Final day of Asia Music Festival at Eastwood

Today is the last opportunity for you to see live performances from around Asia. Below is the latest schedule:

4.00 pm to 5.00 pm                -           The Mountain Wind Band (Malaysia)

5.15 pm to 6.15 pm                -           Melissa Francis (Malaysia)

6.15 pm to 7.15 pm                -           Starlets Band (Malaysia)

7.30 pm to 8.30 p.m               -           Fakhrul Razi featuring the

Camouflage (Brunei Darussalam)

8.45 pm to 9.45 pm                -           Boy Thai Band (Thailand)

10.00 pm to 11.00 pm            -           Antoney Dassan Yen Party (India)

11.15 p.m. to 12.15 pm          -           Foxy Girls (Indonesia)

Music lovers, are you ready for this weekend AMT at Eastwood?

This coming weekend, Miri will resonate with the sound of music as the inaugural Asia Music Festival takes place at the Eastwood Valley Golf & Country Club on the 4 & 5 October 2013. 13 Asian bands from the Philippines, Korea, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Brunei have confirmed to perform at this festival. Among them will be Tritha from India.


Tritha was born in Kolkata. She started training in North Indian classical music at the age of five, and never stopped. She has forged her own unique, inclusive sound and has already gained critical and popular acclaim for her songs. Tritha’s dusky tones and throbbing intensity, vibrating and moving emotional commitment, thrills her audience and leaves the public spell bound.

Make sure you are there at Eastwood. It starts at 4:00PM all the way till midnight!

About Asia Music Festival (AMF):
AMF is a 2-day musical event featuring artist and musicians from Asian countries namely from India, Korea, Indonesia, Brunei Philippines and Malaysia. AMF promotes music, art and culture of Asian countries. AMF has a vision to become the iconic musical event for Sarawak and the region. It is organized by Sarawak Tourism Board, supported by the Ministry of Tourism Malaysia and Ministry of Tourism Sarawak and endorsed by Tourism Malaysia.

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To find out more, click on the link here. Make sure you download the pdf file and find out the requirements!

The Forgotten History of Sybil Kathigasu

Sybil, a heroic woman freedom fighter for the then Malaya against the Japanese. She became the only Malayan woman to receive the George Medal for Gallantry, a high civilian honour given by King George VI. But alas, the Malaysian history mentioned nothing of her and others like Sgt Hassan, Lieutenant Adnan and Iban hero Kanang.

Do read up more about heroes like her... the story is very touching! Or just watch the video below:

We need your vote to give our Miri boy a chance to go into space!

Indeed, this is a chance of a lifetime and a chance of a lifetime for you to be able to vote for Anthony Vue, our local Miri boy, currently studying in Belfast Queen's University, for his challenge to beat the rest of the four contestants in Malaysia to represent Malaysia.

His facebook name is Ishyhara Rio and make sure that you don't vote the wrong person!

If you wish to know more, continue reading below:

INFORMATION:

Lynx is offering the chance to travel into space with the launch of its 2013 Lynx Apollo range.

The Unilever brand is looking to put the Lynx Effect into orbit by giving people the chance to win place on a space trip, in support of the launch of its new 2013 fragrance. 

There will be 22 places up for grabs globally, with the competition running in 77 countries around the world.. 

Entry was done through the lynxapollo.com website. The top voted candidates will go forward to the Lynx Space Academy for a challenge weekend in each national states respectively, whittling down the candidates with a further Global space camp in Florida before the final winning astronaut is picked.

The stages:

Stage 1: Online voting through lynxapollo.com.

The link is the following: https://www2.axeapollo.com/en_MY/144201/choon-wei-vun  (This voting link was done/ finished)

(Each country will select different number of candidates to compete at National level depending on the size of the country.)

e.g, UK will select top 200 voted candidates to compete in the UK

(Top 3 to compete in global space camp)

       Malaysia will select top 15 voted candidates to compete in Malaysia

(Top 1 to compete in global space camp)

Stage 2: National Space Camp starts where candidates compete in their own countries respectively to select representatives to compete in Global Space Camp in Florida.

In Malaysia, 28/9 - 30/9,

Physical, Mental and Personality test was done on candidates

40% - Physical + Mental

30% - Personality (interview and relationship with staffs and friends)

Then, Top 5 will be selected to enter round 2 for National competition,

Top 5 will have to compete to conquer for the final 30%

30% - Online Voting (Marketing/ Publishing technique)

(Current stage) 

Vote through https://apps.facebook.com/axespacerace/

1. Or Go to Ishyhara Rio Facebook Page

2. Click in the 1st Wall Post: AXE Malaysia Link

3. Vote for Ishyhara Rio

Finally, of 100%, the top mark will be selected as top 1 to represent Malaysia to the Global Space Camp.

