Votre Coeur

Hong Kong Causeway Bay street

2010-09-03T22:27:00.000+08:00

Another Set

2010-06-05T16:28:00.000+08:00

When I have enough sleep at 10pm...

2010-05-22T23:53:00.000+08:00

How He Sleeps...

2010-05-15T13:53:00.000+08:00

It's Mine!

2010-05-08T08:14:00.000+08:00

No, it's not mine

2010-03-26T21:29:00.003+08:00

Just trying a new workflow with Lightroom 3 using my niece's photo. Cute right? Good practice for future.. haha

Swenson's

2010-03-22T21:29:00.000+08:00

It's a lunch to celebrate the 'almost' completion of their projects and to usher in the examinations craze that will be taking over them pretty soon!

Award Winning Poster

2010-03-14T14:50:00.000+08:00

On a vertical monitor.. woo hoo!
And lightning caused my internet to reset...

It's Ready!

2010-03-05T22:33:00.000+08:00

Go see facebook

Crunch Time!

2010-02-22T20:55:00.000+08:00

How did I ever get myself into so many things at the same time?! It's crunch time with my thesis due soon... 100 pages to go, really need to get myself started on such stuff!

Really how much can I stretch myself and what is my potential? If only I realise it 12 years ago...

Moral Compass

2010-02-10T21:36:00.001+08:00

Look into your moral compass that governs your actions. Which part of the compass does it fall into? Do you do things because others are doing it? Do you have your own moral compass at all?

Example: Late for lecture after PE, what do you do?

1. Rush in through the main door, don't change attire because you don't want to miss lessons.

Then you base your actions on yourself. You disregard your family (in this case friends/school mates) by disturbing them and set a bad example for the rest. You can justify that your actions are right based on your self needs but it is not and definitely not noble. If everyone learns from your example, the nation and subsequently the world will become a poorer place.

2. Rush in through the back door, don't change attire because you don't want to miss lessons.

Then you base your actions on your own needs but you choose to come in discreetly because you don't want to set a poor example or you do not want to disturb your friends. However, attending lesson in LT after PE is poor hygiene. Some attempts to balance the needs of self and beyond but your actions may not be entirely noble

3. Change into appropriate attire, rush in through the back door and check with your friends/tutors on what you missed out after the lecture.

Where should we place this under the moral compass?

Next time when you find an excuse for your action, see where it stands in the moral compass before deciding whether your action is right or wrong.

Random

2010-02-09T20:28:00.000+08:00

1. That my life will be turned upside down in a few months time

2. That CNY is coming this weekend

3. That I'm setting a record for work hours this week

4. That blogging seemed so old nowadays...

5. That statistics show that 'old' folks like me tends to blog

Solve This

2010-01-23T09:11:00.000+08:00

Frustration!!

2010-01-12T20:21:00.000+08:00

I should be spending time on more constructive matters and not waste them on people who vanishes in thin air.... and I need to do something about it...

Time for a new year

2010-01-10T18:47:00.000+08:00

Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-25T09:41:00.000+08:00

A Walk Down Memory Lane

2009-12-20T21:13:00.000+08:00

Just went to Beauty World area at Bukit Timah.. really felt like walking down memory lane. If you want to know how the shopping complex back in the 80s look like, just visit them. Though now it's full of maid agencies, some shops remained in business there after all the decades.. but I seriously doubt that the place will last another decade. With the circle line coming out, the sleepy mall will most likely be renewed and be made into just another heartland mall with all the same shops. The character of the place will be lost and memories will fade with time. The pace of progress...

Price of Character

2009-12-11T17:45:00.000+08:00

For 10 seconds, would you want to poison someone?

For 10 seconds, would you want to knock over someone?

I have witness researchers opening doors with their gloves on, who knows what kind of chemicals or poison is on it. For 10 seconds of their time, they are willing to poison someone

I have witness many motorists going again the traffic at multi-storey carpark at my house to either get out of the carpark 10 seconds earlier or to get to that empty carpark lots 10 seconds earlier. For 10 seconds of their time, they are willing to risk killing someone.

How much is your character worth?

ISEC 2009

2009-11-25T07:50:00.001+08:00

It's worrying to see so many science educators who will not hesitate to take out their cameras and take pictures of the slides projected on a white screen in the conference. And they do so with flash! What ever happens to basic science knowledge (and manners).

I like this

2009-11-18T18:31:00.001+08:00

From xkcd.com.

Hiatus because I'm really busy recently.... Busy falling sick among other more urgent affairs... What if your supervisor from business is also a computer scientist who understands the impact of your work? I won't know since I'm not in the business and I'm not really in academia either.

CHOPE! - The Subaru Impreza Challenge 2009

2009-11-01T16:42:00.001+08:00

Just came back from supporting this event because someone I know still has a hand (literally) in the competition. Woah... Jiayou! The next break is coming at 7pm and that's the 30 hour mark!

If you can't beat'em, join 'em.

2009-10-27T19:53:00.000+08:00

It's been a long time since I put some serious thoughts about issues related to education. But I have been challenged in some ways to think about such issues once again. So here goes..
--------------------------------
Singlish versus English

There's a lot of debate in the local papers on the issue of Singlish once again. Some see it as a part of culture and national identity, others think of it as an inadequate cousin of proper English who needs to be corrected. Linguists will beg to differ and see it as a natural outcome when languages meet, where 1 + 1 = 3. Regardless of point of view, we should start considering Singlish seriously.

Research on the penetration of Singlish, variants of Singlish and acceptance of Singlish among Singaporeans have to be conducted to devise appropriate strategies to address the issue of competitiveness of Singapore in the long run. We can't pretend that classroom teaching, sending PCK for language courses and an annual campaign will turn things around any time soon. We need to learn more about it. However, by doing so (researching on it), it is equivalent to acknowledging Singlish as a language (or creole or pidgin of English) and some people in power may not be ready to accept this yet.

Singlish is definitely more than just a simple lah or lor or borrowed terms. My brief encounter with English Language back in NUS (to fulfill some requirements) involved a project studying the structure of Singlish. The wikipedia entry does a more detail discussion on this phenomenon. The question is how do we deal with this phenomenon in Singapore such that we can remain competitive in the future (i.e. we do not produce generations of Singlish speaking citizens whom foreigners could not understand)? What can we do if the endless campaigns are not effective at all?

Cantonese is a dialect of Chinese and the spoken variant of Cantonese is very different from Mandarin Chinese. In fact, if you get a magazine written in colloquial Cantonese, I bet that you will find it difficult to understand it without knowing the language, even if the words used are Chinese characters (or looks like Chinese characters). With a few more decades of development, Singlish may become a dialect of English sharing common traits as Cantonese. It may be a matter of time before we have to deal with the Singlish-English divide like how Hong Kong is dealing with Mandarin-Cantonese in education. Perhaps we can recognise and accept Singlish as a creole of English in Singapore and incorporate lessons to highlight the differences between them.

Yes, Singlish is new and only a few decades old, people may reject them and look down upon people speaking Singlish. But the Queen's English that they are embracing started off as a 'bastard' language that is neither German or Latin etc. It's just like Singaporeans who look down upon new citizens, despite the fact that their parents or grand parents were new immigrants decades before.

---------------------------
Research in Education

Like a PW project, I have to apply my case study 1 to case study 2. So for case study 2, I have chosen research in education.

Currently, research is taken as an elective or enrichment for students in the elite schools. Research skills, structured mentorship programmes etc are dominated by tops students in such schools. It has reached a point of saturation where by research mentors in research institutes are stretched in offering such opportunities to the increasing number of such programmes. Such an enrichment programme is usually offered on top of academic subjects and co-curricular activities. This will inevitably increase the pressure and workload of our students and teachers. Very often, programmes like the bicultural studies programme and research programme, are fighting over the same talent pool. To progress, there will be a need to adopt a structured approach to study the best strategy in incorporating research in education. Research can be offered as a H3 subject in 'A' levels but more can be done to start at the secondary level. It is time to end the adhoc matching of teacher mentors to projects and disorganised instructional lessons for students in research. Let's give research the recognition it deserves and provide a comprehensive and conducive environment for our students to learn and experience research.

Tapping onto the Potential of a Playstation 3

2009-10-20T22:06:00.001+08:00

With a new ISP service provider, after more than 12 years, I can finally set up a wireless home network. Together with Windows 7 (evaluation copy), I can now stream my photos directly on a Playstation 3 and use if for photoslide shows on a Full HD TV. How cool is that?! On top of that, there's a possibility to stream videos, musics and other stuff from my PC, surf net using my PS3 and I bought and install a classic PS1 game to play too.

Finally I'm not so behind in terms of technology. Welcome to the future!

Crowd Shot - 12th in dpreview Challenges

2009-10-19T08:47:00.001+08:00

Taken during Super Import Nights 2009 when the import models were making their rounds around the exhibitions. You get to see many dSLR in different flavours, point and shoot cameras and even handphone cameras flashing around the models.

