So I managed to tear myself from Diablo II. That game is addictive...

It's Teacher's Day, the day when we commemorate, or commiserate, our mentors and guides. Yes, you'd probably never expect it from me, but I actually empathise with them.

Today, we salute all, young and old, who have tried, and tried again, to teach, to pass on knowledge, to bring out the best in others. A teacher is just that, someone who teaches. No matter of age, or size.

However, "teaching" should be a synonym for "frustration". If anyone has ever tried to impart knowledge to someone, he would know what a horrible experience it can be. People are idiots, no point denying that. And idiots are difficult to teach. It amazes me, truly, how teachers can resist the temptation to grab a chainsaw and play "Texas massacre". If I had some special power, like telekinesis, I would have a reputation for killing people in ways that involve sandpaper, melons, and acid. How do you resist the urge to just pulverise those annoying people who have no interest, don't pay attention, and give you attitude? When you know that you're wasting your time, and you might as well just turn away and twiddle your thumbs? How, and why? Are you sure it's healthy, taking all that crap? Brain tumours, anyone?

No seriously, to anyone it may apply to, stop being an idiot in class. When the teacher says "quiet", shut the hell up. It's not nice, it's annoying, and you make everyone else hate you. Especially the teachers. Also, before you join a band, think of the people who are going to suffer while trying to teach you something. Talentless idiots.

So, anyway, I'm not going let the past bother me this weekend. I must relax, and enjoy myself before the mathematics marathon begins.

-Joe

I found this and I couldn't resist.



This guy is good. Really.

Edit:Okay Hell. I found another one.



And while we're at it... the Windows Symphony....

Finally, I got it! A revelation, actually two revelation. It is great to know the divine truth. Both revelations are found with the help of two different friend. However, being a lazy person, I shan't write about my revelations now. I'll keep it for my future post, as I know you who read it will gain alot. Ok, don't be disappointed! The revelations are true, though, I'm trying to make you feel a sense of euphoria. As for now, enjoy another of my favourite High School Musical 2 sensation! It is call, "Everyday". It is sung at the near ending of the song, I think. I'm not really sure. I haven't seen the movie yet.


~EVERYDAY~


-Shaun

It is finally upon us. The Preliminary Examinations. My eye hurts from all the staring at the textbooks. It's all swollen and feels strange when I close it.

We're going to need every ounce of determination in our veins, to get through this phase, and the next, without succumbing to the temptations of video games and Heroes. It's coming out in September, you know... Anyway, my point is, that we really have to put in our best, and stay focused in these 3 weeks. And then the next few. Damn you, establishment and your assessments.

I won't be saying much. I must not stop too long, or I may just stop altogether. So best of luck and godspeed to all. And if you ever need a kidney transplant, I hope you get one soon.

May the Force be with us all.

-Joe

-Edit: I've found that a lot of animated images don't work here. Gah.

Haven't been posting much lately. I had been busy most of my time on the DIY keychain tryout business. Business was quite good, most of my friend were supportive, some even bought two keychains.

The start of something new? Yes! Its something really new, the prelims. Yes I agree to Joseph, on the prelims things he had said. Fine with my agreeing part, I bet there is something really new! Something new! Something new! How about, something new like the HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2, which is premiering on 9th of september 2007, on the Disney channel. The first sensation of the High School Musical was great, the songs, "Start of something new" and "Breaking Free" are my favourites. As for the second Musical, I love the song "You are the music in me"



I couldn't wait for the premier of High School Musical 2! But being the prelims period, and unfortunately, its the Sunday of the one week holiday. I doubt there is time to really enjoy it the night before my mathematics paper 1.

I suppose, I could do some practices for maths to prepare for my oncoming exam. At the same time, it won't hurt being distracted by the TV switched to Disney channel at 7.30pm.

If you noticed, I have added several videos from youtube at the media corner. Hope you're enjoying them, if not just carry on reading the posts....

-Shaun

Holy nuts.

My internet connection is being retarded. Literally. It's gone so slow, that I can't even watch a frickin' Youtube video without waiting twice the time the video actually runs. I know I should be studying, but it's really pissing me off.

I use some sort of connection that works through the electrical circuitry of the house. It's never been fantastic, but it's always been reliable. Until now. Suddenly, the speed drops by 10 times, and I don't know why. Damn it. Oh, and as I'm writing this, it disconnected. Bugger. And now it's back. But it's still below the minimum speed. The hardware only shows a certain range, but I'm pretty sure that it's gone below the minimum. Ugh.

