Gigapanties

Me and Chris had scheduled unknowingly our Gigapan shoot on our spring break. The shock on our faces when we looked at each other as Prof. Britos reminded us of it. We didn't want to spend our spring break doing any schoolwork or any work for that matter.

Prof. Britos i had suggested a bunch of different places to Prof. Britos such as the my friends place that over Paololo Valley which overlooked the the views of Waikiki and the ocean something that was overdone many times before and i had also suggested the Pali lookout which was a bit of a hike. Me and Chris didn't really feel like a hike so i had suggested that we do the view of the Ala Wai taking the pictures from the McCully brigde because it had not been done before. Me and Chris agreed it was a great idea.

So we set up to meet our teacher in school. To our surprise the professor was dressed to hike the Pali with a water bottle, hiking shoes and all. I assumed there was some sort of miscommunication because we were dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. I still think that the professor did it on purpose so that we would take pictures of the Pali instead. He agreed to look at the Ala Wai to see if we could shoot it there. I thought for sure we were going to shoot the Ala Wai. As soon as we got to the Ala Wai the professor said no it's not going to work. "Go get your stuff. We're going to the Pali". Me and Chris stared blankly at each other. Hung over and disorientated we were sure we would die on the treacherous 10 minute hike up the Pali. Heavy heartedly we changed into our hiking gear. We droved to the Pali in his black pimping BMW 5 series with a choice of a bad pop radio station.

We got to the Pali and thank god we saw that it was cloudy. So there was no real point of climbing all the way up. Anyway below the Pali it was windy and me and Chris(who both hate cold weather) were freezing our balls off. I couldn't imagine how cold it would be up there. So we started off setting up the camera following his instructions closely. We put his camera on and started to configure the gigapan unit. We picked our highest point and our lowest point. The gigapan showed us that we need 1120 pictures to be taken. While we waited for the pictures to be taken the professor told us about the gigapan project. Interestingly it involved a lot of high profile organizations such as Nasa, National Geographic and Google. He told us that he had been invited by Gigapan.org and they gave the beta unit to him. He decided to get HPU involved and made it apart of his class curriculum.

I was surprised to see what a huge project this was before this i had just taken this project pretty lightly because really i didn't think anyone would care. As he gave us further information especially on the future uses of our projects i began to be more interested. The HPU gigapan pictures that we took are also going to be featured in a our media festivals and will be printed our as artwork. I felt a little remorse on not taking this more seriously but felt better that we had chosen to go up to the Pali.

The Britos also gave us a brief history of the Pali to keep us from getting bored. The Great Battle of Nu'uanu had taken place there. It was the bloodiest battle of Hawaii where Kamehameha 1 had taken over the island of Oahu. The King's opposition, some 400 of them were driven off the ridge to their painful deaths. After story time Britos sent us away to do some fieldwork. When we came back he told us that an undercover policeman talked to him and said he was there looking for robbers. At least we know the cops are doing their jobs because our friend's car was broken into the day before. Britos also told us the police officer told him an old man of about 80 fell to his death trying to get his hat that was blew off in the wind. There is a lesson here people. Buy a new hat. Even in the old man's death other people had to risk their lives as the fireman had to hike and recover his body something that was not as easy to do in that given terrain.

We had a hitch at the last part of the gigapan shoot when the camera got stuck but Britos went back and adjusted it. He told us that a program would stitch all the photos together and give us one large picture. Me and Chris had a lot of fun that day and were glad we put in a bit more effort into this project. I also am thankful that Britos took time out of his spring break as well to help us out with the project.

At the end our picture looks pretty good when compared to Annabelle's "Nuclear Holocaust Makapuu" and that our gigapan picture ended up in the top 10 surprisingly.

Media Freedom and Journalistic Ethics

As a mock-reporter. I feel it is especially important for me to talk about what is important for me as a mock-journalist. Hopefully people who do end up in the journalism industry will be able to take this with them into the field.

First let us get to media freedom. A country that enjoys this freedom is of course the United States of America. Beautiful. Now we need something on the opposite side of the continuum which for the purpose of this exercise we will use Russia. Now let us discuss Russia.Russia has all kinds of laws and bureaucracy to silence it's media. According to the the International Press Institute Russia is one of the most dangerous countries for journalists. Vladimir Putin to me is a gangster. Just how all politicians are. He is the scum of society. You might say that i am a bit conceded but it takes one scum of society to know the other. Here's why. Anna Politkovskaya. Does her name ring a bell? It might not. Anna was a journalist in Russia and a human rights activist as well. She was born on the 30th of August 1958 and passed away on the 7th of October 2006. I don't know which was her cause of death. 2 bullets to the chest or the bullet in her shoulder or the bullet in her head all at point blank range in an elevator.

