The World of Science

Who said science is boring?

Well, 51% of English teenagers -- aged 13 to 16 -- did, according to this 2005 survey. I wonder if some of them believing that Madonna and Christopher Columbus were scientists had anything to do with those statistics.

It doesn't have to be that way, of course. As this laptop experiment shows, experimenting can be quite a novel experience.

Hey, it guided me to the discovery that a grape is an effective stylus -- on touchpads.

Kudos to Kenny Voon -- the KL one, not the Kuching one -- for the awesome idea.

The mouse cursor moves!

Uni Orientation - Part IV

My uni path is sealed. After talking to Prof. Sandford yesterday, the remnants of reservations I had about doing biomedical engineering are gone. Onward with the program! ^_^ (probably should've researched more thoroughly before enrolling, hehehe -- but everything's fine and dandy)

Now, if only the online handbooks were more user-friendly. Pages like this one and everything it's linked to make it a tad tedious to figure out required units across 5.5 years.

A New Year in February

Around Chinese New Year is the time of the largest human migration,^[1] but a certain little family (as well as many other smaller and bigger ones) stayed put here in Perth.

This family had a large dinner at their home on the Chúxì (Chinese New Year's eve), and all family members in Perth were invited: The father, the mother, and the two sons. Unfortunately, the eldest son (a.k.a. Sze Howe) could not partake in the entire meal because he is allergic to prawns.

Following the meal, the family performed a small ritualistic replacement of certain old items in the home with new ones. The eldest son is now rid of his Power Rangers bedsheets. In their place are newer sheets of a lower smoothness rating, a higher itchiness rating, and which bears the slogan "Chic Au Masculin". The eldest son would appreciate any help in translating this foreign phrase which he now sleeps on, although he has a gut feeling that he will burst out laughing when he is enlightened.

On Chinese New Year Day itself, the two sons received their ang paus (red packets which were traditionally given as a blessing, but are nowadays regarded by many youngsters as merely a good source of income) before heading off to church. This was followed by a big group lunch with other Asians and appreciators of Asian culture. It was noticed that the Japanese food stall was run by a Chinese lady, and that a family from Penang operated a store with the name "Singapore Tucker". This was possibly a cross-culture effort.

That evening, the family went on their first Chinese New Year visit in Perth. The destination was the home of family friends, where the eldest son got his gluteus maximus (more commonly referred to as the "butt") kicked in two rounds of Warcraft III. He also learnt of the tradition of orange-giving via SMS.

On the second day of the Chinese New Year, the eldest son put his newfound tradition into practice as he gave away his first orange. He hopes that he does not get into trouble with animal rights activists for chasing seagulls and recruiting minions to follow in his footsteps. The Boys' Brigade parade went on as usual that night, and the eldest son learnt that one needs to notice every tiny detail of the surroundings when leading a blind man in a jog, lest he trips and falls. The day closed in the (very cold) swimming pool after the parade, where the eldest son learnt that swimming blindly without goggles and without experience can lead to 90-degree deviations from the intended path.

Actually, the day ended with the typing of the above blog entry.

No, the day ended with the typing of the above statement about the above blog entry.

Well actually, the day ended...

Forget it.

Footnotes
_{1. "Chinese New Year". Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved on 19 February 2007}

YESSS!!!

I'm typing this from the computer lab at the University of Western Australia. On 11.22pm, 17/1/07, I saw with my own eyes the evidence that I have been accepted into the Science/Engineering course at this uni.

Thanks for letting me use your account to check the offers, Moses! Now let's get back to St Catherine's, the girls' college...

P.S. Yes, I deserve a smack to the back of my head for this, but I don't care.

Of Nerdy Works and Travels

Meet Mr. Hamilton -- Ex-farm boy, current owner of Nemesis Solutions, generous sponsor of the 10th WA Boys' Brigade Company, and my boss.

It was by his offer that the three stooges (employee gallery below) got our jobs as professional nerds... i.e. web designers. Not a bad arrangement at all -- We get to work at home in our own time!

Monkeys, left to right: Sean "I am a Tall and Ever-Hungy Know-It-All" Meyer, Sze Howe "I Get Lost Trying to Get Home" Koh, Neil "My Brother Drives Me Nuts" Meyer
Feathered mascot: Georgie "I Poop on People's Heads" Meyer

A typical working day consists of much laughing (at each other), screaming (at each other), rib-poking (each other, again), horrible office music ("Oo, ee, oo ah ah, ting tang, walawala bang bang"), communicating with colleagues via MSN (the aforementioned colleages sit side-by-side), biting colleagues who don't comply with wishes (blame the Asian), and last and definitely least, getting work done.

