The Microscope

A microscope. Wow. I mean, if i had gotten this when I was young, I would have a lot of fun with it. But now, all I can see is .............. a potential Sci-Fi prop. Months ago, when I was looking for a simple magnifier, eBay pointed me to this. And it was all mine as soon as I shell out more than USD29.00 (but I just checked today, its dropped to USD9.99. Darn). Anyway, there was another version which my Boss's Boss bought in KL months ago, but for RM70-odd.

I liked that one but the price for that in eBay was too much.

And so, this microscope costs me RM35.00.
I k now, its cheap and won't last long. Even
at a simple glance everyone would know its
made in China. Besides the cheap microscope
viewing plates, it also has a base which acts
as a stand for the device.

Here, you can see the lens and also,
it has its own light source.

And the LED is pure white, which
surprisingly, despite its size, does
its job well. And it uses those coin-
cell batteries instead of the AAA.

Unfortunately, this part also tend
to fall off as there was no secure
proper mechanism to secure it.
All they used was a screw which
has no threads to bite into.

The reason why I am so worried was
because of the small metal part which
is supposed to be 'glued' to the bottom
cover is loose and not only that, it is
very oxidised. One day, I have to
glue it in place because if the cover
drops, its hard to find them back.

Anyway, now its time to test out the microscope.
I chose my old shaver blade and used a magnet
to stick it to the base since its very slippery.
But no maggots here, though. Phew.

OK, this is how the shaver looks like

Under the microscope, at 20x magnification.
Although I can see well without the glasses,
the Nokia 5800 has problems. And actually,
the image is very bright compared to this pic

At 30x magnification, you can see most of the
crap but somehow, the Nokia turned all the
details into black shades.

At 40x magnification. I wanted to focus on
the blade but its very disorientating when
moving the blade as everything is opposite.
When you move it inward, the image goes
outwards and so on.

Mooncake Festival 2010

Being an absolute and 100% banana, I did not know that today is Mooncake Festival Night. It was not until my Wife SMSed me to remind me not to work too late tonight. And also, maybe its pure coincidence that I went about Jalan Raja Laut looking for 'stuff'. And so, I happen to come across a real Chinese lady who sold me some LED candles before I could tell her I do not understand Mandarin. However, when she mentioned RM6.00, it all became clear.

Last year, these candles were on sale in eBay but the prices they commanded was ludicrous. And here, she is selling for RM3.00 each, a fraction of a fraction of the price. What is so specail this time was that apart from the almost real flickering of the LED, when you blow it, it will go off, just like a real candle.

Silly old me went and bought them, all the while thinking about the wind/air switch that can be salvaged. Little did I know, there is no such thing and these Chinese were ingenious when it came to solving that problem.

The girls were happy with the LED candle because
although each have their own lantern, there were
no candles. So, Kristin had the bright idea of using
them on the lanterns. Clever girl!

The girls demonstrating how to switch it 'off'

And so, under the bright moonlight, I had
lens flare.

Still, the girls had their fun, thanks
to Kristine's smart thinking. And no,
we did not put idea into her head
either. So, Boys and Girls, I suspect
it must be the milk powder at play.

I had to use the flash to take some
shots as it was too dark.

The mystery of the wind switch solved.Its actually
a microphone in there, connected to a microprocessor
(black glob), acting as a sound switch. This is because
when you blow through the hole, it creates noise for
the mic and so, it swithes on or off. In other words, you
can even clap your hands or place it near a speaker
for some funky effects. Heh.

This was a 10 second exposure shot for fun where
I told the girls to stay still. Something which is
incredibly hard for them to do...... ha ha ha ha.

The tough Kelisa

Spotted this while I was on the way back
to the car. If the owner raised it higher,
it would look like a very cute mini 4x4.