Firefly!

In case I have not emphasized the point enough before:

I ABSOLUTE ADORE THIS SHOW.


The work of Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

... Best explained by Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_%28TV_series%29

I have fallen in love with each and every one of Firefly characters. Especially Mal. Yes I'm aware that he's a somewhat mid aged man running a somewhat doubtfully legal crew (along with galaxy-wide wanted fugitives) and that I'm also of the male gender, I love him all the same.

As well as the two female characters - Inara and Saffron. Inara is basically the dream of any men that exist on this planet that has even half a sense of beauty. Saffron... simply speechless, I would pledge my soul to that queen and do her evil biddings as she please.

Sounds pretty emo, you just have to see it yourself.

For you Firefly fans, here's something you'll love:

http://www.serenitystuff.com/2006/01/29/firefly-barbies/

Friends and I have also started a project to raise $20 (EDIT: it's 20,000,000. I forgot to add in the 'million') USD to fund the second Firefly movie or season two of the TV series, let us know if you'd like to offer assistance of any kind. I would suggest you trod along and purchase a copy of Firefly - the collectors edition as a starting point.

Out, will be quoting Firefly as abusively as possible in the future.

EDIT: I'm horrified to admit that I neglected to mention River Tam... yes, she's reappearing in a new TV series hence I must still be feeling her presence and not missing her as much...

-

Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

'Heat Wave'

Before I start, I would like to apologies. This will be my second post and I will be using it to vent and may continue to do so until I see some rain, not small brief trickles but actual drenching storms (well not heavy enough to cause bodily harm to anyone...)

Melbourne, Australia, is experiencing somewhat of a heat wave. Its mid March, Autumn, and it is hot. Last night the temperature didn't drop bellow 25°C (77 °F ?). I am aware that Adelaide has experienced 12 days of 35+°C (95+°C) and is expecting a few more, however I don't live in Adelaide, nor have I ever been there, so Melbourne's heat is the only heat I will complain about.
I have not had to work during these two weeks, and only had to endure going to university for four days out of the week so my suffering is pretty mundane and somewhat insensitive to those who work work in hot environments - chefs, road workers, etc. Still I want to complain. ^^

Commuting to university has been exhausting. Sadly walking to/from the bus stop from/to my residence is the most comfortable portion of my travel. The buses have a habit of either being either early to the point where I just leaves when I gain vision of the stop, or so late that two buses in the same route come at the same time. The bus ride is as good as it can get with a full load of perspiring 'people' with no air condition - fortunately the ride is rather short. Connex is the enitity which is causing my commute to be uncomfortable - Peek hour trains at possibly overcapacity , occupied by sweaty, stinky, heat exerting... I am felling like the word animals would be appropriate here. Recalling this has already caused me to choke on water, so I will move on.
I am assuming Monash University as a collective whole is trying to conserve energy, reducing carbon emissions. At Caulfield, the campus I attend, the air-conditioning policy of some buildings do not seem to be conforming to this ideal. Two of the business theatres that I have lectures in have set there air-conditioning to a level where it can actually be painful to be in there if you are not wearing long sleeved shirts and pants. I enjoy the cold, though if you didn't have a wink of sleep the previous night and suddenly you're sitting in a dim cool room, it can be rather hard to resist the temptation to sleep (factoring in how boring most all of my lectures are doesn't help either). In contrast, another building where I have my remaining lectures and most of my tutorials has opted not to use air-conditioning - I guess this is to offset the overzealousness of the other building.

Okay, I've just run out of water and this temperature has caused me to revert back to using contraction grammar. Here's another baka-image which follows up from my previous post. > <

UML, c++, ClassBuilder and you!

Raise your hand if you know what c++ is. Okay, we got some hands. Now leave it up if you know what's UML. Still ok. Now, leave it up if you use it to prepare your project and get your c++ code started.

Yeah, didn't think so. While most people will agree it should be done that way and in theory should make all the first steps easier, in practice people do not. Well ok, this guy here and that girl there, but not everyone, not often, not as often as you should.

ClassBuilder, http://sourceforge.net/projects/classbuilder/ , is a very nice free tool. A very good alternative is : http://www.gnome.org/projects/dia/ or for windows : http://dia-installer.de/index_en.html .

