Rolled Up Concrete

Not exactly new, but I have just came across this, Concrete Cloth, via Think Defence. It is basically canvas infused with cement. The material is stored and transported conveniently in rolls. When needed, it is simply unrolled, cut, nailed or stapled into shape, and sprayed with water. The concrete hardens to 80 percent strength in twenty-four hours.

The material is particularly very useful when you want to build and reinforce very quickly, like in emergency or disaster situations. The video above shows in passing Concrete Cloth used to reinforce a slope. There are also shelters that can be put up by just two people in one hour.

Of course, given the source I got it from, the flexibility of Concrete Cloth opens up some interesting military applications too.

__________
LINK: Concrete Canvas on YouTube.

Ringgit

I like the new designs for the ringgit launched today. I think they are cleaner and more modern looking. Only thing is the new coin designs remind me a bit of the embattled euro.

By the way, the Malaysian currency is called ringgit and the sign for the ringgit is RM. Therefore, RM28 reads “twenty eight ringgit”, not “R-M twenty eight”, “R-M twenty eight ringgit”, “Ringgit Malaysia twenty eight” or worst of all “Ringgit Malaysia twenty eight ringgit”.

Honey

We thought of giving Omar honey but the labels all say “unsuitable for infants under 12 months”. Odd, I think, as it is tradition in many cultures to give newborns a taste of honey. So I did a quick Google search and found three reasons it is recommended to give honey to young babies.

The first is it may damage a baby’s emerging teeth. The second is to avoid the baby developing a sweet tooth. The third reason is the real big one: to avoid the risk of infant botulism, a form of food poisoning.

It was only in 1978 that honey became a forbidden food for infants. Two years earlier, a very rare syndrome called infant botulism had been diagnosed for the first time, after some sick babies in California were found to have traces of botulism spores in their stools. Then, in 1978, an epidemiological study was done by the California Department of Health Services, which tested more than 550 samples of food, drugs and miscellaneous environmental substances for botulism. They found botulism organisms in five samples of soil, one of dust from a vacuum cleaner and nine of honey. Immediately, honey became an official danger for infants, because it was the only variable in infant botulism that could be controlled. You can't put a label on soil saying “do not eat”; but with honey, you can.

Bee Wilson, Honey, I poison the kids, The Guardian, 25 August 2005

As I understand it, the risk of contracting infant botulism is very small. It is caused by toxins produced by the bacterium (plural bacteria) Clostridium botulinum commonly found in soil, as do many other dangerous microorganisms. By the way, the same bacterium produces the toxin used in Botox treatment. Millions of babies have been fed, or at least given taste of, honey over the ages with no ill effects.

Still, seeing the official warning on the labels does make you pause.

Knuffle Bunny

We read that it is good to read to Omar from early on so we try to read to him everyday.

My favourite book to read to him so far is Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems.

Willems is an award-winning author and illustrator who used to work on Sesame Street.

Knuffle Bunny is about a girl who lost her favourite toy bunny while on a trip to the laundromat with her father. The story is engaging, funny and highly relatable. I also love the book’s illustrations, which feature cartoon characters drawn on photographs of an actual Brooklyn, NY neighbourhood.

There are two follow up titles to the book so far, both of which are on my wishlist.

Read: The Clone Redemption

The Clone Redemption may be the last of the Clone series, and after seven books it has been quite a ride.

In the future, humanity has spread across the galaxy, occupying exactly 180 planets. To protect the peace, or rather to preserve its power, the Unified Authority (UA) government relies on clones as soldiers. Officers in the military are natural-borns while the enlisted men are all clones.

Protagonist Wayson Harris is a clone in the UA Marines. He is however not a standard-issue clone. He is the last of a special class of clones called Liberators deemed so dangerous they are outlawed. At the beginning of the series, Harris starts out assigned on a special mission to flush out a rebellion. Soon, he realizes that clones are really being used as pawns in various power struggles between personalities in both the government and the military. So though he retains an innate loyalty to the government he grows to hate the UA at the same time.

The turning point of the series is when a virtually unstoppable alien race invades. The Avatari manages to capture 178 out of 180 UA planets before the clones turn the tide around. Down to just two planets, the UA blames the clones for failing to defend the empire and decides that they are redundant. The clones are to used one last time as live targets.

