131

Guess what?
I’m going to Ohio this weekend for solar modules testing at ****** *****'s facilities. I am looking forward for the trip. There are going to be four of us – me, Mirai, Jeremy and Ivan. Anastasia might come too. Basically, we are going to test all the solar modules and make sure that they are working properly.
After more than six months being with the team, I am starting to really enjoy it. Currently, I am responsible for the solar car solar module, one of the most important aspects of the car. I am glad to say that my knowledge in solar power as increase not merely in theory but also in practical sense.
The Solar Car Team means a lot to me and becoming more personal. Instead of just a project to win the ACS and WSC, I am constantly making new friends outside of my division. There are lots of friends over there that I do feel comfortable chatting with. (Of course, this does not include Mirai calling me in the middle of the night asking me to come to the work session. On that, I could only thank God for not having a hand phone. If I had a mobile phone, I will find myself doing Solar Car 24/7.) I do believe however the interest in Solar Car is making it difficult to me to run a student life. It seems that I am a real engineer instead of just a student.
Besides that, being in the Solar Car reaffirms my belief in green power. Knowing how a vehicle can run almost forever just with the power of the Sun is electrifying. Plus, without harmful emission.
Nevertheless, the thing that I appreciate most by being with the Team is the fact that I'm actually doing something for the Green movement instead of just talking.
Wait, the best thing is still the fact that I am going to Ohio for free.
Woohoo! I am going to Ohio this weekend. Go Solar Team!!!

P/s - By the way, the field hockey team is going to Michigan State in Lansing for a game against the Spartan. Boy, if only I had regularly attended the practice, I might had been included in the team. The last I played hockey with them was before the snow falls, some time in November. It was fun and trust me, although only the girls play this game, they are tough. I even had to struggle to keep possession of the ball when I played with them. To strengthen my point, there was even this Australian guy who had to sweat his heart out just to get pass through the girls.

130

I watched Bush’s State of the Union speech over the net las night and I must say, Bush is a really good orator.
During the speech, he spoke about reducing the tax, a typical Republican decision since they always think that the American is on the left side of the Laffer Curve. I don’t have too much knowledge in economics but throughout history, there is no prove that the Laffer Curve exists although the idea seems acceptable. Reagan tried it but nothing happened. Bush is trying it and I with skepticism say the government revenue will not go up. Yet, tax cut is good. We all love tax cut huh?
What made me lift my eyebrow was Bush push for hydrogen-powered vehicle. He reason was this push will help the United States to be less dependent on the foreign oil-producing nations. For the first time, I think Bush is doing the right thing.
Another environmental related issue was Bush drive to cut power plants emission up to 75%. Now, this is a little bit manipulative. 75% is a huge number and no doubt, it is good. However, 75% cut on power plants is different from trying to cut even 10% of the polluting industries emission.
All in all, these steps are not enough. The push for hydrogen-powered vehicle is a noble effort but the technology won’t reach the public in mass number within a few short years. It would be well beyond 2010 before this hybrid technology is widely used. Furthermore, with Bush on the top, it is doubtful he will not bend to the oil companies demands (e.g. S.U.V. stuffs).
In the speech, he also touched about Medicare. He wants the rising medical cost to be cut down by releasing the doctors from liability. In other words, he tries to prevent the doctors from being sued unfairly. Another good thing but the Democrats don’t like it (I think).
On international affair, he mentioned about the Palestine struggled and he said he is on the PLO side. Israel is going to love that.
He also touched a few other things but he tarried on Iraq. One think is clear though, it is war for oil. Bush himself said he will not let an aggressive enemy occupy a strategic and rich region to threaten the United States. No more speculation. It is official that it is war for oil.
Well, it’s a pity but we will see another oil-rich territory fall into the hand of the oil megalomaniacs. After that, Bush has won the war. Sigh…

Wait a minute, isn’t State of the Union is supposed to be about state of the Union instead of promises?

