Fermentation

Fermentation has been used as a form of food preservation since biblical times.
Soy sauce and Bean Paste are one of the world's oldest condiments and began in China more than 2,500 years ago.

Dou Jiang

Cheese appeared for the first time in approximately 7000 B.C.
It is said that cheese was first manufactured in the Middle East.

A tradition of Korea, Kimchi is made mainly by salting cabbage and dressing it with red pepper powder, garlic, ginger, scallions and radish. placed in clay containers and left to fermentate for weeks. American Magazine ‘Health’ named Kimchi, Olive oil, Soy, Yogurt, Lentil as the best healthy food on earth.

Kimchi

Prosciutto is a popular Italian ham that is usually sliced thin and served uncooked; Fermentation of prosciutto can take anywhere from nine to eighteen months, depending on the size of the ham.

prosciutto - whole and sliced

In Spain they called preserved ham Jamon. The curing after salting can be up to four years !

jamon - whole and sliced

Hams of various regions of North America and Europe go through a month of dry salting, a month of smoking and 12 months of maturation.

Ham

More Guitars

Upturn or Downturn

The recently concluded PC Show 2009 saw record visitors spending $52 millions during the 4 days event.
Pop concerts see good ticket sales, despite four shows lined up by Asia mega stars.
Restaurants with long queues are a common sight islandwide.
Car sales are up alongside increased COE prices.
Stock market is bullish. Property is on the rebound.

All this despite worrying reports of shrinking export, and fresh predictions that the USA will again be hit with another banking crisis.

Ships @ Singapore

NODX 2009 - Yr on Yr
-20.8 percent in December 2008 - S$10.47 billion
-34.8 percent in January 2009 - S$10.04 billion
-23.8 percent in February 2009 - S$12.87 billion
-17.3 percent in March 2009 - S$11.88 billion
-19.2 per cent in April 2009 - S$11.32 billion
-12.1 per cent in May 2009 - S$10.94 billion
-11.0 per cent in June 2009 - S$11.38 billion

Aerial view - landing @Changi

Ghost. Seen One Yet ?

Scientists theorised that all humans have electromagnetic brain waves. The earth is enveloped by the same frequency. When a person dies, the wave remains in the atmosphere. Ghosts are just brain waves without a body. The waves go right through your skull and make you see what looks like a ghost.
Your eyes see a living being, then your brain. With ghosts, your brain sees them directly.


One who has a frequency of brain wave ,which a part of it is produced by the oscillation of the organales in our brain called 'crystal ' , exactly resonant with the ghost's electromagnetic waves frequency, see ghost.





Most scientists dismiss the vast majority of ghost sightings as hoaxes. But researchers in Canada, England are exploring what happens in the brain to create the illusion that something is "haunted." So far, they have found evidence that some apparitions may be brain benders caused by spiking EMFs (electromagnetic fields), and possibly even extremely low-–frequency sound waves (known as infrasound) so subtle that the ear does not register them as noise.



Michael Persinger, a neuroscientist at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, has conducted research on the topic.
In 2001 in Perceptual And Motor Skills chronicles the experiences of a teenager who in 1996 claimed to be receiving nocturnal visits—one sexual—from the Holy Spirit. The 17-year-old girl, who had sustained mild brain damage at birth, said she also felt the presence of an invisible baby perched on her left shoulder.
When Persinger and his colleagues investigated (at the behest of the girl's mother), they found an electric clock next to the bed that was about 10 inches from where she placed her head when she slept. Tests showed that the clock generated electromagnetic pulses with waveforms similar to those found to trigger epileptic seizures in rats and humans. When the clock was removed, the visions stopped. Persinger determined that the clock, in combination with the girl's brain injury, were highly likely to have been contributing factors to the perceived nocturnal visits.

Casino

Marina Sands casino looks like it's on target to the 2010 opening. This will be the new kid on the Singapore economic block.




Will the duck tour move its operating point to the casino area ? It certainly look out of place at Suntec convention center.

Amazing Biometric

Fingerprint ID has served mankind the past 100 years to provide accurate identification of people. No two fingerprints have ever been found alike in 6 billion humans.
Other visible human characteristics change - fingerprints do not.
The patterns of ridges on our finger pads are unique: no two individuals—even identical twins—have fingerprints that are exactly alike.
The first systematic use of fingerprints in the U.S. by the New York Civil Service Commission for testing began in 1902.



Like the fingerprints, each person also has a unique DNA.
Fingerprint can be altered by surgery, DNA fingerprint is the same for every cell, tissue, and organ of a person. It cannot be altered by any known treatment.



Do identical twins have identical DNA?
A DNA test can't determine the difference between identical twins, while a simple fingerprint can.

Demolition Technology

Explosive demolition technology has become most popular in the USA. High-rise office and residential blocks are brought down in a matter of seconds. Often such demolitions provide a spectacular show for the people who live and work in the area. But the actual preparations leading to the countdown could take months, such as laying of explosion charges, safety precautions around the neighbourhood.




The non-explosive method is now widely used in Singapore using hydraulic breakers mounted on excavators, which are lifted to the top floor of the building and demolishing downwards, floor by floor.





In November 2007, Kajima Corporation began demolition of its former head office buildings, which had served the company since 1968.
Kajima devised a world-first technique called the Cut & Take Down method, which enables demolition work to be done on the ground floor. By starting at the bottom, cutting one floor, and then lowering the entire building down on jacks one floor at a time, all the work can be performed safely at ground level.

You can catch the revolutionary method here.