Some sleeping poses of cats

Cats like sleeping. Here you can see some of them sleep comfortably in different poses – some hanging, curling or straightening-out like human, piling up and drooping because of tiredness. They all sleep well and enjoy every moment of their relaxation. Of course some possess skills of their own.

The 75th Anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California celebrates its 75th anniversary with fireworks on May 27, 2012. This 1.7 mile steel suspension bridge, one of the modern Wonders of the World, first opened to pedestrians on May 27, 1937 and to traffic the next day. At the time, the Golden Gate was the world’s longest suspension bridge.

Engineer Joseph Strauss designed the bridge which distinguishes itself by its unique color, chosen by architect Irving Morrow and dubbed International Orange.The paint originally ensured visibility for passing ships and served as a sealant to protect the bridge from the salty mist from the Golden Gate Strait after which it was named, the entrance to the bay from the Pacific Ocean. 

Construction of the bridge took four years. Some 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) long, it is 90 feet (27 meters) wide and its two towers reach 746 feet above sea level. Traffic is suspended 220 feet above the water.

Pedestrians and cyclists can access the bridge along with motorists. But the span also has a grim history as a popular place to commit suicide.

Tens of thousand of people came to San Francisco’s waterfront last Sunday to mark the anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge, the distinctive orange vermilion structure that attracts some 10 million visitors each year.

The city hosted a massive celebration complete with music, dance vintage cars and motorcycles, as well as a fireworks display showcasing the iconic bridge at the entrance to the San Francisco Bay.

Events marking the bridge’s anniversary are also taking place all year long, and a new visitor center was opened in early May at the southern entrance.

A Severe Eruption on Montserrat 1997

Severe volcanic eruptions did come to Montserrat on June 25, 1997. The needle of the seismograph began to move actively at the observation station at 03:00 hours. Smog began to form around the hills. Only observation of the eruption could be done from the air by helicopters. The local radio station warned the residents in the affected areas of the coming dangers and asked them to leave as early as possible. At 12:45, the needle  of the seismograph vibrated vigorously. At 12:55, the Soufriere Hills erupted. Super-heated rocks and steam burst and the rocks rolled down the valleys.

There were two more eruptions. The third one was most severe. The ash rose to a height of 13500 metres. The red-hot debris flowed 7 km down at a speed of 128 km per hour, along the valleys, over the spurs, spread over the plain, melted everything and buried the houses along their paths. Around 6.4 million cubic metres of melted rocks had burst out from the crater.

Four days after the eruption, the volcanic activities subsided. The northern part of the crater had cracked open and fallen. The temperature of the red-hot rocks had once reached 600 degrees Celcius. On the day of eruption, 19 people died. Many people left the island after the eruptions and less than 4500 stayed behind.

First Eruption on Montserrat 1995

Eighty percent of the public facilities were built in the shadow of the Soufriere Hills, the tallest of all on the island of Montserrat. Plymouth is the capital in which most of the people work and live. Farms are found on the fertile slopes here.

The dense vegetation on the fertile soil in this tropical paradise cover up some hidden dangers.As a matter of fact, Montserrat lies on the most active parts of the Caribbean Sea plates. As the North Atlantic Ocean plates moved west, it sank and melted into lava. After thousands of years, the lava moved up to form the Leeward Islands of which Montserrat was one.

On July 18, 1995, the sounds of jet engines were heard. Eruption of Soufriere Hills began. Volcano Specialists came flying in to set up observation points and a centre to monitor the eruptions. They considered the sounds were made by steam expulsion The length and intensity of the eruptions were recorded 24 hours a day and closely observed by the scientists.

Another “steam expulsion” burst out volcano ashes, mud and steam to a height of 2 kilometres. The whole of Montserrat was shaken up. The south-western part of the island was covered by a thick blanket of volcano ashes. Half an hour later, the ash was dispersed. Once more, sunlight came through the dust and the entire area was covered with ash. The local people called that day as “Grey Monday”. With the assistance of British army, 6000 citizens were evacuated to the temporary homes north of the island.

Black Labels

For the first time, I see a black label (a blue one for ordinary and a pink one for Cara Cara) on an orange today. What does it mean? It means it is an orange of “Late season”. I guess it is a signal to the world that the harvest season of this kind of oranges will going to end.

Our family has been eating these first class oranges for months. What do we expect to see in the new “orange world” in Hong Kong? Most probably the forth-coming oranges are from South Africa instead of California, U.S.A. Other sources may be from Australia. Am I right? Let me see.

如此這般不規則的條紋圖案

看上這樣植物的葉子時，不僅帶給我一個變幻莫測的感覺，也送給我一個驚嘆！這全因為它們上面的條紋圖案塊塊不同，產生像畫家隨意在葉上畫上花紋的效果，一絕也!

