MERRY CHRISTMAS from the Christmas Gecko

MERRY CHRISTMAS

to everyone.

I have posted these few photographs on my blog as my Christmas Special.

The Christmas Gecko.

My pet house gecko is happy with his huge present I gave him.

As you can see that he is smiling happily in front of the camera.

He is even thrilled when he found out that I have prepared a home-made Santa hat for him.

The hat isn't well-made because my fingers are just too big to do something that small.
You can see those bits of sellotape pieces sticking out of his hat.
The hat is not perfect but he accepted it with with love because he knew that it was from my heart.

Just joking, it is not really my pet lizard.
It is a real gecko, not a fake one, but a dead one.
Since it is dead, I have decided to decorate it, give it some props and make it pose in front of my camera.
It's mouth was closed so I have to open it up so that it looks like he is happier.

The gift in the first photo was just something I removed from my small-sized decorated Christmas tree.

It's hat is made myself from papers.

The Christmas greeting plastic words with a missing "s" is taken from my mum's birthday cake.

It died just minutes before this photographs are taken.

Don't get me wrong, I did not kill it.

I found it paralyzed on my house floor, dying of unknown disease.

It is still too young to die of old age as it has not yet reached it's maximum size.

By the time I was studying his cause of death, it has stopped breathing.

This idea of making him my Christmas character came when I can't identify it's cause of death.

An ordinary gecko has passed away and became the CHRISTMAS GECKO, pretty scary but creative.

  

Spiders Reference Websites

AUSTRALIAN SPIDERS

A website created as a working draft for A field guide to Spiders of Australia by Robert Whyte and Dr Greg Anderson due to be published in 2014.

Spiders of Australia finally have their own website.

I can now use this website as a guide reference to help me identify Australian spiders.

Take a look at the website here in the link

http://www.arachne.org.au/default.asp
For spiders of Quensland - http://www.findaspider.org.au/find/common.htm
If you are only looking for the Jumping Spiders (Salticidae) of Australia, I suggest you visit  http://ednieuw.home.xs4all.nl/australian/salticidae/Salticidae.html

INDIAN SPIDERS

A website has been created to record the spider species of Southern India.
http://www.southindianspiders.org/south-indian-spiders.htm
As for Central India, there is also a website with checklists of the spiders in Melghat and Lonar Crater.
http://www.spidersofcentralindia.com/

Nanda Devi, located on the border between India and China, has it's spiders recorded and published http://www2.wii.gov.in/publications/researchreports/2011/diversity_spiders_nanda_devi.pdf Dr. Sunil Jose has also created a index page with links to his blogs about specific group of spiders he recorded. http://indian-spiders.blogspot.in/

SINGAPOREAN SPIDERS

Singapore might not have many spider species compared to other countries but there are lot of spider photographs uploaded into the Internet from Singapore.

Some species are endemic to Singapore only because Singapore is an island.

So I need some spider species guide as a reference to identify many spiders of Singapore that we don't have here in Malaysia.

http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/spiders/text/a-spiders.htm
http://sgwildanimals.blogspot.com/2012/10/spiders.html
http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/50/50rbz359-388.pdf
http://www.natureloveyou.sg/Minibeast-Spider/Family%20All.html

NORTH AMERICAN SPIDERS

North America is a large continent that that holds a lot of spider species

I found this online North American spider identification guide.

It can be very useful for me to identify the spiders there.

http://www.cirrusimage.com/spider.htm
Bugguide is a popular American insect-identification website.
Fortunately, spiders are also included in this website.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/1954/bgpage

EUROPEAN SPIDERS

Europe is located between Africa and Asia with Russia, so it might contains a lot of spider species from these 3 great continents.

