Humble Scotch Tape No More!

Scientists have found that the peeling action of scotch tape generates enough X-rays to scan of a human finger. Shock! Horror! Radiation poisoning! Before you run off screaming and strangling your admin lady or concreting your stationery cupboard, the X-rays are released only in certain hard-to-achieve-in-the-office conditions. You need an airless chamber (no, not your boss) and a contraption to peel the tape at a constant speed (no, not your colleagues).


(images from NY Times)

But creepy eh? X-rays from plain old tape. We find new sources of energy every day. Someone should take a closer look at fart.

Zack And Miri Make A Porno

Need some insane humour in your life? Go watch Zack and Miri Make A Porno. It's a film about finding a way out of the deepest trench in loserville in the middle of the coldest winter faced with seemingly insormountable odds, and finding something unexpected. The laughs started from the get-go. And paying close attention to the small conversational details. Haha. And the F-word flies around like bees on a honey farm.





Need more? Visit zackandmiri.com. Oh yes, stay for the credits!

Bigger Questions From Bad Times In Bangkok

In the name of democracy, lots of Thai folks went and sat their tom yum asses down in Suvarnabhumi airport stopping operations for over a week. Tourists got stuck, planes were stuck and it seemed like the Thai gahmen was similarly plugged into a hole. One side wanted the PM to step down, the PM said he would resist, and the military decided that perhaps they couldn't pull off another coup (this would have been number 19 in Thailand's history). Someone shot a gun on TV and another hurled a grenade at Don Muang. In the name of all that is good and holy, the courts decided that the parties weren't legit and everyone cheered, cried, picked up their mats and went home. Doesn't it all sound so insane?

The image of peace loving Thais has been forever marred by this incident. There's even an Apologies Thailand campaign now on to get the tourists back and smiling. At the same time, I think more Thais now believe in their own free will to choose than ever before. On the dark side, guns and grenades have been showing up too often in these otherwise peaceful sitdowns and marches (I blame MTV).

What would you do in the name of democracy? Someone I spoke to said "They need a Singapore style gahmen, firm and would never let this happen." Is that a good thing? My first thoughts were "Didn't airport security do anything?" "Couldn't they have called in the army?" "This is gonna bloody devastate the economy." All good questions that imply that whatever these protesters were up to was not right. Perhaps I have been too conditioned by the lack of a protester-mentality in Singapore. The last big thing was a bunch of people showing up at DBS demanding oranges for Lehmans, something the police didn't take too lightly to.

Seriously, Singaporeans are no way as publicly expressive about politics as the Thais. Are we just rational or simply uninterested? Worse still, in denial and a simmering cauldron of sentiment waiting to spill over. Take for example the recent Town Council investments losses. In some countries, there would have been roadside hue-and-cry and politicians would have quickly resigned. (A friend pointed out that ministers in other countries quit for less serious reasons. Think the example was insulting old folks in Japan). Here there were a few concerned letters to the press. Zip. So, what would you do in the name of democracy?

Rest In Peace Hwei Yen

Lo Hwei Yen's death has brought Singaporeans the closest they've ever been to the reality of terrorism. Even the Yishun videos and Mas Selamat's escape were events that somehow did not shake us to our core, not like this. It wasn't a plane crash, it wasn't an accident on the PIE, it wasn't cancer. The senselessness, madness and viciousness of this incident is what we are grappling with. She was 28, just got married, and maybe one of the faces I passed by in Raffles Place. One of the people I did not know. But still one of us, a Singaporean.

Since the 60s, we've been very lucky to have escaped any kind of violence that we read about in the papers and see on our television screens. An entire generation only knows of this form of carnage from the spectator point of view. In other countries, kids grow up with bullets whizzing by every other day. They grow up stronger mentally because survival is a thing to be thankful for on a daily basis. We need to be thankful that our lives and destinies are the way they are, that all we have to complain about is the ERP, slow service and the price of chicken rice.

There will never be enough tears to bring you back. There will be the right words to fully express how we feel. But we will always remember.

Rest in peace Hwei Yen.