I Oppose to Discrimination of Number 13!!!

'13' is my favourite number. I was born on the 13th day of the month. I lived in BLK 13 Teck Whye Lane in the first 8 years of my life. My class register number was 13 when I was in Primary 1 and 2 (I think). And recently I realized my room number in the department is 13 (room 2-13, I always call it 2-1-3 so I don't notice it, but it should be level 2, room13).

However, many house buyers are not very keen on buying a house numbered 13. :( and developers are finding these properties very hard to sell. So now some local UK councils have decided to ban number 13 from new developments. :(

see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7779212.stm

Life's never fair is it.

BATMAN in SHEFFIELD!!!

My friends told me some of our friends saw a guy dressed up as Batman sipping coffee in Starbucks (right opposite my department). I just heard on the radio that he's actually a local entrepreneur dressed up as a caped crusader to inspire other people to do good. he's given out 10000 pounds in donations too!!! go see this article on him :)

http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/news2/Holy-Christmas-crusader--It39s.4782718.jp

sigh... too bad I missed him.

hmmm maybe is a gimmick by the local newspaper. But still, I'm sure its having a good effect on the community. :p

Ok, BBC was right. Heavy Snow.

I took 45 mins to walk to the Dept today! It was snowing when I started my journey. It was really pretty up where I live. A white blanket on the roads, with speckles of big and little footprints from parents bringing their young kids to school. It unfortunately turned wet and slushy and icy when I got to the main road.

My running shoes and socks were wet by the time I got to the department. But I found my water-proof shoes in my office. yeah! Hopefully no more wet socks from now onwards.

There are severe weather warnings for the north of england. Some schools in Lancashire, Cumbria and Greater Manchester have been shut for the 3rd day. I hope it gets better tomorrow. Too bad you can't have pretty snow and not go through the disruptions it can cause.

The view from my office. :)

Heavy Metal in Baghdad

(see you've got me going. My last words for today.)

I watched a documentary on bbc last night about 4 Iraqi musicians trying to carve a career for themselves with their heavy metal band ACRASSICAUDA (it means black scorpion in latin). It has been (and still is) an up-hill struggle for them since they started in 2001. They had the war in Iraq to worry about, civil strife, the danger of roadside bombs, cultural police who find their music controversial, keeping themselves and their love ones alive and well, etc. A poignant example of the obstacles they had to put up with is when their rehearsal space was destroyed by a missile during an air raid. Through out this battle, they have managed to find ways to bring their music to their fans and new listeners, providing people with a temporary haven from all the chaos that was going around them. They are still trying to live their dream. A documentary was done about them and it has won a number of awards at international film festivals. This gave them a bit of publicity and they have since left Baghdad. 2 of the band members are in New Jersey, USA, and 2 others are in Turkey (I think). Their story is still unfolding and I hope the band will be reunited soon. See their website:

http://www.heavymetalinbaghdad.com/uk/

Croc massacre...

Heavy snow is predicted for Thursday. hmmm... that was yesterday's forecast. let me check.

ok let's start again.

Heavy snow was predicted for Thursday but now is light showers. :p maybe I'll be able to get myself to the gym tomorrow. I was going to give myself another gym rest day again tomorrow :p

anyway. Now I've made bbc.co.uk my homepage I get distracted by little news like this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7755393.stm

Right, I'll go do work now.