The world's fastest ever road legal car. Alright, I have to admit my mistake by naming the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 the fastest car in the world in my previous post about it. The SSC Ultimate Aero is currently the world record holder for that and is definitely an American pride. Bugatti Veyron 16.4's top speed is 407 km/h (253 mph) while the SSC Ultimate Aero can achieve a top speed of 438 km/h (272.102 mph). This car will give the Americans something to cheer about in the almost all European sports cars world dominance.
The rear design of the car does give me the feel of the Ferrari from the very first impression while the front design is quite close to the curves of the McLaren. I still prefer the Veyron's design over this one, at least the Veyron looks more unique and out of this world. It is like a superhero car, like Batman or something. It is beyond my understanding how a V8, 6-speed car can beat a W16 engine, (equivalent of two narrow-angle V8 engines) 7-speed car other than a superior horsepower of 1297bhp @ 6075rpm against the 1001 bhp @ 6000rpm.
Engine
Type:
SSC Designed Billet Aluminum V8 Block
Displacement:
387.2 cu.in.
Bore x Stroke:
4.125 x 3.620"
Compression Ratio:
8.975:1
Horsepower:
1287 bhp @ 6075 rpm
Torque:
1112 ft-lbs @ 6150 rpm
Redline:
7200 rpm
Fuel Injection:
Electronic Sequential Port
Weight:
422 lbs.
Oil:
SAE 5W/30 Fully Synthetic Racing
Induction System:
Sequential, multi-port fuel injection, Twin Turbo Chargers. Dual-Water to Air Intercoolers.
Fuel:
Premium Unleaded - 91 Pump Octane
Drive Train
Gear
Ratio
RPM
MPH
1st
3.00:1
7200
58.517
2nd
2.15:1
7200
81.651
3rd
1.5:1
7200
117.033
4th
1.1304:1
7200
155.294
5th
0.8667:1
7200
202.557
6th
0.6452:1
7200
272.102
Final Drive Ratio: 3.4444:1
Engine RPM @ 60 Top Gear: 1550
Record-Breaking Times
0-60 mph:
2.78 seconds
1/4 Mile:
9.90 seconds at 144 mph
Top Speed:
257.41 MPH / Official Average: 256.15 MPH
Skidpad:
1.05 g
0-100mph-0:
11.66
60mph-0 (braking):
103 feet
The video shows how it attempts to break the top speed record of 257.41 MPH (414.31 KMPH). Oh my $#&*$^@*(#@)?)!!!
One of the best Japanese restaurants in Johor Bahru based on my taste. I did post about Furusato something back. Here are some photos of the things we ate there recently. This time around I can show one of the best Japanese food in Johor Bahru.
They partition the place up just like how Japan dining interiors are like.
The colourful lantern.
Mini Japan Course 2 pax RM88++ Appetizer Mixed Sashimi / Grilled Eeel Mini Kimchee Hot Pot Mixed Tempura Chicken Teriyaki Egg Custard Fried Rice Fruit
The assorted sorbet selections look good but we didn't try in the end.
The hiya yako (toufu) is damn good; soft, tender and fresh. Nice starter. RM4.50
Fresh octopus with pickles. Interesting mix.
Sashimi melts in my mouth. Enough said.
Well done. A lot of times we get lousy tempura with the ingredient inside still not well cooked.
The kimchi soup is not your typical Korean kimchi soup. It has a slight salty taste to give it a more Japanese flavour.
Oooh....ikura (salmon roe) RM12
One of the best egg custards ever......the taste of the mushroom is very well mixed in the entire custard, giving it a good overall taste. Most of the time, the egg custard you need outside is very bland. Eventhough they have lotsa ingredients, the taste is independent of the custard.
We ordered a sanma fish (pacific sauly) but we got the saba fish (mackerel) instead. Nevermind since it is very well done. Crispy skin, soft flesh that melts in your mouth. RM15
One of the best chicken teriyaki I have ever tasted. They managed to keep the skin as crispy as possible but the meat is soft, tender and juicy.
Simple and yet good fried rice...
All I have to say is the food preparation is very neat, delicate, nicely done and the taste is soft and delicious. Everything from the presentation to the taste is very well done to the last detail. That's Japanese to you. You can already get the impression from unwrapping their packages of things to food.
