2teens1blog

survivors2.

2011-05-29T20:40:00.001+10:00

I dropped Modern History last year, and I recalled what I learnt about Nazi Germany in Prelim, all the concentration camps, how the Jews were persecuted. I remember how this was all info from textbooks and notes. Through this interview I start to understand this is all real.

A person’s sense of belonging is shaped through his or her perceptions and experiences. A few days ago, I had the privilege of listening to Mr Alex Ferson, a volunteer at the Sydney Jewish Museum and a survivor of the Holocaust and the Nazi death marches. He is 93 years old.

“Jewish people have been disliked all over the world for over 2000 years,” said Alex. True- they’ve been persecuted all the way back in Biblical Egypt. “We had to fight for some rights. Jewish people were more motivated to become independent.” When he was young many of the stores in his Polish hometown were Jewish-owned because of that. There was a strong sense of community within the Polish Jews. Alex went to college, and managed to get an office job at a Jewish firm.

The tragedy began in September 1939. Poland was quickly taken over by Nazi Germany, and Alex was separated from his family. All eventually perished. He wandered about, looking for a job.

What brings people together can also divide. In the 1930s, Jewish people had to take on an extra middle name- Israel if they were male, and Sara if they were female. Superficially it brought all the Jewish people together, but for what? So that they could be easily identified by the authorities as a Jew, who Germans considered of an inferior race.

In 1942 Alex was sent to a German slave labour camp. In the next three years he would move between one concentration camp to another in what the Jews called ‘death marches’. Death marches because they could die from starvation, exposure or being shot by the Nazis for not keeping up.
One day the Nazi officers asked if anyone was good at office jobs. Alex put his hand up, and left hard labour in the camps to an office. The job at hand turned out to be preparing lists of Jews from that camp for slave labour in German firms. The SS would ask for, say, a hundred workers, and he would have a list of names ready by the next morning. Alex, however, turned this into an opportunity into matching names to faces, and he ended up knowing most of the people at work by name.

And one day all that ground to a halt. The Jewish workers were all told to get up and march. Hundreds of kilometres, East Germany to West. This was Alex’s final death march.

He managed to steal some pen and paper before he left. For the next fortnight or so, he kept a list of those who died during the march– their names, the closest town to where they were shot. He hoped that publishing it after the war was over would be some comfort to those who lost their sons and husbands. But through the eyes of the Germans, each of these sub-humans were but numbers, counted every morning at rollcall, numbers tattooed on their arms. Alex regrets handing this list in to the authorities when their belongings were taken from them.

As someone who didn’t understand the full scale of what happened it was tempting for me to consider the people who died in the Holocaust as a mere statistic. 6 million people. But 6 million people meant millions of families, and millions of people suffering the loss of loved ones close to them.

“Jewish people have a problem,” said Alex. “They’re a religion, a race and a nationality.” The Nazis considered them a race. Now Judaism is widely considered a religion, and depending on how we perceive it, it’s more a way of life. Alex describes himself as a national Jew, considering he came from a large Jewish community in Poland. When I asked him what he felt about his religion and God, I had expected he would have them to thank. What I heard was different. “I identify myself as a national Jew, not a religious Jew. Religion has let me down. I don’t expect miracles to happen- six years of systematic killing, and nothing was done to stop them. My family all perished. Why should I have lost them? I would have reason to be grateful if millions of other people had survived.”

A person is defined by their experiences, and as a survivor of his time Alex is now valued in the community. He’s lived in Australia for 63 years now, and has volunteered for years at the Jewish Museum. After a bit of research I found that he supports a lot of other organisations as well. Like many other Holocaust survivors, he decided to lead a normal life. He decided to go as far from Europe as possible, and after making his way to France, he received clearance to migrate to Australia, and arrived in 1948.

I asked him- after all this, what made him want to volunteer at the Museum? It must’ve been a really stupid question because he looked at me, slightly cross. “I am a survivor,” he said. “I have a duty, that as long as my memory still functions, my brain still works, I have this story to tell young people like you, so this mass crime in cold blood won’t happen again.”

Belonging is a matter of perception, shaped by a person’s choices and experiences. I still don’t understand the full scale of what happened back then, but this interview changed my views. Alex Ferson is one of 100 who survived from the 5000 who trudged in one of the last death marches of the Nazi regime; one of over 6 million Jews who suffered during the Third Reich; one of the few remaining survivors of the Holocaust; and one who chose to belong in our community through sharing his experiences. After listening to him I have a better understanding of how people belong to families and faiths in our world, especially those who are suffering. That behind every name on a plaque in a memorial, behind every death toll on the news, behind every a history book, is a man, or a woman, or a child, and that every person has a story.

This was the original transcript to my English Advanced speech from Term 2, before I cut it down to 4 minutes. Thank you Alex for sharing your story with us.

When I interviewed Alex a couple visiting Sydney from Indonesia were with us. They were visibly touched by his story and the lady was close to tears. The man offered him a message of hope from the Prophet Muhammad, but I don't remember it.

Gerty Jellinek spoke to us Modern History students last year at the Sydney Jewish Museum. Read the original survivors post here.

I have set up my own blog, and make this final post from me here for the sake of continuity. If you snoop around enough you might find where I've popped off to.

Signing out,

~mobydesu

ithinkthereforeiMEME

2010-07-16T23:03:00.002+10:00

Stolen off the good folks at eternalfireworks.

Online habits
What’s on your clipboard (What have you got copied)? "Online habits What’s on your clipboard (What have you got copied)? What's the top on your..."
What’s the top on your most visited sites list? GMail.
What do you spend most of your time doing online? Mail, Facebook, dA.

Real World Stuff
Gender? Male
Age? This blog says I'm a teen ^^
Sexuality? Straight... as a bendy ruler ;D
Prefer talking to people online or in real life? Real life. No lag, no connection dropouts and most importantly SMILES AND HUGS
First time you had a crush? Year 7.
Where are you right now? At home doing this meme?
What are you wearing? Blue skivvy and grey slacks.
Who would you want most with you right now? Won't answer that but you know who you are
Are these questions making you feel slightly uncomfortable? No...?

Personality
Easily angered? Unfortunately yes.
Easily pleased? Fortunately yes.
Cares about others? Un/fortunately yes.
Have you been hugged more, or hugged others more? Hugged others more. But getting hugged is awesome ^^
Follower or Leader? Follower.
Person who needs advice, or gives advice? Needs advice. Heaps of advice.

Dream Person
Cute or Sexy? Cute =D
Shorter or Taller? shorterpls *patpat*
Stylish? Someone who makes up for my lack of style
Looks or Personality? Personality, cos no-one I know has disappointed me in looks yet. *shrug*
Share same interests? It'd be nice to have a few things in common
Perceptive of other people, or yourself? It'd be nice for her to be more perceptive of what I think.
Any other special attributes? HUGGABLENESS ^^ Someone who doesn't mind me crying on their shoulder if things get real down.

In the Moment
What are you listening to right now? This Song's For You- Sam Hui. Don't ask why I'm listening to an old Cantopop song.
What was the last thing you did? Showered.
What other applications do you have open right now? Notepad, MSN, Firefox, Stickies
What will you do after this? Stay up a bit longer then sleep. *yawn*

anotherplaylist.

2010-07-02T00:41:00.003+10:00

I have to say that the music I listen to is heavily influenced by others.*nodnod*
I'm too busy/lazy/whatever to post, so here's another playlist.

Light & Day / Reach For The Sun - The Polyphonic Spree

Defying Gravity - Glee Cast (thanks Richard)

Resistance (Radio Edit) - Muse (thanks Ali)

Butterflies and Hurricanes - Muse (thanks Jeff)

United States of Eurasia / Collateral Damage- Muse

Vanilla Twilight - Owl City (thanks Blair)

Glockenpop - Spiderbait (thanks Frank)

Every Time We Touch - Cascada (thanks Crew)

Novacaine - Skyrocket Love

The Wine Song - The Cat Empire (thanks Crew)

Allegro Cantabile Sound - SUEMITSU & THE SUEMITH (thanks Kennifer)

Abandoned - Kamelot (thanks Dee)

Livin' On a Prayer - Bon Jovi

Dedicating this playlist to flutterbiie.

Putting this blog on hiatus. To the friends who had faith in me to keep blogging- sorry I let you down.

This is Alpha Charlie, out.

Oh Gawd,Textiles.

2010-06-08T22:26:00.002+10:00

Batik
(buh-teek)
n. the art of playing with hot wax

Marbling
(mar-ble-ing)
v. forking at dye that walks on water

Paint Stick
(paynt-stik)
n. paint in a stick

Tie-dyeing
(tie-dying)
v. drowning tied fabric in dye

Regret
(ree- gret)
n. the sensation experienced after an individual picks textiles as an elective subject

endofmay.

2010-05-26T20:24:00.007+10:00

A lot's happened this month and I can't put it into words.
So here's my playlist. Flash required.
Enjoy.

Hey, Soul Sister - Train
End of May - Keren Ann
Tong Hua - Guang Liang
Human - The Killers
Pray For You - Jaron & The Long Road To Love
Feel Like Rain - Motion City Soundtrack
The Man Who Can't Be Moved - The Script
Mad World - Gary Jules
Dancing In The Moonlight - Toploader
What Is Love? - Haddaway
Nine In the Afternoon - Panic! At the Disco

Facebook in SCHOOL! ^^

2010-05-25T11:48:00.004+10:00

remarkably, my school has finally unblocked facebook and youtube. apparently the proxies everyone used put more viruses on the school system than ever before! (Y) thumbs up to proxies. they give us what we want one way or another =D. however, we can only use facebook under condition that we dont use the chat. cus they soo cant let us talk to people on the other side of the wall >_>. well, its better than nothing so ill stop complaining here. =)

on another note, im bent on getting two videos absolutely viral in my school:

1. Abracadabra - BEG

2. Gee - SNSD

so then everyone will know when a certain new video hits youtube by storm.

*cough*

thats about it for now.

take care all ! ^^

teamworktools.

2010-04-18T01:46:00.009+10:00

I've done a fair amount of group work, but there always seems to be a problem with sharing information- problems with constantly updated forum threads (with edits to previous posts OTL), never-ending email chains, and everyone getting an older or different version of presentations.
Here are a few webapps that might help you in making the most out of the time your team has online.

Typewith.me

(DET friendly!)

Powered by EtherPad, the site offers live editing of a text document (with your bits coloured) as well as text chat to talk to others working on the same project. The page saves as you stop typing, and for a definite save (eg. proper indexed editions) click the floppy. Previous editions of the document are kept for reference. There's no embedded images or formatted text available, but it's awesome as a collaborative plain-text editor. Awesome for those moments when you want to jot down notes and send them around or ask for a second opinion on an essay.
How to use: http://typewith.me/namehere or head to the front page and let them choose one for you.

EDIT 20100511: if you talk one-to-one to someone very often using via instant messaging, Typewith.me is an awesome alternative- Google Wave-like "read as they type", chat logging, "offline" messages, bullet points, basic text formatting -no notifications though. Consider using a very long link (eg random alphanumeric charcters), then bookmarking the link to talk to them later. To-do: make a Greasemonkey plugin that will detect changes to the document and flash icon/title if someone has stopped typing/is editing.

AnyHub

A place where you can upload small files without worrying about signing up. And no need to wait and wait and skip through ads just to download.
How to use: Upload. Save address. URL is a direct link to the file.

TinyChat

If you haven't heard of IRC in your life, TinyChat is a no-frills Flash-based web chat service. You can webchat/share audio, as well as share an EtherPad (mentioned above) and whiteboard (haven't got much success with this one). May take longer when capped.
How to use: http://tinychat.com/roomnamehere or head to the front page, click 'Create' and let them choose one for you.

And for the IRC-inclined, http://webchat.freenode.net is your next best option.

NextUp

Can be useful in timing how long you spend delving on a subject in an agenda. Useful in face-to-face meetings with your team.
How to use: Head to site. Set up agenda and how long you want to spend on each topic. Go.

Below are some sites that aren't as related to collab work but are pretty useful for personal use:

E.gg Timer

Not that related to collab tools, but provides a simple, Flash-based, no-BS countdown timer. Nice loud alarm clock-like beep alert. The Pomodoro timer is useful if you're so inclined. (More on Pomodoro later on)
How to use: http://e.ggtimer.com/lengthoftimehere. Replace length of time with 6minutes, or 3hours14minutes, 5months... ^^

Preceden

Awesome for making interactive timelines- not boring old tables of chronology. Can be a bit confusing once you get the hang of using timeline layers and adding events and their details, but the timeline created is totally worth it. Oh and people can leave comments too. Unfortunately does not allow collaborative timelining. Here's one I prepared earlier.
How to use: Sign up with your email. Click New Timeline. Make sure you make your timeline public if you want comments!

The Pomodoro Technique

tl;dr: Get a kitchen timer and start getting into a routine: 25 minutes work, 5 minutes play. Have a longer break every three or four sessions. Write down your to-dos, set your priorities, note your distractions and enjoy your breaks.
Working quite well for me so far, but the longer breaks are a bit too long...? 8D

landlady issues.

2010-04-09T22:58:00.003+10:00

dear tenant,

ICANHASPOINTY.

lots of love, landlady.

athletics.

2010-04-01T00:10:00.000+11:00

Woke up: 10:30am.
Distance ran from home to Sydney Athletic centre = 3600m.
Distance ran in the Athletics Carnival = 100m.

MLIA.

BIT-HBIT-HBIT-H

2010-03-30T13:28:00.007+11:00

i realised today that over the past few years, i have become less tolerant of .. everything O_O. people that annoy me REALLY annoy me. and im getting sick of being agitated all the time. so im going do something about it >). (dont worry modhistpeeps, it wont be the Final Solution all over again) im going to BLOG everything out of my system. (to Moby) hopefully it'll help me blog more often and not just about the bad stuff =).

first off. i HATE it when people are overly obsessed with anime/manga etc when theyre NOT ASIAN ==''. i mean, if they acted kawaii and did a good job of it sure, thats fine. but these self proclaimed "otakus" are all, i mean ALL, morbidly obese. also, they try too hard ._. the guy upstairs gave them a nationality for a reason so KEEP TO THAT ! (sorry, i dont like sharing) i also hate it when people try to make themselves better than me when theyre not. im perfectly fine if they ARE better than me at everything but not when they suck. ^^ it pisses me off, and im sure too many people know what its like when im pissed off =3. but thats life. so dont piss me off.

secondly, it bugs me when people are mopy for no good reason. for example is thus scenario;

Person A; morbidly obese, mopy

Person B; really pretty, really nice

Person C; Person B's boyfriend

Person C; A, im never going to like you anything more than a friend.

