One of the most interesting animals is the Platypus. This animal which looks like a fish, a bird and a duck all rolled into one, is found in Eastern Australia and Tasmania.
The Platypus was classified as a mammal because it produces milk and is covered in coat of thick fur, once prized by hunters. It has webbed feet and a flat bill, instead of a beak.
Platypus weigh between 1 - 5 lbs, with the males being larger than the females. Males average about 20 inches, while females are about 17 inches.
The male Platypus has a spur on its hind foot that delivers a venom which is capable of causing severe pain to humans. It does not care for its young, but retreats to its yearlong burrow.
The female however, softens the ground in the burrow with dead, folded, wet leaves and fills the nest at the end of the tunnel with fallen leaves and reeds used for bedding material. This material is dragged to the nest by tucking it underneath her curled tail.
In South Australia, the Platypus are reported only rarely from the Riverland area of the Murray River and have not been encountered in the lower reaches of the Murray since 1960.
It had been more than two years, since I tasted Yong Tow Foo.
Yesterday, whilst driving on the highway through Kelana Jaya, I saw this Ipoh Road Yong Tow Foo restaurant. It was pretty easy to find parking space, probably because it was a Saturday.
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The interior was nice, with marble flooring. The entire right hand side wall was covered with mirrors, cleverly giving an illusion of extra space.
The waiter handed me an order form and a pen. After writing down the quantity of each item,
I handed them back to him. According to the menu on the wall, each stuffed piece of Yong Tow Foo was 90 sen.
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We ordered two pieces of: Bitter Gourd; Lady's Finger (Okra); Red Chilli; Brinjal (Eggplant) and Tofu. We also ordered a dish of their oyster vegetable and two pieces of something I had never heard of before - Paper Chicken. They turned out to be bite-sized pieces of stewed chicken, wrapped inside a thin paper.
As we were leaving the restaurant, I told the manager that the Paper Chicken was really good. He smiled and said thank you.
]]>Wednesday, April 30th, 2008.
It was just a few minutes after midnight when all of a sudden, the internet connection from StreamyX vanished.
Many attempts to connect to the internet failed - or, if it did eventually connect, would simply disappear after a few minutes.
Well, this certainly wasn't the first time. Over the last three and a half years, this BROADBAND internet service from StreamyX has failed numerous times.
As it is, it is bad enough to have to deal with slow connection speeds which occur pretty often, but to have absolutely no internet connection at all, is simply the pits.
The last time internet connection was totally lost, was on February 28th, 2008. The worst however, occurred the previous month - on January 24th, 2008, when there was no internet connection here for MORE than eighteen hours.
It is highly unfortunate when disruption of an internet service occurs, but it is even more disappointing when it affects those users, who promptly pay their bills each month.
Two days ago, we got ourselves a new red sofa from IKEA. The name of this sofa was Klippan.
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It took more than two and a half hours to assemble everything, including the leg rest (sold separately), which looked more like a stool than a leg rest.
In addition to the Klippan sofa, we also purchased three cushions. The cushion covers were also sold separately.
]]>When it comes to food, only TWO things really matter: quality and taste.
It is common knowledge that the best tasting Satay comes from Kajang town.
This afternoon, we stopped over at a Satay restaurant called Sate Hj Samuri located just off of the highway between Ampang and Batu Caves, in an area called Taman Melati, Gombak.
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The signboard for the word 'Satay' was spelled 'Sate'.
Satay is always cooked over a charcoal fire. This restaurant had a glass wall which separated the dining area from the charcoal fireplaces.
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We ordered 5 sticks of chicken Satay; 5 sticks of beef Satay; 2 sticks of venison Satay and a roll of Nasi Impit. We also ordered two cans of a soybean drink.
When everything was served, we discovered that the Nasi Impit was a white rice cake, cut into bite sized pieces, placed together in a bowl with small slivers of cucumber. The only item missing in this bowl, was the raw red onions.
The peanut sauce tasted truly delicious - flavorful yet mild. So mild in fact, that you could even drink it as a thick soup, instead of just as a dipping sauce. Also served, was a small bowl of spicy sambal paste made from hot chillies.
(At other Satay places, the spicy chilli sambal paste is always incorporated right into the peanut sauce, which sometimes can become so overbearing, that it causes a burning sensation at the back of your throat. When that happens, you won't enjoy your meal. Thankfully, that wasn't the case with this restaurant.)
When we were done eating the first order, we ordered 5 more sticks of chicken Satay and 5 more sticks of mutton Satay.
