While I was waiting my turn at the clinic yesterday, a little boy of about 5 was also there. His sister was running a fever and was brought there by the grandmother. Since both siblings were under her care, he went along.
Not long after, both their parents arrived at the clinic.
His behaviour reminded me so much of many of the seasoned hypocrites I see at work. That fake smile, that calculativeness in pitting grandmother and mother at odds when his mother asked him to do something that the grandmother didn't.
That fake smile. That fully exposed frontal teethy smile with those conniving, calculative eyes... The last I've seen such a display was during my basic military training, when one of the recruits tried to wiggle his way out by acting dumb and moronic. And yet, this is a 5 year old boy.
I still get shudders when I think about him.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
$2 noodles plus extra ingredients
I couldn't help but laugh when I read this:
Former hawker pleads guilty for rash act
I would have loved to write you a summary but the matter-of-fact reporting left nothing for me to remove.
SINGAPORE: A former hawker pleaded guilty in the Subordinate Court on Thursday morning for a rash act which severed the left thumb of a customer after the pair argued over a $2 bowl of noodles.
66-year-old Sim Yong Ha had picked up a 30-cm long chopper after patron Chan Seng Chai grabbed a plastic chair.
When Mr Chan swung the chair at him, Sim then used the chopper to block the chair.
The chopper hit Mr Chan's left hand and severed the 57-year-old retiree's thumb.
Mr Chan's wife had earlier complained about Sim's behaviour.
After she made numerous requests, the former hawker told her not to be so demanding because his noodles only cost $2.
Mr Chan then confronted Sim about these comments and the dispute resulted.
My take?
If you think your $2 noodles are too spartan, just add your own thumbs into the noodles. Thereafter, lick the sauce off. No need to go all the way to have the thumb chopped off to add to the noodles and then reattach it in the hospital later.
Actually, Mr Chan should be very happy. His wife's noodles are no longer $2, since the costs of reattching his thumb must have made those noodles more expensive than a bowl of king lobster and green lipped whole abalone egg noodles in top grade scallop sauce.
Latest updates from the Courts: 7 Jun
The Thumb is Worth $10000!
How's that for really expensive noodles?
Former hawker pleads guilty for rash act
I would have loved to write you a summary but the matter-of-fact reporting left nothing for me to remove.
SINGAPORE: A former hawker pleaded guilty in the Subordinate Court on Thursday morning for a rash act which severed the left thumb of a customer after the pair argued over a $2 bowl of noodles.
66-year-old Sim Yong Ha had picked up a 30-cm long chopper after patron Chan Seng Chai grabbed a plastic chair.
When Mr Chan swung the chair at him, Sim then used the chopper to block the chair.
The chopper hit Mr Chan's left hand and severed the 57-year-old retiree's thumb.
Mr Chan's wife had earlier complained about Sim's behaviour.
After she made numerous requests, the former hawker told her not to be so demanding because his noodles only cost $2.
Mr Chan then confronted Sim about these comments and the dispute resulted.
My take?
If you think your $2 noodles are too spartan, just add your own thumbs into the noodles. Thereafter, lick the sauce off. No need to go all the way to have the thumb chopped off to add to the noodles and then reattach it in the hospital later.
Actually, Mr Chan should be very happy. His wife's noodles are no longer $2, since the costs of reattching his thumb must have made those noodles more expensive than a bowl of king lobster and green lipped whole abalone egg noodles in top grade scallop sauce.
Latest updates from the Courts: 7 Jun
The Thumb is Worth $10000!
How's that for really expensive noodles?
Monday, May 17, 2010
Sick
Viral infection after nearly half a year of being well.
Never felt quite that bad... and all my major joints and muscles are aching.
Hate that feeling.
Never felt quite that bad... and all my major joints and muscles are aching.
Hate that feeling.
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Shooting the breeze
So many things, so little time, so few brain cells, so limited memory. So this will be a so-so entry with many random ramblings haphazardly pieced together.
Think of it as a mental patchwork blanket.
Comic reactions to Greek tragedy. Hey, the fat Greeks are paying the price for fattening up. So why is everyone getting diarrhoea?
Rain. Dense but miniscule lines of water falling from the sky. Just looked out of the window.
Scab. Nicely formed on the head wound. Doctor advised against peeling it off prematurely. In fact, no peeling allowed. Let it drop off normally.
Lethargy. There is work but no interest to work. Money is there but no interest to even earn it.
Waiting. I don't even know for what.
Television programmes. Have some files in the hard disk but not in the Sofa-Burbank mood yet.
Cooking. The simpler the better. The weather is too hot for staying prolonged periods in the kitchen.
Coldness. Ice water tastes better these days because of the unbearable heat.
Shares. A prolonged slow bleed. Nothing seems to be able to staunch the bleed. Yet there are people who believe that a bloodied bull is still a bull.
Housing. Prices sky high. People still flocking showrooms and buying, overstretching themselves. Maybe some of them swallowed a fly. Maybe they'll die.
Cars. Prices not that high. People still fleeing showrooms and resisting, denying themselves. Maybe some of them should swallow a fly. The prices are at the new rock bottom. With the new COE cuts, with further cuts in July, there is no way but up for car prices. And by the time the silly car buyers realise that, COE prices will shoot through the roof again.
Chaos. My greatest fear is there is NOT ENOUGH chaos. Abhisit will dissolve Thai Parliament in September. Why so long? Haven't he realised that he might be sublimated by then? UK elections are almost a done deal. Labour exit widely expected. Bigoted woman, eh? Greece violence. So happy tree friend.
Crazy. Nothing wrong with being crazy. Really. At this rate, against what standard do we measure normal?
Think of it as a mental patchwork blanket.
Comic reactions to Greek tragedy. Hey, the fat Greeks are paying the price for fattening up. So why is everyone getting diarrhoea?
Rain. Dense but miniscule lines of water falling from the sky. Just looked out of the window.
Scab. Nicely formed on the head wound. Doctor advised against peeling it off prematurely. In fact, no peeling allowed. Let it drop off normally.
Lethargy. There is work but no interest to work. Money is there but no interest to even earn it.
Waiting. I don't even know for what.
Television programmes. Have some files in the hard disk but not in the Sofa-Burbank mood yet.
Cooking. The simpler the better. The weather is too hot for staying prolonged periods in the kitchen.
Coldness. Ice water tastes better these days because of the unbearable heat.
Shares. A prolonged slow bleed. Nothing seems to be able to staunch the bleed. Yet there are people who believe that a bloodied bull is still a bull.
Housing. Prices sky high. People still flocking showrooms and buying, overstretching themselves. Maybe some of them swallowed a fly. Maybe they'll die.
Cars. Prices not that high. People still fleeing showrooms and resisting, denying themselves. Maybe some of them should swallow a fly. The prices are at the new rock bottom. With the new COE cuts, with further cuts in July, there is no way but up for car prices. And by the time the silly car buyers realise that, COE prices will shoot through the roof again.
Chaos. My greatest fear is there is NOT ENOUGH chaos. Abhisit will dissolve Thai Parliament in September. Why so long? Haven't he realised that he might be sublimated by then? UK elections are almost a done deal. Labour exit widely expected. Bigoted woman, eh? Greece violence. So happy tree friend.
Crazy. Nothing wrong with being crazy. Really. At this rate, against what standard do we measure normal?
Monday, May 03, 2010
Writing Proofs
I will be teaching a course in graph theory to some secondary school kids in about three weeks and as I prepared the course materials, one key point stuck out: Students need to write proofs.
Writing proofs is inevitable in dealing with most mathematics. Many theorems come with their most commonly used proof or proofs. The Pythagoras' Theorem, for instance, can be proven over a hundred ways.
In comparison, some problem solving questions require a proof as a solution but there are unfortunately no standard proofs that the instructor can rely on or turn to.
Particularly in graph theory, many questions require solutions that are highly demanding. It is not enough to say that the answer is "n". Often, you have to show why all other answers other than "n" are not acceptable, even though they satisfy the general conditions of the question.
In this regard, constructing a logically water-tight proof is difficult because many of us do not use contradictions and exhaustion as strategies, unless we are involved in certain types of work. It would not be suitable for me to exclaim the beauty and prowess of such proof techniques as I don't want to be guilty of playing up my areas of interest and "semi-expertise" but having a good grasp of the techniques can help solve a lot of problems quite elegantly.
The proof by contradiction is often elusive and hard to figure out. One needs to know which condition is likely to undergo "reductio ad absurdum". One common claim that relies on the proof by contradiction is "square root 2 cannot be expressed as a fraction with whole number numerators and denominators." Intuitively, this looks simple and the claim seems more like an axiom than something to be proven. However, it is not axiomatic and how do we construct a proof to validate our intuition? Interested readers can click on the word proof to see a proof by contradiction of that claim.
Proof by exhaustion is something elementary learners of mathematics used to resort to when they first come across claims such as "there is no largest integer." Frequently, a child who has learnt concepts such as a million, a billion, a trillion, and so on will attempt things like "a trillion trillion trillion" and when you tell them, "how about you add one?" they will quickly come to terms that exhaustion is plain exhausting. And frequently, exhaustion does not prove anything. Before long, proof by exhaustion becomes an antiquated technique to these learners of mathematics, until they are forced to face their inner demons again.
In graph theory, in particular, the need to establish uniqueness in the solution often means that the other competing answers must be rendered inadmissible. While it is probably not sensible to show a full graph theory question to elicit thoughts on how to construct answers that rely on the proof by exhaustion, folks who have a propensity for factorization might delight in seeing how the proof by exhaustion is daintly applied in this example: If n is an integer, then (n^7 - n) is a multiple of 7.
The study of mathematics can often lead its learners to develop logical thought processes. Writing proofs is one of the tools that play an important role in developing a person's logical acuity. As with all pursuits, there is no gain until one gets their hands dirty and begin practicing.
I hope my students will appreciate the package that I'm putting together for them. After all, whoever said learning was always easy?
Writing proofs is inevitable in dealing with most mathematics. Many theorems come with their most commonly used proof or proofs. The Pythagoras' Theorem, for instance, can be proven over a hundred ways.
In comparison, some problem solving questions require a proof as a solution but there are unfortunately no standard proofs that the instructor can rely on or turn to.
Particularly in graph theory, many questions require solutions that are highly demanding. It is not enough to say that the answer is "n". Often, you have to show why all other answers other than "n" are not acceptable, even though they satisfy the general conditions of the question.
In this regard, constructing a logically water-tight proof is difficult because many of us do not use contradictions and exhaustion as strategies, unless we are involved in certain types of work. It would not be suitable for me to exclaim the beauty and prowess of such proof techniques as I don't want to be guilty of playing up my areas of interest and "semi-expertise" but having a good grasp of the techniques can help solve a lot of problems quite elegantly.
The proof by contradiction is often elusive and hard to figure out. One needs to know which condition is likely to undergo "reductio ad absurdum". One common claim that relies on the proof by contradiction is "square root 2 cannot be expressed as a fraction with whole number numerators and denominators." Intuitively, this looks simple and the claim seems more like an axiom than something to be proven. However, it is not axiomatic and how do we construct a proof to validate our intuition? Interested readers can click on the word proof to see a proof by contradiction of that claim.
Proof by exhaustion is something elementary learners of mathematics used to resort to when they first come across claims such as "there is no largest integer." Frequently, a child who has learnt concepts such as a million, a billion, a trillion, and so on will attempt things like "a trillion trillion trillion" and when you tell them, "how about you add one?" they will quickly come to terms that exhaustion is plain exhausting. And frequently, exhaustion does not prove anything. Before long, proof by exhaustion becomes an antiquated technique to these learners of mathematics, until they are forced to face their inner demons again.
In graph theory, in particular, the need to establish uniqueness in the solution often means that the other competing answers must be rendered inadmissible. While it is probably not sensible to show a full graph theory question to elicit thoughts on how to construct answers that rely on the proof by exhaustion, folks who have a propensity for factorization might delight in seeing how the proof by exhaustion is daintly applied in this example: If n is an integer, then (n^7 - n) is a multiple of 7.
The study of mathematics can often lead its learners to develop logical thought processes. Writing proofs is one of the tools that play an important role in developing a person's logical acuity. As with all pursuits, there is no gain until one gets their hands dirty and begin practicing.
I hope my students will appreciate the package that I'm putting together for them. After all, whoever said learning was always easy?
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Labour Day
It was more a Laborious Day than it was Labour Day.
I started off the day making morning beverages when I spilled Milo on the floor. I took a cloth, bent down, and wiped the powder off the kitchen floor tiles. As I got up, my head smashed right against the corner of the kitchen cabinet door and I literally understood first hand the meaning of "where stars are born."
I immediately applied pressure to the impact area and then I closed the cabinet door. "Damn it," I cursed silently. It was really really painful. Although the skull is a rather thick piece of bone, the scalp had many nerve endings and, if there were any open wounds, prone to bleeding.
As luck would have it, the wound began to bleed. Oh my Guanyin Niangniang, as Aunty Lucy would say. I pressed kitchen towels against the wound as it bled, hoping that I could stop the blood. Meanwhile, I ransacked my rather badly stocked first aid box for something to clean the wound.
No antiseptic solution. No Burnol. No... well, it's no everything useful basically. I found a betamethasone. It's a steriod and these don't go with open wounds generally. Being Labour Day, my family doctor is not open for business. I can't go there to get help.
I won't want to go round looking for a doctor who is open today. In fact, I wasn't even sure I was interested to find one. I cancelled my morning appointments and got Victor to drive me to the hospital.
Because of the nature of the injury, the nurse taking temperature at the entrance registered for me at the Accident and Emergency Department at Changi Hospital.
After a rather long wait, and after turning to a few clean sides of a new piece of kitchen towel to staunch the bleeding. It is NOT a serious bleed, but it is irritating enough to have blood oozing out non-stop.
By the time I got triaged, it was almost one and a half hour after I got cut. The bleeding, the nurse said, has stopped. But the doctor will get me some antiseptic cream and have my wound cleaned.
Waited for my turn after triage and saw the doctor. A locum at the A&E, the guy was young and very patiently impatient. Said a lot of things I already knew but I wasn't too bothered. After all, as long as he got the wound cleaned and then prescribe me some antiseptic cream.
Then if there were any justice, I didn't know it existed. The A&E only carried tetracycline based antiseptic creams. I was allergic to the 4-ringed antibiotic. So I could only have my wound cleaned but I can't get any antiseptic cream for it. I was prescribed only a cleaning solution to cleanse the wound. (In fact, the doctor prescribed the tetracycline cream, only to have me stop him!)
After the ordeal at A&E, we left as the wondrous emergency room filled up so suddenly.
And my day has barely begun.
I started off the day making morning beverages when I spilled Milo on the floor. I took a cloth, bent down, and wiped the powder off the kitchen floor tiles. As I got up, my head smashed right against the corner of the kitchen cabinet door and I literally understood first hand the meaning of "where stars are born."
I immediately applied pressure to the impact area and then I closed the cabinet door. "Damn it," I cursed silently. It was really really painful. Although the skull is a rather thick piece of bone, the scalp had many nerve endings and, if there were any open wounds, prone to bleeding.
As luck would have it, the wound began to bleed. Oh my Guanyin Niangniang, as Aunty Lucy would say. I pressed kitchen towels against the wound as it bled, hoping that I could stop the blood. Meanwhile, I ransacked my rather badly stocked first aid box for something to clean the wound.
No antiseptic solution. No Burnol. No... well, it's no everything useful basically. I found a betamethasone. It's a steriod and these don't go with open wounds generally. Being Labour Day, my family doctor is not open for business. I can't go there to get help.
I won't want to go round looking for a doctor who is open today. In fact, I wasn't even sure I was interested to find one. I cancelled my morning appointments and got Victor to drive me to the hospital.
Because of the nature of the injury, the nurse taking temperature at the entrance registered for me at the Accident and Emergency Department at Changi Hospital.
After a rather long wait, and after turning to a few clean sides of a new piece of kitchen towel to staunch the bleeding. It is NOT a serious bleed, but it is irritating enough to have blood oozing out non-stop.