It started on Monday. But I figured that I should wait, the problem might solve itself. Tuesday, I log on and have a look. Still shitty, but somehow it goes up a little once in a while. Wednesday, it actually went up to the usual speed after an hour or so. But then I went to sleep. Today, it's totally horrible. It's not even fluctuating up slightly. One measly bar of power there. Download rate <1.05mbps.

And I, having a need to find a reason for everything, have come up with several theories.

1) The weather. Now, it's a wired connection, so why would the weather do this? I don't know. But I do have a hypothesis. I'm experiencing a heavy rainstorm right now, my favorite weather. Before a storm... there's an accumulation of ions in the air. And given that my wires are not impermeable to charged particles floating around... They may be interfering with the data transfer. And since it's a really long cable(from the 1st to the 2nd floor), there's a lot of surface area for it to attack. Blah.

2) The device is just screwed up. I've been using it for almost a year now, and it's been on for maybe 75% of the time. So it may just be natural destruction of an object after a long period of use. But then again, most tools are designed to last at least, 2 years? I mean, that's why they never give more than 2 years in warranty.

3) I am cursed. This is a very likely option. Never once have I not encountered any difficulty, or frustration, over a computer product. It's probably because my parents buy them, and they get these second-rated pieces of crap to save a few bucks. But I still think I'm cursed. I'll go through some significant events in the history of mine, and my family's technological problems.

From as early as I can remember...

When we first upgraded to broadband. I was like a kid in a candy shop. I was me, with broadband. Or at least, I thought I was. The bloody modem didn't work right. So we called the tech company like a gazillion times to fix it. All was well.

And then one day I decided to hook up a computer in my room. But I needed a way to connect up to the internet. So we went shopping and bought a half-assed receiver USB adapter. It sucked. Alot. I could hardly get any signal.

So after a few months of that torture, we went shopping again, and we got this thingy that I'd never heard of in my life. It was some sort of plug that you put into the wall, one at the modem, and one at the computer. It then transfers the data from the modem to the computer, through the electrical wiring of the house, to my computer. It's that thing I mentioned earlier. It sucked, for some reason. I thought it was probably because whenever the wire meets a junction, my signal gets split into 2, 3 or more parts. So by the time it reaches my room, it's only a tiny fraction of the original signal.

'Round a year later, that modem owned itself. It died. And we needed a new one. It so happened that there was a tech fair going on at the time. So we went, at my suggestion, to go find one there. And so we did. And we still did not come up to my internet device expectations. They got an all-in-one router+modem. And everyone knows that when you take two things and mix them together, you get a lamer version of the originals. Still, it was a good brand, Linksys. Better lame than nothing, so of course I had to go along with it. So we went home, and I said that I wanted to put it in my room, since signals travel downward better than they do upward. They agreed. I set it up, with a little help from the Linksys guy. And tadah, it was running mighty fine. I was almost ready to throw that infernal USB adapter away.

But then, no! They took it away. Some excuse about radiation and whatever. I told them, that I receive as much radiation from turning on the television, and I don't seem to be having cancer yet. But you know parents, they just won't listen to that kind of thing. So what could I do? Break stuff to release my anger, of course.

So now I was stuck with the infernal USB adapter again. I told them, if you want to move the modem down, I need a better receiver. So they agreed, suprisingly. Not suprisingly, however, I got a piece of plastic with a circuit board in it. I don't even know what brand it was. But it worked. It worked excellently. For about 2 months. Then it started disconnecting for no reason. After a while, I realised that the device was overheating. So I remedied the problem by placing ice near it. I was reduced to using ice, just to use the internet. That worked for a while, but then it just got worse. Eventually, the ice didn't work anymore. I needed a replacement.

So I dug out the Ethernet Wallplug Thingy again, and stuck it into the walls. And hey-0, it worked! Decent speed, no disconnections, and no idiotic wires dangling at my feet! It was amazing. It made me really wonder why it didn't work at first.

Until now. Aww screwy.

ARRGGHH. Not decent speed, at all. Thwack, it's gone retarded.

And if you didn't want to read through all that, the general idea is... Don't buy cheap-ass products that come from a company that no one's ever heard of. Also, don't buy "hybrids" because the original versions are always better.