Now she isn't the only case in Russia. Vladamir Putin has reportedly said to be responsible for over 27 deaths of journalists in his country. All of them were critics of his administration. It is said a further 200 deaths are connected with the Russian government. Talk about not being able to take criticism well. Putin goes out and gives his speeches and vows to find the killers responsible but all of these murders go unsolved. Anna Politkovskaya's murderers were acquitted. I could go on forever on the Russian governments misdoings but it would take me eons. I want to get to the important part of this blog which is media freedom.

The media is the protector of the people and not to mention important for the development of a nation. If a journalist cannot talk about the misdeeds of a a certain administration, how will the country ever progress. If we silence things like corruption there is no moving forward. Media freedom would mean that the government would always be in check and do what they are supposed to be doing, which is provide a better tomorrow for it's people.

Now let me get to the United States. The United States is a country that prides themselves on media freedom on the basis of freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is beautiful but Americans do not appreciate it and sometimes it is abused. Freedom of speech also allows people to say rather unintelligent things and getting away with it. I want to talk about how this freedom of speech in the media is abused. The best example i can think about is FOX News. I have been following FOX News for sometime now and am enraged to find that a lot of things they say have got nothing to do with protecting the people but rather protecting their interests. FOX represents the interest of conservative republicans and will say anything to bring the democrats down. They do not report on news but provide commentary and opinions to mislead the people. Often they distort the truth and even sometimes lie.

Personally i feel that no news organization should have anyone's side. I know it is difficult but news reporters and agencies need to remember they have a duty to their people and their country. It is not about politics. It is about the plain truth delivered in an objective way. It is about the news not about what you think the news is. Which brings me to my next point which is journalistic ethics.

Journalistic ethics is about delivering the truth. Well in plain English be ethical. Journalists should not serve the interests of anyone but the people. With transparency about the truth can one's nation move forward. Journalistic ethics is not about just showing terrorist killing people but rather showing military killing innocent civilians as well. There can be no side.

The U.S has great potential to lead the world but the country remains divided all the time. Fox News often bashes the Obama Administration for no good reason but because people mistake them for telling the truth often they do not want to support anything the democratic government wants to do even if it is for good. Journalists should not spin the truth. Obama should take a few pointers from Putin about dealing with his critics. Seriously.

In conclusion i feel that we need to find a balance between the two examples given.
One is that we need to protect our journalists when they are doing their jobs and give them media freedom but laws need to be set up so that this freedom is not abused. For example you may allow someone freedom of speech but you must have laws set up so that if he uses that freedom of speech to incite racial hate he may be punished. The same can be done with journalistic freedom because as Fox News has shown us that we can't really trust journalists to be ethical or uphold journalistic integrity. Two news organizations that i respect who have are fearless are the BBC News and Al-Jazeera(English) organizations. I do however hope that the future journalist who read this find themselves to be less of Glenn Beck(FOX News) and have more of Anna Politkovskaya fearlessness in them.

In loving memory of Anna Politkovskaya (30th August 1958 - 7th October 2006)

The Soul-o Eurotrip

I'm graduating in Fall. I still haven't figured out what i want to do with my life. I've decided to take a trip of self discovery by myself. Do a bit of soul-searching. Spend some time alone deep in my dirty thoughts. So I'm planning on heading out to Europe during the summer. I've had so much motherlovin trouble planning the trip so hopefully when you plan you're trip it's a bit easier for you guys. It's going to need to be as cheap as possible as the euro is ridiculously strong at the moment so i'm going to skip all the 5 star hotels and leave that for my trip to more war torn- poverty stricken countries.(thumbs up for poverty)

Tip 1: Traveling
Book everything you can now. Don't wait till you get there. This will help avoid the fluctuating currency exchange from getting to you. I'm going to need to book my flight ticket and rail passes from over here where it's counted in U.S dollars instead of the god-damned Euro. Also remember to pack just one suitcase because you can get onto most transportation with just one suitcase instead of two. I know it's hard ladies but you don't need one suitcase for your clothes and another to pack that fat arse of yours. Pun intended. Remember airlines will also charge you extra for that heavy arse of yours. Ok i'll stop. No really. I'll stop. Also check out travel agencies as they sometimes have good deals but the best way i have found is to book your tickets online and eliminate the middle man altogether.

