weber.

Currently reading Max Weber, some dude before Emile Durkheim, which is the other dude the 15 & 16-year-olds in the Youth Fellowship studied last week. (so advanced! Haha.)

Weber calls himself a sociologist, but he was very much a legal positivist to me. 

What are legal positivists?

In very simple terms,

Vulcans.

Picture taken from this site.

Vulcans are this group of hyper-logical people in Star Trek who meditate every night to make sure they suppress their emotions. So you can actually jentik them, and they won't jentik you back wan. Cuz they can't get angry. Hah.

Anyway.

Weber, in his account of law, says that it is possible for the interpretation of a rule to have the determinacy of pure logic. He didn't believe in 'justice', and the fact that the sense of justice had to be expressed in formal maxims apparently made it unimportant.

Yup, Weber was cynical too.

I don't like Weber. 

Ahaha.

He constantly wrote about the 'logical interpretation of meaning', and this is what I like about what a critic's article wrote on Weber:

But meaning is not interpreted by logic. 

Meaning is understood through experience.

I don't know why I like it, but I just do.

See, I find it meaningful because of something in the vast collection of experiences in the deep recesses of my mind. 

I love Jurisprudence!

But later, at 4pm, I will be made to feel like I don't know anything, in the span of just an hour.

But.

I love Jurisprudence!


Note:

Law is too important to be left to lawyers.
Society is too important to be left to sociologists.

- Martin Albrow.


(haha)

this is taking up so much of my time.

grr.

today in church.

First, dentistry was painless
Then bicycles were chainless
And carriages were horseless
And many laws, enforceless.
Next cookery was fireless
Telegraphy was wireless
Cigars were nicotine-less
And coffee was caffeine-less.
Soon oranges were seedless
The putting green was weedless
The college boy was hatless
The proper diet, fatless.
New motor roads were busless
The latest theme is restless
Our tennis courts are sodless
Our marriage beds, godless.

- Adapted from a poem by Arthur Guiterman.


The theme was on the 7th commandment, one very simply put:

Picture taken from this site.

 Because it was so simply put, I suppose there is no excuse adequate to explain a breach of that commandment.

Some statistics the speaker provided about adultery in the USA:

Men - 55%
Women - 54%
Affair with co-worker - 30%
Affair with sister-in-law / brother-in-law - 17%
Affair on business trip - 36%
Duration of average affair - 2 years
Marriages after affair - 31%
Women who would commit adultery if they could - 68%
Men who would commit adultery if they could - 74%

Professions that form the highest portion of adulterers - professionals and counselors.

That was the most shocking one by far.

And guess what.

These results were from 1920.

I would love to believe mankind has improved since then, but cynical me says that is impossible.

No offence to Franklin, but there is no 'marriage without love' unless you decide not to  continue to love. In that case, it's really your fault. Adulterers always blame their affairs on their spouses ("he never made me feel like a woman", "she never encourages me") and that's being really unfair. And the lousiest defence a defendant could raise. A defence it is, but the lousiest one nonetheless.

On another note,

have been reading the book of John.

I conclude that it's a really good book for law students / lawyers. 

It systematically presents the greatest trial ever held. The book of John is all about evidence.

I like. Whee~

student vs. homework.

Hahahahahahaha.

Incidentally, today Alan said:

"Go Philemon! I choose you!"

XD

what's happening?

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, 

but see to it that you are not alarmed. 

Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 

Nation will rise against nation, 

and kingdom against kingdom. 

There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 

All these are the beginning of birth pains.

Matthew 24:7-8

Libyan protest. Taken from this site.

  

Egyptian protest. Photo taken from this site.

Earthquake in Christchurch. Photo taken from this site.

Victims of the earthquake. Photo taken from this site.

Death of American hostages and Somali pirates. Photo and news.

If we believe what Jesus said in Matthew 24:7-8, we must also believe what He said next.

Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, 

and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 

At that time many will turn away from the faith 

and will betray and hate each other, 

and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 

Because of the increase of wickedness, 

the love of most will grow cold, 

but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached 

in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, 

and then the end will come.

