UGU!! Royal Queensland Dog Show! [Brisbane Times]
I love dogs. I love dogs, but honestly, I have mixed feelings about dog show. One thing is, even though I have a dog now (I have one back in Hong Kong) I wouldn't take him to dog shows just to get a meaningless award. Well, he won't understand what that is, so what's the point letting him/her entering the contest? But nonetheless, it's a great venue to look at different dog breeds and their trainers, but I don't really like the fashion dog show part. It disgusts me.
Chain effect, anger at school at toilet trial, kids had to hold on their pee to avoid whole class toilet break [The Age]
This ridiculous news came from Kew Primary School, from eastern Melbourne, where the school trials having the whole class to have a toilet break when one student has to go. In order to save time and not hassle other students the children decided not to go to the toilet, making them wet their pants and have trouble peeing/pooping, also known as constipation. This is outright inhumane and stupid, pulling a stunt on the kids' health and wellbeing. That's a shameful act for whatever school is doing this to their students.
Blood test tells parent their baby's gender as soon as 7 weeks [Popular Science]
A new study has done many anxious parents' favour who want to know their babies' gender sooner. Now, it is possible, with doing a simple blood test to analyse whether fetal chromosome Y is present in the mother's blood. If it's present, that means the fetus may probably be a boy; if not, it might mean the blood test didn't contain it, or it is a girl. It also helps parents to avoid genetic diseases which will pass on a specific gender. Beneficial! But on the other hand, some might worry for some developing countries where female is an undesired gender in their perspective. Fret not! Because basically the tests are not sold in these countries. And even so, they will makes parents sign a waiver saying they are not using it for that purpose.
D.
Friday, 12 August 2011
Thursday, 11 August 2011
Focus: 2011, a year without leaders?
There has been countless bad news in the year of 2011 and seemingly nation leaders are getting used to these kind of news. For example, debt crisis in the US, even though President Obama has boasted they are still a "triple-A nation" regarding the credit rating, this doesn't change the fact that now America has slid down to AA+ rating.
And for the most recent London riot, the leader of the United Kingdom again seemed to have done nothing to help reverse the economy and employment sectors just to getting UK back on track, thus the riot happened. Of course, there are the opportunist rioters who just deliberately destroying things, but deep within the society, some thing must have triggered the overall riot.
I'm not saying the government is to blame completely, what I meant is all of these things just doesn't come out of nowhere. And the governments of countries should work out solutions of their nation's instability. Leaders' focus is not just boosting GDP and such, but to fix some of our fundamental elements of the country as well. For a developed country, we are starting to have problems that no developing country would've thought could happen. For instance in Australia itself, we have to face the issue to the Malaysian Solution. People will come for refuge since their lives in the developing country simply cannot compare to ours, and because of that, we can't just put them aside and ignore the problem.
This article mentioned about issues span across the chaos around Libya and the phone hacking scandal in the UK, and criticising the judgements and decisions country leaders have made. Nonetheless, things would have been better if they had made the right decisions instead of regressing. And it concludes with the irony that while Libya, Yamen, all of these nations are struggle to demand democracy, the world leaders were simply found "rusting and blunt in our hands"
Source
D.
And for the most recent London riot, the leader of the United Kingdom again seemed to have done nothing to help reverse the economy and employment sectors just to getting UK back on track, thus the riot happened. Of course, there are the opportunist rioters who just deliberately destroying things, but deep within the society, some thing must have triggered the overall riot.
I'm not saying the government is to blame completely, what I meant is all of these things just doesn't come out of nowhere. And the governments of countries should work out solutions of their nation's instability. Leaders' focus is not just boosting GDP and such, but to fix some of our fundamental elements of the country as well. For a developed country, we are starting to have problems that no developing country would've thought could happen. For instance in Australia itself, we have to face the issue to the Malaysian Solution. People will come for refuge since their lives in the developing country simply cannot compare to ours, and because of that, we can't just put them aside and ignore the problem.