Trawlers at work

In the old days when I was at school, I learned methods of fishing from a Geography text-book. The methods are illustrated by drawings instead of photos.

Trawling is one method of fishing. A large wide-mouthed net is dragged along the sea bottom to catch fish. Usually trawlers go in pairs.

With my digital camera on May 4, 2012, I could take some clear photos of two trawlers at work in Tolo Harbour  because the sky was blue and that the trawlers came closer to the shore where I was standing.

To my delight, I learned a “better” lesson that day than that from an old text book many years ago

Solar Eclipse 2012

There were so many people on earth, expecting to watch the Annular Eclipse of the Sun yesterday.

Solar Eclipse becomes a hot topic among the citizens of Hong Kong and quite a number of people crowded along the sea-front at Tsimshatsui especially the Avenue of Stars on the early morning of May 21, 2012. They were armed with cameras and telescopic and astronomic devices in watching the phenomenon. Our Space Museum provided filters to the audience so that they would not watch the sun directly and their eyes thus protected.

It was unfortunate indeed that thick white clouds covered up the sky over Tsimshatsui which ruled out the possibility of seeing the “diamond ring” on the sun.

Peter Ng, my student of early years at CCSC, took a series of photos of the eclipse of the Sun at short intervals in recording the whole process of Partial Eclipse since where he lives in California was not on the path of the sun which created Annular Eclipse with the moon, I admire his patience and professionalism. His photos were well taken.

Peter said, “I took pictures of the partial solar eclipse (I am a few hundred miles south of the path limit) in my backyard and combined them together.”

Then Peter added, “Near the end of the eclipse, the sun shone past the leaves of a tree in my yard which acted as pinhole projectors. It created a montage of the crescent sun on the side of my house.”

Old Stamps of Montserrat

These old stamps have been dormant in one of my stamp albums for more than four decades until yesterday when I saw a documentary television program about some intensive eruptions on Montserrat. The program woke me up because it seems that I own some stamps of this British colony.

Montserrat (蒙特塞拉特島), 16.5 km long and 10 km wide (the size of Dublin) is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean Sea. It is interesting that one stamp shows its shape and location (latitude 16.45 degrees North and longitude 62.10 degrees West).

The values of the stamps are respectively one cent and half, which reflect that the stamps must be very old. I guess the stamps might be first issued in the 50’s or 60’s.

Another thing is that my memory is not too bad. To my delight, I do remember the existence of such stamps in my collection, but unfortunately I forget what they look like.

I believe these stamps are rare now because of their old age. Although they are a bit stained, I treasure them as if they were my money.

Drive it

“Drive it” is a TV Car magazine. Recently, two compact cars, one European and the other Asian, are compared.

They are Renault Clio from France and the Korean Kia Rio introduced in 1990.

The Renault Clio was first introduced in 1990 and now it is the third generation and received a facelift in mid 2009 to make it fit the current Renault design line including 3-door and 5-door versions and a selection of 5 gasoline and 3 diesel motors between 55 and 146 kilowatts. The top speed of Clio is 188 km/h. From 0 – 100 km/h, it takes 11.0 seconds. The fuel consumption is 5.4 litres (prem.). The CO2 – emission is 125 g/km. The price is 16,800 Euros.

The Kia Rio has been available in Germany in its third generation since 2000. The new Rio model came onto the market in 2011 and so it looks more dynamic than its French competitor Where the Kia looks aggressive, the Renault looks friendly. The Kia’s appearance is a creation of designer Peter Schreyer, who switched from VW to Kia in 2006. He is a man behind Kia’s new styling.


The tail lights are divided in the Kia Rio. The Clio has a single bank of lights in the rear. The Rio has a sloping hatchback  for better use of space. The Renault’s interior is a plastic landscape. Some better materials are also used, but overall, the quality and design leave something to be desired. The stubby controls seem odd. The GPS system has an SD card memory, but its remote-control operation is unwieldy. The interior of the Kia is typically Asian: lots of buttons, but the design is more attractive and the materials are more crafted and the controls have a sportier and zestier feel than the Clio.

The Rio in the Spirit variant with a 1.4 – litre gasoline engine was tested. Its top speed is 183 km/h. From 0 – 100 km/h, it takes 11.5 seconds. The fuel consumption is 5.5 litres (prem.) The CO2 – emission is 128 g/km. The price is 18,390 Euros.

From the test, the Rio has the advantage in the driving experience. The steering responds well and conveys a pleasant feeling. The Clio’s typically-French loose steering is not as much fun as with the Korean car. Ultimately, the Korean challenger beats the French car in the test!

A Fashion Show at home

Half a month ago, Elly and Abby had a fashion show at home. Elly dressed in a beautiful light red-striped blouse with long sleeves up to her wrists. On her pair of trousers bore the words and the picture of a heart meaning: I “love” mama and papa. Elly was bare-footed at home, simply because she had for long accustomed to the home-style in Canada on carpets and tiles.
   