Harris leads the clones to fight back. In The Clone Redemption, while holding off the UA on one side, the clones of the newly established Enlisted Men Empire have to race to evacuate whole planets as the Avatari returns. Now instead of capturing a planet, the Avatari raises the atmospheric temperature to 9,000 degrees killing and burning everyone and everything. As the situation grows desperate, Harris decides to invade Earth.

I really enjoyed the series from the beginning. Author Steven L Kent developed the characters in the books well, even secondary ones. Apart from our hero, I particularly love the SEAL clones, both feared and misunderstood by others, quietly ever ready to serve. I definitely look forward to any follow up to the series.

Yearbook

Our 2011 yearbook arrived earlier than expected last Wednesday. It was waiting by the door when we arrived home. YAY!

Having expected the pictures to come out of print darker I adjusted most of them to make them lighter, but I still find the print a bit dark. Then, Afi found that I made one spelling mistake, AAARGH! I cannot believe I missed it; I went through each and every page before submitting them to print. It is just a small mistake, but a mistake nonetheless.

Still, overall we are very happy with the result.

Earlier in the day, we went out to town to try the scones at the Vaults & Garden Café. Someone recently told us that the scones there are better than the ones at The Rose, which in our opinion are the best in Oxford. The Vaults & Garden Café is located inside the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, which means that technically I have now visited the university church. I still hope to one day climb the tower, though. Back to scones, we still think that The Rose’s are number one. Next, before we leave for home we hope to drop by the Old Parsonage hotel to try the scones there too.

After that, we went to the Oxford University Press Bookshop on High Street. There was a 3-for-2 offer for select books, so Afi bought three picture books for Omar. She then asked me to pick three titles from the Very Short Introduction series. I wish we can buy the whole series, but for now I have three more books added to my reading pile.

Thought

Here are a series of six videos by The Open University called 60-Second Adventures in Thought.

Of the six, I am most familiar with the Grandfather Paradox, which a common science fiction theme. I had never before came across the Chinese Room and the Infinite Hotel. I am not even sure that I get the latter.

Archilles and the Tortoise

The Grandfather Paradox

The Chinese Room

Hilbert’s Infinite Hotel

The Twin Paradox

Schrödinger’s Cat

You can find more similar short educational videos at The Open University’s YouTube channel. Have fun!

Reward Shop

Last year we flew home on Etihad for Kakak’s wedding and earned some thousands of guest miles. We finally redeemed the miles recently.

We finished all our miles (almost) with the following four items: a Samsonite Sammies Dreams kids backpack, a Deuter Schmusebär kids backpack, a Joseph Joseph Nest of 8 preparation bowl set, and a Koziol Kasimir cheese grater.

The backpacks are for Omar, obviously, although it will be a while before he will actually use them. While we both love backpacks we will not otherwise buy a Samsonite or a Deuter for Omar to take to nursery. We showed them both to Omar and he seemed to prefer the blue Samsonite elephant bag.

Afi had been eyeing the Joseph Joseph bowl set for a while now and it was on our Amazon wishlist. We were only waiting for the price to come down this winter shopping season so she was really excited to see it offered.

Finally, the cheese grater. I don’t remember exactly how we got to picking the cheese grater. Perhaps it was just to finish what was left of the miles and the hedgehog-shaped cheese grater looked rather cute.

Photobook 100

It is 10 December. Yes, I have finished the 100-page photobook and submitted it to print last night (9 December), YAY! If everything goes well we will receive it soon, currently estimated on 17 December.

Lots of thanks to Arshad for helping us snap our family picture for the cover yesterday morning. That was the last picture to go into the photobook.

We can now return to our regular broadcast.
:D

Geometry

Hi! Can you believe I am still now working on the photobook? The deadline is looming, AAARGH!

In the meantime, how about some cool art works by Liam Brazier. I really like the style and could definitely picture them on my wall.

Man Up

Cave Man

Odyssey

Dark Lord

Bounty Hunter

__________
via Flylyf

Read: Neverwhere

Between Omar and the still unfinished 100-page photobook, I finally finished reading Neverwhere yesterday. It was by far my favourite Gaiman novel yet. The book is fully of delightful weirdness set in a hidden underground world below the city of London. Gaiman is the king of weird. In a way, Neverwhere was like Stardust in being an adventure, except that our accidental hero Richard Mayhew didn’t set out looking for one like Tristran Thorn did.

Highly recommended.

Barefoot

We both mentioned Barefoot Books before. Apparently, its “studio” here at Summertown is the company’s foothold in the UK. We finally bought some of their products recently, online, armed with a thirty percent discount code.