In about 20 days time, my Mio box will come. I doubt I could get it in my room, because I'd get that same radiation excuse. So what I'm going to do, is to get them to buy a 100m ethernet cable, and then run it through the phone conduits up to my room. That way, I'll have a protected, unimpeded flow of data straight up to my room. I've already mentioned it to them. They figure it'll be cheaper than getting another device anyway. However, I still forsee problems. For one, it's not easy to pull a wire through a labyrinth of tunnels. And secondly, that wire is helluva long, meaning excessively large amounts of resistance. I don't know how much it'll affect me, though.

But really, to save the most time, effort, and money, just give me the damn modem. Honestly, I make the best use of it in the house.


-Joe

Though we're really busy because of the exams right now, I'm still trying to update this portal regularly.

But also seeing as that because of the exams, our lives have become void of anything human. Except human biology, which, no one really needs to know. You don't need to be an anatomist to make babies with your wife. Unless there's a dysfunction, of course, because then you'll need a lot more than anatomy classes.

The week's been rather dry, I'd have to say. But then, there's that inexorable amount of homework and test papers, and practice pieces and whatever else they throw at us. I'm almost totally ignoring anything mathematical, and trying to stay on top of the sciences. And then there are still those humanities to cover. Damn you, ministry, damn you for bringing our exams closer. Just so that you people can mark our scripts and send us back to school earlier next year. Gah.

But what can we do, really? We could probably storm the ministry and demand them to push our O's back, but then we'd need a siege cannon, a cavalry of polar bears, a few trebuchets, and alot of cannon fodder. The cannon fodder, being the people with 2-digit IQs. We'd also probably want a few Fell Beasts on our side, and maybe a bahamut or two. Because the demons at the ministry... they're not easy to take down. They have enormous crab-horses. They're like crabs, but they also have hooves, and can run pretty darn fast. Scuttle scuttle. They also have Charizard. The odds are not good for us. At all.

So we must submit to their demands. Study, study, study. Cram all that useless information into your brain, young nerdlings, for they will save our asses when the time comes.






So always remember to look for the details. They'll save your ass.

-Joe

Does anyone ever wonder, whether Alice from Alice in Wonderland, is a psychotic old man who believes that he's a little girl that stumbles upon a rabbit hole that leads to a magical place where the mass and dimensions of an object can vary like some demented differentiation equation? Seriously, the movie was scarier than The Ring.

Just earlier today, not for the first time in these few months, I wondered if anything around me was real. I wondered, whether I really was a skinny 16-year-old boy living in a nice house and going to a school that's full of idiots. What if I'm actually a lunatic, sitting in a cell in an asylum someplace far away, playing with the straps of my straitjacket. And what if there are people watching me, and I'm totally oblivious to them? Are people coming in 3 times a day to give me a bowl of water and some glucose syrup stuff?

Is anything around us real? Sure, you can say "look at this, the trees, the rocks, the idiots, the air and the water. Tell me it's not real." But really, if you look into the mind of a psychopath, you'll never be sure about what's real, and what's an illusion. How do I know, that this keyboard that I'm hitting right now, isn't just a product of my imagination? How do I know, that I'm actually communicating right now? It seems really absurd, doesn't it? But just think. It is so easy to just imagine that you're doing something. Close your eyes, imagine yourself touching a bottle. It's a smooth, glass bottle, fitting nicely in the curvature of your palm. It's somewhat cold, because it's been in an air-conditioned room for a while. If you want to be, it becomes so real that when you open your eyes, you curse yourself for getting tempted.

Still not convinced? Well how about something that we all experience, regardless of the power of our imagination. Dreams. Our night-time wanderings to places far beyond. The mind creates an illusion so real, so powerful, that we believe that it is really happening. Even when one enters a state of lucidity(when he realises that he is dreaming), it still looks, feels and just IS completely real to him. On a side note, people who can achieve lucidity are lucky bastards. The point is, that the mind is capable of producing an illusion so believable, that we can never be sure whether we're awake, or whether we're dreaming. A lunatic is simply a person who is constantly dreaming.

This is somewhat related to a rather famous(or not so famous) paradox that was thought up by some ancient Chinese dude. I mean, philosopher. He said something like this...

Ancient Chinese Philosopher Dude's Story(with missing bits filled in with my fragmented memory):

One night, I was dreaming that I was a butterfly, fluttering happily around. Or something like that. When I woke up at dawn, I saw a butterfly, not unlike the one that I had dreamt of being. Now, I wonder, can butterflies have dreams? If butterflies can have dreams, then perhaps that right now, I am a sleeping butterfly, dreaming that I am a human. Perhaps when I was "dreaming", I was actually awake, as a butterfly. Or something like that.