My best ranking image so far (out of 3).

Facebook is slow, Blogger is weird...

2009-10-11T13:39:00.003+08:00

Models from Super Import Nights

2009-09-27T11:59:00.003+08:00

Final Shots of Sleeping Bear Dunes

2009-09-25T22:46:00.001+08:00

Finally the series is over....

blogging with my phone

2009-09-22T08:31:00.000+08:00

my first post with my smart phone. ha ha. a bit to out of tech but still. Trying to get use to tiny QWERTY keyboard. Darn my fingers too big.

Mini Studio Photography

2009-09-19T18:08:00.003+08:00

DIY a small light tent that serves as a mini studio for small objects. Here's some of the products.

The coffee cans were challenging due to the reflective surfaces. The light source has to be controlled well to minimize the ugly reflections on the cans.

Coffee anyone?

These wooden pegs offer a different challenge compared to the coffee can. You need an even light source on the pegs to illuminate all the mini pegs since they are sort of randomly placed

Random cute stuff from Daiso

Instead of an evenly distributed light on the doggy, here's one with some shadow after a few tries to get the look of my choice.

More toys from Japan, this is a doggy made from Nanoblocks, the small version of lego. It's height is comparable to a AA battery.

The Carl Zeiss lens are the easiest to shoot with. 1 shot and I like the effect already.

Good enough for a 2nd career?

Having Fun!!

2009-09-17T22:15:00.000+08:00

Back to Fundamentals

2009-09-14T20:33:00.003+08:00

I haven't blogged as often as I like due to several reasons. One of them is that a significant portion of my free time will be devoted to experiments and research. After all, I have a module to complete and a thesis/report to write before I can graduate with my M.Sc.

Maybe that's why Twitter is getting popular nowadays.

Anyway, I'm doing this module this semester that forces you to build stuff from scratch when you do experiment. It really helps you understand stuff better. Like how to build a microscope from scratch using only objective lens, eye pieces complete with beam splitters, apertures, light source and aligned twin laser beam system to measure velocity using Doppler effect.

Isn't it cool? The journey will be recorded in a wiki site here, check back at the end of the year for the complete work. Nothing like making your own stuff helps you understand how things work better.

Random Group Photos from Teacher's Day Celebration

2009-09-06T11:25:00.001+08:00

For more go to facebook

Happy Teacher's Day

2009-08-31T14:18:00.002+08:00

I'll take the chance to share something that I learned recently and sort of did my own interpretation here. This is my expectation for all my student.

First you must know, without knowledge, your future will not be on a firm and solid foundation

Next you must think, be able to make use of your knowledge for the better of the future.

Eventually you must lead, otherwise, you will become armchair critics who do not know how to act on your thinking based on your knowledge.

Most important of all, character. With great power comes great responsibility, so you need to use your abilities for the better of mankind and not for evil.

The impact you can have in the future is determined by the area of the triangle which depends on the relative lengths of "Know", "Think" and "Lead". Lacking in any one dimension will give a small area. And the strength of your character will determine the colour of the triangle. Is it white for purity? Red for passion? Or a dark and gloomy black?

"Know", "Think", "Lead". They are meaningless without character.

修身,齐家,治国,平天下

Let's start with ourselves.

Beach, Sea, Sky - Sleeping Bear Dunes

2009-08-30T08:02:00.000+08:00

That term 3 is busy is a gross understatement.

Godly Discovery!

2009-08-19T22:38:00.001+08:00

Ohmigod!!! He published a paper by himself while teaching in RJC!!! He should have gone to Berkerley earlier...

Almost ready...

2009-08-16T20:38:00.001+08:00

Just a little preview...

And School term starts once again...

2009-08-12T18:09:00.002+08:00

Can feel it on the road to NUS, can feel it from the canteen.. its all so over-crowded.

1 more module to clear, 1 thesis to complete and I'm done... for a while at least...

Wonder when will I bump into my ex-students in NUS Science... anyone ended up in Science Faculty in the 1st place...

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

Windows 7 didn't solve the BSOD problem, but cooling the computer works to some extent. Could it be the hot weather in the past weeks have to do with the BSOD? Cooler Master with so many fans not good enough?

Windows RC 7

2009-08-02T17:23:00.000+08:00

Running Windows 7 now... hope it solves my problem once and for all, but next will come the problem when I need to pay for it and all the upgrade software.. shouldn't surf too much net since my antivirus is not up yet...

You might be a Physics Major if you enjoy pain...

2009-07-25T08:07:00.002+08:00

But clearly.. I don't enjoy real pain... but tooth extraction will be a great way for me to slim down.. even if its only a bit. But at least the problem causing, cannot be brushed, non-wisdom, extra, useless, but cute little mutant teeth now lies on my table instead of in my mouth.

Sand - Sleeping Bear Dunes

2009-07-14T19:09:00.000+08:00

Trees - Sleeping Bear Dunes

2009-07-13T21:21:00.001+08:00

BSOD - atikmdag.sys

2009-07-12T17:39:00.002+08:00

Had been wrestling with this blue screen of death problem with my graphics card that strangely just happened from today and not from day 1. Nope.. I didn't install any new hardware or software at all!

It seems like a big problem for vista for quite some time without any proper solution. Nope.. the latest driver didn't solve my problem... Now I'm trying my 4th idea in trying to solve it.... Hope by removing Catalyst (and surrendering my control of my graphics card) will work. Alternative work around is to use the windows graphics driver which means I will have to live on 1600 x 1200 world in a 1920 x 1200 monitor and there goes my photoshop days too...

People - Sleeping Bear Dunes, Michigan

2009-07-07T19:33:00.001+08:00

Look out for more mini photo series from my June travels

Really cool clock...

2009-07-07T13:40:00.000+08:00

Downtown Traverse City

2009-07-05T20:31:00.002+08:00

Most shopping malls in Singapore will feature more shops and shop variety compared to this little town.

The hanging lights and signals have sucre wondering for a while

It's not all concrete downtown

And the parking system there...

Having fun with numbers

2009-06-26T13:34:00.001+08:00

{ the first 10-digit prime in consecutive digits of e }.com

Just happened to surf by this really old news... but still fun nonetheless... interesting how google looks for employees... you gotta know your stuff!

To find the answers... look here.

*warning, not for the faint-hearted mathematically

Things I learn from American TV ads

2009-06-22T19:24:00.003+08:00

1. That 75% of a 30 seconds advertisement about medicine is to list all the side effects and disclaimers

2. That there is an advertisement about a previous advertisement with the purpose to clarify the disclaimers of the original advertisement

3. That there are 'kind-hearted' lawyers who will help you sue the sh*t out of some manufacturers or your employer if you took some pills/were exposed to some hazards within a certain timeframe.

4. That there is a use for the freeze frame function on TV - to read the paragraphs of fine prints that appear for less than 1 second.

5. That brand A and brand B can have a TV ad wars claiming each is better than the other in their own way based on their research/studies

6. That you can get this electrical wheelchair for free as the company can help you get the government to pay for you.

7. That if you owe more than $10K in credit card debts, there are companies that can help you pay a small fraction of what you owe to clear it.

It is interesting just watching the advertisements on TV.

Michigan, Traverse City - A tale of 3 birds

2009-06-22T18:47:00.002+08:00

Two birds looking for their chicks with food in their mouths

Trying to feed their young but intimidated by my presence

Finally managed to do so when I stepped further away

Little friend, you are lucky that I didn't step on you before I notice you... What were you doing on the ground?

Hello from Traverse City, Michigan

2009-06-07T20:03:00.003+08:00

The hotel is underwhelming.. the facilities are not worth mentioning, they don't even provide some basic stuff that we thought was necessary stuff. Adapting to the culture of tipping again and sucre is learning how to use a coin-phone all over.

Internet connection is rarely stable and definitely not that fast but at least I get to catch the daily show once more...

Life will be good once more, that is until term 3 starts and the rush begins again. Hooray.

To Inspire Confidence in Teachers... We should...

2009-05-22T01:36:00.003+08:00

hold open house for parents to sit in as 'students' to experience learning today.

It is very different from 20 years ago when the parents themselves study.

We no longer read from textbooks or notes directly from page 1 to page n, expect students to mug till their death to score their A's... We are doing so much more now and we need to bridge the huge gap between the conceptions of education in the past to that of today. We have moved away significantly from teacher imparting knowledge to students model towards that of student centred learning. Jargons like cooperative learning, constructivism, inquiry based learning and more can be introduced to parents and they can be 'invited' to such lessons (especially those better lesson plans that won the Most Innovative Teaching Awards in schools) and experience for themselves the difference in teaching and learning.

Wait... MOE Excelf Fest is open to the public (at least in 1 year as far as I remember) and parents can experience it if they are keen. Perhaps we should market and promote it more effectively...

