Journal 1-5-2013

Posted on May 2, 2013 by janstu

The last week we had some unusually heavy downpours, sometimes with strong winds. On my daily walks in Bukit Kiara I encountered several uprooted trees. I also noticed these uncommon flowers, stemming directly from the tree trunk. Beautiful.

When I had my breakfast in IKEA, there was this big group of Malay ladies, probably on an outing, having a jolly good time. I asked permission to take their picture, no problem, and after that of course I had to be in the picture too.

Sunday May 5, the 13th General Election will be held in Malaysia. It will be a battle between Barisan Nasional, in power since the Independence of Malaysia and tainted with cronyism and corruption, and Pakatan Rakyat, a loose coalition of opposition parties. BN has spent a lot of (taxpayers?) money on flags and banners, many streets are colored blue. In Bangsar and also my neighbourhood the last few days, many small flags have appeared in bright colors, symbolising the “Malaysian Spring” which will hopefully begin this weekend.

In my native country on the 30st of April, the coronation took place of the new Dutch king, Willem Alexander, the first male Dutch monarch in more than 100 years. The Dutch population in Malaysia had received an invitation from the ambassador for a Coronation Party at his residence. Although basically more of a Republican than a Royalist I decided to attend the event. It was actually quite a nice happening, there was a large crowd, more than 400 people. Large TV screens with streaming video, so we could follow the ceremony live. After the speech by the ambassador, I even joined in the singing of the National Anthem! Good that the staff had distributed the text, because to be honest, I only know the first lines of the first verse….:-)

There was Heineken beer, herring, “bitterballen”, probably not only for me an important reason to attend the event…:-)

Here is the official photo taken after the coronation, with some of the royal guests. It is a tradition that ruling monarchs will not attend the coronation ceremony, only crown princes, so that after the coronation the new king is automatically the highest in rank! And an interesting detail: for Charles, the Prince of Wales, this is the second time that he attends a Dutch coronation ceremony, as he was already the crown prince when Beatrix became queen, 33 years ago..:-)

Destruction of Bukit Kiara

Posted on April 28, 2013 by janstu

Time for another post about Bukit Kiara. Here is a GE screenshot of this Green Lung of KL. The tar roads are in white, the maze of trails, created and maintained by TRAKS are in green. The infamous fence in red. The southern part of the hill should be gazetted already years ago as a park. FoBK (Friends of Bukit KIara) is at the moment mainly concerned with the claim of Berjaya on a part of this park.

The part of Bukit Kiara north of the Penchala Tunnel is less visited and more remote. Apparently it is a so-called Malay reserve, which means that only Malay can own/develop it. Recently bikers and hikers noticed that development in this part has started. With my walking kaki Pola Singh we have done a recce. In the GE screenshot the (northern) fence and a few of the trails have been indicated. The white road is a new road, that has been bulldozed, starting from Kiaramas.

Talking with the contractor, the purpose of this road became clear. On the ridge a plot of land of 3 acres (~12.000 square meter!) will be cleared for the construction of 3 (!) bungalows. To get an idea of the size I have roughly indicated in orange what a plot of 3 acres would amount to.Later we heard from TRAKS that the plan is to clear a total of 12 acres. Unbelievable and sad. You wonder who the builders are and who has given them permission for this destruction…:-(

Here are some pictures, no need for much comment..:-(

: Starting from Kiaramas

: The view will be beautiful

: You can see the KL skyline

What a relief to walk back on the forest trails after having seen this destruction

I have recorded our recce as an EveryTrail trip.

Visitors from outer space

Posted on April 5, 2013 by janstu

15 February 2013: A small asteroid enters the Earth atmosphere over Russia. Mass ~11.000 tonnes, size ~20 m and speed ~18 km/s. At an altitude between 15-25 km it explodes, causing a shock wave on the ground resulting in about 1500 people hurt (mostly by scattered glass) and ~ 7000 buildings damaged. Estimated energy 440 kilotons of TNT, equivalent to ~25 times the energy of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, most of it absorbed in the atmosphere. This asteroid had not been discovered before its impact.

