Charlene Sees/Hears Dinosaurs...NOOOOOO!

Mother says: Would you like to go on the choo choo train?
Child replies: Noooooo!

We went to the Chicago Botanic Garden with Nina, Rich, and Atsunobu. Flower after flower, scene after scene, the colors, touch, smell all filled our senses. Simply put, it was a very happy time. It is quite amazing how the simple delicate things can reach deep down.

Now, the serious business though. While I was taking a scenic shot. Someone amidst our group saw or heard something quite phenomenal. I wonder if we should report this to the Paleontological society? Hmm...here...this is what I mean:


You can check out photos of our Chicago Botanic Garden trip, with all the flowers in their glory by going to my Shutterfly Collection, or by going to The Daily Josh.

Those Darn Geese!

Charlene and I took a break at the Kickapoo State Park. The other Singapore students were there too. They took the wet route...canoeing! But we decided to have a quieter time with picnic and my Fables comic. Ha ha ha. By the way, if you don't know about Fables, shame on you. I'll tell you about it next time. Back to Kickapoo...

The day was great. Sunshine and blobs of clouds. When the sun er...shinded down on us, we got warm. But when the clouds went by, it was chilly. Acherly hor, the weather these days are siao lah. Its supposed to be warmer, but for some reason, they never turn off the outdoor air-conditioner. But ok lah. So the rest of them went canoeing, and according to the reports from Qinwei, they got really really wet and cold...in fact, they almost dieded. We also took her camera hostage, for reasons I shall not elaborate.

Anyway, we were hanging around the lake and saw a bunch of geese chillin out there. But oddly, they had a strange behavior...perhaps they were trying to show us some attitude? Here...take a look and see for yourself:

Earthquake!!!

It happened at 4.30am. Fast asleep. Then the rattling started. The heating pipes. At first, I thought it was those cars with loud boom boxes. But it seemed an unnaturally loud rattling this time, much louder than a normal boom box could cause. Then, it started. The bed began to shake, the ground vibrated, and the rumbling. The slow but purposeful moan of the earth, turning on its side.

Thoughts raced through after. Was it a meteor that hit nearby? Was it a bomb? Are we at war? Was it tanks driving through the city? Was it some monster that has appeared? Was it aliens landing? I could not totally sell myself to the idea that I had just been shaken by an earthquake. The very foundation under my feet were loosed.

The next morning, the morning show reported: 5.2 earthquake originating about 300 miles southeast of Champaign at 4.30am. Felt even in Chicago.

I am still alive. No one was harmed.

The White Chapter

The White Chapter

Water in sight
Robbed of life
Sealed with unrelenting grip
Incapacitated by apathy
Unable to do anything
Unable to be

The color of dry
In stark sarcasm to its nature
Smirking at our hope for the future
Hope for a better world
How do we know?
For all that is seen
Is the wind
Blowing away the white powder
That was unable
Unable to cling to family

Extreme Winter Sports Action Footage (EWSAF)

It snowed yesterday, somewhere between 4 - 8 inches. Which, to the well-informed, means one thing and one thing only...SLEDDING!! So after lunch, while we decided to take a look at what winter wonders there were in the Japan House and Arboriteum area, we see Nina and Michael, with Nina's childhood sled, just itching to slide down the hill on Orchard Downs. The hill was crowded. Families with children hitting the slopes. The cold winter wind did not prevent them all from having fun in the white powder. And it shouldn't have, because for all the blistering frost, it is honest-to-gosh fun in the purest. Letting yourself go with the snow.

But of course, you have to have the right equipment. Michael decided to do an experiment. Using our extraordinary knowledge in physics, we know that objects at rest, tend to stay at rest, unless acted upon by another force. Michael decided to test this using his car windshield sunshade as a sled. Now, theoretically, this should work. The snow should provide enough lubrication to offset the friction. And Michael's weight should be enough for gravity to pull him down...theoretically. The movie clip below shows the outcome of this experiment. Empirical trial number one.

Go Michael Go!!

