Don't complicate the simple things.

There is a funny story i would like to share with you all.

During the beginning period of the space program, NASA was seeking for a pen that can be used in the space:

-It must be applicable in any directions.
-It can function in vacuum space.
-The ink does not really need to be refilled.

NASA was taking this matter seriously and they thought many scientists would start studying to invent this kind of pen.


After three days, they received a fax from Germany, written: "try pencil before?"

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Don't make simple things complicated. Sometimes when we are facing a problem, try to calm ourselves down and think : "Is this problem really that complicated?"

=)

Should boys learn to cook?

Last time i went back to Kuching for celebrating Chinese New Year, and guess what they all asked me?

"Are you going out to eat everyday or you cook yourself?"

"erm........going out to eat."

"Harh? you yourself dunno how to cook meh?"

"Urm.. I know how to cook maggie mee. Trust me it is nice. >.<"

So should i ask, should boys learn to cook? It is universally acknowledged that every nation nay, every individual must be self sufficient and that amounts to saying self supporting. In Japan, one of the most advanced country in the world, cookery is a compulsary subject in the Japanese school curriculum. Can we say they are foolish to introduce this women's job in the curriculum among science and arts?

Actually, the object of learning how to cook is to make an individual self supporting. Needless to say a knowledge of cooking helps an individual tremendously. What will happen after we graduated from Taylor and decide to go overseas to study but yet we still do not know how to cook? In this scientific age a stove can be had for a few dollars and we can devote a few minutes in cooking our food. Hence, the benefits of knowing how to cook is not only saves ur from starvation but it is more economical, hygenic and fascinating. For the sake of cleanliness and variety also, people always prefer to cook thier own food.

Of cause i admit my "mood" is totally being destroyed when i heard the "harh" from the mouth of the relatives. So.. do i need to start learning how to cook from today? Anyone wants to join me...? => to cook Maggie. =D

Green lamps, u want?

I was doing a research on "how to make a taylor's classroom more eco-friendly" and i found this. I decided to install this in my future house. MUST! >.<
I seriously love the idea of this green lamp that blends natural textures with recycled materials to bring a bit of nature indoors.

This green lamp is conceived by three Venetian architects for a charity competition, the Grass-On Lamp by ITlab is made entirely of recycled materials, including the synthetic grass, and completely recyclable. The cube structure of the lamp gives it added versatility, letting it rest on the floor, on a table, or suspended from the air.

This idea is actually the combination of architect, design and interiors by using surprising materials and forms. I personally like this imteractive nature-if you prefer this green lamp to be lighter, you can just trim back the green to let more shine through.

By installing this lovely lamp inside the house, one can sense the closeness of the nature although you are actually inside your concrete house.

A little big idea can make the earth better. Go green with me today. =)

It's just an explainable Miracle.

Do not think that this is a Christmas tree with snowflakes covering it's leaves. Well, photoshop can't be that perfect and i strongly believe that this creation is real when i watched the video for the first time.Here I'm going to separate me facts and opinions to give a better understanding.

Honestly, I think this is an amazing tower. I even had my sleepless nights to think about the explanations for this phenomena. In my opinion, the tower is made out of metal materials and the fluid below is just an ordinary water. When electric currents pass through the morpho towers, they start to charge the water molecules at the same time.



I assume that everyone knows water is neutral. "Water is a polar molecule. A polar molecule is a molecule with an unequal distribution of charges, that is, each molecule has a positive end and a negative end. Polar molecules attract each other as well as ions and other polar molecules. "(from Biology SPM SUCCESS reference book 2007 page 84- Chapter 4 Chemical Composition of the Cell)-from the reference book that i'm going to burn recycle. The time still haven't erase this part of memories from my brain. With this knowledge i try to make an analysis. That is -

When the electric currents pass through the metallic towers (or materials that can conduct electricity), the towers become electromagnets, which will lose thier magnetism when there is no current supply. The currents SOMEHOW attract the positive ions in the water molecules and thus, the water changes into the shape of spikes.
Then i have headache why it is a spike, but not square, or cube? I try to explain my hypothesis physically:The positive ions is heavier than the negative ions. That's why the positive ions occupy the larger portion-which made out the larger base of a spike. i was satisfied with my OWN hypothesis. =3

All these are just my opinions. To my surprise, my opinions are actually quite close to the FACTS. From my research, the installation is not containing ordinary water, but a type of fluid called ferrofluid(to know more about ferrofluid, click here!).


-to be continue. i will still explain the principle of this creation later. I WANT TO SLEEP NOW. >.< 3.22 a.m.

To cut the story short, ferrofluid is a liquid which becomes strongly polarised in the presence of magnetism. It consisted of nanoparticles of magnetite, hematite and iron. It is usually used in electronic devices, mechanical engineering, medicine and even art.



The principle of this installation is actually simple. We need one electromagnet, which iron core is extended and sculpted. The magnetism of the helical tower is strenghthened when music plays. The helical shape of the tower enable the ferrofluid to move to it's top if the magnetic field is strong enough. Ferrofluid with the shape of spikes are born from bottom, moving up by rotating around the edge of the spiral.

One amazing fact is that this installation moves synthetically to music! How does music affects the movements of the ferrofluid? Actually, time series metadata which consists of musical information(chord proggression,beat position,melody block information, ferrofluid control information) are added to the music played beforehand. This explains why the rhythm of the ferrofluid moves with the musical rhythm coincedentally. Therefore, the fluid remains at the bottom of the plate when there is no sound.

The morpho tower is just a simple spiral shape when there is no magnetic force created. BUt when the magnetism around the tower increased, the tower will change it's shape into minute moss, or spiky teeth, or even hard iron surface depending on the strenght of magnetic field. In the nutshell, the shape of the ferrofluid on the surface of the tower can be altered by simply control the magnetic field.

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Breathtaking. The only way to describe the feeling to see this beauty in motion is "breathtaking". You know, the fact is we usually just remember the name of the creation, but not the name of the creator,or the artist perhaps. The creators of morpho tower are Sachiko Kodama and Yasushi Miyajima. They are both from Japan.

Sachiko Kodama :
-born in 1970.
-loved art and literature when she was young.
-interested in science.

Awards :
-The 5th Media Arts Festival, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Grand Prize (Digital Art Interactive Division)2001
-The 16th Digital Content Grand Prix, Digital Content Association of Japan, Art Award, 2001
-Japan Information-Culture Society, Art Award 2002

In 2006, she had her sole exhibition with the title "Morpho Towers" in Gallery Sakamaki, Tokyo.


Yasushi Miyajima :
-from Sony CSL.
-he contributed most to the music part of the morpho towers. He installed the time series metadata which consists of musical information into the music played to make the ferrofluid moves coincident with the music.

Yay! i've done! I hope my explanations are clear enough. Good night everyone! =D

Why Caterpillar? Part 1

You may not even realize if a caterpillar is crawling beside of you. That's the meaning we try to bring out- small and yet it looks unimportant.

We actually symbolize ourselves as caterpillars because we are FNBE students, just joined this college, just stepped into the field of architecture and know nothing yet. However, in 6 years time, we will transform into colourful butterflies. So, yeah, let's see what will happen in our future. =)



-Edited by : Nicholas