The reason I recommend ClassBuilder first is because of his code generating capabilities AND read back. While dia has export through various plugins (most of which don't work on windows), it does not compare with the ease of use of ClassBuilder on that aspect. And ease of use is crucial at development time. Would that be so easy on dia, I'd use it any day instead due to it's better design and interface. Also, you can look for yourself, plenty of other tools exist, both commercial and free. (avoid FreeMind. It looks nice at first but is ultimately too limited and restrictive. Also, it does not follow the UML standard.)

Now, no matter which tool you choose, you should look for export AND import capacities to code. This is primordial. It is so very useful. One advice. Use it. Then use it some more. Then again. Keep doing so until the point where the UML becomes limiting. Guess what, if you've planned well your things, it won't. Also, your code will be that much clearer. Customize your tool as much as you need so that it's import/export agree with you and when you're satisfied, start teaching people in your team how to use it.

Well, I'll talk more later on the subject, but for now I hope any coder reading this is at the very least starting to search for a good UML tool to work with.

Dorth, signing out and reaching for his bed.

Deserty story thingy

I'm not really going to use this as a blog, more of a dump for any short stories I might write. The reason for this is partly to get me to write and partly so that I actually show people the stories. I'm very amateur, so don't expect too much (just yet), but if you like any of the stories (currently story) that's just great. So on to this story.

I had this pretty vivid idea for a setting that I kinda liked so I spun up a story around it. Ironically, I barely even describe the setting so this story probably is a bit hard to follow. Still, it's my first attempt at creative writing in about 3 or 4 years so it coulda gone a whole lot worse. It doesn't have a title so it sort of starts after this paragraph. I'm pretty aware of the major problems with it (namely it's too brief and the setting isn't really fleshed out) but any other constructive criticism is welcome. Anyway, on to the show:

***************************************************

“What d'ye reckon we do about this one?” Jack said, scratching his thin arm. His eyes narrowed to slits. “Mighty fine vehicle on him...” He pronounced vehicle with three syllables.
The vehicle was still small through the binocular lenses, but not too small to make out. I clenched my jaw.
“Well?”
“Nothing. We do nothing.” I looked away, yawned, then sat back down in the sparse grass. A gnarled tree took the punishment meted out by the sun in my stead. From my clifftop perch, I could see hundreds of miles in every direction. Not that there was much to see anyway. The road divided the world neatly in two, disappearing off into the horizon both ways. The far half was a table spread with an old cloth, a tacky sandy coloured number with brown and green splotches on it. I lowered my head and picked at some grass absentmindedly.
CLICK. I looked up immediately. I made to get up, but couldn't. My mouth gaped, as useless as my legs.
BANG. That jolted me. I sprang up, walked the three steps to where Jack was lying, and kicked him square in the ribs. His face scrunched up and his eyes thinned to a razor edge. A dull clang sounded from below.
“Just what the hell d'yer mean by that?” he said, scrambling to his feet.
I stared down at him for ten full seconds. My forehead was dug into deepest furrows. Finally my expression relaxed. “I told you not to do that. You didn't listen to me.”
He spat by my feet, and shoved his face inches from mine. “I reckon you've been giving bad advice. I reckon we haven't had a good score like that in months. I reckon I listen to you, we both wind up dead.”
“It isn't advice.” I clenched and unclenched my fists rapidly. “It isn't advice.”
The corners of his mouth raised barely perceptibly. “I reckon we can sort this out friendly-like.” He backed away a bit, then crouched down slowly, feeling with his hands. “Real friendly-like.”
“It's not there,” I informed him, breathing slowly, “Your gun fell down the cliff.”
His eyes widened. “Friendly-like.”
“Do you know who you killed?” I said. “Governor Steinz. And do you know what that means?”
He swallowed visibly. “I reckon we can get away in that car down there.”
“I don't reckon we can.” I said. “You do realise that he was a paranoid man? That he had tracers installed on all his cars?”
Blue and red lights appeared on the horizon.
“Five minutes,” I said.
Jack turned and rushed this way and that, then started down the long, singular path leading below, before turning back abruptly. He sat down, his chest heaving. The heaves slowly subsided.
I sat under the shade of the tree, my jaw rivetted shut.
The blue and red lights had become toy cars, rolled quickly along the highway by an invisible toddler.
Jack lowered his head. For a while he stayed like that, then he looked up.
“Boss,” he said. “What we gonna do?”
I gazed at the ground in front of me. Every muscle in my body was tense.
“Boss!”
“I'm not your boss,” I said. “You didn't listen to me.”
“I'll listen now!”
“Jump,” I said.
His face became animal. He closed the small gap before I could react, and I was out cold.