129

A long time ago, well, maybe not so long ago but it was long enough, they were two brothers. They helped each other out and compromised on almost everything. They minded their own business but never reluctant to help each other out in times of desperation. There was even time when a bully came up at them and they stood together against the bully. Yes, that was a long time ago. One could only assume they would be good brothers for all eternity.
But one day, the mother of these two brothers bought them a cake. They enjoyed the cake together, having a chat with a few laugh just like they had as always. Then, it was time for the last piece. The smaller brother reached for it and thought the other wouldn’t mind. How wrong the little one could be. The older brother had wanted it too. The brothers started to argue. Harsh words were exchanged and they hurt each other pride. In the end, both of the brothers refused to compromise until the cake went bad.
Yet, the cake was so small and uninteresting.
I mean, c’mon, they are arguing about water and the ownership of a freaking lighthouse on a bunch of rock in the middle of the sea!
That is stupid. Malaysia should just sell the water at the agreed price and wait until the water agreements end if it doesn’t want to sell the water anymore. The amount of money generated this water arrangement is nothing compared to Malaysia’s total GDP. Malaysia may operate at a loss but if Singapore is booming, Johor will also enjoy the ripe. In the end, both will prosper. I say just sell the water at 6 cent per gallon and move on. I am sure Malaysia and Singapore have other more important stuffs to do.
Concerning the tiny piece of rock, heck, it’s merely a few kilometers from the Malaysian’s shore while the rock is more than fifty kilometers off Singapore. Where is the common sense? Just give it to Malaysia.
Moving on the subject, the current action by the Singaporean navy is somewhat questionable. Everybody realizes that Singapore is trying to practice the “effective occupation”, the principle that won Malaysia the Sipadan - Ligitan case recently. Nevertheless, the Singaporean Navy has only recently aggressively patrol Pulau Batu Puteh. From my opinion, that is not effective occupation. Looking back at Sipadan – Ligitan, Malaysia has enforced its law and patrol the sea around Sipadan – Ligitan for decades. Singapore on the other hand has only started to patrol the tiny rock for the pass what, months? Weeks?
In addition, Singapore increased patrol had even caused a laugh in Malaysia and Indonesia. Singapore so jealously guarded Pulau Batu Puteh that while looking for “trespassing” Malaysian vessels, it failed to see a huge tanker immediately in front of them. I know its bad for me to say that but hey, sometimes the truth hurts.
By the way, effective occupation worked for Malaysia because Indonesia failed to counter Malaysia activities due to the turmoil in Indonesia’s domestic affair. Indonesia was still licking it wound caused by East Timor and the riot in Sulawesi. At same time, Acheh was waiting for an opportunity of a lifetime. By comparison, Malaysia is far from losing Kelantan (I know, I know, it’s a bad joke) and like it or not, Malaysia currently is doing economically better than Singapore. Plus, the lighthouse on Pulau Batu Puteh was not built by Singapore. It was built by the British with the consent of the Sultan of Johor. Thus, effective occupation won’t work for Singapore.
Also, Singapore is arguing that the Malaysian Royal Navy frequently intrudes Pulau Batu Puteh. Well, I think intruding Pulau Batu Puteh is like saying the Malaysian Army is intruding Kuala Lumpur. By the way, the ICJ hasn’t even decided on the case yet. Might I add, if the Malaysian Royal Navy ever crosses Singapore precious border, how about Singapore Royal Air Force intrusion of Johor air space?
Give me a break.

Damn, look at how entry digressed.
Damn, I forgot, I’m a Green. I’m pro-peace (I’ve just found out that the term pro-peace looks better than anti-war - something that I learned from The Daily. That is the first time I learned something from The Daily. Wait, maybe the second time. Who cares…)

128

----------------------------Start qoute
"...wats with all this fuss about aina ni?? haha finally u all know aina's a hoe... i truly believe she IS a hoe... a HOEribbly smart girl, a HOEribbly good listener to her girlfriends' countless neverending problems, a HOEribbly fun eatin partner.....even santa claus loves her.....HOE HOE HOE.... tsk tsk.... oh god help me sometimes i thinkk i am soo funny... anyways iv been bedridden for a whole week..."
----------------------------End qoute

The result of random surfing...
Anyway, The __earthinc Version 1.3 is now here. The Links and Gallery are also updated but the pictures might be taken off due to space constraint. As much as I want to compress it and let it stay on the net, my time is way to precious too be spent on compressing the pictures one by one using Photoshop.