By the time I got triaged, it was almost one and a half hour after I got cut. The bleeding, the nurse said, has stopped. But the doctor will get me some antiseptic cream and have my wound cleaned.
Waited for my turn after triage and saw the doctor. A locum at the A&E, the guy was young and very patiently impatient. Said a lot of things I already knew but I wasn't too bothered. After all, as long as he got the wound cleaned and then prescribe me some antiseptic cream.
Then if there were any justice, I didn't know it existed. The A&E only carried tetracycline based antiseptic creams. I was allergic to the 4-ringed antibiotic. So I could only have my wound cleaned but I can't get any antiseptic cream for it. I was prescribed only a cleaning solution to cleanse the wound. (In fact, the doctor prescribed the tetracycline cream, only to have me stop him!)
After the ordeal at A&E, we left as the wondrous emergency room filled up so suddenly.
And my day has barely begun.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Are the stars lining up...?
Goldman Sachs' scandal and run in with the SEC
Greece's debt downgraded to junk status by Standard & Poor
China's harshest tightening measures yet to curb property speculation
US is braying for the Chinese to allow the Yuan to appreciate but Grandpa Hu and Grandpa Wen are still in their Sichua Earthquake mode - "you must hold on. Grandpa Wen is here and we will save you. Hold on to my hands."
The Thais are gearing up for a battle. The Thai Monarch doesn't seem to be holding up that well.
Myanmar and Cambodia are holding polls soon.
The sharemarket is seeking a clear direction. Singapore investors seeming bearishly bullish. Odd but true.
At this rate, are we getting back to 2008 not long after we got out of the same mess?
I hope Grandpa Wen will now soon let go of his vice like grip on the Yuan. I've got some and I don't mind making a little profit.
If the army and the police fight the Red Shirts, and the Yellow Shirts join in the fight, what colour shirt will the Thais end up wearing? Rainbow coloured shirts? Hm...?
Singapore housing prices have risen so much I'm effectively priced out of the market.
Singaporeans and many people around the world are hoarding property like the new oil.
Interest rates are at an unbelievable low.
People are over-stretched on many fronts.
Salaries are NOT increasing.
Share markets are volatile and a week's gains is not quite enough to cover a day's losses.
Things are getting way too expensive and inflation is threatening to empty our wallets.
To quote Barbarella Posh Beckham, "In April, May, and June, everything is coming up roses."
Yeah, right. I do hope those bloody red rose petals are just covered with the purest of colouring agents - blood.
Oh well, maybe I should just literally scratch any itch rather than make serious moves into any investments now.
Greece's debt downgraded to junk status by Standard & Poor
China's harshest tightening measures yet to curb property speculation
US is braying for the Chinese to allow the Yuan to appreciate but Grandpa Hu and Grandpa Wen are still in their Sichua Earthquake mode - "you must hold on. Grandpa Wen is here and we will save you. Hold on to my hands."
The Thais are gearing up for a battle. The Thai Monarch doesn't seem to be holding up that well.
Myanmar and Cambodia are holding polls soon.
The sharemarket is seeking a clear direction. Singapore investors seeming bearishly bullish. Odd but true.
At this rate, are we getting back to 2008 not long after we got out of the same mess?
I hope Grandpa Wen will now soon let go of his vice like grip on the Yuan. I've got some and I don't mind making a little profit.
If the army and the police fight the Red Shirts, and the Yellow Shirts join in the fight, what colour shirt will the Thais end up wearing? Rainbow coloured shirts? Hm...?
Singapore housing prices have risen so much I'm effectively priced out of the market.
Singaporeans and many people around the world are hoarding property like the new oil.
Interest rates are at an unbelievable low.
People are over-stretched on many fronts.
Salaries are NOT increasing.
Share markets are volatile and a week's gains is not quite enough to cover a day's losses.
Things are getting way too expensive and inflation is threatening to empty our wallets.
To quote Barbarella Posh Beckham, "In April, May, and June, everything is coming up roses."
Yeah, right. I do hope those bloody red rose petals are just covered with the purest of colouring agents - blood.
Oh well, maybe I should just literally scratch any itch rather than make serious moves into any investments now.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Aging and Revealing the Inner Ah Beng
The full lyrics are reproduced here. Maybe I should provide an English equivalent for readers who do not understand my Chinese dialect.
Don't accuse me of being mushy - I'd say that only Taiwanese song writers are capable of such mush. And - without sounding like a male chauvinistic pig - I think such devoted women are extinct already. They can probably be found only in Taiwanese serials. :)
家后
作词：郑进一/陈维祥 作曲：郑进一 编曲：张乃仁
有一日咱若老 (When we become old one day)
找无人甲咱有孝 (And there isn't anyone to accompany us)
我会陪你坐惦椅寮 (I will sit with you at the settees)
听你讲少年的时袸你有外贤 (And listen to your stories of your valiant youth)
食好食歹 无计较 (Whether I get good food or not does not matter)
怨天怨地 嘛袜晓 (I also won't blame the gods for anything)
你的手 我会甲你牵条条 (Your hands, I will hold them tightly in mine)
因为我是你的家后 (Because I am the one at the back of your house [aka wife])
阮将青春嫁乎恁兜 (I gave my youth to your family when I married you)
阮对少年随你随甲老 (I shall stay devoted to you till we both turn old)
人情世事己经看透透 (I've learnt let go and not sweat the small stuff)
有啥人比你卡重要 (Because nothing is more important than you)
阮的一生献乎恁兜 (I have devoted my entire life to your family)
才知幸福是吵吵闹闹 (I've realised bliss lies in the nagging and the noise)
等待返去的时袸若到 (When it is time for us to go back)
我会让你先走 (I will let you go first)
因为我会不甘 (Because I am reluctant)
放你 为我目屎流 (To let you shed tears for me)
有一日咱若老 (When we become old one day)
有媳妇子儿有孝 (And we have dutiful sons and daughters in law)
你若无聊 拿咱的相片 (If you are bored, we can take out our pictures)
看卡早结婚的时袸 你有外缘投 (And see how smart you looked when we got married)
穿好穿歹 无计较 (Whether I get good clothes to wear or not, I'm not particular)
怪东怪西 嘛袜晓 (I will also not blame others for anything)
你的心 我会永远记条条 (I will forever remember your love for me)
因为我是你的家后 (Because I am the one at the back of your house [aka wife])
阮将青春嫁乎恁兜 (I gave my youth to your family when I married you)
阮对少年随你随甲老 (I shall stay devoted to you till we both turn old)
人情世事己经看透透 (I've learnt let go and not sweat the small stuff)
有啥人比你卡重要 (Because nothing is more important than you)
阮的一生献乎恁兜 (I have devoted my entire life to your family)
才知幸福是吵吵闹闹 (I've realised bliss lies in the nagging and the noise)
等待返去的时袸若到 (When it is time for us to go back)
你着让我先走 (You have to let me go first)
因为我吗不甘 (Because I'm also reluctant)
看你 为我目屎流 (To see you shed tears for me)
The beauty of the language and the skills of the song writer is rather amazing. If one were able to appreciate the language, the intention was for both husband and wife to die at the same time, so each is spared the heartbreak.
Nice song, I'd say.
Friday, April 23, 2010
2012 with The Probligo
This is an IMAGINARY dialogue that The Probligo (P) and Teflonman (T) might have on Armeggedon if we ever met up.
This blogpost also arose out of P's offering Taupo in place of Rapehu and his waiting for the Cook Strait tremblor.
Innocent bloggers have not been harmed in the course of writing this blogpost.
In some cold, windy coastal area in New Zealand (assuming not everywhere is like that)
T: That outcrop seems like a nice place to picnic today.
P: Hm...
Both men walk towards the rock jutting out to the Pacific Ocean. The sky is clear but a fine mist of the Pacific's spray lingers in the air. The briny smell reminds both men how close to the ocean they are. The sun is partially hidden behind some clouds, the winds threatening to blow away any word uttered.
P: You know, it is a stupid idea to sit here. What if the rock fractured off the rest and fell into the sea?
T: Then where would you prefer to sit?
P: Let's sit here.
T rolled his eyes for P's unnecessary outburst. P mutters under his breath, T overhears P saying we should have gotten the sick trio of Ol' Whig, Starsplash and TF to join us there.
T: Tell me more about your vision of the Cook Strait earthquake.
T takes a big bite of his sandwich, hoping that he wouldn't have to respond for as long as he could chew and keep the food in his mouth.
P: It comes. Booms...
T thought he heard "Boomz" and nearly spat out his food.
P: (contined) "cross fault." Runs between the tail of the Main Alpine Fault (the Southern Alps in effect) and the Wairarapa Fault.
T: Mm hm...
P: Last big one in 1851 or thereabouts. Probably 8+ Richter.
T thought he heard "loved the 3 guys to be here" but he wasn't too sure.
P: (continued) virtually the whole of Wellington would go.
T swallowed his food. He knew he'd better say something or P is going to turn his fire from the 3 missing men to him and he didn't think that a face-first pilgrimage to the jagged rocks below this outcrop would be a welcome traditional Maori welcome.
T: Tsunami?
T wasn't sure if P was listening but felt that utterance was courtesy enough. For now. Before long, T was certain P was in his own fantasy world.
P: Early afternoon on a Tuesday would be fine - Parliament in full cry - would solve a lot of political problems...
P takes a big bite into his sandwich the same time T turned to look at him and asked cheekily.
T: The 3 men...?
P feigned ignorance.
P: Oh, nice and crispy lettuce and cucumbers! You were saying?
T: (Damn it, wily old fox!) I mean, there'd be volcanic eruptions?
P looked far into the horizon as if someone is going to walk out from where the skies meet the waters. He chomped on his food pensively and thought. T wasn't sure if P wasn't deeply thinking. P finally swallowed his mouthful.
P: Probably if the plates were coordinated... Booms. They go off one by one.
T: And tsunamis too?
P: Perhaps.
T: But won't they cancel each other out?
P: Maybe volcanoes first. Then tsunami.
T: Volcanic ash columns and ash plumes followed by vapourisation of giant tidal waves.
P: We'll be steamed alive...
T: In a sulphurous pit no less.
P: Why'd think it's called Armeggedon?
T and P took another bite from their sandwich. Both men chewed in silence.
T: Where is a good place to begin all these carnage?
P: Anywhere is fine. Maybe America.
T: Why not Australia? Starts with A too, you know.
P: Great idea. And then what role is Singapore going to play?
T: We'll provide water sterilization tablets. You've got more cows than we have people, damn it.
P: You're really good at cussing, yah?
T: Yah. So, you want them tablets? Can help you purify the water and avoid diarrhoea.
P: I'm not sure... Ok. Save a pellet for me. Better store enough to last a long time.
T: I'll see what I can do.
Each takes another bite into the sandwich. T is out of sandwich, while P has a small piece of crust left.
T: You guys make small sandwiches.
P: Really?
T: I'm out. You've got another? I'm still hungry.
P: Maybe. Let's check the basket...
P rummages through the picnic basket and finds no more sandwiches.
P: Sorry. I think we ran out of cheese this morning. So there isn't more sandwiches.
T: What? Then what about bread?
P: There's a loaf at home.
T: (Muttering) If that isn't impetus enough to push you off...
P: Want an apple?
T: Ok.
P: Here.
T: Windfall?
P: How'd you guess?
T: It's all brown.
P: Oops. Wine?
T: I don't drink.
P: It's coming the end of the world anyway. Get drunk.
T: Maybe.
T takes out his water bottle and took a swig.
T: Water tastes better than wine.
P: So what are your plans after our imagined 2012?
T: You know, the plans never changed.
P: What are you going to do tonight?
T: The same thing we do every night, Pinky — try to take over the world!
P: Ah, but then you'd have your term cut short.
T: True. Never stopped Obama.
P: Don't get me started on America.
T: Why not? Say, what's that.... Is that the bottom of your end of the Pacific Ocean? The water's retreated!
P: Look! I parted the sea with my brain power.
A column of water 250 meters high is approaching the rock outcrop really fast.
T: Good try, P. Time to get out of the tsunami simulator.
Both men walked out of the Science Centre.
T: I'm hungry.
P: Me too. Let's fly to Houston for lunch.
T: What? Fly to Houston? TF will be there but will there be lunch?
P: There better be. Or we'll eat him... Perhaps not. Not without the epilator.
T: You have an ax to grind with TF?
P: No. Yes. No. Yes....
T: I get it. Let's just eat something here. It says "Houston Dog."
P: Do you eat dog?
T: Yeah.
P: Real dogs?
T: Yes.
P: Real dogs really?
T: Yes yeah yessy.
P: Ew...
T: There.
T passed a Houston Dog to P, who took a bite. T watched as P as he ate his hotdog bun.
T: Are you familiar with the Chinese saying, "Hanging a goat's head but selling dog meat?"
P: Maybe. Why?
T: How does canine taste?
This blogpost also arose out of P's offering Taupo in place of Rapehu and his waiting for the Cook Strait tremblor.
Innocent bloggers have not been harmed in the course of writing this blogpost.
In some cold, windy coastal area in New Zealand (assuming not everywhere is like that)
T: That outcrop seems like a nice place to picnic today.
P: Hm...
Both men walk towards the rock jutting out to the Pacific Ocean. The sky is clear but a fine mist of the Pacific's spray lingers in the air. The briny smell reminds both men how close to the ocean they are. The sun is partially hidden behind some clouds, the winds threatening to blow away any word uttered.
P: You know, it is a stupid idea to sit here. What if the rock fractured off the rest and fell into the sea?
T: Then where would you prefer to sit?
P: Let's sit here.
T rolled his eyes for P's unnecessary outburst. P mutters under his breath, T overhears P saying we should have gotten the sick trio of Ol' Whig, Starsplash and TF to join us there.
T: Tell me more about your vision of the Cook Strait earthquake.
T takes a big bite of his sandwich, hoping that he wouldn't have to respond for as long as he could chew and keep the food in his mouth.
P: It comes. Booms...
T thought he heard "Boomz" and nearly spat out his food.
P: (contined) "cross fault." Runs between the tail of the Main Alpine Fault (the Southern Alps in effect) and the Wairarapa Fault.
T: Mm hm...
P: Last big one in 1851 or thereabouts. Probably 8+ Richter.
T thought he heard "loved the 3 guys to be here" but he wasn't too sure.
P: (continued) virtually the whole of Wellington would go.
T swallowed his food. He knew he'd better say something or P is going to turn his fire from the 3 missing men to him and he didn't think that a face-first pilgrimage to the jagged rocks below this outcrop would be a welcome traditional Maori welcome.
T: Tsunami?
T wasn't sure if P was listening but felt that utterance was courtesy enough. For now. Before long, T was certain P was in his own fantasy world.
P: Early afternoon on a Tuesday would be fine - Parliament in full cry - would solve a lot of political problems...
P takes a big bite into his sandwich the same time T turned to look at him and asked cheekily.
T: The 3 men...?
P feigned ignorance.
P: Oh, nice and crispy lettuce and cucumbers! You were saying?
T: (Damn it, wily old fox!) I mean, there'd be volcanic eruptions?
P looked far into the horizon as if someone is going to walk out from where the skies meet the waters. He chomped on his food pensively and thought. T wasn't sure if P wasn't deeply thinking. P finally swallowed his mouthful.
P: Probably if the plates were coordinated... Booms. They go off one by one.
T: And tsunamis too?
P: Perhaps.
T: But won't they cancel each other out?
P: Maybe volcanoes first. Then tsunami.
T: Volcanic ash columns and ash plumes followed by vapourisation of giant tidal waves.
P: We'll be steamed alive...
T: In a sulphurous pit no less.
P: Why'd think it's called Armeggedon?
T and P took another bite from their sandwich. Both men chewed in silence.
T: Where is a good place to begin all these carnage?
P: Anywhere is fine. Maybe America.
T: Why not Australia? Starts with A too, you know.
P: Great idea. And then what role is Singapore going to play?
T: We'll provide water sterilization tablets. You've got more cows than we have people, damn it.