Stage 3: 150 Candidates from 77 countries will compete in Florida for Global space camp, where proper astronaut training will be done. (e.g., jet piloting, G-force, Anti-gravity control)

 Global Space Camp Intro link: https://www2.axeapollo.com/en_MY/space-camp/global-space-camp

Stage 4: Top 22 Candidates in Global Space Camp will be selected to represent respective countries as astronauts being launched into space.

Global Space Camp trainings

·  Take Off - A flight in a L-39 Albatross
MKII jet that travels at twice the speed
of sound

·  Zero G - A parabolic flight that recreates the weightlessness of space

·  Re-entry - A centrifuge machine that
simulates the same extreme G-Force
astronauts are exposed to
during landing.

Thank you very much for your time,
Anthony Vun Choon Wei (Ishyhara Rio)

MSci in Physics with Astrophysics

Queen's University Belfast

Camera & lens clearance sales

My distributor gave me just three days to help find buyers. Otherwise, he will ship all the equipment out of Miri. So, if you are interested in any of the item, please let me know asap - +6012 8782007

Best buy is Nikon SB-600 speedlight and Finepix C10 camera!

Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G AF-S DX NIKKOR ED VR Zoom Lens  RM1,031
Nikon 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED AF-S VR Nikkor Lens  RM1,520
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G Zoom Wide Angle-Telephoto AF-S Zoom Nikkor ED Autofocus Lens RM5,790
Nikon 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX (VR) Vibration Reduction Wide Angle Autofocus Zoom Lens  RM1,170
Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Autofocus Lens  RM360
Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-S Auto Focus Nikkor Lens  RM1,730
Nikon SB-600 Speedlight / Flash RM735

Finepix C10 camera RM250 complete with charger

民舞坊《花言侨语》五周年舞展

Did you miss the show last night? Tonight is the last show from our own talented Kelvin Bong.

Picture from last night can be found here:
《民舞坊》舞蹈工作坊 ~ 『花言侨语』 五周年舞展 第二场
日期：2013年8月12日（星期一）
地点：美里民事中心三楼
时间：7:30pm

Flowers Talk at the library, 3rd floor, 7:30PM.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.565802150153400.1073741834.163457400387879&type=1&l=6da5f1f5d8

HAHAHA ... Can you become your own grandfather and also your own grandson?

Two men, one American and an Indian were sitting in a bar and discussing about their family problems. Shot after shot. The Indian man said to the

American: "We have problem in India. We can't marry the one whom we love. You know my parents are forcing me to get married to this so called homely and domesticated girl from a village whom I haven't even met once. We call this an arranged marriage. I don't want to marry a woman whom I don't love. I told my parents that openly and now have a hell of a lot of family problems."

The American said: "Talking about love marriages, in America we can marry the one we love. Let me tell you my story. I married a widow whom I deeply loved and dated her for three years. After a couple of years, my father fell in love with my step-daughter and married her, so my father became my son-in-law and I became my father's father-in-law. Legally now my daughter is my mother and my wife is my grandmother. More problems occurred when I had a son. My son is my father's brother and so he is my uncle. The situation turned worse when my father had a son. Now my father's son, my brother, is my grandson. Ultimately, I have become my own grandfather and I am my own grandson.

And you say you have family problems?"

Such close shave!

This is an amazing video showing some of the most amazing close shave! Watch this video and see for yourself.

For a good laugh

This one is from the courtroom... Sorry that I didn't update this blog as much as I would like to. I have been very busy lately!

How Do Court Reporters Keep Straight Faces?

These are from a book called Disorder in the Courts and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and published by court reporters that had the torment of staying calm while the exchanges were taking place.

ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, 'Where am I, Cathy?'
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan!
_______________________________
ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: What is your date of birth?
WITNESS: July 18th.
ATTORNEY: What year?
WITNESS: Every year.
_____________________________________
ATTORNEY: How old is your son, the one living with you?
WITNESS: Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can't remember which.
ATTORNEY: How long has he lived with you?
WITNESS: Forty-five years.
_________________________________
ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget..
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?
___________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
____________________________________

ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the 20-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: He's 20, much like your IQ.
___________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Are you shitting me?
_________________________________________
ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Getting laid
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: She had three children , right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
WITNESS: Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death..
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
WITNESS: Take a guess.
___________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: Unless the Circus was in town I'm going with male.
_____________________________________
ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Doctor , how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All of them. The live ones put up too much of a fight.
_________________________________________
ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral...
_________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 PM
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: If not, he was by the time I finished.
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
WITNESS: Are you qualified to ask that question?

______________________________________
And last:

ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No..
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.

Typical Malaysian Drivers

Have a laugh... perhaps you are one of those?! BTW, I often ask the car in front to drive faster or move to the inner lane.... hahaha.

