Nature’s oddities

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Goldfish the size of your fist.

Goldfish the size of your fist.

Sharing a secret or trying to share a kiss?

Sharing a secret or trying to share a kiss?

Oh no you didn't!  This time they're intercepted.  Jealous third wheel?

Oh no you didn't! This time they're intercepted. Jealous third wheel?

KL (Kuala Lumpur)

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I took a little tour around SE Asia in July and my first stop was the capitol of Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur.  I was told that it was pretty much just like Singapore, except less clean and that there wasn’t much to experience.  Well, I was stubborn and kept it on my itinerary just because I wanted to see it for myself.  It turned out to be a great choice and though there are decidedly fewer things to do there than a place like Singapore, it definitely had its own personality to offer.

monorailMy first unique experience was the monorail, which sit atop these concrete tracks suspended above the roads of the city.  It’s nice to be able to look out and see things when you’re traveling, which is my one complaint against subways.  Being underground and in the dark is just not very exciting.  Floating over the cityscape is.  Granted, they do move far more slowly and these little monorails don’t take many passengers (not that they need to).  I got in pretty late that night, so I just went to my hostel to rest.  I only left to go next door to get something to eat back at the hostel.

batu cavesThe next day I went to check out Batu Caves.  I walked through Chinatown to get to the bus stop and was driven out to the surrounding countryside.  A huge golden figurine guarded the stairway leading up to the cave, no doubt some sort of religious being meant to protect the place.  There is a plaza area before you approach the stairs and on the string of lights in that area perched dozens of pigeons.  Many more were cooing on the ground and the entire place was speckled with their droppings.  I climbed up 272 steps to arrive at the foot of a big open-air cave in the middle of the mountain.  The cave was mostly empty except for some roosters and, well, cavernous.  I went to the other end where another set of stairs led up to an area that opened up directly to the sky and held a shrine or worshipping temple.  On that side were a cluster of monkeys, climbing up and down the walls of the cave and running up and down the stairs.

monkey eating bananaOn my way down the mountain, a man brought out bananas and began to throw them up the stairs towards monkeys that were streaming towards him.  They grabbed whatever they could and horded what they caught, then each found their own place to enjoy their food.  Being hungry myself, I decided to get some lunch after I explored the rest of the grounds and took a spin around a much larger temple structure at the base of the mountain.  My lunch was pretty simple, just pickled vegetables and rice with a salty, crispy wafer of bread, but it was filling and good for my exhausted body.

A strange finding in the temple.

A strange finding in the temple.

indian food

fish spaWhen I got back to the city, I walked around Central Market, where they had a lot of goodies for sale.  There was a Fish Spa place where a lot of people were getting their feet nibbled at by the “doctor fish” that eat away your dead skin and leave your feet softer.  I was tempted to give it a try, but decided that I would get around to it at another place.  It’s pretty popular in some countries in Asia and at the least I knew there was a place back in Singapore that I could visit if I didn’t get around to it before then.  Instead, I bought a little keepsake cloth art to remind me of the place and summer dress to wear when things got hot.  I then wandered through Chinatown, too lazy to bargain and not really in a spending mood.  I nearly stopped for a massage service but then decided against spending money and went back to the hostel.

liuli crystal fountainAt night, I went out to eat dinner and found myself in front of a huge shopping center called Pavilion.  A beautiful fountain (Liuli Crystal Fountain) stands at the entrance of the massive collection of shops.  I went inside for a stroll and found a lot of classy shops in a mall that’s probably twice the size of the largest mall I’ve ever been to before.  There are something like six stories and the food court at basement level is four times as big as my own mall’s.

petronas twin towersMy final day there, I met with some people from the company distributing the Livescribe Pulse smartpen in Malaysia.  I was treated to dim sum before we sat down to share our experiences and ideas.  I was then taken to KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre), where the iconic Petronas Twin Towers are.  Yet another shopping center is situated at ground level there and I was shown the shops where the smartpen is being distributed.  After a break for lunch (and sitting out a quick rainstorm), I was shown how the cloth art I purchased the day before is made.  It’s called batik and they melt wax in these special “pens” and draw out designs on cloth.  When the wax hardens, colors are painted on to the design and then the color of the cloth is “fixed” (not sure what that means or how it works).  Cloths are then dewaxed and dried and the result is a pretty design with the white lines as areas where the wax was.  Sometimes the wax is left on so the lines appear to be golden in color.  A final pit stop at a chocolate-making factory was a bit less exciting since they wouldn’t actually let you view the process and only offered a huge shop with every flavor of chocolate imaginable (including durian and chili, for example).

batik

They were using salt cystals to I guess "burn" a pattern when fixing the cloth color.

