Finally NZ as well...

Following the fraud crisis in the US last week, it also happened in NZ yesterday (from NZ Herald). According to the news, it is announced that (only) MasterCard and VISA are attacked; however I wonder if other bank services (cashpoint, eftpos, blah blah blah) would also be affected since there's no so-called "international" on Internet...

It's really a big deal

All credit card holders should aware that up to 40m credit cards are hacked. Although the fraud happened in the US, breaking out in the number of victims in other nations must merely be a matter of time.

The UMF of Manuka honey

Searching for some information about Manuka honey on Internet, I found some articles: "Harnessing honey's healing power"(BBC News), "Doctors turning sweet on healing with honey"(CNN News), "Honey may take the sting out of the NHS superbugs"(The Daily Mail), and "Raising spirits"(The Guardian) accidently. According to them, the exact component of the UMF is still unknown. I really wonder what the factor exactly is. (But I also wonder how long it would take to unveil the mystery...)

Stupid...

"Microsoft censors Chinese blogs" on BBC News

Dragon Boat Festival

In Taiwan and China, today is Dragon Boat Festival. Actually I'd have forgotten the festival if uncle Yeh hadn't brought those glutinous rice dumplings. So, finally I can eat them today (it doesn't mean that I can't eat them the other days though). At first I expected that these should taste light light and mild (as uncle Yeh is a vegetarian), but alas actually they're quite spicy. T_T By the way, today is also Philipines Independence Day. To celebrate the independency, Charito and Hilary (and Yuuki !?) joined a party this afternoon. However, they came home quite early because of Hilary's cold. At night Hilary's cold looks getting serious; she shouldn't have gone out for the party as long as she'd got sick.

Finally Yuuki comes out to the city, but...

I never know that he doesn't know how to borrow book from a library! Actually I've told him to borrow some story books from city library right after he came to New Zealand, and now I know that what he said - he'd borrowed some books from the library – is a lie! He even doesn't know how much he should “pay” for borrowing a book. What? Does this mean what he said he knew how to borrow a book in a library is also a lie? Now I find I can't believe him at all. He's really driving me nuts! It's not all. He's also forgotten his library card's password, thus he couldn't see any information of him on the library's website. Oh, dear...what a nuisance!! By the way, we also went to the new Warehouse before having our dinner at Burger King. It is now a two-floor building, but basically the products are the same as before. As with the prices...they're not much cheaper than the old Warehouse (as far as I observed).

The new Warehouse

will be opened tomorrow. According to the Bonanza, there might be some big bargains from tomorrow to Sunday. Hm, I might be looking for a new watch then (as my old one seems to be dying). "The Warehouse! The Warehouse! Where Everyone gets a Bargain!" ...so, what should the K-mart do??

Finally find the old friend !

I tried to telephoned Robert, one of my old friends in Taiwan. Actually I wasn't too sure if I could contact with him before I telephoned to his house. Fortunately I did this time. As I've thought, he's finished his army duty for about 2 weeks. According to him, he's going to take Chinese medicine exam and currently is preparing for that. We talked about many topics, such as our graduate research, our teachers, some of our friends and so on. Unfortunately, the battery of my phone got flat and I had to cut it off. Make sure that he's using Email, we cheered each other,"Have a good sleep!"(It's 10:30 pm in NZ) "Have a good dinner!" (It's 6:30 pm in TW). Yahoooo !! Nice talk with you again, Robert!

Blender 2.37 released just now.

Blender hasn't been updated since 2.36 for over 5 months. According to the release news, it looks like some interesting functions such as softbody and transformation tools are added. Now I wonder when the new version of YafRay, POVRay and Terragen will be released...

