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expanding our horizons... INTERVIEW WITH THE BIG PRESIDENT seSSION ONE 2010 PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS // THE WONDERS OF VERSION CONTROL AND GIT// FOOD REVIEW: MIDNIGHT SNACK // THE SIDE PROJECT // COFFEELESS DAYS // YOU SPIN ME RIGHT ROUND // ARE YOU ADDICTED? // TALES OF VESPERIA // NERD IT UP // HOROSCOPES // GOOD READS // technology | food | lifestyle | games | fashion | entertainment
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BITSAMag 2010 Session 1

Mar 26, 2016

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Page 1: BITSAMag 2010 Session 1

expanding our horizons...INTERVIEW WITH THE BIG PRESIDENT

seSSION ONE 2010

President’s Address // the Wonders of Version Control And Git// food reVieW: MidniGht snACk // the side ProjeCt // Coffeeless dAys // you sPin Me riGht round // Are you AddiCted? // tAles of VesPeriA // nerd it uP // horosCoPes // Good reAds //

technology | food | lifestyle | games | fashion | entertainment

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BITSAMag is a student magazine made for BIT&ISMs, by BIT&ISMs.

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Editor Angela Chen Co-Editor Monica Hu

Contributors Laura Philips, Kevin Wang, Geoffrey Wong, Adrian Ho, Chris Broadfoot, Ben Wong, Lana Geng, Arthur Lee, James Woon, Samuel Yeo, Caroline Low, Benjamin Wang.

Special thanks to the following sites for awesome-ifying this issue:

Sudoku Puzzle:http://sudoku.com.au/You Spin Me RIght Round:http://www.flickr.com/photos/klaus_stueckle/2362438886/Interview Tip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/swarmoeskerken/4102917192/How to Tie Your Laces:http://www.flickr.com/photos/alihartwig/4224074733/http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htmAre you Addicted:http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1187224http://www.sxc.hu/photo/616204

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

-----------------------------------------------------------------Visit BITSA @http://www.bitsa.org.au/ http://wiki.bitsa.org.au

Find us on Facebookhttp://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2587756225

Follow us on Twitterhttp://twitter.com/unsw_bitsa

SubmissionsEmail your name, year and program along with your submission to:[email protected]@gmail.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Also a special thankyou to our good friends at Canon for printing this maga-zine, and Volvo for supplying the complementary pens for this issue.

We couldn’t have done it without you.

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OH ONE

TWO

SESSION ONE

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New year, new semester, new courses, new books... and before you know it, you’re suffering from holiday withdrawal symptoms ...we wish it didn’t have to end.

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? We’re well into 2010, and everything has really gained steam! We can’t wait for you to meet our new BITSA Family for 2010. If you haven’t met them already, take a peek at their pretty faces on page 9. Also, President for 2010 (Ben Wong) drops by to say hi (page 8).

I’d also like to welcome aboard the 2010 BITSAMag team Monica Hu - your new co-editor. For this issue, she caught up with Kiran from UTS.

We acknowledge that you’re not all technology-zombies, so for this issue we caught up with a few BITSA readers, to see what you get up to outside of your BIT/ISM life. And for the very first time, BITSA goes to kareoke! Take our test on page to see if you have a k-addiction. Don’t worry, most of us already do.

Thanks to our good friends at Volvo, this session you’ve got a complementary pen (that’s right, yours to keep!) to complete that Sudoku puzzle on page 49.

It’s a cold day in Sydney today; you might like to try baking our vegemite scroll recipe on page. Alternatively, rug up, kick off your UGGs and enjoy what’s in store for you this issue.

Angela. xx

Editor

Angela Chen3rd Year ISM

OH

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ContentsSession 1, 2010

8.President’s Address - Hello from Ben9. BITSA Family, 2010

14. The Wonders of Version Control and Git17. Food Review: Midnight Snack.

20. The Side Project.28. Coffeeless Days

29. You Spin Me Right Round...

20

18

29

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Interview Tip .31How to Tie Your Laces .35

Expanding our .34 Horizons

Baker’s Delight .38

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes .39

Are you Addicted?.40

Game .42 Review: Tales of

Vesperia

Nerd it Up .46 Horoscopes .48

Good Reads .49

Jokes and Geekery .50

BITSA Sudoku .51

35

39

42

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Ben WongPresident, 4th Year BIT

Interests: Web Design, Basketball, Life

Words you’d put in a fortune cookie? “Live long and prosper.”

Heya Everyone,

Your BITSA President here to update you on what’s going on in the space of BITSA and what we’re trying to achieve this year.

At this point you’re probably thinking it’s gonna be boring and that this is going to be one of those tldr’s (too long didn’t read)... Was I right? I was right wasn’t I? I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING. But that brings me nicely to one of the first goals of BITSA this year. Getting to know what YOU the student thinks and wants. Each year we try our best to gather requirements get to know our student body through our fantastic year reps and organise our events based on what you want, this year is no exception.

You’re welcome to let us know how we’re doing (ESPECIALLY if you think we’re doing a bad job).

We’re also looking at branching out to our fellow universities. As much as this might horrify some of you we think socialising with other universities provides some great networking opportunities (you’ll thank us later). While we haven’t done much so far, we’re still exploring possibilities, so keep an eye out for some joint events!

Finally, sponsors are at the very center of all BIT and ISM students. Because of this we’re aiming to involve our sponsors in our society more so than ever. Aside from the usual site visits and trivia night we’re bringing back the once successful charity soccer that sponsors will be able to attend. We’d like our students to be as connected to the sponsors as possible (and vice versa) and we aim to provide the medium for you guys to do that.

If you’ve read up to here I’m very impressed, either you skipped to the bottom (efficient), you found that you need/want to know whats happening in BITSA (knowledgeable/patient) or you’re on the train and have no other form of entertainment (resourceful). Whatever reason it is you’ve demonstrated some exemplary scholar characteristics.

Have a good Semester!

Ben WongBITSA President.

President’s Address

Hello from Ben!

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Benjamin WangBITSA Secretary, 4th Year BIT Interests: Anime/Manga, Heroes of Newerth, Social Networking, Blogging, and generally living a second life on the interweb.

Words you’d put in a fortune cookie message? “This insert has a protective coating”

Arthur leeVice President, 4th Year BIT

Interests: Surfing the internet and the ocean. Taking photos. Dis-covering music.

Words you’d put in a fortune cookie?S**t happens. Life goes on. Make the most of it!