On the same day about 15 hours later, asteroid 2012 DA₁₄ passes Earth at a distance of only 28.000 km (that is within the orbit of the telecommunication satellites!). Bigger (about 40.000 tonnes and 30 m), it was discovered in February 2012. Although occurring almost simultaneously, the two events are not related.

Next year, 19-10-2014, comet C/2013 A1 will pass extremely close to Mars, with a small possibility of an impact with the planet. Here we are talking about a different order of magnitude! Estimated size of the comet nucleus is ~ 3km! IF it would hit Mars, the energy released would be in the order of millions of Megatons of TNT. For comparison, the asteroid that struck Earth 65 million years ago and ended the dinosaur era on Earth was only about three times as powerful.

Do we have to get worried? In the aftermath of the Chelyabinsk meteor there was a lot of commotion in the media that action should be taken immediately to protect us from future collisions. Suggesting that nobody had expected this. As if the scientific world was not already aware of this problem!

Those outer space objects (asteroids, meteorites, comets) that can come close to (or even hit) Earth are called Near Earth Objects (NEO’s). Because of the impact risk they are monitored already for decades. The problem is that there are many of them and that they come in all sizes. Here is a graph of their distribution. The blue line gives the number of known NEO’s, the red line is a estimate of their total number. Please note the double logarithmic scale of the graph! For example, only about 100 NEO’s with a size of ~10 meter have been observed, whereas the estimated total number is ~ 10 million!

At the moment about 10.000 Near-Earth objects have been discovered. About 900 of them are asteroids with a size of 1 km or larger.

Here is a table with (statistical) information about the impact of a NEO. The second row gives data for objects with a size of 30 meter. The 2012 DA14 falls in this category. The effect of impact: a fireball, a shock wave and minor damage. Fits quite well the Chelyabinsk meteor, although it was smaller. The second column gives the average time in years between impacts of this size: 300 year.

If comet C/2013 A1 would have been on a (near) collision course with Earth, it would fall in the category: Billions of people dead, global climate change. Time interval: millions of years.

Followers of my blog may remember the post about Apophis At the time of discovery there was worry that it might hit Earth. We know now that the probability of impact is negligible. With its estimated size of 300 m it would create havoc, but no global destruction.

If a NEO on collision course is discovered early enough, it may be possible to deflect it. Numerous proposals exist. See my post Paintballing Apophis or do a Google search on “deflecting a NEO”

Conclusion: Earth runs a risk of an impact with a NEO. It is not a matter of IF but of WHEN. Early observation of “dangerous” NEO’s is important, so protecting measures can be taken. That is why there are global initiatives, like for example NEOShield

For this post graphs, tables etc have been taken from this very informative site.

A Dream Come True

Posted on April 2, 2013 by janstu

A few years ago a waterfall friend of mine sent me a picture of the Upper Tebing Tinggi fall, taken from a helicopter. The fall looks impressive and is also clearly visible on Google Earth. Close to and a bit similar to the Lata Puteh waterfall, which is visible from the Lenggong-Bagan Serai road. But this Upper Tebing Tinggi is more remote, so the question was, is it accessible?

It became my dream, to visit this waterfall and see it with my own eyes…:-)

A few weeks ago I did a recce with my friends Paul and Rahim. Starting from the road, the slope is very steep, but fortunately there is a old water pipeline, leading to a water catchment. There are also old overgrown logging roads. We reached the river upstream of the (lower) Tebing Tinggi fall, about 600 m from the upper fall. It seemed doable! Our recce is the red track in the map. Locations of Lata Puteh and Upper Tebing Tinggi are also indicted.

Because of its remoteness and keeping in mind my mishaps of last year, I wanted to have a strong team, who could carry me out in case of emergency…:-). Siang Hui, Teoh, Rani and Aric were willing to join me. Here we are ready to start our adventure.

It was a tough hike, which took us in about three hours to the waterfall! I was really happy, that my dream had come true.

I have published a detailed report about our trip (nice food, more waterfalls) as a Stuif’s Adventure. And here is a YouTube video of the waterfall:

Berembum revisited

Posted on March 26, 2013 by janstu

Last year I have written a post Closure about the Berumbun waterfall in the Lolo river, where I was hit, a few months earlier, by a falling piece of rock. As I wanted to show Aric the place where it had happened, I decided to go there one more time. My friend Rani was willing to join, after my own two mishaps last year and the tragic death of another waterfall friend, I have decided that I will only go to the jungle with a group of at least three people.