Suzana's missing report

CAEL Lv 7 students have to accomplish their research report by next Tuesday; however, somehow Suzana's report files always disappear. At first she thought it's her diskette's problem and changed another new one. Unfortunately, it still kept happening. Actually, today would have been the 3th (or 4th?) time. Not to mension she's getting mad. She didn't know what to do and even thought that shd'd like to buy other diskettes in the campus (mind you, today's windy, rainy and freezing). To know what on earth happen to her report, I asked her to show me what she had done and what had showed up on the monitor before the report disappeared. Finally, we got the reason - the diskette had been full! No wonder... Gave her another new (and emply, of course) diskette and made sure her reports no longer disappeared, she finally calmed down. I had a feeling after that. IT class might sometimes be essential to IELTS or research class for someone. In Suzana's case, even a simple matter such as a filled diskette might drive those who are not computer-savvy nuts. Actually, I've ever seen a guy majoring in information management compressed BMP files (a common yet uncompressed graphics format) into ZIP format rather than into JPG, GIF or PNG format...I still remember how he wondered why he couldn't pack a simple PowerPoint file and 4-5 "compressed" graphic files into a diskette. Of course this "zip and jpg/gif/png" problem is a silly story to most of us, yet these cases point out that actually many people still don't know how to use computer properly. In Suzana's case, how could she hand out her report if her files keep disappearing? That is, no matter how well her report is written, it'd be in vain if everything's gone. I wonder if it's necessary for LI to add some basic computer courses in their class...

Has anybody ever seen this kind of funeral?

It happened in Taiwan yesterday (May 29). Gangster funeral (BBC News) Gangster funeral (Taipeitimes) Gangster's funeral...It sounds quite odd eh...

Anybody pick up the telephone, please~~~?

Suppose that one of my old friends - Guojun (I guess Robert might be his English name...well, I just guess from his Email) - must have finished from his military duty in Taiwan in the end of May, I tried to telephoned him today. We used to be working in the same laboratory when we're studying in graduate school, and we haven't contacted since my graduation, that is, more than 2.5 years. He's such a hard-working guy that I really admire him. He knows many techeniques; for instance, he taught me how to make a "paper-made micro spatula" and I still remember how convenient it was. We usually talk about our experiments and exchange experiences as well as results each other. Unfortunately, for some reasons he didn't have a good life during his grduate school days (neither did I though), and thus got stomach ulcer. Riiiiiiing~~~~ Riiiiiiiiiing~~~~... Nobody answers. I tried many times but it eventually comes out with either no-answer or engagement. I'm sure he hasn't moved as I just sent him card several months ago and he replied me. Mmm...It's odd. I'll try several days later.

Many staffs (and friends) left

I just couldn't believe my ears when Katherine told me that many staffs had left the LI. This afternoon I went to Katherine's office for sorting something out. On the monitor besides us, there was a mail-list with a familiar name on it - Claire Ngwira(?). Claire is my first teacher in the LI when I just came to New Zealand. She is so tall that it could be her trademark. I saw her several months ago but somehow she didn't show up recently. Actually I've wondered for a while why I haven't seen some teachers as well as staffs for a long time. "Is Claire still in this LI?" I asked Katherine. The answer was quite disappointing - she'd left. Not only Claire but many other staffs - Arizio, Colleen, Meg, Deb, Diane and Nancy - have also left. No wonder I coudn't find them either in the LI main building or in the LAIN building in the campus. (Well...actually Deb, as a photographer, showed up in LAIN building 2-3 weeks ago. Diane - now working as a writer - also came to the resource centre several months ago). I can see Katherine was also annoyed with the fact that many of her good friends had left.

Any body wanna eat the spread?

Well, this spread is not that special, except that it's been licked before breakfast by the naughty cat - Charlie (yes, this naughty baby again). Certainly I didn't eat that for breakfast as it made me sick. I know cats would eat everything such as fish, meat, pork, bones and etc., but I never imagined that they'd also eat spread!

