Poke! Pricier transport; Pedo-stepdad; loneliest plant (23rd August 2011)

Brisbane's Transport price raise for another 50 percent [Courier Mail]

Not fair. not fair! Seems like the ever-inflating commodity price and commuting price is getting heavier and heavier for us International students. You can see the Australian currency is getting all time high, yet the things here are still as expensive as gold. Now, the City Council of Brisbane has decided in the coming years, they will increase the price for each zone gradually to 50% by the year of 2014. Now, by that time, I think there'll be no one taking buses and trains since this already priciest city in the world is still heading to that way. Have they studied about diminishing marginal returns?

Ridiculous mum re-married to pedophile stepdad [Courier Mail]
What sort of maniac will a mother of 2 daughters get married to a man that abused her daughter for 2 years? A Brisbane mum has all the eyes on her as her now husband was alleged to molest her daughter when she was 12 years old back in 2007. Her daughter, who cannot be named according to the law, gave a letter to her mother telling that she is going to marry a child raper, before she got married to this man. She never confronted this issue to the man and they got married together on 2009, after the man has apologised to this girl. The police were informed as soon as the daughter told her biological father about this abuse. The act is sick and perverted.

Introducing the loneliest plant in the world [NPR]
There are over a million species of plants in the world, but one stood out as it survived the asteroids bombardment in the distant past that wiped out dinosaurs, survived through five different ice ages, and evolved itself through eons. Now, there is only a single male tree left in the world in London, along with other genetic clones around the world's botanic garden. This tree is named E. Woodii, a cycad, a kind of tree that lived since the Jurassic and Triassic era. However, they have genders and without the opposite sex, they cannot pollinate. Without pollination, they can't grow seed and thus will ceased to reproduce and the situation now was the researchers have wandered all over the Ngoya forest in Africa, where they discovered this specimen by John Medley Wood in 1895, has yet to find a female E. Woodii. So, you can see why it is called the loneliest plant in the world, and who knows if the tree will die in next year, or the next hundred years without successors?



D.

Focus: Lecture - Ethics, Codes and Conduct

On this week's lecture, we took a look at how codes and ethics work in the journalism industry. Recently, the industry is criticised as one of the most prominent press in UK, News of the World, was exposed with phone hacking scandals. People questioned their morality and their codes of conduct, whether they have ever respect other's privacy and try to be in a honest news industry. However, they failed to do it.

Now, back to the lecture. Our guest speaker Dr. John Harrison showed us a couple of advertisements including printed form and TV ads. Then he asked us about how ethical or unethical one advertisement seemed to us. Of course, different students has their different views, and so did I. While I found some of the ads are funny, they tend to do it in a rather poor or, may I say, inferior way. The creators of the advertisements like to catch our attention by using shocking content and suggestive material. But of course, not every advertisement is shown in prime time or 'kiddie time' where children watches TV after school or before school. So, there is an existence of the regulation board. Their work is to categorise each advertisement into their suitable on-air window. For printed posters and billboards, they don't have much control over them as everyone who travel past them will look at them. So there is a ethical question that ponders us. How can we tell everything from:

Good and bad?

Ethical or Unethical?

Right from Wrong?

Right, so in the lecture, John introduced 3 main ethical theories to us, which are 'Deontology', 'Consequentialism', and 'Virtue ethics'. And I am fairly intrigued by how consequentialism works.

Consequentialism is all about getting the right outcome, no matter how we did it, and by any means the outcome is the most important thing we should take care of, and 'the greatest good for the greatest number'. Believing how News of the World has followed these rules so closely, they've done something so shocking in a dishonouring and demeaning way, leading to their closure. So, should we just do what we want and don't care about the consequences? A good question to think of.

p.s.: I think John is using a bit too much BLOCK LETTER AND I FOUND IT A BIT CONFUSING TO FOLLOW!!



D.

Poke! Libya close to freedom; Daniel's shoes; soldier wounded (22nd August 2011)

Libya on the brink of true freedom [CNN]
Now, after 6 months of civil war claiming countless lives, and trained rebels trying to topple the Gadhafi's 42-year ruling, the freedom fighters and their allies have controlled most of Tripoli, the capital of Libya. However, Gadhafi is still remaining unknown regarding his location in the capital. Confident that victory was close, the rebel government began making plans to govern. A complicated civil matter happening in the northern African country, and I hope the country will be free from the regime of Gadhafi, and once and for all united as a sovereign country.

Shoes found in site confirmed as Daniel's [Brisbane Times]

The Morcombe family can finally
consider funeral plans for Daniel

After the breakthrough of bones and shoes, the Morcombe family has finally given a chance to plan of a funeral for their late son. Bruce Morcombe, father of Daniel, has spoken to media after the police confirmed the shoes found at the Sunshine Coast search site are the same Globe brand as Daniel was wearing when he disappeared in 2003. Although they cannot confirm if the size of the shoes are of Daniel's feet, they said their characteristics were consistent with Daniel's shoes. It's raining so heavily in this few days, forcing the team of searchers to pause their search today, hopefully the weather will turn fine and let the search unit continue their search as soon as possible.