Person A; *cut*

***

Person A; he was MINE

Person B; come on A, its okay..?

yeah, that REALLY pisses me off. if you want a boyfriend, GET YOUR OWN. ==" and so Person A goes depressed over that. yeah that pisses me off. it may be mean but it pisses ME off. if you wanna mope, get a good reason to!

the bell has gone and i have to hand up a report now. farewellllll~

PS. if you have been offended by this blog post, consult me and i will give you reason why you dont fall into either categories mentioned above =)

quotablequotes.

2010-03-26T00:08:00.006+11:00

edit: credit where credit's due: thanks to the peeps on the Highlights topic on cbbox for contributing most of these quotes~ and if you don't appreciate the humour or whoever it's from, have a nice day. *shrug*

"Mr Perrins, why don't you make maths... yummy anymore?"
--Joanne, 9MTL 2008

Mr Dunkerly: "The Allied troops had 50 metres of trench space, the Turks had 30, and there was 20 metres of no-man's land between them."
Denise: "It's like the beep test!"
Ivan: "*do-do-doo* "Start Level 1.1. Then you get gunned down by Turkish machine-gun men."
--9HG5 2008

"One mark, ten places."
--Mrs Doyle. It's like a maxim among our grade now.

"The Hedgehog's Dilemma..."
Michael: "...the nearer we get, the further we hurt each other..."
Dom: "...with all those spines and short pudgy arms, how do I scratch my itchy back..."
Moby: "...is it just me or does everyone think I'm a prick?"

Mr Perrins: (on probability & people sharing birthdays) "Do we have people who share the same birthdays in this class?"
*class looks at Lee twins. silence.*
Mr Perrins: "Do we?"

"What do you call a beach with a groyne?"
...
"Manly."
-- someone in 10HG4 2009

Blair: It's interesting how people actually like the joke when they don't know it's from Joshua.
Guo: WHAT?
--about the previous joke

I wonder what currency they use in Somalia. They probably use bullets with ammunition as collateral. It'd be like "I'll give you a hundred rounds for a camel."
--Mr Dunkerly, 10CO3 2009

"I would have written AI on the board, but that means something very different at this particular school..."
--Mr Woo on artificial ~~insem~~ intelligence, 10IPT 2009

"Everyone's entitled to their own opinion... but you're wrong."
--Mr Dunkerly, 10CO3 2009

Paul: Hey, I just lost a bet so could I please have TWENTY girls up here to take a photo with me!
JKo: Well I didn't lose a bet but I want to beat Paul so could THIRTY girls come up on stage!
--Year 10 Formal 2009

A: It'd be awkward if I walked in on my brother wanking.
C: What to?
J: National Geographic?
--10SCL 2009

(past midnight, January 1): "I haven't pissed since last year!"
-- Jinghang. Thanks Blair

"...i used to have red hat but then laptop died lol so everything went."
"A girl. Using linux. Such as redhat. You single? ;)"
--Facebook

Richard said something about a fictional Manly Girls High School.

Year 11 is filling out Board Of Studies forms with Mr Yeo in the Lecture Theatre.

Mr. Yeo: "...it would cost $120 to have your credentials reprinted with your correct details. Consistency is important... alright. I'm sure you people are pretty sure about your gender by now."
*grade snickers*
Mr. Yeo: "It wouldn't be something you'd change [very often]."
Alex: "How about if you wanted to change your sex?"
*grade bursts into laughter*
Mr. Yeo: "o_o ...YOU'RE WEIRD."
Alex: "But if I wanted to change it it'd cost $120 right?"
Mr. Yeo: "You want a sex change for $120? Go to Ag!"

Because the Ag faculty has no shortage of elastrator rings. ^^

"I want you all to be well-rounded human beings and make relationships. I'm happy with you exploring your love life... AS LONG AS IT ISN'T IN THE CORNERS OF MY LIBRARY!"
--Ms Romanov, at Year 11 year meeting today

clannad/sitrep.

2010-03-18T23:42:00.002+11:00

And smell that sweet scent almost all girls seem to have in their hair.
:(
Oh, and sleeping on someone's lap. ^^"
--quoted from someone's blog

I SWEAR THIS RINGS A BELL
where the hell did that come from TELL MEH

Miyazawa.

who the fack is miyazawa

Yukine?

oh RIIIIIGHT.

=.=

Forgetting characters' names = fail. Must. Finish. Clannad. Someday.

HAPPY PI DAYY ! =D

2010-03-14T18:59:00.003+11:00

today we celebrate pi =)

although i like pie alot more, heres a little tribute to that irrational little rascal !

3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825 !

all off the top of my head =)

once again, HAPPY PI DAY !

piday.

2010-03-14T01:59:00.018+11:00

It's that time of the year again. And it's featured in the school newsletter. Happy Pi day.
(This is an automatically generated post. The author is actually asleep. Now to download updates, add extensions, team up with zombie comps and rule the world! Muahaha. Eh. I wish I one of these awesome dreams. )

Over at Ruse, half a page of the daily notices sheet is about Pi day. Also:

Memo to Staff
1. I thought Pi day was 22/7, or thereabouts!

survivors.

2010-03-12T23:46:00.123+11:00

4 March '38

You were born on Saturday 25 December '37 around ten minutes to five. When you came into this world you were no beauty. A red little crayfish with an outsized [sic] head. Your weight was six pounds and ten grams. The next day your little head looked more normal and you looked much nicer.

[Final Entry]

April '42

You are now sleeping in a folding bed and that you think is very interesting.
We are wearing "stars" now and we had told you this is the fashion, and we did not talk about it anymore. But in the morning when we were having breakfast, we saw a rag-man cycling past. Then you said suddenly, "look Dad, that man has the same thing on his breast as you. Do you know what that is? Those are Joodsche Pakken (suits for Jews)."

Nowadays you hear a lot of Jewish stories. It can hardly be otherwise, because there is so much Jewish talk going around and naturally when you play in the street you hear more than is good for a worm of four and a half years. For instance, one of these days you woke up and told me, - Last Night I have dreamed that all Jewish people lost their jobs.

-- Part of a journal written by LIESBETH PRINS for her children in exercise books. The family was deported to Westerbork and then Auschwitz on 22 October 1943. None survived.

"I was born in Austria," began Gerty. "Hitler was born in the same country I was born in."

Gerty Jellinek was twelve. She lived a normal life with her brother and parents, even though they were not particularly wealthy. when the Nazis annexed Austria to Nazi Germany. Initially, Austria was a predominantly Catholic country- it was the state religion, with 80% of Austrians in the faith. That was before the Nazis came into power. "[Hitler] told the Austrian chancellor- I intend to take Austria into [Germany]... either there will be bloodshed, or there will be peace." Gerty and her family sat around the wireless when Hitler broadcasted his intentions- "and the big pressure of giving my homeland, Austria..." he said, in an emotional speech.

She remembers the day the Nazis marched into the town square- 13 March 1938. Every house was decked out with Nazi flags- a sea of red. Instead of the work uniforms familiar to her in the streets, she saw the uniforms of the Hitler Youth. And this happened overnight.
Gerty's mother had rented a room to an Austrian couple. That morning, he came along, decked out in full SA brownshirt uniform. "You too?" asked Gerty's mother. "What do you think?" replied the man. "Many of us were illegally organised for years. Besides, we only take the money of rich Jews." In the end, that was hardly the case- the Nazis took the money and lives of rich Jews, and from the poor Jews their lives, because they had no money at all.

The racial policies of the Third Reich were implemented in Germany over five years, but in Austria, they were in full effect in a matter of two weeks. Austria embraced Germany- they wanted to be with them. Gerty recalls being called up to the Headmaster of the public school she attended. "It is not desirable for you to come to this school," he explained. She was given an address, and instructed to attend classes there the next Monday. Her girl friends were told to avoid Jewish people. "You are not to speak or mix with your Jewish friends anymore," their parents told them. Once, Gerty says, she walked down the street and came across her friends. She was about to say hi, but they walked across the road to avoid her.

Jewish people were not allowed to go to public parks, or dine at a restaurant, or go to the picturehouses. They were subject to all sorts of harassment. "Free Austria" and other slogans were chalked on the pavement by dissidents. Gerty and her mother were out one day and saw people kneeling and scrubbing the footpath clean of the slogans. They were watched over by a 14-year old Hitler Youth member, in full uniform.

Gerty recalls the humiliation she and her family suffered on Kristallnacht, or the Night of the Broken Glass. On the evening of the 10th of November, there was a loud knock on the door. The family were in bed, and the boarder answered the door. He was greeted by four six-foot tall men, in full SA uniform. One produced a list of names. "Do we have the right address?" one asked. "Yes, this is the house, I had to live with them..." answered the boarder, afraid of being judged for living with Jews. They walked straight into the house- Gerty and her brother were wild awake- they saw the stormtroopers open their parents' bedroom door, turning on the lights- they screamed!

"Have you got weapons?" demanded the stormtrooper.
"No," answered her father.
"Have you got money?"
"No."
"Have you got jewellery?".
"No."
"Get up, and get dressed."

To Gerty, her father was the most honoured person in her family. To see him being marched about as a common criminal, when he did nothing wrong, shocked her greatly. He was escorted out of the house, wearing his winter coat, into the street. Gerty's mother asked the children to stay put, and she went out into the street, as did dozens of women, looking for their brothers, fathers, husbands...
Then they saw flames- great flames, engulfing the synagogue- Jewish shops were broken into and their goods stolen. The fire brigade stood by- not to fight the flames from Jewish-owned houes but to stop the flames spreading to neighbouring ones.
Gerty's mother asked around the police stations. They were powerless. They all told her the same thing: "Go home. It is safest for you."

Kristallnacht was a success. The Nazis wanted people to believe that the German people wanted it to happen.

On the tenth day of his imprisonment, Gerty's father was released, as the concentration camps then could not deal with the number of people being processed. "You can go- get out, and get lost," he was told. He was set out into the street, and he returned home.
His family didn't recognise him at his doorstep. He said little about his ordeal, only mentioning about how he slept on the floor. He never spoke of the possible experiences and beatings. Gerty said that he was a changed man- a different man till the day he passed away, five years later.

The pogroms were never repeated. Hitler did not want a bad impression set upon the Austrians. Other countries such as Britain did not want to intervene, and allowed Hitler to get away with such acts.

Although Gerty returned to school, her mother couldn't stand the racial hate. She went from one consulate to another- 5 or 6 in the morning. She was turned down time after time, by India, Australia, America... "Maybe tomorrow," they answered her. No country wanted a mass immigration.
But one place did not require any papers to enter- China, and in particular, Shanghai.
Gerty's mother went to a travel agent- she could have tickets to Shanghai by steamer- it was February, but they had to wait till August to get onto the ship. She thanked the travel agent, and booked the tickets.

There were no known arrests in April. One day the now-turned Nazi boarder announced that "it is not safe to live with Jews in one house." The family was kicked out from their very own house, with whatever they could carry themselves, with the rest of the furniture and crockery left with the boarder. They moved into the ghettoes, in a one-bathroom, one-kitchen flat shared with twenty-five people. Gerty probably left school then, at the age of 13.

They received bad news from the steamer company- half of the fare had to be paid for in British pounds or US dollars. One of her parents had a cousin in France, and they asked him to send money, stating their reasons.
The cousin was outraged. "How can you take your children to the wilderness of Shanghai? Send them to Paris, I will take care of them. You can go to Shanghai." He received a stern reply from Gerty's mother- "In times like this we need family. Either we live together, or we perish together." The cousin apologised for his insensitivity, and sent money to the family. Her mother's words and steadfastness, said Gerty, had saved her and her brother's lives.

In July the family left Austria for Italy, without incident. Two weeks later, on the 31st, they kissed Italian soil, and stayed until the 16th of August, when they boarded the ship bound for Shanghai.

The trip was not without difficulty as the ship was Italian. "We are an Italian ship," announced the captain during the trip, "and as we are sided with Germany we cannot land in English ports." Later in the voyage, the captain made his decision. "We will stop at Dutch harbours- we will get you to Shanghai."

The family arrived at Shanghai on the 12th of September 1939, and lived there for nine and a half years. They were brought into the poorest sections of the villages, and it was in the middle of the Sino-Japanese war. The Japanese did not believe in the Nazis' racial policy. "There are two types of people- Asians, and Whites. We will control them, but we will not kill them." 20,000 Jewish lives were saved.

Gerty's father passed away in 1943.

In 1945 the Japanese surrendered, and the US liberated them from Japanese control. Gerty said their dignity and jobs were returned- they worked in US canteens for a while. In 1947 she met her husband, a Vienese refugee who was older than her.
In 1948 they were worried about the Communists coming into power, and they decided they couldn't stay in China. A friend advised them to go to Australia and start a new life there. Gerty fell pregnant in China, and her only daughter was born on Australian soil, now a German teacher in a Sydney school. She now has two grandchildren, and is working in the Sydney Jewish Museum as a volunteer guide.

Gerty is the only surviving member of her family- her brother passed away ten years ago.

In 2008, the Austrian government invited Gerty, one of three hundred refugees from the Nazi regime, to Austria, to become 'living historians'. She set off for Austria with her daughter, describing the experience as "rewarding".

The Austrian gvernment accepted that they were guilty of welcoming Nazi Germany with open arms, and started an organisation to train teachers to teach about the history of that period. When Gerty talked with the schoolchildren, she found that they were very well informed.
In the same town square where the Nazis entered in 1938, the Austrian refugees were honoured by the Prime Minister and the Austrian government.

Many thanks to Gerty and the volunteers at the Sydney Jewish Museum, as well as the HSIE faculty teachers for providing such an inspiring and interesting learning experience.

Gerty has been interviewed by the SBS on World View as well as

Compass on ABC.

The Sydney Jewish Museum retells the origins of the Jewish people, their struggle in Europe, and their stories of migration to other countries following the Second World War. It is also a memorial to all the six million people of Jewish conviction, of those 1.5 million children, who suffered and perished at the hands of Nazi Germany.

The Sydney Jewish Museum is located in Maccabean Hall, 148 Darlinghurst Rd, Darlinghurst. It is a 10-minute walk from Kings Cross Station, and across the road from Green Park and the 311 bus stop ouside Old Darlinghurst Gaol.

2am.

2010-03-10T01:56:00.002+11:00

Elena says (01:48):
i'm scared
my printer beeped
):
a SIREN noise
it wanted paper
i fed it
its happy now

on the other hand OHEMEFFINGGEE RACH 3 IS STUCK IN MY HEAD. I can't believe I have it on CD. And they have a site dedicated to learning and interpreting it. But Shine is a powerful, awesome movie. I'm happy we're analysing it.

Why am I up so late again? o.o

Eventually.

2010-03-09T02:05:00.001+11:00

One day I will finish Clannad. One day. *falls asleep*

on advice.

2010-03-07T02:28:00.011+11:00

I am a self-confessed information tourist.

I get writer's blocks. I wonder if writing 750 words a day helps.
I fail at remembering info in presentations. Maybe I should know my stuff?
My version of Windows isn't up to date, although it was three days ago. Maybe I should install something to help with that?