The result of "the IELTS accident"

After lunch, Bill asked me if I could meet Mark after 16:00. I said yes. Somehow, Bill looked at me hesitately before asking me. I could see what that would be about. It was 10 to 16:00 when I arrived at LI and Mark was busy, so I had a short chat with Carol (Carol Tebutt, namely Carol the boss) who was in Christina's office (Carol was doing Christina's task because she'd got a broken arm and was unavailable for a while). It didn't last too long as Mark came to me. I was right - Mark was going to talk about the IELTS. At first he asked me as if I had a good weekend. I have to say it was not that good due to the big accident. Then we talked about what had happened last Saturday. Actually I realize that he wanted to help me but absolutely could do nothing about it, so I wasn't that agitated these days. "By the way, you have applied for the fast-result, haven't you?""Yes. So I'll get it this friday...!?" No sooner than finishing my words had I been stunned. Mark took out an envelope and placed it in front of me. It shouldn't be that fast...? "Riiiing~~~~!!" The telephone rang, and Mark picked it up. I thought it was Mark's official business, but soon I realized that I was wrong. "Oh, hi! Yes, he's arrived here right now. Yes, he looks okay. All right, call me 10 miniutes later." Obviously it's from Bill, and no wonder he looked at me in that way when he asked me at lunch time. With Mark's permission, I opened the envelope. Before I exactly saw the marks, my prediction came up to my mind again: speaking= 7, listening=6 or 6.5, reading=6.5 or 7, writing=?? (task1=??, task2=6 ); that is, "to pass or to fail" definitely depends on writing. After I exactly saw the score, I was stunned again. I got 6 in the writing, and also the other 3 parts went approximately the same way as I'd predicted. In other words, I get 6.5 for overall band !! How could it be since I'd failed task1!? According to Mark, I got 5 in task1 and 7 (!) in task2 which worth more than the forth. Now I'm sure I should have got 7 for overall if I hadn't gone to the toilet and had finished task1; but any way, I'm satisfied since I finally make it after 4 times of challenges. I would say thank you to those who have tought me and treated me kindly, including Arizio, Bill, Carol(s), Claire, Colleen, George, Katherine(s), Kylie(s), Mark and Meg. I would especially appreciate Katherine as I shouldn't have passed this time if there weren't her class as well as her advices on introduction and conclusion. (Yes, you're right, Ketherine. It really works well!)

Dialup => Broadband

Having had enough on the slow and automate-cut-off dial up line, the Turners decide to switch onto the broadband (256k). Compared with dial-up, this is much faster. Although it's still slower than the normal broadband (such as 512k/64k and upwards) and also there's packet flow limiting quota (1GB/month...that is, around 100MB for each person since all of us are using Internet), it's still better than nothing. At least we won't have to be annoyed by the automated turn-off and never-ending-redials.

Shockingly big mistake (accident) during the IELTS !!!!!