So, are we dreaming, or are we awake? Is this an illusion, or is this reality? Am I only thinking that I'm discussing this topic, or am I really expecting people to read this? Will I one day wake up and realise that all my time as a human, never happened? And then I would eat a deer. Because I figure that I'd be a snake. Hisss.

I could probably go on. But then I'd never stop. And then people would shoot a tranquiliser at me, put me in a straitjacket and lock me in a cell in Europe. With Batman. Yaaaay.

MindScape

Play it all the way to the end. You'll understand why I wrote this.

-Joe

Today, I shall post the entire first season of Chad Vader. It's a little show created by a bunch of people with way too much free time on their hands, and a really cool Darth Vader suit. I want that suit.



Episode 1:


Episode 2:


Episode 3:


Episode 4:


Episode 5:


Episode 6:


Episode 7:
>

Episode 8:


Wonderful.


I repeat, Star Wars is better than Star Trek. This is because of lightsabers.
-Joe

Oh, welcome again. Today of all day is "advertising day" of the month. Now here you are again in front of your monitor. How great isn't it? The ambigram key chain tryout business was a success! So, with this success, my friend and I are going to make customise bookmarks too.

If you are a "bookworm", whose finding something to mark out your pages. Don't fret anymore, here's the perfect solution: Get your customise bookmark now!

Prices are as stated:

BOOKMARK (AVAILABLE FROM MID AUGUST) Promo Price 14 days 5days
Front Design Only $4 $5 $6
Front and Back Design $6 $8 $8
Add String $0.50 $1 $1
Additional graphics (stars, circles, etc) FOC $0.50 $1

*5days are for rush orders. Promo prices are only on dates scheduled for promotion

Oh, you haven't got one personalised key chain. Can't wait to get one. Due to my friends popular demand. Special packaging and birthday specials are out for grabs. If your interested to know more about the birthday special package, you can write in the tagbox to enquire.
Anyway, the start out promotion is over.

Prices are as stated:

KEYCHAIN Promo Price 14 days 5days
5 to 8 alphabets $3 $6 $8
9 to 12 alphabets $4 $8 $10
Reverse coloured $1 $1 $2
Additional graphics FREE $0.50 $1
Packaging in Gift Box $1 $1.50 $2
Packaging + Wrapping $1.50 $2 $2.50

Kay, thanks to my friends for their support of my little tryout entrepreneuring.
Don't, I sound like some salesman? HAHA!

Letter to Optimus Prime from his insurance company GEICO.

by John Frank Weaver

Dear Mr. Prime,

We have received your accident-claim reports for the month of June—they total 27. I regret to inform you that GEICO will not be able to reimburse you for any of those repairs. I feel that I have sent the same letter to you once a month for the last six months, and I am now sending it again.

Since becoming a GEICO customer in January of this year, you have reported 131 accidents, requesting reimbursement for repairs necessitated by each one. You have claimed not to be responsible in any of them, usually listing the cause of the accident as either "Sneak attack by Decepticons" or "Unavoidable damage caused by protecting freedom for all sentient beings."

The only repairs for which you were reimbursed were the replacement of a cracked fender and a headlight, required after a Mr. I. Ron Hide backed his van into your truck; these cost $1,286.63. Our own investigation concluded that you were not at fault and that Mr. Hide had been drinking prior to the accident. Though police were unable to test his blood-alcohol level—Mr. Hide claimed that it would be impossible for police to examine his blood-alcohol content with a Breathalyzer, because he "doesn't breathe"—under Washington-state law, refusal to take a Breathalyzer test is equivalent to returning a result above the legal level.

But, I repeat, those were the only repairs for which you have been reimbursed, and it was a very minor accident in comparison to your other claims. I mention a few to illustrate the larger trend:

• $379,431.34 requested reimbursement for repairs to your truck cabin. You claimed the damage was caused by attacking fighter jets.
• $665,789.11 requested reimbursement for repairs to your trailer. You claimed the damage was caused by a giant mechanical scorpion, which I can only assume is some amusement-park ride, although I question the wisdom of bringing your mobile home so close to such dangerous equipment.
• $6,564,239.44 requested reimbursement for repairs to a truck part called the "Autobot Matrix of Leadership." You stated this occurred in "an ultimate confrontation between good and evil," with a Ms. Meg Atron and a Mr. U. Nicron causing the damage in question. Mr. Prime, I have checked every known car- and truck-part catalog published in the United States and have found nothing even resembling that part, never mind any part so expensive. Whatever disagreements you had with Ms. Atron and Mr. Nicron, I suggest that next time you either settle things peaceably or leave your Autobot Matrix of Leadership at home so it doesn't break. GEICO does not cover Autobot Matrix of Leaderships.