Being employees of the Nemesis Solutions, we familiarized ourselves with some of the company's services, one of which is Workplace Hazard Identification. We have recently determined that Georgie our mascot breaches health regulations occasionally, and it is with great sadness ("HAHAHAHAHA, he pooed!") that we renounced him as our mascot. Nonetheless, we understand that the circumstances were beyond his control so he is still allowed to reside in the office.

Hazard: The by-products of a mascot's digestion

Seriously though, Mr Hamilton does show us some of the inner workings of the company. We were lugged up to Northam (about an hour's drive away) last Tuesday to have a look at the property there. Far from the ghost-town-in-the-middle-of-nowhere image I was given by some people before, the town centre is pretty well-developed and looks just like any other suburb near the city. The outskirts could use some work though... they'll get there eventually.

Anyway, I treated the trip as an opportunity to do some sightseeing and came across some rather interesting sights.

A view from atop a watchtower. This piece is entitled... "Trolley's Demise"

A paint-less, door-less, seatbelt-less (actually, make it seat-less... period) 4WD on the road to recovery

The new era of anti-smoking campaigns -- Smokers get called nasty names (looks that way, no?)

We hung around doing business-y stuff for a while, watched Mr Hamilton re-live his farm days with a sheep-shearing demonstration (we couldn't find a real sheep so we had to make do with a human substitute), then eventually sat ourselves in a pretty awesome cafe. At least, it was awesome to most of us... Sean lost that perception as soon as he discovered, to his horror, that the local Coke bottles only carried 250 mL...

The atrocity! People will starve with servings this small!

My Thai pumpkin soup

We had to head home straight after lunch because Sean had rotten teeth a dentist appointment. Twas a pretty fun day (there are more details, but I don't know whether I'm allowed to reveal them or not), all in all. One final thing to share regarding the day...

My first time seeing an 'L' plate on a truck! (Sakai bah...)

Speaking of which, I had my first driving lesson that day, exactly 1 month before my 19th birthday. ^_^ Kinda sad, but ah well. Speeding around a bumpy dirt field and rattling passengers was a blast, hee...

Go-karting: Another extra-business activity for us on Friday. I learnt to overtake others before learning how to control a car, hmm... *dons a helmet and speeds off, cackling*

Aussie Jingle Bells

For those without the privilege of experiencing a white Christmas! ^_^

Dashing through the bush, in a rusty Holden* Ute**
Kicking up the dust, esky*** in the boot
Kelpie**** by my side, singing Christmas songs
It's summer time and I am in my singlet, shorts and thongs***** (Oh!)

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summers day (Hey!)
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute

Engine's getting hot, we dodge the kangaroos
The swaggie****** climbs aboard, he is welcome too
All the family's there, sitting by the pool
Christmas Day the Aussie way, by the barbecue (Oh!)

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summers day (Hey!)
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute

Come the afternoon, Grandpa has a doze
The kids and Uncle Bruce are swimming in their clothes
The time comes 'round to go, we take the family snap
Pack the car and all shoot through, before the washing up (Oh!)

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summers day (Hey!)
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute

Traditional/Colin Buchanan © 1992 Rondor Music

* Holden n - An Australian car manufacturer
** Ute n - (from "utility") Pickup truck
*** Esky n - Portable cooler
**** Kelpie n - An Australian sheep dog
***** Thongs n - Sandals
****** Swaggie n - (from "Swagman") An old Australian term describing an underclass of transient temporary workers, who traveled by foot from farm to farm carrying the traditional swag (his collection of worldly possessions)

Celebrating Christmas politically-correctly...?

On the 12th day of the Eurocentrically imposed midwinter festival, my Significant Other in a consenting adult, monogamous relationship gave to me:

TWELVE males reclaiming their inner warrior through ritual drumming,

ELEVEN pipers piping (plus the 18-member pit orchestra made up of members in good standing of the Musicians Equity Union as called for in their union contract even though they will not be asked to play a note),

TEN melanin deprived testosterone-poisoned scions of the patriarchal ruling-class system leaping,

NINE persons engaged in rhythmic self-expression,

EIGHT economically disadvantaged female persons stealing milk-products from enslaved Bovine-Americans,

SEVEN endangered swans swimming on federally protected wetlands,

SIX enslaved Fowl-Americans producing stolen non-human animal products,

FIVE golden symbols of culturally sanctioned enforced domesticincarceration,

(NOTE: after members of the Animal Liberation Front threatened to throw redpaint at my computer, the calling birds, French hens and partridge have beenreintroduced to their native habitat. To avoid further Animal-Americanenslavement, the remaining gift package has been revised.)

FOUR hours of recorded whale songs,

THREE deconstructionist poets,

TWO Sierra Club calendars printed on recycled processed tree carcasses and...

ONE Spotted Owl activist chained to an old-growth pear tree.

~Author unknown

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I think I prefer the politcally "incorrect" version. =P