YEAH!!!!

I've done it!!
We've done it!!!

WE MURDERED THE STUPID COCKROACH IN OUR ROOM!!!

I spotted it under my table and screamed... Nicole mabuk it by spraying insecticide on it... And Wee Leng smacked it senseless with her shoe!! And I disposed of it by sending it into a dustbin ceremoniously, with salutes and all!!

Hahahahaha!! That was so cool, after so any attempts at killing the stupid thing... Wee Leng spilled its guts once (don't know if it is the same one... I hope it is...) and we baited it with cockroach traps.. But the effort was futile...

Finally.... We won the battle against the filthy disgusting thing!! I hope there's no more..... Haha

7 Stories You Haven't Heard About Olympics

1. Perfect 10s All Around!

Scoring a perfect 10 is the dream of every Olympic gymnast. In 1924, 22 male gymnasts made this dream a reality in the same event. But this wasn’t due to some freak occurrence or heightened level of competition – the event was rope climbing, which has since been discontinued.

2. Basketball Gets Dragged Through the Mud

Basketball’s debut at the 1936 Olympics was nothing short of a disaster. Not only were the finals a low scoring affair (the United States snagged gold from Canada in a yawn-inducing 19-8 game), but the conditions were a mess. Part of the problem was Germany’s venue: the game was played outdoors. On a dirt court. In the pouring rain! Playing on mud made dribbling and bounce-passes impossible. Things weren’t much easier for the fans. A lack of seating forced all (approximately 1,000) spectators to stand and watch in the rain.

3. Paris takes Games to a New Low

As bad as Germany’s basketball planning was, the event barely holds a candle to the 1900 Paris Olympics, which were held in conjunction with the World’s Fair and spread out over five months. Take the marathon, for instance, which was rife with logistical nightmares. The event was run through the city’s active streets, complete with pedestrians and bicyclists. Worse still, several competitors got lost because the course was so poorly marked. Of course, the long race was just one of the many memorable events, including several that would never be seen again. The 1900 Olympics were the only Games to feature such time-wasters as pigeon shooting and swimming through an obstacle course – which included swimming under boats.

4. John Boland wins an Audience Participation Award

The first modern Olympic Games were held in 1896 and yielded perhaps the most unlikely champion in Olympic history. A student at Oxford, John Boland traveled to Greece as a spectator to take in the excitement. But a friend on the Olympic Committee had signed him up for the tennis competition. Despite a lack of proper attire, the plucky Boland decided to go ahead and play (in his dress shoes, no less) and actually won.

5. Golfer Brings Home Gold (without ever knowing it?!)

Margaret Ives Abbott was the first American woman to win a gold medal. Unfortunately, she lived her entire life without ever knowing what she had accomplished. Since the aforementioned 1900 Paris events were spread out informally over several months, de-emphasizing their Olympic status, she simply thought she had won a nine-hole golf tournament in Paris.

6. The Only Case where “Slow and Steady” Actually Worked

The 1904 Olympic Marathon in St. Louis was perhaps the most brutal event in Olympic history. On a sweltering hot summer day, marathon runners took off on an unpaved dusty course, following pace cars and inhaling exhaust. Many runners had to withdraw to receive medical attention, and even the winner, American Thomas Hicks, needed repeated medical care both during and after the race. And by “medical care,” we mean strychnine and brandy. Of course, our favorite tale from the Games is that of Felix Carvajal, a Cuban who took “The Tortoise” approach to running the race. Despite stopping to chat with spectators and breaking to pick and eat fruit from an orchard (which made him sick), Carvajal still managed to finish in fourth place.

7. And just a word on the Games’ (harsh) origins

The ancient Olympic Games served as the basis for our modern Olympics, and fortunately the whole “competing in the nude” thing wasn’t the only custom left to history. Athletes that arrived late to compete were fined, with the only acceptable excuses being shipwreck, weather or pirates. Athletes that were caught cheating were also fined, but were allowed to keep their winnings. But married women caught watching the Games got it the worst: they were executed. Of course, that probably had something to do with the whole competing in the nude thing.

And let’s not forget three of our favorite Olympic athletes. Swede Oscar Swahn won a silver medal in a deer-shooting event at the 1920 Olympics at the age of 72! In 1904, American gymnast George Eyser won six medals (three gold) despite having a wooden left leg, which is even more amazing. But Hungarian pistol shooter Karoly Takacs taught himself how to shoot left-handed after his right (shooting) hand was shattered by a grenade, and then went on to win the rapid-fire shooting event at the 1948 Olympics. He gets our gold.

Article from mental_floss, by Justin Feinstein

The Difference Between Pyramid and Ziggurat

The Pyramid of Giza

The Ziggurat

The Dilemma: You’re a god-king and you’d like to get a little closer to your fellow deities. So should your 20,000 slaves build you a pyramid or a ziggurat?

People You Can Impress: archaeologists, Egyptologists, the gods

The Quick Trick: South America and Egypt built pyramids. Mesopotamia built ziggurats, which look like South American pyramids with ramps.

The Explanation:
We’ll start with the most famous, the Egyptian pyramids. Today it’s generally believed these towering structures were tombs. What has been found inside, however, is precisely executed layouts. For example, inside each pyramid a narrow shaft extends from the innermost chamber to the outside, aligned exactly with the polestar. Thus archaeologists have argued that the pyramids were thought to be a vessel or machine to get the pharaohs to the heavens.

