklands. It was dark when we got out even though it was only 4:30pm.
During winter it gets dark very early. So it seemed like the day progressed at a very rapid pace. Very hard to get used to this. And dark means cold so it was time to say goodbye and head back to Golders Green for a scrumptious dinner and a warm bed. Not to mention defrosting in front of a fireplace. Oh, the perks of winter!
Next: More museums!
Posted by tzywen on Sunday, February 07 @ 22:20:15 MYT (33 reads) (Permalink | comments? | Score: 0)
London Trip 2009: Part 2
The great thing about museums in London is that they are absolutely free! You can spend the whole day there learning new things. During this trip I went to over 6 museums and a 4 exhibitions both in London and Birmingham.
The Natural History Museum.
On the 2nd day of my trip, I went to the World Wildlife Photography exhibition at the Natural History Museum. As the name implies, the photography exhibition revolves around wildlife. Some photos are simply amazing, allowing you to look at animals in ways that you've never seen them before. It certainly took some photographers a lot of effort to capture some of the photos seen here. Some of them even had to camp for days in subzero temperatures just to wait for the right moment.
The storybook wolf. The photo above was the winning photo of 2009 until it was disqualified. You can view the online gallery of the photos here. [source]
Also in the Natural History Museum is the dinosaur gallery. They have a scaled down mechanically animated T-rex inside.
I think this is the skeleton of a T-rex.
The dinosaur exhibition was very interesting. There are detailed explanation on why they were highly successful during their era and also factors contributing to the dinosaurs' extinction. Here you can also find out why some dinosaurs are warm blooded and why some are not.
Replica of a dinosaur's nest.
Just across the road at the Victoria and Albert museum the decode exhibition was being held. To put it simply, you get to see what happens when art meets science and technology.
That's a picture of me taking a picture of the Weave Mirror. This "display" has a resolution of 32x24, with a total of 768 effective pixels.
I was particularly impressed with this Weave Mirror. It's like a large screen with many pixels, but these pixels are actually small curved pieces that move to change to bright or dark. They're all servo actuated so as you walk pass the exhibition, you hear them whirling as they change the display.
Decode's video:
After Decode we went over to the Royal Opera House at Convent Garden to catch the Enchanted Pig. I did enjoy the play, very witty and funny! And live acting and live music is really something different. And with such a small stage to work with, they had to use numerous props and stage effects to simulate a situation. I absolutely love the "running down a long corridor" scene. I'm also impressed at how the conductor managed to synchronize everything.
The play lasted for about 2 hours, with a short break about halfway through so the audience can go freshen themselves up and they can reconfigure the stage.
You can use the South Kensington Station to get to the museums.
While in London, I usually use the tube to get around. With an Oyster card (similar to our Touch n Go cards here in Malaysia), traveling is a breeze. Just tap in at the station's gate and tap out when you arrive. No need to buy tickets or take out cash. Also traveling on a working day after 10:30am is so enjoyable. You have the whole train to yourself!
That night I met up with Sel, Joanne, Fay, Cher Ying, Albert and we went for dinner at the nearby Frankie and Bennie's. Then I spent the night at Sel's because there was no point traveling back to Golders Green since I'll be with them tomorrow for The Cocoon Exhibition at the Charles Darwin center in the Natural History Museum. Did I tell you how warm Sel's living room is?
Sorry not much photos since I didn't lug my camera around! Tip for taking photos in museums, since they are always dimly lit: bring a VR lens. For Nikon users, I recommend the 18-55VR. You won't want to lug a tripod around.
Next: London Trip 2009: Part 3
Posted by tzywen on Sunday, January 24 @ 22:09:11 MYT (109 reads) (Permalink | 4 comments | Score: 0)
London Trip 2009: Part 1
I know this is extremely overdue, but I have been very busy and slacking for some time now. So here goes.
Every year I make it a point to travel mainly because I still have the time and I need to make use of the free ticket that MAS provides. Last year (2009) I actually didn't have any trip planned because exams was keeping me busy. Then late November Joanne decided to tempt me to go over to UK because there's a chance that it will snow. Days later I went to apply for my ticket to UK. And that's how I spent the first 11 days of 2010 in the UK.
It was pretty much an uneventful flight. There was a slight delay in taking off so instead of being in the air by 31st December 2009 11:55pm, we celebrated New Years on the bay. The chief steward made an announcement and people on board cheered. And we flew by Thailand, which was one hour behind Malaysia and celebrated New Years for the second time.
Due to my tiredness, the 13 hour flight actually went by pretty fast. I slept so I could overcome the jetlag when I arrive in London.
Friday was sunny but cold.
I touched down early Friday morning 1st January 2010 at around 5:30am. The first thing I noticed when I got off the plane was the cold. This was on the aerobridge. I suspect it wasn't heated and the cold air was seeping in from the outside. It was about 0 degrees Celsius that day.