This article mentioned about issues span across the chaos around Libya and the phone hacking scandal in the UK, and criticising the judgements and decisions country leaders have made. Nonetheless, things would have been better if they had made the right decisions instead of regressing. And it concludes with the irony that while Libya, Yamen, all of these nations are struggle to demand democracy, the world leaders were simply found "rusting and blunt in our hands"
Source
D.
Poke! What I've read today! (11th August 2011)
Soundwave Revolution Cancelled!! [Brisbane Times]
Wow, what a surprise!! Rock music festival Soundwave Revolution has an unsteady outcome as rumours and speculations said about bad management and today morning, they finally announced this year's event will be cancelled. They claimed they had pulled out an act in the festival that cannot be named, which I think it's a bit suspicious. I personally hadn't been to one of them, and I frankly would love to see how grand and popular this festival is for Australians, but looks like this year I'm going to miss out again.
Suicide bomber killed 6 people in Pakistan [CNN]
Normally people would think terrorists must be all men. But this time there's a twist, it's a woman, and she's a teenager who killed herself with bomb while killing 6 other people in Islamabad, Pakistan. It is rare that a woman carried out a bombing attack in Pakistan. There was another blast before this one where it was remotely detonated, there were about 20 policeman on a truck passing by a fruit stand. Next, the woman carried a grenade and threw it at a police checkpoint, and finally detonated the bomb strapped with her. Why, woman? Why?
See if you're new to fatherhood with this list [RedDirt Chronicles]
A bit of "un-newsworthy" article I've read about fun things that fatherhood will encounter. It's an interesting read for me because I am still considered too young to have a family, but putting that in my perspective one day when I become a father, little quirky changes in lifestyle and habit might result in laughs and chuckle. One thing I quite agree in the article is, you used to only pack just a few clothes and at most a suitcase when you go travel, but after you have a baby, you will have to bring along so much extra stuffs that normally it would take you a night to pack turns into a few days of prepping and packing. People should look forward to being a Dad instead of dreading the pregnancy of their girlfriend!!
D.
Wow, what a surprise!! Rock music festival Soundwave Revolution has an unsteady outcome as rumours and speculations said about bad management and today morning, they finally announced this year's event will be cancelled. They claimed they had pulled out an act in the festival that cannot be named, which I think it's a bit suspicious. I personally hadn't been to one of them, and I frankly would love to see how grand and popular this festival is for Australians, but looks like this year I'm going to miss out again.
Suicide bomber killed 6 people in Pakistan [CNN]
Normally people would think terrorists must be all men. But this time there's a twist, it's a woman, and she's a teenager who killed herself with bomb while killing 6 other people in Islamabad, Pakistan. It is rare that a woman carried out a bombing attack in Pakistan. There was another blast before this one where it was remotely detonated, there were about 20 policeman on a truck passing by a fruit stand. Next, the woman carried a grenade and threw it at a police checkpoint, and finally detonated the bomb strapped with her. Why, woman? Why?
See if you're new to fatherhood with this list [RedDirt Chronicles]
A bit of "un-newsworthy" article I've read about fun things that fatherhood will encounter. It's an interesting read for me because I am still considered too young to have a family, but putting that in my perspective one day when I become a father, little quirky changes in lifestyle and habit might result in laughs and chuckle. One thing I quite agree in the article is, you used to only pack just a few clothes and at most a suitcase when you go travel, but after you have a baby, you will have to bring along so much extra stuffs that normally it would take you a night to pack turns into a few days of prepping and packing. People should look forward to being a Dad instead of dreading the pregnancy of their girlfriend!!
D.
