The Sims MTV

I never knew you can do that with the Sims. AMAZING!!!! by the way, this is one of the masterpiece.... by someone who is too free. buy i'm sure you are free to watch right?

I don't like the sims when they start opening their mouth....the perfect features will get distorted.. (juz not natural). i guess they need some improvement on this.

The Photos that changed the world

NORTH CAROLINA—A black man drinks at segregated water fountains, 1950.

© Elliott Erwitt / Magnum Photos

SOUTH CAROLINA—A funeral of a soldier killed in Vietnam, 1966.

© Constantine Manos / Magnum Photos

SAIGON, Vietnam—The Saigon fire department, which has the job of collecting the dead from city streets, has just placed a girl, killed by U.S. helicopter fire, in the back of their truck, where her brother finds her, 1968.

© Philip Jones Griffiths / Magnum Photos

PESHAWAR, Pakistan—An Afghan girl at Nasir Bagh refugee camp, 1984.

© Steve McCurry / Magnum Photos

TEHRAN, Iran—Veiled women learn how to shoot in the outskirts of the city, 1986.

© Jean Gaumy / Magnum Photos


I truly believe this is when picture speaks more than a thousand of words

click here for more photos

Click for interactive story

M*A*S*H* Iraq by Thomas Dworzak As the US military fights to gain stability in Iraq, doctors, nurses, and medics are working on the front lines to keep the casualties down. Thomas Dworzak was embedded with the 44th, 50th and 115th Medical Companies in Iraq.

IRAQ—An American soldier is killed during the battle for Baghdad, April 8, 2003.

© Alex Majoli / Magnum Photos

WHAT THE?!!!

15-year-old performs surgery in India

Outrage over boy's attempt to gain spot in Guinness Book of World Records

Associated Press

Updated: 11:01 a.m. ET June 21, 2007

NEW DELHI - The 15-year-old son of two doctors performed a filmed Caesarean section birth under his parents’ watch in southern India in an apparent bid to gain a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest surgeon.

Instead, the boy’s father could be stripped of his licenses and may face criminal charges, officials said Thursday.

Dr. K. Murugesan showed a recording of his son performing a Caesarean section to an Indian Medical Association chapter in the southern state of Tamil Nadu last month, said Dr. Venkatesh Prasad, secretary of the association. The video showed Murugesan anesthetizing the patient.

“We were shocked to see the recording,” Prasad told The Associated Press, adding that the IMA told Murugesan that his act was an ethical and legal violation.

Murugesan owns and runs a maternity hospital in the city of Manaparai, Prasad said in a telephone interview from Manaparai. The family could not be immediately reached for comment.

Murugesan, who could possibly be prevented from practicing and face criminal charges for allowing his son to perform the operation, expressed no regret and accused the Manaparai medical association of being “jealous” of his son’s achievements, Prasad added.

“He said this was not the first surgery performed by his son and that he had been training him for the last three years,” said Prasad.

Murugesan told the medical association that he wanted to see his son’s name in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Prasad said that his team had reported the surgery to the state’s top medical association in state capital, Chennai.

State health secretary V.K. Subburaj told reporters Thursday that the government would investigate.

“We’ll get the report and then we’ll see whether there are any violations ... prima facie it looks like there is a big violation,” he said.

“We will definitely take action against the concerned medical officers.”

my comment:

1st thing that came to my mind when i read the title is like mayb this boy finish med sch at age 8 or something and is qualified to be surgeon by age 15... but oh my i was so wrong.....

actually when u come to think of it, it's totally possible. somemore he's under supervision by his parents. Surgery is not that big deal.... juz cuttin up, doin some maneuver and stitching up ( i make it sounds so simple huh :P) yes,u need expertise knowledge. but the action of doin the surgery is not that tough.... for eg. the boy is like a robot hand, and the parents are the brain behind the robot hand....u see wat i mean. the parents ask him to go right, he then go right.vice versa

but still, i very much pity the patient. i will be so freaking angry if i 'm the patient. and the parents are so blatant to allow their son to do this juz bcuz they want him to be in Guinness record. That makes me wonder are people with this kind of mentality fitted to be doctors in the first place....

do surgery to break record. how fast u can do surgery, how many surgery have u done blah blah blah.....and they transfer that viscious cycle to their son/daughter. -_-

Rockhampton here i Come :D

US military technicians work on a helicopter on USS Blue Ridge at Sydney's Garden Island Naval Base, Monday.
Photo: AP
Australia and US launch their biggest joint military exercises

Australia and the United States launched their biggest joint war games Monday, with 27,500 troops backed by a US aircraft carrier engaging in exercises aimed at consolidating the allies' military dominance in the Asia Pacific region.

