Kenny's Cafe Corner
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Sushi Eating HOWTO
Malaysians are now Japanese food crazed. I've always loved sushi...I used to go sushi restaurant hunting with my friend Robert Tan....and we visited every sushi restaurant we could find in Toronto and Hamilton cities (in Ontario, Canada). The best ones are usually non-franchised and tucked secretly away in hard to find parts of the cities.
This page is extremely useful (for the sushi connoisseur) and now I know what the 'sifu'/chef is called...an 'itamae'.
Malaysians are now Japanese food crazed. I've always loved sushi...I used to go sushi restaurant hunting with my friend Robert Tan....and we visited every sushi restaurant we could find in Toronto and Hamilton cities (in Ontario, Canada). The best ones are usually non-franchised and tucked secretly away in hard to find parts of the cities.
This page is extremely useful (for the sushi connoisseur) and now I know what the 'sifu'/chef is called...an 'itamae'.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Test for Colorblindness On-line
I know of several people who are color blind.
I know of several people who are color blind.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
My Read List Circa January 2006
Oh no! I've gone and bought myself another book! Darn it, why do I always enter that Midvalley Megamall MPH store and come out with a book in my bag?!
Who am I kidding? I'm an incorrigible bookworm.
Maybe it's my way of blowing off some steam after work or maybe my brain's being controlled by some parasitic Toxoplasma (a brain eating worm).
So this time I got myself a book called Sophie's World. It's subtitled A Novel About the History of Philosophy but I think it's more of an introduction to philosophy in thin disguise. Which is fine by me since I have an interest in the subject anyway.
It's also priced cheaper than the average book...about RM10 cheaper. This lower price got me thinking why a supposedly 'New York Times Bestseller' is considered less 'popular' than some of the trashy novels on display there.
It might be obvious to you by now that the subject of philosophy is not exactly of interest to the average man on the street or layman, meaning approximately 90% of this country's population knows squat about philosophy, eastern, western or otherwise. They probably consider philosophy an unimportant subject that does not influence their own selfish pissant life.
Which is sad, really. I believe that most of the troubles in this world are caused by ignorance and the sheer dumb refusal to THINK properly. Not enough people think rationally.
A look at the top ten list of local bookstores reveal an overwhelming preponderance of rubbish such as Feng Shui, numerology, get-rich-quick, how-to-sell-lie-manipulate-sin-more books. Such an embarassing trend for a society claiming to be more sophisticated, modern and 'towering' (as in 'Towering Malaysians').
The pushing aside of whatever true modern progress seems to me to be a sort of intellectual 'sour grape'.
They would say,
"Such things are boring...or don't interest me. Philosophy, ethics and science are not important...(to me)...Oh! Look at who Tom Cruise is dating now...or look at that brand new (soon to be outdated/outmoded) handphone/BMW/Gucci bag! Coo! Fawn! Faint!"
Anything that influences the improvement and continual survival of humanity spiritually and temporally is important. Hmmm...do we really deserve to survive?
What they are really saying is, "I'm too dim to comprehend, too lazy to try and too irresponsible to care!"
Nobody likes to be reminded of how stupid they really are. And nobody likes seeing their ugly reflection.
Okay, I'll stop ranting now and show you the way to a very cool list of books. I stumbled upon this blog by this really cool chick and as I was running through her list of books I discovered that it almost tallies everything in my mental list of books I intend to buy!
We share the same heroes and interests so I'll just save myself a little bit of list-making work and just link to her list. (I hope she's okay with this).
So many good books...so little time!
PS. I just completed re-reading three short stories by H.G. Wells. Country of the Blind is a really good read. Here's a tip, speed through the first part of the story because the latter half is really a juicy read indeed. Thought provoking stories are my favorite.
Oh no! I've gone and bought myself another book! Darn it, why do I always enter that Midvalley Megamall MPH store and come out with a book in my bag?!
Who am I kidding? I'm an incorrigible bookworm.
Maybe it's my way of blowing off some steam after work or maybe my brain's being controlled by some parasitic Toxoplasma (a brain eating worm).
So this time I got myself a book called Sophie's World. It's subtitled A Novel About the History of Philosophy but I think it's more of an introduction to philosophy in thin disguise. Which is fine by me since I have an interest in the subject anyway.
It's also priced cheaper than the average book...about RM10 cheaper. This lower price got me thinking why a supposedly 'New York Times Bestseller' is considered less 'popular' than some of the trashy novels on display there.