Undaunted by human limitations, we next decide to perform a stunt which has never before been attempted in human history. We decided to record sports action footage of extreme sledding. What you are about to see is the shot as seen from the video camera mounted in front of a model 3000 sledding machine, with all the latest upgrades and safety features. Hold your breath, because your eyes will now be witness to one of the most amazing sports action perspectives ever.

Extreme Sledding!!

This concludes our winter episode of sports olympics. Tune in next time when we go to Extreme Summer Sports Action Footage or ESSAF!

Crepes at Carmon's

Carmon's is a French Creperie located in downtown Champaign. This would be my fourth time there. The decor is homely, bright with a tint of sophistication, yet not too modern, nor is too old fashioned. In other words, it is just nice. Which, to the senses, can sometimes be more delightful than either extremes. For one wishes to be at the crossroads between the past and the future, totally dwelling in the present. I've tried the beef stroganoff (good with reds), pork chutney, onion soup, curry chicken chutney, ratatouille, banana foster, peach streusel, and the suzette (which the movie clip below shows part of the making process involving flaming the grand marnier, and the photo top left is the finish product). All I can say is, this is one place, which every dish on the menu is worth trying once. And it is fortunate that the menu is short enough for that to be a realistic endeavor. Every dime is well spent to fill your senses with delectables.

Flaming the Suzette

Waffles and Bacon

This is a fantastic western style breakfast. Charlene made this. Good blend of sweet and salty. Crispy and juicy. Great to wake up to.

Ingredients
Ready waffles (either pre-made, or you can make from your own mix, if available)
Sweet potatoes (cut for fries)
Bacon
Pears
Maple syrup
Salt
Pepper

Method
Prepare the waffles using a toaster and set aside.

Fry the bacon strips in a pan till crispy. Once done, remove the bacon and place between napkins to soak excess oil, but save the oil in the pan.

Cut the sweet potatoes for fries, and fry them in a pan with bacon oil till crispy. This will take a few minutes.

Peel and cube pears. Place everything on dish. Add salt and pepper to fries, and syrup to waffles. Ready to serve.

Tilapia with Capers

This is a very unique filet dish. The fish is cooked so that the meat is flaky but moist. The capers add a sweet, sour and juicy flavor. The rice adds a plain contrast to the rich sauce.

Ingredients
A filet of white fish meat (Tilapia, Cod, Bass)
White rice
Capers
Vinegar
White wine
Butter
Spring onions
Salt
Pepper

Method
First, cook some white rice in a rice cooker, then go ahead and start preparing the fish.

Bring some water to boil in a pot. Once the water is boiling, place the fish filet in. This will cool the water for a while. Let the fish cook until the water is back to boiling again (this will take a few minutes). Once the water is boiling, take the filet out, and place on a dish. Now prepare the sauce.

Melt some butter in a pan. Cook the melted butter until it changes color. Then pour the hot butter onto the filet. Next, heat some vinegar and wine in the pan, reducing it. Once the mixture is boiling, pour it also onto the filet. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Add the capers and some slivers of spring onions. Place some white rice on the side, sprinkle some dried seaweed if desired.

Ready to serve.

Thanksgiving 2007: E-Poem

It was time.

Time to do anything
Anything but work.
This Thanksgiving break
We headed to Starved Rock.

We forded the streams
We conquered our fear
We reach to the top.

We even ourselves "caught" a deer.

A few days later,
we were out again,
this time it was noisy
But all the same
We were happy


We were out late
Late into the night,
And that's when it all started
We began to see some lights.


After which, we went in
for turkey and a din.
Prepared by Nina
Nina and Mr Lin.

The feast was a great
It was a fantastic
It filled our stomachs
We were almost ballistic

After all is eaten and said
All is said and done
We each one of us
Noticed it was fun

So for each and every year
Once a time
Time and again
We remember to be thankful
To be sober
and sane.