P: You're really good at cussing, yah?
T: Yah. So, you want them tablets? Can help you purify the water and avoid diarrhoea.
P: I'm not sure... Ok. Save a pellet for me. Better store enough to last a long time.
T: I'll see what I can do.
Each takes another bite into the sandwich. T is out of sandwich, while P has a small piece of crust left.
T: You guys make small sandwiches.
P: Really?
T: I'm out. You've got another? I'm still hungry.
P: Maybe. Let's check the basket...
P rummages through the picnic basket and finds no more sandwiches.
P: Sorry. I think we ran out of cheese this morning. So there isn't more sandwiches.
T: What? Then what about bread?
P: There's a loaf at home.
T: (Muttering) If that isn't impetus enough to push you off...
P: Want an apple?
T: Ok.
P: Here.
T: Windfall?
P: How'd you guess?
T: It's all brown.
P: Oops. Wine?
T: I don't drink.
P: It's coming the end of the world anyway. Get drunk.
T: Maybe.
T takes out his water bottle and took a swig.
T: Water tastes better than wine.
P: So what are your plans after our imagined 2012?
T: You know, the plans never changed.
P: What are you going to do tonight?
T: The same thing we do every night, Pinky — try to take over the world!
P: Ah, but then you'd have your term cut short.
T: True. Never stopped Obama.
P: Don't get me started on America.
T: Why not? Say, what's that.... Is that the bottom of your end of the Pacific Ocean? The water's retreated!
P: Look! I parted the sea with my brain power.
A column of water 250 meters high is approaching the rock outcrop really fast.
T: Good try, P. Time to get out of the tsunami simulator.
Both men walked out of the Science Centre.
T: I'm hungry.
P: Me too. Let's fly to Houston for lunch.
T: What? Fly to Houston? TF will be there but will there be lunch?
P: There better be. Or we'll eat him... Perhaps not. Not without the epilator.
T: You have an ax to grind with TF?
P: No. Yes. No. Yes....
T: I get it. Let's just eat something here. It says "Houston Dog."
P: Do you eat dog?
T: Yeah.
P: Real dogs?
T: Yes.
P: Real dogs really?
T: Yes yeah yessy.
P: Ew...
T: There.
T passed a Houston Dog to P, who took a bite. T watched as P as he ate his hotdog bun.
T: Are you familiar with the Chinese saying, "Hanging a goat's head but selling dog meat?"
P: Maybe. Why?
T: How does canine taste?
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Badly written songs or poor singers
Some times, I don't blame her.
I mean, when song writers write songs, they should think about audience perception. Not everyone has the lyrics to the songs and not all singers can sing clearly.
For the longest time, I thought the chorus for Irreplaceable begins with "You must run over me, you must run over me..." and
All the Single Ladies began with "All the single legs, all the single legs..."
I'm not against singers showing off their vocal prowess or song writers trying to show off, but there is a limit to how many syllables can be shoved into a single hemidemisemiquaver note.
In Chinese songs, however, there are songs where the meanings get distorted. For instance,
has its lyrics been spoofed. It used to mean "Love's Anthem" and the new title is "Brother Piggy's Love". This spoof is not without history. Piggy, in Journey to the West (aka Monkey King), used to be a lascivious general in Heaven. He was banished to earth as a pig headed creature for running afoul with Heavenly Laws.
Of course, Jay Chou, with his garbled singing style, has had many of his songs turned R- or X-rated.
The ordinary (wo)man's perverted mind cannot be underestimated. But with all things, there must exist suitable impetus to spur the thoughts. The various poorly written songs and poorly executed songs have definitely played a large role in this.
We of course shall exclude intentionally perverted songs such as "The Horny Goatherd" from this discussion as that is a different story.
I mean, when song writers write songs, they should think about audience perception. Not everyone has the lyrics to the songs and not all singers can sing clearly.
For the longest time, I thought the chorus for Irreplaceable begins with "You must run over me, you must run over me..." and
All the Single Ladies began with "All the single legs, all the single legs..."
I'm not against singers showing off their vocal prowess or song writers trying to show off, but there is a limit to how many syllables can be shoved into a single hemidemisemiquaver note.
In Chinese songs, however, there are songs where the meanings get distorted. For instance,
has its lyrics been spoofed. It used to mean "Love's Anthem" and the new title is "Brother Piggy's Love". This spoof is not without history. Piggy, in Journey to the West (aka Monkey King), used to be a lascivious general in Heaven. He was banished to earth as a pig headed creature for running afoul with Heavenly Laws.
Of course, Jay Chou, with his garbled singing style, has had many of his songs turned R- or X-rated.
The ordinary (wo)man's perverted mind cannot be underestimated. But with all things, there must exist suitable impetus to spur the thoughts. The various poorly written songs and poorly executed songs have definitely played a large role in this.
We of course shall exclude intentionally perverted songs such as "The Horny Goatherd" from this discussion as that is a different story.
Friday, April 16, 2010
What we need next...
Following the Eyjafjallajoekull volcanic eruption, what we now need are ...
... Mayon (in the Philippines) erupts
... Etna (in Italy) erupts
... Kilauea (in Hawaii) erupts
... Asama (in Japan) erupts
... Ruapehu (in New Zealand) erupts
... Llaima and Chaitén (in Chile) erupt
and each sends a column of ash so big that we get 24/7 night for the next few months.
That would be so exciting.
I'm faking a "flash forward." I'm feeling so 2012 now. Hee hee...
... Mayon (in the Philippines) erupts
... Etna (in Italy) erupts
... Kilauea (in Hawaii) erupts
... Asama (in Japan) erupts
... Ruapehu (in New Zealand) erupts
... Llaima and Chaitén (in Chile) erupt
and each sends a column of ash so big that we get 24/7 night for the next few months.
That would be so exciting.
I'm faking a "flash forward." I'm feeling so 2012 now. Hee hee...
Forty Cents
My morning exercise session was followed by a visit to the vegetarian noodles stall where I bought two packets of noodles. It's always good to stock up a spare packet since I am usually the loser in the inertia fights, especially during my holiday breaks. Each packet costs $2.30 and I had a $5 note on me.
Thereafter, I had 40 cents. What can a man do with 40 cents?
Honestly, after I had scoured the entire neighbourhood, I found out that 40 cents can get me a half-past six curry puff from the malay stall near Shop and Save Supermarket.
It's really awfully pathetic, you know? I remember the days when my recess money was a mere 50 cents. What can one get for 40 cents these days?
Anyone?
Thereafter, I had 40 cents. What can a man do with 40 cents?
Honestly, after I had scoured the entire neighbourhood, I found out that 40 cents can get me a half-past six curry puff from the malay stall near Shop and Save Supermarket.
It's really awfully pathetic, you know? I remember the days when my recess money was a mere 50 cents. What can one get for 40 cents these days?
Anyone?
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Alternatives
Sometimes, it is easier to find a song that best reflects how you are feeling rather than to express it in words.
As I get older, there are things that aren't worth storage space in my mind any more. I don't recall many of the things that used to diss me lots when I was at the PRC School. Honestly, I only remember the gist - the key lessons if you prefer - of why I am who I am today.
And so, here is today's song selection. If I were to find a common theme, it would be Self.
As I get older, there are things that aren't worth storage space in my mind any more. I don't recall many of the things that used to diss me lots when I was at the PRC School. Honestly, I only remember the gist - the key lessons if you prefer - of why I am who I am today.
And so, here is today's song selection. If I were to find a common theme, it would be Self.
风筝
因为我知道你是个容易担心的小孩子
所以我将线交你手中 却也不敢飞得太远
不管我随着风飞翔到云间我希望你能看得见
就算我偶尔会贪玩迷了路也知道你在等着我
我是一个贪玩又自由的风筝每天都会让你担忧
如果有一天迷失风中 要如何回到你身边
因为我知道你是个容易担心的小孩子
所以我会在乌云来时轻轻滑落在你怀中
我是一个贪玩又自由的风筝每天都会让你担忧
如果有一天迷失风中 要如何回到你身边
贪玩又自由的风筝 每天都游戏在天空
如果有一天扯断了线 你是否会回来寻找我
如果有一天迷失风中 带我回到你的怀中
因为我知道你是个容易担心的小孩子
所以我在飞翔的时候 却也不敢飞得太远
可能是跟老婆交代的一首歌。可能老牛吃嫩草, 可能在外打架, 可能...
但是如果有一天迷失风中 带我回到你的怀中。绝世聪明坏男人还是懂得怎么做的。
但願人長久
明月幾時有 把酒問青天
不知天上宮闕 今夕是何年
我欲乘風歸去 唯恐瓊樓玉宇
高處不勝寒 起舞弄清影 何似在人間
轉朱閣低綺戶照無眠
不應有恨何事長向別時圓
人有悲歡離合 月有陰晴圓缺
此事古難全 但願人長久
千里共嬋娟
我欲乘風歸去 唯恐瓊樓玉宇
高處不勝寒 起舞弄清影
何似在人間
轉朱閣低綺戶照無眠
不應有恨何事長向別時圓
人有悲歡離合 月有陰晴圓缺
此事古難全 但願人長久
千里共嬋娟
王菲-紅豆
作詞：林夕 ／ 作曲：柳重言
還沒好好的感受 雪花綻放的氣候
我們一起顫抖 會更明白 甚麼是溫柔
還沒跟你牽著手 走過荒蕪的沙丘
可能從此以後 學會珍惜 天長和地久
有時候 有時候 我會相信一切有盡頭
相聚離開 都有時候 沒有甚麼會永垂不朽
可是我 有時候 寧願選擇留戀不放手
等到風景都看透 也許你會陪我 看細水長流
還沒為你把紅豆 熬成纏綿的傷口
然後一起分享 會更明白 相思的哀愁
還沒好好的感受 醒著親吻的溫柔
可能在我左右 你才追求 孤獨的自由
有時候 有時候 我會相信一切有盡頭
相聚離開 都有時候 沒有甚麼會永垂不朽
可是我 有時候 寧願選擇留戀不放手
等到風景都看透 也許你會陪我 看細水長流
Familiarly Remote
Just visited my alma mater last week to conduct a training session for some of the students.
It's been more than 2 decades since I've graduated and honestly, apart from the familiar school crest and the school motto, nothing I saw that day even resembled what I remembered as a student there.
I saw monkeys. Students have lost the ability to behave themselves. Discipline is lax and poor conduct was rampant. There was noise. Sheer pandemonium. Endless senseless screaming, running around, messing around. It was nothing like the erudite atmosphere that we had in the past.
I met an ex-teacher and not unexpectedly, she couldn't quite remember who I was. It was after all more than twenty years. I took a look at the staff photo and saw a few familiar faces. Those were the teachers who had taught me when I was a student there. However, was I going to face more "You look familiar but I can't quite remember your name?"
I finished my lesson quickly and made a rapid exit.
The school is now entirely different from the nurturing place I used to remember. Or is my memory failing...?
It's been more than 2 decades since I've graduated and honestly, apart from the familiar school crest and the school motto, nothing I saw that day even resembled what I remembered as a student there.
I saw monkeys. Students have lost the ability to behave themselves. Discipline is lax and poor conduct was rampant. There was noise. Sheer pandemonium. Endless senseless screaming, running around, messing around. It was nothing like the erudite atmosphere that we had in the past.
I met an ex-teacher and not unexpectedly, she couldn't quite remember who I was. It was after all more than twenty years. I took a look at the staff photo and saw a few familiar faces. Those were the teachers who had taught me when I was a student there. However, was I going to face more "You look familiar but I can't quite remember your name?"
I finished my lesson quickly and made a rapid exit.
The school is now entirely different from the nurturing place I used to remember. Or is my memory failing...?
Thursday, April 01, 2010
HDB Millionnaire?
My darling government should be concerned. In fact, it should be very concerned. Clearly, Singaporeans are now not afraid of their government. At least, not in the investment realms. Ok, add marriage and having babies to that list of things that Singaporeans simply don't care two hoots about what the men and women in white are urging us to do.
Singapore is likely to witness the first case of an HDB apartment - with a 99-year lease - to be transacted at a whisker under $1 million dollars. For those like my fortunate friends in the US who are not aware of leased land, the government allows Singaporeans to own their HDB flats for a lease period of 99 years. While that is stated on paper, Singaporeans will have to give up their flat should the government want to conduct en bloc upgrading of the estate or when the housing lease is up, whichever is sooner. At the current state, the former is happening more frequently than the latter. I have yet to see 99-year-old flats being repossessed by the state.
I shall not delve into the ethics of evicting me from my home - technically, I am not even an HDB apartment owner - or discuss the immorality of forcing me into another housing loan for a new flat that I don't want - many other Singaporeans cannot wait to move out of their free-range chicken farm into a chicken coop - but I shall say that HDB housing, a right of Singaporeans, is now becoming elusive.
It is so elusive that a single man can expect to fork out his arm, his leg and may be what hangs between his leg to buy an HDB flat. And add to that, he can pledge his heart, corneas, lungs, kidneys, and testicles even (!), to secure a housing loan, which he can expect to service for the rest of his life. (The gender under question is intentional - a woman "can expect to service for the rest of her life" sounds way too colourful for the G-rated nature of this innocent looking blog. *Blinks innocently*)
Now that the Bishan Executive Mansionette is going for S$900,000, Singaporeans are now of the belief that the shit hole they live in is worth twice as much as was valued by the HDB valuers.
Before we go forward, let us take a giant step back to see this travesty through the eyes of this innocent blogger. *Blink blink blink (think Bambi)* Let's do some sums!
Total value of unit - $900,000
Cash-over-valuation - $170,000 (This portion needs to be paid for in cash!)
Valuation - $730,000 (I don't quite believe this; EM valuation hardly break 700k)
5% cash downpayment on Valuation - $36,500
15% cash/CPF downpayment on Valuation - $109,500
80% or less bank loan on Valuation - $584,000 (If you decide to take a smaller loan, you have to fork out even more cash or CPF.)
In other words, this buyer has a total of at least $206,500 in cash sitting freely around! House buyers (or potential ones) know that there is still stamp duties to be paid on the house and lawyer fees!
How in the world did this happen?
Many worker bees like us are required to either go out and collect pollen and feed the hive or spend the whole time breeding the Queen Bitch. I mean, the Queen Bee. For the pittance we are often paid, how do we accumulate $200,000 in cash at all? I am hard pressed to come up with HALF that amount, much less have the full $200,000 lying around.
Given the CPF caps that are applied since two recessions ago, CPF is paid for the first $4500 of our salaries. This is again a complicated calculation process but it is suffice to say that there is very little likelihood to build a CPF to that grand scale as above.
Although market watchers will dismiss these HDB windfalls (for the owners) to be one-off, most houseowners will be emboldened by the news and begin withdrawing their units from the market and relaunch them at even higher prices. I have already experienced that with a few units I viewed recently. What will this world come to?
How is it possible for a single Singaporean man to own a roof these days? *Continues in his search for the Widowed Childless Rich Old Dying Datin*
Singapore is likely to witness the first case of an HDB apartment - with a 99-year lease - to be transacted at a whisker under $1 million dollars. For those like my fortunate friends in the US who are not aware of leased land, the government allows Singaporeans to own their HDB flats for a lease period of 99 years. While that is stated on paper, Singaporeans will have to give up their flat should the government want to conduct en bloc upgrading of the estate or when the housing lease is up, whichever is sooner. At the current state, the former is happening more frequently than the latter. I have yet to see 99-year-old flats being repossessed by the state.
I shall not delve into the ethics of evicting me from my home - technically, I am not even an HDB apartment owner - or discuss the immorality of forcing me into another housing loan for a new flat that I don't want - many other Singaporeans cannot wait to move out of their free-range chicken farm into a chicken coop - but I shall say that HDB housing, a right of Singaporeans, is now becoming elusive.