Gerry ClapsBITSA CIO, 2nd Year BIT

Interests: Basketball, table tennis

Words you’d put in a fortune cookie?When in doubt always choose C

Now that you’ve met Ben, let’s meet the rest of your BITSA exec-utive team for the year two-oh-one-oh.This year we asked what sort of message they’d put into a fortune cookie...

BITSA Family 2010

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Rose Griffiths1st Year ISM Representative, 1st Year ISM

Interests: Beach, sewing, holidays

Words you’d put in a fortune cookie?=)

fanny lin4th Year Representative, 4th Year ISM

Interests: Dance, shoes, theatre, travel (not necessarily in that order!)

Words you’d put in a fortune cookie?“Instead of regretting what we cannot do, it is better to do what one can,” and “To change yourself is to change the future.”

Clark (yuan hui) Zhu1st Year BIT Representative, 1st Year BIT

Interests: Hanging out with friends, Coding, Frisbee, Paintball, Running City 2 Surf, and Halo Armour Modding (no seriously, I have a halo suit).

Words you’d put in a fortune cookie?Say hi to five strangers, make five new friends.

Michele luong2nd Year BIT Representative , 2nd Year BIT

Interests: Watching movies

Words you’d put in a fortune cookie?The world may be your oyster, but it doesn’t mean you’ll get its pearl.

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Chris BroadfootSocial Director, 4th Year BIT

Interests: Pants, Subway cookies, and touge. Usually I can be found perusing the interwebs, driving, or sleeping. Other “talents” include being immune to shock sites and the ability to recognise any and every opportunity for a “that’s what she said” joke. One of my auxil-iary roles in BITSA is to provide emotional and moral support to the President, which includes the occasional hug.

Words you’d put in a fortune cookie?You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

kevin Wang 3rd Year BIT rep, 3rd Year BIT

Interests: Bushwalking & hiking, ice skating, the smell of ocean, circles and just about anything that’s green (except for a hat)

Words you’d place in a fortune cookie? When you enter this world, you greet smiles with tears, when you leave this world, you greet tears with smiles, taking nothing, leav-ing nothing, why do you need fortunes?

laura PhillipsSocial Director, 4th Year BIT

Interests: I am a cupcakaholic! And I love baking cupcakes! On the weekend you would find me either out sailing, reading, coaching waterpolo or boxing.

Words you’d put in a fortune cookie?Laugh often. Dream Big. Reach for the stars!

Xu-heng tjhin3rd Year ISM Rep, 3rd Year ISM

Interests: Music

Words you’d put in a fortune cookie?He who climbs a ladder must begin at the first step. So too must you with your education. Begin by enrolling in a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Business Information Technology.

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Caroline lowARC Representative, 3rd Year BIT

Interests: I love watching NCIS or pretty much any crime-based ac-tion tv series. I also like trying out new baking recipes, not all have been successful, but most of all I love sitting in bed on a rainy day with my laptop or book! Oh and I like randomly selecting sewing projects, spending huge amounts on the materials required, yet have never actually finished anything....

Words you’d put in a fortune cookie?Have a nap, everything will seem better afterwards.

Taufiq KhanMarketing Director, 3rd Year BIT

Interests: My interests include, but are probably not limited to, listening to music, meeting new people, travelling, amateur pho-tography, good food and good humour, but I’m not quite sure if that last one would count as an interest rather than a trait.

Words you’d put in a fortune cookie?Upcoming achievements will either worry or impress you. Probably both.

shirleen islamARC Representative, 2nd Year BIT

Interests: I love bollywood & contemporary dancing, snorkelling and making flash animations. I also love travelling when I have the money to do so.

Words you’d put in a fortune cookie?Challenges are what makes life interesting , overcoming them are what makes life meaningful

Carmen ChauMarketing Co-Director, 3rd Year ISM

Interests: Sleeping and eating

Words you’d put in a fortune cookie?Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere (Albert Einstein)

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Angela ChenBITSAMag Editor, 3rd Year ISM

Interests: Art & design, pottery, spectator sports, Melbourne, sneaker couture.

Words you’d put in a fortune cookie message? Smile. It costs nothing!

Monica huBITSAMag Co-editor & Defacto 2nd Year Rep, 2nd Year ISM

Interests: Drawing, painting my nails, playing computer games (and mostly failing), web design, micro-blogging (esp Tumblr)

Words you’d put in a fortune cookie?Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours

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The Wonders of Version Control and GitWords by Ben Wong

Many BIT students come up against the problem of code sharing when doing subjects such as Systems Delivery and Implementation or Project Workshop. You send your code to your group members through zip or rar, they change it, you get back 4 different versions and you somehow have to make sure your project still works properly by merging all 4 versions.

Needless to say, things will start to break quite easily and frequently.

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Version Control offers a solution to this problem. Simply put, version control allows you to host your entire project at a central location and each time you or someone changes the code they need to “check in” or “commit” the code to make sure any conflicting changes are resolved. In any good version control software it is possible to “check out” the latest version of the code so that you can make sure what you’re working on is the latest.

Now, have you ever made changes to a working version of your code only to find that you’ve broken your project and you want to revert back to see what you did wrong? In Version Control the concept of branches allow you to do this. As you develop your project you create “branches” of your stable code. These act as a snapshot of what your code was like at that point in time. When you want to go back and check your code you can simply “check out” that branch.

As a convention, your main branch where your latest code goes is known as “trunk” (yes someone obviously really liked tress).

These are the concepts of version control that are covered by SVN (subversion), an old version control software that is widely used in industry. Git is yet another version control system that extends these capabilities by allowing LOCAL branches. In your traditional SVN, you can only create branches in your central location (repository), if you are in the middle of working on something and you decide you want to work on something else in the project you have to either commit your changes to the repository or check out your code in a different directory and start modifying it there.

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Git is an extremely powerful version control system, a little time is taken to learn how to use it in the begin-ning your group may save a lot of time and frustration during assign-ments. For more information on how to use git the official git website (http://git-scm.com/) if you’re look-ing for a free git repository you can try github (http://github.com/) for a public one (private repositories need to be paid for).

Happy Gitting.

Using Git, it is possible to only ever have one working directory per project by using local branches. Like in SVN you can check out from your repository, but from there you can create more branches that are only on your computer. You can commit to these branches just like any other branches, but all the while there’ll be no changes in your repository. This means its much easier to stop and start coding on something with git because you don’t have to worry about committing to your reposi-tory and breaking things, if you need to work one something else all you need to do is commit to your lo-cal branch and make a new branch based on your latest trunk (without your other changes).