So here I am, seemingly hacking away at my life, optimising every nook and cranny of my existence, seeking the essential tips for being a good student/Windows downloads for 2010/et cetera, et cetera.

And I have achieved nothing by sitting on my ass and reading about it.

I refuse to actively seek advice from real people, because real advice hurts. (a good article, by the way.) I've found I suck at dealing with critique, and I would much rather deal with things my own way rather than take a suggestion on board. Hence, time management is still my weakness.

I've learnt (the hard way) that maybe it's time I asked questions- "How am I doing?" and "What could I do better?"- and take on board constructive criticism from people who know their stuff. The odd tips and suggestions from randoms are fine, but advice is better- especially when you ask for it. Time to stop reading, and start asking, understanding and learning.

By the way, Lifehacker is (temporarily) off my reading list.

confession.

2010-03-05T21:44:00.004+11:00

I have a weird confession to make.

I like hugs.

I also like to give hugs.

I will hug chicks. I will hug guys. (Little kids are a no-go zone at the moment considering the profession I'm seeking to be in, but I will totally hug the bejeezus out of my kids.)

If I see you with your arms outstretched I will seize every opportunity to fit one in.

This is an open invitation.

Hug me. ^^

edit(2323h) YES ILLUSIONSPARROW YOU STILL HAVE HUGGING RIGHTS

dayinthelife.

2010-03-05T21:07:00.003+11:00

Every morning at 7:30, the k-pop parodies/PSP gaming/dancing/frantic rush for homework begins.

It's Friday morning in A1.1, and I see a few people huddled over 3U homework. I ~~hear the sound of the falling rain~~ hear the sound of falling rain coming out of the speakers. Richard opens new IE windows, quadrupling the sound of thunder and rain. I meddle with the comp a bit, going on Freesound to look up ominous noises. Blair goes on grooveshark (hey, it's not blocked by the DET!) and starts selecting some tunes. We end up facepalming at Abracadabra, singing along to Hey There Delilah and listen to an old mix of "Puff the Magic Dragon". This is gonna make weekday mornings much more interesting.

Returned then-new bio/chem textbooks to library- one is Biology In Context, Oxford, 2009- highly recommend you get the new edition. Introduction to Chemistry = great, but it didn't really appeal to me. Might refer to it later on.

Physics: Mr Sub heard the distinctive click of a Zippo lighter in the room- goes on to explain how Zippo has a lifetime warranty on all their lighters, and how damanged lighters can be sent to the US to be refurbished/replaced, free of charge. Apparently he found one on the side of the road, sent it to the States, and received in the mail a refurbished Zippo, with new flints and cloth wick. o.o

A relatively quiet maths lesson, with most of us working on the harder questions on the quotient/chain rule.

Ambiguous wording on the daysheet regarding year meeting = fail, so we went off to Modhist. Presentation from Lisa's team on the SS and SA. Talked a bit about the Volksgemeinschaft. Modhist teacher insisted on "harm minimisation"- how the Jewish Museum was close to St. Vincent's Hospital, "where all the druggies are"- and we should be "good kids" and travel on the bus there.

Recess = meh. Having your hair ruffled while you're trying to sleep is weird. Weirdly soothing.

Spent free catching up on work.

Observed an electrolysis prac during chem, with a voltameter (not voltmeter). Sparks came flying out of the alligator clips because they kept hitting each other as they dangled off the electrodes.

Whee party! Happy (late) birthday Kathy ^^ And good job Bryan/Richard/JWen/vanvanwobbles for the dancing. xD Small get-together, we all had some cake and stuff.

English was spent in fine-tuning our essay-writing technique. Maths teacher who came in for a word with him was greeted with applause. Friday afternoons with this teacher is usually filled with laughs. Starting film analyses on Monday with Shine- sounds great =D Essay due on Monday though. .-.

Bio = worked from Bio In Focus, marked a bit. Meh.

I was supposed to be at musical rehearsals, but had someone to attend to. Saturday rehearsals? Gahh I don't know if I can commit entirely. ><

...err that's about it. I was never one for "day in the life" posts.

dedicating this post to illusionsparrow.

paranoia meme.

2010-03-03T22:02:00.000+11:00

1. I don't know you that well. But sometimes I do worry about how you feel. I have no idea how hard or hellish things are for you, and I'm sorry I seem distant or intimidating. I know I'm not that close a friend/acquaintance, and I'm not really your first port of call, but if you need to talk to someone completely different, I hope I can be there for you.

2. I now know that under the annoying facade there is a person who really cares for the people around him, even though they despise the crap out of him. For the times when you've been there, I'm sorry I've ignored your help. Seriously man- thanks.

3. SHE'S NOT MY GF. GET BACK TO WORK. >< (I wouldn't say this in your face, but good luck with your studies. ^^)

4, 5. I won't understand what really happened, and I never will. I'm beginning to come to terms with myself (that the whole issue isn't my fault. I'm sorry you had to deal with what I felt, and I think that it was really selfish of me to think of it as my problem. But both of you mean a lot to me- thanks for just being there.

6. I don't seem to talk that much to you anymore. Or maybe that's Year 11 kicking in. But I still await your insights every three weeks ^^ The talk after last Thursday's lecture was pretty awesome.

7. Yeah shoutouts are totally awesome for people who you've only known for 9 hours! Nice knowing you- today's convo was really enjoyable, and all the best for your future (international? =D) pursuits.

8. I know it is a shame that I left after attending Singleton and being Year 11 rank. I don't get how it's all "unbelievable" to you guys though. I didn't leave because I wasn't dedicated- but more like I won't be dedicated enough. Hope the last gift (is that the right word?) to you lot, whenever it comes in the next three weeks, will be useful ^^

9. I feel happy seeing your eyes and your smile.

10. I lost the game. Please stop patting my hair.

scream age is after me ! ;__;

2010-01-31T20:36:00.003+11:00

i have recently noticed that all the people i know and love are people that ive known from a young age . a fact that i struggle to come to terms with is that theyre all getting old . and if primary math hath not fail me , then i , too , am aging rapidly * wrinkles *. im absolutely shocked that time has flown so quickly . =_=

i feel as if ive missed out on so much , that my time has been wasted on trivial things such as school and work . (i have a feeling i'll regret saying that but who cares =D) people i met when they were freshmen are now making their ways to university , some even graduating from university and soon entering the workforce .

my time is slipping out of my hands and i absolutely regret not having lived my life to the fullest . so now , i am going to strive to be involved ! *crawls out of dark hole ! *

its times like these where the sun burns me but i will do what i can to lead a better life ! HAZZAH !

sorry.

2010-01-31T19:06:00.003+11:00

read this. here's one thing i want to say
to you. i don't know if you
even matter at all
but to think that I
care about what you're feeling...
i can say that i
regret ever being your friend
and knowing you better. i didn't.
i spent time being there for you
sometimes i wish
i didn't know you at all.

***

sometimes if you look at things from a different point of view, you accept it and move on. just a suggestion.

***

"I don't know. I really don't know."
"Bullshit, you know how everything runs around here."

And what if I don't?

Random linkdump.

2010-01-24T22:36:00.002+11:00

[Wired How-to Wiki] Brew Perfect Pre-Sweetened Ice Tea

*licks lips*

[Gizmodo] We're just a tiny station in the Milky Way Subway

We're about as isolated as... Telopea.

[Cake Wrecks] Sunday Sweets: When Gamers Marry

DELICIOUS CAEK I MUST EAT IT

[Gizmodo] ABC launching a dedicated 24-hour news channel

The wait is over =D

[SMH] Indian Climate Guru hopes to steer world away from steak
[Eco-Salon] Why cheese is as bad as eating steak

I'm still not convinced enough to go hardcore vegan though.

[Lifehacker] Start your work the night before for greater productivity

It makes sense. ^^

And my weekly dose of music:
[Jamendo] Hymns About Her (Steven Dunston)- Northern Star

Thanks Blair for the link. =D

[Youtube] Five For Fighting- 100 Years

Thanks Kenny for the link. =D

[Lee Kai Wei] MP3/Sheet Music Downloads

Awesome piano covers ^^

[Youtube] Rhythm of Life choir cover.

Nice (politically correct) version of the (not so PC) original.

hello there stranger!

2010-01-23T23:07:00.006+11:00

Well for a start , hello there , I am flutterbiie . (fluh-ter-BUY) =)

I am a teen as you may/may not have seen -- 2teens1blog . I almost mistook myself for the blog cus i forgot how old i was . i have issues with aging . ^^

I think that turtles are awesome . cus well .. theyre really awesome . =)

And spiders are REALLY scary . (extreme case of arachnophobia)

Well , most spiders anyway . =)

In my little world , certain rules apply .

1. clouds puke out rainbows .

2. 1+3=13 , however , 3+1=31 .

3. even though this is a shared blog , im still living in my own lalaland . (lah-lah-land)

4. and THE golden rule-- disregard all above rules and conform with everyone else . ^^ (i like this rule the best)

Lastly , i realise that my blog entry consists of nothing but random stuff and beyond . please bear with me , were all a little mental 'sometimes' . for me , 'sometimes' just means 'all the time' . =) it was nice ranting to whoever may have come across this semi-crazy person's entry . thanks for the time . ^^

(PS . most of this is just plain joke-ism on my part . ill post something more .. proper soon =) )

Clean your CPU fan today!

2010-01-06T20:19:00.001+11:00

After being plagued by my laptop shutting down every hour or so for 4 months without knowing why (it's my primary comp, so ><"), I decided to see what the problem was. That included taking away my laptop stand and replacing it with bottle caps (ventilation), leaving the laptop running on battery, etc. I was about to unscrew the whole thing when I noticed that the CPU fan was dusty- and filthy!

Before: 55°C HDD, 70°C CPU. Uptime <2h.

And that's just after half an hour. Playing anything graphic-intensive would kill it. I'd work on stuff, leave it idle for a shower, and come back to see the laptop fried and turned off.

Grabbed a vaccum cleaner, a can of compressed air (with attachment) and blasted the crap out of the fan, while holding it steady with a small screwdriver. Blasted the slots near the heatsink- I have never seen dust so fine ever *vacuums*
*vacuums the fan slot, just in case*

Not really a complete cleanout because I wasn't too keen on losing laptop screws.

After: 50°C HDD, 40°C CPU. Uptime >9h (and still going)

Left it idle for most of the day though. I have a life you know xD Graphic intensive apps were not a problem.

Did a defrag (whoa 40% defragmentation) and some cleanup, and laptop was running as new!

Maybe it's time you cleaned out your fans?

*goes on tidying spree. No Kenny, I don't bother brasso-ing the piano pedals anymore. Although my boots need a good shine...*

Compact Calendar 2010

2009-12-28T12:13:00.002+11:00

A version of Compact Calendar for Australia is available here.

It's localised for NSW, but some holidays from other states have been added.

Enjoy, productivity freaks. ^^

(Oh if anything's broken, drop a comment- appreciated!)

thank you.

2009-12-26T23:38:00.015+11:00

Whether you're a Christian or of another faith, and whatever the true meaning of Christmas is to you- have an awesome holiday season and best wishes for the New Year.

Happy birthday to Raymond and Jason "I-will-eat-you-if-you-say-Sooyoung-is-ugly" Wen (26th), and Tony and Kevin Leow (29th) ^^

I'm sorry if I freaked anyone out on the last day- thanks for asking peeps, things have just been going a bit rough, that's all. =) To the peep who hugged me at the bus stop and told me that everything was going to be fine- thanks. You're an awesome friend. *hugs back*

Most of my amigos are delving on the issue of popularity, which I refuse to address. I don't care if I started off with a bad rep in high school. I have my faults and I'm trying to better myself. Because of that, I'm grateful for who my friends are, because they accept me for who I was, and who I am now.

In dealing with other people, we should aim to strengthen our relationships with individuals, not to strengthen our relationship with a social popularity system – whose existence we cannot deny, but whose importance we can defy.

_{-- The Big Box (former blog namesake)}

Shoutouts to the following people. You've all changed me as a person for the better, and for that I'm grateful. Sorry if I miss out anyone (really!)

This year I've found my direction in life and discovered my self-worth. Thanks Blair, Bryan, Denise, Elena, Jason and Kenny for helping me through hard times, listening when I refused to listen.

Dennis and Sean- you two have been greatly supportive in my studies this year- thanks.

And to the rest of the Crew at Ruse- Andrew Lee, ALi, Evan, Evgeny, Gerald, Jeffery, Jinghang, Jodic, Joshua, Kynan, Peter, Richard and Tony- thanks for sharing your school life and memories, and lightening up the day every morning from 7:45.

10L 2009.
To Quan, Helen, Jodic, Shefali, Sonia, Amelia, Trevor, Fang, Bahaven, Joanne, Chi-Wai, Ayus, Jie, Michael, Amol, Ria, Christine, Beatrice, Christine, Ragu, Jeffery, Amy, Joshua and Anna.

I'll never forget the animated lessons in Science, English and Ag. Thanks for your encouragement this year, and I've learnt a lot from all of you. I'm sure we all agree that we are arguably the most awesome class in the grade for the past two years.

10MTE 2009.
As Mr Woo puts it, we're sorta like a dysfunctional family. You've been great people to work with for the past year- best wishes in your academic pursuits this coming year~

Bahaven and Michael- the awesome SSGT and 2IC of Q-Store- thanks, you've been awesome to work under.

2/2009 Singleton NSW BDE JNCO CSE.
3PLT is made of awesome =D 10 Section- you've taught me to become more calm and composed both as a corporal and as a person. Thanks- especially to Kallinikos for his constant advice during the course, and Sam Barron for his support- I am greatly indebted to both of you.

Summer Hill Class of 2005- thanks for an exciting reunion this year, and for all you people who made it happen. Hope to see you later in 2010!

And of course- thanks flutterbiie, who's moving in to this blog soon. Thanks for just being there throughout this year- wouldn't have made it through without your enthusiasm and support.

I leave you with this cute little video- Draw With Me- by Mike Inel from deviantART.

Happy new year, and all the best for 2010.

random ag lesson.

2009-12-12T22:39:00.000+11:00

20091112.

"I've got a great resource here, and it'd be a shame putting it to waste."
Mrs Roberts takes out a whole box of seeds. "And by a great resource I meant you lot." Turns out we're going to plant seeds.
But first we went to have a look at the newborn calves.

We walked down to the pump shed paddock, with Johnston's Year 7 class at the paddock before us.

We met the grandmother cow "Now everyone have a look at her bum. See her vulva is actually quite wrinkly..." I laughed at how everyone had such deadpan faces just listening to it. Blame my immaturity ^^

Then we walked up to the mother of the new calf. Words of advice on handling with cows. "Say hi to the head before you pat it on the bum. It's a bit like women, isn't it?"