Well, bye, I have tons of homework and Solar Car things.

127

The Internet was again attacked, resulting in global slowdown. I, first hand witnessed the global slowdown frustratingly. Although the servers in the US seems to work now, a lot other servers are still suffering from the cyber attack. Out of all this, somebody suggested everybody to block port 1434. I have no idea why.
Note that the last attack on global internet traffic was less than four months ago.
Read all about it here.

126

Currently, two unexpected teams are running up high in Big Ten basketball Conference, attaining the first and the second rung at the Big Ten Conference respectively. Iowa and Michigan are proving that rating is nothing without performance. Currently, both are not rated. Even the highly rated Illinois is trying to find some firm ground to step on.
I thought we suck but I guess the others suck more but frankly, I think Michigan is a pretender but we’ll see sooner or later whether I’m right or wrong. I don’t know about Iowa though but for Illinois, like what USC said to Notre Dame, 'OVERRATED!'

Now, lets move on to a more serious matter.
The Republicans are trying to pursue permission from the Senate to drill Alaska all out.
Alaska is the last frontier state. Wilderness roams free here and there with minimum Human interference. The only city that I know exists in Alaska is Anchorage and the size is pathetically small relative to some other continental cities.
Being the last frontier means a backwater state without much development. Nevertheless, what makes Alaska in the spotlight is its oil and gas reserve. According to statistics, there is about 6 to 13 billion barrels worth of crude oil. Of course that figure looks big, especially for Bush. Unfortunately, comparatively, that figure is nothing and would only provide the US energy worth only for a very short term. For comparison, the UK has 15 billions barrel of crude oil. Imagine, 15 billion barrels for so small an area. Now, imagine, the possibility of 6 billion barrels worth of crude oil scattered all over Alaska - it’s simply defined-stupidity to dig up an area with the size of Alaska for such a small supply. Check this out if you don't trust me on the figures.
For the Greens and to whole lots of other people minus Bush and his allies, it doesn’t make any sense to dig up the whole Alaskan soil just for an oil supply worth perhaps not even a decade. In addition, there are a lot more in Texas after years of digging. Why does Bush need to dig more?
One could that the world is currently facing oil supply shortage. The current situation in Venezuela and Iraq doesn’t help in engaging the problem. But again, the problems in Venezuela and Iraq are caused by the US itself.
In my opinion, just let the OPEC nations increase their production rate. There is no need to kill Alaska just for the sake of oil.

Bush, you suck, period.

p/s - below is one of the best posts I've ever read in a forum. It's short but it makes sense. The post concerns the first Israeli in space.

Human idiots
by: claudiagiraffe (F/Orlando) 01/19/03 08:09 am
Msg: 2763 of 2776
7 recommendations

Why do these new astronauts insist on taking earthly problems into space? Space should be the new frontier, not just one more place to use for someone's personal agenda.
That he's an Israeli shouldn't even be news. All that should matter is that he's an astronaut.
At least he's focused enough on his job that he forgot about his attention-getting little show for now. Too bad he didn't get up there and realize what a fool he's being and see that some things are bigger than what humans do on earth.

125

More, courtesy of Epol. For a related post, click here.

124

Thank to one of my friends, my interest in Dune has reemerged.
Dune is one of the best science-fiction ever written. Some would even go further by saying Dune is an epic, a science fiction answer to the Lord of the Rings.
Dune is a series of novels written by Frank Herbert concerning the struggles between three great houses with the Spacing Guild plotting against each other. The storyline gets more complicated (very) as it progresses.
Dune is a desolate desert planet, also known as Arrakis. However, Arrakis is the center of attraction as the Spice, the most precious mineral in the whole known galaxy only exist on Arrakis. The Spice enables the Spacing Guild to fold space and thus controlling trade. Furthermore, all the great houses depend on the Guild for trade and the Guild on the other hand depends on the stability of the galaxy to ensure the continuous flow of the Spice. As the author puts it, whoever controls Arrakis, control the Spice; and whoever controls the Spice, controls the universe. Distrust is everywhere when the Spice is concerned.
Due to the epic’s popularity, it has been introduced to the silver screen a few times. The best adaptation was done by David Lynch back in 1984. Dune was further made known to the public by the legendary Westwood Studios when they made the revolutionary real time-strategy (RTS) game called Dune II in the mid-90s. The game was such a success that a few sequels were made, including the highly rated Emperor: The Battle for Dune. Up-to-date, there are roughly four games that bear the Dune’s franchise.
To the Star Trek: The Next Generation fans, Dune might be known to them as one of the movies that Patrick Steward starred in. The actor took the role of Gurney, one of the main characters.
I would highly recommend Dune to all readers that share an interest in the science-fiction and fantasy genre.
Below is the Bene Gesserit's Littany of Fear, one of the famous lines in Frank Herbert’s Dune.