I really really shouldn't have done that!! Before the test, I was quite confident that I could pass IELTS (Band 6.5) this time. Actually in several self-practice of reading task, I was able to find out the answers of 2 out of 3 tasks' question within 15 minutes. This is my best record. I was sure that the abilities teachers had taught (and trained) me would help me make it. The first test is, as usual, speaking. The examiner was Ellizabeth. Actually I had known her before that, but had never spoken with her. The questions were not that difficult this time (compared with those of my last exam). After the speaking test, although I personally felt that there're some vulnerebilities in my answers, I estimated that it should be 6 or more. The listening part is my Achilles heel. Although I didn't do too bad in my self-test, I still had to be careful on it. Task1, task2, and task3. Not too bad. However, I got stuck in task4. I couldn't see what and where the tapescript was talking about even though I'd skimmed the whole questions before the tapescript started, thus I could just guess and fill in the gaps. I guessed it'd be 6. The reading test has always been a big puzzle game. The heading and True/False/NotGiven questions are usually time consuming (especially T/F/NG one). Some questions were even asking about the structures of aeroplane and I once thought I'd just guess. Fortunately I got some time after answering (and guessing) the whole questions, so I just looked at those strange "structure" questions and tried if I could dig out some answers of them. Indeed, I found some, and thus corrected the answers. No sooner than I just finished correcting the last word had the examiner told us stop writing! Whew... Maybe 6.5 or 7, I suppose. The last part - writing test - was where I had the most confidence of the four parts, and I knew I shouldn't miss it. I tried to calm myself down (I had been in "high tension" due to rescuing the last reading questions at the moment) and also keep myself aware of the following writing tasks. Mark (one of the examiners) said we could go to the toilet if we want (certainly he'd follow us). Unfortunately, I was the one that would like to go to the toilet. I knew I shouldn't waste too much time on it, so I raised my hand and dashed to the toilet with Mark after reading the writing questions. Somehow, I felt I had stayed in the toilet for quite a long time, and I wasn't quite sure how long I had spent on it. So when I finished task2, I asked Mark "do I still have to finish my writing by 16:03? Or do I get extra time on my writing?" Mark didn't say anything but just show me the timer which showed "10:26". What came to my mind was that "I have spent 10 minutes and 26 secends in the toilet, so I have that more time than the others". I didn't (also couldn't) think too much about Mark's meaning because I was totally thinking about the content of my writing task1 at that point, So I wrote the task with the normal (or maybe somewhat slow) speed. Then you may imagine what happen next. Just as I had wrote the 2nd (or 3rd) line on the 2nd page, the timer alarmed and Mark took our answer sheets away, including mine! At first I didn't realize what on earth happened and even thought that Mark might had forgotten how many minutes I still have. Mark told me that I had EXACTLY THE SAME TIME as the other candidates and the "10:26" meant the time we (including me) still had. I was so shocked and stunned for a while at the seat. I was thinking, "why is that !? Is that mean I have to take another IELTS exam 3 months later? What should I do?" Knowing what had happened to me, Mark explained and analyzed the situation: "You still have the chance. The writing test actually largely depends on task2". I certainly know that (because task2 worths twice as much as task1 does). That is, if I did well in task2, I still have a chance to get 6 for the writing even though I didn't finish task1; otherwise there's no chance if I didn't do well in task2 even though I had finished task1. "Did you finish task2?" I did. I wrote 1.5 pages so I suppose there're about 300 words. "How far have you gone in task1?" 1 page and 2-3 lines. But I was just finish writing the topic sentence of the 2nd part of the graph. Roughly 120 words. I was sure that I'd been doing well on the structure, vacab and variation, but I didn't know how it would be assessed if the task wasn't completed, so I guess...3 or 4? "Do you think you've done well in task2?" Could be. I was quite sure I could get 6 in task2 (at least from vacabulary, variation and structure's viewpoint). However, as long as I didn't have the time of checking my grammar, I wasn't really sure if I could approach 7. In other words, "to pass the IELTS or not" really depends on how I did well in task2, and the probability of the result...I suppose 50 and 50? "Then don't worry too much.Don't think too much during the weekend." I would. "But you can do nothing about it now, except waiting." ...I have to say it's true. So, I came home with regretful mind. As I had applied the fast-result, I'll get my mark on the next Friday. ...I really really shouldn't have been to the toilet and also shouldn't have misunderstood what Mark meant !! Otherwise I am quite sure I can get 7 for overall !!! How shocking !!!! What an idiot I am !!!!!

IELTS

Today is IELTS day. Hope I'll pass it this time. Wish me luck!

The new comer and his first day in NZ.

All right. From now on, we've got one more member in the Turner's. As usual, I was waiting the Turner's in the Kmart from 16:00. Finally they showed up with the new comer - Yuuki - at nearly 16:45 (again, as usual). They had been in K-mart and bought a Chitel card (international telephone card) for Yuuki. He comes from Japan and is going to stay in New Zealand for 1 year. As he's been 18 years old, I suppose he's a junior high school (or high school) student. And actually, he said he'd graduate from his high school the next year. That means he should more or less be able to speak English; although there might be some problem with getting accustomed to NZers' special accent at first (I hope I'm right). Having a short introduction (really short; only 2-3 sentences), we went to the central library to apply for Yuuki's library card. After that, we had a dinner at KFC. Unfortunately, there was an argument just when we were walking out the KFC after the meal (mind you, I heard F-word). Not to mention, he was so tired (long time flying and also the jetlag) that he hit the sack right after arriving at home.

Happy "Black Friday" !!

I didn't notice that today is Friday the 13th. Many people believe that it's a bad day, but I don't. In fact, nothing bad has happened by far today. By the way, I'm a bit wondering why "the bus accident" (see my May 10th's diary) happened on Tuesday but not today.