Matthew 24:9-14

The ones in red have already happened, contrary to the common misconception that murdering believers of other faiths ceased with the 'coming of civilisation'.

The one in orange is abundant in Malaysia and Singapore. Think about your wildest  and most worldly friend. He/she may be a Christian.

It ends with hope. 

Hope for those who are waiting for His coming, that is. 

For those who have forgotten that He will come again, it is truly the end of the world.

Hope.

It comforts me as I watch these things unfold and weep for them.

calvin yong:

Too late. =P

help.

please save her.

i don't know what else to say.

fulamak.

Actually forgot about the survey I did. I wrote so many other good stuff, why lah they picked this one? Purposely want to have some controversial statement in their paper right. Ahaha.

On a sidenote:

 

 

 

Shaun, you should meet Desmond. 

Wanna see who wins the verbal lameness.

=P

uncle leslie.

Uncle Leslie spoke about murder today.

Psst: Uncle Leslie looks like Clark Kent.

 

Um. 

[Don't have a picture of Uncle Leslie, but he looks like Clark Kent la, trust me. So this pic will do. ^_^]

Uncle Leslie also talked about abortion, and the bill that was passed in Victoria (Australia) to decriminalize abortions after 24 weeks. 

Girls get emotional very easily. (myself, at least) We get emotional when we see other people get emotional. Sometimes we even get emotional when we see other people not getting emotional about something we think they should get emotional about.

It's a little more tricky with guys, but everyone does have that thing that activates that emotional center. 

It was the murder of a helpless child for Uncle Leslie.

This is what a baby looks like at 24 weeks:

Source found here.

I thought it was a very human moment.

Reminds me of what Gramps Michael said:

Christ died for us so that we can become human again.

To set us free from what we have become. 

People who have lost the ability to trust, and to look beyond the self.

my brother on facebook.

Shaun

When I carry the guitar around, people wonder whether the guitar is taller or I am. :D

 

Kenneth

Well good thing is, you don’t play the cello or else…

 

Me

HAHA.

 

Shaun

Sis: Eh you don’t talk much, you shorter than me k? XP

 

Wei Song

Remove the first three frets… should be equal to your height d.

i left my Bible in DK G.

And it isn't there anymore.

The two sites that have been a great help:

for when the screen looks at the blank me.

As I said, John is harder to read than Mark, but only because there's so much to discover. I think I'm beginning to see the pattern in John's Gospel.

Receiving my big, heavy Bible today. 

Phew. Phew for Sunday service, when I don't have to borrow a Bible. But no Phew for my arm that will soon suffer musculation. (peng-otot-tan).

But yay Bible!

malacca rawks. betul tak? =D

Anderson

You can help me mix drinks!

 

Me

I mix them with my sweat and tears. Everything tastes good with salt right.

 

Anderson

Is it a Malaccan recipe?

 

Me

Yup. Malaccans sweat a lot cuz it's so hot there and we tear a lot cuz we're compassionate people.

 

Anderson

Malaccans are leaky people eh?

 

Me

Leaky indeed. In Malacca, Faucet is a common name, i.e. Lee Kee Fau Cet.

english translation:

Taken by Phil @ Linguistics Cafe.

Coco Nut.

Haha!

my best friend.

a photo someone took of their egg during LTR. haha.

To the tune of Best Friend Plank.

the power of prayer.

Be joyful in hope, 

patient in affliction, 

faithful in prayer. 

Romans 12:12

I've read the parable of the persistent widow many times. The one where the widow goes to the unjust judge and begs him to grant her justice. 

An unjust judge. 

We in Malaysia should have no problem identifying with this phrase.

We all know justice is hard to come by. If I counted the number of people who've scoffed at it to my face, I think I'd actually be good at math in the end. (practice makes perfect)

The difference with Malaysian justice is, the judge got sick of the widow's persistence and granted her justice so that she'd leave him alone. 

I used to read this parable and go, wut.