Subtotal: RM119.50 Service charge: RM11.95 Government Tax: RM5.98 Total damage: RM137.43
Dark, still, quiet and tranquil is how Punggol is past midnight. 'Crabbing' activities start then but we are totally disconnected from the whole world. It may be a great moment to enjoy as we reflect on life or just to relax as we wait for the crabs to be caught. However, sometimes when it is football night, I will be killing myself for missing all the action on EPSN or STAR SPORTS. I need Internet connection to get updated on the multiple matches played. It’s also great to be able to show the catch of the day to friends online.
“Live Life Online Anywhere with SingTel BroadBand on Mobile Youth Plan! Visit www.singtel.com/youth for details.”
* All crabs are unharmed during the catch. All of them are released in one piece after the 'crabbing' activity ended.
Starting at 3PM today, there will be 5 badminton matches arranged in this order for the Malaysia Open finals. May the best men and women win!
1.XD Chen Xu & Yunlei Zhao [3] CHINA VS. Bo Zheng & Jin Ma [2] CHINA 2.WS Shixian Wang CHINA VS. Xin Wang CHINA 3.MS Chong Wei Lee [1] MALAYSIA VS. Long Chen CHINA 4.WD Eei Hui Chin & Pei Tty Wong [1] MALAYSIA VS. Jin Ma & Xiaoli Wang CHINA 5.MD Teik Chai Gan & Bin Shen Tan MALAYSIA VS. Kien Keat Koo & Boon Heong Tan [2] MALAYSIA Even if we calculate a modest 1 hour for every match to be completed, it will be played until 8pm. Catch me on television if you can! Hahaha!
Well, here it comes! Thistle Hotel is from UK, they are the largest hotel chain in London and sixth largest hotel chain in the UK by bedroom numbers (10,000). Hyatt Regency Hotel Johor Bahru closed down few months back and UK Thistle Hotel took over. They have earlier opened a hotel at Port Dickson on June 2009. The Johor Bahru hotel will open on July 2009, very soon!
Well, I'm few hours from watching this movie but the bad reviews I heard is really putting my expectations as low as possible. I just hope it is not as bad as what people say. Generally people say there is no storyline and just too much emphasize on special effects. Lousy jokes which resulted in bad humour. Full stop.
I know the reviews are from people who did and did not grow up watching Transformers cartoon. I am from the people who did watch Transformers cartoon so probably my expectations will be different. Let's just see how it is going to be. Can't wait!!!
Music and dance genius and legend Michael Jackson died after suffering a cardiac arrest. He died after suffering an arrest just after 12:00 pm (1900 GMT) local time and paramedics were unable to revive him. He was treated at UCLA Medical Center.
Vinyl record of Michael Jackson, my first introduction to him as a kid. It's probably somewhere at grandma's home now.
Condolences to the Jacksons! R.I.P. Michael!
R.I.P. too to Charlie Angels' star, Farrah Fawcett, who died today at age 62. She had been battling anal cancer for three years.
Thank goodness they did not promote this movie like all those typical movies out there in order to generate income....from the producer of The Evil Dead, Grudge and Spider-Man, comes Drag Me to Hell!!!!!!! Woooh, very scary indeed!
A seriously horror + comedy movie, imagine the Scary Movie franchise being done with more horror and serious comedy. Yes this movie has the elements to shock you and catch you off-guard in some unexpected scenes. However, the over-exaggeration after the horror part is turning it into a funny aftertaste.
You can call it a too much slapstick and absurb movie, you can call it a major turnoff, you can call it deliberately overboard, you can call it an anti-climax, but that's how the horror element goes beyond realistic, which is the trademark of this movie. Things like nosebleed that can shoot blood out of the nostrils with incredible speed, almost half the arm going into the mouth, eyeballs flying out, the entire mouth that opens wide and cover almost your entire face and emitting green sticky fluid in big amounts, handkerchief almost going into the throat with just the fingers enough to keep it out and pulling it as long as the magician's handkerchief and being hit by the falling cross right on your head while digging the grave causing you to sink into the mud for 1 minute next to the corpse which you retrieved out before you become conscious again are some actions that kept us pointing our middle fingers at the big screen.
