Finish Strong? - Video Inspiration‏

An email from my flatmate, a video clip about a guy named Nick Vujicic, has no arms, legs. He is a tough guy, face all the challenges, and give inspiration talk to kids, feel free to visit the link below:

http://www.maniacworld.com/are-you-going-to-finish-strong.html

I believe his story will motivate all people!

cheers,

please give your supports..thanks

read a ost by one of the my fm's DJs, Vivian Tok. In this post, she would like to collect 2009 comments/ wishes to kids in special care centre.

When I was a member in St. John Ambulance, I celebrated CNY with them. Indeed, they need our support and wishes.

so.. feel free to visit the follwing blog, and leave your comment there. Thanks

http://viviantokcafe.blogspot.com/2008/12/s.html

possible note from Bush to his successor, Obama..haha

Read this article from metro.co.uk. As is tradition, outgoing president left a note to his successor. Therefore, what's note will Bush left? Unfortunately the White House declined to reveal, so the likely content was as follow..quite funny...(click the image to enlarge)

for more info, visit the original article at
http://img.metro.co.uk/e-edition/A11liz/Metro20090121/resources/4.htm

My birthday, Christmas, 2009 New Year, Chinese New Year wishes—place I want to a.k.a. my dream institution

This is one of the research institutes I applied for PhD fellowship. Previously I mentioned it briefly at here and here.

“Dare to dream, grasp the window of opportunity open to you”, a piece of words from a Chinese visiting scholar in my lab.

Undeniable I have a “deadly” weakness that doesn’t have solution at the moment (my supervisor, course tutor, postdocs, colleague also agreed). Anyway, with passion, commitment, and prolong interest—these three golden words in my mind. I will challenge myself, and hope to get a chance for an interview.

Just like what I did last time in pre-Uni and undergrad studies, put your goal on the wall near your study desk. Every time when you study, no matters how stress how hard it is, look at your goal, and strive for it. The same thing applicable to other fields as well, not only restricted on academic.

Hope I can have chance to share some good news then.

Ck’s research—part 3—to be continued

Recently performed qPCR on my samples, and discovered some interesting result. Anyway, will present the result in the coming lab meeting, which is falls on first day of CNY..:-(,

but fine, because I am so excited with the results, even though the outcomes are expected, look forward to sharing research findings.

At last, can share some good news..

CNY is coming soon

hi guys, CNY is coming soon and ck will celebrate here with colleague from China. Recently, watched some youtube videos, and would like to share with you guys the following videos, for me they are funny and nice..

enjoy this joyful festive season!

a Science of Education

Recently read an article in Science, glad with their efforts to foster a good science education, especially the focus in public school. This article also discuss various factors needed in order to build a good education system. Undeniable, it needs co-operation from both leaders and people.

I impress with the opening of this article (especially sentence highlighted by ck), a direct quotation from the article is as follow:"

"For success in an increasingly complex, crowded, and dangerous world, A nation must strive to be a meritocracy: Its education and social systems should be structured to select those with the most talent, energy, wisdom, and character as the next generation of leaders for each segment of society. When I was young, I was taught that providing equal opportunities for everyone was a matter of social justice--part of the social contract in the United States. Now, I believe that it is also a matter of national survival. Any country that fails to encourage and develop the talent in each individual through its public school system will suffer greatly, because the quality of a nation depends on the collective wisdom of both its leaders and its citizens (Albert, 2009)."

Reference:

Bruce Albert. Making a Science of Education
Science 2 January 2009:
Vol. 323. no. 5910, p. 15
DOI: 10.1126/science.1169941
available at : http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/323/5910/15

Obama inauguration

feel free to visit the link below, live video on the new US president, Mr. Obama inauguration

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7624873.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7840926.stm

My workplace

My desk in the first week of my arrival




My desk in December




My lab bench
it's time to clean the mess, in the brand new year..haha

Chinese New Year Card

I would like to thank sui cai for his lovely cny card..Initially I thought it was a "red bomb" a.k.a. wedding card from him, when looked at the two "birds"..haha

anyway, thanks for his supports and encouragements.

sui cai, all the best to you, gambate in your future endeavour..

cheers

driving force

"They" are the driving force that keep on motivating me to strive for my goal and keep me moving forward.

In developing / underdevelope countries, more than 800 million people are short of food supply and 1.3 billion individuals living less than USD 1 a day. The deep impact of plant disease in food security can be envisaged in a classical fearful example, the Irish Potato Famine happened in 18th century. This incident had killed about a million people and caused a massive emigration, in which severely change the demography of this country today.

The follwing info obtained from latest BBC News:-

The latest estimates from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) show that another 40 million people have been pushed into hunger in 2008 as a result of higher food prices.