So all in all, I enjoyed myself and I’m glad I went to check out KL.  Next time I go to Malaysia, I’d want to go to a coastal city to enjoy the ocean.

Business sense

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Just a quick thought for today.

As I mentioned before, I’m waiting for my invitation to Google Wave (yeah, apparently it takes way more than one day to process).  Now I wrote about it naught but two days ago because it’s putting together some great features, but over the past 24 hours, that excitement and interest has dwindled to disappointment.

Here’s the thing: you make a great product, you make it exclusive to up the value and hype, then you need to make it actually useful for people!  The success of Google Wave depends solely on people’s desire and ability to collaborate creatively in many ways in a virtually live sense.  There’s plenty of that out there, but then when you put on the restraints like invite-only access, you’ve got to be careful with how that works.  In this particular case, the very thing creating the hubbub over who has it and who doesn’t is also turning around to hurt Google.

Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand why the invite-only way of spreading access is a great idea.  It worked well with Gmail, but only because you can use that account to e-mail any other e-mail address.  That way, people who don’t have it could see that you have it (a bit of a status thing at first) and you can still use the functionality on your end to organize messages and whatnot while not getting a disruption in your service.  But imagine if you got a Gmail account back when it was fresh and new and you were only allowed to e-mail other people with Gmail accounts.  It kind of kills the buzz, doesn’t it?  Well, that’s kind of what’s happening with Google Wave right now.

Early adopters were looking forward to trying out all the functions of this new application (or whatever you want to call it).  However, they’re stuck waiting around for days, maybe even weeks, just to be able to share it with their friends.  With all that Google can do, they can’t even create a system of approving invitations within the hour (or at least the day)?  I’m sure they have their reasons, but I don’t know if they can outweigh the loss of momentum between the initial burst of excitement surrounding getting invited and the follow-up burst of excitement when the invitation arrives and an account can be set up.  I imagine it would be like showing up to an exclusive event that you managed to get invited to only to be forced to wait in the lobby for hours.  Once I do get the full access I was looking forward to getting, I’ll be less enthusiastic about it from the impatience that built up during my wait.

To me it’s ironic that they’re handicapping the system by not giving it its lifeblood: connectivity.  I definitely think things are working against them in terms of the viral spread that is possible.  Wave’s growth is stunted by the fact that great, 100,000 people have it to test out now, but a good portion of them don’t really have anyone to use it with!  I know I’ve got some friends who have had it for a few days and don’t really get to use it creatively because all the people they invited still haven’t received the activation link.  Instead they’re sitting around waiting with us as well.  It’s a pity, really.

And though I’ve resolved myself to waiting probably another week before I can really try it out, I still hope that I get my code soon and keep checking my inbox, despite knowing deep down that I more than likely won’t get it in time to test it out before things pick up again and I have less time to spare.  I hope it’ll actually be impressive enough to reignite my interest once I do get started with it.  Otherwise, this whole delayed invitation process really was a bad business move on Google’s part.

Eye-catching

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People naturally recognize patterns and matching things.  So when you see a train of yellow firetrucks on the freeway, you’re bound to notice.

How many can you spot?

How many can you spot?