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Midnight Snack.Words by Angela Chen

You’re stuck in a jungle of post-it notes, mountains of INFS textbooks, and drowning in the sea of untouched lecture notes wilting in the overgrowth of dust. It’s a jungle out there. It’s 2am and you feel as though your stomach just became the new world geographical earth-quake hotspot. What’s worse is … your mum’s asleep. Yes, she will not get up to cook you a roasted-white-fish-wrapped-in-smoked-bacon-with-lemon-mayo-and-asparagus.

What will you do?

Of course! Instant noodles. But standing in aisle 3 of 7-Eleven, you fall upon the unfortunate consumer burden of choice. Which one do you choose?Let Angela Chen help you…

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Maggi 2 Minute noodles , Chicken flavour

There is a common belief that ‘everything tastes like chicken’ because of Evolution. If this belief holds true, then at one stage, the flightless bird was an ancestor of On-ion powder, Preservative 222, and garlic powder. Although claimed to be the most popular instant noodle in Australia, chick-en-flavour-claiming instant noodle tastes nothing remotely like a traditional roast chicken stuffed with croutons.

However, it has a pleasant palate and pres-ents the sleep-deprived diner with a satis-fying midnight snack.

It’s yours for $1.35 at your nearest Coles supermarket.

indo Mie – Mi Goreng Chicken flavour

Truth. I have never tried Mi Goreng. I have never understood what the hype is all about. After forking out $1.25 to trial my first Indo Mie, I find that although the taste is largely artificial, it’s taste is similar and is remi-niscent of the traditional Indonesian fried noodles with garlic, onion, prawn, chicken, beef, sliced meatballs, chili, vegetables, tomatoes, egg, and pickles. Certified Halal, each packet comes with instant noodles, sachets of sweet soy sauce, chili sauce, sea-soning oil, onion flakes, and soup base pow-der. Tastes closer to a traditional Mi Goreng servied with a pan-fried egg.

The snack is satisfying and is available for purchase online. However in urgent states of hunger, your local corner store is prob-ably the best option.

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nissin, soy sauce soup Base

From the creators of instant noodles, Nissin’s Soy Sauce Soup used to be one of my favourites as a child. As long-time specialists in the instant noodle industry, this product never fails as a satisfactory snack for people of all ages and flavour preferences. When you’ve moved out of home and or even gone away for a few days, Nissan’s instant noodles have proven to smell and taste of home – perfect for those lonely nights when you miss telling your sister ‘you’re gay’, or clutching your teddy bear in bed. Can taste wonderful as is, or with a combination of your favorite veggies – if you can be bothered at 2am.

Ages well in the pantry until Septem-ber 2011, and is yours to take home for as low as 75 cents per packet.

nong shim, kimchi ramyun

I wish this was part of the Heart Foun-dation Food Pyramid. Yep, right at the bottom. 5 servings of Kimchi Ramyum daily would be Godly. The traditional Korean kimchi noodle soup presents the sleep-deprived student with a luscious paprika-red broth and a rich, cool kimchi taste. The fiery chili pepper taste serves as an instant awakening to your senses – perfect substitute for any caffeine product. Downside is that it’s loaded with ridiculous flavour enhancers such as monosodium glutamate (MSG). But since I’m not getting a degree in food science, I have no idea what monosodi-um glutamate does except that it proba-bly makes it TASTE GREAT. Best served with a glass of milk or cold tap water to wash down that spicy aftertaste.

Sold at your local asian grocer in packs of 5 for $3.50 – an agreeable price for both your wallet and your stomach. p

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thesideproject

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We caught up with 4 lovely BITSA readers to see what side projects they pursued outside of their BIT/ISM dreams.

Interviews by Angela Chen

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Sailing.laura Phillips4th year Bit

What thrills you most about sailing? Who sparked your inner sailor?I have been sailing now for about 8 years and it is fantastic hobby. I really love being out on the water, and powering through the waves at Cronulla as a perfect South Easterly of about 15 knots blows through. I love that when you are sailing you are us-ing nature such as the wind, tide and swell to channel it into a quick run. The absolute high light of my week, is a Sunday after-noon sailing and it is both a good work out and a nice way to clear your mind. No one in particular sparked my interest for sail-ing. But I have a fantastic sailing partner, Shelley who has put up with me for the past three seasons! And during the Easter Long weekend we won the NS14 NSW State Title Championships on Handicap.

Tell us about winning state title?

In March, I spent four days sailing at Gosford, competing in the NSW State Titles. This was the first competition that I had been to in the NS14 division. There were about 76 boats in the competition and the racing involved six races over the four days. The first three days were very competitive with winds of 20knts and on the final day we putted around with only about 2knts of wind – wishing we had a motor!! We won the competition on Handicap and were awarded with a Perpetual Trophy and new Jib sail valued at $450.

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What’s something you HAVE to take with you when you’re sailing?

If you are trying out sailing – one thing you have to always wear is a Life Jacket to keep safe. For dinghy sailing, it would be best to purchase a Wet Suit because if you cap-size – you can get very wet!!! You also need some sailing booties to protect your feet and sailing gloves to stop the blisters and for a better grip on ropes.

What advice would you give to BITSA readers who are interested in sailing?

Sailing is a fantastic sport and it is really easy to get into in. Head down to your local sail-ing club and catch a ride on a boat. There are lots of different types of sailing as well, so you can even try out some Yacht sailing. This year I spent 11 days on the Young Endeavour, learn-ing to sail a Tall Ship. This was an amazing experience, and I would highly recommend it! We even won a tall ship race on Sydney Har-bour on Australia Day, which was SO MUCH FUN!

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Life of an Otaku.Geoffrey Wong3rd year Bit

Tell us, what does being an Otaku mean?

To clarify, there’s different types of Otaku. An otaku is (according to wikipedia): Otaku is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga and video games. You have other otakus whose passion are other things such as the military area.

I’m basically an anime and manga otaku, meaning I’m a very passionate anime and manga enthusiast. So during my free time, I mainly enjoy watching anime and reading manga. However, I do plenty of other things such as building Gundam models, browsing for anime/manga related goods and attending such conventions, and playing games. Being an otaku to me is like a hobby – a most enjoyable pastime that is exciting and interesting.

What got you into anime/manga? Do you have an idol/Otaku inspiration?