We bought four books, three jigsaw puzzles, and an alphabet flash card set for Omar. It will be quite sometime before he will appreciate most of products, but we simply couldn’t help ourselves. We were particularly excited about the Barefoot Books World Atlas and Landmarks of the World puzzle, which features the Petronas Twin Towers.

When we received our order (YAY!) one item, the abovementioned Landmarks of the World puzzle was missing. I misunderstood the confusing shipment invoice which stated that it was being sent separately. Afi also noticed that One Moose, Twenty Mice had a torn page.

I called their customer service number to ask about both. The person on the line said that she will look into the missing item and arrange a replacement for the book. I followed up the phone call with an email for good measure. The puzzle arrived the next day. (YAY! ×2) Then, a reply email arrived asking me to confirm the shipping address for the replacement book. I gave it, and the book arrived soon after. (YAY! ×3) They asked that we give away the damaged book to charity.

That was supposed to be the end of it. But, last Wednesday by chance we bumped into a delivery courier when we were returning from town who were going to buzz our apartment. We were not expecting any delivery so it was quite a surprise. The package turned out to be another copy of One Moose, Twenty Mice! I emailed Barefoot Books straightaway about the extra copy but apparently their Director of Operations will only be back in the office on Monday, tomorrow, for a decision.

:P

Sophie

I saw Sophie a few months ago at a shop. I really liked it. Afi wasn’t impressed, but I thought the rubber giraffe was cute. Besides, Omar was then too young to appreciate it.

Now, however, Omar is at that phase when he wants to chew everything he can get his little hands on. Then, I came across Sophie again online. After thinking about it overnight, I bought it via Amazon.

Sophie arrived on Friday morning. I ripped it out of its packaging and gave it to Omar straight away. Then, I took that picture above.

As usual, I googled Sophie up before I bought it. Apparently it is quite a famous toy. Watch out for the Malaysian connection in the video above!

Censorship

The US government wants to censor the Internet. Before you ask what it has to do with the rest of us not in the United States, consider that US laws have the habit of being exported or copied by other countries, for example via trade agreements.

Already we have heard many times politicians and ministers in Malaysia talking about the “need” to police the Internet to preserve social order. The Americans are doing it to protect the interest of the entertainment industry, which argues that the free Internet is depriving them of millions in lost revenue, because they do not get paid when people sample or share copyrighted songs or videos. Still, once the United States start to censor the Internet, for whatever reason, it will be easier for other governments to do it too.

__________
SOURCE: American Censorship Day.

Melancholy

We are counting days to go home. It feels like only yesterday when I first arrived with Mak and Abah and time just flies by that our journey in Oxford is coming to an end soon.

Having spent twenty percent of my life here, it is just natural to feel a bit melancholic about leaving Oxford. Oxford has witnessed almost six years of my ups and downs.

Since a few months ago, every other day I’d tell Sayang the things I’m going to miss about Oxford. I’ll miss the famous scones at The Rose. I’ll miss Kebab Kid, Costa Coffee, Covered Market, Barefoot Books, Pret A Manger, Blackwell’s, and the list goes on and on. I'll miss attending those brilliant seminars and lectures. I’ll miss listening to inspiring talks by great people.

However, I have come to realise that my Oxford journey is just a temporary phase. What’s more important now is to finish my thesis, settle down and continue serving the society. Talking about my thesis, I’m tempted to buy this t-shirt. It reminds me of Dr UmiM, who bought three of them for herself, Dr Faez and Dr Lin at a time they were so much absorbed with their theses.

Godspeed.

Blackwell

Afi had wanted to take me and Omar to Blackwell’s for a while to look at their children’s books collection. We finally went there last Saturday.

Blackwell’s is a well-known seller of academic books closely associated with the city and university, and the shop at Broad Street here was its first to open back in 1879. We arrived at about 1530 and the sun was already low. Afterall, sunset was at about 1620. A shop assistant helped us with the disabled access door and elevator to push Omar in on his pushchair.

It was busy inside the shop. There were a few families with young children too, and we had to do quite a bit of manoeuvring between bookshelves, children on the floor reading and other pushchairs. We looked at some picture books for Omar. There quite a few that we really liked but in the end we selected three with three-for-two offer.

