Post 10: What Is Up There?

Hey guys Russell here. Today it won't be any normal post. This is going to get really emotional on this post. For some it may be but for some it isn't. This is going to be a very long post as well. So I hope you are ready for this mind-blowing adventure.

To be honest, what is up there? This is what scientists have thought of since we started looking upwards.  What is really up there? Are there monsters, aliens or some sort of God living in the cosmos? This is what baffled scientists for centuries.  Are they really that different from us? Will they bring harm or good things to us? Or do they really exist in the current timeline. For now, there is no evidence that life beyond our earth exists. Well except from the ISS ( International Space Station ) which always has people living there.

We, the human race, always try new ways to discover things. It is our curiosity that made us so technologically advanced from other mammals. It is collective learning that made us learn more and more about our world. Since we started writing, we can learn even more by storing information on books. Our species is really special and thanks to a bit of luck we are currently thriving on Earth. What if there is also an alien species that is almost as same as us, thriving on another planet? Currently, we cannot even find a single piece of bacteria on any place that is not on Earth. Signs of life is available though such as water on martian soil. Sadly, they do not have the luck to survive. We are the current species on Earth to have such advanced civilizations. The last species to ever be as near as us would be the dinosaurs! Isn't that amazing considered how far humanity has gone through the ages. But have we reached the final level? We already have advanced technologies such as nanotechnology and robotics but is that enough to say we are the most advanced civilization on the galaxy or even the universe?

On current data, there are a bunch of planets as same as ours. They are within the Godilocks zone of their system. On that area, it is not too hot and not too cold. Perfect for sustaining life. The best thing is they might even have water and an atmosphere rich in oxygen that is needed for life. Our current telescopes cannot know that but we are developing one much greater than the Hubble Space Telescope. If there is life on those planets, will they be as advanced as us or they will be as primitive as the dinosaurs? If they have luck, they might succeed our technological advances and beat us in the tech race. Or they are as same as us, looking for life as same as theirs in another world.

I have just watched Big History and it gave me an insight on what life on other planets look like. The human first appeared in Africa. However, having a species on one continent is not enough, so that is why during the ice age where most shallow seas are ice, they cross continents and populate every continent of the world. If that is the case, will it be the same to us? During the exploration era, people were hoping they would meet some kind of new life on the new land but what did they find? Yes they might find some interesting fauna and flora but what is the dominant species there? The same as theirs, humans.

This gave me an insight. We are now exploring new worlds, new planets to look for life. What if it is the same as what we did last time? (On a galactic scale). What if we are separated with another type of life same with us during a galactic collision? Some people say life is transferred by asteroids. What if the asteroid that brought life on earth was basically a small part of a exploded planet? The crumbs then are sent throughout the galaxy. Since it used to be with us,  Won't it be that different after evolution?  It will not be the same as us but the difference should not be drastic. In fact, they will be two legged mammals, with two hands as well. I am not sure if this is real considered that this is just a hypothesis that I made so take it with a pinch of salt.

Our galaxy is filled with billions of star systems. Our Universe is filled with billions of galaxies. Is this planet really so special as the only planet with life? I think not. There might be millions of planets that have life. We have already found tons of them which is in the zone that is available to support life. We just need more research to found out if there is life on those planets. I do hope that they are life on other planets and share knowledge with each other,

So that's about it! Sorry for not posting for a long time because I was having a break during the holidays ( Gaming ) so I do hope you can forgive me. Thanks for reading and I will see you next time!

~Russell

iOS 8, The small wonders.

Hey there guys, it has been a while since I posted something, but here I am. I would wanna show you guys the things you should actually know about the new iOS 8.

As we all know, Apple released a new iOS, promised to be the most advanced mobile operating system in the world, I agree to that point.

Apple prepared an application called "Tips" to guide you through the new operating system and the new things about it.

But, there are still some things missed out, too small but worth a mention. 