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I ought to get some sleep, but my nose keeps running away...

On Comprehensive Sexuality Education of AWARE

2009-05-21T19:33:00.010+08:00

This blog was found and a standard comment was left (unpublished since I rejected it) by the same group of people who were spreading the message of "Have you seen the CSE programme, judge for yourself" kind of comment all around some forums in Singapore. I rejected it because I do not want people to start discussing about the same points over and over again in this quiet blog of mine. But I'm raising it up now because MOE has finally spoken up on the issue and I feel that we can now comment on the case of CSE with an almost complete picture in mind.

Yes, I read the CSE programme outline (including other parts that were not highlighted). Personally, I find that it adheres to MOE guidelines clearly in 95% or more of its programme and the other 5% or less are areas that can be debatable. Let's be clear also, the 5% that is debatable refers to the keywords like homosexuality that were supposedly placed under "neutral", and here's my take on that 5%.

Before you get to be a qualified teacher in Singapore, you have to go through a teacher training programme with NIE. And one of the most important thing you learn in NIE is to write a lesson plan for your intended lesson. The CSE guide, in my opinion, was a form of a lesson plan. A lesson plan details the learning outcomes you would like in your lesson, how you achieve the outcomes, the activities/materials to be used and address potential problems/questions that you are likely to face. It is the blueprint of your lesson and one will have to write countless of such lesson plans before you get to graduate from NIE. Trust me as I still have my thick binder of such lesson plans.

Lesson plans, as it is, is meaningless without the teacher/trainer. You can write the world's best lesson plan but if you can't deliver it well, it means nothing. NIE recognises this therefore, the most important part in our training is practicum where trainee put their lesson plan into actions. We are not judged based on our lesson plan but rather based on our ability to teach and improvise our lesson plan accordingly. The best person to judge AWARE's CSE would be the teachers who were observing the lessons when it was conducted.

The ice-breaker activity that was under dispute was a common teaching strategy. Get students to list words related to a topic and ask them to classify those words accordingly, and get them to justify the reasons for doing so. This is somewhat similar to the concept development model by Hilda Taba as the students will be the ones actively developing the concepts of sex and sexuality themselves. So if my educated guess is correct, the role of the trainer is to facilitate the discussion rather than directing the discussion herself. I know I'm 90% correct because you can find such descriptions in their lesson plan

Facilitation tip: If participants list a particular word as positive and negative, ask them what makes the shift from negative to positive.

They facilitate and they seek the response of participants rather than giving their own response. The main points of debate come from the suggested points of discussion for some key words for trainers to use. One such example can be found below.

10. Homosexual – people have different preferences for their partners. Homosexuality is perfectly normal. Just like heterosexuality, it is simply the way you are. Homosexuals also form meaningful relationships, and face the same emotional issues that heterosexuals do. The Singapore law does not recognize homosexuality and deems homosexual sexual activities as unnatural.

Homosexuality is normal is also suggested in Health Promotion Board's website, the guide also acknowledge that Singapore's law does not allow for it and it repeat's our government's stand with respect to the issue. It aims to inform students about homosexuality in accordance to the norms as required by the government.

Some parents are also alarmed by the suggested response written about anal sex, which I will not reproduce here. I understand why some people will be uncomfortable with the neutral/positive response towards it but remember anal sex is legal in Singapore between consenting adults.

Another common argument is that with all this homosexuality and anal sex points in the CSE guide, it seems that AWARE is trying to promote alternative lifestyle. But let's remember that this is a student-centred lesson, if the students themselves did not bring up anal sex or homosexuality during the activity, I doubt that anal sex or homosexuality will be discussed in the class at all unless the situation calls for it. It is important for the lesson plan to spell out as many words related to sex or sexuality as possible so their trainers will be prepared for lesson. The students will lose respect for their trainers if they failed to respond adequately, so it is better to list down such words and be prepared, in case they seem dumbstruck when anal sex was discussed. You will need to sit through such a lesson before we can come to a conclusion if AWARE did cross the line or not.

How can I be sure of that? Just look at the comments meant for the trainers

Trainers should familiarize themselves with concepts of respect, consent, sexual rights and gender in order to conduct discussion around these words. An attempt should be made to help the participants realize that what they think about sex and their bodies has been influenced by their family, religion and society. This is an integral part of understanding the meaning of sexuality. Understanding this will help them understand why they make certain decisions.

In the event that the workshop participants are 12-13 year olds, trainers must take the lead in explaining the meaning of the terms used. Do not assume that the participants know/are aware of what contraceptives, oral sex or anal sex means. Take the time to explain the terms and in the event of lack of time, do not attempt to facilitate discussion on each word on the list

Most likely, the participants will come from different family background, religion etc. And their decision to list words like homosexuality in neutral, positive or negative terms will be influence by such factors too. This, in my opinion, is a good way to help students understand why their friends make certain decisions to list homosexuality different from them rather than simply telling them what is right and what is wrong. We have to look at the CSE on the whole and look into the context of the situation rather than judge based on a few lines.

Another fact is that the whole activity is meant to last for only 15 minutes and there are 20 words listed in the lesson plan. If you read off the whole lesson plan word by word, completed with the table etc, you would likely to have taken up the whole 15 minutes, isn't it? Of course, I can't tell for sure because I did not sit in for the lesson, neither did majority of those armchair critics. It will be most unwise to jump to conclusions based on the lesson plan. NIE do not pass students based on their lesson plan, they pass them because they can teach in class. We should do the same for AWARE. Let's not judge their CSE based on their lesson plan, but based on their actual lesson.

(In case you are not aware, experienced teachers do not always follow their lesson plan, they will adapt according to the situation based on feedback from students on the spot and other factors so the lesson plan changes as they go along)

The main problem, perhaps, with AWARE's CSE program is that they left the discussion on such controversial issues open for students. General paper were also under attack as students are required to discuss issues related to homosexuality critically in lesson to hone their thinking and writing skills, but a CSE program may not be a suitable platform to do such a thing. Especially when you are dealing with young teens around 12 to 14 as they may not be ready to discuss such controversial issues critically hence may be easily influenced if the discussion goes haywire. But certainly I do not see the 'Pro' homosexuality message in their program. In fact, I thought that it was a pretty well written lesson plan that may not be suitable for the intended audience (for the ice-breaker part)

And finally, the point of using neutral terms such as partners instead of husbands in discussion to be more inclusive was to reach out to homosexual teens and get the message out to them, as explained by AWARE. From the educator's point of view, this is a valid reason to use terms such as partners. We are warned against bias towards any gender, racial, socioeconomic background and whatsover. For example, when we teach physics, if we kept using trucks and race cars as examples, we will lose our female audience as they may not be interested in the examples as race cars are more likely to appeal to males. (Though I'm still guilty of using race cars a bit too often myself). Unfortunately, some may not be ready to accept such an explanation as they prefer to interpret it as a 'Pro-gay' stance instead.

The AWARE's CSE may be a well written lesson plan based on sound educational background and theories, but Singapore may not be ready for it (We still need to focus on the heterosexual family unit rather than being too inclusive). The lesson plan is meant for a trainer who knows how to use it, and not meant for the public to judge it. Now that AWARE and all other agencies will have to submit their CSE for validation with MOE, hopefully this will end all discussion on the CSE affair.

Now, I have said my last piece on the saga. It's time to move on.
---------------------------------------
I thought it's time to move on... but here goes...

To the gentleman? who's comments keep getting rejected from me. Please stop as I would not publish your comments linking to your website. Neither do I want to engage in any debates in the comments area. If you would like to leave any comments, please use the cbox instead. Thank you.

Utterly disappointed

2009-05-19T19:57:00.002+08:00

Do they know what is meant by "confidential"?

Do they realise why there is a sign that says "photography of materials not allowed"?

Do they understand why such materials are not allowed to be brought out of the room and back to their own school?

I'm sure that they do, after all, they are suppose to educate the future of our nation.

Then why did they make a copy of it when given the chance to? The intention may be noble but their actions are disgraceful to say the least. And the sheer number of them doing it is an insult to the profession to me.

Today, I am totally disgusted.

Recent Photos

2009-05-17T19:43:00.002+08:00

Project Work is the Key to Enlighten People?

2009-05-15T19:04:00.002+08:00

All the mis-information, false claims, crazy conjectures and consipiracy theories online as a result of the AWARE saga. All the backstabbing, smear campaign and throlls, perhaps the key to get our citizens ready for the information age, to be able to think for themselves is through PW. Where students learn how to think critically and learn how to question logically, challenge their own assumptions and misconceptions. Hopefully they will learn well from PW.

