The Malay Terrorist

The Video



Is that it? I just went "Ho-hum". But things would be very very
different if the actor happens to be Kerismu..., er Hishamuddin
waving his Keris instead. I would laugh non-stop for hours. He
speaks like he's from Malaysia. Indonesians speak with a slight
different accent. Still, its not a big deal to me. But then, this is
what I might want to do if a customer piss me off.

Source from Fas-C-Nation

Shooting the Phaser rifle

Nex just dropped by my house last night for a very specific purpose. He has upgraded his skills on correcting props almost to "Oh My God!" standard after doing Kal's Fifth Element Pistol. So, we compared the two phaser rifles. One of them is mine and the other, is Richard's.

We have bought the same rifle together but someone did a very bad job on the rifle. In some places, the resin did not flow to the correct thickness and therefore, if you press on that area, it will crack. So, Nex did a lot of patching up and putting in more resin. At one point, he had to snap off the rifle's long end to be able to reach inside the rifle.

So, I am going to dread when it is my turn because I will definitely need to open it up to put in the electronics which is almost ready......

See the difference? Nex's working masterpiece is on top
and mine is, well, you know la.

The details of his work speaks volumes!

Junk

I found this on the ground on the way to one of my customer. Apparently, its some kind of circuit board for controling a system. But, when I have the time, I will clean it up and see what kind of circuit I can do with it. At the moment, I am thinking of connecting them to a battery and when each switch is pressed, the LED will light up. or maybe not.

The circuit board is double-sided with the SMT
LEDs and switch on one side.

And the rest of the tracks on the other side

Proof that Tony Star has a Heart

Sorry, guys and gals, this post is for RPF members only. This is an idea of constructing a Heart. As the idea came to me a few days ago, and rather than wait for a scanner, I quickly jot it down on my own book if ideas (Ha ha, Marvel) and took pictures of it.

The idea is to construct version 2 of the heart complete with
the wires. It would be the same wires seen in the movie when
Pepper Potts helped Tony Stark with his Heart Transplant. I
hope it would be a four core cable as they would be needed to
switch controls between the stand's power supply and within
the heart's own rechargable batteries. On other words, when
it is plugged to the stand, it uses the power from the mains or
wall adaptor while at the same time charges the rechargable
batteries inside the Heart. When you unplug it, the relay switch
over to the rechargable batteries. It could also be used to
signal the Heart glow on and off via a wireless remote.

A closer look at the sketch where the idea is to utilise the metal
construct of the Heart as the heatsink to the 5Watt Luxeon LED.
With PWM circuit to drive the LED, it is not (hopefully) that warm
and also the PWM is ideal to make the glowing effect. Here, the
sletch shows a side view to what I think, a diffused lens and a
parabolic reflector could be used to make the Heart brighter.

Meeting up @ Pasar Road II

It was the second time to meet up with Pol but unfortunately, by the time we met up, the sky was really dark, as if the Heavens is about to open up. So, with the limited time, he got what he needed (Temperature adjustable Heat Gun). Alas, for old poor Will, the traders were already packing up after they saw the black clouds. So, no LED torches today.

At 55 sen per box, I could not resist in getting
one of each colour. I did not get the black one
as it was 70 sen. These are interlockable and
have a spring loaded open cover. Good for the
1210 SMT leds I bought (foreground)

Something from Shenzhen

More than 10 years ago, if I wanted an electronic part or component, my best chance would be from Pasar Road. And if after searching the whole area produced nothing, then the next step would be to consult RS Catalogues or Farnell. And if they do not have it, the only last chance would be to go down all the way to Singapore (as if I would go there just for one IC chip. Then again.....)

And that's it.

I mean, where else can I get my stuff from? Fast forward years later, where the Internet matured and everyone, including a waiter have their own website or blog. eBay also helped many chose not to work on their day jobs. Ha ha ha ha

But seriously, the funny part is that I got my much sought after IC from the most unlikeliest places. I have been searching for this part since last year with no result. Pasar Road does not have it and my favourite shop also tried to look for it when they're in China. And so, one day, I got bored and tried out eBay.

Yeah. eBay. Of all the places and I got them for as much as I could pay. Within days, the packaged was delivered without any hiccups. And best of all, this guy does not even nag/bother me about leaving positive comments and all that crap.

25 pieces of HT8950 on my desk this morning!
Whoooo hooo!

