A skit that’s quite famous on the net. Watch as the actors play ping-pong with ‘Matrix’ style special effects… Live, on stage! No computer effects! The whole thing is really cool to watch, especially the second last stunt. You have to see it to believe it right here.
Samurai swords are near the very TOP of the ‘cool weapons’ list. If you follow manga and anime, films like Too Close and Kill Bill, or especially Samurai Jack on Cartoon Network, then you’ll know that katana can cut through ANYTHING! I betcha even light-sabres can be sliced into two individual pieces of pure energy.
Okaaaay, back to the real world. Can a well-forged Japanese sword cut through metal like Roronoa Zoro does in One Piece? Can it deflect bullets like in Final Fantasy: Advent Children?
Take a look at these videos…
The first one shows a katana splitting a 9mm handgun bullet. Short and not so clear, but watchably cool.
The second one shows a katana splitting automatic rifle bullets. This is much longer, and has close-up slow-motion takes at about 1 minute and 8 seconds into the video that actually let you see the bullet splitting in half! The pic below is of when the blade finally breaks from the impacts.
Let me introduce a new category on my blog – Amazing Creation. As the description says (mouse over the Amazing Creation link and wait a while), posts grouped under here will focus on the really COOL living things I’ve found out about.
Apart from that, some of the life forms have adaptations or behaviour that is so complex, you really have to stretch the bounds of Darwinistic, Naturalistic evolution to explain it!
For my first offering, here is something I found at this bird watching site.
WARNING! WARNING! Emmeline and like-minded cute-animal lovers should not look at the below pictures.
You have been warned!
Look out!
Here it comes!
Eh, don’t blame me, I told you NOT to look :p Y
Yes, that is a hummingbird that got speared by a praying mantis! Said mantis managed to score a critical strike that ignored target’s armour rating, then proceeds to eat the hummer while hanging upside down – the bird’s full weight still on the mantis’ claw.
So now you know that mantids not only look scary, they ARE scary!
PLUS: A whole collection of other mantis-kill-bird pics can be found at this page. Use Google Translate which can auto detect the lamguage as Spanish and translate it to pretty understandable English.
Part of the dilemma facing American (and worldwide) society today is the basis and origin of their laws. Their Constitution is based on laws set down by the Founding Fathers, many of whom were practising traditional Christians. Therefore, you find many traditional Christian values guiding such laws as forbidding homosexuality, polygamy and forced adoption of religion.
According to the beliefs of the Founding Fathers, these laws were not arbitrarily decided. They were laid down by our Creator God Himself. Their underlying moral basis is not open to debate – the morals are ABSOLUTE.
These laws are some of the ones being challenged as ‘biased’ and ‘bigoted’ and ‘old-fashioned fundamentalist discrimination’ by some today. They argue that such laws are no longer relevant or fair in today’s liberal, free, non-Christian dominated society.
These laws should change with the times, they say, depending solely on human society’s demands. Their underlying morals are dependant on our mood – the morals are RELATIVE.
But this line of reasoning naturally rejects divine inspiration for those said laws. By extension, this line of reasoning rejects morality itself as a having divine source.
They reject morality as having been defined by some Creator, because as atheists or agnostics or non-practisings, they don’t believe there is a Creator. Therefore, morality does not have an absolute definition.
If that is the case, then where did moral and ethical ideals come from? They must be human inventions or decisions. If they are not absolute (already set in place and defined), then they must be relative (chosen and moulded by ourselves).
Simply put, if there is no ultimate source of moral right and wrong, then we shall choose our OWN right and wrong! If human societal consensus is the basis of morality, then we are free to create or modify morals to suit our society.
When homosexuality is prevalent, then make it permissible to have gay marriage.
When men with many wives can prove that their families are fair, stable and nurturing, then allow lawful polygamy.
If a 6-year old boy thinks he can choose whether or not to have sexual relations, then by all means, introduce NAMBLA to the neighbourhood kindergarten!
Feeling kinky? Your dog feels kinky too? Then get on down and do it doggie-style! Yeah!
Oops! Were those last few ones a bit risque? Unacceptable to modern society? Well, maybe modern society isn’t enlightened enough yet. What argument can one make against paedophilia and bestiality, if one does not subscribe to any particular pre-set morals?
See the problem? Even the most liberal of us balk at the idea of sex with underage kids, or animals, or even underage animals. But what logic can they use? That it is immoral? Who chooses the morals? For us Bible-believers, God chose.
*Gasp*, is liberal society saying that they have SOME Christian values ingrained in them? That must be SO horrible for them to realize!
But this extends far, far further than just marriage conventions. If there is no absolute basis for morality, then EVERY MORAL is open to debate and re-definition. There is no appeal to a higher power – you cannot accuse me of being evil, since evil is merely what I choose to define it as. I can say that in my opinion, YOU are being evil in not tolerating my beliefs.
