The Text Book Saga

I have enquired with Dar-al-Kutub. They said that so far, only Dr. Qabirul has ordered books for 40 students. The book is Concepts of Genetic. It's around RM 100, or less than that.
Other lecturers i.e. Sis Anil and Dr. Khuzwah has not requested any books yet. I presume by next week we might know more about it. Till then I suggest we just sit and wait. Oh wait, isn't that what you guys at home are doing? Bwahaha...

Text Book 2

Now, the reply from Sis Anil!

Dear Nurhidayati

W'salam wbt,

I am happy to receive your email yet once again. At the moment, all of thestaff are attending a seminar from 26-30th. Tomorrow we'll be leaving forTaman Negara (it's like a retreat sort of thingy).Anyway, regarding thetextbook you've asked, I have 2 titles to choose from actually.

One is this:

Principles of Fermentation Technology-Stanbury Whitaker and Hall, 2nd Edition, Butterworth and Heinemann(1995)

...last time I check this was priced at RM230+! (very thorough & academic)

The other one is this:

Bioprocess Engineering Basic Concepts-Shuler and Kargi, 2nd Edition, Pearson Education International (2002)

...very attractive price of RM100 (not all chapters are directly related) I intend to order them via book store after coming back from Pahang. I want both really, but considering I'll be teaching only the basicstopics...

The CO-OP will be closed temporarily due to some agreement with UM CO-OP starting 1st June, but not the bookstore.

Cant wait to start school again, huh? :) If you reaaaaaalllly wanna buy, I suggest that you buy the latter - perhaps, I'll supplement my slides with the former as we go.

Send my regards to the rest of the lot, hope to seeeach of you in one piece!

aaj

I've checked with Kinokuniya, both books cost around RM200++ and RM300++ respectively, but at ArthurBooks they costs RM 400++ and RM600++. Well, just buy at Dar-ul-Kutub. I hope Arshana and Ann and Hajar will be checking. We're counting on you, guys. (Heh, macam apa je.)

*Updated

I've just received the answer from Dr Huzwah, a very short one.

Waalaikumussalam,

As requested the textbook for Animal Cell Culture will be Culture of Animal cells: A Manual of Basic technique. R. Ian Freshney from Wiley-Liss, please don't place the order yet I will try to arrange with the book company to place in the department and you can get in a discount price. But give me till next week. Insyaallah we will try to get it on time.

Wassalam

Dr. Huzwah

Well, this part is settled. I just checked at MPH, Bioprocess Engineering text book costs RM70++, but first edition (1995).

Wow, I think I should get myself into text book businesses and become the representative for KOS students. Ha ha.

Text Book

Sent an email to Sis Anil and Dr Qabirul regarding textbooks, yet to receive the reply from Sis Anil but Dr Qabirul answered right away in the same day.

Here is Dr's email;

Assalamualaikum.

Thanks for ur enthusiasm which is greatly appreciated.
The books recommended are as follows:

1.Klug W.S. and Cummings M.R. Concepts of Genetics,
7th Ed.,Prentice-Hall,2002.
2.Snustad P.D. and Simmons M.J. Principles of Genetics,
3rd Ed. John Wiley & Sons, 2003.

Well, I have contacted the local bookstore ie Dar Al-Kutub and informed them of its relevence in the next semester. You could check with them of the availability. I did see a good number of copies. I have also informed the publishers esp. of item 1. I am yet to get details of the presence of the next edition. You could check as well.

Wassalam.
Dr.Qabirul

To Arshana, rest of the tasks are yours. :D I guess we don't have to order the books by names, right? If it is so, would you tell? Because I'm trying to get the books from bookstores if possible. If we have to order by names then I'll just stick with you guys.

*Updated:

Er, Arshana, could you also check the price? I've check with Kinokuniya, Principles of Genetics costs RM131.80, but at ArthurBooks, RM 273.12. I'm totally unclear how these book business works. Concept of Genetics at ArthurBooks costs 600++, I wasn't even bother to check the real price as I was so shocked. Ha ha.

No More Drilling

Dr. Kazue Yamagishi from Japan has made a great discovery in dental history, according to me that it. But I'm sure many people agree as well. Yes, she has created a modified hydroxyapatite paste which is quite similar to our teeth which is made of enamal. This modified paste is applied at the cavities of the teeth and then the paste would merge together with the natural enamel. No more drilling and painful experiences at the dentist. The link to her website is here. According to her, it's not so complete or perfect, the English version that is. But there's plenty of links to related articles about her work. I think it's great. I have plenty of cavities. Must be genetics. Like Dr. Aman said, there's even a botak gene. So, there should be a cavity gene. i hope if they have it here. Hmmm...

Aren't We Glad We're doing Biotech?

