ramly burger got pinged

Went to the ping.sg "UFO Seeing Session" at Clementi pasar malam last night. We spotted the UFO (aka teochew junk food) but didn't order them, but instead we had Ramly Burger. Thanks xizor for the treat!

In the attendance list we have uzyn, sekling, paced, dhope, arzhou, xizor, chillycraps, aaron84z, nannywen, rinaz, rinaz's bro and attilio. Ordering drinks at the coffee shop was so fun, cos almost all of us ordered different drinks, so the coffee auntie had to take one order shout one time.

Talked quite a lot of things, such as pong-cheating, plugging, spamming, selling ads, arzhou's manboobs, swearing in different languages and dialects, etc etc.

Wasted, I didn't even start crapping proper.

のだめカンタービレ

Just finished watching the Japanese drama Nodame Cantabile (のだめカンタービレ).

The story revolves around a group of music student from the Momogaoka College of Music. We have the handsome conductor student Chiaki Shinichi and the really cute piano student Noda Megumi, with all kinds of funny scenes happening. Other than the fun parts such as the hentai maestro, the drama is full of touching scenes that will make your eyes moist.

Lots of efforts were put into including pieces after pieces of nice classical music from Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, Bach, etc etc, with short background description by the main character.

The part when Chiaki hugged Nodame from behind in the last episode was just so sweet~

record-breaking lecture

I broke my record yesterday, for the first time I fell asleep during lecture!

It was ME3162 Manufacturing Processes lecture and after talking for half the lecture (and me staying awake for half the lecture) Prof Seah showed us a video on manufacturing processes (duh!).

The 1980s video from BBC was showing presswork processes like how aerosol cans are made, car body, etc... then maybe cos I wasn't feeling too well I just dozed off during the video. Rest of the time (plus other lectures) I was wide awake. Shucks, my record is stained.

Now I wonder does pepper spray help keep a person awake?

singaporeans getting less superstitious

I think Singaporeans are getting less and less superstitious nowadays.

I still see so many people spitting and littering even when it's the lunar 7th month.

Is it a good sign or bad sign?

canteen attitude

Some strangers (especially foreign students) just like to share table with you while you are away buying food at the canteen.

Yesterday after placing my bag at the table I went off to buy my lunch. When I returned I was stunned to see a stranger sitting there, right in front of my big backpack. So with the extra few newtons of force I tossed my plate of rice onto the table and stared at the man with my cool chilly eyes.

"Is there someone sitting here?"
nod. DUH!
"All 4 seats are taken?"
nod. Actually I was having lunch alone.

Then the guy stood up while I sat down. The best part was after that 3 different lone lunchers came one after another and asked if they could share the table with me, and I agreed, right in front of the first stranger who had by then found a table just in front of mine.

Maybe it's cultural difference or what, but it would be nice if he could at least ask if he could share the table with me before settling down. I know I feel wrong to be one person hogging 4 seats and giving the first guy different treatment and lying to him and etc... (it was like a revenge)

But if it was you, how would you feel to return to your table to find a complete stranger sitting there? (at least this time I was alone, there were times when we really needed all 4 seats)

total lunar eclipse tonight

There will be a total lunar eclipse tonight. It's the second lunar eclipse of 2007. (the previous one was on 3rd March)

From NASA, the timing is as follows: (GMT+8)

• 16:51 partial eclipse begins
• 17:52 total eclipse begins
• 18:37 mid-eclipse
• 19:22 total eclipse ends
• 20:24 partial eclipse ends

If you don't want to leave your eyes off the screen, can always watch the live webcast here.

EDIT: ok NASA screwed the webcast up.

crap with caution

Ever since the first time I saw this advertisement, I so wanted to make fun out of it. Don't you think the girl looks like a particular group of Arab men who happen to be seen with that long tubular thingie on their shoulders all the time?

This morning I saw the ad again on the bus to campus, and just now I was halfway photoshopping it when I was reminded of that incident.

Sigh. Crap also cannot crap freely. Anyway you can figure out what I intended to write about while listening to this song.

