Sunday, July 05, 2009
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Gerbera illuminated with single flash.
Nerdy interests: Gebera jamesonii
Gerbera is a genus of the family of sunflowers, Daisies and Asters - Asteraceae, with a wide distribution from Africa to Madagascar, tropical Asia and South America. Through hybridization, Gerberas are available in a massive array of colors.
Kingdom
Plantae
Division
Magnoliophyta
Class
Magnoliopsida
Order
Asterales
Family
Asteraceae
Subfamily
Mutisioideae
Genus
Gerbera
Gerberas are perennial flowering plants featuring a large capitulum with striking, 2-lipped ray florets. The capitulum on the Gerberas has the appearance of a single flower, but is actually a closter of hundreds of individual flowers. The morphology of the flowers varies depending on their position in the capitulum of the Gerberas.
Facts About Gerberas
* Having a long vase life, Gerbera flowers are widely used in the Cut Flower Industry. Gerberas are great flowers for adding color to any room or garden.
* Gerberas are also referred to as Gerbera Daisies, daisy being a general name for all species in the family Asteraceae, to which Gerberas belong.
* Some species of Gerberas, such as Gerbera anandria, Gerbera aurantiaca and Gerbera jamesonii bear the suffix Daisy - Ghostly Daisy, Hilton Daisy, Barberton Daisy, Gerbera Daisy and Transvaal Daisy
* Gerbera flowers often measure 7 inches (17.8 cm) across.
* Gerberas come in a wide range of colors - from light to dark yellow, orange, pink, brilliant scarlet, deep red, and many more colors.
* Gerberas can be used in landscapes as bedding plants for borders and flower beds or as Cut Flowers for table arrangements.
* Gerberas are native to Transvaal, South Africa.
* Hybrid Gerbera varieties cloned through tissue culture are uniform, and have long-lasting flowers with thick peduncles that are not light sensitive; hence, flowers remain open in the dark, lending themselves to indoor use in flower arrangements.
Various Forms of Gerbera Flowers
Gerberas come in various forms. Broadly, they can be put into four groups-
* Single Flowers - These Gerberas have a row of non-overlapping petals (ray florets) with a green center (disc florets). These are the most common gerberas available in the market.
* Double or duplex - These Gerberas have a double row of overlapping petals with a green, black, or dark red eye.
* Crested doubles - These doubles contain two rows of overlapping petals with one or more inner rows of shorter petals with a green, black, or dark red eye.
* Full crested doubles - These have solid overlapping rows of petals with an inner row diminishing in size, covering the eye entirely.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Monday, December 29, 2008
Christmas dinner report
The ACS (I) Boarding School has always strived to provide the best home-away-from-home experience for her boarders. In its essence, “Home” should conjure up images of a warm nurturing family environment. With this in mind, several special events in a year are celebrated to help make the boarding school experience so much more then just a place to stay. Christmas, embodies the spirit of caring, loving and sharing. It is no coincidence then that the annual Christmas celebration has always been one of the top four events here in the Boarding School.
Curiously taking place on the 17th of October 2008, a full two months before the actual day, it was therefore to be expected that there was no Christmas spirit in the air. Even moments before the event opened, there were many boarders looking skeptical about the whole event, bemused even at the prospect that somehow, by some magic, that this plainest of plain evenings was to become a blaze of light, filled with Christmas cheer and song. Sheepish looks jumped from boarder to boarder with eyes flirting towards the more adventurous, already decked out in Christmas themed clothes and red elfish fur caps.
What an evening it turned out to be! Whatever initial skepticism the boarders had, soon melted away with the sumptuous spread that was laid out for everyone. It was a time to eat, drink and be merry! Both staff and students sat shoulder to shoulder together in the joint appreciation of the feast. Young boarders conversed happily with their seniors and the seniors talked to their teacher mentors as old friends. Truly, all barriers were broken between age and rank.
Next came the performances put up by our very own JCRC committee, students as well as some guest items by the staff. Each item was met with ever increasing enthusiastic applause by everyone present. When the time came for the boarders to sing Christmas carols in union, those initial few sheepish looks at those better dressed soon turned to good natured envy with everyone wanting to have a go at wearing their own elfish cap.
With all the celebrations on ongoing, Dr Ong, Chief Warden of the Boarding School, also took the opportunity to thank the hardworking custodians as well as announce the winner of the ACS(I) Boarding School Sports Challenge Shield donated by Dr Lee Li Eng (Hall 7.) On reflective note, Pastor Reverend Kenneth Huang gave his heartwarming Christmas address, reminding everyone of the more spiritual aspects of Christmas.
To end the evening with a bang, came Santa Claus himself! All dressed in his red robe, bellowing “Ho Ho HO!” whilst dragging his sack of gifts to the children present that evening. Truly, the Spirit of Christmas must have come down that evening as everyone left with warm smiles on their faces.
It so murky going ahead...
From the POEMS daily report:
As the U.S. stock market heads into the last week of the year, what was inconceivable just 12 months ago is now a stark possibility: 2008 could be the worst year ever for Wall Street.
The U.S. market's most tracked benchmark, the S&P 500, is down 40.6 percent since last year's close with only three trading days left in 2008. Given the market's hair-trigger volatility this year, that's just one bad day away from surpassing 1931's 47.1 percent drop, the biggest yearly decline ever. As it is, the market's swoon this year will cement 2008's place in history by at least one measure: eviscerated
wealth. A record $7.3 trillion of stock market value has been obliterated this year, according to the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index, the broadest measure of U.S. equity performance.