Abby had just returned from school after five. It was a Friday that no school uniform was necessary. Owing to the teaching “theme” of science at school, she wore a pink short-sleeved blouse with a big light-blue butterfly with words “love bug” at the centre. It was nice to see pink and purple flowers scatter over her white A-shaped skirt. This kind of dress-style could have well hidden her slimness. One particular thing about her blouse was the hood which could be pulled up to cover the head and the ears when it was necessary.

Freitag Bags

Freitag, in German, means “Friday”. It is the brand-name of individual recycled-freeways bags ( or simply called F-bags 星期五包). At Zurich, one out of ten people uses this kind of bags. There are quite a number of selling points around the world. In Asia, only Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Turkey sell this product.

The first Freitag bag was hand-made by the two Freitag brothers in 1993. Their concept was good because the bags were made by materials recycled from the large tough waterproof truck tarps (a sort of canvas) and their straps from used safety belts of cars and the rims from used interior tubes of bicycles.

It is amazing that one can select a section or sections from any of the 12 new regularly posted-up canvases to design his/her own bag through the website of the company before he/she makes orders.

Bags can be bought at the shop at Geroldstrass 17 8005, Zurich, Switzerland.

A Summer Resort

Tolo Harbour recently becomes a summer resort because its quietness makes it an ideal ground for windsurfing.

Yesterday, I spotted three surfers riding their sailboards over the harbour with fair winds which wrinkle the sea and drive the surfers forward with ease. The sails were black, white and black. What I expected to see were bright-coloured sails.

A Super Full Moon photo taken from San Francisco

Recent Super Full Moon interests some of the people on Earth. Here comes another photo of Super Full Moon shot by one of my students, Peter Ng, at San Francisco, North America. He noticed that the look of the Moon is quite different when viewed from Northern Hemisphere where he is living from that in Southern Hemisphere (at Sydney).


Peter Ng said, "I also took a picture of the Super Moon. The time was 9:30 PM California Daylight Saving time (GMT -7). The moon was not very big since it was quite high up by that time. What interesting though is the difference in view angle between Sydney and San Francisco."

This difference, I think, can be judged by the positions of the seas on the Moon (dark patches).

A Super Full Moon photo taken from Sydney

My close relative, Ho Chung, shot these photos after he heard from the TV news saying that the moon would be nearest to the Earth and for Sydney at around 19:00 (local time). People call such phenomenon as "Super Full Moon".

"Both photos were taken using f/8, ISO100 at our backyard around 18:51 Sydney time (about 16:51 Hong Kong time), yesterday (6 May 2012). The direction of the moon was at Eastern side of the sky, possibly ESE. The first one was using speed of 1/400", and the second one 1/500".

I shot them using manual option with my usual small SONY camera."

Let us further look at the description of “Super Full Moon” from Sydney Morning Herald, 7 May 2012:

If you caught a glimpse through the clouds over Melbourne and the moon looked bigger and brighter than normal last night, you weren't imagining it.

According to astronomer Geoff Wyatt, as the moon set behind the westerly horizon on Sunday morning it would have appeared 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter than the smallest full moon of the year, which will be on November 29.

The reason for the super-sized moon with its apparent extra dash of lunar luminescence is simple: distance. Last night's full moon coincided with a moment in its orbit when it passed closer to Earth.

Mr Wyatt, senior astronomer at Sydney Observatory, said the moon was currently 356,955 kilometres from Earth — a relative hop, skip and a jump.

The average distance between the moon and Earth is 384,403 kilometres, while at its furthest point, it can be more than 400,000 kilometres away.

This is because the path the moon takes to orbit the Earth is an oval shape, meaning distance between the two is constantly changing.

"This weekend the full moon occurs at its best and brightest when it is closest to the Earth," Mr Wyatt said.

The last time the moon was this close to Earth was March last year, when its orbit brought it within 356,575 kilometres.

The closest the moon will come to the Earth between now and 2020 is on November 14, 2016, when it will pass 356,509 kilometres away.

Mr Wyatt said there was no reason to fear the increased proximity of the moon would trigger earthquakes.

"We're talking a couple of hundred kilometres here and there over about 300,000 kilometres, it's insignificant," he said.

Astronomical Society of Victoria spokesman Perry Vlahos agreed the proximity would have little effect on tides or earthquakes.

"I went back and actually looked at the last 400 years and picked out the earthquakes with the largest magnitudes on the Richter scale and not one occurred when the moon was closest to the Earth," he said.

"There won't be any undue effects on the Earth, apart from it being a wonderful sight."