Do the Wave

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Google is a company that knows how to create.  Create lots of online applications for people to use, then create huge hype over them when they (slowly) release them.  Remember the days when Gmail was invite-only?  Well, now it’s happening with their newest project: Google Wave.  Apparently it’s also going on for their service Google Voice, which will be opening up to the public eventually.

google waveToday I got an e-mail from a friend, asking around to see if anyone has invites for Google Wave.  That prompted me to go on a wild goose chase, first trying to figure out what exactly it is, then of course trying to find people with invites.  My search didn’t get far – after all, Google’s got a central location to explain what Wave is.  At first I read about it and understood the general concept – a collaborative tool online, with live interactions.  It’s like being in a meeting room, throwing around ideas and sharing documents, but in electronic form.  That wasn’t enough to really interest me, but I am a persistent person and I like to help others to make myself feel good and useful.  So, I watched the one-hour, twenty-minute, and twelve-second video outlining all the fun little doodads that come in Wave.

The screenshot provided by Google.

The screenshot provided by Google.

Now that is what truly sparked my interest.  The usability looks fabulous, there are a lot of functions for all the things you ever might want to do, and plenty of fun widgets!  It is open sourced, so there will certainly be a LOT of cool features to come as programmers get their turn at it.  It can integrate with websites and sync the information on your blog and in your Wave so that comments from one show up in the other.  Same thing goes for Twitter – you can link your account and post tweets from within Wave.  It is truly live to the point of being able to watch the other person typing out what they want to say (you can turn that feature off if you make a lot of mistakes or don’t want to have to take back something you didn’t mean to type).  It’s easy to drag and drop things into the Wave you’re working on, or take part of the current Wave and create a new one.

Some of the extensions they have are really what caught my eye.  Right now it’s smart enough to spell and grammar check in a contextual way, so even if you misspell something and end up typing another word instead, it can catch it and change that for you.  Sometimes it will change automatically and sometimes you will get that telltale red underline and then be given options.  It recognizes links without needing the http:// to indicate so and you can paste links in from a Google search without having to copy-paste the URL.  You can embed Google Maps, pictures, videos, and the like very easily and it recognizes YouTube links as videos and offers the option of embedding that with a quick click.  There’s also a real-time translating function that can translate between any two of 40 languages!

photo credit: marketingfacts on flickr

photo credit: marketingfacts on flickr

Once I went through that video, I got curious.  Suddenly, I was interested in trying it out for myself.  First I thought of the people I know at Google.  Oh wait, there aren’t any.  I have an acquaintance who works for them in Australia last I checked, but I haven’t heard from him in ages.  I checked LinkedIn and found that one of the people that Panda knows works for them, but he doesn’t know the guy well enough to ask for favors.  So there I was, wondering if I knew anyone who would have access to this kind of thing.  I decided to go to Twitter to post a funny observation I had made while watching the video.  While I was there, I searched for Google Wave and noticed that it was the top trending topic.  I guess this is all newer than I thought it was, since the hype was intense.  There were people selling invites!  That’s just insane.

I then read a few tweets about people giving them away (most were fakes, claiming they had 1000 invites) and couldn’t really find any leads.  I came across a lady who looked legit and messaged her just to try my luck.  I then noticed a lot of people offering Google Voice invites for Wave ones.  Well, the moment I saw that, I remembered a good friend of mine who has set his Google Voice number as his status for quite some time now.  Whenever he signs on, I see a message: “(XXX) XXX-XXXX new google voice phonenumber.”  I couldn’t resist telling him how I was reminded of him (and ask what exactly a Google Voice number is for).  As we chatted, I learned that not only did he have Google Voice, he has Google Wave as well.  After clearing up what Google Voice is for, he mentioned that he had one more invite to Google Wave and asked if I was interested.  Well, of course I was!  So I took his offer and I should be receiving my invite sometime tomorrow.

Then, let the Waving begin!

Let’s Relax Spa

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I’ve realized that I write a lot of my thoughts and opinions, alluding only occasionally to experiences, so I’ll now attempt to do some more storytelling and share some of my adventures.

entrace to let's relax spa in phuket thailand, with water decorations

Very zen.


Let’s start with a wonderful spa experience at a place called Let’s Relax.  I discovered it when I was in Phuket, Thailand.  At a getaway place like that, I couldn’t resist indulging in some spa services, so I looked up a few sites and went for this one because they were one of the few places with a hot stone massage and of those, had the best price.  I opted for the Executive Hide Away package because it included the hot stone massage that was my main target, plus it included an herbal steam (a nice bonus) and a facial that I probably needed.  A three-hour experience, all for 3600 Baht (at the current exchange rate, around $107.37).  Not bad at all!

