That's 11 periods straight without a break! 5.5 hours of teaching/meeting/teaching... Busyness will last till next week after the symposium... photos will pile up like nobody's business. Blogging will be limited to meaningless rants until I get some time off but with NUS school term starting and my RT looming... time is a luxury.

A time to relax is when you do not have the time to relax.

880 photos, many meetings, research symposium coming up and most important of all, prep for 'A' levels cramming... will have to spend less time on photos and blogging... didn't have a chance to catch up on comics online either... bz bz...

Just 1 pic from USA, California, Berkeley, Bay Street

It's finally over. RP was a nice old fellow who speaks very slowly now but their stuff gets a bit too repetitive regardless of the sessions we go for the conference. Let me 'exemplify' here.

E.g. Session on why cows are blue
Brief intro/recap of RP's CT model
Question on what are cows
Using one of the 8 elements to discuss about cows (e.g. what is the purpose
of cows being blue)
share with your neighbour
Repeat for another element/standard/trait
Until end of the session.

During the conference, R.P., the 'father' of the wheel we use in Critical Thinking, and the rest claims that the model (critical thinking model) is so comprehensive that all other models (e.g. Scientific method) falls under a sub-branch of Critical Thinking. Now let's consider this.

To verify that Critical Thinking is all-encompassing as a thinking model, we need to think and prove that it is all-encompassing. Since Critical Thinking encompasses all other models, we can use critical thinking model to assess Critical Thinking.

BUT

If we use the same theory to verify it, the conclusion do not hold because it forms a cyclical argument/reasoning. This leads to either one of the two conclusions

1. That we need another theory/model to assess Critical Thinking that is not encompassed by Critical Thinking which will automatically proved that Critical Thinking is not all-encompassing

2. That the statement of Critical Thinking encompasses all other models cannot be falsify hence it will fail the basic test of the Scientific Method which is supposed to be part of Critical Thinking.

Does it make sense?

Honestly, I don't think so. Just like I find it hard to make sense out of the conference.And I hate it when non-science people starts to discuss what is the scientific method when they don't do science at all. Is there a wonder that we can't find a Maths or Science presenter in the fellows of Critical Thinking? The guide for scientific thinking is so badly done that the examples that they give is not science.

How can the statement that "This is hot" be accurate at all when it is a comment based on a personal perception of hotness/coldness?!

It is a good model/theory nonetheless but not as good as they claim it to be. It is good for fields where ideas diverge as compared to areas like math and science where ideas converge. Let's see if the next few days of conference will change my mind. I have yet to learn from the grandmaster himself, just his disciple and collaborator.

Pre-conference started today in our hotel and we had our first full course on Critical Thinking, so much better than the crash course we had from MOE. It's a different culture here and the weather is breezy and about 15 degrees... sufficiently cold to limit my photo taking ability. Saw a nice bird (robin) today but couldn't get a decent shot at all. Managed to capture some pictures of Jupiter and it's moons handheld! With loads of hand shake evidence of course. Plus some other planets which I'll find out when I'm back. Not much to blog about in terms of pictures as we didn't venture too much except for Bay street for dinners and the hotel for conference.

Not going to blog about my photos so long as I have to use the common PC facilities (Business Centre) in the hotel to access internet. Not going to pay almost 10 bucks (USD) for just one day of internet (unless it's for the whole stay) so don't expect to see photos so soon...

A force F on mass M1 causes the system to accelerate to the right with acceleration a. Show that a=M2*g/M3 by considering forces acting on M3 and M2. All surfaces are smooth. This is what one of the question from challenging Physics questions workbook. What I learn by solving this problem is how to push a system of 3 masses in this manner while keeping M3 'floating'. Not something that will win a Nobel prize or make a difference to life.

How about solving similar questions of boxes stacked in a moving lorry? That will make more sense in life.

Instead of random charges placed here and there? Why don't we look at electric field of ions in a solid arranged in different crystal structures?

It's tough coming out with original questions like these when majority of the references are the same old same old stuff... But it's worth doing it.

Spent my morning in a studio and paid $5.20 in parking. Didn't expect such an ulu place to have parking rates of shopping malls in town. Anyway, lots of photos to show. Dial-up warning!

This was a question posed to some students but I left without a proper answer. Here's the proof.

Proof by Contradiction
Let the set of prime numbers be {p1, p2, p3 ..., pn} where n is finite.
We can write a number x as x = p1 * p2 * p3 ... * pn + 1
Such a number x, when divided by any prime p gives a remainder of 1, hence it is divisible by 1 and itself only which mean x is a prime too and the first statement must be wrong.

Hence the set of prime number must be infinite in size

Simple?

Wow.. just look at the forum article today from Straits Times

Primary school trip to China: Answers sought from MOE
I AM the parent of an 11-year-old girl. The school is planning an immersion trip to Nanjing, China. The purpose of the trip is to allow children to learn Chinese in a Chinese environment, and to let Singaporean students experience the Chinese learning methods.

I support such initiatives. After the major earthquake in Sichuan in May, I asked my daughter to find out if the school and living quarters were structurally sound, built by reputable construction companies and can withstand earthquakes and tremors.

I am surprised to hear that the trip is going ahead even though I have not received the full answers to my questions.

My questions to the Minister for Education are:

First, when planning for such immersion trips, does the ministry instruct all school principals to conduct mandatory checks that the living quarters and schools in which our children will be staying are structurally sound, built by reputable construction companies and can withstand earthquakes and tremors? If not, why not? Second, in the unfortunate event that another disaster occurs, will the Ministry of Education or the school principal be responsible for this 'oversight'? We have lost lives due to accidents and lack of systematic checks. Our Government has always stressed that every life is precious in a country where there is a shrinking birth rate. I hope to see the exercise of due diligence in ensuring the safety of Singaporean children, with whom Singapore's future lies. Cheong Weng Kit

Evidence here

Here's some of the selected photos for website/developing... we may get to see them around soon...


Homa, Bennu, Oryx and Drakon. Finally remember their names... phew..