St Louis

St Louis is a pleasant 2 1/2 hr drive south-west of Champaign. We met Sam there as he was on his way up from Nashville after a friend's weekend wedding. We arrived at the St Louis Botanical Garden in time for lunch, and sat at the nice outdoor cafe area for a simple, but delightful meal amidst the beautiful plant life. The weather was awesome, and walking in the Gardens was definitely a much wanted breather. Click here for the [photos].

We also visited the famous arch of course. There is a museum at the base of it. And you can actually go up in it, but we missed the closing time at 5pm.

Downtown St Louis itself was a little quiet. For city like St Louis, it was actually hard to find a place where we could sit down and have a satisfying meal. We walked around the riverside area, saw a few pubs, but nothing eye-catching. We decided to drive around a bit further away from downtown and ended up around Washington University area. But still nothing inviting. We ended up eating at the hotel restaurant, which was actually not bad.

So all in all, a nice day trip, but plan your restaurant locations ahead.

Chicken Rice

Once of the most standard dishes in Singapore, the famous Hainanese Chicken Rice. Easy to make, light to the taste, and adaptable for all situations.

Ingredients
Chicken
Cilantro
Cucumber
Sesame oil
Light soya sauce
Rice
Ginger
Salt

Method
Cook your rice as per normal in a rice cooker, but add your chicken meat whole as well. This saves on cooking time, but it will taste better if you cook the chicken separately, however, if you do this, you would have to use chicken stock to cook your rice. Following our original plan, add the chicken into the rice and cook it together, also add a few slices of ginger, some sesame oil, and salt. Cook the mixture. Slice the cucumbers and cilantro for garnish. Once the rice is done, take out the chicken, slice it up. Serve on plate with garnish, add some light soya sauce and chilli sauce if required.

Dobin Mushi

This is a classic Japanese soup dish that has one of the most unique tastes. There is a slight burnt flavor that comes from the dashi stock cooked in a clay pot, an earthy flavor from the mushrooms, and a sour tinge from the citrus lime that is added. Definitely worth the effort on a cold night. This soup is typically served in a small clay tea pot with a small drinking cup. The size of the pot seals the flavor in, but if you don't have a clay pot, you could use any other pot that can be used to boil soup on low heat for extended times. Also, the typical soup is cooked using Matsutake mushrooms, which are very very expensive. I've used Shiitake mushrooms as substitute here, for the the poor man's version, but of course, nothing beats the original ingredients. Try as best you can to secure the freshest matsutake.

Ingredients
1. Matsutake or shiitake mushrooms (fresh is best, but if dried, soak overnight first)
2. Fish dashi (best made using the fish flakes you see on tofu dishes, that curl and move when served)
3. Soya sauce
4. Sake or rice wine
5. Cilantro
6. Shrimp
7. Chicken
8. Lime

Method
Soak the dashi overnight. Cut the mushrooms, shrimp and chicken into small bite size pieces, you don't need too much of this, just a small portion. Bring the dashi stock to a boil for about 10-15 min. Once the dashi flavor is cooked into the stock, remove the dashi, leaving the stock. Add a spoon of soya sauce, and a spoon of sake. Add the mushrooms, shrimp and chicken into the boiling stock and cook for about 10-15 min. Add lime juice from half a small lime, garnish with cilantro, and serve.

Grilled Steak

Oo La La. Fresh off my $10 grill from Walmart. Steak seasoned in red wine and thyme, asparagus, green peas, potatoes, and oh-so-good dinner rolls from the beefhouse, all done on the grill. Nice cool weather outside 52F, and sitting beside the glowing embers.

How To Make Teh Tarik

Teh Tarik, literally, pulled tea, is actually an Indian method of making milk tea. The milk tea containing condensed milk is poured from one container to another, which cools the tea down, and at the same time, introduces air bubbles. This gives it a lighter texture, and, as with most interactions between liquid consumables (such as wine) and air, brings out more flavor. Although, the average tea drinker will probably never notice the difference, watching the process of making this tea is a treat in itself.

The name Teh Tarik, is in fact a Malaysian word. Tarik means pull in Malay. This meshing of words and cultures is a result of exchange happening in the South East Asian regions because of the multi-cultural backgrounds present.