We bought Otto the Book Bear by Katie Cleminson, Miki and the Moon Blossom by Stephen Mackey, and Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems for Omar. They are all beautifully illustrated. However, my favourite of the three is definitely Knuffle Bunny, which is really funny. Afi also wanted to buy How to Solve It by George Polya, so to make it an even three I picked up The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, and The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett.

The new books add to the stack of books I have to read, hopefully by the end of the year. I am currently reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, though stalled at the moment as I work on the 100-page photobook. After that, I will read The Clone Redemption by Steven L Kent, Habibi by Craig Thompson, and Inheritance by Christopher Paolini. Habibi is my first ever graphic novel so I am really excited about it. On the other hand, Inheritance is released three long years after Brisingr that I have forgotten most of the story. I suppose this is one of those times when Wikipedia comes in handy.

All I need to do now is find the time to read them all.

Finder

We all know how annoyingly frustrating it is to misplace stuff around the house — keys, glasses, mobile phones. At least you can ring up your mobile phone, so long as the battery is not dead. Often when we misplace something Afi would wish that we could “miss-call” them.

So here’s an interesting concept called Finder by designers Chu Wang, Qiujin Kou, Qian Yin & Yonghua Zhang.

You paste stickers with RFID tags on your stuff and register it on the smart phone-like finder device. Next time when you misplace your stuff you can call them up on the device and it will point them out for you. Cool, huh?

The idea is not totally original, though. RFID tags are common enough nowadays that it is only a matter of time somebody finds a way of applying it in everything. There are already various forms of key finders out there in the market too. I also remember clearly reading about something similar in Cory Doctorow’s Makers, where a character spends whole days tagging the entire content of his apartment.

I wonder if and when the product will finally make it to the market. Also, it would be great if they can integrate the finder function into smart phones, for example, instead of having another standalone device to misplace. Afterall, all you need is an RFID scanner. Well, maybe they’ll have it on iPhone 6.

:P
__________
SOURCE: Yanko via My Modern Met.

Passport

Your Malaysian passport needs to be valid for six more months in order to travel out of the country. I thought everybody knew that. The requirement is printed inside the back cover of the passport, and I remember reading about it several times elsewhere before too, perhaps on airline booking invoices.

So I was surprised when a friend was denied from boarding a flight recently because she had less than six months left on her passport. Maybe it was an oversight on her part.

For that matter, the are several other details printed at the back of the passport, one of which is you cannot send your passport by mail from one place to another. After all, your passport is a form of personal identification just like your national identity card. I assume everybody knows about that too.

More Lego

Lego has released item 4184 The Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow’s favourite ship from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. It comes with six minifigures including of course Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, and Davy Jones.

Sailing ships are my favourite Lego models, though I have never owned any. :( While the 804-piece Lego is interesting simply for being The Black Pearl, it is not that impressive. The model ship does not look as menacing as the ship in the movies, and the all black colour scheme while true to form gets a little boring.

More interesting is the 1097-piece Queen Anne’s Revenge, item 4195, from the latest Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. This earlier release is a bigger model than The Black Pearl and comes with seven minifigures, which again include a Jack Sparrow. I particularly love the blood red sails.

Movies tie-in aside, item 10210 Imperial Flagship is the best. It is not only bigger with 1,664 pieces and nine minifigures, but also has a lot more detail. The full-featured gun deck has four cannons. There is even a full-featured galley, or kitchen for us landlubbers.

__________
All pictures from Lego.

100 Pages

I have a new assignment. We recently bought a voucher to buy a 100-page photobook at a 70 percent discount. I was hesitant at first, a 100-page photobook is a lot of pictures, but then Afi reminded me that we have so many pictures of Omar filling up our hard drives. So now I have a 100-page photobook to complete by 10 December.

View of Oxford City from the top of Carfax Tower.

This would be our fourth photobook. Our first two photobooks are of our wedding and 2010 yearbook. We love them so much that we tell everybody about them. So when Mak came to the UK last summer she asked me to make her a photobook of her pictures here. The cover of that photobook is the picture above.

When it arrived, I was not happy with the quality of the print. Many of the pages have a yellowish tinge and some photos are wrongly cropped or positioned. I wrote to PhotoBox to complain. A few days later I received a reply that they were reprinting the order at no extra charge. The biggest, most delightful, surprise was that they sent the new photobook directly to Malaysia. My parents told me that it is perfect.

Read: Safehold #5

I finished reading How Firm A Foundation (HFAF) last Monday, all 564 pages of it, excluding appendices. Wow, I cannot wait for the next book!

