otterman’s posterous

"Anyone who can email can now blog" 

Tiger the cat rubs it in

Tiger the cat slouches around my second year ecology papers, from earlier this week. During exam paper marking season, I eye the slouching cats with considerable envy. 

This pose of Tiger is actually a request for a back massage - he got used to massages as a kitten and will easily look even more sheepish to eke out a 10-minute session from me. Since I am a kindred spirit, I invariably give in.

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Company during marking

Mr Bats the cat likes to snooze on my table when I am on an over-night lecture preparation or exam marking session, It's really nice to have the company of a warm purring cat and he here is snoozing an old jacket which a friend passed me before my trip to South Africa in 1993; it came in really useful on Table Mountain. 

The jacket has been in the office for ages and I finally had that washed. The pile of papers Mr Bats  is resting on is part of the 3rd-year zoology exam scripts, which are quite enjoyable to read. He shifts every now during the night and invariably crosses his paws :-) As you can see the pile was reduced by then - I have two more modules to go!

   
Click here to download:
Company_during_marking.zip (593 KB)

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Marine biology "construction site" outside Frog lab

Yes, the ruckus this past week is caused by Marine Lab's Lynette Loke's seawall project. Construction materials have ben stockpiled outside the Frog Lab and she told me another 180 tiles would arrive this evening. But she has found help - the handy kungfu hands of a botanist no less, have been recruited to do the deadly work! How we love to see honours students hard at work - it motivates the rest of us!

   
Click here to download:
Marine_biology_construction_si.zip (591 KB)

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Basking in the sun

Monitor lizard up a coconut tree on Pulau Ubin this morning, with the LSM2251 Ecollogy and the Environment class.

   
Click here to download:
Basking_in_the_sun.zip (531 KB)

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Exhausted cat can’t keep up

Poor Mr Bats, can’t keep up with my long hours of lesson preparation. This was another marathon for LSM1103 Biodiversity, a first year course in which we introduce some of the animal groups to the class. In this particular lecture, five phyla are discussed and Mr Bats slumped over the student's text book, Solomon et al. apparently in recognition of the futility of the task. In my time mollusca took two lectures.

Mr Bats did the same last year, on an opened book and the class got to see the 2008 photo too. Wasn't caught on the webcast thankfully as this all happens in the first few minutes when the last 10% of the class are streaming in.

I'd have expected these cats to do a better job of night vigils. The honours students this year appear to be wider awake in the dead of the night than these cats, hmph!

   
Click here to download:
Exhausted_cat_cant_keep_up.zip (243 KB)

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SMRT Bloodmobile Drive | 22 Oct @ Rafles Place MRT

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Struttin' along the beach

I love watching white-vented mynas forage along the beach, just above
the tide line. This bird ventured forth after the first year's left
Changi beach at the end of their LSM1103 practical.

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Batch file renaming recommendation

I have been using Graphic Converter for batch file renaming of my
pictures. Mook Sum recommended this free batch file renamer during our
meetup today. I am going to try this during the International Coastal
Cleanup Singapore next year when Site Captains come to Lab 7 with
photos from their various sites - they can now do the renaming
themselves before handing the files to me; what a relief!

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World's deepest bin - tools to combat improper disposal of litter

Encouraging proper disposal of litter by http://thefuntheory.com

See also Piano Stairs (thanks Peck Wai) athttp://thefuntheory.com

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CNET TechTracker Mac Public Beta

CNET TechTracker can check your software and alert you about updates. Useful when you decide to conduct a maintenance session. You need a CNET userid, which I already had, to download and install the software. There is a Windows version.

I apear to need 18 updates. While I usually wait until the next time I use an app to allow its auto-update to start teh download, it can get in the way if I am at an event, teaching someone or if a bright idea strikes me about inserting something during the 5-minute break in the middle of a lecture. Its nice if software simply behaves then!

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