Fireproof plan.

I haven't posted in a while. University has destroyed any time I have to spend blogging. Anyway, new post.

I live in an apartment and my fire alarm always goes off. It's always a false alarm but the fire stairs are always accessible. The question however, is why stairs? Thinking about it, stairs are not the most efficient nor effective way of escaping any building that could be on fire. Think about handicapped people, either on crutches or wheelchairs. Stairs would means that they are forever trapped in the burning building, when the lifts are not accessible to be used in the case of a fire.

A much better design would perhaps be ramps. You can run down them faster and if you do trip, you won't have to worry about cracking your skull open on the edge of a step. It also makes escaping a building easier for everyone. If the building is on fire, you won't be running up into the building so ramps are a good idea. Of course, things such as gradient would have to be taken into account so you're not descending like absailing down a cliff face.

I propose a safety change to all building complexes. Stairs are not the best way to escape out of a building in case of a fire and when the lifts can not be used.

I guess asking for a slide is going too far isn't it?

The ambiguous right to complain.

When I was in year 10, about to do my School Certificate, I remember telling the younger years that they don't have the right to complain about their workload since I 'obviously' have so much more to do. Except it doesn't stop there.

In year 11, I tell the year 10 students they have no right to complain about their workload and the School Certificate since I have so much more, in year 12, I tell the year 11s the exact same thing, and now I'm in uni, telling the year 12 students they have no right to complain about the HSC since uni 'obviously' requires more work and discipline.

So where did my right to complain come from? As well as my right to tell others they don't have the right to complain? I would be in the workforce in a few years time, telling anyone in school they have no right to complain because 'real life' is obviously harder.

Except I hope it stops there.

I can see you, but you can't see me.

Imagine a park with hundreds of people sitting down, perhaps having a nice picnic, or just taking a break from all the stress in their lives. Suddenly, music starts being played from the large building across the road to try and promote a more cheerful environment, people enjoying what they do. A person gets up and starts dancing to the music. Nobody gets up at first and it can be said that the person dancing is rebelling against the norm and not conforming to the rest of the group. The people sitting down are conforming to each other. However, a second person decides to get up and join the first, then a few more, and more. Soon, you have every person but one dancing to the music. The person sitting down is rebelling against the new norm and is not conforming.

The questions I propose in this scenario is: At what stage did conformity shift? When did the rebellious person become a leader of conformity?

I ask this because conformity itself is a very strange concept. There is no universal definition of what conformity is composed of and no standard of measurement to express when conformity occurs. So if there is no universal way of knowing what conformity is, how do we know we are conforming to anything at all? If a lawyer turned up in board shorts to a courthouse, we say he/she is not conforming to the traditions, but if all the lawyers turned up in board shorts to a courthouse, are they still not conforming to the traditions? Who established these traditions anyway? Well, humans did. So if we can establish traditions about conformity, can't we also change them?

Why do we need to change traditions? Well, Australia is a multi-cultural society and currently, we are in the debate of whether Middle-Eastern women should be allowed to wear those things that cover their entire faces and show no facial features apart from the eyes (Sorry, I don't know the proper name). So the argument is that they should be banned from wearing them in Australia (in the public) because it is quote: "un-Australian" and not part of the Australian culture. They are not conforming and accepting Australian "values". Well, that's all nice, but if women didn't wear them in the Middle-Eastern countries, then the Western people are not conforming to their culture. If every woman wore it in Australia, does it change the idea about conformity? Vice versa in the Middle-Eastern countries.

We say we need to accept other cultures and 'tolerate' them, yet we ask them to conform to the Australian way of life, dubbing everything that seems unusual "un-Australian". Perhaps we change our traditions and our perceptions to change how conformity is viewed.

A new educational approach.

Mathematics. Yes, the most dreaded subject when you were young and still dread to this day. Well, I like Maths, but maybe because I'm Asian and crazy like that.