Yeah, we had a look at the "blob" of a calf- who turned out to be quite lively, and loved posing for the camera. xD Roberts took a few photos of us looking at the cows and the calf, and the calf kept getting closer to the camera xD

Mrs Roberts noted that the slime on the mother cow was afterbirth, and that "if you scout around you might find some- there's a puddle here." Fang proceeds to poke it with a bit of grass root, stepped on it a few times- *squish*. Horrified squeals from some of the girls ensued.

Fang also tried putting Anna's Broadway hat onto the calf, but it kept running away. He let some of the cows have a sniff, but they didn't really like it, turned their heads away ^^

Although some Year 7s were in charge of giving it a name, we made a few, like Elmo and Evan (ty Jeffery), or Elliott, or Einstein or Edison ("they'd know it come from Ruse!" someone said)...

Sonia: "Let's call it Eeyore!"
Moby: "Nooo! He'll be depressed and have a permanent raincloud over his head..."

Fang tried some lucerne, and apparently it didn't taste good- "like shit", actually. Listened a bit about how an aphid in the 1970s/80s from Canada wiped out whole fields of lucerne- while farmers tried to bring in Canadian varieties, scientists in Australia were busily making their own.

We didn't get the seedlings planted. ^^

bunny bunny bunny bunny (carrot, carrot)

2009-11-22T12:33:00.000+11:00

It's an awesome chanting/concentration game. PLAY EET

Peer Support Camp

...was a relaxing leave from the realm of Maths topic tests. Reconnecting with people from our grade, meeting and listening to the new Year 11s with their own stories to tell...

The beach visit - got more wet than I expected to- beach cricket- dodgy sandcastles- hot, hot sand ><"- but an awesome afternoon.

Performances (head twitch xD) , a movie (sore left shoulder), piano sharing (Mario theme goodness from VK) and a newspaper fashion pageant (with Jason literally dancing his newspaper clothes off- the creativity of all of the costumes were amazing) were some of the highlights of the two-day camp.

The Year 8+10 Performers Night

...was devoid of Year 8s. Eight performances from Year 10 though:
A stunning Michael Jackson medley arranged by Babitha and Joanna (equal second)
Shefali's voice solo of Taylow Swift's Teardrops on My Guitar accompanied by Carmen on piano was well executed. ^^
Joshua and Chi-wai's solo performances on piano
Jinghang on the violin playing some hard-core technical work
Dennis, Na-young, Raymond and Isabella's piano+guitar+voice combo- Falling Slowly from Once [original]

But Wilson's rendition of Empty Chairs at Empty Tables was amazing- highly deserving of first prize.

The Year 10 Formal

...was very well planned and executed- much kudos to the Formal Commitee, the Year 9 S+L team, the Year 7+9 stage crew, the Year 9+11 wait staff and teachers who made it an awesome night~

Photo shoots- food was quite decent- amusing formal awards, congratulations to Andrew and Peter for "Best Dressed Couple" (they're twins by the way)- awesome dance songs- Tim's well-written rap- an exciting and tiring night. ^^

Tidbits

Mr Yeo- we'd like our exam paper bonfire now. =D
Also YAY pizza party thanks to the High Resolves/Powershift peeps. Now to work out the logistics of getting pizzas without stepping outside the school. ^^

Sentimental moment

Thanks for sharing the last few months with me. You've taught me a lot about myself, and I got to know you a lot better as a friend.

But below these feelings, I feel regret. I feel frustration. And most of all-

I'm afraid.
I'm afraid that one day, I would become cold, heartless and indifferent.
I'm afraid that one day, that I forget to look back at you as we walk down the street.
I'm afraid that one day, I couldn't care less for you anymore.

But it's time I moved on. And let go. Because I know that you're now in safe hands.

ffff I don't think sentiments work on a blog like this. I'll leave it at that.

sixteen.

2009-10-16T00:54:00.000+11:00

Thanks peeps for all the birthday wishes, both online and offline (yay card, thanks- also thanks sis for teh plushie)

Transits everywhere means I have to bring along my secondary schools card, which is NOT conveniently ticket-sized NOR would it usually fit in my pocket. Being in a shirt and tie during the school hols with a messenger bag does NOT make you look like a child lol.

Maths: lots of progress. PE Assignment: started, researching, putting things together. English essay and SD? Barely touched. Yay unproductive holidays ftw.

oh&& formal. managed to get myself a decent tie (not the scottish one lol, tho it's still awesome) and pair of dress shoes (is that what they're called). meeeh it's probably 10x as hard for the girls to get themselves sorted. and the invites are so pretty-ful~ i wonder why a) it's closed to ruse only (probably cos we're co-ed, ever think of that?) and b) we have it in the school hall for $10 less than what we could have had outside school. But meh, it's just Year 10, wtheck. ^^

This term: peer support camp. yearlies/hscSD/sc. cadets. (yay q-eys) and TEH RUSE VIDEO GAME ORCHESTRA [clicky].

i learnt today (the hard way) that reading the instructions on the box are vital in saving your shirt from being covered with toner. o_o

dedicating this post to *points* you, *points* you and *points* you.

one forty-two.

2009-10-11T01:42:00.000+11:00

Answers to both questions Clement was discussing: one on his blog, one 2007 32(b).
Hope you all had fun this first week doing yearlies- I sure didn't. ^^

EDIT: 0151h.
sin² 75
=[sin(90-15)]²
since sin(x) = cos(90-x)
= cos² 15
=1 - sin²(15)
= 1- given surd

yayayayay i fail. ^^

denial/anger/bargaining/depression/acceptance. applies to more than death really. xD

Dedicating this post to whoever [is staying the night up with me/I'm staying the night up with].

eww, i touched maths

2009-10-09T19:39:00.000+11:00

The working is wrong. See new post.

I was meant to be musick-ing (yay learning Light Colors) for the rest of this week, but Clement's question on his blog was too tempting.
I also fail since he did it with trisimultaneous equations (the point of the exercise) while I used circle theory.
AAARGH 2007 YEARLY O_O

Anyways. Chin the procrastinator, of all people, is getting serious about maths. And the PE assignment. And English. (Not SD though.)
Yay let's all do yearlies.

never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

2009-10-09T10:49:00.000+11:00

There *was* a Rickroll detector bookmarklet here this morning, but it worked a bit like antibiotics: attacked anything with the word "rickroll" in it.

This is of course no match for the Firefox + AdBlock Plus + Rickroll blacklist combo.

And Chrome! "Prevent this page from creating additional dialogues" == WIN.

Dedicating this post to Fifi, the poor soul has to waste her time getting Rickrolled. Hope this helps.

all messages lead to facebook

2009-10-07T16:26:00.000+11:00

It's good to know I'm ~~giving my data to so many third-parties that it'll be easy for my teachers and employers to stalk me~~ connected.

Chime, a free SMS to FB/Twitter gateway, is available here.

a lesson in density.

2009-10-05T12:02:00.000+11:00

A lesson in density guys. Both are 500g. Carried a bag of foam beans homes- people were giving me funny looks. xD

a term of firsts.

2009-10-05T11:02:00.000+11:00

It's been a term of firsts.

First decent history result.
First major forum breakdown- that was my fault.
First attempt at cake-baking. And second one in the next week.
First time shopping with friends. At Woolies. (Second at Lincraft, but dw about that.)
First attempt at sewing anything apart from patches on my cadet uniform.

First video game- and visual novel- I've ever played.
First time I learnt a song in a day.

First real feelings of love.

Dust Storms

2009-09-27T00:01:00.000+10:00

I use the mountain theme for GMail, so the background is a photo of... is it Mt Kousciusko or the Blue Mountains? Anyway...

"You can also customize by location. Some themes change during the day, and we use the location information you provide to correctly time these changes with your local sunrise, sunset, and/or weather."

Guess what.

Have an awesome, radioactive-dust free day everyone.

bleh

2009-09-01T22:21:00.000+10:00

oh hello there. long time no post.

SLP presentations went quite well for all of us...? Impressive and inspiring presentations from other teams. =D
Are you aware of the situation in Iran? http://freeiran.cbbox.org/

Speaking of cbbox, we've got an old member back, a new member leaving and a FRIGGING PERSISTANT HACKER. (with a static IP o.o)

School photos got back. Group photo turned out quite awesome (James was shouting PENIS, and the row behind us was threatening to fall over). My school ID and photos shout PEDO.

Ag Prelims coming up Monday, but I'm not that bothered. Not continuing Ag. Are most people joining for the Gloucester camp?
Science Common Test also coming up (Tuesday) on Health and Disease, Evolution and Global Issues. Might be expecting good news from teacher tomorrow about it? xD
Got marks back for SD, outta 100. Sorta disappointed that I missed out on most of the social and ethical stuff. Spent too much time on the 20-mark last section- 25 minutes on a 2 mark question on pseudocode. I wrote out the full routines. Time wasted =(

Taking a random liking to Yellow by Coldplay now. And the awesome piano cover.
Got some books and a videotape on Auslan- considering learning it soon. The grammar's unfamiliar compared to English.

Wishlist:
- bokeh filters
- a theremin
- magnetic paint ^^
time for me to start saving. =D

Sport trials tomorrow: from what I've heard Boys Basketball and Girls Netball is a ticket to Rec Sport.
Done fencing (instructors were awesome, but he found a full-time job), gym (awesome workout but too tiring ><), school sport (a literal stroll in the park), ice-skating (can't iceskate for beans), and hip-hop (disappointing considering the instructor's making all the moves, and we copy them. =\ ) Bowling? Won't succumb to Rec Tennis though.

Dedicating this post to 'Nise: thanks for the daffodil~ but sorry to say I lost it while sleeping on the bus. waah ><"

The Wonders of Libraries

2009-07-20T23:49:00.000+10:00

Spent morning at Customs House and State Library looking for Communist Referendum stuff.

Learnt how to use a microfilm reader...
...after two different librarians taught me twice. =P

Headed to Mitchell Library,
discovered Request Slips and timestamping machines (wow)
and bookshelves with stairs leading to them-
just like in the movies!
(my ignorance will be my demise)

Fill in slip, hand to requests, go to the pick-up shelf in around 20 minutes. Awesome!

Wait- why does my card have a barcode
But the books don't?
I asked information whether I could borrow those books.

"Mitchell Library never loans books, full stop."

I stared at her blankly. She explained that this wasn't a borrowing library, and I could either photocopy parts of it, read it there or set it aside.

I'll be back in the next week or so.

Dedicating this post to teh crandom folk I know. ^^

lulz.

2009-03-24T19:56:00.000+11:00

Today I had my first attempt at making an origami Guy Fawkes Mask [link].

I said attempt!

Why it failed:

I don't have a supply of Brennex, so I pasted 100gsm black with 80gsm white (from my scrap box) giving a crappy 180gsm.
Gluing the pieces of A4 to make a big square, so it made a face-size mask.

And we ran out of alcohol.

I epic-failed my second batch in attempting to make borax-PVA slime (the ones you make in Science Enrichment Year 7/8), while almost all of the class were playing with their concocctions ("It looks like lube," noted Fang). Michael and I were on the same boat. We each had bubbly watery solutions, and we had no alcohol to fix it. "Screw this," I said, "let's throw them out." And I poured my beaker into his, ready to bin it.

Both of us LOL'd when the crap turned into proper slime, about the consistency of hair gel.

the first three periods this morning were devoted to studying for SDD. we made fun of an epicfail guy who almost got knocked out by a ceiling fan whilst standing on the table. he was looking for a marker that I had apprently drawn mudkips on the whiteboard with.

also: finally got my code for Dreamspark. Now to download the ISOs, which will kill my download limit. our SD/IT classes are gradually getting them.

our grade also misses out on the schools laptop program. =( and what's the point of wireless at school when it's DET-filtered?

Dedicating this post to Anonymous. Hope the mask fits you.

“Dear Senator Conroy, you are destroying the internet. Why? If I wanted such little freedom, I would not have migrated here from China.”

Keep your eyes open for Q&A, 9:30 this Thursday, ABC1.

Happy Pi Day.

2009-03-14T01:59:00.000+11:00

3/14 1:59.

Least I can do.

Good morning.

eol.

2009-03-13T19:58:00.000+11:00

Dealt more with library patrons today, did a bit more of looking for missing books (found 2 in the whole of the Fiction section), did some queries with some local schoolkids around 3:30...

And a week of work experience came to an end.

Thanks to Margaret, Benj, Kate, Angela, Janet and Rory from the Glebe Library team and Val, Nina, Liz, Kwee-Tin and Robert from Town Hall admin for giving me such a wonderful week of work experience. It's been wonderful working with you peeps and thanks for all the time and effort you've given up. ^_^

Peggy would have had just as awesome time at the library she worked at.

Offbeat

What a quick response over Mr. Rudd's political storm:

source- mX, 13/2/09

Dedicating this post to wj32. Your powers have doubled since we last met.
(EDIT: Bad pun considering the link.)

library3.

2009-03-12T22:23:00.000+11:00

This morning i had the task of looking for books that don't exist. Well in Glebe library anyway. Found five of the missing books there- is that a good thing or bad thing? O_O"

According to Glebe team leader Margaret, the policy for reallowing work experience in the library network was only approved "the day before". Goodness I'm lucky ^^

After a quick 15 minute lunch break (wasabi was overwhelming) Margaret and I took the 433 down to Town Hall House. I'm familiar with the One Stop Shop, but have never been up to Level 3 after Town Hall library (now Library Link) was moved to Customs House. Margaret noted that Customs House was not a purpose built library and the floorboards were too weak, thus explaining the smaller two-tiered shelves and the split levels. I'm still a fan of their occasional displays though.

After being introduced to everybody by Margaret, I was briefed by Val on flowcharts (OH THE RELEVANCE TO SDD) and their importance in keeping everything up to date. No old copies stored on USB drives- if it's old, it's thrown out. (Direct implementation.) I wonder how they do backups, or whether they were relevant at all. Val also showed me how she and the other librarians ordered books- massive Internet lag at the time.

With the Programmes team, Liz explained some of the advertising and marketing for Library activities. It may be noted that thirty or forty years ago libraries were places for quiet study, and it was unlikely that people would meet there for an assignment or such. Jazz in the Library or Sidewalk Astronomy would be out of the question. Liz also has some pro InDesign skills.
Also got an awesome banner bag, made from old Council banners ^^

Nina, originally an historian, showed me more to the Council website- street name histories, online exhibitions, upcoming books... keep your eyes peeled on Dictionary of Sydney.

Kwee-Tin explained the cataloguing of items in the library, and she specialised in Chinese DVDs. She would fix dodgy romanisations, type in Chinese names and make sure all the details- ISBN, authors, actors of a film- were right. She noted that there would be differences in romanising between staff from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Beijing or ~~Fokkien~~ Hokkien. (See? That's the problem) She's not really a fan of Changjie (倉頡) or Shijiao (四角) either.