And the list goes on. Mr. Prime, I am going to remind you again: Your policy with GEICO only reimburses you for accidents that occur while you are engaged in the reasonable use of your truck and trailer. As I told you when you originally purchased the policy, GEICO does not offer Megatron coverage, Starscream coverage, Soundwave coverage, Decepticon coverage, or Energon-blast coverage. Those are just not the types of damages we would expect from reasonable use.

To sum up, GEICO has been unable to reimburse you for any repairs, but due to the high number of accidents you have been a party to this month, combined with the many accidents you have had in the preceding five months, your premium has increased to $235,567.50 per month. While that may seem like a lot, I remind you that it is a savings of $137 over Progressive and $98 over State Farm. Please have your check into our main office by the end of July.

Regards,

Simon Furman
GEICO Agent

I am tired. I think we all are. I can't think of anything interesting to say, but I'm going to put up a picture for some of our classmates.




It's actually an Axolotl. I have no idea how to pronounce that. It's the larvae of a species of neotenic mole salamanders that fails to undergo metamorphosis. It's quite cool, really.

Axolotls are used extensively in scientific research due to their ability to regenerate most body parts, ease of breeding, and large embryos.

But it may not be a Mudkip... it's actually more likely to be Wooper.





Ah, Pokemon steals once again from Mother Nature, because that's what fiction does.

-Joe.

It has been weeks since the release of Singapore limited $20 polymer note. Only a limited 3million copies are printed. This is supposingly a new crave to numismatist all around the world, this new note could be seen in ebay sold higher than it's original note value. Not only so, I have seen many people queued up for this limited notes at the bank. There are even articles in the newspaper about people taking more than the limited 2notes per person.

Isn't this interesting! Collecting notes of the same serial numbers, could actually fetch an extremely high price, when sold together as a set to a numismatist. And even the prefixes does matter. From what I know, the first prefix 0AA and the last prefix would also fetch a slightly higher price, similarly when sold to numismatist.

Isn't notes collecting interesting? Hmm, some people even have olden times coins, such as coins from ancient china. It is really about collecting coins that brings back images of the past, or to have a collection of coins and notes from different era.

Why am I posting about notes/coins collecting? It is because of a curiousity my friend have, "what is the last prefix of the limited $20 polymer note?" Perhaps you can post it on the tagbox, if you by any chance collected a prefix which is larger than 0AB.

Quaver.

It's really time to get crackin', don't you think? Two bloody weeks and we'll be facing our first Prelim Paper. And the worst part is, THEY MATTER. Why the hell, would they do this to us? It's like, two national examinations within weeks of each other. Plus, the one that's more difficult is going to be the one that will decide our initial entry into wherever we're going. Not fun.

So, in the spirit of the examinations, we'll have some fun quotes and stuff to amuse ourselves with.

Johnny was a chemist, but he isn't anymore,
For what he thought was H2O was H2SO4.






Because we all die inside every time we get a question like this...


Sexism, anyone?




And of course, the old classic...


Dadadadadaada

-Joe

Today, I will be typing with my elbows.

hopl.y crazp; i missed thbed mretglofd sdhlopewerrt!@
\
\oityg
"sd mn ;pyt reassdyuh as t solujndcs.

io sdytio.l.l canty gbret sdp[l;iontrert cedl;l ewlotrfkim and i asm ;pkised,.

Okay, enough of that.

Next time, I'll do it with my knees.

So we went to Funan IT Mall the other day. Turns out, that the Decline of Video Gaming is already upon us. There are less than half the number of game stalls in the building, and the massive infrastructure of shelves where every game from every genre and category in Challenger itself is gone, replaced by a bunch of office software. The games section has been shifted over to a corner, where the X-Box is dominant. The PC games are in what would be a neatly organised bargain bin. 'Cept that they're really expensive, still.

There was an entire 3 rows of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. The rest was filled with a bunch of games that I'd never heard of. The only redeeming factor, in my opinion, was that they still had a games section, even though the big overhanging sign saying "PC Games" was no longer there.

The rest of the mall has been taken over by computer hardware stores, cake shops, and hair salons. There must be over a thousand miles of USB cable in there. Cake shops that I'd never seen before, and a hair dressing place that could have fit 4 of what I would consider "stores that matter".