This brings the overall number of undernourished people in the world to 963 million, compared to 923 million in 2007.

The FAO warned that the ongoing financial and economic crisis could tip even more people into hunger and poverty.

"World food prices have dropped since early 2008, but lower prices have not ended the food crisis in many poor countries," said FAO assistant director-general Hafez Ghanem at the launch of the agency's State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008 report.

Adapted from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7795652.stm

100 top sites for year 2009

Blogging

Now as easy as falling off a log.

Bloglines bloglines.com for reading web feeds. Smart and clean.

Wordpress wordpress.com free, and most importantly spam-free, blogging.

Browsers

A newly revived category, thanks to Chrome and Safari.

Chrome google.com/chrome newly out of beta, though Windows-only.

Firefox mozilla.com/firefox infinitely malleable, with fewer security holes.

Flock flock.com with an emphasis on linking to social networks.

Opera opera.com growing in importance for mobiles.

Safari apple.com/safari Apple's contender; a leader in mobile web access.

Cartoons

Everyone needs some relaxation.

Dilbert dilbert.com hi, cube-dwellers.

Alex alexcartoon.com amid the financial crisis, Alex the banker remains reliably self-interested.

Doonesbury doonesbury.com the cartoon you'll also find in that printed newspaper thing.

The Joy of Tech geekculture.com/joyoftech well-drawn, witty near-daily takes on Apple and computing life.

XKCD xkcd.com "Stick-figure strip featuring humour about technology, science, mathematics and relationships."

Create/collaborate

The main change from last time: whatever you want to do, wherever you are.

Dipity dipity.com build timelines and add text, pictures and videos.

Zoho zoho.com everything in one place, from documents to presentations.

Rememberthemilk rememberthemilk.com online task/to-do management.

Netvibes netvibes.com your to-do lists, news, weather and photos on one page.

280slides 280slides.com create presentations online. Very slick.

Zamzar zamzar.com convert files from one format to another.

Gaming

A field where handheld, bedroom and Flash games are becoming mainstream

Eurogamer eurogamer.net reportage, with breadth, if not always depth.

The Independent GamingSource tigsource.com a great place to pick up on tomorrow's breakthrough hits.

Pocket Gamer pocketgamer.co.uk still by far the best site on handheld gaming.

Metacritic metacritic.com/games industry touchstone and useful one-stop buying guide.

Jay is Games jayisgames.com passionate, well-designed and knowledgeable.

Geek squad

Stack Overflow stackoverflow.com where programmers gather.

The Daily WTF thedailywtf.com daily despatches from the coding warzone.

Joel On Software joelonsoftware.com essays by a former Microsoftie.

Government/public services/politics

Streetwire streetwire.org hyperlocal information including planning alerts, crime and public safety, traffic, local news and postings to FixMyStreet.com.

Recycle Now recyclenow.com winner of the Show Us A Better Way competition.

British and Irish Legal Information Institute bailii.org a database of laws. Only survives hand-to-mouth on voluntary donations; where's yours?

What Do They Know? whatdotheyknow.com makes filing a Freedom Of Information request as easy as sending an email. Too easy, some in power think.

Upmystreet upmystreet.com all the detail on your area you could ever want.

Location, location

Services like these blossom with a mobile phone that can access the internet

Dopplr dopplr.com "share your future travel plans with friends and colleagues", then find out if others will be there too.

Qype qype.com localised search for pubs, restaurants, etc; also a bit of a social network.

Loopt loopt.com "transforms your mobile phone into a social compass".

Brightkite brightkite.com a "location-based social network".

Maps

The flip side of location-based services: seeing where you are.

OpenStreetMap openstreetmap.org a rights-free map created by people like you. Remarkably detailed and precise.

Walkit walkit.com walking directions for all sorts of routes.

Google Maps Street View maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview soon to have the UK as well.

Noise pollution map noisemapping.defra.gov.uk how noisy is it in the area around your house?

Where's The Path? wheresthepath.googlepages.com/wheresthepath.htm Let down by OS's absurd OpenSpace restrictions.

Money/finance/ consumer fightback

We all need someone on our side.

Money Saving Expert moneysavingexpert.com does what it says on the tin.

BView bview.co.uk review businesses before you use them.

Say No to 0870 saynoto0870.com direct-dial numbers, not expensive national-rate ones.

Consumer Direct consumerdirect.gov.uk government site for consumers.

Zopa zopa.com a human-centred way to loan money to people in the developing world.

Music

Last.fm last.fm British-made, CBS-owned, music recommendation station.

Amazon amazon.co.uk now has its own MP3 store in the UK as well as the US.

7Digital 7digital.com music downloads in MP3 format - so not tied to iPods.

