Air-Powered Car

The Air Car caused a huge stir when we reported last year that Tata Motors would begin producing it in India. Now the little gas-free ride that could is headed Stateside in a big-time way.

Zero Pollution Motors (ZPM) confirmed to PopularMechanics.com on Thursday that it expects to produce the world’s first air-powered car for the United States by late 2009 or early 2010. As the U.S. licensee for Luxembourg-based MDI, which developed the Air Car as a compression-based alternative to the internal combustion engine, ZPM has attained rights to build the first of several modular plants, which are likely to begin manufacturing in the Northeast and grow for regional production around the country, at a clip of up to 10,000 Air Cars per year.

And while ZPM is also licensed to build MDI’s two-seater OneCAT economy model (the one headed for India) and three-seat MiniCAT (like a SmartForTwo without the gas), the New Paltz, N.Y., startup is aiming bigger: Company officials want to make the first air-powered car to hit U.S. roads a $17,800, 75-hp equivalent, six-seat modified version of MDI’s CityCAT (pictured above) that, thanks to an even more radical engine, is said to travel as far as 1000 miles at up to 96 mph with each tiny fill-up.

Full story here.

The CityCAT, already being developed in India (bottom left), will be available for U.S. production in three different four-door styles. But it's the radical dual-energy engine, with a possible 1000-mile range at 96 mph, that could move the Air Car beyond Auto X Prize dreams and into American garages. (Source:PopularMechanics.com)


I have never been impressed by those hybrid cars but the thought of an air-powered car is exciting indeed! I can't wait for the air powered car to go on sale. I'd be among the first to make a reservation for the purchase of this car!

I can't wait to tell those Middle Eastern oil producing countries, as well as Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, what they can do with their oil!

Speech Evaluation

Last Friday, I took Duncan to see the speech therapist for his Speech Evaluation. The session was held at the Speech Therapy room at one of the Elementary Schools near here.

There are two speech therapists who work at the school but the therapist who saw Duncan was not one of them. She was sent by the School District to evaluate Duncan.

I wished I had taken a video of the session. It was interesting to see how the evaluation was done. At the end of the session which was only about half an hour long, the therapist told me what the problem with Duncan's speech was.

There was nothing physical wrong with his mouth or tongue but what he had was a carry over from whence he first learned to talk. He doesn't make the sounds that come from the throat like the hard 'g' sound and the 'k' sound. Instead he focused on the frontal sounds like the 't', 'f'' and 'd'.

So instead of saying 'cup', he would say 'tup'. Instead of saying 'go', he would say 'do'. And instead of saying 'truck' he would say 'fuck'.

When it comes to multi-syllabic words he would drop the unstressed sounds. Instead of saying 'computer' he would say 'puter'.

The therapist will write a report which she said will take two to three weeks for it to get to me, and in that report she will propose that Duncan attend two speech therapy sessions a week together with some other kids who have the same speech problems.

I look forward to Duncan starting with this speech therapy. If he does not go to the speech therapy then he will continue to speak the way he does for that much longer. According to the speech therapist it is better to correct the problem now because when he starts elementary school it will be less frustrating for him to get himself understood.

I totally agree. Thank goodness for free speech therapy sessions!

Happy Valentine's Day

A dozen red roses from my man.

Thirty two goody bags for Duncan and Denice's classmates, and four heart shaped boxes of chocolates for their teachers.

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

A favorite teddy bear

This is Ba Bear. Denice has had this teddy bear since she was two. Her first teddy bear got lost on the second day at day care. She had no choice but to take Ba Bear as a replacement. Daddy had bought Ba Bear at the thrift store, even before the first teddy bear got lost.

You can see how much she loves Ba Bear. Ba Bear has been stitched together twice before when seams came apart.

Look at poor Ba Bear's nose. It has been chewed till there's not much left of the nose. The stuffing is gone from the nose and some from the body as well. When she feels "geram" she will bite the nose!

On Friday night, when we were out shopping, she told Daddy she was ready to replace Ba Bear. I told Daddy, there were more teddy bears at home, and there were two that a friend had given the kids that still needed to be put together.

This is the girl teddy bear. A bride teddy bear. First thing Saturday morning, Denice began pestering me to put the teddy bear together. She just couldn't wait to see the bear in the bridal dress!

This is the boy teddy bear. A bear groom.

"I don't like it. Teddy bears cannot get married."

"Why not Duncan?"

"Only boys and girls can get married!"

Okay. That's that then.

You should have seen Denice clap her hands at the sight of this pretty bear. "Oooohh, she is so pretty!"

What about Duncan? He started fooling around with the boy bear clothes.

"Look, Mommy! It is a hat! "

Duncan's teddy bear before putting on the clothes.

Look at them, with their teddy bears!

After putting the two teddy bears together, I then went on to try to fix Ba Bear. Imagine how excited Denice was at the the thought of Ba Bear all stitched back together and more stuffing added!

After Ba Bear was stitched back together and a nose job done to it, Ba Bear was thrown into the washing machine for a long over due wash and then thrown into the dryer.

