It's Chinese New Year's Eve today. For those who are celebrating, happy Chinese new year!
Have a good year ahead. Woof!
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Around Cardiff
Apart from being in Cardiff, I sometimes take short trips outside the city with friends. Wales is a beautiful place if you care to look...
Castell Coch (Castle Coch). Meaning The Red Castle. Located just outside the city. If you bother to walk upstream of the River Taff, you will eventually arrive here.
Some spring flowers blooming in the many hills of Wales.
Mumbles. Lovely seaside and places to go walking. Home of Catherine Zeta Jones I am told...
More Welsh Seaside... lovely.
Swansea City. About an hour's drive away from Cardiff.
Caerphilly Castle in Caerphilly. Not only do they have a cheese named after their city, they also have one of the oldest castles in the world.
Lake in the Breacon Beacons. Photo by Nat.
And you gotta have sheep in Wales! :) Photo by Nat.
Castell Coch (Castle Coch). Meaning The Red Castle. Located just outside the city. If you bother to walk upstream of the River Taff, you will eventually arrive here.
Some spring flowers blooming in the many hills of Wales.
Mumbles. Lovely seaside and places to go walking. Home of Catherine Zeta Jones I am told...
More Welsh Seaside... lovely.
Swansea City. About an hour's drive away from Cardiff.
Caerphilly Castle in Caerphilly. Not only do they have a cheese named after their city, they also have one of the oldest castles in the world.
Lake in the Breacon Beacons. Photo by Nat.
And you gotta have sheep in Wales! :) Photo by Nat.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
The Mosquito Relocation
This morning we had to relocate all our mosquitoes and equipment to a new insectary next door. All the elbow grease... that plus the tropical condition of the insectaries while wearing a jumper is near torture. Meanwhile, outside temperature was -1 Celcius! I can't help but to laugh at the irony...
Monday, January 23, 2006
Attack of the Mosquitoes
Arrgh! The mosquitoes has escaped during the weekend and was happily flying around the insectary! The moment I stepped into the room they all went for me. I've just spent the last hour and a half trying to recapture/kill them while evade from being bitten.
Bleh! I hate it went there is a containment breach.
Bleh! I hate it went there is a containment breach.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Cardiff Revisited Part Two
Now down south is the bay. Here are some of the pictures...
Parts of Cardiff Bay still has its marshlands. This patch is protected for the interest of conservation.
The Millenium Centre. There is Ping demonstrating the size of the building. No, we did not see any TARDIS appearing at the time :(.
And here is Ping again nearer by the water. Bird book and binoculars in hand! :)
Parts of Cardiff Bay still has its marshlands. This patch is protected for the interest of conservation.
The Millenium Centre. There is Ping demonstrating the size of the building. No, we did not see any TARDIS appearing at the time :(.
And here is Ping again nearer by the water. Bird book and binoculars in hand! :)
Friday, January 20, 2006
Cardiff Revisited Part One
I'd gone back to Cardiff for Nat's birthday celebration. It was fun. It was refreshing to come back to this city. So I thought to put up some pictures of Cardiff City I took for the past year...
Here is one of the animals on the stone wall along the street of Cardiff Castle.
Inner part of Cardiff Castle. This is the original bit of the castle. Other castle builidings was later on built in.
Cardiff's very own Clock Tower. I could hear it ringing from my old house!
A part of Cardiff City Centre and an alternate view of the clock tower. Photo by Ping.
The Welsh dragon on Cardiff Town Hall roof.
Millenium Stadium as seen from a bridge in Bute Park.
Another bridge in Bute Park that I always cross during my evening jogs in the summer.
Cricket game during summertime.
The centre piece in the Univerisity Park (or is it Garden?).
Here is one of the animals on the stone wall along the street of Cardiff Castle.
Inner part of Cardiff Castle. This is the original bit of the castle. Other castle builidings was later on built in.
Cardiff's very own Clock Tower. I could hear it ringing from my old house!
A part of Cardiff City Centre and an alternate view of the clock tower. Photo by Ping.
The Welsh dragon on Cardiff Town Hall roof.
Millenium Stadium as seen from a bridge in Bute Park.
Another bridge in Bute Park that I always cross during my evening jogs in the summer.
Cricket game during summertime.
The centre piece in the Univerisity Park (or is it Garden?).
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Hardy creatures
Wahey! An actual mosquito post!
Before I left for London during the Christmas break, I decided to kill off my adult Aedes aegypti colony. This is done by getting rid of their food and water. They should then die fairly quickly. Surprisingly, they are still alive. On top of that, Aedes aegypti eggs can be kept on dry paper for months. And to hatch them, just simply add them to a tub of water! It goes to show how hardy these creatures are, and so such successful pests.
What do the eggs look like?