Wednesday, 10 August 2011
Poke! What I've read today! (10th August 2011)
Sad truth. Baby whale finally laid rest [Courier Mail]
I've been following closely with the recent whale calf beaching incident, wishing the whale will be fine and health after the rescue mission. And all of a sudden, I stopped, shocked and my heart felt wretched. The baby humpback whale was beached again at Moreton Island today and the Sea World rescue team flew to the location by helicopter and they confirmed that it was the same whale calf. Since its poor condition, the team couldn't help but euthanised it. I felt so sorry for the whale, who struggled its life back to the ocean. But I'd like to say thank you for the rescue team who tried so hard to help the poor little calf. Since the calf hasn't got a mother to feed him and teach him about socialising and ways to survive, it's hard to help it to get back into the ocean and live without aid. Bad ending.
Tottenham teens view themselves as no future and had to stand up [The Guardian]
This article has a very well-written perspective about the journalist who was at the very same location as many of the riots were happening. Lara Oyedele was at the scene where hundreds of rioters burning cars, breaking windows, and fought with the police. She was so sad about all the facilities and services which were provided by the local people were destroyed in just a single night. She also mentioned about the poor situation fresh-grads and even A-level graduates are facing. They couldn't find any job at all, and additionally so as their parents. University graduates are looking for A-level jobs, and A-level students are applying for jobs that requires no qualifications meaning the kind of the jobs must be something close to cheap labour. Anyway, this was a very good read and it gives me about the alternate reason why teenagers came out and started to riot.
Noel Pearson puts faith in two roads [Courier Mail]
 |
| Rest in peace, little one. Credit: Channel 9 |
Tottenham teens view themselves as no future and had to stand up [The Guardian]
This article has a very well-written perspective about the journalist who was at the very same location as many of the riots were happening. Lara Oyedele was at the scene where hundreds of rioters burning cars, breaking windows, and fought with the police. She was so sad about all the facilities and services which were provided by the local people were destroyed in just a single night. She also mentioned about the poor situation fresh-grads and even A-level graduates are facing. They couldn't find any job at all, and additionally so as their parents. University graduates are looking for A-level jobs, and A-level students are applying for jobs that requires no qualifications meaning the kind of the jobs must be something close to cheap labour. Anyway, this was a very good read and it gives me about the alternate reason why teenagers came out and started to riot.
Noel Pearson puts faith in two roads [Courier Mail]
I was not born here so I don't know much about the aboriginal issue in Australia, but I've read through some passages regarding this never-ending struggle for Aborigines getting the same recognition as white Australians. What Noel Pearson said was quite right when putting this issue on the table. Indigenous population has been a pain in the arse for the Australian government and people in common really think them as the lower socio-group within the community since there are stereotypes about them not having a job and dealing with drugs and alcoholism. And the initiation Noel suggests, as he said Jews had preserved their own traditional and rituals while making significant economical benefits to the countries they live in, Aborigines and Indigenous people can do the same as well, which I think it is a great and positive idea. Not only it can help reconstructing the whole perspective on how people see them, they also brings wealth and opportunity for others.
D.
D.
Tuesday, 9 August 2011
Poke! What I've read today! (9th August 2011)
Baby whale was saved and reunited with mother. Wait, not so fast! [Courier Mail]
After a 10-hour rescue operation into saving the baby whale calf, there have been spottings of a mother and a calf frolicking near the spot where the whale beached. While we were celebrating, Seaworld researchers have declared that the baby calf wasn't the one we rescued. Uh oh, I supposed we were celebrating a bit too early. But didn't they attach some sort of tracking device on him to ensure he'll be safe and sound?
CityCyle plan to be revamped [Courier Mail]
We've seen it everywhere around the Brissy CBD, and one thing we can be sure is that, every time we looked at the bike stand, there weren't many bicycles being rent. Due to the complexity on renting a bike and the law that requires bikers to have their helmet on, it is no doubt that people are not very interested about this scheme. So our Lord Mayor Graham Quirk planned on adjusting several aspects of this CityCycle scheme in order to rescue this oversupplying situation. What I think is, with all those facilities are being built and so much taxpayer's money are being paid, I really hope that one day I can get on one of these bikes without much hassle. I've been looking for ways to hire a bike but it seemed like the steps are a little bit too much for me, LET ALONE TOURISTS.
