Yes, I am Superman. Really!

"Eat your heart out, Clark Kent!" and more in the Best of IZ Reloaded 2006.

SIA gives frequent flyer card to teddy bear

I was reading Richard Quest's blog when I came across an interesting post. Richard is the host of Business Traveller on CNN. In one of his posts in December 2006, he wrote about his teddy bear Sleepy being given a frequent flyer card by Singapore Airlines. From Richard Quest's blog:

During my trip to Singapore, Singapore Airlines presented Sleepy with his frequent flyer card (a non-accrual account, well, we don’t actually pay for his tickets).

Sleepy also got a personal letter from the CEO of Singapore Airlines welcoming him to Kris Flyer.

Why did I ask them to enrol him? Well, a bit of mischief and a lot of “why not?” We can fill the hours in the air thinking of all sorts of things… and as so many of you ask about Sleepy, I thought he should have his own card.

I must admit I was surprised that Singapore Airlines went along with my request; they are, after all, thought of as the more conservative of airlines. It just goes to show that one’s perceptions can turn into prejudices. So, even though he might not always enjoy his own seat at least now he belongs.

On David Beckham

Bolton captain Kevin Nolan writes about David Beckham's move to American Major League Soccer side Los Angeles Galaxy in his latest column for BBC Sport. From Kevin Nolan column:

I was absolutely flabbergasted.

Footballers earn a lot of money but £128m over five years is something else. I struggled to get my head around the size of that figure.

I had heard several people say that he would be daft to go to the Major Soccer League.

But, honestly, with those sorts of figures I think he would be daft not to.

There seems to be little doubt the Beckhams are keen to make a big impression in America - and with that sort of salary I would say they are going to do so.

I like David Beckham, especially when he was playing for Manchester United. He was the best right midfielder/winger back then. When I first heard the news that he was going to leave his current club Real Madrid for LA Galaxy, I was shocked not at the amount of money he was given but at the club he chose to move on to. I felt that he should have give the Premiership another go. Beckham was terribly sad when he was kicked out of the England team after the World Cup and we all know he still wants to play for his country. But by going to USA, I fear he would have killed all hopes of wearing the white and blue of England again.

Beckham talked about the challenges of going to the MLS, but will all due respect to the American soccer league, it is no way comparable to the English Premier League, the Spanish La Liga or the Italian Serie A, where all the best footballers in the world play. Seriously, no one (maybe only the soccer fans in America) is going to watch a MLS game, even if it features David Beckham. Football fans want to watch the big games, the big teams and the big names.

Beckham may be looking forward to his new challenge, his huge pay check and all those Hollywood parties (dang!) when he moves to the States, but his status among the world's best players will surely be a thing of the past. That's a pity because I feel at 31, he still has it in him to play in the best league in the world and be one of the best footballers again.

Egokast Video Belt Buckle

In the age of YouTube and online videos, a company thinks that it has found the next big thing - the Egokast video belt buckle. It is a 3.5 inch LCD video screen that you can wear on your belt or arm strap. It plays all sorts of video formats and pictures too. So next time when you head out, you can finally show off your favourite videos right above your crotch.

South Park Anime

I like the characters of South Park drawn in anime style by talented Japanese fans of the show. After looking at these brilliant artwork, I kinda wish they would do a South Park series (or at least an episode) in anime. That would be cool aye. View the artwork here, here and here.

Rude Singaporeans Beware!

Rude Singaporeans is a blog that showcases the ugly side of Singaporeans - rude, disgusting and inconsiderate citizens - like these two punks who think that it is cool to be riding their wrapped bikes in a crowded MRT train. "I was in train this afternoon heading to school and these two inconsiderate guys were blocking the way... They are also happily munching snacks away." The blog encourages readers to send photos of rude people caught in action.

(Thanks Mr Big)

The Pirate Bay wants to buy Sealand

On Tuesday, I blogged that the world's smallest country, Sealand is up for sale. Now The Pirate Bay, the world's largest bittorrent tracker, has shown interest in buying Sealand and has asked members of the internet community to donate money for the purchase. From Buy Sealand:

Recently it was made clear that this country is for sale. To make sure the owners will be kopimistic and that the country won’t be governed by people that do not care about it’s future, we have come up with a plan.

With the help of all the kopimists on Internets, we want to buy Sealand. Donate money and you will become a citizien.

We’ve set up a forum to discuss how the country is supposed to function. It should be a great place for everybody, with high-speed Internets access, no copyright laws and vip accounts to The Pirate Bay.