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
When the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

123

Bush has just announced White House's opinion on University of Michigan's case. He is against affirmative action, or seems like it.
Bush is a polluter. So, seeing his popularity going down is good.
At the same time, the Democrat's presidential candidate for 2005 is a Michigan graduate. What an interesting coincidence.
Nevertheless, from my point of view, affirmative action is wrong. Affirmative action is simply a way of fighting one wrong with another wrong; much like realpolitik. Concerning Malaysia's affirmative action, well, that's a different case. It is simply the rights of the Malay. Whatever but here is a joke on Bush that I found while reading a forum concerning Bush's stance on the issue. Enjoy but if you are a Republican, sorry for being too harsh. I'm a Green remember?
------------------------------------------------------------------
While visiting England, George W. Bush is invited to tea with the Queen. He asks her what her leadership philosophy is. She says that it is to surround herself with intelligent people. He asks how she knows if they're intelligent.

"I do so by asking them the right questions," says the Queen. "Allow me to demonstrate."

She phones Tony Blair and says, "Mr. Prime Minister. Please answer this question: Your mother has a child, and your father has a child, and this child is not your brother or sister. Who is it?"

Tony Blair responds, "It's me, ma'am."

"Correct. Thank you and good-bye, sir," says the Queen. She hangs up and says, "Did you get that, Mr. Bush?"

"Yes ma'am. Thanks a lot. I'll definitely be using that!"

Upon returning to Washington, he decides he'd better put the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to the test. He summons Jesse Helms to the White House and says, "Senator Helms, I wonder if you can answer a question for me."

"Why, of course, sir. What's on your mind?"

"Uh, your mother has a child, and your father has a child, and this child is not your brother or your sister. Who is it?"

Helms hems and haws and finally asks, "Can I think about it and get back to you?" Bush agrees, and Helms leaves. He immediately calls a meeting of other senior senators, and they puzzle over the question for several hours, but nobody can come up with an answer. Finally, in desperation, Helms calls Colin Powell at the State Department and explains his problem.

"Now look here Colin Powell, your mother has a child, and your father has a child, and this child is not your brother, or your sister. Who is it?" Powell answers immediately, "It's me, of course, you dumb ass."

Much relieved, Helms rushes back to the White House and exclaims, "I know the answer, sir! I know who it is! It's Colin Powell!" And Bush replies in disgust, "Wrong, you dumb ass, It's Tony Blair!"
------------------------------------------------------------------

122

The Solar Car projects are really getting on my nerve. Just now, I spent nearly four hours trying to find a switch with 30A / 12 VDC. At first, I thought it is supposed to be easy as ABC and had been thinking of spending less than an hour to look for it.
Unfortunately, 30A VDC is not that easy to find, at least for me. All I found were switches with the rating of 0.5mA VAC, 1A VAC and all those other freaking small digits. My frustration grew as the ampere reading rose little by little but instead of being for direct current, the rating was for alternating current. By the time the ampere class reached 100A (which I don’t even need to look into as that kind of current is way too big), I had sat on my chair for 2 hours. My God, I could complete a mini-quest in Neverwinter Nights or even read the whole Chapter 2: Economic Growth up within those 120 minutes.
Then, things started to brighten up as I found a few directories that list more than 100 of companies that sell switches. While looking into it, I learned that there are whole bunch of switches; from the primitive toggle switches to the high tech digital rockers. Counting all, my favorite is the normal rocker.
Finally, I bumped into Del City and Cole Hersee I found not only cool switches, but switches that match for team need. And again, all this took me four hours.