TopGear has faked another EV fail [The Guardian]
The famous motor-ethusiast TV show, TopGear, is successful by its British humour and entertainment value. Besides those, BBC has put in so much resources just to produce every episode to be as exciting as riding the first ever roller coaster ride. But for those who wasn't in the know, TopGear has faked a failure of an electric vehicle in one of its previous episodes, and turned out that car's manufacturer, Tesla, wasn't very impressed and decided to sue BBC. Oh well, that's that. But this time, they reviewed the newest EV model in the market - LEAF from the Japanese Nissan, and making it seemed like the charges doesn't hold long at all. Apparently they want to send a message to the audience to think that electric cars are useless, so they just made a review footage just for that. I mean, come on now, BBC, be sensible, you are one of the most top media companies in the world and yet you tried to play like a child? Grow up, please.
D.
After a 10-hour rescue operation into saving the baby whale calf, there have been spottings of a mother and a calf frolicking near the spot where the whale beached. While we were celebrating, Seaworld researchers have declared that the baby calf wasn't the one we rescued. Uh oh, I supposed we were celebrating a bit too early. But didn't they attach some sort of tracking device on him to ensure he'll be safe and sound?
CityCyle plan to be revamped [Courier Mail]
 |
| "No one loves me!" |
TopGear has faked another EV fail [The Guardian]
 |
| Jeremy Clarkson on the LEAF. Credit: BBC |
The famous motor-ethusiast TV show, TopGear, is successful by its British humour and entertainment value. Besides those, BBC has put in so much resources just to produce every episode to be as exciting as riding the first ever roller coaster ride. But for those who wasn't in the know, TopGear has faked a failure of an electric vehicle in one of its previous episodes, and turned out that car's manufacturer, Tesla, wasn't very impressed and decided to sue BBC. Oh well, that's that. But this time, they reviewed the newest EV model in the market - LEAF from the Japanese Nissan, and making it seemed like the charges doesn't hold long at all. Apparently they want to send a message to the audience to think that electric cars are useless, so they just made a review footage just for that. I mean, come on now, BBC, be sensible, you are one of the most top media companies in the world and yet you tried to play like a child? Grow up, please.
D.
Focus: Lecture - Telling factual stories with pictures (Week 3)
I am a a big fan of photography, and I own a DSLR which I truly adore. I've learnt a lot about pictures and video editing in my past studies at TAFE, now that in today's class, Bruce has introduced us to the world of pictures in journalism.
The most immediate thing I found is, pictures are everywhere and basically they penetrates your magazines with all those glossy page of advertisements. Pictures, are around us. But how could something we take for granted will be as a part of journalism? Well, basically, the function of a picture is to document a moment or an object. No matter it is being used as billboards or news clip, they have the same purpose.
And throughout history from cave carvings to stained glasses in churches, they are all being used to learn about something, to be observed through our eyes. Since the advent of photography, more of these kind of pictures are blooming, especially for newspaper where in the past they were in plain text, and thanks to the invention of camera, they no longer needed to paint drawings themselves. They will get the picture with just a snap.
Powerful pictures can blew people's mind, like the famous Afghan Girl from Steve McCurry:
No one exactly knows when should he/she take a picture in the right moment, and this really depends on either that person's experience, and most of all, luck. If something doesn't happen at all, you won't even have a chance to take that picture.
In the 90s, as technology grows and develop as fast as a bullet train, there is photo-manipulation, edits. Sometimes these images has such an impact to the audience. But sometimes they distort our perspective to certain matters, one of them is self-esteem.
Bruce gave us an example of how ridiculous can a girl put on make-up, had her photo taken, put it into Photoshop, and turned out into a completely "optimised" and modified version of the girl.
