Chinese Faked Photograph of Officials in Huili.

And just like that... China beats North Korea for the worst government photoshoped photo ever... =/... Read more on Guardian.co.uk

" The saga began on Monday when Huili's website published a picture showing, according to the accompanying story, three local officials inspecting a newly completed road construction project this month. The picture certainly portrayed the men, and the road, but the officials appeared to be levitating several inches above the tarmac. As photographic fakery goes it was astonishingly clumsy.

The outraged – or amused – calls began to the county's PR department, which immediately apologised and withdrew the image. The explanation was almost as curious as the picture itself: as other photos showed, the three men did visit the road in question, but an unnamed photographer decided his original pictures were not suitably impressive and decided to stitch two together.

"A government employee posted the edited picture out of error... The county government understands the wide attention, and hope to apologise for and clarify the matter," a Huili official told the state-run Xinhua news agency. "

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BBC2: How TV Ruined Your Life.

6-part series spanning 3 hours.. but great cynical humour in every bit.. love how they poke fun at programs and even go about doing mock documentaries or parodies to bring the message across =P

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The Body Machine.

Well some of the numbers are averages or rounded up.. so take it with a pinch of salt.. but gotta say the visual representation of the data is quite eye opening =3

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Most Shocking World Cup Moments.

A great laugh for soccer players and sideline watchers alike =3

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Origami Dollar Heart with Star for Coin.

For most Singaporean notes, it is perfectly aligned so that both halves actually almost meet at the centre, thus, you can skip that part =3... now if only we had more paper notes instead of the plasticky ones =/

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Female Armour.

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Body Parts Made of Bread.

Bringing fright night to a whole new level =O

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Pottermore Revealed: Harry Potter Online World.

So yes, finally we have the word on Pottermore... and in time for the hype building up for the last Harry Potter Movie: Deathly Hallows Part 2, due July 15th..

Pottermore will be released officially on October 1st, although fans can compete online to gain early access on July 31st... and yes it is an online world.. but not like that of WoW.. but rather that of a text-based adventure... for more, read it on Time's NewsFeed.

" Users start out at Privet Drive, where they can explore Harry's cupboard under the stairs (replete with scampering spiders) before moving on to Platform 9 ¾, the Hogwarts Express, Diagon Alley and Gringotts. Each new witch or wizard gets a personalized trunk (where they can store their chocolate frog cards), 175 galleons and a Hogwarts shopping list (don't forget your crystal phials!) Then they're directed to Ollivander's, where they are asked a series of questions (eye color? Favorite artifact?) in order that their wand can choose them.

With personalized wand in hand, users continue on to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry itself, where, wearing the sorting hat, they are sorted into a House via a unique series of character testing questions written by Rowling herself. Some test the super-ego: would you snitch on a fellow wizard pupil who used a cheating quill? Others probe the id: which do you choose, forests or rivers? (Those who are not placed in Gryffindor get access to special material from The Sorcerer's Stone as compensation.) Once ensconsed in a house common room, users can read the secret lore of Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, meet housemates, and earn housepoints through wizard duels and mixing potions to compete for the House Cup. "

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Engineer Guy: Fiber Optic Cables - How They Work.

With more Singaporeans opting for OpenNet, or Fiber Optics connects for internet access.. here's a video on the basics of how it all works =3

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Been watching Criminal Minds the past week and gotta say, while there are some nightmare-inducing scenes on the depraved nature of man... there are also some awww moments.. in an awkward manly way =3

Morgan: I hear you were worried about me.

Gideon: Excuse me?

Morgan: The bomb at the garage under the car. A young man that I greatly admire and respect is putting his life on the line.

[Gideon roll eyes and looks at Reid]

Reid: What? Did I do something? [feigning innocence]

Gideon: What you did with the bomb was stupid...

Morgan: [nods] Gideon, I couldn't leave that lady out there all by herself like that...

Gideon: I didn't say you were wrong... What he said I said, [pause] I said.

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Matthew Morrison: Still Got Tonight.

Been packing up my stuff, and giving away stuff that I won't be using.. *haha* its interesting how it seems to my friends that I'm preparing to not come back... well.. truthfully, I will.. and its mainly cause my parents are still around... yeah.. I guess if not.. than things might be very different...

well.. as time ticks down.. although nothing is still in stone.. I guess I'm just spending time doing all I might not be doing a year from now... I do hate this feeling that time is tight... would much prefer to take things at my own pace.. but I guess that's just life eh? =3

I'm not a glee fan or anything.. but gotta say.. this song really struck a chord and I've been listening to it while packing over the last few days ^^x



And here is the acoustic version that I totally adore too =P

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Vancourver Riot Kissing Couple: Scott and Alex.

