"Karoshi" (death by overwork)

Doesn't this sound so familiar?

wee hours of the morning...everything's eerie outside..... chiong work due tomorrow... cups and cups and cups of coffe... fight to open your eyes... force your tired fingers to keep typing and your brain to keep cranking... your head starts to feel like it's floating around in the clouds after a while but you contiinue... knowing you are ggxxed if u give up...then at 5.30am... YES finally finish... pack your bag, go into your room, collapse on the bed for a minute and get up... into the toilet.. into the car.. and back in school...


"Jobs for life: Japanese are working themselves to death" - The Economist 19/12

HARA-KIRI is a uniquely Japanese form of suicide. Its corporate equivalent is karoshi, “death by overwork”. Since this was legally recognised as a cause of death in the 1980s, the number of cases submitted to the government for the designation has soared; so has the number of court cases that result when the government refuses an application. In 1988 only about 4% of applications were successful. By 2005 that share had risen to 40%. If a death is judged karoshi, surviving family members may receive compensation of around $20,000 a year from the government and sometimes up to $1m from the company in damages. For deaths not designated karoshi the family gets next to nothing.

Now a recent court ruling has put companies under pressure to change their ways. On November 30th the Nagoya District Court accepted Hiroko Uchino's claim that her husband, Kenichi, a third-generation Toyota employee, was a victim of karoshi when he died in 2002 at the age of 30. He collapsed at 4am at work, having put in more than 80 hours of overtime each month for six months before his death. “The moment when I am happiest is when I can sleep,” Mr Uchino told his wife the week of his death. He left two children, aged one and three.

As a manager of quality control, Mr Uchino was constantly training workers, attending meetings and writing reports when not on the production line. Toyota treated almost all that time as voluntary and unpaid. So did the Toyota Labour Standards Inspection Office, part of the labour ministry. But the court ruled that the long hours were an integral part of his job. On December 14th the government decided not to appeal against the verdict.

The ruling is important because it may increase the pressure on companies to treat “free overtime” (work that an employee is obliged to perform but not paid for) as paid work. That would send shockwaves through corporate Japan, where long, long hours are the norm.

Official figures say that the Japanese work about 1,780 hours a year, slightly less than Americans (1,800 hours a year), though more than Germans (1,440). But the statistics are misleading because they do not count “free overtime”. Other tallies show that one in three men aged 30 to 40 works over 60 hours a week. Half say they get no overtime. Factory workers arrive early and stay late, without pay. Training at weekends may be uncompensated.

During the past 20 years of economic doldrums, many companies have replaced full-time workers with part-time ones. Regular staff who remain benefit from lifetime employment but feel obliged to work extra hours lest their positions be made temporary. Cultural factors reinforce these trends. Hard work is respected as the cornerstone of Japan's post-war economic miracle. The value of self-sacrifice puts the benefit of the group above that of the individual.

Toyota, which is challenging GM as the world's largest carmaker, is often praised for the efficiency and flexibility of its workforce. Ms Uchino has a different view. “It is because so many people work free overtime that Toyota reaps profits,” she says. “I hope some of those profits can be brought back to help the employees and their families. That would make Toyota a true global leader.” The company is promising to prevent karoshi in future.

VJ final video

This house believes that Asean should intervene in Myanmar.

RI (prop) vs HCI (opp)
RI 5 - HCI 2.

Have a blessed xmas :-)

As little children
We would dream of Christmas morn
Of all the gifts and toys
We knew we'd find

But we never realized
A baby born one blessed night
Gave us the greatest gift of our lives

*We were the reason
That He gave His life
We were the reason
That He suffered and died
To a world that was lost
He gave all He could give
To show us the reason to live

As the years went by
We learned more about gifts
The giving of ourselves
And what that means
On a dark and cloudy day
A man hung crying in the rain
All because of love, all because of love (*)

I've finally found the reason for living
It's in giving every part of my heart to Him
In all that I do every word that I say
I'll be giving my all just for Him, for Him (*)

He is my reason to live


He still came

No palace, no jewels,
no kingdom to rule,
no crown of majesty.
No throne and no robe,
no silver, no gold,
no courts of royalty.

Yet the King of kings left heaven to become a lowly man.
He left all heaven's glory to fulfill His Father's plan.
No family, no friends to help at the end, no out, no substitute.
Much pain and much hurt to give love and worth, He bore our sins and grief.
Yet the hope of what He offered so out weighed what must be done.
He chose to be my victor and assured my pardon won.

He still came, just for me He still came.
Knowing all He would endure, He still came.
Disregarding ev'ry cost, from the manger to the cross.
He still came just for me, He still came.

IJSO 2007

Yay gold =). Country 2nd, total medal tally 4 gold 2 silver + 2nd team for prac (barry, vincent, daryl). Full results available here

A big thank you to...

1. All teachers & trainers who have taken time off during the most busy periods of the year to train us (especially an overworked mr wee who coordinated the trainings, and conducted all the physics trainings (since he is both the science club & RA teacher for physics)

2. Ms Lim and Ms Wong from MOE (together with other NUS high and RGS teachers) who helped to arrange external trainings, briefings etc,

3. Everyone (including Mrs Lai and Mr Yuen) who encouraged us

4. All our friends for being so supportive,especially daniel lim, jian yang, and jie liang (i hope i haven't missed out anyone...) who received us at the airport on 11dec.

5.Mrs Yap and the library for making lots of resources available.


A great trip

Actually it was quite slack on the whole. 1 day test, 1 day tour... could sleep early and soak in the bath for 30min every day, and yet still manage to study, play cards and mahjong. Huiyao's blog has a relatively comprehensive account, but I shall be lazy and just mention the most juicy snippets.

Taiwan side was really quite serious about organising it (to quote someone, probably because they get to publicize themselves as "taiwan" instead of "taiwan R.O.C." haha). Whatever the motivation, i must say that it's impressive.

We were given some of the better rooms in the grand hotel (one of the best there). I got a huge room (2 double beds and lots of space to spare!) with a huge balcony and great views of the whole taipei city. Frills included: japanese style toilets (the UK people flooded their toilet because they switch on the wash function and didn't know how to stop it), leather room slippers, plasma tv etc. They also made specially-printed MRT cards, and during peak hour the police even helped us to clear traffic.

From a geographic perspective (ahaha geog is a disease that becomes an inseparable part of you once you are infected)... taiwan suffers from huge sprawl, largely due to laissez-faire central planning (if any). Looking down from taipei 101, it is interesting how the city has evolved to fill every valley of flat land in somewhat mountainous terrain. This is ugly in more than 1 way: firstly the horrendous 6-story high multi-tier elevated highways (bringing noise and darkness to the streets and buildings beside it) that alleviate the inevitable congestion, and secondly in the decaying buildings and dirty sidewalks - sometimes right next to shiny office blocks - that clutter the city.

And yet beauty lies therein. One is a sense of charm that is hidden in the crudeness of some areas of the city, and can only exist when the urban scape is built up in a purely spontaneous way and is not sanitized. Such a cityscape, coupled with textural details of culture (in the forms of symbols and often loads of good food), often embedded with many stories, dreams, and hopes that reveal themselves if only you look hard enough, provides a distinct and unmistakable sense of place. Some of the places i enjoyed the best, including Danshui, Shilin, and Taipei main station reflected this.

Yeliu and Yangmingshan are also wonderful. Yeliu is actually an headland outcrop between two bays, being eroded in from both sides. Mushroom rocks, shore platforms, arches, caves and other textbook examples abound - there is even clear evidence for sea level change (isostatic or eustatic?). As for yangmingshan, haha i collected some volcanic rocks from boiling pools of water near sulphur vents =). Not everyone is orange enough to experience an earthquake from the top of taipei 101 though...

It is after all Taiwan, so some politics is to be expected. Chen shui bian came to give a speech (with 20 bodyguards! and probably doctors on standby in case he gets "grazed" by another rogue bullet), and i seem to have heard soft hisses of "ah bian xia tai" (or maybe it's just my imagination). Protests went on while we were there (as they always do... it's taiwan), but we conveniently happened not to pass by. As i predicted there were people giving out political leaflets around taipei main station, and huge posters ranging from "China communists stop persecuting Falun Gong!" to "Taiwan for UN - Peace forever" (sense the irony... how will taiwan's attempt to join UN under its own name create peace forever? it won't even build peace in the present moment!)

And not to forget the people! Haha nice memories, especially our friendly student guide, and Mr Yeah, and that of playing mahjong. Talked to teams from other countries too and someone almost traded a red blazer for 5 pounds haha.

Leaving for thailand at 4am tomorrow... pictures of all 3 trips another time! Oh yah haven't said much about perth... another lovely trip, except for The Flies, especially when they get trapped because the Door is closed. Really, great company can change so much! Ok ok i shall let the pictures do the talking

A little quiz

I'll be away until 11 dec, hopefully coming back with good news, but here's a little quiz. Click here Will post answers and explanations when i get back

Be warned... it's not easy :-) Draws on sciences, current affairs / politics / economics, philo, geog, and some humour. Where there is no logical answer, answer as I would. Haha all the best, i don't expect anyone to pass!

Scoreboard

Acronym-ase

Ok taking a break from IJSO prep... decipher these bio acronyms!

ACTH ADH ANF CAM CNS cGMP cDNA ECM GABA Hfr IgM MHC p53 PDE PEP Pfr PNS PTH RAAS REM RuBP

Quotable quotes #2

One day... on the H2 Chem debrief thread on sgforums... (notice especially the last line)


A: Quite hard man..... Cambridge really transform into something new liao

B: r u talking bout the 3 carbonyl compounds? any idea what are those 3?
i got propanone, propanal, methanal but then i cant distinguish between methanal and propanal Crying or Very sad so i guess theyre wrong? also whats the type of reaction when amide becomes N- Na+??

C: the 3 correct ones should be methanal, ethanal and propanone. to distinguish propanone, just use Tollens' as it won't give silver mirror. then between methanal and ethanal, add aqueous alkali iodine. ethanal will give yellow ppt while methanal won't. When amide becomes N- Na+, it is an acid-base/neutralisation reaction (your sodium salt).

B: My friend say....its not ethanal.....its ethanoic acid...... and ethanoic acid has a carbonyl group as well....he gave a lot of explanation and I still don't understand at all....=/

C: Calcium methanoate gives methanal on heating, whereas the calcium salts of other carboxylic acids give ketones. If calcium methanoate is heated with the calcium salt of another carboxylic acid, the products will be mixed eg calcium methanoate plus calcium ethanoate will give methanal, propanone, and also ethanal.

B: how are we supposed to know this? its nowhere in the syllabus i can think of...
cambridge is really trying to kill us...

C: I guess they want us to learn the art of deduction. My comment: isn't it quite obvious that the products will be mixed? If A produces B, and X produces Y, then A and X will produce B and Y assuming A&X and B&Y don't interact

A: C which jc u from??u seem so lihai..ahhh think the time restrain of the paper make it tough :-(

C: which other jc will the chem dept force-feed and drill chem stuffs into your until you resemble nothing more than battery farm animals stuffed with chemical additives ready to be sent to the slaughterhouse known as A levels chemistry? of course it's rjc.

Brainless humour

Btw SBS is getting some new Scania buses to replace outgoing Merc O405 buses. I want them on no. 5 and no. 24 XD

A song and a QA

1 Cool song

Aqua harp


1 QA

Given the following unknowns, identify each one, without using any other reagents or apparatus (other than test tubes). Rather interesting... but i got stuck after running out of ammonia [suans self :-(]

HCl | H2SO4 | CH3COOH | NaOH | NH3 | Pb(NO3)2 | KI | Na2CO3 | AgNO3 | Zn(NO3)2

Identify by smell
NH3
CH3COOH: vinegar smell

Identify by touch
NaOH: slippery

Mix NH3 with each sample
Pb(NO3)2: white ppt, insoluble in excess
AgNO3: light brown ppt
Zn(NO3)2: white ppt, soluble in excess

Mix Pb(NO3)2 with each unknown sample
KI: yellow ppt of PbI2

Test last 3 individually with each other
Na2CO3: Effervescence (CO2) with 2 other soln

Test last 2 remaining with AgNO3
HCl: White ppt (AgCl)
H2SO4: No rxn

The confluence of muggers

2 photos: (1) free period in class (actually, math relief, but that it is a free period still stands), (2) between chinese and chem CCTs.


Perhaps it is spurred by mutual revision and encouragement, or maybe stress relief (see esp the jokes in the 1st photo)... but whatever the case i didn't expect this.

Well... one day someone drew the Nike tick over a book, with "Just Mug It". This probably sums up everything - and it's going on our class jacket too.

It's eye-opening to be in the class that's the confluence of muggers in RI. Everyone (with a couple of notable exceptions) is a mugger to a relatively large extent. Class averages are the highest in the level for many subjects. Certain teachers spam us with 30% more beyond-syllabus info than other classes, and we hardly give them any problems (except once when a particular relief teacher walked out because we complained about his teaching, which was honestly bad).

Most are self-driven, and many are perfectionistic (obsessive-compulsive, even). Many have heavy CCA portfolios (we have 8 CCALs, the most among the sec 3 classes), and almost everyone is damn hardworking. And at the core most people are really, really nice. Notes fly around before exams, and MSN discussions over the past few days reveal that most seek to fulfill a higher purpose, something that would benefit others. Quite a large proportion are politically quite active with strong views. It's sad though that we have little time to interact.

In this class we don't go "Wah... you are a 4.0 mugger idiot", but instead, "Huh you didn't mug ah...wah how can? You going to GGXX... next time must mug harder hoh." In such an environment there is positive feedback: you become even more mugger. There is competition, but there is little hostility, and most people are quite humble. In many ways this is quite good - everyone gets better.

After exams everyone says "i'm going to die... ggxx" (that usually means "aiyah no more guarantee high 4.0). Some say "i'm going to fail", then get full marks. But actually i think these reveal deep insecurities that sometimes manifest themselves in episodes of emoness too. True it can be stressful e.g. a GPA of 3.5 would top some sec 3 classes, but it's near the bottom here, and since everyone's so perfectionistic and have so many commitments & portfolios we end up quite tired most of the time.

It's maybe a miracle how we all ended up in the same class. Sure, SE and GE were merged, but there is a new segregation: RA (Raffles Academy i.e. taking a subject at an advanced level, for those alien to it), and RA students tend to be grouped together for ease of timetabling. Well, some people's fears about being in a class of slackers are probably alleviated now. Elitism? Maybe, but probably not, in my judgement. Perhaps a lack of respect for slackers though.

So here it is, 3C 07. Renyan says "I wonder what we'll all end up doing in 20 years", and how we plan to fufill our "higher purposes" in 20 more. I do hope that we'll get to know each other even better over the coming year. It's a pity if we don't, because most people here are really nice.

Mug em all

When you are bored from mugging bio...

Come to jesus

For all we muggers..."do your best, god will take care of the rest"

Come to Jesus / Chris Rice

March to freedom?

Sign this petition

March to freedom?

Riot police attack monks

Why protest?

For those who are unfamiliar with the background behind the junta: they organised a election in the early 1990s, in which aung san suu ki won, but refused to recognise this...

Sadly this is not going to be enough. International pressure is necessary before the junta will get out. Sadly, few countries are willing to take the moral high ground (e.g. Singapore, as chair of ASEAN, should do something).


More info from economist.com

In the last pro-democracy protests on this scale, in 1988, it took several rounds of massacres before the demonstrations finally subsided, leaving the regime as strong as ever. By Thursday September 27th, with a crackdown under way, and the first deaths from clashes with security forces, it seemed hard to imagine that things would be very different this time.

Myanmar’s tragic recent history suggests that when an immovable junta meets unstoppable protests, much blood is spilled.

As in the past, the world’s initial response to the junta’s violence was marked by bickering and point-scoring. On September 27th, the United Nations Security Council met in response to pressure from the West for co-ordinated sanctions. But Russia and China argued that the unrest was an internal matter that should not be on the council’s agenda at all.

If any countries can sway the junta they are the regional ones: ASEAN, especially Thailand; India; and above all China. China has given the junta diplomatic support, helping for years to keep its behaviour off the agenda of the United Nations Security Council. But Myanmar is far from a client state.

As in 1988 and 1990 the Burmese people have shown they want to choose their own leaders. In the past they did not fully reckon on the ruthlessness of the people they were up against. One day, as with all tyrannies, Myanmar’s will fall. But much blood may flow before that day dawns.

NSC 2007

It's been a long journey. Haha... but well, we walked home today with the championship today and laptops in hand.

We were quite shocked to get 2 pts for MCQ... disagreed on the 2 qns we got wrong, then stone/stupid choose wrong. Could have gotten 6, well but the other schs got 2 too... For the 2nd round, it was quite freaky when they whisked us to NTU to meet the environment faculty pple... it was the same pple as the failed NTU-RI, they recognise us. RG got a 2 pt lead here. In the demo round, once we got 12 for demo ahahaha. So we were now 1 point ahead, plus the eureka.

Buzzer round as usual was the most exciting/stressful. The questions were not difficult, but it's a whole new ball game up there vs a no-stakes situation. Plus RG's reaction time very pro, it was down to speed for some of the easy questions. There was a point where i thought RG was going to win... but we caught up in the end.


Pic frm barry... will replace with a pic the journalist is supposed to send me

A big thank you to all those who have helped us... Mr Wee, Mrs Lim, Mrs Yau - for your guidance and encouragement. Science club pple and lab techs - for helping us in the demo, and sparring us. And all supporters. This wouldn't have been possible without u.

And well done to RG and SC too! You gals certainly gave us a tough fight.

To the science club sec 2s... the title has been RI's for 2 years now. It's yours to defend next year.

Arenes, Electrophillic substitution, and directing effects

For the first time... a chem post! No i'm not mr lumpy
Same thing has been posted on RA chem blog (see my links)

What is an Arene?

The homologous series Arenes are compounds based on the benzene ring C6H6. This ring, and its stability confer distinctive properties to any molecule that contains it.

Arene bonding and structure

Given benzene’s formula, C6H6, one would expect three C=C double bonds and three C-C single bonds. Hence it can exist as either of 2 resonant forms (left and centre in the diagram below), depending on the position of the double bonds.


In actual fact it exists as a mixture of both – each carbon atom uses its 2s and two of its 2p orbitals to form the σ framework of the benzene molecule (bonding to each adjacent C or H atom). The remaining 2p orbitals combine to form delocalised π orbitals, shared equally by each carbon atom (hence each bond is neither a single nor a double bond, but something in between), emphasized by the diagram on the right. Hence all carbon-carbon bond lengths in benzene are the same (0.139nm).

Delocalisation lowers the energy of the structure significantly (this is known as the delocalization enthalpy, about 150 kJ/mol). This electronic configuration and stability has a dominant influence on the properties of benzene.

For instance, even though benzene is unsaturated, it does not decolourise bromine water (the usual test for unsaturation). It does not readily undergo halogenation (common for alkenes) because addition of halides would destroy the delocalised π cloud.

Electrophillic substitution

As you read through this section, pay special attention to the position of electrons, it is the principle concern affecting further substitution reactions.

The most important reaction of arenes is called electrophilic substitution: an atom or group of atoms (called electrophile) replaces a hydrogen atom of the benzene ring (i.e. positively charged ions attack the cloud of π electrons).

Thus:C6H6 + E+ (an electrophile) --> C6H5E + H+

The mechanism of electrophile attack starts with attack by an electrophilic cation (e.g. Cl+ after heterolytic cleavage of Cl2). A Wheland intemediate (extreme right in the figure below) forms, in which the positive charge is shared by the five other carbon atoms in the ring. To stabilise the ring further, the intermediate then loses a proton, hence the net result is not an addition but a substitution.



Activating and deactivating groups

Existing functional groups attached to arene rings have effects on further substitution reactions.

Activating groups make further reactions more likely and faster, while deactivating groups make further reactions less likely and slower. Thus whether C6H5E would react faster or slower with another electrophile (say E’) will depend on whether E is an activating or deactivating group.

The first mechanism holds that activating groups must donate electrons to the arene ring (hence positively-charged electrophiles are now more attracted to the ring, relative to the hydrogen already attached to the ring), and deactivating groups withdraw electrons.

Alternatively, activating groups must stabilise the Wheland intemediate, hence lowering the activation energy and making the reaction more feasible.

Some activating groups

Halogen substituents such as Cl is more electronegative than benzene, hence withdrawing electrons and deactivating the ring.

A hydroxyl group (OH) is strongly activating. Oxygen (like carbon in the ring) has an filled but unbonded p orbital approximately perpendicular to the plane of the ring, hence when an OH group is attached to the benzene ring, the delocalised π electron cloud extends to this oxygen in the OH group.

Inductive effect: when electrophiles (positively charged functional groups) add to the arene molecule via electrophillic substitution, a cation (the wheland intemediate) is first formed (the electrophile attaches before the H breaks off). Usually the positive charge is stabilised by sharing this charge over all the C atoms. When the delocalisation is extended to the O atom, the positive charge can be shared by it as well, hence the positive charge on each atom is lessened, lowering the reaction's activationg energy (hence faster / more probable reaction). Hence we say that the OH group activates the ring.

The same inductive mechanism goes for methyl (CH3) or other alkyl groups, but these are less activating.

Some deactivating groups

Nitro (NO2) groups and ketone (COCH3) groups are deactivating because they withdraw electrons from the ring. The highly electronegative oxygen atom withdraws electrons from the atom substituting for hydrogen (i.e. N or C), such that delocalisation of electrons does not extend onto this atom, and electron density may be withdrawn from the ring.

Nitro groups are more deactivating than ketone groups, because of its 2 oxygen atoms (versus ketone’s 1), and because N is more electronegative than C, hence further withdrawing electron density from the ring

Directing effects

Activating groups are ortho and para directing (position 2, 4, and 6 on the ring), while deactivating groups are meta directing (position 3 and 5 on the ring).

Here's why. An incoming electrophile’s positive charge is concentrated on carbon 2, 4, 6 (where the original functional group is no. 1). If an electron donating group is already present in these positions, it will donate electron density, lessening the positive charge on and stabilizing this wheland intemediate. Hence the wheland intemediate leading to the 1,2 (ortho) and 1,4 (para) isomers have lower energy than the wheland intemediate leading to the 1,3 (meta) isomer, and therefore the ortho and para isomers are likely to form are therefore more likely to form.

Excerpts from Ecclesiastes (NIV)

My favourite verses:

2:10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labour. 11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

3:16 ... there will be a time for every activity, a time for every deed.

4:6 Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.

4:15 Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labour that he can carry in his hand. 16 ... As a man comes, so he departs, and what does he gain, since he toils for the wind? 17 All his days he eats in darkness, with great frustration, affliction, and anger.

8:7 Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come? 8 No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no-one has power over the day of his death.

8:15 So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.

9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom

11:5 ... you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. 6 ... sow your seeds in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle.

11:9 Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgement. So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles from your body, for youth and vigour are meaningless.

12:13 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgement.

Phone cam pic spam #2

NSC:


Ahem... no wonder barry looks so tall on TV






Jerms.


Voodoo


3C before bio test: mugger's corner


Sunset at raja block

Mr Yuen's teacher's day gift from Geog RA:

In search of the Singaporean soul

English portfolio blog submission Term 3 / no. 2
Category: social issues


Original articles (both from Today newspaper)






Personal response

We are seldom conscious of it, but embodied by the Singlish we casually utter, each plate of char kuay teow we gulf down, or our kiasu spirit, is the Singaporean soul. It is alive and well, a beating heart shared by the four million disparate individuals on the island – and perhaps even beyond. It is about our common set of values, ideology, preferences, and practices.

Every society, from an entire nation, down to a class of students, has its own soul – be this broken or joyous. I daresay the Singaporean soul, blessed with the peace of mind accompanying peace and prosperity, is a relatively blissful one (for most, probably, but maybe not for those left behind).

The Singaporean soul, too, is marked by pride in the nation. While few Singaporeans will claim to be contented, I believe this pride is why Singaporeans often walk with a smug air of superiority while on holiday overseas, grumbling about how foreign cities pale in comparison to our own. It is also why touching down at Changi Airport never fails to confer an indescribable sense of familiarity, for me at least.

And yet this soul is a shy one, its character and energy masked beneath the hum of economic productivity. With uneventful routines that trap many a workaholic Singaporean into repetitive activity cycles, Loh explains that the Singaporean seldom pauses to reflect on what he is doing, but rather applies himself with zest and energy.

After all, built deep into our DNA is an unmistakable sense of ambition. Some call it greed, but it is this ambition compels us to toil for a better future – just as it has done for our forefathers, making Singapore what it is today. The trade off is that we tend to see things in dollars and cents, failing to appreciate of the finer things in life, hence appearing boring and even workaholic.

Regardless of this, it is these inexpressible passions that transcend the imposing pressure of day-to-day realities, conferring a uniquely Singaporean identity. A city’s vibrancy and character, with which the world may remember it, is a reflection of its soul – mention “New York”, and you are likely to get an awe of familiarity even from those who have never stepped foot into Manhattan.

No soul is static. Just as well that the Singaporean soul is gradually being redefined by new generations of well-educated young adults. While the Singlish, the char kuay teow, and the kiasu-ism are unlikely to fade away, we see a new urge for self-expression (our population has the world’s largest percentage of bloggers), and a new appreciation of arts and culture emerging. Hopefully, the Singaporean identity and the city’s character will be transformed with more energy and character.

What remains constant is that the Singaporean soul will remain beating in all of us. The next time you tear your parking coupons according to the ‘carpark time zone’ (10 minutes ahead of local time), chew on this.

(497 words)

The democratisation of the internet and what this means for today’s youth

EL portfolio submission T3 / no. 1
Category: issues concerning teenagers


Original article: Time's Person of the Year: You
Lev Grossman, Time Magazine


image from gawker

The "Great Man" theory of history is usually attributed to the Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle, who wrote that "the history of the world is but the biography of great men." He believed that it is the few, the powerful and the famous who shape our collective destiny as a species. That theory took a serious beating this year.

To be sure, there are individuals we could blame for the many painful and disturbing things that happened in 2006. The conflict in Iraq only got bloodier and more entrenched. A vicious skirmish erupted between Israel and Lebanon. A war dragged on in Sudan. A tin-pot dictator in North Korea got the Bomb, and the President of Iran wants to go nuclear too. Meanwhile nobody fixed global warming, and Sony didn't make enough PlayStation3s.

But look at 2006 through a different lens and you'll see another story, one that isn't about conflict or great men. It's a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It's about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people's network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.

The tool that makes this possible is the World Wide Web. Not the Web that Tim Berners-Lee hacked together (15 years ago, according to Wikipedia) as a way for scientists to share research. It's not even the overhyped dotcom Web of the late 1990s. The new Web is a very different thing. It's a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter. Silicon Valley consultants call it Web 2.0, as if it were a new version of some old software. But it's really a revolution.

And we are so ready for it. We're ready to balance our diet of predigested news with raw feeds from Baghdad and Boston and Beijing. You can learn more about how Americans live just by looking at the backgrounds of YouTube videos—those rumpled bedrooms and toy-strewn basement rec rooms—than you could from 1,000 hours of network television.

And we didn't just watch, we also worked. Like crazy. We made Facebook profiles and Second Life avatars and reviewed books at Amazon and recorded podcasts. We blogged about our candidates losing and wrote songs about getting dumped. We camcordered bombing runs and built open-source software.

America loves its solitary geniuses—its Einsteins, its Edisons, its Jobses—but those lonely dreamers may have to learn to play with others. Car companies are running open design contests. Reuters is carrying blog postings alongside its regular news feed. Microsoft is working overtime to fend off user-created Linux. We're looking at an explosion of productivity and innovation, and it's just getting started, as millions of minds that would otherwise have drowned in obscurity get backhauled into the global intellectual economy.

Who are these people? Seriously, who actually sits down after a long day at work and says, I'm not going to watch Lost tonight. I'm going to turn on my computer and make a movie starring my pet iguana? I'm going to mash up 50 Cent's vocals with Queen's instrumentals? I'm going to blog about my state of mind or the state of the nation or the steak-frites at the new bistro down the street? Who has that time and that energy and that passion?

The answer is, you do. And for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, TIME's Person of the Year for 2006 is you.

Sure, it's a mistake to romanticize all this any more than is strictly necessary. Web 2.0 harnesses the stupidity of crowds as well as its wisdom. Some of the comments on YouTube make you weep for the future of humanity just for the spelling alone, never mind the obscenity and the naked hatred.

But that's what makes all this interesting. Web 2.0 is a massive social experiment, and like any experiment worth trying, it could fail. There's no road map for how an organism that's not a bacterium lives and works together on this planet in numbers in excess of 6 billion. But 2006 gave us some ideas. This is an opportunity to build a new kind of international understanding, not politician to politician, great man to great man, but citizen to citizen, person to person. It's a chance for people to look at a computer screen and really, genuinely wonder who's out there looking back at them. Go on. Tell us you're not just a little bit curious.



Personal response

We may not realize it, but each time we participate in the online community, be it blogging, or contributing to Wikipedia or Youtube, we are participating in the "democratization of the internet". Today, the power of the internet has indeed truly been given to the people.

It is interesting how bottom-up content-creation by millions or billions of individual users can vastly outdo what a top-down approach is capable of. Take for instance Wikipedia, the de facto first stop for many curious individuals – it surpasses traditional encyclopedias in comprehensiveness.

It is also awfully heartening, as a manifestation of society’s collective spirit that in today’s materialistic world can be painfully lacking. It was the contributions of netizens, pieced together, that enabled sites like Wikipedia or Youtube to flourish, and everyone to benefit.

As an Internet phenomenon the democratization of the internet is unrivaled. The reach and the power it gives to the individual is amazing.

I have firsthand been awed by the power of the Internet through one video, on the science behind nuclear bombs (one performance task), I uploaded onto Google Video. It has netted close to 25 thousand hits – a figure way beyond my wildest imagination when I chose to upload it for the benefit of others.

So what does the Internet’s power mean for today’s youth? First, information, for this generation that embraces technology ever so readily, is literally at their fingertips (perpetually placed on a keyboard). With all its user-generated information (and great resources like Wikipedia), the democratized Internet is, therefore, an oasis for their insatiable curiosity, and together with its interactive and appealing multimedia content, a vastly superior learning tool.

Personal and social space online is free and plentiful. Blogs are perhaps the best exemplar – it is the teen’s online identity, his personal space, from which he can draw pride and self-attainment. Blogs, being public, also function as social space, through which teens get to know others better, especially since blogs are frequently linked to each other, forming a huge network. Finally, online chat extends socialization to the digital world.

The democratization of the Internet, however, is fraught with dangers. This phenomenon has given profit-minded perverts and terrorists alike the chance to create pornographic, violent, or otherwise undesirable sites. The free flow of information from these sites can prove pernicious to the teen’s tender (if stubborn) minds. Social tools like online dating or chat can be exploited, for instance by pedophiles that may take advantage of teens.

The sheer volume of interesting entertainment available on the Internet poses a strong temptation to procrastinate – this applies not just to teens, I believe. I’ve fallen prey to it before, and I know how hard clicking that small X on the top right of your browser can be.

It is with its newfound democratization that the true age of the Internet dawns. Teenagers be wary – but take it with a dose of discipline, and you stand to benefit immensely.

(494 words)

If you can't sleep...

Question 1

Cylinder contains O2 (heat capacity 21.10J/(mol.K) at pressure of 2.00atm. Vol = 4.00L, T=300K. Assume ideal gas. Given these 4 processes: (1) Heated at cnst pressure from initial state (state 1) to state 2, which has T=450K. (2) Cooled at cnst vol to 250K (state 3). (3) Compressed at constant temp to vol of 4.00L, (4) Heated at constant volume to 300K (back to state 1).

Solve: (a) Show these 4 processes in p-V diagram, giving numerical val of p and V in each of 4 states. (b) Calculate Q and W for each process. (c) Calculate net work. (d) What is the efficiency? How does the efficiency compare to carnot engine operating between same min and max temp of 250K and 450K?


Question 2

Given black bear (assume as sphere 1.5m diameter), bear has 2 layers of insulation: 1 layer of fat 4.0cm thick, thermal conductivity of fat = 0.20 W / (m.K), surrounded by layer of air trapped inside fur. The outer surface layer of the fur is 2.7C during hibernation, while inner surface is 31.0C. What is temp at fat-inner fur boundary, and how thick should the air layer contained within fur be so that the bear loses heat at rate = 50.0W

Song select #2: forgotten favourites

Take a walk down memory lane... you have probably heard all these before


Irreproducible voices

What a wonderful world - Louis Armstrong



Unforgettable - Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole





Favourite soundtracks

The phantom of the opera.



Theme from the Godfather: Speak Softly Love




Theme from Schindler's list (this one has no singing but is quite touching)




And... the old fav ad: GATSBY!



everybody stand up..
from 8 years old to 80 years old..
lalala..all stand up and be handsome guys..
gatsby..gatsby..gatsby..gatsby..
if you want to be handsome please stand up..
you could use your hair to surprise women
once in a lifetime..how handsome u wanna be you decide..
Hey! Man! be handsome!
**turns to skeleton**
gatsby..gatsby..gatsby..gatsby..

gatsby hair wax..enables you to be xool..

More snippets from RE

What causes urban mass micromovement flows? 2 factors extracted from RE :-)


Positional Utilites:

With activity specialisation, desires and fulfilment have become separated, as various needs are catered to by different locations. Micromovement is the means of correcting imbalances and inadequacies in desires and fufilment, i.e, when individuals have needs that cannot be met at their origin, they have to travel to a destination that presents the best compromise between fulfilling this need and minimising the distance travelled.



Topological Matrix:


The individual’s topological matrix is about his origin location(s) in respect to the larger urban structure and various positional utilities. The concept of an origin location refers to the location that the individual has to visit on a daily basis, and that which is relatively fixed and hard to change. The site and situation of these origins are obvious foci of the individual’s day-to-day life. In addition to Hurst’s idea of a topological matrix, we also put forth that this origin, while often being the individual’s place of residence, can also be his place of work, or other compulsively frequented places (e.g. a regular pub, a friend’s house etc.), or several of the above, in which case the individual places differing values on each, based on their importance or how easily they can be changed. Observe how origins, when separated by too great a distance, can shift to accommodate multiple origins, e.g. in the case of shifting house to live closer to place of work – which origin shifts, and which one stays, depends on the differing value the individual places on each.

Concepts of space and movement

Nuggets Extracted from my RE:

There is little doubt that the individual is mobile: he moves about an urban area daily in the course of fulfilling various day-to-day needs and motives (e.g. home to work commuting). As the individual moves about an urban area, he synthesizes stimuli from his observation and experiences of this urban area, allowing him to conceptualise this built environment.

In describing the boundary of this urban area, Eilot Hurst proposes the conception of movement space... action space... *section cut*

The individual’s movement space is one defined by boundaries:

*section cut* (Limitations of transport system, socioeconomic/time abilities, psychological determinants)

In consideration of these boundaries on movement space, we would instead propose a refined concept of and viable micromovement space, that is, the part of the built environment within which day-to-day micromovement is viable. There is no universal viable micromovement space, rather, it varies on the boundaries placed upon the individual; it varies from the limited realm of a toddler to the more extensive realm of a young adult with a car. The viable micromovement space of individuals is not absolute, it can vary with time and changing housing locations; it changes as the boundaries and limitations placed on his movement space change.

Undoubtedly, modern urban transport has enabled the individual to travel much further in the finite amount of time available for commuting each day, and hence greatly enlarged the individual’s viable micromovement space.

A logical subset of viable micromovement space would be the first two extents of Brown and Moore’s postulate of the individual’s activity space (Brown and Moore, quoted in Hurst, 1974), that is, his day-to-day activity space, which is the part of the urban area with which direct contact occurs as the result of daily activities.

*section cut* (Core area, Median Area, Extensive area)

It should be self-apparent that in dealing with urban micromovement flows, we are primarily interested in the individual’s day-to-day activity space (especially the core area, which is responsible for the majority of trips), and not his extensive area of activity space.

In general, as viable micromovement space expands, opportunities increase as the “catchment area” for them increases, and therefore day-to-day activity space similarly expands, as individuals have the impetus and self-interest to realise these opportunities, in line with individual needs and goals.

This conception of space “allows for a re-orientation of movement studies away froom a description of habit patterns to an analysis of the causes behind movement behaviour” (Hurst, 1974), therefore promoting a better understanding of travel patterns “and insights into the true conditions governing transportation demands.” (Hurst, 1974), allowing for better management and manipulation of these demands.

Phone cam pic spam #1

The title says it all... warning: phone cameras make for random badly-taken pics. Do not look for artistic merit, but have a good laugh. Images resized as usual for faster loading.



Ashish's slum


Posers




Guess who's taller? (or will be in 6 months)


Failed astrochallenge model...


New airport skytrain station


Airport skytrain station (looks better turned this way ><)


Industrial zone? Or University? NUS Science (Chemistry?) blocks actually. Looks quite bad...NUS lacks character, gives no esthetic pleasure (concept: Loftland)


pencil box and black notebook /random


The view from my table (my house is of the same design... and let's hope no joker changes the facade when he rebuilds his house)


Bad memories, and good.

Democratisation of the internet

it's been a while since i posted a "content" post... and this is an interesting one i hope =)

Time magazine's "person of the year": YOU (look at the mirror)
image from gawker

We may not realise it, but each time we participate in the online community, be it blogging, adding our 2 cents worth to Wikipedia, or uploading a video to Youtube, we are contributing towards the "democratisation of the internet": the power of the internet has indeed truly been given to the people.

It is interesting, as a study of emergent properties in systems, and how bottom-up content-creation by millions or billions of individual users can vastly outdo what a top-down approach is capable of. Just look at Wikipedia, the most comprehensive resource available, and a de facto first stop for most of us when wanting to find out about something.

As an internet phenomenon the democratisation of the internet is unrivalled. Personal and social space online is free and plentiful (though fraught with dangers). The reach and the power it gives to the individual (ask mrbrown) is amazing. All is needed from the top is the infrastructure, and perhaps giving it some momentum.

There are implications, of course. First is abuse and censorship: just as people can post useful stuff online, so can the post hate speech and bomb-making instructions. And the internet is horrendously hard to censor, especially when it knows no borders.

Next is the reliability of online sources like Wiki: you probably won't want to rely on it for your thesis paper, but as general reading it is perfectly fine. The error rate is very, very low, and any errors can be corrected easily (unlike print encyclopedias: britannica got jacked when they went to look for errors in wiki, cos someone corrected the errors in 2 days).

But lim (t --> infinity), these problems will iron out. We are stepping closer to the ubiquity of information; the true age of the internet has just dawned.


P.S.

I also contribute to Wiki and Google Video (click on "more from user" in the sidebar".

I can't believe it that my atomic bomb video has 22700 views and 1230 downloads!!! Ok hopefully it has benefitted others.

Other RI wikipedians i know: Ren Yan, Joel Kek, Vincent, Jun Sean, Jeremy Sia

Light and reflection in the orange breeze.

This occurred a long time ago I was waiting for a taxi outside the school gate.

The setting sun's cast a faint orange glow, and the playful shadows of dusk disrupted that, for the road's orange sodium lamps had yet to turn on. Traffic came in noisy waves, with every green from the Braddell junction. The floor was strewn with fallen yellow leaves, and these flew up as a cool breeze blew.

But no taxi came by, for half an hour.

As patient appreciation of the surreal scene (which reminded me of standing at the Beijing traffic light in winter) turned into impatience and frustration, my mind started to wander.

And suddenly I knew God was talking to me. He gave me 2 words: Refuge and Rejoice , and I stood silently in his company, praying and reflecting.

Those are 2 powerful words: To rejoice in the Lord, for his sacrifice, giving us life, and for what we are and what we have; To find refuge in him, patiently knowing that he loves us, will carry us through, and that he plans to prosper us and not harm us.