My face was warm. It felt pleasant. My eyelids peeled back and my hand shot across my face automatically. I turned my head about, my mouth agape and eyebrows raised.
Then I remembered where I was.
My anger had faded, replaced by a calm resolve.
“A helicopter! And a million bucks. Or I ain't comin' down!” Jack was shouting over the edge of the cliff, his back turned to me. Why the hell was he negotiating? The question was raised then shuffled to the back of my brain immediately.
I walked slowly towards him, a faint smile touching my lips. I took a deep, satisfied breath as I reached him. I placed my hands firmly on his shoulders, and pushed.
I watched him, a broad grin on my face. It took less than a second. Disappointing, yet still satisfying enough. I sat down.

“He's here!”
I looked at the officer. My mouth was still pulled most of the way across my face. I giggled.
“We got you, sir!” He pulled on my elbow. I stood compliantly.
At the bottom of the cliff, I looked at my handiwork. Jack's rifle, right beside him, was a fitting tombstone.
“Sorry kid,” a portly officer was saying. Probably the chief. “He was gone when we got here. An ambulance is on the way, all the same.”
I looked unblinkingly at him, my eyebrows raised expectantly.
“You alright? Of course you aren't. Somebody give this kid a glass of damn water!” He slapped me on the back and walked off.
I drank the water greedily, looking left and right over the top of my glass. My eyes darted from face to face, finding nothing.
I frowned. “What the fuck is going on?”
“Actually, we were hoping you'd help us a bit with that. So Governor Steinz... well, you know. Then you rush to the top of the cliff? But he's still armed, and takes you hostage right?” The detective's pen scratched the small notebook violently. “Then eventually there's a struggle, you get the better of him?”
My mouth gaped. I looked at the ground in front of me. My hands hung limply at my side. I nodded. Then I looked him straight in the eye.
“Yeah. That's what happened.”
“Sorry about this crap. Just gotta get the particulars. In my book you deserve a damned medal.”
“Yeah. I'd say so.”
The chief returned. He stared at me, without smiling.
“He was holding the gun when the struggle took place?”
“Yes.” My face was a block of granite.
The chief put his hand to his chin for a moment. He continued to stare at me.
“Hmph,” he eventually concluded. His expression brightened. “Well, we better take you back in to town, hadn't we?”
“Thanks,” I said, stifling a sigh.
“No problem,” he said. “No problem, Mr Steinz.”

***********************************************
Well done if you got through that. Expect more crap whenever I feel like it.

EDIT: I went through the whole damn thing making sure paragraphs were indented and then when I posted it all that got taken out. Makes it kinda hard to read sorry about that.

6 a.m

I lie awake.

Honestly speaking I haven't had a nightmare in quite a while, that's a first in a long time.

Was so chilled and cold in bed so I decided to get up, even though there's still 3 hours till class. Too shaken to attempt to go back to sleep.

I remember the dream so vividly, too graphical to describe, I'll spare the details.

One thing I do recall is the gradual death of friends next to me. Yeah, it's actually debatably more horrifying than watching yourself dying. It made no sense whatsoever, those people would never be at the same place at the same time. Then again, it's a dream, what do I know.

Yan may recall me complaining about not remembering my dreams yesterday, now I'm starting to think it's for the best.

Although it's just a figment of your imagination / memory... waking up actually feels surreal. Or maybe I'm just tired.

Soothing self listening to 'YIRUMA - River flows in you', very neat piece, should try it some time.

Times like these you wish you weren't sleeping alone ;)

-

When life gives you lemons, squirt juice at people.

-Robert (UT)

If only...

Recently, Meng and I visited our old high school (secondary college). I am sure he would love to write something about 'tour' we took, so I will deviate slightly and vent out my envy regarding the upgrades the current students are enjoying.
Here is a brief list of these luxuries: refurbished and stocked science rooms, coffee machine, trays of Apple laptops, and bean bags...

I have to say that my friends and I would have abused these gifts if they existed 3 years ago. There is no way that I could accurately transcribe what damage we would have caused, however I will amplify our behaviour, integrating them with these new toys, and hope that you will enjoy my fabrication.