A recent Top Gear Programme

In the Middle East Special 26 December 2010, the presenters are challenged to perform the journey of the Three Wise Men by travelling from northern Iraq to a stable in Bethlehem, using second-hand two-seater convertibles bought for £3,500. As Israel will not allow cars registered in its surrounding neighbours to enter its borders, they must buy cars from Georgia before flying to their destination in an Ilyushin Il-76TD cargo plane. Jeremy buys a Mazda MX-5, Richard a Fiat Barchetta and James a BMW Z3. As in previous challenges, a spare car is provided to any presenter whose car breaks down. For this challenge, that car is an Opel Astra convertible - a car disliked greatly by all three presenters.

After landing at Arbil International Airport in Iraqi Kurdistan, the three decide that it is too dangerous to drive directly to Bethlehem for fear of road bombs or mines in travelling through the stronghold of Mosul. Instead, Jeremy proposes a circuitous route that involves travelling east and crossing into Iran and then doubling back into Turkey and down into Syria to avoid the dangers of Iraq. However, once they reach the Iranian border, they find that for "political reasons", BBC staff are not permitted to cross into Iran. They manage to find a route back across Iraq to the Turkish border that bypasses Mosul.

Once inside Turkey, they discover that they have a bigger problem: a Kurdish insurgency is attempting to claim the southern provinces of Turkey and that the region has been declared a war zone, with the Foreign Ministry issuing a document that states all non-essential travel should be avoided. The presenters are given four hours to travel the 363 kilometres (226 mi) to Şanlıurfa, a safe city, before nightfall, a journey that will force them to travel through the unsafe region of Şırnak. Jeremy experiences trouble with his Mazda, but all three are able to make it to the hotel.

They finally turn south and enter Syria. Once inside, they discover that Top Gear is enormously popular in Syria, which they are less than enthusiastic about because Israel will not allow them into the country if they have been in Syria, and any word of their presence in the country will spread like wildfire and tip the Israelis off before they can get to the border.

Jeremy proposes that they "sneak through" the country by modifying their cars for desert travel. Richard models his Fiat on a Bedouin tent, while James takes inspiration from the Afrika Korps and models his BMW on a desert army unit. Meanwhile, Jeremy paints his car in bright colours to resemble the story of Joseph and his coat of many colours, making it Jeremy and his Car of Many Colours. He also installs the "Axle of Evil" to make his Mazda a six-wheeled vehicle, though this quickly proves to hinder him more than it helps.

While travelling through the desert, Richard's radiator nearly falls out and Jeremy is bitten by an unidentified insect that causes his arm to swell up. Of more concern is an accident whilst attempting to drag a car out of a sand trap; James May is knocked over by the strap used to haul the car out and receives a head wound when he hits his head on a rock. He is taken to a nearby hospital while Jeremy and Richard carry on. They soon find a road near Palmyra and change their tactics: rather than disguising their cars, they disguise themselves, meeting May at the hospital dressed in burqas and attempt to drive to Damascus incognito. Their efforts are in vain, because word has spread that they are in the country and there is a welcoming party at their hotel.

The next day, they cross into Jordan and arrive in Jerash, where they invent the sport of "Old Testament NASCAR", racing their cars around a two thousand year old chariot racing circuit. With that, they cross into Israel and make a slight detour to the Sea of Galilee, where Jeremy tries to convince the others that everyday activities and natural occurrences - James' head wound and his arm healing, Richard not liking fish at lunch, walking on water and inventing the sport of swimming - are all miracles that he had performed. On the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem, they unanimously declare Richard's Fiat to be the best car, because James hated the transmission of his Z3, which he described as having gear ratios so spread out that he could fit another gearbox between them, and Jeremy did not develop an attachment to the MX-5.

That night they finally make it to Bethlehem, where they arrive at a nativity scene with gifts they have purchased in Syria: a gold-relief medallion, a bottle of hotel shampoo labelled frankincense and a Nintendo DSi because Jeremy could not find any myrrh. They peel back the covers on the manger to discover that the baby Jesus is actually a baby Stig.

Treatments of cocoa beans before shipment

Let us see how cocoa beans are treated before they are ready for shipment to Europe and United States.

The harvested cocoa pods are opened to expose the beans. The pulp and cocoa seeds are removed and the outside skins discarded. The pulp and seeds are then piled in heaps, placed in bins, or laid out on grates for several days. During this time, the seeds and pulp undergo "sweating", where the thick pulp liquefies as it ferments. The fermented pulp trickles away, leaving cocoa seeds behind to be collected. Sweating is important for the quality of the beans, which originally have a strong bitter taste.

A typical pod contains 20 to 50 beans and about 400 dried beans are required to make 454 grams (one pound ) of chocolate. Cocoa pods weigh an average of 400 grams (0.88 lb) and each one yields 35 to 40 grams dried beans.

