Can you guess what is on the sky in this picture above?  So you think it is the sun or the moon?  This is one of the photos in our old photo album and me myself had taken this photo but have also forgotten and not sure which one is the answer (the sun or the moon).

What can I do is to check on its Meta data.  Here come the clues.  It was taken on 23 Feb 2007 8:10am.  ISO 64, exposure time 1/320 sec, F-Number 5.6, Exposure Bias Value = -1 (which means the exposure had reduced by 1 step and the overall picture was darken), White Balance Auto.

If you are familiar with ISO, shutter speed, and aperture, I’m sure you know the answer. Let you guess first before I tell you the answer.

The white balance was set to Auto, and I believe the camera has changed its colour tone to the warmest.  If there is no record telling me what is the time this photo was taken, I may have forgotten this photo was actually taken in the morning instead of evening.

That circle is the sun.  I remember now, I took it in Ipoh.

The camera was supposed to record exactly what we see, but sometimes that’s not the case.  A camera can make the sun looks like the moon.  It can turn a normal looking girl into a beautiful girl.  Sometimes it can also turn a small thing become big or vise versa.

A photo may be purposely made artistic, but it loses its accuracy of recording the light of this real world.  Therefore, DO NOT simply believes what you can see from a photo, you should see the things with your own eyes and you will be able to sense it more accurately.

From another point of view, if there is a same photo viewed by different people, what each person can see may also be different.  Each individual interprets it differently.  An experienced photo analyzer or the person who has taken the picture, will have a real picture in their mind even the recorded light are not as accurate as the real world.  The person who has taken the photo may record a hidden memory inside the photo without other people knowing it.

During our last visit to the Indian Mountain, which is the other side of the Serapi Mountain, we had an acquaintance with a chameleon. We didn’t notice him until he gave one of our friends a big surprise when we reached the end of our climbing route!

Just take a look at his feet. Chameleons have specialized feet for tight gripping to narrow branches and long tail which is able to curl up and helps them to balance on tree limbs or sometimes as a weapon. Now that explains why he can sit so elegantly.

I guess the fascinating thing about this creature would be their unique ability to change their skin color. To be precise, changing of skin color is actually an expression of the physical and physiological condition, not as is commonly believed to match their surroundings. But somehow, in my opinion, it is also a brilliant way for self-protection. If humans possess such ability, I wonder what would happen.

Well, adding further to their color-changing ability, chameleons often do it in response to light exposure and ambient temperature, as well as to express their mood. Chameleons are colored for their surroundings as a camouflage but recent research has shown that they may use the ability as a method of communication and potential mates attraction.

Speaking of which, we are also very much influenced by our surroundings and hence express ourselves in a similar way to the chameleons except we don’t change our skin color but we do change our so called “face colour” instead. Our mood also fluctuates in an unpredictable way in a matter of seconds due to many different occurrences surrounding us. It is always important to take control of our thoughts instead of being controlled by what we see, smell, touch and feel around us. Remember, a good mindset not only create effect to yourself but to the whole universe. Let’s think about it!

Have you ever seen this type of broccoli? I found it in a hypermarket in Ipoh a year ago. Later I also found it in Kuching supermarket. Now, I can’t find it anymore.

The Romanesco brocolli has a special cone shape in fractal form. If you notice it carefully, it is spiral like the snail shell, small at the top, and getting bigger at the lower part. This is called logarithmic spiral. [In nature, we can always notice many things also have a logarithmatic spiral shape, such as snail shell, spiral cloud with low pressure in the center, spiral galaxies, and the terrible cyclone. You can find more information on wikipedia about logarithmatic spiral.]

This Romanesco broccoli tastes a bit different than the normal broccoli. It is a bit harder, and it is not as sweet as the normal broccoli. The price is also very different; it costs RM 6+ per kg. I think that are the reasons, it disappears from the local market. Even if it appears, I think the quantity will be very little. Many people will buy it because of its special cute shape for the first time, and will not buy it again because of its taste and price.

I have learned 2 things.
(1) The less frequent you see a thing, the more special will the thing becomes. It may actually be a very common thing in other places.
(2) A food that has a nice shape does not necessary taste good.

Do you still remember the fat silver-spotted caterpillar that I showed you few weeks ago?

Now, there left only its empty cocoon (the casing) and I believe that it has transformed into a butterfly.

I’m not sure when it transformed, but recently I always saw a white-coloured butterfly flying around when I water my plants in the garden.  The butterfly reminded me to check on the willow tree leaves again to see if there is any new caterpillar and I suddenly discovered the empty cocoon.  I noticed that it is still in the position of kissing the leave.  May be the cocoon was the previous home for this white-coloured butterfly, that’s why it always flies around there.

          Good bye, my dear cute caterpillar,
          You have a new name now,
          You are called butterfly now.

                    My dear beautiful butterfly,
                    You can fly now,
                    From flowers to flowers,
                    Go through each and every type of flowers,
                    Which add different colours to your life.

          My dear beautiful butterfly,
          You have a new life now,
          Fly as far as you can,
          And make good use of your great life.

Similar to the caterpillar and butterfly, our life are short as well.   The caterpillar cocoon reminded me to make good use of my life.  I keep telling myself, “Don’t waste time!!!” and “Keep working hard”.

The most valuable, precious and respectable treasures from Buddha.

We are back from a very busy weekend.  We prepared for the Wesak Day celebration and we have a lot of activities.  Our teams were all exhausted, but we were rewarded by the consolation prize for both the categories in parade (walking team and decorated vehicle).

Most importantly we have a chance to have a close encounter with the most valuable, precious and respectable treasures from Buddha.