I was pondering why people dislike Maths so much. I think it's because in education, we are not teaching students the abilities and skills needed to do the subject, but instead, the subject itself. For example, I see Drama and Performing Arts as a way of building confidence, being able to communicate more effectively with other people by the medium of speech. I see English as a way of building communication skills in writing, able to criticize and critically analyze information. I, therefore see Maths as a way of building logic and reasoning skills, able to think out processes. We shouldn't be teaching students that English is about essay writing, reading novels and then memorizing quotes to replicate in exam conditions. We, therefore, should not be applying the indication that Maths is about numbers, letters, formulas, graphs and all those other weird and wonderful, tacky things like calculus and binomials.

If we change the visual concept of Maths, and every other subject likewise, we would have a more effective education system, were students are learning about the processes, rather than the actual subject.

That paper is mine.

Only after starting my education degree have I realised how much effort, time and dedication is required to becoming a teacher and getting your hands on that degree. That certificate in the end. To say that I never really honestly appreciated the hard work my teachers went through before becoming a teacher and subsequently after becoming a teacher, is fair. All that time spend studying at university then coming out and applying everything they learned and spending all that time, energy and effort on us (students) is tough work. I have certainly felt it already, even in my first year.

This blog post is mainly to apologize to all the teachers I've had, especially substitute and casual teachers, for not respecting you at times and appreciating what you had to do prior to the lessons, before walking through that door. Thank you for all your support that you have given me and it certainly has shed a new light to the way I view teachers.

P.S. Education is really hard. Somebody help get my sanity back.

You are being watched with the excess in technology.

Are we living in "1984"?

Today, I have this creepy sensation that I am always being watched, and I probably am, by CCTV footage capturing my every move.

"Big Brother is watching you."

Definitely true.

I feel as though my privacy has been violated and disrespected as a citizen. My vote doesn't count. Why are we so obsessed with control? We all demand information, where we are, at what time, with who, where at, when and how we get there, when we leave and with who; all to our oblivion.

Sure it's helpful in catching scandals and solving crimes, but now I am uncomfortable of being in public. Miniluv, thoughtcrime and minitruth.

I must say, George Orwell and Aldous Huxley were both correct in their own perspectives. They have co-existed together.

Either get out or get out.

The NAPLAN test in Australia has been an issue of debate ever since it was introduced in 2008. The government uses them to gather information and publishing them into league tables.

The NAPLAN in my opinion does not accurately reflect schools' capabilities. During my immersion, the school I went to had students coming from poor countries and have not had any formal form of education. Therefore, the students would not be able to answer questions on literacy and numeracy, the areas targeted by the NAPLAN. It does not take into account the history of the child and the demographics of the schools.

The government is also forcing teachers to teach on the curriculum, ignoring equally important subjects like Drama, Music, Art and Sport. Each child needs a balance of cabbages and roses to function. When one outweighs the other, the child is left in a dark zone of ignorance. Ignorance is not bliss. Being ignorant is denying knowledge.

Let's have an education revolution that would actually work.

You are not prepared.

What is with all these Facebook groups and pages about women and females being in the kitchen? I am honestly fed up. I am a guy and I love to be cooking in the kitchen. Food is where I can express my creativity and think up new ideas. Occasionally I get burnt by the sizzling oil when it jumps out the wok or pan, but that is a small sacrifice compared to the number of times I have sliced off part of my finger. It's worth it. I can cook and I have no shame in revealing it. I must say that the top chefs in the world are male. The kitchen is a males' domain.

I simply ask for everyone and including Facebook to monitor the groups and pages being created and stop these stereotypical and what I find rather disturbingly offensive statements.

The glass barrier established between two people.

Detrimental consequences but of sentimental value.
Which one to withhold dearly; Which one to pursue?
A dilemma beyond the scope of our reason
To identify, follow; limits of human instinct.

Alas! called extending the arm of natures' grasp
Slip into the recesses of the devil's den,
Stumbling, stuttering, shaking sins
Deeds of the heart, actions of the mind.

What you believe in. What I don't.