The biennial Talisman Sabre exercise pits 20,000 US troops and 7,500 Australian forces against two fictional enemies - the Kamarians and Musorians - in a variety of land and sea-based scenarios designed to test their skills in combat, peacekeeping and humanitarian relief efforts.

The exercise, which runs until July 2, will also include 10 US ships, 20 Australian ships and 125 aircraft operating off the coast of Rockhampton in northeastern Queensland state.

"The United States and Australia have a long-standing relationship ... we share the same values and interests. Foremost among those interests is the stability and security of the Asia-Pacific region," US Vice Admiral Doug Crowder told reporters on board the USS Blue Ridge in Sydney.

"Therefore it is very important that our militaries train together to carry out the types of missions our governments may call upon us to execute to ensure regional security and stability."

The exercise comes as the United States and Japan step up efforts to build a joint missile defense system in Asia, partly as a bulwark against regional threats such as a nuclear-armed North Korea.

Australia, a steadfast US ally that maintains around 2,000 troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, is studying whether to participate in the defense shield, Defense Minister Brendan Nelson announced this month.

Canberra is expanding its military personnel to 30,500 troops from 27,500, and ramping up other defense capabilities as part of an overhaul to take greater responsibility for Asian security.

Japan plans to send observers to the Talisman Sabre operation, Crowder said, but would not expand on what role they might play in the exercise. Australia and Japan signed a security agreement in March that will enable Japanese forces to train alongside Australians for disaster relief and peacekeeping missions, and boost cooperation between the two countries in counterterrorism measures and intelligence sharing.

Meanwhile, environmentalists have voiced concern about the possible dangers of submarine-hunting sonar equipment to whales in the region. The International Whaling Commission issued a report this month saying a mid-frequency sonar sometimes used by US and Australian ships can cause hearing loss and tissue damage in whales and can alter their diving habits.

"A huge part of the planning for this exercise has been the environmental concerns. We have many procedures in place," Crowder said. He would not elaborate on the procedures, saying only that the operation "will be conducted in compliance with all the Australian governmental requirements."

About 100 people gathered Monday outside an army barracks in the northeastern city of Rockhampton to protest the exercises. They laid a wreath and hundreds of shoes at the gate of the barracks to symbolize military and civilian casualties from the Iraq war.

"We mourn all loss of life and we feel the shoes are a very powerful symbol," Robin Taubenfeld, of the environmental group Friends of the Earth said

By ASSOCIATED PRESS SYDNEY, Australia
AP - 18.06.2007 11:32

美澳展開歷來最大規模軍演

2007-06-18 12:45:01 MYT



（華盛頓訊）美國和澳洲今日（週一，18日）展開歷來最大規模的聯合軍演，有多達2.75萬名士兵參與。

2萬名美軍及7500名澳軍，在一名美國航空母艦、10艘美軍艦隻、20艘澳洲艦隻及125架戰戰配合下，在昆士蘭省羅克漢普頓對開，進行了多項地面及海面演習，測試兩軍在作戰、維和及人道援助方面的能力。演習由週一直至7月2日。

（星洲互動•2007.06.18）

Australian, US troops build airstrip on the doubleAustralian Corporal Graeme Coulter and US Sergeant Thomas Busse at the airstrip they are building as part of a joint exercise in the Northern Territory.

Photo: Glenn Campbell
Lindsay Murdoch, Bradshaw Training Facility
June 18, 2007

AUSTRALIAN and US soldiers using remote-controlled bulldozers and other sophisticated equipment have carved a 1.3-kilometre airstrip out of the Northern Territory outback in an effort worthy of the Guinness Book of Records.

More than 200 personnel from the two countries — representing six military branches — will complete the strip in scrubland 600 kilometres south-west of Darwin in less than 25 days.

One of the Australian Defence Force's largest cargo planes, the 120-tonne C-17, is scheduled to land on the strip at a former cattle station, now called the Bradshaw Training Facility, on June 29.

"I've never worked on anything as spectacular as this and I have been an engineer in the US Army for 20 years," said Major Pat Stogner, deputy commander of the project. "Back home a job of this size would be contracted out, and I doubt it could be built with such speed."

The strip, made of three layers of fine soil, is being built to provide a forward base as part of a joint US-Australian exercise in northern Queensland and the Northern Territory involving 20,000 US troops, 100 aircraft and a nuclear-powered submarine.

Exercise Talisman Sabre is held every two years, but new facilities built at Bradshaw catering for hundreds of troops are expected to be used regularly by US forces under a US-Australian agreement.

The agreement allows for hundreds of US soldiers, sailors and marines to undergo regular training at bases in northern Australia.

About 100 US military personnel and 110 Australian soldiers arrived at Bradshaw on June 1 in one of the first operations involving so many branches of the two countries' forces.

