These Christians know how to party. Big ups!

(via cun.st)

This is my second month with the iPhone 3G. For the most part, I love using it and it has been a worthwhile purchase. Before I get to how it’s changed my daily commute and other things, I’ll list the things that I wish could have been done better or that took a while to get used to.

The not-so-good includes:

1. It can’t recognise numbers stored on the SIM card, and therefore cannot transfer them from the SIM to the phone. To get all my contacts onto the phone, I had to use my colleague’s Mac and its bluetooth connection to first transfer the numbers off my Nokia 6280 onto the address book in his Mac, and then use iTunes to transfer the numbers to my iPhone. If I didn’t have access to a Mac, well I probably would have had to do it manually.
2. You can’t easily save numbers from calls missed, received, and dialed, or in text messages. There’s just no function to do so. You have to manually key the number in by flipping back and forth between the call log and the virtual keypad, which thankfully retains what you type as you flip between screens. Otherwise, this would have been an even bigger pain.
3. I’m ok with camera being 2 Megapixel but the focus is slow and it’s kinda fiddly to use because the shutter button is virtual. This makes it hard to take self-potraits or reverse shots. And you can’t do MMS which is a glaring deficiency in such a multimedia capable phone. Oh yeah, no video either but that’s not that big a deal.
4. I’ve mentioned this before and that is: the virtual keyboard takes a little while getting used to. And even after that, you can’t do single-hand texting easily like you can with a phone with a more tactile feel. So you can forget about texting coherently if you are holding a drink in your other hand.
5. You can do your own custom ring tones but it’s not as straight forward as copying a sound or a song onto the phone. And you can’t do custom message tones, even if you buy them from the iTunes store. Because the phone just doesn’t have that capability. And that sucks. I miss my Yoda message tone that says, “Mmm, message from the dark side you have.”
6. The phone software updates can potentially fail and you will have to restore your phone from the automatic backups (now I know why iTunes do it!). Which is not so bad if it didn’t mean having to sync up my songs to the phone again. Depending on how many songs you had on the phone, this can take a while. Because yeah, when the updates fail? It wipes the hard disk clean. Oh you’d also have to re-download any apps which you have downloaded from the iTunes Apps store previously. This area of the phone should have been done much better than this.

Ok so those are my major complaints. But I still enjoy using the phone a lot. The big sell for me? 3G Internet surfing and the iPod touch functionalities. Thanks to both of these, my daily commute feels shorter and is much more enjoyable.

Despite reports of 3G reception problems, on my daily route to and from work the signals are strong enough for me to have a good surfing experience. I use Google Reader, and news sites like News.com.au and NYTimes.com - all of which have iPhone versions so they are light on the multimedia and loads up fairly quickly. The amount of information on screen is just right, and text is easy to read and scrolling is smooth. Try and read a full size site though and that’s when you really notice the inadequacy of the screen, so I don’t.

Checking my Gmail is also simple and easy to set up. I don’t compose or reply to messages though because that would take too much effort. Other useful internet applets includes Yahoo! Weather and Google Maps, both of which I use quite often.

There are also other apps, free or paid ones, available from the iTunes Apps store. So far, I’ve got the Facebook one and the New York Times one.

And finally, the iPod touch. I love it, I don’t know how I lived without it. I’m now listening to more music than I did before. I’ve been ripping a lot of CDs, and in addition to what I normally download (shhh), I’ve been purchasing more music as well in CD form and from the iTunes store. The iTunes store is quite well done because if I find one song that I like, it recommends 5 more to me. This can get addictive and it’s very easy to just click and purchase more than you want to.

To really enjoy the iPod, I’d highly recommend getting a pair of 3rd party headphones. I got a pair of Seinheiser in-ear ones from the Apple store. And these are great. Like how you’d press normal earphones into your ear to hear better, except you don’t have to because these block out outside noise. You don’t have to turn it up so it’s good for your hearing and you don’t disturb others. Only downside is that it can get quite mucky because you are pushing them into your ears, so you will have to clean them after every use.

And lastly, because you are constantly touching the phone it will require daily cleaning if you want it to look its best all the time. Oh yeah I almost forgot - the phone itself? Call reception and quality is nothing fantastic, but nothing shoddy either. It’s adequate.

As a package though, you are getting so much more than a phone. Because of the way it looks, the touch screen, and how it feels in your hand, the whole thing just rocks.

Greg Bird is a player in the National Rugby League and Katie Milligan is his American girlfriend. Early last week, Greg allegedly glassed Katie in the eye while arguing in his apartment. When they were attended to in a hospital, they had told medical staff that it was Greg’s friend Brent Watson who did it.

Luckily, Brent was not stupid and he also had a solid alibi. He went to the police and told his version of events. Greg Bird was then charged with maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and his league club the Cronulla Sharks had stood him down indefinitely.

LeagueHQ - The footballer, the glassed girlfriend and his fall guy … one teed-off mate
Police charge NRL ace Greg Bird for lover Katie Milligan assault | NEWS.com.au

So I’m trying to understand Katie’s actions and logic here. Perhaps this is his first violent outburst, or perhaps she thought that she was to be blamed for provoking him. And she thought it’s probably not worth it to trash his reputation and career over, so she had agreed with him to frame a friend of his. In the heat of the moment, I can sorta understand how all of that could have happened.