[SPOILER ALERT]

Unlike in previous books, there weren’t as many sea battles in HFAF. Having established its dominance at sea following the Battle of the Markovian Sea in A Mighty Fortress (AMF), there aren’t any fleet left on Safehold to challenge the Imperial Charisian Navy. Still, newly-appointed High Admiral Sir Domynyk Staynair, Baron of Rock Point, sends Admiral Dunkyn Yairley to destroy major Desnairian naval and shipbuilding facilities in the port city of Iythria.

That operation marks the introduction of another Charisian innovation, the high-angle gun or howitzer, used to pound the port’s heavily fortified fortresses. The evolution of weapons and technology in general is one element of the Safehold series I am very excited about. Apart from the high angle guns, other new technologies introduced in HFAF include the revolver and the upcoming steam engine. It remains to be seen how long the Empire of Charis can rely on technological superior to offset the Church of God Awaiting’s superior numbers, while the rest of Safehold will undoubtedly catch up.

When it has been handed humiliating defeat after humiliating defeat in open warfare against Charis it is perhaps not surprising to find the Church, particularly the Inquisition and Grand Inquisitor Zhaspahr Clyntahn, resorting to terrorism to hit back at the heretics. The death of Prince Nahrmahn and Earl of Gray Harbor deal a severe blow to the court of Emperor Cayleb and Empress Sharleyan Ahrmark, but the Inner Circle continues to grow. The most significant new addition is Father Paityr Wylsynn, the Intendant of Charis, who brings with him disturbing new clues about the defences of the Temple of God and the promised return of the Archangels.

Perhaps my favourite character in the series is now-Lieutenant Hektor Aplyn-Ahrmark, Duke of Darcos. The emperor’s adopted son has quite a few adventures in HFAF, including leading a covert mission behind enemy lines to extract Prince Daivyn and Princess Irys Daykyn of Corisande out of Delferahk.

As the title suggests, HFAF has both sides of the war consolidating their positions in preparation for the next stage (or book). Perhaps next the Empire of Charis will finally take the war to the mainland. Perhaps not. Again, I cannot wait to find out.

London Trip

After several aborted attempts, we finally managed to have Omar weighed last week. He was 6.58kg, at fifteen weeks. “Textbook,” commented the health visitor. Though we knew that he was gaining weight and growing well, we were very happy to actually see it ourselves on the scale.

Then on Sunday, all three of us hopped on a train to London. The objectives of the trip were to register Omar at the high commission and apply him a Malaysian passport. We decided that it would be best to settle the affairs now before Omar grows heavier, the weather gets colder, and Afi becomes more inundated with work. Since we expected a lot of jumping on and off different modes of public transport, we took Omar in a baby carrier instead of the Xplory.

The train to London was jam-packed. It was not an express, running from Hereford. We only managed to find seats at Reading. Once arriving at Paddington station, we sat down for a drink before finding a bus to our hotel at Euston. We tried to feed Omar at the station, thinking that he might be hungry, but he was more interested in checking out the new surrounding.

Next morning we went straight to the high commission at Belgrave Square. The service was quick, especially since we already had all the documents and copies and Omar’s photos ready. By 1100 we were all done. The pickup was at 1530, so with plenty of time to kill we went to MSD for some authentic Malaysian food. Afi had her favourite ikan patin dish while I chose the sambal ikan keli. We also had the beef rendang. The food was heavenly. We also bought fried noodles and nasi lemak to go.

It was a surprise to see a familiar name signing Omar’s birth registration. It was my old classmate Mahathir, whom I had not met for almost sixteen years! It was nice to meet him after all these years. Small world.

We went straight to Paddington station afterwards—mission accomplished—and then home to Oxford. Omar behaved really well throughout the trip, as always. Now he has his very own passport, YAY!

:D

Xplory

The first time we went to a mother and baby products shop, I was looking at prams and pushchairs—the only things I found immediately interesting—when Afi told me not to bother because she already had a specific make and model in mind she wanted that they didn’t have in the shop.

:(

That pushchair she had in mind was the Stokke Xplory. Stokke is a Norwegian company specialising in products for children, mainly nursery furniture. It is known for its convertible nursery bed and highchair that are designed to grow with the child. The Xplory pushchair was introduced in 2003.