(by the way that girl is an engineer)

starting my generator

It's like you want to start the generator, you keep pulling and pulling the starter cord but the generator just refuses to crank up.

It's week 3 of the semester and still not in the right mood to study. Tutorials (and quiz) coming up...

Maybe the spark plug is wet. Am I supposed to change it?

birthday false alarm

On Thursday I was on my way to campus when hj SMSed me "happy birthday". I was like, err... not today leh... "Oops sorry, wrong intel".

Then when I reached school, some of the guys who supposedly wanted to stay home and watch webcast of the lecture, came to school to have birthday lunch with me. (worse is I had early lunch before going into lecture theatre... sorry~)

My birthday was yesterday. Thanks for all the well-wishes!

One very amusing thing, my family still doesn't know it was my birthday yesterday! So I did a little experiment, kept quiet about it and spend the day like any other day. I revised, mopped floor, went bookshop, went library, even went to bakery with my mother and was so close to the birthday cakes. In the end we bought a swiss roll. Still a cake =)

Oh and for the first time in my life I asked for a birthday present from a friend, quite a big and heavy one and money can't buy one. Hope it arrives soon. =)

offline matchmaking

Very funny, my mother's colleague, who is a teaching staff at a secondary school, wants to matchmake her goddaughter to my mother's son!

The girl is 23 and is studying in SMU.

I told my mother, which son does she want? One graduated from NTU and has income; or the other who is studying in NUS and has outcome no income?

(I think my brother needs a girlfriend more than I do.
I'm still single though. And NO, I don't fool around!)

ad-dicted

You might have noticed there are advertisements added to my blog recently. (and if you haven't noticed, that means I've done a great job blending them in =P)

First thing first, I put the ads there for fun. (I received complaints before from my readers) I'm really not counting on the ads to earn money for me, especially google ads' rate can't compare to certain local blog ads companies. (can see arzhou's earnings) Then why am I still sticking to google? For fun~! You see, google has this crawler that crawls your blog content and delivers relevant ads. So when I wrote about airliner accident, ironically those airlines' ads appeared =P

Some of the ads are pretty interesting, especially when I write about engineering stuffs. So tempted to check them out but too bad I myself am not allowed to click on them. I think this beats seeing the same credit card or female garment ads in every other blog.

When I get my first payout (which doesn't seem any time soon unless you help me click more) I'm going to donate the whole sum to charity.

virgin or non-virgin textbook

Was planning to buy the Vector Mechanics: Dynamics textbook. NUS co-op is selling at $30. My favourite Clementi is selling at $28. Market price for second-hand on IVLE forum is $25.

So I had to decide. Very much I would like to save resources (money and trees and ink and wadeva) and buy a second-hand one, but if a brand new 8th edition book costs about the same as a second-hand used 7th edition, then it made perfect sense to buy a new one.

And then at an used-book sale I found a second-hand 7th edition selling at $10. It's now mine.

It's not in the best of condition, but the pages are clean. You know, it's like reading library books. It feels kind of wonderful knowing so many people have gotten knowledge from the books and sharing and passing on. Anyway I wonder how many library books have me as their first reader. =)

(It's like girls. A virgin girl may not always be good and an non-virgin one may not be all bad. Maybe I shan't be so particular about it. But I have my personal reason for it...

But it's way easier to find a virgin book than a virgin girl)

china airlines run out of fuel

Not even one week and another China Airlines(CAL) joke/incident. A China Airlines Airbus A330 headed for Nagoya was diverted and made emergency landing at Osaka's Kansai International Airport as it was running out of fuel, according to Japan's NHK channel.

But CAL claimed that Nagoya closed the runway due to wild birds on the runway.

First Boeing, now Airbus, so it seems that it's with the airlines itself. The weird thing is, even if they closed the runway to chase away the birds, the jet could still hover above the airport until it's clear to land, no? I dunno, the closest I've only played an air traffic controller game.

Kinda weird that other airlines don't have to divert but only CAL. Or was the media picking on them?

china airlines paints over name & logo on wreckage

I think China Airlines is damn joker, they used white paint to paint over it's name and logo on the jet wreckage at Naha Airport.