I am just thankful that I didn’t apply to join the race crew because if building up the car is going to consume so much time, a race crew needs to dedicate his whole time for the team. I heard somebody even said that the whole semester needs to be sacrifice. Sacrificing the whole semester for the upcoming American Solar Car Race (ASC) is too much for me. But if I last into 2005, I hope that I'll be in the 2005 race crew.
Whatever it is, I hope the team will retain the Cup in Ann Arbor because if we win the ASC, we are going to do serious damage in the World Solar Car Race Championship in the Australian Outback.

Aight, enough chatter, I need to do some revising.

p/s – look at the schedule I’ve just received through email!!!
Yo all,
We'll be having worksessions from Saturday through next Thursday to lay up the lower surface of the body. I'm looking for a response from everyone on what days they can be there and what times. The times for the
worksessions are:
Saturday 10am - 10pm
Sunday " "
Monday " "
Tuesday 2pm - 6pm and after the meeting
Wed'day 7pm - midnight
Thursday 2pm - 6pm and after the aero/mechanical meeting
Please let me know which of these times you will be available. I will need a staff of at least 10 people at any of these times.
Chris

I wonder what mine would be like when they start on those solar modules.

121

A 17" monitor standing side by side with the CPU on a messy deck. The keyboard is as far as it could from the cathode ray tube while the four satellite speaker make an eighth of a circle. At the same time, the subwoofer is under the desk. A few books are resting in between the keyboard and the monitor with a digital camera and its case somewhere nearby. Directly in front of the CPU, a glass bottle full of pennies stands quietly.
Two action figures standing on the desk; one overlooks the whole desk while the larger one is staring at the other direction. On the CPU, there are a few memorabilia from Chicago and New York. Not to forget, a goggle smuggled out from the Chemistry Building.
A white empty mug is present on the desk.
The desk has four drawers and is placed against the wall of the room. The room itself is somewhat rectangular in shape with two white light sources. There are windows on the right side of the desk where the sun usually shines through during the morning when the day is fine.
On the opposite side, a comfy old chair sits alone at the corner of the room. Well, maybe not alone. A few worn clothes are sleeping on it.
The bed is unmade and has never been made properly for a long time. It is against the other wall opposite the desk’s wall. The bed’s wall has a few platforms for books.

I have no idea what I am doing. That’s it. I am going to bed.

120













To all friends with modem, it gonna take a long time to load all this.

119

To all complusive surfers out there, thanks for helping The __earthinc passing the 2500 visitors mark in a matter of days. And yeah, the complusive visitors refers to you, all the Wolverines. It seems that the same IP address will appear in my tracker almost daily. The 2500th visitor was from University of Michigan and the visit was made on January 4th at 0120 hours.
Life must be getting really boring isn't it?

p/s - Cmon, make it to 3000!!! You can do it!!! After that, I'm thinking of changing the layout or maybe not. We'll see.