Well to start off with, I didn’t get the best of directions and probably should have copied the map better.  The bus driver and my fellow passengers had no idea what I was looking for and couldn’t tell me where to get off.  By a stroke of luck, I was looking out the right side of the bus and the building had a large sign, so I found it.  I got off the bus and made my way to the entrance, where I was greeted by a nice little landscaping in the front area and huge wooden doors.  As soon as I stepped in, I knew I had chosen wisely.  This place was impeccably clean and very nicely decorated.  It was quiet and peaceful and the ladies working there were all well-mannered and well-dressed.

tray of herbal scents and facial treatment options at let's relax spa in phuket thailand

Take your pick of aromas and treatments! Top left: herbal scents for the steam room. Bottom: facial treatment options.


After I checked in and paid, I was given a cooling green tea to sip while waiting.  All too soon, a lady was there to lead me up.  We got on the private elevator and I changed into a bathrobe in a nice bathroom before she took me to my first stop: the sauna.  Well, I guess herbal steam room is more appropriate, but you get the idea.  I had chosen the scent I wanted (I think it was lavender, but now my memory fails me) and got the place to myself.  I sat and lay on the cool stone inside as my lungs filled with the aroma of sweet flowers.  It’s hard to stay in there for long, so I had to come out a few times and made good use of the ice cold water they provided. When time was nearly up, I came out and took a nice rinse in the shower to clean up and cool down.

lobby of let's relax spa in phuket thailand

Nice place to just chill.

tea and centerpiece with flowers and candles at let's relax spa in phuket thailand

Beautiful decorations and delectable tea.

tray with cup of tea, bottle of water, and hand wipe at let's relax spa in phuket thailand

Iced water tastes so much better coming out of the steam room.

towel, shower cap, and black knit underwear for use at let's relax spa in phuket thailand

Everything you need to enjoy a hot stone massage. That black thing was knit underwear.

I was then taken to another room for my hot stone massage.  I was given a funny little black underwear thing to put on, as well as a shower cap and towel.  A nice little lady came in with the hot rocks and began to work on my weary muscles.  She used two stones to stimulate my muscles and would trace the bones in my ankles or other areas where it felt really good to have something hot and firm running along it.  Sometimes it would just be one stone or her hands and some lotion.  The heat of the stones was just enough to leave a burning trail wherever it went, but certainly not enough to burn or hurt.  She knew just how long to leave the heat there before it would start to generate more pain than relaxation.  I wondered how her hands could handle the stones – as far as I could tell, she did not use gloves or anything to protect herself from the heat.  When she wrapped up a few stones for me to lie on to soothe my back, I began to see how the prolonged heat could cause discomfort.  We made a quick adjustment to protect me from the heat a bit more and I comfortably lay there for awhile.  At the end, she had me sit in positions I’d never tried before, then pushed or pulled just the right way to make my neck and back crack.  I’d never been cracked like that before and I imagine that’s what they’d do at a chiropractor’s.  I fully intend on finding out one day.

ginger tea with almond cookie at let's relax spa in phuket thailand

Delicious ginger tea that was just sweet enough, yet with a slight kick.


When that was complete, it was time for the final installment – a facial.  I hadn’t been given a choice of treatment type, so I’m assuming they used a generic one or chose for themselves what was best for my skin type.  As usual, I fell asleep during the process.  There’s something so soothing about lying there with someone massaging your face.  When I woke up, I was given a little hairbrush to straighten out the mess that I’d gotten since coming out of the shower.  Back in the lobby, I was given a warm cup of ginger tea and an almond cookie before being sent on my way.  It was a wonderful way to end and I felt invigorated as I departed!

If I get the chance, I’d definitely want to do that again.  It was a great service experience.  Next time I’m opting for the four-hand herbal massage… two hours of synchronized movements from two masseuses at 1400 Baht!  How many people have four hands massaging them at once?  Until then, I’ll dream of going back, or getting the unique jade stone massage at Le Petite Retreat, right here in LA.