Please, you think covering it up then we won't know what happened meh?
(photos from 每日新聞, 22 Aug 2007)

lecturer doing blowjob

(the above title is just a joke)
Associate Professor MAJ(NS) Dr Seah showing us a kind of metal forming known as blowing.

Bonus track: 银色月光下

Prof Seah from ME Department can form a duet with Prof Victor Tan from Maths Department.

Coincidentally yesterday morning before class I was listening to Lena Park's 祈り~ You Raise Me Up.

(thanks Alvin for the video)

quote of the day

hope you don't plan to blog about the "[...]" quote from me [...]
-- sms at 16:41:59

Remember DON'T quote ah, please.
[...]
But really. don't blog bout the quote k! Thanks!
-- sms at 17:12:52

[...]that's why i ask you, if possible... don't blog abt it at all.
-- msn

now that i've told you the story, pls don't blog abt the quote k.
-- msn

Someone asked me not to quote him, but I have like quoted him 4 times already.
See the power of my blog?

china airlines on fire

Was reading up on the China Airlines' Boeing 737-800 which caught fire on Monday at Naha Airport. It's believed that there was a fuel leak near the no.2 engine, causing the explosion.

It was quite a miracle that no one was injured as the 165 on board escaped safely. The reaction from the crew and the passengers must have played a part in the quick evacuation, so next time you fly, be sure to listen carefully to the preflight safety brief (regardless whether the crew members are good looking or not).

But the incident also brought up a point about the airline's track record. It can be the pilots, the maintenance, or the aircraft itself. Some smaller airlines use second hand aircrafts, which, like human beings, the bones go weak when they get old. You will be glad that our local airline has one of the youngest fleet in the world.

But that 5 year old 737-800 that exploded isn't that old actually. Hmm, age is superficial?

group leader vs friend

The project group leader is facing a little dilemma. Our project hasn't even started proper when one of the group members may be leaving. He may be joining the Shell Eco-marathon team which covers the design project AND final year project.

As group leader, of course I wish he can stay with us. But as friend, I really would encourage him to pursue his interest, passion or even dream. In fact it was me who told him about the team opening and urged him to email the prof-in-charge even though the registration deadline was long over. Not everyone has the chance to design a car and go to France to compete with teams from all over the world. After you graduate you will want to look back and find yourself having done something meaningful in your university life.

I'm only a group leader for 2 semesters, but definitely a friend longer than that 2 dozens odd weeks. I'll still encourage him to grab the opportunity.

wrong bus, wrong mood

When you are moody, you tend to do stupid things.

I was on the way to school from home, then somehow I boarded the wrong bus that took me nowhere near NUS. (mind you, I'm in year 3) When I boarded the bus, I knew it wouldn't take me to school... but somehow I still boarded it.

I decided to ride on and alighted at National Library, seeking refuge inside. I went to the engineering shelves, but couldn't find anything that would interest me. Anyway I don't need books when I already have readings and lecture notes. So I left, and boarded a bus that really would take me to NUS.

Maybe the back of my mind just wanted to spend more time on the bus, sorting out my thoughts.

kindergarten kid in nus

For our HR2002 Understanding Human Relations in the New Economy lesson, we are given marks for class participation. But before the tutor can award you marks, he/she has to know who you are. For our group, every student has to wear a yellow name tag in class.

So yesterday during the break halfway through the lesson, I went to the Business School canteen to buy coffee. Somehow I got the feeling that people were looking at me in a weird way... then I bumped into Min Hui who laughed at me and said I looked like kindergarten kid. Shucks I forgot to take off my name tag...

Even freshmen don't look like that. =_=

mail from london

Received a mail from London yesterday, and the letter says...

Dear Mr Chow

Thank you for your recent application for membership. I am delighted to advise you that on the above date you were elected to the class of affiliate.

The Trustee Board, in approving your election, has asked me to extend their congratulations to you and to wish you every success in your progress towards full membership of the Institution and the associated registration you will gain as a professional engineer with the Engineering Council UK...

Yay, I'm now member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers!

