Snakes.. and the last post of the year

An article in Straits Times today reports an increased sighting in snakes in urban areas, such as in houses and on the streets. An example was given of a Ms Marino who found a snake in her house and called the police, who then told her to call the pest control agency, who charged her $500 to remove the snake.

Excerpts from that article:
"Police... will respond to cases of wild animals found in public areas if there is imminent danger to the public. But if the snake appears in a private compound, the police will respond only when there is an "immediate danger to life". otherwise, home owners are advised to call pest control companies.
Pest control companies... prices vary - charges of $300-$600 are common. Rates differ on the situation, such as the size, species and aggression of the snake, and the amount of manpower and effort needed to catch it. "

(and example was given of a snake hiding behind a cupboard which had only a small gap, where the snake catchers had to wait 4-5 hours for a carpenter to come in order to remove the snake. The bill was $800)


Hmmm....

~~~~
On the phone-

Ms Oniram: "Help police! There's a huge snake in my house! Help help!"

Police: Please calm down madam. Firstly, what type of snake is it?

Ms Oniram: "I don't know! A huge one! It's like.. 5m long? With spots on it.. and it has a fan like head. Help!"

Police: Hmm that would sound like a cobra. Sounds pretty dangerous. But we only respond if there is immediate danger to life. Is the snake attacking you madam?

Ms Oniram: "No it's lying behind my sofa and making loud hissing noises!"

Police: Oh no, then I'm sorry madam, we cannot help you. Since the snake is lying there, there is no immediate danger to your life. We only respond if the snake is already up in an aggressive stance and making violent snaps at you. Of course, it would be better if the snake has bitten you, so that with the venomous poison running through your body, it's more life threatening and we'll have more incentive to come.

Ms Oniram: What?? Then what do I do!

Police: I would suggest you call the pest agency madam, they will handle the snake for you. Of course, if immediate danger to your life occurs like if the snakes wraps itself around you and starts squeezing you, feel free to call us again and we'll re-evaluate the situation. Have a niceeeeeeee day madam!

--
Ms Oniram: Exterminators Pest Agency? Help! There's a snake in my room!

Pest Agency: We will be right over madam!

15 minutes later..

Mr Tan (from pest agency) : Where is the snake, madam?

Ms Oniram: Over there! It slithered over behind the cupboard!

Mr Tan: Before I do anything, you must know that our basic charge is $300, and our fee varies with the situation.

Ms Oniram: Ok ok!! Just get the snake out of the house!

Mr Tan: May I know the size and species of the snake?

Ms Oniram: It is a cobra i think! About 5m long!

Mr Tan: Ooh ok, cobras cost 100 extra, and with our formula for length of snake, a 5m long snake would cost you an extra $31.40. Has the snake made any aggressive gestures to you?

Ms Oniram: When it saw me it hissed loudly and flickered its tongue?

Mr Tan: Oh that is only level 2 aggression. Hence only another $25 extra. How heavy is that cupboard madam?

Ms Oniram: ?? What's the relevance? Erm, i dont know, about 30kg?

Mr Tan: Hmmm.. ok that will be another $63 more. This is because our prices vary according to the amount of effort required to catch the snake. And 30kg is pretty heavy for me to lift, I'm only 63kg. Hence I'll charge you that $63.

Ms Oniram: Ok ok! But i was just wondering, how are you going to carry that 5m long python away? It must be pretty heavy?

Mr Tan: That's right... I'll call my colleague to come help me. That will be another $150 madam, because our prices vary according to the manpower required too.

~~~

I should soo start a mrbrown-type of podcast series.

does eating 5 ferraro rochers at once make you fat?

My theory is , no.

Why? Because of the concept of how bodybuilders gain mass! Yknow the whole tactic of gaining mass for weightlifters is to eat alot of meals. Like i think they eat 4-5 meals a day or something. Plus whatever steroids and vitamins they take of course.

Hence, this method uses a staggered-out eating habit to improve weight gain.

With my limited knowledge of biology i'm going to come up with my own theory about why this works. It's because the body cannot absorb so much food at once, so they stagger out their meals, their bodies have more time to absorb all the nutrients and stuff.

Thus, eating alot of food at a go does not make you fat! It would eventually reach a cap. For example, let's say a normal meal is 1 cheeseburger. (FOR SIMPLICITY'S SAKE K. I MEAN YOU CANT EXPECT ME TO SAY '1 plate of rice, 1 servings of vegetable, 1 servings of meat, 1 serv..... i'll take till next year to finish! .... which isn't very long considering it's 26th Dec already.. but you get the idea)


So I would say a person who eats TWO cheeseburgers a meal WILL get fatter than a person eating 1 cheeseburger a meal, let's say by 1kg.

However, what about a person who eats 3 cheeseburgers a meal? Does he gain 2kg more than the 1cheeseburger person?
All of us Economics students can echo now: NO!
This is because of The Law Of Diminishing Marginal Utility!

Omg the link which i took it from has a FOOD example to explain it! how relevant! i shall quote it here to reinforce my point.

This is the premise on which buffet-style restaurants operate. They entice you with "all you can eat," all the while knowing each additional plate of food provides less utility than the one before. And despite their enticement, most people will eat only until the utility they derive from additional food is slightly lower than the original.