Went through customs without a hitch. Aunt sent a cab to pick me up from Terminal 4 at Heathrow to Golders Green, where I will be staying most of the time (Google street view works in London so do try that out). Since almost everyone was wasted due to last night's New Years party, the roads were very empty.
On the Hungerford Bridge which crosses River Thames.
I then went to meet Sel at Embankment tube station and we walked down to Trafalgar Square to watch the New Year's day parade. Apparently every year they have this parade. They'll close off the roads so the procession can go through it.
Trafalgar Square used to be filled with pigeons. I remember feeding them 8 years ago when I was here. Now due to the problem with their droppings, i.e. cost incurred for cleanup, they have decided not to let pigeons loiter around anymore. One way was by preventing people from feeding them.
It was damn crowded but we eventually managed to squeeze to the front row.
Batman came in his environmental-friendly Batmobile!
The parade consisted mainly of bands from all over the world. There was a Japanese band too.
It was freezing cold and the temperature was very close to zero. After an hour there we went to the nearest Starbucks to thaw ourselves. Hot chocolate or hot coffee is something you'll appreciate a lot here.
Since we still had some time to kill before tonight's Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park, we went back to Sel's house which was somewhere near Canada Water. Sel's house is very nice because the heating is always turned up to the max. And I also found out that Joanne did not in fact go back to Birmingham and was still in London, bumming at Sel's house.
Sel, Joanne and I met up with Fay, Cher Ying, Albert and Joel at Fay's place (also at Canada Water) before heading off to Hyde Park. It was freezing cold at night, down to -1C. I couldn't use my iPhone since the touch screen cannot be operated while wearing gloves. The cold really reduces your dexterity to the point where you can't even perform simple tasks with your fingers, like counting money or twittering.
Rides. Spuk. Reminds me of the ghost train back in Kuching Festival.
Winter Wonderland is like a bigger version of Kuching Festival. It has everything a festival needs: beer, food, rides, games and lots of people.
Games.
Food. Surprisingly, the food here is quite similar to the food available at 1Utama's Oktoberfest. Maybe it's due to the German origin.
And not to forget the outdoor skating rink. I had hoped that it would be on a frozen lake or river.
Had dinner there and walked around a few times until we were sure we were completely frozen. Moving about was better than just sitting down doing nothing because then you feel cold faster. It was indeed a freezing experience for me. I was starting to miss KL's scorching hot weather. 10 more days to go.
Next: London Trip 2009: Part 2
Posted by tzywen on Saturday, January 23 @ 16:57:37 MYT (104 reads) (Permalink | comments? | Score: 0)
Health Hazard
Stupid people are hazardous to your health. So keep your friends smart.
Still sorting through the UK photos. Might take a while with my current workload.
Posted by tzywen on Wednesday, January 20 @ 00:27:19 MYT (57 reads) (Permalink | comments? | Score: 0)
Back from UK
Just got back from my UK trip. Can't believe I spent an entire day on a plane (12 hours flight one way). Now I need to catch my breath as I've been busy adjusting back to normal. My computers didn't help by suddenly deciding to die off while I was away. Now I just need to get the car's computer running again. And to prepare for the BBQ this weekend.
The London Eye. Check back here for my UK trip posts soon!
Posted by tzywen on Wednesday, January 13 @ 23:09:51 MYT (66 reads) (Permalink | 2 comments | Score: 0)
2009 Recap
The first decade of the 21st century is almost over. Lots of things have happened during the past decade, and we're probably going to usher in the next decade hoping for a better economy, finding ways to deal with the energy crisis and also global warming.
2009 for me has also been a blast. It has been a pretty eventful year. I've been able to accomplish some of my targets for 2009 and some more. Anyways here's a short recap on what happened in 2009.
2009 has been a great year but 2010 promises to be an even better one. I'll be flying off to UK later for 11 days. Regular updates will continue after 13th of January 2010.
Before I go I'd like wish the very best for you for 2010! Have a Happy New Year!
Signing off for year 2009,
Tzy Wen.
Posted by tzywen on Thursday, December 31 @ 18:38:37 MYT (176 reads) (Permalink | comments? | Score: 0)
Flat Black Lamborghini Gallardo
One SB600 bounced off a white card held above the car. Shot @ 200mm, 1/200, f/10.
Depth of field seem to be lacking.
Posted by tzywen on Friday, December 25 @ 16:48:52 MYT (210 reads) (Permalink | comments? | Score: 0)
1Malaysia iPhone App
Nowadays everything is about 1Malaysia. So it didn't really come as a surprise when I discovered a "1Malaysia" app on the Apple App Store. It's free and it can be found by searching for "1Malaysia".
As the name implies, the App is all about Malaysia. Let's take a look at what it offers.