I look at some foreign universities, they have IMechE Student Chapter in the school, but there's none in Singapore. In NUS we have SME (Society of Mechanical Engineering), ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), maybe even can count Engin club in. It seems a bit saturated with clubs and societies, but their activities are like mostly selling notes and what not. I thought there would be exciting things like industrial visit. The IMechE Singapore Branch does organize site visits to places like power station, and isn't it nice if there are some affiliate in local universities so that students can tag along in such activities as well?

The idea did flash across my mind to propose setting up an IMechE Student Chapter in NUS, but then like I said, we already have so many clubs and societies, and afterall who's going to look after the new society?

machining under influence

Never operate machines under influence. And when I mean influence, I don't mean alcohol or drugs, but humans.

Yesterday I was in the Fabrication Support Centre fabricating a part using the lathe machine (not latte machine). I was slowing turning the Z dial, so slowly that my part got a super shiny mirror finish. Just when I was so proud of myself, my lab partner put his hand on the X dial and turned in the wrong direction... ARGHH! The shiny surface got a deep indent... So, more hands doesn't always mean better. Try eating with you holding the fork and your partner hold the spoon for you.

After that, was machining some depth away from the part. I was doing it slowly, moving in 0.2mm by 0.2mm. Then the surrounding people were saying can do faster, so I sped up to moving 0.5mm by 0.5mm, then KLONG!KLONG!KLONG! That's it, the force was too great for the clamp and that's the end of my part.

(I remember that time during internship, I was machining alone and I saw some pretty girls outside the workshop. You can guess my fabricated part became wreckage)
Ok lah, at least it's the aluminum that felt the pain and not human flesh.

encik and briyani

That day I was ordering nasi briyani, and the Malay lady addressed me as "encik". Reminds me of the other time when I called malique as encik, and he replied "encik is that old bastard in the camp". =P

Back to briyani. Ok so that day I was eating nasi briyani and observing this couple looking/hunting/waiting for table. They were standing at the very nonstrategic outskirt of the stall and everytime they saw an empty table, the girl would make her long way towards the empty table only to see another group taking the table. And all this while the guy was standing motionless at the outskirt.

Finally they got a table, it was right in front of that can't-be-bothered guy. To be honest, I was one of the "other groups" who came later but got the table earlier than the couple. Sometimes I myself can't help but hate this kind of late-comers who got table first in the canteen, but what can I do if you are not competent? (or simply can't be bothered)

ultimate leak test

When you are stressed, you tend to do stupid things.

My backpack has this external pocket where I place my big-mouthed Nalgene bottle. So this morning I lay my backpack flat on my lap, ie my bottle was lying horizontally. Then dunno why I went and unscrew the bottle cover and... *splash*~

Luckily my Osprey backpack has the waterproof membrane.

(in industry, when they manufacture compressor, the product has to go through a leak test chamber to test for leakages. 100% leak test.)

i don't like readings

For my 2 years + 1 week's time in NUS, one thing never changed: I still don't like readings.

Home appliances' user manuals are best, laboratory manuals are fine, engineering research papers still okay, science articles still readable, arts and business readings are totally disgusting! EEK!

After reading like 3 pages of my HR reading material, I just couldn't take it anymore.

I went to mop the floor and wipe the windows.

my proud sponsors?

The Department of Crappy Engineering is proud to have the following supporters:

















and the list goes on... (really, I wish I can list them all)
Why are you guys reading my blog in the office?

nus freshmen recognition guide 07/08

The NUS Freshmen Recognition Guide for AY07/08 is out!

Additions to the previous academic year's recognition guide are as follows:

7. Walk around in campus wearing the purple Rag & Flag T-shirt.
8. Looking out of the bus windows with head 90 degrees from the front. (I was sitting at the window seat and I thought this guy was inspecting my unshaved facial hair)
9. Taking tray for food that doesn't require a tray.
10. Ordering western food at engin canteen without paying first.
11. Coming out from the wrong exit after buying food at canteen. (ie, squeezing through the queue with food in hand)
12. Forgetting to log-out after using computer at Computer Centre.
13. Paying extra for take-away cup and drinking the coffee in the canteen.
14. Smiley face.
15. (fill in the blank)

invisible water effect

look ma, no water!