This website shows the spiders of NW Europe.

http://ednieuw.home.xs4all.nl/Spiders/spidhome.htm
As for French Jumping Spider, you can visit this link.
http://yvanmontardi.perso.sfr.fr/salticidae/index_e.html

JAPANESE SPIDERS

As one of the most modern country in technology and science, Japan should be able to identify and record most of the species of spiders there so I trust the spider website of of Japan.

http://www.cyberoz.net/city/sekine/zukax00.htm

GUYANA SPIDERS
A French website displaying a collection of spiders photographed mostly by Olivier Baudry and Sophie from Guyana, a country in South America.
http://olivierbaudry.free.fr/BOA1.html

SOUTH ASIAN SPIDERS
As for spider species from rice land in South and Southeast Asia, here is a reference book written by A.T. Barrion and J.A. Litsinger  
http://books.google.com.my/books?id=5dhYexpLc6QC&pg=PA553&lpg=PA553&dq=Gasteracantha+janopol&source=bl&ots=oUELKVVkN5&sig=Nv2oO7TWXJi9MTHrpj0GnPrJSbU&hl=en#v=onepage&q=Gasteracantha%20janopol&f=false
A checklist of the spiders of South Asia.
http://www.zoosprint.org/zooprintjournal/2007/february/2551-2597.pdf
Spiders of the Malay Archipelago.
http://arthropodaselecta.britishspiders.org.uk/articles/21_1_029_060_Proszynski.pdf


INDONESIAN SPIDERS
Indonesia is a large country compromising several main islands and thousands of other smaller islands. Many species of endemic spiders are found in that country but many more are yet to be discovered. Here is a link to the species discovered from Indonesia.
http://www.cacaospiders.com/IndonesianSpiders_2011.pdf


PENINSULAR (WEST) MALAYSIAn SPIDERS
A checklist of West Malaysia's spiders here in http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/57/57rbz305-322.pdf

CATS & DOGS

Dogs and cats are always known as natural enemies.
In the televisions, Internet, stories, cats and dogs seldom cope well with each other and are always fighting.
I know that this is shown commonly in Cats and Dogs, Tom and Jerry.......
I do not agree that cats and dogs are NATURAL ENEMIES !
Yesterday, while eating in a local Chinese restaurant, I saw a hungry street cat and a starving stray dog begging for foods together from outside the restaurant.
2 years ago, I saw a young adult puppy and a cat sleeping peacefully and comfortably with each other placing their heads together.
These are some proofs that cats and dogs are not enemies naturally.
But what about the dogs and cats that are seen fighting.
I think humans are responsible for those.
I believe that dogs reared by humans are aggressive towards other animals more than stray urban dogs.
This is because the dogs owned by people have become fierce to guard their master's house.
So naturally, the cats in the neighborhoods are always been barked by the dogs and naturally develops the hatred for dogs.
So if a tamed dog who lived with their master without other animal species has a chance to go out from their owner's house, they will chase smaller animals (usually cats) that they saw.
As for stray dogs, once, one came into the neighborhood and saw a tame cat.
The tame cat who has lived a life in fear of the neighbour's dogs switched itself into defence mode and started to meow aggressively with it's fur all upright.
The stray dog however, showed no interest in the cat and continued it's mission to find garbage foods while still being confronted by the fierce cat.
Who says that Cats and Dogs are natural enemies?
I know that many of them says that, believed that, but I am not convinced.

the RESULTS are OUT

http://wongchunxing.blogspot.com/2011/07/vote-my-insect-photographs.html


I have recently participated in a Photography Contest organized by the Photography Club.
The topic of the competition is "INSECTS". (Spiders are allowed too)
I have prepared five of my best photographs but I can only submit one picture so I asked for votes through Facebook, Blogspot, Flickr and real life.
Based on the votes I collected, I submitted the spider picture because it has the most votes.
The competition results came out at last on the 9th November 2011.
I ended up as the champion of the senior participants. Not bad huh?
The first prize is a lovely little trophy with a couple of certificates.

MY  THOPHY

My submitted photograph

The 5 photos to vote from

My Wallpapers

Here are some of my best photographs that I use as my own computer screen wallpapers. You are free to download these to use as your personal computer/phone/iPad wallpapers but please do not distribute them or use them for commercial purposes.

Orbweaver spider on a plant at Luanti River side.

Plant bug on top of a red flower in Sabah Tea Garden.

An Orthoptera hopper standing on a flower next to a Tawau Chinese Temple.

A jumping spider against it's green habitat in Kinabalu National Park.

An orange Dobsonfly (Nevromus gloriosoi) resting on the window frame at Aristo Inn.

Panoramic scenery of the Kundasang mountains.

View of the horizon on the way to Kota Kinabalu.

The hustle and bustle of my school photographed from the 4th floor. 

Friendship photograph of my friends for Friendship Day. 