The mission.........

I don't want to post this as it brings back the memories.

Free at last! Stupid black wires!

Now, let's see, where is the target....

Oh there it is! Have to do a jump... Alley oop!

OK, got what I came for.

Ta-daa!

Stickers in me watch!

I can't remember where I get these stickers from as all I could remember was that it must be one of those R&R stops up North on one of my outstation trips. When I gave it to Kaelynn, who never had stickers before, Kristine was jealous and make a lot of noise. Although she (Kristine) gets a lot of stickers, the one I gave to Kaelynn was special because it was small, the pictures were cute and it has metal foil backing which means the stickers lasts longer (or maybe, not). Since her elder sister complained, Kaelynn gave her stickers to her without any hesitation. Such a sweet girl too. But in the end, days later, when Kristine forgot all about it, Kaelynn curi-curi took it back and played with it.

Wow. She is so smart. Smarter than her sister.

Anyway, some of the images were so cute, I decided
to help myself too. This is to remind me of Kristine &
Kaelynn when I worked late or far away.

Euwwww! When I took my watch off, I saw
the disgusting grime! This is what happens
when you wear watches 24x7. I need to get
it cleaned soon

Kaelynn stuck some on my calf...........

Halo there, Spartan!

After our customer at Amcorp Mall, I decided to visit one of my favourite toy shops. Lo and behold, they had some MacFarlane Halo action figures! One thing I hate about "hot" items are that I am always late for extra loose packs and so, have to buy the "in a set" options. And I hate that because this would mean wasting so much money just to get one or two figure in a set of six. Anyhow, because he recognises me, he gave me some good offers. But this month, I guess I can forgot my haircut for a few weeks more...........

Me: I want that red one
Him: That one? You must buy an "enemy" to complete the pair
Me: WTF! Give it to me or I will kill you now!
Him: Ok, ok. You dun want the enemy, you can pair with vehicles, then
Me: *Take a peek at the vehicles* Hmmm... looks nice. OK, I take one
Him: The vehicles also come in a set of three. Buy la. I want to get rid of the stock
Me: And I suppose I cannot chose the three vehicles, hor?
Him: Nope.
Me: OK, la. I buy. I buy! &#%@*!!!!
Him: Want that figure too?
Me: You mean the transparent girl? No la. She looked like she's in shock and can't even "move"

In the end, after reading a bit about this 3 inch
vehicle on the Internet, its not bad afterall.

Now I see why they paired it so much. Its the EVA suit
version and not the normal sergeant hat type figure.

Meeting up @ Pasar Road

Today was a good day to me as the service calls were not that heavy and I get chauffered about, thanks to my assistant. And so, I got a call from Nex who arrived from Kota Kinabalu the day before and already, he is asking me to meet up. Unfortunately, since I was not driving today, I have to depend on my driver and therefore, we agreed to meet up at Pasar Road in the afternoon.

So, how to convince my assistant to follow my plan? Simple!

He also likes to take pictures and so, *ahem* I decided to introduce him to the World of DSLRs! And so at Pasar Road, I took both Nex and my assistant to the second-hand SLR shop for them to decide if they are ready for it. Since my 30 minutes was up, I had no choice but to leave Nex there as both of us had another appointment to keep. The last I saw of him was they (another avid Nikon D200 photographer) were chatting outside and Nex was asking which is the best camera.

In the beginning, my assistant was interested at the Nikon D80 (RM1450 body) which would have cost him RM2100 (Body + Kit lens + 2% tax). The D200 was way out of budget. Then we went to Amcorp Mall (our customer was there, really.) where a new Nikon D60 was about Rm2400 or thereabouts. So, on the way back to office, we discussed the merits of getting a D70 versus the D60. Since he loves taking architectural buildings but with no plans of getting a "proper" lens for the next two years (Ha ha ha. I doubt it) the argument went in favour of the D60 because:
1) D60 uses SD card (OK, lame excuse)
2) He is not bothered about manual focusing. This is important if he wants to get a second-hand wide-angle lens later which the D60 cannot use it 100%
3) Since he has no lens collection, the D60 is a good beginner camera for him

Since by the time we got out, it was raining and I could not get the three LED torch for Will. But I'll be back there soon!