1) At least one of the science labs will be rendered hazardous as we overextend ourselves in certain experiments that may cause explosions to occur and toxic substances to be released (not a flatulation joke)
- "we're not violent people, just curious" ^ ^

2) Thanks to a coffee machine we would have drunken less Coke (the cola soft drink, not the other thing). We were fairly eccentric after our daily doses of Coke, coffee would have brought us to a whole new level of caffeine induced behaviour. Possibly a state of euphoria where hot cups of coffee will be thrown at faces.
- *we're not addicts, just sleep deprived* = =

3) What problems could we have caused with Apple laptops that we couldn't have with desktops... Well, laptops are light and hand-held so I guess we could have belted each other with it in times of frustration. I recall keyboards being used for this role, though I really cannot remember clearly.
- * we're not angry people, just passionate about computers* > <

4) Ahh, bean bags, what a great piece of furniture to throw yourself on (even when others are already on it). Besides resting on it, like pillows it can be use to 'fight' (attacking each other with objects seems to be a reoccurring theme) If we did this often enough the bags would be sure to break, causing 'bean' spawns to fly everywhere and to be inhaled during fits of laughter.
- *we're not childish, just violent people* o ~

Hopefully this scribble was as interesting as it was random. If not, here is a baka image.

Justice Zain

-- Zain - v - University of Technology, Sydney (2007) 15 HC --

Plaintiff Counsel: Zain, Mr

Defence Counsel: None

[1]ZAIN at 324: With the eagerness of a new found instrument and the respect of a fellow scribe it is difficult to read the century odd pages per text where the material to be discussed is a brief overview of the content delved into. The pedantics of each case explored for their own merit in a sea of judicial servitude - and those are only the reported archives! For amidst the masses of day-by-day legal filth lies principle and sentiment and ratio decidendi. Elements unseen to the untrained eye, sometimes unseen to the trained eye, spool page after page of seemingly endless literature with purpose and promise of its own. How one single word, take "security" for instance, could have dedicated volumes of legal complexity is beyond fathomable magnitude. [2]And we are only getting started. Close your Commonwealth Law Review and turn to page 80 of any respectable finance text and the term has a meaning very different from that of application in legal text. [3]So why? Why I dare ask. Are they named the same... Why force confusion upon those that invest time and fund like a rhythmic equation or spiral of never ending expenditure, never to retain most of what is absorbed and for those pages - not much! For it seems poetic in nature, but poems are not what I am consuming, not from you, not from the institution that governs the very foundations of mine own rationale. [4]It is important that an understanding of some degree is instiled, so I ask again, why void those willing to achieve so much more?

[5]And the response.

[6]Will never yield an answer acceptable to the ears of those in knowing. But how are you to know if you are reading the text that another wrote. Your interpretation be it of substance or otherwise, is of a different nature to that at the time of writing. Context. Context my friend.

[7]Perhaps I should cease reading ahead, swallow the feeling of procrastination and consult an old friend with 10 heros, 5 on each side, battling for the right of the ownerer.

ORDER

Appeal dismissed, with costs.

Inspire me to study.

With the downfall of prominent internet gaming server: Bored Aussie, at the end of this month stems the creation of a void that needs filling in the life of Mr_Zain. Whilst productivity has never been a problem in the past, recent workload is illustrating a trend in depleting efficiency. A circumstance that shall be rectified, as soon as physically possible. The condition results from a lack of stimulation deriving from the required content. The solution is one of repetition and routine creation.

Our mission is to complete all aspects of the semester goal at the highest possible level irrespective of the monotonous nature of the tasks at hand nor the lack of entertainment post endurance. Bored Aussie, I bid thee farewell and out of respect will never address the role of administration on a competing server, pending your return.

Be this your intent - you have the support of Zain.

Be your intent otherwise, rest in peace old friend.

- Zain

Pon & Zi

Every time I look at them I start crying.

They're just so... beautiful.

Here are some of my favorites.





This one I sent to a friend (girl) in an attempt to impress her, she quit talking to me for about a month.

Never got a chance to use this, neat pic tho.

"Sometimes it's hard to get to you."

Ain't he lovely.

Don't get wet sweety.

"I will protect you... from... bunnies..."

Hope you enjoyed that.

p.s Pon & Zi are copyrighted to their rightful artists, I'm merely displaying them.

EDIT: Fare thee well Bored Aussies, we'll always be with you, praying for your return.

-

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
-H. L. Mencken

Need oxygen

Been about a year since I last went to my karate training so I thought I might go back now that life is more or less back on track.

