Some links

Check this out. Its a post from my friend's blog.

http://cognition87.blogspot.com/2006/10/international-trial-of-saddam-hussein.html

That guy is so daring.

And this is just something I want to put in my blog but was too lazy. It's about Manchester United.

http://cognition87.blogspot.com/2006/10/return-to-4-4-2-is-just-what-ferguson_20.html


 

Somebody showed Justina my blog

The title says it all.

U better own up now before i find out who u r. I promise I will do my best to restrain myself from MURDERING u.

But luckily, she's not mad.

The Asian education mindset..and how it worries me

Taken from http://www.shaolintiger.com

This topic has come up quite a few times recently..and well it's an interesting topic for debate. I noticed it first off myself..and discussed it with a few people which confirmed my thoughts and it was again recently re-established.

The mindset is thus:
Don't question
Whatever I say is correct (the person in charge - teacher, lecturer or any authority figure)
If you don't understand something don't ask because you'll 'lose face'
Don't EVER think outside of the box
Discussion is for noobs

And so on..the crux is this, when people are educated in this region they aren't taught to think, not in any abstract way, they learn by rote, by memory. This is very unhealthy and doesn't nuture creativity or innovation..it stifles and leads to a somewhat stagnant talent base. This is demonstrated by the fact most of the 'great minds' go overseas somewhere to work rather than here..Here it's hard to acheive anything, it's hard to get 'new' things accepted. The whole education system leads to the way the market works here, it's very hard to get in if you aren't 'IN' , once you are in you are the one...once you have the brand identity there becomes only you, there is not so much market competitiveness..

This is because people in general won't think outside the norm, ok this one is normal to get and best, let's stick to that and not try the others..

The example that demonstrated this to me was in a recent class I was attending...the lecturer was an Indian teacher, their education system has progressed to include abstract thought and discussion so he taught in a Western way, trying to spark debate and raise questions..so one time he asked a very traditional group of students the answer to a question, they answered then he purposely made his answer different, somewhat incorrect...I voiced my opinion "I think you are incorrect", he asked me to wait for my explanation and he asked the other students..again voicing his answer as the correct one, they all changed their opinions slowly towards his, nodding their heads and saying they must have been wrong..

A society of sheep?

I don't see how the knowledge base can grow as it needs to if this mindset keeps being re-inforced in the education system...black is black and white is white no debate.

I first encountered this whole thing when teaching in Singapore...no one asks questions, apart from the one American guy in the class..no one queries, no one dares to say 'I think [you/that/they] are wrong'

It's not the way to learn, well I class learning as understanding..not just memorising.

You need to question, you need to debate, you need to be wrong sometimes and accept it..

As my recent tutor said...what's the worst that can happen? You'll be wrong, you'll have made a mistake, big deal..everyone does it, we are all human after all.

If you go to a class, PLEASE ask questions. If not it makes it very difficult for us (the teacher) to conduct an interactive class..

PLEASE question things, don't be spoonfed all the answer..learn to think for yourselves..think outside the box, take the initiative..

Now these are some sweeping generalisations...but they don't apply to everyone, those educated overseas usually have absorbed part of a different way of educating..and can debate effectively.

The Asian folks I discussed this with tended to agree, but maybe that's because I am an authority figure? Who knows...maybe inside they were screaming STFU YOU STUPID AHBENG MATT SALLEH

Some people are just argumentative wherever they were educated and will raise questions..

For the rest of you, don't be sheep, you'll never learn anything.

It also may stand that I am completely wrong...but because of the way I was educated...I am ready to accept that.

No title

Got nothing to blog about.

Life now is just so boring. Everyday its just wantingtostudybuttoolazy-procrastinate-regret-cyclerepeatsitself. Nothing much happened. Only those things that I cannot blog about.

Recommendation: To all Ausmat couples that may separate soon, check out Jay Chou's 'bai se feng che' (white windmill). Pay attention to the lyrics.

Oh, my grandfather passed away. I started writting a post about it but it was too depressing so I stopped halfway. Thats y u r reading this instead.

I am super blur about accomodation application. Havent made up my mind of which 1 to apply yet. Sigh. Worse comes to worst, I'll just stay off-campus. Wont die 1 gua.

Congrats to the 1 that looks like a horse and the 1 that looks like a hamster for their respective successes in personal life.