That's sulfur hexafluoride gas they pumped into the container.

Wait a minute, now I'm having doubts on the gas...

quote of the day

hi mum!

-- Dr Christina Lim
waving to the webcast camera during ME2151 Principles of Mechanical Engineering Materials lecture

point to notes

Fellow NUS ME3 coursemates, the following notes are available at YIH printing room:

HR2002 Understanding Human Relations in the New Economy
-- $11.2 unbound, $14 with binding

ME2151 Principles of Mechanical Engineering Materials
-- $1.30 (thanks to snoookems for sending it in)

btw swave is selling his Vector Mechanics for Engineers (Dynamics) by F.P. Beer, E.R. Johnson Jr, W.E. Clausen, 7th Ed in SI. Anyone interested?

interesting email

I received this email from a coursemate (whom I dunno) with regards to design project.

Dear Mr. Chow,

I am a poly direct ME3 student that is interested to join your group. My classmates have decided to take up another project but my strong desire to take up your project has spurred me to leave and join you guys. My experiences include sourcing for material, technical hands on and CAD. I hope my hard work and contribution can help the team to achieve a grade of A or B. The maximum number per group is 8 which can greatly help split this heavy module. For your information, students who have not been allocated would be assigned to existing groups which still has openings on Monday 20Aug. I hope you can sincerely consider and discuss with the other members regarding my request.

As the deadline is near, sms or phone call regarding your decision would be much a appreciated. Upon your approval, i will inform Ms Noor to add my name into the group registration so there would not be any trouble for you.

Regards,

Too bad my group is already full.
But if it's a she, I can make special arrangement =P

white (chocolate) terror

From Japan News Review, Wednesday, August 15, 2007

The Sapporo-based sweets manufacturer Ishiya Chocolate Factory Co. deliberatedly mislabeled the best-before date on chocolate from their popular brand “Shiroi Koibito,” the company revealed on Tuesday. It was also revealed that bacteria had been found in Baumkuchen and popsicles produced in the same factory. Ishiya have now started recalling the products.

The company confessed that 4,328 chocolate boxes of Shiroi Koibito had been mislabeled in order to get rid of their backlog of products. The company claims it only found out about the mislabeling after it had received a supposedly anonymous e-mail about it.

While a best-before date is not legally required in Japan, the company apologized and announced they are re-calling the chocolate.

The company also revealed that Staphylococcus aureus bacteria had been found in Baumkuchen produced in the same factory as the Shiroi Koibito. While Ishiya has previously recalled 20 suspectedly infected Baumkuchen, they had been unable to confirm the safety of products sold before that, and will now recall those as well.

Thirdly, E. coli bacteria had been found in Ishiya’s “ice candy” popsicles, of which Ishiya so far has recalled 34,000.

That's the famous 白い恋人 (white sweetheart) chocolate from Hokkaido. Kind of reminds me of the scene in The Simpsons Movie where Apu wrote over the expiry date of a product in his Kwik-E-Mart.

Earlier this year, another Japanese candy company Fujiya (the employer of that kid in my avatar) used expired milk in its cream puffs. =S I always thought this kind of thing only happens in China, but even in Japan! (whose industries pride themselves in Total Quality Management TQM)

It worries me, cos I like Japanese chocolate...

me3 welcome session

Prof C. Yap: a hungry man is an angry man.
Siu Hang: he angry liao...

Although I had no lesson yesterday, I went to campus to attend the ME3 Welcome Session. Thought it would be a good idea to hear what the professors had to say before we make the choice for specialization.

Every university wants to advertise its own programmes and that includes engineering. The Head of Department was explaining why NUS is not offering Aerospace Engineering but instead Mechanical Engineering with aeronautical specialization. His reason is, Singapore needs aerospace technicians, not aerospace engineers. This point was later confirmed by my dear brother, a mechanical engineer working in aerospace company. Think I'm not going to elaborate, don't want to offend my friends in NTU Aerospace Engineering. =P

And the hot topic around is Offshore Oil & Gas technology! They are pumping money into this (oil) field and NUS is the only place offering this course in Singapore. Digging black gold is not my cup of coffee.

