BIT Fireworks

I managed to post the BIT fireworks video. Taking the short cut, I uploaded the video into Youtube. After uploading the file, there is a page showing the html code for you to copy and paste.

This fireworks is towards the end of the show, and is the most spectacular among all. Sad, lasted barely 30seconds.

Brunei International Tattoo (Part I)

The Brunei International Tattoo performance in the Stadium started from yesterday night and will go on for four nights in a row. It was a very long performance, started at about 8:45pm and ending at 12:15am. I bet those sitting with the royalties must be having a hard time trying to sit comfortably and enjoy it. It turned out not as I expected, quite dissappointed. Probably it's because I sat quite high up, but I don't think it really matters.

Most of the patterns each team performed were similar. They were either a heart-shaped or the number '60'. I figured it is better to watch the parade rather than this performance. In the parade, you can feel the atmosphere better, being only a few feet from the performers as they march past you on the streets, you can see their actions and feel the beat of the music closer. No wonder the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Scotland is always performed on the street as a marching parade.

The Japanese Fireworks were nothing spectacular too. It wasn't as good as the one held last year in Empire Hotel. I was expecting something like that, with lots of patterns and better-than-usual fireworks. Moreover, the fireworks were always only a brief moment after every song.

The teams taking part in the Brunei International Tattoo, total of 13 including Brunei.
People getting excited at the opening. The stadium being coloured by 'glowing snap-stick'. I don't know the proper name for that stick. Anybody?

The Indonesian team started off the night. Probably the most entertaining among all others.

The Philippines delegates using their hats to form a heart-shaped formation.

Another Heart-shaped formation. I lost count.

Chinese group. The last solo performance.

The Chinese team performing a few martial art display.

Brunei International Tattoo (Part II)

All the countries combined to perform a few songs for the grand finale.Notice that the no spectator in this area because it is behind the stage. I feel that about 1/3 of the stadium space is wasted. I don't see the real purpose of building the stage. It's basically just housing a display, which is hardly interesting.

Fireworks display.

National Anthem being played to close out the night.

Motorcade awaiting His Majesty.

A bit late snapping this. I recorded a video of the last fireworks however I do not know how to post a .mpg file yet. I'll try to figure it out when I have time.

Tattoo Parade

I was in town watching the Tattoo Parade yesterday night. Although it was mainly a musical parade, it really got me excited to catch the real performance on the 29th July. The Indonesian team was most exciting with their 'free-style' musical performance and their unique dressings. The Chinese being the biggest delegate among 12 countries, did some street stunts using whips which really impressed the public.

As I was talking about this to my friend today, I was surprised she doesn't know what this parade is about. And when I told her it's the Tattoo Parade, she thought it's the bodily arts. Sorry if you are reading this, I don't mean to embarrass you. But just to show how the people in Brunei do not keep up with local current news. And mind you, this is quite a hot event.

There are people who complain that Brunei is boring. Apart from the fact that Brunei do not sell alcohol, and the 'associated' entertainments that it may bring, I don't see it as much more boring than other countries. I have travelled to many cities and worked in several countries, I assure you what I said is true. All countries occassionally hold functions, same goes for Brunei. But when you are elsewhere outside Brunei, you tend to join in the functions, taking advantage of it fully. But when it comes to Brunei functions, most people come out with excuses: panas eh... ramai kali tu... payah cari parking, jauh kali ah... Honestly if you can't bear the heat, there's no outdoor activities you can do.

Anyway back to my subject. The Brunei International Tattoo will be held on 29th July to 1st August. The 1st of August being the extended day to cater the public who couldn't get the tickets for the first three days of performance. The show is a military performance with martial music, consisting of 12 countries (or is it 14?), and a total of over 1000 military personnel. The last time it was organised by Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) was in 1992 to commemorate the Jubli Perak (25 years) Coronation of His Majesty the Sultan. This time, it's to celebrate the Sultan's 60th Birthday.

I was told that before the contingents came to Brunei, they performed in Australia. In Brunei, the tickets are selling like hot-cakes at $1, $5 and $10. When they performed in Australia, each ticket cost AU$120. Yes you read that right: One-hundred and Twenty Aussie dollars. So why is it so cheap in Brunei? Subsidies from Government. How lucky are we! If you haven't got the ticket for this event, you might have to wait at least another 10 years because they are all sold out already.

I managed to take some photos of the event. However my battery ran flat at the moment they started the marching! I'll just post the better quality photos as most of it are blur cos I don't use a tripod, and you know... night shots are always difficult to take due to insufficient lights entering the lens. Slower shutter speed is required, and by the time it allows more light to enter the lens, your hands already shook the camera.

