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31.10.03
hey guys you all must be really busy with the looming exams...evident from the NUHyahoogroup messages that yeelin had been sending out...=)
well, I can't do anything but to wish you all the best for them! You'll sail through them, as always. Don't need to fret about getting very good results or what...just do your best and carry on the consistent work. Consistency can only lead to eventual improvement, for even if you can't grasp the stuff totally, you would have remembered enough for you to get by...
logged by AidanWu at 8:54:00 PM
29.10.03^___________________________________________^
Hahaha.....ehhh..sorrie lah.....just joking mah
There was a figurative dragon what...so ur strangling of me is not justified! :P
logged by AidanWu at 8:47:00 PM
27.10.03U wanted to visited the istana? hmm i think there's nothin much there. Sprawling complex yes but dead boring inside.
logged by Alvin at 11:28:00 AM
GOT U THERE!!
no lah...the istana was open to the public mah (public holiday), and naturally there was a super long queue to get in...stretched almost all the way to the junction leading to the meridien!
nope, it wasn't nice. i couldn't get in because the queue turned me off.
logged by AidanWu at 9:56:00 AM
26.10.03I saw a dragon at the Istana on Deepavali!
logged by AidanWu at 12:48:00 PM
24.10.03hmmm anyway listen to the Turn Left Turn Right OST, Yeelin! It's damn nice, I always play it on my erhu :P
logged by AidanWu at 6:49:00 PM
23.10.03hey i got the tix already! heh, quite excited about it.
hmmm today went out with an army fren...nothing much lar.. jalan jalan around orchard only..
logged by AidanWu at 9:49:00 PM
5566? quite nice.. at 1st i used to listen a lot but den can get quite bored of it.
is it wo3 nan2 guo4? ai4 qing2 man4 you2?
logged by Alvin at 12:10:00 AM
22.10.03haha at first I thought you meant a bicycle! then i was like *huh?!?* what kind of bike can cost so much? --__--
did he save the money to buy the french horn by himself? that's really cool leh...
i'm not free this friday, meeting old classmates and bmt frens...paiseh ah
logged by AidanWu at 4:13:00 PM
ur bro sounds like he's so grown up! leaving on thursday so soon!!...i wd like to meet him leh!
yup friday is fine
logged by Alvin at 2:32:00 PM
21.10.03An interesting extract...
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Brain Not Inflamed?
Scientific American November 2003 Issue
Alzheimer's may not be an inflammation after all
By Dennis Watkins
Researchers have for years observed that patients regularly taking ibuprofen, naproxen or other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs seem to have less risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Some researchers hypothesize that the Alzheimer's-diseased brain is actually inflamed and that damage happens when the microglia, the brain's immune cells, become overactive and attack healthy neurons. New research, however, indicates that the opposite may be happening--that, as microglia age, they lose their ability to protect the brain.
Wolfgang J. Streit and his colleagues at the University of Florida compared autopsy tissue from two nondemented brains, one of a 38-year-old man and the other of a 68-year-old man. Many of the microglia in the older man's brain had lost their fine branches or were otherwise deformed. Streit found even more of these withered microglia in the brains of people who also had high levels of beta-amyloid protein--a hallmark of Alzheimer's. Streit hypothesizes that beta-amyloid may cause the deformities in microglia.
logged by AidanWu at 10:50:00 AM
alright, then i'll go buy the tix tomorrow
hmm the cip thingy starts at 2pm right? just nice lar..after work and all..
haha, so how's ur bro adjusting to sg? should be quite ok lar...nothing very different from kuching i think? except more crowded..heh how long will he be here? this friday is deepavali, can bring him out what..
logged by AidanWu at 7:49:00 AM
20.10.03Hahah no thanx! I dun go for these chamber music!
logged by Alvin at 10:42:00 PM
19.10.03Ehh Yeelin so confirm ah I book the tickets for the 8th...Alvin u wanna watch an SCO concert? It features a piano concerto "Yellow River"...actually doubt you'll be interested so shall not write so much about it anyway. :D
And yar the CIP thingy on the 8th Nov..are you going? What time is it ah? If it's in the afternoon we could go before the concert...
