For shipping whales, call UPS…

I’m not saying you have a couple of those, but in case you do, you know who to look for if you need to move them around…stumbled upon this article the other day & found it to b an interesting read. I quote (& all the interesting stuff are in red…):

“ATLANTA, Oct. 17, 2005 – Two Beluga whales were picked up in Mexico City by UPS Airlines today and flown 1,331 miles to Atlanta for delivery to the Georgia Aquarium.The relocation, handled jointly by the Georgia Aquarium and UPS Airlines, transferred the giant mammals from an amusement park in Mexico City.The whales are named Nico and Gasper. Each is about 12 feet long and weighs about 1,600 pounds. A Boeing 767 cargo jet was used for the move because of the special tank dimensions and the 26,000 pounds of combined weight of tanks, water and whales.“The movement required engineering modifications to the aircraft’s load floor to handle enormous custom tanks that locked in place,” said Bland Matthews, the UPS Airlines loadmaster in charge of the move. “The success of this relocation took much of the experience and training I have in aircraft loading, weight and balance as well as great teamwork.”Matthews travels the world handling special moves for UPS but usually oversees the loading of heavy equipment for military charter flights. He was pressed into service for the movement of Nico and Gasper to ensure their tanks would be secure on the plane and that the transfer could be performed safely.The placement of Nico and Gasper inside the aircraft was computed precisely to straddle the aircraft’s center of gravity. Maintaining proper balance impacted how the whales were loaded onto the plane, where their tanks were locked into place as well as the aircraft’s takeoff and landing speeds.The environmental controls on the main cargo deck were pressurized to simulate an altitude of 5,000 feet with an air temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit. UPS pilots flew as high as 37,000 feet to stay above any rough weather that might have caused undue stress for the whales.

The UPS flight was flown by Capt. Bob Knight and Capt. Lou Casale, both management captains and flight training supervisors.

After landing at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the whales were unloaded and secured to a custom-designed UPS trailer for a police escort to the Aquarium. The tractor-trailer was driven by Charlie Smith, one of UPS’s Circle of Honor drivers with 30 years of safe driving. The Circle is reserved for men and women who have driven for 25 years or more without an accident.“

The thing about tube amps…

…is that they are oh so expensive, the Fatman iTube amp shown above, costs SGD$900! Ask any discerning audiophile why the analogue based sound produced using vacuum tubes is better than the sound produced by modern digital methods using chips and, believe me, you’re in for a long night

Constructed from brushed aluminium, and consisting of a high quality CD player, a AM/FM radio tuner and a dedicated iPod docking station and packed with a four tube powered amplifier the Shanling MC-30 iPod Music Center offers a Philips VAM-12 pick up mechanism with a CD-7II servo system, for ‘low jitter tracking’, and a Burr-Brown PCM1738 chip for pristine digital to analogue conversion.

The Shanling MC-30 iPod Music Center retails for USD$995, so it’s not cheap but, as far as aesthetics are concerned you have gotta absolutely love it.

Apart from its beautifully minimalist styling and the fact that the vacuum tube cover can be removed to display the six vacuum tubes within (a sealed unit would, we are sure you’d agree, be nothing less than a travesty) the MT-1 Integrated Tube Amplifier offers 12.5 Watts per channel, a frequency response of 10Hz~40KHz, a signal to noise ratio of 83db and, as you would expect, offers a veritable array of connectivity comprising of non-balance signal inputs for up to three external devices as well as three sets of speaker connections at 0Ω, 4Ω and 8 Ω.

The Xindak Electronics MT-1 Vacuum Tube Amplifier retails at around USD$635.

Ultimate instant noodles – Nissin XO Sauce Seafood Flavour!

Ladies & gentlemen, I present to you the 2nd in line of the Ultimate series: the Nissin XO Sauce Seafood instant Flavour bowl noodle! Absolutely a rare gem, I ran into it on a dark & stormy night, thunder and…wait, that’s my tummy growling…well as I was saying, if you are in the market for a midnight relish, this is almost as good as it get. The quantity isn’t measly, the XO sauce covers up any cooking mistake you make, the bowl form factor makes it easy to cook & enjoy from.

I give it a 10 for taste, & a 10 for convenience. Juz wrap up the packets in the plastic foil & throw everything into the hastily-emptied bowl. Dispose of the bundle & no one be the wiser!

On a side-note, seems that everything can be instant nowadays, ain’t it 🙂

iPod Touch case for sale!!!

I have this extra iPod Touch translucent hard case for sale, for a long while already. To me it looks absolutely gorgeous, dunno why nobody’s picking them up at the forum marketplace. Note: it’s translucent black, & the photo at the bottom compares its slimness to the Samsung U600 cellphone, which’s 10.9mm thin only!