It is so elusive that a single man can expect to fork out his arm, his leg and may be what hangs between his leg to buy an HDB flat. And add to that, he can pledge his heart, corneas, lungs, kidneys, and testicles even (!), to secure a housing loan, which he can expect to service for the rest of his life. (The gender under question is intentional - a woman "can expect to service for the rest of her life" sounds way too colourful for the G-rated nature of this innocent looking blog. *Blinks innocently*)
Now that the Bishan Executive Mansionette is going for S$900,000, Singaporeans are now of the belief that the shit hole they live in is worth twice as much as was valued by the HDB valuers.
Before we go forward, let us take a giant step back to see this travesty through the eyes of this innocent blogger. *Blink blink blink (think Bambi)* Let's do some sums!
Total value of unit - $900,000
Cash-over-valuation - $170,000 (This portion needs to be paid for in cash!)
Valuation - $730,000 (I don't quite believe this; EM valuation hardly break 700k)
5% cash downpayment on Valuation - $36,500
15% cash/CPF downpayment on Valuation - $109,500
80% or less bank loan on Valuation - $584,000 (If you decide to take a smaller loan, you have to fork out even more cash or CPF.)
In other words, this buyer has a total of at least $206,500 in cash sitting freely around! House buyers (or potential ones) know that there is still stamp duties to be paid on the house and lawyer fees!
How in the world did this happen?
Many worker bees like us are required to either go out and collect pollen and feed the hive or spend the whole time breeding the Queen Bitch. I mean, the Queen Bee. For the pittance we are often paid, how do we accumulate $200,000 in cash at all? I am hard pressed to come up with HALF that amount, much less have the full $200,000 lying around.
Given the CPF caps that are applied since two recessions ago, CPF is paid for the first $4500 of our salaries. This is again a complicated calculation process but it is suffice to say that there is very little likelihood to build a CPF to that grand scale as above.
Although market watchers will dismiss these HDB windfalls (for the owners) to be one-off, most houseowners will be emboldened by the news and begin withdrawing their units from the market and relaunch them at even higher prices. I have already experienced that with a few units I viewed recently. What will this world come to?
How is it possible for a single Singaporean man to own a roof these days? *Continues in his search for the Widowed Childless Rich Old Dying Datin*
Friday, March 26, 2010
The Mathematical Brain
This post is synonymously titled with "The Mathematical Brain" by Brian Butterworth. I first read that book when I was a trainee teacher in 2001 and since then, my view of mathematics learning has changed radically.
Now I see there is actually a place for mathematics haters. They really have a place - far far away from me.
I'm not against people struggling with mathematics but I wonder why people wouldn't try. I know interest counts for a lot and I concede that point about interest. But then, if one weren't interested, explain why one would come for Mathematical Olympiad training sessions?
Question for the day:
Which of the following products is bigger?
20092010 * 2011 or 20112010 * 2009
Now I see there is actually a place for mathematics haters. They really have a place - far far away from me.
I'm not against people struggling with mathematics but I wonder why people wouldn't try. I know interest counts for a lot and I concede that point about interest. But then, if one weren't interested, explain why one would come for Mathematical Olympiad training sessions?
Question for the day:
Which of the following products is bigger?
20092010 * 2011 or 20112010 * 2009
Gaps
There had been occasions when I told myself to blog but when I finally reach home, I am only energized for bed.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Answering a Stern Question
The laptop came back with a new LCD screen, a new keyboard and an updated BIOS. However, the most irritating problem of the flying cursor was not solved.
Eventually, the critical data were saved out and then the entire hard disk was wiped clean and reformatted.
No cloths were dirtied in the process.
I'm still regaining my balance on the new laptop and this post is done at work.
Class begins in 35 minutes and I'm not so much looking forward to it. Yet it has to be done.
Eventually, the critical data were saved out and then the entire hard disk was wiped clean and reformatted.
No cloths were dirtied in the process.
I'm still regaining my balance on the new laptop and this post is done at work.
Class begins in 35 minutes and I'm not so much looking forward to it. Yet it has to be done.
Monday, March 08, 2010
No fool like the old fool
There’s no fool like an old fool and this, I do know
It’s really quite disgusting and horribly saddening
To be brought down so low.
There’s no fool like a blind fool whose who pokes himself
In the very eye,
Blindness is a mental condition; it clouds the clearest of vision
And its realization, oh my.
A blind fool and an old fool are a sad fool, yes, indeed
One finds it through ones’ own struggling
While others laughingly pay heed.
Tis a sad business and this business I wish it were not so
Our Dreams suddenly shatter and we find ourselves in the weather
And in mirrors our reality doth show.
And on with the show…..
It’s really quite disgusting and horribly saddening
To be brought down so low.
There’s no fool like a blind fool whose who pokes himself
In the very eye,
Blindness is a mental condition; it clouds the clearest of vision
And its realization, oh my.
A blind fool and an old fool are a sad fool, yes, indeed
One finds it through ones’ own struggling
While others laughingly pay heed.
Tis a sad business and this business I wish it were not so
Our Dreams suddenly shatter and we find ourselves in the weather
And in mirrors our reality doth show.
And on with the show…..
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Laptop on Leave
My laptop is finally taking a break at the HP service centre.
Among other things, it has a broken key "4". There was no way to reattach it. It has a mouse pad that is so hypersensitive that wind from the fan can move the cursor around! It has a fan that is not working. The lap top gets so hot that it shuts down by itself for self preservation. It has a intermittently not working USB port. You can lose connection to whatever you attach there as you wish. There is a screen that flickers when you work the lap top hard.
The laptop has worked really hard and it is now being restored. Thank god for the extended warranty. Let's hope they do the necessary "organ" transplants.
Among other things, it has a broken key "4". There was no way to reattach it. It has a mouse pad that is so hypersensitive that wind from the fan can move the cursor around! It has a fan that is not working. The lap top gets so hot that it shuts down by itself for self preservation. It has a intermittently not working USB port. You can lose connection to whatever you attach there as you wish. There is a screen that flickers when you work the lap top hard.
The laptop has worked really hard and it is now being restored. Thank god for the extended warranty. Let's hope they do the necessary "organ" transplants.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Teaching Conflict Management
The bitch fight arose when I was teaching my oral communication class conflict management. The students in the class are preparatory year students hoping to be admitted to the university after the necessary tests and interviews. All of them are foreigners. So, this is how the story went:
Two girls - a Burmese and an Indonesian - were supposed to do role play. Miss Myanmar was supposed to be an insistent comment giver, regardless of the receiver's interest in hearing them. She criticised the Miss Indonesia's slides and asked her to put in a blue background for the slides to make them look more professional.
The Indonesian retorted saying that the slides "are meant for university. Why choose blue? Do you think this is the beach?"
Of course, slang and accent were in play here and Miss Myanmar looked at Miss Indonesia in disbelief and asked, "What did you call me?" She then turned to the class and asked, "What did she call me? Bitch?"
By then, there was a huge commotion in class and the kids made things worse by replying, "She (Miss Indon) said 'beach'" to Miss Myanmar. Things became worse when the next lines that came out was, "Beach, you know, beach?" A lot of laughter was going on at that moment and Miss Indonesia added "fuel" by telling Miss Myanmar, "I said beach. The beach..." Miss Myanmar was really perturbed until someone finally said, "Beach, you know. B-E-A-C-H."
There was so much laughter in the class. I guess the students and I never had such fun since the class began. To be honest, I was almost rolling on the floor with laughter.
Miss Myanmar finally figured out her faux pas and the play acting continued to the end. I think many other people will be talking about this singular episode. How appropriate that conflict management found its most natural teaching point. And how truly important, teaching table talk!
Two girls - a Burmese and an Indonesian - were supposed to do role play. Miss Myanmar was supposed to be an insistent comment giver, regardless of the receiver's interest in hearing them. She criticised the Miss Indonesia's slides and asked her to put in a blue background for the slides to make them look more professional.
The Indonesian retorted saying that the slides "are meant for university. Why choose blue? Do you think this is the beach?"
Of course, slang and accent were in play here and Miss Myanmar looked at Miss Indonesia in disbelief and asked, "What did you call me?" She then turned to the class and asked, "What did she call me? Bitch?"
By then, there was a huge commotion in class and the kids made things worse by replying, "She (Miss Indon) said 'beach'" to Miss Myanmar. Things became worse when the next lines that came out was, "Beach, you know, beach?" A lot of laughter was going on at that moment and Miss Indonesia added "fuel" by telling Miss Myanmar, "I said beach. The beach..." Miss Myanmar was really perturbed until someone finally said, "Beach, you know. B-E-A-C-H."
There was so much laughter in the class. I guess the students and I never had such fun since the class began. To be honest, I was almost rolling on the floor with laughter.
Miss Myanmar finally figured out her faux pas and the play acting continued to the end. I think many other people will be talking about this singular episode. How appropriate that conflict management found its most natural teaching point. And how truly important, teaching table talk!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
What you don't know...
... I taught 7 hours and was in a meeting for an hour over a 9 hour stretch during my lunar birthday. That absolutely sucked the life out of me.
... Did three writing lectures last week. The students had to submit a 5 page paper three weeks later but most have not even read the assignment question, which apparently had been distributed to the class some 5 weeks ago. I spoke to the wall and I spoke Greek.
... Chinese New Year was very boring. I haven't eaten anything more than 3 pineapple tarts as of today and I don't intend to eat very many more. I wish I were less tired but I think I caught one of those symptomless flus. I'm just awfully tired.
... I had a spate of reasonable luck playing mahjong this year. I didn't play with real money but I don't really care. I just needed something to kill the time.
... I ordered a 3 kg "huat kuey" for Chinese New Year for collection on Friday. It was supposed to be placed on my dining table for the CNY period - huay kuey symbolises prosperity and we typically let it turn mouldy before discarding it - but on Saturday, the even of CNY, when I unwrapped the packaging of the huat kuey, it has already turned mouldy. Well, I'll just have an uber prosperous new year.
... Did three writing lectures last week. The students had to submit a 5 page paper three weeks later but most have not even read the assignment question, which apparently had been distributed to the class some 5 weeks ago. I spoke to the wall and I spoke Greek.
... Chinese New Year was very boring. I haven't eaten anything more than 3 pineapple tarts as of today and I don't intend to eat very many more. I wish I were less tired but I think I caught one of those symptomless flus. I'm just awfully tired.
... I had a spate of reasonable luck playing mahjong this year. I didn't play with real money but I don't really care. I just needed something to kill the time.
... I ordered a 3 kg "huat kuey" for Chinese New Year for collection on Friday. It was supposed to be placed on my dining table for the CNY period - huay kuey symbolises prosperity and we typically let it turn mouldy before discarding it - but on Saturday, the even of CNY, when I unwrapped the packaging of the huat kuey, it has already turned mouldy. Well, I'll just have an uber prosperous new year.
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Let it snow snow snow...
My friends staying in the US "snopocalypse" belt are going to face yet another snow/sleet storm in a few hours. There may be a couple or more feet of cold white stuff descending on them.
Many of them have found ways of getting around this. However, from the outside looking it, they seem to be facing a weather problem caused by a broken Christmas Carol record playing "Let it snow."
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow snow snow snow...
Cheer up, guys! Spring is coming!
Many of them have found ways of getting around this. However, from the outside looking it, they seem to be facing a weather problem caused by a broken Christmas Carol record playing "Let it snow."
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow snow snow snow...
Cheer up, guys! Spring is coming!
Saturday, February 06, 2010
No more talk of darkness
Forget these wide eyed fears
I'm here, no one can harm you...
Just a particularly difficult period to adjust to due to the number of suddenly occurring events that require my immediate attention.
I try my best to tell myself that it will blow over, it will be peaceful and smooth sailing but my powers of persuasion - at least for the self - is not effective this time.
There are changes that are supposed to but not bringing about changes. It's a mild frustration.
There are changes that are supposed to have taken place but have not taken place. It's a matter of time and space and work is winning.
There are changes that are not supposed to even happen but they are taking place. It's a strain on my precious little time, time which could otherwise be used for getting work done.
And then there are changes.
I know I will come out on top of this pile feeling stronger and better but it just feels weird to be running constantly into brick walls.
I guess it is in the stars.
Just had a online tarot reading. It is almost entirely countrapunctal to what I am feeling now. Even the "gods" are more upbeat than I am. Perhaps I should do what I was told - stop going after perfection.
It's a fault. I know. But failed perfection is still an attempt that will deliver stellar results.
I should take it easy. I've done my preparations and I'll just let things go. It's not like I've never done it before.
I'm here, no one can harm you...
Just a particularly difficult period to adjust to due to the number of suddenly occurring events that require my immediate attention.
I try my best to tell myself that it will blow over, it will be peaceful and smooth sailing but my powers of persuasion - at least for the self - is not effective this time.
There are changes that are supposed to but not bringing about changes. It's a mild frustration.
There are changes that are supposed to have taken place but have not taken place. It's a matter of time and space and work is winning.
There are changes that are not supposed to even happen but they are taking place. It's a strain on my precious little time, time which could otherwise be used for getting work done.
And then there are changes.
I know I will come out on top of this pile feeling stronger and better but it just feels weird to be running constantly into brick walls.
I guess it is in the stars.
Just had a online tarot reading. It is almost entirely countrapunctal to what I am feeling now. Even the "gods" are more upbeat than I am. Perhaps I should do what I was told - stop going after perfection.
It's a fault. I know. But failed perfection is still an attempt that will deliver stellar results.
I should take it easy. I've done my preparations and I'll just let things go. It's not like I've never done it before.
Friday, February 05, 2010
The Linear Human Mind
It can't turn-around
It never amazes me that students cannot appreciate when you write something like
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9
= 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5
+ 9 + 8 + 7 + 6
= (1 + 9) + (2 + 8) + (3 + 7) + (4 + 6) + 5
= 4 * 10 + 5
= 45
The second step of the turn-around almost always eludes them.
Actually, another way of going about to do the same thing is:
S = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9
If we invert the sum, we get
S = 9 + 8 + 7 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1.
Adding both sides, we get
2S = (1 + 9) + (2 + 8) + (3 + 7) + (4 + 6) + (5 + 5) + (6 + 4) + (7 + 3) + (2 + 8) + (9 + 1)
2S = 2(1 + 9) + 2(2 + 8) + 2(3 + 7) + 2(4 + 6) + 2(5)
Therefore, dividing both sides by 2, we get
S = (1 + 9) + (2 + 8) + (3 + 7) + (4 + 6) + 5
= 4 * 10 + 5
= 45.
I have no idea why it took our kids such a long time to figure out that both ways are the same.
Our learners expect a lot of crutches and hand holding. They want to be told how to think. They don't want to think. And that is worrying me.
Many conundrums in life require time and, if not mere elbow grease, mental grease. Our brains are there to work things out. We need to spend time to work things out.
It can't pick up new tricks
The human mind is also so trained to finding the final solution that it often forgets that the final solution is not exactly the solution we are looking for.
For instance, what is the value of the second last digit of the sum
66669 + 6669 + 669 + 69 + 9?
Many students are very content to solve the entire sum proclaim that the answer is 74 082.
They plain forgot that the answer is looking out for the second last digit.
Teach the child to use a butcher's knife and s/he'll use it even to kill a little chick.
After you teach them some technique to solve questions that involve larger numbers, they immediately resort to the technique without asking themselves if it was necessary.
For instance, how does one solve
8 + 18 + 28 + 38 + 48 + 58 + 68 + 78 + 88 - 9 * 8?
It is amazing that few realise that the answer is as simple as:
8 + 18 + 28 + 38 + 48 + 58 + 68 + 78 + 88 - 9 * 8
= 10 + 20 + 30 + 40 + 50 + 60 + 70 + 80
= 360.
I guess all I can say is creativity and innovation requires a keen eye for detail and an open mind to consider all possibilities.
We may have become too reliant on fixed gauges of success that we have forgotten the true measure of a person is on his/her extended ability to apply what s/he has learnt in school for life and not merely to solve test-style problems.
It never amazes me that students cannot appreciate when you write something like
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9
= 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5
+ 9 + 8 + 7 + 6
= (1 + 9) + (2 + 8) + (3 + 7) + (4 + 6) + 5
= 4 * 10 + 5
= 45
The second step of the turn-around almost always eludes them.
