The Basics

For the record, I'm just being random :)

It was a long journey which mostly involved sleeping, eating and indulging in random media entertainment. I feel that MAS is far better than AC - hands down. Who else serves Magnolia ice-cream for supper?

— Traditional nappies are as bad as disposables, a study by the Environment Agency found. While throwaway nappies make up 0.1 per cent of landfill waste, the cloth variety are a waste of energy, clean water and detergent

— Paper bags cause more global warming than plastic. They need much more space to store so require extra energy to transport them from manufacturers to shops

— Diesel trains in rural Britain are more polluting than 4x4 vehicles. Douglas Alexander, when Transport Secretary, said: “If ten or fewer people travel in a Sprinter [train], it would be less environmentally damaging to give them each a Land Rover Freelander and tell them to drive”

— Burning wood for fuel is better for the environment than recycling it, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs discovered

— Organic dairy cows are worse for the climate. They produce less milk so their methane emissions per litre are higher

— Someone who installs a “green” lightbulb undoes a year’s worth of energy-saving by buying two bags of imported veg, as so much carbon is wasted flying the food to Britain

— Trees, regarded as shields against global warming because they absorb carbon, were found by German scientists to be major producers of methane, a much more harmful greenhouse gas

Source: timesonline.co.uk

From Musee des Beaux Arts, comes the paintings of Pieter the Elder Bruegel

In particular sequence:

The Numbering at Bethlehem 1566

Massacre of the Innocents

There are several variations with the same title by different painters. This one by Brueghel  isn't as visually horrific as the others - in my opinion

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Before I came to Canada, I told myself that I would religiously update my Vox as often as once a week. I was intent on chronicling every step I take into a new phase of adventure and academic life. However, procrastination is always man's worst enemy. I've not been able to pull myself to write much about my journey so far...

So, I'll try to fit in as much as I can before I fall asleep, it's a Saturday night now as I'm typing this. The journey to Victoria, Vancouver Island was for the most part, fairly smooth. I had a bit of trouble finding my way around Vancouver International Airport as some people gave me inaccurate directions. Vancouver was my last transit point. I was a bit taken aback by the size of the airplane that flew me to Victoria. There was only a stewardess to man everything for us 20-odd something passengers.When I finally arrived at my final destination, I took an AKAL airporter to UVic. Thank goodness the driver was big and strong enough to heave my bags into the van. I woudn't have managed it alone. But then I had to later pull both bloody heavy monsters up the second floor of my hall, Hugh Stephens anyway. I made quite a noise doing so, but since there didn't seem to be anyone in the building yet (classes only start the following week), I coudn't care less.  

Coming to UVic alone while my fellow scholars went together in groups, I wasn't sure if I would be able to make good friendships like the ones I have back home. But it now feels like I did.

I met D and J the next day during the International Students' Orientation. They're exchange students from NUS and are starting their 3rd year at UVic for about 4 months. Already in their 20s (haha I'm the youngest!), they sometimes treat me like their little sister, especially D. So much for attempting to be independent =.=  K is Japanese and a first year linguistics major. He lives right below me and has since been telling everyone we met how noisy I was when I first arrived. He even claims that he hears me typing while we were chatting on MSN! D suggested that I jump on my floor and play scratchy Chinese opera to irritate him if he ever bullies me.Harharhar!!

That's about it for now. I should get some sleep z Z

An interesting article I came across when I was bored and looking for something interesting to read other than my textbooks.

Some people cancel holidays abroad, others stage yard sales or start shopping at low-cost supermarkets. To that list must now be added a new way to get through economic hard times: grow cannabis.

Law enforcers on the west coast of the US and in the middle states straddled by the foothills of the Appalachian mountains are reporting a common trend. It is boom time for marijuana cultivation, and much of the incentive they say is to beat the recession.

So far this year, police in parts of the country where cannabis is traditionally grown have chopped down plants with a street value of $12bn. The core growing area is in California, Washington and Oregon to the west, but the Appalachian states of Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia are also witnessing an explosion.

More than 600,000 cannabis plants have been cut and burned in those states this summer, reversing a previous decline in production brought about by stringent law enforcement. It is not only the quantity of crop that is on the rise, the nature of the growers is also changing.

Ed Shemelya, who leads the marijuana eradication programme in the Appalachia region, says a new type of grower is emerging wholly different to the family cartels that have cultivated the drug for generations. "We are seeing a lot more individuals who wouldn't normally be growing marijuana. They are not your professionals."

Shemelya puts it down to the dire economy in this part of America. The region is almost entirely dependant for jobs on coal mining, which has suffered severely from the recession.

"People are growing marijuana to supplement their income or support themselves in poor economic times. This is about economic necessity," he said.

The newcomers to the business are typically restricting their practices to fields of around 80 plants - that's tiny compared to the mega cultivation seen in California where 5.3m plants were destroyed last year up from 4.9m in 2007. But at around $2,000 a plant, that still provides a good living in Appalachia.

Growers tend to locate their crops as close to their homes as possible, on the edge or just inside the forest that carpets much of the foothills. They clear foliage from the trees to allow in light, then grow the plants between the trunks to hide them from aerial detection by the drug authorities.

On top of the economic incentive, the clampdown on marijuana traffic across the border from Mexico has also provided a reason for new participants to enter the market. Dave Keller, a drug enforcement officer in Appalachia, told the Associated Press that both small and large growers were trying to fill the void.

The booming business is proving challenging not only for law enforcement. A devastating forest fire in the mountains of Los Padres National Forest in California last month was found to have been started by a Mexican drug cartel that had been cooking marijuana on a camp fire. Some 30,000 plants were seized from the farm hidden away in the forest.

from The Guardian

Apparantly, the use of marijuana is pretty open especially in certain parts of the US, Canada and Latin America. Mr M once said that if you were to completely ban the use of marijuana, then you would find many Canadians in jail ^^; In fact, if you want to know something: smoking marijuana in my university can be done openly. It would just seem as if you were smoking cigarettes. Interesting ain't it? I don't do drugs and certainly never will but that doesn't mean I have the right to impose my own morals on their culture  

From the library! yes, that sounds pretty lame but I'm using an iMac right now. Very cool computer with a huge glossy flat screen, sterile white keyboard and a very funny mouse. I'm surprised UVic is rich enough to stock up on so many macs. There's more at Clearihue and the ECS. Here's how it looks:

iMac

...that today is 09/09/09 :) Just something random. Today's the first day of classes. Will be heading to the gym later. I feel like crawling back into bed...

Hello world! It's been 4days since I've been here and I apologise for the lack of update, or rather pictures. I've been kept busy with orientation programmes, frustrating administrative processes and basically touring around. The sun here can get pretty intense so that sucks esp when walking around campus.

That's all for now..I'm in my friend's room at Tower, cause I didn't buy Ethernet cable earlier. Wi-fi was working fine till yesterday >.<

Bye! I think I'll sleep again.

IMG165-01

My flight which was initially scheduled for Sept 1st has been delayed. I don't know when and am now waiting for a sign from the "powers that be". It is now almost certain that I will miss my International Student Orientation. That sucks. But then, I'm also torn when Michelle told me today that SS501 (YaY!!) will be dropping by en transit this week! A huge part of me wants to stay back and a little while longer just to catch them in person. After all, what do I have to lose since I'm missing orientation anyway?? Byul is pretty no, VERY excited too. Hopefully things will turn out well :)

I forgot my fotologue password so I can't sign in now =.=

Listening to: Brown Eyes - Already A Year 

Viewers beware! You might just get diabetes from watching this

♪ Gee Gee Gee Gee ~