Unprecedented
Unconditionalized
Unacknowledged
Underestimations.

Birth of such kinship hope
Death of a new blind eye.
Justly game is unwanted near
To change time unheartedly.

Doubt forgets the nothingness
Of schizophrenic discourses to man,
Losing the inches of breath
Save the beat of unity.

Guilt ridden hallucinations
Bloodshed of mental disease.
A virus attacking the very
Rationality and congruence of the mind.

Blame and war of hatred
Shedding names and pointing fingers.
Implosion of the land and waters,
Justice will have been served.

Teaching the world to grow.

One thing I can't stand is people criticizing  my choice to become a teacher. People constantly stigmatize me with their dogma on money, educating me on what I should do to make as money as possible. Choices of business investment, property investment, stocks, doctoring and so on. But I say, if you are not interested in any of those areas, how likely and how successful are you going to be to make money from it?

I want to become a teacher not because of the above average wages or the number of holidays you get. I want to be a teacher because of my philosophy on education. Only through education, can you teach, educate, inspire, motivate and aspire students to become better than the teacher is, to push the world further in technology and intellectual abilities, the reason why we are not in the stone age, or stigmatized by the religious dark ages.

Teachers propel students to be high achievers and make them see themselves for who they really are, only one of my aims. I want to make a difference in students, in the people of the future, who will lead the world when I retire. I want the people who will lead the world to be people better than I am, to be educated civilians where they will remember my name.

Teachers can and will make a difference in the world for the better. What difference in the world, or influence on people do investors have besides to make more money for themselves?

Either eat it or eat it up.

I don't understand how the mentality of certain individuals and groups work.

So it's considered animal cruelty if you kill a rat and eat it in the wild but it's definitely okay to be killing pigs, sheep, cows, kangaroos and crocodiles, and that's only a few.

Very strange if you ask me.

When has killing certain animals been good or bad? Who decides these things? Who says that killing this group of animals is perfectly fine, but this group is forbidden? I have had plenty of experiences eating strange and awkward animals in the past and I can say that how can you say it's bad when you haven't tried it? Have you ever tasted shark, whale, dog or snake? No, because Western people are too scared. Too fearful of the very stigma attached?

If you are talking about morals, when have your morals played a part when you bite into that juicy steak? The only people I am omitting from this critique on people saying that killing and eating certain animals are bad, are vegetarians and vegans. For every other carnivore out there, about time you thought about your own morals instead of dumping your flame war on us.

Throw the Apples at the Windows.

I have this analogy on the two brands Apple and Windows.

Apple has a logo which is an apple (surprise, surprise) that has a chunk or bite out of it. That's telling me that Apple never gives you the complete apple, always most of the apple and holding something back from you. I really want a whole apple, don't you? Let's take the iPad for example. It cannot multitask and it cannot load flash elements. Now, other companies are producing their own versions. I think Steve Jobs is really intelligent. I think they purposed left those two elements out and are waiting and anticipating the release of the iPad similar products, waiting for their critiques and then taking advantage of those critiques and putting them into their iPad 2.0 or something, along with the multitasking and flash player.

I have an iPod. Those squarish ones, 5th generation or something. Well, after a few months, the newer, slimmer ones came on the market. Those ones which the screens rotate when you rotate the iPod. I became quite detested of Apple after that once I looked at the logo. Never giving you the whole product, always part of it. I know I analysed this beyond necessary, but I think I make a good connection.

Also Windows. Well, we all know that windows can break. (Pun intended). Then you have to replace the windows. You get the picture.

A truth in question.

Before you make a testimony as a witness in a courtroom, you are told to tell the truth, the only truth and nothing but the truth.

Well, that begs for the question: What exactly is the truth?

I think truth is a personal interpretation. A statement is made in a neutral format and whether it is the truth or a lie depends completely upon the interpretation of the individual viewing upon that. Superstitions are the best example. 'It is bad luck to open an umbrella indoors'. That statement is neither true or false in it's original claim. It is only true for those that believes in it's truth and as false for those that believe it is so.

