China's Shenzhou-14 and -15 Crews Meet in Orbit

Yesterday, China sent a spacecraft Shenzhou-15 carrying three astronauts Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu to its space station Tiangong (“Heavenly Palace”) for the first in-orbit crew rotation in Chinese space history. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The trio will take over from the Shenzhou-14 crew who arrived in early June. The latter are expected to return to Earth in early December after a one-week handover that will also establish the station’s ability to temporarily sustain six astronauts, another record for China’s space program. 

 

Shenzhou-15 is the last of 11 missions, including three crewed missions, needed to assemble the Tiangong, as the multi-module station is known in Chinese. The space outpost took on its current “T” shape in November with the arrival of the last of three cylindrical modules. 

 

Please check out CGTN’s 7:13-long video “Exploring China's Tiangong Space Station”:

 

Monkeys Feeding Monkeys

Monkeys enjoy fruits in Lopburi province, Thailand on November 27, 2022. Images credit: AP/Chalida EKvitthayavechnukul 

 

A meal fit for monkeys was served on Sunday at the annual Monkey Feast Festival in central Thailand. 

 

Amid the morning traffic, rows of monkey statues holding trays were lined up outside the compound of the Ancient Three Pagodas, while volunteers prepared food across the road for real monkeys – the symbol of Lopburi province, 150 kilometers (93 miles) north of Bangkok. 

 

Throngs of macaque monkeys (Genus: Macaca) ran around, at times fighting with each other, while the crowds of visitors and locals grew. 

 

As the carefully prepared feast was brought toward the temple, the ravenous creatures began to pounce and were soon devouring the largely vegetarian spread. 

 

While the entertainment value of the festival is high, organizers are quick to point out that it is more than just monkey business. 

 

This is an annual tradition in Lopburi, which is held as a way to show gratitude to the monkeys for bringing in tourism. And this year’s theme is “monkeys feeding monkeys”, which explains the monkey statues.

Clever Cosplay

Low Cost Cosplay is a popular Instagram account. I have to say you really must give this guy credit for his immense creativity and cleverness. 

 

Thailand’s Anucha "Cha" Saengchart creates cosplay out of objects easily found around his home. 

 

He started back in 2013 by making a low-budget Piccolo from Dragon Ball Z, and ever since then has been creating 3-step cosplay tutorials on his social media pages. 

 

Some of his standouts include the following: 

 

A Second Book is Being Planned

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

I know a second book is coming. I’m hoping it won’t be anytime too soon. 

 

I’ve to admit that I'm sheltering apprehensions. It’s just me – I can’t help it but in a way, being bedeviled by anxiety is good because it keeps me always grounded. 

 

I’m the type who collects butterflies for company. I fret a lot. I can attribute this to a condition called second book syndrome wherein a writer fails to write a second book that will live up to the first one. 

 

It is something that has plagued many writers. Having gained a degree of success* for our first book "The Diamond in Your Speech", there is a certain pressure to create an equally good sequel. 

 

[*Our own benchmark of “success” is being able to achieve sales of 1,000 books – and which we aim to secure before the second book is published!] 

 

I’m expressing the above because we had our first brainstorming session for the second book on October 11, 2022 – and although we generated ideas a-plenty, the anxiety stubbornly stays close to me. It hasn’t gone away. It doesn’t want to go away. 

 

And this explains why it took me more than a month before I even share it here in my blog.

 

Anyway, the good thing is, we’re not rushing it and we’ve agreed that our next meeting is scheduled only in 1Q23. 

 

In the meantime, we’ll stay focused on pushing sales of “The Diamond in Your Speech”. And pushing sales is what we intend to do and what we must do.

US and NATO Exhaust Their Arsenals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nine months on, Russia’s special military operation is still grinding on. 

 

And as the generous West keeps supplying Ukraine with arms, the New York Times (published November 26, 2022, updated November 27, 2022) reported that most NATO countries are exhausting their arsenals. 

 

It appears that the war in Ukraine has chewed up the modest caches of artillery, ammunition and air defenses of what some in NATO call Europe’s “bonsai armies”, after the tiny Japanese trees. Even the mighty United States has only limited stocks of the weapons the Ukrainians want and need. 

 

Meaning, there’s a mad scramble to supply Ukraine with what it needs while also replenishing NATO stockpiles. 

 

As both sides burn through weaponry and ammunition at a pace not seen since World War II, the competition to keep arsenals flush has become a critical front that could prove decisive to Ukraine’s effort to stave off defeat. 

 

The European Union have already approved €3.1 billion ($3.2 billion) to repay member states for what they provide to Ukraine, but that fund, the European Peace Facility, is nearly 90 percent depleted. 

 

In total, NATO countries have so far provided some $40 billion in weaponry to Ukraine, roughly the size of France’s annual defense budget. 

 

Smaller countries have exhausted their potential, a NATO official said, with 20 of their 30 members “pretty tapped out”. But the remaining 10 can still provide more, he suggested, especially larger allies. That would include France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. And American officials insist that the US military have enough arms to continue supplying Ukraine and still defend US interests elsewhere. 

