Through The Thunderstorm

One day a young lady was driving along with her father.       
 

They came upon a storm, and the young lady asked her father, What should I do?"

He said "keep driving".  Cars began to pull over to the side, the storm was getting worse.  

 "What should I do." The young lady asked? "Keep driving," her father replied.

On up a few feet, she noticed that eighteen wheelers were also pulling over.  She told her dad, "I must pull over, I can barely see ahead.  It is terrible, and everyone is pulling over!"  

Her father told her, "Don't give up, just keep driving!"
 

Now the storm was terrible, but she never stopped driving, and soon she could see a little more clearly. After a couple of miles she was again on dry land, and the sun came out.

Her father said, "Now you can pull over and get out."
 

She said "But why now?"  

He said "When you get out, look back at all the people that gave up and are still in the storm, because you never gave up your storm is  now over.

This is a testimony for anyone who is going through "hard times".

Just because everyone else, even the strongest, gives up. You don't have to...if you keep going, soon your storm will be over and the sun will shine upon your face again.

Touched,
Ng Loon Jay, Jasper.

 

Tales Worth Pondering

The Turtles
A turtle family decided to go on a picnic. The turtles, being naturally slow about things, took seven years to prepare for their outing. Finally the turtle family left home looking for a suitable place. During the second year of their journey they found a place ideal for them at last!

For about six months they cleaned the area, unpacked the picnic basket, and completed the arrangements. Then they discovered they had forgotten the salt. A picnic without salt would be a disaster, they all agreed. After a lengthy discussion, the youngest turtle was chosen to retrieve the salt from home. Although he was the fastest of the slow moving turtles, the little turtle whined, cried, and wobbled in his shell. He agreed to go on one condition: that no one would eat until he returned. The family consented and the little turtle left.

Three years passed and the little turtle had not returned. Five years...six years... then on the seventh year of his absence, the oldest turtle could no longer contain his hunger. He announced that he was going to eat and begun to unwrap a sandwich. At that point the little turtle suddenly popped out from behind a tree shouting, 'See! I knew you wouldn't wait. Now I am not going to go get the salt.'

[Some of us waste our time waiting for people to live up to our expectations. We are so concerned about what others are doing that we
do not do anything ourselves.]



The Frogs
A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant if he could use a million frog legs. The restaurant owner was shocked and asked the man where he could get so many frog legs! The farmer replied, 'There is a pond near my house that is full of frogs - millions of them. They all croak all night long and they are about to make me crazy!' So the restaurant owner and the farmer made an agreement that the farmer would deliver frogs to the restaurant, five hundred at a time for the next several weeks.

The first week, the farmer returned to the restaurant looking rather sheepish, with two scrawny little frogs. The restaurant owner said, 'Well... where are all the frogs?' The farmer said, 'I was mistaken. There were only these two frogs in the pond. But they sure were making a lot of noise!'

[ Next time you hear somebody criticizing or making fun of you, remember, it's probably just a couple of noisy frogs. Also remember that problems always seem bigger in the dark. Have you ever laid in your bed at night worrying about things which seem almost overwhelming like a million frogs croaking? Chances are pretty good that when the morning comes, and you take a closer look, you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.]



The Pretty Lady
Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk were traveling together. They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge was damaged. They had to wade across the river. There was a pretty lady who was stuck at the damaged bridge and couldn't cross the river.

The big monk offered to carry her across the river on his back. The lady accepted. The little monk was shocked by the move of the big monk. 'How can big brother carry a lady when we are supposed to avoid all intimacy with females?' thought the little monk. But he kept
quiet.. The big monk carried the lady across the river and the small monk followed unhappily.

When they crossed the river, the big monk let the lady down and they parted ways with her.

All along the way for several miles, the little monk was very unhappy with the act of the big monk. He was making up all kinds of accusations about big monk in his head. This got him madder and madder. But he still kept quiet. And the big monk had no inclination to explain his situation.