A cute Theridula spider under a leaf in Tawau Hills Park.

Colors of the stalls outside of Kunak.

A spider enjoying it's meal in Nirvana Memorial Park.

Chinese New Year decorations in 1Borneo - Rabbit Year.

A fern forest in Tawau Hills Park looking like the prehistoric Carboniferous forests.

A blue-nosed damselfly resting on the tip of a grass stalk.

Crossing the bridge like a boss in Tawau Hills Park.

Beautiful "Contour Lines" on this leaf

WAIT, there's more!

I will be uploading new wallpapers in new posts.

Panoramic view of Kundasang

This photograph is merged together by several photos of the panoramic scenery of Kundasang from a hill.
As you can see, Kundasang is made up of mountains and hills.
The highest spot on this highland is the Low's Peak of Mount Kinabalu.
See http://wongchunxing.blogspot.com/2011/09/do-you-know-who-am-i.html for more information about Mount Kinabalu.

FLIES, the DIPTERA Super Order

Diptera, or commonly known as the fly family, is a diverse order of insects that contains hundreds of thousands of species. The species of this order are indeed diverse and are widespread around the globe. Each of these species has specially evolved to fill the niche of different habitats and feed on various foods.

Here is the Family Tree of the Diptera Superorder.

http://wwx.inhs.illinois.edu/files/5013/8608/5647/superflies_v4.pdf

Preview

LIFE

Life, the best thing that we ever have. Life is shared by humans, animals, plants and other living things. Life is difficult to be comprehended and defined. We do not need to work to be born but we must work hard to live. Let us look deeper into the meaning of LIFE.


Life on Earth started as microscopic microorganisms, few billion years ago. It is still a mystery yet to be solved on how life began. It takes an unbelievable coincident for the molecules on Earth to collide with each other to form a strand of DNA or something that "lives". This makes the probability of life almost zero. Until now, scientists are still battling to figure out what causes life to began.


Religious people view "Life" differently. They believe in God as the source of life and our life is from the souls within us. Many religions mentioned about life in their teachings. Christians have a saying "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life?". As for the Taoism, they have the concept of "Yin and Yang" which means balance in everything in our life. Buddhist believe in another life again after death, people who dies will be reincarnated into another person or an animal. Muslim's belief is that there will be heavenly place - Jannah جنّة, for the souls to live after death. Different religion have different view and concept of life but they all share one thing in common, that is they are aware of the existence of life.


Life is important, in fact the most important thing of all. With life, we can experience, live and enjoy. but some people do not think the same way. Some people do not want to live in this world due to sufferings. They think that they being born is a mistake. Other people are willing to sacrifice their life because they think that there are other things much more important than life like family, love, etc. Some others have a different concept to life - to them, life is not the conscience that we experience, but about how we live.


There are a few strange cases and facts about life. We humans sometime underestimated life. Some people managed to survive in dangerous condition, this changed the view towards human's life. There are a few amazing and unbelievable cases like an Indian holy man called Prahlad Jani who is still alive today without food and water for the past 70 years! Another example is a 59 year old woman, Val Thomas who was declared dead by medical experts but she "resurrected" after they removed her life tube. These baffled us only to show how little we understand about life.


Astrobiologist are astronomers which specially look for life other than us in the distant space. They hope one day we will be able to point at the night sky and saying "That's where our neighbours live". But if Earth is the only place in the whole universe that contains life, then we should be grateful and really appreciate LIFE.

VOTE my Insect Photographs

I have recently participated in a Photography Contest.
The topic of the competition is "INSECTS". (Spiders are allowed too)
I have picked five of my best insect macro photography but I could only submit one photograph for the competition.
I could not make up my mind to choose which picture should I use.
Please help me choose the best photograph by voting the most artistic and interesting one.
You can express you view and vote by leaving comments.
Thanks!
See Competition Results


Saya baru sahaja mengambil bahagian dalam satu pertandingan bergambar .
Tajuk pertandingan ini ialah "SERANGGA".
Saya sudah memilih lima daripada gambar serangga terbaik saya, tetapi cuma satu fotograf boleh diserahkan untuk pertandingan ini.
Ia sangat susah untuk saya memilih gambar yang terbaik.
Sila menolong saya dengan mengundi gambar saya yang paling indah dan menarik.
Anda boleh memberi pendapat dan mengundi melalui meninggalkan komen.
Terima Kasih!
Lihat Keputusan Pertandingan

Here are the photos:

Photograph 1

A moth (Lepidoptera) under the night lamp in Sukau Bed&Breakfast in Kinabatangan.
I love this picture because it is one of my best clear photograph at night without flash.