During lunch (which was provided) I had some nice chats with the professors. We talked about the trend in the local engineering sector and stuff. It's good to know the market trend before you make the choice and set the direction.

Oh, there were lotsa leftover cos of the low attendance. Food was nice.

(half) naked truth of global warming

Somehow the weather is quite hot recently. Being the environmental friendly person that I am, I don't switch on the fan. Since I don't have a heatsink on me, the most energy efficient way to dissipate heat at home is to be bare top. (Warning! This method is not applicable to females)

So one day I was in this attire and watering my plants in the corridor, then my neighbour, a cute girl in her late teens or early 20s, was standing at her doorstep with her eyes fixed on me. I was like.. errr...... hi.

Then another day, someone knocked on the door and like before I was in this above-mentioned attire. Through my door's spyhole I saw this cute female with clipboard in hand. Obviously I couldn't open the door and I could only turn her away from behind.

Now you have more reasons to fight global warming.

quote of the day

This is Hong Jun. After he graduates he wants to serve in the prison.

-- Siu Hang, during HR2002 "Understanding Human Relations in the New Economy" lesson. Each student was supposed to introduce his/her partner and his/her plan after graduation. Hong Jun wants to serve in the prison service.

It is indeed heartening to hear that most of my classmates want to be engineers after graduating.

Just last weekend I was reading the recruitment section of the classified ads (yeah, haven't graduated and already looking for jobs). One thing I am not comfortable with is that, most companies are looking for engineers with at least 2 years of relevant experience. Then what about fresh grads? If we are not scholars, then where do we get our first job and gain our first 2 years of relevant experience? Fast food restaurants?

Then in a news report, they were saying that students are not taking up engineering scholarship.

I really don't know what to say.

there's no place like home

It's first day of semester and nothing beats going back to NUS, especially having spent close to 3 months in NTU.

And there's home within home. Today I had HR lesson in Business School, which has a very weird system of numbering their seminar rooms. Seminar Room 20 is so so far away from Seminar Room 21, and Seminar Room 19 is not on the same level as Seminar Room 20. In other faculties, rooms are usually labeled with block number followed by level followed by room number. I reached school 30 minutes early but spent 30 minutes figuring out the way.

Then at lunch time, we went to check out the new Arts canteen. Just as I found an empty table and placed our bags on the seat, this fella came to us and said he was waiting for the table before us. He was like waiting for the table behind lor, so I said, "Aren't you waiting for THAT table?"
"We are waiting for both tables."
"You mean you are waiting for both tables?"
"We are waiting for either of the two."
I... was pissed but I didn't want to be nasty, so we left the table.

We went back to our home ground Engineering's canteen, where I saw people don't hog table and left as soon as they had finished their meals.

You always feel better playing on home ground.

bulletproof badminton racket

Yesterday I went to play badminton with my brother and his friends.

My brother has this new toy, a Kevlar badminton racket. I was like, what the... Kevlar is a composite material (aramid fibre to be exact) created by DuPont and is found in soldier's helmet and body armour/bulletproof vest. But don't try to block a bullet with a Kevlar badminton racket -_-"

(and you know what, the Lexan plastic of my Nalgene bottle is used to make bulletproof glass. That's why some outdoor equipment stores line the front of their stores or the cashier counter with Nalgene bottle =P just kidding)

My sword arm now aches from overuse. I was using my brother's old graphite racket.

i/o brush

I found something very cool! Introducing the I/O Brush from MIT Media Lab!
Ok this toy has a camera inside that can capture images the way a paintbrush is dipped onto a palette, and then it can deposit the images onto a special canvas.

I think the video is better at explaining than I do. =P

Official site.

drifting in supermarket

Yes! I have finally mastered the art of drifting in supermarket!

I visit the supermarket quite often and it is important to know how to maneuver your trolley around. Bottlenecks, sharp corners, hairpin turns, and yes the check-out counters. Aggressiveness is everything, if you can't maneuver, you will be outmaneuvered. Timing makes helluva difference between grabbing the biggest lettuce or seeing another auntie taking it away.