Then it was down to the Library Stack with Robert. I exaggerated when I said it was where the corpses were- it was actually under Town Hall House, part of the carpark and stayed at a constant 15°C to keep the books mould-free. The last half-hour wa dedicated to finding books and sticking white stickers to them.

Awesome day, awesome people.

Dedicated to Gerald, who I shall scab a Windows 7 disc from.

library2.

2009-03-11T22:12:00.000+11:00

Dedicating this post to Zanna. Coffee SHOULD be bitter.

It's that time of the year again, and a month before time Woolies start stocking up Easter eggs. O_O
I was in charge of putting up the Easter displays in the childrens' section:

Also flipped through the flowcharts for library operations OH HOW RELEVANT TO SDD O_O

Tomorrow: Glebe, then Level 2 Town Hall House, then down into the depths of the Town Hall stack. Didn't they dig up random skeletons down there?

＂你睇住帶埋多件（鬼）呀！＂
＂唔係，我驚少o左個人o者。＂

I have survived on ginger beer and sushi for the last three days, which is relatively awesome.

Anyway, doing a bit of reading:

Chillout Sessions 6, Ministry of Sound— interesting...
The Complete Phantom of the Opera— yay, I can sing to the songs since it comes with the libretto!
A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Season 2— "Oh Christ, I've left the iron on." Osborne and I have a little more British sitcoms to share laughs over now.
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley— "orgy porgy". soma for everyone. very disturbing.
a little book with descriptions of all the elements. too bad, no valencies and stuff.

Gerald: my phone would ring, and everyone in the workplace would look at their phones.
Moby: what, nokias?
Gerald: no, htc.

OK... my brother's singing the SpiderTran theme song. O_O

Trantom of the Opera can't be delivered by this Friday due to SDD cramming. Sorry VK.

But here's a taster:
OK, what the feth.

Smile.

library.

2009-03-09T22:46:00.000+11:00

Forgot to dedicate this post, so here's to Jodic. Feel it as a man. XD -22/3

I mouthed the words to him through the glass door, but he kept on pointing ten fingers up and tilting his head at the wall.
I came back about an hour later, and there was a motley crowd outside the doors. The automatic doors slid open reluctantly, and they all filed in, quickly dispersing to the computers, the fiction section and the newspapers in a matter of seconds.
I walked up to the front desk.
"Hi, sorry about earlier. I'm Andrew, and I'm here for work experience."

**

Angry customers, 10:30 in the morning, over a jammed photocopier. I compare it to Fawlty Towers, really.

After an hour or so of shelving, I headed back to Circulation where the Glebe Team Leader just arrived, cracking a joke or two about the angry customer.

"So... what have you learnt this morning, Andrew?"
"That librarians need a dry sense of humour."

In fact, she says, they need it to get through the day. I guess it comes from the wittiness.

**

I called up random people during my lunch break. Blair was having fun barcoding and checking for faults at a local retail, Bryan was excited about being up close at a dentist's, Mia was sorting glasses at an optometrist's and Jeff "stood there for two hours".

The rest of the day was dedicated to learning how things worked at the library, checking in/out, usual library stuff.

Might be heading to Town Hall Stack (quite creepy, I've heard) on Thursday.

Have fun~

Fields of Menthol

2009-03-09T00:50:00.000+11:00

Forgot to dedicate this post, so here's to Denise. Thanks for just being there, 12:05 in the morning, with a GPartEd disc. -22/3

Fields of Menthol: what a random idea.

Hope no-one notices how buggy my template code is. XD

Work experience tomorrow at Glebe Library. If you don't have a life, come visit me there =D

anecdote.

2009-03-07T22:39:00.000+11:00

First, an anecdote.

A Buddhist abbot was really into his orchids. He absolutely loved them. He had them in pots hanging in the air, and tended to the plants daily, watering them and talking to them.

One day the Abbot had to go abroad, and he left specific instructions to his disciples on how to take care of them.

A young disciple was on orchid duty, and watered the pots- tipping the pots over, sending them crashing down to the ground.

He decided that honesty was the best policy, so when the Abbot came back the next day, he confessed all, and told him he was willing to take punishment.

The wise Abbot sighed.

"I grow orchids to train my patience and cultivate myself. Wouldn't all my cultivating go to waste if I were to get angry at you over them?"

*pwnt*

There was once a young girl who lived by the countryside, whose house had no supply of water. Every morning, she would take two clay pots to the river, fill them up with water and take them back home.

One day one of the pots cracked and leaked at one side, and ended up empty by the time she got home. She carried the two pots, as usual, to and from the river every day.

This lasted a while, and her mother nagged at her to get rid of the pot, but still she carried both pots to and from the river.

One day, on the way home, the cracked clay pot gained the power of speech, and asked, "I'm cracked, old and don't hold any water. Why won't you get rid of me?"

The girl answered:

"Sure, the other clay pot holds water, and is really useful, but because of your hole, you water the pretty little flowers beside the track as I get home."

天生我才必有用~

When you notice someone's bad side, you look into darkness, a path straight into hell.
Notice someone's qualities for once, and look on the bright side of life- and heaven~

Dedicating this post to all you "half-empty" thinkers out there.

teh internets.

2009-03-05T20:44:00.000+11:00

Obviously dedicated to Jeffery, as contents below. -22/3

I called Jeffery at 4 so he could get my PayPal and possibly try paying for our student forum from there (account's overdue.) I like GAVE HIM MY PASSWORD OVER THE PHONE WHILE JOCULARLY WALKING TO A PIANO LESSON.

Coming back home...

Jeffery: have you sorted out your financial problems?
Moby: yeah, got 3 months of hosting up sleeve
Moby: *thank god*
Moby: thx
Moby: btw, destroy my pw lol
Jeffery: uhh sure
Jeffery" *nod*
Jeffery: and maybe you'd like to fix the thing on cbbox.org heading message

*reads*

News: Welcome to cbbox.org— run by students, for students. | possible forum outage due to chin being pov.

Moby: YOU TOOL
Moby: YOU USED MY PW
Moby: dw, only forum things use that password
Jeffery: and your blog
Moby: F@#$ YOU
Jeffery: lulwut
Jeffery: and your gmail
Moby: F@#$ YOU TOO
Jeffery: and my sword
Jeffery: and my axe
Jeffery: and my bow
Moby: OH F@#$ NOT THE SWORD AND BOW
Jeffery: and my -stfu legolas
Moby: fuck the legolas.
Jeffery: and THE CHICKEN
Jeffery: !
Moby: since you have my pw, you'd better guard it with your life man
Jeffery: or you can change it...
Moby: EVERY F!@#ING THING I HAVE ONLINE USES THAT PASSWORD.
Moby: *bad choice*
Jeffery: except for your three.com.au email
Moby: lolwut
Moby: i don't remember the password to THAT
Jeffery: ... how do you access your email then?
Moby: i don't remember...
Jeffery: LOLWUT
Jeffery: meh
Jeffery: i own your soul?
Moby: just don't.
Moby: yes, you now own my online soul.
Moby: every bit of chin on the internets.
Jeffery: and i shall now bend you to my will
Jeffery: or i shall post it on the bee
Jeffery: muahahahahahhahaa
Jeffery : a
Jeffery: hahaha
Jeffery: hahahack

I feel vulnerable, but I have his blog as collateral. Muahaha.
If I say anything stupid online, I have Jeffery to blame. =D

PS:

My MSN personal message:
paypal shaved us off $1.53 just to add a card | Note to self: do not trust Jeffery with passwords. "boom de yada boom de yada..."

Jeffery:
BOOM DE YADA
IS MY WALLPAPER
OMG HAX
p.s. i love the whole world

Moby: lol

Jeffery:
i seriously have had that picture as my wallpaper for a week
from xkcd
dude
did you have remote access to my pc?

Moby:
nope
XD

shhh.

smile.

2009-03-03T20:14:00.000+11:00

When I was four, my mum told me that I should be happy in life.

On my first day of primary school, we were handed a task asking,
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
So I took my sky blue crayon, and
I drew a smiley face, and wrote the word,
Happy.

My teacher said that I didn't understand the task.

I told her that she didn't understand life.

—Bob Liang, Class of '06

that speech made my day.

Here's to Bob Liang.

keep smiling.

Macbeth IRC

2009-02-27T18:11:00.000+11:00

Finished watching the Polanski adaptation of Macbeth. Michael and I were screwing around about a 21st century version of the play. How we thought of IRC, we don't know.

crossross: ur castle's surprised, ur wife n babes SAVAGELY SLAUGHTERED. D=
duffman has left #kingedwardscastle (noes ><)

macbeth has left #scotland (disconnected)
crossross: hail, king of scotland!
duffman: hail, king of scotland!

/mode #england +o malcolm
/mode #scotland +o malcolm

*** DCC SEND (here_you_may_see_the_tyrant.jpg 565) request received from crossross
*** DCC SEND connection to ross[38.67.46.2,63] established
*** DCC SEND:here_you_may_see_the_tyrant.jpg to audience completed 6.423 kb/sec

malcolm: kthx. top job all of you, and now you all become ops.

[INFO] Channel view for “#scotland” opened.
-->| YOU (audience) have joined #scotland
=-= Topic for #scotland is “"hail king of england and scotland"”
=-= Topic for #scotland was set by Malcolm on Friday, 15 August 1057 (NS) 3:59:45 PM
=== #scotland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Scotland

audience: what a dead channel.

Back to Maths for me.

Dedicating this post to Ria, who has just as little idea on how to "guy-turn" in Salsa as I do.

Tinned Sardines

2009-02-25T22:57:00.000+11:00

[see original article, Daily Telegraph, 2007]

If you board the 8:10 548 from Epping, chances are, it's late, and you are one of the 60 people on a bus with students heading for James Ruse. You'll get a seat, (we're courteous enough) but the noise coming from the students is overpowering. The back doors open, and one or two girls almost topple out the door.

We were all supposed to take the school bus that should arrive at the same time, but unfortunately it is late again.

20 of us sneaked our way to Epping from Eastwood Station, where the station manager and commuters are unhappy at the throng of students waiting for a more reliable, on-time service. Yesterday revenue officers from STA shooed off 30 or so "ineligible" or "out of range" students, who were forced to join the Epping crowd, while the Eastwood bus was three-quarters full.

"The 7:xx train to Hornsby is delayed by approximately 13 minutes."
By the time the train arrives, it is packed full of Cheltenham, Hornsby, Normanhurst AND Ruse people. The 3 minute ride to Epping was anything but reasonable.

Unsafe buses are a safety and feasibility issue, and the time it takes to load and unload a bus full of students also affects later services that are served by the same bus.

The problem might be alleviated by more frequent school bus services that serve more schools, rather than having smaller capacity buses for every one or two of them.

If managed properly school buses- and us kids who some adults resent- should not be an issue.

Unlike the other intimidating revenue officers we've met, the two we asked at Eastwood yesterday were actually reasonable in their explanations. Here's to you.

the scottish play and other ramblings

2009-02-24T22:08:00.000+11:00

I'd better get started on my agriculture assignment soon.

Finishing Macbeth. How tragic he ends up.
Messing around with Act 4 Scene 1.
And since we had double SDD today...

Double, double, desk check trouble,
Sort arrays and values bubble...

Adjacent elements compared
Out of order? Swapped and snared.
Two nested loops repeat apace
Until all items are in place.

Double, double, desk check trouble,
Sort arrays and values bubble...

Scan arrays and sort in line
Insertion sorts take much less time
Up one other elements move
Until it's sorted, as above

Double, double, desk check trouble,
Sort arrays and values bubble...

Upon first pass...

DISREGARD THAT I SUCK CLOCKS.

Jason and I decided to take the Epping-Chatswood Line (with David, who was going to a function).

The platforms are unusually wide, about that of the aerial concourse XD which is f-awesome. The ends of the platform resemble Olympic Park slightly- CityRail's going for the glassy, rounded, clean look. And the signs are prettiful and rounded too.
The ECRL is also home to long travelators comparable to the ones at Central and Redfern, but much wider and much quieter. Getting off at Macquarie University on the return trip took me on the longest travelator I've been on- [link]

"Everyone is special in their own way."
—bumped into ~imitatelife on the bus from Macquarie. A very deviant guy in real life too.

Dedicating this post to ~~OH NOES I'VE RUN OUT OF PEOPLE~~ Richard. Congratulations on your appointment as class VC.

I'd better hit the sacks. Yours truly...

I don't get it.

2009-02-24T21:21:00.000+11:00

What's this meme about Candlejack? Isn't he th

Homework Rap? How about no.

2009-02-19T21:15:00.000+11:00

This is a placeholder for, say, 2 weeks of blogging? I've got homework to do.

When you're feeling down and sad
A secret I can keep,
Let's have hour-long conversations
Meaningful and deep,
I can listen through all evening
We can laugh, say LOL, talk back,
But don't trust me with homework—
that's where I'm really slack.

We could go and play piano all day
And bright ideas we'd jot,
Get kicked from the music room- hey wait,
There's some homework I've forgot!
We can talk and walk down corridors
We could go make up a song
But don't make me do homework
Cos that's where I go wrong.

Random leadership project plans-
Got Canteen on Thursday B,
I'm sorting things out as I go about
But how 'bout my SDD?
I could go and help peeps with their strife
I could run for SRC
But put me near my homework
And I'll doze right off, you see.

I could type ditties like this all day,
But with work I epic fail;
I'd better do my homework
Or I'll get some warning mail.

Next up, English worksheets.

Dedicating this post to Esther and others who *always* do their homework.
No homework time was wasted in the making of this ditty. I thought it up in the shower and kept singing it to myself during dinner.

Just Keep Swimming/Rypen Red

2009-02-05T22:55:00.000+11:00

"just keep swimming, what do you do, you swim, swim, swim..."
Swimming carnivals aren't really my scene. For one, I still can't swim (although it WAS one of my New Year's resolutions... LAST year) , and for another, I haven't swam for so long my board shorts don't fit any more.

Most of us spent the whole day walking, spending our money on drinks, playing Mao, losing the game— I just lost the game— and listening and singing to random, random music.

*stuck in a crowd of 400 people rushing for ONE turnstile to get out of Parramatta Pool*
Guy: "They should get rid of the turnstile..."
Me: "INEFFICIENCY FOR THE LOSE!"
*Mr Wilson looks down*
Mr Wilson: "You've been playing too much computer games."
...

Rypen Red (bad puns ftw)
The Rotary Youth Program of ENrichment is a club-funded program that gives Year 10 students the opportunity to learn leadership and social skills in a pressure-free, lecture-free environment.

I stood on the L90 (it is bad form for students not to give up their seats in the North Shore, it is said) till we stopped at Warringbah Mall, where half the bus emptied into. Then slept for another half an hour till I got to Collaroy.