Actually, another way of going about to do the same thing is:
S = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9
If we invert the sum, we get
S = 9 + 8 + 7 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1.
Adding both sides, we get
2S = (1 + 9) + (2 + 8) + (3 + 7) + (4 + 6) + (5 + 5) + (6 + 4) + (7 + 3) + (2 + 8) + (9 + 1)
2S = 2(1 + 9) + 2(2 + 8) + 2(3 + 7) + 2(4 + 6) + 2(5)
Therefore, dividing both sides by 2, we get
S = (1 + 9) + (2 + 8) + (3 + 7) + (4 + 6) + 5
= 4 * 10 + 5
= 45.
I have no idea why it took our kids such a long time to figure out that both ways are the same.
Our learners expect a lot of crutches and hand holding. They want to be told how to think. They don't want to think. And that is worrying me.
Many conundrums in life require time and, if not mere elbow grease, mental grease. Our brains are there to work things out. We need to spend time to work things out.
It can't pick up new tricks
The human mind is also so trained to finding the final solution that it often forgets that the final solution is not exactly the solution we are looking for.
For instance, what is the value of the second last digit of the sum
66669 + 6669 + 669 + 69 + 9?
Many students are very content to solve the entire sum proclaim that the answer is 74 082.
They plain forgot that the answer is looking out for the second last digit.
Teach the child to use a butcher's knife and s/he'll use it even to kill a little chick.
After you teach them some technique to solve questions that involve larger numbers, they immediately resort to the technique without asking themselves if it was necessary.
For instance, how does one solve
8 + 18 + 28 + 38 + 48 + 58 + 68 + 78 + 88 - 9 * 8?
It is amazing that few realise that the answer is as simple as:
8 + 18 + 28 + 38 + 48 + 58 + 68 + 78 + 88 - 9 * 8
= 10 + 20 + 30 + 40 + 50 + 60 + 70 + 80
= 360.
I guess all I can say is creativity and innovation requires a keen eye for detail and an open mind to consider all possibilities.
We may have become too reliant on fixed gauges of success that we have forgotten the true measure of a person is on his/her extended ability to apply what s/he has learnt in school for life and not merely to solve test-style problems.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Tired
Things have been moving at a breakneck speed.
Tomorrow, I begin something new... and honestly, I'm very tired.
Exhausted.
But happy.
Tomorrow, I begin something new... and honestly, I'm very tired.
Exhausted.
But happy.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Subconscious connections
Overhead in the news a few days ago that a Haitian man was pulled out of a rubble alive after being buried inside there for 11 days.
Actually, long before the news came out, I was already thinking about cockroaches, which are known for their ability to stay alive for weeks despite being decapitated.
Incredible resilience!
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Overhead on my morning walk/jog as I overtook two Indian ladies who occupied the entire five-foot path as they were walking abreast (and not in an Indian file).
"You know, I checked his compo and I asked if he knows how to write."
"..."
"They are all small words. What does he expect to get with all small words?"
I recalled then I read somewhere that Indian men have, within Asia, among the largest reproductive organs.
I wonder if the matchmakers would go, "It is all so small. What does he expect to get...?"
Size queens?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
A student who was stricken with chicken pox came to school despite getting a 7-day medical leave from the doctor.
She was probably concerned about her status as a guest student at the school, or she might have been shut out of the flat that she shared with two other schoolmates.
The school did not wish to have anything to do with the student as she was a guest and she wasn't putting up at the school hostel.
Her teachers were only too eager to get her to go home.
As I sat listening to this, images of ebola and leprosy came to my mind.
It's only chicken pox, a childhood disease. It is pitiful enough that a student far away from home is stricken with it.
Is chicken pox the new ebola?
And then I said, "She should be sent to the Communicable Disease Centre, since that's our default quarantine centre."
Are we basically good or basically bad?
Actually, long before the news came out, I was already thinking about cockroaches, which are known for their ability to stay alive for weeks despite being decapitated.
Incredible resilience!
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Overhead on my morning walk/jog as I overtook two Indian ladies who occupied the entire five-foot path as they were walking abreast (and not in an Indian file).
"You know, I checked his compo and I asked if he knows how to write."
"..."
"They are all small words. What does he expect to get with all small words?"
I recalled then I read somewhere that Indian men have, within Asia, among the largest reproductive organs.
I wonder if the matchmakers would go, "It is all so small. What does he expect to get...?"
Size queens?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
A student who was stricken with chicken pox came to school despite getting a 7-day medical leave from the doctor.
She was probably concerned about her status as a guest student at the school, or she might have been shut out of the flat that she shared with two other schoolmates.
The school did not wish to have anything to do with the student as she was a guest and she wasn't putting up at the school hostel.
Her teachers were only too eager to get her to go home.
As I sat listening to this, images of ebola and leprosy came to my mind.
It's only chicken pox, a childhood disease. It is pitiful enough that a student far away from home is stricken with it.
Is chicken pox the new ebola?
And then I said, "She should be sent to the Communicable Disease Centre, since that's our default quarantine centre."
Are we basically good or basically bad?
Get well note to TSBHD
I read with horror that BHD slipped and fell and, in the process, fractured his ankle. (Let me check if it is the right or left ankle, though I'd think left as this man claims he has 40 left feet.)
Oh mi gawd! He broke his 41st leg, the right one! Poor guy. He was actually helping to steady a senior when he lost balance himself and went down.
I feel very sorry for him but I'm really glad he was wearing a pair of boots when he fell. I'd guess that the support from the boot allowed the break to be "clean" rather than comminuted (aka many fractured bone fragments, which is common in ankle fractures given the multiple bones that make up the ankle), though "severe," as his doctor has claimed.
True, ankle fractures are usually very severe and I hope BHD will take good care of himself and let the injury heal at its own time. No amount of rushing the recovery will do any good. The human ankles support so much weight that an improperly healed break could give future problems ranging from arthritis to muscluar and joint weaknesses to further - and more serious - fractures! I hope the caregivers have their tranquilizer guns to keep our "Energizer Bunny running on AC on the sly" in bed and at rest. That's the only way he can recover.
Well, being over 9000 miles away from him, the only thing I can do is to write to him and cheer him up a little. It seems to me that the seniors he looked after are also helping out by taking care of the sen(i)or-in-training too. Makes me feel better this way.
So, I need to unpack (sorry, BHD, on alluding to the packages again but I really did think of TSBHD before I read your blogposts!) what I meant by the initials TSBHD.
See, BHD takes pride to be in boots as far as he can help it. So, I've written to him last night to imagine that the cast he is wearing is also a boot, albeit a very hard one (which he, unfortunately, will never be able to break in). That's the idea! While we wear boots to protect our feet, the sturdier the boot, the more protection and support we get. BHD just got the sturdiest boot.
So, if he were to put on one left boot and wear the cast on the right foot, he is now Temporarily Semi-Booted Harley Dude. There you go.
Don't nitpick on terminology on why it is not THBHD - the half-booted... Half is simply not correct. He can have a knee high Wesco boot on his left leg and a knee high Hosco (Hospital Company) boot on his right foot - semi, it is.
BHD, get well soon!
Oh mi gawd! He broke his 41st leg, the right one! Poor guy. He was actually helping to steady a senior when he lost balance himself and went down.
I feel very sorry for him but I'm really glad he was wearing a pair of boots when he fell. I'd guess that the support from the boot allowed the break to be "clean" rather than comminuted (aka many fractured bone fragments, which is common in ankle fractures given the multiple bones that make up the ankle), though "severe," as his doctor has claimed.
True, ankle fractures are usually very severe and I hope BHD will take good care of himself and let the injury heal at its own time. No amount of rushing the recovery will do any good. The human ankles support so much weight that an improperly healed break could give future problems ranging from arthritis to muscluar and joint weaknesses to further - and more serious - fractures! I hope the caregivers have their tranquilizer guns to keep our "Energizer Bunny running on AC on the sly" in bed and at rest. That's the only way he can recover.
Well, being over 9000 miles away from him, the only thing I can do is to write to him and cheer him up a little. It seems to me that the seniors he looked after are also helping out by taking care of the sen(i)or-in-training too. Makes me feel better this way.
So, I need to unpack (sorry, BHD, on alluding to the packages again but I really did think of TSBHD before I read your blogposts!) what I meant by the initials TSBHD.
See, BHD takes pride to be in boots as far as he can help it. So, I've written to him last night to imagine that the cast he is wearing is also a boot, albeit a very hard one (which he, unfortunately, will never be able to break in). That's the idea! While we wear boots to protect our feet, the sturdier the boot, the more protection and support we get. BHD just got the sturdiest boot.
So, if he were to put on one left boot and wear the cast on the right foot, he is now Temporarily Semi-Booted Harley Dude. There you go.
Don't nitpick on terminology on why it is not THBHD - the half-booted... Half is simply not correct. He can have a knee high Wesco boot on his left leg and a knee high Hosco (Hospital Company) boot on his right foot - semi, it is.
BHD, get well soon!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
There are those who don't get it
How do you explain the outcome when one person out of three that you meet at the same time for a writing conference fails to write anything logical at the end of the hour when the other two got their act together after 30 minutes?
How do you explain this one person when 17 others before the person all managed to get their act together in the time alloted to them?
How do you think one can make knowledge by writing some things and erasing what was written in endless cycles?
How do you expect to write something so mangled I cannot commit to memory and yet expect me to accept it as a thesis statement?
How do you expect...
How do you explain this one person when 17 others before the person all managed to get their act together in the time alloted to them?
How do you think one can make knowledge by writing some things and erasing what was written in endless cycles?
How do you expect to write something so mangled I cannot commit to memory and yet expect me to accept it as a thesis statement?
How do you expect...
Saturday, January 09, 2010
I think he'll have you beheaded
Ate at Emperor Q (Q for Qianlong) at the revamped West Coast Plaza (formerly Ginza Plaza) at West Coast Road.
I didn't think Q would have eaten Peranakan achar (pickled fruits and vegetables) and icing sugar frosted peanuts. Neither do I think the imperial kitchen would have the balls to serve Hui Guo Rou (or Twice Cooked Pork), presumably a peasant dish. I didn't even think Q would eat pot stickers wrapped in skins the texture of semi-dehydrated chewed gum!
While Q is known for his magnanimity, I'm pretty certain that he'll have the chefs and wait staff of the Emperor Q restaurant decapitated without batting an eyelid.
What a flagrant abuse of Q's good name and a terrible transgression of culinary faith!
Details
There were 38 dishes on the buffet menu but 1 was not available. As we don't eat beef, there wasn't much left to choose.
Appetisers - Boiled pork hock with ginger sauce (C), pickled jellyfish (D), drunken chicken (D),
Dim sum - pot stickers (F), siew mai aka meat dumplings (D), prawns wrapped in beancurd skin (D - more skin than prawns), ngoh hiang aka prawn and meat rolls (F)
Soup - Steam minced pork soup in bamboo cup (B)
Mains - Double cooked pork (D), deep fried prawn balls with crispy sauce (B), fried prawn paste chicken (B - waited half an hour for 2 pieces), fried fish in ginger and spring onions (B)
Carbo - Szechuan minced pork noodles (C)
Dessert - Soft serve ice cream with mango sauce topping (C), black sesame paste with glutinous rice dumplings (F - considering EQ is a sister restaurant of MOF!), barley with beancurd sheets and gingko nuts (F), honey dew sago (F)
Service - F (You are nobody nobody... NOBODY NOBODY! No one came even once to check if I needed a top up for my water.)
It's time: Someone can deliver the imperial edict to have the entire staff CHOPPED.
I didn't think Q would have eaten Peranakan achar (pickled fruits and vegetables) and icing sugar frosted peanuts. Neither do I think the imperial kitchen would have the balls to serve Hui Guo Rou (or Twice Cooked Pork), presumably a peasant dish. I didn't even think Q would eat pot stickers wrapped in skins the texture of semi-dehydrated chewed gum!
While Q is known for his magnanimity, I'm pretty certain that he'll have the chefs and wait staff of the Emperor Q restaurant decapitated without batting an eyelid.
What a flagrant abuse of Q's good name and a terrible transgression of culinary faith!
Details
There were 38 dishes on the buffet menu but 1 was not available. As we don't eat beef, there wasn't much left to choose.
Appetisers - Boiled pork hock with ginger sauce (C), pickled jellyfish (D), drunken chicken (D),
Dim sum - pot stickers (F), siew mai aka meat dumplings (D), prawns wrapped in beancurd skin (D - more skin than prawns), ngoh hiang aka prawn and meat rolls (F)
Soup - Steam minced pork soup in bamboo cup (B)
Mains - Double cooked pork (D), deep fried prawn balls with crispy sauce (B), fried prawn paste chicken (B - waited half an hour for 2 pieces), fried fish in ginger and spring onions (B)
Carbo - Szechuan minced pork noodles (C)
Dessert - Soft serve ice cream with mango sauce topping (C), black sesame paste with glutinous rice dumplings (F - considering EQ is a sister restaurant of MOF!), barley with beancurd sheets and gingko nuts (F), honey dew sago (F)
Service - F (You are nobody nobody... NOBODY NOBODY! No one came even once to check if I needed a top up for my water.)
It's time: Someone can deliver the imperial edict to have the entire staff CHOPPED.
Friday, January 08, 2010
When you are at it long enough...
I have a phantom student taking the course I'm teaching for the third time. Apparently, he no-showed all the way during the first two times he was assigned the course. So far, he no showed both lessons. Looks like I'm going to have to give an F grade this time.
Shit happens.
Shit happens.
Monday, January 04, 2010
Celebrating the Noughties: A decade of collective stupidity
1. 2000 - the new millennium.
For Pete's (or insert name of your favourite Mathematician) sake, can you count?
I still have not figured out how we could begin the third millennium in the year 2000. Ok, this is involved mathematics and for those who are mathematically challenged, go to point 2. For those who have some basic inkling of basic mathematics, this should not be difficult.
Anno Domini begins in year 1. 1000 years in a millennium, so end of the first millennium is year AD 1000 and the beginning of the second millennium is AD 1001.
Go figure.
2. 2001 - Sept 11.
How is it that before and after 9-11, we are still none the wiser how we can combat the terrorist scourge? Will doing nothing be the same as doing everything?
3. 2002 - Share markets enter "Dot Com-a"
If the dot com bubble didn't burst totally a few years back, those glycerin-held up bubbles bust in 2002, sending sharemarkets round the world into a wild tail spin.
How could people invest blindly?
4. 2003 - SARS hit the world.
Oh why, oh why didn't SARS wipe out enough people to make the world a better place. With a mortality rate of less than 1 percent and with less than 10 000 people infected worldwide, this was the single big bang non-event. SARS eventually went out of fashion in 2006.
Until today, people are still screening for this and that because they are afraid of some pandemic. Lookie here. Pandemics are good because they are nature's way of regulating the population.
5. 2004 - High heels for high life?
Donations for tsunami victims included high heel shoes. The ignominy of that still rankles me.
6. 2005 - Hurricane Katrina
Too big, too clumsy, too little, too late.
7. 2006 - Birds hit by flu
The H5N1 avian flu becomes endemic in birds. The world worries about inter-species transmission. In reality, other than STDs and AIDS spreading via a certain male species of an edible poultry, nothing terribly exciting happened. Still, governments spent a lot of money culling birds to stem the spread of the disease.
8. 2007 - Boom times!
Human greed priced people out of the property market, led them to over invest in the investment instruments market, and allowed some to live overly opulent lives. Some will live to pay for it in time to come.
9. 2008 - Nature makes a second try at population control
The world was introduced to the AH1N1 flu strain. This strain is to become pandemic proportions in 2009. Unfortunately, the world also got saved by the AH1N1 vaccine.
I hate to say this but I'm not sure I want to be there when Mother Nature unleashes her full fury on humankind.
10. 2009 - Greed is good.
In 2009, we reward recklessness, greed and avarice. Governments bailed out banks and stood guarantor for investments products gone bad. Governments stepped in to keep institutions that are "too big to fail" going. In short, we lined the pockets of the wealthy with the blood, sweat and tears of the poor who can hardly afford cotton lint.