Overall, the quality and taste were exceptionally good, that we ordered even more as takeaway.
Even though the staff in this restaurant couldn't speak English, this meal was nonetheless, a truly delightful culinary experience.
Someone in Chicago asked me via E-mail the other day, what would be the best time to call me on the phone.
I told her that the best time to call me...would be whenever she liked. Sending a text message to me would be fine, too. I also told her that the only time I would not be able to answer my cellular phone, is when I'm standing under the shower.
Then again, if I was trying to cook something in the kitchen and I heard my phone, I might not be able to get my hands washed in time, before the ringtone stops - In which case, it is best to call me back in approx. 39 minutes.
But what if I was asleep in bed?
Well, unlike most people, I normally answer the phone in my sleep, since I'm a pretty light sleeper anyway; and my cellular phone is always right next to my bed.
Yes, the best time to call me, is whenever you feel like it.
]]>Great ideas usually seem to come about when you're not sitting down and thinking about it. I know this firsthand. I've had ideas come to me before, while I wasn't even thinking about any subject in particular.
Most great inventions throughout history, were invented when the inventor wasn't searching for a great, creative idea at the time.
But not all ideas which pop into our heads turn out to become great ones, though. Sometimes, you might get inspiration for an idea which at the time, seems to be great, but later proves to be not so great. And at other times, you might get an idea which, when acted upon, turns out to be twice as great.
No, it is not always easy to know if an idea will become great, but a great idea nowadays creates energy. And if we focus the majority of that energy on ways to improve on the idea, we will soon be on our way to achieving something great.
]]>03 / 27 / 2008.
A really strange thing happened yesterday. Sandra's E-mail to me was sent into the SPAM folder of my AOL Mail account.
Fortunately for me, I just felt that I should sign-in through the browser way, earlier - or else I would have missed out on reading it. I seldom ever check my E-mails through the browser way, because all messages are supposed to be sent into the inbox of IncrediMail.
Anyway, I replied her E-mail and informed her that I thought it was extremely strange indeed, seeing that there was no attachment attached, nor was there any animation or picture embedded into the body of her E-mail. Furthermore, her name and address has been in my Address Book for more than three years now.
Perhaps it was just a glitch. But this certainly does give all E-mail recipients something to think about. The implications go far beyond just a simple electronic message being inadvertently sent into a SPAM folder. What if it was an important business E-mail? - or some emergency? It would have been missed out for sure.
]]>It seems that ever so often, we see a new cellular phone being released out onto the market.
Whilst manufacturers compete in product sales, Nokia has been a company I have long been a fan of. I've found them to manufacture the most durable phones on the market. In fact, I'm into my third Nokia phone, now.
Choosing the right kind of cellular phone, isn't as easy as one might expect it to be.
Different phones have different features for different people. For example, a businessman might not want to buy a phone which has FM radio, but strictly a "business type" phone on which to simply "make and receive calls" on. Those who like capturing pictures, would want a phone with a built-in camera. Then there are those individuals, who may not have taken the time to explore their own cellular phones and still don't know how to send nor retrieve (read) an incoming text message.
In the early days of portable cellular phones, there were no advanced features like alarm clock, currency converter, text messaging, calculator, camera, video, audio recorder, FM radio and internet capabilities. Changing a ringtone on those early cellular phones was unheard of.
The best way in choosing the right kind of cellular phone today, is to know what you're looking for; but if you're unsure, the best option would be to ask for the owner's manual and have a quick glance through the overview section. The overview section should give potential buyers a good idea of the features found inside the phone.
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I've always thought Henry Ford was the inventor of the automobile. Today, I discovered a few historical facts about the automobile. Henry Ford's Model T was introduced on October 01st, 1908, almost one hundred years ago, now.
Nicholas August Otto developed the gasoline engine in the 1870s and Rudolph Diesel invented the diesel engine in the 1890s.
So, who really invented the automobile?
It was Karl Benz of Germany, who in 1885, designed and built the world's first practical automobile to be powered by an internal-combustion engine.
Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler, another German, was also a pioneer of the internal-combustion engine and automobile development. Together with his lifelong business partner Wilhelm Maybach, they founded Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) in 1890 and sold their first automobile two years later in 1892.
Emil Jellinek sat on the board of directors of the DMG and specified that the engine created by Wilhelm Maybach be named "Mercedes", after his daughter, Mercedes Jellinek.
Today, we know the name Mercedes-Benz very well. The Mercedes 35 hp early car was designed in 1901 by Maybach in Stuttgart, Germany and produced by the DMG.