You would expect the lead actress to show the feeling of shock for the intense nosebleed but she seems so calm and serious about it that it looks common to her. No big deal. Then, we will expect it to be fake because some scenes are just her imagination but it is not. We just move on to the next scene as if nothing has ever happened. Just use the tissue to wipe it off and let's go to the next scene. I can feel the producer, Sam Raimi sitting there next to me watching me fool myself as he laughs to his heart's content of how silly we all are going through his plot.
It is a hyperbole to show the extremes but the exaggerated way to show horror is making it look like it is meant to be deliberately funny but instead it is meant to be serious! Oh my goodness, if I can find a Chinese phrase to describe the movie, it will be 太夸张. After the movie, we, the crowd, were looking at each other in the cineplex with funny laughters and curses. Well, that's not the outcome you are expecting from a horror movie.
I would say it is a very good horror movie with a simple storyline but it will be good if they avoid having those exaggeration parts which gives it a very strong humour contrast just after the horror parts. Some people may like this kind of mix but I find myself lost. Hahaha! Well, I don't know whether to recommend this movie or not but you get the picture what to expect. Maybe you will enjoy such a mix and may find yourself liking it.
Dates: 6/23/2009 to 6/28/2009 City: Johor Bharu Prize Money: USD 120,000
I just got my tickets for the finals (RM30 free seating, if you are a student, RM17). The matches will start at 3pm and could go on until 9pm. This will be my second badminton tournament in Johor Bahru.
The situation now is almost similar to the SARS period, but the panic level has not reach there yet because of there are no deaths reported yet. You work in the office, a colleague coughs and another sneezes, everyone will joke that it might be the H1N1 virus. Jokes aside, we are concerned and lost at the same time about how this H1N1 virus will develop from here. It is the season of flu and cough and everyone is trying their best to avoid getting sick. A colleague of mine who sneezed a few times last Monday quickly ran to the clinic to get some medication.
I was going to the Johor Bahru CIQ (Customs, Immigration and Quarantine) building as usual yesterday morning when I saw all the police masked. I thought to myself, oh no, there must be a super outbreak that has caused such an alarmed reaction. However, no one else is wearing the mask. Of course, before this, the only people who are masked are those monitoring the infrared cameras and those taking your temperature live at the scene. I only realized the reason when I read the news later. Johor Bahru had just reported its first ever H1N1 victim, a 19-year-old female student returning home from Melbourne.
That just shows one thing about the Malaysian police force. You know what it is, I don't have to say it clearly out loud. Singapore has up to now 220 cases but their police force is not wearing any masks. Apart from highlighting the police force in Malaysia, I want to share about the findings from the clinical data of the first 50 H1N1 patients in Singapore in this post. Read the findings in the news report attached. The summary is most of the victims do not show the symptoms that are required to determine whether you get the H1N1 virus. That is a serious problem for all of us here. It seems like they are still unsure about this virus fully.
JOHOR BARU, June 24 — A 19-year-old female student was confirmed the first influenza A (H1N1) victim in Johor after returning from Melbourne, Australia, two days ago.
State Women, Family, Community and Health Committee chairman Dr Robia Kosai said today the student landed at Changi Airport, Singapore, on board flight SQ0238 and had fever and flu upon reaching her home in Johor Baru.
"The student was home on vacation after six months in Melbourne. She is now being monitored at the Sultanah Aminah Hospital,” she told reporters.
Dr Robia said the student's family, including the father, mother, 16-year-old brother and 17-year-old sister were under home quarantine for a week.
The taxi driver, 36, who sent the student home was also under home quarantine.
Dr Robia said the student's grandmother died of old age this morning and Health Department staff would help the family with the funeral arrangements to ensure that they were not exposed to others.
She said Health Department staff would also be sent to the schools of the student's siblings — Sekolah Menengah Datuk Jaafar and Sekolah Menengah Infant Jesus Convent — because the two attended school yesterday.
"We will check the two schools to prevent any spread of the virus," she added. — Bernama
SINGAPORE: The World Health Organisation uses a temperature benchmark of 37.8 degrees Celsius as one of the factors to determine if someone is a suspect H1N1 case, but experts at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital warn that doctors should not overlook those with low fever as well.
92 per cent of H1N1 patients in Singapore had respiratory infections, but 46 per cent had mild fever of less than 37.8 degrees Celsius when they sought medical treatment.