Australian Digger heavily wounded in Afghanistan [Brisbane Times]

As of now, there are no detailed report about an Australian soldier who was involved in an incident in Afghanistan. But the article said if a death is confirmed, it will be the 29th solider fatality in Afghanistan amid the current operations. Sad news of the unrest war-zone and the families, and I just hope that Australia will send their troops back home and end this ridiculous 'peacekeeping' mission.

UPDATE: Soldier confirmed death from sustaining severe wounds. My humble condolences.



D.

Donny Recommends: The Island (2005)

Time to have a movie recommendation for my readers. For me I don't really like to see those holiday movies where everything was either 'BAM!', 'WOOSH!' or 'SPLAT!'. It doesn't serve any purpose for me, and I sometimes even find it revolting just to watch with my friends where they were simply watching it for the explosions and actions. Well, not for me. I paid tremendous attention to the plot and the meaning behind films so that makes me usually watch it either with one or two friends, or even alone. Sad? Not really, I'm just enjoying the time spent with myself.

Poster of The Island

Enough with the crap, let me introduce this movie The Island. The Island is a science fiction movie about an apparently futuristic compound with people living in it. The people there were told that the outside world was contaminated and therefore they have to follow a very strict regulations in there, from daily diet to social relationships in order to regulate the population and breed.

However the protagonist of the film, Lincoln Six Echo, did not feel competent with the situation he is in, plus more evidence that made him know probably the world outside was different from what they were told to be. So he investigates.

Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) and Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson)

One of the main subplot of this film was the Island lottery, where everyone will have a chance to win and escape from the isolated compound. People in there were really anticipating that one day it will be one of them to win the prize. However, behind this so-called lucky draw, it was actually a myth, and Lincoln found out the people inhabited in the compound were actually clones of real people of the 'outside' world, where wealthy people sponsored to clone their body and once ever they have body parts malfunctioning, they can harvest the clone's body and no one will know it. And the lucky draw's use was exactly for that.

As Lincoln found out more and more about this immoral doing of this company which told the sponsors and the government the cloned parts were do not gain consciousness, so he escaped with Jordan Two Delta, a friend who has just won the lottery and try to find their sponsors.

Cloned human fed with fake memories

This movie is really reflecting about the ethics of cloning and it gives me an interesting view on what if this really happens in the future where body parts are simply genetically grown and be transplant into dying people's body. It's a sad to see so many people are being killed just to replace body parts and yet they never know that the so-called lottery was the final destination of their lives where they are being harvested. One scene, where a pregnant woman has won the lottery as she started to labour, and as Lincoln followed the medical staff that escorted her into the surgery room, he found out after she gave birth to a baby, she was instantly injected with toxins and killed in the spot, where the baby was given to a wealthy family. That was really screwed up.

So, I do recommend this film to everyone who wants to have a special perspective about human and their cruelty, not to mention that selfishness and the contrastive morals towards the other kinds of people.



D.

Poke! Bones and shoes; Gen-'cut-and-paste'; kid's thought (21st August 2011)

So I was thinking, does writing comments for 3 stories a day really help my critical thinking and writings skills? So, from now on, I will try to write more "focus" series, or make "Poke" section longer, and I have to do something to make the titles interesting!

Bones found at Daniel's search site [Courier Mail]
I've been watching the development of the Daniel Morcombe case every day. Now, here's another breakthrough after discovering a pair of identical pairs! Now, police has found bones and after a preliminary forensic analysis conducted on the bones, they confirmed that the bones are of human remains. More breakthroughs are good things. I hope this case can be closed as soon as possible. Again, let's thank the police and volunteers!

Misleading sites led to students misunderstanding with misinformed info [Brisbane Times]

Spoof website boasting male can get pregnant.

Well, here's a thing: Nowadays, schoolchildren are very innocent, and they never go to libraries to look for resources for their projects. They tend to search related keywords online to get everything done with computers. Yet, not all information on the Internet is true. Sometimes students are even taught with misleading facts making them ended up misinformed and as they wrap up the project, they might summarise inaccurately and now the kids are warned to stop being a generation of 'cut-and-pasters'.

Research is important but we have to teach the children about critical thinking, differentiate bogus website providing biased information and check the authenticity of the websites. In that way, students will not be learning wrong aspects of a, historical event, if you will, that one of the websites that promotes supremacism claimed Martin Luther King 'was a liar, cheat and drunk and should not be celebrated in a US national holiday.' I believe students shouldn't rely too much on Internet information as again, Internet is full of liars and traps, so be sure you're in a true website when researching.

