Cogito ergo sum

Good day fellow citizens of planet earth. It is my pleasure today to inform you guys of the demise of the past-blogger what's his name and now the arrival of his descendant: Descartes.

Descartes, for those with the singaporean tongue, is pronounced DAY-CUT, or Day-card. Whatever it is, it's not dis-car-tes or des-cart-tis. A short discourse: why can't they merge latin or french or portugueue and basically any language that uses the anglo-saxon alphabet to be pronounced the same bloody way?!

Anyway, Descartes is famous for the title of this post "Cogito ergo sum" = "I think, therefore I am". Whenever I think of this phrase, I am reminded of wonderful movie Sophie, whom the name by the way, does refer to the Sophists, a group of philosophers in pre-modern eras that are very very very good rhetorics. In any case, from the phrase itself, one can understand everything about life, about the world because as long as what you believe what you see is real, it is real. So if you can think out a balloon floating horizontally across your room with no wind blowing whatsoever and then suddenly it turns into a hedgehog, a flying one - it is real.

Today's rambling.

It was not my intention to continue this blog. I lied. It was my intention to continue writing in this blog but it was not my intention to leave it alone for so long. Sometimes, things caught up, or you caught up to your work your life your school your everything and you just do not have time for something else. I am often a victim of such distress. In all disdainful events, there will always come one where you do not think it was such until you notice under the stark stare of the mother sun that you are indeed in a very idiotic situation.

I myself was in such a very idiotic situation once, where I was very sure what I was fighting for, arguing for was correct. Now to digress once again, what is 'correct' to you could be universal - or it could not be. In this case, we have to bring in what's-his-name, yes Kant. Immanuel Kant, with all due respect to his name, was a .. german philosopher. Basically he says that there's a white and black to all morality in this world, and therefore there's a correct or wrong in every instance and, its something that's universal. While Kant deals with ethics I deal with truth, which invariably everything is the same. If you judge something to be idiotic, and the universe judges it to be so, you are CORRECT.

Now to return to what I was saying.. but I forgot. Cloxacilin I can't remember the name but it has Cloxa inside, one of the antibiotics that I am eating now is extremely, superflabbergastedly, disturbingly, nauseasatingly, disgusting to eat. OF course its not difficult to eat but rather the effects after you eat it. You feel totally gassy and you want to fart all the time, you feel super nausea too. The good thing is - you dont feel like eating and its a very good way to reduce your fats.

Ah but no, the constant after-taste of something extremely bitter at the back of your throat (and this is almost 10 hours since I ate the pill) makes you want to eat something sweet to cover it. And this means calories and calories means ... you get it.

To end my post today, the original intention of this was to practise my typing and to inject some English back into my life. As one writes his/her report, more often than not, one loses his/her way and starts to do something else. I could recall thousands and thousands of instances where I was doing my report or revision and I ended up on youtube or playing a game or playing the piano and then, eventually sleeping.

Interesting fact of this month: Did you know that your sports potential is hereditary? No matter how hard you train, your potential is only so much and one of the parameters to measure it is VO2max. Premier league soccer players have a VO2max of about ~70, while cross-country skiiers have the absolute highest : ~>90. I know I have close to 0. And - to lose fats, do low-intensity exercises, like slow slow jogging. As long as you are exerting too much, you are entering anaerobic phase and no no , thats not burning fats. Thats burning carbohydratesssssssssssss.

Death LAGOON Update 2

Konnichiwa minasan.

We have yet another update to the death lagoon. There is a new progression.

The 'pond' has since been stabilised until yesterday. Here is what happened:
I've 4 F8 puffers and 1 Dwarf Puffer which have lived out their usefulness as puffer require intense snail feeding. Therefore they were sacrificed to the pond. It is common knowledge that wild puffers are toxic and should not be eaten, however aquaria puffers are inbred and are not toxic - because they are unable to feed on the poisonous bacteria that is responsible for much of their notoriety.

However, I was proven wrong by the death of 2 Spotted Gars, an Arowana and a Shovel nose. All measured about 10 inches. As you know a spotted gar at 22" fetches a hefty $200 per piece. This is a great loss. In order to confirm that the loss was a result of consumption of the puffer, as usual, an autopsy was carried out. The goal was simpler this time, just check the stomach and see whether there were puffer remains.

