The Obama Day…

20th January 2009…the day of inauguration of the 44th US President…

An inauguration speech that probably drew the loudest cheer in the history…but what matters from today onwards…is whether he can deliver what he promised his fellow Americans…

Watch this video to know how much it means to Americans…especially on issues like healthcare…US health care works based on healthcare insurance…& u know…insurance companies are profit-driven…It is common in US to find drugs few times more expensive than sold in other countries…which makes even basic healthcare inaccessible…no insurance = everything is expensive…click here BBC Panorama: What Now, Mr President?

Am glad that does not happen to Malaysia…Not that Malaysia doesnt have healthcare problems but it doesnt seem as big as that in US now…that even middle class are deprived of healthcare…

Cant imagine how big a problematic country Obama is inheriting from his predecessor…& how heavy is his responsibilities…Best wishes for his first term as President of USA

More on Obama’s inauguration as president, click here.
Obama Takes the Oath of Office, click here.
Obama’s First Speech as President, click here.

Where goes the chill?

Weather is getting warmer back in Glasgow…It was soooo cold early last week & the weeks before…to be frank…kinda disappointed…thought could experience some extreme kind of coldness recently…chill chill please come back!!!

Anyway…most of the colder temperatures in previous weeks were recorded in Northern Scotland, England and Wales…where the mercury hits as low as -8 C to – 10C in many places…Read full news HERE.

Interestingly, for the first time in my life, I heard about these:
1. Water supplies were disrupted not because of burst pipes nor scheduled repair work…but due to water frozen inside the pipes…That happened in south Wales a week ago…6000 homes and businesses were affected..read HERE.

2. There is such thing called “Cold Weather Payment” where pensioners and vulnerable people (severely disabled adults or families with young and severely disable child) are paid £25/week as assistance to their heating bill, to avoid unwanted health problems due to cold weather. Paid automatically to eligible person when an area’s average temperature falls below 0 C for seven consecutive days, UK government has spent £100m this winter…Apparently it was just recently raised from last year’s £8.50/week…read HERE.

3. There is also such a term “ice casualties” which mainly refers to fractures…read HERE.

Besides that, many schools were closed and even a football match was postponed due to the extreme coldness…read HERE.

Having said that, winter sceneries are always nice with snow…LOOK!!

Stay warm people! & enjoy the second week of research project!

Taylor Swift…

has been one of my favourite singers…Love her songs, which she writes mostly based on her life experiences!

Love Story (Full lyrics here)

We were both young when I first saw you.
I close my eyes and the flashback starts:
I’m standing there on a balcony in summer air.
See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns.
See you make your way through the crowd, and say hello;

Little did I know
That you were Romeo; you were throwing pebbles,
And my daddy said, “Stay away from Juliet.”
And I was crying on the staircase, begging you, ‘Please, don’t go.’
And I said,“Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone.
I’ll be waiting; all there’s left to do is run.
You’ll be the prince and I’ll be the princess. It’s a love story – baby just say ‘Yes.’

You Belong with Me (Full lyrics here)

You’re on the phone, with your girlfriend
She’s upset, she’s going off about, something that you said
She doesn’t get your humor, like i do

I’m in my room, it’s a typical tuesday night
I’m listening to the kind of music, she doesn’t like
She’ll never know your story, like i do

But she wears short skirts, i wear t-shirts
She’s cheer captain, and i’m on the bleachers
Dreaming about the day, when you wake up and find that what you’re looking for
has been here the whole time

If you could see, that i’m the one who understands you
been here all along so why can’t you
see you belong with me, you belong with me.

Lastly, my favourite in her latest album Fearless!

You’re Not Sorry (Full lyrics here)

All this time I was wasting, hoping you — would come around
I’ve been givin’ out chances every time and all you do is let me down
And its taken me this long baby but I figured you — out
And you think it would be fine again but not this ti-ime around

You don’t have to call — anymore, I won’t pick up the phone
This is the last — straw, Don’t wanna hurt anymore
And you can say that you’re sorry
But I don’t believe you baby,
Like I did — before
You’re not sorry. Oh-h-h no. No. No.

Taylor Swift rocks!

Do comment back if you like these songs!

My fault? Their fault?

Came back from lab…two surprises…

1. Good news…I’ve got a new table lamp! The old one was not functional even after i changed the light bulb. Made a report & they replaced it. COOL!

2. Bad news…My precious pendrive which I left hanging on the old tall table lamp is gone together with the old one!!!

ARGHHHHH!!! went to village office again but there was no technical staff left because it was over office hour…

Hope they didnt throw away my pendrive together with the old table lamp…but…was it not obvious there was something dangling down the table lamp when they were moving it? My pendrive has a long strap!! IShhhh…

My fault for hanging it over there? or their fault for being careless? intentional? ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Celebrate International Year of Astronomy (IYA 2009)

Year 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy (IYA)! Click HERE for the main page of IYA 2009!

Enjoy the trailer of IYA 2009

The Smiling Sky & Quadrantids Meteor Shower!

The smiling sky

Did you see the smiling sky last month? It was the crescent moon with Venus and Jupiter above it – forming a smiley on the sky! Saw this as I walked down the slope heading to JBC…didnt know it was a rare sight until I saw a report about it on BBC…the whole world saw it, from US, UK, India and Malaysia! Read here.

This picture wasnt taken by me though…I copied from here. Hehe…

A note for friends wanting to see meteors and make your new year wishes…Quadrantids Meteor Shower is here to greet you!! Active between 1th – 5th January 2009…the best time to observe in UK is supposed to be later or rather…NOW – early morning of 3rd January! But no harm gazing at sky when you are free these few nights until 5th Jan…face North East if possible…Good luck!

I’m so proud of my supervisor & research project!

It suddenly struck my mind to google my supervisor’s name and see what would come out…

To my surprise, I found this…

“

Cancer Research UK has awarded £2.5 million to scientists at Strathclyde’s new Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences for research into new drugs for prostate cancer.

Professor Simon Mackay of the Strathclyde Institute will investigate ways to overcome the major challenge of drug resistance in the treatment of prostate cancer. The project is a collaborative venture between the Institute and the Department of Pure & Applied Chemistry.

He said: “Targeting specific proteins to treat prostate cancer is currently a very exciting area of research. We’re delighted to receive this Cancer Research UK grant, and hope it will help us discover drugs that target key signalling proteins and provide more effective treatments for the disease.

From http://www.strath.ac.uk/features/archive/drugdiscovery/

“

What’s more exciting is this video i found in Cancer Research UK fundraising page. Watch HERE.

My supervisor is the research team leader!! He looks cool in the video i think…Hahaha.
Prof Sandy Gray and Andrew Paul appear in the video too!
Strathclyde lecturers rock! Probably explains why Strathclyde has one of the top Pharmacy schools in UK…look here.

Too bad the response for the online fundraising was not really encouraging…anyone here kind enough to donate for a good cause? =P

For your information, Cancer Research UK is UK’s leading charity in cancer research…

My research project starting next Monday, is to synthesize a new peptide sequence that theoretically will be able to target a specific prostate cancer pathway…well, just synthesize…doesnt involve testing and all because of the short period of time…but it’s good enough!! I’m proud and happy to be a small part of it…hehehe…