Finally, at a rest point many hours later, the little monk could not stand it any further, he burst out angrily at the big monk. 'How can you claim yourself a devout monk, when you seize the first opportunity to touch a female, especially when she is very pretty? All your teachings to me make you a big hypocrite

The big monk looked surprised and said, 'I had put down the pretty lady at the river bank many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along?'

[This very old Chinese Zen story reflects the thinking of many people today. We encounter many unpleasant things in our life, they irritate us and they make us angry. Sometimes, they cause us a lot of hurt, sometimes they cause us to be bitter or jealous .. But like the little monk, we are not willing to let them go away.We keep on carrying the baggage of the 'pretty lady' with us. We let them keep on coming back to hurt us, make us angry, make us bitter and cause us a lot of agony.Why? Simply because we are not willing to put down or let go of the baggage of the 'pretty lady'. We should let go of the pretty lady immediately after crossing the river. This will immediately remove all our agonies.There is no need to be further hurt by the unpleasant event after it is over.]


Courtesy of,
Jasper Loon Jay Ng.

Inspirational Morpho Towers

After being exposed to the realm of Morpho Towers, I was truly amazed by the creativity and innovation of the designers. The ability to "think out of the box" is what the comrades of the designing industry should have and Morpho Towers are definitely an epitome of a fine combination of science, arts and creativity, which hold a new breath to the construction industry as well. When I first saw the towers, my curiosity aroused when spikes of ferrofluid resembling steel ribbons besiege the towers, making the towers extraordinary and futuristic. Morpho Towers are truly inspirational as they exemplify the need of bridging concepts and realising inspiration. They display a whole new way of building, based on fresh and interesting ideas. So, it can be deducted that Morpho Towers are truly an mind-opener, as they show us a way to open up to boundless territory of thinking and creating, as a way to stand out from outmoded mind and abyss, while conforming to actual rules of the game of constructing, as in safety and in care of trend and people's fastidious needs of new things, which are usually visually exciting.

Conclusion of Assignment,
By Jasper Ng.

Breathtaking Skyline of Amazing Cities of the World

Anywhere in the world, most people are crowding into cities. Cities are, undeniably, the life pulses of a nation. Mention New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo and so on, the forests of futuristic skyscapers surely flourish in your minds. No matter where we live or where we wander, cities touch everything we do. They excite us, define us and too, captivate us. So, welcome to a section of this blog that celebrates world's great cities with fantastic skylines.

Hong Kong has the greatest skyline in the world!At night, the skyline glimmers with lighting and reflections. This city exemplifies the post-modern skyscraper and skyline. The mountainous backdrop makes this skyline the greatest on the planet.

Chicago

Chicago is the birthplace of the modern skyscraper.Chicago has some of the finest mid-century architecture and examples of modern skyscrapers. This skyline has many distinctive views, changing it's pattern ever so subtly at each angle you choose to look at it from. Like Hong Kong and New York, Chicago's skyscraper's really do create a line, stacked up along the shoreline, creating a true, skyline effect.

New York has one of the densest and most diverse skylines, with a huge collection of buildings and building styles. Thanks to artists' and Hollywood’s obsession with the city, it is also the most easily recognizable skyline in the world. New York's skyline probably has the most compact and overwhelming collection of architecture from almost any point in the city.

Shanghai  - Not to be mistaken for a space station, Shanghai is a real city! China's biggest and most advanced city, Shanghai was said to be one of the most modern cities at the turn of the 21st century. Shanghai is becoming a showcase of modern architecture and is quickly amassing a collection of sky reaching buildings decked along the edges of the semi-circular shoreline in Pudong district.

Singapore  is one of the best planned and cleanliest metropolitan cities in the world, Singapore looks like an architectural city model come to life. The buildings cannot be higher than 280 metres due to air traffic control restrictions, but that has added a tall (but not too tall) and consistent building height and space pattern that makes this skyline unique: Three buildings are exactly 280 metres tall.

Tokyo is the world's most populated city and considered by many to be the capital of the Eastern world.But because of the density and vast size of the city, every corner appears to have its own skyline.Tokyo is filled with neon lighting and unique, contemporary architecture, and like New York City is also often portrayed in movies for its aesthetic and eye-catching cityscapes.

