Finally its over

I am glad to say that the As are finally over and so is Prom Night. It was one of the nicest nights ever, the food was good and I especially liked the roast chicken which was roasted to how a duck would normally be roasted. My application to be a relief teacher has been approved after some delay due to medical issues and I'm flying off to Penang this Friday. I've gotten a Nintendo DS lite as well, its pink so the boys wont touch it :D Nicholas and I have gotten back together and everything seems to be all going nice and smooth. Fair winds for now I guess, I'd enjoy it while I can then.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like there's fair winds for the world itself, especially those in America. A shooting has been carried out at Westroads Mall in America. The gunman said he wanted to go out in style and was going to be famous. Infamous would be a better term I suppose. It makes you wonder then what the world is coming to, where people are tempted to do evil just to get attention... The work of affluenza I suppose. Quite a number of Americans have been on television and the number increases every year. Guess thats one way to end up on television. Growing up watching cartoons, I was under the impression that America was a nice place where people could pretty much do or say whatever they want. As I grew up, I learnt more about it, the more my impression changed about America. True it is a place where freedom of speech exist, and freedom of religion and all those things but they end up being really...really... screwed up. Pardon the language. They may have freedom of speech, and if its through the media, they'd have to be politically correct, otherwise they may be hounded by the public. For a country founded under One God, they're trying to remove such references so as not to cause tension between the different religions. Speaking of religion, the new film coming up The Golden Compass is undergoing some controvacy due to it being based on a book about "killing God" so said the author. Some Christian schools are pulling the books off the shelf, although I'm not sure if there has been a call to prevent the movie from being shown in certain areas. I already know some of my Christian friends are being turned off by the movie due to its background. Me? I'm just more curious than anything. I've also noticed that more people seem to be more concerned about children in third world countries rather than the homeless out on the streets. It just confuses me really, that people can care more for people whom they never have met and probably never will meet, and worry about them more than the homeless in the streets of America. However, it must also be noted that there are programmes to help the homeless in America, but I'm just wondering where the sympathies of the American people lie: With their people or others? I guess I'm out of things to say for the time being. This is the Captain signing off.

MySpace Hoax Led to Daughter's Suicide

I copied the article from http://www.unsolvedmysteries.com/usm494180.html

Remember this article next time your tempted to rip into someone online. It's as easy as anything to hide behind a computer but the reality is that words are incredibly powerful so think before you unleash them.

MySpace Hoax Led to Daughter's Suicide

DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Mo. (AP) --
Megan Meier thought she had made a new friend in cyberspace when a cute teenage boy named Josh contacted her on MySpace and began exchanging messages with her. Megan, a 13-year-old who suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder, corresponded with Josh for more than a month before he abruptly ended their friendship, telling her he had heard she was cruel.
The next day Megan committed suicide. Her family learned later that Josh never actually existed; he was created by members of a neighborhood family that included a former friend of Megan's.

Now Megan's parents hope the people who made the fraudulent profile on the social networking Web site will be prosecuted, and they are seeking legal changes to safeguard children on the Internet.

The girl's mother, Tina Meier, said she doesn't think anyone involved intended for her daughter to kill herself.

"But when adults are involved and continue to (edit: mess) with a 13-year- old, with or without mental problems, it is absolutely vile," she told the Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis, which first reported on the case.

Tina Meier said law enforcement officials told her the case did not fit into any law. But sheriff's officials have not closed the case and pledged to consider new evidence if it emerges.

Megan Meier hanged herself in her bedroom on Oct. 16, 2006, and died the next day. She was described as a "bubbly, goofy" girl who loved hanging out with her friends, watching movies and fishing with her dad.

Megan had been on medication, but had been upbeat before her death, her mother said, after striking up a relationship on MySpace with Josh Evans about six weeks before her death.

Josh told her he was born in Florida and had recently moved to the nearby community of O'Fallon. He said he was homeschooled, and didn't yet have a phone number in the area to give her.

Megan's parents said she received a message from him on Oct. 15 of last year, essentially saying he didn't want to be her friend anymore, that he had heard she wasn't nice to her friends.

The next day, as Megan's mother headed out the door to take another daughter to the orthodontist, she knew Megan was upset about Internet messages. She asked Megan to log off. Users on MySpace must be at least 14, though Megan was not when she opened her account. A MySpace spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment.

Someone using Josh's account was sending cruel messages. Then, Megan called her mother, saying electronic bulletins were being posted about her, saying things like, "Megan Meier is a slut. Megan Meier is fat."