This is the last photo that I managed to take, after that I have flat battery! The first contingent just about to walk past me! Grrr...

The IBB building.

Looking towards the Post Office.

The opposite side of the streets is not filled yet, that's because this photo was taken an hour before the parade.

I'll post up photos of the Tattoo performance to be held in Stadium on 29th July. This time making sure I have a fully charged battery.

The Opposite of Johari Window

While I was selecting the words in the Johari Window, I was wondering... why is it all the good points? So then a friend told me there's another one called Nohari Window, it's the exact opposite of Johari. It's a collection of negative traits.

There are a few words in the Nohari Window that you might have difficulty knowing its meaning, here's some to help you out or better understand the words:

1) lethargic - state of sluggishness or inactivity
2) hostile - inhospitable
3) inane - lacking sense
4) cynical - negative or pessimistic
5) irrational - no reasoning
6) blase - unconcerned or uninterested
7) vacuous - lacking intelligence
8) unethical - not adhering to moral principles
9) callous - emotionally hardened, unfeeling
10) smug - exhibiting or feeling great with one-self
11) aloof - distant physically or emotionally
12) brash - rash or hasty/unthinking

This LINK will lead you to my personal Nohari Window. If you have time, please select what you think of my negative traits. And if you're shy, you can opt to write 'Anonymous' as your name (or any fake name) to keep ur anonymity.

The Johari Window

The Johari Window was invented to let you better understand how others think of you. Contained in a frame, there are some words listed used to describe a person. What you do is you select 5 or 6 words that you think best describe you, give a name and the site will remember it. Then ask your friends to go to the site and pick 5 or 6 words that they think best describe you. Anyone can then view the results of the Johari Window that has been individualised.

I have done mine. To my friends who know me, please pick 5 or 6 words that you think suits me best at this link: http://kevan.org/johari?name=chalks

My results can be viewed at: http://kevan.org/johari?view=chalks

You may create your own Johari Window at http://kevan.org/johari. Have fun!

All you need to know about Video Outputs

If you are thinking of getting into home theater systems, there is no doubt you will encounter all the different connectivity jacks which you probably have never heard of. Here I will explain all the types of video outputs from a DVD player. You might have heard of these: composite video, component video, S-Video and the latest one will be HDMI. So which is actually the best? And what are their differences in the output of the picture quality?

First of all, the logic you need to know. Unless you are a beginner, skip this paragraph. If all you wanted to know is the conclusion, go to the last paragraph. In electronics terms, support and compatibility matters. So, if you have an excellent DVD player with the latest technology that can output very clear picture, but your TV does not support that output from your DVD player, you will still end up with poor picture quality. Isn't that obvious? You just wasted 5 seconds of your life. Now move on.

Let's get technical now. We can only see three colours in our eyes: Red, Green and Blue. I'm not lying. The rest of the colours is a mixture of these three. So in other words, all electronics equipment only need to have these three outputs to produce what our eyes can see. This is commonly called RGB format.

Back in 1953 when colour TV was borned, the standard used was a format called composite video and it has been around even today. These 'yellow video jack' has the poorest quality compared to other video jacks. However many of us are still using composite video jacks from our cable TV (eg. Astro), sadly because the receivers normally only has that particular output.

The composite video was developed by compressing all the information from the three components (RGB) into one single cable for broadcasting. Unfortunately, compressing and un-compressing these signals causes loses in distortions. ie. when you play a DVD disc, the DVD player convert (compresses) all the great component of your DVD signal into one single signal. The signal is then sent to the TV, the TV then un-compresses to restore to its original three component signal. Too much conversion, too much losses.

Next is the S-Video jacks. Just like the Composite Video, S-Video also has only one cable. An S-video cable actually carries two separate signals, one for luminance and one for chrominance or color. By keeping luminance and chrominance information separately it prevents most of the signal degradation that is inherent in the conversion to single-wire composite video. Have I lost you?

Then comes Component Video. It's easily identified by the three jacks that is available in most newer TV or DVD sets. DVD players with this output usually have three RCA jacks which are color-coded green, blue, and red. They are labeled either Y, B-Y, R-Y, or alternatively Y, Pb, Pr, or Y, Cb, Cr. So, three cables are required. These are better quality as it has less compression compared to Composite or S-Video.

The newest video jack is the High-Definition Multimedia Interface, abbreviated as HDMI. This is the latest industry standard un-compressed, all digital video/audio interface. Notice that I mentioned audio. Yes this jack differ from all others being that this single cable also incorporates audio signals in them.