I really must study. Cannot depend on luck to get good result anymore. I promise myself to finish Physis book 1 by Monday afternoon. Coz dun wanna flunk physics again.

A lot of ppl seem to have started having autobiography book (or is it autograph book? or autobiodata? I really dun know le). I've written for Daphne, Pei Fei, Kuan Yuen, Poh Yee, Christine Wong, Christine Tan and Jia Huei with Michelle's and Jaclyn's pending. I wonder if I should get 1 of my own. Not to write messages in, maybe just a simple address book to get everybody's address, phone no, email, etc etc. See la, if I have the mood I'll get 1.

Happy Bday Audrey, Merlin, Yu Wan and Doreen. Merlin's Bday party was great. The washing afterwards wasnt (For further details read quanyie's blog).

Lets hope I get 99.99 TER and Melbourne approach me with a Medic offer. And then I'll reject them. WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Speaking of Medic, I borrowed a Chinese novel from Cristine (Wong, not Tan, coz Tan cannot read Chinese). Its titled "bai she ju ta" (the Hospital, or by direct translation, the great white tower). Its about hospital politics. After she bought it she lent it to a lot of ppl and I'm the 1st non-medic student to read the book. Reading it makes me realise how slow I read Chinese. I brought back the book this evening and my mom has already finished it. Amazing. I think I'll need 1 or 2 more weeks.

Wow, didnt know I have so much to crap about. Tata.

Shuang Xiu, thanx 4 helping me put the tagboard.

The rest of u pls put something there.

Chemistry Question

I stole this from Daphne's blog =)

The following is supposedly an actual question given on a University of Toronto chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat) ?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.

As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added. This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number 2 must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over.

The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct...leaving only Heaven thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God."

This student received the only 'A'.

Cute little me

Update

Yeah!!! TRIAL'S OVER!!! So happy!!!

As usual, I studied last minute for trial and end up reading until early morning almost everyday coz if I dun I cant finish and I'll fail. The most extreme experience was studying physics until 5am then wake up at 6 to go for exam. Gila rite? Wat to do? If I dun read I wont be able to answer half the questions there coz I wont remember how to do. Thats y other people do exercise to prepare for math exam but I have to read the textbook. Yes, I READ math (and Spec math). But it works for me.

You must be wondering how come I suddenly have the mood to update 3 posts in 1 day. Its because I'm using the new computer lab with super fast connection (relative to wifi and the old com labs). I can even afford to upload a photo. The purpose of this post is not to mourn for the A's I flushed down the toilet, but instead it is to express my relieve that the trial has finally ended. Of course, the main reason for this is bcoz I already feel very stupid and depressed after sitting for the test and will feel even more stupid and depressed talking about it. So lets talk about what I did after the last paper, Physics.

Physics was shit. I feel so shitty that I am tempted to start the word Physics with small cap when typing this just to show some disrespect to the subject. But I am, after all, an engineer and shall not do so =) I straight-away went back to sleep and woke up a new and happier man. Then, of course, the end of trial has to be marked with some sort of celebration, so I went to have KFC for lunch with Christine (Tan), Nat Wen Jun, Yeam, and Nooi Hoay. After that I planned to go to Sunway to buy a Bday present for my mum n then go skating but due to some unforseen circumstances the venue was changed to Times Square instead. I went with Christine (Wong). Met a lot of ppl there. Bought a purse/handbag from Bonita. U know, those that u bring to functions and hold in ur hand to match ur elegant dress. Then I went back home without my laptop. Then I found out that weekends without laptop or story book can be very x10 boring. U may noticed that I seem to have typed the last few sentences in a hurry. That's because I did. The lecturer for the juniors' com class is here and I'm ignoring her to finish this off. So I have to go now. Bye.

I hereby declare that Christine Wong did not spread any rumours about me coz if I dont she will kill me. Thank you.

p/s we're not fighting dont worry. In fact I went out with her only 3 days ago. She knows i'm just joking

Rooster's comb

"The comb on the head of a rooster is a secondary sexual characteristic. Its development is under the control of hormones secreted from the testes. In a rooster which has been castrated the comb is small and underdeveloped. If the same castrated rooster has the testes implanted back into the body but in a different different region e.g. the abdominal cavity, the comb still develops normally."

Crierie, A & Greig, D 1999, Biology sace 2 student workbook : essentials, p.83, Adelaide Tuition Centre, Adelaide.