The most immediate thing I found is, pictures are everywhere and basically they penetrates your magazines with all those glossy page of advertisements. Pictures, are around us. But how could something we take for granted will be as a part of journalism? Well, basically, the function of a picture is to document a moment or an object. No matter it is being used as billboards or news clip, they have the same purpose.
And throughout history from cave carvings to stained glasses in churches, they are all being used to learn about something, to be observed through our eyes. Since the advent of photography, more of these kind of pictures are blooming, especially for newspaper where in the past they were in plain text, and thanks to the invention of camera, they no longer needed to paint drawings themselves. They will get the picture with just a snap.
Powerful pictures can blew people's mind, like the famous Afghan Girl from Steve McCurry:
 |
| Afghan Girl |
No one exactly knows when should he/she take a picture in the right moment, and this really depends on either that person's experience, and most of all, luck. If something doesn't happen at all, you won't even have a chance to take that picture.
In the 90s, as technology grows and develop as fast as a bullet train, there is photo-manipulation, edits. Sometimes these images has such an impact to the audience. But sometimes they distort our perspective to certain matters, one of them is self-esteem.
Bruce gave us an example of how ridiculous can a girl put on make-up, had her photo taken, put it into Photoshop, and turned out into a completely "optimised" and modified version of the girl.
 |
| From this... |
 |
| To this... |
It was an awe-inspiring lesson. Beside my past knowledge about photography, I think I've picked up a few tips from Bruce and hopefully I will be able to apply it to my photographic skills in the near future!
D.
D.
Monday, 8 August 2011
Poke! What I've read today! (8th August 2011)
You did it, Kate! [Brisbane Times]
A bit of an attempt for entertainment news here. After 13 weeks of constant competition and restless cooking challenges, Kate Bracks, from Orange, NSW, has finally beat Michael Weldon in the final episode of Masterchef 2011. A mother of three has a talent on making desserts, and luckily the challenge was also making a dessert in the final pressure test where Kate and Michael battled to claim the Masterchef position. While Michael has unfortunately got fewer marks than Kate on the final challenge, he's still got an opportunity to expand his culinary knowledge with the judges after the competition at their respective restaurants, which I think it's not too bad at all. Whilst there are joy and tears over the air, Channel Ten was critisised by shoving an episode of The Renovators in the middle of the Masterchef finale which people flamed over Twitter and other social media platforms.
Poor baby whale washed ashore [Brisbane Times]
I'm sucker on marine science so I always don't understand why whales and dolphins tend to wash themselves ashore, but around midnight at Surfer's Paradise beach in Gold Coast, a whale calf aged only about 2 weeks old has washed ashore and now the calf has been moved into a makeshift pool on the beach in an effort to make it alive longer. Beaching whales are usually caused by currents and wind which carried them close to the coastline and some due to illness or injury, according to Wikipedia. But without human intervention, the whales that have washed ashore will end in inevitable death. Sad stuff.
Australian Sharemarket plunged as expected [The Australian]
Yesterday, analysts have predicted after the downgrade of US credit rating, and now the S&P/ASX 200 has opened down by 84.1 points (2.1%), taking the local market to its lowest level since July 2009, a two-year low. What I can foresee is there will surely be another downturn on global economy.
D.
A bit of an attempt for entertainment news here. After 13 weeks of constant competition and restless cooking challenges, Kate Bracks, from Orange, NSW, has finally beat Michael Weldon in the final episode of Masterchef 2011. A mother of three has a talent on making desserts, and luckily the challenge was also making a dessert in the final pressure test where Kate and Michael battled to claim the Masterchef position. While Michael has unfortunately got fewer marks than Kate on the final challenge, he's still got an opportunity to expand his culinary knowledge with the judges after the competition at their respective restaurants, which I think it's not too bad at all. Whilst there are joy and tears over the air, Channel Ten was critisised by shoving an episode of The Renovators in the middle of the Masterchef finale which people flamed over Twitter and other social media platforms.