Then I'd move on to the next parable and use that one for my quiet time. (the parable of the self-righteous person and a humble sinner - the lessons from this parable literally jump out at you, don't they?)

But today, as we read the parable, it occured to me that the widow begged. She begged for justice.

What do You think, Father, of me, Your daughter, begging?

Do you remember begging your parents for something? Like when they hit you with the rotan and it didn't seem like they were going to stop? Or before they hit you with the rotan, and you knew it was coming, and how much it was going to hurt? Or when you didn't do your homework like you were supposed to, and a sibling discovered it and said she/he was going to tell your parents?

Remember begging for one more chance?

You felt pathetic, didn't you?

If my parents gloated in my patheticness, I think I wouldn't have liked them very much.

When I beg God for something, does He gloat?

Listen to what the unjust judge says.

And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, 

who cry out to Him day and night? 

Will He keep putting them off?  

I tell you, He will see that they get justice, and quickly. 

Luke 18:6-8

'The power of prayer' does not mean mean prayer is powerful.

It means GOD is powerful.

-Mr Lian-

The verse in that parable that strikes me most even now is the second part of verse 8:

However,

when the Son of Man comes, 

will He find faith on the earth?

Do I beg because I have faith,
or because I have none?

I accidentally turned off my phone today.
And when I turned it back on,
the welcome message I'd written a long time ago,
and which I'd forgotten about,
greeted me:

Mujizat itu nyata.

with this much faith, 
as little as it may seem,
i fall on my knees. 
Father, find me faithfull. 

i still believe. 

wouldn't change a thing.

The song:




And the video of Joe looking constipated as he sings.


It's like he doesn't hear a word I say,
His mind is somewhere far away,
And I don't know how to get there,
It's like,
he doesn't even care,

You
me
We're face to face
But we don't see eye to eye
 
When I hold on, he just lets go 

We're perfectly imperfect
But I wouldn't change a thing.

seriously.

this is all to test me, isn't it?

when will i have enough patience to not have to be tested?

i can't wait for that day!

...oops.

hey anderson,

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Me (2.14AM)

Hey what time’s the Valentine’s thingy this Sat? Am I supposed to go? Ahaha.

 

Anderson (2.16AM)

Uni students don’t sleep wan ah. 5pm. Come and mingle la. Will be good.

 

Me (2.17AM)

Apparently the night stays young even after you leave uni. =P K k. But… WHAT SHOULD I WEAR! Eeks!

 

Anderson (2.21AM)

Haha! Wait till you get tired out after a long day of work! Wear something pretty to get some wah and woo from the boys!

 

Me (2.22AM)

Yay can’t wait to work. Sounds so exciting. =P Something nice ah? Shy la. =P

 

Anderson (2.26AM)

Haha! Please don’t look forward to work! It’s a trap! Avoid it! Wear something nice la. Got to dress the part. Hehe!

 

Me (2.28AM)

K, thanks for pointing me to the right way, i.e. contributing to unemployment. Hahaha. Dress the part ah? Aiyo. I come in black and white la. So comfortable. =P

 

 

And then the person who left uni went to sleep. Haha.

Valentine’s thingy it is. Whee~

i tried. i can't.

I love Jurisprudence, but these articles (and these glasses that need changing) aren't making life easy for me.

"Ancient Greece and Rome were societies in which the modern dichotomies of..."

 Reminds me of the time Sheldon 'taught' Penny about Science:

"Physics comes from the ancient Greek word 'Physika--' It's at this point that you'll want to start taking notes. ...Physika means the science of natural things, and it is there, in ancient Greece, that our story begins."

"Naturally, it does not follow that any positive rule which is claimed to be a law is a law. (K, I get this) In the abstract the predication of legality is the predication of morality. (Huh?) If the rule fails moral criteria, whether it be a deficiency in substance, title, or procedure, then it is not legal. (Yeaaahh, I'm back. I understand!) Practically speaking, if the rule is judged to fail the moral criteria employed by the adjudicator then it should be judged to be not legal, but in terms of any hypothetical objective morality any such judgements are corrigible." (Heh?)

