To TUBE or not to TUBE

The video sharing website that is YouTube has been revolutionary in this modern age. You can find millions of videos on YouTube, making it as good a "search engine" (if it was a search engine) as Google. My car had a puncture yesterday and it got me thinking about another kind of tube, the one you used to find in your tyres.

When I was younger, my bmx bicycle was my favourite (and only) form of self-driven transport. I recall having to push my bike from my house to the nearest workshop whenever I had a nail on one of my tyres. (trust me, it happened quite often.. unlucky me) The mechanic will remove the TUBE inside the tyre, look for the 'puncture', and then patch it up.

As I grew older, I moved on to my motorbike instead. Similarly, I was prone to getting punctures and flat tyres (to my disappointment and frustration). I had good cause to be disappointed: the bike was way heavier than my bicycle. Nevertheless, I had to do it. Hence, the routine continued; to the workshop, tube removed, check for the hole, patch it up. This time, there were instances when it could not be patched up, hence the tube had to be replaced at a price of about RM18 (for a good one) or RM 8 for something less.

4 years back, I took a huge step and changed my tyres to; you guessed it, TUBELESS tyres. They cost me about RM100 but it was well worth it. Since then, I've not encountered any problems with punctures. The following diagram shows the structure of a tubeless tyre.

Apart from being lighter, tubeless tyres are safer as well. In the event of a puncture, air escapes from the tubeless tyre which will lead to a gentle deflation (tyre gets flat slowly, there's time to either move to the side or continue a short distance to get it fixed). However, with the tube, there is a high possibility that the tube will burst, causing a rapid deflation and you might lose control. Experience tells me that it can happen. (Luckily I managed to use my feet to control the bike and move it to the side)

As for cars, most of them use tubeless tyres. However, some motorcycles still use tubed tyres as it is much cheaper while some bikes were made LONG before this technology came about.

For the bikers out there, do check if you are still on tubed tyres. If you are, I recommend that you consider tubeless tyres as it is much more economical in the long run (less punctures = less repair/replacement cost). Also, you can save on petrol since it has a rounder profile and has less rolling resistance. Most importantly, it is SAFER.

GOOGLE "TUBELESS TYRES" to find out more.

Banana Leaves: Inwards or Outwards?

I had Indian food for lunch today with my parents at the Old Andersonian Club, just next to Anderson School. It wasn't the best I've tasted, but it surely beats the usual stuff I take in Singapore. At the end of the meal, we folded the banana leaf because we learnt this is customary when eating off banana leaves.

The problem was, my and my mom folded our leaves inwards while my dad folded it outwards. Noticing this, we went into a small debate on which direction is right. My friends thought me to fold it inwards while my dad's friends taught him to do it the other way. As we couldn't come to a conclusion, we observed the other tables and they folded theirs inwards.

Unsatisfied, my dad asked one of the waitresses which way is the correct one. Response: Fold outwards. RESULTS: No conclusion.

I decided to do a bit of research on this issue and couldn't find any concrete sources on this yet. Hence, if anyone knows anything about this or has sources that I can look at, please let me know. I'll be glad to know the truth.

I'll be back with more once I get more research material. Probably by that time, I would've managed to solve this problem.

Of Musical Talents

More than 6 billion people in the world today. Amidst all the people, you are bound to find some really talented people, those with remarkable abilities that just spell BRILLIANT out loud.

I was shown this video clip by Eric, who stumbled upon it. This boy, Sungha Jung, from Korea, is just 12 years old. He picked up the guitar 2 years ago after watching his dad play the instrument. Without any music lessons, he has mastered the guitar to a point where even the best guitarists in the world would probably take 50 years to reach. Don't believe me? See for yourself.


If that is not brilliance for you, I don't know what is.

There are currently about 90 songs by him on youtube. Just search his name and you'll find him. Enjoy the music, everyone.

UEFA Champions League 2008

UEFA Champions League - one of the richest (if not the richest) tournaments in world football (or soccer in some countries). Every club in Europe dreams of lifting the trophy (shown below), not only for the prestige involved in winning the tournament, but also the money that comes along with it. It was reported that the winner will get away with around 100 million pounds in earnings, which comes from various sources like match tickets revenue, tv deals, sponsorship deals, prize money, etc.

This year, we see the first final ever to be contested between two British clubs, namely Manchester United and Chelsea. Both clubs have done well domestically during the course of the season, with Chelsea losing out on the last day of matches, having been equal on points going into the final day.

I managed to catch the final on ESPN for the first time since Liverpool's miracle in Istanbul (for the uninitiated, just google liverpool istanbul) 3 years ago. I still remember how fast my heart pumped 3 years back while supporting Liverpool (yes, I'm a Liverpool fan). However, no such problems this year.

So who won the final of this year's Champions League? The following two pictures should be able to sum up everything.

Well done Man U.

Thomas Cup Review - M'sia vs China

As stated in my previous post, here's my review of the 5 matches between M'sia and China in the semi-finals of the recently concluded Thomas Cup.