This is according to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, which released its clinical findings on the first 50 H1N1 patients on Wednesday.
Professor Leo Yee Sin, clinical department head at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said: "We do come across many patients where the fever may not be very high. It's important to be able to add several symptoms together that would include fever and respiratory symptoms that would include running nose, cough, sore throat and other clinical symptoms like headache and muscle ache."
The professor continued to say that it is possible for general practioners to miss out on diagnosing some of their patients as having the H1N1 virus because their symptoms could be very mild.
There is also the possibility that some patients may not show any symptoms at all.
According to the hospital, about 20 per cent of the first 50 H1N1 cases who are on Tamiflu were still infectious on the fifth day of treatment.
Those who started Tamiflu earlier (for example, on the second day instead of the third day of infection) have a shorter infection period.
Currently, there are about 70 confirmed H1N1 patients hospitalised at the Communicable Disease Centre.
One of the bigger concerns for medical authorities now involves the higher risk group – people with asthma, very young children, the elderly and anyone with major underlying medical problems.
The high risk group also includes those with chronic lung disease, heart disease, liver disease, renal disease, immuno-compromised patients such as those on chemotherapy, radiotherapy or patients who are required to be on long-term steroids and pregnant women.
Professor Leo said: "How the disease is going to behave in the high risk population is yet to be seen and to be determined in the local situation.
"However, we know from overseas data and understanding of seasonal influenza, that high risk groups tend to have a higher frequency of complications and they may have adverse outcomes and we may not be surprised that there may be deaths among the risky individuals."
The hospital said high risk patients may need more medical attention while on antiviral medication.
Another concern is the mutation of the H1N1 virus as it mixes with other types of flu viruses. Professor Leo said this is something the authorities are keeping track of.
The hospital said it will be doing more clinical research to help authorities understand the nature of the disease better. It has urged the public to remain vigilant and not to be complacent.
Professor Leo said Singaporeans must change their mindsets about donning face masks when they are sick and that they should adopt a life-long approach to improve their personal hygiene to ward off flu viruses.
It is exactly 350 days countdown to the next FIFA World Cup. The first thing that alerts me of the popularity of the World Cup is in fact a spam mail. Let me share with you this very interesting spam mail which alleged that I had won One Million Dollars (I don't know what currency though). Yes, even the World Cup has been used as a spam mail strategy to cheat more people in this world. The weakness of mankind that they want to tackle is greed, the strongest weapon of deceit.
The Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the South Africa 2010 world cup announced today that it will give full support to UEFA for the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour in Africa. Africans will hold the UEFA Champions League Trophy aloft when it takes the famous cup on tour in December this year. After two successful tours in Asia and South America in 2007 and 2008 it is now the turn of African football fans in to have the ultimate experience, to be able to see and touch the famous Trophy.
The kick off date of the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour will coincide with the Final draw date for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa, on 4 December 2009 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. To create international AWARENESS of the Tour and the 2010 FIFA World Cup, UEFA and FIFA organised the first ever world cup online awareness (email) draw by contacting Microsoft directly to provide the email contacts of the leading internet using countries that are members of FIFA.
Among the email addresses that were provided by microsoft for the online draw, your email address came out as one of the four lucky winning email addresses of FOUR MILLION DOLLARS ( $4,000,000.00 ), as a result your email address won you the sum of ONE MILLION DOLLARS ( $1,000,000.00 ).
DO CONTACT THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SOUTH AFRICA WORLD CUP AWARENESS DRAW WITH PROOF THAT YOU ARE THE OWNER OF THE EMAIL CONTACT, BELOW IS HIS CONTACT DETAILS:
Mr. Jabu Moleketi Private Bag X115/X091 Marshalltown Pretoria/Johannesburg South Africa 0001/2107 Tel: +27 837 160 642 E-mail: jabmoleketi@live.co.za
Congratulations from the FIFA/UEFA awareness draw Team.
Zakumi, a leopard with green hair is the official mascot for the FIFA World Cup 2010 tournament. His name comes from "ZA", the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for South Africa, and "kumi", a word that means ten in various African languages.