The "1Malaysia" app has a Malaysian flag as the app icon. On the right is the main screen for the app. Travel Spots lets you browse tourist destinations by states. While this may seem convenient for tourists, truth is, the places that are in the database are very limited. For example, here's what they have for Caves in Sarawak (bottom right):
There is more than one cave in Sarawak. On the way to Lundu itself there are 3! More should be added to Travel Spots before this feature can become handy to tourists.
The 1Malaysia app can also show you foreign exchange rates and also bus routes. This again will come in handy for tourists especially if they're planning to take the public transport to get around.
For those of us who are staying in KL, the live traffic cams are a life saver. As you can see, 7:30pm is not a good time to be on the Federal Highway.
The 1Malaysia app also contains the rail map so you can plan your route around the city. Again, great for tourists. Weather in Malaysia is pretty much unpredictable so weather forecast is something that I think we will rarely use. It didn't rain today.
Other features include showing you nearby stations (KTM, LRT), a very extensive telephone directory of all the important departments in Malaysia (fire, police, immigration, taxi) and a little bit of history and geography on Malaysia.
Personally as a Malaysian, I won't find this app extremely useful for visiting tourists. However, it does provide them with the basic tools to get around. And perhaps indirectly, through the Apple App Store, the "1Malaysia" app can promote Malaysia to an international audience.
I just downloaded it because it has live traffic cams.
Posted by tzywen on Tuesday, December 22 @ 21:02:40 MYT (176 reads) (Permalink | comments? | Score: 0)
Gmail Phishing
Seems like hackers have started to use Gmail chat to phish for victims. I got this today. Never open any links or download anything from suspicious sites. Especially sites that have names very similar to other big legit sites like facebook.com. "viewmorepics.image-facebook.info" is definitely not a domain owned by Facebook.
Posted by tzywen on Saturday, December 19 @ 17:13:26 MYT (154 reads) (Permalink | 2 comments | Score: 0)
How to Stream Audio Wirelessly to your iPhone
Let's say you want to listen to your favourite tunes in the living room while reading your favourite book. Problem is, your PC is in the bedroom and you can't blast music from its speakers because everyone else is sleeping. So you need a way to get that audio from your PC to your headphones in the living room. You can probably get those expensive wireless headphones, or you can do it for free if you have an iPhone or iPod touch.
Of course, this is assuming you're playing back songs not available on your iPhone/iPod touch.
Step 1: Getting started
First you'll need to get 2 pieces of software:
AudioInFree for your iPhone/iPod touch (get from the App Store).
Access the App Store from your iPhone/iPod touch and search for "audioinfree". You should be able to find this. Install it:
Step 2: Configuring the server
The description for this step is misleading because there's actually nothing much to configure. Run the Audio Server on your PC and you'll see this screen:
Select your audio input device and input pin. It's usually your main audio device and "wave". Press "Start" when you're ready to stream. Your firewall may ask you for permission to allow this program to access the network. In any case, allow it.
Step 3: Running the client
Run AudioInFree on your iPhone/iPod touch and you will see this screen:
Here is the main screen and you can see the server list. For example, I have a server "tzywen" running on 192.168.1.2.
Tap "Settings" and you'll see this screen:
Here you can set your streaming buffer size. The larger the buffer, the less "glitches" there will be if the network is not stable.
Go back to the main screen and tap the audio server that you want to connect to (refer previous screen shot). If the connection is successful you'll see the following screen:
Now that you're connected, just press the "Play" symbol on top and audio from your PC will start streaming out from your iPhone/iPod touch.
Step 4: Enjoy!
Posted by tzywen on Friday, December 18 @ 15:46:00 MYT (232 reads) (Permalink | 2 comments | Score: 0)
With 21 years of real life experience, this is where I put them to good use. Here, I post up snippets of my life, interesting things that I do, current projects, outings and events and sometimes something very random.
Currently with MAS studying for my aircraft maintenance license, I'm passionate about my job (or technically my future job), computers, gadgets, electronics, cool stuff, cars, technology, and the environment. I love sports, traveling and enjoying nature. I unwind by sleeping.
Check back here often. I update at least 7 times a week.
Email:
MSN:
Affiliations:
Now Shooting:
Who's Online
There are 57 people online here now.
Survey
Latest Comments
Boon: Nah, dropping to 56K resistors did not.. Hwee Chia: Yea, it's been such a long time. Seems.. Tzy Wen: chris: This is indeed very strange. I .. Tzy Wen: Hwee Chia: hey I haven't seen you for .. Boon: Will try dropping both 110K resistors .. Boon: Tried the 3 resistor but didn't work. .. chris: ye All wall chargers i have tried dont.. Hwee Chia: Hey Tzy Wen! How are you doing? Tzy Wen: aiman: Hi you can add me on msn to fin.. Tzy Wen: chris: have you tried with another USB..
About Me