1st Singles
Lee Chong Wei vs Lin Dan
This was a pure stunner. Chong Wei came out firing from the start of the match and Lin Dan could not do anything about it. Of course, some say that Lin Dan was not at his best during the match but I thought that happened because Chong Wei didn't allow him to play his normal game. Lin Dan's power is in offence while his defence is comparatively week. Hence, it is no surprise that whoever managed to keep him occupied with defence (like how Chong Wei did), beating him will be a huge possibility.

NOTE: Chong Wei came back from 20-12 down in the final set of the 2006 Malaysian Open against Lin Dan to take the set 23-21 and win the championship. It is just possible that this is still lingering on Lin Dan's mind.

1st Doubles
Koo Kien Kiat/Tan Boon Heong vs Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng
This match was a disappointing one for Malaysia. Our pair just collapsed in the match against the world no. 2. They were good enough to give a challenge but ended up looking like schoolboys (though they are rather young). The performance in this match is good reason for splitting up this pair. The two are not communicating well and communication is crucial in doubles. Though I'm in full support of Kien Kiat (my ex-schoolmate), I have to agree that he does let success go to his head easily. Let's hope Rexy can do something to change their mentality.

2nd Singles
Wong Choong Hann vs Bao Chunlai
Choong Hann is at the twilight of his career and was never expected to win this match. Chunlai controlled the entire game and gave us no chance. We salute Choong Hann for his contributions to Malaysian badminton but let's admit that his decision to make this Thomas Cup his last one is a good one.

2nd Doubles
Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif/Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari vs Guo Zhendong/Xie Zhongbo
Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah did not feature in this match-up with China because of injury and fever respectively and this paved the way for this M'sian pair with probably the longest combined name in badminton (must be a mouthful for commentators) to step up. They didn't disappoint. Faced with opponents nearly a foot taller than them, they did not falter. Instead, the pair attached from start to finish and always looked the likely winners. This is probably their biggest win so far and I hope that they keep their feet rooted to ensure further success in the future.

3rd Singles
Muhd Roslin Muhd Hashim vs Chen Jin
Like the 1st singles, this was a huge disappointment. Roslin just lacks the variety in his play and Chen Jin read his play after a while, thus dominated the match. There are some things that you will notice and sigh over when you see Roslin play. First, he depends on a few 'winning-shots' that he feels no one will be able to retrieve. Unfortunately, Chen Jin was good enough to retrieve them. Roslin's reaction? Try the same shot again until it becomes a winner. Second, he tries to learn his opponents trick shots in the same match. It's good to learn and improve but hey, he couldn't done it in practice AFTER the match. Chen Jin wasn't at his best but unfortunately, Roslin did worse.

And my friends, that's my two cents worth on the first badminton match(es) that I've watched in two years. It was entertaining but we can only hope for a better outing in the next edition.

Badminton - Thomas Cup

China has just won the Thomas Cup (that's one of the most important tournaments in badminton for the unitiated). They truely deserve it as they outplayed their opponents all the way. The intensity and pace that they play to is truly magnificient. I'm convinced that their success in badminton and table tennis is due to the tremendous reflexes that Chinese have compared to the rest of the world (hey, there must be a reason why they're way ahead of the rest in those two sports)

As a Malaysian, I support the Malaysian Team of course and was greatly disappointed when they lost to China in the semi-finals. The semi-finals was a tight match. We lost narrowly (3-2) to undoubtedly the best badminton-playing nation at the moment. (for the record, China has the 1st, 3rd, and 4th ranked singles players in the world at the moment).

Congratulations to China on this success. I'm glad they won this amidst the earthquake disaster back home. At least this brings some cheer to the people of China.

My take on the 5 matches between M'sia and China in my next post.

Birthday Edition

A few days after my 23rd birthday, I decided to move all my old posts to another site, and start afresh with new posts on this site. As always, I hope that this move will spur me on to be consistent with my posts from this point onwards.

In this post, I would like acknowledge all the birthday wishes that I received.

Thank you Cheryl for being the first to wish me and also for spending time with me on my birthday. It really means a lot to me to have you around.

To the "SURPRISE CREW" who gave me a pleasant shock outside my room window on Monday night, I appreciate your effort. And to use the surprise method which I had a part in inventing, that was the icing on the cake. I did jump a little when you appeared outside my window, it was totally unexpected. Thank you Shu Yi for getting the cake. It was delicious and guess what, it was the only cake I had for this birthday.

To Jin Ann, thanks for the long distance message to both phones and the e-mail. Yes, I received all of them.

To kawan-kawan Ipoh ku, thank you for the messages and calls on my birthday. It was certainly nice to receive messages especially on the day that I reached Ipoh after a few months away. I hope I managed to reply everyone. =) You guys and girls are and will always be my best buddies.

To the 44 friends who sent me birthday wishes through facebook, I couldn't help smiling whole day. Terima kasih (that's Thank You for you non-Malaysians.. haha)

Thank you once again, everyone.