Toronto
Toronto is a meeting place, a crossroad of many cultures and ethnicities. Currently, the CN Tower possesses the world's highest observation deck, making this city's skyline one of the most immediately identifiable. Toronto, also contains a diverse collection of renowned architecture, including it's City Hall. Toronto also has one of the densest financial districts in North America .

Kuala Lumpur

Surprisingly, this is our nearest metropolis-cum-capital.It is probably the most impressive city worldwide that has about 2 million residents. Marvelous modern buildings reach the sky here, and while the skyline is not exactly the densest, it does allow buildings to soar and stand out.

Shenzhen

What was a tiny fishing village on the border of Hong Kong is now a buzzing metropolis of over seven million people!Shenzhen is a spectacle of lights and neon signs after sunset, you can’t help but ask yourself- if you are in a video game or in a real city.

Seattle

Seattle is the commercial, cultural and advanced technology hub of the Northwest USA and a major port city for Pacific and European trade.Seattle is surrounded by mountains and water and offers some picture-perfect views. Seattle is commonly referred to as the Emerald City and renowned as a great social and corporate city with infrastructure. The planning is spectacular, as it helped create the hill-like effect on the skyline's silhouette, add the mountain backdrop and this city is almost a picture perfect.

Have had enough of an eye feast? Give a pause, more coming up in the shortest time frame possible.

All pictures maybe copyrighted and showcase world's finest cities in terms of skyline and architecture.

Drooping saliva? Fret none, fly to any of these and you'll be truly amazed!

Jasper Ng

Feb 2010

Ferrofluid- CTS Part 2b

Someone may find it hard to know what ferrofluid is, even though it was, too often, used in the previous posts by me and Caryn Chang, as a part of our CTS tasks. I, for one, was confused over it and yummy Ferrero Rocher.I was thinking, ferrofluid - could it be a type of chocoliquid used to produce real Italian hallmark chocolates like Ferrero Rocher?

Cut the chatter.My apologies for my randomness.


Ferrofluid is a liquid which becomes strongly polarised in the presence of a magnetic field. The word is derived from the Latin word ferrum, meaning iron, and the word fluid. Ferrofluids are colloidal mixtures which is consisted of nanoscale ferromagnetic, or ferrimagnetic, particles suspended in a carrier fluid, usually an organic solvent or water. The ferromagnetic nano-particles are coated with a surfactant to prevent their agglomeration or the process of breaking down (due to van der Waals forces between particles and magnetic forces). Although the name may suggest otherwise, ferrofluids do not display ferromagnetism, since they do not retain magnetization in the absence of an externally applied field, which in the case of Morpho Towers, electromagnestism. In fact, ferrofluids display (bulk-scale) paramagnetism, and are often described as "superparamagnetic" due to their large magnetic susceptibility. Permanently magnetized fluids are difficult to create at present which is why the ferrofluid of Morpho Towers only react when the electromagnet is magnetised and the music turned on.


The surfactants used to coat the nanoparticles, as mentioned above, include, but are not limited to:

(i) oleic acid


(ii) tetramethylammonium hydroxide


(iii) citric acid


(iv) soy lecithin

As envisaged by Sachiko Kodama, ferrofluid can also be incorporated to the construction of sculptures, buildings or structures. However, the range of usage of ferrofluid is nevertheless wide currently. Ferrofluid is applied in manufacturing electronic devices, of which the most common is hard disks. Ferrofluids are used to form liquid seals around the spinning drive shafts in hard disks. The rotating shaft is surrounded by magnets. A small amount of ferrofluid, placed in the gap between the magnet and the shaft, will be held in place by its attraction to the magnet. The fluid of magnetic particles forms a barrier which prevents debris from entering the interior of the hard drive.

Besides, ferrofluids are used in mechanical engineering. With friction-reducing capabilities, ferrofluid is applied to the surface of a strong enough magnet, such as one made of neodymium, so that the magnet can glide across smooth surfaces with minimal resistance.