What got me into anime was when I was young. My mum had recorded old anime (which was dubbed into Cantonese) and I got to watch some anime before I knew anything about Pokemon. Whilst I had watched some anime during my primary and high school times, I really started getting into it when I started getting exposed to more of the better anime (not that Pokemon wasn’t awesome back then!). After being exposed to more of the better anime, I decided to watch more anime not only because it was better than what was usually on Australian TV, but it was a great way to really start learning Japanese!

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What got me into manga was within the 1st year 1st semester, I had decided to self-learn Japanese more. I decided that manga would be a brilliant way to do this, since it would help with my Japanese language, grammar and reading skills and a most enjoyable way to do so, and that was how I got into read-ing manga.

What anime/manga/video game would you recommend for BITSA readers?

Oh dear, this was the one question that should probably have never been asked to me lol! But my one principle I encourage is that never judge an anime / manga until it has finished … and furthermore, try not to start anything that doesn’t actually end!

My otaku inspirations were those otaku friends that I met during uni. As I had been able to meet some otaku friends, that had inspired me to be more enthusiastic and passionate about my hobby. This was be-cause back in my high school days, there wasn’t really many people who could see being an otaku an awesome hobby. But nonetheless, I’ve shared awesome times with them and just the encouragement of knowing people who support me in this otaku hobby is really awesome.

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Photography.Adrian ho3rd year Bit

Tell us about your photography style. What defines a good pic-ture? What sort of things are usu-ally the subject of your pictures?

The photos that I am most proud of are nor-mally candid portraits with a small depth of field and open landscapes with vivid colours. I believe composition is one of the most im-portant elements of a good photograph – it is a key differentiator between a good and a bad photo.

Do you really need to know all the technical mumbo-jumbo before you begin advanced photogra-phy?

Nope, definitely not. You learn as you go. Anyway, the concepts that you need are pretty simple – shutter speed, aperture and ISO. I’m sure you’ll get used to those con-cepts after a little while using a DSLR.

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Tell us one thing about photography.

Photography is one expensive hobby. The more you know, the more it costs. At first you may think that your 2 megapixel Sony Ericsson W910i can do anything and every-thing you need… but then you see that the images it spits out just don’t have the clar-ity and sharpness of a dedicated point and shoot digital camera… so then you buy an entry level Canon 500D DLSR with kit lens… and long for that $3000 5D mk2, the $1500 24-105mm f/4 IS L, that $3500 85mm f/1.2L mk2, that $6000 200 f/2L……………….. sigh.

What advice would you give to a BITSAMag reader who is interest-ed in photography?

Get good equipment – you’ll grow into it. It’s also great to check out other people’s pictures and talk to other photographers for advice! Just fiddle around with the set-tings and functions to find out what works and what doesn’t – you don’t need to know a load of theory to start up, as long as you’re genuinely interested in photography, you will figure things out along the way =)

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coffeeless daysWords and Photo by Monica Hu

Coffee is like an elixir to many, a cure all for that grumpy morning, the dreaded three-thirty-itis or even the fuel to carry you through the last-minute night-before assignment rush. But have you thought about the benefits of not relying on coffee to get you through the day?

I quit drinking coffee over a year ago, à la cold tur-key. It has been a tough exercise in self control not to step into a cafe and be pulled in by the intoxicat-ing smell that beckons with promises of brighter and clearer days. However hard it was to resist, my ac-tions have not come without benefits.

The biggest benefit I noticed was the fact that I no longer had to experience the crash that usually fol-lows the caffeine induced adrenaline rush. Instead of intense peaks of energy and equally intense troughs of down periods, my energy was consistent. I have found that in the long run, this consistency also brought efficiency. Instead of stopping for your body to climb out of the crash, you can just keep working.

The University of Bristol, UK, has recently published a study that shows that “while frequent consumers may feel alerted by coffee, evidence suggests that this is actually merely the reversal of the fatiguing ef-fects of acute caffeine withdrawal.” In other words, it is all an illusion and the coffee is just bringing you to a normal state that your body can naturally be in.

So next time you reach for that hot, reassuring, fra-grant cup of joe, try refraining and let your own body wake you up.

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You Spin Me Right Round...Kevin Wang (3rd Year BIT) invites you to consider Circles for Life.

As told to Angela Chen.

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Walking in the Grand Canyon too tiring? Hiking to the peak of Mt Everest too cold? Fancy a low cost alternative of equivalent grandeur?

Try thinking circles.

Sounds pointless, stupid and ran-dom? Well, ever wondered why a ball is round? It’s not because the game needs anymore randomness, it is be-cause a round shape has a predictable element – that it is expected to travel in a straight line in the direction of the applied force. We have many goals in life that can be much easier scored if we utilise the concept of circles. Personally, my interest in circles revolves around it’s occurrence in our bodies, in society and in the planet and universe that sur-rounds us.

All things that we know and we see are constantly spinning, whether it be the electron rotating around the nucleus or the solar system rotating around the milky way. Furthermore, our concept of direction is circular, for example, one may continuously follow “east” and get back to their original point. Although some may point out that if you follow “north” or “south” you will reach a point other than your original point. My per-sonal opinion is that north and south are not true directions, as true directions should always exist where ever you are in universe, but “north” obviously does not exist if you were standing on the north pole. From this we can put for-ward that “all direction are relative” and that the elements we relate to are in fact either in the shape of a circle, or is rotating, or both.

If we trace the human development in knowledge of the surroundings, we often discover that whenever we think we are going to some point, we end up finding circles and spheres. Like how finding the “edge of the world” resulted in the reali-sation that the earth is round. Based on this, it is possible to question our very understanding of progress in general, is our progress in life really as linear as we think?

Could it be in fact, circular? Is it pos-sible that “the ultimate answer to the ultimate question of life, the uni-verse and everything” is not actually “42” but is, instead, “π”?

Thinking about circles, or from a circular perspective may open up a completely different perspective on life. May it be where you want to go, who you want to be, what you want to do, the universal law of circles will not change, and you should not defy it. You couldn’t even if you wanted to.

Still consider circles pointless?

Then you have just completed a circle of thoughts and returned at your starting point.

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interviewtip

(yeah, just one)

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Words by James Woon

It was a busy day in the office when I received the mail from Company X. My application was being considered and I had an interview with someone from HR. I was ecstatic and excited to discover such wonderful news… Until the realization of my fear of that 3-syllable word of doom – “INTERVIEW”.

I had never been for a formal interview especially one involving applying for a job. With my academics not being that strong either, my first instinct was to flee… To decline the interview and tell myself that I “didn’t really want that job anyway”. Obvi-ously the sensible part in me took over and I scheduled the interview 2 weeks later. These 2 weeks I decided would be long enough for preparation.