118

Below is the altered entry that I made to my diary. The real entry is longer and contained more personal stuff that need not to be published here. Forgive me for any grammar mistake. I wrote this entry for five long hours with approximately 2600 words. And I didn't write this non-stop. I am not that crazy.
------------------------------------------------------------------
I’ve just arrived from New York on last Friday and currently I’m suffering post-holidays blues. This is on thing I hate about having everything off my shoulder for such a long time. I feel so sad knowing that the winter holiday is going to be the thing of the past in less than 48 hours.
Nevertheless, a week stay at Broadway and 107th was absolutely fabulous. The journey towards the financial city of the world took us 12 hours during a gay day and evening. It started at Ann Arbor with two cars. The party consisted of eight members and they were me of course, Satchi, David and Wee Hong in one car and Epol, Batcha, Hong and Wan Tin in another. Although that I was excited to leave Ann Arbor behind for a week, I can’t stressed more that I was disappointed that we left Ann Arbor later than planned.
Yet, the journey went fine and all went well until we found out that we were heading west instead of eastward. It took us 40 miles to realize that we were about a quarter of a journey towards Chicago instead of New York. Once we analyzed the situation, we get off the highway and got onto state freeway. Although the mistake cost us more fuel than necessary, I was glad that we took the wrong turn. If we would have taken the correct direction, I wouldn’t be able to see the beauty of Devil’s Lake. With the Sun setting at the horizon far across the almost frozen lake, it was a pity that I failed to take a shot at the lake.
Later part of the journey was uneventful until our car’s CD player played LB’s Rollin’. Ironically, a few seconds later, the other car which was driven by Batcha slammed right into our car’s back. All the four of us were dumbfounded. Luckily, nobody was injured. What was better was finding out that the car didn’t even suffer a scratch.
We continued on, and on and on and on until I had the helm of the car. By the time I had the driver’s seat, Epol in the other car was leading the way towards Cleveland (or was it Akron? Might be Toledo but I am certain that it happened in Ohio). Upon entering the city we had a wrong turn but that was nothing compared to another thing that happened upon exiting the city. As Epol was driving on the city freeway, he made a lane change at a decent rate. I followed him but moments later, he made a sudden lane change and I was unable to follow suit as a huge trailer was on my right. I cursed him silently in my mind (I did actually yelled “fuck”) but after accelerating I managed to go right behind him but immediately after I had his tail, he made a exit. I had my eyes wide opened and tried to follow him again. This time, I heard an air break coming from the back of the car. Adrenaline rushed inside of me as I took a peek at the side mirror to see the same trailer was trying hard to not hit me. Panicked, I pressed the accelerator powerfully and one could hear the punishment that the engine was taking if one were in the car.
We survived but we lost the other car. Later on, we found each other at the latter exit. From that moment on, I led the party. Our car had decided not to let the other car to lead until we reached our destination.
I drove during the dark evening and reached 180 km/h, an equivalence of 110 mph. I was driving so fast that when we were taking break, the other driver complaint of my speed. About 250 miles later, Satchi took over for our approach to the state of New York.
As we were entering New York State, the scenery was magnificent with mountains rise high towards the sky and at its feet, water laid undisturbed. Again, it was a pity that the approach happened when the Moon was high above.
As the night went deeper, the other car finally switched driver and this time it was Hong. We were pretty excited by this time and we cheered each time we saw a sign with New York City written on it. With each second, our excitement grew higher until our car saw a patrol car sitting quietly at the freeway shoulder. We slowed down and hoped that Hong saw that but apparently, he didn’t as he continued on speeding. Satchi flashed him now and then but the warning went deaf ears or rather, blind eyes. We were trying to warn but our tries failed when finally a patrol car drove right behind him. We thought the police was going to stop them but then, it patrol car disengaged the silence pursue and in turn, we were relieve. After all that, the other car still didn’t realize about what had happened. They only knew that only after somebody said that Hong received words that he had gotten himself a ticket. It was just fortunately for me that I didn’t suffer the same event while I was being a road devil earlier.
The journey almost ended safely until we reached George Washington Bridge. Here, the other car was leading and missed a turn and went deep into unknown territory. We were behind but Satchi and David had us into the right turn, leaving the other car to explore upper New York without the help of and atlas.
As a result, we reached Broadway and 107th first and waited for the lost others until about 0400 hours.