I'll start with the smallest thing, a small tweek done to the brightness toggling in the control centre. As we all know(or maybe some of you don't), when we open the control centre, the home screen or luck screen as the background will be dimmed, so when we toggle the brightness, it won't be that accurate. Who knows? Apple spotted that and done a small tweak. When you start toggling the brightness in the control centre, the home or lock screen will appear as the actual brightness as you toggle, how great is that?!

The second one is the weather app. Apple have been relying on Yahoo for the weather but now, Apple starts replying directly on The Weather Channel which is much more accurate and it offers a 9-day forecast in the app itself, brilliant!

The third one is the notification centre. It has now removed the missed section, leaving today view and notifications only, offering a much cleaner UI. It even offers third-party widgets but this is now not yet greatly developed. It will take some time for this to be superb.

This is it for now, I will keep you guys up-to-date with everything new and special. 

 

A small note, iPhone 4s users are encouraged not to update your iPhone to iOS 8 due to bad performance.

Carlson out.

Apple Event, what's new.

It turns out that our expectations are correct. In the Apple Special Event held on 9/9, two iPhones, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, and one more thing, the Apple Watch is announced, and more. Here is a summary of the whole thing.

Let's start with the iPhone(s). In this event, Apple announced two iPhones, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. iPhone 6 has a 4.7 inch screen while the iPhone 6 Plus features a 5.5 inch screen (so I consider it as a phablet). The phone has a resolution of 1334 x 750p (larger than 720p HD) at 326 ppi. The phablet features 1920 x 1080p (Full HD) at 401 ppi. They both share the same chips, which is A8 Apple second generation 64-bit chip plus the M8 co-processor. It is still the same old 8MP iSight camera and the 1.2MP Facetime camera. Not much upgraded, it is just that they added Pixel Focus and the phablet features optical stabilization (better than the old digital one found on the phone).

Then, here comes the loudly-cheered-for "one more thing",the Apple Watch. It has a rectangular screen, which is somehow a disappointment to a lot of people. It has a digital crown on the right of the watch. It acts as a home button and a zoom in and out tool, to avoid to much contact with the screen that will block your sight, smart Apple. Below the digital crown, there is a button, acts as a shortcut to contacts. The watch connects to iPhone 5 and above to operate. There is so much more to cover so you guys can check the video out. follow this link: http://youtu.be/ktujsc4ZUTo

There is one more thing announced, which is Apple Pay, you can pay without your credit cards or even wallet. How great is that. This is only available for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

Carlson out.

Post 9: A visit to Charis International School

Calvary Crown from the outside

Wassup guys this is Russell reporting in. This post is about my visit to Charis International High School or some of you guys call it Calvary Crown. During my visit I only got the chance to reach up to level  7. The upper floors are still under renovation . We were shown around by the headmistress, Miss Chin. (who was my father's headmistress when he was in High School). What a coincidence!

Where shall we go?

Level 1

The kitchen looks squeaky clean!

This is the ground floor. It holds the cafeteria after the entrance. At the moment it is only open to the students. It will be open to the public soon. Morning tea and lunch are served daily to students. It serves both Asian and Western cuisine. The layout is simple and comfortable. Unlike other schools, students here don't need to bring cash to school. ( They have already paid for the meals in their school fees so they aren't really free).

Cafeteria. It looks very nice.

Level 2

This is where the auditorium is located. It can be used to have talks, concerts, lectures and plays. I am not sure whether it is open to the public .we shall find out soon. It can sit up to 400 people when completed.

Auditorium. It is still under renovation though

Level 3

The Gym. See the access machine? Looks like LRT access machines right?

The gym lies in this very level. It is impressively big and features a lot of fitness machines It is used to keep the students healthy. It will also be open to the public when it is in full swing. Of course, the public needs to have get memberships in order to use the gym. They will give you a special access card to pass a machine very like the LRT access machines. (as shown in the pic)

Level 4 and 6

Form 1 Students. They just finished UPSR.

