There's a saying 'What's in a name', which seems to imply that names can change from time to time. Now it appears that even commonly held and believed scientific definitions can also change from time to time. A conference of expert astronomers in Prague are discussing if the deifinition of a 'planet' should be changed. If that so happens then our solar system will have more than 9 planets.
I still remember my junior school science teacher saying 'My Very Earnest Mother Just Served Us Nine Pies'. All that is gonna change I guess including the textbooks. The school kids now are gonna have to remember more than 9 names.
Well .... the world was certainly simpler when we were in school.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4795755.stm

I attended the 8th APNG Camp recently at NUS, Singapore. The camp was three days and consisted of presentations from differents countries of the Asia Pacific. The presentations were ranged on various aspects of the Internet. I gave a presentation on 'Introduction to Wireless Field Servers' which went pretty well thankfully.
As with the previous 2 camps I had attended, the camp was enjoyable ... food, drinks and merrymaking being an integral part of it. I much enjoyed the food there which was among the best I have tasted. Most of the food have heavy chinese infulence. I guess it's natural to expect that as most of the people in Sinagpore are of Chinese origin.
Singapore was better than I expected. The city seems to be well planned with lots of greenery amid high rise buildings. The buildings themselves seem to be built with some harmony among them, something more than just giants of concrete and steel rising out of the earth. More than once I remembered Kishun Baje saying 'Kathmandu lai Singapore banaunu parchha'. Was it Kishun Baje who said it I am not sure but after going there I sure do understand why comparison with Singpaore was made.
The city-sate is truly a multi-ethnic metropolis. Besides the Chinese, the other major ethnic groups are Malay and Tamil. The state has four official languages - Chinese, Malay, Tamil and English. English is the language that most people use on the streets. I sure can't picturise a Chinese speaking and understanding Tamil and vice versa.
The city is as expensive as it is beautiful. The price of most stuff are 3-4 times higher than in Bangkok, alcohol and cigarettes being the most expensive. One Japanese presenter said that cigarettes were more expensive than in Japan. I bought none.
There are good places to go around there. Orchard Road is the commercial center of town and the main shopping district, somewhat New Road and Durbar Marg bundled together, but much longer and grander. Another interesting place was Sentosa Island, a nearby island now connected by bridge, built mostly like an amusement park. If I had gotten to spend more time there, I would have watched the Laser Show in the evening. Too bad I had to miss it. Then there was a place called Little India, where most of the Tamil people live. I saw some temples, South Indian style, and places to get 'Mithai' and 'Dosa', and a very big poster of a Rajanikant movie. There's a big and famous shopping center there called the Mustafa. One guy told me that the place is solely owned by the infamous Dawood Ibrahim. Another place that I visited was Harbor Front with the landmark Mer-lion, as they call it, with a Lion's head on a body of fish.
As I keep on writing I realise this must be one of the longest blog entries I have written and I actually started out writing coz it's 4:30 AM and I have not been able to get any sleep.
A good place that was, Singapore. Maybe I'll go there again someday.