While we were there, my favourite shop was testing
a 30x 1Watt Luxeon array. It was so bright, its like
using those spotlights outside buildings. However,
the price tag of RM2xx kept me from buying it. It
would have made a very good camera flash or a
very bright Phaser fire!

(Close up is about 1 inch long) This little monster eats up 25 volts
and 750mA. While he was using PWM to power it, the huge chunk
of heatsink was worryingly warm. Very very warm.

Anyway, since I had a bit extra cash, I decided to buy
two more prototype boards and also another 4-channel
RF remote control.

And why do I need so many boards? I am having a bit
of free time now and I am re-doing my Star Trek
Phaser Rifle circuit again. Everything is ready and
now I will concentrate on lighting up the scope

Zoom! Zoom! Zoom!

While I was waiting for my technician to arrive, I was hanging around outside the customer's place. I wanted him to come so that he can learn programming from me on the Panasonic system. He is more than an hour late and so, I began to look around.....

And I stumbled onto some rubbish.
Feeling bored, I opened it........

Hmm.... some Tamron thing. Must be used
laser or photocopier toner.

When I opened it up, it looked like a zoom lens!
So, I quickly try it on my D50 and it works!
Wah lau! Who is so kind hearted to leave a
80-300mm lens for me to use?
This person is so kind!

Let's see, this is taken from the D50 Kit lens at 18mm

Kit lens at 34mm

Kit lens maxed out at 55mm

Tamron lens at 70mm

Tamron lens at 110mm

And now, maximum at 300mm!

And now, some real shots. On a normal shot, this is OK
but once you zoom into the subject...

you can see how the background blurs out nicely?
Sort of makes you focus your attention on
the subject instead of the background

Although the minimum focus is slightly under a meter,
I love the way the images turned out even if it means
I have to stand further a bit. Ha ha ha ha

This was the closest I got (5m) before it flew off. If I knew
how to control my manual zooming, I bet I could take it
while it was flying off. Imagine the shot, a close-up of
the bird with the background all out of focus

Oh, how the details of the leaves shows!

But since the lens is heavy, my hands tend to shake
after some time which makes the picture blurry
expecially under bad light. Here, a small gust of
wind made things worse.

I don't know why but I just like the details of this shot

Some focusing needs manual adjustment such as this
case when shooting through a fence.

And sometimes, the fence can disappear completely
Goos or not?

However, after less than an half an hour of shooting, already
there were some dust on the big lens. This means I have to
carry some dust blower or panti.....er, cloth

Wow. This lens is so good! OK, although its a bit heavy and makes a lot of noise, I suspect its eating the batteries too. But then, I am not complaining. I take photos for fun and so, this lens is a great asset to me. Unfortunately, when I looked back at the rubbish for more lens especially a macro lens, there was none. Maybe I should leave a "Thank You" note on that spot in case someone wants it back.

Or maybe I should just go and find a friend to treat him for lunch or dinner......

Haiya.........

Please wait for three working days.....

The trip to Lake Gardens

You know, with these 3-day weekends, my internal timing can really go nuts. Although today is Wesak day, I felt as if today was a Sunday (even though its a Monday). Still, I can't complain because I get to wake up past 12 o'clock twice in a row!

So, it was the usual lunch, mayhem and chaos around the house until six in the evening where Mommy decided it was time for us to go to Lake Gardens! The mission is, to visit the Deer Park.

Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, most of the place is under construction, especially the stage area. So, we walked a bit until we saw the playground area. Wow. It is like a (free) micro-sized Disneyland for kids. Since there are no other places to go, we decided to let the girls play about there.

Kaelynn and Kristine having their lunch.

When we arrived, we were amazed at the size of
the playground. It was one set to another and some
were linked by bridges

And such colours too

Even the slides were almost two stories high

Some places were too small for parents to
follow and this made the children feel so
free

Some are so high, you'd actually start to
worry about them falling

And some are so cramped, you'd feel
like Alice chasing after the White Rabbit

Kristine did enjoy those tall slides

While Kaelynn prefers the lower ones

Then there is this weird swing which Kristine
totally enjoyed but not Kaelynn. Amazingly,
everyone waited patiently for their turn, and
you have the occasional child-panic because it
was swung with their backs facing forward

Kristine met her challenge today. She was too
scared to go past the middle.

Finally, it was 8pm and we know Kristine does
not want to go home so i have to be strict with
her but I gave her one last round on the bridge
and some more slides before we call it a day