The wet beans are then transported to a facility so they can be fermented and dried. They are fermented for four to seven days and must be mixed every two days. They are dried for five to fourteen days, depending on the climate conditions. The fermented beans are  spread out over a large surface and constantly raked to dry. In large plantations, this is done on huge trays under the sun or by using artificial heat. Small plantations may dry their harvest on little trays. Finally, the beans are trodden and shuffled about (often using bare human feet) and sometimes, during this process, red clay mixed with water is sprinkled over the beans to obtain a finer color, polish, and protection against molds during shipment to factories in the United States, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and other countries.

Cocoa

Today, let us look at the cocoa grown in Madagascar (馬達加斯加), Africa. We can see the pods of Cocoa growing on trees and their seeds when the pods are cut open.

What people interested in are the Cocoa beans (also cacao beans ) from which cocoa solids and cocoa butter are extracted. They are the basis of chocolate.

A cocoa pod (fruit) has a rough leathery rind about 3 cm thick (this varies with the origin and variety of pod). It is filled with sweet, mucilaginous pulp enclosing 30 to 50 large seeds that are fairly soft and white to a pale lavender color. While seeds are usually white, they become violet or reddish brown during the drying process.

Cocoa trees mainly grow in hot, rainy tropical areas within 20° of latitude from the Equator. Cocoa harvest is not restricted to one period per year. Usually it occurs over several months and in many countries cocoa can be harvested at any time of the year.

Immature cocoa pods have a variety of colors but most often are green, red, or purple, and as they mature their color tends towards yellow or orange, particularly in their creases. Unlike most fruiting trees, the cacao pod grows directly from the trunk or large branch of a tree rather than from the end of a branch. This makes harvesting by hand easier as most of the pods will not be up in the higher branches. The pods on a tree do not ripen together; harvesting needs to be done periodically through the year. Harvesting occurs between 3–4 times to weekly during the harvest season. The ripe and near-ripe pods, as judged by their color, are harvested from the trunk and branches of the cocoa tree with a curved knife on a long pole. Care must be used when cutting the stem of the pod to avoid injuring the junction of the stem with the tree, as this is where future flowers and pods will emerge. It is estimated one person can harvest 650 pods per day.

Menorca

Menorca or Minorca ("minor island"), shaped like a ginger, is one of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. It takes its name from being smaller than the nearby island of Majorca.

Menorca has a population of approximately 94,383 (in 2010). It is located 39°47' to 40°00'N, 3°52' to 4°24'E. Its highest point, called El Toro or Monte Toro, is 358 m (1174 ft) above sea level(see the two small photos in the top left) .

Mahón
Currently the island’s capital, Mahón is inhabited by around 20,000 people. It is the largest town in Menorca, a very busy port (see the top right photo and the small one immediately below it) located at the end of a vast natural harbor. Menorca was once a part of the British domain, and the remarkable structures in Mahon make this evident.

Ciutadella (Ciudadela)
The beautiful town of Ciutadella (see the aerial photo and the small bottom-right photo) was the capital of Menorca from the Moorish era until the 18th century. Declared National Monument by the Spanish state, the town of Ciutadella consists of vibrant, zigzagging streets and aged structures, including several baroque churches.

The Victoria Falls

The Victoria Falls (the Smoke that Thunders) is located in southern Africa on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe.

While it is neither the highest nor the widest waterfall in the world, it is claimed to be the largest. This claim is based on a width of 1,708 metres (5,604 ft) and height of 108 metres (354 ft), forming the largest sheet of falling water in the world.

For a considerable distance upstream from the falls, the Zambezi flows over a level sheet of basalt, in a shallow valley bounded by low and distant sandstone hills. The river's course is dotted with numerous tree-covered islands, which increase in number as the river approaches the falls. There are no mountains, escarpments, or deep valleys which might be expected to create a waterfall, only flat plateau extending hundreds of kilometres in all directions.

The Victoria Falls is roughly twice the height of North America's Niagara Falls and well over twice the width of its Horseshoe Falls. In height and width Victoria Falls is rivalled only by South America's Iguazu Falls.

David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary and explorer, is believed to have been the first European to view the Victoria Falls from what is now known as 'Livingstone Island' in Zambia, the only land accessible in the middle of the falls. David Livingstone gave the falls the name 'Victoria Falls' in honour of his Queen, but the indigenous name of 'Mosi-oa-Tunya' — literally meaning the 'Smoke that Thunders' — is also well known. The World Heritage List recognizes both names

The above information has been extracted from Wikipedia.

Split of the Sky

I like this tree, not because most of its leaves have fallen, but from my view of the branches of this bare tree. The branches, large and small, have already split the sky opposite to me into thousand pieces.

It is worth capturing something interesting through my camera. Maybe some people think that it is just an ordinary tree, but a bare tree may look beautiful in some black and white tones.

If the largest picture here were a jigsaw puzzle, I would spend a week or more to fix those thousands of puzzle pieces together.