Yesterday I executed the perfect J-turn, arriving just in time for the supermarket staff was about to bring out the fresh fruits.

My trolley left behind 4 long black tire streaks on the floor...

centri-few-gal pump

Although I have studied 2 modules of fluid mechanics, I still can't figure out how come my kitchen sink got clogged. It's like you don't even need a stopper to carry out that conserve-water-movement thingie.

What I guess is that in real fluid, there is something called "stick boundary condition". That means near the wall of the pipe, the flow velocity is zero. When the flow is slow, all the rubbish and nonsense got deposited. Pretty much like fats in blood vessel.

So I used suction pump, didn't work. Declogging detergent, didn't work. (hello, chemical engineers...) Changing the pipe? Not practical, since the pipe runs under some concrete and tiles. Centrifugal pump... so big scale ar, just a drainage pipe leh. Want some TNT?

Best solution: buy a new flat.

student power

The professor in charge of the design project replied to me! He agreed to open up the slots to 8 per group and "Apologise the instructions given if not clear".

That's good news for me, as I was kinda prepared for the worst (such as public execution at the sports field that sort =P) Fellow students, if you have a case (or a cause), then you should fight for the case and speak up. You don't have to be rude, but you don't have to feel disrespectful at the same time. We are helping them to provide quality tertiary education.

Oh well, I came from a secondary school where students boycotted exam and went on riot. *shrug*

head of department on chopping board

It's either head of department of mechanical engineering, or head of department of crappy engineering's head will roll...

In all emails and website instruction, it is stated that for the design project, students are supposed to form into groups of 6-8. What I understand by 6-8 is it can be 6, 7, or 8 in the group. So when I went to register for our group of 8, I found that the registration site only has 7 slots to fill. Puzzled, I emailed the lecturer in charged and the reply was "You are supposed to form a group not more than 7 (set by the system) unless you have a strong reason to do so"

What strong reason? The more the merrier?

It's really hard decision for a group leader to tell the members to be prepared to get kicked out. So I am prepared to kick myself out if need be. But at the same time, I'm also bugging the lecturer in charged for clarification, carbon-copied to the Head of Department.

It's a losing battle, but I think there's a need for the battle to be heard. Should I cc to the whole faculty as well?

why things break

I can't believe I'm reading a material science book. In Why things break, Mark E. Eberhart talks about "understanding the world by the way it comes apart".

A while ago I was talking about metalsmith making steel stronger by repeatedly heating and hammer it. Actually when heating, carbon from carbon monoxide gets into iron and turns it into steel. And there are a lot of material science to tragedies such as Titanic and the Challenger space shuttle. People only talk about Titanic hitting iceberg and Kate Winslet flying, but do you know that the ship's hull was below its ductile-to-brittle temperature and thus it broke like brittle materials? (duh) And as for the Challenger incident, engineers from the rocket manufacturer actually knew the problem and were against the launch. (read more to find out)

If we need to break something to learn how strong it is, do we need to break relationship?

leaded or unleaded

Today went back to NUS for the first project group meeting, and I got saboed / chosen / selected / volunteered to be the group leader. What the hell! Someone just conveniently wrote my name at the department's office. They always say power lies with the one holding the pen.

I started off being a bad group leader by showing bad influence. I told the group don't be so serious about the design project, chances are the industrial partners aren't serious either. My group was quite shocked to hear that.

There are quite a few projects and companies to choose from, including Singapore Technologies, Keppel, Siemens, Philips, even Society for the Physically Disabled. We examined each option, struck out those that we don't like, and ranked our choices. (actually I used the excuse of trying to be neutral and didn't rank mine, somemore leader has veto power =P) Although I have some preference in my mind, but somehow my stubbornness didn't get to me today.

Oh, one member got turned on by Siemens.

goldfish precision drill squad

gosh, National Day Parade is just around the corner, but have you seen goldfish doing march-past and precision drill?

