Nokia N95

... a beautiful phone, 5MP camera + GPS, actually surprisingly smaller than my Nokia 6630. Only issue I can see at the moment is that this little baby is RM 3600 (about $1300 AUS), so i guess I'll be waiting for a bit.

Nokia N95

Going green on a slow boat to the world

AS THE debate heats up about how to combat the environmental damage from a booming aviation market, some travellers are turning to a slower, greener way of seeing the world.

It has never been easier or cheaper to fly overseas, but the greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft are almost three times as damaging to the atmosphere as emissions generated by land and sea transport.

A young Sydneysider, Angela Baker, is one of a small but growing number of travellers eschewing the lure of discount air tickets.

"I felt an urgency about exploring the world before climate change damaged it," said Ms Baker, who was working for a non-government environment organisation before she left Sydney in January bound for Wales. "My mission is to travel as much as I can around the world without flying."

But in her quest to keep travel-related greenhouse gas pollution to a minimum, she also found that catching a slow boat to China - or, in her case, a cargo ship to Singapore - can be just as rewarding when arriving in a foreign land.


"The romance of sailing into a port cannot be beaten. It can be exciting to see a city for the first time from the air, but the first sight of land [from a ship] is fabulous," she said, talking to the Herald from South-East Asia. "You hear people say it is not about the destination, it is about the journey, and that is exactly right."

But a commitment to the environment takes time and money. Ms Baker's 12-day journey from Melbourne to Singapore on the cargo ship MV Baltrum Trader cost $1800, including meals.

From Singapore she went by train, bus and boat through Malaysia to Thailand and then into Laos. She hopes to reach Wales by November.

With a budget of $10,000 for 10 months, Baker has to plan her journey carefully. "It is hard to make ethical decisions all the time because of the time and money involved," she said.

Conscientious objectors to air travel started appearing in Britain 18 months ago. Among them was the founder of the Rough Guide travel books, Mark Ellingham, who pledged to limit his trips by plane, take his summer holiday in Britain and include a section on aviation's environmental damage in his guide books.

British travellers know they can cross the Channel and explore the Continent relatively easily and cheaply by train. But even for Australians there is a niche market in long-distance, low-key seafaring.

A travel adviser at Freighter Travel, Julie Richards, has been taking tourist bookings for berths on cargo ships for 20 years. There are usually only a couple of berths available on any voyage. The vessels are working ships without lifts, discos and the variety of entertainment cruise ships offer.

The most popular trip is a five-week journey to England via the Suez Canal. "People who enjoy the sea life, who don't need entertaining and don't want to be around 2000 other passengers, take these trips," she said.

via smh

Malaysia in the Uncyclopedia

I'm sorry, I had to laugh: the entry for Malaysia in the Uncyclopedia
Malaysia in the Uncyclopedia

Sugar fuel cell for mobile devices

Saint Louis University engineers have developed a fuel cell battery that can run on flat soda, maple syrup, or any other sugar source. Enzymes in the device convert sugar into electricity with water as the by-product. Researcher Shelley Minteer's prototype is the size of a postage stamp and powers a hand-held calculator. Apparently, the materials in the device are biodegradable. From Saint Louis University Media Relations:

Using sugar for fuel is not a new concept: Sugar in the form of glucose supplies the energy needs of all living things. While nature has figured out how to harness this energy efficiently, scientists only recently have learned how to unleash the energy-dense power of sugar to produce electricity, Minteer said...

The military is interested in using the sugar battery to charge portable electronic equipment on the battlefield and in emergency situations where access to electricity is limited. These devices include remote sensors for detecting biological and chemical weapons. Devices could be instantly recharged by adding virtually any convenient sugar source, including plant sap, Minteer said.

more here

Strange Behaviour

Students behaved strangely

SHAH ALAM: "Where’s my child? Who are you? Let me go, I want to go back!"

These were among the chilling words uttered by students hit by mass hysteria at SMK Seksyen 11 here on Tuesday.

Some of the students were said to have behaved in an eerie manner before they screamed and fainted.

K. Mohd Firdaus Mohd Shahid, 16, said several minutes before the incident, some of the students had become quiet, looked angry and stared coldly at other students.

"Suddenly, they started screaming and shouted those words. There were also other words which I could not understand."

He said the situation became worse when more students became hysterical.

"It kind of spread from one person to another," he said at his home yesterday.

The incident happened just before the school assembly.

Firdaus’s sister Nurzuriati, 15, was one of those affected by the hysteria.

She said she did not recall much as it had happened very fast.

"I only remember that some of my friends were behaving weirdly. I did not pay attention to them at first, but then they started screaming.

"Teachers were overwhelmed trying to control the situation and students helped to bring some of those who had fainted to the office.

"I don’t remember anything after that as I, too, fainted. When I woke up, I was in the office with the other students."

Their mother, Bariah Abdul Majid, said she knew about last Friday’s hysteria attack and claimed that the school did not take action to prevent a recurrence.
She claimed that more than 100 boys and girls at the school became hysterical.

from New Straits Times
earlier...

Students behaved strangely