A statement will become the truth or a lie.

So in court, the truth is unknown. It is based on the interpretation by the jury and judge on the 'facts' presented, that we then make a conclusion. It is through this process that we make errors, sending innocent people behind bars and letting the genuinely guilty ones free.

But it begs for the statement in question:
"A truth is always the truth even if nobody believes it. A lie is always a lie even if everyone believes it."

Now what about you?

A sword and shield.

What happens when an immovable object meets and unstoppable force?

I will attempt to answer this question my way.

This question is first of all assuming that both an unstoppable force and an immovable object exists as ideas outside the physical realm.

By using the analogy of a solid wall as well as Newton's law of motions: "Every action as an opposite and equal reaction", "A force will either be still or continuous until another force acts upon it", I will attempt to address the dilemma.


A wall. When you push against it, you are applying a force against the wall, and the wall does not budge. In that case, there should be an opposite force acting against your force. However, once you let go, the wall does not push back, resulting in neutral force. So this in turn suggests that there is no opposite force acting against your force when you push against the wall, or if there is, what is it?

This would suggest that not every action has an opposite and equal reaction, simply the action or force is not great enough to break the solid compounds of the object.

In this case, when the unstoppable force hits the immovable object, the force will be stopped, resulting in a great explosion. A force can only be stopped if another force acts upon it and in this case, there is no opposing force acting against the unstoppable force, only the object which halters the force so in this case, since there is no force acting against it from the object, it must be stronger than the force acting on it. So the object will remain intact while the force will be ceased.

A legal loophole?

Okay, so we all know about copyright laws and how you may not distribute another artist(s) work or part of their work to the general public because it is under copyright and you cannot claim legal ownership. Even if you acknowledge the artist, you can still be breaking the law.

However, it has come to my attention that many shows, especially in Australia, use songs from another artist as they are entering a break. I don't see any reference to the song or artist anywhere and I wonder, do they have priority over the general public in terms of distributing music? Have they received consent from the record label companies? I find it quite absurd.

So is it a legal loophole or are they entitled to use the music or sections of it?

Debunking a cult.

I can tolerate religion. All religion. The only thing I cannot tolerate is Scientology. It's probably the only cult in the world which limits, restricts and completely tortures you in every way, emotionally, physically, psychologically, financially, socially and personally. I don't understand why people still choose to follow such a dogma of bigotry and incapacitation of your life. Freedom is restricted and they chase after you if you wish to escape. They will follow you and only allow you to go to certain doctors who are also Scientologists, visit certain countries while on holidays, and only stay at certain hotels. You can say they spy and follow you where ever you go since they have the money to do so as they are coming from the followers. That being said, that only happens if you HAVE enough money to go on holidays. Chances are, if you are a follower, you won't have any money left besides basic necessities.

I don't understand the sheep that follow and join the cult. Gullible? Naive? Uneducated? Yes, yes and yes again. This cult should be stopped. It teaches nothing of value. It teaches nothing related to morals, ethics, intelligence, knowledge etc. All it teaches you is how to be arrogant and tell lies. This is something we need to desperate educate the society so that no more people fall into the trap, so no more people commit suicide due to the church's actions.

Let the celebrities join the church, a group of idiots who believe almost anything they are told. But once again, the beliefs of the church are so irrational, illogical and absurd that only the most idiotic and uneducated people will believe.

But as for the rest of us, let us not choose torture. Let us choose freedom. Let us choose individuality. Choose creativity. Scientology is the modern and realistic Miniluv. Let us not live in a world where Big Brother is watching you. Let us not establish a system of Minitruth and the party. Instead, let us debunk the Church of Scientology.

Possessive Plural Proper Nouns.

So...that time of the year again where I am so alone. Some people may have friends there for them and they hang out for the day together, not officially dating which is perfectly acceptable as a Valentines. However, I have nobody. Not even a female friend there for me. Absolutely no one. I guess I'm used to that sort of thing now. Never had a date. Nothing. Oh well.

