Entries Tagged 'Observations' ↓

Picture a kid’s playground with a bunch of kids playing in it. On the fringe of the 8 kids in the playground stands a small little boy, eager to be noticed and to be let in on the game. After a long while, someone notices his little face and decides to let him in to play with the big kids.

For weeks, they play together, a band of 9. All is well.
Suddenly, one day someone notices that this little boy is not a little boy at all, but a dwarf. Immediately, he is tossed out of the exalted group of 9 and banned from playing with the big boys for ever.

Worse still, they start calling him names.

Now, take this scenario to an inter-planetary level and you have the story of Pluto - The little planet that could.

First, there was the shock discovery that outside of the known solar system was a little cold dark planet called Pluto after the mythical god of the underworld. For years we hung onto the notion that the solar system has 9 planets of which the furthest and the darkest and coldest planet is called Pluto.

2 years ago, came the shock demotion of Pluto as a planet. This cold lump of rock is no longer to be classified as a Planet because it just isn’t big enough. For 2 years, we reeled at the shocking information. Do we un-teach what we taught our children? Do we un-learn what we learnt at school? How many planets does the solar system have now? Are there going to be any other shocking discoveries? Is Earth the only planet left in the solar system?

Why do I feel so strongly about this demotion? I’m a Scorpio and my ruling planet (or used to be) is Pluto. Astrologically, its still Pluto but for how much longer?

But that’s not the biggest insult (to me anyway). The biggest insult is that Pluto is now a Plutoid! PLUTOID?! Its been given its own class of planetary body which is, as the name suggests a Plutoid. Here’s the official speil:-

“Plutoids are celestial bodies in orbit around the sun at a distance greater than that of Neptune that have sufficient mass for their self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that they assume a hydrostatic equilibrium (near-spherical) shape, and that have not cleared the neighborhood around their orbit.”

In short: small round things beyond Neptune that orbit the sun and have lots of rocky neighbors.

The two known and named plutoids are Pluto and Eris, the IAU stated. The organization expects more plutoids will be found.

Its like, if the Earth was suddenly demoted from planet status, we’d be put in a special category called Earthoid - celestial bodies in orbit around the sun between Mars and Venus.

I like having a cold distant dark planet in the solar system. It adds mystery and romance. Bring Pluto back please. The solar system just isn’t the same without it. What am I going to do with the ping pong ball that used to depict Pluto in diagramatic representations of the solar system?

I think I’d better catch up with some unfinished business before I get scalped

The title of the post may say “Breakfast at Tiffanys” but in fact, it was dinner or rather hor d’oeuvres at Tiffanys.

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Have you noticed how common stereotypes are here in Malaysia? Be a Chinese female up to a certain age and inevitably you’ll be tagged “Ah Moi”. Maybe its me, but I feel a certain bristling when called Ah Moi because:-

(a) No Chinese calls a girl Ah Moi unless that’s her name
(b) It is usually accompanied by a leer or jeer

Besides, I don’t call a Malay lady a “Siti” or an Indian lady a “Rani” so why call a Chinese an “Ah Moi”?

Anyway, racial ranting aside, I was thinking about this because I was called an “Ah Moi” this morning by the cleaning lady in the office building. I did not bristle, mainly because there was no leer or jeer to her friendly tone. To her I suppose it was a way of identifying myself to her. Which I suppose in the end, is the same for everyone else (leering and jeering aside).

Though how “Ah Moi” stuck as a reference or description for a Chinese female is beyond me. Anyone has any ideas?

I suppose I should be grateful I’m not known as an “Ah Lian”!

Go on then, tell me what went through your head when you saw the title of the post

No me hearties, nothing to do with matters of the heart. Today my musing is on the Olympic torch which is now passing through Malaysia on its way to China in time for the Opening of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing on 8 August 2008. Don’t you “love” the Chinese fascination with the number 8?

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about this issue once every 4 years - how do they keep the Olympic torch burning throughout its journey all over the world? We know that its started on the sacred Mount Olympus in Greece and the torch must be kept burning throughout the journey to the site of the Games.

But how is the sacred olympic flame kept burning on flights etc? You cannot have a naked flame on an airplane right? And you can’t transport the fire by boat because it takes too long. And, you can’t extinguish the sacred flame lit by the light of the sun and then relight it upon arrival at the new destination with a zippo lighter, yes?

It bugged me unusually more today than usual, so I did the next best thing. I googled it!

Here is my answer. They use a private plane and a miner’s lamp! And they even have backup flames!

Zeus would be so proud of them keeping the fire burning! Have a happy weekend all!

Yours fluffily

I was out for a meeting yesterday evening in the Wisma UOA II area of Kuala Lumpur. Anyone who knows the area will know that there are 2 open space car parks serving the buildings where office workers and visitors alike park their cars.

There was a torrential downpour yesterday as it happens in KL these days and this was the sight that greeted my eyes as I parked my car up on a slope.

The neighbouring car park was flooded! The water was rising and all the cars parked there were slowly and surely getting wet. I’ve had water enter my previous car before. It smells like wet dog for months afterwards and you never really ever get rid of the smell. That is, if you can even drive it after all the water has flooded the engine.

Like everyone else, I stood under my umbrella-ella-ella (!) and gawked and being a blogger, quickly whipped out my trusty phone camera (Oh! My camera phone! What shall I do without thee?!) and snapped a couple of pictures. Thankfully, I have a colleague who is fast cottoning on to the fact that any strange or not so strange event has me merrily snapping away so I was not rushed

Here is a before and after picture of the same car park at almost the same angle 2 hours later:-

The water subsided quickly and the rain had stopped 2 hours later. But the mess was not over for I saw many people staring at their cars in horror. I don’t know how many of them managed to get their cars drivable to go home that night. That red Satria was badly hit because it is so low. I’m sure the water was all the way in the car already and the electrics must have short circuited for the alarm was blaring away with lights flashing. The owner was also nowhere to be seen. Maybe he was still unaware of what happened.

I dread to think of the hassle with insurance and repair costs that will follow.

On another car related note, look at what I was tailing this morning on the way to work:-

Excuse me? How does one see out of the rear windscreen with that flower arrangement right in the middle of it all? Elaborate flower arrangements belong on a table or sideboard or at the very least, in a HOUSE!!

A car, no matter how comfy and how much it costs, is not a house. Isn’t there a law against blocking the view from your rear windscreen or something?