#226 - "Virtual Armageddon"

[May sound like a fool because I'm writing mumbled jumbled fanzy panzy bs in the early morning. Thank you brain for making me think of life problems (or first world problems in this case) instead of sleeping. This post was extremely fun to do...and I felt a little more intelligent by doing this :) ]

Scumbag indeed.

Such rubbish. Initially, I was neutral towards this proposed bill because I was clueless as to how badly it would affect everyone if (!) the bill was passed. After reading the bill as recommended by this guy in his highly detailed explanation of why the whole thing may turn into a catastrophe....I can only agree with the opinions shared by those against it. Go here and here to learn more.

SOPA/PIPA and other laws won't change things. Some things are always bound to exist (ie. piracy). Example: even in those days where we weren't as technologically advanced, people still taped music from the radio, without paying for it.

SOPA: the "Virtual Armageddon"

On a rather despondent note, Megaupload was shut down :(  Thanks (for NOTHING), federal prosecutors.But:

& ladies. I think the majority of us would empathise.

On a related matter: I love China, but there's one thing I really dislike about it and is the reason why I will never ever reside there. The government censors the internet for their own selfish needs (ie. addresses for political reforms, concealing certain events and people who blemish the party and their ideals). I disagree with internet censorship since it restricts the personal and completely legitimate rights of individuals to access information. Towards conservative countries such as Saudi Arabia utilising internet censorship to block adult material, I can partly relate  why they did so, but it's not an acceptable reason. However, I am aware that they also utilise the aforementioned for the same reason as China - political censorship.  Which will never be an appropriate ground for limiting the abilities of people in having freedom of information.

Going back to the topic of SOPA, if it was passed, it'll also bring with it, internet censorship, which would suck...(balls) terribly. There is a likely probability the government would take advantage of the new-found power they've been given and freely abuse it. Behind its facade of "anti-piracy/copyright infringement", perhaps SOPA/PIPA is actually a ploy that limits freedom of information for the purposes of indoctrination by governments and the like by forcing everyone to fear retribution for any action they take on the Net. As demonstrated here, it's incredibly unfair how simple it is for sites to be judged as being "copyright infringers". Essentially, that would be any user-generated site - YT, Twitter and etc, that could be potentially compelled to shut down. All they have to do is "enable/facilitate" and my god, what freaking scumbags - they already reworded some parts of the legislation. In the end, when you see the grand scheme of things, it's not actually about piracy and whatever it says it is, it's a totally different thing that is in fact an invasion of privacy.

"A major issue here is that this does -not- only affect people in the USA. But rather, the entire world. Heres a major hint... One website which will be a major target? This one. Youtube. You could see this site, in addition to many others like it, be forcibly shut down by the US government.

It isn't about piracy at all, this is only about limiting the information the 99% of the population has access to. Too many people are "waking up", and they want to put us back into the dark."-Ariana321

"SOPA/PIPA are completely evil, fascist attempts at shutting down the Internet.

MPAA/RIAA have always wanted the Internet shut down, as have the big "mainstream" media."-zck7  

"Government stay the fuck away from the internet. You ruin everything you touch."- CertifiedGooner729

Anyway, SOPA/PIPA is just _____. It's true that it may not happen (the bill won't get passed), but it's always important to consider the implications.

[All comments were on this Youtube video]

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Incidentally, philosophy is so foreboding these days. I spent 2 hours reading and re-reading 20 pages and still didn't get the gist of empiricism. Philosophy = mindfuck T___T

#225- untitled

Okay filler post here dw it will be properly updated tmr when I finally jump on the computer. Why? Simple I started my 2 weeks of social awkwardness, luckily for me in was in sync with the aus open just one thing that has annoyed..... I still procrastinate like crazy ); sorry make that two pet peeves, I don't like how the aus open organizers schedule hewitt and tomic for night matches whilst leaving federer, nadal and djokovic to play on rod laver arena during the day. I mean they're world no. 1,2 and 3 and it's FEDERER- why would you make him play on hisense arena (fortunately this match never proceeded as the opponent withdrew)

Yup just a it annoyed atm but hey I love my tennis esp its djokovic playing. I was very upset when i was forced to watch this random Aussie play whilst nole's match was underway. If all goes to plan this time next year I shall be in melebourne watching the tennis live in person (: with my esp cute family friend/cousin-ish who I shall introduce shortly......