Okay, so if you still didn't know what happened in Vancouver days back.. this pretty much sums it up =x

Source: 9GAG

quite a sad truth I must say.. but in the midst of the violence.. something beautiful was captured on film =3

Source: Vancouver Sun

and so overnight the photo became an internet sensation.. but if you're wondering who they are or why they did it.. here's the interview =3

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Antenatal Screening Kit.

If there is one thing I've learnt over the course of my education so far... is that often the solution is present.. but often not adopted due high cost and lack of simplicity.

That's what makes the Antenatal Screening Kit an elegant solution.. A $1 marker pen designed by Johns Hopkins students is filled with enough reagent to administer up to 400 prenatal disease tests.

" In the U.S., the most common way for doctors to screen expectant mothers for preeclampsia and related complications is with a 50-cent dipstick. But in developing countries, dipsticks are too expensive for widespread use. With their marker, Monagle and his colleagues created a prenatal test that’s simple enough to be used and interpreted by anyone and costs only a third of a cent per use.

That night in his lab, Monagle was testing for preeclampsia and related disorders. The condition causes 76,000 maternal and 500,000 infant deaths every year, yet it’s easily treatable if detected early. He drew a yellow line on a piece of filter paper with the pen and squeezed a drop of urine from one of the vials onto the paper. The test strip turned cobalt blue. Chemical reagents he had mixed in the marker’s “ink” (a liquid solution containing a buffer that the students formulated) had reacted with high levels of protein in the urine, a sure sign of preeclampsia. "

Source: PopSci

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High-Speed Robot Hand.

The applications of this is endless... high-speed assembly lines? surgery? or even mundane jobs.. and this is only with 3 fingers =O

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Pokemon Type: Wild

Bringing pokemon from a text based game to one for the arcade? I dig it =3

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DataBot Mouse.

An interesting concept to an everyday tool.

" DataBot Mouse is an experiment of giving data physical properties, to make
the communication/interaction between man and data more human and
easier to understand.

The mouse is able to communicate three different properties of data. It can
show you the weight of files and folders, by braking with different force,
according to the file-size.

Or you can set a custom weight for files, just like the color marking function
in MacOSX. So you can find important files more easily.

The third property, the mouse can show you, is the activity of files and
folders. By breathing with different intervals, it shows how much a file was
opened or how busy a folder has been recently.

You can switch between and adjust those features to make the mouse fit
your needs. "

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Nico Muhly: Can I Be Your Friend?

Came across this while looking for material for my script.. gotta say interesting observations =3

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T.S. Eliot: The Waste Land.

Stumbled across this great poem today... and am totally captivated by its beauty...

I will show you fear in a handful of dust

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PopSci: Master Bladesmith Bob Kramer

Ever wondered if a chef's knife could be as sharp as a samurai sword? Well, its a reality =O

" The knife he's wielding in the video is not one of the hand-forged beauties, but a mass-produced Kramer. Zwilling J.A. Henckels, one of the largest knifemaking companies in the world, has just put into production a line of Kramer-designed knives, which are made of the same high-carbon 52100 tool steel as the basic line of handmade ones. "

and in case you are wondering, yes, he is the master bladesmith who forges personalised Damascus blades for chefs worldwide.. and no.. it's not something you can order directly.. expressing interest in owning such a knife.. just puts you in a lottery... although, you can also fork out a hefty sum.. and obtain 1 through the auctions =P

and here's some to drool about =K

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Mobbed: Justin and Nikki Wedding Proposal.

Okay, so weeks back I blogged about Matt and Ginny's wedding proposal at the movies.. and Ben and Tora's wedding proposal with the help of Borderlands and Claptrap =3

well, now, the series "MOBBED" on FOX TV takes it to a whole new level with the season's premiere.





Don't you just a touch of feel-good TV =3 oh~ the poetic justice~

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Artifact Bag Co: No. 215 - Olive/Khaki Lunch Tote.

Really love these lunch totes =3 makes packing home meals all the more fun~!

Sold for USD$65.00 at Artifact Bag Co.

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Thousand Pounds: Naruto Shippude - Dreamers Fight

Supposedly out in November... a fan made film, running 20 minutes with a $4000 budget... gotta say, they really got me anticipating it =3

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Keira Rathbone Typewriter Art.

Amazing use of an uncommon tool to create art, view more on her FB page =3

Gotta say, I love the bell-jar lamp in this photo ^^x

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Jesse McGibney: Sniper

Love the melancholy mood of Jesse's artworks =3

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All stars Real Madrid 8-3 Bayern Munich Friendly.