2 weeks down the road and I was in the lobby of Company X. I had done no practic-ing in front of the mirror, no memorization of great speeches nor any reading on inter-view skills or body language. The only thing I’d done was read about the company and it’s goals to show my interest.

Following the interviewer to the interview room led me to think of the numerous pos-sible ways at which I could make an idiot of myself during this session. I answered ner-vously as she asked me questions on past situations where I had demonstrated my abilities and the decisions I made. All of the questions she asked, I had predicted – each of which I had already prepared rough an-swers for… Ofcourse things didn’t continue to go so well when she finally asked me one that I had no idea how to answer.

This was when I had a decision to make:

1. Lie: It’s not hard to make up a story about a time in University. I am good at (but not proud of) lying too.

2. Be honest: Explain my inability to answerEventually the stress got to me and I chose neither of these. Instead, I somehow chose something that combined both of these concepts.

“Honestly, I am unable to answer the ques-tion as I feel I lack the experience in what you have just asked about. However, I do know of a similar experience that may be appropri-ately considered…”

“Be honest and be yourself”

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To read more by James, head to http://blog.fantomed.org

So to sum it up, there is only one interview tip that I have:

Be honest and be yourself

If you are honest, confidence will grow because you have nothing to be afraid of. If you are forced to say something nega-tive about yourself then just be tactful in the way you say it. If being yourself results in your rejection then it just really might be that you weren’t suitable for the company. Some companies prefer those that have leadership skills while some prefer those that efficiently work alone; some compa-nies prefer those that can solve problems quickly while others prefer those that can pull a problem apart and take their time to carefully decide on the solution.

Obviously with this tip I am assuming you are competent enough to dress formally, not to ramble when you answer questions and to have a great handshake – All “skills” that can be mastered in a day.

Good luck!

And then I told of a true story that was most aligned to her question. +points for honesty and +points for having another story that I could sell myself with.

It was from this point onwards that my confidence rose as I realised it wasn’t about being able to use big words or throwing in great stories that of me being the hero of the day. It was about explain-ing who I was and why I was suitable for the job – Yes, I’ve been told this before, but I never believed it… Companies sug-gest you to ‘be yourself’ in every inter-view because they ‘want to get to know you’ while the rebel in each of us will always be thinking ”yeah right, they’ll never want me if I be myself”. Have we ever stopped to think that different com-panies genuinely look for different types of people?

“Be honest and be yourself”

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how to tie your lacesArthur Lee

Let’s go back to Year 12 economics. After half an hour of shoegazing and ignoring the significance of debits and credits I realise that my shoelaces are undone. In utter boredom I google “best shoelace knot” and I find this:

Step 1 Step 2

Step 3 Step 4

Step 5 Step 6

The finished knot:

from: http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm

This knot has lasted me through rough cadet camps, wild concerts and music festivals, job interviews and just day to day running around. It will never come loose but easy to undo.

Learn this knot and your shoelaces will never come un-done whether it be running away from wild dogs or be-fore you go on the dance floor with that cute girl/boy you just met.

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expanding our horizons

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We caught up with Kiran Sripathy, President of BIG at UTS, with Ben Wong for a quick chat about BIG events, possibil-ity of a joint pub crawl and bits about the past and future.

Words by Monica Hu

If BITSA can be described as being a small tight nit family, then the Bachelor of In-formation Technology Group at UTS, aka. BIG, is definitely your large and vibrant kind whose family gathering probably needs to be held in a village hall some-where. Having merged with the Engineer-ing faculty at the start of last year, their family just got a whole lot bigger.

At the helm of it all this year, is Kiran

future...

Sripathy, a violin player, soccer enthusiast and iPhone user who loves to socialise. After holding the first year representative position last year, Kiran was elected presi-dent on the lofty ideals of continuing the fun without losing their own identity in the faculty m erge with the much larger Engi-neering school as well as trying to encour-age more inter-society contact within UTS. So far they have had much success with the Science Society.

With the size of BIG, and big it definitely is, comes some large events throughout the year. Firstly they start with the orientation camp, which has slowly morphed over the years from a staff organised welcoming event to a more student orientated party. The ingenious invention of camp cash comes in handy to motivate everyone, with the end auction prizes like scuba div-ing vouchers, and certainly it makes their

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in-camp poker games interesting.

Many of BITSA’s readers will already be familiar with their next event, the Motion Cruise held in March. Kiran recalled a rather funny story about this year’s cruise where, due to the fact that their original boat had sunk, got them a free upgrade to a much better, three levelled boat. Here’s to hoping the good luck continues next year.

The other BIG event of the year is their Hal-loween party. Over the years it has tuned into THE event to be seen, even trump-ing the official end of semester party a few years back. Needless to say, BIG was promptly asked to organise the end of se-mester party last year.

During the chat, both presidents expressed much interest in the idea of establishing more inter-university relations through joint events. One of the more enthusiastic ideas raised was a joint pub crawl, although with the logistics taken into account, it may have to be planned quite thoroughly. The idea of

a bus was thrown into discussions and your correspondent laughed with mirth at the idea of a party bus stopping every few metres down George St on a Friday night.

There was some good exchange of ideas happening during the interview. For example, the idea of Bits and Pieces was well liked by Kiran, who is also trying to get more alumni involvement with their club.

In regards to future events, Kiran has dreams of working for Macquarie Bank, and we wish him luck. And finally when asked who will win this year’s Masterchef, he replied “Who will win the election?” Fair point there.

Find out more about BIG at:http://www.utsbig.com.au/

Ben and Kiran

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Baker’s Delight in Your Own Kitchen!

Words and Recipe by Laura Philips

Looking for a really awesome snack for lunch? Something that is actually nutritious AND fun to make?

Well look no further than these delicious Cheese & Vegemite Scrolls! Start making awesome Bakers Delight style bread in your own kitchen!

INGREDIENTS

Bread Mix – bought from Woolworths should include the yeastWater½ Cup Plain flour 3 table spoons of vegemite200gm cheddar cheese

METHOD

Follow bread mix instructions to make the Dough. Ensure that when the water is added, it is Luke warm

in temperature. Use your fingers to work the dough until it is all one consistency!

Place the dough on a flat floured surface. Use a rolling pin and roll out the dough until it is about 1cm thick.

Using your hands spread vegemite over the dough. Sprinkle evenly with cheese. Roll up the dough, starting with the long edge.

