The Fly and Me

For years, I have often asked myself as well as others, what purpose do flies serve on our planet? I've often branded them as useless pests that should be completely wiped out. So far, I have found no good use for the fly. But that was until, Calvin and myself found ourselves at Taman Rimba Kiara, on a fateful Monday, armed only with our cameras...







What do you think?

I've got some of the other shots which I took, here.

Charcoal Wood Fire

Head or heart?
A burning desire
Head...
Only because I have no choice.

Day 2

Today...

It was raining so heavily, that we were confined to our room for the better part of the day. We went to Kuah town in the morning to shop for some stuff, but returned after having lunch...or did we? Well, I can't remember if we did, but yes, that is what we did for the first half of the day. Then in the evening, when it wasn't as rainy, we went to the underwater world. Initially, we intended to go for the cable car ride, but the weather didn't permit us to do so. These are some of the animals and fishes we saw.





























Then later on in the night, we went swimming at the beach. The best part was, we had just had a bit to drink, so naturally, we were slightly impeded, if you know what I mean. Plus, a rain storm had developed not far out from the coast, and this caused the waves to be slightly choppier than usual. I had a go first, and before I knew it, the rest were joining me. We had a blast doing it. RThen, when it rained really heavily, all of us returned to our room, soaking wet. But it wasn't over for Kush, Edwin and myself. We went on for another adventure while the rest were taking their bath. But that's a whole story by itself. It was a bloody adventure!! If you want to know, ask me, and me only!

Day 1

Technically speaking, day 2, because I arrived the night before.

Today...













Happy 21st Birthday Jon Woo. My awesome friend for 6 awesome years, and for many more to come!! I hope you had fun!!

Rides

The planes that I rode on the way home.


McDonnel-Douglas MD-80
Orlando International Airport
I flew out of Orlando on this jet. This is my thrid time flying on American Airlines's MD-80. Personally, I don't really like this jet because of its lack of legroom. But this time around, the flight was bearable, and eventhough I was seated right beside the intake of the jet engine, I slept throughout most of the flight.


Boeing 777-200
Dallas-Fort Wort International Airport
This is my first time on a Boeing 777, and my first time using Korean Airlines. The jet is a beauty. If there are two passenger jets that I really love, it would be this one, and the 747. The flight lasted for about 13 odd hours long. The seats were spacious, and the food was alright. But the only drawback is that there wasn't any personalized in flight entertainment. There was a large screen in the center aisle, but that was it. I slept throughout most of the flight too.


Boeing 777-200
Seoul-Incheon International Airport
This is the view of the same jet, right after we landed.


Airbus Industrie A330
Seoul-Incheon International Airport
This is the Airbus A330. It's one of the most safest commercial jets in operation. So far there has only been two fatal crashes in its entire operational history. One during its test flight, and the other during the tragic loss of Air France flight 447. The flight itself was not too bad, but again, just like the previous 2 flights, I slept throughout most of it. I was seated beside a Malaysian as well.


Somewhere over South Korea


Somewhere over South Korea or China. I can't remember.


Somewhere near China

Way, Away.

The structure of adaptability, yet the structure of incompressibility.
Bring me to paradise, and burn me when I'm done with it.
We're all going o die anyway...

Tickets are booked, hotel is booked, people are booked. 35 more days. It's going to be the best island trip ever. Nothing but good friends, and keg load of alcohol, music and fun.

Atlantis

Atlantis blasted off into space yesterday with about 11000 k worth of supplies to fix the Hubble Telescope for the final time., and I was lucky enough to watch it. This time, we got within 5 miles of the launch pad, and since the wind was blowing our way, we could hear the sound coming from the rocket. It was the most amazing sound I've ever heard.





What makes this mission particularly dangerous is that the orbit of the Hubble lies in an area where there are plenty of space debris, and plenty of micrometeorites. At the speeds experienced by the debris in orbit, debris the size of a grain of sand, can cause significant damage to the astronauts space suit. Bigger ones can pose significant danger to the space craft. Interesting eh?

Rockshow

This is before they asked us to put my camera in the car. I only managed to get these pics. If it weren't for stupid security rules, I'd be bringing you pictures of David Dramian, Dan Donegan, Cristina Scabbia and gang

Pictures

Here are some of the shots that I took this Sunday.




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Calm Before The Storm

One really can tell when it is motorsports weekend here in Daytona. All of a sudden, the airport will be packed with planes, the sound of stock cars decimating the asphalt can be heard, helicopters, airships and advertising planes will be in the air, and fighter jets will be doing a few runs every now and then. But what gives it away most, is the atmosphere. I can't help but get that sort of feeling that something big is about to happen and it is as if the whole town has gone Nascar crazy.

But as for me, I had a good time taking photographs of the planes.

Pirate

 

I now see the case for a prime lens.

6 Month Exposure

Ever wondered what a photograph exposed for 6 months would look like? This is how.



It was taken in Bristol, UK. This picture was exposed from the 17th of December 2007 to the 21st of June 2008, via a pinhole camera with a piece of photographic paper lined inside it.


Anyways, sorry for the lack of proper updates. I've been rather busy lately. I hope that I'll get some time soon.

Happy Birthday

And so the pilot said, "Let's leave our spot, and shine our light where there is no sun, and inspire the people who look to the skies for a way forward."

Hopes and dreams come in many ways. But it is those who dare venture beyond those dreams, into the darkness of the unknown, and to carve a path forwards, that will ultimately be crowned.

Happy Birthday, Elena.

You rock like no other \m/

Dashed

Just when I thought that I was on the verge of discovering something, this had to happen.

Hello Dr. Aufdenberg,
>
> I was taking a few pictures of Orion just now, and while
> previewing the pictures, I noticed that there were a few
> white flares and a number of circular looking flares around
> Orion's belt. Do you know what it could be?
> Thanks.
>
>
> Regards,
> Senthil

Look at the picture before reading his response. Zoom in if possible.



Hi Senthil,

What's your field of view? Are the three stars the belt of Orion?
What is your exposure time?

You may be overexposing the camera on the brightest stars and what you
are seeing are saturation effects around the brighest stars. There
is also a lot of dark current (thermal noise) in your image because your
camera is not cooled (although tonight to pretty cool!).

I'd say the "flares" are just copies of the three stars when the
camera was bumped or in motion when you open/close the shutter. One
set of "flares" is the beginning of the exposure, the other at the
end. The spacing of the "flares" is the same as the three stars.
These stars are so much brighter than any other nearby stars and
you see the affects of the camera's motion. There aren't enough
photos from the other stars to see motion that occurs during a small
fraction of the total exposure time.

That's my guess!

Dr. Aufdenberg

There goes my dreams of having an astronomical phenomena named after me =( But then again, it did sound extremely ridiculous from the offset. I need a big telescope!