The pyramids are spooky for many reasons. The stones are laid so exactly that you can’t even fit a knife blade between them. They’re almost perfectly square, and aligned to the points of the compass with uncanny accuracy. And while there are pyramids at several spots in Egypt, the best known are at the Giza “Necropolis” (City of the Dead). Of course, the jewel of these structures is the Great Pyramid of Khufu, a pharaoh of the fourth dynasty who you may also know by his Greek name, Cheops. In fact, until the 14th century, the Great Pyramid was the world’s tallest building.

A debate has long raged about how the darn things got built. The current leading theory is that a ramp spiraled up from the quarry and around the rising structure. The ton-and-a-half stone blocks were moved on wooden sleds most likely lubricated by water or, as some have suggested, milk. As impressive as the pyramids are today, picture them in their original form, covered with gleaming white blocks of smoothed limestone.

The pyramids of South America, no less impressive, have a stair-stepped design that reflects their different purpose. These structures were temples to the gods, and each was fronted by a massive staircase and topped with a temple. In the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán (now Mexico City), for example, there was a huge pyramid called Templo Mayor where at one ritual in 1487, 20,000 people were supposedly sacrificed.

Egypt and South America don’t have a monopoly on pyramids, however. There are 16 of them in Greece, some even older than those at Giza. China has ’em, too, as does Sudan.

Ziggurats are a lot like the South American pyramids, with their stair-stepped shape and temple tops. But ziggurats were not places of worship; to the Sumerians, Assyrians, and Babylonians that built them, they were the gods’ actual homes. In fact, only priests could enter. And while South American pyramids have long staircases, ziggurats have ramps and steps. Many ziggurats also had seven tiers, representing the seven known planets or the seven heavens. For the most part, the ziggurats that still exist can be found mainly in Iran and Iraq.

Article from Mental_Floss

Walking

When I opened my eyes
And looked into my mother's eyes
I started a journey
A journey called life

When I walked my first step
And utteredmy first word
I started a journey
A journey called adventure

When I learnt to write my name
And count my fingers and toes
I started a journey
A journey called learning

When I laughed over medals and cups
And cried over badly done test
I started a journey
A journey called discovery

When I stepped foot into uni
And stand on my very own
I started a journey
A journey called responsibility

When I thought of my life
Thinking that the road is winding
I knew I would not be alone
Cause family and friends will be walking with me

Disturbia

Disturbia, the movie that allegedly propelled Shai LeBeouf into limelight. Directed by DJ Caruso (the guy who did Eagle Eye) and starring Shia LeBeouf, the movie opens with the happy family of Kale, that was until that killed his dad. 1 year later, Kale was still in his bitter self and punched his Spanish teacher. He got house arrest for 3 months and he did something real "constructive". He build a Twinkle Tower and of course, spied on all his neighbours. That was until he discovered that his neighbour was actually a serial killer. Suspense, endless Mission Stupid, and of course a few frights here and there... Boom, before you know it, the killer was arrested and Kale was kissing his new girlfriend.

Spying on neighbours...

The movie wasn't really that interesting. In fact. there were parts where I wish I can fast forward. Plus, I cannot imagine Carrie Anne Moss who played Kale's mum in any other role than Lady Trinity!! And why David Morse had to be the bad guy every time? And why must they gave him such ugly hairstyle?

David Morse played the killer with an ugly haristyle

Anyway, Shia's performance was believable. His friend played by Aaron Yoo was comical.

And that scene where he explored the Torture Room, it was like a scene lifted from Criminal Minds!! And this movie sort of remind me the Austria Monster. That guy was killing in the neighbourhood and hiding bodies in his basement. How come no one in the neighbourhood noticed? And what is it with that stupid prejudiced officer?

Can't help but noticed that she looked like Kate Hudson

In a nutshell, the movie is good for entertainment. The plot ended to abruptly. Not really a suspense thriller that I expected.

I Am Legend

After the very wonderful Deepavali feast by Kumutha, me and a few friends marathon 2 movies!! The first one was I Am Legend, starring Will Smith, a dog named Sam, and a few ugly looking mutated human (or are they still counted as human?)


The movie opened with an interview announcing a cure for cancer. Unknowingly, they set a deadly mutating virus airborne. Human mutated into flesh eating, suicidal zombies. After 3 years, the only survival in New York was Robert Neville (Will Smith) and his dog, Sam. After an incident, Sam died, Neville became suicidal but was rescued by another survival named Anna. After another series of events, Neville gave Anna the cure he discovered and bombed himself into pieces with those ugly looking creatures.

Hoping to find a cure

Actually the story is quite simple. The plot was quite predictable. I don't know why I didn't yawn through the movie. Maybe because it was Will Smith instead of some other unknown actors (if it was Cillian Murphy, I'm sure I won't last half an hour into the movie) And partly because of beloved YY who increased the suspense level in the movie. But I do wonder, can a human really last three years alone, without outside contact? Like, where did the water and electricity came from? And where did he find fuel to run that fast car of his? Or do New York has enough food for him to raid everyday? Plus, based on the rate he was shooting, does he ever run out of bullets? But since it is a movie with Will Smith in it, screw logic!!

Can you be this cool when a flesh eating monster is inches away from your face?

Overall, it is an enjoyable movie with a pretty predictable ending. Not scary at all. Better than 28 days later, or 28 days later, and maybe 28 months later, if Hollywood decided to make it a trilogy...

S.M.I.L.E

Lately, I've been infected with the Connie Talbot disease... And my personal favourite so far is Smile. The song was originally sang by the legendary Nat King Cole. I find the lyrics very meaningful and true.

Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though its breaking
When there are clouds in the sky, youll get by
If you smile through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
Youll see the sun come shining through for you

Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear may be ever so near
Thats the time you must keep on trying
Smile, whats the use of crying?
Youll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile

Thats the time you must keep on trying
Smile, whats the use of crying?
Youll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile