Singapore Science Festival 2010

It feels like it was just yesterday when I visited X-periment during science.09 last year. Wow, so it has been a year and the Singapore Science Festival is back! This time round the theme has changed from "Ask Why" to "Know Why", and Prof Why is joined by 3 other scientific kind in this scientific quest.

Went to check out X-periment at Marina Square. Although I missed the Science Shows timing, but the booths from the various R&D labs and tertiary institutions have been great eye-openers. I feel that compared to last year, this year's displays and set-ups are able to get to the people. No deep theory, but you can see awesome stuff like splitting a photon or reaching to the quantum world with a cool cert and quantum mechanics badge from NUS.

Still too deep? There are other activities that will captivate adults and children alike. It was heartening to see people crowding around booths and listening to explanation or looking into the microscope and trying things out. Hands might get dirty though.

X-periment is on until tomorrow 1 August. There are also other activities such as open house for Singapore Science Festival, so check out their website for details.

working the second shift

There is this saying that working women work 2 shifts - one at their workplace, and the second shift starts when they reach home. Imagine you've just spent 9 hours outside (excluding travelling to and fro), and when you reach home you still have to cook up a decent edible dinner for the family. Then you have to wash the dishes, do the laundry, and what, clean the toilet?

It is another of those under-appreciated job.

In today's society, it seems like one breadwinner is not enough for the family, and often times the female has to double up as housewife. No doubt there is a saying that home appliances have liberated women from the kitchen, but I think that only saves the fire-starting and what-not primitive stuff. I'm sure a good housewife would want the best for her family, so she would insist on cooking the meal, and making sure the home is as spotless as possible, even if she is tired from the day work. (although nowadays more and more just buy back dinner. Not trying to say they are bad though)

So, count yourself lucky if you have the folks back home to take care of the house. Or if you can afford a maid, you owe it to yourself for paying with your hard-earned money to hire the maid.

(I'm feeling this way now cos the folks are out of town and I have to man the fort. I mean, the kitchen. I don't even have time to go to the supermarket! No doubt it would be way easier if we just buy back or eat out, but it's our family thing to eat home-cooked dinner together at home)

to be engineer

A pay-cut of S$400 per month, transport expenses increased by 1.5 times, travelling time increased by 6 times, lunch expenses increased by 2 times, longer (official) working hour.

To be an engineer.

That's three days into my new job. If my previous job was a hush-hush, this job would be even more secretive. I thought the salary wouldn't do justice to the kind of responsibilities I bear, and yes, this job REALLY has to do with everyone's safety. Since when do engineers get paid well?

Like I said, it's only three days, so can't really make a fair comment on the job, but I've learned a lot from the very experienced coworkers I have, and the manuals and code of practise that I have been mugging. Yesterday I was so sick with the readings I skipped my geek porn magazine on my train ride home.

Anyway, it's a joy to be introduced as "our new engineer". Equally thrilling to be introduced as a former (not form) teacher.

have a go

I have been trying out weiqi (aka Go in Japanese) lately. It started off when I was involved as an official in a national weiqi competition some months ago. It was quite a sight to see hundreds of participants pitting against one another in the league, similar heartening sight but yet different from the calligraphy competitions that I am used to. So I decided to give it a go.

Some say that you can learn a lot about the way of life in a game of weiqi. I personally think it is very taoism. You have the black and the white, and sometimes when you think you have surrounded your opponent, in fact you are the one being surrounded. Something like there's you in me and me in you. It is a game of territory, but often got mistaken for a game of killing your opponent's stone. It is possible to win without killing, and surrender without being killed. The rules are few and simple, yet bringing lots of variables to the game.

To be exact, I actually learned weiqi for one academic term during my teenage days, but I've forgotten most of it except the way to hold the stone in a stylo manner. So, back to the guide books and online tutorials. I even went to watch the anime "Hikaru no Go" (ヒカルの碁), which was purely for entertainment purpose. For the time being I am playing with GNU Go, a software for playing weiqi. Wanting more practise, I tried running the symbian version, but it hangs on my Nokia E72 after a few moves. Guess I have to settle for the computer version.

I've reached a bottleneck to the point I have to open up 2 windows and let the computer fight with itself, and see the tactics from there. Anyone wants to enlighten me?

the why orgy lane

The other day I saw a limousine taxi at a neighbourhood carpark. It had the big mirrored words "GIVE WAY" on its windscreen. I wonder if I hop onto it, can I reach my gf's place faster?

If you are driving on the YOG road lane and you don't give way to it, you may get slapped a S$130 fine. Ok, fine. I don't fully appreciate this arrangement. I mean, if you are rushing for time, other road users may be too. You try asking Lewis Hamilton to give way to Fernando Alonso.

Instead of making it punitive, why not make it rewarding to give way? I know they have some lucky draw, but that's heng suay. Consider giving drivers merit points for giving way, or cancelling their previous demerit points. So if slapping fine is the way to get things done, why not fine those commuters who don't give up their seats on the MRT? Or fine those who don't give way to alighting passengers before boarding. (no, I don't support this either)

Are the athletes from other countries aware that they contribute to making this fine city more fine?

fluid mechanics of human flow

Last week I went to this event where there was this big fat shuffling queue for the goodie bag collection. I think the layout and all wasn't optimised, there were bottlenecks and funnels (funnels only help to prevent people from spilling out, but don't necessarily speed up the flow)

Then it dawned on me that I can use fluid mechanics to analyse the human flow. Due to wall friction, people at the wall will move the slowest if not zero, whereas those dead in the middle (not dead as in DEAD) will move with Vmax. You can try applying this at MRT stations, but most likely this theory won't work on expressway. Ever seen cars speeding on the road shoulder?

By the way, I remember last year when I went to a career fair, the recruitment guy at Public Utilities Board (PUB)'s booth told me that they only take in 2nd Upper Honours and above. With such high calibre people, we shouldn't be worried about the floods, should we?

"No amount of engineering can prevent flooding." Hur hur. Then why try?

cuff | link

I must admit that I never like this newspaper. The kind of news that can make it to the frontpage and their choice of words really makes me speechless. Blames who? It's all supply and demand. I must be the foolish one expecting a tabloid to be like The Economist.

So when one of their photojournalists got handcuffed by the police while snapping photos of the flood, my reaction to it wasn't quite morally right.

Anyway, it's a case of "your words against mine", it wouldn't be fair to judge purely based on what the newspaper says. Afterall, the newspaper is the photojournalist's boss, and there is only one newspaper company here. (although it is not impossible that bosses "sabo" their employees) Interestingly, the sister morning newspaper only had the story in a not-that-obvious spot in the inside page, like how they usually report on opposition politicians. Not really doing justice for their fellow journalists, right?

Must be feeling very torn between two lovers (and feeling like a fool?) Same company, but still sort of competitors, and not wanting to stir up any unrest. Or perhaps, they think it isn't news-worthy?

Just curious, under standard operating procedure, do they comms back after handcuffing a person?

singapore: the pregnable fortress

Just finished reading the book Singapore: the Pregnable Fortress written by Peter Elphick. Previously I have read a few books on the topic [1][2] and even taken a related history module at university, but this book left me with a different feel of how this very land that I am standing on became the biggest defeat of the British Empire.

Drawing mainly from primary sources such as interviews, diaries and declassified information, the book systematically and chronologically leads in to the fall of Singapore. While I knew about how the defending forces were outgunned and outgeneralled, and how Operation Matador affected the whole Malayan campaign, but little did I know about the role of Japanese spy network in Malaya during World War 2, and the influence of the Indian National Army. The author also dedicated large portion of his book on the large scale Australian Defence Force deserting the frontline allowing the Japanese invaders to land on Western Singapore unopposed. Cases of Australian soldiers forcing their way onto departing ships are appalling too.

The book isn't about how the Japanese won it, but rather how the British lost it. It just drives home the message that others will not defend your soil for you.

refilling grey area

Went to IKEA the other day. Besides their Swedish meatballs among other inedible stuff (ie, furniture), I think their refillable drinks is an attraction too. (I remember going there to do work, fueled by refillable/refuellable UTZ-certified coffee.)

So I saw this little boy filling his blue 30cl cup at the drinks fountain. Guess what next, he went to the sauce counter and transferred the soft drink into his own water bottle.

Theoretically, he hadn't broken any rule. He refilled using the official cup. I'm sure some of us have seen this in front of a Milo truck as well. Was there a rule saying drinks are non-transferable? I haven't seen any.

Who knows, if used correctly, this kind of thinking may benefit our society. I didn't say the boy was incorrect though.

night festival of security guards

Went for the Night Festival 2010 held at the National Museum of Singapore over the weekend. It was an interesting event with big turnout, but I wasn't really happy with the way the security officers did their job.

The event organizer had hired extra hands for security officers. Those weren't the regular ones at the museum. I could tell cos I visit the museum every now and then. We were inside the museum viewing the exhibits. The gf was taking some photos with her DSLR camera when a security officer came and kept saying "no flash huh no flash huh!" She wasn't even using the flash. Then right in front of us, a visitor was taking with her point-and-shoot camera flashing like no body's business. The security guard watched on with hands behind his back. So what, the light from a point-and-shoot is a torchlight and those from DSLR is flashlight? Or his duty was just to inform people no flash allowed, but he won't stop them from using it?

At the rotunda, visitors would normally stop and take photos of the symbolic dome roof. Again, security guards chased them away. It wasn't even crowded at the rotunda and they weren't even blocking the way. Then outside the museum, the gf wanted to take a shot of the exterior. Again, a security guard came and said we were blocking the traffic (traffic as in cars) Hello, we weren't like standing at the middle of the expressway. It was the museum's front lawn for goodness sake.

On the contrary, we bumped into a nice auxiliary police officer at SMU's Campus Green. He waited for us to finish taking our shots before telling us not to stop in the walkway.

Sometimes it is the staff and not the exhibits that would spoil your museum visit.

(on a sidenote, I saw a security officer very happily helping 2 young girls to take photo. Appropriate? I don't know, but imagine doing that with police officers)

enough of moulding

I have been keeping my previous job a hush-hush, not because it would endanger our national security (maybe it could), but to some extent because it was against the code of conduct to openly talk about work-related stuff. That's why one fellow officer's wife wrote in to the newspaper to shed light on her husband's job. They didn't say the spouse cannot talk about the job. :P

I was an education officer with the education service. More commonly known as "teacher", but I prefer the official name cos "teacher" sounds like you are there to teach people a lesson. Also referred to as "educator", which I don't like too, it makes people sound uneducated. Sharing of knowledge is what I prefer.

Let's be blatantly honest. It wasn't my first choice as a career.

I reported to work before my reporting date, cos there was a staff meeting before the school term began. Overwhelming I would say, with lots of strange terms like TLLM (teach less learn more), TSLN (thinking school learning nation), cockpit, strategic thrust... urgh.

And so began my time as a teacher. There is this unspoken 20-80 rule. 20% teaching, 80% miscellaneous. People always think that teachers only work half-day, which is very untrue. No doubt proper lessons are in the morning, but in the afternoon there are remedial lessons, co-curriculum activities, ad-hoc meetings, administrative stuff, etc. You have to mark assignments, plan for lessons, set test and exam papers... I had to bring work home to mark till the night, and sometimes my weekends were burned too. Oh, did I forget to mention the rehearsals for performances, bringing students to competitions, and organizing events? Barely a few months into the job and I was one of the I/Cs of a national competition! Man, they really see me up.

Sleepless nights were common, your mind was always on work (I especially remember I never had a peaceful shower time), and I lost 5kg since I started work. Mental breakdown wasn't unheard of.

It came to a point when the organization made me decide my fate for the next 4 years. So I decided to do some justice for myself. I shocked the big boss, among other colleagues. I guess not say I was doing a good job, but I was doing my job. On my last day of work one shocked senior said I have that "teacher mode" that can make a positive influence on students. A few others said I have that teacher look. *shrug* Doesn't matter if I become like a POW.

So that's my previous job. Mystery solved?

(disclaimer: I am not bashing anyone or any organization here in this post, maybe it helps if people appreciate the teaching profession more)

cloudy with a chance of ceiling

This morning I was at Singapore Expo when I witnessed something shocking. I was outside this particular Thai restaurant, and there was this lady making an enquiry at the front door. Suddenly "BOOM!" the ceiling collapsed!

Luckily no one was hurt, but the lady was right at the spot a few seconds ago. There was a big hole now, and I couldn't tell if those were wood or gymsum plaster, but I could see bricks in the debris (arrow A). Don't ask me how did the bricks end up in the ceilings (and finally on the ground). Slightly to the right (arrow B), another part of the ceiling was threatening to give way.

I've got a feeling the recent heavy rain has a part in weakening the structure. Not fault-finding, but just hope building managements in Singapore have an extra eye on structures that are exposed to the rain. Wouldn't want to wear helmet whenever I walk under false ceilings.

subway star wars

When I saw this clip, I was all grinning in front of my computer screen. Just look at everyone's reaction when Darth Vader entered the train!

We need some of this fun in Singapore. Provided they don't get arrested. Just, don't flash your light saber, it's still a weapon.

hot tub time machine

Went to watch the preview of the movie Hot Tub Time Machine. The movie itself is pretty crude, you get to hear vulgarities every few seconds, and development of plot is pretty standard (you can get it on wiki). But there are some damn funny scenes though. Sounds like an ordinary movie but the message behind the story is quite some food for thought.

To put it short, this four unhappy guys sat on the hot tub which happens to be a time machine and they got sent back to 1986. They were at a crossroad where they were deciding if they should change history to make their own life happier, some butterfly effect thingie.

I'm sure many of us have thought of this very simple question: what if I can go back in time and change history. It is like you have made a wrong turn, and you wonder if you could go back and make it right. That is with the benefit of hindsight (which is almost always 20/20) What if I am given the chance to study harder and get a better exam result, what if I had chosen another course, what if I had accepted another job offer, what if I betted on this team, what if I had ordered the other dish on the menu, etc etc. Hints of regrets.

I used to think a lot of these questions, but do they necessarily mean I will lead a better life than I am having now? Having taken this path I have walked, I have met wonderful people (among nasty ones), seen beautiful things, so could it be any better? Sure, but it could be worse too.

You go forward when you look forward.

going the distance fare

There has been much talk about the distance fare thingie ever since it was implemented earlier this month. After making some trips and experiencing it myself, I'll just bring up some points:

• If you find your travelling expenses have increased, blame it on the right party. The authority was the one authorizing it, so don't vent it on bus captain or train seats.


• So you are paying more, suck it up man! I mean seriously, what can you do other than ranting? Same for GST and ERP isn't it? Of course you can wait for the next general election if by then you still remember the matter.


• The statistic part has aroused much interest, like sampling size and all. You can have a whole BSc course on stats and a whole government department doing stats, so do you think you can explain how it was calculated just on a newspaper report or some brochure? (on the contrary, the sampling size of 40 by the media is laughable.) Of course, the omission of information on boundary conditions does not necessary mean the result is unfair, though questionable. If you find yourself falling into the 30% category that is paying more, then count yourself suay (unlucky) lor.


• Really, take a MYOB approach. If you pay more, you pay more. You gain nothing comparing with others.


• Now come to myself. I like the concept of distance fare (but at the end of the day, people usually only care about how it affects their balance sheet, so do I)


• Most of the time I take train, and transferring on train is not considered transfer, so no transfer rebate. And it is more expensive now. The senior citizen at home now has to pay distance fare instead of flat rate, so if he travels from end to end, he ends up paying more. On the other hand if he travels one station, he saves some 10-20 cents.


• I like to go to some ulu places on bus, with transfers. So now it seems more shiok when you see the $0.00 or $0.01 (no, not the remaining value!) on the card reader when you tap out.
  

Conclusion? Just take it.

new toy - gakkenflex 35mm twin lens reflex camera

I just got myself a new toy - Gakkenflex 35mm twin lens reflex (TLR) camera. Comes bundled with parents' nagging.

While I am not really a photography person, I've always read about the scientific kits that come with the Japanese magazine Otona no Kagaku (大人の科学). I also find the colourful Blackbird,fly, another TLR camera, pretty cool. But like Lomo cameras, it's not really cheap (and I don't usually spend that kind of money). So when I saw the Vol.25 Otona no Kagaku comes with the camera kit, I brought it home.

I unboxed the kit pretty much expecting something like when opening a box of Gundam, but the parts were already in their individual pieces, saved the trouble of plucking and leaving behind ugly bits. Oopz, I forgot to mention, you are supposed to assemble it yourself. There were lots of screwing involved and a handy screwdriver came with the kit. It took me more than an hour to finish assembling the camera.

It really felt great to assemble a camera yourself. You could see all the mechanism inside and the physics involved. To see the image on the viewfinder, +1. By the way, on a TLR you look down into the viewfinder, not horizontal. And the image is laterally inverted.

Next step, get some 35mm film and start shooting. Time for some analog fun.

EDIT: first roll of film developed!

thanks for the referral

To my university coursemate who referred me to the job opening at his company, Thank you! It was a cool sight to see so many buses at the bus depot where you are working at (I am careful not to say the buses were at the repair bay :X) Ok, it wasn't a site visit. Anyway it was a pleasant job interview session, and frankly speaking I think the job position is quite beyond me. To start up a workshop from scratch!

I really appreciate your help in a time when I am grabbing every possible opportunity. Hope you have a great time at the company!

change of syllabus

It didn't hit me how much the exam syllabus has changed over the years until last night when I went for a tuition session. My student showed me his recent maths mid-year exam paper and man, lotsa foreign languages. What, universal set? (sure, we had sets and venn diagrams, but the universe? No way) And now they have the formula of calculating compound interest in the formula list. I am pretty sure during my time when I sat for my 'O' Level, they weren't there. Maybe back then people were less interested in calculating interest.

Gosh, my 10 years old A1 for maths is stale.

I guess it is a good sign that exam syllabus is evolving to keep up with changes with time, especially the maths and sciences. By the way, do you remember the cheers from the class whenever the teacher announces a chapter is out of syllabus? But we usually don't notice when a chapter is added :P

Erm, and yes, I am giving tuition for maths and physics. Ex-MOE teaching upper secondary Physics and English, with experience teaching IB maths as well. There are very good tuition teachers out there, but if you don't mind settling for less (in many ways), can find me via contact[at]chillycraps.com

the fast lane to the subway

Saw this fun video clip of a few guys building a slide next to the staircase to a subway station in Berlin.

Sure helps to beat others in reaching the station platform and onto the train (and that agonizing sight of a train speeding away). Most important of all, it looks fun!

If we can have it at our airport, why can't we have it at our MRT stations too? :)

10 years of breadtalking

2010 marks BreadTalk's 10th anniversary. Nowadays it is hard not to bump into BreadTalk cos you can find them in most major shopping malls. (ok, sometimes you can smell it before you see it)

In conjunction with their 10th anniversary, BreadTalk is rolling out their signatory breads from the past 10 years, the Fantastic 10! (Rest assured, they are freshly baked, not say, a few years old stock). Judging from the fact that I only managed to get hold of 7 out of the 10 classics during this promotion period, they are selling hot.Having read Product Design in university, it almost skipped me that bread is also a product, cos when you see it you just want to eat it instead of wasting a moment to analyse. Ok, long long time ago, there were some bakeries that baked really pretty bread that could earn a place in the museum or art gallery, but mostly they were for window display or cost a bomb. Now, I just ate a dinosaur from BreadTalk, so what do you say?

I tried the Floss, Dinosaur, Bull Run, LuvBite, 9.0 tsunami, Ferraberri, and finally Leonardo. Alright, I did 3 x Floss. I dunno who thought up the idea of merging pork floss with bread, but that was revolutionary. The Dinosaur, well there are many creative ways to eating it, such as pulling its legs off, or transforming it to other kinds of lifeforms. The LuvBite is like a hybrid between cake and bread, and should light up your loved ones' hearts. Eating the Ferraberri head on, just imagine a race car entering the tunnel track. The cute Leonardo, resembling a certain mascot, should attract athletes and kids alike.

I am sure there are more creative breads to come from BreadTalk. Now I want to lay my hands (no legs) on their latest Football bread.

like a bus over troubled waters

It just occured to me. Let's say you are going to take a bus ride through those flood-prone area and it is raining cats and dogs, will you still dare to hop onto those low floor, wheelchair-friendly buses? I mean, if it is easy for wheelchair to get on, surely it will be easy for water to get on too.

(wild images of flooded bus interior with people fishing from on top the engine compartment...)

That's why it was a good move to introduce the Duck Tour (basically, ex-military LARC or Lighter, Amphibious Resupply, Cargo)

the fare gate retribution

The other day I was entering Harbourfront MRT Station. Those familiar with that station would know that it is very congested at the fare gates. So I was in the line, in front of me a young man with his female friend, and in front of them a group of aunties. An auntie was trying to tap on her left hand side and enter on the right. Ok, in case you are still unclear, the fare gates in Singapore's MRT stations are designed such that you tap on the right and enter on the left. Right-handed world, but you can try holding your card with your left hand and cross over though. Back to the auntie, obviously the gate didn't open up in front of her.

The young man in front of me snickered at the auntie's left-handed entry. When it was his turn to tap in, BEEP, red light. His ez-link card was out of value.

Moral of the story: don't laugh at others.