What events made your list?
For Pete's (or insert name of your favourite Mathematician) sake, can you count?
I still have not figured out how we could begin the third millennium in the year 2000. Ok, this is involved mathematics and for those who are mathematically challenged, go to point 2. For those who have some basic inkling of basic mathematics, this should not be difficult.
Anno Domini begins in year 1. 1000 years in a millennium, so end of the first millennium is year AD 1000 and the beginning of the second millennium is AD 1001.
Go figure.
2. 2001 - Sept 11.
How is it that before and after 9-11, we are still none the wiser how we can combat the terrorist scourge? Will doing nothing be the same as doing everything?
3. 2002 - Share markets enter "Dot Com-a"
If the dot com bubble didn't burst totally a few years back, those glycerin-held up bubbles bust in 2002, sending sharemarkets round the world into a wild tail spin.
How could people invest blindly?
4. 2003 - SARS hit the world.
Oh why, oh why didn't SARS wipe out enough people to make the world a better place. With a mortality rate of less than 1 percent and with less than 10 000 people infected worldwide, this was the single big bang non-event. SARS eventually went out of fashion in 2006.
Until today, people are still screening for this and that because they are afraid of some pandemic. Lookie here. Pandemics are good because they are nature's way of regulating the population.
5. 2004 - High heels for high life?
Donations for tsunami victims included high heel shoes. The ignominy of that still rankles me.
6. 2005 - Hurricane Katrina
Too big, too clumsy, too little, too late.
7. 2006 - Birds hit by flu
The H5N1 avian flu becomes endemic in birds. The world worries about inter-species transmission. In reality, other than STDs and AIDS spreading via a certain male species of an edible poultry, nothing terribly exciting happened. Still, governments spent a lot of money culling birds to stem the spread of the disease.
8. 2007 - Boom times!
Human greed priced people out of the property market, led them to over invest in the investment instruments market, and allowed some to live overly opulent lives. Some will live to pay for it in time to come.
9. 2008 - Nature makes a second try at population control
The world was introduced to the AH1N1 flu strain. This strain is to become pandemic proportions in 2009. Unfortunately, the world also got saved by the AH1N1 vaccine.
I hate to say this but I'm not sure I want to be there when Mother Nature unleashes her full fury on humankind.
10. 2009 - Greed is good.
In 2009, we reward recklessness, greed and avarice. Governments bailed out banks and stood guarantor for investments products gone bad. Governments stepped in to keep institutions that are "too big to fail" going. In short, we lined the pockets of the wealthy with the blood, sweat and tears of the poor who can hardly afford cotton lint.
What events made your list?
Of Virtues and Vices
Patience 1
One of my readers, M. G. wrote that "Patience is only a virtue when it leads to a desired goal."
I think he was referring to stalkers. :)
Patience 2
Patience is the lead up to being patients.
Trying teaching arithmetic or literacy.
Patience 3
Patience is treating a day like an hour.
Either you are god or you are wasting your life away.
Patience 4
Patience is trying to avoid facing the truth.
There is no truer patience than denial.
Patience 5
Patience is waiting after the event to tell someone s/he's wrong.
There is no better test of patience than watching the doomed event blow up so you can earn the right to say, "I told you so."
Patience 6
Patience is counting till ten before you blow up.
The trick is to choose the correct units for counting to ten: seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, fortnights... You get the drift.
Patience 7
Patience is reading this entry in its entirety.
Thank you very much.
One of my readers, M. G. wrote that "Patience is only a virtue when it leads to a desired goal."
I think he was referring to stalkers. :)
Patience 2
Patience is the lead up to being patients.
Trying teaching arithmetic or literacy.
Patience 3
Patience is treating a day like an hour.
Either you are god or you are wasting your life away.
Patience 4
Patience is trying to avoid facing the truth.
There is no truer patience than denial.
Patience 5
Patience is waiting after the event to tell someone s/he's wrong.
There is no better test of patience than watching the doomed event blow up so you can earn the right to say, "I told you so."
Patience 6
Patience is counting till ten before you blow up.
The trick is to choose the correct units for counting to ten: seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, fortnights... You get the drift.
Patience 7
Patience is reading this entry in its entirety.
Thank you very much.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Case Study: How to throw a bitch fit
You are to read the following case study very carefully before you attempt the questions that follow. Answer each question in continuous prose. Each answer should not exceed 250 words. You have 48 hours to complete this assignment.
You should type out your answers on A4 or Letter sized paper, 1 inch margins all round, 12 point Times New Roman font. You may submit your answers online in the comments column following this post.
You are reminded not to repeat your points in different answers. You are reminded of the need for clear and concise writing.
Scenario
I was shopping for a new rice cooker when a Chinese PRC woman started kicking up a big fuss at the store.
She accused the service staff of being rude to her; some snarky remark was involved, or so it seemed. Ms PRC shouted at the service staff for not answering her question on how good a pot she was interested in was and also pointed out that the side comment that was made about her type was not appropriate.
Ms PRC then started screaming. In addition, she took to banging and kicking the items at the store.
Questions
1. What did Ms PRC do wrong?
2. What should Ms PRC have done?
Reflections
1. If you were Ms PRC, how would you have reacted in this situation so you can extract maximum benefit from the stall?
2. Do you think it is ethical to extract maximum benefit from the stall? Why?
Role Play
1. Imagine you are a shopper in the store who thinks one of the two women is out of line. Write a retort to show how you could take the side one of the women and start hurling insults back at the "bitch".
2. If you are the manager of the store, explain how will you resolve this issue.
Higher Order Thinking Skills
1. In our social context where we are trying to attract foreign talent to contribute to our workforce and population, how do you think you will help these foreign talent integrate themselves into our society?
2. Do you think soft skills, such as child bearing, child rearing, fighting, quarrelling, screaming, shouting, accusing and insistently talking loudly everywhere, should be part of the criteria for admitting foreign talent? How would one test such skills?
You should type out your answers on A4 or Letter sized paper, 1 inch margins all round, 12 point Times New Roman font. You may submit your answers online in the comments column following this post.
You are reminded not to repeat your points in different answers. You are reminded of the need for clear and concise writing.
Scenario
I was shopping for a new rice cooker when a Chinese PRC woman started kicking up a big fuss at the store.
She accused the service staff of being rude to her; some snarky remark was involved, or so it seemed. Ms PRC shouted at the service staff for not answering her question on how good a pot she was interested in was and also pointed out that the side comment that was made about her type was not appropriate.
Ms PRC then started screaming. In addition, she took to banging and kicking the items at the store.
Questions
1. What did Ms PRC do wrong?
2. What should Ms PRC have done?
Reflections
1. If you were Ms PRC, how would you have reacted in this situation so you can extract maximum benefit from the stall?
2. Do you think it is ethical to extract maximum benefit from the stall? Why?
Role Play
1. Imagine you are a shopper in the store who thinks one of the two women is out of line. Write a retort to show how you could take the side one of the women and start hurling insults back at the "bitch".
2. If you are the manager of the store, explain how will you resolve this issue.
Higher Order Thinking Skills
1. In our social context where we are trying to attract foreign talent to contribute to our workforce and population, how do you think you will help these foreign talent integrate themselves into our society?
2. Do you think soft skills, such as child bearing, child rearing, fighting, quarrelling, screaming, shouting, accusing and insistently talking loudly everywhere, should be part of the criteria for admitting foreign talent? How would one test such skills?
They have had enough
Last afternoon, my rice cooker quietly retired. Not a single sound. I didn't even realise it was gone until I walked into the kitchen and checked on the meat I was cooking in it.
The indicator lights were all snuffed out and all I smelt was some hot metallic gas coming out from the pot.
Last night, my wireless, optical mouse stopped moving for good. The battery in it leaked alkaline. When I removed it, I got a minor alkaline burn on my finger tips. A new battery could not make the mouse come alive.
Electronics and electrical items really have an accurate live-till date. Once the date comes, your equipment goes. How exciting.
The indicator lights were all snuffed out and all I smelt was some hot metallic gas coming out from the pot.
Last night, my wireless, optical mouse stopped moving for good. The battery in it leaked alkaline. When I removed it, I got a minor alkaline burn on my finger tips. A new battery could not make the mouse come alive.
Electronics and electrical items really have an accurate live-till date. Once the date comes, your equipment goes. How exciting.
Smells
There is something about the overnight sweaty tee-shirt smell that puts me off entirely. In this climate where 100% humidity is not unusual and temperatures of above 30 degrees Celcius are commonplace, being near someone in those shirts is enough to make you make a turn and remove yourself out of the smell-itory.
I would be more tolerant it were some sweaty guy who had busted his gut working at some job site for the entire day. I would even let it go - though it might cause me my last consumed meal - if it were on some worker whose sweat smelled bad in addition to his/her unique brand of BO.
But these guys in those offending shirts are browsing at a book sale in the middle of some industrial estate dressed in their "pyjamas". To make things worse, they had their wives and children with them. I wonder how they can put up with these smells.
Do personal hygiene and smell courtesy mean nothing at all today? Is a little consideration too much to ask?
I would be more tolerant it were some sweaty guy who had busted his gut working at some job site for the entire day. I would even let it go - though it might cause me my last consumed meal - if it were on some worker whose sweat smelled bad in addition to his/her unique brand of BO.
But these guys in those offending shirts are browsing at a book sale in the middle of some industrial estate dressed in their "pyjamas". To make things worse, they had their wives and children with them. I wonder how they can put up with these smells.
Do personal hygiene and smell courtesy mean nothing at all today? Is a little consideration too much to ask?
List of Best Warped Advice
1. Life is short (but not short enough).
2. Be truthful to your lies.
3. Forget the flowers: Take time to kick the asses!
4. Seize the throat. Or the balls or whatever body part that will get you your way.
5. Aim high, kick between the legs.
6. If life gives you lemons, remember to add lots of sugar when you are making lemonade. This way, the people drinking it will get fat and develop big asses.
7. Try to win a Darwin Award. If you can't, try again.
8. If at first you don't succeed, forget it. When someone does succeed, say that you did it first, except the time and place were screwed then.
9. Whenever you discover something that works against your enemy, go public with your findings. This way, your enemy can catch up and you can continue trying to thwart your foes.
10. Donate what you don't want, especially for things that - really - no one wants.
11. Revenge is a dish best served PERSONALLY.
12. Don't get even. Make sure you dish out at least one better.
13. Insist on wooden furniture made from fast growing trees in virgin forests.
2. Be truthful to your lies.
3. Forget the flowers: Take time to kick the asses!
4. Seize the throat. Or the balls or whatever body part that will get you your way.
5. Aim high, kick between the legs.
6. If life gives you lemons, remember to add lots of sugar when you are making lemonade. This way, the people drinking it will get fat and develop big asses.
7. Try to win a Darwin Award. If you can't, try again.
8. If at first you don't succeed, forget it. When someone does succeed, say that you did it first, except the time and place were screwed then.
9. Whenever you discover something that works against your enemy, go public with your findings. This way, your enemy can catch up and you can continue trying to thwart your foes.
10. Donate what you don't want, especially for things that - really - no one wants.
11. Revenge is a dish best served PERSONALLY.
12. Don't get even. Make sure you dish out at least one better.
13. Insist on wooden furniture made from fast growing trees in virgin forests.
Friday, January 01, 2010
New Year Resolution
I kept 2009's resolution not to have any resolutions. Worked so well, I'm not having another resolutions for 2010 either.
Resolutions should not tie you down. Instead, you should live your life in a way that makes your presence meaningful.
Today is wasted, yesterday was rubbish and tomorrow will be crap is one perspective. Nothing wrong about that. Today is good, yesterday was ok and tomorrow will be great is an equally valid perspective. Nothing wrong about that either. The choice lies in you and you can decide what is best for yourself.
Carpe diem!
Resolutions should not tie you down. Instead, you should live your life in a way that makes your presence meaningful.
Today is wasted, yesterday was rubbish and tomorrow will be crap is one perspective. Nothing wrong about that. Today is good, yesterday was ok and tomorrow will be great is an equally valid perspective. Nothing wrong about that either. The choice lies in you and you can decide what is best for yourself.
Carpe diem!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
You're only 2 years away!
The sun will come up tomorrow
Bet your bottom penny on tomorrow
There'll be sun...
The opening lines of Tomorrow from the Broadway musical Annie rang in my ears as I watched 2012. The satire - political and religious - is not lost on me. More than a satire, 2012 was a CGI slug fest. I bet many of the destruction scenes were farmed out to many different teams to see who can create the best effect for the complete distortion of earth's crust.
The movie aside, this blogger wants to lament a huge problem if Armageddon will indeed be in 2012. It's chronologically too far away! There is way too much time and I wish 2012 were tomorrow!
I bet I will look at this post as I remininsce in 2012 and bitch about why the end never came. Or perhaps I'm already in some better place.
Science fiction movies and TV shows suffer from predictability, which makes them easily to watch. Essentially brainless time killers, I call them. They are quite unlike shows such as... Hm. Many shows are predictable. And there are enough simulations of how the world would end. The interesting question is this: How would what we do change anything? After all, we are doomed biblically. We are not doomed scientifically.
Apart from 2012, I also watched the two-part TV series, Meteor. It showed how a smaller meteor broke up a larger one when they collided and both pieces from the larger meteor hurtled towards earth, guaranteeing some gruelsome end for mankind.
Expectedly, Earth was saved by some brilliant scientist's assistant who only found out about the problems with her equation solving techniques after she gave the answer. Honestly, the show was so boring the writers tried to jazz it up with a few subplots. However, the subplots bombed too. Regardless, the contriteness of setting a science fiction series in 2009 is... well, contrite. It's not something that is going to happen.
My main thought after these shows is "why aren't these events happening yet?" And if these events were happening, would anything change? If so, what?
And if we know what needs to be changed, then why are we not doing it?
Bet your bottom penny on tomorrow
There'll be sun...
The opening lines of Tomorrow from the Broadway musical Annie rang in my ears as I watched 2012. The satire - political and religious - is not lost on me. More than a satire, 2012 was a CGI slug fest. I bet many of the destruction scenes were farmed out to many different teams to see who can create the best effect for the complete distortion of earth's crust.
The movie aside, this blogger wants to lament a huge problem if Armageddon will indeed be in 2012. It's chronologically too far away! There is way too much time and I wish 2012 were tomorrow!
I bet I will look at this post as I remininsce in 2012 and bitch about why the end never came. Or perhaps I'm already in some better place.
Science fiction movies and TV shows suffer from predictability, which makes them easily to watch. Essentially brainless time killers, I call them. They are quite unlike shows such as... Hm. Many shows are predictable. And there are enough simulations of how the world would end. The interesting question is this: How would what we do change anything? After all, we are doomed biblically. We are not doomed scientifically.
Apart from 2012, I also watched the two-part TV series, Meteor. It showed how a smaller meteor broke up a larger one when they collided and both pieces from the larger meteor hurtled towards earth, guaranteeing some gruelsome end for mankind.
Expectedly, Earth was saved by some brilliant scientist's assistant who only found out about the problems with her equation solving techniques after she gave the answer. Honestly, the show was so boring the writers tried to jazz it up with a few subplots. However, the subplots bombed too. Regardless, the contriteness of setting a science fiction series in 2009 is... well, contrite. It's not something that is going to happen.
My main thought after these shows is "why aren't these events happening yet?" And if these events were happening, would anything change? If so, what?
And if we know what needs to be changed, then why are we not doing it?
Saturday, December 26, 2009
China Stakes Claim on Santa
Lavender Food Court, SINGAPORE - A China-born Singapore-based foreign talent explains today the genesis of Santa Claus.
According to the Chinese legend, "Sheng Dan Lao Ren", or old man Santa as we know him today, was a homeless old man in China who was so overcome by the cold one winter that every thing on him shrank, except (his) "eggs" (sheng dan).
- Fishy Slippery (Xin Hua) News Agency
According to the Chinese legend, "Sheng Dan Lao Ren", or old man Santa as we know him today, was a homeless old man in China who was so overcome by the cold one winter that every thing on him shrank, except (his) "eggs" (sheng dan).