Quote

2009-05-08T21:32:00.000+08:00

Do not mistake for conspiracy and intrigue what can best be explained by stupidity and incompetence

Observations from AWARE EGM

2009-05-03T17:22:00.003+08:00

I spend $40 to sign up as an associate member of AWARE and attended the 7 hour marathon EGM last Saturday. The atmosphere was electricfying and the old guard really proved their point that Josie Lau's team is incompetent to lead AWARE. Here's some of the observations I made that was not reported by the press.

Info pack from the old guard

1.) The old guard helpers came in different age, race, gender and other background, dress in white and red tee with 'we-are-aware' written on it while JL's helpers came in red with 'pro family' messages written and were mostly Chinese aged 30s plus. Some of the old guard helpers were young and fashionable ladies who modified their tee that they wore. Both groups managed to organise their supporters to volunteer their service to help out in this event.

2.) The old guard helpers greeted us along the escalators all the way up to the registration booths. They passed around drinks and snacks and gave out information sheets to all voters. JL's helpers were suppose to give members a copy of the proposed amendments to the constitution for the EGM but they failed to do so. In fact, one red shirt gentlemen actually caused a bit of confusion in the queue not once but TWICE by leading people to the wrong queue and also getting others to cut queue. In that terms, the old guard are more experienced and better at handling such events compared to the JL and co. So it is 1-0 for the old guard

3.) During the EGM, JL had to constantly refer to their legal counsel for advice or re-direct questions to the legal counsel. E.g. On why the male chapter is removed, the answer was the constitution did not provide for one. When asked why sub-committee heads were removed the answer was the constitution says the term lapse after AGM etc. However, when it was mentioned that JL's actions were not constitutional, e.g. that sub-committee members have the right to appoint their own head but they ignored, that they need to consult members to spend $20,000 or above in a month which they hadn't done so. The series of quickfire exchanges between the old guards and JL shows that JL's team is indeed incapable of leading AWARE as they really know nothing about AWARE. 2-0 for the old guard

4.) Most of the questions came from the old guard's supporter and they queued up for the microphone to ask questions in an orderly manner. JL's team asked for opinions from different perspective on several occasions but her supporters were largely silent or when they speak, they were incoherent or downright insensitive. For example, one such supporter said that $120000 - $90000 = $30000 gain when referred to the points that JL's team spend $90000 in 3 weeks but managed to get in 3000 new members for AWARE, totally missing the point that AWARE is a NGO and that amount of money should be better spent on programs to help the marginalised etc. The fact that JL's managed to garnered about 35% of the votes in her favour but failed to get even a single person making a strong stand for her leadership also show that her supporters are not able to answer the old guard's critics nor find any constructive points of their short term in office. 3-0 to the old guard.

Many supporters turn up and are enjoying this occasion. Many old friends met up.

5.) When the old guard is in trouble, you get NMP Mr Siew Kum Hong supporting them, you get other lawyers giving legal counsel pro bono, you get TV artists like Irene Ang speaking up for them, you get NUS lecturers speaking up for them, you get people from all walks of life, different professions, racial background, religious background (Buddhist, Christians, Atheist and Muslims) etc speaking up for them. When JL's team is in trouble, no one from outside their circle speaks up for them. This fact along speaks volume of the differences in status, respect, moral authority that the old guard has compared to JL's team. 4-0 to the old guard.

6.) JL's team, which came from the corporate culture hence would not bat an eyelid for spending $90,000 within weeks was ill-suited to NGO culture which a lot is about consensus, inclusiveness and working for nothing. Some of the JL's team members spoke of working hard till 4am in the morning just to make things work, but they seemed to forget that the old guard spent 24 years of their life building AWARE up to today's level. In terms of personal sacrifice, we all know who made more and for a better cause. 5-0 to the old guard.

7.) That JL's team failed to recognise and understand some of the more subtle points put forward by the old guard. For example, JL's team quoted that CCTV were installed because of security reasons as there was a break in 5 years ago when the old guard pointed out that women in need will be turned away by the cameras. JL's team failed to realise that the basic needs of a desperate women is to be able to turn to help anoymously and the presence of their husbands and cameras in the centre will really turn away those who need help.

Also, when questioned if they knew about the monthly free legal clinic and that they failed to hold the recent free clinic, JL's team immediate response was to blame others for their failure. Such response from them clearly show that they are ignorant about how to help others.

That JL irresponsibly published the CSE guidelines meant for qualified trainers online and in the papers in order to prove her point that the old guard is pro-gays will caused confidential information be leaked out and may cause more harm than good if untrained people get hold of the information package but does not know how to implement it properly.

How could JL be sincere about helping other women when she and her team is oblivious to such basic facts is really a mystery to the old guards and many others. 6-0 to the old guards.

8.) JL's team managed to sit through 6 hours of constant grilling by the old guard on the hot seat proves their determination to hang on to their position till the very last hour. 1-6 as JL's team pulls one back on the old guard in this respect.

The old guard helpers in action

There are more observations but I don't think it will be suitable for me to share it here. What you can read online and from papers would be part of the story that the reporters get to report since the press were not allowed in until the old guard took over. Although a few reporters went in as members and the online community provided instant feedback, one will miss out the tone, the hesitation and lack of confidence in their words, the lack of direction that JL's team display and the responses of the people attending the EGM that day. It was truly an enriching experience.

Josie Lau trying to make her Presidential speech while many of the old guard supporters displayed their unhappiness at her by jeering her points that she made

Here's some of the classic and defining moments I experienced during the EGM.

a.) When NMP Siew sat with the old guards at the ordinary member (read female) area, JL's team protested and requested NMP Siew to move to the associate member (read mostly male) area. The old guard and NMP Siew refused but the mike on the ground was turned off (so much for engaging women as they even control when you speak and where you sit). When they finally managed to speak up via the microphone system, the old guard pointed out the following points.

There is nothing in the constitution that separates the associate members from the ordinary members in a general meeting
That JL's team member has her husband with her during AGM, so why is it that the husbands now have to be separated in this EGM
That NMP Siew is a legal counsel for the old guard hence he has the right to be seated with the old guard.

b.) Self proclaimed feminist mentor Thio showed off her credentials as the first female law dean, proclaimed that the old guards supporters were hooligans, threaten that AWARE will be gone if they do not abide to the constitution, and barked that people should show her respect as she is an elder etc. In responses, several men and women took up her challenge and retorted

Respect needs to be earned
That she is a women and she would not want her to be her mentor
That in other religions (e.g. Buddhism) and according to Health Promotion Board, being a homosexual doesn't make you less normal. Hence proving FM Thio's points about AWARE's Comprehensive Sex Education in the press conference previously as superfluous.

c.) The fact that JL's team asked for security to escort some of the old guards out because they disrupted Josie's presidential speech, that she wanted the security to escort all photographers out because some used the flash when she set the rule 'NO'. The fact that she had 4-5 security guards at the door step to inspect all bags, that she constantly have at least 2 security guards around her at all times. The fact that female security guards were stationed inside the washroom. The constant paranoia display by JL's team, I don't even remember so many security guards when an MP came to our school for visit.

Video recording by someone.

d.) That a Muslim father of 3 children, a self proclaimed conservative Christian and many others who stood up to express their support for AWARE's CSE program to prove to JL, FM Thio and co that there is a considerable group of Singaporeans who find CSE totally acceptable in their point of view cast doubts on their claims that majority of the Singaporean would be alarmed at the neutral words used for terms such as homosexuality and anal sex in CSE.

e.) Sally Ang told the old guard to "Shut up and Sit Down". In respond, the old guard supporters mentioned that today, we have to "Stand up and Speak up!" instead.

f.) Some old guard supporters thanked JL for making the old guard of AWARE household names in the past weeks because they have been working tirelessly in the background, fighting for the rights of women and other marginalized group without recognition from Singaporeans for 24 years and through this saga, many Singaporeans stood up and took notice of their fine achievements and contributions to our Nation.

g.) After the vote of no confidence results were out, JL needed half an hour to consult her legal advisor etc before deciding to step down, something that, the old guard rightly pointed out, someone else will just take one minute to do so.

h.) While waiting for JL's team to return from their private time to consider their positions after the vote of no confidence, the old guard got all their supporters to stand up and stretch out with some laughing exercise to lighten the tension in the hall.

Many engaged supporters in the EGM

i.) After the old guard decided to move the motion of removing JL's team as they failed to return 15 minutes later, the old guard reminded all of us to accept and welcome JL's team graciously with applause should they turn up on the stage later.

j.) Many old guard supporters stayed late till the last committee member was elected into AWARE, long after the last of JL's supporter left. The smiles of victories, the old guard helpers embracing each other, the signs of believe that the worse for AWARE is over in everybody's face. The passion and emotions running among the old guard, this is an organisation who truly believe and is making a difference in Singapore.