Okay, not the most brilliant picture... but here is a female adult (dead) with some eggs (hers probably). It's the black stuff by the way! And the size of one egg (circled red) is about the size of this comma (,).
So if you live in a place with Aedes mosquitoes, and have some odd desire to find their eggs... check damp areas like wet grounds or water containing vessels (including natural ones like rock pools, puddles, leaf axils and tree holes). Note that the eggs tend to stick to the sides of vessels that contains/recently contained water.
Hope that was useful information...
Before I left for London during the Christmas break, I decided to kill off my adult Aedes aegypti colony. This is done by getting rid of their food and water. They should then die fairly quickly. Surprisingly, they are still alive. On top of that, Aedes aegypti eggs can be kept on dry paper for months. And to hatch them, just simply add them to a tub of water! It goes to show how hardy these creatures are, and so such successful pests.
What do the eggs look like?
Okay, not the most brilliant picture... but here is a female adult (dead) with some eggs (hers probably). It's the black stuff by the way! And the size of one egg (circled red) is about the size of this comma (,).
So if you live in a place with Aedes mosquitoes, and have some odd desire to find their eggs... check damp areas like wet grounds or water containing vessels (including natural ones like rock pools, puddles, leaf axils and tree holes). Note that the eggs tend to stick to the sides of vessels that contains/recently contained water.
Hope that was useful information...
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Shut the F*** Up!
Grrr! Second day at work and those buggers are back screaming their lungs and brains out about their supposed love for animals. Here I am trying to work on some gene sequences and for the last 3 hours I get them as this irritating background noise! Shut up! shut up! shut up!
Well, at least I get the satisfaction of them freezing outside. It's 1 degree Celcius at the moment... Maybe some of them will catch a nasty cold/flu/pneumonia that they need medicines that had probably been tested on animals before (snicker). Okay, I need not to be mean... bah!
Well, at least I get the satisfaction of them freezing outside. It's 1 degree Celcius at the moment... Maybe some of them will catch a nasty cold/flu/pneumonia that they need medicines that had probably been tested on animals before (snicker). Okay, I need not to be mean... bah!
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Fair Trading
A little Christmas present was given to me couple of days before I left for London for the Holidays (oh yeah, now I'm back in Oxford). And that present has left me thinking and somewhat a little guilty... they were Divine Fairtrade Milk Chocolate Coins.
I have always been supportive of getting rid of poverty, hence the support for Live 8. But thinking back of my actions, I realised that I've never really bothered to make sure that I buy fair trade things. Have I been contradicting myself all this while? Could it be that I've been buying sugar at the expense of some poor farmer in Central America?...
Later, I've rummaged through my cupboard, but none of the products bore that Fairtrade logo. My heart sank. Luckily, a quick surf on the internet informed me that my Twinnings tea has a fair trade policy. So was my Cadbury's cocoa powder...
Earlier today, I've gone to my local supermarket for a bit of shopping. And for the first time I actually checked for Fairtrade labelled products :). Now I'm not one that makes new year resolutions, but I'm definitely making a resolution to be fair trade aware and buy products that has an ethical trade policy.
So little does the giver of that present know that his gift was not only just nice chocolates for the Christmas cheer, but a reminder for me to do my part in making poverty history.
Thanks.
Find out more about Fairtrade.
I have always been supportive of getting rid of poverty, hence the support for Live 8. But thinking back of my actions, I realised that I've never really bothered to make sure that I buy fair trade things. Have I been contradicting myself all this while? Could it be that I've been buying sugar at the expense of some poor farmer in Central America?...
Later, I've rummaged through my cupboard, but none of the products bore that Fairtrade logo. My heart sank. Luckily, a quick surf on the internet informed me that my Twinnings tea has a fair trade policy. So was my Cadbury's cocoa powder...
Earlier today, I've gone to my local supermarket for a bit of shopping. And for the first time I actually checked for Fairtrade labelled products :). Now I'm not one that makes new year resolutions, but I'm definitely making a resolution to be fair trade aware and buy products that has an ethical trade policy.
So little does the giver of that present know that his gift was not only just nice chocolates for the Christmas cheer, but a reminder for me to do my part in making poverty history.
Thanks.
Find out more about Fairtrade.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
The Year that was
New friends
from different walks of life
a gathering for Live 8
and another for July 7
Then a new opportunity
To a new city
More new faces
from new places
remembrance of a sad event
Which a friend could not prevent
A peaceful Christmas holiday
at least for me
And now a new year
and hopes for a better one
again
from different walks of life
a gathering for Live 8
and another for July 7
Then a new opportunity
To a new city
More new faces
from new places
remembrance of a sad event
Which a friend could not prevent
A peaceful Christmas holiday
at least for me
And now a new year
and hopes for a better one
again
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