Anyway, I want to do a call out to everyone, Asian or not: Happy Chinese New Year! I hope you start off the new year with good prospects and fortune. I hope wealth flows into your life and fill you with joy.

P.S. Happy Valentines!

Extinction of Technology.

It isn't every single day that you get reminded about how old you are and when you were born. I'm only 18 years of age, right out of high school and I have already been reminded about how old fashioned I am.

So we had some relatives over and their child was about 9 years old. He was upset that he is missed one of his favourite shows by coming over. I told him that he could have video taped it in the VCR before he left. His response was "What's a VCR?"

You know, I'm not easily surprised, but this time I was in shock. Once again, technology is advancing so fast that the child of 9 did not know what a VCR is, let alone video taping. I guess today, you record everything on your Foxtel IQ or DVD recorder or something similar. I was flabbergasted. I didn't really know how to respond to that question.

I proceeded to talk the kid into a game of Scrabble. Looks like board games don't appeal to the younger audience anymore. Too bad I don't have X-Box or PS3s. I don't even have those GameBoys anymore. I failed into teaching him how to play. His vocab is obviously not as extensive as mine and let us just say that, well, he preferred something else. At this point I let him watch television while I proceeded to play a few games of online chess.

I don't know if I'm allowed to feel old. I feel that old technology becomes extinct once new ones are brought in and not really appreciate modern technology's ancestors, metaphorically speaking. Maybe one day, we see the death of tape recorders being replaced with ipods and iphones, radios replaced by mobiles, newspapers replaced by internet and mobile phones providing live feeds or even perhaps the death of using paper. No more paper, no more pens, no ink. A tablet with metallic and magnetic signals which can be detected and be applied to a transparent screen. It actually scares me, the idea.

I'm glad I have experienced part of history, part of the very essence in the birth of technology. A memory will be treasured.

The Cold War - Episode II

After going back and watching a "Rush Hour" marathon, I decided to ponder about a song in the first movie. The lyrics go thus: "War. What is it good for? Absolutely Nothing."

Well, I guess that's semi true. It helped abolish slavery and stopped Nazi Germany along with Fascism. Apart from that, it's just outright debunking money and wasting resources. The United States going into Iraq and Afghanistan, saying they are attempting to promote democracy is laughable. It is a paradox and irony in itself. The money spent on war is greater than the great $700 billion dollar bailout. I wonder what would have happened if that money on war was put to better use?

Blame President Bush. I nominate him for the Darwin Awards. One of the most illogically sensed human beings on the planet if not the most illogically sensed. He justifies his actions of war with "God told me to." Being an atheist and extreme skeptic, that sounds to me like either one flawed God (thou shalt not kill), or one very mentally retarded president. I would take either option.

I think our world today is attempting to resolve issues with war. Not just the United States but with every other war in history. It has resolved NOTHING. You gained more territory, more resources so what do you do with them? Spend them on upgrades to gain more territory and resources by attacking other lands. It has not resolved any conflict dispute. Every brutal, bloody war has resolved pretty much nothing. Some of the most brutal and bloodiest wars are all fought over religion because their Gods dispute with each other as to who owns what piece of land. Sounds like a great idea to me.

War needs to end. It is not a conflict dispute medium. War has no reasonable justification at all. There is no need to attack anyone. We talk about a greater future and I only see the future collapsing with war. If there were no wars, we wouldn't need defenses. We are only paranoid about other people attacking us. I guess that's why our world is doomed?

Heroine in pixel form.

Being able to watch one of your heroines and idols live on the internet is beyond mind blowing. Being able to send them questions and messages at the same time is out of the world. Living in the same city as them...well. Let's not go there.

Natalie Tran appeared on Hot30 on TodayFM 104.1. She was being awesome as usual and boy, was I glad to see her after several days of no Youtube video. I miss the "Hey!" and "Porno Music/Comment Time".

Well, the fun was great while it lasted. Hopefully I'll become one of those people that she "bumps" into in the city sometime.