logged by AidanWu at 9:21:00 PM
18.10.03The 9 days spent in Perth were the first time I went out of Asia too...did a lot of crazy stuff there which I hadn't done before. Told you some of them before...like when we abseiled down a natural solution pipe + it was at night and the only light came from a small lamp fixed to our helmet + it was raining and the walls were damn slippery. So I gave up trying to touch the wall with my shoes, just slided down as you would from an helicopter...haha and halfway my shoes almost slided off my feet! Must have looked really dumb trying to wear my shoes while holding on to the harness and rope...
Then after that we abseiled we ended up in a big underground cavern, and then we went caving!! That was one of the parts of the camp that I enjoyed the most...though we all ended up slimy and stinky after that...plus it was still raining!! Haha..must have looked pathetic that time. Too bad couldn't bring a camera along that time given the conditions and nature of the activities.
And that night we reached the Margaret River bungalows at past midnight. And half the night was spent on laundry...
Then the next day we went to some Yalli-something sheep farm..and played with and fed them. They also demonstrated how they sheared wool from the sheep. Will post the photos on webshot one day. So CUTE! It hardly made my day when we had lunch at the farm, and there was this huge carcass of a sheep in the middle of the cookhouse...poor sheep...
Sigh, there're loads more stuff we did but I think I will share them another day...
logged by AidanWu at 1:19:00 PM
17.10.03Yar, I think what's significant is the video technology they harnessed to view the mechanism in real time. Quite different from mere postulates like the fluid mosaic model...that were deduced from empirical methods..this is like Woo~~ watching the world grow old all over again!! It's pretty exciting don't you think so? =)
Haha what elitist! I won't take this lying down. :D I shall sleep standing tonight. :DD
logged by AidanWu at 10:13:00 PM
Hey interesting article! But down to 1st principles, membrane receptors shd be mobile, since they r also proteins - fluid mosaic model.
Yes i remember my sec 3 geography trip to melbourne. It was my 1st trip out of Asia so to speak. I remember we stayed in a hotel beside a sleazy red-light district all becos b4 dat, the teachers planning the trip had no idea it was so. But no harm done anyway. We were only 15 years old, can't go in the clubs or casinos. Only spent 3 nites there. Rest of the trip we moved from place to place - Camp Coorimungle if i spelled correctly, used to be a prison, but they converted it into something like OBS, except it was more fun. I remember the people running the place were very hospitable. Midnite already and they were still making apple pies and lasagne for us. I swear those were the best apple pies i have ever tasted. Still are. Shd have asked for the recipe hor... hah. - Ballarat Hill, former mining town, entire town was made to resemble those days when people were mining. Took a lot of photos. - Visited a private prestigious school, where it was compulsory for every1 to learn 3 languages and stuff. Something like chinese high. (elitist!) Den played soccer with them. Needless to say Alfonso trashed them la. Yeah.
Also it was during the trip dat i learnt how to play dai dee. I shared the hotel room with Jason. Jason me and a few others from my class locked ourselves up in one room playing cards til late into the nite. I still have a photo ...Jason looked so innocent den. Sigh every1 is his most innocent self when he's young. I want to go back to cat high! if only. Sorry sidetracked.
Haiz getting old. Memory getting poorer. Shengyong u must research on how to keep memories longer next time. Something to do with the synthesis of new proteins to store memories. Dunno la - so complex.
logged by Alvin at 9:29:00 PM
Just came across this, may be of interest to Yeelin, maybe Alvin, and of course me! Nanotech is one area I hope to get into..
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Nanotech breakthrough shows how brain cells chatter
AFP/17Oct2003
PARIS, Oct 16 (AFP) - French scientists using an innovative microscopic scanning technique say they have discovered that nerve cells almost buzz with molecular agitation when they communicate with each other.
The work sheds light on how cells operate at the synapse -- the minute gap between neurons, as nerve cells are called.