The Collaroy Centre, run by the Salvation Army (a bit like Vision Valley's concept really), had great views of the beach, which ended up tempting us for the rest of the weekend. We passed the time by playing with a huge, inflated soccer ball until 'muff and some others arrived much later.

Actually, let the pictures tell the story- when we get them.
Just a hint that it involved video-making, warcries, scaling a wall, piggybacks, an ink-bomb, going through a maze blindfolded, and the sound of drums.

Thanks to the RYPEN leaders, the Collaroy staff, the RYPEN District 9680 organisers for organising such an exciting event, and the Rotary Club of Carlingford for sponsoring us on this exciting learning experience!

Wrapping Up

Jeffery, maybe a Twitter may cater more for your blogging habits.

Dedicating this post to CPL Ma. Thanks for support, appreciated.

Scream! Until Your Lungs Give Out

2009-01-23T20:32:00.000+11:00

Blair's got some loose ends to tie up, and I suppose, being in the same circle of friends, do the same. OK BLAIR I'M SORRY ABOUT THE TITLE HEHEHEHEH I WONDER WHERE THAT CAME FROM

Dedicating this blog post - and the new school year- to people below.

Andrew: Calm down. Breathe in, breathe out. Whatever you're stressing over, just know we're there for you... if you stop and listen, you might be able to hear some advice coming from the other line.

Blair: Thanks for just being there- your support would make anyone feel more confident. We've both been through dire straits last year- hope that you'll feel stronger inside too. I have a lot to learn from your fair judgement.

Bob: Lighten up- there's a high chance you don't have MCH next year, though I encourage you to become inspired and reach a big hairy audacious gHAHAHA DISREGARD THAT I SUCK COCKS. Smile, and know you can be simply amazing.

Bryan: You are truly awe-inspiring. Be bold, and don't let the little things in life drag you down.

Bahaven: Your initiative and leadership is inspiring. Keep up the great work, and it's been great sharing classes with you. When's next parade?

Catherine: DO keep your hopes up. It's a beautiful day, and don't let school show the worst in you. Have a chat sometime?

Denise: Good luck with programming, Informatics and AMus next year. Be confident in life, and smile- we're there for you.

Dennis: The practicality and team player in you gives anyone you know a good reality check. Looking forward to knowing you better and working with you on SLP.

Evan: Your mischievous smile just makes anyone LOL. I need to stalk you more. Still need to get to know you better.

Evgeny: Passions are passions, just don't let computing own your life. Or I think I don't know you well enough. It's been great ending up in all your classes (bar roll) last year, and learnt a lot from your calmness in tough situations. Best of wishes for your academic pursuits.

Gerald: It's been hard keeping up with such a dynamic person as you are, but I hope I can listen to how you feel and help out in times when you need it.

Ivan: It's been great knowing you as a friend, so please, let's just forget this, OK? Use that bloody sane judgement of yours. To be blatantly honest with you, with all due respect- calm down, let go of emotions and go make a stand. I hope that we can get over this and go back to being plain stooges (if you may) again.

Jason: I'm sorry if I've put you through any slack, and I've learnt from you that sometimes one or two words can go too far. You're great to confide in and I hope I can be of assistance when you need it most. Although I advise you to steer clear of sugar sticks.

Jeffery: It's been great having you as a friend- and being in the same class for three years is a great coincidence and excuse in knowing you better. There's a more interesting and dynamic mind behind all those memes you know. You have increased my vocabulary by godknows how many memes and quotes. Stay happy, and hope I can help when you need it.

Jie: I've completely misunderstood you as a person. Go share that all-rounded spirit around you. Your haxx is beginning to show.

Jinghang: LOLOLOLOLOLOL... keep it that way. Lot to learn from your cheerfulness, but you're brilliant when you're damn serious. Best of luck with where you're heading, and hope your personality and passion for music- and gaming- go with you.

Joey: Keep writing. Your flair, style and sarcasm makes the most awkward of situations slightly light-hearted.

Joshua: 2008 was a great year in knowing you as a person, and I'm sorry for the misunderstandings in the past 3 years. You're a great person, just frequently misunderstood. I admire your rock-solid beliefs and unmovable ground. Best wishes for your pursuits in music, and hope you keep your vibrant personality and the spirit of just being you.

Peggy: Your indifference and sassiness are dumbfounding. Keep writing- we love your style.

Richard: You've got to be one of the most level-minded people I've met... when you're not bottling and brewing feelings up. Just let out your steam carefully and regularly. Don't tell your mother I'm encouraging you to swear. Had fun at Guangzhou?

Rosanna: There's a lot to learn in your calm and collected manner. Looking forward to sharing the RYPEN experience with you.

Tony: I LOL in your deadpan face cos there's a smiling soul in there. SLP- let's do this thing!

Dedicating the new school year to Mr Wearne, a deputy principal with a passion. We'll miss you- best wishes for your journey ahead.

Holidays: Day 30

2009-01-20T22:26:00.000+11:00

"This decision by teachers is sensible and appropriate and will allow the school year to start without interruption... whether it's your child's first day of kindergarten or first day of high school, a teacher will now be there ready to start the next phase of their education."
— Premier Nathan Rees

The NSWTF is located at 23-33 Mary Street, Surry Hills.

No, I am NOT going to watch the US Inauguration at 3:00am in the morning.

Dedicating this post to VK. Good luck with the move.

Play Me, I'm Yours

2009-01-18T22:33:00.000+11:00

As reported on The Big Box...

Wynyard Interchange. 4 hours. Crowds, old friends and children.

Anime/Jap Mania
To Zanarkand (FFX)- Nobuo Uematsu
Life is Like a Boat (Bleach)- Rie Fu
Always With Me (いつも何度でも, Itsumo Nandodemo), Spirited Away- Yumi Kimura
Butterfly- smile.dk

Hits
Every Time We Touch- Cascada
Hallelujah- Leonard Cohen
Phantom Of the Opera- ALW
- Phantom Of the Opera
- Think of Me
- The Music of the Night
Heart and Soul- Hoagy Carmichael
Can You Feel The Love Tonight? (The Lion King)- Elton John
Bohemian Rhapsody- Queen
Fairy Tale- Guang Liang (童話- 光良)

Classical/Romantic
Book 2, Praeludium and Fuga
XIII- Johann Sebastian Bach
Moonlight Sonata, 3rd mvmt- Ludwig van Beethoven
Au Claire de Lune- Claude Debussy
Delphic Dancers, from Preludes I- Claude Debussy
Canon in D- Johann Pachelbel
The Four Swans, Swan Lake- Peter Tchaikovsky
April: Snowdrop, The Seasons- Peter Tchaikovsky
Gaudeamus Igitur- Medieval Students' Song

Contemporary
Through the Kaleidoscope- Steven Cravis
Elite Syncopations- Mary Mageau
Wizards in Winter- Trans-Siberian Orchestra

And now for something completely different
Never Gonna Give You Up- Rick Astley
Wedding March

most interesting outing evar.

Dedicating this post to Grace and Patrick. Nice meeting you guys. (yaydeviants!)

"SILENT YOU MORTAL, FELL MY WRASTH" [sic]

2009-01-16T22:37:00.000+11:00

Sunny says (9:50 PM):
okay... the typos just ruined the effect.
i'm so ashamed of you.

“The pen(nospace)is mightier than the sword.”

http://faculty.winthrop.edu/kosterj/WRIT465/samples/typos.htm

Dedicating this post to Alice, who is still on for some reason.
Good night.

"I sing Phantom of the Opera in the A block to scare/amuse the ex-year-8s"

2009-01-16T19:03:00.000+11:00

An obligatory blog post to satisfy the masses.

We love hobo-singing. We're even planning on hobo-singing in the City. http://streetpianos.com

(Blair and I hobo-singing "The Phantom of the Opera" near A-Block)
Blair+Moby: (walking down stairs) "The PHAAAAAAAANTOM OF THE OPERA IS THERE..."
(gets to bottom of stairs)
CPL Kou: "So it's YOU two."
Blair+Moby: O_O ohcrapwejustembarassedthecrapoutofourselves. much. ^_^ *slinks away*

(walking down C-Block to A-Block bridge)
Blair+Moby: IT'S A LOVELY DAY TODAY SO WHATEVER YOU'VE GOT TO DO...
(Year 8 girls stifle laughter)

(Blair's disappeared somewhere)
Moby: 'Xcuse me, have you seen the other singing guy?
Person: Er... nope.
(good god. i think we've developed a reputation.)

(walking up A-Block to C-Block bridge)
Blair+Moby: THE SUN HAS GOT HIS HAT ON HIP HIP...
Blair: OMG History staffroom!
Blair+Moby: ...hip hooray, the sun has got his hat on...
(passes)
Blair+Moby ...AND HE'S COMING OUT TO PLAY.

(walking randomly.)
Blair: There are so many people from Summer Hill! ^_^ Like one in five?
Moby: I'd say... one in four?
Blair: Seriously?
(Moby runs up to four Year 8 girls sitting outside seminar room)
Moby: 'Xcuse us, but do any of you come from Summer Hill?
Year 8 Girl: *raises hand*
Blair: *OMG IS THIS RIGGED!?!?!??*

(walking randomly again.)
Blair+Moby: SO WHATEVER YOU'VE GOT TO DO I HOPE THAT IT CAN BE DONE BY TWO
(runs into Mr. Goggin near Photo Lab, who hears us singing loudly)
Blair+Moby: ...errr... hi sir~ ^_^

Speaking of Blair:

115 Deviations
37 Scraps [browse]
462 Deviation Comments
112 Deviant Comments
1 News Comment
1,651 Pageviews

Happy 3rd dA anniversary.

Phans on Facebook. All I ask of you: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2209567991
Funny, I still need to rent the movie. *gets shot by proper POtO phans*
This post is mostly a direct copy-paste from forum and dedicated to Julia [~tiannangel], whose plates are unfortunately owning her voice.

This is a filler post

2009-01-15T10:19:00.000+11:00

Sorry. Terribly busy, so filling in with a random blog post.

Getting work experience with the ABC includes an application form. Waiting for that to come through email.

Practicing piano for the planned Sunday performance in the City, where we all go hobo-singing and playing random songs.

That's it for now. Stuff from the Red Centre will be posted up as soon as I get a break.

Dedicating this short post to the IPT and SDD crowd.

Holidays: Day 19

2009-01-06T23:06:00.000+11:00

A happy (belated) new year to you all.

Stay tuned in the next week or two for photos, historical rants and funny quotes from the Travel Seekers 2008-09 Christmas tour.

"Kangaroos have this amazing ability to choose whether they fall pregnant, and if they do, whether the joey is male or female. If God gave us Chinese this ability we'd be done for."
—Michael, tour guide

Moby's January To-do:

(Attempt to) get work experience at the ABC
Plan holiday activities for little kiddies
Get SLP started, although half our team members are missing
Start on SDD game project- watch this blog for screenshots in the next month
Buy a Benjamin stool from IKEA and learn to decoupage.

Fun with Mozilla Ubiquity

I downloaded Ubiquity, a CLI mashup interface for Firefox, and found it quite useful for referring to Wikipedia, the weather or even send page content to someone. A feature that fascinated me was dynamic translating when you selected text and told Ubiquity to translate it for you. The translation replaces the text you select. So...

While someone's away, select the body text of the page they're on, do a Ctrl-Space, then...

trans <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oHg5SJYRHA0&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oHg5SJYRHA0&hl=en&fs=1"
type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

OK, I know it's old, but who knows? It's one of those memes that goes "bizzarely mainstream" (http://www.xkcd.com/524/)

Dedicating this post to Jeffery- hope your tenosynvitis gets better- and Junho- godspeed your recovery.

and now for a generic season's greeting

2009-01-01T23:59:00.000+11:00

Happy new year.

May the record please note that it is now 11:59PM on New Years Day, making the greeting technically valid.

Dedicating this post to the pyrotechnic guys. You peeps are awesome.

Flipping SAVED!

2008-12-21T10:49:00.000+11:00

Thanks to all 2810 petitioners for the saveSSTS campaign! Your efforts, along with others in the state, have reversed Mr Rees' decision for the $90 transport fare for student transport.

Looky: http://tinyurl.com/sstsback

Thanks Dennis for the early morning tip-off on forum! Appreciated ^_^

And most of all, thanks to the students, parents and teachers who supported the ongoing campaigns running around the state!

Dedicating this post to the rest of the saveSSTS team-

Ryde Secondary College
-Aaron Seeto
-Angela Chan
-Kelvin Chen
James Ruse Agricultural High School
-Richard Yuen
North Sydney Girls High School
-Julia Guan
-Elaine Zhong
-Thanks also to Alice and Sunny for tagging along~

Thanks for being so dedicated in planning the campaign! It's been nice working with you guys!

~Andrew Chin (Ruse)

Holidays: Day 1

2008-12-19T19:03:00.000+11:00

"We're going to Bonnie Doon,
We're going to Bonnie Doon,
We're going to Bonnie Doon,
We're going to Bonnie Doon.

We're going to Bonnie Doon..."

The Castle was a rather interesting film, but the swearing made it... erm... typical. It's about a large family with grown-up kids who struggle to keep their house being redeveloped by the airport next door (literally. Their house is situated at the end of a runway.) The first 30 minutes may seem tedious to plot-lovers, but all in all it's intersting to see the protagonist do stuff.

Nineteen Eighty-Four involved 10 minutes worth of full frontal nudity, a graphic representation of a sex scene and a FALCON PUNCH, as well as ridiculous compound words and a guy who has a funny moustache.

"BB. BB. BB. BB. BB. BB."

"Anyone under 45 is perfectly capable of touching his toes. I'm 39 and I've had 4 children."

Speaking of multiple children...

"For goodness sake Jimbob, get a hobby."
—Ron Wilson, Ten News at Five, on the guy with 18 children

Today was basically a day of stoning around home, doing piano, cleaning up, and posting my report on the wall. It'll serve as a constant reminder for me to do better next year- I mean, getting near-last for almost every subject isn't that glamourous, isn't it?

Will be at Alice Springs for the Christmas holidays, so will return with photos and a long post on January the 2nd.

But for now, wishing you all a Merry Christmas (without consumerism) and a Happy New Year.

Dedicating this post to all ye globe trotters: Gerald, who will probably have a great time in London and France; Amelia, who's visiting family overseas; and Ms Russell, who I hope has a great time going round the world.
Bon voyage.

Experiments in Censorship

2008-12-17T22:13:00.000+11:00

Look at me! I’m bashing my head on the keyboard!!!

54rtfg56zxc 7m,. /.>:”>:”>:”>:”>:”>:”>:”67uyh67uyh67uyh67uyh67uyh67uyh67uyh67uyhhhhhh67yrtfgvjhn5rtf xtfgcv

We're bludging sport trials. We see no point, if we're not trying out for competition sport, to sit at the Canteen and bludge. So here we are, in the library, with Blair doing IPT while I'm doing SDD. And while everyone else is looking in, with copies of PC User and Who in their hands.