If you have gone to this far and understood what I was blabbing about, Congratulations! If you have skipped the intermediate paragraphs, aren't you keen to know what actually happen behind all these electronics jargon? Now, scroll back up and read. Ok. Let's conclude. In terms of quality in the order from least to best picture quality: Composite (that yellow jack), S-Video, Component (that RGB wires), HDMI. Those are all you wanted to know isn't it?

Who benefited from World Cup?

World Cup 2006 is over. Wasn't it supposed to be Brazil holding the most coveted trophy in football? The mathematics geniuses predictions were all wrong. France did not win. Italy broke the mathematicians theory this time.

There's no more late night sleep. No more waking up in the wee hours of the night. No more moody feeling while at work. And have you noticed the brownish (or even worst, bluish) eye-bag under your colleagues eye has dissappeared too?

The fans now look forward to the start of leagues again. Ever wondered why these footballers were being trained so much and apparently appeared so eager to win tournaments? In addition to playing for pride of countries, some of the players make a few more coins to kick the ball around in World Cup. Here's a list of the top 20 highest paid players. The amount includes the club salaries and endorsements.

1 Ronaldinho (Barcelona) £32.6m
2 David Beckham (Real Madrid) £31.2m
3 Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) £30.4m
4 Samuel Eto’o (Barcelona) £21.3m
5 Lionel Messi (Barcelona) £21.1m
6 Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Juventus) £20.9m
7 Ronaldo (Real Madrid) £20.4m
8 Frank Lampard (Chelsea) £20m
9 Thierry Henry (Arsenal) £19.95m
10 Michael Ballack (Bayern Munich) £19.9m
11 Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) £19.2m
12 Raul (Real Madrid) £18.9m
13 Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid) £18.8m
14 Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) £18.6m
15 Didier Drogba (Chelsea) £18.3m
16 Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus) £12.9m
17 Ryan Babel (Ajax Amsterdam) £12.6m
18 Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United) £12.1m
19 Lukas Podolski (Cologne) £11.3m
20 Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan) £9.9m

Apart from advertisements, football apparels, match tickets, countries hosting the games and other indirect income from football, who do you think claimed a small share from the most popular game in the world? The bookies. Yes, they are the ones that provide a bit of extra excitement for gamblers. Although being illegal in Brunei, there is no stopping for bookies from operating. And to catch these offenders is not difficult too. It's just a matter of whether or not the authorities want to do it.

The gamblers who loses could be burning a hole in their pocket or even their accounts. But put it in another view, the winner could have contributed in the market from more consumer spendings.

Interesting Signboards

Torque vs Power

The performance of an engine is described by the torque and power. Many of us do not know the difference between the two. So then when choosing a car, obviously the higher the values, the better the engine. But what actually are they?

For a car, the torque is normally measured in ft/lbs, and power is normally measured in brake horsepower (bhp). In its simplest mechanics form, power determines how fast your car can go. Torque is the 'pulling power' and determines how fast that speed can be reached. The two are dependable on a mix of variables such as bore and stroke, transmission gearing or compression ratio.

Very often while test driving a car, we feel the car is effortless in trying to get to a certain speed. That is when the torque comes into play. Manufacturers however do play around with the timing of torque and horsepower at different ranges of rpm. With cars tuned to have high low-end torque, the car will feel effortless to accelerate in stop-and-go traffics. Hence it gives you that powerful feeling. However when it comes to higher range of the rpm, the torque decreases and it will seem the car tend to be weak at higher speeds.

Let's get into more details. A car manufacturer can claim that their 3.5L V6 engines can produce 300 bhp. Yet on a test, it was found to have only 240 bhp. Did they cheat? No. The disparities between the two numbers is based on the fact that one is a gross horsepower rating while the other corresponds to the wheel-driven horsepower.

Gross horsepower is the engine output measured at the flywheel without the engine installed in a vehicle. Wheel-driven horsepower, also known as Net horsepower, is done by tests when the vehicle is put on a large roller, and power measured at the flywheel when the wheels are accelerated to redline in first or second gear.

For gross horsepower, since the engine has no load on it, all of its power can be used for making horsepower. Because there is frictional loss in the engine as well as in the wheel-driven contact, net horsepower is always lower than gross horsepower. The Japanese cars normally uses 'Ps' to measure horsepower, and is a closer margin between gross horsepower and net horsepower.

So, 280bhp is faster (top speed) than 240 bhp, 230 ft/lbs accelerates faster than 200 ft/lbs. But a car with 280 bhp 200ft/lbs may not necessarily beat a car with 240bhp 230ft/lbs in a short race.