It might be obvious to you by now that the subject of philosophy is not exactly of interest to the average man on the street or layman, meaning approximately 90% of this country's population knows squat about philosophy, eastern, western or otherwise. They probably consider philosophy an unimportant subject that does not influence their own selfish pissant life.
Which is sad, really. I believe that most of the troubles in this world are caused by ignorance and the sheer dumb refusal to THINK properly. Not enough people think rationally.
A look at the top ten list of local bookstores reveal an overwhelming preponderance of rubbish such as Feng Shui, numerology, get-rich-quick, how-to-sell-lie-manipulate-sin-more books. Such an embarassing trend for a society claiming to be more sophisticated, modern and 'towering' (as in 'Towering Malaysians').
The pushing aside of whatever true modern progress seems to me to be a sort of intellectual 'sour grape'.
They would say,
"Such things are boring...or don't interest me. Philosophy, ethics and science are not important...(to me)...Oh! Look at who Tom Cruise is dating now...or look at that brand new (soon to be outdated/outmoded) handphone/BMW/Gucci bag! Coo! Fawn! Faint!"
Anything that influences the improvement and continual survival of humanity spiritually and temporally is important. Hmmm...do we really deserve to survive?
What they are really saying is, "I'm too dim to comprehend, too lazy to try and too irresponsible to care!"
Nobody likes to be reminded of how stupid they really are. And nobody likes seeing their ugly reflection.
Okay, I'll stop ranting now and show you the way to a very cool list of books. I stumbled upon this blog by this really cool chick and as I was running through her list of books I discovered that it almost tallies everything in my mental list of books I intend to buy!
We share the same heroes and interests so I'll just save myself a little bit of list-making work and just link to her list. (I hope she's okay with this).
So many good books...so little time!
PS. I just completed re-reading three short stories by H.G. Wells. Country of the Blind is a really good read. Here's a tip, speed through the first part of the story because the latter half is really a juicy read indeed. Thought provoking stories are my favorite.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Farewell for (ex-) Colleague Pics
Last Friday we threw a farewell dinner get together for two of our colleagues leaving the company. I'm in some of the photos so if you already know me, you know which ones are the embarassing ones!
Last Friday we threw a farewell dinner get together for two of our colleagues leaving the company. I'm in some of the photos so if you already know me, you know which ones are the embarassing ones!
Friday, January 20, 2006
Women Drivers
I hate traffic jams...so does everyone else but today I hate it vehemently. Maybe it's because I came out extra late today but the traffic was extra heavy along my route to work this morning.
So there I was trying to sing a song on radio when BAM! My car got rear-ended! We were already in a bottle-neck and cars were crawling along so I just drove to a nearby gas station to look at the damage done. The driver behind was a girl with a nose ring, so I'm sorry to say that this incident just reinforces the stereotype of women drivers. Sheesh!
My cars rear-bumper was scratched and dented it at several places while the PVC strip was all cracked. Her car however, was in a worse condition: headlights all smashed and the hood bent upwards she had to press it down again.
I didn't demand any payment or scolded her or anything. Just reprimanded her not to daydream while driving. God knows I was too nice but somehow I couldn't muster up any anger...I was more peeved and annoyed.
So folks, don't daydream while stuck in a traffic jam...If you're driving alone, munch on a candy or sing aloud or something...And ladies, if you're driving a manual transmission car, for goodness sake don't stay so close to the car in front of you!! In an emergency, the BRAKE PEDAL should be your default action...NOT THE GAS PEDAL!!
I hate traffic jams...so does everyone else but today I hate it vehemently. Maybe it's because I came out extra late today but the traffic was extra heavy along my route to work this morning.
So there I was trying to sing a song on radio when BAM! My car got rear-ended! We were already in a bottle-neck and cars were crawling along so I just drove to a nearby gas station to look at the damage done. The driver behind was a girl with a nose ring, so I'm sorry to say that this incident just reinforces the stereotype of women drivers. Sheesh!
My cars rear-bumper was scratched and dented it at several places while the PVC strip was all cracked. Her car however, was in a worse condition: headlights all smashed and the hood bent upwards she had to press it down again.
I didn't demand any payment or scolded her or anything. Just reprimanded her not to daydream while driving. God knows I was too nice but somehow I couldn't muster up any anger...I was more peeved and annoyed.
