Melaka Indoor Swimming Pool

This is the new "heaven" I discovered in Melaka. Too bad I am only here for 2 months. =(

Finally.....FINALLY, Melaka has its SUKMA indoor swimming pool open for public!! It is a swimming complex with 2 pools: 1 Olympic-sized pool (25m X 50m) with 11 lanes and 1 diving pool which are 18 feet deep. Here you often find the state's polo team do their routine training. The complex is part of Stadium Hang Jebat, located in Krubong adjacent to the federal highway.This something new to me; indoor means independence of weather to go for a swim, be it hot sun or lightning storms. =D

Thing you might need to take notes:

The pool closes every Monday, rm3 per entrance, 9am-12pm, 2pm-4pm and 6pm-8pm. The water is not clear at the moment and its is very cold, since it is indoor. =D The only bad thing about this pool is that it would be off when there are competitions or training sessions going on. =\ Therefore it is vital to make a phone call to the POCs if you are not sure of it.

Somehow I still prefer the MPMB swimming pool, certain aspects. Because it has clear, warm water with a 12 feet deep-end for swimming and diving. And most of my swimming party are always there. =)

Into The 3D Realm

Well, have you ever wondered how Nemo is being animated, or Alex in Madagascar been created? 3D graphics had become very common and is dominating the digital world, in every aspect including film industry, engineering, gaming industry and much much more. Well for those who are interested in computer graphics, and would like to know more about the arts of 3D graphics, below are some pieces of information:

Well, Lets take an example, the table lamp which I'd created using LightWave 3D version 9:

Well, it looks real right? Exactly looks like a photo isn't it? Of coz la...it is just a photo of my table lamp! >.<

How about this? It takes me 2 days!

Creation of a 3D Graphics
All 3D graphics of an object is created via 3 fundamentals processes:
-Modeling
-Texturing
-Rendering

Modeling
3D object is made up of points, which is connected to form polygons. Groups of interconnected polygons then form the surfaces of the object. Digital 3D object is often regarded as model, and the work of creating it is known as modeling. Very complex modeling requires acquired skills which takes a long time to master.

Texturing
When a model is done, it is plain and has no texture on its surface. Therefore textures are applied through a technique known as UV mapping. Normally texture is created using other 2D software such as Adobe Photoshop.

Rendering
This is the most important process among all the others. Rendering in 3D means the process of aa (anti aliasing) and simulating the applied attribute of an object such as reflectiveness, specularity, transparency and so on into your 3D scene. Normaly a 3D scene or setup consist of 3D models, particles and light. The computer will try to simulate how the lights would be bent, reflected and bounces off surfaces thourgh ray tracing. Hence the object looks photo realistic. The output of rendering would be normally be an image or animation. A single-framed high resolution image would takes up to hours to render! And animations such as Finding Nemo consisted of millions of such frame and the rendering is done by super computers.
Notes: anti-aliased means to produce images with smooth edges without pixelated out.


Some screen shot of LightWave 3D Modeler:


Bad Badtz-Maru!
The name of this cute cartoon character which decorates my table lamp. It takes me 1 hours to model it, and another hour to texture and detailed its surfaces. Normally organic objects are harder to be created and even impossible to replicate the real object by 100%!

The initial work. An output of modeling- a complete sub-patched model. Looks like Clay!

wire-framed

Textured surfaces

Rendered. Surfaces shine with reflections.

The real Bad Badtz-Maru!!!

Can you notice the difference? The surface of the rendered lamp looks realistic, and consists of tiny bumps resembles the surface of a plastic (cant be seen).

The images below takes me only a few minutes to model out the geometrical objects but roughly 2 and a half hours to render!

Marbles and Cubes. Emphasized on lighting and surfacing. Highly anti-aliased.

My first production: The Golden Jar and Glass Rings.
Emphasized on Reflection and refraction of light.
Note: Original image is of high resolution.
Software: LightWave 3d, Photoshop.

Anyway, Happy Chinese New Year!!!!
Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Back to Melaka - Quarantined?

Stay at least 5 meters away from me!!

Measles are highly contagious and the virus spread in the air via the contaminated aerosol droplets produced by sneezing and coughing patients. In some cases that I read in BBC news, the disease remains contagious still within 4 meters from the patient. That's why I am home now. (The picture don't portray my actual situation which is very mild)

It started like this - on the 23 of July, my symptoms begin as a mild fever. I felt very cold in the lecture hall, and a bit of dizziness and sore throat. Sooner, my friends said that my face looked as red as an apple. My eyes looked red as well, like "pontianak". We thought that this was a normal fever, and the Chinese usually used to said "overheated". So I went to see the doctor in UTP after my lecture sessions. Yet, the early symptoms were too insufficient to give a clue that the doctor assumed my condition as a normal throat infection. We didn't think of measles at all, and I had never been concerned about it. Taking it likely as normal sore throat, still I hang out with friends to have our dinner at V4.

On the very next morning, my roommate Han Shen who had taken care of me for the whole night said that my face remained red and my temperature remains high even he kept putting a wet clothes on my forehead. Then I knew something MUST be wrong. When I was changing my shirt, to my surprise, I noticed thousands of red spots in my chest! And a lil of them on both of my arms. Worse came to worst, I had a bad flu and nasal infections. The symptoms were fully manifested. I knew it was measles, so I rush to the clinic again and this time the doctor had confirmed it. Then I recalled my brother's case around 10 days ago before I came to UTP. He got measles too, and probably I picked up the same virus from him. After the incubation period of 10 days, the disease finally shown up in me. I was given an MC for about a week to rest at home. I managed to get Gabriel, my kind senior's help to send me to the bus terminal.

Potential Epidermic?