Approximately 3 Minutes inside the head of my 2-year-old [Jason Good 365]
A funny snippet about how a toddler think and do in 3 minutes as depicted by his Dad. Look at how emotion drove through a toddler like a roller coaster! I love the fact that Jason actually enjoys his little son as he showed different actions while he's watching him. And since the attention span of a child was so short, you'll never know what comes next. These bits and pieces of life and humour makes me want to have a kid so bad!



D.

Poke! What I've read today! (20th August 2011)

The entry for today isn't really in the main news category, but something I find quite interesting to read!

Wildlife getting close to Brisbane residents [Courier Mail]

Back in Hong Kong, the only place to see wildlife and getting up close to nature is by travelling to forest parks and country zones, but in the cityscapes of Hong Kong you would only see little sparrows and pigeons and that's it. Not much more to peek on while you're having a tea out at the street. But here in Brisbane, it's another story. I found there are so many things to look at even in the city, like crows, magpies, and some more interesting birds. While travelling a bit outside to the northern suburbs like Narangba, there are even peacocks, bandicoots and turkeys at my friend's yard! I felt so close to the nature where wildlife are just within your sight. Some people though, don't really want any disturbance from the animals so they decided to drop them away from their habitat making them starve and suffer. I think having wildlife so close to residence is a very special feature of Australia, where not every part of the world has the same in their countries, and for me it's a good thing!

Rising building reshapes suburb views [Courier Mail]

I like Brisbane, but I don't really like the city, because simply, I don't like crowds. And since I don't like crowds, I prefer living far away from the city just to escape the noise and traffic. A new high-rise is now under construction in the Brisbane city and the skyline has changed because of it. The Soleil was the newest addition to the 'skyscrapers' in Brisbane and it is the highest building under construction at the moment. An absolute view is now become a talking point for the suburb people where they found it amazing and they think the building adds a special significance to their houses's view because they can see the skyline even though their houses are located outside the CBD. Well, personally I don't really mind having a needle stuck out into the sky, but maybe it's just me who prefers not having that to be included in my plato's scenery. I just wanted to escape the city view and yet the high rise is giving me another thought that I'm included in the city's border. Well, maybe next time if I need to buy a house, I'll choose ones that face all directions except the city.

Watching TV shortens your life? [Brisbane Times]

Aha, looks like parents will have another reason to get the kids away from Teles thanks to a study reveals that for every hour an adult spends watching TV their life expectancy shortens by almost 22 minutes. What I believe is, from not moving in the sofa for 6 hours doing nothing is a complete waste of time so I don't really do it. But the other thing I'm thinking is what about people who sat in front of their computers playing games? Will they be loosing years from that as well? But fair enough, it's really your responsibility to manage your time and make the most of your day, and I believe going out and have a stretch is good for anyone. Trust me. I don't watch much TV and I feel much better when I go out than stay at home.



D.

Poke! What I've read today! (19th August 2011)

Sorry again for not posting. I went out for a trip out to Scarborough and sort of lost there, so I couldn't mae it back to finish a Poke today.

3 ABC journalists feared dead [Courier Mail]
3 journalists, Reporter Paul Lockyer, pilot Gary Ticehurst and cameraman John Bean were feared dead as the helicopter they were in has crashed last night at the outback national park of Lake Eyre, while they are making a documentary about Lake Eyre filled up with water. Eyewitness saw the helicopter was going down in flames, and police confirmed that 2 person in the crew was dead and the remaining one is believed to be inside the helicopter. This is the saddest tragedy in ABC journalism history. My condolences to their colleagues and family members and my thoughts are with you today.

Terrier destroyed after killing a little girl [Brisbane Times]

On Wednesday night, a pitbull terrier ran into the residence of Anchito, in the melbourne suburb of Albans, attacked the 2-year-old Ayen. While her cousin was desperately trying to save her from the senseless biting, she suffered from bite wounds and other members as well has been attacked by the dog. Neighbours heard from the anguished mother's screaming for help and after a while the dog's owner ran into the house and pulled away the dog. The council destroyed the dog yesterday, and while all dogs are required to be registered, this dog hasn't. The dog was described by neighbours as "aggressive". It's tragic to have such a young child being mauled to death by an animal.

New Brisbane suburb named as "Brisbane Airport"? [Brisbane Times]

From what I know, I've been calling the airport "airport" since I was a kid, and in Brisbane, I have no idea on what other suburbs surrounding it are called, so I might as well call it "airport" as well. Now, the new suburb area in parts of Eagle Farm where the airport is and a small part of Pinkenba next to Priors Road and Main Myrtletown Road are now officially called Brisbane Airport. Next time as you have to send a letter to friends living around there, write that down instead looking for alternative names of it.

D.