At Heathrow Terminal 4, with iZiSleep car seat

As I started reading up about the pushchair, I started to like it too. A lot. It has a sleek, modern design and is fully adjustable. The Xplory is really a travel system with a removable seat that can be swapped with an infant car seat. The basic seat can be fixed either rear- or forward-facing, reclines, and is height-adjustable. Most other good pushchairs are also reversible and recline, but the height-adjustability feature really sets the Xplory apart. It allows the child to be sat higher and closer to the parent. The stroller also has adjustable handle and foot rest. We also like the design of the large rear wheels, which are positioned widely apart without a crossbar we could accidentally kick or step on.

Afternoon walk at Summertown House

We finally bought our purple Xplory during the last Christmas sale season when we found a great deal online, while also bearing in mind the impending VAT increase from 17.5 percent to 20 percent. The bundle included the Xplory pushchair, carry cot, and car seat. They arrived on 19 January.

The Xplory is in fact the very first thing we bought for Omar. It is also by far our most expensive purchase. We are very happy with it. It is very well made. The high seating position means Omar can sit on the same level as us at the dinner table at home as well as at restaurants without having to use a highchair. The only downside is the Xplory’s bulk and weight, about 10kg, which we can live with. Pushing it doesn’t feel heavy at all. We'll definitely have to bear it in mind when we want to buy a car later, though. In the near future, however, we are thinking of investing in the PramPack for when we fly home. There is a great review of it here.

;)

73

I saw our apartment on Street View. It’s no big deal, I know, but unlike the last time I looked I could really see our apartment in view, with us staying there.

Let’s start with the satellite view of the area (do click on the pictures for full size). Our place is on Apsley Road/Banbury Road in Summertown, which lies just to the north of the city of Oxford. It is a very nice and convenient place to live. Oxford city is less than 20 minutes away by bus. The Summertown shops are just a fifteen minutes’ walk away with banks and shops like Boots, Cargo, Co-op, Costa, MBE, M&S and Tesco. Afi is excited about a new bookshop that has just opened, Barefoot Books.

Summertown House is a University of Oxford graduate accommodation. There are three apartment blocks in the complex with one, the unrefurbished East Block, available to families with children. We love it especially during the warmer days in summer to hear children playing on the grounds. Recently, Summertown House has turned into a small Malay kampung. There are now seven units in the East Block alone occupied by Malaysian couples or families, including us.

The building on the left in the third picture above is North Block. The one of the right is East Block. As evident in the picture, the refurbished North Block is a better, more modern-looking building. It is also much nicer to live in. We used to stay in a studio on the first floor. Studios can be identified in the picture by the lack of a balcony. The best thing about living in a refurbished block was central gas heating. Heating and hot water were already included in the rent, so we could turn the heat up and stay comfortable all year long.

Last February, we moved into a two-bedroom apartment just on the other side in East Block. We would rather not move out of the studio, but it was meant for singles in the first place, and as her pregnancy progressed along (Omar was on the way!) Afi grew more and more uncomfortable on the tiny single bed. It is the first apartment from the left on the first floor in the picture. I know that it is our apartment from the white lace living room curtains, our clothes on the airer, and Afi’s University of Surrey sticker on the window.

Apartments in the unrefurbished East Block are cheaper than the refurbished ones in North and West Blocks. However, they are also very poorly insulated and fitted with ancient electric heaters. Since the heaters are electric, the more you use them, the more you have to pay in electricity bill. With ever rising energy prices, that could amount to a lot of money. Thankfully, our apartment is carpeted; some of the others are not. As the temperature drops our main concern is making sure Omar is as comfortable as possible.

Nappies

One consequence of being a parent is one gets very intimately acquainted with the nappy (or if you prefer, diaper).

Before Omar was born, we considered using reusable nappies. They are both cheaper in the long run while at the same time more environmentally friendly. The first problem with that, however, was we do not have our own washing machine we could use every day to clean the nappies. Then, even if we were to wash them by hand, drying them in time would be another problem. So, until we return home to Malaysia, disposables became the natural choice.

We tried several brands of nappies, from well-known major brands to cheaper store brands, before we finally settled on just4bums from Kiddicare.

A box of size 2 nappies contains 240 pieces

The nappies themselves are great. A box contains a month’s supply, which is wonderful because we rely on public transport. The list price is £50 per box, but so far we have been paying only £19.99. Orders are delivered by courier the next day. There is even a free reminder service in case you forget to re-order, but we don’t use it. Kiddicare also offers to refund the nappies we do not use.

