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

The Adventure Continues... In Pokemon Black and White!

About 20 days after its release, a copy of it is finally in my hands.

Introducing: Pokemon Black and White.

Having played the last few installments of the game, I picked up Pokemon Black. It was better than I expected.

The 5th generation of Pokemon introduces up to more than 150 new Pokemon to the franchise, and this time, the adventure takes place in Unova Region, which is based off New York City. The game starts off with you and two other friends receiving a starter Pokemon as a gift from Professor Juniper. As with other versions, the aim of this game is to obtain all eight badges of the Unova region and challenge the Pokemon League.

In addition to the aim of becoming the Pokemon Champion, players would also have to thwart the plans of the games' main antagonist Team Plasma, a group that seeks to liberate Pokemon from human oppression.

The game starts off at a very slow pace (for me at least) as Professor Juniper will guide players through the various aspects of the game, such as capturing a Pokemon, so as to allow players new to Pokemon familiarize with the game.

New features included in this game include the seasonal cycle. This means that only certain areas can be accessed and certain Pokemon can only be captured in different seasons. Some Pokemon change appearance according to season as well. Another new feature to note would be the Triple Battle Mode, which increases the challenge of a Pokemon Battle.

After an hour of gameplay, I find the game fun but challenging. It can be quite frustrating for new players, as battles between ordinary trainers can now be quite a challenge even for veteran players too. I was however disappointed by the absence of the mascot of Pokemon -- Pikachu. Pikachu is the reason why many fans are familiar with Pokemon, and Pikachu cannot be found in Pokemon Black/White unless you trade it over from previous versions like Diamond/Pearl/Platinum/HeartGold/SoulSilver. Without this symbolic character, I felt that the game seems be missing something.

But overall, the introduction of new Pokemon and new game features make it an equally awesome gaming experience for old and new players alike.

Before I end this post, allow me to introduce the starter Pokemon of this series:

Tepig - Evolves into a Fire/Fighting final stage. It has the worst Defense, Special Defense and Speed of the trio's final evolutions, but makes up for its limitations with a high HP, Attack and Special Attack. Learns several strong moves to complement its offense-based stats.




Oshawott - Evolves into a Water final stage with an appearance of a sea lion. It is a balanced starter, and can learn all three of the Water HMs, i.e. Surf, Waterfall and Dive. Good for beginner players. Its movepool is decent, with good Water moves like Aqua Tail and Razor Shell, and also stat-boosting Swords Dance and Focus Energy.



Snivy - Evolves into a Grass final stage. Unlike Tepig's evolution line, it is more defense-oriented. It has the worst HP, Attack and Special Attack of the trio's final evolutions, but does have the best Defense, Special Defense and Speed. Pity the narrow movepool though, and its only decent level-up move is Leaf Storm of base power 140, learnt at Lvl.62 (groan).




So after all these talk, I can't wait to continue on my adventure in the Unova region! :D

What If My GP Teacher Was A Geisha?

Note: Before watching this video, please note that parts of the video may be offensive. In that case, please refrain from watching and skip this post.

My colleague introduced this video to me, and I laughed like there was no tomorrow.

Enjoy. :D

Eevee's Evos!!!! :D

This is it.

Every time I see people drawing Eevee and its evolutions, I get spurred to draw one myself.

But then, I never bothered to start on it. Lol.

Now, I have finally decided to draw one to fulfill my satisfactions.

Enjoy :)

How It Feels Like To Be SPENT...

I saw its review on the newspapers.

And without hesitation, I went to try it out.

The review was spot on. It was an awesome game.

SPENT was launched in February 2011 as a collaboration between McKinney and Urban Ministries of Durham. In this game, you start your day being unemployed, broke and only $1000 dollars in your pocket, and you'll have to last a month.

If you think $1000 is a lot for one month, think again. Like many, I thought that was an easy task, and after an eventful, unpredictable month I have only $512 left even with a job. Lucky me, for it could have been much worse.

With that $1000 in your pocket, you will be faced with many decisions and dilemmas in life, such as whether to opt in for health insurance or not. If you do, you may not have enough to last a month, but you will have to pay more for medical bills if you do not. That was just an example of what you, playing as an unemployed single parent will face.

Even though the questions are of multiple-choice, but the hard truth is that over 14 million people in US are unemployed and are facing difficulties making these decisions every day. I feel that this game will educate users on the importance of being thrifty, and also learn about the serious issue of unemployment around the world.

I strongly recommend this game. It may only take a few minutes, but in the midst of playing it, learn of how people live under such desperate circumstances.

Interesting Read -- Fever Pitch

Knowing my love for football, my friend actually recommended me to read this book. And so I did.

I present to you: Nick Hornby's "Fever Pitch".

After reading a few pages, I loved the book. It fully describes and captures the emotions and meaning of a true football fan.

The story begins when the author's father brought him to a soccer match between Arsenal and Stoke City in 1968, and despite Arsenal being infamously known as a "boring, aggressive and rough" team then (unlike the pass-and-move style that is now adopted under Arsene Wenger's tutelage), the author felt in love with the Gunners. And this began the love affair between Hornby and Arsenal Football Club.

I loved this book for various reasons. One of which is that I am able to relate to the author's thoughts and perspective as a football fan. As an ardent supporter of a favourite team, one rejoices when the team wins, and feels sad as the team loses. This is something non-football fans will never understand: that the fans and the football team are one. Nick Hornby fully demonstrates the traits of an ardent Arsenal fan when the Gunners lost 2-1 against Aston Villa:

" I was stunned and exhausted by the defeat... the next morning a girlfriend phoned me at work, and, hearing the tired dejection in my voice, asked me what was wrong. 'Haven't you heard?' I asked her pitifully. She sounded worried and then, when I hold her what had happened, I could hear, just for a second, relief - so it wasn't after all the things she had momentarily feared for me - before she remembered who she was talking to, and the relief was replaced by all the sympathy she could muster. I knew she didn't really understand this sort of pain..."

Another factor that endeared me to this book is that the author brilliantly captures the culture of football in England. While I was reading, I could vividly feel the atmosphere of a soccer match around me. I bet you will feel the same too...

"I loved the different categories of noise: the formal, ritual noise when the players emerged (each player's name called in turn, starting with the favourite, until he responded with a wave); the spontaneous shapeless roar when something exciting was happening on the pitch; the renewed vigour of the chanting after a goal or a sustained period of attacking."

The Highbury has an attendance of 50,ooo odd people every match. On average, Singapore's soccer matches have a woeful attendance of about 2000. There's no way one in Singapore could feel the same way like in Highbury.

But of course, the book also highlights the ugly side of football in Europe -- hooliganism. Hooliganism is a major threat to European football and has led to many tragedies in football, for example the Heysel incident (when a masonry wall failed then collapsed under the pressure of escaping fans in the Heysel Stadium in Belgium as a result of rioting before the start of the 1985 European Cup final between Liverpool & Juventus.)and the West Ham stabbing as described in the book. Such is the violent side of football, and unfortunately, it cannot be eradicated completely because without it this isn't football either.

If you are a football fan, this is a good book to read through. If you are not a football fan, you may not exactly endear to the author's thoughts and views, but it's worth reading to understand how a typical football fanatic feels.