The secondary and primary classes are on these two levels respectively.As this is a new school, there are not a lot of students here yet.  I met my friend and ex-schoolmate Nicholas Lee here. The classes are smaller than any school you have ever seen. I cannot imagine any class smaller than that! I had the opportunity to see the students learning. The teacher has a big TV for teaching purposes and everyone has an ipad. The teacher-student ratio is very high. In some classes, they only have 2 students to 1 teacher so it really feels like home tuition. A lot of the teachers are not from Tawau. They are from overseas so you can expect good quality of teaching.

TV for teaching

Students have their own lockers, how nice!

Lab

Level 5

The Staff Room

Here I find the staff , teachers and the principal's offices. Nothing else to say...

Level 7
Here lies the boarding rooms for students. There is no boarder yet since it is not ready. We got the chance to go inside and looked at the rooms. First of all, I have to say that they are fantastic. Period. Every student has his/her climb-up bed and a table below for studying. There is also a warden to supervise the students. According to Mrs Chin, the floor can accommodate up to 30 plus students.

The bed with desk looks good, doesn't it?

7th floor

We only got the chance to visit these areas. If you are interested to know more about the school. Click here to go to their website. That is it for now. Do like, comment and share. I will see you fellas next time. It has been a very long and tiring write up. Hope you enjoy it.

~Russell

Incoming Posts In This Coming Holidays

Hi! Long time no see right? Anyway I am so sorry that I did not do any posts for the past few days. I was having exams and it was just finished yesterday. The good news is next week is the school holidays! Carlson and I will have a whole week to post! I will state some posts incoming to the blog:

1. My life in holiday mode
2. Carlson's Holiday
3. Interview of my schoolmates.
4. Movie Making

Number 1 is about my life during the holidays. It is actually kinda boring but when there is somehing special I will post it here. I will most likely write something about my dog Rio and maybe some games as well.

Number 2 is about Carlson's Holiday in Australia. He is going there for about a week. I am not sure if he will post daily but I will make sure he will post regularly there.

Number 3 is the most unlikely but the most anticipating post. An interview with friends and schoolmates. It will be selected by me and Carlson and lets see who is the lucky one.

Number 4 is my group's movie making. It will mostly be vlog's and photos but I think you guys will like it.

These are the posts to come. Stay tuned for these posts and I will share it on Facebook to let you guys know. That is it for now and I will see you guys later.

~Russell

PS: Something is coming soon and it is not here. Guess what is it?

Post 8: Mooncake Festival Bazaar

Today, my school Sabah Chinese High School celebrated the Moocake Festival today. As I said earlier, we will have a special day off on Monday. The juniors made the lanterns while the seniors made Shanghai Mooncakes. My friends and I grouped together to make a lantern. The result was epic fail mostly because we are not working together as a team. 

Well, we started making our lanterns on the 1st period to the 4th period. We made our lanterns using tin cans because we had absolutely no idea on what to use. We only have about 30 cans in the beginning. Carlson said we should go to the canteen and buy some drinks to increase the number of it. It then increased to 35 cans. We then started our work on the lantern.

It was pretty stupid at first. We just played with the cans and started throwing them around. It was a mess at the corner of the class ( Where our group was making the lantern ). Carlson then started doing the whole lantern by himself. Ong and I just play with the leftover cans. We got so bored we threw some cans into the jar which we were using to put the mooncakes and keep shaking the jar to make some sounds. It was fun yet annoying. After that, the whole jar was full of beer smell as the cans we put in were all beer cans. We had a good laugh and we put it back in without anyone noticing it. The lantern was almost ready by the time I was finished playing. I got bored so I lifted the lantern up and play with it. I looks like a bazooka or a very unusual flare. When Carlson told me to put it down. I put it down so heavily the whole lantern collapsed. To be honest, it wasn't my fault. I blamed Carlson for not applying enough glue. I was just doing a shock test.