Yes, the next World Cup will be hosted in South Africa. Although every genuine football fan in the world will go nuts when being infected with the World Cup fever, the venue of the upcoming tournament is not giving me something to cheer about. South Africa has a bad reputation in terms of criminal record, which gives me mixed feelings about them being the host.
For all of you poor people who can't afford the overpriced tickets and will be crossing your fingers to get a lucky chance to go there, there are two ways I know of that you can try.
Try these two methods to give yourself a chance to go to the World Cup.
There are 10 stadiums to be used for the tournament. The FNB Stadium, short for First National Bank, or Soccer City will be the most important stadium of the tournament. It was designed by Boogertman Urban Edge + Partners with HOK Sport Architecture. The design of the facade seems to be loaded with panels with random openings to connect the interior with the exterior. It can house 78,000 people and the current upgrading works is to help increase capacity to 94,000. It will be used for the opening match, four first-round matches, one second-round match, one quarter-final match and the final match.
Back to South Africa crime scene, the major problem is rape. It is so common to have rape cases there that you think the spread of H1N1 virus is much slower. It is reported that there are 150 rapes every day over there. The authorities should seriously do something to stop this trend, which is giving a very bad image of South Africa to the world. Now that they are hosting the World Cup, will the incoming football fans traffic be affected by these rapists?
One in four South African men questioned in a survey said they had raped someone, and nearly half of them admitted more than one attack.
The study, by the country's Medical Research Council, also found three out of four who admitted rape had attacked for the first time during their teens.
It said practices such as gang rape were common because they were considered a form of male bonding.
The MRC spoke to 1,738 men in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces.
The research was conducted in both rural and urban areas and included all racial groups.
Using an electronic device to keep the results anonymous, the study found that 73% of those who admitted rape said they had carried out their first assault before the age of 20.
Almost half who said they had carried out a rape admitted they had done so more than once.
One in 20 men surveyed said they had raped a woman or girl in the last year.
Professor Rachel Jewkes of the MRC, who carried out the research, told the BBC's World Today programme: "The absolute imperative is we have to change the underlying social attitudes that in a way have created a norm that coercing women into sex is on some level acceptable.
"We know that we have a higher prevalence of rape in South Africa than there is in other countries.
"And it's partly rooted in our incredibly disturbed past and the way that South African men over the centuries have been socialised into forms of masculinity that are predicated on the idea of being strong and tough and the use of force to assert dominance and control over women, as well as other men."
She added that all the victims in the main survey were said to be women, but participants were also interviewed about male rape.
'Sad state of affairs'
The study found that one in 10 men said they had been raped by other men.
Some 3% of the men interviewed said they had coerced a man or a boy into sex.
The participants were also tested for HIV and the authors of the survey were surprised that men who had raped were not more likely to test positive for the virus.
Mbuyiselo Botha, from the South African Men's Forum, which campaigns for women's rights, told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that any view of women as "fair game" had to be challenged.
Mr Botha, a father of two girls himself, said: "I think that yes, the figures are that high and for us, for me in particular, that is a very sad state of affairs.
"It means that we continue in South Africa to be one of the highest capitals of rape in the world.
"I don't think it's cultural per se; I think it has to do with how a lot of us men worldwide were raised. The issues of dominance against women, issues of inequality, are pervasive and you find them throughout the world."
South Africa's government has been repeatedly criticised for failing to address the country's rape epidemic.
A recent trade union report said a child was being raped in South Africa every three minutes with the vast majority of those cases going unreported.
A new survey carried out in the South African city of Johannesburg has uncovered an alarming picture of sexual violence.
One in three of the 4,000 women questioned by CIET Africa, non-governmental organisation, said they had been raped in the past year.
CIET researchers trying to find ways of arresting the alarming growth in sexual violence in South Africa said they were shocked by the finding.
Gang rape 'fun'
In a related survey conducted among 1,500 schoolchildren in the Soweto township, a quarter of all the boys interviewed said that 'jackrolling' - a South African term for recreational gang rape - was fun.
More than half the interviewees insisted that when a girl says no to sex she really means yes.
Many of those interviewed also expressed little knowledge about the need to use condoms and to practise safe sex.
'Intolerable'
The boys' opinions differed markedly from those expressed by schoolgirls, many of whom suggested that they were living in an intolerable sexual environment.
Levels of sexual violence differ across the country.