For example, say you go to a buffet and the first plate of food you eat is very good. On a scale of ten you would give it a ten. Now your hunger has been somewhat tamed, but you get another full plate of food. Since you're not as hungry, your enjoyment rates at a seven at best. Most people would stop before their utility drops even more, but say you go back to eat a third full plate of food and your utility drops even more to a three. If you kept eating, you would eventually reach a point at which your eating makes you sick, providing dissatisfaction, or 'dis-utility'.

ok well that is based on satisfaction while my theory is talking about weight gain. BUT SAME THING I DONT CARE.

So perhaps a person who eats 3 cheeseburgers will gain 2.5kg. Then probably a person who eats 4 cheeseburgers a meal will gain the same amount of weight as the person who eats 3. So means 3 is the cap!


Thus, eating 5 ferraro rochers at once is actually good! it's better than eating 5 THROUGHOUT the day since THAT will make you FAT. FAT FAT like a snowman!



























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Now where's my award for Most Random Blogger of the Year?

avatar is AWESOME

i have to admit, when i first heard of the show, i didn't even think i'd watch it. I mean it's cool, with all the warcraft-like themes to it ('The People' are exactly like Night Elves?) but it sounded ordinary? and more importantly, the 'aliens' are ugly!






























I mean... you can draw a cool-looking yet fierce AND still chio 'alien' creature right! ok i shall stop calling them aliens cos alien has a negative ugly connotation that the following is not:


CHIO!!



Eerie, yet pretty!


I think this is the most beautiful non-human species you can ever draw. And any thing else will just resemble this! Avatar's model design art team first meeting was probably like that:
Head Designer: Here is our latest sketch for 'The People' (That's what they're called in the movie btw) Mr Cameron!

James Cameron: Wow! chio! but cannot! scrap it!

Head Designer: WHY?? Isn't this great?

James: Yea it is.. but it looks exactly like the night elves from Warcraft! Blizzard is sure to sue us!! Try to make them uglier.. with flatter noses and bigger eyes or something.

Hence, Avatar.

hahaha. as a matter of fact.. now that i look at them again.. The People look like really pretty aliens, just with their nose badly photoshopped!!! omgomg. ok let me try to play with photoshop.

ok sorry clara but yours is the only photo i can find with a big enough frontal shot with a nice nose bone to photoshop. Ok i dunno what you call the.. part of ur nose that's bone. yknow, the centre part of ur face. plus i also wanted to find someone good-looking so the effect can be seen.
HA damage control lolol.


SEE. She looks so Avatarish now right? lol. I tried to make her eyes like The People's one but i dunno how to make it glow or yellowish. So i just left it as big hahaha.
(ok clara if you get really angry with me cos of this.... i treat you lunch k!! ha. but i bet your days are already planned with someone so............)

In fact, let me photoshop the actual photo itself!!


OMG SO MUCH BETTER!!!
you HAVE to admit that mine looks SO much better. mine is the right one btw.

ok it was too nice so i went to photoshop another one:

You HAVE to admit that mine looks TOTALLY better!! he is so much more handsome like this!!
Besides narrowing his nose i also moved his eyes closer together as they looked too wide apart.

And all this is with my noob photoshop skills.. imagine someone with better skills than me. Maybe this WAS really the original art! but then the Art ppl had to make it uglier for the abovementioned reason!! muahahaha.



OKKK i went totally off topic i didn't even plan to blog all that. anyway, the show was awesome!! totally worth every second of its 150ish minutes. (that's 2.5 hours for you math fails) The action scenes were superb, the CGI was SUPERB, the touchy touchy scenes were superb.
And one thing i really liked was the attention to detail! Like the shots of the indigenous fauna, even the insects and creepy-crawlies were beautifully CGI-ed!.
There are many many more of these kinda 'attention to detail' things throughout the show that makes the final work such a masterpiece.


I just didn't like how (spoiler-highlight to read) the aliens beat the humans in the end.. i thought it was too unreal? like yea suddenly 1108247 birds/dragons appear from nowhere and totally destroy the human copters. and how 129837 rounds of ammunition can miss those flying birds.
oh oh, but i loved how the female lead alien always protects the unconscious male by crouching over his body and baring her teeth!! omg super nice la that protective pose. She does it several times in the show and i think it's quite touching when she does it.
And i loved the ending scene when the humans were walking towards the plane to take them back to earth and the main character narrates: "And the aliens were sent back to their deteriorating home planet.."
I guess it's a matter of perception huh! hahaha. now the humans are actually the aliens.
(/end)



Ahh ok in short, it is an awesome epic movie and you don't know what you're missing if you don't watch it. AND GO WATCH 3D. I totally regretted not watching 3D la! there are so many awesome scenes of movement through the air, through the jungle,


On a totally random note, i just cut my hair! @ Jean Yip at Heartland mall. heh i seem to have a thing for expensive hair cuts lately. My previous haircut also at jean yip, but at Vivo. And i love it! The annoying thing is I will probably never be able to achieve the same style again on my own cos the hairdresser always seem to have some magic fingers to wax and style my hair.. like that time for JC prom i also loved my hair but i couldn't achieve the same effect!

ah okok, it's getting late, time to sleep . WoW raids reset tmr, time to raid again! and mahjong in the afternoon! whee my life rocks at the moment.