(rips off Blair's word document)

Other people are starting to get involved!

Evan: JASON SHUT UP. Enough said.
Moby: I have just lost the game. 30 minutes on the clock.

The previous two lines were typed by Evan and Moby respectively. Oh joy! This is collaborative live blogging. Oh, look, I seem to be on my second page in Microsoft Word.

Isn’t that just absolutely (©핾뼵홮홮2008 cGroup et al) awesome?
Hey look, I can make Jason say stuff. I am gay. Hahaha. I eat bricks.

Jason has once again demonstrated that he is under complete control by reading exactly what was typed. His mouth, anyway.

Moby(Jason's saying this as I type): F— ME!!! F— ME!!

Moby, was that entirely necessary?

Oh look, I am just totally sexy. Oh god… Jason read that… Without using past tense on “read”. How very non-grammatical. Is that non-grammatical? Screw the grammar. JASON SHUT UP DAMN IT.

Gerald has a mo, apparently. A what? A moustache.

Bryan, Gerald, and Evan are doing various things - involving touching each other – to my left. Evan adds, “dude, they’re touching my hair!”

Moby: (why is Jason repeating what I'm typing?) I eat bricks! I eat bricks!!! Pineapple jelly! Peanut butter jelly time! I am an hero.

Moby, I love you too, but uh… no. By the way, are we still playing that drama game?

Moby: “Honey, I love you.” XD

Bryan wants to play space jump. While he does whatever he needs to convince the other guys to play space jump, I will explain what space jump is.

Blair attempts to send the above text to his email. And guess what? A big MAIL DELIVERY FAIL comes into his inbox, saying his email contained "obscene language". Is it just me or do the DET scan attachments too?

Blair sends the following emails:
1. "See if you can censor this. A bitch is a female dog."
2. *attaches file called stuff.doc.txt.zip.exe.rar.mp3... or the like*

Surprisingly:
Email 1 was censored for the word *bitch*.
Email 2 passed through fine, although if we used an EXE and sent it off it would most probably have bounced back at us. (Personal experience tells me not to send my Visual Basic projects as compiled EXEs.)
Emails with words, or lack thereof, including "b.i.t.c.h", "69" and "Bravo India Tango Charlie Hotel" got through.

We traced the bouncer email address and found out that Telstra was responsible in some way.

What is wrong with the DET?

In 2003, misuse of the computer system incurred a fine of $50 (written by an "R Keith, Technology Chairperson")

The list of disabled network accounts have been updated. They stretch back to last year and are for the world to see. There are the most ridiculous reasons for banning someone from the network, such as "Inappropriate use", "Punching computer" and "Refer Mr W—". We remember the "Refer Mr W—" one- apparently the guy was banned for unplugging a mouse from the next computer and plugging it to his own, because his one didn't work.

What constitutes "Inappropriate Use"? The fact that a person who spams the school network with obscene messages and a person who unplugs a mouse get the same punishment- a 4 week ban- shows that the network and its policies are incompetent at keeping hackers, crackers and gamers from exploiting the network.

Through the holidays, I will consider working with some Forum people in creating and proposing a new network policy that reduces ambiguity in reasons for banning, as well as creating suitable penalties. I mean people who do Software Design who get banned are screwed, aren't they? We will also address the issue of portable applications, disk space and the hated "burgundy screen" interface.

Our intranet is a mess, and it's up to Mr Woo and his IPT students to design a better one. They might be good enough to deploy~

Dedicating this post to Don, the Jones house captain. Great encouragement, appreciated.

SDD Log: 15 December

2008-12-15T21:20:00.000+11:00

15 December 2008- Inspired by the game Innocent Life- A Futuristic Harvest Moon, I thought of an educational game/interface that integrates with the junior Agriculture syllabus. Let’s not call it a game, but rather an educational interface.

Points to note:

Year 9 are starting Crayfish as their topic of study 2009 onwards, replacing the current Aquaculture unit 9.3.
Game must parallel the Junior Agriculture course, ie. Year 7, 8 and 9.
Game will include programs of all agriculture units and points of reference.
Game will include quiz and questions relevant to units currently being studied, as well as assignments that are issued.
A Practical simulator would be nice. Links of interest are good too.
Sideshow games, such as Poultry Squad, Crosswords, etc would be good.

Stuff to do before getting hands dirty:

Gantt Chart.
IPO Chart.
Build a solution package.

Week 9

2008-12-12T22:17:00.000+11:00

Thanks to the wet weather Wet 'n' Wild day was postponed. Ah well.

The end of a year means a lot of movies during periods to fill up time:

The Dish during English...

"You bullshited NASA! Good man!"

The Kite Runner during Commerce...

"Why did he kill his wife?"
"Because he would cry and his tears would turn into pearls."
"But why didn't he smell an onion?"

Blackadder [~ goes forth] [~ back and forth].

"Well well, if it isn't Captain Slackbladder..."
—Blackadder Goes Forth

*kicks Shakespeare*
"and THAT's every schoolboy and schoolgirl in England for the next four hundred years!"
—Blackadder: Back and Forth

And a lot of parties too- both Language classes ran their own festivities, with the French people going out to Pyrmont for something a little different.

Compared to 9T, our ag barbeque was comparatively unorganised. I mean, the other class had around 70 sausages between 24 people! The rest of the week was spent harvesting potatoes, taking out the squash (squash plants hurt with all those spikes) and hurling seed potatoes towards the barbeque shelter.

Try and guess how many times we watched Ten Things I Hate About You.

~~~

GDI++ is a graphics renderer, and whips Cleartype in the ass. I'm running it as a startup process. Works perfectly fine. It's a seperate application, and sadly it's no longer being maintained.
Try it: [link]

Dedicating this post to Jenny. Happy birthday.

Com.

2008-12-12T00:18:00.000+11:00

May the record please note that I fell asleep at my desk from trying to understand the terms in our Commerce assignment, which two or three groups have finished and Cat insists no-one had bothered to do.

*keeps on reading stuff about "break-even point"*

Dedicating this post to the people at Annual. Have fun at WETTS.

To-do

2008-12-11T20:30:00.000+11:00

It's a week from the holidays, and I've got a stuffed to-do list.

Remind me to:

Start my SLP service project.
Start thinking about work experience.
Start my SDD gaming project.
Start saving up for UNSW workshop.
Start planning how to get to RYPEN.
Start cleaning my desk free of... stuff.

Learn to swim.
Learn to organise.
Learn to appreciate and be grateful.
Learn to understand people.
Learn to love.

Why am I doing this? I should be doing Commerce right now. *ninjavanish*

Dedicating this post to Gerald [w]. Hope you have a great time in Paris.

From Outside the DET

2008-12-09T20:33:00.000+11:00

"S-TS-T15-XP-175," types Gerald into Notepad.
"I'll check at Task Manager under Users," I reply.

*nevergonnagiveyouup*

"Everybody get in. In in in in in." A teacher ushered us into the classroom, and some stragglers returned inside. It was 3:03, two minutes before the bell would go for the end of double SDD, and I was wondering what was going on. Important message about what BoS mandatory session was going on tomorrow? Good news? Bad news?

Our SDD teacher stared in bewilderment at this intrusion.

Next thing I remember is that someone owns up to sending obscene messages addressed to the whole school network, but he refuses to name who else was responsible.
"Why?" asks the teacher.
"Because it's not worth it," he replied sheepishly.
"Not worth it!? Some great friends you have, -------."

Then the wait, as the incoming teacher taunts the class on "someone not having the guts to own up". A small crowd of tech experts- the Intranet administrator, the Technology administrator and the IPT teacher were all standing in a circle, quietly deliberating. We had never seen the IPT teacher with such a straight face before- compared to his usual cheeriness, this seemed deadly.

She stands up and addresses the class, awkwardly slopped onto their seats. "No-one's going until someone owns up." She straightens up. "We've got all afternoon."

*nevergonnaletyoudown*

NET SEND * message here, when typed into a unrestricted command prompt, sends a pop-up message to the whole network's computers.

The culprit said "everyone here wasn't involved" and pointed at a whole table. They were all dismissed without delay. I have my hunches over whether it was true, because it was filled with people he knew. It was the cool crowd.

Our side of the room was filled with people that have been minding their own business- trying to get to games sites for our SDD project, desperately clawing at the screen at seeing that GMail was blocked... and all *our* names were recorded for later investigation.

How could they trust the guy on who *might* have done the crime with his body squirming, defiant attitude and sheepish talk? How could they dimiss a whole table with people who actually *knew* what was going on?

*nevergonnarunaroundand*

I was once framed in Year 8 for a keylogging affair that involved the replacement of all school computers. I had little or no technical skill except connecting connections and making web pages. A friend and I were investigating the affair ourselves and found the files. We were about to report it when our Year Adviser turns up and demands questions and a full statement.

Earlier this year I managed to persuade myself to tell the tech admins that I found the administrator password dumped onto a file on the school Intranet. I was bagged and called a "pink hat" by some people after that. "How could you?" jeered people from other classes.

I take anyone questioning my integrity as an insult.

I've been bloody mad about it and I've ranted a lot on the bus. And I'm really angry since I'm involved, directly or indirectly, to these intranet events where I'm there at the wrong time and at the wrong place. But when I decided to write the issue down I realised that the issue was more complicated than I thought- and let out all the energy in my rage to some reasonable thinking.

*desertyou*

Begin Ethics Rant.

Dealing with context
Say you were walking along, find a piece of rubbish on the ground and throw it into a bin.
What reasons/motives would you have?
In SLP we learnt the three positions, and here I'm adapting them:

1. What's in it for me?- self-centred judgement
2. What will happen to the other people?-
3. Dealing with the matter as is- impartial judgement

Throwing rubbish into a bin
1. You are helping *your* environment.
2. You are helping your environment, *which is shared by other people.*
3. You are helping *the* environment.

So what about this case of someone standing up for their own actions but not telling anything about syndicates?

You abuse a resource, then take responsibility without naming (known) syndicates
1. You get over your *own* conscience
2. You ensure you get over your conscience *and make sure no-one else gets hurt*. You are helping someone indirectly by keeping silent.
3: To ensure people not directly involved or targeted are freed.

Dealing with the Problem
Although it reduces time and effort in the short term trying to find the criminal, no-one should be freed or assumed innocent simply from one comment from the suspect. That isn't the way to dealing things impersonally. Practically, this reduces time and effort afterwards in narrowing the search for the suspect.

If a person does not own up the consequences are increasingly worse. I think that's obvious.

Let's have a matrix:

If a person tells all about the incident and syndicates:
1. You get off your conscience completely, road to recovery
2. Socially just for the good of society
3. Justice is served

If a person says he is responsible but his known syndicates aren't:
1. Your conscience feels better, and as a bonus you know your friends won't get hurt.
2. 3. Obstructing the course of justice, directly or indirectly harming people. Justice is served... for you, that is.

If a person says nothing at all...
1. 2. 3. You and your friends get nowhere.

The teacher concerned says teachers have a right to question students. You have the ability to remain silent, present the truth or lie. You have the right to present the truth at any time. You have the right to remain silent if you even *attempt* to say anything, but not when you've said nothing beforehand. Lying is obstructing justice taking its course.

When you tell the truth or offer to tell the truth, half of the issue is over.

End Rant.

I'm not mad at the concerned teacher's attitude as she addressed the issue- by doing lockdown and start interrogating people. I'm not mad at the person responsible- the network was annoying anyway. But getting 8 student records at stake and possible social endangerment is what I'm really concerned about.

_____. You black hat.

*insertlyricshere*

Dedicating this post to those who escaped Presentation Night. Remember- Presentation Night is when you can celebrate each other's achievements, not bask in yours and leave. Sickening.

From Inside the DET

2008-12-09T14:45:00.000+11:00

I'm making a blog post from inside the DET network. ^_^
As in sending an email to the blog. Very neat feature.

Consider the following:

Make a private blog with your Google/Blogger Account. Set it so only you can access it.
Go to Settings>Email>Mail-to-Blogger address, and enter something like "homework" so it ends up, for example, mobydesu.homework@blogger.com

I'm technically not accessing this from the school so am not breaking any DET regulations. Could someone please verify...?

I find the idea of the DET using GMail for their interface very amusing... and very useful.

Dedicating this post to the Department of Premier and Cabinet, who haven't replied to our petition yet. >_>

  This message is intended for the addressee named and may contain privileged information or confidential information or both. If you are not the intended recipient please delete it and notify the sender.

Stagefright, Awards and Cadets

2008-12-08T16:44:00.000+11:00

Congratulations to Amelia, who passed 8th Grade piano with flying colours!
Knew you could do it ^_^

***sage'd***

I walk up onto the stage, halfway between ecstatic and nervous... and tripped over the stairs, falling on my knees. The stage wobbled under me. As part of the Stage Management crew (nicknamed "Stage Monkeys") I thought it was shoddy workmanship on my part. I walk up to Mr Quinlan at centre stage, exchanged a firm handshake and received the certificate for High Distinction for UNSW Computing. Wonderful.
As I walk back down the stairs I was too busy looking at someone out in the crowd- and fall over on the stairs again, landing on my palms, while Jess tripped over behind me.

I really need to fix those wobbly braces on the stage.

***desu***

I sit in assembly, as I hear the senior prefect droning on about some people getting Distinction awards. I could only stare, half-bored, as the people walked onto the stage, completely expressionless. Compared to my nervous attitude in Year 8 the recipients were completely composed. We all clap mechanically, save a few enthusiastic Year 10s seated behind me, cheering on a friend.

***desu***

Our school has an awards system that involves getting stamps to get an award, encouraging all-roundedness and active participation in school life, as well as academic excellence. Our school's cadet unit is one of these avenues of participation, encouraging a bandwagon of Year 7s and 8s that join simply to achieve that stamp, and act completely nonchalant during lessons and drill. I'm being honest when I say that I joined the Unit simply to train my discipline, and I'm achieving what I aimed for so far.
So it's no wonder I'm peeved at seeing certain cadets get promoted on the grounds of NCOs and other rank knowing them personally. I'm happy to see that some people, who truly have great leadership skills, achieve ranks earlier than some. But some Year 11 and 12 cadets who haven't achieved rank are "fast-tracked"- they turn up at Passing Out Parade as Lance Corporals simply to make the Unit look better in front of the distinguished guests. I mean, half of them have never been seen for Parade before.

Some people join extra-curricular activities not because they enjoy it, but simply because they want recognition, for an award they spent a whole year to achieve. The morale of these extra-curricular groups is at stake. Instead of getting students to be strongly outgoing and extra-curricular, why not recognise that everyone is talented in some way? Or is Ruse passing out so many awards people don't remember that?

What do you think?

I'm sorry if it seems I'm ranting, but that's the way I see things.
And for those people who think I'm jigging cadets because I'm not attending Annual, I have more important stuff at hand at the moment. I'll hand in a minute, I promise.

Best wishes to the Cadet Unit who are going to the Bogong High Plains. Hope you enjoy Latchford Barracks as much as I did ^_^

The Apple Store

2008-12-07T01:11:00.000+11:00

Two years ago 77 King Street was home to a busy Westpac Branch in a seedy 70s building.

The Apple Store, in all its glassy goodness, is located on the corner of King and George street, looking quite glamourous compared to its neighbours- a chocolate shop, an insurance building and Commonwealth Bank- who share the busy intersection.

By the way, Rebel Sports is located in the basement.

For every Macbook shown on the ground floor, there is an iPhone attached to it. The 22" iMac was a sight in itself- and playing around with the Webcam and Photo Booth was quite fun. A couple were Youtubing next to us, watching random COD videos.

If you can get over the glass and lighting effects in the staircase (which is a marvel in itself) you'll be led to a floor full of iPods, and a Genius bar on the top floor. Genii chat as they pass through corridors. One Genius was absent-minded enough to bump into the wall-the doors blended into the wall and you wouldn't be able to see them from a distance.

For every visit, there is cheery customer service. Although today all the Genii, who were dressed in red for the festive season, were too busy to go around.

For every iPod, there are a pair of headphones and a stack of pre-loaded songs. Proves that try-before-you-buy is quite exciting. I finally mastered the skill of using the scroll wheel and the iPod interface- a step forward for a would-be Apple convert.

For every kids computer with games on it, there are squishy chairs and a little kid playing it.
A bludging Genius was on the other one, busily going through levels of Lego Star Wars.

The giant white apple hangs from the top of the building, and if you look towards Town Hall from the top floor, the McDonalds' sign next door haunts your view of Centrepoint and the tops of a few buildings.

We left the store half an hour later than I expected to go in for ("See ya soon, have a good one" said the store greeter cheerfully) I chuckled at the For Sale flyer attached to the glass pane of the bus shelter outside the store:

Also, for the record- the new City shuttle service- the 555- runs frequently between Central and Circular Quay, as well as Elizabeth Street. It's free! =D

And on the way back, at Town Hall...

The notification system on that screen is actually a Java app. Hmm...

Dedicating this post to Gerald, a ~~bandwagoning?~~ fan of Apple products.

Week 8

2008-12-05T21:35:00.000+11:00

Stuff Happens
Firstly- SD exams are finally over ^^ Thank you Ms Chen for your dedication in marking all our exams in close to record time. Greatly appreciated! I'm sure two-thirds of our class will be looking forward to the detention session...

Best wishes to the JRAHSCU for Annual Camp in the Bogong High Plains. Remember to bring your packs for inspection on Monday!

Please do not spam the shoutbox or fill it with swears.

Tidbits

In Upendi
Where the passionfruit grows sweet
And it's so divine
That you lose your mind
As it sweeps you off your feet
In Upendi
Without a worry or a care
It just takes two
To make it true
Your heart will lead you there
—The Lion King 2

Blair, Evan and I were hobo-singing during Basketball Open team trials XD We Rickrolled the Year 10s, who were quite peeved and gave us weird looks...

Oh yes, and I have just lost the game.

Also, superglue and baking soda = haxx.

Dedicating this post to Evan, who'll have to wait in turn for this Upendi and all that jazz.

On typing Chinese

2008-12-05T00:02:00.000+11:00

I'm sorry if is a complete pain for you Rusian followers out there. Regular (English) posts resume tomorrow. XD