More about biotech everywhere in the news. Some guy was suggesting to do a biotech hub in Cameron Highlands. That place is rich in flora & fauna. That's what was in the papers. I think it's not bad. Of course I prefer BioValley which is supposed to be in around Putrajaya/ Cyberjaya. And it's nearer to my house as compared to Pahang. Hehe... Click here for the article.

And the PM was saying that M'sia should follow Denmark as an example. Denmark according to him, is as small as Pahang, but is one of the largest exporter of food in the world. All thanks to biotechnology. M'sia should be more involved in Biotech. Click here for the article.

I feel like a reporter. -_-" But, I think all of us should be grateful for taking Biotech, instead of Biomed. Mwahaha... Let's just hope the Biomeds don't hear about this.

News for the Week

Since I got nothing much to do, I thought why not put up some good news here. News that's related. =D

1. The famous Mr. Cyborg. He inserted a chip in his arms years ago, and he removed it recently. Click here.
2. Asia's most sophisticated forensic lab. There's a possibility this could be our future working place. Click here.
3. About a hardworking man who prefers to use the old method way in growing his plants. Eco-friendly. Click here.
4. Ink made from rambutan discovered by a 17-year old. Click here.
5. Durian biodiversity, with all sort of colours. Click here.
6. 'Frozen' alcohol in the sea. Click here.

That's all I guess.

Long Time No See.

I've updated the sidebar with some additional personal as well as academic links. If anyone would like to add any other links, please do so. I've changed all of the member status to admin post, thus enable you to do whatever is necessary to update our blog (I just noticed actually).

I was and still am busy, but I guess I should be getting prepared to be back at campus. I'm looking for online notes for our courses next semester, and In sya Allah I will put all the links here.

Luck favors the prepared. Maybe it is true we couldn't stuff our brain with the entire courses in one month time. But at least we'll have the materials. :D

Leech

This isn't your usual everyday leech. Nope, it's not medicinal leech. It's another leech which involves computer, internet, bandwidth, blah blah... You see, some ppl like to link up e.g. pictures, images, sound clips, etc into their own website or where ever else which in turn uses the bandwidth of the original owner. In turn, the owner runs out of bandwidth and can't see/ access his files. Or something like that. So, don't be a cheapskate and take up other ppl's bandwidth. Upload it into your own domain, website or whatever. Just down leech. There are many free websites, use it! If the bandwidth is not enough, too bad. It's your problem. Mwahaha...

p/s: This is not from any personal experience whatsoever.

Protein ID Kit

Saw in the papers today, 2 researchers from FRIM have developed a detection kit to identify the proteins in organisms. This kit is believed to be useful in finding cure for the incurables (so far), such as AIDS. The link to the article is here. It's supposed to give peaks, like those of a chromatography. Too much of Protein Biotech for me. ^_^

Komodo Dragon

Was watching some documentary (I think) the other day. It was about komodo dragons. Personally, I hate all lizards and everything related to it. Even mentioning the word lizard is enough to give me the creeps. But for science, I'm willing to make scarification & I'll write about it here. =D

Many people do know that komodo dragon is one large lizard. *Yuck* It has a hard skin, which acts more like an armor. In the clip that was shown on TV, this particular komodo dragon was attacking a deer. Notice the size difference. But don't be to quick to judge this lizard. It can grow to upto 10 feet. That's similar to 2 short human beings.

Despite it's huge size, it can run quite fast over a short distance to protect itself, from, say humans. So, this bunch of researchers went to some island in Indonesia, where these lizards are found in abundance. They have found out that the saliva of these lizards are dangerous and it contains many bacteria. So, when an animal, no matter how big it is, is bitten by this lizard, the bacteria in the saliva will be transferred into the blood, thus, causing death, sooner or later. This is similar to a snake's venom. The saliva was seen dangling from the side of the lizard's mouth. Eew!

So, these researchers are trying to find if there's a cure if one gets bitten by a komodo dragon, since that the lizards are not vulnerable to their own saliva. Getting the saliva proved quite difficult for the researchers as they couldn't even touch the lizard's body bare handed. It had millions of spikes all over its body which contains the same stuff as the saliva.

At the end, I dunno if they did get the cure or not, as I had to paint the door. Haha.. And I'm too lazy to look it up t

The Power of Love

Something happened last two days. I lost my cat. First, she went out of house through the window, then she came back at night. After three hours of eating and sleeping, she went missing again and didn't come back until now. I was dead worried. My head went wild thinking of her being stucked in the closet or get flattened by car.

Then, came this morning. I was searching for her outside of my house. I saw an orange male cat, and it strucked my mind. So I followed him, as he was heading to my neighbour's house, which is just a block away. And, there she was, waiting for her prince charming! Well, the rest, uh, you know.

So much for the power of love. And uh, my kitten will be a hybrid of English Tabby cat and a stray cat without teeth. Ha ha. Will I bear the same destiny?