A few hours after we had a good rest, at 1100 hours to be precise, we walked Broadway St. and treated ourselves with Malaysian styled cooking for lunch. Once full, continued our walk but instead all along Broadway, we headed for the famous Central Park. We took some photos and explored it from the middle to 5th Avenue. By the time we reached 5th Avenue, it was already dark and cold but that didn’t deter us to enjoy 5th Avenue. There, we visited some toy store and didn’t hit the bed until midnight loomed.
The next day, all of us were fine except for Hong who was having flu. We left him behind with Wan Tin and went to the world renowned Metropolitan Museum. On our way there, we gave Central Park another round of visit as it was in situated at the edge of the Park. The museum was impressive even from the outside. We had to pay for six bucks to enter the museum but I tell you that it was worth every penny. The first section that we visited was the ancient Egyptian collections. In that section, everything that you read and see in the tubes and in the book was there. The mummies, the coffins, the gold coins and lots were for everyone to see. The museum even housed a small tome. The next section the American Wing we didn’t even lift an eye for it. Once we walked passed the American section in a matter of minutes, the armor section impressed. The phrase knight in shining armor perfectly describes the armors exhibited here. Satisfied, we went to European section and saw a lot of interesting artifacts like, ehem, nude statues and paintings. Next was art collection from other part of the world and more nudity. There were even a whole set of totem that seem like the act of masturbation.
With the first floor covered, we climbed the stairs and visited the Islamic, Middle East, East Asian a few other sections. All in all, it took us the whole day to finish up the round. Imagine, a whole day inside a museum.
Day 3 was the day we gave Chinatown, Little Italy and SoHo a visit. Only one word could describe the day – foods. While in SoHo, I bought a lovely painting from an artist. It is not a painting to be exact but more accurately a Polaroid photo that is being altered to bring on an appealing effect. Later that evening (I might have mistaken the date), Batcha and I kicked Chrysler Building and spent a few snapshots in Grand Central Building. Its function is the same as Chicago’s.
On December 30th, we went, quoting James, up close and personal with Lady Liberty. We took a ferry for Straten Island. From the boat, Manhattan looked impressive with imposing skyscrapers rising up from the waters. If only the two towers still stood tall, the view would have been better. The to and fro journey on the ferry took us more or less an hour. After we returned to shore, we visited had lunched nearby Wall Street and visited NYSE. Afterward, we went to the birthplace of Broadway Street and paid respect to the fallen Twin Towers. While on Wall Street, we saw these two girls taking photos of themselves with NYSE as the background. Letting not chance passed, I asked Epol to take a shot at them with his digicam. Their pose was fascinating. Naughty but the picture is worth the shot. Next, we visited Macy’s and unfortunately, I was not impressed by it even by a bit. We might had went to Pier 17 on the same day but I can’t recall the exact date.
The day after, we visited the Chrysler Building, Empire State Building and the Rockefeller Center before we headed for Times Square. We had our dinner at Rockefeller Center. At about 1800 hours, we went to the Times Square. Security was tight with snipers on top of some building and several helicopters hover above the crowd. The presence of the police was certainly felt by the crowd.
Nevertheless, nothing bad happened to us save some pushing by the crowd. When we arrived at the celebration venue, we were checked by the police but the inspection was lenient. The crowd was allowed to approach Times Square stage by stage with police fence blocking each stage effectively. Every time one wants to pass a stage, one will have to be inspected by the police who are standing guard at every stage. Our movement towards Times Square took several hours. In total, we stood six friggin hours waiting for the passing of the last second of year 2002.
The crowd was restless, counting down the last 10 second of every hour. It was a huge crowd but a well-behaved rowdy crowd. The eight of us were tired standing and every now and then we sit in the street with strangers surrounding us. While in the crowd, we talked to some people, trying to pass the time faster.
Our movement towards the center of celebration was stopped at the 49th St. and we stayed there until the final countdown. In about two hours before midnight, Avril Lavigne performed some of her song on stage live. I didn’t see her directly but the large TV screen up at the Times Square was enough for me to join singing. The fun didn’t stop with her. Every time there was no live singer singing on stage, there were songs played over the PA system. The crowd usual sang along with the songs. Through my observation, lots of Beatles’ songs were played. I sang along quietly for the lyrics that I remember. A group of British people was behind me and only God knows how happy of them to hear some familiar voice. At one time, a sweet old lady from the group gladly remind that The Beatles sang All You Need is Love.
To our left, there was a group of friends sitting down playing a card game while waiting for midnight. To the right, some pretty but sad looking girls sitting serenely. They were tired no doubt. I myself kept on complaint about having to stand for six straight hours in the street with the cold wind blowing. Farther to the left and a few stories up, a party was going on. From time to time, some of the party people yelled out to the crowd. The crowd most of the time reply with the word “jump!” over and over again. Other phrase was “show me your tits”, “we want girls”, throw some drinks out” and “boo”. Whatever it was, the crowd was loud.
On the other side, restroom paper towels flew gracefully downward from Renaissance Hotel. Farther up front, the same thing happened. The crowd was amused by the paper towels. I would imagine that by the next morning, all the restrooms in the hotel will be exhausted of paper towels. Sometimes, the length of the paper towel thrown out was almost half of the hotel height and I have estimated that the hotel is more than 40 stories high.
While we were singing and shouting and talking and everything, Discover Card distributed small bell to the crowd in its pursuit to make a world record. After all was done, I doubt a world record was made that night. Other than that, balloons were almost distributed for free.
During the final minutes, the large screen up at the Times Square started to count time and when the number hit 30, the crowd joined in. It was 29, 25, 20, 16, 12, 11 and all the way to 1. Everybody counted it but most started at 10 till 1. Once the number one was gone, the crowd went ecstatic and everybody greeted everybody Happy New Year. Firework went off in a few places. The most notable sites were Times Square and Empire State Building. The British group behind me sang Auld Lang Syne while the others started jumping, hugging and kissing. I saw a couple kissing each other and it was a beautiful sight. Plus, it was “expressionful” =)
Minutes later, the crowd began to disperse. The dispersing surprisingly was made in an orderly manner but the aftermath was hideous. Mass of trashes lay on the street with the garbage ranging from paper towel from the hotel, plastics, and bottles to some unrecognized materials.
Nevertheless, the journey back home took more than two hours. The streets were full with people and the situation below ground was just as ugly. Nevertheless, the subway system was still working efficiently, keeping the amount of people getting out of the station just as fast as the people was entering the station.
Once we reached our hotel, all of us went straight to bed. It was a brand new year.