It's like reading those signboards in Chinese at the hawker stall with no translations underneath:

taken from here.

Monologue:

Ooook, that second word means 'pig', the third is 'leg' and the first is... um... looks like a flag actually, but cannot be... So that thing is... er... something pig leg? Hm, the next one is 'meat' and um, (what's that word la, didn't learn it at Chinese tuition)... so it's some... meat? Er er... bla bla bla... don't know the last word... but the one before that is 'white'. So... um... what could be white ya? Hmm. 

...Let's go to another shop la.

(I'll leave it to you to judge if I'm making this up)

So yeah, the point is - what's the point of knowing five words if you have no idea what the other six are? It's the same with Jurisprudence la. Sigh.

I like Ms Sharon's tutorial class, but I always feel a little stupider when I leave the room. It's like I'm not good enough,  no matter how hard I try, no matter how prepared I thought I was.

Of all Jurisprudence students, I think those of us in Ms Sharon's class should understand best why doing good things won't get us to heaven. 

God's standard is that high, and no matter how hard we try, we can't meet it. We always fall short. It doesn't matter if you're "almost there" or "half-righteous" or "all good except that one thing". If you don't meet the standard all the way, you're nowhere at all. God isn't trying to be proud by saying He has a high standard; like Ms Sharon, He does have a higher standard, and we have a lower standard. It's a fact. He doesn't have to say it for us to know it.

So what's a struggling Jurisprudence student to do?

Ms Sharon chides us for falling short, she does. But she doesn't not turn up to teach just because we fall short everytime she comes in. She doesn't give up on us. Most of all, she forgives our shortcomings. She also says, "you are a work in progress".

This is the main difference between last year's Criminal Law tutorial and this year's Jurisprudence tutorial. 

As with Criminal Law, there are many things I don't know about Jurisprudence, but three things I know:

That I fall short, 

Ms Sharon is willing to forgive my shortcomings,

and she is willing to work me into a better student of Jurisprudence.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, 

but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. 

But one thing I do: 

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 

I press on toward the goal to win the prize 

for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12-14

as i said, university students get very philosophical shortly before assignment due dates.

oooo a one-word sms. =P

yesterday’s BBQ.

-Peter's Complexion-

View Full Album

 

Me

Hey there was a time when you were fairer right?

 

Peter

Ya. Now I've been under the sun a lot.

 

Me

Oh.

 

Peter

I've been meaningless.

Me

Hah?

 

Peter

"Everything under the sun is meaningless."

 

Ref: "I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind" (Ecclesiastes 1:14)

-Fill my cup-

 

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Me

Hey, Phil, can you fill my cup?

 

Ben

Ah, Phil. “Phil my cup!”

 

Chian Ming

Oh my goodness. Stop it la, Ben.

 

Ben

It's like in the Bible, when the writer says that "'Isaac' sounds like the Hebrew for 'he laughs'". People were named after what they were destined to be. So 'Phil' sounds like the English for 'fill'.

 

*a few seconds pass*

 

Chian Ming

Eh, Phil. Phil my cup! Haha!

 

Me

I thought you told Ben to stop it? –__-

 

Chian Ming

Ya, but now I think about it, actually quite funny. Phil, Phil my cup!

-Lamb-

View Full Album

 

Chian Ming

Oh, this lamb is SO GOOD.

 

Me

It's the lamb of God.

 

Ben

Ah, even the lamb said, "Why do you call me good?"

Ref: "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29) & "'Why do you call me good?' Jesus answered." (Luke 18:19)

Ben

This is what happens after too much Bible study. Thanks for all the lameness tonight, Hwei.

 

 

 

Me

Eh. You're the one who was lame tonight.

tim kwan:

"Hey what's the key for Complete? You sent me Once Again once again. Haha."

Haha!

i should be kept away from microsoft powerpoint.

and so.