Using a sharp knife, slice the dough into segments about 5cm long. Grease and flour a baking tray and place the scrolls on the tray. Cover the scrolls with a warm damp tea towel and leave in a warm location to rise for approximately 60 minutes. Best results are after 90 minutes of proof-ing.

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Bake the scrolls for 15 to 20 minutes in the oven.Place on a wire rack to cool. Eat warm, or keep in Tupperware to remain fresh. Enjoy!

cookeatenjoy

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Lemon Meringue Cupcakesabsolutely delicious!

INGREDIENTS

For Cupcakes125g butter, softened2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind2/3 cup (150g) caster sugar2 eggs¾ cup (60g) desiccated coconut1¾ cups (185g) self-raising flour1/3 cup (80ml) milk

For Lemon curd4 egg yolks1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar1/3 cup (80ml) lemon juice40g butter

For Meringue4 egg whites1 cup (220g) caster sugar

METHOD

lemon Curd: Combine ingredients in a small heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water; stir constantly, until mixture thickens slightly. Remove from heat. Cover surface with plastic wrap; refrigerate until cold.

Cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Line 12-hole (1/3-cup/80ml capacity) muffin pan with paper cases. Beat butter, rind, sugar and eggs in a small bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in the coconut, then sifted flour and milk. Divide mixture among cases; smooth surface. Bake for about 20 minutes or until cooked. Cool cupcakes on wire racks. Increase oven to 220°C (200°C fan-forced).Cut a 2cm-deep hole in centre of each cake, fill with Lemon Curd; discard tops.

Meringue: Combine egg whites and sugar in a small bowl, beat with an electric mixer until thick and glossy. Spoon meringue into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain tube. Pipe meringue on cakes; place on oven tray. Bake about 5 minutes or until is browned lightly.

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Are you Addicted? Words by Laura Philips

Every 3 minutes, someone in the world dies from a Karaoke addiction... Do not let your life end this way. BITSA proudly introduces the K-Line for all those who are in possible danger of Karaoke Addiction.

Please take the following test to find out if you are a Karaoke Addict...

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You know you are Addicted to Karaoke when.....

...You clap when a song finishes on the radio.

...You go to a concert and wonder when they’re going to call you up to sing.

...There are 12 inches of snow on the ground and ice on the roads and where are you? THE KARAOKE BAR!

...You decide to “POP” the question but aren’t sure what karaoke song would be the right one to sing?

...You have a TV monitor strapped to your rear view mirror in your car.

...You’re the only one in the checkout line of the supermarket, with a cordless mic in your hands.

...You hum “Love Shack” in your sleep.

...You carry your songbook to uni instead of your Algebra book.

...You have no life, no friends, and 360 discs at home waiting to be sung to.

...On your Tombstone it will read: “He Died with a Karaoke Mic in his Hand”

So you are a Karaoke Addict? Your secret is safe with BITSA! We offer K Support in the form of BITSAKE: BITSA + SAKE!

2010 Semester 1 BITSAKE was a huge success and a heap of fun!

Please join us for the next BITSAKEinstalment and let us help you to fight your addiction!

Need Help?BITSAKE may be the answer

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Game ReviewTales of VesperiaReview by Benjamin Wang

Game title: Tales of VesperiaPlatform(s): Microsoft Xbox360, Sony Playstation 3Genre: J-RPG (Japanese Role-Playing Game)Mode(s): Single Player & Partial Multiplayer (offline)released: August 2008 (June 2009 for Australia)developer(s): Namco Tales StudioPublisher(s): Namco Bandai/Atari (Europe)

Note: This review would be more relevant for the Xbox360 as the Playstation 3 version was ported a year after and cur-rently Japan exclusive.

Before I start with this review, I think I should provide a bit of backgrounding first. First of all, for those who know me, they might know that I am a bit of an otaku and this is also one of the reasons why I decided to review this particular game; it’s not a game that some-one would just pick off a shelf. This is Namco Bandi’s tenth release of the Tales series which is also another J-RPG. J-RPG’s over the years have become its own kind of neo-genre for video games; normally these genres would have elements of Anime/Manga, a fair bit of conversation dialogues and real-time battle systems (as opposed to a turn-based battle system).

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About:Tales of Vesperia (ToV) is set in a fantasy world on the planet of Terca Lumreis. The people of this world rely on an ancient tech-nology, “blastia” created by an elf-like race, the Kritiyans. “Blastia” is used throughout this world for a lot of things, such as pow-ering machines, providing water, and also enhancing combat abilities (“bodhi blastia”) – think of this as your characters’ “skills”.

The story centres around the main character Yuri Lowell and his faithful dog, Repede as they originally adventure out of the protect-ed town of Zaphias to chase after a thief who stole an aque blastia and subsequently learn-ing the troubled state the world is in whilst meeting new companions along the way.

Story:To be honest, I haven’t had much experi-ence when it has come to J-RPG’s and the Tales series in general. I have seen Tales of the Abyss, which was a game-turned-Anime, and the story wasn’t groundbreaking fantas-tic, but it was still enjoyable. But because of that, I wasn’t expecting anything too awe-some for ToV.

Having said that, the story is definitely some-thing that keeps you playing, at some points of the game I found myself unable to put the controller down as I just had to find out what happens next.

The storyline itself is quite a cliché story, but has a solid execution and build-up. It features common elements such as self realisation, redemption and ultimately becoming “stron-ger” from self discovery and companionship.

Gameplay:The gameplay aspect of ToV is a pretty stan-dard RPG style; controlling your main char-acter/party leader going from town to town, fighting monsters, levelling up, obtaining better equipment, and completing (side)

quests. If anyone has played a Final Fantasy you’ll know what I mean.

However, what sets this game apart from standard RPG is the battle system. If I am correct, I believe the Tales series has forged itself quite a unique battle system over the years and this seems very consistent throughout their titles with minor enhance-ments/tweaks with each new title released.

There are no random encounters when it comes to battles, that is, you won’t be walk-ing around and suddenly enter a fight (an example of this would be Pokemon). Rather, you have the choice of running into a group of monsters or try avoiding them.

During battle, you take control of your party leader only (default is Yuri) and the other 3 characters are controlled by AI whose ac-tions can be determined by your commands and presets. The battle system also utilises a combo-system where you can chain at-tacks together for more damage and higher experience gain at the end of the battle. It is because of these battle mechanics that keep the long levelling grind entertaining; no two battles ever feel the same, and no battles ever feel too tedious.

tales of Vesperia Gameplay

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The game allows you to set how you wish to set up your battle formations and commands so that the AI can change their actions based on the situation, e.g. if your group is getting completely pummelled by the enemy you could tell them to switch to a defensive for-mation which may include more healing and defensive abilities.