Stuart Yeaman, the Australian Lieutenant-Colonel in charge of the Joint Rapid Airfield Construction project, said at the weekend that only a highly organised military operation could build a strip capable of withstanding a C-17 in such a short time.

"We have met the challenge," he said as heavy rollers trundled down the strip to pack the soil.

Robert Dees, a 25-year-old US marine who returned from Iraq late last year, said he had been amazed by the size of the project in such an isolated place.

"And there's big crocodiles in the river down the road — awesome," he said.

The US contingent to Bradshaw includes a dozen specialists, among them scientists, who have been testing new ways to build airstrips. These include using remote-controlled bulldozers, which can be operated by a soldier from a distance of up to 300 metres.

The Australian Defence Force took seven years to negotiate a land-use agreement with the indigenous owners of the 8700-square-kilometre Bradshaw station, which guarantees soldiers will protect sacred sites and a conservation area.

The Australian Defence Force will maintain the airstrip when the exercise is over.

鬼束ちひろ Onitsuka Chihiro

the 1st time i heard her sing was her uplugged.... that's the rawest, most unpolished voice i have ever heard....however, in the album, it did sound a bit different....smoother, more pleasing to ears. However i still prefer the live version.........the impact is juz different.......pitch may not be totally perfect.....but the feeling and power is there.

月光 Gekkou Moonlight


Infection

first weekend of June 2007

this was a socialising weekend for me after much hibernation aka antisocialism at home and "encouragement" fr my mum to get out of the house.......

2nd June Saturday
went to the Unibuds potluck (unsw buddhist society) with yonxian at the SQUARE house( the religious building in sch). bot some fruits fr coles
oh my, fruits here are so ex. :(
one small papaya + one small watermelon + one small honeydew = $15.
i bet that in msia wldn't cost more than RM 10.
enjoyed myself in the potluck...they r a bunch of nice pple....
they seem to be having fun....but u know lah....if i were to focus on study, i wldn't want other obligations.......... or else i'll flung my studies AGAIN!!!

met this IMU senior fr 1998 batch. who was fr uni of belfast in UK. as you all shld know about the change in working policy in UK. lotsa pple can't work there anymore. according to him, quite a number of IMU pple r in Australia now....so for u guys in UK, if the policy still remain unchanged by the time u graduate....it's recommended that you don't do internship in UK but in wherever country you are planning to go.... cuz the internship you have done in UK may not b recognised by the country you are goin.. and it's always good to build a good foundation of your social circle earlier in your career. unless you are those pple who don't really care bout job prospect at the same time has lotsa money and time at hand....then you can go ahead for UK internship for exposure/experience.

3 rd June Sunday
walked to Coogee beach for BBQ with the Neutralise Gang ....hehe their BBQ pit is really hi- tech.... it's like a Aluminium platform with free heat supply.

but oh my..... the way we cook stuff is really "cincai", you wldn't wanna try tat at home. apparently we have some clashes of ideas of how we should cook stuff....but luckily we still managed to produce an edible meal.


played frisbee.....i suck.....it has been a long time since i last played....
took some pretty adventurous picture at the shore line ( risk of getting wet fr the approaching wave any time)





have been contemplating whether i should join a sports club to get back my fitness like i was in college last time. whenever i went swimming and pass by the village green every weekend, i see pple playing rugby there ( they have games btw schs every weekend).... oh my... if not for the sun....i wld much love to join the clubs..hehehehe mayb i should join touch or ultimate frisbee.... (if not for the SUN)


the rest of the week it's holsworthy again...but this time round, i managed to utilise the Gym!!! feelin' good. it's been along time since i last ran on a treadmill after IMU's treadmill broke down! >_<

10 June 2007 Sunday
last week, went to hurtsville to meet mom's colleague....ffk the senior dimsum gathering at the same time. didn't manage to meet the person i'm supposed to see as i somehow lost contact with her (couldn't get thru her phone)...didn't managed to find her place as well....as logically speaking accordin to the address.... her place is actually Westfield Shopping Centre. -_- but i had a good shopping trip around there....lotsa cheap and good chinese food. would luv to stay there if convenient. :)


this is our last week in holsworthy, kinda sad as we r gettin to know the pple there better, we have to leave soon. didn't go to gym today instead hang around in the ward to chat with pple. but i'am looking forward to our trip to Rockthampton in Queensland next week (remember the army exercise i mentioned before) and best of all we are taking plane there (FOC) ... hope that i can stand the COLD..... it's gonna be a great experience....but i juz hate sleeping in the cold....or rather being kept awake the whole night by COLD....

Landcare photo album

Tree Planting Trip Photo Album