Megan's mother, who monitored her daughter's online communications, returned home and said she was shocked at the vulgar language her own daughter was sending. She told her daughter how upset she was about it.

Megan ran upstairs, and her father, Ron, tried to tell her everything would be fine. About 20 minutes later, she was found in her bedroom. She died the next day.

Her father said he found a message the next day from Josh, which he said law enforcement authorities have not been able to retrieve. It told the girl she was a bad person and the world would be better without her, he has said.

Another parent, who learned of the MySpace account from her own daughter who had access to the Josh profile, told Megan's parents about the hoax in a counselor's office about six weeks after Megan died. That's when they learned Josh was imaginary, they said.

The woman who created the fake profile has not been charged with a crime. She allegedly told the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department she created Josh's profile because she wanted to gain Megan's confidence to know what Megan was saying about her own child online.

The mother from down the street told police that she, her daughter and another person all typed and monitored the communication between the fictitious boy and Megan.

A person who answered the door at the family's house told an Associated Press reporter on Friday afternoon that they had been advised not to comment.

Megan's parents had been storing a foosball table for the family that created the MySpace character. Six weeks after Megan's death, they learned the other family had created the profile and responded by destroying the foosball table, dumping it on the neighbors' driveway and encouraging them to move away.

Megan's parents are now separated and plan to divorce.

Aldermen in Dardenne Prairie, a community of about 7,000 residents about 35 miles from St. Louis, have proposed a new ordinance related to child endangerment and Internet harassment. It could come before city leaders on Wednesday.

"Is this enough?" Mayor Pam Fogarty said Friday. "No, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it's something, and you have to start somewhere."



Source: Crimelibrary.com

The final streatch of the ocean

Well mates, its the final streatch of the ocean to cross. No doubt there'll be storms and compeition from the other ships about. Its time to see what sailing this streatch of the ocean will do. I can only pray and hope that my health, both mental and physical maintains as the fair wind blows.

Sometimes the day's work, though not plenty is enough to send me scurrying below deck by 8 in the night. Not a pleasant thing to do considering the amount of workload left to complete but the brain refuses to budge.

Even when below deck.... sleep eludes me. There's too much to do which my brain can't do without giving a bloomin' headache bad enough to make me THINK of taking my painkillers which I assure you, is something that hasn't happened much before though its happening more often this year.

But these past two years have been one of self discovery. I've gotten more comfortable with staying in my own shoes than trying to put on others. I've learnt more about the human nature than anywhere else. I've also decided that I wish to enter the education system. I've thought about it for a long while, for the past 5 years or so actually, thinking of other things before I realised that I enjoyed teaching. It is often my subconcious which knows more than my concious, looking at my activities, I love to teach though I wasn't too sure about it myself. I suppose teaching runs in my family. My grandmother taught in the school for the deaf, my mother taught geography, her sister is currently teaching in a christian school. Oh well c'est la vie!

I just hope I won't snap, or lose the wind that fills the sails at the last minute. But this is life, and without risks, it doesn't seem like living. You don't live life without risking.

Wooden Nickle, an online friend of mine shared this with the community:

To Risk
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool,
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams, before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair,
To try at all is to risk failure.


But risk must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. If you risk nothing, and do nothing, you dull your spirit. You may avoid suffering and sorrow, but you cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, and live.


Chained by your attitude, you are a slave.

You have forfeited your freedom.

Only if you risk, are you free.

There is some truth in his words.

To end it off, I shall leave the words of my favourite poem. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost. After all for a student...there's miles (of textbooks and revision papers) to go before I sleep.

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Stolen from Seah

Well decided to take this personality quiz..... pretty accurate

You Are An INFJ

The Protector You live your life with integrity, originality, vision, and creativity. Independent and stubborn, you rarely stray from your vision - no matter what it is. You are an excellent listener, with almost infinite patience. You have complex, deep feelings, and you take great care to express them. In love, you truly see relationships as an opportunity to connect and grow. You enjoy relationships as long as they are improving and changing. You can't stand stagnation. At work, you stay motivated and happy... as long as you are working toward a dream you support. You would make a great photographer, alternative medicine guru, or teacher. How you see yourself: Hardworking, ethical, and helpful When other people don't get you, they see you as: Manipulative, weak, and unstable

What's Your Personality Type?

Erm...manipulative, weak and unstable? O.o meebee..... but I'm spontaneous!!!!!