A positive change

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The old couch was giving us some back problems.

The old couch was giving us some back problems.

There is a lot of give.

There is a lot of give.

All gone!

All gone!

Much more supportive and firm.

Much more supportive and firm.

Such a fun texture!

Such a fun texture!

A story of luck and optimism

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I consider myself a very lucky person.  I’m not the one to exclaim that I’ve never won anything before when I get a prize from the radio station, or when I get chosen for a raffle prize.  Though I haven’t actually won anything from my local radio station, that is probably for lack of trying, not for lack of luck.  When I do want something, I often win it, through something that I can really only attribute to luck.  I suppose I also weigh wins heavier than losses, since generally the loss is expected and a win is rare.  So in that respect, it probably also feels far more frequent.  But nonetheless, while most of the population has never won anything, I have – and multiple times too.

I believe that much of it comes from optimism and a general positive state of mind.  Luck, after all, is really what you make of it.  Those who consider themselves to be lucky are far more likely to act in ways that will actually render them to feel more so.  For example, one time when I really wanted to win a pair of uniformed bears being raffled off at my Military Ball, I enlisted the help of my friends and got more ticket entries for that particular prize.  That greatly increased my chances of winning and lo and behold, I had the winning ticket!  If I hadn’t believed in myself, I probably would have either decided there’s no way I’d win and not even try, or just throw my tickets in and not try to increase my chances.  It’s like they say – you can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket!  As with anything, you won’t get what you want if you don’t try (and try your best while you’re at it).

Gimme, gimme!

Gimme, gimme!


This played out beautifully in one of my most successful wins ever.  It was the first Friday after school had started again at UCLA in the fall of 2007.  We have a tradition on campus of holding Resfest, an athletic carnival, at the John Wooden Athletic Center.  On-campus residents can go play dodgeball, compete in an obstacle course, even get a henna tattoo!  At the event was a table giving away free rugs, ranging from small 2X2 foot ones shaped like basketballs, footballs, and the like to the grand prize: a 5X8 footer with the UCLA logo!  With my eye on that big rug, I entered to win and dragged along half a dozen of my other friends, one by one, to apply as well.  The people at the table were certainly amused by my dedication.

As I went to wait for the drawings, I headed to one of the gyms where they had the obstacle course set up.  A bunch of my friends were in line to run through the challenge, so I stayed to cheer them on and take pictures.  In all that excitement, I nearly forgot about my beloved rug.  When I went to check my phone, I noticed that I’d missed a call from a number I didn’t recognize.  I immediately went out to the table again and was chatting with them when we discovered that I had been called by them!  Unfortunately, they gave my rug away to someone else, but that was fine, because it was just one of the small ones.  Ninja had come with me and we waited around for the real prize to be drawn, hoping the name they drew would be mine (or his).

Victory picture!

Victory picture!


It wasn’t.  They called the number and I eagerly stood, now hoping that the winner wouldn’t pick up and I’d have another chance.  No such luck!  The girl picked up and came to redeem her prize.  Sad, I watched as they congratulated her and took pictures for the Daily Bruin.  Ninja and I hung around chatting with the tablers and next thing I know, the owner of the company (Campus Mats) who was giving the rugs away kindly offered both of us free rugs (the nice big ones)!  He had been tickled by my pure persistence and enthusiasm in getting all my friends involved so I could win and he said that Ninja deserved one too, for being such a gentleman and not hesitating to agree to give me the rug if he won (some of my other friends weren’t so keen to give it up if they won).  And just like that, we went from no win to double whammy!  He collected our information and a few weeks later, we were proudly clearing the floors in our rooms to put down our wonderful gifts.

It was certainly lucky that the guy was so generous, but it was optimism and positivity that got me to try so hard and attract his attention.  So really, being lucky and optimistic go hand-in-hand.  What it really comes down to is your perception of the world and your subsequent actions that make being lucky easier or harder to come by.  At least that’s my experience, anyway.