Apart from the main quest, there are a quite a few side quests to complete and a tonne of exploring to do. I took about 48 hours to complete the game with some side quests done; supposedly it takes around 60 hours to complete the game completely.

Just as a bonus, as I mentioned in the begin-ning, it has “partial” offline multiplayer, this means that you can connect another 2~3 controllers and have someone help you con-trol the other characters which would oth-erwise be controlled by AI during battles. It doesn’t add much impact to the game, either that or my brother just sucked at the game!

Graphics and Presentation:The graphics aren’t exactly extremely great, but I doubt anyone actually plays this game for its graphics anyway. In-game the game utilises toon-shader style, so if you have ever played Zelda: The Wind Wind Waker you’ll know what I mean. It is a welcomed look because it couples well with the cutscenes. The cutscenes are done in an Anime-style (as opposed to the usual 3D animations you’d see in titles such as Final Fantasy) so pre-sentation-wise the two styles work together very well.

I’m not too sure about others, but when it comes to battles and fights in RPGs, I like to see good “impact” when I do damage to a monster. This could include the monsters’ reaction animations, collision animations, and even the damage number animations. A game that does this well was Ragnarok On-line. But ToV also presents their damage

impact very well which also compliments its battle system nicely.

I am not too fussed about the graphics (after all I did buy an Xbox360 instead of a Playsta-tion 3, yeah have a laugh you fanboys/girls!), however I do have one gripe with the game; the conversation presentations which were called “skits”. At certain points of the game, characters will stop to talk to each other.

Normally in RPGs they would play an in-game video. ToV, rather than doing this, they darken the screen and use character por-traits with dialogue and speech. I personally do not understand why the developers took this approach because it feels like it actually detracts the otherwise well presented game.

Character interaction

Cut scenes

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Music and Sound:When it comes to RPGs I personally believe that music is very important. This is also a belief I hold for Anime too. It adds emotion and feeling to the game if it’s done well and makes certain parts of it more memora-ble. It’s like the icing on the cake.

ToV certainly had a good soundtrack, from the opening song, in-game background music, cutscence music and ending song, it was all very fitting. The songs were done in such a way that set the “feel” for the context you are cur-rently in. There were also a few battle themes featured which was a good idea, considering how many hundreds of battles you’re going to get yourself into while trying to complete the game.

I suppose the best way to split “Sound” would be the sound effects and voices. The sound ef-fects were fine, no complaints at all there. The voices… well, if you have ever watched Eng-lish dubbed stuff then you would understand where I am coming from. It wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t the worst either. I can honestly say they do much better than the Final Fantasy titles. Just a note, when I was tossing up be-tween ToV and another game by Square-Enix (who are known for choosing bad English dub-bers) voice was one of the ultimate deciding factors for me.

Replay Value:When you spend some money on a game, you would hope or expect that it would be worth your dollar and time. For some people, having

a great story, great graphics, and great audio is enough. However sometimes it is even better if the game can offer some “replay-ability”; that whether or not a game could be played more than once.

ToV, despite being quite a linear RPG, does actually offer quite a high replay value, which was quite surprising. After dishing out all those hours trying to be as complete as pos-sible, I still ended up missing a lot. There are a lot of unlockables and secret items to be found, as well as side stories and character developments to be discovered too.

The developers even made it easier to play through the second time by giving the player a certain number of “Grade points” at the end of the game depending on how well the player performed throughout the game which can be spent on certain bonuses on future play throughs, such as “10x Experi-ence Gain”.

Summary and Rating:For those who didn’t read the whole thing, here you go:

story: 8/10 – nothing new, but very well executed.Gameplay: 9/10 – extra points for the battle system, never gets tedious.Graphics & Presentation: 7/10 – not the best graphics in the world, but presented quite well. The “skits” feel out of place.Music & sound: 7/10 – fitting music and de-cent English voice dialogues.replay Value: 8/10 – quite a fair bit for a RPG

Overall:

Check out Ben’s blog at http://sukari89.wordpress.com/

Cut scenes

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nerd it upthe nerd is back compiled by monica hu

Big glasses, knee high socks and shorts, pens in your pocket and braids in your hair. Geeky? Yes. Fashionable? Definitely. Ever since 2008 when Luella and Paul Smith sent their stick thin models down the runway sporting big glasses and plaid, it was clear that the chicness of the nerd has been ce-mented.

At one stage, being well versed in technol-ogy is considered being “geeky” (in a bad way) but with the rise of the iAge, where iPhones and iPads are so commonplace, being “geeky” became a good thing and possessing the newest gadgets and gizmos is becoming the height of cool. Speaking of the iAge, who better to be at the helm of this whole empire than a geeky Steve Jobs with his glasses and turtleneck sweater?

On both the small screen and the big screen, and probably also your computer screen, the popularity of nerds and geeks have also risen. Just look to the folks in “The Big Bang Theory” and “The IT Crowd”. They may still be portrayed as dorky, unsociable braini-acs, but their ratings have also soared. Also turning towards a nerdy classic, the Doctor without a name, the recent two incarnations have epitomised the mentality of geek. To quote the eleventh Doctor, “Bowties are cool!”

The nerd is definitely back, and to celebrate it, we have compiled a selection of geeky gadgets, wares, clothes and jewellery for your enjoyment.

OPPOSITE PAGE

HIS: 1. Z Zenga Spring 2009 | 2. Thierry Lasry Square black framed glasses from Brown Fashion | 3. Polished Star Trek Cufflinks from Etsy | 4. Paul Smith Spring 2008 | 5. Professor plaid bow tie from Fred Flare | 6. Casio Black resin calculator from General Pants Co. | 7. Stainless Steel 8GB Video Watch from Think Geek

HERS: 1. Charles Anastase Spring 2009 | 2. Helvetica Project Notebook from Moleskine | 3. Sony Vaio P Series 8 inch pocket style PC from Sony | 4. KidViskous Nerd specs necklace from ShopFlick | 5. Heritage 1981 T-shirt from Forever 21 | 6. Luella Spring 2008 | 7. Dual power calculator from Kikki K. | 8. Librarian Pin from Fred Flare | 9. Hello Kitty USB flash drive from Fred Flare | 10. Marc by Marc Jacobs Bow tie necklace watch from Zappos | 11. Christian Louboutin Lace-up bootie, gray from Bergdorf Goodman

THEIRS: 1. Nintendo Monopoly from Think Geek | 2. MOD Design CTRL+ALT+DEL cups set from Gadget 4 All | 3. iKaraoke from Fred Flare | 5. Doctor Who TARDIS talking cookie jar from Think Geek | 6. PACMAN pillow cover from Etsy | 7. Salt and Pepper Bots from Charles and Marie | 8. LED Binary Clock from Think Geek | 9. Google Nexus One phone | 10. Orbiculus Thumbtacks from Art Lebedev

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his.

hers.

theirs.