Tip 2: Housing
Youth hostels are a great way to save money with price ranges from 15-20 Euros. You might have to share a bath and by that i mean a few rooms share a bathroom not you and a beautiful eastern european girl sharing a bath although it's not as bad as it seems. Youth hostels also have kitchens for you to cook and are rather clean and well kept. I'm used to having certain luxuries in life and i am willing to trade them off for a taste of what life is without a private room, room service, and get rid of my rather pricey eating out habits to trade for 3 months of dollar menus and ramen noodles. Staying with friends also help. Studying in HPU has helped me make friends from all over the world which means saving a lot of money on hotels in the future. Summer i found is a horrible time to travel as a lot of people LEAVE to have their own holidays.Another interesting way of living is via couchsurfing.com which is a website that allows people from all over the world to host guests on the couches of their homes. This method is also free.

Tip 3: Choosing your locations.
I've chosen my locations according to where i know people. An ex-girlfriend has told me i could stay with her in Brussels, Belgium(i know i'm not going to be staying without having to give a few favors) Other ex's refuse to talk to me(i wonder why). One of my close guy buddies lives in Paris the weird thing is he said i can sleep with him in his bed(must be a French thing, again i'm sure i have to give a few favors). I will also be staying with a friend in Amsterdam. How could one think of visiting Europe without making a stop at the Mecca of Hash Brownies? Because i have NOTHING to my name i will also need to go to the cheaper side of Europe. Some countries i have researched have not adopted the Euro such as Croatia which US $1=5.14 Krunas which means i will live like a King and Czech Republic which US $1=about 18 Koruna which means i will live like a God. I might not need to pack underwear to the Czech republic as i can probably employ people to hold my balls for me. I'm going to end my trip probably in Italy. I would love to see Rome and Venice to top my trip of with a cherry. I have avoided going to London even though i want to party there so bad as the British Pound will pound my wallet to kingdom come. I'm also going to be terrorizing Germany. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Tip 4: Transportation
An open jaw ticket is a ticket where you fly into one country and leave from another. This will save you money and time on traveling back into the original country you came from. The Eurorail which connects most countries is a cheap way of travelling across Europe. The price ranges are from 300-500 USD which can bring you from 2-5 countries. The only problem with this rubbish system is that it connects you to 5 neighboring countries only. So you have to plan your trip around five neighboring countries. What a BS system. The rail isn't so affordable and the prices quoted are already with youth discounts. A good way is to go by bus i have found it adds about 4 hours more on your trip but beggars can't be choosers. Flights within Europe are also quite affordable when compared to the rail system but the thing is they get canceled if the seats don't get filled up. Renting a car is a breeze but i'm not sure of the cost because you have to pay for gas and insurance not ideal.

Tip 5: Eating
Europeans have great specials i have learned at lunch. You can get big meals for less than 10 euros at lunch where the specials are at. Another life saver for me would be good old healthy MCDONALDS i just need to eat to survive really not for taste. I also cook a great Ramen with my secret ingredient which is EGG. Jamie Oliver would be proud and Gordon Ramsey(the potty-mouth Chef of Hell's Kitchen) would commend me.

Tip 6: Save some money here and there
Being Asian i can't help but try to save some money here and there. I found helpful tips are to stay in touch via e-mail and chat rather than calling. Taking out a bigger sum of money is will also help you save money as the banks not only charge an ATM fee but a currency converting fee each time you make a transaction. Remember to notify your bankruptcy mongers i mean credit card companies to notify them that you will be abroad or they will freeze your card which you may need in emergency situations.

I hope that my trip goes well and that i don't get sold into the eastern European sex trade. Wait what am i saying? i do hope i get trafficked. This time i get to spend alone and broaden my horizons will hopefully give me some time to figure what my next steps in life are.

Work and Play.

"study hard. play harder"


Girls are doing better than guys in school. We knew this was going to happen thats why we tried to stop them from getting an education in the first place. Now, i know us boys just love to have fun as well let it be friends, partying, booze, sports, or video games that's why i'm sharing with you the things i learned over the course of my education that helped me learn a bit better as well as start to improve my grades. The guys got to step it out because we're losing out in terms of academics. Remember there are more female graduates than males.

The following tips encompass the best solutions for last minute studying and strategies for doing better in class. It is in no way suggested that you should do things at the last minute just because you can.

Tip 1:Syllabus
Read the syllabus. Know where the points are and where they can be scored at. Out of 1000 points see where you can score the best. Some grades are made up largely of project work and some are made up largely of the mid-term and final. Make sure you pay extra attention to the areas that will score you the most points. Just like if you were playing a sport. Learned this one from an older more senior slacker than me. He's still working on graduation. Some people don't take their own advice.