The next day started late but just as eventful as the others. Today, we visited Museum of Natural History but I must say that the visit was not worth the money. The reason is that we had time constraint. Visiting such a huge museum for only two hours is by far worthless in my opinion but I joined my friend after being persuaded.
Finally, on January 2nd, it was our last day in NYC. First thing that we did was visiting the United Nations. There, I found a new whitish Teddy with soft fur if you may. I’ve been hugging the thing since I woke up yesterday. I know it is girlish but I can't help. Cuddling it seems to remind me of my cat back home. An hour later, we went up to the venue of Sleepless in Seattle and marveled at the sight of Manhattan from high above.

After all things said and done, we left NYC at about the time the Sun was setting. The journey home was marred with terrible weather. The other car almost had a terrible accident with an almost completed 360 degree turn. Luckily, they were alright.

Well, sorry for the late wishing by Happy New Year dear diary.
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Happy New Year

117

I made it to the Mirror Project! See my first recognized work here.

116

Something about the push for solar power.
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Thoughts
by: annonymousposts (38/M/New Mexico) 01/03/03 11:34 pm
Msg: 360 of 362
1 recommendation

While everything has a cost, I think there are some overall misconceptions about the cost/benefit & risk/reward associated with the posts on this board.

To those who think this is nothing but a target for terrorists:
Get a life. For you, they've won. You're scared and paranoid. A power tower in the middle of nowhere Australia is not a prime target, is it? I mean, where's the collateral damage terrorists would want? The next targets are going to be smaller than WTC and will probably be aimed at large gathering/population centers. Don't ya think? Seems obvious to me that a tower in Australia would be of little interest to a terrorist.

To those who keep repeating that nuclear and/or hydro power is the way to go:
Where can we store the spent fuel? Huh? We can't even store the spent fuel we have, much less the millions of tons more that'd be generated by more nuclear plants. And hydro? C'mon. How many more rivers and their ecosystems have to be destroyed before we realize that doesn't work either. What we need are systems that don't leave behind any waste. While this system could (farfetched idea coming) cause thermal atmospheric changes if hundreds or thousands of these towers were built, it's at least a step away from our current wasteful behaviors.

To those who are using this to spew forth a bunch of anti-Arab/Semite/Canadian rhetoric:
Jeez! Hate much?! It is specifically that sort of rhetoric that the hate-mongers want you to spout forth. You are, in fact, fueling their cause by provoking them and exhibiting behavior that allows them to believe Americans are evil. Not to sound to motherly, but for crying out loud, don't operate any heavy machinery and please, don't go into the water for thirty minutes, you may get a cramp or something.

To those who are trying to intelligently respond to the issues of renewable energy and its relationship to this proposed structure:
Thanks.

Oh, and please, either learn to spell or learn to type!
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