View from my window

The eyes see what the beholder wants to see,
no matter how discreet and fleeting....

Taken during the sudden downpour on Friday....

An almost obscure patch about 300 meters away during dusk....

The Pale Blue Dot

"Pale Blue Dot" photograph of the Earth taken
by the Voyager 1 spacecraft on July 6, 1990

"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."

- Carl Sagan (1934-1996) in a commencement address in May 11, 1996

We all are equally guilty

http://www.ted.com/talks/yann_arthus_bertrand_captures_fragile_earth_in_wide_angle.html

To Do List

1. Sleep early
2. Do more
3. Work fast
4. Think faster
5. Rest more
:P

Bye Michael

I usually don't forget things,
But I will try to remember the good things about you more,
For I think they leave a much greater impact and impression :)

2 New Galleries!

Have finally added the 2 long-delayed galleries in my website, under Personal Gallery :)

Check them out! ;)

Finally, my very own website! :D

I have thinking about it for years....and finally with the help (and threats) of many, especially my one and only, it has finally materialized.....

Presenting my very own (humble) website to you all :)


p/s: free feel to contact me if you need photography services! ;)

Thank you for your support! :)

Beautiful Sky

Click for larger view

Taken on 12 Jun 2009
At Raffles Place
7.12pm

Beautiful Evening at Boat Quay

Boat Quay
5 Jun 2009
~7.30pm

click photo for a larger view

Colour my mind

Colour my mind psychedelia, before it turns dull grey....

Alishan's Daybreak

Info of Alishan

TGFBF! :)

Thank God For Beautiful Friday! :)

Wishing for a Good Friday Weekend! :)

Wishing for a beautiful blue sky, cooling breeze,
Lots of fun, joy and lovely moments :)
Have a GOOD Friday weekend everyone! :)

Heartfelt....

It was during my bus journey to work when I first saw this advertisement, just 3 min before I alighted at my next bus stop (and I am glad the journey lasted long enough for me to see the whole ad). I should be going home now after a long day of tedious work, but I was too eager to watch it again, and to share it with you all. I never promote ads from Gov, but this one is too heartfelt to be ignored. Hope you can feel it too :)

:)

Emotional independence

“At the beginning of our life and again when we get old, we need the help and affection of others. Unfortunately, between these two periods of our life, when we are strong and able to look after ourselves, we don’t appreciate the value of affection and compassion. As our own life begins and ends with the need for affection, wouldn’t it be better if we gave compassion and love to others while we are strong and capable?”

The above words were said by the present Dalai Lama. Really, it is very curious to see that we are proud of our emotional independence. Evidently, it is not quite like that: we continue needing others our entire life, but it is a “shame” to show that, so we prefer to cry in hiding. And when someone asks us for help, that person is considered weak and incapable of controlling his feelings.

There is an unwritten rule saying that “the world is for the strong”, that “only the fittest survive.” If it were like that, human beings would never have existed, because they are part of a species that needs to be protected for a long period of time (specialists say that we are only capable of surviving on our own after nine years of age, whereas a giraffe takes only six to eight months, and a bee is already independent in less than five minutes).

We are in this world, I, for my part, continue – and will always continue – depending on others. I depend on my wife, my friends and my publishers. I depend even on my enemies, who help me to be always trained in the use of the sword.

Clearly, there are moments when this fire blows in another direction, but I always ask myself: where are the others? Have I isolated myself too much? Like any healthy person, I also need solitude and moments of reflection.

But I cannot get addicted to that.

Emotional independence leads to absolutely nowhere – except to a would-be fortress, whose only and useless objective is to impress others.

Emotional dependence, in its turn, is like a bonfire that we light.

In the beginning, relationships are difficult. In the same way that fire is necessary to put up with the disagreeable smoke – which makes breathing hard, and causes tears to pour down one’s face. However, once the fire is alight, the smoke disappears and the flames light up everything around us – spreading warmth, calm, and possibly making an ember pop out to burn us, but that is what makes a relationship interesting, isn’t that true?

I began this column quoting a Nobel Peace Prize winner about the importance of human relationships. I am ending with Professor Albert Schweitzer, physician and missionary, who received the same Nobel prize in 1952.

"All of us know a disease in Central Africa called sleeping sickness. What we need to know is that there is a similar disease that attacks the soul – and which is very dangerous, because it catches us without being noticed. When you notice the slightest sign of indifference and lack of enthusiasm for your similar, be on the alert!”

"The only way to take precautions against this disease is to understand that the soul suffers, and suffers a lot, when we make it live superficially. The soul likes things that are beautiful and profound”.

-Paulo Coelho

Warrior of the Light Online