He told me to cross the road and get a taxi there - and i thought, how could it be? That spot is just down the road from J8, and with the long taxi queues at J8, all taxis coming down from there are bound to be occupied. Plus there was already someone waiting across the road

But cross the road I did. The guy aleady waiting there got his taxi within 30s, and I got mine a minute later.

Couldn't believe it - and I stil can't. But he works in amazing ways.

We should all go on strike

It's the last day of the holidays... but i don't feel anything about going back to school tomorrow... cos it hasn't been any holiday at all.

And that's after false promises of a "no holiday homework policy"... I certainly second renyan's idea of a student's union (RIPB feedback seems to get ignored by upstairs).

We should fight for the French 35-hour work week, or at most double that (since we're kiasu Singaporeans)... i.e. a 70-hour work week, including all homework, projects etc (i.e. max 11.5 hours per day, excluding sunday, spent on school stuff).

Ok daydreaming over... i still have the chinese 读书报告 and 鹰的天空 to finish, 2cm of geog readings and an essay... and that's ignoring the stuff that is due after T3W1...

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

On another note, here's a little introduction video i did for RI-BP science odyssey, which was basically a science competition we organised for primary schools. The storyline is a bit corny but the pri sch kids seemed to enjoy it. Haha

The ironies of a holiday

It just doesn't feel like a holiday. So much homework (especially a particular subject)... plus all the CCA stuff and etc (though those are more fun).

It is necessary for us to go back to the principle behind a holiday. What is it for? To rest, to enjoy, to do what you like (e.g. CCA, attachments etc.). The idea is that it is a break from hectic school life.

Now juxtapose that against the current situation... and the dichotomy is striking. I'm not advocating totally no holiday work, but there must be a balance. Right now it is far from a holiday.

Like that very tiring and sian one (especially for certain subject's homework...). I want a break loh. Some more term 3 very xiong one.

I don't think i'll be able to finish the holiday homework... (with this competition and that)... the list on my blog is intended to improve my efficiency. So if you see me on msn please suan me on my unfinished homework...

"Teachers have been instructed NOT give holiday homework" - xxx. How ironic. Moral of the story: teachers also not obedient one.

I'm melting

Sian... sit in front of com for 2 hours, blowing fan, then i become all sweaty and sticky. I buay ta han on aircon to do work dunno how many times the past 2 weeks.

Can't stand the koyak singaporean weather lah. So irritatingly hot - and way too humid.

There's this idea of a comfort zone (below), beyond which work becomes inefficient. heh. justification for aircon. Luckily our classrooms got aircon (but cannot change temperature, sometimes dunno why too hot one).



I actually like colder temperatures. Around 12-22 (Hamburg) is pretty comfy, and -2 to 5 (Beijing winter) is refreshing (and not as cold as it seems). Aircon does wonders too :-)

Gerdanken #2: Schrodinger's cat

Schrodinger's thought experiment (in his own words):

A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following diabolical device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small that perhaps in the course of one hour one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges and through a relay releases a hammer which shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The first atomic decay would have poisoned it. The Psi function for the entire system would express this by having in it the living and the dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts.

It is typical of these cases that an indeterminacy originally restricted to the atomic domain becomes transformed into macroscopic indeterminacy, which can then be resolved by direct observation. That prevents us from so naively accepting as valid a ``blurred model'' for representing reality. In itself it would not embody anything unclear or contradictory. There is a difference between a shaky or out-of-focus photograph and a snapshot of clouds and fog banks.

We know that superposition of possible outcomes must exist simultaneously at a microscopic level because we can observe interference effects from these. We know (at least most of us know) that the cat in the box is dead, alive or dying and not in a smeared out state between the alternatives. When and how does the model of many microscopic possibilities resolve itself into a particular macroscopic state? When and how does the fog bank of microscopic possibilities transform itself to the blurred picture we have of a definite macroscopic state. That is the measurement problem.


The Copenhagen intepretation:

A system stops being a superposition of states and becomes either one or the other when an observation takes place. This experiment makes apparent the fact that the nature of measurement, or observation, is not well defined in this interpretation. Some interpret the experiment to mean that while the box is closed, the system simultaneously exists in a superposition of the states "decayed nucleus/dead cat" and "undecayed nucleus/living cat", and that only when the box is opened and an observation performed does the wave function collapse into one of the two states. More intuitively, some feel that the "observation" is taken when a particle from the nucleus hits the detector.


The Heisenberg uncertainty principle:

Ok I won't go too far for this one. The basic idea is that measuring a system changes it. If you measure the momentum of a particle, you will change its position. If you measure the position of a particle, you will change its momentum.

Therefore,given a particle, the uncertainty in momentum (Δp) times the uncertainty in position (Δx) is greater than or equal to the reduced planck's constant (or div 2??? some sources say div 2...).

ΔxΔp ≥ ħ/2

Welcome to quantumland

mostly lifted from wiki

Competitions + Music

Hmmm... where should I start... Just finished the nat sci challenge and ijso (international olympiad) tests today. We got in for nsc, will be facing cat high and zhong hua in the 3rd quarters.

The NSC paper dunno why so much boliao questions (even "why is the dead sea salty" and maff. Then got some obscure bio words never even heard before. Then when they announce those who got in purposely give us heart attack: say announce in no order, then start announcing HC, AC, NUS, RGS.... in what we thought was descending order of scores, make us think we didn't get in, then announce us last.

IJSO paper of course more difficult than NSC - in fact it was harder than the IB prac papers. The bio again got some stuff never hear before, the physics about the same standard as the past year paper (i.e. hard but doable), and the chem quite good. But i already know my physics got a couple wrong.

Ok lah... praise the lord for NSC... and IJSO hope for the best loh.

Tomorrow is geog competitions. Switch track now. I'm reading Nagle at the moment, just realise how much stuff they cut out of RP syllabus... haiz...


Heart of worship

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”
~ Philippians 4:6-7


Solitaire/ Clay Aiken

Do you want the world to slow down?

---Original article---

Singapore: world's fastest walkers
CNN| Posted: 02 May 2007

Pedestrians all over the world are moving faster than a decade ago, according to scientists who have conducted a study into the pace at which people walk.

Psychologists say walking speeds have increased by an average of 10 percent in the past 10 years.
People in the greatest hurry live in Singapore, according to the study of cities in 32 countries. Following in their footsteps are residents of Copenhagen in Denmark and Madrid in Spain.

Researchers in each city found a busy street with a wide pavement that was flat, free from obstacles and sufficiently uncrowded to allow people to walk at their maximum speed.

The speed of each city's walkers was then timed by a team researchers, armed with stopwatches.

They timed how long it took 35 men and women to walk along a 60-foot (18-meter) stretch of pavement, monitoring only adults who were on their own and ignoring those conducting mobile phone conversations or struggling with shopping bags.

