Interesting Read -- Packing For Mars

Whew, what a busy month this is!

I had such a packed schedule, that there was no time to update the blog! :D

Anyway, I have been picking up some cool books from the library to read, one of which will be introduced in this post.

Presenting: "Packing For Mars" by Mary Roach!

Mary Roach has previously combined science with topics like sex (Bonk -- The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex), and even investigated the possibility of an afterlife in "Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife". This time round, she tackles the topic of space travel and life without gravity.

Have you ever thought about how food in space taste like, or how much time and resources are required to plan a simulated moon expedition, or even how to answer nature's call in space? Well, this book covers a wide range of topics regarding space travel that will keep you entertained throughout the book.

Reading through scientific books can sometimes be a bother, because the content can be pretty dry and hard to digest. However, Mary Roach's humorous and witty writing style, combined with interesting scientific knowledge and real-life examples, got my attention. I was reading through the chapter on answering nature's call in space travel, and to illustrate that clearing fecal waste in space can be a frustrating matter, she provides this excerpt from the Apollo 10 mission transcript:


Cernan: ... You know once you get out of lunar orbit, you can do a lot of things. You can power down... And what's happening is --
Stafford: Oh -- who did it?

Young: Who did what?

Cernan: What?

Stafford: Who did it? [laughter]

Cernan: Where did that come from?

Stafford: Give me a napkin quick. There's a turd floating through the air.

Young: I didn't do it. It ain't one of mine.

Cernan: I don't think it's one of mine.

Stafford: Mine was a little more sticky than that. throw that away.

Young: God almighty.


[And again eight minutes later, while discussing the timing of a water dump.]


Young: Did they say we could do it anytime?

Cernan: They said on 135. They told us that -- Here's another goddamn turd. What's the matter with you guys? Here, give me a --

Young/Stafford: [laughter]

Stafford: It was just floating around?

Cernan: Yes.

Stafford: Mine was stickier than that.

Young: Mine was too. It hit that bag --

Cernan: [laughter] I don't know whose that is. I can neither claim it or disclaim it. [laughter]

Young: What the hell is going on here?

Aside from the main content, the author also provides annotations at the bottom to give further explanation on some of the terms in the chapters. This allows the readers who may be familiar with the scientific terms used to further understand some of the concepts in this book.

I would strongly recommend this book to all, even if you are no fan of space travel. But if you are interested in how life is in the void, this is the book for you!

Kengsters' Outing! 美味しい！

Last Saturday, we went out for dinner at Sole Pomodoro.

Being there the first time, I was excited about what the restaurant has to offer. The Italian restaurant offers a great variety of pizza and pasta, and has been highly recommended by many, so there's no way I am going to give it a miss.

We met at Little India MRT station at 7p.m and made our way to the little restaurant at Mackenzie Road. There were actually quite a lot of people there for dinner by the time we arrived, so we were lucky enough to find seats.

As every pizza on the menu looked so enticingly good, we really could not decide on what to order! Finally, we decided on five on them, namely:

1. Diavola - Tomato sauce, mozzarella, spicy salami. Liked the combination of mozzarella and the salami.

2. Siciliana - Tomato sauce, mozzarella, anchovies, cappers. The moment I took a bite, I was overwhelmed by the taste of the anchovies - it gives me a feeling as though I was eating a seafood platter. Maybe a bit too salty for me but still palatable.




3. Bufala - Tomato sauce, Buffalo mozzarella. My favorite. The Buffalo mozzarella melted over the pizza was awesome and it actually left me wanting for more. Unfortunately, we ordered one per flavor and there's only one per person. So oh well...

4. Crudo e Rucola - The Parma ham on top of the pizza was the clincher. Yum yum.

5. Calzone Solepomodoro -Came off as a big surprise for me. It was up to my liking actually.

After we ate our fill, our food outing did not stop there. Of course, how can we miss out dessert? :D So next stop, The Cathay!

A few of us went to eat sushi, but the rest decided to have something sweet. And off we went to Cafe Cartel to have our dessert. To our delight, all drinks and desserts were on 5% off from 9p.m onwards, so it was a pretty good deal! Unfortunately, I was so full from having 5 slices of pizza, hence I decided to order a mocha frappe. Vincent ordered a Eastside Brownie Stack while Kang Yueh ordered a Waffle with Ice Cream set. As the ice cream waffle looked so yummy (pity my full stomach), I decided to take multiple shots of the waffle as Kwang Yueh poured honey down the delicious dessert...


As we enjoyed our dessert, we talked and discussed about many things like movies etc. until about 10+ p.m, when we finally bade each other farewell and wrapped up the dinner outing.

I look forward to our next dinner gathering! :D