- Fishy Slippery (Xin Hua) News Agency
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Global Warming
Shouldn't people be celebrating?
Finally, the world is warming up to our presence. We used to bemoan the cold and how much coal we needed to burn to keep warm. Now? No such worries.
Copenhagen - Hopenhagen - Nopenhagen has now become an international laughing stock: Copenhahahagen.
I cannot believe people buy into this crap such as global warming. Look all around you and ask yourself if the green activists are green at all.
If humans used, ate, hunted, killed anything to extinction, then humans will just have to find something else to use, eat, hunt, kill. Why try to change a behaviour that is not ready to be changed?
If most humans don't care, then why even care?
When Al Gore dashes to speak at those conferences, how did he travel? How much was he paid? And for those slides that he made, how did he make them? You see, you can't get shocking pictures without commissioning them. And when you do commission such pictures to be taken, people need to get on location, stake out at location, wait for things to happen, capture the footage, edit and work on the captured footage and so on.
When you calculate the total cost of making An Inconvenient Truth, the convenient truth is that a good number of hungry people may be fed a few meals. Why should people watch the show when they should rightly channel the funds to the same hungry people who need food?
I should stop bitching about this. If they knew the error of their ways and were willing to face it, I don't have to sit here and condemn these environmental hypocrites.
Finally, the world is warming up to our presence. We used to bemoan the cold and how much coal we needed to burn to keep warm. Now? No such worries.
Copenhagen - Hopenhagen - Nopenhagen has now become an international laughing stock: Copenhahahagen.
I cannot believe people buy into this crap such as global warming. Look all around you and ask yourself if the green activists are green at all.
If humans used, ate, hunted, killed anything to extinction, then humans will just have to find something else to use, eat, hunt, kill. Why try to change a behaviour that is not ready to be changed?
If most humans don't care, then why even care?
When Al Gore dashes to speak at those conferences, how did he travel? How much was he paid? And for those slides that he made, how did he make them? You see, you can't get shocking pictures without commissioning them. And when you do commission such pictures to be taken, people need to get on location, stake out at location, wait for things to happen, capture the footage, edit and work on the captured footage and so on.
When you calculate the total cost of making An Inconvenient Truth, the convenient truth is that a good number of hungry people may be fed a few meals. Why should people watch the show when they should rightly channel the funds to the same hungry people who need food?
I should stop bitching about this. If they knew the error of their ways and were willing to face it, I don't have to sit here and condemn these environmental hypocrites.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Life just got harder
Went to my usual bakery to score some cheap bread at the end of the business day where it gives a discount to dispose of the day-old buns.
I was shocked to see that the bakery has radically repackaged its bread and totally reinvented its offerings of buns.
Whereas in the past, one could get a pack of 6 small buns at a discount price of $1.20 (U.P. $1.60 - $2.50), what I saw today were packets of 4 slightly larger buns at the same price. However, the 4 buns were lesser in quantity (about 70%) compared to the usual buns. Similarly, one could get a medium savoury or sweet bun at a discount price of 50 cents (80 cents), they have increased the bun size by about 30% and are selling them at $2.50 for 3 buns (U.P. $1 - $1.40).
Needless to say, life has just gotten harder for the folks.
Whereas in the past, a family of four might be able to subsist on a pack of 6 small buns, there isn't enough to spread the new 4-bun packet around now. The kids might get a slightly more substantial breakfast but the adults are definitely not going to have enough. If the family had to buy two packets of the buns because they can't buy 1.5 packets, the average cost would have been driven up by 60 cents, representing a 50% increase.
For folks like me who prefer to have larger buns, my usual breakfast consists of 2 medium buns. That would be $1. Now with the new buns, 2 buns are too substantial while 1 bun is not quite enough. In any case, even if I were to go for a 1.5 bun solution, my costs have also risen by about 25%.
Many retired contract workers like me do not get a pay raise. However, our cost of living could be spiked by 50% just overnight. Such surprises are really nasty and bone chilling.
If I might be a little vulgar, it seems life has become harder than a viagra-induced hard-on. But unlike the latter, life isn't going to get softer afterwards.
If I might share what I saw today at the bakery - there was a drop in the number of customers, easily a 70% drop, and there were many people looking at the new buns and calculating costs in their hearts. Some walked away without buying. Bread is staple for Singaporeans and yet, with such a drastic move, many might soon have to give up even their daily bread.
I was shocked to see that the bakery has radically repackaged its bread and totally reinvented its offerings of buns.
Whereas in the past, one could get a pack of 6 small buns at a discount price of $1.20 (U.P. $1.60 - $2.50), what I saw today were packets of 4 slightly larger buns at the same price. However, the 4 buns were lesser in quantity (about 70%) compared to the usual buns. Similarly, one could get a medium savoury or sweet bun at a discount price of 50 cents (80 cents), they have increased the bun size by about 30% and are selling them at $2.50 for 3 buns (U.P. $1 - $1.40).
Needless to say, life has just gotten harder for the folks.
Whereas in the past, a family of four might be able to subsist on a pack of 6 small buns, there isn't enough to spread the new 4-bun packet around now. The kids might get a slightly more substantial breakfast but the adults are definitely not going to have enough. If the family had to buy two packets of the buns because they can't buy 1.5 packets, the average cost would have been driven up by 60 cents, representing a 50% increase.
For folks like me who prefer to have larger buns, my usual breakfast consists of 2 medium buns. That would be $1. Now with the new buns, 2 buns are too substantial while 1 bun is not quite enough. In any case, even if I were to go for a 1.5 bun solution, my costs have also risen by about 25%.
Many retired contract workers like me do not get a pay raise. However, our cost of living could be spiked by 50% just overnight. Such surprises are really nasty and bone chilling.
If I might be a little vulgar, it seems life has become harder than a viagra-induced hard-on. But unlike the latter, life isn't going to get softer afterwards.
If I might share what I saw today at the bakery - there was a drop in the number of customers, easily a 70% drop, and there were many people looking at the new buns and calculating costs in their hearts. Some walked away without buying. Bread is staple for Singaporeans and yet, with such a drastic move, many might soon have to give up even their daily bread.
Fundamental Mistakes 3
Recently a UN Report found that slower population growth could help with our environmental woes.
Almost a decade ago, when Singapore was in the midst of coming up with baby bonuses to encourage married women to give birth, I expressed the same view. I believe that Singaporeans were doing the right thing to save Gaia by not giving birth.
What did we do? We imported ready people and they gave birth.
Go figure.
Almost a decade ago, when Singapore was in the midst of coming up with baby bonuses to encourage married women to give birth, I expressed the same view. I believe that Singaporeans were doing the right thing to save Gaia by not giving birth.
What did we do? We imported ready people and they gave birth.
Go figure.
Fundamental Mistakes 2
Longevity is not a desirable result of medical advancements. Instead, extending the human lifespan is the probably worst mistake that medical science have made for several reasons. First, humans should not tamper with nature. We have a life expectancy of around 60 years for a reason. Second, longevity comes at the end of a person's lifespan and not in the middle. Society has not managed to adapt to the new needs of the modern human-turtles. Third, medical measures have not moved with the times. Many of the health indicators are still based on data gleaned from my great-grandfathers' generation.
Human life expectancy is determined by the surroundings that a person is in. Where there is poor sanitation and malnutrition, people live shorter lives but while they are alive, they give birth to more babies. Where there is good sanitation and abundance of food, people live relatively longeer lives but they may decide to have fewer babies but instead invest more heavily on developing them. Such is the nature of natural selection.
What we have done now is to extend life years beyond accepted norms through medical intervention. Human lives are extended beyond their actual use by dates. Transplants, surgeries, vaccines and other interventionist measures have helped humans live longer. However, such a move runs counter to what nature intends for humans.
A certain amount of attrition along the human life cycle is necessary so that the larger Earth environment can be in equilibrium with the human population. What is happening now seems to be that the environment is strained because not enough deaths are happening. This is disastrous to Earth, especially when the increase in the life expectancy actually cause the older folks to strain on the younger folks, rather than make them contribute towards alleviating themselves as the burden on others.
This development is marked in the way society fails to move in tandem with increases in life spans. Even until now, with the average Singaporean gaining 15 years of life over the past generation, the Singaporean society has just increased retirement ages in baby steps from 55 to 57 to 60 to 62. Even then, raising the retirement ages have met with stiff resistance from both companies and workers alike.
One cannot really fault the companies for not willing to hire the overpaid, underperforming old fogies. The labour movement recently coined the term, "Cheap, fast and good," to spur the Singapore workforce to bounce back and become leaner, more productive and deliver higher quality products after emerging from the financial crisis. Think about it, how could we keep the old folks cheaply? We make them retire and then rehire them on contracts at reduced salaries. How can we make them fast? We move them down the job ladder because they should take on less responsibilities to justify their lower pay. Hopefully, they can keep up with the quick march that the companies demand of their younger colleagues in the lesser jobs. How can they be good? This is up to the management to decide and one litmus test is the renewal of their employment contracts.
Age increases have not been kind to the people, since the economically productive years have not risen in tandem with longevity. It is not a surprise, however, since the human body is designed to deteriorate and eventually self-destruct once it peaks at between 18 and 21 years of age. We have not managed to unlock the mystery to keep the body well-oiled and highly functional. We have only managed to stop the body from finding the self-destruct button fast enough. And perhaps we have also managed to find certain restart buttons to help the human body run a while longer on extra or borrowed time. And such times are often at the end of the human lifespan, where the body is no more than a mere vessel to keep the soul in.
Such a sorry state of development brings about certain questions that bear rethinking. For instance, have biologists barked up the wrong tree? Who insisted that longevity was the only acceptable measure of medical advances? What about higher weights, taller heights, higher blood pressure, higher cholesterol levels, higher liver enzyme levels, higher blood lipid levels, lower bone densities, higher IQ, fewer neonatal illnesses, lower infant death rates, among other measures?
I have just thought about how I am considered way off the charts for certain measures when my indices are compared against charts applicable to my great-great-great-great-grandfather. I could be thin like my ancestor too. I can have my blood pressure, cholesterol and what not, all lowered till I meet the indices left behind by my ancestor. However, that would mean that I might have to spend 6 to 8 hours of my waking time exercising in a gym to simulate the living style of my agricultural ancestor. My great-great-great-great-grandfather probably spent his waking hours foraging or growing crops, moving around on his feet at all times. He may or may not get enough to eat - he probably did get enough to eat, so much so that he passed on a copy of the fat gene, which I inherited.
Take a step back and think about it. If I had to spend most of my waking hours exercising, then I would never have been able to push papers as a bureaucrat or lecture in an airconditioned classroom and sit down and exercise ONLY my brain to grade papers.
My lifestyle is entirely different from my ancestors'. How then can I be measured against those indices? And if I could, then how can I contribute anything at all to economic growth?
It probably does not take a rocket scientist to realise that there is a huge contradiction here but why do we still indulge ourselves that what we are looking at is the truth? It is not, because the earth is telling us that we have got it all messed up. And it is a big time mess up.
Honestly, I am not at all happy to have to pay for the collective human stupidity. I will eat all the meat I want, all the eggs I want and all the food I want. And since I get to have it, I will use all the medical services I need. Until one day the powers that be come to their senses, an ordinary man like me should just live out each day like it's his last day on earth.
Who knows? It just might be.
Human life expectancy is determined by the surroundings that a person is in. Where there is poor sanitation and malnutrition, people live shorter lives but while they are alive, they give birth to more babies. Where there is good sanitation and abundance of food, people live relatively longeer lives but they may decide to have fewer babies but instead invest more heavily on developing them. Such is the nature of natural selection.
What we have done now is to extend life years beyond accepted norms through medical intervention. Human lives are extended beyond their actual use by dates. Transplants, surgeries, vaccines and other interventionist measures have helped humans live longer. However, such a move runs counter to what nature intends for humans.
A certain amount of attrition along the human life cycle is necessary so that the larger Earth environment can be in equilibrium with the human population. What is happening now seems to be that the environment is strained because not enough deaths are happening. This is disastrous to Earth, especially when the increase in the life expectancy actually cause the older folks to strain on the younger folks, rather than make them contribute towards alleviating themselves as the burden on others.
This development is marked in the way society fails to move in tandem with increases in life spans. Even until now, with the average Singaporean gaining 15 years of life over the past generation, the Singaporean society has just increased retirement ages in baby steps from 55 to 57 to 60 to 62. Even then, raising the retirement ages have met with stiff resistance from both companies and workers alike.
One cannot really fault the companies for not willing to hire the overpaid, underperforming old fogies. The labour movement recently coined the term, "Cheap, fast and good," to spur the Singapore workforce to bounce back and become leaner, more productive and deliver higher quality products after emerging from the financial crisis. Think about it, how could we keep the old folks cheaply? We make them retire and then rehire them on contracts at reduced salaries. How can we make them fast? We move them down the job ladder because they should take on less responsibilities to justify their lower pay. Hopefully, they can keep up with the quick march that the companies demand of their younger colleagues in the lesser jobs. How can they be good? This is up to the management to decide and one litmus test is the renewal of their employment contracts.
Age increases have not been kind to the people, since the economically productive years have not risen in tandem with longevity. It is not a surprise, however, since the human body is designed to deteriorate and eventually self-destruct once it peaks at between 18 and 21 years of age. We have not managed to unlock the mystery to keep the body well-oiled and highly functional. We have only managed to stop the body from finding the self-destruct button fast enough. And perhaps we have also managed to find certain restart buttons to help the human body run a while longer on extra or borrowed time. And such times are often at the end of the human lifespan, where the body is no more than a mere vessel to keep the soul in.
Such a sorry state of development brings about certain questions that bear rethinking. For instance, have biologists barked up the wrong tree? Who insisted that longevity was the only acceptable measure of medical advances? What about higher weights, taller heights, higher blood pressure, higher cholesterol levels, higher liver enzyme levels, higher blood lipid levels, lower bone densities, higher IQ, fewer neonatal illnesses, lower infant death rates, among other measures?
I have just thought about how I am considered way off the charts for certain measures when my indices are compared against charts applicable to my great-great-great-great-grandfather. I could be thin like my ancestor too. I can have my blood pressure, cholesterol and what not, all lowered till I meet the indices left behind by my ancestor. However, that would mean that I might have to spend 6 to 8 hours of my waking time exercising in a gym to simulate the living style of my agricultural ancestor. My great-great-great-great-grandfather probably spent his waking hours foraging or growing crops, moving around on his feet at all times. He may or may not get enough to eat - he probably did get enough to eat, so much so that he passed on a copy of the fat gene, which I inherited.
Take a step back and think about it. If I had to spend most of my waking hours exercising, then I would never have been able to push papers as a bureaucrat or lecture in an airconditioned classroom and sit down and exercise ONLY my brain to grade papers.
My lifestyle is entirely different from my ancestors'. How then can I be measured against those indices? And if I could, then how can I contribute anything at all to economic growth?
It probably does not take a rocket scientist to realise that there is a huge contradiction here but why do we still indulge ourselves that what we are looking at is the truth? It is not, because the earth is telling us that we have got it all messed up. And it is a big time mess up.
Honestly, I am not at all happy to have to pay for the collective human stupidity. I will eat all the meat I want, all the eggs I want and all the food I want. And since I get to have it, I will use all the medical services I need. Until one day the powers that be come to their senses, an ordinary man like me should just live out each day like it's his last day on earth.
Who knows? It just might be.
Fundamental Mistakes 1
The climate crisis will never go away until we realise that a consumption driven economic growth model comes at a price. If the only way to grow is through consumption, then there will come one day where there isn't anything left to consume.
Just take one simple example: How many cars can you own before you run out of metal, oil, roads, commonsense?
Just take one simple example: How many cars can you own before you run out of metal, oil, roads, commonsense?
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Whatever you can do (tha)i can do better...
Pity the waste - all that make up, plastic surgeries, choreographies and all.
Just see how the Thai school boys do it!
Just see how the Thai school boys do it!