The results of the study, headed by British psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman, were compared with similar results from a decade ago in an experiment carried out by American psychologist Professor Robert Levine, from California State University.

Wiseman said walking speeds provided a reliable measure of the pace of life in a city.

"This simple measurement provides a significant insight into the physical and social health of a city. The pace of life in our major cities is now much quicker than before. This increase in speed will affect more people than ever, because for the first time in history the majority of the world's population are now living in urban center," Wiseman said.

Surprisingly, some of the world's biggest cities did not even make the top five. New York came in at eight, London was placed 12th on the list and Tokyo was ranked 19th.

The findings also explode the myth of the laid back Irish. Dublin topped Levine's table in 1997 and takes fifth place on the new list.

The study was carried out with the help of the British Council, which promotes cultural links in 109 countries.

Comparing the results with those compiled by Levine in the 1990s, the study showed that people were, on average, now walking 10 percent faster. Men were generally 25 percent quicker on their feet than women.

The biggest changes were found in the Far East. In Singapore, walking pace had increased by 30 percent and in Guangzhou, China, the pace was more than 20 percent quicker.


---Additional articles---

Technology and time: pace of life
Metro article (picture below from here)




---Personal response---

As I read the article, I find myself nodding - rather vigorously. But I'm hardly surprised. Even school life is hectic - especially with torrents of homework, tests, and CCAs.


Why this fast pace of life?

First, we must consider how technology, which so permeates modern city life, really speeds things up. What was a 2-hour trip to the library is now a quick Internet search right from your desk. The ubiquity of handphones, coupled with low call charges, means that everyone is contactable anytime, anywhere, and we no longer have to wait till we reach home or office or scramble for a public phone to call others. Add to that how the coming PDA revolution will empower one and all to send emails and work on documents while on the move. This immediacy in itself translates into a fast pace of life.

Next, when computers make crunching thousands of cash-flow figures simple, we can do the same tasks in less time. But this does not mean that we have more time to relax. Rather, our greed and ambition means that we fill this extra time with more work. Things move faster.

My premise on human ambition is probably false for some people, but as long as some use technology to save time, do more, and race ahead, the threat of dropping out of the race forces everyone to follow suit, such that this becomes is the new standard expected of individuals in the modern workplace or classroom. Life easily gets hectic when you have to rush more in less time.


Do you want the world to slow down?

Personally, I enjoy a fast pace of life. In my opinion, being busy is just a way to make the most out of my life. While on holiday, I tried lazing about by the beach for a day, and couldn't take it - it was back into the shopping mall the next day to rush for bargains.

And yet consider the salarymen I see on the train home. More often than not, they look tired and worried. I can imagine how, as they stand in silence, squashed between other passengers, they are fretting about their mountain of work and looming deadlines. For these stressed-out salarymen, it is probably hard to find pleasure in work. They may also suffer from a short temper, and this strains relationships. Finally, the stress of a busy, fast-paced life can take a toll on their health.

It is hard to escape this hectic pace of life. Even if you juxtapose the busy, fast-paced Singaporean life against idyllic kampong life, few would be willing to give up the material luxuries that come with the former.

There can be no deus ex machina, but what the stressed salaryman can do to save his sanity from the hectic pace of life is to balance work and play and family to find some happiness, with which he can be recharged to cope with life in the fast lane.

(499 words)

Virginia Tech: a reflection on society and morality

On April 16th this year, a deranged Virginia Tech student, Cho Seung-Hui from Korea, went on a shooting rampage, cutting short 33 young lives, including his own.


---Original articles---

General overview: US university shooting kills 33 [BBC]

More detail on Cho Seung-Hui, the deranged murderer: Killer’s manifesto: You forced me into a corner [CNN]


---On Cho Seung Hui: videos and quotes---

“You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today," Cho said in one of the videos that aired Wednesday night on NBC. "But you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option. The decision was yours. Now you have blood on your hands that will never wash off.” –Cho


Cho's "video confession"



Two disturbing plays Cho wrote: Richard McBeef and Mr Brownstone


---Background information: A state of nature and the social contract---

In Leviathan , the philosopher Thomas Hobbes once put forth the idea of a state of nature: Before the emergence of organised society and restrictions on free action, man existed in a state of nature. In such a state of nature, man, being selfish, did anything, including harming others, to benefit himself. The result, according to Hobbes, is "a war of all against all", and a "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" life.

Society has evolved to formulate a social contract, however, that seeks to prevent society from descending into a state of nature. Individual freedoms have been curtailed whenever they infringe on the basic rights of others. The rule of law, a universal moral code, enforces this, giving a state of peace and guaranteeing the security of the individual.

Further reading



---Personal reflection---

Life is amazing and beautiful. But it is incredibly fragile. I am stunned how such a terrible thing could happen in a school, where students study in the knowledge that they are shielded from the dangers of the outside world. How could a student, with such a promising future, suddenly decide to end his life, and take 32 others with him? There are a surfeit of questions, but few answers.

First, and foremost, this is a sad reflection of the human condition, of how a man's vicious anger and frustrations can interplay to produce horrendous actions and the most heartbreaking consequences. Why are we - even the best and the brightest in universities - capable of blatantly disregarding the rights and happiness of others, and harming them, for self-interest, revenge, or otherwise?


The shaken notion of a civil society

We often pride ourselves on having built a civil society, by enacting laws as a moral code, and inculcating in our young the values that build such a society, such that indivduals no longer act purely in self-interest and harm others, but are considerate, making for more pleasant lives for everyone.

But this notion of a civil society has been shaken time and again, by murders like Cho, and by fanatical terrorists.

Is this the sad state of morality today's "civil" society has bred? Or has today's society merely evolved such that Hobbes' "state of nature" and "war of all against all" merely superficially suppressed but not overcome, such that it is ready to rear its ugly head and guarantee misery for all and sundry once triggered?


A more caring society, please?

Cho's machine-gun rampage seems to be as much his fault as it is society's. It turns out that he has few friends, and does not fit into society. His anger and discontent with society, as well as his violent tendencies were well-known - in fact, he was once admitted into a mental hospital. Why didn't anyone do anything, such that Cho can say "you forced me into a corner"?

Similarly, the Muslim terrorists that blew themselves up on crowded Tube trains in July 2005 came from a marginalized and poor group of society. Honestly, it is impossible for me to understand their feelings and point of view, but I don't blame them for being disillusioned with society, when society treats them so badly.

It is these outcrops of society that are discontentd with society and such horrific disasters are bred. I say, we should care a lot more about such outcrops of society, e.g. by reaching out to people like Cho and seeking to integrate them into society, and in the case of the terrorists, providing their communities with good education and equal opportunities.

Before our society can claim to be civil, it must first be caring. Otherwise, a "state of nature", and the lawless anarchy and misery it guarantees, may not be so far away. All it takes is one nuclear-armed terrorist to blow a city to smithereens.

(499 words)