But BBC Correspondent Greg Barrow, in Johannesburg, says the city - South Africa's largest and its industrial hub - is rapidly emerging as the rape capital of the world.
He says the CIET survey will only serve to reinforce that unwelcome title.
CIET says it will be recommending a new approach to the problem in schools, and among the police and community leaders.
It also hopes to focus on the majority of men who do not rape and establish ways of raising their profile as community role models.
As recently as last week, South Africa's first black test cricketer, Makhaya Ntini, appeared in court on rape charges - to the dismay of those who saw him as a potential role model for young sportspeople.
Car hijackings up
The survey was released at the same time as the government's latest crime statistics, which reveal that the rates of murder and rape in South Africa had declined slightly during 1998.
The murder rate nevertheless remains at 52 per 100,000 - eight times as high as in the United States.
Car hijackings last year were up by nearly 9% on the previous year's figure, and the statistics also show an increase in the rate of burglary and mugging.
World No.1, Spain, (1761 points as of June 2009), were beaten by world No.14, USA (947 points as of June 2009) in the latest FIFA Confederations Cup competition. Hey, we are already in the final stages of the competition but I just started a post on this. Well, though it is a crazy upset since the Italians being humiliated, this is a very insignificant football tournament that we hardly care about.
Yes, that's why I don't even have the urge to report anything until the Spaniards' unbeaten run comes to an end. Spain came to the match by setting the world record of 15-match winning streak and equaling the 35-match unbeaten record set by Brazil between December 1993 and January 1996. Spain's own record started after the last defeat to Romania in November 2006. This is Spain's first ever loss to the USA and this means sharing the 35 straight games unbeaten run with Brazil.
Brazil will play South Africa in the other semifinal to face USA in the final. This is definitely one of the most shocking football finals ever but then again, not all superpowers in the football world are treating this tournament seriously.
Friends have been discussing about how Donald Trump bought the WWE show from Vince McMahon.
So, will we see Donald Trump uttering the famous words from The Apprentice, YOU ARE FIRED! to a wrestler he is not happy with? Will we get to see him being smacked down and being hit by chairs? Let's watch out for it!
The only drawback is we may not be able to see the hot Stephanie McMahon at the show anymore. Slurp....Then again you fans should not be too worried about the lack of hot babes. Donald Trump owns the Miss Universe Organization which produces the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants so we will have more than enough hot babes in the WWE if Donald Trump permits.
Must resist.....must resist......can't resist.....failed......eat to heart's content
It is a pain really to see the crowd everyday crowding the durian stalls all over the town while you control yourself from not eating durian. It is like a drug. The durians are literally telling me everyday: EAT ME! EAT US! EAT ME! EAT US!
If you see it and resist, you just go home feeling the pain. You try to avoid but they are everywhere. There is no way you can hide. These evil tents and lorries are everywhere. They have come down to 50 cents last week. This is how cheap this durian season has come to.
5 for RM10, 3 for RM10. They are very common nowadays. If you go to the stall say by 11pm, it is when the cheap sales start, where you get bargains for the best quality durians, provided they are still available.
50 cents....it has been a while since I last seen the 50 cents durian! They are the cheapest but does not really guarantee to be good. They are normally the smallest durians in the range available.
5 for RM10. The rule of thumb is to never buy the cheapest and most expensive durians. This is because durians which are too small or oversized are normally not good (from experience), go for the midrange. Another good reason is you can eat more durians so the variations are higher for you to experience the range of taste. Once you buy a gigantic durian, you can't consume much before you surrender.
Everyone's searching for the cheap durians! Gotta grab them fast before they disappear. OK, I admit I stole the concept from Pokémon - Gotta Catch 'em All... I will exclude anymore nice drooling yellowish rich durian flesh in this blog for the moment. The last two posts have already got me into trouble with some friends. They called me to complain about me showing off the delicious durians that cause them to feel the sense of deprival, the sadness of not able to consume them and hence, creating the anger for the dissatisfaction which leads to angry calls to beg /command me to stop posting.
Therefore, I decided to stop and ban all durian flesh exposure from this blog for this durian season eventhough I had another really great time tasting the best durians in my life. I was really high from the great taste. Ops, another quote from someone else....this time Towelie who said You wanna get high?
