Thursday, July 31, 2008

Amazing Sculptures From Recycle Parts and Materials

Two days ago, I received something really interesting in my Inbox, but I did not have time to write about it. As usual, by way of Sean, I received an email with a series of photos. What was depicted in the photos were just amazing. The photos showed miniatures sculpture of motor cycles made from recycle watches by a South American hobbyist called Jose Geraldo Reis Pfau.

As usual, I googled around and discovered quite a number of similar artists that produced really fantastic work of arts from recycle parts, including computer parts! Simply Amazing. See below and be amazed... LOL.

The Work of Jose Geraldo Reis Pfau


Jose Geraldo Reis Pfau featured in a South American magazine.





The above amazing bikes sculptures are made from recycled watch parts.


These bikes are made from recycled glasses. Amazing!

The Work of Alexandro Meda



Alexandro Meda's work are all made from recycled computer parts. The above 4 photos are © Copyright alexandromeda.com

The Work of Metal Dude Studio




All made from bits and pieces of recycled materials.

The Work of Michael Ulman



Recycled materials are turned into complete work of art!

More Information:

Friday, July 25, 2008

Money Not Enough (Qian bu gou yong) - Part 2

George emailed me this video today. It is just too good and must be posted in the blog... LOL. The original movie was released in 1998. Money Not Enough (Qian bu gou yong) - Part 2 is going to be release end of this month, July 31st.

You have got to view the following videos. Btw, the dialogue is in Mandarin.


The promotion video that George sent me... LOL.


Money Not Enough (Qian bu gou yong) - Part 2 Trailer.

Some related information:

Amazing Dogs Without Front Legs

Just before lunch, I received an email from Sean with the subject, "Willpower". The email showed photographs of an amazing dog walking on it's hind legs in a very human-like manner.



Faith, the totally amazing dog.

It was born without front legs and has since been taught to walk like a natural born bipedal... :-) The name of this amazing dog is Faith. Jude Stringfellow, the owner, has written a book about this amazing dog.


Jude Stringfellow explained how they found Faith and how it was taught to walk bipedal.

While searching for more information on Faith, I found two other amazing dogs, Hope, the Maltese pooch and Kandu, the Jack Russel.


Kandu the Jack Russel.



Hope the Maltese pooch.

More information about these amazing dogs:

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Momofuku Ando, the Man Who Fed the World

Just a couple of minutes ago, I received my daily dose of junk email from my all time favourite junker. Out of the three emails, one of the subject caught my attention immediately. It says, "Re: The correct way of cooking instant noodles".


Rows of Instant noodles at the supermarkets.

I am a big fan of instant noodles and have been consuming it since the 70s. I think I have mastered all the methods of cooking instant noodles. Generally, I think Malaysians are one of the biggest champions of instant noodles. We even manufacture "Instant Noodle Snacks", called Mamee. Yes, it is a 100% Malaysia Boleh invention.




The Mamee snacks that requires you to add seasoning to the noodle before you eat, just like the instant noodles. Like what the Americans like to say about their snacks, "Crunchy!" LOL.

Unfortunately, being a true blue believer that instant noodles should be cooked before consumption, I avoid eating Mamee and discourages everyone to do likewise.... personal bias... LOL. If you really want to know, I am fighting a loosing battle as my wife and kids, and friends love the stuff. Sigh.

Anyway, getting back to that email, I have the feeling that it is a hoax, because it just does not make sense. If MSG boiled at high temperature turns toxic, I think many people would have died from eating at all Chinese restaurants, which almost always use MSG and high pressure flame to cook their dishes.

Further research via the old reliable Google turns out these results:
There are tons of information on the subject of MSG, but enough to say that UN, EC and American food safety related organisation have labelled it under "safest category of food ingredients".

While still on the topic of instant noodles, it's inventor, Mr Momofuku Ando passed away on January 2007. He lived up to 96 years old!


Mr Momofuku Ando.


The Chikin Ramen invented by Momofuku. Introduced to the market in 1958.

After the second World War, Japan was suffering from food shortage.
Momofuku saw the need and the opportunity and so he
... decided to develop the production of noodles by himself. The experience convinced him that "Peace will come to the world when the people have enough to eat." - Wikipedia.
Btw, Momofuku Ando was a Taiwanese before he became a Japanese citizen some time in 1933. His instant noodle legacy lives on. To me, he is the man that fed the World!

Viva Instant Noodles!

Some Instant Noodle Patents :-)

Monday, July 21, 2008

CPC Wristband - The World's Best Hands-free Device?

I received an email from a friend regarding a hands-free device for mobile phones. When I visited the web site, I was knocked out! Check out the following photos to appreciate... :-)









Check out the product website here. It is currently selling at a promotion price of USD 25.99. "Hurry! Offers will end soon." LOL...


It actually makes you feel like Dick tracy... LOL.

Is this for Real?

Admittedly, I thought that this was ludicrous, but then I started to delve a little deeper and was not surprised to find that ideas like these are common and quite a number are patented, believe it or not!


Everyone made a joke of it when drivers were required by law to use hands-free while driving. Someone is apparently laughing all the way to the bank... LOL.

Check out some of these patents.

1. Over the head hands-free phone holder. See illustration below.


2. Phone with ear hanger assembly capable of being hung on a user's ear without help from a hand for certain period of time. See illustration below.


3. Cellular telephone handset holder. See illustration below.

If you Google for hands-free devices, there are more than these 3 patents to show. In my opinion, after comparing with these 3 patents, the CPC Wristband does not look like a bad idea after all... LOL

Thursday, July 17, 2008

An Evening with Dr. Paul Debevec

This just in... an invitation from MDeC's Creative Multimedia Cluster for a lecture titled: New Techniques for Acquiring, Rendering, and Displaying Human Performance by Dr. Paul Debevec on 22nd July 2008 in Balai Seni Lukis Negara.


Dr Debevec is an Associate Director of Graphics Research, University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies (USC ICT).

Dr. Paul’s presentation will address the following topics:
  • Acquiring, rendering and displaying photoreal models of people, objects and dynamic performances;
  • Image-based lighting techniques for photorealistic compositing and reflectance acquisition techniques (which have been used to create realistic digital actors in films such as Spiderman 2 and Superman Returns);
  • Describing image-based relighting with free-viewpoint video to capture and render full-body performances and new 3D face scanning processes that capture high-resolution skin detail;
  • Investigating new 3D display that leverages 5,000 frames per second video projection to show auto-stereoscopic, interactive 3D imagery to any number of viewers simultaneously.
For more information and registration form, please go here.