So if you are in the market for a new case for your iPod Touch, why not give this a try? I may be able to hook u up juz yet…

The Ultimate series – pilot episode

Tonight, we launch a new series called, well, “The Ultimate Series“. During its run, I will showcase some of the items which are the very best in its class & why so. So first-up, in this pilot episode I present to u, the Vaja i-Volution GT iPod Touch leather case:

It’s leather, construction’s absolutely top-notch quality, comes in a huge array of customization, which includes having a graphic personalization on the rear! Pricey though, own one by forking out USD$90 (including customization but excluding shipping!).

My iPod Touch Springboard

My current Springboard alternates between this 2 scheme:

The pictures speak for themselves. Took me quite a lotta effort to install those apps up there, & even more effort to maintain them. Sometimes I wonder why I do it at all…& you have not seen my other customizations yet, my “no artwork” image in the music player app, my unlock screen, my battery meter, my music player buttons, etc.

Any queries, just drop me a message & I’ll get back to you…

My precioussss…iPod Touch

There you have it: my 1st iPod. It’s a Touch, so tink iPhone minus phone minus camera minus AT & T. A lot cheaper, since I got it on a mass order. What you see is my full set up, which consists of the following items:

The black-&-red Sumajin leather case, which costs like $25 & is the cheapest, good-quality case you can find! In Challenger, iShop21, EpiCentre, you know, the usual suspects…next pls…

The Mylar X3i . Best IEM you can get for >$80. & wat’s more, comes with bi-flanges (not shown). I was on a Mylar XB previously & it was a bit bassy(which I kinda preferred) but sometimes that means muddy muffled highs & mids. So when these came out I actually topped up by a bit only, & got the best of ALL worlds, bass + clarity. Thanx to uncle Wilson @ Jaben, for the unbelievable service & top-up program.

Next, the Pièce de résistance: a portable amplifier, Visely.This was actually 1 of the primary reason I have to get an iPod for, to have a mp3 player with a proper raw, un-ampped line-out dock. The picture speaks for itself, & well, I’m definitely enjoying the sound so much, I’m not going back to no-amp-world ever!

Btw, that piece of inter-connect with the snake-skin/carbon-fiber-like weave is another work of art…Again, outstanding recommendation by uncle Wilson @ Jaben, & procured at a very reasonable price as well…

Something cool & bright – electronic candles!

For those people who always like to create lomantic lomantic ambience at home but scare the candles burn the whole house down, this is for you: electronic candles! No smoke, no smell, no burn your house down! I order mine form Hong Kong for…for…a very cheap price which I can’t tink of right now!

 

Update: . : ~ 好小子 ~ : . this one’s for you! I found the Ebay seller already, his alias is siukau, his sales are here. If you are unsure which combi to buy, or which combi got lights, or just casings, or wat kinda of lights + casings, contact me 😉

 

Anyway, dun buy the Philips one from electronic malls in Singapore, they will cost you your house! or somewhere around $99.

Items bought during IT Show 2008 – Part 3

Finally, we have the small players. Bought my set of 3rd-party inks for my still-incredibly reliable Brother DCP-115C printer (which I got for free with my laptop purchase). A full set of Brother ink (2 blacks + the 3 colors) will set you back close to $60 outside, but I got my 3rd party set for just $30 (1 black + 3 colors).

& that, which I didn’t get at the IT Show, but at my campus DURING the show period. It’s a portable emergency backup power source! Quite a mouthful, got this highest capacity one for $60, & well, compare its design to other, I say it’s well worth it. The actual thing is smaller than it looks. Blue indicator + iPod white casing, wat can I say?

Downside is 7hrs of input to give 2hrs of output, well, at least I dun have to bring all my individual charger for my iPod & mobile phone anywhere

Well, that’s the end of my IT Show ’08 segment. Too bad the camera I wanted wasn’t there…

Items bought during IT Show 2008 – Part 2

Next major item, finally a new battery for my 1-hour laptop, & an extended one at that! My laptop has a very special feature: it can only last 52min(excluding boot-up consumption) on a single charge. Pretty cool eh, that’s why you always see me typing very fast in school.

I understand battery are normally not covered under warranty for most electronic devices, so I actually called Samsung up & hope that I’m able to buy, NOT claim one. But apparently they did not stock this model as it’s probably too old(my laptop’s a Core Duo, not the newer Core 2 Duo, nor Penryn). So when I saw this extended battery for $148 (yup no discount 😦 ) I pounced on the chance to order it.

Expect my feedback in a week’s time when I collect it. It’s capacity is twice that of the standard battery, & 4 times as much as MY current standard battery, which has a 50% wear level already…