It is not as bad as most people have said. There're a lot of action to keep you to your seat for the entire ride. I enjoyed it so I recommend you to give it a try!
Almost the entire plot of this fourth Terminator movie focuses on the year 2018 where John Connor leads the battle between the Resistance against Skynet. We get to see how the world looks like as being depicted by the movie in 2018. It is only in the first scene that we are in the year 2003 where it gives a sneak preview of the story of death row inmate Mark Wright, who later played a major role in the entire story with Connor. I thought it is an interesting concept to be introduced into the Terminator series but I'm sad this concept last only till the end of this movie, or I may be wrong. I won't reveal more than this so catch the movie yourself!
Apart from The Stig, the other attention is on the Ferrari FXX, which is a pretty damn cool car. Still, the fastest racing car in human history to date, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 is beyond human. It is immortal and inhuman! 407km/h is crazy! Let's do some simple maths. 407km in an hour which is 60 minutes, which is 3600 seconds. Therefore, in 1 second, we can cover 113.055 metres, which is indeed a football field. Crazy man!
Bugatti claims the Veyron will brake from 400 km/h (250 mph) to a standstill in less than 10 seconds. Our normal cars have 1 radiator but this beast has 10 to get excessive heat out.
According to Wikipedia: The car's everyday top speed is listed at 350 km/h (220 mph). When the car reaches 220 km/h (140 mph), hydraulics lower the car until it has a ground clearance of about 8.9 cm (3½ inches). At the same time, the wing and spoiler deploy. This is the "handling mode", in which the wing helps provide 3,425 newtons (770 lbf) of downforce, holding the car to the road.The driver must, using a special key (the "Top Speed Key"), toggle the lock to the left of his seat in order to attain the maximum (average) speed of 408 km/h (254 mph). The key functions only when the vehicle is at a stop, when a checklist then establishes whether the car—and its driver—are ready to enable 'top speed' mode. If all systems are go, the rear spoiler retracts, the front air diffusers shut and the ground clearance, normally 12.5 cm (4.9 in), drops to 6.5 cm (2.6 in).
After hearing billions and billions of USDollars poured in for cancer research around the world annually, finally we hear something promising for once from one of the most renowned hospitals in the world, Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic is one of the top American hospitals among the same league as John Hopkins Hospital, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic and Massachusetts General Hospital. I always wonder whether there is any breakthrough in cancer research. There never seem to be any positive outcomes that we can realistically and convincingly see in the real world. Will this really work? We all hope so!
Patients with inoperable prostate disease recover after single dose of drug
By Jeremy Laurance, Health editor
ROCHESTER, Minnesota, June 20 — Two patients with inoperable prostate cancer have made dramatic recoveries after receiving one dose of an experimental drug that is creating excitement among cancer specialists.
The results were so startling that researchers decided to release details of the two cases before the drug trial – in which the patients took part – was complete. Doctors said their progress had exceeded all expectations. The men were treated at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota in the US, one of the top medical centres in the world.
Dr Eugene Kwon, the urologist who was in charge of their treatment, compared the results to the first pilot breaking the sound barrier.
“This is one of the Holy Grails of prostate cancer research. We have been looking for this for years,” he said.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men – 34,000 new cases and more than 10,000 deaths are reported each year in Britain, where rates of its occurrence have tripled in the past 30 years, mainly due to improved detection. The US has the highest incidence of the disease.
Rodger Nelson and Fructuoso Solano-Revuelta were diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer and sought treatment at the Mayo Clinic.
They were told the disease had spread beyond the prostate. Nelson’s cancer was encroaching on the abdomen and Mr Solano-Revuelta’s tumour was the size of a golf ball. Patients in such condition are told they may have only months to live, and are normally only offered palliative care. But after one infusion of the drug ipilimumab, a monoclonal antibody that stimulates the immune system, given with conventional hormone therapy, their tumours shrank enough to be surgically removed. Both men have since made a full recovery and returned to their businesses.
The pair were part of a trial involving 108 patients, half of whom received the experimental drug. The trial is ongoing but the improvement of the two patients was so dramatic and unexpected that they were removed from the study so they could undergo curative surgery.
