Hydrogen Heads

Given how expensive petrol is these days and the high level of pollution it causes, alternative fules have started to arrive on the scene. THese have been around for a while, but there becoming slightly more viable. Apparently, Arnie Swarnezegger (the terminator) recently got a hummer which takes only hydrogen as fuel. I'm not sure of how it works, having not done any science after year 10, but apparently its full heaps expensive as there are only 12 hydrogen stations in california.

So what does Arnie decide to do? He spends $134 million on building hydrogen stations so that by 2014 they will be a viable resource. Good idea? NOt sure. I think that's a lot of dosh plus you have to fill up every 80 KM.

Another alternative resource is natural gas. French car maker Citroen and some gas company have managed to make a car which can be filled up at home via natural gas. HOw cool is that? You drive up to your natural gas tank at home, hook up the hose, and fill'erup. No more trips to the petrol station, waiting in lines, paying 109 cents for a litre of petrol. There's heaps of natural gas around and its much cheaper. So instead of being petrol heads we'll be calling those maniacs on the roads " natural gas heads".


Roll over

I had my eyes set on getting a 4WD as my first car. THey are obvious disadvantages,
- being much bigger and harder to park
- consuming more petrol (or natural gas in the future)
- more dangerous in crashes for the other side.

BUt the upside is that you look cool and rugged. I want to have leather interiors and DVD/playstation like Stephon Marbury and Stromile Swift.

However new studies have shown that 4WD are more likely to result in serious accidents than normal cars. WHy? I thought they'd be more safer, given their size and weight. But their higher center of gravity means that in a crash your more likley to roll over and get into more serious trouble. The study was quoting all these crazy stats after analysing thousands of crashes and basically 4WD are more dangerious to drive. Kinda makes me think twice about getting one.

Looks like I can't cruise around and play R Kelly's song "You Remind Me of my jeep".


12 Angry Men

I saw a poster advertising the play "12 Angry Men" and was very excitied. THis was a book which I had studied in high school and it's about a murder trial involving a young man accused of murdering his father. He's from a poor background and lives in the slums of new york and is an immigrant. It unclear if there is any evidence against him as no-one saw him do it, but everything sorta points to him.

What makes the story interesting is that there are 12 jurors and 11 of them are ready to convict him. It's the first day after trial has finished and has been a long day for them, it's a hot afternoon, many of them want to get it over with, there's the world series baseball to watch (not the Red Sox win as its set in 1950). One of the jurors, number 8 isn't willing to convict and thinks there isn;t enough evidence. He attempts to convince the other jurors and counters some resistance. We get to see the prejudices that people have, their willingness to convict someone, their other priorities in their life and how they reach their decison. What i think is cool is how they don't have names, but rather the book refers to them as their jury numbers such as " number 8", kinda like Antoine Walker's "employee No. 8".

Having done a mock criminal trial the other day, it dawned on me how much easy the defence has to prepare their case. Because to convict someone of a crime, you need to prove they did it at a level known as "beyond reasonable doubt". As in, you have to be ABSOULTELY CERTAIN they did it. Kinda like 100%. I was talking to this guy that was on the prosecution side, and it said how easy it was me (the defence) cause all i had to do was cast some kind of doubt...i.e possibilities that he didn't do it such as mistaken identity, technicality or can't prove all the elements of the offence.

I hit back with "if your going to convict someone of a crime and possibly send them to jail/or even fine them you've got to be 100% sure. You could be sentencing them to a crime which they did n't commit and taking away their liberty. That's why the law has such a high standard".

After pondering Justice Ho's comments, he agreed. Whenever you quote a judge you refer to them as Justice or honour so I always wanted to say that: "Justice Ho" or even "His Honour, Ho J".

The other day, I played the magistrae (local court judge) in this court room simulation. Basically, I didn't want to do anything in class and just wanted to watch. SO i thought i would sit on the judge's seat and just watch. After hearing arguements from both sides, I had to hand down a decision and I attempted to come up with some words of wisdom when I was handing down the decision.

I had no idea what was going on because i was reading the BRW whilst I was up there (but you couldn't see that as it was under the table). So i was going to motion to the court officer (my mate Mark who was sitting nearby) for some adivce. Then I thought that just looks heap dodgy, since when does a judge asks the court officer for advice - unless its judge judy and that black guy. So I tried to conjure up some magic line: " Given the arguements from both sides, and weighing in the evidence, I have to give it to........er...... (I was stuck at this point for like 10 seconds and the whole room is just silent)..............................them". I just pointed randomly at the defence. I'm sure that's not how they do that in court, but it worked because the class agreed LOL. After walking out, one of the sudents laughs at me and yells out "Magistrate Ho".

Possible career path? I can just imagine it, the first Asian judge on the High Court, looking absolutely ridiculous with the white wig on, reading the BRW whilst handing out random justice.