I reached home when twilight fell. Then I online to read more about measles. Only I did realize that measles is highly contagious and in some cases, fatalities! (1 out of 1000) However the good news is, in Malaysia standard of living is moderately high so there is no reason to be worry. Moreover we were all vaccinated against the really dangerous strain of measles virus. (FYI, there is many strains of the virus, not all are deadly) Anyway deep in my heart I am praying that none in UTP would pick up the disease. Otherwise, UTP might come to a standstill, just like
the Japanese Measles Epidemic and imagine this - I am the culprit that all the fingers would point!!! The result would be shown in 10 more days...

Lets Know More!









Measles is a very infectious viral disease spread by droplets of saliva.It is a serious condition that used to carry a high mortality rate, mainly the under threes. Measles is caused by the Morbillivirus.

Symptoms
-incubation period of 9-14 days
-fever
-conjunctivitis
-Koplik's spots in the mouth which resembles grains of salt
-runny nose
-cough
-rashes that spread throughout the body starting from the head
-rashes may join to form blotches
-painful joints
-rashes may itch

Complications
Measles is a serious disease. It may lead to vision impair or blindness as a result from eye ulceration. Up to certain extends it could be fatal. However rate of fatality can be relatively rare with a proper treatment. The commonest cause of death is pneumonia. The most serious complication it could bring is encephalitis or brain infection. 1 in 1000 patients with measles will develop this problem, 10-15% of those who do will die, and about another 25% will be left with permanent brain damage, which would result in coma, convulsions, paralysis and are intellectually impaired.

Treatment
Since it is a viral disease, there is no cure for it so far. However treatments are aim to relieve the symptoms and complications. Sufficient rest is vital for your body to fight against the virus. Take a lot of water to prevent dehydration from fever. Supportive measures such as Caramine lotion and paracetamol will ease the discomforts. In cases of bacterial infection such as pneumonia, antibiotics are prescribed.

Prevention
The only way of prevention is through immunization. An MMR injection (measles mumps rubella) , could easily render us invulnerable to the disease. Usually the injection is given to a 15 months old baby.

Reference:
-Encyclopedia of First Aid and Family Heath
-Wikipedia
-Free Medicine Dictionary

Don't Buy Petronas???

Recently I received some circulating e-mails in the internet which ask us to boycott Petronas retail outlets. I concluded this as irrational as Petronas got nothing to do with the recent price hike. It is apart from our government policy and the petrol price is up to the decision of our government. The e-mail contents are shown as below:

It's different and successful approach….' Don't' buy PETRONAS'
Just DO it!!!!

LET'S JUST DO IT ! ! !THIS IS NOT THE 'DON'T BUY' PETROL FOR ONE DAY, BUT IT WILL SHOW YOU HOW WE CAN GET PETROL BACK DOWN TO RM1.92 PER Litre....
This was originally sent by Phillip Hollsworth, a retired Coca Cola executive.



If you are tired of the gas prices going up AND they will continue to rise this winter, take time to read this, PLEASE.

Phillip offered this good idea.

This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the 'don't buy petrol on a certain day' campaign that was going around last April or May!

It is worth your consideration. Join the resistance!!!!

We are going to hit RM 2.70 a litre and it might go higher!! Want petrol prices to come down?

We need to take some intelligent, united action. The oil companies just laughed at last year's action because they knew we would not continue to 'hurt' ourselves by refusing to buy petrol. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work.
Please read on and join with us!

By now, you're probably thinking petrol priced at about $1.50 is cheap.
It is currently RM2.70 for regular unleaded.

Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a liter of gas is CHEAP at $1.50, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace...not sellers.

With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action.

The only way we are going to see the price of petrol come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their petrol! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves.

How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying petrol.

But we CAN have an impact on petrol prices if we all act together to force a price war.

Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY petrol from Petronas
the biggest price-up driver company.

If they are not selling any petrol, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.

But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Petronas petrol buyers. It's SO simple!
Now, don't wimp out on me at this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions and even BILLIONS of people!!

I am sending this note to 20 people.
If each of you sends it on to at least twenty more that's (20 x 20 = 400) ..
And those 400 send it to at least twenty more (400 x 20 = 8000 .... and so on,
by the time the message reaches the fifth group of people, we will have reached over SIXTY FOUR MILLION consumers!!!!!
20x20 = 400
400x20 = 8,000
8,000x20 = 160,000
160,000x20 = 3,200,000
3,200,000x20 = 64,000,000
64,000,000x20 = 12,800,000,000
That's 12.80 Billion people folks, who will have been contacted!!!!!

Unbelievable?? Do the math and see for yourself!
Again, all you have to do is send this to 20 people. That's all!
I'll bet you didn't think we had that much potential, did you!
Acting together we can make a difference..

If this message makes sense to you, then please pass it on.
THEY will LOWER THEIR PRICES TO BELOW THE RM1.92 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN.
THIS CAN REALLY WORK.

It's simple – send the message along to others and choose to not buy petrol from Petronas.
TWENTY FIVE POINT SIX BILLION people:

Now THAT's people power.

LET'S
JUST DO IT ! ! !
More power to you friend.

The retail price of petrol in our country is actually fixed by our government through APM (Automatic pricing mechanism) where the retail price of petroleum products is determined by the price of crude, refinery cost, marketing costs, government taxes and commissions for petrol station owners. By varying the amount of taxes levied on the petroleum products its price becomes fixed at the retail level. As long the price of crude fluctuates within a certain reasonable range, the AMP works. But the price of crude oil continue to rise and escalate, therefore APM no longer holds. Our government not only had to totally forgo the taxes but to introduce subsidies to petroleum products to fix its outlet price.

-adopted from The Star

Therefore Petronas ought not be blamed. Is it fair to boycott Petronas alone but not other oil companies like Shell and Mobil since they sell their petrol at the same price with Petronas?