I like the car which can automatically park for you.

Horror accidents on video

As the Raya holidays is just days away and many people will be on the road to balik kampong, I just share this video with you to remind you to drive carefully! Most accidents can be avoided if you remember to check your car before setting out your journey, sleep well and if you are tired, stop your car at a rest point and take a short sleep.
Be safe and arrive safely. Your loved ones are waiting for your arrival!

Have a blessed Hari Raya to all my Muslim friends....

Sin Siang Hai Annual Furniture Fair

Sin Siang Hai Furniture Fair for 2013 is even better than 2012!! Go over and pay them a visit. They have fantastic offer of up to 45% off during the fair only. Extra discounts are given by the vendors who were on site to explain to you about their furniture.

More picture, click here.

Brian and Pheobe Wedding

Last weekend, 29-Jun-2013, our church member Brian and Pheobe got married!

You may see some of the photos I took here.

Emergency Light From Cooking Oil

Power supply from Sarawak Electricity Board seems to be more stable but when there is a power failure, it seems that it is more widespread and lasted for much longer time. During the last Thursday (27 Jun 2013) outage, many scrambled to buy candle or dry cell, until the whole town went out of supply!
But is candle the only viable "emergency light"? What sort of fuel is readily available that we can use? I read from the internet about making light from cooking oil and orange core. So, I gave this a try...

During my childhood days, kerosene is always used for lighting. But as electricity is getting more readily available, this oil is getting out of fashion besides being expensive.
Emergency light using orange skin is very simple:
1. Half an orange. Only one half can be use!
2. Take out the flesh carefully and not breaking the center core (I think it is called pith).
3. Put in cooking oil.
4. Use a candle (or whatever) to light up.
Note that lighting up using cooking oil and a wet core is not immediate. It may take up to a minute.
Beside being an emergency light, it also emit a nice smell.

If orange is not available, any container and a holder for a wick will do. Perhaps, I will give suggestion on an easy to make emergency light in future.

One thing you can now do is to collect some used cooking oil for emergency lighting use.

Haze is on the way ...

The burning in Indonesia seems to be affecting Miri now. We noticed high altitude haze since two days ago. I just hope that this haze will not descend to low level or we will be choked once again.

This photo was taken this morning and it is clear that even the sun has lost it glorious ray!

The return of cicadas

We take the noisy cicadas for granted but do you know their life story? Watch this video and surely you will learn something!

You made Miri proud!

These young people from Miri really made Sarawak, or rather Miri proud.

Billy Lau from Miri and his team from Korea and China has found a way to crack open Apple's iOS with ease with his custom-built charger! Read more here. So, as a precaution, don't ever lost your charger in future. You can never tell what the manufacturer put in there.

Then we have SmartWard, which is another Apps that aims to reduce hospital paperwork has won a competition to find the best new business ideas. This idea is from Dr Michelle Teo who is the daughter of YB Mr Michael Teo of Miri.

Read more of the SmartWard news here.

Congratulations to both of them and team. Miri boleh! I am proud of your achievement.

Empurau Fish

This video is actually very educational, especially for those who have never heard of the Empurau fish (or Unforgettable in Chinese), from Sibu, Sarawak, which I think is probably the world most expensive, at RM800/kg (or almost US$270/kg). Anyone knew of any other fish that is costing more?
This video was made by a Taiwanese travel channel 世界第一等. It shows how the fish was caught and finally how it was being cooked.
I just realised that this fish loves to eat seed and the scale is also edible! This reminded me of my childhood days when we use rubber seed to catch cat fish in the wild.
A little more information can be found here.

飯前香蕉 百病消!太厲害了! Eat banana b4 meal!