Really can't believe my eyes...

lost in department store

Not sure if it had happened to you before, but I remember when I was a kid sometimes my family brought me to the department store, then somehow either I wandered off or they wandered off and I got separated from the family (this usually took place at the toy section). Then panic set in as I didnot know the way home or had no money on me. (yeah yeah ideas such as reporting police or going to customer service counter)

Even now, this sort of thing happens, sometimes at the supermarket, sometimes at department store (toy section, yes yes. Toys'r'us is worse)

Was at Daiso with my mother, then I got separated from her. I went around looking for her, then ended up..... I was looking at the hot girls in the store...

(there's this joke about a couple who got separated from each other at the department store. The husband went to a pretty sales girl and started flirting with her. He told her that whenever he talks to another female, his wife will find him. The moment he finished the sentence, his wife was pulling him away by his ear)

quote of the day 2

chillycraps: lion mate with tiger then got liger
rinaz: then a icelander mate with cubans become ice cube?

quote of the day

Two wrongs don't make a right,
but two Wrights made an airplane

I'm not going to make the same mistake twice.
Thrice can?

girly man

Girly Man by Indian Michael Jackson.
The other time I watched the Chinese version. This one is in English, less crude but equally funny!
LOL got old calculator and motorboat!

ang mo's shaking kio

Yesterday I was talking about the shaking walkway in AMK Hub, and my civil engineering friend from UNSW asked me to take a few photos.

The photos are HERE~

(can't see much though, everything is wrapped inside)

violent games or violent kids

Do violent kids turn to violent games,
or do violent games turn kids violent?

Or do violent kids turn to violent games, which turn violent kids more violent? (then they turn to more violent games)

I haven't been playing computer games for months...

engineering sense

You will be surprised how much sense and intuition engineers rely on.

For example in my previous research, we used the digital signal processor (DSP) from Texas Instruments (TI). The funny thing was while using the chip we had to keep sniffing for burning smell so that in the event the chip burned, we could immediately switch off the power. 2 electrical engineering guys got their chips burned =P (still remember one of them fanning the smoke)

For myself, in mechanical design I had to choose screw size and holes for the structure. Sometimes you need to choose between saving space and keeping strength, and obviously a smaller screw takes up less space but is weaker. In school we learned how to calculate the strength and all that, but in practice we choose screw size with one look. It's kinda intuitive, you will know if a M3 bolt suffice or if you need a stronger M5 for that. Guess it takes practice.(and sometimes, failure)

Just yesterday after blogging about the Tacoma Bridge, I went to AMK Hub and could feel vibrations while on the walkway outside Fish&Co (heard that some newspaper reported on it before). I trust that the construction followed all official building codes, but the fact is, people can feel the walkway shaking! I could see the brochure in my hand shaking lor!

There's a branch of engineering called "human factors engineering". If people don't feel good about something, then it's a problem. And you just have to feel it to solve the problem.

collapsing bridge

Was at the library browsing through some engineering books on failure, then saw the mention of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge disaster of 1940.

The gale was blowing at the same frequency as the natural frequency of one of the bridge's modes, and as a result the vibration was amplified. Then the bridge collapsed. Luckily no one was injured.

My previous research deal quite a lot with resonance, tuning the signal generator to the natural frequency of the system and purposely bringing it to resonance. Sounds a bit sadistic, but better than some heavy machineries going into resonance and jumping around in the future right?

I wonder if resonance is responsible for cracking windows in opera house.

group project, project group

This semester we are doing ME3101 Mechanical Systems Design I (industry-sponsored design projects or design project in short) which involves students forming groups of 6-8 and doing stuffs with the industry.

Forming the group is enough of headache for me. So far I have been approached by a few groups and feel worse than torn between 2 lovers. It's more than 2!

• fabbie: their results are so good I scare I'll end up pulling them down.
• guo wei: my secondary school classmate. Hmm...
• liau: my JC classmate, university lecture gang, and also trebuchet team captain. More or less know one another's strengths and weaknesses.
• jennifer: arghhhhhhhhhhh the rare girl (good looking somemore) in mechanical engineering!
  

Okay my mind is set.