Fair enough, the basic foundations was still in one piece. We quickly made another one  and it looked so horrible that I cried for joy knowing we will lose like bosses. We hanged it up on the school corridor and we went back to class.

We also had our movie class today. Don't expect Transformers to be shown, it was so boring that I fell asleep. After movie class it was time to eat. The mooncakes tasted really good. I praised the seniors for a job well done.

Thats it for now. I hope you like it. Comment, like, share and be a supporter for the blog. And I wish all fellow readers happy mooncake festival!

~Russell

Post 7: A tour on mooncake making

Hi! The mooncake festival is around the corner so I have decided to write a post on mooncake festival. Have you guys ever wondered how mooncakes are made?  I was in Faith Bakery to give you guys a tour on mooncakes manufacturing process. I hope you will like it. This will be a long post. So get ready.

The main ingredient of mooncakes is the lotus paste. Lotus seeds are washed, ground and cooked into paste with sugar and oil. Once the paste has cooled down, It will be weighted into the proper sizes. 30 grams for mini and 160g to 200g for normal size mooncake. They are different kinds of mooncakes in Faith Bakery. Some of the flavours are lotus paste, red bean, green bean, red date, bird nest and so on. The bird nest is unique and only available at Faith Bakery so do go and try it. 

                                                                              

The mooncake paste is then rolled into balls. In order to get the paste to become a mooncake shape and looks. It needs to be put into a mould and when squeezed out it will become like the picture below.

The mooncakes after being moulded.

The mooncakes are ready for baking

The mooncakes will look like this when done. Beautiful crafted for consumption

For your info, all of these mooncakes are made without any preservatives and handmade for the best quality. So the quantity produced is somehow limited and mass-production is not possible. Thanks for reading this and I will see you guys later on my next post

~Russell

Gadget Introduction: Deep Cool notebook cooler

Deep Cool N2 model. Suitable for laptop up to 17"

There is nothing fancy about a notebook cooler. Basically it is an USB powered fan inside a box with metal mesh on top and plastic at the bottom. It is very simple yet useful to cool down your lap top especially for computer nerd like Russell Kong who could be glued to his laptop eternally (if not stopped). An overheated laptop will affect the performance not to mention the shelf life of the device.

There are a few features of this device which are special (compared to my very old fan cooler). I thought I should recommend it to anyone who is looking for a notebook cooler.

Long USB Cable that could be hidden at the back.
You will never forget to bring your USB cable again!

1. It's super silent and slim

2. It has a big fan and big airflow

3. The USB cable that connects to the notebook is long. It can be tucked at the back when not used. Very neat and convenient to be carried around. 

4.The USB connector has USB pass through connector for additional USB device. Super useful for notebooks that have limited USB ports. 

5. No fancy light on the fan. Some might think it's not cool but personally I think it is better as it consumes less power without the light.

This device is suitable for notebook up to 17". You can buy it from Tony.com, Fajar Complex.(Tel: 089763778) See if you can get a special discount (if you mention that you learn about this device from us).

Happy computing and cooling!

Introduction Vlog!

Hey there, Carlson here. Sorry for not uploading the Vlog promised for days, but here we are, with the Vlog featuring Russell, Janson (our No 1 supporter) and me (my voice, in exact). It is a simple introduction with some things Russ would want to tell you guys. Mainly, thank you all for your support. Enjoy.

In case you can't access the video, here is the link: http://youtu.be/7DgMLxYonjs .

Please subscribe to our channel, share our blog out, and comment on your suggestions. Thank You All!

Carlson out.

Vlog status and mooncakes

HI! I cannot post anything special right now but I assure you that something interesting will be here soon once I get it done. It is a pretty long post and I am managing more media than ever.

First, the vlog is currently on upload status on youtube. Carlson will be on that case. I am not sure though but I will ask him soon. It is basically a small introduction to the blog for youtube viewers and I shall post it on blogger once its uploaded on Youtube.

Next, something about moncakes is about to be posted. Get ready folks

~Russell