Turns out we were kicked out of our usual dojo floor due to some festival dance practice, fair enough, so we had to train in some gym with floor mats spread out. Sensei decided that since we have the soft floor, might as well do some grappling self defense.

Fun.

Basically the idea was to try and wrestle your opponent into submission without excessive violence - ie. punch to the head or the nuts. Basic techniques include head lock, arm bar, wrist lock and chocking etc.

Quick re-cap on anatomy:

On the right is some dude's head(pic from Wiki), and the biggest red line indicates the common carotid arteries supplying most of the blood flow to the head. Done properly you can take someone out in 15 seconds.

One thing I did find out was if you bend your wrist or elbow the wrong way around, it hurts.

So there you have four guys dressed in white kimono-ish uniform on the floor attempting to immobilize each other by using bodyweight. Pretty fun sight, should've brought a camera.

Statistics show 80% of street fights / bar brawls end up on the ground within 120 seconds, so here are some facts I'd like to share with you all:

- Do not attempt to throw your opponent off your back by turning to face the ground and rolling unless you're twice his size, it'd be your worst, mistake, ever.
- During the attempt to shove him onto the ground, make sure you protect your neck. It's a huge disappointment to find his arm under your chin chocking you to death when you finally get him on the ground. And you thought you were winning, hah!
- Headlocks are good, but if your opponent ceases to twitch or move after 15 seconds it may be wise to let go, he should be about a quarter way to the other side.
- When he taps and gives up, verify that by strangling him for a further 5 seconds to make sure he won't jump back at you as soon as you let go
- Tickling is allowed if proven effective, be warned
- Don't be afraid to hug, your body weight is your best friend

Concluding remarks from my partner of the evening: "...... oxygen is good."

Best, karate, session.

p.s we're not violent people, just curious.

-

"It's a tragedy. It's a comedy."

-Rip van Winkle

To Blog or not to Blog...

Al'right. Let's start with a big round of hello.
Hello, hello, hi, how are you doing?, always a fan, hi there, 'been a while, hi, etc.

Ok, then I guess it's the classical whishlist:
-I wish you'll enjoy the blog;
-I wish you'll like me and my co-bloggers;
-I wish you'll come and see us often;
-Oh and why not, I wish for World Peace and cookies. Yeah, and some milk too. I like that...

Hmmm, then I guess is the expression of intent.
-I intend to entertain.
-I intend to teach.
-I intend to improve and better myself and the world we live in.
-I intend to open everyone to new fuzzy stuff.
-I intend to write blogs on a semi-regular basis.
-I also intend not to screw up my life.
-I intend to live forever. So far, so good. (Yeah, I know someone said that before. No, I don't know whom. He was smart and I'm not, ok?)

Then here comes some sort of summary. Well, overall, let's just say it'll be a fun experience and try to each take as much from it as we can. Yeaaaaaah!

[/sarcasm] Oops, forgot to close that. Oh well. I'm writing this blog partly for me, partly for Meng, and somehow, partly for those other bloggers I've never met but am quite sure they're A-OK if Meng invited them ^^ . So, yeah, comment if you want, but don't think for one second that it mean I'll change a single comma for it. On the other hand, you never know until you try. So go on. Comment. Have fun. Be wild! It's the Internet, baby! No rules! Woohoo! Exclamation mark abuse!

Dorth, signing out. ( Should I write xox here? And I know "signing out" is overused, but screw that too! Crap, now my signature is longer than a line. See what you made me do. People, sometimes... )

Blue Scribble - Dawn

blue –noun

1. the pure color of a clear sky; the primary color between green and violet in the visible spectrum
2. of the color of blue
3. depressed in spirits; dejected; melancholy

scribble –verb (used with object)

1.	to write hastily or carelessly

–noun
2. a note or other writing that has little or no meaning

Meng here, will be entertaining you (or attempting to) with random things in life that comes and goes.

So far we have:

Olivier, Nick, James, William and Le talking about:

coding, environment, future, games, art, music, science, comedy, short stories, porn, hentai, independence and DotA with different attitudes. (did I say hentai? I meant anime)

Now sit tight and grab some popcorn, it's going to take a while for me to figure out how to run this thing.

Adios

p.s There should be an email address somewhere on this thing, if you could send in some suggestions that'd be awesome.

-

I want to know God's thoughts... the rest are details.
- Albert Einstein