So if population numbers are becoming too great and babies are unwanted, then abort them and leave the corpses in the town dump.
When citizens are old, sick, disabled or otherwise unproductive in society, euthanize them for the greater good of civilization. Stop their resource drain and churn out some Soylent Green in the process.
Take it to the furthest extreme it has historically gone: When a large enough majority of society decides that a new moral code should be implemented, then kill the Jews. Massacre the Gypsies. Purge the nation of anyone who professes a religion or a different political viewpoint. It’s not morally wrong, because I say it isn’t!
This is the logical result of moral relativism, which says that morals are NOT based on an underlying, pre-set definition of right and wrong.
Incidentally, realize that the biggest perpatrators were atheist, Communist leaders – Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, Pol Pot, Ho Chi Minh, Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il.
Because there is no God in Communism, therefore there are no divinely-placed rules. Man is free to be his own god, to choose his own rules. And that is exactly what these Great Leaders did, they became cruel and oppressive gods over their people. Mao’s Little Red Book anyone?
In conclusion, let me just say that humanity, with our puny brains and mere millenia of collective experience, has NEVER known what is best for ourselves. We need something, someOne higher to trust in. Us children need a Father to lay down the rules, and to guide us by the hand every day of our lives.
So where do YOU get your definition of right and wrong?
First part of the Burning Articles is at here.
Due to my pathological fixation on fire, here I present more examples of insects being punished for being born. I mean, hatched. Whatever. Anyway, they deserved a fiery torment because I felt like it. Wanna argue about the fairness of such reasoning? Talk to the flamethrower!
Below: Tiny little ‘sugar ants’. Despite their name, these ants are attracted to smelly cat food much more than sugar. Just like most ants, dry or wet cat food brings them gathering for a happy feast. And up on the 13th floor where groundwater and rain seldom are to be found, ants also crave water sources. But more on ant behaviour next time.
For now, it will suffice you to know that ANTS DIE SATISFYINGLY FROM FIRE. Compare the straight-bodied, orderly alignment of the ants above; with the contorted-bodied, lie-where-they-fall scattering of below:
Below: “Agh! I am big unt strong! Fear mein muscles unt Austrian accent!”
Come big or come small, this pyromaniac gonna TORCH you all! Even heavy-hitters with ooh-so-scary jaws quickly surrender in the ‘UKK! DEAD!’ position when confronted with the sheer POWER and BEAUTY of my fire.
Note the slightly shrivelled wings – the flameburst was so short that it didn’t burn the wings completely off, yet the intense heat was more than enough to fully disable the chitin-armoured warrior. (The Finns beat back WWII Russian tanks with Molotov cocktails, you know. Now imagine a Molotov 1,000 times your size.)
Below: A short little before and after. Grain beetle before has legs and antennae.
Grain beetle after…kinda doesn’t. Good luck trying to plague humanity in the afterlife, bub.
Below: A fly on the ceiling. Hey, got a quiz for you. Ahem, what do you call a fly without wings?
A) A fall. B) A walk. C) An ‘Oh blimey, now I’m in for it’
Notice how this is the opposite of the tough ant. The wide flame singed off the wings entirely, while leaving the fly unscathed enough to actually stand around in a confused manner. “Dude, where’s your wings?” “I don’t know dude. Where’s my wings?” “Dude…”
I finished it off by dousing the immediate area with ethanol, then lightning it for a soft, liquid-like blue and yellow flame. Much less explosive than lighting the spray directly.
In another fly-related incident, a large fly with three parallel stripes on its back was buzzing at the sliding glass door at the balcony in 8-13-2. So I was like, HOW DAREST THOU BUZZETH WITHOUT PAYING HOMAGE TO THY SCOTT! And verily, I punished it. Vengeance is the Scott’s.
The flameburst knocked said offending wu-ying to the ground. One hit KO, as usual! But a second later, it excreted a white/gray blob from its rear. I thought it must have been a trauma-induced empty your bowels kinda thing, but no! The blob squirmed slightly, unfurled and fell apart into a bunch of writhing maggots! Eww, groh-oh-ost!
I recalled that the three parallel stripes identify the fly as Family Sarcophagidae. That means ‘corpse eating’, which refers to the fact that the larvae of such flies prefer to eat rotting flesh. Perhaps viviparity (live birth) gives them a head start in said eating.
They withered into dry, black wisps as fast as burning tissue paper. And I thought they might be slimy or juicy and simply roast. But nope, consumed by fire almost exactly like little squirming strips of newspaper.
P43AR MY F1R3!