From this point on word there may be gruesome pictures. You are warned.
Credits to my sister for helping me take the pictures. Thank you.

A comparison of the dead fishes was set up with a 6" ruler for measurement. They are all roughly 10" from tail to head.



There was alot of grime on the fishes. It is a natural protective covering.



The shovel nose was chosen as the victim because 1) it has a big belly that is easier to cut,



2) it does not have teeth and merely devours the subject (with its big mouth), making the chances of an intact puffer higher for identification



First step is to wash the victim



Second step is to make an incision along the belly



Third Step: Use a finger and pull open the belly then cut along laterally



The stomach is exposed and looks good.



Fourth Step: Take out the stomach with fingers. It looks like there's a puffer inside undigested



Fifth Step: Cut open the stomach from its head and the puffer was confirmed.



The rest of the fishes were not cut up to preserve some form in nirvana.

It is interesting that the puffer remains undigested. This suggests two modes of death for the shovel nose: The puffer either puffed up after devouring, causing pain to the shovel which ended up in its death (but which the stomach remains intact), or toxins were released in some other way causing the death of the shovel nose. Either way, the main cause is the puffer.

Conclusion: The introduction of puffers to a freshwater pond has caused the death of 4 carnivorous predators - 2x spotted gars, 1x arowana, 1x shovel nose. Do not feed puffer to your fishes as it is likely to cause the predator's death.

Death Lagoon UPDATE

みなさん、こんにちは。今日、また英語を使うことです。

This is a short update on Death Lagoon.

Apparently, after the incident, Death Lagoon (DL) has somewhat become a hospitable environment. I've took the tilapia and disposited it away safely in another place, and bought lots of plants to place in the pond. Please come and have a look my friends, it will be interesting I swear.

Current spendings on pond : $300 approx.

Fishes availabe:
1. 10~12 x Africans Chichlids of various colors and patterns
2. 1 x Arowana youngling (was 2x)
3. 2 x Albino polypterus bichir
4. 1 x Dark Spotted polypterus bichir
5. 2 x Lepisosteus oculatus (spotted gar, they really look like alligators now)
6. 15~20 x Gyrinocheilus aymonieri (Chinese Algae Eater)
7. 2 x Toxotidae jaculatrix (Archer fish)
8. 15~20 x Red Tetra (was 100 but got eaten gradually)
9. 2 x Red Lobster
10. 3 x Common Crab
11. 4 x LXX Catfish
12. ~5 x Black Widow (was 12)
13. ~4 x Pink Chichlids that look really like red parrot youngling
14. 1 x Pipefish (looks like a sea horse for now)
15. 2~4 x Freshwater snake/eel (not sure)
16. An assortment of other random things (cant remember)

Yes the bioload is extremely heavy on the pond, and 90% of the time I can't see all the fishes. But after camping there for 30 mins (most of the time), i could see about 80% of them. Tetras are really hard to get by now..

Oh.. and I was shocked 2 days ago when one of the arowanas got eaten by the spotted gar. i just can't believe my eyes when I saw it right in front of me. Arowanas are supposed to be king of waters! Ok that was a lie , but I was still sad. It was good money gone to waste..

Death of 12 Fishes in DEATH Lagoon

Today I went to get my plants for my fish pond, which is a 1,000 litre preformed pond. There were originally 16 fishes inside. 3 didnt make it past day 2, but the rest made it to day 7. 1 fish is a Tilapia measuring about a 0.8m across, and has been there for nearly 8years, giving it a grand total of 13 fishes.

Before I went to get my plants, I told my maid to wash another fish tank, but she mistaken it to be the fish POND, and she changed like 50% of teh water.

12 fishes died. 1 fish remains.

It is a sad day for the fishes of this pond, which I have nicknamed the Death Lagoon. Many have came , many have died. So far only the tilapia survives a water change. Fishes are extremely intolerant to water changes it seems.