Tiredness

Its strange I haven't blogged in a long while, though I suppose I might just add one entry. The A-levels are coming and they're coming surely and quickly. I've noticed something as well... I seem to have less energy than my peers. They seem to do more work but I seem to be just as tired or even more tired than them. Even sleeping more than usual doesn't really seem to help at times. I wonder why.

Maybe its a piscean thing...

Note: Yey Ian McKellen came to our school last friday and I saw "The Seagull" today. We were upgraded from Circle 3 to Circle 1. Not bad for 32 bucks.

Twisted Wrist

Ouchie, this captain hasnt posted much or anything due to laziness. Though she has recently twisted her wrist... but hmm

Scientists Unravel Mystery of Ancient Greek Machine

The Greeks will never crease to amaze me. Take a look at this article I found:

Scientists Unravel Mystery of Ancient Greek Machine

Scientists have finally demystified the incredible workings of a 2,000-year-old astronomical calculator built by ancient Greeks.


A new analysis of the Antikythera Mechanism [image], a clock-like machine consisting of more than 30 precise, hand-cut bronze gears, show it to be more advanced than previously thought—so much so that nothing comparable was built for another thousand years.


"This device is just extraordinary, the only thing of its kind," said study leader Mike Edmunds of Cardiff University in the UK. "The design is beautiful, the astronomy is exactly right…In terms of historical and scarcity value, I have to regard this mechanism as being more valuable than the Mona Lisa."


The researchers used three-dimensional X-ray scanners to reconstruct the workings of the device's gears and high-resolution surface imaging to enhance faded inscriptions on its surface.


Precise astronomy


The new analysis reveals that the device's front dials [image] had pointers for the sun and Moon—called the "golden little sphere" and "little sphere," respectively—and markings which coincided with the zodiac and solar calendars. The back dials [image], meanwhile, appear to have been used for predicting solar and lunar eclipses [image].


The researchers also show that the device could mechanically replicate the irregular motions of the Moon, caused by its elliptical orbit around the Earth, using a clever design involving two superimposed gear-wheels, one slightly off-center, that are connected by a pin-and-slot device.


The team was also able to pin down the device's construction date more precisely. Radiocarbon dating suggested it was built around 65 BC, but newly revealed lettering on the machine indicate a slightly older construction date of 150 to 100 BC. The team's reconstruction also involves 37 gear wheels, seven of which are hypothetical.


"In the face of fragmentary material evidence, such guesswork is inevitable. But the new model is highly seductive, and convincing in all of its detail," wrote Francois Charette, a researcher at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Germany who was not involved in the study, in a related article in the journal Nature.


Discovered in 1900


Pieces of the ancient calculating machine were discovered by sponge divers exploring the remains of an ancient shipwreck off the tiny island of Antikythera in 1900. For decades, scientists have been trying to figure out how the device's 80 fragmented pieces [image] fit together and unlock its workings.


Previous reconstructions suggested the Antikythera Mechanism was about the size of a shoebox, with dials on the outside and a complex assembly of bronze gear wheels within. By winding a knob on its side, the positions of the sun, Moon, Mercury and Venus could be determined for any chosen date. Newly revealed inscriptions also appear to confirm previous speculations that the device could also calculate the positions of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn—the other planets known at the time.


The international team, led by Edmunds and Tony Freeth, also of Cardiff University, included astronomers, mathematicians, computer experts, script analysts and conservation experts from the UK, Greece and the United States.


The researchers plan to create a computer model of how the Antikythera Mechanism worked and eventually a working replica.


The team's findings will be presented in a two-day international conference in Athens and published in the Nov. 30 issue of the journal Nature.

It takes an internet village to raise a child

It isn't everyday you come across something that would help shape your life. I came across this site when I was about 12 or 13, can't remember honestly and I've been a member there for about 5 years.

Recently I wrote a post on it. Here's the main segment of it:

I like to call this place a village, where people know each other well. Its a place where friendships are born. We know whats going on with our fellow villagers, who's getting married, who has a new family member, who's having a tough time in life and school, and we're willing to reach out a helping hand to those who need it and will accept it. We share our experiences, recepies, tales, jokes and ledgends to those who are willing to hear them. We welcome new comers. We mourn the members we've lost, and each saturday night, the bell will chime for people to gather at this place called the chatroom to hang out.

George and Ginger would be like the mayors of the town, and the admins patrolling. Wooden Nickel the guy who enjoys telling jokes to people and lessons in life. Hey, Hey, Paula announcing everybody's birthdays to the village so they know they aren't forgotten. MsPriss and Aromatics sending messages of love,care and hope to others. (not that I'm deliberately missing out people, there's too many to count :>

And everyone does their best to help improve the place.