Tip 2:Highlight
I discovered this from observing many female students. Chicks do better in school than us guys and i found out their secret. Highlight, Highlight, Highlight. If you take a look at the notes girls take down it's full of different colored pens and highlights. The textbooks they have used always look like it got gang raped by different highlighters.

Step 3: Mind Maps
Mind maps. After reading the assigned chapters draw a chronological mind map. Mind maps are the sole reason i have made it this far. Something i learned from an ex-girlfriend after living together with her for a year. She would slack off even more than me and i would always do worse than her in school. I realized before the exams she would draw out elaborate mind maps on printer paper and use that to learn and refresh her memory before a test. The stuff you highlight in the textbooks should be the stuff that goes in the mind maps. If you don't know what it is make sure you google what a mind map is.

Step 4: Know when to play truant.
Be smart about skipping class. Don't skip class the last 2 weeks before a mid term or final. Usually the professor will discuss whats coming out in the exam giving you a smaller scope of what to study and where to focus your last minute efforts. If your teacher doesn't discuss whats coming out make sure you send him/her a nice e-mail just asking what you should focus on. Your teachers want to help you pass the class and do well not only because it makes them feel good about that sense of accomplishment in their profession but also because they don't want you to have to repeat their class again and have to deal with you for another 5 months. You irritating prick.

Step 5: The Library.
Use the library to read and work. You'd be surprised how many people still don't even know where it is. I can't study at home because i have too many distractions like the t.v, facebook, the beach, tobacco paraphernalia, the bed, and so on. You get the idea. I'm reminded of a joke. A sleazebag walks into the library and asks the pretty librarian what the library card could be used for. She said you can check out books with it for about 28 days. The sleazebag asks coyly if he can check out the librarian with the card. The librarian blushes but replies "We are strictly reference only". All jokes aside, there are also hot nerd chicks in the libraries. They might look innocent but....

Tip 6: A friend in need is a friend in deed.
Make friends in class. Don't be quiet and sit in a corner. If you miss something someone in class is always there to remind you. The more friends you make, the more reminders you get. I can't tell you how many times i've been saved by that kid that barely spoke english but knows when every assignment is due. I'm pretty absent minded so it's good. Also remember to return the favor to them. Sometimes i end up reminding people. The stuff you missed other would pick up and the stuff they missed you would pick up(hopefully). Making friends also makes it easier for you to ask them stuff if you don't understand something or need direction or help with a project. Not understanding things is also a great way to get girls to come over and "study".

Tip 7: The Class
Show up for class. Really most of the shit i learn i pick up better when i'm in class rather than reading the book. I'm not saying i show up all the time but when i do i'm paying attention at least. Earn cookie points with the professor by helping them out with participation. A teachers worst nightmare is when they ask a question and nobody wants to answer anything. Throw them a bone once in a while. The class is just as agonizing for them as it is for you. Picking the class is also important if you have a list of heavy classes. Check out www.ratemyprofessor.com to find out which teachers give a lighter workload and are easier going. The website is a review site for professors by students who have taken the class. The red pepper by the name means that they are hot. Remember to put a pepper for Prof. Britos when someone decides to open a page for him.

Tip 8:"I dropped the ball"
Learn from your mistakes. If you played too hard and didn't get the grade you wanted don't beat yourself up too hard(Chris Wilson likes to use the term "dropped the ball". Usage in a sentence: "I dropped the ball last semester. Gotta pick it up on the next"). Mistakes are only worth making if we learn from them. Know what the mistakes you made were i.e too much drinking, late nights, beach,procrastination etc. Make sure you try a little harder the next semester.

Tip 9: Teachers Pet.
Be in the teachers good books. I learned this when i saw this kid walk in late to class cool as a cucumber. He just gave some bullshit excuse and the teacher let him go. Why i'm pissed is he walks in 15 minutes later than me and i got my ass chewed out. I thought my excuse was awesome for being late though when being compared to "i had car trouble". It entailed me fighting a dragon, rescuing a princess and finding she would turn to a mushroom every time(super mario reference). Being in the teachers good books grants you leniency when marking your stuff and helping you out when you need. Make their lives easy, they'll make yours easy. Also wearing skimpy clothing seems to grant the girls that same leniency.

Tip 10: Study smart not study hard.
There is a difference between understanding and memorizing. It's a lot harder for me to memorize something than understand it. When you read the text books you don't have to know the definitions verbatim but rather if you understand the concepts you'll be able to understand it more. For instance instead of memorizing what the answers to 1+1, 1+2, 1+3 it's easier to understand the concept of addition. Remember understanding is just as important as memorizing. Use additional resources such as the internet to help you better understand something because the textbooks can be a little long winded sometimes.