Neurons communicate by sending chemical signals across the synapse, which then latch on to specific targets, known as receptors, on the membrane of the adjoining cell.
The chemicals activate an electrical signal in that cell, which then sends on a chemical signal to its neighbour, and so on down the line, eventually triggering the desired response or movement in the finger, hand, limb or other organ.
Until now, little was known about receptor movement, and it was thought that these vital "locks" that open to the heart of the cell were largely static.
But nanotechnology, harnessed to a video camera by French researchers, shows the receptors to be extraordinarily active and that they even move around dynamically on the membrane surface.
The discovery is important, because it highlights the complex, highly mobile mechanism by which a receiving cell is able to detect just a single molecule.
The team, led by Antoine Triller, head of an Inserm unit that specialises in synapse research, and Maxime Dahan, of the Kastler Brossel Laboratory at Paris's Ecole Normale Superieure, publishes its work in Friday's issue of Science, the US scientific weekly.
Their observations were made on spinal cord tissue from rats, and used a probe called quantum dots -- fluorescent semiconductors, with a cadmium-selenium core and a zinc sulphide shell -- to tag receptors for glycine, a key synapse signalling chemical.
The "dots" measure just five to 10 billionths of a metre across, and are just a quarter of the smallest nanoparticle tracers used so far. Those particles, made of gold or latex, range from 40 to 500 billionths of a metre, which means they are too big to reveal the single-molecule properties of living cells.
The movement given by the fluorescing quantum dots was filmed in real time, and for long durations, using a microscope.
logged by AidanWu at 3:41:00 AM
Hai come to think of Australia...I really enjoyed myself a lot during the Sec 4 Perth camp...it's really quite a nice tranquil place to be...relaxed, laid back and all. Still rem how my music teacher strolled along Swan Lake with a few of us (also dunno how she knew us cos she never taught us music before) and then played frisbee on an empty grass patch just deyond the Central Business District (yes, it's a rather small city). Hardly resembles the fast-paced, hectic lifestyle here in Singapore. Even students are not spared. Makes it appealing to people who wanna retire there. But then again I read an article recently (can't remember the source liao..oh yah Straits Times. I think it was titled "It's not so Perth-fect down under after all" or something) expounding the fallacies that many harbour when they fly down under to retire...hai there'll always be two sides to a coin
logged by AidanWu at 2:32:00 AM
16.10.03It's not freezing lar..it's spring there! Soon it'll be summer, just when he comes back..
logged by AidanWu at 1:08:00 PM
15.10.03Paul shd be down under now. Shd be freezing. But s'pore is no better. These few days it has been raining so frequently.
logged by Alvin at 8:44:00 PM
Hey guys i'm gonna change the blog layout!
Do you think this is cool?
logged by AidanWu at 8:42:00 PM
14.10.03Yeah take care...don't bully the kangeroos!!
logged by AidanWu at 7:01:00 PM
Ya Paul.. safe trip!
logged by Alvin at 2:54:00 PM
ehh can tell us more abt project somanasa when ur free? =)
yeelin - what did u mean by friday is fine? Hmmm, I meant that I can't make the friday one...
logged by AidanWu at 2:04:00 AM
12.10.03sorry 14th i have project somanasa meeting
you all go ahead!
logged by Alvin at 7:58:00 PM
11.10.03hey guys, i am giving tuition on the 14th so cannot make it...sorry ah~
ehh yeelin thanks for posting the schedule! I don't think I can ever make it for the 10-12 slot...haha but nvm lah.
oh yah and the sco concert right, can we make it the saturday one? 'cos the friday one happens to be...7/11. haha go and guess lah...^__^
logged by AidanWu at 12:45:00 PM
10.10.03Hey just to keep everyone informed, yeelin paul and i will be meeting this evening at turf city for a simple b'dae dinner..and paul wants to drink after that..haha i think there're a couple of alcohol serving outlets there..=)
logged by AidanWu at 10:26:00 AM
9.10.03Oh ya this is the link: http://community.webshots.com/user/aidanwu
logged by AidanWu at 3:10:00 PM
Drips and draps? how does that affect their communication? Hmmmm sigh wish I were there for some of the sessions..