Aside from the lack of places at which I could obtain my wanted merchandise, there seems to have been a price-jump over the years. A game that was released in 2000, I bought in 2003 for 45 bucks. Now, same game, less plastic, goes for $65.00. But the fantastic thing is that people still play that game. Heh.

On another note, we watched 2 movies that day. The Simpsons Movie was just an elongated version of an everyday episode. It was just what you would expect from a cartoon. Excellence. Rush Hour 3 had no depth at all. But the name calling scene and that thing in the hotel made it quite worth the money. Still, I think that the first two movies were much better. The whole concept of the "brothers" thing just made it really... Chinesey. And nothing much happened in Paris, either. I was hoping that we'd get to see the Louvre Pyramid, but all we got was a done-to-death swordfight upon the Eiffel Tower. Also, how the hell does Jackie Chan try to save some ass who cut him with a sword? That part, made no sense.

And since we're on the topic of making no sense at all,


Whoohoo, we're going to talk to people we've never seen in our life, and possibly puke/die/become unconcious

-Joe

The Cruise,


9th of August 2007

Dear reader


Today is National Day! I had a very boring start in the morning. The afternoon was pleasant enough. The main part of my National Day celebration was on cruise. This cruise was only for a few hours, and it had cater food aboard the ship. The food was quite ok. As for being on a ship, the ship is usually swaying left and right due to the wave of the water. I didn't get sea-sick that was a relief for me.


It was enjoyable to see the colourful fireworks display as the ship passes the marina bay. At marina bay, a marvelous parade and showcase was going on, as my nation celebrates it's 42nd national day. After looking at the fireworks display aboard the ship, I proceeded to the upper deck. The upper deck of the ship was extremely windy, I suppose it was the sea breeze at night. I remained at the upper deck of the ship for a long time before heading back to the second deck. At the second deck I sat and was listening to my mp3. The ship move about here and there, until 9.30pm. They were quite on time when reaching the dock. The cruise was estimated to end at 9.30pm and it did perfectly on time.

And that ends my 3hours cruise. After leaving the ship, I walked back to vivo city, where the mrt is located. I returned home sound and safe.

Yours sincerely,
Shaun (Quaver)

The end~

Oh my gosh. LOL

Clicky!



That, was probably the funniest thing I'd seen in a month.

And while we're on the subject of people running into things...



Genius, really. Pure, distilled genius.

It also happens to be National Day over here! If only there was a giant flying saucer with a mega ion-canon, shielded by an inpenetrable forcefield. And we would need a fighter pilot and an old professor type guy to fly an F-16 into the docking bay of said flying saucer, all the while avoiding the alien fighters, to deliver a complex computer virus wirelessly into the alien's mainframe. *breathe*. They probably use Windows. No other system is that weak.

-Joe

The recent appointment of G.W. Wu as Head Secretary of The Quintet has sparked off much positive discussion in the music arena.



S.B. King, Creative Director of Oohlala Music Singapore mentioned that he had never seen a secretary with such exemplary multi-tasking skills.


G.W. Wu has also won numerous awards including Best Listener and Best Looking awards.



G.W. Wu stated in an interview "I look foward to working in The Quinrtet in the coming years and I'll contribute my best to the team."


-GuoWei

Optimus Prime's diary:

OK, I shall state first that this was a superbly, overly interesting thing. So, I can't resist the temptation to post about this after reading this topic on my friend's blog, Harold Chua. Awesome, I actually can't believe Optimus Prime was a real thing. I thought he was only a robot in the movie Transformers, and kids all time favourite TV show. Hmm Prime's diary, what would Optimus Prime have in his daily live?

Here is the awesome link to Optimus Prime's Diary. Maybe, one day we would see an Optimus Prime documentary on National Geographic channel. LOLx!

Posted by your's one and truely,
Shaun also known as a small little Quaver.

I am so weirded out.

But nevermind. I didn't know that "nevermind" wasn't a word. Apparently you're supposed to say "never mind".

It's a long weekend ahead of us, and most of us really can't enjoy ourselves to the fullest, thanks to that infernal invention: Examinations. Even worse for all the 16 year olds. Prelims are just way too close right now.

But I'm not going to use this post to whine and bitch, I mean, complain, about that. Instead, I'm going to try to be philosophical and look at things from a different perspective.