1

2

2

3

45

6

7

1 2

3

4

5

67

8

910

11

1

2

3 4

5

67

89

10

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horoscopes yoda brings you your starry fate for july

AquARius JAn 21 – Feb19Far from complete, a big story in your personal life is. Many more twists and turns in store, the plot has. Do not, therefore, to a prema-ture conclusion about it this week jump. Much easier, happier phase awaits. Yeesssssss.

Pisces Feb 20 – MAR 20Finally making a break with a part of the past, you are. Continue to be cautious about eggs, failed to hatch, that have. But some chickens, there might be. Feeding, they need. Beyond your fears, you should go. Forget the anxious feelings. Made life stressful, they have.

ARies MAR 21 – APR 20To be seriously worried about the issues in your life you need not. But remain aware of your surroundings until things start to change, you should. Always in motion is the future. Hmmmm

TAuRus APR 21 – MAy 21To be quick we sometimes have. Arises every so often, a perfect possibility will. To recognise them even if we fail, wait for us, they will. Take your time. Your own natural judgement, you should trust. Train yourself to let go of every-thing you fear to lose.

GeMini MAy 22 – Jun 22Confront an unacceptable aspect of an impor-tant agreement do you, and with an arrange-ment based on true trust replace it, hmm? Wherever, brave and sincere this week, you are, your reward, reassurance will be. Hmmm-mmm.

cAnceR Jun 23- Jul 23Receive some inspiring information, you should expect. A most constructive conversa-tion, you will hold. Starting to find out things that make much sense, you are. Working out answers that could lead to lifelong improve-ments, you are. Be not afraid difficult ques-tions, to ask. Much to learn, you still have.

leo Jul 24 –AuG 23Is there, description so persuasive right now that, somehow stopping you from recognising a reality, is it, hmm? Of theories this week be wary. For yourself think more, and to find the truth try. Yeesssssss.

ViRGo AuG 24- seP 23Nothing you can do about a difficult situation, you suspect that there is. In fact, plenty, there is. To question an old assumption, you must, and to apply a different set of standards, you need. While Venus and Mars are both in your sign, the power to rewrite the rulebook, you have.

libRA seP 24-ocT 23Time it is, for you to examine where in life, go you want to. Time it is also, for examining how to get there, you intend. Have now, you do, real choices to make. Careful you should be about directions you will take.

scoRPio ocT 24 – noV 22This week, continue to feel like a victim of circumstance you can, or pick up your own self, you can. Like everyone else, this week, do not become. Someone who knows how special you are, you should be. Yes, hmmm.

sAGiTTARius noV 23-Dec 21Firm but fair, we all want to be. Sometimes, though, cruel to be kind must we be. Being harsh or helpful, how can we tell whether we are, hmm? If acting out of anger, fear or need, we are, strive to be conscientious, we must. Hmmmmmm.

cAPRicoRn Dec 22- JAn 20Doing the right thing are you, hmm? Dedi-cating your precious time to a worthwhile endeavour are you, hmm? Really have the resources you need do you, hmm? Be as sure of what matters, you need to.

may the force be with you

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Good Reads by Monica Hu

With the advent of smartphones and e-reading devices, reading no lon-ger has to be an interaction between reader and one heavy bound tome; instead, you can just pick up your device and download whatever tickles your fancy. So with such a choice, what should you read? Here’s my pick of 5 public domain (aka free) books that doesn’t read like a HSC text.

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan DoyleThis is the very first novel that introduces our favourite detective, Sherlock Holmes, and it provides some good insight into the man himself. A good detective novel to keep you occupied.

The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony HopeAn adventure novel filled with subterfuge, duels, devious plans and a dash of romance? What more can you ask for? A thoroughly gripping read.

The Premature Burial by Edgar Allan PoePoe doesn’t dissappoint in this short story, delivering some of his finest manipulations of the human character. Laced with intrigue and horror, you won’t be forgetting about this one for a while.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar WildeHow can anyone resist eternal youth? But when this youth comes at a price, what will you do? Wilde’s stories are always a smooth, interesting read and this is no different.

20000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules VerneAn absolute classic of a Sci-Fi novel. What more need I say?

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“A doctor, a lawyer, and an engineer are sentenced to death. Why is not impor-tant to the story...what’s important is that the death sentence will be carried out in France - via guillotine.

The doctor is first. The executioner straps him down, hoists the glittering blade aloft, and lets it drop...whereupon it sticks about halfway down.

Now, it’s a well-known tradition in capital punishment that if the execution ap-paratus fails for any reason, this is interpreted as a sign from God, and the death sentence is commuted. Accordingly, the doctor walks away, still very much alive.

The lawyer is next. The executioner straps him down, hoists the glittering blade aloft, and lets it drop...whereupon it sticks in the exact same spot.Same rules apply...lawyer walks.

The engineer is last. The executioner straps him down, as he hoists the blade aloft, the engineer twists his neck around, peers up at the blade, and says:

“You know, I think I see your trouble there...”

Compiled by Lana Geng

“I’m not anti-social, I’m just not user friendly”

“In a world without fences and walls, who needs Gates and Windows?”

“The box said ‘Requires Windows 7 or bet-ter’. So I installed LINUX...”

“Unix, DOS and Windows...the good, the bad and the ugly...”

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{BITSA SUDOKU}Instructions:

Complete this as you would a normal Sudoku, ie, each row, column and box must contain all nine individual characters without any doubling up. Solutions will be available in our next is-sue. In the meantime, enjoy! =)

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Dear BITSAMagWe love hearing from you. ‘Cause we just do. Send your letters to [email protected]

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Next Issue of BITSAMagSunshine, beaches, watermelon, sunscreen... we’ll be seeing you again in the summer.

Look out for BITSAMag Session Two, 2010, in early 2011.

BITSAMag Team, xx.

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The printing of this magazine has been made possible by Canon