~~~

我平時會畫公仔，諗到就會畫低係張紙到。學校通信，收據，連我啲書本都有時會有我嘅筆跡，畫出無聊同攪笑嘅情況。連洗碗都唔正經。

有一日我搵張廢紙嚟寫notes，喺後邊見到一行行嘅中文字...

今年四月放復活節假，我得閒冇嘢做，就喺網上搵辦法打中文。之前我會用國語拼音嚟打字，但係我唔識睇簡體，搞到我時時都會執錯字粒。我中文水平都係嘛嘛地－到而家我到唔識寫字，但係多得我媽咪喺我細個嘅時候教我認字、識字。
有一日，Julia姨姨打畀我，話有個auntie想搵人幫佢打小說，話有外快賺。我好快應承。過兩日，個auntie嚟我哋鋪頭搵我。佢放低第一章畀我試吓，話如果唔掂都冇問題，佢會搵其他人做。我兩晚喺電腦面前打有七八頁手寫嘅notes，打到深夜一、兩點都未打完。
兩個禮拜後，又要返學啦。第四週要考試。夜晚我媽放工返嚟幫我執字，因為我已經喺前幾晚打到半睡半醒咁，唔打錯字先奇。到我正式要交貨畀人嘅時候，我已經學會打中文字，但係標點符號全部錯嗮！
我決定打埋第四章就唔做。我仲要考試架！我收到我賺到嘅外快，同埋多謝佢對我嘅信心，因為我從此識打繁體啦。

Dedicating this post to Angela, who is 3 hours behind Sydney at the moment.

On Authority, Power and being a Junior

2008-11-28T22:22:00.000+11:00

She pokes at non-existent buttons and cables under the table.
"I'm sorry," said the librarian. "I can't do that for you. The network's down."
I put down the textbook and look at her blankly. Mia's next, her novels in a small pile.
"Could we write our numbers and the book numbers down on a piece of paper...?"
"No, sorry, can't do that. I can do it for seniors- seniors? Yeah, come here..."

She produces a little orange card from behind the monitor, labelled "3 DAY LOANS". She quickly scribbled the names of the grinning seniors and their loans, who went away with their biology textbooks. I couldn't help but walk away from the counter, slightly peeved.

I have an SDD assessment on Tuesday, dammit.

**DESUDESUDESUDESUDESUDESU O_O**

When I'm transport prefect I'd allow juniors on first, I'd say to myself. As if, my dark side would tell me. You'll be a senior, and who wouldn't be hungry for power and authority?

We have Chinese community meetups on the weekend. Not so long ago we were introduced to the game StarPower. I managed to climb up to the triangles for the second round. (After brutal exploitation of my little brother who had little idea over the rules... muaha) We were in the position to make any rules for the third round of trading— "triangles may only trade within themselves..." "squares cannot change groups..." "triangles get their score halved..."

I was surprised when I heard sample subjects had to "kneel before triangles before trading", "hop on one leg while trading with other teams", and other insulting, exploiting rules. "It's only human," said the commentator, and I was inclined to agree.

**IMMA CHARGIN MAH LASER!!!**

On the issue of power and authority, I'm told the way I treat people changed when I became a forum administrator a month ago. One of my friends, who is in our class, and has been for the past 3 years, told me "I was turning really retarded".
I had fractured long-standing friendships with two or more people- one almost a twin, sharing the same quotes and reactions to things- and another a classmate who I liked. Everyone changed in some way or another during the year, and I was subject to accusations of turning people against both of them. And I was given the cold shoulder.

I'm in tears as I'm typing this. The fever doesn't help either.

You know who you are- I'm sorry about what has happened this year. I'm sorry if you see me as a hypocrite, a failure, a person who drives others "into a ditch". But I can't be sorry about me just being... me.

And through all this, thanks again to Blair [wp] for just being there. Your friends are lucky to know you. ^_^

In cadets, I was rejected from nominations to Singleton for the JNCO promotion courses. I felt really angry when I heard the news through a corporal. I was about to send a letter to the lieutenant, asking for "advice for how I can improve myself"- but I don't think I should be trying for JNCO and these positions of greater authority before I solve problems on my own turf.

**IT'S OVER 9000!!!**

Dedicating this post to Amelia. Please, don't fall asleep. You look cuter when you're not.

SLP: Lakemba

2008-11-27T16:27:00.000+11:00

Carlingford to Lakemba is about a 40 minute trip. Take Silverwater Road (6), past the Parramatta Rd intersection down to St Hilliers Road (6). Then it's onto Hume Highway (31), Roberts Road (3) and into The Boulevarde.

Lakemba's a swell place- a congregation of cultures. Walking towards the station from Haldon Street was interesting- here's a fresh fruit store run by Lebanese, and there's a Chinese fabric shop. A few doors down is a dry-cleaner run by Vietnamese. The only sight a city-person would recognise is Domino's up the road.

The SLP visit to Lakemba Mosque was highly informative. We were introduced to Ali, pharmacist by trade, the general manager of the Mosque. We did a lot of listening and asking questions. The visit took away most misconceptions about Islam, and how the media portrayed "extremist sects" of Islam ("we don't consider them as Islam at all," commented Ali). We learnt that Islam wasn't just a religion, but a way of life. Islam has regulations on human rights, society and its environment, which was quite logical. And apparently, in Islam, vegetarianism is discouraged.

A big thanks to Mr and Mrs Roude and those involved in the presentation at Rissalah College- we learnt a lot from all your personal experiences. The talk was inspiring, and gave us an insight on the challenges faced by Muslim immigrants in the past and present. Also best wishes to Mrs Roude and Adam for their safe journey to their pilgrimage at Mecca.

Run around the clock by Abrahim, Voice of Islam is a 24/7 community radio network that provides informative programs to the Muslim community. It's hard trying to fit 25 people into a studio. There was a sign flashing ON AIR- PLEASE BE QUIET, which I doubt we were. Hear it on 90.9FM or www.sydneyislamicradio.com

Kudos to Ms Wratten for organising a most interesting trip!

(I will not comment on a certain random embrace today except that it was heartwarming and greatly embarrassing.)

SLP

2008-11-21T20:12:00.000+11:00

Let's wrap up the SLP in one word: listening.

"Learning how to Shut up and Listen" we MUST have the shut-up-and-listen game with some of our friends some time. We pass an object around to determine who is the speaker. Constant grappling for the red wooden block and hogging the block for a full three minutes proved to be impractical, so we put it on the table and started admiring it before getting very off topic.

What's with Generation X? We've been told that there have been no significant heroes in that generation. Apparently the only way to make everybody happy in a team of mixed generations is to appeal to the sense of duty, loyalty and contribution that each of the generations have.

Elevator Pitch: it should take you the time for you to get to the nth floor to present your main purpose in a short and succinct manner.

Dubbed the "Penguin Lecture" (because of the flying penguin reference) one of the lecturers went so far as to embed "Yes We Can" into his presentation. Odd, but inspiring.

And now for some quotes and slip-ups:

"You should be SALUTING me!" (while role-playing a self-obsessed person)
"Yes we can!"
"One day the farmer laid a golden egg..."
"...you eat wrongly, and you take substances, and you eat incorrectly..."

And now to leave you with this quote from one of our lecturers:

“Come to the edge.”

“We can't. We're afraid.”

“Come to the edge.”

“We can't. We will fall!”

“Come to the edge.”

And they came.
And he pushed them.

And they flew!

-Apollinaire

Gawd you've got to love penguins.

Dedicating this post to Allan Chen, who probably had a good time shepherding the rest of the classes not doing SLP.

SLP: Day 2

2008-11-18T19:21:00.000+11:00

mixt has a bit more on the subject. [wp-link]

The dinner was wonderful- kudos to all the parents (and former Sports Captain) who were there ^_^
Ex-Ruse student Chris Nahm [f] spoke to us about leadership.

Leaving you with this quote:

"Being a leader isn't being the master of your ideals, but being a servant of your cause."

Short, short post dedicated to... er... Amy [dA] and her cat? [wp]

Simple Message 2

2008-11-14T23:17:00.000+11:00

From the same point of view from Blair, since this is somehow involved.

You know who you are.

You were once smiling, bubbly and flamboyant. Now you're being surprisingly rude.
You were once easy-going, likable and able to get along with. Now you're closing the door on us.
You were once accepting, open and fair. Now you're acting really horrible.

Please. Chill down.

Sir, I think I've forgotten my password.

2008-11-14T22:34:00.000+11:00

Gone are the days where we had to go up to the admin in the library to reset our passwords- only to find she's not there. Gone also is the excuse "I forgot my password."

Welcome to online help, online interfaces and a way to know discreetly whether you've been banned.

Here's some mock-ups of that system. Laugh if they'd build it though.

Whoop- almost forgot. Here's to Mr Woo and his pro web skills!

I put on my robe and wizard hat...

2008-11-14T21:17:00.000+11:00

The whole lecture theatre tried to smother its laughter.

Q63: I am active in my fantasy life.

Either it was a ridiculous question, or a somewhat personal one, or it hinted at a double entendre.
"This question is open to interpretation," explained Mr. Wong calmly.

This was the first day of the Student Leadership Program.

It might be a habit to dedicate posts, so this one is dedicated to the Customs Service, who is charging Jeffery's laser, and took it too. Who in their right mind needs a 300mW laser?

A Day In The Life...

2008-11-14T20:05:00.000+11:00

Did a psychological assessment for SLP.
Avoided a book mark.
Banned myself from forum until I fix my life.

This is the start of a new leaf... for the 9th time this year.

Well at least I started a blog. One commitment down, a few more to go.

Dedicating this blog to ~blair [wp|da]. He's made of awesome. Really.

2teens1blog

survivors2.

ithinkthereforeiMEME

anotherplaylist.

Oh Gawd,Textiles.

endofmay.

Facebook in SCHOOL! ^^

teamworktools.

landlady issues.

athletics.

*BIT-HBIT-HBIT-H*

quotablequotes.

clannad/sitrep.

HAPPY PI DAYY ! =D

piday.

survivors.

2am.

Eventually.

on advice.

confession.

dayinthelife.

paranoia meme.

*scream* age is after me ! ;__;

sorry.

Random linkdump.

hello there stranger!

Clean your CPU fan today!

Compact Calendar 2010

thank you.

random ag lesson.

bunny bunny bunny bunny (carrot, carrot)

sixteen.

one forty-two.

eww, i touched maths

never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

all messages lead to facebook

a lesson in density.

a term of firsts.

Dust Storms

bleh

The Wonders of Libraries

lulz.

Happy Pi Day.

eol.

library3.

library2.

library.

Fields of Menthol

anecdote.

teh internets.

smile.

Macbeth IRC

Tinned Sardines

the scottish play and other ramblings

I don't get it.

Homework Rap? How about no.

Just Keep Swimming/Rypen Red

Scream! Until Your Lungs Give Out

Holidays: Day 30

Play Me, I'm Yours

"SILENT YOU MORTAL, FELL MY WRASTH" [sic]

"I sing Phantom of the Opera in the A block to scare/amuse the ex-year-8s"

This is a filler post

Holidays: Day 19

and now for a generic season's greeting

Flipping SAVED!

Holidays: Day 1

Experiments in Censorship

SDD Log: 15 December

Week 9

Com.

To-do

From Outside the DET

From Inside the DET

Stagefright, Awards and Cadets

The Apple Store

Week 8

On typing Chinese

On Authority, Power and being a Junior

SLP: Lakemba

BIT-HBIT-HBIT-H

scream age is after me ! ;__;