Naturally, the investigator in me prompted for an investigation. Since I lack the instruments to measure pH, trace salts content, salinity, temperature, %O2, and etc. I dissected the dead fish to see if any disease has set in to account for the intolerance to water change.

Results: Besides showing some necrosis at the gill area, all fishes look normal. Tongue color OK, belly contents OK, gills OK, eyes OK. A few fishes look a little bloated but that's to be expected. Dead fish sink properly, suggest absence of endongenous gas producing bacter.

Conclusion: Due to water change, % chlorine could be alot higher amongst other factors, fish is unable to cope with change of conditions and died gasping for air as a result of damaged gills (recall that gills are directly exposed to aquatic environment), consistent with necrosis in gills.

Future plan: Wait for 3 days for water to settle before continuation. Remove chlorine from water via sodium thiosulphate treatment. Watch for plant growth or death. Continue with fish introduction.

Pictures:

Dead fishes taken out of pond for floatability inspection



Shot 2



Measurements of Assorted Fish



Unknown Fish - 10.4 cm



Bala Shark - 9.4 cm



Cheap Koi - 12.5 cm



African Chicild - 4.2 cm



Dissection of Cheap Koi



Other gruesome pictures are not uploaded.

Vodka

If there's one thing you can trust - it's Belvedere Vodka.

Rated @ 40% Alcohol, it tastes more like 15% Alcohol. Good stuff indeed, you will never be drunk.



Belvedere Vodka - You will never get drunk

life almost flew away~

it's one of those times when u truly felt that your life was near the edge. I went to cycle in Bukit Timah Nature Reserve Moutain Bike Trail. My God, being my first trail , i had no idea it would be this difficult. Most of the upslopes are literally energy depleting. By the time I reached near the summit, I was feeling giddy and nausea due to the lack of oxygen. There were too many trees and it was 7pm. Darkness was coming in fast and i couldn't move. I felt like if I inched one more step i would faint. But it was good, my friends were there for me, so I rested and the reached the summit. It was beautiful. Well worth the climb. The down hill was exciting and many times I almost , almost went into the endless dark slopes. But I survived, downrocketing at neck breaking speeds. It was gerat.

161st Post

I realise its my 161st post... Can't cope with my studies (never thought I would actually be saying this) but yes, I can't. Not until I give up gaming and some additional activities then can I say i'm coping with my studies. 2 projects draw near and one of the projects is literally a solo work, since the other team members seem to be non-chalant about it. I can't afford to get any more Cs if I hope to get a research project for my 3rd year. But I cant help feeling that I'll get a C or 2 this semester. Still finding it very difficult to think nowadays, my head still feels like its in a mud pool, sometimes it gets a little painful. I'm not sure. Hopefully if I adapt a earlier sleeping time and having done (and doing) several changes to my lifestyle, the problem will go away.

Add two more pictures. All taken using IXUS 80 with CFW.




Family-side: Isnt getting any better. It's impossible to say at this moment what will become of it. Everyone is just too different. And they don't seem to understand we're all different and we must respect each other. Cohesion doesn't come from a common goal, rather, it comes from an understanding of our differences. Or maybe both.

Many of you could be more unfortunate than me. But fear not, hang on to your beliefs and face the new future that awaits you!

New Insights in Cancer

Why do people hate cancer? Why do people devise means and ways to suppress cancer? Has not Nature shown us that we're always evolving to be better? Why do we fight?

All to destroy Gods.

I believe that cancer is nature's way of making us becoming immortal. All past events have pointed to this. Do not expect me to draw statistical lies, useless graphs, diagrams. It is just it is. Cancer is the way to becoming immortal. Up till now, everyone has failed. Maybe someday, someone will. But if we keep trying to suppress it, we'll never become immortals.

And now I think I've something going on in my head. Could be a tumor. But lately, I havent been able to think properly, always in a blockade. Understanding things become very difficult, thinking became a muddy task. Maybe its my time... I dont know.

Problem Child

there is no satisfaction in doing things alone

Headache

Reminescence. I have forgotten how to spell not the word.

And this is one of the receipts dating back from May 2008 in Tokyo. Surprising that I still have it!


頭がおかしくなっちゃうは決めたんだよ、この後で。