Ah, the joys of adulthood. You get to do all the things that your parents wouldn’t allow you to do. Like drive a car, or stay out late at night, or go to the arcade centre.
My pet favourite is, of course, playing with fire. There’s just something about fire that fascinates and enthrals me. The beautiful glowing colours, the comforting warmth, the purity it represents and executes… And the glorious, GLORIOUS destructive powers it has! BUUUUURRRRRNNNNNNN!!!!
But no puny 10-second match-sticks for me, nuh-uh! Pay attention now, class:
The wonderful and majestic Lysol Flamethrower! Able to take down even the toughest of insectoid annoyances with a single burst, leaving sensitive household objects (relatively) unscathed. Just watch those body hairs!
Other spray-can chemicals will only burn as a thin, high-temperature stream of blue flame due to the propellant gases they contain. Not to mention the active chemicals such as deodourants and insecticides, which may hamper burning or produce untested by-products.
Whereas Lysol contains 60% ethanol along with propellant, which translates to a HUGE BALL OF BURNING ALCOHOL!!! And the only byproducts are (mostly) water and carbon dioxide. The ethanol is meant as the disinfecting agent. But think how much MORE disinfected it’ll be when that ethanol bursts into cleansing fire!
Ah, the wonderful stress-relieving effects of hand-wielded combustion weapons. Just the bright, dancing flame alone is enough to soothe me. But as it would happen, a cockroach would FOOLISHLY make its way up to Saujana 13th floor JUST as I need to destress. Kuai-po hei-kung! Hadoken! Nuclear launch detected!
Half a second of body-enveloping flame later, and ‘Nature’s Panzer’ is immobilized on its back… Barely writhing, and unable to beg for mercy, truly repentful for ever invading the sovereign territory of 8-13-2. Sweep it to the balcony with a broom, and finish the job with a prolonged blast.
First the cockroach’s movements stop completely. Then the exoskeleton starts to glow bright orange like heated wire, especially the legs and antenna (before they fall off). Finally, about 10 to 20 seconds of streaming fire later, only black ash and a barely recognizable blackened torso are left. Prodding with a broom breaks that up into more light-weight dust.
Sidetrack a bit: It’s important for conventional household insecticides to have ‘knockdown’ ability. That is, how quickly the insect stops moving about after it has been sprayed. After all, it’d suck if you gassed a roach, and it proceeded to dance around your bedroom for another 10 minutes. Customers simply don’t like dancing, poisoned cockroaches much.
Well, Flamethrowers have a knockdown time of ZERO! How’s that for effectiveness! Not only that, it also destroys all that FILTHY bacteria that cockroaches are known for carrying.
Remember the notorious rove beetle? The scourge of USM, that caused horrible reactions with its bite. They say it’s due to bacteria or chemicals in its mouth. Well, both of these threats to humanity (as well as the carrier) can be neutralized with FIRE!!! End result:
A close-up with flash lighting:
Below you see some ants, happily devouring a dead moth. BUT, NOT FOR LONG!!!
Said ants, after a DEVASTATING 500-millisecond burst from the Lysol Flamethrower:
A wider view of the devastation:
Once, I even managed to knock a mosquito out of the air with a well-timed blast. Annoying buzzy, whiny wing sound? Wooooosh! What wings? Heh heh heh.
And finally, do watch a video on Youtube of my Lysol Flamethrower spewing fire! As pictured below. Pyromaniacal stuff! About 23 seconds long.
Second part of the Burning Articles is here.
What was Penang Konvo trip like?
Use a 2-hour ‘Personal Exit’ to get off work by 3.30pm on Thursday. Fly from JB toPenang in a thunderstorm and watch the pretty lightning. One bolt spread horizontally from one, to 2, then 4, then 8 forks! Woooaah.
Eat Nando’s in Penang airport with Anne (we can’t find Nando’s in JB), see off Anne’s ex-housemate at bus stop, and drive and park ex-hosuemate’s rented Kancil. It was the rental company I always use, introduced by Dan. Rahman car rental, 013-4351973.
Wake up (too) early on Friday morning for breakfast with Anne and more ex-housemates. Buy Spritzer Pop from Makro. Go to afternoon konvo and give them out to thirsty graduates and wel-wishers. Spritzer Pops are small sized and not too sweet, just about right for the job.
Lunch at Super Tanker, borrow Joshua Johnson’s car to get something from Bukit Jambul shopping complex, and get more Pop at Makro. Go to Evening konvo, then PKA Gathering at McD’s. Later that night, hang out with Anne at Bagan and then the beach.
Saturday no afternoon konvo to attend, but go and hunt for Him Heang biscuits. Roundabout because hop not selling it yet. Had lunch on Swatow Lane,then abck to biscuiting. End up buy lots of peng for lots of people.