But what went through the minds of these two deluded individuals to make them think that Brent Watson was just going to quietly take the wrap for something that he didn’t do? Friends or not, this was something ridiculous to expect a person to do.

And after being discharged from hospital, we’ve now learnt that Katie had signed with a lawyer linked to Greg’s management. Which probably means that she’s still on his side, potentially hampering police investigations into the assault.

Greg Bird’s girlfriend Katie Milligan may not speak out | NEWS.com.au

All of which begs the question? Why do seemingly intelligent women put up with violent men and make excuses for them? I can understand it if children are involved and leaving the man is not a simple thing to do. I can even understand it if the woman is financially dependent on the man.

But with Katie, none of this applies. Helping him excuse his behaviour away and trying to cover up for him is the first step to something worst. Katie was lucky not to have lost her eye. Next time might be a different story. And if next time, she still sticks up for him then she really deserves the man that she’s got.

Because she’s shown to him that he can do whatever he wants with her, she can forget about getting any respect or dignity from him. Why should he when she doesn’t even have respect and dignity for herself?

Blur ting thinks that I’m a brilliant blogger. She said,

An animal lover, Mooiness is also a party animal (on weekends only) who blogs brilliantly about the night life in Australia and his admiration for babes.

Why thank you very much! Erm yeah I always have a problem with such high praise. I only hope that I don’t suck from hereon. Heh.

But yeah she’s right on all counts. I have a pet staffordshire-terrier cross called “Snoop” whom I love running and playing with.

I’m a caffeine …

fueled clubber …

who likes partying with the ladies.

Her name is Tsun and she presents the weather. The puns just write themselves.

Angela Tsun is a UNSW graduate in communications, was a presenter for The Weather Channel for 4 years, did a stint on the short-lived Ralph TV and the requisite Ralph photo shoot, and has now landed herself in Perth a couple of months ago as the weather person for Channel Nine Perth.

When I first heard about her and her name, I had thought, “What lucky Chinese bastard got to marry this girl?!” Then I found out that her father is half-Chinese, thus making her a quart Asian hottie.

Here comes the Tsun | PerthNow

Therefore, she’s the perfect woman for the Asian Anglophile who has traditional parents who wants him to marry a nice Asian girl. Because hey, part-Asian is still Asian. Heh.

But too bad so sad, she isn’t available last I read. Never mind. If her father can snag a blonde hottie who presumably is where Angela gets her good looks from (I mean look at her!), there’s hope for the rest of you lot yet. Then again, her father being half-Chinese probably means he’s got that dark hunky Eurasian look which probably tipped things in his favour.

Oh well, back to dreaming about it then you guys.

Click on the image to get the bigger version. Go on, you know you want to.

Watching the Chinese Olympics during the past 2 weeks, and especially the opening and closing ceremonies where Chinese art and culture were represented so impressively, I can’t help but feel a tinge of pride of being Chinese. Even though I’m two generations removed from my Chinese roots (born in Malaysia, transplated to Australia), culturally I’m Chinese even though by nationality, I’m Australian.

Like I’m sure how an Irish, Greek or Italian Australian would feel when something special happens in their motherlands, so it was that I felt pride by association. But of course, lest we forget there are still many problems within and outside of China. The issue of Tibet, the enormous gap between the rich and sophisticated urbanites and the poor and disenfranchised in the city slums and rural areas; cultural suppression of ethic minorities; indirect Chinese sponsorship of African dictatorships in exchange for steady supplies of raw materials and fuel.

So yeah, China has put on a great show for us during the past 16 days. But when the factories open tomorrow, and the roads clogged with vehicles and the air becomes murky with pollution again, let’s hope that China can create a clean and harmonious environment in and around itself, metaphorically and literally, without having to resort to a show to distract us from the reality.

The above two ads are part of the Western Australian Government’s awareness campaign about the new laws against “one punch deaths”. One punch deaths are so called because the victim dies from falling and hitting their heads as the result of a punch. In the ads, a common scenario is depicted: 3 friends out clubbing and drinking, and as they are walking at the end of the night, a stranger bumps into one of them. What happens next will change the course of two person’s lives.

Why is this special law needed?

Attorney General Jim McGinty said that under the new law, it did not matter whether the death was foreseeable or whether the attacker actually intended to kill.

“If the victim dies, the attacker can be held accountable for that death and be liable for up to 10 years’ imprisonment,” Mr McGinty said.

“There have been several high profile one-punch cases in WA where attackers have been acquitted of manslaughter because it could not be proved that they could have foreseen their actions would cause their victims to die.

“The victims’ families have been rightfully outraged that the people they hold responsible for their loved ones’ deaths have not been convicted of a crime.

“This new offence reinforces community expectations that violent attacks, such as a blow to the head, are unacceptable. When people die as a result of such attacks, their attackers will now be held accountable for the full consequences of their violence.”

Campaign to warn on new ‘one punch’ laws. : thewest.com.au

As a person who goes out a lot, hanging around bars and clubs and boozed up people, I can confirm that what the TV ads show is very real. The ad campaign will also see posters and coasters displayed in drinking venues (in the toilets too I hope). I think it’s tax payers’ money well-spent because it can potentially save more from reduced hospitalisation, prosecution and incarceration.

Yeah there will still be people who will be too drunk on the night to remember or care about this new law but they will be the minority. And if they kill someone, at least now they won’t get off that easily.