Other fields incorporating the use of ferrofluids:

- Military
- Aerospace

- Analytical Instumentation

- Heat Transfer

- Medicine

- Optics

and...

Of course, Arts, by Sachiko Kodama, whose idea could be incorporated in buildings and construction.

So, BASICALLY, this is a basic introduction of Ferrofluid, which is interesting enough to be explored on.

As promised.

`Ng Loon Jay, Jasper'
17 February 2010

Source: wikipedia, with slight modification.

Morpho Towers - CTS Part 2

Morpho Tower
(Please click the link above)

Have you ever imagined the frustration of architects when they are crushing their grey matters just to force out the fluids of creativity?Have you ever encountered such desperation when you really desire to come out with something unique and self-defining but only to find yourself thwarted by the lack of inspiration and of course,the absence of a creative mind?Or have you ever wondered if creativity is equivalent to abruptness that lasts tentatively?

Perhaps you may find something really interesting here- New Morpho Tower,which may be inspirational and at the same time, creative,captivating,fantastic,different,spectacular - basically every adjective suitable you can think of.I came across this when my lecturers, Charles and Chee,showed us.And for the first time this year, I was truly besotted,by the Morpho Tower, apart from those exposed bronzed limbs of existing buildings or sculptures portrayed in architectural porn made available at places like Kinokuniya.

Picture it, if you haven't watched the video via the link above.They are two dynamic spiral towers constantly undergo 'metamorphosis', built on a pool of fluid called Ferrofluid,which I will elaborate more later. For this stage, it's still in a research progress and up to this point, graphical presentation is being carried out. Who knows, things change, and maybe in months' time, you may be seeing model sculptures being exposed to curious minds here, as models like Morpho Towers have been displayed in art museum or exhibitions overseas. And in a decade or decades or so, real Morpho Towers may be sprouting in metropolises like Chicago, Hong Kong and Tokyo, of which are all known for their fine architecture.

Morpho Towers, whose name is probably derived from the word metamorphosis, are evidently,  towers which change shape or how they look. They are the fruits of the initiation and creativity of Sachiko Kodama. They are also called 'organic towers', which the factor is not known. But my guess is that it's from the Ferrofluid, which morphs synthetically to the music which sets off the changing of shapes of the towers by strengthening the electromagnet in a circuit. It's due to the metamorphosis of the towers, which is seemingly lively and not humdrum or static like other buildings, it's named 'organic' which in a way, denotes live or living.

Have a store of pictures (copyrighted by others) here to satisfy your demanding tastebuds or to be exact, your meticulous eyes, in a way, too, to enlighten the confused, as the saying, pictures speak more than words,

As mentioned in the previous post by Caryn Chang, the Morpho Towers are two spiral towers standing on a large plate holding ferrofluid. When the music starts, then magnetic field around the tower is strenghtened as the circuit is completed.Spikes of ferrofluid are born from the bottom plate and move up, trembling and rotating around the edge of the iron spiral. The dynamical movement of the ferrofluid spikes is controlled by adjusting the power or strength of the electromagnet, which is built within the surface of the building and the surface of the building is supposedly steel- or iron-covered. The spikes of ferrofluid in a way defy gravity and move synthetically or correspondingly to the music beat.

So, as visually shown, they are Morpho Towers, which are coming up as frontiers of modern architecture. Wow, I know they are amazing. Let's imagine the possible existence or construction of these breathtaking structures in any city of the world. They will surely enhance the visual excitement of every people looking at them, captivating them and their hearts in every way they possibly can.

Research on these towers have been constantly done. Who knows,perhaps our generation of architects may be the consultants to plan the construction and realisation of these seemingly sci-fi sculptures. Mirage or not, let us and time tell!

~Ng Loon Jay, Jasper~
16 February 2010

Cherish the love of your parents,it's them that you are who you are today,love them as much as they do as time is unforgiving.Once you missed the chance,it's a point of no return. Family is where your heart is and parents are the pericardium of the heart.

-Jasper-