#224 - lalalala

AHHHH DISNEY MEMORIES. FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS :)
We put bamboo floorboards in most of the house yesterday. It looks really nice, but the best thing about it is that the piano echoes absolutelybloodybeautifully and sounds just gorgeous and clear when it's played.... even though it was tuned like three years ago - lovelovelove. Another thing: the complete LOTR and 1Q84 awaits me once I bother collecting them!! :D YAYYYY, since I've read zero, zilch, no books in the past 50 days or so :| Not goooood.

Wikipedia protesting against anti piracy :O

#223- a little too late

week full of ups and down. ill do a massive post next time but for now im still a bit upset that plan for muck up day has fallen through. silly me forgot to take into account chinese new year, i.e. factories stopping production for the holiday T__________T

to top it all off there was a misunderstanding, fortunately that was cleared in time but i still dont know what to do.... arghhhh and i still need to do eng adv creative. stupid me is only bent on doing math because that's the only subject that i can force myself into doing during the holidays

#222 - Fever, not in the literal sense

 Max Brenner: first time eating there, and it wasn't really worth it.  The chocolate souffle was expensive and soooooo rich. Urgh. Completely put off by chocolate now

"EXTERMINATE!"

jb-hi!

and APIA Syd. International 2012! Turned out it was actually QF, and not SF. Oops. It was a great game - Bags v. Del Potro =D

N. LI FTW!

That's right. Ticket price = $0.00 =D

bags

#221- luxury fashion

^ not that i can afford it T_______________T

anyhow well today bitter and better went on their chatswood date <333
and throughout the day they discussed many things, one of them being luxury fashion especially since they roamed chatswood chase (i love that place!)

also i'm a polo ralph lauren member surprised i wasn't one earlier since i've (me + dad) spent like $500 there in the past 6 months; half of which were for gifts.

anyhow the point of this post was to rant about how some luxury items are not overpriced and they are indeed well worth their expensive price tag. also don't bother complaining because i did say some because there are some things which are overpriced and there is simply no justification.

so today on my 1hr train trip i introduced Better to the brand Hermes which according to dad is the most expensive luxury fashion brand. i can see why when the hermes kelly bag has a starting price of $7500 and yes that is the starting price. if you want other more desirable materials such as crocodile, diamonds then be prepared to spend $$$$$$$ no joke!

basically, all hermes bags are handmade and each kelly bag in particular, is made by 1 individual as in one person works on their own bag whilst another works on another kelly bag i.e. no assembly line. what makes this brand even more high class is that hermes' craftsman have to go through a rigorous training (that goes on for several years) before they even start to make a bag. then there is the bag itself.....
a kelly bag uses lots and lots of leather. (if you want to find out the specifics then click here and this is my source) the stitching is again all down by hand and the thread itself is $$$$$

so all up if you can afford to buy a kelly bag then it is definitely well worth the money because of all the materials and the craftmanship that is involved especially if its almost entirely handmade.

some snaps from todays date:

 meet fresh so big and we couldnt finish it and omg saw some people attacking it solo :$

 ehehehehe playing with food (:

 ralph lauren change rooms so pretty <3333 love that place and the sales assistant had a lovely accent

too bad my name was spelt wrong ):

#220 - Cosmic world

Time flies ridiculously fast. HOW IS IT THAT THERE'S ONLY THREE WEEKS LEFT =( On the other hand, really getting into watching stuff, like LOTR (1 film left!). Also saw TGWTDT (Swedish version) on SBS: it was fantastic and closely followed the novel. Favourite fictional heroine: Lisbeth Salander <3

Lisbeth

Oh and why are movies at Event Cinemas getting so expensive for students on normal days?! They offer so many VMAX/gold class/3D sessions for the good movies and for just so-so movies, they offer regular cheap sessions- how infuriating. And to think that back in the good old days, students could watch movies for under $10 on regular days ... >:(

From here, I may be incoherent because I'm just babbling about unrelated topics, but yeah just bear with me!

-Becoming so self conscious about my inability to speak fluently...
-It's funny how we fight...and we don't make up by apologising; instead life goes on and we simply ease back to the way we were.
-No one's replied to my job applications :(
-Google Maps: you are godly in times of need
-Excessive yum cha makes your stomach churn, no matter how good it is
-New found adoration for BBC
-Dad currently is at the APIA tennis tournament since his company is a sponsor- it's pretty cool, as seen below. He got signatures too and how cuteeee is he =D