Brave.. new... world

Freedom is a funny thing, with the recent touch down of Hicks from his 5-year ordeal and along with weekly headlines of new arrests made in America and whatnot, this made me wonder... What has the.. so called.. democratic society.. turned into?

I recall westerners fear of the 'communists' and nazi's back around the cold war period, fear of losing their freedom and being "controlled" by high power governments. Isn't it funny that in today’s society, you can be taken away for 2 weeks, no questions asked for being a suspect of terrorism activity? No no, this isn't in America, this is in Australia........ America as it seems, can lock you away for 5 years or more .. without being charged..... I was taught from a very early age of the westerner's 'democratic' justice ideology of "innocent until proven guilty'... guess that was thrown out the window years ago.

Today in the headlines, one entry read.. "US doctor convicted of supporting AL Qaeda".. if found guilty, faces max 30 years in prison. How funny, it was reported that they were set up by an undercover agent, and based on them "swearing allegiance to Al Qaeda".. they were convicted... As far as I can see, the doctor simply said I will help those who gets wounded. Hell.. the case didn't even involve any attack plot... This is pure BS.. the 'Attempting to provide material support or resources' clause of the legislation is such a gray line that basically enables the law to witch hunt anyone that's remotely plausible to be involved with Al Qaeda.

Now.. I ain no expert in the medical field... but from my limited knowledge, doctors should make no discrimination in who they can or should treat. However, it seems this is not the case anymore, apparently there are groups of people we should openly discriminate against.

I've held back my thoughts about Hicks for a while, but this is it, enough is enough.. Sure, the guy was stupid enough to be in training camps with the group, but what has he done up to the point that he was arrested? NOTHING.... that’s right ladies and gentlemen, NADDA, ZILL, NOTHING. All his charges were based on 'if he continued.... he could've...' and 'If he wasn't caught, he would've.."... I don't know about you, but that seems like a lot of hypotheticals with the "If's", "could've" and "would've". If the justice system takes a preventive approach, hell, in the future... people who play CS who prefers Terrorists class would probably all be arrested, or players who choose protoss or Zerg instead of Human in Starcraft could also be convicted in conspiracy against ‘our way of life’….

My hypothetical sounds ludicrous to you? I better hope so... Least that shows you have a lot more sense than those in power….

Well-done America... We feel really safer now.

Oz Trains..

"Aussie trains among worlds worse" was on the headlines this week.. Oh why doesn't this surprise me..

Where do I start.. It was found that "SYDNEY'S train system boasted performance levels hopelessly below every major city from Europe to South America, according to a damning independent report yet to be presented by CityRail."

"Rail experts from Hong Kong were paid by CityRail to compare Sydney with metro systems around the world for efficiency, cost effectiveness, reliability and maintenance."

As I'm no expert in trains, I won't comment on reliability, maintenance and cost effectiveness. Efficiency wise, I have a thing or two to talk about. Trains in Sydney are double decker. Whilst in theory, it can carry more people per carriage, it is actually not designed to handle peak hour traffic.

Whys that? First of all, the design of the carriages centers on a spacious ideology with plenty of space and minimal poles. That may have worked 20 years ago, but given the sharp rise of population density in Sydney CBD, the design should focus on supporting plenty of standing passengers given the limited space on train carriages.

Secondly, the seating arrangement on the top and bottom levels is, again, very inefficient. If the floor plans accounted room for standing passengers, they could easily fit loads more in the same space. Obviously I'm not saying we should strip the seats, but the current isle are way too small to accommodate standing passengers resulting in underutilization of 2 level carriage design.

Finally, with lack of poles in the main carriage area, standing passengers cling to the few poles available which happens to be near the door exits. This creates a bottleneck in the carriage, significantly slowing the in and out flow of passengers. Nice design City Rail.

I see a bird outside..

Instead of the usual 'its been a long time since I blogged', I might just get straight into it.. Oh wait.. I just did it again.. doh!