Poor baby whale washed ashore [Brisbane Times]
I'm sucker on marine science so I always don't understand why whales and dolphins tend to wash themselves ashore, but around midnight at Surfer's Paradise beach in Gold Coast, a whale calf aged only about 2 weeks old has washed ashore and now the calf has been moved into a makeshift pool on the beach in an effort to make it alive longer. Beaching whales are usually caused by currents and wind which carried them close to the coastline and some due to illness or injury, according to Wikipedia. But without human intervention, the whales that have washed ashore will end in inevitable death. Sad stuff.
Australian Sharemarket plunged as expected [The Australian]
Yesterday, analysts have predicted after the downgrade of US credit rating, and now the S&P/ASX 200 has opened down by 84.1 points (2.1%), taking the local market to its lowest level since July 2009, a two-year low. What I can foresee is there will surely be another downturn on global economy.
D.
Sunday, 7 August 2011
Poke! What I've read today! (7th August 2011)
London protest turns to riot [Courier Mail]
This time North London has turned into a mad town. It was a peaceful protest at the Broadwater Farm area before a number of teenage rioters set fire to 2 police cars near the police station. As it started, people started to break through windows and steal goods from shops. Most of the rioters are teenagers as eyewitness saw them setting fire to double decker bus and at least one shop. This incident was triggered when around 120 people marched from the Broadwater Farm area to Tottenham police station at about 5pm local time to demand "justice" over the fatal shooting of a young father by police. Crikey.
A man used AIDS to threaten Syndey families to demand money [Courier Mail]
Cris Anonuevo, 43, targeted about 14 families for over 12 months through threat letters. He knew some of the families through his son. His first attempt was in July back in 2010 when he posted a letter to his family friends and threaten that if the family refused to pay, he will jab one of their children carrying AIDS or hepatitis, as well as threatened to rape one of their young daughters. As he continues, he posted more threat mails and he successfully received money from one of the families, while 3 others were either intercepted by police or not collected. His guy has a heartless prick, indeed. Threatening people as he allegedly got over $150,000 of debt to repay was not a good mean at all.
This time North London has turned into a mad town. It was a peaceful protest at the Broadwater Farm area before a number of teenage rioters set fire to 2 police cars near the police station. As it started, people started to break through windows and steal goods from shops. Most of the rioters are teenagers as eyewitness saw them setting fire to double decker bus and at least one shop. This incident was triggered when around 120 people marched from the Broadwater Farm area to Tottenham police station at about 5pm local time to demand "justice" over the fatal shooting of a young father by police. Crikey.
A man used AIDS to threaten Syndey families to demand money [Courier Mail]
Cris Anonuevo, 43, targeted about 14 families for over 12 months through threat letters. He knew some of the families through his son. His first attempt was in July back in 2010 when he posted a letter to his family friends and threaten that if the family refused to pay, he will jab one of their children carrying AIDS or hepatitis, as well as threatened to rape one of their young daughters. As he continues, he posted more threat mails and he successfully received money from one of the families, while 3 others were either intercepted by police or not collected. His guy has a heartless prick, indeed. Threatening people as he allegedly got over $150,000 of debt to repay was not a good mean at all.
In other news, Volkswagen revealed its Temporary Auto Pilot system lately, and they've won a contest in 2006 organised by the US Department of Defence with a Touareg soft-roader nicknamed Junior that drove itself over more than 200 kilometres of off-road terrain. With this new system implemented onto future Volkswagen cars, drivers can use it during traffic jams and speed-limited scenarios. But this system is capable of taking over tasks such as speed and steering of the vehicle up to 130km/h. On the other hand, car manufacturers like BMW and Google, has also developed autopilot technologies to be used on cars one day. At the moment we are still not sure when exactly consumers will be able to buy one. But the technologies are quite promising and looks like we are very, very close to it.
D.
D.
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