Take for example, something as ordinary as a bottle. No one really knows when or where the bottle was created. Who thought up the concept of using a hollow, cylindrical device to store and carry water? Perhaps it was the desert-dwellers, who had a great need to store their water. The skinflasks that we so often see in documentaries and TV shows certainly seem reminiscent of modern bottles. But where did the idea itself originate?

Well, there's a theory. And it dates back to the time when Man was still living amongst giant sloths and carnivorous 6-foot-tall birds. Or not. I can't remember. Apparently, as the Earth became drier(this is referring to that specific part), animals had a hard time locating fresh water, similar to the situation in today's African dry seasons. So, what to do? Archaeologists have found ostrich eggshells buried in the ground, with a tiny hole drilled carefully in the top. Snugly stoppered by a bundle of dry grass. And within this egg... Was air! Aha. You wouldn't expect water to last 300 years in a bloody eggshell, would you? But still, that gave rise to the theory that man first thought of using a container to hold that ever-so-precious commodity.

And so, we're still alive today. Because we didn't dehydrate and become that guy from The Mummy. And that was actually a decent movie.

And even though I'm not exactly a Death Note fan, here's a little comic that may amuse those who follow the comics.

Still weirded out,
Joe

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I have sustained an enormous loss.

My computer was screwing itself up. I had no choice. I had to put her down. Wiped her drives and destroyed all memory. Something was corrupted. No, it wasn't the porn.

Along with my computer, my vast collection of pictures that I would have presented to you guys is also gone. All my emoticons are dead, and my animated .gif files are gone and wasted. A collection built up over many months, the result of my countless hours mindlessly surfing the internet. It will take a while to bring it back, and it will never be the same. I ask all of you to spend a minute of silence, out of respect for my picture collection that you probably don't give a slightest damn about. There's a clock over on the left.

In an effort to restore my broken soul to its original state, here's a picture from the beginning of my new collection:


Feeling the pain,
Joe

CLICK HERE TO ENLARGE THE PICTURE POP PART 1
CLICK HERE TO ENLARGE THE PICTURE POP PART 2

To sum up the topic on emoism, we got a special write-in. And it is better known from a mysterious writter, which calls himself MR X. Who is he? Why is he so mysteriously X? What are his views on emoism? Has he succeed in describing the essence of emoism?

Here you go, word for word from MR X write-in:

It's time I shed some light on the truth about Emo and Emoism

Granted, I haven't a slightest clue on how and why this term was coined.

But that doesn't deter me from dishing out some wisdom about this burgeoning problem
Because firstly, I have friends embroiled in this crappy state at this very moment so I know what it’s like to be an emo… and secondly, I am pretty darn good at sifting out the bullshits that life throws at you.

okay moving on to my points proper, my first controversial assertion is people already have the all the resources they need within them to snap out of emoism

Before scoffing, think about it this way.

If you were to stick a gun beside the head of an emo and demand that he get out of that crappy state or risk losing his life, how likely do you think he'd shut emosim out of his life, at least for that very moment?

Well, if that emo is sane, you can pretty much bet that he’d kill to get out of emoism!

So, given that emos have the innate ability to haul themselves out of emosim, then why do they remain the way they are?

I think it’s quite obvious that there is an obscure benefit involved in being an emo and that is the ATTENTION they get.

You see when someone is depressed or disappointed, it’s the natural tendency for someone else to lavish care and concern on him.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing “bad” about being concerned about someone who is in a rough patch.

But the problem arises when too much care and concern is lavished on that person to the point that he feels so loved and cherished, he doesn’t want his present reality to change ie; he wants to remain in an emo-istic state so that he can continue to receive that supply of love, attention, care, concern, etc.

And this is the case for most emos.

They figured that the quickest and fastest way to get attention is to sink into a mood of emoism.

That’s why I always remain indifferent when someone is depressed. I don’t believe in sugarcoating or pep talking someone out of depression. (I suck at it anyway) Instead, I believe in assisting someone when he’s determined to get out of that state.

But what about cases where emoism is genuine… meaning the person is genuinely depressed and has NO yearnings for attention?

Well, I’ll deal with it in my next post.

Signing off,

Mr X

Review of August topic:

According to many viewers comments, emo-ism is considered not a really debatable topic. So, currently the topic for this month is being reviewed. And a more open approach to engage readers is going to be adopted. We will be allowing monthly poll regarding the topic for the following month. In the event when a topic is seen as undiscussable, there will be a void on that topic and a poll will be set up to choose a more discussable topic of mass preference.