Thank you to those who came to spectate the annual UNSW Easter badminton open.. although there weren't much to see.. hehe.... and for the unfortunate ones who stayed, they got to see the angry sportsmen side of me.. well I wasn't angry really, its just concentration and to put off the opponents =p Once again, I made it to quarter-finals. It's good to know I haven't slipped since my last dig at this comp =]

AnYwAy! What else happened, oh yea, my birthday, which was a little over a month ago now, I had to work over time on the actual day of my bday =.= ...... But thank you to the people who dragged me outta this hole to get some dinner :D The gift is awesome :) I shall put it to good use!

what else happened, oh yes, people who moved away came back for a visit! And finally had a catchup with someone who came back from overseas several months ago.... who ALSO works in North Sydney (not mentioning any names *cough*)

=]

Feb 14th... hm!

So it’s V-day again, but being in a different status gave me a whole new dimension on things..

It wasn't long ago when transportation was limited to trains, horse carts and the trusty legs that god has given us. Towns were designed differently back then. With limited range that each person can travel on foot, shops were more localised and within walking distance. People walked, talked and actually knew each other in their area, a very connected socialised community. Postmen actually knew the person by face rather than some name to some number.

Now fast forward many decades, population explodes exponentially, however with cities like Sydney which is quite densely populated, loneliness is at an all time high. With the discovery of petrol and invention of cars, cities are developed to channel people to certain districts to do their specific shopping. We no longer know our neighbours, no longer have to walk to go to shops, and no longer know each other who lives in the same area. Is this an advancement or a break down of one of humanity's founding aspect, communities and interactivity.

In fact, it's getting worse, with greater freedom of choice and technology, they promote individualism and isolates people from face-to-face interaction. Home theatre, internet shopping, and internet itself are some of the new technologies that do just that.

Isn't it ironic that whilst humans strive to meet their material needs, they lose one of the most foundational aspects of human life.

So what was the idea again..

So here I am, almost exactly one year later since I suddenly decided to let my hair grow...

After going through many new styles.... let it flow, curl, half up half down, pony tail, tied high, tied low.... but it all ends now. Not the original end which I had in mind, but hmm this was impulse.. again.

I don't believe my hair (now) is long enough for dread locks, beads nor afro.. sadly, impulse has taken those opportunities away... also I'll no longer be mistaken as the guy in 'dragon tiger gate'... my dreams of crashing a matial art dojo will have to be forever on the to-do list.. until the next time my brain goes haywire'd and decide to let the fur grow again..

Farewell my fans, may my image of the me back then be forever lasting... =p

Something stuck on my mind..

Ok, I know its a bit tacky to post lyrics in a blog entry, but what ever! :P

Whatever - Oasis

I'm free to be whatever I
Whatever I choose
And I'll sing the blues if I want

I'm free to say whatever I
Whatever I like
If it's wrong or right it's alright

Always seems to me
You always see what people want you to see
How long's it gonna be
Before we get on the bus
And cause no fussGet a grip on yourself
It dont cost much

Free to be whatever you
Whatever you say
If it comes my way it's alright

You're free to be wherever you
Wherever you please
You can shoot the breeze if you want

It always seems to me
You always see what people want you to see
How long's it gonna be
Before we get on the bus
And cause no fuss
Get a grip on yourself
It don't cost much

I'm free to be whatever I
Whatever I choose
And I'll sing the blues if I want

Here in my mind
You know you might find
Something that you
You thought you once knew
But now it's all gone
And you know it's no fun
Yeah I know it's no fun
Oh I know it's no fun

I'm free to be whatever I
Whatever I choose
And I'll sing the blues if I want

I'm free to be whatever I
Whatever I choose
And I'll sing the blues if I want

Whatever you do
Whatever you say
Yeah I know it's alright

Whatever you do
Whatever you say
Yeah I know it's alright

2007.. already?!

Wow, I still can't believe its almost the end of Jan 2007 already!!!!!

December of 2006 was surprisingly eventful for me. Since I missed the Asia holiday band wagan, I expected to spend my December getting in touch with the Zen and be one with nature's harmony (ie. isolation and boredom). Instead, it turned out to be quite good! Caught up with several friends whom I haven't contacted for a while.

This year's xmas n new years is something that I haven't experienced before. Was glad it turned out to be good. =]

Oh and Jan turned around, and what a surprise! Bumped into Kat! (Yea good one! don't tell anyone that you're back!.. or maybe just me eih =p) A big welcome back to everyone who went overseas!