 

Good lah – the war which the rest of the world cares very little about can carry on for another nine months for all we care. And for sure, it is not ending any time soon. 

 

We should be glad. Really. 

 

If the US and NATO inventories do get depleted over time, chances are there is less temptation for them to wage wars elsewhere!

We've Surpassed 600 Copies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We've finally surpassed 600 copies of “The Diamond in Your Speech” insofar as book sales are concerned. In fact, the total tally todate stands at 611. 

 

Meaning, we still have another 389 copies to dispose – and we are determined to ensure we move all our stocks of books. 

 

Of course, sales is hard. But every book we manage to sell is a win. And we build on it, one book at a time. 

 

After all, the constant push to do more sales is a positive that encourages us to break through goals we would not have otherwise thought possible. Every time we sell, our numbers improve – and which pleases and satisfies us. It rewards us with this staggering sense of achievement, of fulfillment. 

 

I feel it, I really do. 

 

The bottom line is taking personal responsibility for the results we wish for. 

 

Enough said! The next 100 books are in our sights. Err... actually, 89 books.

Lab-grown Blood

Scientists have transfused lab-made red blood cells into a human volunteer in a world-first trial that experts say has major potential for people with hard-to-match blood types or conditions such as sickle cell disease. 

 

The research could someday mean an end to long searches for compatible donors or dangerous transfusion reactions. The experimental transfusion was done at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, England, as part of a collaborative effort among UK scientists to understand how lab-made blood transfusions could work. 

 

The scientists took whole blood from donors in a UK database and separated out the stem cells. These are the body’s raw materials – the cells from which all specialized cells, like a red blood cell, can generate. 

 

The researchers grew red blood cells from those stem cells and transfused them into two healthy volunteers. 

 

The transfusions involved only a tiny amount of blood: the equivalent of one or two teaspoons. A standard blood transfusion would involve many hundred times that amount. 

 

This stage of the trial involves two mini transfusions at least four months apart, one with a standard donation of red cells and the other with lab-made cells from the same donor. 

 

The researchers are closely monitoring the volunteers to determine whether the process was safe. They say there have been with “no untoward side effects” so far. 

 

Further trials will, of course, be necessary to determine whether there could be a clinical use of this lab-grown product.

 

In Malaysia, after a week of guessing games, Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail (left) from BN-UMNO has been named the menteri besar to lead a new pact between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan in Pahang. He will be sworn in tomorrow. 

 

The Pahang state elections on November 19 saw no coalition secure the 21 seats needed for a simple majority in the state legislative assembly. Perikatan Nasional won 17 seats while BN claimed 16 and PH eight.

IIUM's Public Speaking Workshop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took up a coaching role at the Ahmad Fakhri-facilitated workshop “Persuade with Power” for 20 final year Engineering students of International Islamic University Malaysia. It was held at the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation (ISTAC-IIUM) at Pesiaran Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin, off Jalan Duta in Kuala Lumpur on November 25-26, 2022. 

 

And the said students who came from different disciplines were tasked to prepare and present speeches based on their final year project.

 

I had five students under my direct charge – and I was very pleased that they not only gallantly took up the public speaking challenge but that they acquitted themselves immensely well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Needless to say, all of them shone at the Showcase: 

Why Food Commercials Cost So Much

Business Insider visited The Garage at Industry City in Brooklyn, New York, to talk with food design experts Steve Giralt, Brett Kurzweil, production designer Paola Andrea Ramirez, and rigger Matt Huber to learn the immensely wild and creative ways fast food commercials are shot. 

Believe it or not, it takes not a few people, expensive robots, and fancy cameras to bring a fast food commercial to life. But they use real food on set, so they work against the clock to film each take before it starts to wilt.

 

Newly-minted Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim announced yesterday that Sabah's GRS have agreed to join his government, thus giving him a two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat. 

On Thursday, Anwar confirmed that his unity government comprised Pakatan Harapan, Barisan Nasional and Gabungan Parti Sarawak, with support from MPs from Muda, Warisan and Parti Bangsa Malaysia.

Clap, clap, clap!!!

Tricks Advertisers Use in Food Commercials

Food advertisements often show perfectly melty cheese and steamy hamburgers that look irresistible. It sucks when you actually buy the product you saw on TV and the burger turns out to be really sad-looking! 

 

To be honest, the food you see in commercials isn’t edible. A lot of work and time goes into making that food look the way it does on-screen, whereas when you go to the fast-food restaurant, they slap together your food in probably less than two minutes. 

 

Food stylist Ellie Stern told Money Talks News that she likes to photograph food that isn’t cooked all the way. Undercooked burgers look more plump and juicier than ones that have been cooked. Stern also likes to use pins to keep the toppings in place and to make the burger look much taller than it actually is. 

 

It doesn’t stop with burgers, though. Antacids are added to soda to make it look fizzier, the steam is from a heated cotton ball placed behind the food, glue is used to substitute for milk because it lasts longer in shoots, wax is added to the sauce to make the color pop, and the ice cream is typically made out of Play-Doh or mashed potatoes so it doesn’t melt. 

 

Check out these food commercial secrets: