Libérée, délivrée

(The formatting is really off, but oh well!)

Let It Go The snow glows white on the mountain tonight Not a footprint to be seen. A kingdom of isolation, and it looks like I'm the Queen The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside Couldn't keep it in; Heaven knows I've tried	Libérée, délivrée   L'hiver s'installe doucement dans la nuit La neige est reine à son tour Un royaume de solitude Ma place est là pour toujours	Liberated, Freed   Winter settles gently into the night The snow is Queen in its turn A kingdom of isolation My place is here forever
Don't let them in, don't let them see Be the good girl you always have to be Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know Well now they know	Le vent qui hurle en moi ne pense plus à demain Il est bien trop fort J'ai lutté, en vain Cache tes pouvoirs, n'en parle pas Fais attention, le secret survivra Pas d'états d'âme, pas de tourments De sentiments	The wind which rages within me no longer thinks of tomorrow It is too strong I’ve fought in vain Hide your powers, don’t talk about them Be careful, the secret will survive No states of mind, no torment Or feelings
Let it go, let it go Can't hold it back anymore Let it go, let it go Turn away and slam the door I don't care what they're going to say   Let the storm rage on. The cold never bothered me anyway	Libérée, délivrée Je ne mentirai plus jamais Libérée, délivrée C'est décidé, je m'en vais J'ai laissé mon enfance en été Perdue dans l'hiver le froid est pour moi le prix de la liberté	Liberated, freed I will never lie again Liberated, freed It’s decided, I’m leaving I left my childhood in summer   Lost in winter The cold is, for me, the price of freedom
It's funny how some distance Makes everything seem small And the fears that once controlled me Can't get to me at all	Quand on prend de la hauteur Tout semble insignifiant La tristesse, l'angoisse et la peur M'ont quittée depuis longtemps	When one takes a step back Everything seems insignificant Sadness, agony and fear Left me long ago
It's time to see what I can do To test the limits and break through No right, no wrong, no rules for me, I'm free!	Je veux voir ce que je peux faire De cette magie pleine de mystères Le bien, le mal, je dis tant pis Tant pis	I want to see what I can do With this magic full of mysteries Good and evil – I say too bad Too bad
Let it go, let it go I am one with the wind and sky Let it go, let it go You'll never see me cry Here I stand And here I'll stay Let the storm rage on	Libérée, délivrée Les étoiles me tendent les bras Libérée, délivrée Non, je ne pleure pas Me voilà, oui Je suis là Perdue dans l'hiver	Liberated, freed The stars offer me their arms Liberated, freed No, I’m not crying Here I am, yes I am here Lost in winter
My power flurries through the air into the ground My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast I'm never going back, the past is in the past	Mon pouvoir vient du ciel et envahit l'espace Mon âme s'exprime en dessinant et sculptant dans la glace Et mes pensées sont des fleurs de cristal gelées Je ne reviendrai pas, le passé est passé	My power comes from the sky and invades space My soul expresses itself in designing and sculpting ice And my thoughts are flowers of frozen crystal I’m never going back, the past has passed
Let it go, let it go And I'll rise like the break of dawn Let it go, let it go That perfect girl is gone Here I stand In the light of day Let the storm rage on   The cold never bothered me anyway!	Libérée, délivrée, Désormais plus rien ne m’arrête Libérée, délivrée Plus de princesse parfaite Je suis là Comme je l'ai rêvé Perdue dans l'hiver Le froid est pour moi le prix de la liberté	Liberated, freed, From now on nothing will stop me anymore Liberated, freed No longer a perfect princess I am here As I dreamed Lost in winter   The cold is, for me, the price of freedom

(Also, off to Spain for 3 weeks!)

Singlish Lorem Ipsum

Singlish Lorem Ipsum

"When a kueh koci ceases to exist, a chao kang banana . Walau, don't fly my aeroplane. He still small small boy.

A fa cai for the hawker knowingly recognizes the kopitiam. My England not powderful! An assam laksa about some fever high caricatures the kachau market.

Why you so liddat ar? Can go to my place le.

She so pretty. A bulat ah huay, an acar of the clown, and a heartware are what made Singapore great!

An eagerly horrigible encik wakes up, and another beehoon reads a magazine; however, the five-foot way about another dendeng thoroughly recognizes a kan cheong gong. My England not powderful!"

Malaysia keeps getting better

Continued from: Balderdash: I thought this was good...




SEPANG, Malaysia - Bomoh Ibrahim Mat Zin held a second session of rituals on Wednesday in efforts to help locate the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing plane.

Ibrahim, who calls himself Raja Bomoh Sedunia Nujum VIP with the title of Datuk Mahaguru, conducted the rituals at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

He was accompanied by several assistants who helped in the rituals using "Zam-Zam" water, two coconuts, a "magical" walking stick and carpet.

The session that was held at the Anjung Tinjau of KLIA attracted a crowd of people.

"The purpose of the rituals is to weaken the bad spirits so that the rescuers can find the plane if it indeed had crashed," he told reporters.

Ibrahim said the symbolic rituals have been used for many generations.

He clarified that he was doing it on his own free will despite reports that leaders of the country invited him.

On Monday, Ibrahim used a binoculars made of bamboo and a fish trap hook during his first session of rituals at KLIA to help locate the missing aircraft.

Bernama reported that Ibrahim, who has 50 years of experience as a bomoh, had become popular after offering his service to search for the victims in several major cases such as the Highland Towers tragedy and the Mona Fendy case.

A 25-second video of Ibrahim's second session has gone viral.

)

(both videos I found had 150 or fewer YouTube views - this doesn't quite count as going viral)

Will this lead to better Coklat... or worse?

BERNAMA - USM Invents Cocoa Butter Replacer From Mango Seed Fat

GEORGE TOWN, March 12 (Bernama) -- A team of researchers from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has invented cocoa butter replacer (CBR) extracted from mango seed fat with palm stearin blends.

Head researcher from the School of Industrial Technology, Prof Dr Ir Mohd Omar Ab Kadir said cocoa butter was a highly demanded fat among tropical plant fats, but its world production was decreasing due to cultivation difficulties.

"According to the Malaysian Cocoa Board, land for cocoa cultivation has decreased to 10,000 hectares from 12,000 hectares from 2010 to 2013," he told reporters here Wednesday.

Furthermore, he said the price of cocoa of RM10,000 per tonne currently was expensive due to lack of supply, adding that CBR from mango seed fat could be one of the options for chocolate, confectionary and cosmetics industries.

Dr Mohd Omar said the research that started in 1990 showed CBR extracted from mango seed fat and palm stearin blends via supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2), had similarity in texture and taste with pure cocoa butter.

He said his research teams would work together with USM's School of Health Sciences to test and use CBR for food production as well as developing end-products using CBR from mango seed fat.

Dr Mohd Omar said using mango seed fat would be practical for CBR amid the environmental friendly process, low production cost as well as stable and continuous supply.

He said the palm stearin extracted from palm kernel cake, which was usually exported for animal feed, had the potential to be developed into palm kernal fiber and grinding it to flour for bread making.

Dr Mohd Omar also said he was researching on developing a system using SC-CO2 to reuse and recycle clinical solid waste, which would be able to reduce the operation cost of hospitals and clinics.

He said using the SC-CO2 process would not only sterilise clinical solid waste but also kill bacteria and a study showed that there was no grow of bacteria after two months.

Sichuan 2013 - Day 1 - Arrival

Sichuan 2013
Day 1 - 24th March - Arrival

In March last year I was in Sichuan for 2.5 weeks.

I flew Silkair to Chengdu. It was my first time flying Silkair, and it was quite nostalgic - because there was only one in-flight channel, and it went one up on nostalgia - there was no sound.

On the upside the shows were quite interesting, and it was something other than the usual Just for Laughs.


Winter Wipeout - Clip

As you can see, Winter Wipeout is quite Japanese.

It was quite equal opportunity - there were fat people. Interestingly, even after being knocked into the water people still carried on.


Winter Wipeout clip - turning thing


Winter Wipeout - Posing

Before attempting a course section particpants get to do victory/good-luck jigs individually.


Winter Wipeout - strange costume

Another woman ran from one side of the screen to the other with her knees raised


Strange Japanese (I apologise for the repetition) variety show sketch 1

Human body parts as props - hmm.


Strange Japanese variety show sketch 2


Cute ad: "江河湖海。 没有‘水’还有什么‘江河湖海’？ 珍惜水源 惠泽后人"
Translation: "Large River, Small River, Lake, Sea. Without 'water' what "Large River, Small River, Lake, Sea" is left? Save water, benefit future generations"
This plays on the 4 words at the start having the "water" radical.


4 year old ad for the 60th anniversary of the PRC. I guess no one dares take it down.


"Remarkable European Flair"
Occidentalism!


I don't know why I took this


Chengdu: "Giant Panda's Hometown. The Gourmet City. The Best Tourist City"


"Beat up Japan. [Blank] belongs to China. Sora Aoi belongs to the world*"
"仓井空才是属于全世界的"
I think the latter is eroded - there's no proper noun to belong to China


Apparently Chinese hotel rooms all have glass walls separating the bathroom from the room


Very helpful "English" translation
"Gui Zhong Wu Pin Qing Tuo Shan Bao Guan"
This translates as "Valuables should be put in (?) the safe"


Fried udon, Pumpkin biscuit. Omelette.
This came, naturally, with a cold soya drink.

How to Fight Rape Culture

S’poreans marvel at SAFRA’s ingenious ad promoting rape | New Nation



Singaporeans from all walks of life are clapping their hands and nodding their heads signalling profound comprehension.

This after they saw the advertisement put up by SAFRA promoting its gym and rape culture.

Qiang Jian Fan, a local, said: “I understand what this ad means. It shows that the woman must train hard so that she can successfully defend herself against rapists, like the two men in the picture.”

“If not, it is her fault.”

Other Singaporeans take a more contrarian view of the ad.

Lai Zhuo Ai, another Singaporean, said: “This ad shows that men must train hard so that they can rape more.”

However, not everyone is of the same opinion.

Qu Ni De, another local, said: “I think this is SAFRA’s way of showing its middle finger to AWARE for causing the Purple Light song to be banned from camps.”


SAFRA releases new gym ad targeting men, undoes sexism of previous ad | New Nation



After receiving death threats and some complaints from some quarters regarding its previous gym advertisement that portrayed two men mentally raping a woman, SAFRA has come up with a new ad.

The new gym ad aims to undo the damage done by the previous ad that objectified the woman as a piece of meat.

For the new ad, a male model of minority race was chosen as it is more politically correct than using a Chinese woman as a model.

A SAFRA spokesman, Tong Xing Lian, said: “This ad is appropriate because we managed to get rid of the sexism of men ogling at a woman. Now it shows men ogling at a man, because SAFRA is a man’s organisation.”

“In NS, everybody is a man and it is all about men. Men shower with men, men sleep with men and men are taught how to die for other men.”

“This is the SAFRA spirit.”

At press time, SAFRA said they have received a call from one Lawrence Khong of FCBC.

I thought this was good...

I thought this was good...

MH370: Govt open to using ‘bomohs’

"“We appreciate all help…but where it comes to mysticism, the methods used must conform to Islamic teachings,” he told reporters after attending the 35th National-level Quran Recital Programme here today...

Ibrahim Mat Zin, a well known local bomoh, who came to the KL International Airport today, claiming to be invited by one of the country’s top leaders, to help locate the missing plane using spiritual methods. Ibrahim after performing a prayer at KLIA’s entrance said he thought the plane was still in the air or had crashed into the sea."


But this is even better:

MISSING MH370: Raja Bomoh arrives to help find missing plane

"SEPANG: A shaman, claiming to be able to locate the missing MH370 jetliner, offered his expertise to help the authorities in their search.

Datuk Mahaguru Ibrahim Mat Zin, known as Raja Bomoh Sedunia Nujum VIP and 1Malaysia Corporate Bomoh said he suspects the missing aircraft was hijacked by elves (buniyan)

"According to my vision,a large black figure believed to be an eagle was seen flying over the plane after which the plane plunged.

" I have been using my bubu (traditional fishing tool) and bamboo scopes to see the situation there, and I saw that the aircraft is currently suspended in mid air," he said.

Ibrahim who claimed to have solved cases like the highland towers, mystery of villa Nabila, Mona Fandy and others, attracted a large crowd during his 'seeing' demonstration at the international arrival hall in Kuala Lumpur International Airport."


Addendum: MH370 brings bomohs, preachers and psychics out - Yahoo News Malaysia

"Meanwhile, a YouTube video has emerged, claiming that Nigerian preacher, televangelist and faith healer T.B. Joshua predicted the MH370 incident on July 28, 2013.

His prophecy, it is claimed, concerned 'an Asian nation' where a 'large aircraft, carrying over 200 people would develop a fault soon after takeoff'. Joshua goes on to claim that the fault 'can be discovered at the tarmac, but because of impatience...'.

The YouTube video, uploaded under the title of Malaysia Airlines Prophecy, was published on March 8 and has gained over 140,000 views so far.

Back in Malaysia, a psychic, who wants to remain anonymous, predicted that 'people will be walking out from the wild into civilisation' in a day or two. He advised officials to 'search inland around Ca Mau, where he said there's a field 'just enough for a plane to land'.

He says the plane will be found in 'the snowy mountains' of U Minh Thoung National Park in Vietnam. The park is an 80 sq km region in the southwest tip of Vietnam."

France 2012 - Day 15 - Departure

France 2012
Day 15 - 27th October - Departure

There was an airport shuttle which cost €5, and included a metro ride. However there was a €1,60 bus which also went to the airport and it was quite fast too. This was strange pricing.


Very cheap youth tickets - 10 for 4€.


The circus in France still allows animals! I don't know if I've ever been to a real circus.


Canal du Midi lock
As you can see I wasn't the only swaku one - everyone was gawking


Lock filling


Boat in lock


Sailing out of lock


Lock




Pro-Prostitution Posters: "The State: the main pimp and procurer in France. It takes everything (taxes, fines) without giving anything in return (rights, pensions...) Support prostitutes and sex workers - No bad women, only bad laws"


Toulouse station

The Relay at Carcassonne had an international press, but not at Toulouse station. Gah.


Coats of arms on station


"Forbidden to urinate. Please respect this place"
I love how "uriner" is a verb


Car transporter cars

I got a mini croissant from Paul at 11am and it was very good. Ahh, les provinces !


This was probably a chausson aux pommes


Note the priority for seating:
1. Those crippled by war
2. The Blind
3. Those disabled due to work, civilian disabled
4. Pregnant women
5. People accompanied by children under 4
I like the idea of priority - how else to mediate when two parties from different categories meet?


Guy on horse

I then got to Toulouse airport, with interesting duty-free shopping.


I like the gulp-sized prune with Armagnac. 2€!


Foie gras, foie gras and more foie gras!


Whole foie gras is allowed in aircraft cabins. Woo!


"Eau de sport" sounds like sweat


"Returns from the hunt"
Various terrines: venison with armagnac, wild boar with hazelnuts, quail etc


Macarons which expired in June 2013 - 8 months later. Ahh, modern technology!


"Celebrating 40 years serving Airbus. Pratt & Whitney Dependable Engines"
I hadn't seen Pratt & Whitney ads before. I guess this was for business visitors to Airbus.


Smironoff Red Label 1L - 14,90€ within the EU and 10,90€ without. Interestingly wine seemed to have no difference in the EU/non-EU prices.
Inside the checkin area it looked like the price rose


Weekly Nutella pack. That's A LOT of Nutella.

We had a good view not only of the tarmac but Airbus's factory:


Bailey's. Compare this to Singapore's prices later.


"Join us. Airbus" and plain white (unpainted) plane


Yet more foie gras


You can buy Paris public transport tickets here. Okay.

There was a lounge you could pay €15 or €19 to enter. I don't know why anyone would do that.