Dr Kwon said yesterday: “Halfway through the trial we began seeing remarkable responses. Some patients had dramatic shrinkage of their tumours so practically all traces had disappeared. We had thought we might get some incremental delay in the progression of the cancer. It had not dawned on us that we might go from an inoperable tumour to an operable one. That just doesn’t happen.”
The surgery would not have gone ahead if Carol Nelson, Mr Nelson’s wife and a former nurse, had not challenged the surgeons to attempt it.
“The idea of surgery on an ‘inoperable’ tumour had not dawned on us. It is often disappointing and not advisable. But she is a tough lady – and having been a nurse she knew how to control the doctors. We said we didn’t think surgery would work, but we would try,” Dr Kwon said.
The outcome was better than any of them could have anticipated. From having an enlarged prostate gland riddled with cancer which had spread, Nelson was found to have a shrunk prostate gland with tiny pockets of cancer that were “very hard to find”.
Michael Blute, the surgeon who operated on Nelson, said at one point doctors feared they might have the wrong patient: “I was cutting away scar tissue trying to find cancer cells. The pathologist was checking samples as we proceeded and sent word back asking if we had the right patient. He had a hard time finding any cancer. I have never seen anything like this before. The pathologists were floored.”
The procedure was repeated, with the same result, on Solano-Revuelta. A third “inoperable” patient underwent surgery last week.
Dr Kwon said: “These were patients for whom there was no hope. The course of their disease has been altered in a dramatic fashion. We have a major finding which we never expected to stumble across but we have to complete our studies.”
He said the findings had to be confirmed in further studies and the results published in a peer-reviewed journal. A larger trial is due to begin in the autumn. The cases are described in the Mayo Clinic’s research publication, Discovery’s Edge.
Professor Malcolm Mason, a Cancer Research UK prostate cancer specialist, said: “These case reports are extremely interesting and encouraging. Ipilimumab might potentially be a strong stimulator of the immune system, and it seems logical that it might also be effective in prostate cancer.
“But caution is needed, as earlier trials with this drug in other types of cancer were less successful than reported here, and its true value can only become clear through large-scale, randomised clinical trials, two of which are already under way. The other cautionary note is that both men received hormone therapy, which in some instances causes dramatic reductions in tumour size by itself.”
IPILIMUMAB: HOW IT WORKS
*Ipilimumab is one of a class of drugs called monoclonal antibodies, which stimulate the body’s own immune system to fight disease. The experimental treatment is being developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Medarex, a US biotech company.
The drug is being trialled on malignant melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, Hodgkin’s disease, lung cancer and prostate cancer. Studies are most advanced in melanoma, where it has been shown to prolong survival in patients with advanced forms of the disease. In the Mayo Clinic study of prostate cancer, researchers say that standard hormone treatment ignited the immune response, and adding ipilimumab was like “pouring gasoline on the pilot light”. -- Independent
literally.... read the news below! This is how extreme people will go for the sake of durians.
Fight over durians ends in death
KUANTAN, June 16 - A quarrel over fallen durians in an orchard, resulted in one Felda settler from Felda Padang Piul, Jerantut being fatally slashed.
Jerantut police chief Acting Supt Jamaluddin Abd Rahman said during the 1pm incident, the victim, Abdul Samad, 50, was believed to have been engaged in a quarrel with his neighbour over durians that had fallen behind their houses.
"Both had claimed the fallen durians were theirs since there was no partition to separate their orchards, both planted with durian trees. In the ensuing scuffle, the victim was slashed and died at the scene," said Jamaluddin when contacted here today.
The victim's body was later sent to the Jerantut Hospital for a post-mortem while the 60 year-old neighbour who was involved in the quarrel, was detained by police, he said. - Bernama
RM10 for 3, RM3 per kilo
Well, I have been trying some durians under these categories of late. Enjoy the quality durians with the photos as evidence.
Sticky, yellow, melt in your mouth and throat, so sticky you almost lost your breath........the bitterness and sweetness, oh my! Heavenly....I can feel myself floating as I enjoy the durians.
There is an interesting breed they have which starts with an extreme bitter taste that goes to the very top and later ended with an aftertaste of sweetness. I kind of like this breed, very interesting indeed.
It is always a must to wash your hands and mouth with the durian husk to get rid of the smell. Drink water added with salt or ENO to cool yourself down through the husk as well. This will also get rid of the smell from your breath.
