Halley’s Comet and the Brevity of Life

If you guys are around for another 50 years, you’ll get to see Halley’s Comet.

I was around for the comet’s last visit, but I can’t really say if I ‘saw’ it or not. It’s not something that comes light a flash in the night, it’s more like a star in the night that can be seen over a period of about 2 weeks. All I remember back then was everyone was all excited about the comet, large crowds gathered at the beach and everybody will be pointing to the stars in the night sky saying, “no, no its that one!”, “No lah, I’m sure its THAT one!”

I was reminded of Halley’s Comet when i saw this comic on digg. I’m not sure who drew this comic (please let me know if you do), but i love it. It’s not really about the comet, it’s about how short and fleeting life is in the grand scheme of the universe.

Tiger Blogfest 2010: A Poem and A Famous Song

Speaking of tigers, I remember reading a few lines of a poem about them when i was small. A little googling got me the poem easily, its actually The Tiger by William Blake. You can read the full poem here.

Tiger Tiger. burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye.
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

Okay, for those not into poetry you might enjoy this – Eye of the Tiger!!! ROCKY!!!

Tiger Blogfest 2010: A Disappearing National Icon

Tigers get a bad rep these days. At the mention, some people conjure up images of the Tamil Tigers in their mind, or worse still, our national football team (nothing wrong with that, just their performance) or something with a negative connotation when you mention “tiger-show” especially in Ipoh.

But make no mistake. The tiger is a magnificent animal, one of the true apex predators of the Malaysian jungle. Since tigers don’t live in same climate as their big cat cousins (the lion, jaguar and leopard), it is safe to say the tiger stands alone as a symbol of courage and strength. It is no coincidence the tiger is our national symbol, look at our coat of arms, crest and emblems.

The Americans have their bald eagle, the Aussies with their kangaroos, our neighbours down South have their, um… Merlions, we have the proud tiger.

But the reality of it is that the number of tigers in the Malaysian wild is dwindling. This is true for most of our wildlife – from the large elephants to the small pangolins. But this here is our national animal we’re talking about here. Due to deforestation for urban expansion and agriculture, we have killed more than 80% of our remaining tigers. While our country struggles with issues of national identity and national unity (there’s definitely no shortage of media coverage on that), it is only obvious that we should protect the tiger and keep it as the a symbol of the Malaysian spirit. What it takes is political willpower from our government. And a conscious effort from all Malaysians.

Perhaps one day the tigers will go extinct here. Probably. By then how would it reflect on us Malaysians?

The tiger is our national animal. Our heritage. But today only less than 500 of them remain in the wild. As Malaysians, we need to stand up and protect our heritage. Speak to your children. Speak to your leaders. Everyone of us can make a difference.

For further information, please visit MYCAT (www.malayantiger.net), WWF Malaysia (www.wwf.org.my) and Department of Wildlife & National Parks (www.wildlife.gov.my)

My Brand New X-Mini Speakers

Let me see, I’ve had my current home PC set up for, um, since 2003? That’s a long time. So are the Sonic Gear speakers I got together with the PC.

I guess they’re okay as a first generation speakers, it looks good and works well. But the thing with speakers over time is that the sound gets less sharp, you get more feedback (and that annoying soft, hissing sound in the background especially when you turn the volume up). The other problem with my speakers is that the volume control is stiff. So stiff i can’t adjust it anymore, so i just leave it at max and control the volume using my desktop.

So i was pretty pleased to get my brand new X-Mini Capsule speakers in the mail last week (actually I received TWO different sets, but more on the other one later). The first one is the black X-Mini II (USD$29.90), definitely lives up to its ‘sound beyond size’ tagline. Its smaller than a tennis ball, fits in your palm but packs a powerful punch.

You can hook up multiple speakers like a daisy chain (using a retractable 3.5mm audio cable), but generally if you’re using a notebook, one will do. It comes with a volume control and USB port. It comes with a built in rechargeable battery that can last up to 11 hours.

The black is pretty cool.

The other speakers I got was the white X-mini Max II (USD49.90) double speakers, which is pretty much 2 for the price of one. It clicks magnetically like an egg, for easy storage. Good idea when you can share a spare speaker with a friend while surfing Wifi at the coffee place.

Twist the speakers and they pop up like a spring.

All in all excellent speakers – very portable, good acoustics, perfect for notebooks. But using it for my desktop also saves me plenty of precious table space. I even tried it with my old walkman and Discman, works fine. It also worked perfectly with my 15 year old Nintendo Gameboy, the music never sounded better.