Investors ran for the exits this year as a collapse originally thought to be contained to the U.S. home mortgage sector morphed into a full-blown global credit crisis that now threatens global recession.
The fallout from frozen credit markets permeated all sectors from banks to autos to resources, while unemployment climbed, house prices plummeted and cash-strapped consumers curtailed their spending.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Its official. 100 days to the big push!
http://www.timeanddate.com/counters/fullscreen.html?mode=a&year=2009&month=3&day=10&hour=8am&min=0&sec=0&p0=236
pictured: haemorrhagic brain. ouch
click the link for a very useful and scary timer. :) should do well to earn a place on your favourite bookmarks...
M5 facies. Songs to Sing for Neuro.
For Opthalmo:
"Sir this is a very bright light. i'm going to use it to examine the back of your eye. I will need to get very close to you. it will be uncomfortable but please bear with it. if at any point you feel any pain I will stop immediately"
For Babinski:
"Sir this is an orange stick. It is blunt and not sharp. I will use it to scrape the sole of your foot. if at any point you feel pain let me know and i will stop immediately. please bear with me"
Friday, November 28, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Singapore stomp
I wonder if you've heard about Singapore Stomp? A website ostensibly run to encourage "you to generate the stories, you to write the reports, you to take the pictures and you to shoot the videos" it is, what i would call the ugliest site in singapore. And yes, its run by the Singapore Straits Times. (shame on you)
while i enjoy surfing other public forums from other countries which usually host more gentlemanly discussions on national issues, healthcare, politics - what i see in Singapore is just the propensity for tabloid news, porn (copious amounts of shockingly risque stuff) and vigilante justice. Whats worse are the comments hoisted upon the reports by singaporeans who obviously are just hiding behind digital masks, revealing their true prejudices.
lets take a look at the main page.
http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/singaporeseen/index.jsp
most viewed articles?
1)S'pore girl posts her naked photo on Friendster
2)Another S'pore girl puts nude pics online...taken in HDB staircase
3)ACJC girl tied up, roughed up, and humiliated on elite JC premises
That pretty much sums up what attracts the attention of Singaporeans more accurately then any politically motivated poll...
are we one horny and gossipy nation!
As for the comments that accompany the articles - they reveal an even uglier side of singapore.
From the article about the girl who posted pictures of herself naked?
http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/singaporeseen/viewContent.jsp?id=41654
xlacklnr said on 15 Nov, 2008
@deadforever dont have sex with the muslim sluts! later make more muslim bad for the country :(
deadforever said on 15 Nov, 2008
I agree with Hyourinmaru , ever since yr 1991 girls all are a disgrace to human , are they tryin to attract attention? Why not go orchard , maybe alot ppl would b attracted. And i notice (not tryin to b racist) muslim girls are wearin short skirts in my school and i heard some even had sex. Does the muslim law allow this??
can you imagine any of these people repeating such statements in the offline world? clearly for all our criticisms of poor behavior by western surfers, we are just as bad.
this article got me even more worked up:
http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/singaporeseen/viewContent.jsp?id=41089
take a look at the even worse comments -
cutcutkisskiss said on 15 Nov, 2008
So I guess this is China's foreign talent..
StompTheRats said on 14 Nov, 2008
zhaoweiMeiMei88 said on 14 Nov, 2008
these illegal VCDs sold by the PRC woman even costs more than what you are worth. you are just a piece of cockcroach. you want to be our PR?? You wait long long ah......carry on dreamin.
StompTheRats said on 14 Nov, 2008
zhaoweiMeiMei88 said on 14 Nov, 2008
the whole value of you is worth 1 yuan.
StompTheRats said on 14 Nov, 2008
zhaoweiMeiMei88 said on 14 Nov, 2008
i pity you - a stupid animal trying to be someone else. wake up!! stupid animal. i can see right through you. you are coming here, pretending to write extremely bad english and trying to act cute! chek! shame on you, why dont you call yourself babi doll instead (read babi = pig in another language, if you do not already know). Next time, try impersonating as a Japanese girl hor? KNN.
PRC or HK men/women = low class humans
tcka1974 said on 14 Nov, 2008
Aiya, the title of illegal VCDs tat sold by the PRC woman
Wow. incredibly appalling yes? harking back to the racial divide in the states in the early 20th century. hitler's germany and japanese imperialism.
its a horrible horrible statement to make!
PRC or HK men/women = low class humans
these illegal VCDs sold by the PRC woman even costs more than what you are worth. you are just a piece of cockcroach
whoever wrote this once again makes me extremely sad and embarrassed to be a Singaporean. Why can't our nation wake up from the gutter and progress to a more gracious society. must we hang on to our petty classisms? or our religious bigotry? can we ever move on to having balanced intelligent articles that don't just shock, titillate or act as petty vigilante justice pieces?
i wonder. i pray.
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Prof Salto Tellez and Myself at the NHG Congress 2008
Update! The results of the competition are out. Im very happy and thankful to have taken back a Gold Medal as Best Medical Student presentation/project! I really have to thank the team that i worked with for all the hours of excellent support and Dr Salto-Tellez as well Suhaimi for granting me the privileged access i had to the lab. Many thanks must also go to TK who provided me the primary Hes1 antibody, without which the project wouldn't even have been possible. I also wish special heartfelt gratitude to Suhaimi who taught me the protocols so patiently and really helped me get adjusted into the lab.