"Denied boarding? Canceled? Delayed for a long time? Airlines have a legal obligation to inform you about YOUR RIGHTS and where to complain"
We have no rights in Asia


"Don't bring rabies back among your vacation souvenirs"

The flight gate was printed on my boarding pass but according to the screens in the airport it hadn't been announced. Hah.

Easyjet's inflight shop isn't actually expensive for some items. They had a 15 pound emergency iPhone charger (though they didn't say what the capacity was - a Skross travel adaptor with USB was 17 pounds 50, and a similar model is £16.75 on Amazon). They put the UK High Street Price for some items for you to compare.

The flight had £4 wine (18.75cl), with 2 for £7. Canned drinks were £1,80 (€2,50). Not too much of a premium considering this was a flight.



The Tangle Teezer was under 'toys'. Okay. It was also under accessories.

Heinz squeeze and stir was marketed as "puree, not powder". Is there a big difference? Maybe only in chunkiness.


"Belvita Breakfast regularly releases carbohydrates over 4 hours to keep you going all morning"
How is this different from other complex carbohydrate biscuits?


"Fakes hide real dangers"
Who forges irons?! What harm do fake-brand cigarettes do above real-brand ones?! The only harm comes from the law.


Air France's self-checkin is not trans-friendly
I was allowed to checkin but I couldn't drop by bag off for more than 3 hours, so I trudged around. Then I got a luggage trolley so I looked some hobo wheeling around my life's possessions.


Traditional Instant Mustard Pork


"Travel is a right for everyone"
Hoho


In Paris airport, I was looking for a place to eat. Turned out some genius put all the shops inside the restricted area but all the restaurants in Terminal 2B. So I had to travel to get food.

Pizza Hut's idea of an "Oriental" pizza was one with Merguez (North African sausage). Everything else was like a normal pizza.


McBaguette - this looked very tempting, with mustard sauce, stone-baked bread and French emmental cheese
The Royal Deluxe was said to be 'recette victime de son succès'. How poetic.


BACON Chicken Wrap

McDonald's had 'pommes frites sauce', which was herb mayo.


I was quite happy with this - 2 taps. One for those who hate motion sensor, but both save water.


Hippopotamus menu. We have one in Singapore.
Strangely they have nems (Vietnamese spring rolls).


Queue for tax refund. The majority were yellow people and I only heard PRC accents.


Eiffel Tower pasta


London Routard guide


French smut novels
I wasn't sure if they were for men or women. One selection was: "j'ai connu toutes les perversions sexuelles" ("I've known all sexual perversions")


They only had The Return of the King. The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers had been crowded out by Percy Jackson. If they'd had all 3 I would've bought all for fun.


??? London souvenirs in Charles de Gaulle


Vending machine for stuff. This was a "petite parapharmacie" (small para-pharmacy). 1 row was dedicated to sex, 1.5 rows to menstruation, 1 row to baby food, 1 row to diapers and 1 row to miscellaneous baby stuff.


Mickey Passport


Mont St Michel biscuits


The shop is called "when the cat is away..." and the sections are called "the rats get dressed", "the rats cuddle" and "the rats play"


Now you know where TWG stole their concept from - Mariage Frères


More macarons


Kodak film. HAH


Cold sandwich. There was some nonsense about pleasure. It was alright - still a ham and cheese sandwich. Apparently some people are allergic to mustard and celery (those items are listed under 'made in a factory that processes:'). That is sad.

There was a cool Pages Jaunes (Yellow Pages) ad: a guy was running from 2 others and jumped onto a trampoline to escape.

I was seated in the cold part of the plane: pulling up my hood and zipping up my cardigan was not enough. Nor did the blanket work. So I turned my blanket into a veil. Luckily I wasn't in France anymore! A few rows down was much warmer.


Somehow I doubt the difference between DFS and urban Singapore is so much


Strangely competitive Smirnoff


Nectar of Nature shampoo and shower gel I'd gotten in Rambouillet (in my rush I'd left my shampoo and soap in the Paris hostel). They were very cheap and good too.