In the end, JL's team was booted out. Throughout the EGM, JL's team still maintained her knower's stance as she kept ordering the old guards, supporters, and security guards around. This stance is neatly summed up when FM Thio stood up in the EGM and proclaimed that the old guard were slacked and didn't care any more when they let others have the chance to take over in the AGM. How wrong can she be. Hopefully this won't repeat itself, there are plenty of avenues for Singaporeans to voice their concerns, and the last one to choose is to act like a saviour by taking over groups, and hopefully, this will not become as vicious as what some other groups have done in overseas.

The cheers from the old guard supporters, this is the day for them where they get their justice and take back their organisation.

Photos from NRP and Speech Day

2009-05-01T17:31:00.000+08:00

NRP Award Ceremony 2009

Speech Day 2009
Enjoy!

The Blame Game

2009-05-01T07:17:00.002+08:00

Parents who hold MOE or other groups responsible for teaching their children morals are simply turning over their parental responsibility to the state.

- Let's talk to teens about sex Teaching kids morals is the duty of a parent, not schools or other groups (Straits Times 1 May 09)

By Chua Mui Hoong, Senior Writer

It's depressing at times, as a educators, to find parents putting the blame on us when we give in our 101% to educate their children. The kind of witch hunt going on among the loud minority can be pretty intimidating.

Second look at the AWARE saga.

2009-04-28T20:15:00.003+08:00

Yeah… Exams over, had been itching to blog about AWARE and Mingyi’s case. And now there’s a new kid on the block known as swine flu. The newspaper, bloggers etc are having a field day with much news worthy issues to write about.

In my last post, I mentioned that we have to look at the actions of Josie Lau (JL), Feminist Mentor Thio (FM Thio) rather than listen to their words to understand the saga better. And I did point out that JL adopted a ‘knower’s stance instead of a ‘learner’ stance before FM Thio declared that it was a coordinated takeover effort masterminded by her. So here’s my few cents worth presented in a tongue in cheek MCQ style. (Perhaps I can write a facebook quiz base on this)

Question 1.
You discover that AWARE had a neutral stance towards homosexuality in their sex education program. It violates your religious believes, what should you do?

a) Live and let live. It is not my problem as long as I can choose not to go for their version of sex education.

b) Write to MOE/AWARE/Schools to engage them in a civil minded dialogue about it, explaining my concerns and giving constructive feedback

c) Form my own non-governmental organization with a few like-minded friends to offer an alternative to the AWARE sex education program. Come out with a better program so schools will choose my program instead of AWARE’s

d) Get a group of my sisters to formally take over control of AWARE so we can make sure that AWARE will be refocus it to what I believe is right for you, for Singapore, for everyone in the observable universe.

If you choose
a – You have the ‘bochup’ attitude. It is dangerous if one shows constant apathy but at least you don’t create problems for others.
b- You are the ‘complain’ kind. You strongly believe that you can change the world if you draw their attention to the problems you spotted. You may not be Ms Popular but the world truly needs people like you to improve
c- You prefer to let your own action speak louder than your words. If others are not doing it properly, you feel compelled to make sure that it is done properly. And you do it fairly.
d- It’s your way or highway. You don’t tolerate alternative views. Why do so when it is ‘obvious’ that all these alternative views are wrong! You won’t let alternative views exist when you are around.

FM Thio, JL and Co’s answer - d

Question 2.
You have successfully taken over AWARE via the AGM. Now you have the chance to right all the wrongs and direct this organization to where it should be. What should you do now?

i. Express my views and concerns over the sex education from AWARE and engage members in discussion over the differences to make the change.

ii. Ignore the old guard and views of other members. Leave them out of the meetings, isolate them and make them all quit and leave the committees so no one will oppose to the changes that I will be making to AWARE

iii. Do not renew CEDAW and other sub-committee head’s tenure despite their experience and despite that CEDAW most of those other sub-committees did not implement the sex education. Replace them with new EXCO member who are new to AWARE and loyal to me. Fire all the workers who refuse to obey me. Remember, it’s my way or highway. Oh, remember to change the locks so unauthorized visitors cannot come in.

a) i only b) ii only c) iii only d) ii & iii

If you choose a) EQ150. If you choose b) EQ90. If you choose c) EQ70. If you choose d), EQ10
FM Thio, JL and Co’s answer – d

Question 3.
The old guard is fighting back because of your lack of tack and suspicious actions after taking over AWARE. They want to know what you have in store for them in AWARE. What should you do?

a) I will identify a few key areas that I will want to work on, including the homosexuality issue and I will consult all my advisors, including the old guard, on this issue before making my decision on the future plans for AWARE. I will organize open forum/discussion to engage all parties and re-affirm AWARE’s founding principles or non-discrimination (including gays)

b) Keep quiet about my plans and give general comments that I will work hard to improve women’s rights etc. Give TV interviews but refuse to do it with the old guard. Try to buy sympathy votes by portraying myself as the victim.

c) Blame the old guard for being pro-gay and forcing us to come in. Blame the old guards that they are too diversify and need to focus on their energies to pressing issues. Blame the old guards that they are too focus on pro-gay movement. Blame them for showing lesbian movies. Doesn’t matter if what I blame seems incoherent, as long as I point the blame elsewhere. I can’t be wrong.

d) I will do b) and c) and at the same time rally all my comrades from my religious background to stand behind me to make the change that we all believe in. Even if it meant that some of my comrades may resort to verbal abuse, character assassination and other destructive means to support me. (There was a false and vicious rumour spreading among some Christian sites that Constance Singam was pro-gay because she had a gay brother)

If you choose
a) You are a true leader who will inspire others to follow you with confidence and trust.

b) You lead by faith, your followers stand behind you because they are your friends/relatives/acquaintance.

c) You lead by fear, by making others look bad, by making the future look bleak, you try to get people to support you because you are the only ray of hope for them.

d) Sith lords, Hitler, Kim Jong II. Those who follow you think that you are the GREAT LEADER, those who don’t follow you are mightily wrong.

FM Thio, JL and Co’s answer - d
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Yes, I think that the new committee had 3 chances to prove themselves worthy but in my opinion, they made the wrong choices in all 3 chances. The vote of no confidence for the new committee seems appropriate and there is nothing wrong, legally, for the old guard to challenge the new guard in EOGM as it written within their constitution. JL and co may be voted in legally but they were not voted in fairly. That is because there were a overwhelming majority of the voters who support JL and co because of their religious links. In AGM for NGO, it is not compulsory for all voting members to be present in the AGM or EOGM to vote, unlike Singapore election. As long as the turnout is more than a certain number as required in the constitution, the AGM/EOGM can proceed. Therefore JL may have been able to take control by getting a large turnout from minority members. So what is perfectly legal may not be morally upright. Similarly, what is morally upright, may not be legal at all.

The old guards actions were honourable. They did not resort to any of those ‘dirty’ actions taken by the new guard despite the new guard’s action against them. They took steps to organize themselves, setup online petition, write in for EOGM, and reach out to the masses by supporting facts and achievements they have made over the 25 years. When faced with problems, their actions won over my respect for them.
--------------------------------------------
Now at this juncture, I have 1 more question for FM Thio, JL and co. Faced with an EOGM, what should they do now?

a) Recruit more religious members to support them and retain control at all costs

b) Pillage, slash and burn tactics. Make sure maximum damage is done to AWARE before the old guard takes over

c) Step down and take responsibility for the fiasco

d) Diplomacy – negotiate with the old guard to come to an agreement of sorts

What will be their answer? This may be the final chapter of the saga or it can be the beginning of another one. As what our minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan has said

1. it is wise to keep religion out of politics in Singapore (which FM Thio and co brought it in)

2. Do not let one issue hijack the agenda and polarize Singapore (which FM Thio and co tried very hard to do it by bringing up the gay issue to polarize Singapore. The old guard did bring up issue of lack of communication/distrust of the new guard but that will hardly polarize Singapore)

3. A rainbow coalition is vital for any group here to make changes (which the old guard is one of different race and religious background but the new guard is predominantly Chinese Christians from the same church)

So now, after reading so far in this 1600 word blog post. Let me post you a question. Now that you are more aware of AWARE, what will you do?

a) Read up more about AWARE from different sources and different angles and make my own judgement

b) Support the old guard/new guard in the AWARE EOGM because you agree/disagree with their actions

c) Support the old guard because you read this article that seem to be pro old guard

d) Bochup.

------------------------------
Latest update: Senior Minister of State for Education speaks up against the distorted facts from FM Thio and co. But on the other side, the EGM is shifted to Singapore Expo and according to reliable sources, it is the site where a certain conference is held with many Christians attending. Added to the open preach by some pastor for support of the JL and co, and the counter attack by JL and co by posting their 'evidence' online on their website, are they looking forward to more ministers or people to publically denounce their actions and isolate themselves even further? Or is there a sizable community in Singapore that support their disgraceful actions?

The Cat is out of the Bag...