First they loop you in...
Tried changing the password to my credit card last night.
I managed to get past the first screen where I was asked my password. It was a new card and I forgot the password but I tried.
I cleared hurdle 1. Then I asked to change the password. I failed hurdle 2 - enter the old password - twice because I tried it twice. I wasn't sure of the number because the card's new, remember?
Still, I wonder if I had asked for a $1,000.00 cash advance, would I be successful? Especially since I cleared hurdle 1...
I'm not sure I trust technology these days.
I managed to get past the first screen where I was asked my password. It was a new card and I forgot the password but I tried.
I cleared hurdle 1. Then I asked to change the password. I failed hurdle 2 - enter the old password - twice because I tried it twice. I wasn't sure of the number because the card's new, remember?
Still, I wonder if I had asked for a $1,000.00 cash advance, would I be successful? Especially since I cleared hurdle 1...
I'm not sure I trust technology these days.
You can't fly!
Never mind what you think.
How does one expect to cross a 5 lane junction with 6 seconds on the count down timer on the green man?
How does one expect to do it when one is a plump woman who thinks if she takes what she thinks are big strides, she'll take off like an Airbus 380?
How does one expect to cross a 5 lane junction with 6 seconds on the count down timer on the green man?
How does one expect to do it when one is a plump woman who thinks if she takes what she thinks are big strides, she'll take off like an Airbus 380?
Sunday, December 06, 2009
The Damage Begins Here...
Is it me or am I not alone in feeling that one's head damage begins as one navigates the graduate school application process?
The applications - hitherto - do not seem to be going anywhere and there isn't even the faintest hint of any success. When the deadline descends upon you, you simply send in whatever draft version you have, never mind the draft was sitting there since a week ago.
I think it feels so unlike being in the program already, where each word written is one word closer (I hope) to the finish line.
I'm not sure... but it sure as hell feels as though my brains are becoming dumber already.
The applications - hitherto - do not seem to be going anywhere and there isn't even the faintest hint of any success. When the deadline descends upon you, you simply send in whatever draft version you have, never mind the draft was sitting there since a week ago.
I think it feels so unlike being in the program already, where each word written is one word closer (I hope) to the finish line.
I'm not sure... but it sure as hell feels as though my brains are becoming dumber already.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Then and Now
Four dozen of research papers later
Four dozen of grade reviews later
Four dozen of grade inflations later
Four dozen of application essay revisions later
Four dozen of CV reviews later
Four dozen of curry puffs later
Four dozen of cold green tea drinks later
Four dozen of TV watching hours later
Four dozen of course design and reviews later
Four dozen of excuses later
I'm here writing my next blog entry.
Things are in flux and nothing is slowing down. Fortunately my energy levels are keeping up.
The neck is very sore, possibly from missing the physio session and the heavy luggage lugging (from shuttling the "travellers"). I need to find four dozen... did I hear pain killers? Don't be a nutcase! I'll never kill myself. It's a waste of a life. If I have to die prematurely... Oh, you don't need to know the four dozen evil thoughts that go through my mind.
I'm feeling four dozen different emotions now and I'm going to a birthday party of someone two shy of four dozen years.
I think I'll just let my hair down a little this evening.
I hope to return to write something again within four dozen hours. Hope...
Four dozen of grade reviews later
Four dozen of grade inflations later
Four dozen of application essay revisions later
Four dozen of CV reviews later
Four dozen of curry puffs later
Four dozen of cold green tea drinks later
Four dozen of TV watching hours later
Four dozen of course design and reviews later
Four dozen of excuses later
I'm here writing my next blog entry.
Things are in flux and nothing is slowing down. Fortunately my energy levels are keeping up.
The neck is very sore, possibly from missing the physio session and the heavy luggage lugging (from shuttling the "travellers"). I need to find four dozen... did I hear pain killers? Don't be a nutcase! I'll never kill myself. It's a waste of a life. If I have to die prematurely... Oh, you don't need to know the four dozen evil thoughts that go through my mind.
I'm feeling four dozen different emotions now and I'm going to a birthday party of someone two shy of four dozen years.
I think I'll just let my hair down a little this evening.
I hope to return to write something again within four dozen hours. Hope...
Friday, November 13, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Punctilious Pitch
Yeah, it's pitch, not bitch. You didn't see wrongly.
See, someone told me to get on with my application and not seek perfection. She said I'm beginning to fret like her daughter over the application and freak out at every next thing I hear about what needs to go into the application.
I admit. I'm being extra careful here. I really want this badly and I am guilty as charged of trying to put in a write my statement of purpose and my personal statement using a punctilious pitch. I am fussy enough not to want to miss anything. At all!
I know the Pareto principle. I only wish I could say my statements are not critical. If I had test scores that were through the roof and a undergraduate GPA that is as high as my blood pressure and cholesterol combined, I'd... be dead by now? Well, I'm stressed up over the applications. There isn't a single waking moment that I wish I am not at the computer typing away and chipping these papers off. But guess what? When I am at the computer, I write a few lines and I decide I'm not ready to tackle them yet.
The deadline is not looming yet. And unfortunately, I tend to perform best under pressure. So, this is like the pre-deadline pressure build up period. It's not healthy and I wish I hadn't to do this. But it is my character, I guess.
University P wrote me yesterday and said my GRE scores were not reported yet. I immediately replied to say I've sent in the scores. I slept but didn't sleep well. P is my top choice university and the hell I wanna muck things up there. This morning, I received an email from P saying that they messed the record keeping due to conflicting first names. There, we Chinese know how to confuse in addition to convincing. Now, aren't you convinced you're confused? Heh!
It's a long road... and I intend to get to the destination soon.
See, someone told me to get on with my application and not seek perfection. She said I'm beginning to fret like her daughter over the application and freak out at every next thing I hear about what needs to go into the application.
I admit. I'm being extra careful here. I really want this badly and I am guilty as charged of trying to put in a write my statement of purpose and my personal statement using a punctilious pitch. I am fussy enough not to want to miss anything. At all!
I know the Pareto principle. I only wish I could say my statements are not critical. If I had test scores that were through the roof and a undergraduate GPA that is as high as my blood pressure and cholesterol combined, I'd... be dead by now? Well, I'm stressed up over the applications. There isn't a single waking moment that I wish I am not at the computer typing away and chipping these papers off. But guess what? When I am at the computer, I write a few lines and I decide I'm not ready to tackle them yet.
The deadline is not looming yet. And unfortunately, I tend to perform best under pressure. So, this is like the pre-deadline pressure build up period. It's not healthy and I wish I hadn't to do this. But it is my character, I guess.
University P wrote me yesterday and said my GRE scores were not reported yet. I immediately replied to say I've sent in the scores. I slept but didn't sleep well. P is my top choice university and the hell I wanna muck things up there. This morning, I received an email from P saying that they messed the record keeping due to conflicting first names. There, we Chinese know how to confuse in addition to convincing. Now, aren't you convinced you're confused? Heh!
It's a long road... and I intend to get to the destination soon.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Freaking Frustrated For F***?
I gave Four F grades, actually Five, but then after a thorough review and convincing myself that I have been too demanding in my grading, I reduced it to Four.
I am Freaking Frustrated. Did I teach so badly that my students did not manage to learn anything or have I expected too much from the knuckleheads who slipped past admissions this year?
I have people who make A grades and I also have people who end up with C grades. In fact, like the other two Assignments 2 in my earlier terms, the students are categorized into their respective mastery levels on this assignment and, thus, their likely end of course grades.
I am largely ok with a pigeon holing exercise. It is a course requirement that students have to be graded. But in the past terms I only had to deal with very few D grades; this term, I get a handful of F graders to manage. The bulgeoning C population is common for this assignment. It is a paper where one synthesizes two texts to support one's thesis statement. One either does the synthesis fully and correctly or one underdoes it. If one falls short at the synthesis, then the grades drop to the B range. If one falls short at the summaries (and, inevitably the synthesis thereafter), one drops to the C range. Poor writing will cause futher grade drops. My Fabulous F grades are, in all honesty, harder to get than an A grade. I am that certain, sure, confident and proud to say. I reward effort when writing falls short. But how does one reward a paper that is 25% short of the minimum page length? Or a paper that averages 10 mistakes per 8 line paragraph? Or a student who writes whatever s/he feels like writing, with scant regard for the rubric of the assignment?
I try very hard to reflect if it were my poor teaching that caused such a disaster. Well, it seemed like a disaster to me when I have to award Fs in this manner. Ok, let us assume that I taught badly. Then how do you explain the nearly half of the students who got A and B grades? They were spread across both my sections! And how do I explain the other nearly half of the students who got C grades, those who were already weak to begin with, as evidenced by their Assignment 1 performance? If I had taught badly, then surely the assignment question, having gone through a round of eyeballing by the course coordinator, would have explained clearly the demands of the assignment?
The reading packages and the remedial website resources would have also played their part in helping the lost sheep to find their way home. And what about my open email communication channel where they actually have direct access to me via my home email? My students even have my cell phone number, for f***'s sake!
Another consolation I have is the fact that I have assigned short writing pieces to the students for them to practise writing thesis statements, topic sentences and paragraphs. They were also required to use evidence from their reading articles to support their arguments. The marks the F graders received on those assignments are actually indicative of the students' real writing and reasoning abilities. Those fellows are the ones scoring 3 and 4 out of 10. And to not demoralise too much, I set a minimum score of 3 marks on all these short pieces. Any written sh*t would have gotten 3 marks if it were submitted.
On a related note, the fellows who bombed Assignment 2 are the intended recipients of my earlier email telling them of the importance of reading and coming to class prepared. I shouldn't have to or need to feel sorry for them.
The circumstantial evidence of my not having derelicted my duties is complete. I should feel vindicated. Still, I feel Freaking disappointed. A colleague told me to get rid of that "secondary school teacher" mentality in me. "Why should you care, Eugene?" he would ask. "They are already adults and if they are not bothered to get up to speed with the demands of university, why should you mother them?" Well said.
He is a dear friend of mine and he's been really helpful to me ever since I began teaching at that institution. I should lay down my burden and not labour under these rotten straws that threaten to break my back. I shall only help those who bother.
I shall push on and perhaps give a few F grades at the end of the course to the truly deserving. Perhaps Darwin's theory can take over and straighten out the population some...
Of course, Four rounds of reviews later, there are only two students who received F grades (pending confirmation). I'm almost certain my grade distribution will stand. The rest are upgraded but are given stern warnings to buck up.
I am Freaking Frustrated. Did I teach so badly that my students did not manage to learn anything or have I expected too much from the knuckleheads who slipped past admissions this year?
I have people who make A grades and I also have people who end up with C grades. In fact, like the other two Assignments 2 in my earlier terms, the students are categorized into their respective mastery levels on this assignment and, thus, their likely end of course grades.
I am largely ok with a pigeon holing exercise. It is a course requirement that students have to be graded. But in the past terms I only had to deal with very few D grades; this term, I get a handful of F graders to manage. The bulgeoning C population is common for this assignment. It is a paper where one synthesizes two texts to support one's thesis statement. One either does the synthesis fully and correctly or one underdoes it. If one falls short at the synthesis, then the grades drop to the B range. If one falls short at the summaries (and, inevitably the synthesis thereafter), one drops to the C range. Poor writing will cause futher grade drops. My Fabulous F grades are, in all honesty, harder to get than an A grade. I am that certain, sure, confident and proud to say. I reward effort when writing falls short. But how does one reward a paper that is 25% short of the minimum page length? Or a paper that averages 10 mistakes per 8 line paragraph? Or a student who writes whatever s/he feels like writing, with scant regard for the rubric of the assignment?
I try very hard to reflect if it were my poor teaching that caused such a disaster. Well, it seemed like a disaster to me when I have to award Fs in this manner. Ok, let us assume that I taught badly. Then how do you explain the nearly half of the students who got A and B grades? They were spread across both my sections! And how do I explain the other nearly half of the students who got C grades, those who were already weak to begin with, as evidenced by their Assignment 1 performance? If I had taught badly, then surely the assignment question, having gone through a round of eyeballing by the course coordinator, would have explained clearly the demands of the assignment?
The reading packages and the remedial website resources would have also played their part in helping the lost sheep to find their way home. And what about my open email communication channel where they actually have direct access to me via my home email? My students even have my cell phone number, for f***'s sake!
Another consolation I have is the fact that I have assigned short writing pieces to the students for them to practise writing thesis statements, topic sentences and paragraphs. They were also required to use evidence from their reading articles to support their arguments. The marks the F graders received on those assignments are actually indicative of the students' real writing and reasoning abilities. Those fellows are the ones scoring 3 and 4 out of 10. And to not demoralise too much, I set a minimum score of 3 marks on all these short pieces. Any written sh*t would have gotten 3 marks if it were submitted.
On a related note, the fellows who bombed Assignment 2 are the intended recipients of my earlier email telling them of the importance of reading and coming to class prepared. I shouldn't have to or need to feel sorry for them.
The circumstantial evidence of my not having derelicted my duties is complete. I should feel vindicated. Still, I feel Freaking disappointed. A colleague told me to get rid of that "secondary school teacher" mentality in me. "Why should you care, Eugene?" he would ask. "They are already adults and if they are not bothered to get up to speed with the demands of university, why should you mother them?" Well said.
He is a dear friend of mine and he's been really helpful to me ever since I began teaching at that institution. I should lay down my burden and not labour under these rotten straws that threaten to break my back. I shall only help those who bother.
I shall push on and perhaps give a few F grades at the end of the course to the truly deserving. Perhaps Darwin's theory can take over and straighten out the population some...
Of course, Four rounds of reviews later, there are only two students who received F grades (pending confirmation). I'm almost certain my grade distribution will stand. The rest are upgraded but are given stern warnings to buck up.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Some are stupid, others are...
Worse, of course.
Here are a few things that make me cringe.
First, I wonder how a person can repeatedly stab himself/herself in the heart with a small knife (see 1:43). This is the most incredible phenomenon. I really want to see it happen. People take a stab in the abdomen and can hardly move after that. Multiple stabs in the heart... ROFL.
Second, can two bodies be buried in the same plot (2:37)? I know it is possible to have adjacent plots.
Third, how can there be two couples with only two people died (2:53)? Did I miss something?
Honestly, this youtube video makes me feel a little more forgiving towards the students whose papers I'm grading now. It seems like few people are capable of logical thought these days.
And the youtube fellow got it right. The horrendous content "will make (me) cry." What has this world come to?
Here are a few things that make me cringe.
First, I wonder how a person can repeatedly stab himself/herself in the heart with a small knife (see 1:43). This is the most incredible phenomenon. I really want to see it happen. People take a stab in the abdomen and can hardly move after that. Multiple stabs in the heart... ROFL.
Second, can two bodies be buried in the same plot (2:37)? I know it is possible to have adjacent plots.
Third, how can there be two couples with only two people died (2:53)? Did I miss something?
Honestly, this youtube video makes me feel a little more forgiving towards the students whose papers I'm grading now. It seems like few people are capable of logical thought these days.
And the youtube fellow got it right. The horrendous content "will make (me) cry." What has this world come to?
How to lose an audience.
Superbly directed Thai commercial all planned to coax a bucket of tears from your eyes.
But unfortunately, it is meant for domestic consumption and no one knows which organisation it is advertising for.
Do the Thais think the farangs (foreigners) in Thailand don't watch TV?
But unfortunately, it is meant for domestic consumption and no one knows which organisation it is advertising for.
Do the Thais think the farangs (foreigners) in Thailand don't watch TV?
One gets it right!
Got this youtube video in my email this morning.
Honestly, this is what I wish I could do to parents out there when I first began teaching.
I stand by my belief that some people ought to be neutered and never be allowed to have children. After all, we should not let stupidity propagate.
Oh, but then we begin to welcome foreign talents [sic].
Honestly, this is what I wish I could do to parents out there when I first began teaching.
I stand by my belief that some people ought to be neutered and never be allowed to have children. After all, we should not let stupidity propagate.
Oh, but then we begin to welcome foreign talents [sic].
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