Another reason to revisit these two waterfalls (for the fifth time !) was that another friend had told me that there was a nice trail to these falls, avoiding the slightly boring access road to Gunung Nuang. And a nice trail it turned out to be! Well marked with the usual yellow plastic ribbons. After you reach the Lolo river, you have to cross this stream several times. Here is our track on Google Earth. The access road to Nuang in green, with the location of the pondoks along the road. The trail is in yellow with the location of the two waterfalls. Trail length is 5.2 km, we reached the falls after about two hours

Here are the two falls. The Bomoh Ali fall (left) and the Berembun fall (right)

The weather was perfect, it was a very pleasant trip. We had lunch and coffee at Berembun. Access to Berembun is not that easy, you have to swim, then scramble up slippery rocks and cross the stream. Aric remarked that it is actually a dangerous waterfall, and he is right. NEVER do this when the weather is unstable, a flash flood would be lethal here.

Here is a picture report of the trip. We were not in a hurry and took time to take pictures. As soon as I reach a fall with a pool, I take a bath to remove the sweat from my clothes. I think it helps, but I still feel slightly ill at ease, always on the lookout for bees. Of course I always have my Epipen with me, but I hope I will never to use it. On our way back, Aric’s Adidas shoes started to fall apart rapidly, but he managed to reach the car, LOL.

: Entrance of the Nuang road

: Start of the waterfall trail

: Beautiful trail

: A spectacular bat lily

: Crossing the bamboo forest

: One of the many river crossings

: These berries look poisonous

: Aric admiring Bomoh Ali

: Tarzan Stuif

: Berembun

: Aric and Berembun

: Shoe repair

: In various stages…:-)

: Unusual fungus

: The beauty of nature

: Back along the “main” road

Here is a YouTube clip of Berembun

And here is Aric on its way back. Berembun fall is just behind him around the corner. Big fun, but not when there would be a flash flood…!

Minimal Music

Posted on March 24, 2013 by janstu

Minimal Music originated in the US during the sixties. It is tonal music, characterised by repetition and gradual transformation of musical phrases. In the late 20th century this minimalism became very influential, with composers like Steve Reich and Philip Glass.

Probably the most popular minimal art work is the film music written by Philip Glass for the movie Koyaanisqatsi. It can bring me easily in a kind of trance..:-)

Here is a trailer of the movie on YouTube . If you find it interesting, you should try the full score on Vimeo

In the Netherlands the most important minimalist composer has been Simeon ten Holt (1923-2012). His most popular work is Canto Ostinato (1976) The performers have a lot of freedom in the choice of instruments and how they combine the different themes.

I remember a magical performance in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam, many years ago, on one of those rare sensual summer nights, with four pianists and the audience sitting in the grass. Heaven!

Here is a YouTube version of Canto Ostinato, lasting almost three (!) hours. Sit down, relax and give it a try…:-)

Oh, and if you think that Glass only wrote “serious” classical music, try to get hold of his “Song from Liquid Days”. Here are Freezing, and Forgetting , sung by Linda Ronstadt

Computer migration

Posted on March 23, 2013 by janstu

You may have have been wondering if all was well with me, as I have not written any post for some time. Don’t worry, I am alive and kicking. Just busy migrating my data to a new computer.

For some time my Dell laptop has been showing signs of old age. Time to look for a replacement. Another Dell? Windows 8 with a touchscreen?

Not so long ago Aric has bought a MacBook Air, but he hardly uses it, not even in the kitchen to cut an apple , as he prefers working with the big-screen iMac. He suggested that I could take over this small(!) notebook, make it dual-bootable with both Mac OS and Windows 7 and buy a (wireless) keyboard and mouse. When I travel I can just take the MacBook with me

That is what I have done. Not really complicated, but it took time.First I had to transfer all my data to a new backup HD, then install Windows 7 and software on the MacBook. Here you see my desk during migration. To the left is the MacBook Air, in the middle my 22 inch monitor and to the right my old Dell.

The intermediate mess

And the final result.

I have a backlog of posts, so be prepared…:-)

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