To poll you choice of topic, go to Quaver corner.

So I've figured out that typing stuff in "title" doesn't work. Great feature.

Shaun and I have officially expired. Best Before 3-08-07. But in this death, we find new life. It's because we're actually Phoenix Gods that came to earth in human form.

Okay, not exactly, but that's the general idea. When a phoenix dies, it bursts into flame. From the ashes, a new bird is born. The legend is said to have originated from ravens that held their feathers over smoking ash, as a way to defend against parasites. This gave the impression of a bird rising from the ashes, thus the phoenix legend was born. That's what I read anyway. There are probably many different theories, but I like this one.

Apart from that, today was interesting enough. We managed to get a few thoughts through, came up with a few ideas. We're not going to tell you, though. It's 'cause it's a secret(shh). So ahem, umm, LOOK OVER THERE! I'M CHANGING THE SUBJECT! Inconspicously, too. Just look away.

Need... topic... thinking... umm... uhh... BOOK REVIEW!

Yes, yes. I recently obtained a copy of Angels & Demons, by Dan Brown. The same guy who wrote the controversial The Da Vinci Code. Again, it was about the Catholic Church, a bunch of scientists, and a very insane group of people. Plus Robert Langdon. Who doesn't love Langdon? An aging Havard symbologist who has eidetic memory and wears Harris Tweeds! And the image portrayed by Tom Hanks in the movie was very fitting, if you ask me.

The basic plot was that a physicist had just found a way to prove Genesis, the creation of the universe, the world, and us. But this is no ordinary physicist. As a devout Catholic, he believed that physics is God's language, the way he interpreted the universe. But his method of proving religion, which involved creating tiny universes, also had a curious by-product: Antimatter. The exact opposite of everything around us. When antimatter comes into contact with matter, it instantaneously annhilates itself and the matter it touches, releasing phenomenal amounts of energy with it. The maker of this amazing substance was murdered, and a deadly sample of antimatter was stolen from him, apparently by an ancient group known as the Illuminati. WOAH THEY DIDN'T RED-LINE THAT. The Illuminati were a secret group of scientists that existed centuries ago, and were enemies of the Catholic Church. Because the Catholics didn't like science, saying that it was blasphemous and untrue. They still do it today, which annoys me...

So Robert Langdon and the daughter of the physicist flew to Vatican City, where the stolen sample of Antimatter was supposedly hidden. Some plot to crater St. Peter's Basilica. By the Illuminati, or so it seemed. The Illuminati had a rather wicked yet amazingly impressive way of showing their power. This day was the day when the papal election thingies began. Four cardinals were kidnapped, and each brutally murdered with such clever methods. The ancient scientists believed that the four elements were Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. One for each cardinal. The Wind one is the best. Yes, I'm a sadist. But you can't deny the cleverness of it.

Oh, but at the end... A twist! Apparently there's someone on the Church's side... who's behind it all! It's all a giant, yet elegant plot, designed to convert people to Christianity.

The excellent use of ambigrams(symbols that look the same when rotated 180), the clever application of quantum physics, and the reference to the Hassassin, make Angels & Demons a wonderful read, especially if you love hidden paths and mysteries. If you havn't already read this novel, just go pick it up and begin reading. Excellent plot, excellent wordplay, great description and full of mystery. It's like, Harry Potter 7, where Harry is a middle-aged American and the Catholic Church somehow finds its way into the story.

Rated unprofessionally, Angels & Demons gets a
9/10 for plot
9/10 for character development
9/10 for description
10/10 for being written by Dan Brown.

In short, excellent book. *Waves hand in the style of Obi-Wan* Get the book, and read it, you will. /Jedi Mind Trick.

And to close off, here's a lovely Haiku for everyone:



Trying to encompass the world,
Joe

The Quaver Debate Corner:

For those who love to actively write and comment on issues, here's your chance to do it! Visit the Debate Corner.

How do you participate in the debate?

Ans:
1. You can write-in regarding the issue being discussed for that month to phantom_crusade@hotmail.com .
All write in would take 5 working days to process.
2. Become a Quaver Debate writter and have acess to the posting of your views directly on the blog. To join the team of debator writter, please kindly sent your email to the following address phantom_crusade@hotmail.com .

Note: Any write-in or post should be relevant to that month's topic.

The newly created Science Corner is here now! For those science N2(enthusiastic) out there! Some science videos have been put up. If you got anything to add on to the science corner, you can sent it to the phantom_crusade@hotmail.com .