So folks, don't daydream while stuck in a traffic jam...If you're driving alone, munch on a candy or sing aloud or something...And ladies, if you're driving a manual transmission car, for goodness sake don't stay so close to the car in front of you!! In an emergency, the BRAKE PEDAL should be your default action...NOT THE GAS PEDAL!!
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Free printable staff paper @ Blank Sheet Music .net
Need to print out blank manuscripts for music? Here's a nifty Flash-enabled website for you to design your own sheets and print them out yourself.
Need to print out blank manuscripts for music? Here's a nifty Flash-enabled website for you to design your own sheets and print them out yourself.
Super Mario Bros sheet music
Print out this sheet music... Now you can play all the tunes you know and love from your favorite Nintendo game!
Print out this sheet music... Now you can play all the tunes you know and love from your favorite Nintendo game!
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
IT Student Project: Cyber Sperm Banking
I was Googling for some info on a friend's college and found this project summary on her college's website.
FYI: As a final year project, IT students have to develop and document a software system on their own. This is a description of one of those projects...I wonder how this guy got it approved!!
I was Googling for some info on a friend's college and found this project summary on her college's website.
FYI: As a final year project, IT students have to develop and document a software system on their own. This is a description of one of those projects...I wonder how this guy got it approved!!
Download Storm Codec 5.12RC3 - As a addon & enhance of Windows Media Player, Storm Codec provide a solution to most popular media files, streams and VCD... - Softpedia
Okay so if any of you guys out there downloaded loads of (illegal) video from the Net...be it TV series, movies, porn etc...but can't seem to be able to play the file...rejoice! Here's one of the most complete codec packages that you can install on your PC.
DISCLAIMER: Use this at your own risk 'coz I'm just making a recommendation here and if you screw up the codecs on your computer, you may call me...but it's gonna be 10 bucks per hour tech support! ;)
Okay so if any of you guys out there downloaded loads of (illegal) video from the Net...be it TV series, movies, porn etc...but can't seem to be able to play the file...rejoice! Here's one of the most complete codec packages that you can install on your PC.
DISCLAIMER: Use this at your own risk 'coz I'm just making a recommendation here and if you screw up the codecs on your computer, you may call me...but it's gonna be 10 bucks per hour tech support! ;)
Current Studio // VC2 Survival Guide
This is a tutorial on how to make videos for podcasting but it's also good for those video enthusiasts among us too. I just hope you have broadband...gosh I'm spoilt!
This is a tutorial on how to make videos for podcasting but it's also good for those video enthusiasts among us too. I just hope you have broadband...gosh I'm spoilt!
Random Thoughts
~ Every week is a countdown to its weekend.
~ The shortest unit of duration is the time between Kay Elle traffic lights turning green and some idiot sounding his horn behind you.
(With apologies to David Letterman)
~ Every week is a countdown to its weekend.
~ The shortest unit of duration is the time between Kay Elle traffic lights turning green and some idiot sounding his horn behind you.
(With apologies to David Letterman)
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
OrganicHTML
Wanna visualize how the links that come and go from your blogsite? Or any site for that matter...Check this out. (As promised!) ;)
Wanna visualize how the links that come and go from your blogsite? Or any site for that matter...Check this out. (As promised!) ;)
Trainee
A man joined a big Multi National Company as a trainee.
On his first day, he dialed the kitchen and shouted into the phone:
"Bring to me a cup of coffee, quickly!"
The voice from the other side responded: "You fool, you've dialed the wrong extension! Do you know who you're talking to?"
"No" replied the trainee.
"It's the Managing Director of the company, you idiot!"
The trainee shouted back: "And do you know who YOU are talking to, you IDIOT?"
"No!" replied the Managing Director angrily.
"Thank God!" replied the trainee and put down the phone.
A man joined a big Multi National Company as a trainee.
On his first day, he dialed the kitchen and shouted into the phone:
"Bring to me a cup of coffee, quickly!"
The voice from the other side responded: "You fool, you've dialed the wrong extension! Do you know who you're talking to?"
"No" replied the trainee.
"It's the Managing Director of the company, you idiot!"
The trainee shouted back: "And do you know who YOU are talking to, you IDIOT?"
"No!" replied the Managing Director angrily.
"Thank God!" replied the trainee and put down the phone.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
A New Look for This Place
It's the new year so after some renovations....here'a a new look for this blog...TA-DAAA!!
I'm still tweaking and fine tuning it so if things appear a bit weird around here, please bear with me. Or better yet, report it to me.
Hopefully you guys would hang around here more often (and click on the ads...*ahem* !)
