Virginia Tech, Monash Uni 2002 shooting, DragonForce
- Last night I ranted on and on about the band DragonForce. Well, I finished downloading their latest album (Inhuman Rampage) this morning. I unpacked it to my music directory, and started listening. I couldn't stop giggling, yet at the same time I'm still banging my head. Listening to DragonForce is a bit like watching a campy episode of Batman tv show, or a Power Rangers episode, and having Megadeth playing in the background. At the time of this writing, I'm still listening to it, it's pretty much all I've listened to today. That, and Aphex Twin's Come to Daddy. That's a good dose of music, right there.
- In other news, last night I wanted to write something about the incident at Virginia Tech. But there wasn't enough details for me to write about. Now, almost 36 hours after the last gunfire, the news have appeared in all headlines. The world is shocked. World leaders expressed their condolences. And here I am, wondering the rationality behind the 'the right to bear arms': The Second Amendment to the United States' Constitution. The President himself stated that he believed in the right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed. And there's this guy, Wayne Chiang, another Korean student at Virginia Tech who was speculated to be the gunman (he's not). He has a lot of guns. And by a lot, I mean, a lot.
What am I trying to say here? Well, Wayne thinks that people should be armed, so if they see another guy like Cho Seung-Hui walking towards them with a gun in his hand, they will be ready to open fire. Now, I'm not smart, but I know that most people are trigger happy when under stress. That's the difference between civilians and soldiers. They're trained to hold back and not to go Rambo on everyone. What will be the difference if everyone has a gun? I can only imagine that it'll be a hell of a lot nastier. In fact, I'm scared of the prospect that anyone should have a gun in the first place. Personally, I think mankind is not quite ready to handle firearms - because people are known to be trigger-happy.
And oh, about the gunman himself, Cho Seung-Hui is said to be mentally unstable. He was a 4th year English Major at Virginia tech. His writing often has an adult theme in it, and revolves around paedophilia and.. people whacking each other with sharp things. Uncool. He also wore shades indoors. And oh, he likes to stalk girls.
- I heard about the shootings when I was in the computer lab yesterday. I was checking my mail, and my friend was reading the news. He said: "Another shooting". Then I went to TheAge.com and there it was. The first thing that came to my mind was Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. I knew this day would happen. Then when I was walking to the lecture theatre, my friend asked me a question: "Getting sick of this place yet?"
"I don't know"
Then I asked him: "You?"
"Yeah man, yeah"
"You're not going to go shoot everyone are you?". I was trying to make a joke. So I laughed. My friend didn't. Well, he sort of did. But it was more like an evil laugh.
"Like the whole faculty?"
"Yeah", I said. "Hey, ask me in a year"
"I'll be surprised if anyone hasn't gone nuts in their 4th year"
I wonder if I can stay sane until my 5th year of Uni.
Nah, jokes.
Uni is not that bad. It's just tedious, and it takes a while until you actually get to the fun stuff (i.e. Vac work). But shooting everyone in a lecture theatre? That's just poor.
- There was a shooting at Monash Uni back in 2002. I heard news about this when I arrived in Melbourne back in 2005. Turns out it was a huge incident. I'd say it's as fcked up as Virginia Tech. Actually, now I'm pretty spooked up about this whole shooting thing. To think about it, I don't want to study in the library and see an international student going nuts with a kitchen knife. What would I do in that situation? I would probably jump out the window.. I don't know. I was pretty freaked out when I was checking my mail in the computer lab this afternoon. Achinese asian guy was standing behind my chair. He seemed to be standing there, just watching me. Turns out he was only talking on the phone.
This is kinda scary. I mean, Melb Uni is not an easy school. It's competitive. Many students (especially international students) are often left behind by their peers, and failing classes. I sure don't want to be there when a guy opens fire at the whole lecture theatre.
- So anyway, I have been experimenting with the shutter speed of my Ixus. It's not an SLR, and I don't have a tripod. Hence the subpar quality of the image. But I guess that's not an excuse for taking such a kitsch image.
- I found this in Wikipedia: Dino Riders
One of the coolest toy line ever. Crap tv show though.
Anyway, I gotta go.
Putra
Playlist: The Mars Volta, DragonForce, Aphex Twin
- In other news, last night I wanted to write something about the incident at Virginia Tech. But there wasn't enough details for me to write about. Now, almost 36 hours after the last gunfire, the news have appeared in all headlines. The world is shocked. World leaders expressed their condolences. And here I am, wondering the rationality behind the 'the right to bear arms': The Second Amendment to the United States' Constitution. The President himself stated that he believed in the right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed. And there's this guy, Wayne Chiang, another Korean student at Virginia Tech who was speculated to be the gunman (he's not). He has a lot of guns. And by a lot, I mean, a lot.
What am I trying to say here? Well, Wayne thinks that people should be armed, so if they see another guy like Cho Seung-Hui walking towards them with a gun in his hand, they will be ready to open fire. Now, I'm not smart, but I know that most people are trigger happy when under stress. That's the difference between civilians and soldiers. They're trained to hold back and not to go Rambo on everyone. What will be the difference if everyone has a gun? I can only imagine that it'll be a hell of a lot nastier. In fact, I'm scared of the prospect that anyone should have a gun in the first place. Personally, I think mankind is not quite ready to handle firearms - because people are known to be trigger-happy.
And oh, about the gunman himself, Cho Seung-Hui is said to be mentally unstable. He was a 4th year English Major at Virginia tech. His writing often has an adult theme in it, and revolves around paedophilia and.. people whacking each other with sharp things. Uncool. He also wore shades indoors. And oh, he likes to stalk girls.
- I heard about the shootings when I was in the computer lab yesterday. I was checking my mail, and my friend was reading the news. He said: "Another shooting". Then I went to TheAge.com and there it was. The first thing that came to my mind was Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. I knew this day would happen. Then when I was walking to the lecture theatre, my friend asked me a question: "Getting sick of this place yet?"
"I don't know"
Then I asked him: "You?"
"Yeah man, yeah"
"You're not going to go shoot everyone are you?". I was trying to make a joke. So I laughed. My friend didn't. Well, he sort of did. But it was more like an evil laugh.
"Like the whole faculty?"
"Yeah", I said. "Hey, ask me in a year"
"I'll be surprised if anyone hasn't gone nuts in their 4th year"
I wonder if I can stay sane until my 5th year of Uni.
Nah, jokes.
Uni is not that bad. It's just tedious, and it takes a while until you actually get to the fun stuff (i.e. Vac work). But shooting everyone in a lecture theatre? That's just poor.
- There was a shooting at Monash Uni back in 2002. I heard news about this when I arrived in Melbourne back in 2005. Turns out it was a huge incident. I'd say it's as fcked up as Virginia Tech. Actually, now I'm pretty spooked up about this whole shooting thing. To think about it, I don't want to study in the library and see an international student going nuts with a kitchen knife. What would I do in that situation? I would probably jump out the window.. I don't know. I was pretty freaked out when I was checking my mail in the computer lab this afternoon. A
This is kinda scary. I mean, Melb Uni is not an easy school. It's competitive. Many students (especially international students) are often left behind by their peers, and failing classes. I sure don't want to be there when a guy opens fire at the whole lecture theatre.
- So anyway, I have been experimenting with the shutter speed of my Ixus. It's not an SLR, and I don't have a tripod. Hence the subpar quality of the image. But I guess that's not an excuse for taking such a kitsch image.
- I found this in Wikipedia: Dino Riders
One of the coolest toy line ever. Crap tv show though.
Anyway, I gotta go.
Putra
Playlist: The Mars Volta, DragonForce, Aphex Twin
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