Different colored eyes or heterochromia are pretty rare in people although it is more common in some animals. For example, dogs like Siberian Huskies and cats and horses often have different colored eyes because of inbreeding.
TRIVIA: Did you know that some famous people like David Bowie, Christopher Walken and Kiefer Sutherland also have heterochromia?
I've essentially enjoyed having "Naked Eyes" for two years and counting.
Thanks to Dr. Richard Nepomuceno who performed PRK Laser Surgery on my eyes last Dec. 4, 2009, my life is no longer constrained by prescription glasses and contact lenses. Vision is (still) perfect at 20/20!
Prepping for the laser surgery
Laser beam blasting my eyes
Under the knife edge
Success!!!
Some of the things I enjoy doing now...
~florent flora
Forget the cramped hotels in Kowloon area when planning your next trip to Hong Kong. For affordable five star-like accommodation with breathtaking views, go on to L'hotel Nina et Convention Centre Hong Kong in Tsuen Wan, New Territories, Hong Kong.
Nina Towers is a twin tower of 80-storey and 42-storey high-rise buildings. The original design of the tower back in 2005 was just called Nina Tower and was supposed to be the tallest tower in the world at 518 meters. However, due to its location near Chek Lap Kok Airport, the height was restricted to the current 319 meters. As such, Nina Towers is the sixth tallest building in Hong Kong and the 49th tallest in the world as of November 2011 (as per Wikipedia). At 80 stories, it is also the third in the list of Hong Kong buildings with the most floors.
Our online booking to the hotel was quick and easy via AsiaWebdirect and checking-in was a breeze if you forgive the front desk officers for their passable english. We got a free upgrade to an executive room at the 80th floor (YES, that's EIGHTY stories up there!). The express elevators were über quick and took less than one minute to rush up to the 80th floor, much faster than the MRT elevators back home which take forever to go up or down one floor.
The view from the 80th floor room was splendidly breathtaking, even acrophobics would be pleasantly surprised. The two queen-sized beds were firm, the executive desk was big enough, room lighting was bright, air conditioning was cool and silent, and the bathroom had separate cubicles for the bathtub/shower and for the toilet (albeit with glass walls). The 40-inch LCD TV featured chinese channels but who cares anyway if the view is more than enough to entertain you.
Nina Tower in the background
A closer view
The 41st floor skybridge connecting both towers (see the glass floors?)
Just pass on the hotel staff who have a hard time communicating in English; this is one hotel that's definitely worth coming back to. (But of course our HK Disneyland Hotel experience was an entirely different happy adventure)
~florent flora
The entire family went off for a quick trip to HK Disneyland last October.
Here’s a brief compilation of some videos taken in the “happiest place on earth” starring our two little wonderlings – they were truly surprised and amazed seeing all those Disney characters live, up close and personal, and not just on television. Tinkerbell, their favorite character, made the trip truly complete.
Hope we could go back soon to have more adventures with Tinkerbell and Mickey and friends :-)
(videos taken with Sony Handycam HDR PJ10 and edited with Sony Picture Motion Browser)
The basic rules of brainstorming have been around since Alex Osborne coined the phrase in 1939, as part of his method for creative problem solving.
It’s amazing that many organizations attempt to engage in brainstorming without following the rules and end up killing some of the best ideas because of it.
True brainstorming should be always be a negativity-free process that encourages people to throw out their wildest ideas without fear of them being quickly shot down or ridiculed. Some of the craziest ideas could morph into something amazingly useful.
There are lots of variations of the brainstorming rules on the web, here are the ones that the Walt Disney World “Imagineers” use:
Rule 1 - There is no such thing as a bad idea. We never know how one idea (however far-fetched) might lead into another one that is exactly right.
Rule 2 - We don’t talk yet about why not. There will be plenty of time for realities later, so we don’t want them to get in the way of the good ideas now.
Rule 3 - Nothing should stifle the flow of ideas. Not buts or can’ts or other “stopping” words. We want to hear words such as “and,” “or,” and “what if?”
Rule 4 - There is no such thing as a bad idea. (We take that one very seriously.)
As Osborne has said, it is easier to tone down a wild idea than to come up with a bright idea.
So here’s to brainstorming and to changing the world. Keep those wild ideas coming.
Last Tuesday, November 8, 2011, an asteroid the size of an aircraft carrier whistled past Earth at a distance of 202,000 miles away – just inside the moon's orbital distance. For those capable of grasping astronomical distances, this is what they would probably describe as a near miss. The Asteroid's path has been the closest for an asteroid since 1976 and won't be repeated until 2028.
Known as 2005 YU55, the asteroid was discovered on December 28, 2005 and has been tracked by NASA and scientists worldwide to determine the possibility of an Earth impact. NASA remained confident that the asteroid posed no unusual level of danger as it passed near Earth. An Earth impact would have caused 70ft-high tsunami had it landed in the ocean.
The figure below from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory shows a few asteroids who flew by (and who will fly by) our planet Earth. On June 26, 2028, asteroid 2001 WNS will fly by Earth at a distance much closer than that of 2005 YU55, while on April 13, 2029, asteroid Apophis will fly by within the orbits of Earth's geosynschonous satellites (which orbit earth at a distance of approximately 22,236 miles). This will make Apophis visible to the naked eye and will make the flyby an extremely close encounter.
Incidentally, in Egyptian mythology, Apophis was the ancient spirit of evil and destruction, a demon that was determined to plunge the world into eternal darkness. Apophis was viewed as the greatest enemy of the sun-god Ra, and thus was given the title Enemy of Ra.
No worries though, Apophis won't impact Earth and we won't be plunged in eternal darkness. The fates of the Earth’s man-made satellites remain unknown though... We have a lot orbiting up there and I doubt if scientists or astronomers have computed the probability of Apophis hitting any one of them.
Space junk – what goes up must come down. Filipinos have a saying that goes to the same effect: “Basurang itinapon mo, babalik din sa’yo”.
What would happen if Apophis hits any one of these space junk? It’s anybody’s guess now…
I haven’t fathomed yet the impact of the massive floodings in Thailand on the global supply chain of electronics and automotive parts (and even staple food such as rice), but this infographic tells the story concisely:
This could also happen in the Philippines in another Ondoy-like scenario (and I seriously doubt the government’s preparedness to handle such a wide-scale disaster) :-(
Are you giving away too much information about yourself to help criminals in their activities? Keep this in mind the next time you tweet or update your Facebook status about your vacation plans or whereabouts.
Five Practical Steps to Improving your Home's "Social" Security:
Five Practical Steps to a Secure Home:
The infographic below shows details on the role of social media in your security and how to protect yourself.
Social Media Safety Infographic provided by CreditSesame.com an online credit and debt management company.
Very few people know that the operating system of the early computers resided in floppy disks… (and I still have a bunch of them lying around at home)