2009-04-24T18:58:00.002+08:00

The new guard now admit that they were behind a coup and admitted to doing so because of gay issues. The new guard are launching an offensive in claiming the old guard stood for gay rights and they couldn't condone it. It is now taking over a lot of column inches in Straits Times. Can this be possibly a way to rally troops behind their cause?

The new president attempted to explain that they did not sack the old guard but their positions simply expires with the new exco. Now I wonder if it is worthwhile for any sub-committee to embark on a long term project at all since they will become expired once a new committee steps up. Some how things doesn't make sense to me. This is really the most interesting case to follow up in the near future.

It is not what they say that is interesting, but what they do that tells us about their intentions. It's really interesting to find out that the old guard came from different background, race, religions etc while the new ones came predominantly from a single church! I certainly hope that AWARE can represent all women in Singapore, regardless of race, language or religion and hope that the exco will reflect this representation too.

and I need to MUG for my exams!!! What am I doing in NUS at this point of time... GGRRRRR.... Should have brought my notes along.

Of Hostile Takeovers...

2009-04-21T21:48:00.002+08:00

Are you aware of AWARE?

The alleged coordinated hostile take over of a women's right group in Singapore by a group of women from a certain church in Singapore? There's plenty of news and discussion about it and certainly it took its fair share of headlines comparable to Ming Yi's ongoing case and the rojak food poisoning recently. Now I think Straits Times and other writers have covered the story pretty well from the DBS statements to how the old guard and the newly elected president got ousted out from the team etc. Let's just see how easy is it to conduct a hostile takeover of sorts.

1.) Societies are registered under the Registry of Societies in Singapore and they will have to draw up a constitution stating clearly the conditions for memberships, appointments, AGM, EOGM etc. Such documents can be purchased at the RoS website for a fee of $50 so you can get an idea of how to take over the society as each society's constitution will be different.

2.) AGM is a platform to elect new executive committee members. To amend the constitution, you will have to call for an EOGM. And there are some standard guidelines for AGM and EOGM. After the meeting, you have to submit the amended constitution to RoS before it is cast in stone. So one cannot amend the rules anyhow when such emergency happens. Which is a good thing as the old guard has a way to work back on the system.

So in order to take over any society, just sign up for the membership and when AGM comes, they will have to inform you. Look through their constitution and plan your coup by overwhelming the AGM.

------------------------------------------------------------
The new AWARE team adopted a 'knowers' stance when it comes to leadership. Its team shut off feedback from others, including experienced members, and took it to task to change others to suit their leadership rather than learn how to achieve their goals. The first thing they did was to remove all the sub-committee head and to complain why others don't give them a chance. When they speak, they put themselves as the victim and try to appeal for sympathy and feelings rather than convince others with facts and rationales. They are unlikely to be successful as long as they refuse to adopt a 'learner's' stance.

If the new AWARE team really did plot a 'stormtrooper' style takeover of AWARE, they must be surprised at the 'resistance' that they face. Their extreme actions forced the old guards to take extreme measures and they lost many support and caused a divide within AWARE between the old and new guard. Now if part of the EOGM's agenda is a vote of no confidence for the new team, we may see a new election. But what's more interesting is in the turnout for the EOGM, the percentage of new members from each side. It will be a case of who can get more voting power.

Whatever the ending, it will surely be interesting for many of us to observe as it may gives us insights to possibly some of the hidden issues/problems within Singapore

----------------------------------
And a check on RoS website shows that the last annual report submitted to RoS by NUS Physics Society was in 2002, the same year when I submitted an amendment to the consititution. Does that mean that I'm still, technically, the President of NUS Physics Society?? What have they been doing for the past 7 years!!

3000 ++ words

2009-04-19T15:55:00.002+08:00

Really busy. So much so that I try to take less pictures since I know I don't have time to process them.

The new performing arts center is wide... needed to stitch 9 photos together to get this.

The MammothTasks Ahead for 2009

2009-04-12T17:59:00.003+08:00

PI for PW = 21 students x 500 words x 3 drafts minimum = 31500 words to read and grade.

EOM for PW = 21 students x 600 words x 3? drafts minimum = 37800? words to read and grade.

I&R for PW = 21 students x 500? words x 1 draft (hopefully) = 10500? words to read and grade

WR for PW = 5 groups x 2500 words x 3? drafts = 37500 words to read and grade
(That's a total of about 120,000 words for a SCIENCE teacher to read and grade for PW alone, wow!)

OP for PW = ??? sleepless nights? + my own NUS exam at the same period and TISF report submission due at the same period of time??? = suicidal.

SPA = 66 students x (1 report each + 1 graph each + 6 data points min + etc each) = 66 reports + 66 graphs + 396 data points + 66 etc each to graph.

H1 + H2 common tests and exams = about many marks and questions to set and grade.

Research @ NUS = countless of reports to read, presentations to evaluate, research to be done...

Plus other committees and adhoc duties...

This year may be the most demanding yet...

Anyone thinks that there is a market for PW tuition center? Specialist in helping students score for PW etc?

That's so random of me after spending a significant portion of my the long weekend reading PIs and reports for water prize... Luckily I caught up with my sleep... so I'm not THAT grouchy.

Happy Teacher Day

2009-04-09T17:38:00.000+08:00

I truly believe that a retired teacher can be very happy and proud of their 40 years of career in education. I have seen one retire last year whom I got to know him better as we used to work in the same CCA when I first started out as a beginning teacher. I knew he was very happy and proud being a teacher but I didn’t think I understand why until April last year.

The happiness when a teacher learns about the achievements of his students is one of the reasons why education is such a rewarding career. I was mugging at home when I received news from my students that one of my student who just won a top prize in a top competition in Singapore, I got so excited for him. I look upon my student presenting his work overseas and bringing back honours for Singapore with pride. I was happy for my students when they got their ‘A’ levels results, not only for those who got straight A’s, but also for those who didn’t do as well but did not let that set back put them down. I am pleased to see my ex-civics class do well in their PW when they receive their results today. I am thrilled to find out that one of my students is selected for a prestigious program in one of the top university in USA.

I am proud to know that all these students have good character, well rounded and truly deserve their achievements. I have a very happy teacher day today.

Human are Irrational

2009-04-05T08:50:00.002+08:00

Recently witness quite a few cars zipping in and out of lanes trying to get to their destination faster by driving like Formula One racers on the road.

One of them started off behind my car at Buona Vista flyover and entered AYE. Very quickly, he cut right in front and try to speed his way forward. Now along the way, he couldn't get more than 10 car length ahead due to the heavy morning traffic. Eventually when he exited at Rochor, he was no more than 3 seconds ahead of me. All I did was just stick to my lane and drove comfortably, without thinking of overtaking the car ahead of me.

Another case started at ECP after the Rochor exit towards Jurong. A yellow Suzuki swift also zip in and out of lanes trying to get to his destination faster. This time, he managed to go further ahead such that I lost sight of him. But when I took the Clementi Ave 2 exit along AYE, I saw this yellow Suzuki swift again with its characteristic white rim tyres and ah beng driver in shades. I managed to catch up with him after all and even stopped besides him at the traffic lights. We went off in different directions from that point onwards.

If humans are rational, why waste the fuel to drive aggressively. Is the gain of a minute really worth 10-20% extra in fuel cost? Most important of all, what is the expected return for driving aggressively? Let's do a mathematical estimate with the following assumptions.

1. Let's assume a typical trip from point A to point B takes about 15 minutes or 900 seconds in Singapore
2. Let's assume that if one drive aggressively on the road, you will save 10% of your trip time, or 90 seconds
3. Let's assume that by driving aggressively on the road, you will increase your odds of meeting an accident by 6 fold.
4. Let's assume that an average driver will be involved in a road accident once every 10 years or once every 6000 trips. Therefore an aggressively driver will be involved in a road accident once every 1000 trips.
5. Let's assume that with every road accident, you have to spend an average of 24 hours of your time to settle it (including reporting accident, police reports, repairs, medical care, insurance claims etc).

Therefore, an aggressive driver will save (90 x 1000 - 24x60x60) x 6 = 6 hours in 10 years. Of course, that's assuming that the accidents do not kill you, if that happens, the equation will change and time will be negative infinity. And also, assuming that the accidents do not permanently scar you or disable you or bar you from driving, if that's the case the equation will change and time wasted will be very big instead. If you factor these inside the calculation, or if you just factor in the death part, it is sufficient to tilt the results completely.

So why drive aggressively? It's just not worth it.
----------------------------------------

But having said that, humans will still drive aggressively, it is a choice that one makes. Just make an informed choice and bear with the consequences.

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Same thing applies to all our choices. Be it choosing which CCA to join, which homework to complete first, it's about choices. In JC, you have to make those choices, but make informed choices. Irrational, it may be.

New Toy workout

2009-03-29T17:47:00.002+08:00

It's hard to find time and take some photos... it's even harder to find time to sort them. Occupied by too many things recently... So finally gave this new toy a workout more than a month since I purchased it.