(Thanks GeekGod)

Previously: For Sale: World's Smallest Country

Sunday's UFO is a space junk re-entry

A mystery light was seen around 7.40pm from various parts of Singapore on Sunday, causing some to think that it was a UFO. Watch the news report and a video of the mystery light here. From Channel NewsAsia:

Intermittent bursts of green streaks across Singapore skies on Sunday evening have set communities abuzz with talk of unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings and experts debating the phenomenon.

The light was seen around 7.40pm in areas including Woodlands, Bedok, Bukit Panjang, Clementi and Marina.

While some readers said it was a green light, others observed a blue and white glow. The light resembled a fireball with a "tail", lasting for a few seconds in the sky before disappearing, they said.

"There was a light flying very fast going towards Sentosa and it was shaped like a rocket," said self-employed businessman Mr Abdullah Yusof, 48, who was at Harbourfront Centre with his family. The phenomenon lasted for less than a minute, he added.

Another reader, 25-year-old software engineer Xu Tao saw three green lights "moving from left to right" from his Clementi flat. His first thought? Aliens.

He said: "I thought it might be a UFO because it definitely looks different from aeroplane lights."

Experts have debated the exact nature of the UFO, one calling it a green flash, a phenomenon caused by the scattering of sunlight by small particles in the atmosphere. Another said it is most certainly a bolide, a huge meteor crashing through our atmosphere.

Now, some of you have been sending me emails for the past few days about the UFO and asked me what I thought it was. Well, based on my many years of experience in meteor astronomy (I had setup a meteor section in an astronomical society and served as its meteor recorder and have observed hundreds of meteors and fireballs), here's my own expert opinion.

Amateur astronomers contacted by the press say that the UFO spotted on Sunday could be a bolide or a fireball. There are a lot of meteors shooting into our atmosphere everyday, most are associated with known meteor showers. There is an active meteor shower called the Quadrantids which begins on December 28 and ends on January 7. Could the UFO be a Quadrantid? Most unlikely because Quadrantids generally do not produce bright meteors. And I have never ever come across a Quadrantid fireball before.

Fireballs are actually meteors that are brighter than usual. Some of these fireballs do not come from known meteor showers. A meteor that doesn't belong to any meteor shower is called a sporadic meteor. There are quite a few of them every night but a sporadic fireball is not so common. But I don't think the UFO is a fireball. Judging from some of the witness reports, such as, "three green lights "moving from left to right" and "it's like an aeroplane, very big, the front is like a cannon ball, full of colours - orange, yellow, blue and green", I would have to say a strong possibility for the mystery light is not a fireball but a space junk re-entry!

There are over a million bits of debris left by space missions that are currently orbiting the Earth. About 70,000 objects about the size of a postage stamp have been detected between 850 - 1,000 km above the Earth. Some of them will re-enter the earth's atmosphere from time to time. I have come across reports of re-entries that move in a flat trajectory parallel to the Earth, similar to the UFO seen on Sunday. These space junk re-entries can be visible for up to three minutes as they slowly cross the sky and burn. And only a space junk re-entry can produce the colours described by some of the witnesses. Therefore, I'm certain that the UFO seen on Sunday is a space junk re-entry, not a meteor/bollide, or a craft from outer space.

Spicy food kills cancer

I'm a chili junkie! I love the food I eat to be hot and spicy. Now there is more reason for me to eat spicy food. Researchers say that food rich in capsaicin, an ingredient found in chilli peppers, may offer protection from cancer because of their ability to kill cancer cells. From BBC:

They found capsaicin, an ingredient of jalapeno peppers, triggers cancer cell death by attacking mitochondria - the cells' energy-generating boiler rooms.

The research raises the possibility that other cancer drugs could be developed to target mitochondria.

The Nottingham University study features in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications.

The study showed that the family of molecules to which capsaicin belongs, the vanilloids, bind to proteins in the cancer cell mitochondria to trigger apoptosis, or cell death, without harming surrounding healthy cells.

Lead researcher Dr Timothy Bates said: "As these compounds attack the very heart of the tumour cells, we believe that we have in effect discovered a fundamental 'Achilles heel' for all cancers.

New stamps that taste and smell of sweet and sour pork

China Post has released a new stamp that has the scent and smell of sweet and sour pork to celebrate the year of the pig. Scratch the surface of the stamp to smell the sweet and sour pork and lick the back to taste it.

(Thanks shi)

Happy Meals

Dude stood outside a McDonald's restaurant in New York City for 2 1/2 hours. With a budget of $600, he treated random customers to their meals. Then the paranoid McDonald's manager called the police. Watch what happened.

(Thanks Allison)