Omar turned 3 months yesterday, and coincidentally last night too we graduated him from size 2 (for 3-6kg babies) to size 3 (4-9kg). We don’t know how much nappies cost in Malaysia (I heard it’s a lot) but we are considering buying a few months’ worth to bring home when we return.

:P

Surprise Arrival

Meet Leo.

I was in the living room with Omar this morning when the intercom buzzed: a delivery. I wondered if we were expecting any deliveries today. When I opened the door, a lady handed me a package from Mamas & Papas, addressed to me. Inside, was this cute toy lion.

It was a surprise present from Afi. No wonder she asked me the days before when we browsed the catalogue which one I liked. Nobody had ever given me a soft toy before.

I like it very much, and of course am sharing it with Omar.

:)

Delivery

My copy of How Firm a Foundation (HFAF) arrived today, finally, after a bit of a twist last week.

I received this email from Amazon last Wednesday:

...
We regret to inform you that the following items have been delayed as we are still awaiting stock from our suppliers :

David Weber "How Firm a Foundation (Safehold)"
Estimated arrival date: October 07 2011 - October 15 2011

...
Please consider the following similar items, which may be available sooner:

- You can purchase a different version of the original item:

"How Firm a Foundation (Safehold)" [audioCD]
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1427212392/ref=fxm_em_sub_o

Differences between your original item and our recommendations are typically minor but some things, such as the item's cost, may be different.

I had had HFAF on pre-order since 31 August. The book was released on 13 September. Amazon had originally quoted 20 September as the dispatch date so I had fully expected to receive it last week. Then, on 21 September, came the above-quoted email.

I was shocked. How could they? A quick check on Amazon's website that day saw the book sold for £14.94, available for dispatch in one to two weeks! Interestingly, HFAF was on sale, with 48-hour dispatch, on TBD for the very same price. As Izzatina pointed out, Amazon has since 4 July agreed to buy* The Book Depository (TBD). I pre-ordered HFAF on 31 August for £12.72.

So I had the choice of either waiting for potentially two to three more weeks for my copy, or cancel the Amazon order and buy from TBD instead for £2.22 extra to get the book sooner. I chose to wait. There was no rush.

Two days later on 23 September, Amazon emailed me that the book has been dispatched.

:-/

Today, HFAF is sold for £14.78 on Amazon, and £15.41 on TBD.

__________
*The deal has yet to be approved by the UK Office of Fair Trading.

Gnomar O Gnomeo

We bought Omar a couple of beanies last month to keep his head warm during the coming winter, and tried the red one on him when we got home. It instantly reminded us of our favourite movie at the cinema this year!

Betting on Food

As usual, click on picture for full size.

Source: World Development Movement (via David Ruccio)

Just as currency speculation is often blamed to be inject volatility into the foreign exchange market, speculation in the commodities market (in this case food crops) also contribute to global food price inflation.

Pre-Order

I am in between books at the moment. I have two books on pre-order from Amazon. The first book is How Firm A Foundation (HFAF) by David Weber, the fifth book in the Safehold science fiction series. The second is Christopher Paolini’s long awaited Inheritence. HFAF has already been released in the US, and according to Amazon’s estimate I should receive my copy in the next week, YAY! Inheritence, however, will only be released in November.

While I have bought my books almost exclusively from The Book Depository (TBD) over the past year, I am buying these two books from Amazon because of its pre-order price guarantee. Basically, it means that if the price they charge drops between the date of my order till the release date, I will pay the lower price. I am not aware if TBD offers a similar deal.

Amazon used to also offer a so-called 30-day price guarantee, whereby they will refund you the difference if the price drops within 30 days after you bought a product. Not anymore. Generally, TBD offers a lower price than Amazon for released books, even if the difference is only 1p, but I want to get these two books as soon as I can.

Outside of the UK and USA however, where Amazon also offers free shipping, TBD’s worldwide free delivery is really hard to beat.

Magazines

There is one magazine I have been reading regularly for years: UK-based military aviation magazine Air Forces Monthly (AFM). I cannot remember where or when I saw it the first time. I held it in reserve at a bookstore in KL, which for the last few years actually became the only reason I had to dreadfully drive into the city centre every month.