Possibly the slowest goals and celebrations you'll ever seen... but dang.. these guys still have their stuff =3

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Alamo Drafthouse CInema PSA.

Gotta say, I really love the way the company enforced their rules and actually threw customers out.. GV or Shaw should really enforce such rules in Singapore..

As much as game-playing on smart-phones or smart-pads is annoying at gatherings... they are even more so annoying at the cinema =/... really sad how people will pay $10 or so for a ticket, just to "fit" in and end up playing on their gadgets.. showing how they could have better spent their quality time =S

" We do not tolerate people that talk or text in the theater. In fact, before every film, we have several warnings on screen to prevent such happenings. Occasionally, someone doesn't follow the rules, and we do, in fact, kick their asses out of our theater. This video is an actual voicemail from a woman that was kicked out of one of our Austin theaters. Thanks, anonymous woman, for being awesome. "

Seriously, if gatherings and physical interactions bore you that much... why bother coming out in the first place? You could have just joined us on MSN or FB, and you wouldn't even been missed.

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Japanese Blood Group Personalities.

While judging personalities by blood groups is merely based on observations, and largely generalized, much like horoscopes and all.. I find do that this experiment showed some interesting results.



In short:

A = Straight Forward, Direct
B = Optimistic, Indifferent under Stress
O = Stern, Unforgiving
AB = Unexpected, Chaotic

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The Burning House.

Personally, I find this website truly meaningful... its entire concept is summed up by the following phrase.. yet it is something that probably few of us have ever put thought into...

for me, I've previously considered leaving all behind.. and actually packed everything up.. most of my valuables are already in metal boxes to protect them from possible wear.. and those I will take with me, are almost always with me =3

people who know me often ask, why do you carry your passport around? Well, if you are ready to leave, you would too.

" If your house was burning, what would you take with you? It's a conflict between what's practical, valuable and sentimental. What you would take reflects your interests, background and priorities. Think of it as an interview condensed into one question. "

and as you'll see, everyone's idea of value is vastly different... do you really know what you can't leave behind?

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Wave At The Bus.

This really takes parenting commitments to a whole new level =P... hopefully the son will see in in a new light when he gets older =3



and you can view all the costumes on their dedicated blog ^^x

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Automated Parking System.

I don't own a car, neither can I drive.. but I've been the passenger of many a ride whereby we had to wait around for a parking lot, or search high and low for the last available lot.

Wonder when Singapore will start implementing such a system.



and honestly, its not something new in Europe or anything... it actually originated in Japan.. many years ago =3

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Chinese Boy Sells Kidney to Buy iPad 2

Are we really that materialistic these days? In the past, black markets and organ trades were confined to that of extreme poverty and need for survival... these days... its for "wants" rather than "needs"... =/

"... A 17-year-old student from China sold his kidney for 20,000 yuan (S$3,800) to buy a laptop and an iPad 2.
Zheng Xiao, who initially did not have the money to buy the gadgets, said in an interview with Shenzhen TV: "When I surfed the internet I found an advert posted online by (an) agent saying they are able to pay RMB20,000 to buy a kidney."

After negotiations, the boy travelled to the city of Chenzhou in Hunan Province where he met three men, who were supposedly part of an organ selling syndicate, at a hospital on 28 April to remove his kidney.

Three days after his surgery, coming home with a laptop and an iPad in hand, he confessed to his mother, who demanded to know how he had raised the money for his gadgets.... "

Read the rest of the article here.

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Linkin Park: Iridescent

and yes, finally the new MTV is out =3

The 4th single (and incidentally my favourite).. Iridescent, is also going to be used in Transformers 3: Dark of the moon... thus the appearance of movie footages in the MTV

First off... I thought I shared what the word "Iridescent" meant

adj: displaying a spectrum of colours that shimmer and change due to interference and scattering as the observer's position changes.

in short, its similar to the "rainbow" effect seen in oil slicks and bubbles, that changes colour as you shift in perspective.

personally, I feel that as a band, LP has really matured... indeed the video is shot in the style of "The Catalyst".. both grainy and black and white with low lighting..

but in this video, there is much more imagery, moving towards that of a Creed video.. which gives fans greater expectations in their next piece ^^x

Gotta say I love how they replicated "The Last Supper" scene with just half the number through clever use of lighting =3

Music-wise, it has been my favourite piece in the new album... it does take on the style of "Leave out all the rest"... though I find the lyrics much deeper this time around.

"... Do you feel cold and lost in desperation...
... you build up hope, but failure's all you've known...
... remember all the sadness and frustration...
... and let it go... "

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