Yesh I wanna go for the children thingy!! But 25th's my bro's graduation...sigh it'll be a long time to 8th....
logged by AidanWu at 3:04:00 PM
8.10.03yar it is this friday.
anyway.....i am blogging in the dead of the nite 'cos i am SO bored...............................................
*duh*
*duh*
Hai...i just uploaded loads of photos so go and see!! Haha..up to you lah..as long as you go see!
Anyway..was thinking abt my JHU essay..shall seek some help here =)
If you had only $10 (USD but can convert to any currency) to plan a day’s adventure, where would you go, what would you do, and who would you take with you?
Just now on ICQ Yeelin and I thought of something like this:
- Adventure need not be literally physical; its meaning can be applied in different ways, one of which is a gastronomic adventure.
- Due to financial constrains, we need to get a 'sponsor' that would allow us to indulge in our 'food adventure'.
- So we will become contestants in one of those slapstick Channel U variety shows where they tour Singapore in search of all kinds of food; we';; tweak the format of the show to allow the contestant to have more control in the 'adventure' so it doesn't seem to be pre-planned by Mediaworks..'cos I'm supposed to plan the adventure after all..(this is the part that they may not buy)
- yar and since all costs are bourne by the TV station, we need to find a way to expend the ten dollars. SO we will invite someone from the old folks' home (where I did CIP before in so I know some of them) to come along with us (doing more CIP mah...) and the ten bucks would just nice cover the transport from the home to the TV station, after which all subsequent transport costs will theoretically be covered.
- the actual adventure itself..deciding where to eat and what not..
So how ah?
Would you buy it if you were the admissions officer?
logged by AidanWu at 3:07:00 AM
7.10.03ehh is it yeelin's b'dae this friday?
logged by AidanWu at 2:44:00 PM
nope cannot. test on saturday
logged by Alvin at 12:05:00 AM
5.10.03hmmm i am on duty next sat..nvm lah u all go ahead lor
or is there one on friday?
logged by AidanWu at 10:24:00 AM
4.10.03yup next weekend sounds fine! Den we can go have a drink
logged by Alvin at 10:21:00 PM
uh alvin smsed saying he can't make it 'cos they added more topics for his CA so need to study...so postpone?
logged by AidanWu at 1:57:00 PM
3.10.03ok anything!
logged by Alvin at 9:36:00 PM
why six avenue is a prob for alvin?
it's already in the middle of singapore..haha
and come to think of it, i quite miss the bryani there
logged by AidanWu at 9:33:00 PM
Hmmm you all think of a cheap and good place to eat leh
logged by AidanWu at 8:30:00 AM
2.10.03i'm fine
logged by Alvin at 9:17:00 PM
orrh then better not lor. left sunday evening? ^.^
logged by AidanWu at 10:59:00 AM
1.10.03Hmm I don't mind a lunch on sat since I am going down to Raffles City to get financial letters from A*STAR...but Sat evening is out 'cos I've to attend my grandaunt's b'dae dinner...70 years...wow never did realise she was that aged!
Sunday leh...I've tuition till 3 plus as usual...so dinner should be fine..can we not watch a movie? I'm becoming a bit broke this week...went out to eat with platoon mates once too often! And I just watched a movie last Friday...haha sorry ah.
Devin is MIA as usual. Hai. Does he even read this blog? Haha...
Anyway I revamped my blog!!
logged by AidanWu at 9:14:00 PM
Hey paul says this weekend he's not free/ Shd we go ahead?
logged by Alvin at 7:22:00 PM
Hey yeelin, hope he'll like your cookies. ^__^
Well, I won't say much here, it's probably better to tell you face to face. But do keep the door open, for you can never guess how devoted he is to you, even after nine months.
logged by AidanWu at 10:38:00 AM