Family time

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I got a chance to spend some quality time with my dad today, showing him some of things I did and saw while I was in Southeast Asia and even going shopping with him.  We’re a family of few words and often it is difficult for me to small talk because that’s not what we do.  So today, I used the pictures I take as a medium for sharing my recent life experiences, mostly in Thailand, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

It was nice to tell my dad what I had been up to and hear from him the projects he’s been working on.  Over the years, we haven’t shared much.  Usually he’d just ask me about how classes were going and discuss career stuff.  And I only ever went to him if I needed some thoughts on jobs or something along those professional lines.  We talk business, and then we stop talking.  Because of that, I know just the basics of what’s he’s up to – working in China as VP of an environmental consulting firm.

Today, however, there was a bit more of an exchange.  We’re awkward with each other when it comes to conversation because we’ve spent 20 years not talking much.  Not every family functions the same way and a big part of my nuclear family is the individualism we have.  I do my own thing in my own room and my parents do their own thing in their own spaces.  They only come to my room occasionally to find me if it’s time to eat or wake up and I haven’t gone downstairs.  Sometimes I feel the pressure to try to be more like a normal family and interact more, but who’s to say that’s better?

I never understood the people who talk to their parents on a daily basis.  It was always a mystery to me what they had to talk about.  Over the past couple of years, I’ve learned that it’s really nothing.  They talk about absolutely nothing, really.  Boring things like the weather and meals and unimportant general statements here and there.  Recounts of days with some thoughts thrown in.  Yet that is exactly what makes it so nice.  They’re not talking to really learn anything most of the time; they’re talking just to converse with each other, share with each other.

That’s what I found today.  I learned a lot of random things that won’t matter in the long run, like my aunt is looking for skincare gift packages.  He, in turn, learned a lot of random mundane things too, like how I think sting rays would be great pets.  In a few weeks, I bet we won’t even remember this stuff, but it’ll have created a deeper sense of connection that can last.  It seems that those families that are constantly in contact can be close just because they exchange so much with each other over the years.

I guess there doesn’t always have to be a lucid point to each interaction.  I’ve never liked pointless conversation, at least not via a device (hence why phone calls rarely last over 2 minutes).  Unfortunately, most of the time that’s the only way to connect with my parents.  Another reason why I just don’t talk to them.  It’s too much effort, it’s too awkward, it’s completely pointless.  Now I’m seeing that it may not be – not entirely, anyway.

Constructed wilderness

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As I was putting up pictures from my trip to the Singapore Zoo today, I was once again struck by how open their design is.  Carefully camouflaged in the moats and brush surrounding each animal’s area are barriers that have psychologically entrapped them to their designated space.  Mostly it looked like electric wiring that taught the animals that once they tried to move out of a certain boundary zone, they’d get hurt.  I don’t know if there were other things as well, but the cages that these animals were in were mostly of a mental construct.  All you have to do is teach them enough times that going a certain place will cause discomfort or pain and they will soon stop trying to push that boundary again.

If they can climb around like that, they surely have the ability to escape.  Maybe they just don't know it.

If they can climb around like that, they surely have the ability to escape. Maybe they just don't know it.

It made me wonder which is worse – to see the cage you’re being locked up in and know the physical boundaries that way, or to learn the physical boundaries through making mistakes initially and then psychologically maintaining those boundaries, whether or not they still exist.  So though it was cool to see those animals with nothing obstructing my view, I hope they aren’t traumatized by this type of captivity.  There was also a trade-off between how close you could get for pictures, since there had to be some sort of distance creating a barrier so it appears the animals cannot get to you, whether or not they actually can.  At least there’s no fencing in the way of pictures (though there is annoying reflective glass)!

I just hope those animals aren’t suffering mentally because of this sort of subconscious control exerted on them.  Just because it makes the experience better for us visitors doesn’t mean that it’s better for the animals too.  I sincerely hope that the open layout is a win-win for both sides.  I don’t want those poor animals to be paying both physically AND mentally/emotionally just so we can get a better zoo experience.  That’s not worth the trade.  I’m sure there are those who would argue a zoo in and of itself is not worth it though, so I guess it just depends on how far you want to take it.

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