Evening konvo, then dinner at Kayu with Kean and others. At long last, Roti Tiga Rasa! With limau ais and sayur kuning. Ah, just the good old days… Makan puas-puas, has to last a year until next konvo! Guess what, today discover that Kayu has a website (but no tiga rasa pic there): http://www.kayu.com.my
After dinner, Mary Ann pick us up for housemates outing. Me, Mary, Mei Yee, Kean, Grace Woo and her Joshua in the car. Go to the business area opposite Tesco to meet Joshua Hooi at Starbucks. The whole area super jam! So after meeting Joshua Hooi, go off to find other Starbucks or Coffee Bean.
Plan to go to Gurney Hotel lepak area, but Gurney roundabout blocked by police. So go to Island Plaza, which has Coffee Bean and Starbucks. Both tutup at midnight (and it’s 11.30pm already), ceh! So finally settle on Faces nearby, since Mary is hungry anyway. So have a good time catching up at Faces, until near 1am we balik.
And that’s just Saturday! Sunday awal pagi, me and Kean and Grace Oo go to EPCC BM service. Anne joins us a bit later. ‘Surprise’ birthday for Pastor Sam! Stayed for English service worship, then oops! Time for afternoon konvo. Only 3 Pops left, and I’m running out of funds for more.
After konvo, one gang of us makan at Plus Two. Lagi some more, book table for dinner at Plus Two. We all had sago honeydew, which would be repeated at dinner hehe. After that, I split up to meet Power Extreme Cybercafe friends. Have a drink while they have lunch, then go for DotA sessions: 2v1 and 2v2. Then time for the last konvo session to come out.
Anne plays photographer for Yu Pei, and Mary Ann disappears back to Ipoh so quickly. Oh well, next time we meet again ya! Dinner at the booked Plus Two, but seriously, Kean and Grace have to wait berlama-lama for anyone else to arrive, and lebih lama for the whole group to arrive! Big dinner with many medium dishes, more ordered as people arrive.
Time to part…Kean and Grace going back to KL, and Anne tumpang their car to Ipoh. After saying goodbye, for me it’s time to sleep and recover. 14 hours of sick ‘n sleep in total, but interrupted at 6am to send Grace Woo’s sister Esther to bus station. Tambah 2 hours after waking up to get food and a top-up for Anne. Then meet Han-yu for dinner and my flight, Monday night.
But that’s not the end of the story for me! Tuesday morning, back to work! Trip to Bangi for meetings, I drive half of the way. Night go and watch ‘Broken Bridges’ with Anne and her parents. It’s a musical play written by old kenalan of Anne. Great songs and a touching story centred around Ipoh life in the 50’s. It’ll be coming to Ipoh around November, so all you musical-loving Ipohites, be sure to watch out for it!
Bunk with Joshua Johnson, Wednesday morning grab KTM to Kajang, someone pick me up to office for more meeting. Sleep on cold, hard floor in an empty room before drive half of the way back to JB. Arrive in time to bathe and go teach tuition. Home and sleep, dead-man-sitting at work, bass lesson at 7pm, then home and sleep for 11 hours to finally recover! Man!
But it was so worth it. Until next time, next year! PS. Photos of konvo can be gotten from other people. Even my post has no actual on-scene photos, if you’ve noticed. ‘Cos I had no camera.
I haven’t updated in a while. I’m really beat from the hectic, much-traveling week in Penang for konvo, followed by meetings in KL area for work. So here’s a stopgap offering while I recover and prepare a new post.
This is the back design for a shirt I gave to the then-PKA Education Subcomm head. There’s a front design too, but I’ll maybe save that for another time.
The official PKA logo with a red heart was Mei Yee’s design, as I recall. The words going round the PKA logo are Greek: Hei Koinonia Agape tou Kristou. Meaning, The Fellowship Agape of Christ. So you have PKA in three languages in that design 🙂
More shirts will be posted now and then, when I have nothing better to offer or want to put up something pretty to look at. Till then…
PS. Congrats to kean on his 1000th hit, while we were away at Penang! And welcome back to my proppers, posting for the first time since I started ;>
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Judging from response to Russell Crowe, fun posts with plenty of colourful images are the best way to go! Or is it just the celebrity name?
This is an experiment in online advertising and publicity, namely: Can I substantially increase the number of visitors to my blog (at least temporarily) by putting up a post to all my contacts in multiply?
Simultaneous with this blog post, I’m posting a short blurb and a link to this blog through my multiply. So let’s how much of an effect that has. At the time of this posting, this blog’s visitor count is at 513.
If you’re here from multiply, ignore the nonsensage above and browse around some other stuff.
Cumulative visitors since 8:59 pm, 16th April 2011:
THE SCOTTTCAST 