Sounds pretty much like a village to me though I could be wrong.

I came across this place called USM when I was around 12 or 13, now I'm 17, my brother showed it to me and I thought "Hey this looks interesting" and signed up, little did I know that the time I spent on USM would help shape me as a person.

Ya see, I basically grew up from a kid into a young adult with USM watching me the entire time. I have much to thank it for, it taught me much about the lessons in life. USM has helped me and well somewhat guided me in my growing up in life.

The stories I've read, the experiences shared, told me about the world which I was sheltered from with my books. I learned compassion, I learned resiliance, I learned that people will still care for you even when you feel the whole world's against you. I learned about how it feels to loose someone whom you've never met but yet cared for. I've learned many other things and for that I have everybody to thank.

You see, in my life, I spend more time in school than at home. I spend more time with school or books than with my family. Yeah I dont have much of a life outside school. And even when I'm at home, I'll have work to do and so does my parents. They do their best to be there for me and I for them, but I suppose without USM I wouldn't be the person I am now.

They say it takes a village to raise a child, I suppose I would be one.

In USM I found a family, I found a second home, a place where I can turn to when I need a shoulder to cry on and know I'll always be welcomed back even though I'll be missing for an awfully long time. I found a place where people won't judge me for what race I am and where I'm from, you tend to forget about those things here ya know?

I'll never regret ever stumbling upon this site, this village, this place I call home, because this is one of the few places where I know that there are people who will be there for me when I need them, a place where I feel safe and loved.

Yep and so this is the village I call USM.

end transmission.

Yep it showed me things and made me experience things through another person. I've lost friends and gained friends there. Its a good place and a good village life. Sure feels awfully nice to be part of that community :)

Yep it taught me how to love and care for others more than I did before

Observations from the deck: The value of one blade of grass

What is the value of one blade of grass to you?

Consider the question before you proceed reading with this entry.
The question is asking you what do you think of a blade of grass.





Several times throughout my life, I have asked several friends, what is the value of one blade of grass, I never told them the reason why I did it, they never asked either, but allow me to say that this one showed me alot about the other person.

Answers I got varied from those of deep thought, like the grass is pretty lonely, to superficial, its just a blade of grass. The more indept the answer, the more prone the person is to taking time off from life to reflect and to think about their lives. The superficial ones on the other hand, are too caught up in mundane stuff, like keeping alive, finding whose the easiest guy/gal to date, whose at the top of the class, all those things.

Then there's more. From their answers, you'll be able to see how their thoughts go. I shall use the above example, "The blade of grass is pretty lonely". In that example, we know the person is lonely himself, and like the grass, despite having winds blown, being trampled on, is able to spring back up.

Another answer I ever received was that it was ment to be eaten. Now personally I have several intepretations for that, either the person was hungry or he's being slowly devoured by something else, school, family perhaps, leaving him no space to grow on is own.

Funny how you can actually draw out so much from that question alone, their train of thought, their personality, what they are experiencing... Though please, if one does want to actually apply such method for psychoanalysis, do it with good intentions for the other party.

The blade of grass, represents the person. Everything else represents the world.

Now I need you to listen closely to me, and listen carefully, and consider the meaning of what I say.

The value of one blade of grass is not to be underestimated, originally, all the grass in the world, must have come from one blade of grass, wouldn't you agree? Significantly, it represents that one person, can contribute so much to the world. Now lets back out of history and move into today.

A blade of grass today, would probably be found on a field, full of grass, it probably wouldn't be noticed by anyone passing by, unless it had an outstanding feature, like it was taller than a person, or pink in colour. Now lets move down to a more microscopic level.

The grass provides life for other creatures around it, the aphids, who in turn provide life to the ladybirds. The cows that chew them so that we will have dairy products and meat. To you, the blade of grass may not hold much importance, but to those creatures, it means their life to them.

Same goes to a person, you may not matter much to the world, but to those around you, you mean alot to them. You may not be able to affect the world, but you affect those around you, so take them in consideration in what you do and say.

The grass relies on the sun to give them life, people as well, we need a light in our lives, be it our own or others, to keep on living. Grass when woven together, make many objects doesn't it? A basket, a cricket? ^^

Then there are those grass that grow in odd places that catch your eye, like maybe on a cliffside or something, yep, those are the odd ones, but you have to admire them, they're at where you'd probably never risk to be. Same goes for our world, most people at catching other's attention cause they risk something and make it.

Holds alot information about life in one blade doesn't it?
So now ask yourself again the question,
What is the value of one blade of grass?