It is a mid-high range telephoto lens, different from those I bought online previously... Here's some water images.. since we have been working on quite a bit of water related research so far. It's not easy to focus on water, especially the last image so this lens pass the test with flying colours.

Physics and Language...

2009-03-26T21:26:00.002+08:00

Why do we use quantum leap when quantum effects are confined within really small stuff only. In physics, we can only quantum 'leap' when the gap is sufficiently small. In language, we quantum leap over huge things.

Strange eh...

Xiaobudian's 5 years now

2009-03-23T20:04:00.002+08:00

I'm having a party...

I look pretty with flowers and..

Can you see my 'earring'?

Fun @ the pool.

Time flies, she's 5 years old now. More pics to come if ever I decided to spend 5 mins of my time to blog...

How's Life?

2009-03-19T21:50:00.003+08:00

Getting busier day by day and pay getting lesser too cos of the economic crisis... Luckily I'm too busy to really pursue my hobby of photography nowadays so I don't miss out on buying new cameras or lens... Now I just need to pay off that new telephoto lens I got previously and that's about it till the economy recovers.. or if my pay increases significantly.. whichever comes first perhaps.

Gotta start my research proper...

I didn't know playing games can be so tiring...

2009-03-16T22:41:00.001+08:00

And working out my schedule for this week, I realise my only free day will be sunday... sheesh... better than none

Photos from SSEF

2009-03-12T21:27:00.003+08:00

All the participants from the school. 15 teams out of 259 or 5.8%. Is that over-representation?

Science Society members in SSEF. We have 5 teams out of 15 teams from the school or 33%. Over-representation too?

The silver medalist

The merit award winners

87 medalists out of 259 finalist or about 458 projects submitted. About 33% of the finalist or 18% of project submitted won a medal. In terms of winners.. we are still under-represented. But this is already a 100% increase for the school and also an increase in quality of the medal. So proud that winners were from my class either last year or a few years back... haha... though it doesn't mean I have much to do with them winning.

Still working on the stats.. jiayou!

6 March

2009-03-08T13:05:00.002+08:00

More photos to be added to set

A short farewell

2009-03-06T19:07:00.000+08:00

Congratulations to all for their results in the 2008 ‘A’ levels examination. Some of you may be very happy with your great performances, others may be disappointed, nonetheless, you have set a standard for subsequent batches to follow and the standard is set very high. The final chapter of you, the pioneers is finally completed and you will go down into the school history proudly today.

I will treasure the memories I have of you, my very first batch of students. From Junior High to Senior; from orientation to Xplore, Xtreme and also the days outside the staff room in Mt Sinai just before your ‘A’ levels. I will miss all of you.

Class of 2008, Good Luck and Good Bye!

And I can bend light

2009-03-02T21:54:00.002+08:00

Without adding my secret ingredients

After adding my secret ingredients. Note the effect of refraction has on the re-entry point above.

Only managed to bend it a little.

Will need a more powerful laser and a larger tank with much more of my secret ingredients to make it bend even more... hahaha... The blue line is a guide to demo the bending effect. It's fun doing all these physics stuff once again...

'A' level results coming out soon... haha.. though I'm not getting it but I'm just as excited... fingers crossed..

Significant Day

2009-02-28T15:08:00.001+08:00

Today is the day where I will have an MRT station in service about 5 mins walk from my home. Want to come over for Mahjong? Haha..

More streets of Taiwan

2009-02-28T08:19:00.001+08:00

Every inch can be used for advertising..

An army of motorcyclist waiting in line at the traffic lights

Local shops out of the city area at Miao Li district. A restaurant at the middle and a betel nut shop on the right. No.. I didn't see any betel nut beauties

The view of Taipei city from Taipei 101...

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

Haha.. just watched a movie, Suspect X, it's a movie with a great plot that's very engaging. It can keep you thinking if you pay attention to the words they use. Most important of all, it's about a physicist challenging a mathematician in solving a crime. Unfortunately, most of the movie goers couldn't appreciate the movie. Well.. it's my first movie in many months... I have my deserved break and it's time to get going again... chiong ah...

Taiwan - Danshui

2009-02-22T08:50:00.001+08:00

Long time no blog... perhaps since I came back from Taiwan, I go to work before the sun rises and return home after the sun sets daily. Nonetheless, it was an enriching trip. Time for some photos and interesting observations of a foreigner in Taiwan.

This is the old street at Danshui, where they sell loads of local products like 铁蛋 and freshly grounded almond powder and all sorts of other stuff. The signboard inbetween the streets will dazzle you while motorists and pedestrians share the road haphazardly. I learnt that motorists from Taiwan don't even bother to slow down for pedestrians even when you are at the pedestrian crossing.

Motorcycles or 机车 as they call it in Taiwan, is the main mode of transport. And I wonder if helmets a must for motorcyclists. Look at the image above, it reminds me of the scene I saw at Cambodia where a family shares a motorbike. Many motorcyclists also wear a face mask due to the highly polluted air and streets of Taiwan too.

This is another interesting image of the motorcycle culture in Taiwan. Along the side of the roads are parking lots for bikes. You can see a never ending stretch of bikes on the left side of the road but it is empty on the right side even though there are designated lots (white boxes) for them. Uncle Ma, the local who brought us around, told us perhaps the vans/trucks uses the right side to unload goods so to prevent damages to their bikes they cluster to the other side. As I travel around in Taipei, I notice more of such unwritten rules. Nonetheless, parking on the side of the roads is very common in Taipei compared to Singapore.

We saw a Christmas tree in the junction of the old street even though its February and Christmas is over for more than a month. Yet it is only a few days after 元宵 and we can't find lanterns around the streets anymore.

Second Award

2009-02-14T00:56:00.001+08:00

Woohoo.... great results... there's room for improvement but we are almost there...

Crappiest Thing that can happen

2009-02-12T12:46:00.002+08:00

Is to change your nus password just before flying off to Taiwan and forgetting it now. Sigh.. all those efforts on ensuring our password security really back fires in terms of productivity at times. Worst thing is I need to personally go down to NUS to reset which is something not feasible now and I really need to download homework online to work on.

Arrghhh!!!!

Should have just written down my passwords (which defeats the purpose of changing it in the first place)

Going to Taiwan soon...

2009-02-04T17:43:00.001+08:00

Maybe in the future I will have more time to blog... perhaps in March. Maybe I will have more time to blog when I'm in Taiwan... woohoo~~ will this be the highlight of my career in school or will there be greater heights for me to climb?

MC means

2009-01-30T20:20:00.001+08:00

I'm need rest and can only do light duties hence here's the photos

Orientation 09 - Strength to Strength

Cover Page

2009-01-30T18:33:00.001+08:00

NG 2 - What's with the weird expression on Mxxxx's face? And Bennu is blocking Drakon's flag

NG 9 - What's with Mxxxx's expression again? And the flags again...

NG23 - Hey.. who's that behind?

Take ??? - Finally....

But the end product was that the flag got chopped off... ah well... will get to see it coming Friday...

Happy Niu Year!

2009-01-25T09:40:00.001+08:00

Just done with a supposedly Science thing but with little Science except for the bits and pieces from the Nobel Laureate. Prof Osheroff reminds me a lot of my time when I was doing Science, and I'll be looking forward to doing Science again for my thesis...

Kiwi Trip - Toyota Series

2009-01-14T19:31:00.001+08:00

It's just like my Getz but with a 1.8L engine...

Notice that the first pic it's EPP511 and EPP512... and I thought Singapore was small...

Kiwi Trip - Random Photos of the Day 1

2009-01-08T21:02:00.000+08:00

It's been a month since the trip and I'm not even half done... so instead of doing day by day I'll do some random photos and call it a day once I'm done with me randomness...

Random 1

Sucre and her creativity at taking photos

The best bird shot ever by me... with the snow cap mountain as background...

Glacier cave

Road trip

Important Day

2009-01-06T18:47:00.001+08:00

2 Jan 09 may be an important day for the school as it is homecoming (just like quite a few other schools), but it is a special day for xiaobudian... who is now in K1.How time flies... that's her after her first day in K1. Who knows which school she will end up in 10 years later.

塞翁失马, 焉知非福

2009-01-04T19:32:00.002+08:00

Dad's bike got stolen, but he won back some $$ plus extra from the numbers he bought for 4D due to the incident. You never know what's going to happen in life.

Hmm... HD5 seems to be a split second slower than Ch 5...

Work work work... more challenges in 2009.

Kiwi Trip - Day 3 More Ultimate Glacier Discovery

2008-12-31T20:09:00.001+08:00

On the left, the rocky hill formed by the glacier many years ago when it pushed the rocks here. You will noticed that the rocky hill is a bit redish in colour and seem to contained iron. While the rocks we were walking on were greyish in colour came from a different source. Haha... think I better stop if not I'll be blogging more and more about Geography instead of Physics. Though at the end of the day, this is physical Geography which in essence is Physics too.