AFM sells for RM31.50 in KL, adding up to RM378 for the twelve issues in one year. It is expensive, especially considering the magazine sells for £4.30 in the UK. When I came here I took up a one-year subscription for £41, which translates roughly to only RM205 with a RM5/£ exchange rate. I have decided that I will continue with the subscription when we return home to Malaysia. At the moment that costs £51 or RM255, which is still RM123 cheaper to the RM378 I paid previously.

I know, I should have made a direct subscription ages ago or at least when I started working. It would had saved me a lot of money. I might had also been able to enjoy the magazine earlier every month. In Malaysia, the September issue for example will only be seen at the newsstands during the third week of the month at the earliest. I was told that the magazine is shipped first to Singapore before being distributed to Malaysia. Here in the UK, subscribers receive the October issue on the first week of September.

Afi, on the other hand, is hooked on pregnancy and parenting magazine Mother & Baby. I cannot deny that I find the magazine really interesting and useful as well. We are thinking of continuing to subscribe to the magazine when we return to Malaysia too.

Read: Stardust

I loved the movie; I saw it when it came out at the cinema and many times more on television. It was cute and funny, with Robert De Niro in drag. The movie didn’t win an Oscar, a BAFTA, or any of the big mainstream awards but it did win a Hugo.

The book is quite something else. Neil Gaiman wrote Stardust as a “fairy tale for adults”. So the book is decidedly darker and, well, more adult. As always, the book is more complicated than the movie. Tristan of the movie is really Tristran in the book, and there is no Captain Shakespeare. The book also ends differently than the movie. Overall, the book is much richer, and requires quite an imagination to visualize. I love it. I love them both. Thinking back, I don’t think I would have enjoyed the movie as much had they tried to make it closer to the book.

Collage

All right, I can’t help myself. :D

We received an offer for a free collage poster print. So I made one of Omar’s faces. They are from when he was six weeks old. Apparently, Afi never saw the pictures before I showed her the finished collage. We are taking so many pictures of him they are fast filling up my hard drive.

Do click on the picture to see in full size.

Read: Fuzzy Nation

I had been excited about Fuzzy Nation (FN) ever since author John Scalzi first blurbed about it on his blog. He is one of the most funny authors around. Who else writes about aliens passing gas?

Anyway, FN is a remake of an earlier novel I had never even heard of before called Little Fuzzy (LF) by H Beam Piper. Movies get remade all the time, but not novels. I suppose it helped that LF has fallen into public domain, so there wasn’t much legal hoops to jump over the rights issue. According the Scalzi, he only wrote FN for fun before showing it to his agent. The rest, as they say, is history.

The book, or rather both books, are about a mining prospector named Jack Halloway who discovers a super-cute intelligent species—the Fuzzies—right after stumbling into a huge deposit of a highly valuable mineral on a faraway planet. Thus a moral dilemma. The mineral find means Halloway stands to become so rich that he and his descendants will never have to work again. Discovering the Fuzzies, however, if proven sentient means the planet cannot be mined.

At the outset it is a gone conclusion that the Fuzzies will win in the end. The smart thing about FN, however is that Halloway, a disbarred lawyer, doesn’t just suddenly grow a conscience and do the right thing. The bad guy in the novel is ZaraCorp, a mega mining corporation which, sans Fuzzies, practically owns the planet. The climax of the story is a courtroom drama, which is rare in science fiction.

The original Little Fuzzy is available as a free download, among others at Project Gutenberg. I have downloaded it, hoping to get around to reading it later.

__________
LINKS:
Review of Fuzzy Nation at SF Reviews.net
Cory Doctorow’s review of Fuzzy Nation at Boing Boing

Raya

There are three of us this year!

We made rendang daging, ayam masak merah, and sambal tumis udang, which we ate with nasi himpit.

This time around the Oxford Malay(sian) community organized our own Eid prayer and Raya gathering right here at Summertown House, which was great as we didn’t have to worry about transport. The original plan was to pray at 0900, but we ended up praying at close to 1000 instead.

The sermons that followed were short too, which again was great because long sermons only make people uncomfortable and wander or doze off. Ustaz Khairi told us that the Prophet’s tradition was to have only one sermon following the Eid prayer, but he decided to give two in keeping with the common practice in Malaysia.

After makan-makan was a photography session. I tried not to eat too much. There were many photos taken. I hope we get copies.

Then, we did some visiting and had friends visit us till evening. We were all really tired when we went to bed at the end of the day, and look forward to celebrating Raya in Malaysia next year.

Selamat Hari Raya!