Since people always say new believers / seekers should always start with the book of John, I decided to try to read John as if I were reading it for the first time. Besides discovering that John starts off and progresses the same way Genesis did, I also discovered that:

It's almost the same as reading the Jurisprudence article Ms Sharon made us read. (and I'm only in Chapter 1)

Or maybe I need new glasses. I can't see very well these days. (public: "oh, first you were lame, and now you're blind too?")

glasses like the guy from star trek's would be cool.

Since I'm on the topic of reading, I may as well try to correct a common misconception.

People,

I don't read a lot.

I read cases fast because I skim through them. It's called pseudo-speed-reading. (i came up with this term myself. *waits for applause*) 

Skimming is easy. Reading is hard. 

And that's why...

The only subjects I've ever finished studying in 15 years of school are Chemistry and Banking Law.

Anyway, 

I foresee a more difficult time reading John than Mark, cuz Mark was so straight-to-the-point, it was like reading those Pelangi KOMSAS books. In comparison, reading John is like reading the full text of Di Hadapan Pulau. (which I didn't manage to do cuz I read so slowly I lost interest quarter-way through the novel)

Reading John, though, I can't help wondering what John himself was like. Everybody knows he was the 'disciple Jesus loved' - why not Peter? Andrew? James? Why John? And what was it like writing about someone he'd shared such deep affection with? 

I mean, it'd be different if John had kept a journal. Then he would've just copy-pasted bits and pieces of his journal. But he hadn't kept a journal. And he wrote about Jesus many years after Jesus had gone away.

Jesus was there one day, and gone the next - died while John watched on helplessly, because he was right there by the cross. Then John continued to feel helpless for the next two days, and suddenly Jesus was walking and talking with him again. Then off He went again, promising that they'd meet again, in a loud voice, no doubt, since He was rising into heaven and the clouds must've made some noise. 

How does someone like John write about someone like that after something so bizarre had happened?

...Maybe that's why the Gospel of John is so bizarre.

Because the gospel really is, bizarre.

And John did have a bizarre good friend.

I mean, He is God. Your good friend is God. It doesn't get more bizarre than that.

(with all this going through my mind as i read, let's play the guess-how-long-hwei-will-take-to-finish-reading-John game)

i said i will NOT be a criminal lawyer.

Friend

Does Malaysian law provide for defence of provocation or unbearable nuisance or overly-irritating behaviour when one kills a lawyer? If there is, I plan to get rid of a few who are making life hard for me.

Me

Only grave and sudden provocation. But your SMS will be taken to be premeditation that negates that defence.

Friend

As a friend, please treat this SMS as off-the-record. =P What if they provoke me to the extent of threatening my life? I.e., I keep thinking about it while driving and hit a cow?

Me

Chain of causation may be broken by negligence of yourself or the owner of the cow. =P And the manner by which you murder must be setimpal with the provocation. So murder accordingly. =P

  

Yup. I said I won't be a criminal lawyer even before I got into law school.

As seen from the 'advice' professionally given above, it's probably for the best. =P

valentine's day.

Yup, yup, I know it's not Valentine's Day yet, but to avoid massive cyber traffic (and to be over-outstanding, if there's such a thing), I'll be the first to post about the day that hasn't arrived. Yay!

(starved almost to death cuz of a miscommunication and am depleted both physically and mentally so pardon the rambleness)

So a few important things are going to happen on Valentine's Day:

#1 Roadshow/Protest/March

modified photo from istock.

Nobody's really sure what it's really about, but someone in Tiara (not me) is planning a March for Justice for singles on February 14. It's a good time to (1) publicly declare that you're single and available so that people who, for some reason, thought you were a double all this time will finally know that you're eligible, (2) meet another single person and possibly fall in love while marching, (3) contribute to social justice. And I heard it's gonna be big, so... be there or be square! (but I won't be there la =P)

#2 Lunch Date!

ya, i'm dating a biker.

#3 Jurisprudence Assignment

photo taken from this site.

Yeah.

I've got to hand in an assignment on Valentine's Day.

Life on the island is indeed way too awesome sometimes.

mum, dad.

i love you both.

google spreadsheet.

 

So fun! =D

 

I strove to remind you, 

that for those tears I died.