Thanks for supporting this place thus far!
I love you guys!
It's the new year so after some renovations....here'a a new look for this blog...TA-DAAA!!
I'm still tweaking and fine tuning it so if things appear a bit weird around here, please bear with me. Or better yet, report it to me.
Hopefully you guys would hang around here more often (and click on the ads...*ahem* !)
Thanks for supporting this place thus far!
I love you guys!
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
How to Hug
Here's a story I heard/read from somewhere that got stuck in my memory...
A guy walked past a used book store and saw a book on display. It was titled, "How to Hug".
Being a bit of a hopeless romantic, he entered the store hoping to buy the book.
He was disappointed to find the book was actually one in a set of Encyclopedia with entries starting from the word 'How' to the word 'Hug'.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, I'm not gonna disappoint you so here's a link to actual instructions on How to Hug!
Here's a story I heard/read from somewhere that got stuck in my memory...
A guy walked past a used book store and saw a book on display. It was titled, "How to Hug".
Being a bit of a hopeless romantic, he entered the store hoping to buy the book.
He was disappointed to find the book was actually one in a set of Encyclopedia with entries starting from the word 'How' to the word 'Hug'.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, I'm not gonna disappoint you so here's a link to actual instructions on How to Hug!
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Tartrazine: Safe/ Unsafe?
I was having dinner with my family yesterday when my sister raised a concern about me ordering a canned drink (Seasons Chrysanthemum tea) or more specifically the artificial coloring additive in it.
She examined the can and exclaimed that it contains Tartrazine, a yellow coloring made from tar derivative sometimes called Yellow No. 5. My sis works in the pharmaceutical industry and she's a drug administration officer or something so she knows about these sort of stuff.
"What's so bad about this additive?", I asked her. She couldn't name it mostly because she's not a pharmacist either. When I pressed her further she said it is probably carcinogenic.
So here I am scouring the Net for more information. Turns out Tartrazine can cause hyperactivity in children, asthma, migraines and some other less probable side effects.
There's even a false urban legend about this color additive shrinking testicles!
Though it is banned in some countries, the US FDA approves its use in food. So does Taiwan and the UK but not Singapore.
According to my sister, the Malaysian drug administration does not allow Tartrazine in medicine but the food administration okays it. Hmmm, my guess is people read the ingredient labels of their drugs but don't care much about the food they consume everyday!
Well, it's good we're informed and at least that canned drink I had for dinner did explicitly say, "contains Tartrazine".
I was having dinner with my family yesterday when my sister raised a concern about me ordering a canned drink (Seasons Chrysanthemum tea) or more specifically the artificial coloring additive in it.
She examined the can and exclaimed that it contains Tartrazine, a yellow coloring made from tar derivative sometimes called Yellow No. 5. My sis works in the pharmaceutical industry and she's a drug administration officer or something so she knows about these sort of stuff.
"What's so bad about this additive?", I asked her. She couldn't name it mostly because she's not a pharmacist either. When I pressed her further she said it is probably carcinogenic.
So here I am scouring the Net for more information. Turns out Tartrazine can cause hyperactivity in children, asthma, migraines and some other less probable side effects.
There's even a false urban legend about this color additive shrinking testicles!
Though it is banned in some countries, the US FDA approves its use in food. So does Taiwan and the UK but not Singapore.
According to my sister, the Malaysian drug administration does not allow Tartrazine in medicine but the food administration okays it. Hmmm, my guess is people read the ingredient labels of their drugs but don't care much about the food they consume everyday!
Well, it's good we're informed and at least that canned drink I had for dinner did explicitly say, "contains Tartrazine".
Monday, January 02, 2006
My Dying Plant
My Dying Plant
Originally uploaded by Kenny Fong.
I bought this plant from Cameron Highlands. Should've known I just don't have a green thumb. I watered it everyday, added fertilizer and even talked to it when no one's looking.
Then one day I came home from work and found it lying on the balcony floor, dead, its main 'trunk' broken. The heavy rain storms here blew strong winds that my little plant couldn't withstand. :(
One Last Show
One Last Show
Originally uploaded by Kenny Fong.
A close up of the flowers. I bought this plant mainly for the bright red leaves. These flowers only appear after I added fertilizer.
Stem of Flowers from the Top
Stem of Flowers from the Top
Originally uploaded by Kenny Fong.
An interesting angle of my last attempt at taking care of a plant. Note the reddish 'Begonia'-like leaves in the out of focuse background.