Passionato passionato.com classical music MP3 downloads, slowly building momentum.

Songkick songkick.com find out where your favourite bands are playing next, based on your music library.

Blip.fm blip.fm be your own DJ and create a social network from your choices and recommendations.

News recommendation

Digg digg.com still the reigning champion.

Reddit reddit.com slightly upmarket from Digg; slightly below...

Techmeme techmeme.com technology news chosen by computer, though it's now adding human editors.

Popurls popurls.com aggregating the aggregators: the web in a window.

Slashdot slashdot.org still attracts a big, and often knowledgable, audience.

Offbeat

The Onion theonion.com still the satirical newspaper of record.

B3TA b3ta.com beyond classification; its forum has spawned many memes... and trolls.

Lolcats icanhazcheezburger.com captioned cats and other animals.

PostSecret postsecret.blogspot.com notes of secrets sent by people who want them posted. So they are.

Passive-Aggressive Notes passiveaggressivenotes.com would it be too much trouble for you to have a look?

Photography

Flickr flickr.com the granddaddy of photo-sharing sites.

Picnik picnik.com photo editing in your browser.

Picasa picasa.com Google's photo organisation and editing tool. Windows only.

Physical from virtual

Moo moo.com Moo business cards have become a calling card in themselves.

Blurb blurb.com coffee-table book publishing of your books.

Lulu lulu.com book, photobook, calendars and other sorts of publishing.

Cafepress cafepress.com badges, T-shirts etc. US-only at present.

Spreadshirt spreadshirt.net design your own T-shirt or sweatshirt and get it printed.

Reference

CIA Factbook cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook all the data you need on pretty much anywhere.

Wikipedia wikipedia.com still a first port of call on most topics.

Rotten Tomatoes rottentomatoes.com check the film you plan to see here.

Internet Archive/Wayback Machine archive.org the web in aspic.

Wikileaks wikileaks.org anonymous source of leaked documents.

Search

Google still dominates.

Clusty clusty.com results in clouds.

CoolIris cooliris.com image-based searching - a new way to use the web.

Social software

Chances are high you're a member of at least one, and perhaps all, of these sites.

Facebook facebook.com virtually everyone's your friend here.

Myspace myspace.com hangout for all the teenagers. And Kirk Douglas.

LinkedIn linkedin.com mainly for business.

Friends Reunited friendsreunited.co.uk the original social network.

Twitter, and associated

Twitter has proved itself over and over this year as a vector for news.

Twitter twitter.com the ur-site, where you can create an identity (or several).

Monitter monitter.com watch keywords on Twitter. A brand, your name, a meme? No login required at present.

Matt themattinator.com post to multiple Twitter accounts. Requires your password; only give if you trust the site.

Twitterfeed twitterfeed.com posts blog contents to Twitter. Requires password; only give if you're sure that you trust the site. We do.

Twitter Grader twitter.grader.com find how you rank on Twitter.

Video

BBC iPlayer bbc.co.uk/iplayer already taking up 10% of UK network traffic.

YouTube youtube.com dominant provider of video content online.

Vimeo vimeo.com better rights control than YouTube and a cleaner interface.

Worldtv.com worldtv.com set up your own global TV channel.

Qik qik.com video-sharing from your mobile.

Joost joost.com internet TV via a browser plugin.

Videojug videojug.com a sort of social network of informational video.

Seesmic seesmic.com short video conversation: another social network.

Virtual worlds/MMORPGs

Runescape runescape.com amazingly successful MMORPG.

Entropia Universe entropiauniverse.com set in a distant future on the untamed planet of Calypso.

Club Penguin clubpenguin.com minigame-tastic virtual world for kids.

Moshi Monsters moshimonsters.com "educational" virtual world for kids.

Visualisation

DabbleDB dabbledb.com create online databases and analyse them.

Google Visualisation tools code.google.com/apis/visualization/documentation/gallery.html dozens of tools for making data more comprehensible.

Many Eyes manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/page/Visualization_Options.html IBM's visualisation tools, similar to Google's.

Information adapted from The Guardian, Thursday 18 December 2008

at http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/dec/18/internet-websites

Ck’s research—part 2

Long time didn’t share ck’s research. If you wish to know more about ck’s research can refer to previous post at here, here, here, and here

The following observations were done 2/3 months ago. However, from my point of view I think the morphology observation not so nice and insignificant. This might caused by problems such as cultivation techniques, lack of consistency, shock encountered when transferring from agar plate to hydroponic etc. anyway, the observation had provided some clue, and now should prove it through molecular basis, in term of gene expression profile.