Presenting, how to make teh tarik...

Park-O Tex-O

As part of the lab shift to Dallas, we went down to check it out in the Lone Star state. I shun bian say hello to Mei. There are several ways to get to Dallas from Champaign. Drive = 12 hrs, Direct 6am flight from CMI airport to DFW airport = 2 hrs, mid-day flights with transit from CMI-ORD-DFW = 4hrs, staying put = priceless. Anyway, we took option number 3 and, as you can see, we start out strong. The flight was pretty good, from ORD to DFW, we got personal TV units, slightly larger plane. But then at touchdown, we had to wait pretty long for luggage, because it was such a big flight. Then we wait for Mr Hebrank to come pick us up after his game of Ultimate.

The car rental place is a 7 min shuttle bus ride from the terminal itself. And once you arrive there, its a humungous air-conned art museum, with car rental outlets just lined up for you to choose. Our Ultimate man came by, we rented an SUV, and drove to our hotel, Embassy Suites at Lovefield, Dallas. We then quickly got ready for dinner with Mei and John. Which was at a nearby steakhouse.



It was nice to catch up again. And it was fun to have the lab people along too.

After which, we checked into our huge room in the Embassy Suites.

The next day, we went to the Brain Health Center, which is just a few minutes away. Very impressive building. Very artsy. Definitely a good place to work. Right now, the lab space is still under construction, but when its done, it will be awesome.










After that we went to where the scanner is at the hospital. Also another artsy building. We got some scans done, and then, for us, we had to head back to good ole Chambana.














So of course, what would flying be if there were no delays? So they introduced a little 1 1/2 hr delay for us at DFW. But otherwise, the flight was ok. Got back...showered. And bed = priceless.

Check out the rest of the pictures by clicking here.

Oh yeah...this has got to be the best introduction ever...

Models that Account for the Same Data: The God Account

In reference to my post about models that account for the same data, one possible explanation for why there are so many religions is because of the principal component function in our minds (refer to the post). Here, we have the same data. But we refer to different dimensions to explain the data. Sometimes even omitting certain dimensions. Such omissions would lead to certain biases in explaining the data. And to the extent that the bias is critical (that is, to the extent that these biases are necessary for accounting for the truth), our explanation of the data will be off from reality. To the extent that the biases are not critical, we will not be off from reality.

The most accurate model therefore, is the one that most closely matches reality. Yet how are we to know reality? This is the problem of knowledge. Can we truly ever know anything since we are limited to our senses, five in all, and perhaps a little more. We have 5 dimensional information, and perhaps a little more. What if the data were more multi-dimensioned than our senses can experience? Even if we had secondary ways of measuring data from dimensions beyond our perception, our experience is still bounded by our perceptions. Thus, it appears that to ascertain reality, we need to transcend our 5 senses. But even then, how many senses or dimensions should we transcend? In theory, infinite. Which is of course, flatly impossible.

Therefore, the question is not about empirical proof anymore. We realize empiricism, limited to 5 senses, cannot ascertain reality. Really, all empiricism does is to come up with models to account for data within the 5 senses. Which has no consequence on reality itself.

We are back to the question: How can we know what reality is?

Models that Account for the Same Data

Perhaps what our minds are doing is accounting for the data. The data is everything around us that we experience with our senses. This information is fed into our neurons, which, by virtue of their network organization, perform some sort of operation on this information. This operation can be likened to a form of model fitting (for those of you who are familiar with the modeling world). Our neurons constantly flux in an effort to represent the information we encounter in the most stable possible way, that allows us to incorporate new information as well as to maintain old information, and even to allow old information to modify new ones.

Consider the method called principal components analysis. This is nothing but redefining the data in terms of another set of dimensions. It thus appears that the same data can be understood in different ways, without changing the data one bit. Furthermore, using one set of dimensions over another set is simply dependent on one's goals or assumptions when trying to arrive at an explanation or investigation.

So then, the question is, which approach is scientific?

On The Way...