Thorny plants used by the Maoris for tatooing in the past. Ouch...

Here's the paranomic view of the vantage point.

Walking back alone. But what's more interesting is that in the Gondor scene with Minas Tirith, the snow cap mountain background came from here instead of the place we visited in the morning. As for the castle, it is located elsewhere and sadly is not opened for public.

Kiwi Trip - Day 3 Ultimate Glacier Discovery

2008-12-31T19:57:00.001+08:00

The other tour of the day, the glacier tour at Mt Cook area. Aoraki Mt Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand and is home to some of the most interesting stuff I've seen. Besides 'river of rocks' and climbing up what seem to be Mordor, there's a bumpy ride on the 4WD vehicle. Felt like Frodo in his journey when we were climbing up the rocky hill. Here's the other highlights of the tour

From rocks, we get moss, from moss we get soil, from soil we will get plants and trees. The process will take hundreds of years.

From Tasman glacier, we get this piece of ice, formed under pressure of snow, and ended up at the lake due to the global warming. Can see little stones inside the ice.

See the little boat there? This will give us a better idea of the size of the place. Pity that the clouds covered the peaks.

The stitch of Tasman glacier. The grey part is the glacier, the milky white part the lake. It's grey due to the little rocks that piled up after the ice melted. Barely a hundred years ago, the glacier was as high as where I was standing when I took this picture and end up as for as the spot where I stood when I took the previous picture.

Kiwi Trip - Day 3 Lake Pukaki

2008-12-26T14:13:00.001+08:00

After LOTR tour in the morning, it's time for re-exploring of the scenic locations around Twizel with the great weather today. Thought of squeezing in the flight on the same day but given that I have a tour in the afternoon that will only end at about 5pm and that the last scenic flight happens to take place around the same time but at a location about 1 hour away. I knew we have to give the flight a miss.

That's me trying to capture paranomic shots of Lake Pukaki

That's the flight of stairs I ran down (remember I just recovered so am a bit wobbly with my legs at that time)

There's a hydroelectric power generator (There's a lot of hydropower in NZ) behind me. This is the view after generating power.

Lake Pukaki... only part of it.. the building on the left is the information counter

Kiwi Trip - Day 3 Gondor (LOTR)

2008-12-21T22:13:00.002+08:00

Day 3, great day today. If we can measure the amount of fun we have on each day by the number of photos we have taken that day, then day 3 will be more than 30% better than any other days.

First on the agenda for the morning was a personal guide to the actual filming location for what else but the Lord of the Rings movies. We visited Gondor, or where they film it. Gondor is a place featured mainly in the "Return of the King". Can't remember? Go watch the movie again. I have the whole collector's edition DVD with me, just bring some popcorn and soda.

Me doing the Witch King thing.

From the movie in the portable DVD player, you can see Gandalf riding in Gondor with the background exactly as what we see behind.

Real replica swords from the hero (and heroine?)

Paranomic view of Gondor.

Some interesting bits from the guide, who is a local at Twizel.
1.) That the population around the town is not enough for the director to complete his epic battle scene at Gondor, such that the director actually got the New Zealand army to act as Orcs in the movie
2.) That the horses of the riders of Rohan came from different background (some are pets, others are retired race horses) that it took them 3 days to figure out the personality of the horses. You can't break apart lovers or put rivals together in the scene. Plus those race horse are such a show off as they trained to gallop faster than any other horses
3.) That the filming crew strength was a few times greater than the population of Twizel
4.) That Gondor is made up of 3 different locations, Twizel, Mt Cook and Wellington (where they have the 'bigature' castle)
5.) Plus many more...

And this was just a start to a great day of adventure.

Kiwi Trip - Day 2

2008-12-19T20:07:00.001+08:00

Day 2 was a rainy day. With temperature going as low as 0 degrees celsius! No joke, I took a picture of the outdoor thermometer in Twizel using Sucre's handphone so I got proof. Just too lazy to get it out and share it here. Anyway... the rain spoiled most of the day as the scenic flight was cancelled. Was so looking forward to it especially after getting a taste of it from the flight to Christchurch. Not many good photos taken in the rain. Our basic day out was like snap a few shots, wipe our lens and snap a few more shots. Reminds me of another photoshoot in the neighbouring country. It's no joke taking pictures in this cold weather, though its the first time I tried the A700 with my gloves on and it is really easy to operate (except for pinching the lens cap off) due to the generous spacing between buttons on the camera.

On our way to Lake Tekapo, we saw this... black sheeps on the left and white ones on the right. (actually the black ones are cows)

The landmark church at Lake Tekapo. Will never know how beautiful it can be since it was cloudy, rainy and cold when we were there.

Lake Ohau was not part of the itinerary but since we have time to spare as the flight was canceled, we just drop by since we drove around the area.

Our brunch at Lake Tekapo. I really suspect the breakfast I ate caused the problems for me that night. Either that or I have yet to fully recover at that point of time.

Day 2 was the first real road trip. First time driving more than 300km, but luckily got Sucre to share the 'work' with me. The trip from Christchurch to Lake Tekapo and Twizel was quite an eye opener to the beautiful side of New Zealand. Little did we know that the experience will be surpassed by subsequent road trips. So much so that we agree that the best part of our trip was the driving as we relied on the GPS system to bring us from point A to B without knowing what to expect on our way there. And mind you the GPS system brought us to the various scenic route that we didn't knew of from the online driving trip planner.

Neverlost. Indeed, on our first day, it brought us to the Motel via some route that I would never have imagined had I relied on the map. Without the GPS system, I would have made a few extra detours/U-turns to find my way because 1.) the entrance to the Motel can be hidden by the many cars parked at roadside, 2.) there is no right turn into the Motel. With it, we are really Neverlost.

Kiwi Trip - Day 1

2008-12-18T22:34:00.001+08:00

Guess I can consider this to be a backpacking-like trip except that I stay in min 3 stars accommodation instead of bunk bed style hostel. Nice to have all the time under your control, you get like what time should we wake up next morning kind of stuff to think about which is pretty good on a holiday. Rather than being forced to wake up at certain timing for breakfast cause you gotta go to place X by time Y as a tour group. The trip took 13 hours in total with transit at Sydney, which is enough for me to fly to Charles De Gaulle direct but thank goodness the time zone difference is just 5 hours instead.

The flight to Christchurch had a breath-taking view of the southern Alps and here's some photos taken of the beautiful landscape there. Any artifacts you see in the photos are most likely to be due to the dirty plane windows. Plus these 3 shots were heavily photoshop to put back contrast and saturation.

Looks like stuff you see from painting. Really glad that the weather was good at least on arrival so I have a few shots to show. Really pity to miss the sight-seeing plane the next day due to poor weather, otherwise I will have loads more aerial shots of the landscapes there. Good thing I didn't get the 11-18mm SAL lens otherwise it would be sort of wasted.

Christchurch is a pretty small city. Like many places in Europe, the malls are closed on Sundays except for a few touristy shops operated by Japanese. A walk down the streets left us disappointed but at least we manage to find some 24hrs convenience shops (read 7-11) for us to top up some food supplies before we hit off for the road trip. The tall building you see in this picture is probably one of the tallest you can find around Christchurch. Don't expect to find any skyscrapers, perhaps due to the low population density.

Our rental car was a white Toyota Corolla hatchback version with a 1.8L engine and we opt for the GPS system too so there's one less thing to take care off on road trips. With that, we're off for our little adventure in this heavenly place.

It's Summer and it's 11 degrees!

2008-12-08T07:17:00.001+08:00

So sad that the flight is cancelled due to poor weather

Waiting to board the plane.. so exciting...

2008-12-06T19:21:00.000+08:00

Haha.... boo!

D'Prom select

2008-12-06T12:09:00.002+08:00

It's out in Facebook and Webshots. Webshots full size at 1800 x 1200, good for 4R print. Facebook in need of people to tag people. Plane waiting for me to catch. Woohoo! First real holidays in like 5 years since I last went backpacking!

D’Prom 2008

Prom Teaser

2008-12-05T22:13:00.001+08:00

I'm going for holidays tomorrow so if you don't find the rest of the photos means you have to wait a while..

Graduation Day

2008-12-04T17:41:00.002+08:00

Good things comes slowly... DPROM pics to be up much much later... enjoy these 4 Grad Day photos first.

Marching in

Singing the school song

Presenting the certificates

Guitar ensemble performance...

Taiwan International Science Fair

2008-12-04T16:03:00.000+08:00

Yeah.. good news from there.. so happy... don't feel so sick now...

37.9 Deg C

2008-12-04T13:48:00.000+08:00

Sick, now... Arrghhh...