Mimosa

We find potted Mimosa (含羞草) in our public park below and have asked our grand-daughters to touch its leaves and experience what happens. Definitely they like to wipe or finger-touch the compound leaves and watch them fold up.

For myself, I saw these interesting plants at the roadside when I was young. My habit was to touch the leaves with my shoes instead of hands until all of them had folded up. Having the patience to wait for their re-opening actions, I went on to see if another mimosa was near by.

From Wikipedia: The generic name is derived from the Greek word μιμος (mimos), meaning "mimic." – a funny name, isn’t it?.

There are two species in the genus that are notable:

[1] One is Mimosa pudica, because of the way it folds its leaves when touched or exposed to heat. It is native to southern Central and South America but is widely cultivated elsewhere for its curiosity value, both as a houseplant in temperate areas, and outdoors in the tropics. Outdoor cultivation has led to weedy invasion in some areas, notably Hawaii.

[2] The other is Mimosa tenuiflora, which is best known for its use in shamanic ayahuasca brews due to the psychedelic drug DMT found in its root bark.

Botanically speaking, what appears to be a single globular flower is actually a cluster of many individual ones. Mimosa contains some level of heptanoic acid.

The Balearic Islands

In a documental film about "Menorca"in TV, I learn about the Balearic Islands. Great interest comes to me in locating these islands from a map of Europe.Here are more detailed maps about the archipelago.

The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.

The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital city. The co-official languages in the Balearic Islands are Catalan and Spanish. The current Statute of Autonomy declares the Balearic Islands as one nationality of Spain.

The main islands of the autonomous are Majorca (Mallorca), Minorca (Menorca), Ibiza (Eivissa) and Formentera, all of which are popular tourist destinations. Among the minor islands is Cabrera. The islands can be further grouped, with Majorca, Menorca, and Cabrera as the Gymnesian Islands, and Ibiza and Formentera as the Pine Islands.

上星期日城市論壇

在四月十五日正午時，從電視上，發現我校的學生團隊出席了城市論壇。令我感覺最奇怪的是這十位在場的學生是清一色男孩子，心裡問為甚麼一位女學生都沒有參加呢？

出席今次論壇的嘉賓有消費者研究及營商手法事務部總主任的熊天佑、自由黨立法會議員劉健儀、工聯會議員王國興和中大市場學系教授冼日明。論壇主要談論市場壟斷及操控價格的問題。

眾所周知，本港兩大超市被指調整貨品價格時間及幅度一致，有合謀定價之謙。

熊主任指出消委會無能力調查超市有否合謀定價，只能定期公佈格價結果，讓消費者得以選擇。

議員王國興促請當局盡快立法，並配合商品說明條例實施，加以監管。

議員劉健儀認為競爭法理應針對大財團，同時給予中小企合理豁免
。
教授冼日明支持盡快訂立競爭法，並指出本港超市、油公司等所佔有的市場額很大，當它們一齊調整價格時，自然令消費者選擇減少，並被迫買貴貨品，也影響中小企的生存空間。他建議政府立法針對違例及濫用力量支配市場行為，非只及對付大企業或大財團。

在論壇的後段，主持邀請台下發言。因時間緊迫關係，眾政黨代表，學生代表及現場觀眾紛紛簡短發言。我校只有一位學生發問一條問題，台上的嘉賓也是速速回答罷了。

At Super Super

It was the first time Connie, Abby and Elly took their breakfast with us at Super Super on 7th of April.

There were congee, noodles, rice rolls, fish, egg, radish cake, macaroni with ham and a cup of Horlicks on the table.

The girls first chose noodles to eat for they did not like congee at all. Abby ate rice rolls while Elly macaroni with ham. They finally shared the cup of Horlicks. We three adults shared the rest of the food among ourselves.

It was a morning lesson from which the girls learned to share food among family members.

太陽風

美國太空總署最近公開新一批由太陽動力學天文台拍攝的太陽風照片。從這些照片來看， 太陽是一個熾熱的火球， 有類似火焰不斷的吹出而形成太陽風。

以下是從維基百科全書節錄下來的資料:

在太陽的日冕層的高溫下，氫、氦等原子已經被電離成帶正電的質子、氦原子核和帶負電的自由電子等。這些帶電粒子運動速度極快，以致不斷有帶電的粒子掙脫太陽的引力束縛，射向太陽的外圍，形成太陽風。 太陽風的速度一般在200-800km/s。從太陽的磁場極地附近吹出的是高速太陽風，從太陽的磁場赤道附近吹出的則是低速太陽風。太陽的磁場的活動性是會變化的，週期大約為11年。

太陽風到1960年代才被證實存在。長期觀測發現，當太陽存在冕洞時，地球附近就能觀測到高速的太陽風。因此天文學家認為高速太陽風的產生與冕洞有密切的關係。太陽表面的磁場及等離子體活動對地球有很重要的影響。當太陽發生強烈的活動時，大量的帶電粒子隨着太陽風吹向地球的兩極，就會在兩極的電離層引發美麗的極光。

More teachers joined OSA monthly lunches

It is good sign to see more teachers join the OSA monthly lunches. This month, Miss M. Ng, Miss Su, Mrs. Sinn, Mr. Fung, Miss Winnie Wong and I joined the routine lunch (on the second Saturday each month). Occasionally, Miss Ng, Miss Su and Mr. Fung come to lunch. For myself, I always attend the lunches except once because I was too late informed.