So you see ah...so busy until the blog fresquenscies is so slow lah. Anyway lah. Updache all a bits. First, Charlene birthday happened. We celebrated with homemade spaghetti: shrimp, mushrooms, marinara sauce, red wine, and these three cakes from Cake Artist Studios on Bloomington Rd, Champaign, IL. Very good! If I remember correctly, one is called black berry something, one is called cappuccino something, and the last one is called chocolate something...something.

Then I had to go to Ann Arbor, MI to give a talk. This was kind of a last minute thing. But then had to go lor. Drive for 5.5 hrs (acherly, Charlene drove lah, atta girl!). Then stayed over night there before giving the talk the next day to the bunch at UMich. Quite a good crowd acherly. Met Ah Yu there, he was giving a talk too. We ate at some Korean restaurant thingy. Then after the talk, we drove back (another 5.5 hrs) but via Indianapolis, to go to The Beefhouse. Note: Beefhouse is at exit 4 on I-74 heading west, just before crossing the Indiana/Illinois border. Very good meat! Mmmm...can go back again...so by now, you should be able to tell, that I am somewhat broke oredi. Donations are welcome [www.gimmemahni.com].

And finally, I got my Master's in Psycho. Now, I am a certified genius, I'm sure! Certified man. got paper leh. Hopefully this paper can hepped me earn more mahni. If not, then is din deh lah. So all in all, although got many thing going on...its moving lah. Slowly but surely. For more good years!

Why is existence better than non-existence?

This is a toughie.

Formosa Formosa!

Ok ok. It may seem like I very the free, traveling everywhere. But really, you have to see me in between. I is very the busy one. Only rare chance got time to go see see things, meet meet people. So must cherish the moment. Anyway, Taiwan. Shiokanadenmatology!

I got a free ticket because I claim mileage on Singapore Airlines. SQ hwaaa! Is good man. So much better than all the other airplanes. Acherly, I think any Asian airline is much better than any US airline. Ok back to the story...

Touchdown at Taipei airport and went to Bei Pu to have lei cha. This is where you use the stick and grind the tea leaves into powder. And eat muah chee. And grind and grind and grind until your chiu sng already. Then the tea become oily oily. Then ask the lady add water. Then and only then, can you drink your tea. Maybe is because you work so hard. The tea taste great. Then, after tea, we head to Changhua. Spend the night there, get pampered. Wake up to lots of fruits! Very healthy breakfast. And then, its off back to Taipei.


Went to eat xiao long bao at the original Ding Tai Feng with Zhimao. The bao is so juicy. I say, better than the Ding Tai Feng in Singapore. Very good. Can go again. There were a lot of people waiting in line. For some weird reason, they were mostly nihon-jin. Don't ask me why. So we eat eat eat. Then we walk walk around Taipei. Go to the 101 building. Their MRT exactly the same as Singapore one man! They also got the LOVE sign.

Then during dinner, we also meet Charlene's lab people to eat eat eat again at some Japanese teppanyaki style thing. Then we went to her small sister's place to spend the night. Next morning, we got up, went to get tau hway and Taiwan mian sian for breakfast and watched Transformers movie. Then its off to Hualien!

Hualien is beautiful. The place where mountains run into the ocean. The Pacific ocean to the east, the mountain ranges, Taroko Gorge to the west. Cliffs that hit the ground at ninety degrees. Water as blue as the sky. The sky as blue as the water. Rocks with lines and holes and rivers. All the color and texture coming together to make you feel that you are at home in the earth. We spent the night first at Bright Moon home stay in Hualien, which is a very cool and quaint place where you stay in a family like situation. We check out the ye shi there also. Eat and eat some more. The famous niu pai of course! And guan cai ban. And bbq sticks. I miss ye shis. And then we spent the next night at Taroko Gorge, Formosa Hotel.

Then we came back to Taipei and had dinner with the sisters at this cool yakiniku place. Very nice food and a fun time. Spent the night at Yuan Shan hotel (check out Ghost in the Shell, SAC 2nd Gig). Next day had niu rou main. Then fly fly away back to sg. Going back there again soon!
Check out the other pics [click here]