日本東京大學教授山崎正利利用動物試驗，比較了香蕉、葡萄、蘋果、西瓜、菠蘿、梨子、柿子等多種水果的免疫活性，結果證實其中以香蕉的效果最好，能夠增加白血球，改善免疫系統的功能，還會產生攻擊異常細胞的物質 TNF 山崎教授的試驗也發現，香蕉愈成熟即表皮上黑斑愈多，它的免疫活性也就愈高。所以從現在開始要吃熟一點的香蕉唷！香蕉不會使白血球盲目增長只有在數量少的時候才會大幅度加。因此，專家們研究認為，香蕉具有的免疫激活作用比較溫和 , 在人體狀態健康時並不會使免疫力異常升高。但對病人、老人和抵抗力差的體弱者則很有效果。 
在日常生活中，我們不妨每天吃１∼２根香蕉，透過提升身體的抗病能力來預防感染，特別是預防感冒和流感等病毒的侵襲。山崎教授指出，在黃色表皮上出現黑色斑點的香蕉，其增加白血球的能力要比表皮發青綠的香蕉強８倍。 
 研究顯示，兩條香蕉，可以提供足夠能量維持 90 分鐘劇烈的運動。但是，香蕉不單隻提供能量。還可以幫我們克服或治療好多病症和身體狀況，所以我們必需把香蕉加進每天的餐單。1.  抑鬱症：患抑鬱症的人，在吃過香蕉後，感覺好好多。因為香蕉含胺基酸，會轉化成血清促進素，令人鬆馳、提升情緒。2.   貧血：香蕉鐵質含量高，能刺激血液內的血色素。3.   血壓高：香蕉含極高量的鉀，但鹽份低，最理想是降血壓。最近，美國食品及藥物管理局宣佈，允許香蕉業宣傳：香蕉能降低血壓高和中風機會。4.   腦力：在英國  Twickenha就有 200 名學生，為了要提升腦力，幫助考試，在學期開始，於早餐、小休和午飯，都吃適量香蕉。研究顯示，含豐富鉀質的香蕉，能提高學生的專注力，對他們讀書有所幫助。5.   便泌：香蕉的纖 維 質很高，可幫助回覆腸胃正常活動，消除便泌，無需服用輕瀉劑。6.   宿醉：香蕉奶色加蜜糖可以即時解酒。香蕉鬆馳胃部，蜜糖提升血糖水平，抒緩精神和製做炭水化合物。7.   心絞痛：香蕉對身體有一種天然的制酸性，有鎮痛作用。8.   早上無精打彩：早餐後午飯前，吃少量香蕉可保持血糖水平。9.   蚊釘蟲咬：用香蕉皮內部輕擦患處，可退腫消炎。10.   緊張：香蕉的 維 生素 B含量高，可幫助抒緩神經系統。11.   超重：澳地利心理學學校研究發現，工作壓力大，使員工會不斷進食巧力克和薯片去抒緩情緒。研究員對5000 名醫院的病人做研究，發體型肥胖的，通常都是司職壓力非常大的工作。研究總結認為，要避免引起對抒緩情緒食物的欲念，就應該約每兩小時吃一點高炭水化合物的食物，以降低身體內的血糖水平。12.   胃潰瘍：香蕉是調理腸胃失調的食方，因為香蕉有著柔軟的纖維而且柔滑。對於長期患者來說，香蕉是唯一可以進食的未煮熟食物，而不會有不良反應。香蕉還可以中和胃酸和減少疼痛。13.   體溫控制：在不同國家、地區和文化中，都有把香蕉作為一種「降溫」的果物，可以用作降低身、心的熱度。在泰國，孕婦為了使嬰兒出生時有較為涼快的環境，臨盆時就會吃香蕉。14.   戒菸：香蕉可以幫助戒菸。香蕉含維生素 B6 和 B12，也含鉀和鎂，可以複元戒菸者，因為沒有了尼古丁刺激的影響。15.   壓力：香蕉所含的鉀，可以調節心跳使之正常化，從而將氧氣順利送到大腦，與及調節身體的水份。當受到壓力緊張時，我們的新 陳代謝就會加快，因而使鉀的水平一降。鉀含量高的香蕉，正好作補充。16.  中風：據著名醫學雜誌"The New England Journal of Medicine" 的研究指出，長期吃香蕉，中風死亡的機會率大大降低 40%。香蕉的確可以治療許多疾病。如果跟蘋果比較，香蕉多四倍蛋白質、多兩倍碳水化合物、多三倍磷質、多五倍 維 生素 A 和鐵質、多兩倍其他維生素和礦物質。香蕉也含豐富的鉀，是最有益的食物。所以，應該把那句老句子改為：「一日一香蕉，醫生遠離我。」猴子經常都情緒高漲和開心，應該是吃得多香蕉的原因。還有，想皮鞋潔亮如新？嘗試用香蕉皮的裡面，直接擦到皮鞋，然後用乾布擦淨，效果立見。真神奇的生果！17.   香蕉緩解眼睛干澀避免其過早衰老 :
在電腦前工作的人常常會覺得眼睛干澀或紅腫、疼痛，如果每天吃一根香蕉，就能起到一定的緩解作用。這是台灣番薯藤健康網站的一篇文章日前告訴讀者的。文章中指出，香蕉保護眼睛的功能：首先和其中含量豐富的鉀有關。人體攝入鹽份過多，會導致細胞中存留大量的水分，引起眼睛紅腫。香蕉中的鉀可以幫助人體排出這些多余的鹽分，讓身體達到鉀鈉平衡，緩解眼睛的不適症狀。此外，香蕉中含有大量的胡蘿素。當人體缺乏這種物質時，眼睛就會變得疼痛、干澀、眼珠無光、失水少神，多吃香蕉不僅可減輕這些症狀，還可在一定程度上緩解眼睛疲勞，避免其過早衰老。