What a big surprise to see Mrs. Sinn appear at the lunch this time. She told me that she would stay in Hong Kong for a longer period of time instead of in America.

Miss Wong arrived a little late after her shopping at supermarket. We were able to catch a photo with her. A few days before, she had invited Derek Law, the youngest son of our first Principal of school, Mr. C.H. Law, to join the lunch. Derek Law looked far more strongly built when compared with his small size in his early years at CCSC. I was astonished to hear him call me by name although I had not taught him before. He said he observed the CCSC teachers during launch picnics (for teaching staff) held each summer in the early 70’s. What surprised me most was that he had accessed to my blog-site and read about my grand-daughters. My guess is that Derek finds out the blog-site from Mr. Ching’s CCSC overseas web-site. Thanks to Mr. Ching’s “ thread and needle”.

Countdown to 100 days

London Olympics has a count-down machine stationed at Trafalgar Square, Central London. On April 18th, 2012, the count-down has reached 100 days before the Olympic Games actually begin in England.

Many people take the opportunity of taking photos with this countdown machine when they pass the Square.

There are about three months to go when elite athletes from around the world meet at London to compete and break records in all kinds of games. I do like the atmosphere and sportsmanship in the Games. May the Games be held smoothly and peacefully in England.

Bunny and kids

Different people had different aims in this photo. My granddaughters aimed at the sweets in the basket placed on the floor. The big bunny aimed at giving kids sweets at Easter. I aimed at taking a photo of my granddaughters.

Elly and Abby had taken altogether seven to eight sweets because they met this bunny twice at the shopping centre. Were they greedy?

After all, the shopping centre had successful created a warm atmosphere to shoppers and small children at Easter.

Roadside flowers

I found these beautiful roadside flowers at a certain section of Des Voeux Road Central last Wednesday. They were planted on rectangular pots and hung at the railings. These potted plants could have added life and beauty to the busy streets and the concrete forests in Central. I loved to see them there all the year round.

May I wish more potted plants be placed in different parts of Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories.

Statues at Las Vegas

Statues are common at Las Vegas Hotels. Here before your eyes are those at MGM and the Egyptian theme Luxor Hotel and Casino. An outstanding one is the Statue of Liberty. One may think for a second if he is at New York instead of at Las Vegas. It is very impressive to someone who comes for the first time to this city of casinos.

Las Vegas in 2011

My dear old student, Peter Ng, drove to Las Vegas with his family more than once in 2011. Here is a brief description of what he experienced there.

"Bellagio is my favorite hotel in Vegas for its elegant Italian theme and the buffet restaurant which is among the best in the strip. Due to the sagging US economy, there were many hotel sales to attract business to Las Vegas last year especially during the non-busy months. Lesser hotels like Luxor and Monte Carlos, dropped their price to around US$50 a night even after including the resort fee (a way to make the price seems lower). The price was so good that we went more than once last year. And in November, we were able to stay in Bellagio for our trip. It was quite an experience."

The photo at bottom-right shows Bellagio with a music fountain before it.

A Stunning photo

It is so nice to have my old student, Peter Ng, sent me a photo of the view of California Street in Downtown, San Francisco. We can also see one of the tower heads of the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge at the far side.

The photo is thrilling to me because the look of this street seems like the impending tsunami (in grey colour) that pushes forward cars, cable cars, houses or whatever on its way . The street itself is steeper and longer than those I saw in my visit to Seattle, 2009.

If the image of the arrival of tsunami here is wiped off, still it is a stunning trial of driving down such a street much like a roller-coaster on its rails.

I like this photo very much. Last time when I was at San Francisco, I missed the experience of riding a car down this street from its top to somewhat level ground below.

Steps-like roads

It is common to see these steps-declining roads at hilly Seattle. The fun is that a driver on this kind of roads feels his car descending for a certain distance, next running a short distance horizontally and then diving down again. This motion repeats several times before the car actually runs on level grounds. We may also find this kind of roads in Western and Central Districts on Hong Kong Island. It is not fun if the brake of one’s car fails.