 Photograph 2

This Jumping Spider (Salticidae) owns a very unique pattern.
The beauty of the leaf patterns make this photo magnificent.

I found this spider in a church in Kampung Kadazan, Kunak.

 Photograph 3

This is the first bug I found when I arrived Sabah Tea Garden.
It is a little bit blur but this photo can reveal Nature's beauty.

 Photograph 4

A nice photo for a fierce giant Dobsonfly.
This species of orange large Dobsonfly is common in the mountains of Kundasag.
I took this picture in Aristo "hotel" in Kundasang.

 Photograph 5

This photo deserves to be here.
Two-tailed Spider (Hersiliidae) a.k.a. tree trunk spider, is an expert in camouflaging.
I have chosen this picture because it brings out the "invisible" creatures of Nature.
Invisible, yes, if you do not look closer into Nature.
But now, here I bring it to you all through my camera lens.

 

See Results and the Submitted Photograph

Your Natural Intelligences

Find out your strongest intelligences :

Score (1,2,3,or 4) or tick (ü) the statements in the white-out boxes only
I can play a musical instrument
I often have a song in my head
I find it easy to make up stories
I have always been physically well co-ordinate
Music is very important to me
I am a good liar
I play a sport or dance
I am a sociable person like being with other people
I find graphs and diagrams easy to understand
I find it easy to remember quotes or  poems
I can always recognize places that I have been before
When concentrating I tend to doodle (sketch)
I find mental arithmetic easy; can do sums in my head
At school one of my favorite subjects is / was English
I like to think through a problem carefully
I love action sports and rollercoaster rides
I enjoy individual sports best
I find it easy to remember telephone numbers
I set myself goals and plans for the future
I can tell easily whether someone likes or dislikes me
To learn something new, I just get on and try it
I often see clear images when I close my eyes
I don't use my fingers when I count
At school I love / loved music lessons
I find ball games easy and enjoyable
My favorite subject at school is / was math
I always know how I am feeling
I love writing journal or blogging
My favorite subject at school is / was art
I really enjoy reading; usually get lost in a good book
It upsets me to see someone cry and not able to help
I prefer team sports
Singing makes me feel happy
I am happy spending time alone
My friends always come to me for emotional support
Total up at below to see your intelligence type :
Linguistic
Logical-Mathematical
Musical
Bodily-Kinesthetic
Spatial-Visual
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal

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Gardner's multiple intelligences theory

Howard Gardner claims that all human beings have multiple intelligences. These multiple intelligences can be nurtured and strengthened, or ignored and weakened. He believes each individual has nine intelligences:

1	Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence well-developed verbal skills and sensitivity to the sounds, meanings and rhythms of words
2	Mathematical-Logical Intelligence ability to think conceptually and abstractly, and capacity to discern logical or numerical patterns
3	Musical Intelligence ability to produce and appreciate rhythm, pitch and timber
4	Visual-Spatial Intelligence capacity to think in images and pictures, to visualize accurately and abstractly
5	Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence ability to control one's body movements and to handle objects skillfully
6	Interpersonal Intelligence capacity to detect and respond appropriately to the moods, motivations and desires of others.
7	Intrapersonal Intelligence capacity to be self-aware and in tune with inner feelings, values, beliefs and thinking processes
8	Naturalist Intelligence ability to recognize and categorize plants, animals and other objects in nature
9	Existential Intelligence sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why do we die, and how did we get here.