There you have it young grasshoppers. Remember that these are shortcuts and should be used sparingly. Having a good balance between work and play is important. This guide is to be used when you sometimes fall off the wagon. It easy to take these shortcuts but remember every time you take a shortcut you lose out on the scenery. Try not to miss out too much on this learning experience. My journey is over. It's been a long and tiring one. I'm ready to face unemployment like every other post graduate out there.

i hope this will help make your education route a little easier.


peace,
b o o
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Absolutely Electrifying

As members of this generation i'm sure a lot of us are anticipating the next form of alternative energy. We've developed a sickening dependency on oil. It's almost as if it runs in our veins. Today we see more and more cars being unveiled to use electric or hydrogen power.

Let's cut the bullshit. Any car that says it's a hybrid between fuel and electricity really isn't making much difference to the environment. Enter Tesla Motors, the one that might save us all. Tesla unveiled it's Roadster in 2006 which fully runs on electricity. Each full charge goes up to 200 miles. The U.S Environmental Protection Agency tested it and found that it each charge lasted up to 244 miles. Not bad for running on lithium-ion batteries. The world distance record of 311 miles for a production electric car on a single charge was set by a Roadster on October 27th, 2009 during the Global Green Challenge in outback Australia.

But don't be fooled it doesn't look like a god damned Prius. It's sexy as hell. I wouldn't be caught dead in a Prius. The Tesla Roadster would get any girl wet. I know I am. The car goes 0-60 m/ph in 3.9 seconds, not too bad when compared to the Ferrari 599 which does 0-60 in 3.7 seconds.

So why haven't you heard of Tesla? Well because they are having trouble getting funding. It was reported that an an employee(now former employee) leaked information that Tesla had only 9 million dollars left in the bank. No worries they got a little help from the government. Elon Musk (the founder of PayPal) is the CEO of the company and is an more than able person to handle the company.

The price of the car can be a bit scary. The Roadster goes for about $109,000 before tax incentives by the government. You do save money on gas on the long run however. Although it's a bit pricey I would encourage everyone to aspire to own one of these as we the generation of today need to make changes. When we plan to buy a vehicle we should be thinking about a car that doesn't run on gas but rather something cleaner and more energy efficient.

With all that said I hope Tesla survives through this financial storm and beats out the rest of the competition. GM and Toyota only recently began releasing their electric cars but Tesla can be said to be the true pioneer of a fully functional, environment safe and not to mention, sexy car.

The first time i heard of Leo DiCaprio I thought he was a fagot. That was because of his role in Titanic which i have not watched till today(because I'm afraid I'll cry). I thought to myself another pretty backstreet boy. Then I surprisingly found him delightful in "Catch Me if You Can" starring alongside Tom Hanks. Then he BLEW MY F***KING MIND(if you noticed i spelt that wrong) in Blood Diamond where he starred with Djomn um... Djomunod..Djimonound um.. (just insert an African name here). Then i realised he's just a really versatile actor and is one of the best ones out there tackling some of the most challenging roles out there. This guy could play Mother Theresa if you gave him 6 months to research her character.

So i had high hopes for his new movie "Shutter Island" and me and my boys went out to catch it on premier night. I bought my ticket. Payed way too much for god damned popcorn and drinks. Really a large(shitty) popcorn and carbonated sugar water costs 20 bucks these days? I don't even like the popcorn here. I wish i had caramel popcorn again mmmmm... anyway...i'm getting sidetracked again...

So grab my overpriced condiments head into the theater find a seat in an over crowded cinema and wait anxiously. Trailer after endless trailer plays on. I had already finished my gummy candy before the movie started. Not a good thing. Mmmmmm gummy candy. Anyway finally the lights dim. A sure sign the movie is going to start. I hope there's a naked girl in this movie make my damn $10.50 worth it for this ticket if the movie is going to be bad. But it turns out I left once again with my mind blown away. I like good intellectual movies. I'm sick of movies like American Pie being doing so well because a large majority of people out there are idiots. No offense idiots. I would highly suggest going to watch this movie. Martin Scorsese did a wonderful job directing this movie as well.

Now caution: The following may contain spoilers. Don't read it unless you don't intend on watching the movie.

The plot is about a fire Marshall(DiCaprio) sent to Shutter Island which is an island that houses the most dangerous mentally ill patients who have a history of violence. Can you say good movie already? DiCaprio and his partner are there to investigate the escape of a patient and it seems that nobody wants to share anything with him and it seems they are hiding something. Then..... GO WATCH THE DAMN MOVIE. I didn't spend $40 so you could read about it in my review.

I'm still not watching Titanic.

peace,
b o o