This matter of descending also applies to a passenger plane which is going to land. The plane usually dropped its head a little downward for a certain distance and next descends the second time and third until it reaches a reasonable height for flying over the residential or commercial areas (a good example may be found when a plane is landing from Northwest towards Sydney International Airport).

In the past, there were a few sections of Tai Po Road (in the section of the New territories) of up-and-down roads. They take up V-shapes when they were viewed from the side. When there was no car following mine, I would like to speed up my car from the top of "V" down to the bottom of the "V", waited until the car head upwards for a certain distance and let the gears off and the car still moved up the slope with the remaining force. I just wanted to see if my car could reach to the top of the road on the other side of the "V".

Antennarius

Antennarius (躄魚) is a large genus of frogfishes found worldwide in tropical and subtropical oceans. It contains 25 species. They look ugly, but are in beautiful colours.

They are nearly all very greedy carnivores which sit quietly waiting for smaller fishes to pass by. During this time, they wriggle their "lure" to entice nearby prey to come and then snap up the fish into their mouths.

Here you can see some of them in the sea at Lembeh Strait (藍碧海峽) off the north-east coast of Sulawesi (Celebes 蘇拉威西島).

Easter Elly

Elly has a lot of free time visiting shopping centres in the afternoon since she has not attended school yet.

She was at Sunshine Plaza on March 19, 2012. We told her to stand near these simple Easter decorations and she stood willingly near them and made poses of her “winning signal” or her “fingers” as a pair of “scissors” to cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony.

The colours of her T-shirt fitted well with the decorations. If she stood beside the “bunnies”, “eggs” and “butterflies”, I was sure people would believe that Elly were a decorative “doll” at the display.

CCSC OSA Annual Dinner 2012

On the 23rd day of March, this year, the annual dinner of CCSC OSA was held at Paramount Banquet Hall (百樂門宴會廳) at Elizabeth House, Causeway Bay. Dinner began at around half past eight.

There were altogether 22 tables. There were two VIP tables, Table 1 and Table 2. Teachers, mostly retired or left earlier, sat at Table 3. Some current teachers sat with their students and some who were formerly CCSC students, now teachers of the school, sat with their classmates.
Principal Yuen first made a speech and Miss Winnie Wong, Mr. Yuen and the 2 M.C.s led the guests and students to sing the school song.

The dinner was served soon after the ceremony. In the midst of the dinner, we cheered as the VIPs (members of the school board) drank a toast with us.

There was a lucky draw. Miss Ng, Miss Winnie Wong, Miss Fok and I had the honour to be invited to draw lots, then followed by some of the VIPs of our school. The prizes comprised of mostly the products for sale at the New Year Fairs in the past two years and some red packets with money inside.

Towards the end of the dinner, students of different years came to the front stage to have group photos taken. Before this, some of the teachers had been invited to take photos with their students.

The dinner finished at about half past ten.

Parachuting at Antarctica (2)

Arrangements had been made before the actual parachuting took place. A helicopter took a number of men to the designed landing area for the jump and these men had to make a visible red “sign” on the ground which could be visible to the parachutists and they were supposed to stay until the parachutists landed safely at the right spot.

The plane that carried the parachutists took 2 hours to reach L. Cerro Nevado Glazier, the target landing site, but 30 seconds before the jump, weather reports from the ground said that the weather turned worse and an ice storm had formed. The temperature dropped to - 58 degrees. The speed of winds was around 35 knots and the visibility had become zero. The jump should be suspended immediately. It was great that the men at the land was able to withstand the cold and stay calm for rescue on the next morning.
A successful jump was finally made by the three parachutists at the height of 13500 feet in good weather conditions ( -4 degrees and a suitable wind speed).

Parachuting at Antarctica (1)

Three parachutists planned to parachute at Antarctica. They got permission from Argentina and arrived at the Marambio Base (馬蘭比奧海軍准將站) on Isla Marambio (馬蘭比奧島), off the coast of Palmer Peninsula at Antarctica.

They first practised skydiving somewhere near the base to study the weather conditions, the wind speeds, the safety and rescue measures.

The dangers of parachuting they might face would be sudden wind storms at such a cold place and the falling into the bleak cold icy sea water could be hazardous.
The parachutists found the trial jump, which lasted for only one and a half minute, a perfect and enjoyable one. However, for the case of parachuting deeper inland might not be funny and be filled with dangers.

A two-week holiday

Abby has a two-week holiday during Easter. To Elly, every day is a holiday. They are going to stay almost the whole holiday with us at Shatin.

Today, they were so lucky to find two tricycles at our park below. Abby had long legs so she had no problem in driving. Elly was different. She was too young to steer one. It would mean I was her driver at her back.

Several times they pretended to stop at the traffic lights. Sometimes they went abreast. At one time, they met face to face and held each other’s handles.

From my observation, Elly still needs some driving lessons before she can drive by herself. Hopefully, she will drive alone in a few months’ time.