Adapted from : http://www.wliw.org/edonline/concept2class/mi/index.html

Gardner's multiple intelligences theory challenged traditional beliefs in the fields of education and cognitive science :

TRADITIONAL VIEW OF "INTELLIGENCE"	"MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES" THEORY
Intelligence is a uniform cognitive capacity people are born with.	Multiple intelligences can foster learning and problem-solving styles.
It can be measured by short-answer IQ tests.	Short answer tests do not measure mastery or deep understanding. At best, they only measure rote memorization skills and one's ability to do well on short answer tests.
People are born with a fixed amount of intelligence.	Human beings have all of the intelligences, but each person has a unique combination.
Intelligence level does not change over a lifetime.	We can all improve each of the intelligences, though some people will improve more readily in one intelligence area than in others.
Intelligence consists of ability in logic and language – basically, the 3R's.	There are many more types of intelligence which reflect different ways the child interacts with the world – the eight kinds of "smart".
In traditional practice, all the students learn the same material.	Multiply Intelligences imply that students learn and are assessed differently based on individual intellectual strengths and weaknesses.
Students learn a topic or "subject."	Student learning activities are well-thought out around an issue or question, and go beyond the subject boundaries. Students use various strategies that allow them to demonstrate multiple ways of understanding, and their uniqueness is appreciated.

Adapted from : http://www.wliw.org/edonline/concept2class/mi/index_sub1.html

Lau Gek Poh

Very seldom we drive pass Lau Gek Poh Foundation Building.  If we do, the main gate was always closed

But today the gate is wide opened and we take the opportunity to drive in to have a look at his grand building and beautiful garden.

Lau Gek Poh was the founder of Gek Poh (Holdings) Sdn Bhd, the controlling shareholder of Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd and Malaysian Mosaics Bhd.

He passed away at the age of 92 in April 2008.

Lau was born in Swatow, Guangzhou and in 1936 at the age of 19 came to Sabah (British North Borneo).

His early works to earn a living including work as a fisherman in the Suluk Sea during which time  he acquaint with businessmen and traders from Indonesia. Business talented, Lau Gek Poh worked his way up the social ladders.

By 1946 he has reach the fame of Timber King and owned Hap Seng Company in Tawau.

"......The astute entrepreneur, who foresaw the opportunities with the formation of Malaysia and the new political scenario, went into the timber business in a big way, becoming the largest exporter of round logs from Sabah and earning himself the title “timber tycoon of Sabah"....."

THE STAR April 2008 

His previous involvement in the timber business many environment protectionists today blame as destruction of the virgin rain forests around Tawau.

With the money from timber as capital investment, Lau explore other fields of business including dealerships in the Mercedes-Benz marque, property development, fertilizer, general trading, financial services, and plantations.

During his time as dealerships in the German cars Mercedes-Benz, Tawau has the most Mercedes cars in Malaysia. This explains the questions of some visitors to Tawau "Why Tawau has so many old Mercedes-Bens?”

In his later life, in 1991 he founded Lau Gek Poh Foundation and contributed generously toward education, scientific and charitable activities.

By 2008 his Foundation Building at Jalan Durahman, Mile 1, Tanjong Batu, Tawau  was fully completed and ready to host his funeral service attended by dignitaries and government officers.

Mount Kinabalu

6th February 2011

Mount Kinabalu in early morning view from Aristo resort, Kundasang.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Mount_Kinabalu  

Kinabalu Park - a World heritage designated by UNESCO in 2000 for its universal values and  important biological sites.

The Crocker Range streches all the way to the south of Sabah.

At 4,095.2 meters,  making Mount Kinabalu the highest mountian in Malaysia and a landmark for Sabah.

On a clear morning, (see photo above)  Mount Kinabalu view is majestic against the back drop of the sky. This huge blue granite mountain is a sight to behold.

Kundasang Town

5th February 2011 Saturday

Farm houses in Kundasang Town of Sabah


Kundasang to Sabah, is like Cameron Highland to West Malaysia.

This little town consists only a few dozens of shop lots but the hills are highest concentration of farming community in Sabah.

The town is 6 kilometres from the Kinabalu Park Headquaters with an altitude of 1,500 metres above sea level. The temperate climate makes this valley an ideal place to plant temperate vegetables.

This is the main farming area of  carrot, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, pepper bell, spring onion, and mushroom and exported to Brunei and Sarawak.

Acrobatic in 1Borneo Mall

Acrobatic Show in 1Borneo Shopping Mall

A group of young acrobatic performers from Xi'an came to Kota Kinabalu city to show their wonderful talents. We watched them performed in 2 malls in KK city - 1Borneo Hypermall and Suria Sabah Mall.

Lion Dance in 1Borneo

Chinese Acrobatics Show

 

Chinese Acrobatics Show in Suria Sabah Shopping Mall