Denice could not wait for Ba Bear to come out of the washer when she took her afternoon nap. She even cried. I guess that the bride bear was nothing compared to her beloved Ba Bear!

Ta da! Ba Bear all fixed, and cleaned! Guess who got cast aside, no matter how pretty? Yes, the bride bear!

Ba Bear is still the beloved teddy bear.

Movie: Puteri Gunung Ledang

How many of you have seen the movie, Puteri Gunung Ledang? It was produced in 2004 and I have only JUST seen it!

Somebody had broken up the film in three parts and uploaded it to stage6.com. I don't even remember from where I followed the link to stage6. Anyway, I started watching the movie the day before, late, and then continued again yesterday.

I was impressed by the production. I believe it is easily the best produced Malaysian film so far, in terms of the script, cinematography, the location, the set, the special effects .. wow .. very, very professional. Now I understand why the producers of the film thought it was good enough to be submitted for the Foreign Film section of the Academy Awards.

There were scenes with horses, I mean riding on horses, an elephant, and lots of jungle scenes. It was truly an epic film. I am impressed!

The only criticism I have of the film is the length. At about 2 1/2 hours long, it is very long. Maybe the editor should have been more aggressive with the editing! But how do you cut off most of the scenes involving the leading lady when the leading lady is also one of the producers? Hmm, that was indeed a dilemma! For the editor that is!

I haven't watched that many Malaysian films, and I have never heard of the director, Teong Hin Saw. Is he Malaysian? He's good!

I was surprised at M. Nasir's acting. I think he is good. That scene where Hang Tuah (M.Nasir) and Gusti Puteri (Tiara Jacquelina) did their "mating dance" was memorable! I say "mating dance" because it reminded me of the mating dances that some male birds do to attract the female! Except in this scene, it is the female that started the dance.

Christine Hakim was one of my favorite Indonesian actresses when I was a teenager, and I can't believe how old she looked in the movie! Ya, ya, as if I haven't aged myself!

If you haven't watched the movie, and don't live in Malaysian, you might want to watch the movie at stage6.com. Just do a search of the name and you'll be able to see it. I had to end up downloading the film on my computer because the 2nd part refused to download fully on the screen. For those of you living in Malaysia, go buy the original movie in VCD and support our local film industry.

Here's the mating dance scene between Gusti Puteri and Hand Tuah.

*R Rating* - Chinese Proverbs

Passionate kiss like spider's web, soon lead to undoing of fly.

Virginity like bubble, one prick all gone.

Man who run in front of car get tired.

Man who run behind car get exhausted.

Man with hand in pocket feel cocky all day.

Foolish man give wife grand piano, wise man give wife upright organ.

Man who walk through airport turnstile sideways going to Bangkok.

Man with one chopstick go hungry.

Man who scratches ass should not bite fingernails.

Man who eat many prunes get good run for money.

Panties not best thing on earth but next to best thing on earth.

War doesn't determine who is right, war determines who is left.

Wife who put husband in dog house soon find himself in cat house.

It takes many nails to build crib but one screw to fill it.

Man who drive like hell bound to get there.

Man who stand on toilet is high on pot.

Man who lives in glass house should change clothes in basement.

Man who fishes in other man's well often catches crabs.

Man who farts in church sits in own pew.

Man who wants pretty nurse, must be patient.

Better to be pissed off than pissed on.

Boy who go to sleep with hard problem wake up with solution in hand.

Girl who sits on jockey's lap get hot tip.

Girl who sits on Judge's lap get honorable discharge.

Lady who go camping must beware of evil intent.

Man who keep feet firmly on ground have trouble putting on pants.

Man who leap off cliff jump to conclusion.

Man who smoke pot choke on handle.

Man with tight trousers is pressing luck.

Man who loves and loses, have not right lawyer.

Man who pushes piano down mine shaft get A flat miner.

Television never replace old reliable key hole.

Laziest man in world who marry widow with six children.

Man who put head on railroad track get splitting headache.

Girl who do back spring on bedspring have offspring next spring.

Crowded elevator smells different to midget.

Man who stutters has a lot to say.

It is good for girl to meet boy in park, but better for boy to park meat in girl.

Man who drops watch in toilet has shitty time.

He who eats too many prunes, sits on potty many moons.

Man who make love to girl on hill ... he not on level.

Some recent pieces

Pearls, crystals and oval shaped Pietersite.

Mother of pearl, and blue zircon crystals.

Green mother of pearl and olive crystals.

Abalone and faceted natural stone .. err, can't remember the name of this stone. :-)

Pooch Carrier

One of my kids teachers asked me if I could make her a little carrier bag for her chihuahua.

I did not know how the bag should look like so I made a search on the internet and found a place selling some pet carriers.

This was just one of the patterns that they had. I spent a few hours yesterday making this bag. It is a little small but for a baby chihuahua, it will fit nicely.


Now that I have an idea how a pooch carrier looks like, I will make a few more. This one, I have already given it to the kids' teacher who has 4 chihuahuas!