The initial stage whereby ck transferred Arabidopsis seedlings to hydroponic



It’s time to give them some “stimulant”..haha


Basically we can see the salt-stressed plant not growth well (Note: C-->highest stress, B-->moderate stress, A-->no stress)


However, those pre-treated grown even better than control plant after subsequent stress applied. As a result, something happened..haha





Anyway, I solved the PCR problem, and will proceed to qPCR a.s.a.p

Meanwhile, I would like to inform you guys that certainly ck will celebrate CNY here with several Chinese colleagues. Plan to back home end of this year, for sure will do so after finish postgraduate degree first. Anyway, will inform again when make a CNY post later

I can “smell” / feel things getting better in the new year..Hopefully all things really make sense..

Ck “add oil”

Bah Kut Teh

Long time didn’t share food I prepared. As showed in previous post 1 and 2, I cook myself from the early beginning until now..haha

Received some soup packs last year from family, now only have time to cook it..paiseh paiseh



Basically I only prepared some simple ingredients like onion, garlic, meat, etc.

raw materials:-




processed/prepared materials:-



Then cook for 45min



While waiting, I was preparing a review paper..haha, can’t simply waste time




Finally, bah kut teh is ready..here we go…


hmm..good good

What a great relief

Wow, finally I finished and submitted an essay on plant immune defence after spending 3 weeks to comprehend, read, internalise, memorize, etc. Another accomplishment from CK, first—trace the original source of citation, second—arrange idea, write an essay that free of any form of plagiarisms (to avoid detection by anti-plagiarisms software), third--first time spent 3 weeks to produce a 2000-word essay (progress so "fast"), Fourth--"digest" 120 journal articles in 3 weeks, then start to write essay.. haha..so sad that I have to “freeze” winter break, and now felt tired.

This topic is new for me, as I never learnt in undergraduate studies. Also, my current research not relate with this topic. Anyway, by involving myself in this task, I learnt some new knowledge and this provide a great insight for me to develop my doctorate research topic. I try my best already, hope can get a good grade..

Well, I still have long journey to go. Especially I still need to extract the 400 RNA samples and troubleshoot the non-optimise pcr, as well as establish new batch of experiments.

In the brand New year, hope everything is going well.

Personal Astrology Profile for a scorpio

haha, got this from a mailing list, so just share with you guys...I think I'm not the right person to give comment here, friend who have dealed with me before might know the "accuracy" of this report..haha

Section 1: How You Approach Life and How You Appear To Others

Modest, unobtrusive, and often rather quiet or shy, you are a
person who is content to be in the background or to serve as an
assistant, in the supporting role rather than in the lead. You
are quite humble in your own assessment of yourself and you have
a very strong perfectionistic attitude, with a tendency to be
overly self-critical. No matter how well you do something, you
always see the flaws in it and how it could be improved. Often
you will simply refuse to attempt something because you feel you
cannot meet your own high standards.

Section 2: The Inner You: Your Real Motivation

Quiet, deep, emotionally complex and intensely private, you
are not a person who is easy to get to know and understand. You
are extremely sensitive but disinclined to show it, and you allow
only a special few into your inner world. Like a wary animal, you
are cautious and mistrustful of those you do not know until you
"sniff them out". You are very, very instinctive and intuitive.
You usually have a strong, immediate gut reaction to people, even
though you may be unable to clearly articulate why you feel as
you do. Your feelings and perceptions go deeper than words.

new year celebration at glasgow

More info, feel free visit video below:-

I celebrated New Year’s party at my supervisor house. Basically we had a great dinner, then countdown at Glasgow Uni Main Building.

Something drew my interest was a special dessert I mentioned in the previous post, basically this dessert contained fruits like orange, lime, etc and cooked with red wine. Then a “sugar cone” which was bought from Germany, put on top of the pot, and spread with rum (80% alcohol, wow) , then burn it..The sugar melted and with rum dropped into the pot.

So, I tried a glass of red wine, plus 2 glasses of “ flaming dessert”, then got drunk already..haha, but still concious..hehe

Later we went to Glasgow Uni and celebrated New Year countdown. Anyway, not much fireworks here. According to my supervisor, glasgow only started to put firework in year 2000.


the pictre of "flaming dessert"


food in the part

new year celebration with my lab members

night view at glasgow uni.



flaming dessert



new year count down

2008 New Year Picture Stories，2009 new year show

some info obtaned from BBC news, feel free to check the following links:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7806219.stm （Fireworks as world welcomes 2009， video ）

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7806543.stm （In pictures: New year festivities）

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/in_pictures_year_in_pictures_2008/html/1.stm（In pictures: Year in pictures 2008）

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7806767.stm（Edinburgh's new year firework show）

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7806756.stm（New year fireworks over London）